"Happy Birthday, Mister President..."

Let's see, today is the 47th anniversary of "Happy Birthday, Mister President," a historical footnote later mentioned in a Daria fanfic. Wait....

Okay, this is weird. Using Google, I went through all the stories on Outpost Daria that mention Marilyn Monroe in them, and every single one of them is weird. We're not talking odd, we're talking major league Out There. Well, except for the stories I did, which were pretty mundane compared to the others. Have a look.

• "The Year of the Cynic"
• "Kick Me"
• "Gone"
• "Halloween in Lawndale"
• "And Now—Erin"
• "Safest Emergency"
• "Death Takes a Holliday"
  

You tell me if there's something odd here. Which of these qualifies as crackfic? I think the first one does, for sure. Wow, awesome stuff. Remember this, fans: Do NOT use Marilyn Monroe in your fanfics unless you are going for the Weirdness Award. 'Nuff said.

I keep thinking I've seen fan art of a Daria character dressed up as Marilyn Monroe (not Manson), but I can't find any. Huh.

A Matter of Terminology

My first brush with fanfiction was of course with Star Trek, back in the 1970s. It was then that I was introduced to the various odd terms that were used to describe various types of fanfiction, such as slash, which continues to be used today.

I've had the opportunity to read some online glossaries of current fanfiction terms, and it has been an eye-opener for me. Other Daria fans here are doubtless more knowledgeable about such things, but for everyone's amusement some of the better glossaries I've seen are given here.

Fan Fiction: Terms and Definitions
Glossary of fan fiction terms
The Fanfiction Glossary
Fan Fiction - a User's Guide
Fanfic Terms for the Newbie

Except for the gigantic "Fanfiction Glossary," these make for a quick and entertaining read. Plus, they made me wonder if Daria fandom shouldn't try to appropriate some of the more interesting fanfic terms and types.

For instance, why don't we have an Iron Chef competition to write smarm? We've certainly tried crack-pairing, but we could do more with that, I'm sure. I've seen drabble contests here, but only rarely. We could use more uberfic, faanfiction, and crack!fic. (I think so, anyway.) Metafic we do fairly often, mostly as very short bits as Daria and Jane shake their heads over us. Nextgen we have some of, but not enough. And a little lime and UST would work better than outright PWP.

There are doubtless stories of these types already in our archives, but I'm too muddled with my head cold to look them up. Bonus points to anyone who can name examples of the above in Daria fanfic.

Look these up, see if we're in agreement here, then try something new. Just . . . don't do anything mooky.