Happy Fourth!

Jane's feeling patriotic for Independence Day, and to all the Daria fans in the U.S., I hope it's a happy one for you! I'm not sure exactly what the Holiday Island version of Independence Day would be like, but I assume alcohol and pyrotechnics would be involved. If you're in the mood for a holiday celebration then feel free to start with this selection of Fourth-of-July themed fanfics:

• Fireworks by C.E. Forman


• Freedom of Speech (Falling into College) by Richard Lobinske


• Fun on the Fourth (First Summer) by Richard Lobinske


• Independence (Finn Morgendorffer) by HolyGrail2007


• Life is Like A Firework (Daria - The Next Chapter) by LadieT

Fanfic Update!

• Aurora, by Lady Evil (part 18): "'What are you gonna do tonight?' Jane asked Trent in their living room. 'Play hockey, I guess.' he said. He was wearing the red and black jersey and pads the station provided for him."


• Because I Got High, by ladylace616 (COMPLETE!): "The group decided to watch the movie Pineapple Express together one evening."


• Cuckoos On Infinite Earths, by Smijey and Charles RB (parts 20 - 23): "'Girls, I just want you to know your mother and I realize it's not easy moving to a whole new town,' Janice Walker told her two daughters." (Part 21) (Part 23)


• Fates Entwined, by Deep Metal (part 19): "'So, uh, these two are Beavis and Butt-head?' Tom looked at the two, scratching his head. Kevin and Tom both examined Beavis and Butt-head."


• My Breast Fiend, by Smijey (part 6): "'You can't go!' Quinn cried out. 'You'll ruin everything!' Darius gave Jane an I-told-you-this-was-a-bad-idea-now-can-I-just-get-into-a-bathtub-with-a-plugged-in-toaster-oven look, but she paid him no mind."


• Options, by Brother Grimace (parts 9 - 11): "'Hey! Asshole! Move your fucking crutches!' Luttrell Ingram Thompson (he went by his full name, as he hadn't been close enough to anyone in years to have picked up a nickname, or any other term of friendship or endearment) left his train of thought at the sound of the voice, and moved his forearm crutches from where they had slipped out into the aisle of the bus." (Part 10) (Part 11)


• Unnamed story (LLH Short Entries #2), by Roentgen (parts 131 and 132): "For the second year in a row, the Legionnaires prepared to meet in their new space-age meeting room. Daria joked that it was the 'room from the future'." (Part 132)

The Fandom's Fourth

A mere 148 years ago today, a peculiar English reverend told a fantastic story to three little girls, all sisters, while they were on a boat trip. Ten-year-old Alice, the middle sister, asked him to write it down, and three years later, he did and published it, and that is where we get all of our Alice stories. No kidding. (Thanks to Pinhead for the very relevant alter ego at right.)

As noted in an earlier blog post, number of Daria fanfics take place July 4th. It was of course the day of the Landons' party in Is It Fall Yet? (scene 20). It has also appeared in the following fanfics, arranged in alphabetical order by story.

• Best Served Cold (Ms. Geek)
• Blood, Sweat, and Cheers, Conclusion (Kristen Bealer)
  
• Bromwell Bound: That One Fateful Summer, Chapter 6 (HolyGrail2007)
  
• By the Twilight (Wildgoose)
• Daria: The Next Chapter 3—Life Is Like a Firework (LadieT)
• Family Collision (Richard Lobinske)
• Fast Times at Lawndale High (Danny Bronstein)
• Finn Morgendorffer 33: Independence (HolyGrail2007)
  
• Fireworks (C. E. Foreman)
• Fun on the Fourth (Richard Lobinske)
• If You Only Walk Long Enough (TAG)
• Into the Fray (Minx)
• Jane Lane: Ace Attorney (LSauchelli)
  
• John Lane 38: Yeah, It's Summer, Conclusion (RLobinske)
• Movies and Moonflower (Brother Grimace)
  
• Reaped Out 2: Sickle Sad World, Chapters 12+ (Minx)
• Sarcasm at 1600, Chapter 16 (Mike Xeno) (and poem by Tildessmoo)
  

Do you recall any other Fourth of July Daria stories? If so, post them below in Comments.

There's a songfic that references this day, too.

• Mike and the Spiral (with Jodie Landon) present: “Firecracker" (Ranger Thorne)

July 4th also marks some important fanfiction events, such as:

• the birthday of Jane Lane's daughter (guess the name of the daughter and her father)
• the anniversary of the creation of the first Super-Soldier (the 69th anniversary is this year, see if you can name the Super Soldier)
• the day a budding superhero created a UFO scare on the US west coast (name the superhero)
  

Quite a day, wouldn't you say?

As Always, Jane Does It Best

And a very happy 4th to one and all here. I should return to fill out the rest of this post later (went to baseball game and fireworks on evening of the 3rd). Cheers!

NuUuZ!

• Roentgen drew a marvelous map of the Fielding campus for his series (see below).
• The thread for "Is It Over Yet?" is not over yet. Much discussion there.

FF.net

• My Night with Trent Lane, by Apple Glass (COMPLETE!): Daria shut the door before her cheeks became a darker shade of red. The overwhelming feeling of embarrassment made her lower her gaze as she made her way to her bedroom, brushing aside the opportunity to inject a sardonic comment to something her sister Quinn was saying at the moment. It was imperative to reach her room unscathed, undetected, unquestioned. "Daria?" Damn, almost there. Her mother advanced towards her with that look that could only mean "there's something we need to talk about." Oh, how she hated that look. "Yes?" The girl replied. Keep it cool and this will be over before the next millennium, she thought.

PPMB

• NEWER! Another Normal Day in Lawndale, by JPAGC (Part 4): “Mr. Thompson!” warned DeMartino. “Yes, Mr. D.” Kevin's voice became serious. “World War I started because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, which caused Austria-Hungary to issue an ultimatum to Serbia and eventually to war. Germany sided with Austria and Russia, Britain and France united to defend Serbia.” “Yes, that is correct. And when did this happen?” “It was... September 1914?” “No, I'm afraid that's wrong.” DeMartino's eyes surveyed the class. “Miss Taylor, since you're smiling so much, I'm sure you can tell us the exact dates.” “Yes, Sir!” Brittany Taylor sprung to her feet, almost standing at attention. “The assassination took place on the 28th June 1914, sir!”
  
• Anti-Trope, by Minx (continued): "What the hell were you thinking?" Helen seethed as she eyed her eldest child. "What on earth possessed you to make such a stupid decision?" Dean met his mothers gaze and winced. She was mad—no, slash that, she was irate. He watched her pace the length of the breakfast bar as she waited for him to answer. "I met him at Middleton the other day when I was hanging out with Heather, he mentioned he was having some trouble writing his term paper and I agreed to give him a few pointers," Dean replied calmly. That was the cover story he, Heather, and Troy had arranged. "A few pointers?" Helen scoffed, "A few pointers?” she repeated in a higher tone, “Dean you wrote the entire essay, then to top things off you sent him all of your handwritten notes!" (FF.net)
  
• Christmas Snow, by LadieT (COMPLETE!): Trent stared out the window into an ever-greying sky. He would have to leave for work early to walk to work. His car was in the shop getting new brakes. He turned his face to Daria, who was sleeping peacefully in his bed. Christmas was just a couple of days away. She needed a break between her classes, work and counseling sessions. Trent watched her chest rise and fall with each breath and smiled. Daria had decided to stay with them rather than go home for Christmas. Her parents were disappointed but understood. She had told them of her and Trent's relationship over the summer. Trent left the bedroom, showered and made himself a cup of coffee. He went back in his room, gently kissed Daria's cheek before he headed out for work. [Sequel to "April Is the Cruelest Month"]
• Finn Morgendorffer 51: A Matter of Trust, by HolyGrail2007 (COMPLETE!): “Are you ready for this, Daria?” Jane was teasing her as she sat in Daria’s bedroom. “You have to make this harder than it is.” Daria lowered her voice. “Aww, I think it’s great!” “If you want to help, you can shove me out the window.” “Daria, there’s a safety mesh to prevent kids who get too drunk from falling out,” Jane reminded. “And you’re looking at this all the wrong way. It’s good that you’re going on a date.” “This isn’t a date,” Daria delivered flatly. “This is just an incredible mistake I got talked into, by a guy who said a glowing fairy told him my middle name is Jeanne.” “Your middle name isn’t Jeanne. You sure he wasn’t stoned?”
• NEW! General Semantics, Private Angst, by Gwrtheyrn (continued): Through the silent corridors she ran, the headset rendering the Stygian darkness permeable to her gaze. The laboratory Jane sought was one level below the guard station whence she came. Even the slight air conditioner motion usually perceptible was missing. Except for the pervasive but almost subliminal fizzy feeling, artifact of powerful Distorters energised somewhere nearby, she might have been racing through catacombs beneath some city of the dead. But there was every reason not to linger. Even some of those with no conditioned resistance to Drae must be nearing the verge of consciousness by this point.
  
• Grove Hell on Earth, by (COMPLETE!): “I’ve got Jane’s address and number on there, too. She’d give it to you in person, but she says there’s a real danger Jesse will walk to another state without supervision.” Amelia blushed darker than she ever had before. “I, I, I’m sure Jane’s just being polite, she’s bound to have other people to talk to...” Wheels turned in Daria’s head. “You can plead the fifth here, but... are you nervous of talking to Jane for the same reason I’m nervous about talking to Trent?” Amelia went from blushing to pale. “Ah, crap.” (FF.net)
• The Hallowed Halls of Fielding, by Roentgen (Part 41): Italy was very, very loud. No one would have raised their voice at Fielding if they could have avoided it, but Rome was a boisterous city where opinions were delivered fortissimo. It was almost too much for Quinn at first, and she almost thought she had descended into a bedlam of louts. But it was so much more than that! When Quinn was about to throw up her hands in disgust, a young woman—or even an older one—would walk down the sidewalk wearing something as smart as the sharpness of a straight razor, something that almost made Quinn gasp. And the food! It was as if her tongue had been slapped out of a somnolent state. The language was beautiful, even when wielded by taxi drivers. Quinn knew that it took not only courage to live here, but a certain willingness to let one's self be surrounded by paradise and not reject it out of hand. (FF.net)
  
• Jesse Moreno and Tiffany Blum-Deckler Moreno: A Couple of Few Words, by LadieT (COMPLETE!): "So... Jesse, Tiffany... how has life been since Daria finished?" Jesse responded first: "Cool." "It's... been... good." I nodded. "You caused quite a stir when you got married not even two months after the show ended. How did the members of the Fashion Club and Mystik Spiral react?" "They... said... my... wedding... dress... made... me... look... fat," Tiffany sighed.
• NEWER! Judith Strikes! Scavenger Hunt, by Doggieboy (COMPLETE!): As the smoked cleared from the .10 gauge shotgun, Jane Lane blinked and said, “I don’t get it. Where’s the squirrel?” Daria Morgendorffer looked at the spot where the squirrel had been, now a smoking chunk of torn-up dirt. She looked at Jane and asked, “‘You think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?’” Jane sighed and said, “Shut up.”
  
• Revenge of the Attack, by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): "So, what's going on?" Stacy asked, cluelessly. "Pardon Stacy," Brooke said, "but was I paying attention to you? Did I ask you to speak to me?" "What's with the asshole act, Brooke?" Quinn said. "Or is it an act?" Gina looked down her nose at Quinn. "Quinn, pink is so last year's color." "Pink is last year's color," Quinn said, "because I decided what last year's color was... last year." "Not any more you don't," Heidi muttered. "You're last year's news." "Who... made... you... boss?" Tiffany said, her vacant look narrowing slightly into a potential for violence.
• Stolen, by Malakite (continued): Jane Lane looked around her living room with the unshakeable sensation that something important had changed. Even so, it still looked like a pile of art pieces, hippie-chic furniture, and a broken television piled under a mile-high layer of neglect... and that's how it had always looked, hadn't it? Nothing was missing. She repeated that to herself a few more times as she made for her room and tried to ignore the nagging sensation that something was wrong.
• A Very Blue Test, by Doggieboy (COMPLETE!): Mr. DeMartino looked over his classroom and frowned. Something is wrong here, he thought. Most of the girls in the classroom seemed different. Daria Morgendorffer and Scarlett Hawkins were the most obvious. Both wore pastel-colored dresses, the first time he had ever seen either one in something like that. Not only that, but Jane Lane and Andrea Hecuba had on pantsuits. He blinked and noticed that all the girls in class seemed to be slightly under the weather... or acted like it. They’re trying to play with my mind, he thought. I’ll just ignore this and see what they do next. [Story related to this thread]
• NEWER! The Vision of the Burning Cities, by jtranser (continued): The dream began innocuously enough. Daria was walking down a country village street which led out of town to a huge raspberry field. The very air was charged with the promise of their sweetness. Suddenly, the raspberries began detaching themselves from their stems and rising into the sky in great clouds of juicy bumped redness. She spread her arms wide and ran toward them, laughing. Then a spark rent the skies and ignited them like so many crimson Hindenburgs, setting the very air itself on fire.

Oh, Say, Can You See...?

Happy Fourth of July! Last year I posted a list of Daria fanfics that take place on this day, and you may click over that-a-way to check it out. Does anyone know of any new ones to add to the list? One fan-created character has an interesting connection to Independence Day.

Ms. Li here sings the U.S. national anthem, though I think the image is based on something else, maybe an MTV video. Not sure. Anyone know?

Even though it looks like we'll get Daria on DVD a little over a year from now, I'll leave the links section at left on "Daria-on-DVD activism" intact. You never know...

Enjoy the day.

WE HAVE A WINNER! Disco316 appears to have correctly identified Ms. Li's outfit as similar to that worn by Ginger Spice (Geri Halliwell) of the Spice Girls. The image is more precise than that, however. (Remember what I said a while back about MTV artists often being very particular about the images they imitate?) I believe this alter ego pokes fun at Ginger Spice's appearance on the cover of Playboy Magazine for the May 1998 issue (see below, click on pic to enlarge). Ms. Li merely wears the American version of the Union Jack one-piece Ginger wore. Same shoes and microphone, though. What do you think?

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY, Y'ALL!

July 4th is a big day in Daria fandom, given the number of stories that take place on that day. It was of course the day of the Landons' party in Is It Fall Yet? (scene 20). It has also appeared in the following fanfics.

Best Served Cold (Ms. Geek)
By the Twilight (Wildgoose)
Family Collision (Richard Lobinske)
Fast Times at Lawndale High (Danny Bronstein)
Fireworks (C. E. Foreman)
Fun on the Fourth (Richard Lobinske)
If You Only Walk Long Enough (TAG)

Several stories as yet incomplete are due to take place on July 4th: Chapter 16 of Mike Xeno's Sarcasm at 1600, and Brother Grimace's Moonflower.

Do you recall any other Fourth of July Daria stories? If so, post them below in Comments.

More later. Party on most righteously!