Party Like It's 1984!

Young Daria is ready for both camp and the anniversary of George Orwell's birth in this day in 1903, but I think she's about to find out that some campers are more equal than others. Orwell's influence on the show was also seen in "Psycho Therapy," when Daria commented, "Gee, look at the time. 1984 already" in reference to Helen's law firm evaluating the family's mental health.

While we're on the subject of Daria's less-fond childhood memories, the episode "Boxing Daria" first aired on this day in 2001. It's one of the most popular episodes, and for good reason--great jokes combined with bittersweet insights into Daria's history made for an excellent series near-finale (aside from the final movie).

Someone should smuggle Ted another cassette in honor of Global Beatles Day, but make sure his parents don't find out. Listening to decades-old pop music is just a slippery slope to chewing gum and playing anachronistic video games!

Fanfic Update!

• Avatar: The Drama Of Daria, by psychotol (part 14): "Barch entered the principals office to see police chief Mako and another cop there, she asked 'I thought Daria had dropped the matter?'"


• I (Don't) Want to Be a Part of It, by ladyevil (part 8): "'Simmah down now!' Alfred was doing a Cheri Oteri impression as he got off the elevator with Daria, Jane and Tony. 'Just simmer down!'"


• Spider Quinn 17 Tempestuous Origin of Mysterio, by cfardell_Brenorenz29 (part 5): "'Daria Morgendorffer, please report to the principal’s office,' Ms. Li announced straight after Homeroom."


• The Youngest Barksdale, by cfardell_Brenorenz29 (part 9): "It was disappointing that there wasn’t anything she could use against Ms. Li in what Quinn had told her, Daria considered as she entered her room. But she was sure that there was something else she could use."

Maybe Ted's Parents Somehow Listened to the Cassette Backwards?

In a sad historical note, it was on this day in 1980 that John Lennon was assassinated. Even thirty years after his death, though, his influence is still going strong in the world.

There were only a couple of references to John Lennon and/or the Beatles in Daria episodes. First, in "Malled," Daria says, "If you play that John Lennon song backwards, it says, 'Imagine all the people, browsing in a mall.' Isn't that weird?" Second, in "The New Kid," Daria contributes to Ted DeWitt-Clinton's delinquency not just by giving him gum, but also by loaning him a Beatles cassette.

The Beatles are much better represented in fanfic. I was going to go through all the fanfic archives and find them all, but I realized three things.

1. There are actually quite a lot of them out there, and I'd probably still miss a whole bunch of good ones even if I tried.


2. It would be much more fun to open it up to everyone else.


3. I'm excruciatingly lazy.

All of these factors put together mean that I'm going to ask all of you to post about your favorite Beatles-related fanfics/fanart/other Daria stuff in the comments. Go nuts!

In the meantime, here's the fandom news update.

• The PPMB has been having frequent outages and related errors lately, but Kara Wild assures us the problem will be fixed soon, when the board moves to a new server.


• RLobinske reminds everyone to nominate their favorite Daria fanfics and fanart for the Daria Fanworks Awards.


• Deref has started a thread to discuss vintage cars.


• What anime are you into right now? vlademir1 wants to know!


• Two more Iron Chefs in the Creative Writing forum: Daria in Therapy and Papa Barksdale?


• New fan tazraven is looking for good Daria/Jane slash fics. Post if you've got a recommendation for her!

My Night at Tokyo Toby's

"My Night at Daria's" was first broadcast on MTV on this day nine years ago, and that's just the start of the many anniversaries and celebrations this day marks.

Civil rights activist Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 in court on this day 137 years ago, for voting in the 1872 presidential election. At the time it was illegal for women to vote in the United States. She presented her case with fire and eloquence to no avail, though it ensured her place in history. She never paid the fine.

Today is Autistic Pride Day, a topic relevant here because a number of fans believe Daria could have been a high-functioning autistic. The debate rages here on PPMB.

Sushi, anyone? This is International Sushi Day, too. It just so happens there is an alter ego for this very purpose, featuring Jake Morgendorffer, per his troubles with sushi in (drum roll) "My Night at Daria's," mentioned above. Nice timing. My favorite lines that Jake says about sushi: "Damn it, Helen, I know there's something crawling up my throat, and I think it's a parasite courtesy of Tokyo Toby's Parasite Restaurant! If I stand still, I can even feel it laughing inside of me..." and "Help me, Helen... before the madness sets in."

Former Beatle and Wings man Paul McCartney turns 68 today. Legendary firefighter Red Adair has his 95th birthday anniversary, too. (Best quote from Mr. Adair: "If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.")

An odd bit of astronomical trivia: It was 832 years ago tonight that a group of monks witnessed an unusual event on the Moon. Puzzled, they recorded their observations in detail. It now appears that the monks saw the formation of the lunar crater Giordano Bruno.

PPMB

• Daria: The Puppet Princess of Lawndale, by OverlordMikey (Part 1): In the small village of Glen Oaks, located in the Kingdom of Lawndale lived a simple young girl named Daria, who lived alone with her father Jake the Blacksmith. Daria was blessed with a strange and magical gift. She had the ability to speak to puppets... (Daria/Rhapsody)
• Into the Fray, by Minx (Part 12): Quinn clutched the shotgun with clammy hands. She had never actually used a rifle before but the boys had shown everyone how to fire and load them. With a ragged breath she held it up and made sure the butt of the rifle was firmly pressed into the hollow of her shoulder so if or when she fired it the recoil action wouldn't cause the gun to fly back and shatter the bones in her shoulder. Quinn released the safety and lined the figure up. (FF.net)
  
• Judith Strikes! The Long Good Sandi, by Charles RB (COMPLETE!): Judith had time to realise she’d made a tactical error before Daria emerged from behind a row of dresses. She was firing a mercenary’s rifle and walking calmly forward, and two mercenaries were down before the others returned fire. “HAHAHAHA NO IDEA AT ALL WHIRL THE REAPWIND AHAHA” Bullets flew past her but she walked on, unhurried, expressionless, leaving all the soldiers dead as she went.
• Little Sister, by LadieT (COMPLETE!): In the twenty years they had known each other, Daria had never seen Jane look so exhausted. "Where are my parents?" Daria whispered. "They are in Quinn's room." Jane said. "Is Quinn okay?" Daria asked. Jane's silence told Daria more than a million words could have.
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef Challenge: Post-Angstpocalypse), by OverlordMikey (COMPLETE!): Her aunt was being held at gunpoint, a suitcase of money in her hands. "Get away from her!" Daria rushed forward and was knocked aside. She founded herself falling. The drop felt longer than it really was. Shortly thereafter came a gunshot and another body limp and lifeless fell beside her... it was her aunt.
  

Just Give Me Money, That's What I Want

Two hundred sixteen years ago, the United States Mint was founded. Today the output of the U.S. Mint supports bazillions of teenagers worldwide in a lifestyle to which their parents cannot get accustomed.

Let's see what's on the Internet . . . Hard-driving drivers Roentgen, Brother Grimace, and Richard Lobinske have driven DariaWiki's driveway of immortality through their driven droves of drive. By which I mean, they've added a lot of new stuff. DariaWiki is now up to 1,713 articles, some of them useful.

Fortress CINCGREEN has unleashed a review of the final tale in Richard Lobinske's Last Summer series.

On PPMB, Hershey-chan has unleashed the Anime Fashion Club, a catchy artwork whose discussion thread is here. Love the way their personalities leap out at you. Very cool.

While poking through the website for Animation World Magazine, I discovered a number of short articles and mentions of Daria using the search engine. Many were published as the TV series was premiering in 1997. Some notes are intriguing, like this announcement that "MTV and sister Viacom unit Simon & Schuster Interactive are producing six CD-ROM (for PC and Mac) and PlayStation entertainment titles for MTV's Daria over the next five years." Well, where the hell are they? We got two (that planner and Daria's Inferno), so there are four more, right? Right?

More soon. Have to go work on dinner.