Still looking for places to post your stories?

While updating the Daria Directory at left, I discovered a new place to post your fanworks: the newly revised Fanfics.org site. No Daria works have been posted there yet! I haven't checked the procedure, but I figured you hardcore writers might want to know about this ASAP. (The old site is here.)

Perhaps someone can report back about the site. Do it to it.

LATE NOTE: Two other fanfic sites that might be open are the famous (infamous? in a good way, sure) Lawndale Leftovers and Lady Cosmos's Fanfic Library. Interested parties should e-mail the webmasters involved and find out what's up.

Daria Fan Club now up to 1,049 members. Man, that really jumped in the last few months.

I've cleaned up a lot of the links at left. Hope it works for you all. If you are looking for interesting images, definitely click on some of the lesser-known and smaller sites, which have all sorts of stuff on them from the Olden Days. Just found more of it tonight.


FF.net

• John Lane 37: Crysalis, by Richard Lobinske (COMPLETE!): And the great saga continues.

PPMB

• Daylight: Hunter Gatherer, by Legendeld (COMPLETE!): Jennifer Ash felt like she had a target painted on her back as she stood in the open field.
• Falling into College 65: Arrivals and Returns, by Richard Lobinske (Part 4): "Morgendorffer's Mobile Meat Market. We bring the butchery to you."
• Tales of the Ringbearers: New Dead, by Legendeld (COMPLETE!): Four hundred people were all he had managed to find so far.

We Shall Never Surrender

Sir Winston Churchill, famed as a writer, artist, orator, and historian as well as a politician, was born this day 134 years ago. Jake does a fine impersonation of him. Churchill appeared briefly in a dream sequence in one Daria fanfic, but apparently in no other.

I'll reserve the space below for listing stories, if any are added today.

LATE NOTE: After discovering that some of the links at left are "extinct," I am going through and revising the link lists. Per a good suggestion made some time ago by several people, I am breaking down the bigger lists into smaller ones for easier reading.

P.S. Some interesting things have come to light (interesting to me, anyway), as a result of checking old links at left. All AOL Hometown websites were turned off on Halloween of this year, which killed a few fan sites. I guess my old spacecraft site is dead, too. Oh, well.

I discovered a fanfiction archive in which every link is broken... except for those leading to stories by Ronin. A horror, but what can you do. More soon.

The Blogger Mulls Over the Current Direction of His Hobby

Mull, mull, mull, oh.

It has long been a pet peeve of mine that the Internet is perhaps the most radical change in media since the invention of alphabets and printed books, finally bringing about Marshall McLuhan's "global village" from the 1960s, but few people take full advantage of its possibilities. One of those people, unfortunately, is me. My surface reason for maintaining a blog is because it is my only hobby (I can stand having only one hobby at a time), but secretly I do it because it allows me to teach myself HTML and all that other stuff, so I don't look and sound so ignorant when everyone else is spouting buzzwords. I am woefully behind everyone else but am puffing along as best I can.

This blog is a work in progress, like all good blogs. My thought was to turn it into the best-ever one-page Daria fan site, offering all sorts of goodies and possibilities to visitors. I'm doubtful that goal has been achieved yet, so the quest for Win and Awesome presses onward.

It turns out that having the date and time on the blog (at left) is sort of pointless, even though it took me all day yesterday to figure out how to do it, so I'll take those off. I'm sorta ticked that the time won't update itself, and it dawned on me that everyone already HAS the time visible on their monitor in the lower right corner (at least on Firefox), so there's no point to it. The buttons thing, though, I like. Nice of MTV to offer so much useful stuff on the extinct versions of their Daria website that could be recovered through the WayBack Machine at Archive.org.

Thinking out loud (yes, I know, I'm typing out loud), I'm trying to find other stuff to add here. I've already got a shopping mall for Daria stuff, links to almost everything on the web that's Daria-ish. . . . there could be more Beavis and Butt-head stuff because of Daria's presence there, I suppose, but the focus here is still on Daria. I could learn how to create animated GIFs and create little cartoons, I guess, but I'm not an artist. Maybe I'll just take a break and add more pictures and stuff to DariaWiki, or update/fix my older fanfics so the titles aren't so whacked out.

Anyone got any ideas for stuff to add here? Brainstorming is always helpful. Moar l8r on this topic.

P.S. Oh, one thing. I use a monitor with a very wide screen, and I am not always sure what I'm designing works with screens that are more square in shape. Let me know if there is crowding. Showing me a screen capture or two would help, if you (meaning anyone, like you) can do that. Thanks.

And Never the Twain Shall Meet

With Trent in her bed while she's wearing little more than a nightshirt, Daria ponders her options in this scene from "Lane Miserables." Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) is on her shirt, and today is the 173rd anniversary of that great author's birth. Not sure how much longer she would have had that shirt on if Jane hadn't shown up.

Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is mentioned in two different Daria episodes: "Write Where It Hurts" (on the blackboard in Mr. O'Neill's class) and "Lake Miserables". (Trent remembers reading it but seems to confuse it with Huckleberry Hound, an early Hannah-Barbera cartoon character.) It inspired and is entwined with a recent fanfic, "One More River to Cross."

More interesting is the issue of the Mark Twain nightshirt, which reappears in numerous Daria fanfics: "Generation Gap," "Visitation," and "Call of Quinnthulhu," among others. Fans must have really liked that nightshirt, or the scene in which it appeared.

Big Character, Little World

Daria would, I firmly believe, be a big fan of the writings of Jonathan Swift, particularly Gulliver's Travels. Today is the 341st anniversary of Mr. Swift's birth. I can't make out all the little people wandering on and around Daria, only a few of them. Pity.

Famed photographer Gordon Parks was born 96 years ago. Jane Lane would know all about him.

I've decided this blog needs to have more stuff. Like link buttons, at left. I am using the actual button images from MTV's 2000-era Daria website, with some modifications. Now you can have music just like the actual show had while you browse around. Might try some other things, too. It would be interesting to have this blog play Mystik Spiral tunes, but perhaps "interesting" is the wrong word here.

Wallpaper Uber Alles

One of the nice little gifts inside my Sick, Sad Life Planner CD was a selection of four wallpapers for various Daria characters. For your entertainment, they are presented below. Click on the name and keep.

Daria...Jane

Fashion Club...Trent

Hope you like 'em.

So, anyone like the audio files attached to the website? Do they work fine for you? I use RealPlayer for mine, keeps the screen from changing or things from popping up.

Bad News Again: I tried to get on Lawndale Online and got:

Cannot Connect to Database The Database could not be found at this time. The server may be down..

Widdle Women

Three famous authors were born today in history: Louisa May Alcott, who wrote Little Women (which the picture at right might be from, or not, whatever); C. S. Lewis, the Narnia guy; and Madeleine L'Engle, who did those amazing fantasy/modern tales like A Wrinkle in Time and A Swiftly Tilting Planet, which I have been fond of quoting in certain fanfics (e.g., 1, 2). Even more authors were born tomorrow, with alter egos and screen caps for almost all of them.

Side Note: Quinn is definitely taller than Daria by about two inches.

Also fixed the pic, which had a line down the right side. moved it for aesthetic reasons, too.

And then I went and added the audio links to almost every image in the left column. Woo-hoo! I love the Internet.

Late Note: The DariaCon Wiki has gone down for good, it seems. The link has been removed.

FF.net

• An Epitaph, by MandeeMistress (COMPLETE!): I could repeat the hospital scene in my head over and over if I decided to....

PPMB

• Daylight: Falling from Grace—The Road to Nowhere, by Disco316 (Part 7): Darn. And things were looking so promising with Upchuck's marital aides, too.
• Tales of the Ringbearers: Sometimes, You Have to Run, by Doggieboy (COMPLETE!): It was as if someone—or something—was trying to destroy the planet and prevent anyone from doing anything about it.
• Turnabout Confusion Part II: All The King's Horses, by Dennis (continued): Man, when people in this high school hold a grudge, they go nuclear.
• Welcome Back, Daria, by Napalm Kracken (Part 4): Time to torture Mom (i.e., Daria). This is great!
  
• Yawning for the Past, by Operculum (Part 1): There can be no greater source of illusion and delusion than the so-called "lessons of history."

Her Last Time There Was 11 Years Ago Today

Eleven years ago today, Daria made her last appearance on Beavis and Butt-head, in the retrospective episode, "Beavis and Butt-head Are Dead." (She appeared briefly in a nonspeaking role in Beavis and Butt-head Do America earlier, sitting on the floor as she listened to Mr. Van Driessen sing "Lesbian Seagull.") At the time of this last episode, of course, Daria was also starring in her own series and had completed the first season.

When Beavis and Butt-head fail to show up for school for three weeks straight, the school puts a phone call through to their home, where Beavis (who has been watching TV nonstop with Butt-head) tells the caller that the duo is dead, just to stop the phone calls. Mr. Van Driessen is heartbroken, of course, and tries to do a mental-health intervention with the class. However, no one is upset in the slightest that the two wienerheads are gone for good. The students merely look bored. When asked to offer her thoughts on the matter, Daria says, "Well, I guess it's kinda sad that they're dead and all, but it's not like they had bright futures ahead of them." Well put. The picture here shows her immediately after delivering her assessment of the two. The episode is amusing and has lots of bizarre flashbacks from previous episodes.

FF.net

• Daria: The College Years, by Farren O'Blivion (Part 8): “In case you’ve forgotten, there’s a seventeen-year-old girl in the morgue right now from an overdose and I’d like to find out just how that little girl managed to get her hands on some very dangerous, very illegal drugs.”

PPMB

• Arrival, by Legendeld (Part 2): Jane looked at Quinn again, then let out a sigh. “You’re on a lot of meds, aren’t you?”
  
• Bet, by Legendeld (COMPLETE!): That's one heck of a dinner conversation there.
• Falling into College 65: Arrivals and Returns, by Richard Lobinske (Part 3): Trent's latest hit: "Weddings or Wednesdays / Bar Mitzvahs or birthdays / You can bet it's the best cakery / When you buy from Wilson Bakery!"
• Order and Chaos, by Legendeld (Part 13): The old order changeth....
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part II), by jtranser (continued): Goodness, interrogation techniques have come a long way since waterboarding, haven't they? *
• Welcome Back, Daria, by Napalm Kracken (Part 3): A bet is made, and chaos ensues.
  

* Contains mature material. Strap on—uh, no, wait, I meant HANG on. Sorry.

Shop Shop Shop Till You Drop Drop Drop!

The day after Thanksgiving, the day after all that pigging out we did. Sandi Griffin wisely says of today: click here.

Today is also Black Friday ("black" in the financial sense, meaning profit, meaning goodness), and everyone in America is expected to spend money until their credit cards smolder. Not likely to happen this year.

Lawndale Online is back up, but not accepting new submissions yet. Moar l8r.

'Cuse Me, While I Kiss the Sky

Master guitarist, singer, and songwriter Jimi Hendrix was born 66 years ago today. Jodie Landon at left does her impersonation of him when he set his guitar on fire during a concert in London on March 31, 1967, and became immortal. We can be thankful for the music he gave us. He was The Man.

The alter ego of Jodie first appeared at the end of the episode "Antisocial Climbers."

Stan, one of the prisoners in "Speedtrapped," claimed to have known Hendrix. Hendrix could play guitar with his teeth, and Stan said he once drove Jimi to the dentist. Trent himself said of Hendrix: click here. In fanfic, several very familiar characters nearly met Hendrix at Woodstock '69.

Peace, y'all. Oh, but before I go:

PPMB

• Dancing with the Devil by the Pale Moonlight, by Lorenzo Sauchelli (teaser): No man knows till he has suffered from the night how sweet and dear to his heart and eye the morning can be. —Jonathan Harker.
• Shadow of a Cynic, by Ranger Thorne (continued): Daria goes on a run in the night and meets a mysterious stranger. (Chapter 6 is completed, more to come!)
• Southern Thanksgiving, by Legendeld (COMPLETE!): “Hi Mom, Dad.” She waved at the camera. Helen Morgendorffer waved back. “Happy Thanksgiving Quinn, where’s Danielle?”
• Thanksgiving Lesson, by Legendeld (COMPLETE!): This would be so cool, zombies overrunning the whole planet. She thought then a second more practical thought loomed. Then I’ll starve. Without school, I’d be in real trouble.
• Welcome Back, Daria, by Napalm Kracken (Part 2): It's girls' basketball night, and the old gang is still around. (Helen is dating WHO?)
  

Cranberry Sauce, Apple Pie, Mashed Potatoes...

Before we continue, Daria has a few words to say about the joys of Thanksgiving: click here. Heh, heh.

More fanfics with a Thanksgiving theme (at least in part, in some cases):

• "Bitter Harvest"
• "Be Careful What You Wish For (Part 2: Jane)" (a bit of horror for the holiday)
• "For This, We're Thankful"
• "Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!"
• "Daria Went Down to Georgia"
• "There Beneath the Blue Suburban Skies"
• "Southern Thanksgiving"
• "Thanksgiving Lesson"
  

And a visual bonus: the Daria cast at the original Thanksgiving party, by Robin Sena.

ENJOY!

When Only the Most Fashionable Fowl Will Do

Sandi is back to remind us that only the most fashionable turkeys should be cooked for this great holiday. Okay, I couldn't find a Daria-type picture of the turkey, so I used this one. It's a bird, so what.

Some of the great fanfics that have featured Thanksgiving as a theme include:

• "Home for Thanksgiving"
• "Over the River and Through the Mood Swings"
  
• "Meanwhile, In..." (a story inspired by a passing comment by Jane Lane, about which Jane Lane later said: click here)
  
• "Pause in the Air"
• "Thanks Giving"
• "Turkey Days"
• "Thanks, But No Thanksgiving"
  

Hope you remembered to defrost the bird, but if not, there's always the microwave.

Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving

Sandi Griffin says: click here.

Thanksgiving may have been a stressed-out teen with family issues on Holiday Island, but here in the USA it is a time for being with your family even when they drive you totally insane. A lot of Daria fanfic has been written with a Thanksgiving theme, and some of these will be named and honored today in subsequent posts. Stay tuned for more.

Quick Note: According to one fanfic, this was the day Daria and Jane passed their self-esteem class in "Esteemsters." Hmmm.

Everyone Goes to Trent's

The famous movie "Casablanca" had its premier showing 66 years ago today. Trent and Daria reenact the parts of Bogart and Bergman in the picture. Here's lookin' at you, kids. (Careful, Daria—you don't know where that thumb has been.)

Something seems to be wrong with Lawndale Online, which has gone offline. Anyone know how to fix that?

Side Note: I will be away most of Thanksgiving at a family gathering, but I've programmed three or four posts for the day, some with sound! Enjoy.

PPMB

• Apocalyptic Daria: Twilight Friday, by Brother Grimace (teaser): The strongbox made a dull thud as Denny placed it on top of the desk. “It’s a gun, isn’t it?”
  
• Arrival, by Legendeld (Part 1): “Where are you going?” “You don’t get to ask, remember? I keep my grades up and you stay out of my life, that’s the deal.”
• Daylight: Falling from Grace—The Road to Nowhere, by Disco316 (Part 5): "Some are born gay, some achieve gayness.” “And some have gayness thrust upon them…” “EWWWWWWWW!”
• Daylight: Kitchen Duty, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): Housework is still work and someone's got to do it, even after the world ends. (An Alliance crossover tale.)
• Legion of Lawndale Heroes Mini: Meta Yo Mama, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): “Yo’ mama’s so fat, she started putting a belt on the day she started high school, and when she finally got it around, they gave her a diploma!”
• Legion of Lawndale Heroes Mini: A Quintessential Attitude, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): “I asked you to come and read to him… because I wanted his last night to be a happy one.”
• Legion of Lawndale Heroes Mini: Waif Fu, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): “But that’s not FAIR!" yelled Stacy. "You ALWAYS get to beat up the bad guys and when you do, you totally knock them out and they can’t fight anymore! I want to have the big fight with lots of bad guys coming after me!”
  
• Over the River and Through the Mood Swings, by Kristen Bealer (COMPLETE!): "What could possibly go wrong?" The Thanksgiving answer lies within.
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part II), by jtranser (continued): A dialog with the Antipope on the nature of God.
  
• Tales of the Ringbearers: Augustus, by Doggieboy (Part 1): (Robert, I know you can sense me. I’m in bad trouble and need your help—now!)
• Welcome Back, Daria, by Napalm Kracken (Part 1): "Now do you see why we should have went with a natural birth as opposed to cloning?" Adult Daria and family have a yard sale.

Axes Are Fun!

Temperance advocate and axe-wielder Carry Nation was born this day 162 years ago. If you don't know about her, even a brief glance at her life story is entertaining and informative, an interesting piece of the great patchwork quilt of the American experience. Plus, Jane Lane knows about her and once said: (click here).

This is also the 173rd anniversary of the birth of Andrew Carnegie, a philanthropist who, among other things, donated money to Louisville (my home town) to start a public library, where I spent a lot of my childhood going through dinosaur books by the ton. It seems appropriate to mention him here, as he is indirectly responsible for a lot of my weirdness.

Today is also the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (yes, it is odd with Carry Nation born today, too, but I'm okay with that) and International Men's Day, but only in Canada and Australia (and a few other places). If I understand this correctly, we guys are supposed to honor the latter holiday in part by honoring the earlier holiday (being nice to women) and by sacrificing something for the sake of family, friends, and country. In other words, we don't get to sit on the sofa and watch TV and drink beer, or whatever. Something to think about, anyway.

The Perfect Holiday for Kevin to Serve as Poster Boy

Today has been called Evolution Day, as it is the 149th anniversary of the publication of Sir Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. To say this book was controversial is an understatement of the highest order.

Curiously, I cannot find much about Evolution Day online. It is related to Darwin Day, of course, but it is probably quite new as a holiday and hasn't gotten very far yet. I suppose the holiday just needs to evolve more. The holiday wrapping paper should be interesting.

That alter ego of Kevin as a caveman had me wondering if he was parodying Alley Oop, but apparently not.

Hong Kong Dariacon, anyone? Early February 2009?

Keep evolving!

Fortress CINCGREEN

• Data Dump, by CINCGREEN (Part 10): Less than a week after her disastrous meeting with Tom, Daria was in a classroom again. *

PPMB

• Bet, by Legendeld (Part 7): “I asked if I could move back in, didn’t that send up some kind of warning flare?”
• Daylight: Baked Alaska, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): Burn baby burn! Burn that mama down! (Also: "The lady with the glasses? That’s Sarah Palin. She’s running for governor.")
• Daylight: The Essentials of Everyday Living, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): She extended her hand. “I’m Maryann. What’s your name?” The centaur looked at her before reaching out. “I’m Boone.”
  
• Falling into College 65: Arrivals and Returns, by Richard Lobinske (Part 2): "I hope you don't mind that everyone else considers you a hero."
• LATIFA: In the King's Navy, by SoCalledGoodeGuy (teaser): Oh, I won't spoil this one for you. It's worth it.
• Legion of Lawndale Heroes: A Legion Halloween, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): “Get away from me, you idiots! I’m Brenda Starr!” (Also, Jodie Landon dresses up as an interstellar phone receptionist.) (Also, a very yukky Fiend Folio monster.) (Also, it's deja vu all over again! Nice!)
  
• Order and Chaos, by Legendeld (Part 12): “I have sent a communication to the Jedi Council asking you to be allowed the trials.” Daria said with a slight tremor in her voice. “You’re ready.”
• Two Halves, by Dark Kuno (Part 3 beta): Helen Morgendorffer has a conversation with the twins about college.
• Upholder of the Good, by SoCalledGoodeGuy (Part 2.5): “Sooo…” said Jane, pushing herself off of the wall she’d been leaning against. “How’d you make out?”
  
• Also... some remarkable short tales worth reading in "Scenes No Daria Fanfic Should Have-Who's Holding Daria Now?"

* Contains mature content.

And a little birthday present to all....

What if "The Lawndale File" had been right after all? What if aliens really were on Earth, walking among us? What if they even went to school with our kids? (Well, if we lived in Lawndale, that is.)

The answers to all these questions may be found in fanfiction set in a new shared multiverse: LOVESTRUCK ATOMIC TEENAGE INVADERS FROM MARS, brought to you courtesy of this blog plus valuable assistance from Brother Grimace. Behold, and start writing!

LATE NEWS: Page 2 is up! See the link at the bottom of the LATIFA page!

(Remember to click on the pictures. They talk.)

(Also, the new multiverse may be called LATIFA, though you have to use the A in Mars instead of the M, but I think that's allowed.)

(If nothing else, I hope the pages are fun to read and listen to!)

Happy Birthday, DFB2

Today is the first anniversary of the start of this blog. Isaac Newton once said, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” The same is true here. My hat is off to the original Daria Fandom Blog and its creator, James "CINCGREEN" Bowman, and all who posted there, for their work. Thank you.

Over 51,000 hits have been recorded here over the last year. The fandom is producing a flood of material in written and visual works, albeit of the alternate-universe variety for the most part but still with significant canon or near-canon creations. Bless us all.

It was about this time of year, some years ago, that fandom character Kyle Armalin experienced a major change in life as a teenager. For details, read Brother Grimace's "It's All About Respect."

Some news to note on Legendeld's blog. Latest entry to DariaWiki: Wagon Train to the Stars, from Brother Grimace.

It was also about this season that the events detailed in "The Daria Horror Picture Show" took place. Read and enjoy.

November Fashions

This being November (still), we offer below some fanfics that take place during this month, on no particular day.

• "Last Dance with Mary Jane"
• "The Thirteenth Man"
• "While My Guitar Gently Bleeds"

Nine years ago this November, the cast of Daria appeared in designer outfits, parodying a very similar fashion layout that had appeared earlier. Mmm, some of these work, some don't, and some are just bad.

Writing to MTV, asking them to show Daria again? There might be a little problem....

The current Daria chat room was set up one year ago this month. And there was much rejoicing.

Latest entry to DariaWiki: this one (thanks, Richard).

A problem has been reported with Lawndale Online when submitting stories. Someone should check into this.


FF.net

• Apocalyptic Daria: Scarlett's Tale, by Doggieboy (up to Part 5): Also on SFMB.
• Origins of the Ringbearers: Let Vengeance Ring, by Richard Lobinske (COMPLETE!)

Lawndale Online

• Tales of the Ringbearers: Jurisdiction, by Richard Lobinske (COMPLETE!)

PPMB

• Apocalyptic Daria: Brave New World, by Doggieboy (Parts 3 and 4): We’re watching you—and we’re going to get you. And they do. (SFMB)
• Daylight: The Road to Nowhere, by Disco316 (Parts 3 and 4): "The first time he turned into a skeleton, and then the pasture just died away leaving some kind of wasteland."
• Falling into College 65: Arrivals and Returns, by Richard Lobinske (Part 1): Which will happen first: Thanksgiving dinner, or Derek and Karen's wedding? And what about the baby?
• Naked Came the Cynic, by Lawndale Lurker/Stalker (COMPLETE!): "Tom, my man! How's it hangin'?" came Jake's voice. [Well done!]
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part II), by jtranser (continued): Upchuck gets a little friendly advice he cannot afford to ignore.
• Stuck Inside of Lawndale with the Metafic Blues Again, by Gregor Samsa (Part 3): "This 'Daria' character. She looks all wrong. She's short, she's a little pudgy, and worse, people aren't going to recognize her!"
• Upholder of the Good, by SoCalledGoodeGuy (Part 2.4): Why Darian ran away, and what happened when he did.

That Girl?

Today is the 71st birthday of actress Marlo Thomas, who starred in the TV series That Girl in the late 1960s. What does this have to do with Daria? Someone drew Andrea as "That Girl" in an MTV alter ego, shown at left. I think that flower patterns used to be called "Crazy Daisies," after a bunch of flower stickers like those were released as a promotion by Burger Chef (a long-extinct fast-food place). I remember collecting Crazy Daisies with my siblings. We ate a lot of burgers and fries then. It made us fierce.

Many of the events detailed in part two of "Nine-Eleven and Counting" took place seven years ago today and over the next three days. It was also about this date that Daria received a unique present from her sister Quinn in another tale.

This is also World Hello Day, no kidding, and we have Daria Morgendorffer on hand to welcome everyone here: click here.

I'm way behind (again) on listing fanfiction, but I hope to resolve that today. I'd had a special project cooking for a couple days now. More l8r on that.

LATE NEWS: A lot of new stuff has been added to the Daria Fan Club site, which now has 1,041 members. Hey, we're doing pretty good for a small fandom!

A truly amazing thread about the Morgendorffer home's non-Euclidean (love that word) properties is going on at PPMB in this thread. Marvel at S.C.'s latest 3-D renderings! See proof that whole sections of the house change or even disappear from moment to moment!

Enjoy.

One for the Kids

This being Universal Children's Day, per UNICEF, we offer a precious thought from young Daria Morgendorffer of Highland Elementary School: click here.

x

Um, the "x" above meant that I was supposed to add something there but forgot. I've forgotten what I had to add, so....

Hey! It's Thursday! Time to party!

Latest entry on DariaWiki: it's a surprise from Brother Grimace. Wonder what Daria is like on that world.

Happy Birthday, Daria! (Part 3)

At left is Daria as she would likely look today, in her late twenties. (The image, of course, is from "Write Where It Hurts.")

A number of days have been cited in fanfic as Daria's birthday. Almost all of them fit within the Scorpio days on the zodiac. A few alternate birthdays are given below. Who knows? Across the many worlds of the Dariaverse, maybe all of them are right.

• 10/31 (Halloween): "The Other"
• 11/4: "Otherwise Known as Quinn the Great" (birth year 1982)
• 11/19: "Generation Gap" (birth year 1982)
• 11/20: "Who Once Was Lost"
• 11/21: "The Art of Seeing"

"Hall Point Nine" places her birthday close to Thanksgiving, about the week before that brief vacation starts for college students.

Know of any other fandom birthday dates for Daria? Make a note of it in Comments, just for fun.

Here's lookin' at you, Daria. Keep on keepin' on.

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.

Happy Birthday, Daria! (Part 1)

Today is Daria Morgendorffer's birthday. It's the day that Richard Lobinske picked out for his various fanfics, anyway, so we'll use it for now. Glancing at the birthday photo at right (from The Daria Diaries), we see that Daria wasn't a particularly happy, cheerful, or carefree child even at age one. Quinn's birth was not far away, however, so perhaps she sensed trouble.

Using the most likely birth year for Daria from Richard's exhaustive chronological study, she would be 27 today. This varies, however, even with Richard's stories. Take your pick.

More on Daria's birthday (and her various other birthdays in fanfic) later today. And if you were to meet her today and found yourself overcome with emotion, she has this bit of advice: click here. You were warned.

P.S. Today is also the 145th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, well worth rereading. It is also World Toilet Day today, but we are not going there despite all the disgusting Beavis and Butt-head pictures and stories I could use, oh the horror. That poor Holiday Island High teen.

Ribbit!

On this day, 143 years ago, Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens' "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was published in the New York Saturday Press. The tale grew in the telling until now it is an annual event. We fanfic writers should be so lucky. On the subject of frogs, Daria says: click here. Beavis and Butt-head have much to say about frog (baseball), but we will ignore it.

Stay tuned.

A Day for Students Everywhere

As you can readily tell, this is International Students Day, when we celebrate those young monsters who eventually turned into us. A scene from Daria's Highland High years shows the diversity of the modern student, but I couldn't tell you how. They all look like delinquents to me. Actually today is far more serious than that, honoring student activism in the face of genuine oppression, but you know how I get.

The very first session of the U.S. Congress was held 208 years ago, and if you want to celebrate that, be my guest.

And... two years ago a new element was discovered: roentgenum. Sound familiar?

More l8r.

Okay, itz l8t.


FF.net

• Apocalyptic Daria: Scarlett's Tale, by doggieboy80 (up to Part 3): Roger better get his little furry butt over here pronto.
• Size Does Matter, by HawkingRadiation, a.k.a. BlackHole (up to Part 6): Big problems come in big packages.
• Two Babies and a Wedding, by age4age4 (Part 1): In this sequel to "Christmas Eve at the Lanes," Helen thinks: I wonder if I still have that riding crop around here somewhere... I'll have to ask Jakey. [You know what THAT means!]
  

PPMB

• Apocalyptic Daria: Scarlett's Tale, by Doggieboy (Part 5): Scarlett froze in place as John set the candle on a small dinner table. “Time to relax, Scarlett.”
• Daylight: The Road to Nowhere, by Disco316 (Part 2): The foursome set camp where Interstates 70 and 270 converged. While it was still light, Chuck opened his map of the area. He was studying it when Stacy joined him. “So what’s the plan, Charles?”

Putting the "Ass" Back in F-ass-t Food (heh heh heh heh heh)

You may as well know that today is also National Fast Food Day, though as someone else has pointed out, every day is National Fast Food Day. Butt-head will be our mascot for this event, held at Burger World in Highland, Texas. Daria herself asks an important question about Beavis and Butt-head's future: click here.

Enjoy your mouseburger!


LATE ADD: Father Martin has left an invitation for a Dariacon in London on November 19th. Anyone up to it?


PPMB

• Bet, by Legendeld (Part 6): “So, are you knocked up?”
  
• Daylight: Recruitment Day, by Richard Lobinske (COMPLETE!): For some reason, the phrase "Did the earth move for you, too?" comes to mind.
• Order and Chaos, by Legendeld (Part 11): Gracious, where are all these dead Sith coming from?
  
• The Other Side of Time: Unfinished Business, by The Sidhe (continued): The news from the Morgendorffer house was not to Jasper’s liking. “So they’ve got the place well guarded, eh?” said Jasper as he looked at the rough map of the area his men had drawn up.

Other

• Mannequinn, by Michael Pallante (COMPLETE!): An emotionally damaged Daria and family arrive in Lawndale. *

* Contains adult content.

Getting Along Is What It's All About

Beavis and Daria remind us that today is the UN's International Day for Tolerance, when we try to put aside our differences with the idiots of the world and get along no matter what sort of crap they pull. I'm sure you feel the same way. I wouldn't want to be this teen at Holiday Island High.

With the memory of Tommy Sherman in mind, Jodie Landon has an important thought for us on this International Day for Tolerance: click here.

Today is also the 100th birthday anniversary of actor Burgess Meredith, my role model from childhood.

Latest DariaWiki entry: Chrysalis, by Richard Lobinske.

"THONGS?!?"

Another original image from the Sick, Sad Life Planner shows Jake with a receipt, yelling:

(click here)
The question is, whose sales receipt is it? Quinn's, I figure. If it had been Helen's, Jake would've had a very different reaction.

But what if it had been Daria's receipt?



FF.net

• Apocalyptic Daria: Scarlett's Tale, by Doggieboy80 (Part 2): Where's Roger the Mouse when you need him most?
• Is It Graduation Yet? Part 2: College, by MandeeMistress (Part 1): “You’re unbelievable!” Jane shouted at the top of her lungs, as she hit Trent over the head with the unfolded piece of paper.

PPMB

• Bet, by Legendeld (Part 5): “Please tell me you aren’t going to die.”
• Daylight: The Road to Nowhere, by Disco316 (Part 1): The sequel to "Daylight: When the Ball Dropped" sees our group of survivors two weeks after the sun came up, considering some good advice.
• New Clothes Experience, by Szcz (Part 1): Daria needs a new wardrobe after her grandmother burns her clothing. And a family secret comes to light.
• Order and Chaos, by Legendeld (Part 10): Your class today is Lightsaber Making 101.
• Project: FEISTI, by SoCalledGoodeGuy (Part 5): Everyone sing together! “There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute, intestines were a-dangling from his paratrooper suit...”
• Two Halves, by Dark Kuno: The beta version of Part 3 of the FF.net story is here for commentary.
• Were and Why, by Brandon League (Part 1): The long-awaited sequel to Deref's "Were Oh Were" is here at last!

A Day Without Recycling Is Like a Day Without . . . You Know . . . um, Recycling

You can tell that Sandi Griffin is more than pleased to be the poster girl for America Recycles Day. Wearing a worn emerald jumpsuit with a sleeveless polyester jacket and smelly woolen cap, complemented by Army boots and a week-old piece of salmon in her perfectly coiffed 'do, she is the very image of recycling! Good show, Sandi!

Not sure what else to put here, gimme a bit.

Brother Grimace has added a new entry to DariaWiki: Apocalyptic Daria: Twilight Friday. I don't recall reading this or "Waif Fu," however. Are they in the works?

I was reading through PPMB's older threads and rediscovered Decelaraptor's superb AU ending for "The Teachings of Don Jake," located right here. This is comedy at its finest. Kudos to da 'Raptor!

Fanfic update to come.

SRA and his special work of art

A few weeks ago, renown fan artist SRA wrote to me and asked if I minded if he drew something for one of my stories: "It Slipped Through My Hands, Like a Shadow, Like a Dream." I'm afraid I did not answer right away because I was in shock (plus had pneumonia), but when I recovered and could breathe again and stopped slobbering all over myself, I responded with a calm, cool, detached manner ("OMG OMG OMG!! !111!! !!11!"). SRA was fortunately not put off and went ahead with his work, and here it is (above). The scene is from chapter two, where Jane says to Amy, "I like her," while Daria watches cartoons.

Nothing else to add except

WAAAAHOOOO!!!!

Trying to Catch Up

It is amazing that I can stop logging in stories for a couple days and still be swamped with the output. Some current news:

• Greystar and WacoKid have gone beyond the pale in the current PPMB thread for scenes that should not be. I can never show my face on the Internet again.

• Derek offers a new PPMB Iron Chef: "... and that was when I shot him, Your Honor." The rules are explained there.
  

• Doggieboy's "Apocalyptic Daria: Brave New World" is now on FF.net and SFMB as well as PPMB. "Apocalyptic Daria: Scarlett's Tale" (another Doggieboy serial) is also on FF.net and SFMB (and PPMB). "Mission Ridiculous," his crossover with Daria and the old TV show Mission: Impossible, is on FF.net, too.

• Richard Lobinske offers a science link that might spark stories in the Daria Multiverse.
  

• Everyone has been having fun with a thing called the Hero Machine, which allows you to create your own superhero portrait. Daria-relevant examples may be found here.

And now for the fanfics.


PPMB

• Apocalyptic Daria: Scarlett's Tale, by Doggieboy (Part 3): A crowbar is such a useful tool.
  
• Bet, by Legendeld (Part 4): “I can’t believe my favorite place to go is a gay bar.”
• Invading, by Lorenzo Sauchelli (bonus excerpt!): "Mad Cow!" (Illustration of the Captain America Daria is here.)
  
• John Lane 37: Chrysalis, by Richard Lobinske (COMPLETE!): "One more year shot to hell," Daria said with a tiny bit of cheer. I suppose next we see the butterfly emerge at the art colony, spread its wings, and ZAMMO! it's eaten by a penguin.
• Legion of Lawndale Heroes Mini: A Special Day for the Colonel, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): "I wonder what the kids are up to now?"
• The Limits of Diplomacy, by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): Okay, this one takes the cake. I bow before thee and rend my garment. I am not worthy.
  
• The Name of God on the Lips, by Ranchoth (COMPLETE!): A triple crypto-crossover, says the author, but for me it's a toughie. Great story, good to see this particular Daria once again.
  
• Order and Chaos, by Legendeld (Part 9): “You aren’t allowed to die.”
• Project: FEISTI, by SoCalledGoodeGuy (Part 4): “…to the everlasting glory of the infantry, shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young!”
• Upholder of the Good, by SoCalledGoodeGuy (Part 2.3): The laundry room does it every time.
  

SFMB

• At the Nuts and Cheesy, by Gum Wars (COMPLETE!): It had been a horrible afternoon for quinn. Her mom had embarassed her in front of the whole fashion club and her new best friend, jane, had stayed behind to hang out with DARIA. She decided she was going to get laid.

A bit of rarely seen Jane art

This is one of the monthly icon pix from Sick, Sad Life Planner. I think it was June. Jane's clearly not a fan of writing in yearbooks. Click image for the big version.

Haven't had time to work out more than this for today. Maybe later will be better.

Oh, almost forgot:

Click here.

National Pizza with Everything (Except Anchovies) Day!

You've got to wonder about how some of these holidays got started. Today is National Pizza with Everything (Except Anchovies) Day. Only one way to celebrate that.

Our mascot for today is, predictably, Artie, shown here the moment he appears in "A Tree Grows in Lawndale," working at Pizza King. He had three speaking walk-ons in the series.

Latest DariaWiki entry: Meta Yo Mama, by Brother Grimace.

This Being Veterans Day....

Brother Grimace wrote a touching fanfic just over three years ago about this day: "The One Day We Forget." I almost forgot this one. My apologies. The story will get an "Awwwwww!" out of you just like that.

Nemo Blank wrote a story in which the Holiday Island spirit of Veterans Day, Joe, got to meet Quinn Morgendorffer. He seemed quite impressed. Check out "Crossover." Veterans Day had already appeared on Daria in "Depth Takes a Holiday."

I should have a picture of Veterans Day here momentarily. Damn, I knew I was going to forget something.

[indeterminate length of time passes]

THERE we go! Got him. Nice flag he has in his locker.

Quinn as a Varga Girl

Finding the origin of the alter ego at left was difficult. Imagine the stress I went through, hunting for a similar image among literally thousands of cheesecake photos and paintings through the 1940s and 1950s. I nearly wore out my Google. The hairstyle reminded me of the pompadour worn by some actresses around the time of World War II (particularly Rita Hayworth), but no pin-up girl matched this one.

Until I got to the Varga Girls.

Alberto Vargas was a Peruvian artist who became world famous for his Varga Girls, pin-ups painted for Esquire Magazine during the 1940s, especially during the war when they served as "morale boosters" for the American troops. Vargas later painted Vargas Girls (the name was changed because of a lawsuit, I kid you not) for Playboy Magazine. Wikipedia has a good article on him. I could links to some galleries of his works, but all of them would toe the line for being NSFW. Just put "Varga Girl" into any search engine and you will, ahem, get the picture.

The specific picture that I believe this image is modeled on is on a website about an American WW2 searchlight battalion. The website was started in 1996. (The date is important.) See this link, about pin-up girls often seen during WW2 (the link is safe), then scroll down to the bottom of that article, before the one about Fort Carson. See her?



"The quintessential Varga girl," reads the caption. (This, too, is important.) Now, we take that image and flop it, reverse it left to right, and we have:




Now, we put the Quinn alter ego next to it, and compare.




Here's what I think happened: A staff artist at MTV got the idea to draw Quinn as a Varga Girl (or perhaps one of the Daria characters, but the Varga Girl idea was there at the start). The artist gets on the Internet in 1997 or 1998 (1-2 years after the WW2 website above started) and did a search for "Varga Girl." The "quintessential Varga girl" appeared, and the artist immediately linked quintessential with Quinn. Thus the picture was born.

However, the artist wanted to be clever and not look like he/she had copied the pic exactly. The pic was flopped (click on "flopping" below in Labels for other discussions of this technique) and a few things were added, like the frilly bed and the phone (to keep Quinn from pulling off her one-piece outfit).

Pay attention to the posture of the model, the turn of the head, the position of the right hand, the position of the legs, the high heels and where they are. Bingo.

And there you have it: Quinn the Varga Girl. The MTV artist's little trick has been uncovered. Nice one.