Putting the "High" in High Five

President's Day (or Days?) are celebrating National High Five Day, which makes me wonder if the actual National High Five Day is feeling a little annoyed about having his or her day co-opted.

Today is also 4/20, and I have a sneaking suspicion that Trent might be celebrating this one. PSA: don't attempt to high-five while stoned. Just...don't.

Today is also Volunteer Recognition Day, so this would be a good time to volunteer to help hospitalized kids with art projects or read to senior citizens. Also, preferably not while stoned.

The PPMB is still unavailable, and Scissors MacGillicutty has an explanation and progress report.

How About a Bracing Spot of Birthday Tea?

The fantasy versions of Daria and Quinn are wishing a glorious morning to Jane Austen, who was born on this day in 1775. The scene is, of course, from "Write Where it Hurts," in which we find out that virtually everything Daria writes is stolen from other authors. But Austen was among them, so I can't fault her taste.

Hanukkah begins at sunset tonight, so I'd also like to wish anyone in Daria fandom who celebrates it an excellent Festival of Lights.

Maintenance continues on the PPMB, but you can stay up-to-date on the Paperpusher MB Twitter account.

The Price is...Cool

Jesse's looking more enthusiastic than usual in this alter ego of game show host Bob Barker, who celebrates his 91st birthday today. I'm not sure I can picture Jesse as a game show host, but I suppose it makes about as much sense as his Is It College Yet? alter ego of singing in a choir. Either way, he'd have to put on a shirt.

Progress is still slowly being made on repairing the PPMB database, but be sure to keep checking the news on the Paperpusher MB twitter feed while you talk to other Daria fans on The Sh33p's Fluff Message Board.

Once again, thank you to Kara Wild and Scissors MacGillicutty for all of your hard work in getting everything working again!

In the meantime, what has everyone else in fandom been up to while the board is down? I've been getting a surprising amount of writing in. How about you? Let us know in the comments.

Best Friends in Any Era

Daria and Jane (or perhaps their ancestors) are hard at work because on this day in 1941, the United States officially entered World War 2. The entry was announced on the same day by Franklin Roosevelt in his "Infamy Speech," known by the most famous line, "a date which will live in infamy."

As of this post, the PPMB is still down. Until it returns, remember to check the Paperpusher MB twitter feed for updates on the situation and chat with people at The Sh33p's Fluff Message Board.

Last news on the topic was that the message board may be back up and running as early as today! Keep your fingers crossed, and thank you to Kara Wild, Scissors MacGillicutty, and everyone else who's working to fix the problem.

"It's not what you put into the cookies, it's what you put INTO the cookies!"

Helen and Rita are just about to put together a special treat for National Cookie Day, but I'd be wary of eating them if I were you. Although the chocolate chips are already in them, I have virtually no faith in either of them as cooks.

Still, I'm sure it beats the heck out of Creepy Daria's heart-shaped cookies for Kevin.

The PPMB is still down, but you can find out more about efforts to fix the problem on the Paperpusher MB Twitter account and keep up with other fans at The Sh33p's Fluff Message Board. The latest news appears to be that work is underway to fix the problem, but the message board will probably be out of commission until Monday.

You may now commence panicking.

It's Not You; the PPMB is Down

Keep updated on the situation with the Paperpusher MB Twitter account.

Or Is It Fronkensteen?

Today is National Frankenstein Day! The novel Frankenstein was written by Mary Shelley, who not only created a masterpiece and revolutionized a literary genre, but did it at 18. No Musings rejection letters for her!

Frankenstein was one of O'Neill's "moral book" options in "Write Where It Hurts," and the novel was also used as a theme in The Angst Guy's Darius and A Hard Days' Night.

Richard Lobinske also wrote about Frankenstein in A Legend of Rebirth, but it's not the one you might expect. Read the fic to find out more!

In addition, this day in 1929 was "Black Tuesday," the point when the stock market completely collapsed and the Great Depression began. Good thing we don't have to worry about that kind of thing these days. Cough.

Speaking of crashes, the PPMB is still down, but you can get updates at Site5 or the SFMB.

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Cynics Yearning to Breathe Free

It was exactly 125 years ago today that the Statue of Liberty was dedicated. Jane looks pretty good there for a national monument well over a century old!

This is also International Animation Day, so let's celebrate animation today by watching some kind of animated television program. If only I could think of a really good candidate. Hmmmm....

The PPMB is still down, but you can get updates on the SFMB as well as the Site5 forums. Also, discussion in general continues on the SFMB, and I'll highlight a few recent threads:

• Derek posted some pictures of trolleys at night.


• Some discouraging news about the hypothetical "Daria" revival.


• Discuss Beavis and Butt-head revival in the thread.

Yuk

PPMB and SFMB both seem to be down at the moment. Rats. Post notes at this website in the meanwhile.


L8R: Okay, they're back up.

Surf's Up!

Mack Mackenzie reminds us that today is King Kamehameha Day in Hawaii. Party it up as you see fit.

A lot of topics are being argued over in PPMB. Some of the most popular threads include these, which you should patronize and enjoy. (PPMB is having a few technical issues itself, but it is mostly stable.)

• Why are nerds unpopular?
• Daria and Asperger syndrome
• Daria geek movie consensus
• Which writers specialize in certain characters?
• Ever have a teacher give you this advice about writing?
• Questions, questions, questions (for fanfic writers)
• Flinging Fourth the New Ideas Thread

And there is even more fanfiction on tap.

PPMB

• Finn Morgendorffer 49: Blessed Be This Meal, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 2): “Daria, when is your last class on Wednesday? Tell me now so I can make sure someone picks you up in time for Thanksgiving.” “About Thanksgiving, Mom. I don’t think I’m going to come down.” The news hit Helen very hard. “Why?”
• NEW! The Hallowed Halls of Fielding, by Roentgen (Part 35): Daria walked downstairs. "I suppose I shouldn't even ask," Daria said. "No ham?" "Daria!" Jake cried. "This is Thanksgiving! It's Turkey Day! We don't eat ham on Turkey Day!" "All right," Daria said. "Mom, did you stock the anti-diarrhea medicine again?" "Daria, I keep trying to tell you, over and over again, that Jake's turkey is fine. You're the only one that seems to have trouble with it. And I know that you eat turkey on other occasions, so you can stop trying to sell that you're allergic to turkey."
  
• Hang Time, by Lord Akiyama (Part 2): Jane and Trent Lane slouched as they stood on the curve in front of their home. Both wore sunglasses, primarily to prevent too much sunlight into their eyes. Both were extremely tired and, quite frankly, would rather be asleep at this moment. Instead, they were awake, or about as awake as they could be at this time of day, and waiting. Waiting for their nightmare to truly begin. "Hey, Janey," Trent managed to mumble. "Yeah?" Jane responded in a sleepy voice. "What time is it?"
• Springtime For Self-Esteem, by Ajar (continued): “We're just here to say we've chosen your proposal for the new self-esteem club.” “Good. Maybe now there won't be such a bias against women in self-esteem education.” “What bias?” “What bias?! How about the bias that a woman's self worth is how much approval they get from a man who will walk out on her after twenty-two years. What bias? When was the last time you saw a man desperately trying to make herself attracted to a man who doesn't appreciate all the sacrifices she made to him.”
• The Weed of Crime Bears Glitter Fruit, by Kristen Bealer (Part 2): "Welcome to It's a Nutty, Nutty, Nutty World. We're just nuts about nuts. Crunch nuts with your lunch. Buy them by the bunch. Send them to friends far away to munch," recited the teenager behind the counter. His bored tone of voice contrasted sharply with the fake smile plastered on his face. "We want to speak to the person in charge," Kevin demanded. "Is there a manager or whatever here?" The teenager's smile immediately vanished as he gestured toward the back room behind the counter. "In there." Kevin and 99 burst through the door to see a thin man with blond hair and an earnest expression, holding a clipboard as he inventoried the nuts. "Hey! No unauthorized personnel behind the counter!" As the agents pulled guns from their holsters, beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. "Please!" he begged. "Take what you want, but please leave the pistachios; we're down to our last bag!" "Drop the act," Kevin ordered. "We know this place is a KAOS front, and we're here to shut it down!" (Daria/Get Smart)
• NEW! Unnamed story (Iron Chef: The Sincerest Form of Flattery), by Roentgen (fragment): In 2002, a film was uncovered from the Crotobaltislavonian State Archives. Called "Esteemed Too Dearly," it appeared to be some sort of teen comedy film financed by the Crotobaltislavonian Council for the Filmic Arts. However, due to the collapse of the Crotobaltislavonian unit of currency—the pem—sometime in 2002, the movie was never released...
  

Oh, the Horror, the Horror!

PPMB and SFMB are both down, so if you want to chat about anything, you may do so here in Comments. Have at it. I'll ramble on about nothing, after I get back from going out, and maybe the other guys who can post here will do so too, if they know what's good for them.

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...

Odds and Ends and Dresses That Don't Fit

The Big List o' Daria Fanfic for 2009 has been updated. Have a look at it and see if anything is out of place. I will post corrections as I get them.

I still cannot get over how many responses The Kristen Bealer Guy got to this post. Man. Why can't I think up topics like that?

More shortly. Thinking about some stuff.

PPMB is having some serious issues with errors today. I can't even post on it now, when I could earlier. Dang.

YAY FOR THE FILLY!

I bet you thought I had forgotten about this great alter ego. No, sir! Hooray for Rachel Alexandra, winner of the Preakness! Hooray! Ride 'er, Jake! And enjoy the private celebration in the stall afterward!

Ah, there's nothing like quality family time.

More later, still up too late. PPMB is wonky, having trouble getting into it.

A Surprise Note from PPMB

Internal Server Error

The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request.

Please contact the server administrator, webmaster@thepaperpusher.net and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error.

More information about this error may be available in the server error log.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.


Guess we'll have to wait a little before it gets sorted out.

Due to technical difficulties beyond our control....

It appears that I will not be able to report on PPMB goings-on for a little while, with all the blank screens and internal server error messages and long delays that are cropping up. Hmmm.



So it goes. Sigh.