Wearing Only Her Legal Briefs

Legal eagle Helen Morgendorffer celebrates the arrival of the 2010 Godiva Festival in Coventry, which promises to be the best party place on Earth for the whole family. A minimum of 85,000 people are expected. No, seriously. And they won't even have a naked lady on a horse! Everyone's there for the food and music and parade. Well, we believe in traditional values here at the Daria Fandom Blog II, so we do have a naked lady on a horse. No Godiva chocolates, though. We're on a diet.

Eight years ago today, Daria began airing on The N, but in a severely censored form that caused legions of Daria fans to rend their garments and cast ashes on their heads. Is It Fall Yet? was so chopped up the plot made no sense. (Click the link to Outpost Daria to see how the movie was edited.) The butchered episodes ceased to appear in 2006.

The Roswell UFO event is alleged to have occurred 63 years ago today, though accounts have changed over the years and different dates have been offered. Thanks to Roswell, we have soap operas about troubled alien-human-robot love triangles. Or we should have.

Daria said three little important words to her future husband on this day ten years ago. Do you know the fanfic in which she did this?

N0OoZ!!

• Roentgen has produced a clever timeline showing what has been going on in Lawndale High without Daria and Quinn present.
• The Daria Fan Club has grown and changed a good bit. You might wish to check it out.
• Can there be good things in bad episodes? Byron Lomax asks that question, then invites your response. What do you think? (Me, I haven't seen a bad Daria episode yet.)

FF.net

• The InDark, by Mediancat (Part 22): The screams had come from beefy guy and his wife. 'Course, Daria could hardly blame them, with the eyeless robed guy with a long knife walking around waving it at people. He'd been headed for Amy's car, but on seeing Daria and Oz had turned towards them. It was as if his orders were: "Go after Daria, slash tires, and scare people," in that order of importance. It was a good thing no one had tossed in "Go after her friends." (Daria/Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

PPMB

• Anti-Trope, by Minx (continued): "I demand you do something about this!" Ms. Li looked at the irate woman that stood before her and sighed. "Mrs. Rowe, I'm afraid there just isn't enough evidence to support your claims," she said calmly. "What more evidence do you need?" Mrs. Rowe exclaimed as she threw her hands above her head. "My son has e-mails to that boy discussing the paper, he even has handwritten notes! Look!" Mrs. Rowe retrieved a manila folder from her briefcase and dropped it on the desk in front of Ms. Li. "if that isn’t enough evidence I don't know what is." Mrs. Rowe smiled victoriously as she waited for the principal to respond.
• Daria: Hunter 6—Infectious, by Jim North (continued): Burnout moved to follow her, but Jane put her hand out and shook her head. The blonde frowned but stayed at the doorway, slingshot at the ready. Jane turned to the rest of the group and noticed a high keening noise. It took her a few seconds to trace the sound to Brittany, who was staring down at Mack and screaming as quietly as she could. DeMartino and Kevin had picked themselves up off the ground, but Mack sat against the wall, cradling his dead wife's arm. His eyes were wide, his dark skin had gone ashen, and his breathing had turned ragged. Even at a distance and in the poor lighting, Jane could see the perspiration standing out on his forehead. She knelt down next to him, making sure her blade arm was as far back as she could get it.
• Finn Morgendorffer 51: A Matter of Trust, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 4): Daria was still wrestling on what to do with Henry, and she decided the only person she could talk to about it was Jane. She headed over to BFAC unannounced, hoping that Jane was there. Sometimes it could be hard to find her. Jane had been spending a lot of time with Miranda and Mark, and, while Daria knew better than to lash out at them, particularly since Jane was so happy, it bothered her. She was spending more and more time alone. She was disappointed when she knocked on the door and found that the other two wheels, Miranda and Mark, were the only two people in the room.
• Is It Over Yet? by S.C. and Kara Wild (COMPLETE!): "You have ONE last chance to make your WOEFUL study habits moot during the final exam! Which is why I ENCOURAGE you to sign up for the new school TUTORING program. The smart ones to teach, the IDIOTS get to ruin someone ELSE'S life for a change!" "Well, when you make it sound so rewarding..." (PPMB discussion thread)
• Judith Strikes! The Taking of Lawndale High, by Charles RB (COMPLETE!): If you were out in Lawndale after curfew, you were either desperate—for food, for shelter, for an escape—or hard as nails. Either way, you wouldn’t go to the Zon. It was too big a wreck, too condemned, too much a reminder of how Li had massacred organized resistance in her rise to power. So twenty-one people sneaking into it over the space of an hour? Twenty-one people who were clearly armed? If you’d seen that you’d immediately know something was up, just before they slotted you before you blabbed it.
• Politricks Are Not for Kids, by Brian Taylor (Part 3): "She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes... she'll be coming 'round the the mountain when she comes..." "Oh, Jesus God, why won't you leave me alone?"
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Daria and Jane pregnant at the same time), by Vukodlak (COMPLETE!): Tom was sitting at home watching TV eating some popcorn. In a couple of weeks he'd be off to Bromwell, for now he was enjoying Sick Sad World. Well, "enjoying" wasn't exactly true—there simply wasn't anything else on. It had been over a month since the incident in which a moment of weakness after their breakup Tom went to Jane's and they ended up sleeping together. And the following day Daria, filled with regret over the breakup, went to see him and they made up all night long. Needless to say it had been a very awkward couple of days, but they had managed to talk things out and clear the air... though he hadn't spoken to either of them since. "Millionaire playboy knocks up both his ex-girl friends who used to be best friends, when Sick, Sad World returns." "What an idiot," Tom said to himself. At that moment there was a knock at the door.
  

And Yet, When I Hear Her Name, I Still Think of Chocolates

Today is the traditional date when Lady Godiva went riding bareback (and bare everything else). Helen Morgendorffer here re-enacts that historic moment. Wait a minute, she's blonde now! Why didn't I notice that last year? Oh, forget it.

My joke here last year was, "She's barely legal!" If you have a better joke about Helen than than, put it in Comments. At least we can say we've seen her in her legal briefs. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Can't use that one! And I know some places refer to lawyers as solicitors, but this is ridiculous! Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I love myself.

What's in the fandom news section of the paper today.... oh, the Midwest Dariacon at Kristen and Bryan's place is still tentatively set for around Labor Day.

Notorious grammar raconteur "smk" is offering free writing lessons on PPMB for anyone who speaks English and anyone who thinks they speak English. This offer apparently stems from a few nightmarish experiences while beta-reading fanfics.



FF.net

• And Then Daria and Jane Kissed, by Smileyfax (Part 1): They watched the awkward-looking redhead continue to make a fool of himself some more. "What else would we do?" Jane asked. "There're only so many UFO conventions a year, you know." Daria thought about it. "I don't know. I'm sure we can find ways to keep ourselves occupied." Jane nodded, then smiled. "We could always make out."
• Sinspiration, by Vlora (Part 15): With this horrible resolution in mind, Trent and Daria went back to Trent’s hovel and began working at their music once more. Daria was thankful that Trent seemed to be working at a faster pace than usual. He still seemed to have issues with the idea of a deadline, but he had offered this time—and, with only a few weeks left till she was 18 and Trent needed the music done, he had pulled himself together.

PPMB

• Cold Comfort, by Doggieboy (Part 6): Daria reached the top of the hill several minutes after leaving the sheriff behind. She bent over slightly, her hands on her knees, as she panted in the now-steady rainfall. Her breaths came out in white vapors and goose-bumps dotted her forearms. She looked around as she rested and saw an oil pump in the distance. Beyond that she saw some sheds and what looked like a large oil tank of some sort. The woman finally took off at a jog towards the oil company equipment.
• Lawndale's Finest: The Dark Knight, by NightGoblyn (Chapter 4, Part 4): The Gotham east side got cold at night, when the sun went down and the wind started blowing off the Atlantic. More so on the rooftops, most of which are barren and open to the cutting knife of the wind. The moon was obscured behind the thin, scudding clouds, almost like it couldn’t stand to look down on Gotham. Sometimes, I know exactly how it feels, Batgirl thought.
  
• Unnamed story (Scenes No Daria Fanfic Should Have: TGIF), by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): Daria Morgendorffer and Jane Lane walked into Ms. Li's office. They had been called out of Mr. O'Neill's class over the intercom and they entered the room with a mixture of dread and relief - it got them out of a test. "Ms. Morgendorffer, Ms. Lane," said Principal Li, "this is a new student at Lawndale High and I want you to introduce her to everybody. I wanted her to be treated very nicely." "Hi!" said the blonde girl. "My name's Luann! Luann DeGroot!"
  

Barely Legal

Today is the day when the Godiva Procession takes place during the Godiva Festival, in honor of Lady Godiva, whom attorney Helen Morgendorffer emulates here. Ride 'em, cowgirl! If you're looking for pictures of the lady, however, shame on you.

On DariaWiki, Brother Grimace has outlined the powers of Defender Rings for those Dariaverses that have them. Whoa, nelly.

Now 829 fans in the Daria Fan Club. Some activity, mostly voting on polls. I'm going to start another one there soon. If you have an amusing idea for a poll there, post it and see what happens.

Daria was mentioned in passing in two recent online articles. One was a review of the movie Aeon Flux, and the other a look back at MTV's good old days. Both articles allow for comments to be posted; feel free to chip in.

Need to get some other things done. More soon.