Do Any Pests Wear Glasses?

Jane is having fun celebrating National Eyewear Day but I don't think Daria appreciates it; she really needs those! I hope Kevin still has his pair so he can join in, with or without the lenses.

Instead of stealing glasses she doesn't need, Jane might consider visiting an old drive-in theater for National Drive-In Movie Day, because I hear they're kind of eerie and cool. Then again, if there's a chance Nathan will be there then it might be better to steer clear.

Speaking of unwanted people and/or animals, be sure to celebrate World Pest Day by either eliminating or acting as a pest to someone else. Daria probably feels like she celebrates this one every time she opens a book and gets interrupted.

Fanfic Update!

• Homecoming, by davidfalkayn (part 26): "'Are you sure you’re not going to get walked in on?' Angie asked Lexa, addressing the Trill ensign appearing on her monitor."


• Katie Huegel, by Meester_Lee (part 7): "Katie returned home feeling a lot better. She’d finally gotten some practice time and she’d gotten to meet someone om the local music scene."


• Movin' On Up, by wilddogjj (COMPLETE!): "Quinn, her husband Jim and their triplet sons Tommy, Timmy and Teddy were at the kitchen table having dinner and conversation. The topic of discussion was the horrible new neighbors they have to deal with."

This Duo Only Has One Four-Eyes!

I appreciate that Jane wants to help celebrate National Eyewear Day, but dammit, Daria needs those! Get your own glasses, Jane.

On the other hand, perhaps Jane should celebrate National Drive-In Movie Day instead. She could visit that old parking lot where she and Nathan...never mind. Maybe that whole thing is better forgotten.

Fandom News!

• Discuss the guy in Schuylerville was arrested for flying a plane over the house of the woman he's been stalking.


• easmith posted more Fanfic Author Interviews: The Driven Wild Universe and E.A. Smith collected works.


• Kai posted an art thread.

Hey, Four-Eyes!

Daria's obviously enjoying National Eyewear Day, and so should the rest of us glasses-wearing folks. I mean, having bad eyesight doesn't really come with any other perks, so we might as well take the holiday and run with it.

Today was also the anniversary of the opening of the first drive-in movie theater in 1933. I don't know if young people now gather in the parking lot to practice their swing dancing moves, but I sure hope so!

Fanfic Update!

• Danny Morgendorffer, by ST91 (part 70): "Daniel used to wake up quite early in the morning. Also because he loved to stay a few minutes cozy in bed before getting up."


• Doctor Who - An Ordinary Wednesday, by cfardell_Brenorenz29 (part 2): "They waited for about half a minute. The reading vanished. 'That’s strange,' the Doctor commented."


• Living in America, by Lady Evil (part 6): "Helen was having second thoughts about letting Daria bring a boy into her room."


• Mega Mall, Mega Problems, by cfardell_Brenorenz29 (part 1): "Lawndale didn’t have everything. That was the issue that had vexed Quinn Morgendorffer over the past few weeks."


• Summer's End, by Linnofthewoods (part 2): "Later that evening, just after dinner and a little while before Trent was due to leave for work, he sat on the living room couch with his acoustic guitar. He let out a low, rumbling sigh as he strummed."

Happy 20th Birthday, Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched twenty years ago today on board the shuttle Discovery.

Like Daria, the HST had bad eyesight due to an error in grinding the main mirror. So, in December of 1993 NASA sent the shuttle Endeavour to install a set of corrective lenses, COSTAR and WFPC2.

What we have seen since has simply been wonderous.

And a nod to Bad Astronomer, Phil Plait, and "Ten Things You Didn't Know About Hubble".

The Eyes Have It

Wear glasses? Today is World Sight Day. Take care of your eyes. Take care of your glasses, too, or you'll end up like Daria.

Those of you in this fandom who are literate (all of you, in other words) will be happy to know that SF author Frank Herbert, he who gave us Dune and other brilliant tales, was born 89 years ago. Harvey Pekar, creator of the underground comic series American Splendor, turns 70.

Pinhead has yet another fine display of artistic ability at PPMB, this time a comic strip: "In the Fine Morning." I liked it.

PPMB

• The Curse of El Smoocho, by Roentgen (Part 3): It was a bucolic morning in Lawndale. The sun was now shining in the spring, and the birds were singing. Jamie White was very happy as he walked towards the Morgendorffer residence. The motto of the Lawndale Lions was clear: "Protect Our Women." The only question regarding Quinn Morgendorffer was, "Whose woman was Quinn Morgendorffer?" After a fistfight and some making-up, Jamie White carried his bruises proudly to Quinn's door and rang the bell. Silence. He was sure that Quinn would be glad to see him.
• Reaped Out 2: Sickle Sad World, by Pinkminx (Part 8): “Look George, I know what you’re going to say. I don’t care.” Daria said firmly and turned to go. “Just… just be careful okay? I don’t want you to get on Rube’s bad side.” (FF.net)
  
• Romin' Holiday, by TAG (COMPLETE!): Daria cast an uneasy gaze over the barren half of the dorm room. All she knew of her roommate-to-be was her name: H. Wayne. Too bad it could not have been Jane Lane, her best friend. The thought of dealing with a difficult roommate cast a pall over the pleasure of the moment.
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part III), by jtranser (continued): "What in the Hell happened to you?!" "I had to take care of some important business. I wound up having to kill myself."
  
• Tales of the Ringbearers: A New Ringbearer, by Aloysius (Part 3): The vampire stared at the girl and calmly set his beer mug down on the bar. Tony noted that none of the beer had been drunk, then looked at the undead man as he stood up. He was tall and thin, dressed in an elegantly tailored suit and held a folded up coat over his left arm.

A Rosier View of Quinn

Ten years and one day ago, the very first story appeared in the longest-running Daria fanfic series ever, the Driven Wild Universe. In "Rose-Colored Lenses," Quinn Morgendorffer (against her will) gets a pair of corrective eyeglasses, and the world is never again the same. The fandom was never the same again, either. Cheers to you, Ms. Wild, and thank you.

It's raining out at the moment, more news to come as it appears.

L8R: I've developed a quirky interest in DariaWiki in the last couple days. I am a sucker for looking up fanwork conventions used by Daria fanfic writers, and after reading through some of FF.net's collection, I hope to add more fanfic examples to various DariaWiki pages. Maybe this will stimulate interest in long-ago works or whatnot. A few new conventions have made themselves known, too: for instance, "Last Line" stories, in which everything hinges on the final words in the tale; "Gender Switch" tales in which characters change sex; and the infamous "Makeover" tales, which are not all alike. Everyone probably knows of examples of these, but it is interesting just how often some of these tropes are seen. I've been poking at family-tree revisions, too, under the heading "Multiplied Morgendorffers" (a work in progress, feel free to tinker with it and everything else I've done).

Today is also Jayne Mansfield's birthday, a 1950s starlet that Quinn pretended to be in an alter ego. More later after the thunderstorms pass.

"The Glasses Are You"

Was there anything to what Jane said in "Through a Lens Darkly" about Daria's glasses having symbolic meaning? Perhaps there was. An interesting online essay looks at what a simple pair of spectacles can stand for, both in the Daria series and in real life.

This is not the only time that eyeglasses have been said to have symbolic value. Lord of the Flies is frequently cited as turning the glasses of one of the characters (Piggy) into a powerful symbol, particularly when those glasses are broken in the course of the story.

Remember when Daria takes off her glasses at the end of "Quinn the Brain," and what she is trying to accomplish? It brings to mind Dorothy Parker's comment about men seldom making passes at girls who wear glasses. Is that true? Obviously not in Daria's case. Furthermore, there are loads of commentary on the Internet about this very issue. See the following websites for wall-to-wall coverage of the looking-glasses issue. (Note: Some sites have adult commentary on the issue, so be warned.)

• Dr. Blogstein
• Mocha Momma
• The Fashioniste
• Suburban Kamikaze

This topic has even came up on PPMB, time after time after time after time after time after time after . . . well, you get the idea. If anyone ever has to write a term paper about glasses and self-image, your work is completely done.

Me? I would never get rid of my glasses. My glasses are me, too. They say NERD, that's exactly what I am, and I like it that way.

Food for thought.

LATE ADD: Speaking of food for thought, peek at the latest offering from Fortress CINCGREEN on Stacy and Upchuck, warts and all.