Rah! Rah! Sis Boom Bah!

Cheerleading as an organized sport/activity began 111 years ago today. The first cheerleader was a guy. Wonder what Brittany thinks of that.

"Wraith's Ramblings" rambled into "Lane Miserables" territory nine years ago today. He said it was his favorite episode of the third season and remarked that perhaps Jake is not as clueless as is supposed.

Those familiar with my own ramblings know of my fondness for trying to think up a post-canon series in which certain Daria cast members (and maybe crossover folks) are hired on to fly a giant cargo aircraft around the world, sort of a poor man's Star Trek. The largest flying boat ever built, Howard Hughes' "Spruce Goose," made its only flight 62 years ago today with millionaire movie director, aircraft manufacturer, and test pilot Howard Hughes himself at the controls. The mighty Goose is now housed at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.

McMinnville was the site of a famous UFO case, by the way, and now hosts an annual UFO convention to rival those in Roswell, New Mexico. Party town!

Interestingly for Daria fandom, it was 52 years ago today that the Levelland, Texas, UFO event took place. Levelland is near Lubbock, in West Texas, where Highland is thought to be. (Some of my fics place Highland near Lubbock.) You gotta wonder if the Levelland UFO had anything to do with Beavis and Butt-head. I mean, you really gotta wonder. It would explain a lot.

An off-the-cuff remark by Losdia in the PPMB thread on social class and economics has spawned a series of projections by various fans of where the Daria characters are today and how they have fared in the last decade. A lot of fun is being had.

Why isn't MTV doing more to promote the Daria DVD coming out a year from now? Your thoughts, please. I mean, this cartoon hit the big time, seriously. Why no promo?

PPMB

• Finn Morgendorffer 11: Man of Honor, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 2): “Amy? How delightful," said Rita. "I didn’t think you were going to attend.” “Well, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to watch the two of you put aside years of resentment. Or try to poison each other. Either way, more exciting then the plans I had fall through. Looks like Jake and Roger are hitting it off well.”
  
• John Lane 43: We're on a Mission, by Richard Lobinske (COMPLETE!): "You have to admit that what Ms. Ruiz did was fun." "Yeah, and now everyone wants one of her 'Get Out Of Class Free' cards."
• Reaped Out II: Sickle Sad World, by Pinkminx (Part 10): A sense of foreboding took over Daria as she approached the entrance of the mall. She had ten minutes to claim her reap, and the congregation of approximately fifty people surrounding the front doors was going to make it hard. Daria edged her way closer to the front of the crowd to get an idea of what was going on. (FF.net)
  
• The Revanche Chronicles: Touching Ground, by Silver (Part 1): Charles Ruttheimer III stared over the starboard side of the airship Revanche, occasionally calling directions out to the wheelhouse. Over the engines, Nicholas could occasionally be heard snapping about how much of a headache the Revanche was to land.
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part III), by jtranser (continued): "Yeah, that's what you get for busting Dr. Korsakov and his bioluminescent menagerie of badgers, pandas, porcupines and wildebeests." "Well, Jane, he was warned and he did have it coming. Did he really think he could get away with manufacturing glow in the dark wildlife?"
  

Stuff with Fanfic Potential Out the Wazoo!

Let's see, let's start off with angst. Today is the 197th anniversary of the biggest earthquake ever known in the middle of the United States, the New Madrid Quake of 1812. I live rather close to this region, so if my writing gets jiggly one day, you'll know why. I'm sure someone can stick this into a story and kill and injure lots of characters.

Comedy is hard, everyone says, but today three very excellent comedians were born, and you can steal their jokes for your fanfics, or at least figure out how to make jokes like theirs. They are Emo Philips, Eddie Izzard, and Chris Rock. Now you can write a comedy fanfic and it will be easy. Start here.

Let's talk adventure. Today is also the birthday of aircraft designer Oleg Antonov, whose company (named for him) built the biggest airplane ever, the An-225, which I have been trying for years to figure out how to work into a Daria fanfic. I blew up a C-5 Galaxy in one story, but I always thought having some Daria characters as aircraft crew in a big plane that didn't blow up right away (kind of like a starship crew, get it?) would be awesome. Except I can't figure out how to do it. Damn.

Today is also the anniversary of Charles Dickens's birth, but nothing he did is worth writing about in a Daria fanfic, so I'll skip over him. Bleak House, my ass.

Any thoughts on the above three ideas? Any thoughts of your own? Do I have to do all the thinking around here? Apparently so. More later, then.

Newest DariaWiki entry: Bobby Stuart, by Disco316. Remember Bobby?


PPMB

• Falling into College 66: Christmas in White, by Richard Lobinske (COMPLETE!): "None of us want your crutches flailing around while you try to catch the bouquet. But I'll make a deal with you. If that thing comes my way, I'll swat it over toward you."
• Snuffed Animals, by Disco316 (COMPLETE!): Daria smirked at that. “Trust me, Mom; if I was pregnant, you’d have to prepare the guest room for three kings.”
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part II), by jtranser (continued): "Esper Command reports have to be both pretentious and mind numbing, so I'll use correlation of forces. I'll also use i.e., e.g., ibid., op.cit. and q.v." "What about viz.?" "The idea is to numb the mind of the reader, not permanently damage it."