An Important Day in Military AND Fashion History!

Today is the anniversary of the D-Day Invasion in 1944, in which Allied troops landed at Normandy and won an important victory during World War II. Sandi's off to liberate Europe, but I suspect she's mostly concerned about getting the latest Paris fashions out of Nazi control.

 It was also on this day in 1933 that the first drive-in theater opened in New Jersey. This is good news for Nathan, especially because the theater was most definitely pre-khakis commercial.

Fandom News!

• The new fan site Lessons from Lawndale has been updated! Thanks, cfardell_Brenorenz29!


• Fhujeth_x posted a new special Daria surprise.


• Charles RB shares 60 Years of The Queen jokes.


• Discuss irredeemable Daria characters in a new sequel to a previous thread.


• Roentgen posted a new Iron Chef in Creative Writing: Not Self Esteem, Necessarily.

D-Day!

Today is the 67th anniversary of D-Day, which was the day of the invasion of Normandy by Allied forces during World War II. Sandi looks ready to take on the opposition single-handed, possibly because she blames them for her new haircut.

Fanfic Update!

• Behind the Laughter Deleted Scenes- The Simpsons (Scenes no Daria fanfic should have: It's Friday!!), by GlitterShrooms (COMPLETE!): "Homer S. - Oh sure, it was fun working with all our friends and neighbors. Marge S. - But the most fun was to be had with all of those big named Hollywood Celebrities (Begins to look uncomfortable). Of course, there were a few unfortunate experiences."


• Daria is Raven's Apprentice, by project pegasus: "Raven: So if we can swim to the bottom of the water hazard, then we should be able to find the drain that empties into the Aqueduct outside! Daria: Sounds like a plan. Now, if you'll excuse me, I shall ask the gentlemen shooting at us to please get our coats, as we are ready to leave."


• Daria Vs. Old Betsy & The Five Avengers, by RX-87 (part 5): "Helga was in The Future. Somebody's future, anyway. And though she was newly arrived, the walls told her the people of her time period or its parallel universe equivalent had little to look forward to. The dystopic feel of the place was further accentuated by the ear-splitting repetitive popping noise of automatic gunfire. Automatic gunfire that seemed to be getting closer."


• God Save The Esteem Ep31: Achy Jakey Heart, by Charles RB (part 3): "Tom hadn't look his usual at-ease self when he'd arrived, none of his usual sense of innate confidence and smugness. He looked smaller without it, just a teenager in thrift clothes. But when Jane nodded, he closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them he was more in control, calmer. Pretending to be, anyway."


• How Peace Came to Lawndale (Scenes no Daria fanfic should have: It's Friday!!), by thatLONERchick (COMPLETE!): "Without warning, Daria exploded into a thousand micro-Darias that could control storms and lightning and shoot laser beams out of their eyes, and would hunt their foes unto the ends of the earth and would not stop until they were dead. Jane was surprised by this."


• Jane Morgendorffer 2: The Middle School Years, by LadieT (part 2): "'That's Mr. Isaac on the phone. He and Mr. Keller are starting a jazz appreciation class after school on Monday. They will meet three afternoons a week and they were wondering if you two would like to attend. They are asking only a couple of the sixth graders to join.'"


• John Lane 50: Boxed In, by RLobinske (COMPLETE!): "'Do you remember that refrigerator box Daria had as a kid?' 'No,' Helen mumbled. 'Sure you do, honey,' he said. 'When she was a little girl.' 'Nothing.' 'She used to read in it all the time.' Helen opened her eyes. 'Now, I remember something.'" (Part 4)


• Not So Different 37: 'Fury, Signifying Nothing', by J-D (COMPLETE!): "Once they'd greeted each other, got their pizza, and seated themselves, the next thing he did was to thank her for calling his mother. 'It meant that she was at the school to witness the inter-agency taskforce searching my locker.' 'Inter-agency taskf—?' Jane caught herself and stopped mid-question. Listen, not talk. Sonny continued unmoved. 'Fish and Wildlife, DEA, ATF, and the Secret Service.' 'Secret S—?' It wasn't fair. How could she not react when the story was as wild as this?"


• Not So Different 38: Not Missing Much, by J-D (COMPLETE!): "'There's just no way my parents are going to agree to you and me spending all night alone together on a couch, at your place, at my place, or anywhere else', he had said. Jane had protested that they'd only be watching television. 'Right', Sonny had replied, even more flatly than usual (if possible). 'Now convince them of that.'"


• Of Another Man's Guitar, by peapotmaster (part 1): "LOIS: Isn't this great, Peter? Seeing the floats up close and seeing Chuck Norris as the grand marshal. PETER: He's still around? (Lois nods.) PETER: Crud, I wanted Weird Al."


• A Question of Cindy, by cfardell_Brenorenz29 (part ): "Cindy Brolsma had just ordered a pizza when she turned around and noticed Daria Morgendorffer coming towards her. 'This is definitely unusual,' she thought. 'Cindy?' Daria asked. 'That's me,' Cindy said, quite puzzled. 'Would you like to sit with Jane and myself?' Daria asked. Cindy hesitated. Why was Daria Morgendorffer, one of the most anti-social teens in Lawndale, with the reputation to match, asking her to sit with her? 'Um, sure,' she finally said."


• Remembrance, by HolyGrail2007 (part 12): "'I do not own a warehouse.' Sandi replied glibly. This was a woman completely unused, or perhaps refused to get used, to the idea that other people were in a position of more authority than her. Such was what happened to successful self-mades. 'Sandi.' Jeffy's face started to get as red as his hair. 'Do you want to bring you back to the precinct?' She cocked her head at Jeffy's anger. Tiffany just stared vacantly, probably annoyed that no one was paying attention to her."


• Rude Awakening Ep. 6: Divas NOT Wanted!, by DIsaac (parts 3 - 5): "STACY: Dani, what are you doing? DANI: OK, Stacy. Where are the sharp objects at? STACY: I am NOT letting you stab another co-worker!" (Part 4) (Part 5)


• Save the Last Trance for Me, by jtranser: "Behind her, Sandi whispered: 'It is His order that I take you to Him through The Way of the Blue Darkness. And you have no choice, even if you think you do. Your dream is your life and I have both of them in my hands. That, and your date blew you off. So let's go, Quinn.'"


• Silent Melody, by Silver: "Daytime television is a scourge. Even with satellite TV, the selection remains pitiful. Jane thumbed the channel button again before taking a bite out of her pizza. Daria ate her own slice in silence for a time, then finally spoke. 'Why not try to find some news?'"


• Unnamed story (Scenes no Daria fanfic should have: It's Friday!!), by RLobinske (COMPLETE!): "Glancing back at their replacement drummer, Nick said, 'I don't know about this new guy, Trent.' 'That's what they said about Ringo and look what happened to the Beatles,' Trent replied. 'Ringo didn't come with a certificate of rabies vaccination.'"


• Unnamed story (Totally randomly wrote up this thing...), by Kael Seoras: "She was walking. She thought. Maybe. In all the blackness there was no point of reference, and she felt no ground moving behind her with every step. She was just making the walking motions in empty space. Her muscles burned, though. She didn't know how long she'd been at this. She was fucking sick of seeing nothing and feeling nothing and not fucking knowing where the fuck she was--"

Happy (Former) New Year's Day!

Today is Lady Day, which was until 356 years ago New Year's Day in England, Ireland, Wales, and "the colonies." The year 1751 actually began on March 25th. The Gregorian calendar was adopted by England in 1752, so that year began on January 1st. The year 1751 was thus very short. The switch from Julian and Gregorian calendars actually has some importance in an unfinished Daria fanfic ("The Other").

Today is also Maryland Day, which would have had little effect on Daria and Jane even if they did live near Baltimore. Lord Baltimore and others founded the colony of Maryland 374 years ago. Brittany might have worked out a cheer for it, though.

Fifty-three years ago, Allen Ginsburg's poem "Howl" was declared obscene by U.S. Customs. This is the poem Daria tried reading to retirement-home seniors in "The Old and the Beautiful" ("I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix. . . .").

An interesting analysis of two Daria episodes, "Too Cute" and "Pierce Me," appears online here. A fan site I hadn't noticed before, The Daria Goodies Page, offers stuff to download. And another "adoptable" webpage on Daria is available on FanCast Beta.

On DariaWiki, Roentgen continues to improve on his already excellent list of Daria episodes, giving their original showtimes and plot summaries as well. Brother Grimace, Scissors MacGillicutty, and Richard Lobinske added more material as well.

A couple of updates:


PPMB

• Legion of Lawndale Heroes, Volume Two, by Brother Grimace (LLH 12.6 – ‘Bop Till You Drop, Part II’): The Big Bopper continues, and many get the bopping of their lives.
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part II), by jtranser (continued): Now he has arisen: he who long slept, from the depth arisen, out of arches strong...
  
  

Also, Kristen Bealer and Richard Lobinske posted stories to Lawndale Online and Fanfiction.net.

Any more Dariacons being planned?