Appears to be a malfunction here....

Having a lot of trouble getting into PPMB again. Rats. Well fine, here we are.

I didn't have many other things to note as failures (things I've attempted to create for Daria fandom), but there were some duds. The Daria Fandom Calendar is, I think, a good idea, but I don't know how many people use it. Kristen Bealer and Deref kindly added some fun dates to it, but the main problem here is that it's kinda boring. I can't add pictures or sound bites or anything except short bits of text. Still okay for that. If anyone else wants to contribute funny dates or meaningful anniversaries for the fandom, please let me know.

Not many people probably use the pizza finder under "Virtual Lawndale," but I'm leaving it there anyway.

All in all, not bad. Failure is good. It's the only thing that teaches you anything useful. If LATIFA and the Fan-imation pages were duds, so be it, I'm leaving 'em up anyway, 'cause you never never know when someone will pick it up and run with it. Maybe they were just too soon for their time. I can wait.

There were some projects that turned out better, too. Backgrounders, though I don't hear much about it, seems to have helped character development a little, in general. UU and I have both been dragged off by Real Life issues, but we are going to return and add more stuff soon. Still want to see Shaggy and The Head use their powers in a superhero series like LLH. Maybe they're in the background lurking somewhere...

That F Word, Revisited (Part 1)

Failure isn't all bad. It's the only way we ever learn about stuff. I was mulling over some Daria projects started here that did not pan out as I had hoped. I don't mean unfinished fanfiction, which will indeed get finished one day. I was thinking of other things, poking around wondering how they could have been made better.

Like LATIFA.

The idea behind Lovestruck Atomic Teenage Invaders from Mars was to set up a silly shared-world background, entirely derived from bits and pieces of official Daria material (suitably mangled), offering Lawndale High as a center for science-fiction and fantasy hijinks of the comic variety. I added something about interstellar berserkers, and that part probably should have been taken out (wasn't funny, sort of irrrelevant to concept), but the rest of the background was to inspire writers to create wacky tales about Daria and Jane and company running amok around the galaxy or wherever the author wished them to go.

LATIFA did not take off like Daylight did. Daylight blew out of here like a Saturn V, but LATIFA did not even leave the runway. Its engines coughed a little, a few passengers got on but then got off, and LATIFA was soon pushed off to the side to make room for faster traffic.

I have pondered on the difference between LATIFA and Daylight. Was comedy less appealing than drama and angst and The End of the World in a Different Way? Or could I have put LATIFA together better, made it more fun and attractive? Not sure. LATIFA is still there and won't be taken down, just in case someone buys a ticket for it. It is hoped that the two webpages about it are at least entertaining. Lots of sound bites. Still wondering how to revive it.

More failures later. Stay tuned.