God Save the Ice Cream!

Brittany's looking especially regal in honor of the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation on this day in 1953. I'm not sure what kind of queen Brittany would be, but I think her very first act would be to demand that any stupid, insensitive, selfish, conceited, cheating quarterback jerks be immediately beheaded.

Today is also National Rocky Road Day, and if you want to celebrate then I suggest you find Mack the Ice Cream Man and put in an order. He shouldn't be difficult to track down; he's wearing one of those little hats and ringing that bell that goes ding-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling. A-ling.

Fanfic Update!

• Cuckoos On Infinite Earths, by Charles RB (part 17): "Every since Kristen had reported her suspicions, she'd been getting a lot more work in the really complicated doomsday realities - why were there so many damned Crossed? - and Janice-101.303 seemed to still be around."


• Daria and Quinn's Incellent Adventure (Scenes No Daria fanfic should have: The Saga Goes On), by Smijey (COMPLETE!): "Jeffy kicked back on his couch, glad to be spending time with some of his fellow Lawndale alumni. 'So guys, how's the new sex redistribution and forced marriage laws working out for you?'"


• Daria Milieu Something Slimy, by Meester_Lee (parts 4 and 5): "Coach Gibson having squashed Travis Two's fun, the two groups of students went back waiting in line and talking with each other in lowered voices, the Lawndale students talking with other Lawndale students, the Highland students talking with their fellow Highlanders, and occasionally exchanging glares at the kids in the other line." (Part 5)


• Fear and Trembling, by Two-Eyed Charlie (COMPLETE!): "Tim O'Neill sat under his tree, watching a crowd approximately three times the size of the town finally disperse from the school's entrance. There was a throbbing bruise someplace on his body from where his method of navigating life got thoroughly sucker punched."


• First contact, by OzFerret (part 1): "His heart pounded in his chest, drowning out all other noises. He shook his head. 'How was he supposed to listen for intruders with all this noise?' he wondered."


• My Breast Fiend, by Smijey (parts 1 and 2): "Jane and her new buddy Darius were sitting together in the lunch room, enjoying what the school charitably referred to as food. 'So, Darius, why don't you see me as girlfriend material?'" (Part 2)


• Redemption, by atimnie (part 31): "Helen and Jake walked up the path to the door of the funeral home, when Helen stopped suddenly. 'Jake, I don't know if I can do this.'"


• Reflections, by Lady Evil (part 16): "Jane was used to Jesse being quiet, but now, it disturbed her as he drove her back to his house. 'Did he leave a note?' she asked. 'Yeah.' 'Did it say where he went?' 'No.'"


• Second Chance for Love, by David Falkayn (part 15): "'Ummm...baby...' Angie stammered slightly as she and Elizaveta walked together in the park holding hands. 'What, szereto?' Elizaveta asked, 'Is something wrong?' 'I don't know.' Angie sighed, 'Maybe.'"

We are, Like, Not Amused!

Brittany is helping to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, which happened on this day in 1953. God help the UK if Brittany ever really ends up in charge there. I'm thinking the first royal decree would involve mandatory cheerleading practices.

Fandom News!

• What have siblings been like for you? Share your experiences in the thread.


• Discuss the new Top Gear TV show.


• MartinUK wants to know if anybody here has seen Halestorm play live. Vote in the poll!


• What are your thoughts on homosexual cartoons?


• What do you consider Daria headcanon?

She's Even Got the Royal Wave

Brittany has apparently just re-enacted the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, which happened on this day in 1953. I'd keep a close eye on that corgi if I were you, Brittany. Whatever you do, don't let your brother near it.

And now for the third installment in the "Great Mysteries of Daria" series: character superpowers. Okay, so none of the characters in canon technically had any of the traditional superpowers like flight or laser blasts, but there were some odd things going on on the show from time to time. For example, was Quinn's past life regression as Cleopatra real or fake? It's hard to believe that Quinn could put on such a convincing act, particularly since it would require at least a little bit of historical knowledge. Not only that, but Quinn as Cleopatra does fit disturbingly well.

It wasn't just the central characters that seemed to have special abilities, either. The backgrounder Shaggy was shown to be able to both time travel and bilocate, among other things. We can only hope he only used those powers for good...or at least solving mysteries with a talking dog.

Finally, Trent's ability to fall asleep under every possible circumstance--during an almost-hurricane, while holding a guitar, and so forth--could qualify as a superpower as well. Not to mention the ability of certain teachers to hold onto their jobs in spite of their blatant discrimination, strangling attempts, and/or complete ineptitude.

God Save the Teen

Brittany is looking very regal as Queen Elizabeth II, who is celebrating her 89th birthday today. We'd all be in a lot of trouble if Brittany ever ended up in charge of an entire country, mostly because she'd probably require everyone to attend pep rallies. Ugh.

Fandom News!

• Yesterday was an important day for marijuana fans!


• See new trailers for Batman v Superman, Fantastic Four, and Jurassic World.


• tafka started a new activity: Big Brother Lawndale II.

Hi, There, Back from a Day Off

I took a day off yesterday. Should have mentioned that when it happened. Back again!

Today is the 2,762nd birthday of the city of Rome, and I don't have a single image to celebrate it. Not one! However, I do have a picture of Brittany dressed as Queen Elizabeth II, whose birthday it also is (she's 84). AND this is the third birthday of "Stacy Rowe, Seeker," by jtranser, introduced on PPMB. Hooray!

Daria episodes from seasons 1-3 are now available on iTunes! More news here.

Write/artist Vlora recently spent a day as Daria. The result was amazing.

Echopapa's new Iron Chef: Pact With The Devil. "The challenge: write a ficlet wherein a Lawndalian makes a deal with Old Scratch for personal gain, or to extricate themselves or others from some kind of jam. Extra points for beating the Devil. Double extra points for thinking that they have beaten the Devil."

A rather naughty (possibly NSFW but not terrible) view of Quinn, by InnocentTazlet, has appeared in The Easel on PPMB. No link here, just go there and find it.

PPMB

• Anti-Trope, by Minx (continued): “Dean, Quinn stop fighting. We are all going on a tour of the college, and that is final! There will be no sarcastic remarks—” she pointed to Dean “—and no wandering off to find the cool kids—” she said to Quinn. “And no inappropriate reminiscent stories of any kind,” she said finally to Jake.
• The Dream of the White Darkness, by jtranser (continued): "Yes, dreams lead lives of their own. Consider the Twilight Dream, which occurs just before sleep and just before awakening; they favor those very brief seconds of changing light levels in the mind and choose then to emerge and inspect their own realms, to feed on dreamers as they drift in and out of slumber, and to mark their territories."
• NEW! Falling into College: The Clip Show, by RLobinske (Part 4): "Back home in Lawndale, things did get a little weird when I got caught up in the unraveling of the full story behind Ms. Li's scheme with Lenard Lamm and Linda Griffin to promote Ultra Cola. And the big surprise was the help from Sandi Griffin."
  
• Finn Morgendorffer 43: A Tale of Three Schrecters, by HolyGrail2007 (Parts 2 and 3 and 4!): “Am I getting paid for this?” “Technically, no. However, you will get an increase in your allowance. A sort of wage.” “A trick to avoid minimum wage laws?” “Finn, I can quote laws you would never have even heard of.”
• Folie à deux, by Charliefox2012 (Part 5): Daria glared at Evie. “Be quiet. Take notes. Pass the damn class,” she said sharply. “It’s simple and it would be one less fight between you and mom.” Evie scowled. “I hate you,” she muttered, peeved, taking out a notebook and pen. “The feeling’s mutual,” Daria grumbled. The twins glared at each other.
• NEW! General Semantics, Private Angst, by Gwrtheyrn (Part 22): "Doctor, I'm tired, too. But we can't waste time. We need some kind of a plan, or Mars and Earth are toast, and that's the end of the null-A way of life."
  
• Girl in a Jar, by Trscroggs (COMPLETE!): Jane Lane, BFAC graduate of 2217 and artist for hire, shivered as her body adjusted to the lower temperature of the preservationist lab. Or at least that was what she was hoping the reaction was. Her latest job was sending her into the governmental storage facility were some of the most dangerous technology of the Gene Revolution was kept. Some of that stuff could destroy the world, but most of it had been kept ice for more than a century. If anything was going to escape it certainly wasn’t waiting for her presence to do so . . . . She hoped.
• A Hell of a Sister, by Trscroggs (COMPLETE!): In the comfort and safety of their home, Daria didn’t waste the effort in disguising what she was. Truthfully, the tiny red horns were just barely visible through Daria’s hair. Thankfully, Daria thought the effort required to manifest her traditional tail and wings was rarely worth it.
• MOST NEWEREST!!! Invader Dar, by Wraith (continued): Six months later, Dar was wondering if shooting QIN out of the Voot cruiser and into a passing sun would help. Unfortunately, that plan had a drawback. Namely, having to make calculations, or in other words, work. Not that the calculations would have been too difficult, except that SIR units were quite capable of maneuvering in a vacuum. "Are you ever going to stop singing?" QIN ignored this, still singing, "Cute, cute cute, cute, cute."
  
• NEWER!! A New Set of Rules, by Dennis (continued): It took Daria awhile to finally work up the nerve to look at Kevin's paper. She saw he'd finally given it a title, and his choice, “The Playbook for Great Expectations,” nearly made her give up then and there. But a promise was a promise, even if it was made to Kevin Thompson, so she gritted her teeth and got started.
  
• NEW! Souled Out! by Project Pegasus (COMPLETE!): "All right," said Thom Beelzebub. "I usually don't say this, but that really wasn't something to sell your soul over. I think you made a mistake."
  
• Unnamed story (Three-peat! New Ideas Thread Wins Again!), by Trscroggs (COMPLETE!): “So, found another princess I see,” Trent Lane said as Daria Morgendorffer left the Lane residence. Jane shot her brother a look. “We’ve discussed this before, Trent. I am not looking for a princess. And besides, Daria would be highly insulted if you called her that.”
• NEW! Wild Powers, Wilder Cynics, by Trscroggs (COMPLETE!): Daria sighed and looked over at her mother. “Wild Magic always requires a price right? Effort in return for the ability to make a change.”
  

Politics in the Good Old Days

A mere 254 years ago, Aaron Burr was born. He grew up to be the first (and last) Vice President of the United States who was legally allowed to shoot his political opponents dead. Sadly, the laws were changed after Burr's famous duel with duel-loser Alexander Hamilton (former Secretary of the Treasury), and now Vice Presidents are only allowed to shoot people by accident. I am not sure if Kevin (at left) is supposed to be Aaron Burr, but it's the closest alter ego there is to him, so it will do.

This is the 115th birthday anniversary of Babe "The Big Bambino" Ruth, not the candy bar but the baseball guy. The candy bar was not named for him. It's a long story.

And this is the 58th anniversary of the most peculiar royal succession ever, when Princess Elizabeth climbed into a giant treehouse in Kenya and was there notified that she had just become Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. She went up a princess, came down a queen. And people say there's no such thing as magic. Disney must have had a hand in this, you know he did.

And if you're heading over to Facebook's Daria page, the official one by MTV, say hi to one of our own! Thanks, Kara!

Happy (Former) New Year's Day!

Today is Lady Day, which was until 356 years ago New Year's Day in England, Ireland, Wales, and "the colonies." The year 1751 actually began on March 25th. The Gregorian calendar was adopted by England in 1752, so that year began on January 1st. The year 1751 was thus very short. The switch from Julian and Gregorian calendars actually has some importance in an unfinished Daria fanfic ("The Other").

Today is also Maryland Day, which would have had little effect on Daria and Jane even if they did live near Baltimore. Lord Baltimore and others founded the colony of Maryland 374 years ago. Brittany might have worked out a cheer for it, though.

Fifty-three years ago, Allen Ginsburg's poem "Howl" was declared obscene by U.S. Customs. This is the poem Daria tried reading to retirement-home seniors in "The Old and the Beautiful" ("I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix. . . .").

An interesting analysis of two Daria episodes, "Too Cute" and "Pierce Me," appears online here. A fan site I hadn't noticed before, The Daria Goodies Page, offers stuff to download. And another "adoptable" webpage on Daria is available on FanCast Beta.

On DariaWiki, Roentgen continues to improve on his already excellent list of Daria episodes, giving their original showtimes and plot summaries as well. Brother Grimace, Scissors MacGillicutty, and Richard Lobinske added more material as well.

A couple of updates:


PPMB

• Legion of Lawndale Heroes, Volume Two, by Brother Grimace (LLH 12.6 – ‘Bop Till You Drop, Part II’): The Big Bopper continues, and many get the bopping of their lives.
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part II), by jtranser (continued): Now he has arisen: he who long slept, from the depth arisen, out of arches strong...
  
  

Also, Kristen Bealer and Richard Lobinske posted stories to Lawndale Online and Fanfiction.net.

Any more Dariacons being planned?