It's World Television Day. Hooray.

Today is World Television Day, a pseudo-holiday every bit as stupid as it sounds. Are we supposed to watch it to celebrate? Imagine what this kid is like at Holiday Island High.

Speaking of television, this is also the 72st birthday of actress Marlo Thomas, who starred in the TV series That Girl 40 years ago. At right is Andrea as Ms. Thomas's That Girl character (Anne Marie) in an early MTV alter ego.

Many of the events detailed in part two of "Nine-Eleven and Counting" took place eight years ago, starting today. It was also about this date that Daria received a unique present from her sister Quinn in another tale. Daria's birthday is today according to yet still another fandom mythology, and still yet another. This is the last day this year that Daria's birthday can possibly occur, if she is a Scorpio.

Speaking of lame pseudo-holidays, this is also World Hello Day, Daria Morgendorffer is of course ready to welcome one and all. On the good nerdy side of the holiday spectrum, this is artist René Magritte's 111th birthday anniversary (he is mentioned in only one Daria fanfic), Voltaire's 315th birthday anniversary (he's mentioned in four Daria fanfics), and the 29th year since the infamous Lake Peigneur eco-disaster in Louisiana, which was actually pretty weird and almost funny. In the U.S.A., it's National Adoption Day. Did you ever wonder if Daria was... you know... adopted by space aliens disguised as humans?

An interesting essay by CINCGREEN, "Daria, Batman, Darth Vader and the Braves," is at the author's Fortress.

PPMB

• Balletdictorian, by Kristen Bealer (part 2): "...and we didn't do any fancy stuff or anything! We just stood in front of the mirror barefoot and did a bunch of dumb stretches!" It was dinnertime, and Jodie had had all day to build up a long list of complaints. Unfortunately, she was reciting them to herself. Her mother, Michelle, was reading the Wall Street Journal in between bites of dinner. Andrew was feeding Rachel. Neither had heard a word she'd said.
• Falling into College 71: Merging Goals, by Richard Lobinske (COMPLETE!): "Remember how you wanted to get in on the IPO at that dot-com company?" "Yeah," Jake grumbled. "I was a month too late for the stock options." "Look at what those stocks are worth, now." "Buzzdome went belly-up two years ago." "Exactly, the stocks are worthless. What Jodie is offering is payment up front, not empty promises."
• Living Legends, by Trscroggs (EVEN MORE COMPLETE!): “Recently my cover identity had the chance to read a piece of spy-thriller parody by one of the other students.” Blue locked eyes with Pointman as she continued. “The actions of the main character were almost a one-to-one match with the events of the Morocco mission.”
• Shield Maiden, by Richard Lobinske (COMPLETE!): “Three for evac, Roger.” Andrea scanned the dusty Iraqi town for the telltale green smoke. Soon, she spotted it rising from a small square. “Visual on green smoke. Landing in thirty seconds. Over.” “Thirty seconds, Roger. We’ll try to keep their heads down, but expect small arms fire. Over.”

Birthday Time

According to Archbishop James Ussher, Earth is 6,013 years old today. This begins a large number of important anniversaries on this special date. Get ready.

Chicken Soup for the Butt (later collected as part of the megavolume, Reading Sucks) says that Daria is a Scorpio. Today begins the Scorpio part of the zodiac, so her birthday is sometime between now and November 21st. Happy Birthday, Daria! Now, if we only knew when Jane's birthday was....

This is also the birthday of "Weird Al" Yankovic, beloved of many in this fandom. Do you like chemistry? Today is also Mole Day for you science nerds.

Seven years ago today, the now-defunct online comic Mall Monkeys had some special guests. The artwork was borrowed from Outpost Daria.

Last year about this time, Daria fan Dr. Mike pointed out an unusual resemblance between another online character, Clarice, and Daria Morgendorffer. You be the judge, though I will point out Daria does like books and has been depicted (in canon) wearing an outfit like the one Clarice wears in her second-shift job.

Five years ago, "Save the Nauga’s Hide" was completed by Greystar. Fun story!

CURRENT NuuZ

• Acidgirl has her own new version of Jane from "Love Is a Series of Burning Sensation."

PPMB

• Anti-Trope, by Pinkminx (Part 4): Dean sat quietly at a desk toward the front of the class. He turned in his chair to survey the rest of students in the room, realizing the strong female presence in the first few rows of desks. In fact, he was the only male in the front section of the class; every other male student was seated in the back rows. As Dean pondered this abnormality his thoughts were interrupted by the shrill, nasally voice of his science teacher.
• Finn Morgendorffer 9: Legends and Losers, by HolyGrail2007 (COMPLETE!): Finn stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. It was a ritual he performed at least three times a day, more if he had a date or other excuse to be presentable. And the mirror, just like before showed it’s reflection. Finn’s hair was a little in disarray because he had been laying on the bed, but he still looked as handsome as ever. Except for his mouth. Finn couldn’t smile.
• NEW! Finn Morgendorffer 10: Finn the Brain, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 1): “When I assigned you that essay on the styles of writing poetry, I knew I’d get work that reflected the teen within, whether it be the happy-go-lucky cheerleader or the quiet, sensitive person—but never was I so impressed as I was by the essay that Finn Morgendorffer wrote for us!”
  
• Invisible Love, by Charliefox2012 (Part 6): “What are you doing?” Duncan asked. “Drawing,” Jane said, not looking up from her sketchbook. Duncan smirked. “I kind of figured that.” Jane grinned. “Then why’d you ask? And you’re supposed to be smart.” (FF.net)
  
• NEW! A Minty Move-in Day, by Aloysius (COMPLETE!): When the boy and his dad laid their loads on the unmade bed, they left the room and Linda sat her box on top of a nearby desk and wiped her forehead. “I hate carrying boxes,” she muttered. “So I’ll take a brief rest.” The Dawson boy looked at the woman and said, “Mrs. Griffin?” Linda looked at him, her eyebrows raised, and saw that he held out a mint container. “Would you like a Paul’s Fresh Mint?”
  
• The Substitute, by Echopapa (Part 1): Angela Li looked up from her computer screen to the woman sitting at the opposite end of her desk. O’Neill’s nervous breakdown had left her short an English teacher, and the flu virus that was sweeping Lawndale had ravaged the available pool of substitutes, forcing her to hire from the outside. It was fortunate that this resume had arrived in her email yesterday; even more fortunate that this applicant was able to come over from Gotham City on such short notice.
• NEW! Unnamed story (Halloween IC: The Mist), by NightGoblyn (COMPLETE!): "We're gonna die in here, we're gonna die in here, weregonnadieinhere, weregonnadieinhere, weregonnadieinhere!" "Stacy!" Quinn shouted, shaking her friend by the shoulders. "We're not gonna freakin' die! Now calm down!"
  

Happy Birthday, Daria! (Part 2)

In the 1998 Beavis and Butt-head book, Chicken Soup for the Butt, was a section on "ass-trology" that had Butt-head's face on the Scorpio sign and a note that Daria was a Scorpio. (This material was later collected in Beavis and Butt-head: Reading Sucks.) Despite the fact that this comes from a dubious source (Butt-head), it is the only information we have on Daria's birthday. The show never mentions it, except for a brief note that someone (Jake?) took a home movie of Daria's birth, which Daria has no interest in seeing ("Ew.").

More birthday info soon.

"Thou Shalt NOT, Kevin!"

That's right, today is planet Earth's 6,012th birthday, according to Archbishop James Ussher (not the same Usher with the problematic house in that other story), who sat down and counted them all out. And isn't it appropriate that today is also the birthday of none other than "Weird Al" Yankovic, and let's all yell "Hallelujah!" for that.

Speaking of birthdays, it was noted in Chicken Soup for the Butt (later collected as part of the megavolume, Reading Sucks, which I have with me right now) that Daria is a Scorpio. Today is the first day of the Scorpio part of the zodiac, so her birthday is sometime between now and November 21st. Happy Birthday, Daria. (Gettin' close to 30?) Now if we only knew when Jane's birthday was, we would be happy.

For the chemically inclined, today is also Mole Day (gotta have a nerd holiday in there somewhere). Finally, six years ago today, the online comic Mall Monkeys had some special guests. Enjoy.

LATE NEWS: I'm posting fanfic updates in tomorrow's message.

I have also received reliable word that some of the fanfiction supersites that went dormant a while ago will be open for business again before long. More on this later (with details).

The Royal "We"

Lady Jane Grey began her tragic nine-day rule as Queen of England and Ireland 455 years ago today. Her story became the inspiration for an unfinished Daria fanfic that turns on the observation that Jane Grey, it seems, looked and acted a lot like Daria Morgendorffer does today. And the fact that Daria, as a Scorpio, could have been born on Halloween. It is hoped that fate will allow the story to be finished one day before long.

Curious that MTV was kind enough to provide an alter ego of Daria as (I believe) Elizabeth I. It sure worked for me. The Tudor colors, by the way, were green and gold as shown here, like Daria's jacket and tee.



LATE ADD: Wondering how much a copy of the Sick Sad Life Planner computer software costs nowadays? I found one (used) on Amazon for $9.99, and one through Google for . . . ouch. (VERY LATE ADD: The absurd price has now been corrected.)

"I'm not a man, dude, I'm a rocker!"

While flipping through the pages of the MTV Daria site, I came across Rock and Roll Randy's cameo, where he introduces other obscure background characters from the series, who were all deleted when their flipbooks were discontinued, so only he and a handful of others survive. (Randy's moniker is variously written as Rock 'N Roll, Rock & Roll, Rock-and-Roll, etc., but MTV seems to have liked "Rock and Roll," so we'll go with that.)

Randy actually shows up quite a few times in the series, judging from the episode synopses on Outpost Daria. He shows up in "Malled" (on the Mall of the Millennium trolley behind Daria and Jane), "The Big House" (in the roller hockey game, where he gets punched out by Barch after he knocks down DeMartino), "I Loathe a Parade" (kissing Dr. Shar, of all people), and apparently appears in "That Was Then, This Is Dumb," "A Tree Grows in Lawndale," and "Mart of Darkness," but I am not sure where. He even gets his own alter-ego picture as a scorpion-man, probably Scorpio from the incomplete astrological-sign series of alter egos from one of the two surviving the MTV.com flipbooks. He looks like your basic balding overweight middle-aged classic-rock DJ, undoubtedly working at an AM or FM station in Lawndale itself. A wild and crazy guy, at least in his own mind.

A search with Google doesn't reveal any fanfiction written about Randy whatsoever. Ruthless Bunny did an excellent job writing about either Bing or Spatula Man in one short story, but Randy (and his romance, or whatever it is, with Dr. Shar) remains untouched. Can this possibly be true? Is there nothing more to say about him?