The Fashionable Aviator

On this day in 1903, the Wright brothers made the first successful airplane flight in history. Quinn is ready for her take-off, but only if it doesn't mess up her hair, okay?

Today is also the beginning of the Saturnalia festival, so party on!

Fandom News!

• Scissors MacGillicutty announces a maintenance cancellation and a new access policy.


• Have you jumped ship to Chrome, or thinking about it? Join in the discussion!


• Welcome all our new members in the "I'm New Here" thread.


• Roentgen has found an answer to why people love arguing on the internet.


• What "little things" do you love in Daria episodes?


• neonhomer wonders about a letter-writing campaign to bring Daria back.


• Have you seen Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows? Post about it in the thread!


• Share your thoughts on beta reading in a new thread in Creative Writing.

My Heart Will Go On... Until Death, Anyway

Twelve years ago today, the epic movie Titanic was released in the USA. This led directly to the penning of the Daria episode "Just Add Water," which shares many plot elements with the movie, except for being shorter. Brittany, upon being informed of the event in her history class, had this response.

Queen Jossie wrote the fanfic "Y 2 Day?" ten years ago today. Remember all that Y2K crap? Jeepers. Did get some good fanfiction out of it, though. In addition to the above, the following have moderate-to-high Y2K-ness. Anyone recall any others?

• Daria's Christmas Folly, by Crazy Nutso
• Daylight: Falling from Grace, by Disco316
• DWU#13: Erin the Head, by Kara Wild (song at the end)
• Falling into College #9: Holiday Breaks, by Richard Lobinske
• The Submariner Series, by Wildgoose
• Why 2K? by Kemical Reaxion

OUTRAGEOUSLY GOOD NEWZ!

• One-time Daria fan artist Katie Cook is big time now! John Takis informs us that she is now drawing Fraggle Rock comics, and she has also been drawing collectible cards for Marvel, DC, and Star Wars! Check it out! Katie Cook's Daria fan art from the year 2000 survives on the web. We can say we knew her way back when she was awesome, before she became mega-awesome. And, in keeping with today's Titanic theme, here is Ms. Cook's Daria from the movie.

Quiverwing reminds us that there are only TWENTY (20) days left in which to nominate your favorite works for the 2009 Daria Fanworks Awards! Read the rules!

FF.net

• Secret Smile, by SinisterDragula (COMPLETE!): The front door slammed, followed by grunts of disgust. “God! Why did Jamie have to be such a jerk?”

PPMB

• NEW! Ah, Good Memories, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): "Tell me why we're paying good money that we could be spending on bad pizza to see another faculty roller hockey game, Lane." [Cosmic Epic Win.]
• Another Normal Day in Lawndale, by JPAGC (Part 3): Quinn quickly spotted her sister with two of the usual companions: She remembered Brooke, the tall, brunette girl, but couldn't place a name on the blonde girl with a pink shirt also hanging with her. A junior? A freshmen? No matter, she thought, just another of the mindless fashion zombies my sister likes to so much.
• Anti-Trope, by Minx (continued): “No, a million times, no.” Dean shook his head. “There is no way in hell I am going to play football.”
• Crazy for Fashion, by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): "Let's look at the spectacle, Daria." "No." "Aw, come on. I'll give you a dollar."

• Daria: Hunter—Mind over Plasma, by Jim North (COMPLETE!): "Artie." The man's head snapped up so quickly that it looked like it might tear straight off his skinny neck and fly across the room. "What? Yes? I'm Artie!" "Your abilities," said the bounty hunter. "Just how far do they reach?" (FF.net)
• Daria: Hunter—Rememory, by Jim North (COMPLETE!): Another day filled with strangeness had passed, and Daria had made it out the other end alive. She told herself that that was the important thing. She was alive. Jane was alive. Their temporary ward Artie the psychic pizza cook was alive. The only person who hadn't survived the events of the day was the man who had attacked them, and good riddance. (FF.net)
  
• NEW! The Dream of the White Darkness, by jtranser (continued): "A number of patient specific tests will have to be run before a complete diagnosis can be ventured. But one thing has already become clear. Evidence of psychotronic interference and embedding is faint but clear. In short, patient has been a subject of involuntary mind control experimentation." [and more added here!]
  
• NEW! Finn Morgendorffer 21: Jane Errs, HolyGrail2007 (COMPLETE!): “Oh, come on,” Jane continued to tease. “It’s not like I haven’t seen you in your boxers before.” And that was enough. Daria pushed open the door into her brother’s room. “What the hell is going on?!” she shouted with righteous fury.

• Hallway, by GlitterShrooms (COMPLETE!): "Morgendorffer! Lane! What do you two punks think you’re doing?” yelled the always angry Ms. Barch.
• NEW! In Search of the Path, by Trscroggs (Part 1): Drawing on all the experience she had gained while trapped in this twisted world of sorcery, the Seeker yelled in her most authoritative voice: “Freeze! Hands in where I can see them! Turn around slowly and I won’t have to shoot. Oh my God! It can’t be!” The small woman who had been stealing the Seeker’s loot stared in surprise. “Brittany Taylor? What the hell are you doing here?” Daria Morgendorffer asked.
• NEW! In Silence Sarcastic, by Trscroggs (continued): My sister, the dating guru, Daria signed. But I do not need to speak to the dating guru; I need to talk to the fashion guru instead.
  
• Love Is a Series of Burning Sensations, by Undefinedlust (Part 14): Okay, so I really couldn't get everything Daria was saying, so I called Christina for help and we talked till midnight. Then I got really high and tried to go to bed. But I just couldn't sleep, I just kept thinking of her in that box... just thinking about her... What the hell made me think it was a good idea to go for a walk... a walk past her house... looking to see if her light was on... Geez Jane, act like a stalker much?
• NEW! Monster Madness, by Trscroggs (continued): “Pilot Candidate Sterling has apparently decided not to read his briefing, sir. He called Pilot Morgendorffer a ‘know-nothing civilian brat’, sir.”
  
• One Night..., by Charliefox2012 (COMPLETE!): [revised version of original at FF.net]: I lie here, naked, but covered by a thin sheet, in a bed that is not my own.
• Quinn: The Show, by Ajar (Part 3): "So, um, what do you think about wrap skirts this season?" "First parachute pants and now this. Is there no end to Hammer's insanity?"
• A Reaper in the Wind, by Richard Lobinske (Parts 1 and 2): Tom closed his book and set it on the table next to the chair before rising. Only a moment after the visitor had knocked on the door, Tom opened it. "Good morning." A man in a black suit presented Tom with a sealed folder and said, "Special Agent Sloane. Your next assignment." [Daria/NCIS]
• NEW! Second Life, by Legendeld (Part 2): "I don't know why you keep putting up with Daria's crap, Jane. I know tons of models who would love to date you." Quinn took off her light coat and hung it on the stair railing. "Tell me what she did!"
  

• Slumber Party, by GlitterShrooms (COMPLETE!): "My God, Li," cried Ms. Barch from outside in the tree. "Are you getting all of this?" "You betcha your fat ass I am," replied Li with her camcorder.
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part III), by jtranser (continued): High above Toronto, Stacy flew into the tomato sunrise. Below her, a hundred miles down, wreathed in light transparent smog, the brown and wrinkled surface of Earth bid her a silent forlorn goodbye as she engaged her drives and headed for the center of the galaxy.
• A Very Saturnalia Holiday, by Vlora (COMPLETE!): "What if you don’t celebrate Christmas?" Daria asked, her eyes set on Mr. O’Neill’s face. "Then pick any holiday you like!" "May I go first?" [At last! Thank you, Vlora!]

Chill Out!

Canadibrit's heartwarming classic tale, "A Family Holiday," begins on this day nine years ago. (Prose version here.) Just thought I'd toss that out there.

Daria and Jane at right remind us that this is the time of year to dress warmly and not go hiking in the wilderness before a blizzard. If you do, good luck. At least you were warned.

Today also marks the beginning of the ancient Roman party holiday of Saturnalia, a week-long festival that is directly to blame for the commercialization and debasement of every December holiday there is today. You know what Christmas cards and Chanukah cards look like. When the Roman sent Saturnalia cards to each other, the cards looked like this. The Romans forgot more about partying than we will ever know. Thank God they couldn't drive.

Speaking of which, I complained a year ago that there was no Daria fanfiction featuring Saturnalia, and guess what? It's a year later and there's still no Daria fanfiction featuring Saturnalia. (Paperpusher wrote a story that mentions Saturnalia in passing, but the Morgendorffers aren't celebrating Saturnalia.) How low have we sunk to ignore this vital part of our midwinter holiday tradition? How low, Daria fen? ("Fen" means fans. It's old-timer fannish talk. Just roll with it.) Get on the stick, fanfic writers, and let the good times of Saturnalia rise once again!

When in Rome, Party Like the Romans Do

Today is the first day of Saturnalia, the ancient Roman midwinter festival of wackiness, when the low became high and high became low for a week (until December 23rd). That's why Daria gets an emperor's golden wreath today. It is also a day marked in a Daria story having to do with her diary. Do you know that not a single Daria story makes use of Saturnalia? What have we become to have missed this?

This is also Wright Brothers Day, commemorating the 105th anniversary of the Wright Brothers first heavier-than-air powered flight at Kitty Hawk, during which no one served salted peanuts. Thanks to them, Daria and her father got a rare chance to bond on a passenger jet in the episode "Of Human Bonding," but they blew it. Of course.

Wouter offers some Sandi wallpaper for your computer on PPMB. Thank'ee kindly!