Do Butterflies Sing Opera?

Daria's got the wrong idea, because today is the anniversary of the premiere of Madama Butterfly in 1904, which doesn't feature any actual butterflies. I don't think Jane will be impressed, either, because we know how she feels about delicate winged insects after hearing about them from her mother. Still, I hope Mr. DeMartino is planning to see the opera performed in the PayDay automotive department! Refreshments in the form of free samples will be served.

Mack will be less than impressed to know that today is also Michael Jordan's 62nd birthday, but maybe this will be a good chance to change his middle name back to James. Maybe the Lane naming gazebo is available!

In Daria-specific anniversaries, the episode "Daria!" aired on this day in 1999 and the Sarcastathon 3000 aired on this day in 2001. I don't think anyone from the musical episode will be joining the opera performance at PayDay anytime soon.

Fanfic Update!

• Our Friend in City Hall (Daria and The Gang Thread), by roentgen (COMPLETE!): "Going to City Hall was always the sucky part of the week, Stacy Rowe thought."


• Spider Quinn 14 Battle and Consequence, by cfardell_Brenorenz29 (part 4): "At Casa Lane, Jane was still thinking about what was happening with Tania when a report came on the radio."


• Unattainable Lane, by janendaria4life (COMPLETE!): "Daria sat on the couch, waiting impatiently for Jane to arrive so they could watch the upcoming 'Sick, Sad World' marathon."


• Valentine's Daze, by wilddogjj (COMPLETE!): "Stacy's brother, Adam Rowe, was quite the playboy. After work, he'd gone to the local bar. Now, he was coming home with a hot, buxom blond that he'd picked up." (Part 2) (Part 3)

Don't Hold Her Tightly In Your Hands!

Daria's taking the direct approach to Learn about Butterflies Day, but it would really be easier to just ask Amanda Lane, Lawndale's resident butterfly expert. Especially because if she goes near Jane, she risks getting her delicate little wings torn off.

Why not get out a crunchy snack in honor of National Potato Chip Day? You can have your choice of flat or ridgy! Be sure not to get any that are too strongly flavored, though, as the last thing you want is to fight the dip. Or so I've heard, anyway.

If potato chips aren't your snack of choice, then you could celebrate Popcorn Lover’s Day instead. The Fashion Club will probably opt for the no-salt, no-oil, fat-free variety, but they might as well eat some styrofoam peanuts.

Fanfic Update!

• Homecoming, by davidfalkayn (parts 4 - 9): "Pivoting quickly about, Angie gasped as she immediately recognized her old bedroom back home—including cheerleading and dance trophies as well as her collection of mysteries and science fiction books." (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9)


• Roasted, by wilddogjj (COMPLETE!): "Quinn and Jim were in the home office. She listened patiently as he told his side of the story. Fortunately for Jim, she knew that he was telling the truth."

I Hope She Doesn't Flap Her Wings and Start a Hurricane

Daria is here to help teach everyone a lesson on Learn about Butterflies Day. The first lesson is, if you hold one tightly in your hand Jane Lane will punch you in the face for using that stupid metaphor.

If bugs aren't your thing, you could celebrate National Potato Chip Day instead. Not only are there both flat and ridgy, they're super plain so they won't fight the dip! Which is incredibly important to some people, apparently.

Finally, there's National Write Your Story Day, in which you can make up a story about anything you want. Maybe butterflies and potato chips? If you run into any trouble, just include a card game.

Fandom News!

• R.I.P., Robert Blake.


• Vote in the Deadliest Warrior poll between Number Six a/k/a The Prisoner and Red from Orange is the New Black.


• Check out or share artists to watch.

An Anti-Social Butterfly

Daria's gone a little overboard with Learn about Butterflies Day, but I guess pollinating flowers is still better than dealing with Quinn. It must be awfully hard to read books, though.

Today is also National Potato Chip Day, so take your pick of flat or ridgy!

Finally, I hope you didn't forget to turn your clocks forward one hour last night for Daylight Saving Time, which is still a thing for some reason.

Fanfic Update!

• The Creation of Beauty, by Crow Jones (part 1): "'So, how do you feel like you did on the assignment Mr. Oniell gave us? It was about your favorite subject.'"


• Daria's Great Adventure, by dmsfanman (part 38): "Anton looked at Arnison and said flatly, 'I am into their systems command software. I have routed the docking release to the blue button over there. If we have to use it, I have set up a command block so that once activated it cannot be recalled.'"


• Day Tripped (Linn's short stories (or ficlets, drabbles...)), by Linnofthewoods (COMPLETE!): "'Jess, I already told you, your bike is *fine*,' Trent said to his very worried friend over the phone."


• New Americana, by Lady Evil (parts 2 and 3): "At the Mall of the Millennium, Mrs. Bennett was trying to read a map while addressing the class. It was not easy for her to be heard over the kids screaming as cars from the indoor rollercoaster speed past them." (Part 3)


• When Daria and Jane Find Lawndale High Students that Stopped Being Polite, and Started Getting Real (Behind People's Backs) (Scenes No Daria fanfic should have: The Closing Walls of Schloss Morgendorffer and Casa Lane), by Shiva (COMPLETE!): "Normally Daria and Jane ignored the gossip, hearsay, and vicious tittle-tattle that flowed like verbal diarrhea at Lawndale High. But these were not normal times."

It's Not Over Until the Butterfly Sings!

Daria seems to have gotten a little confused about the anniversary of Madama Butterfly on this day in 1904. Of course, if you'd like to join Mr. DeMartino in the automotive department, the Payday performance of the opera will begin shortly.

Speaking of singing, this is also the anniversary of the episode "Daria!" in 1999. None of the singing was exactly opera-quality, but we did get to hear Jake rhyme "Lexus" and "solar plexus." Try topping that, Puccini!

Today is also Michael Jordan's 56th birthday, and I'm sure Mack's father is happy about the occasion. Mack's feelings are likely less enthusiastic, given the grief he's had to endure over his middle name.

Fanfic Update!

• Changing Lanes, by midnightabyss86 (part 19): "Stacy squinted her eyes in annoyance, as she finished her practice exam."


• Daria's Great Adventure, by dmsfanman (part 20): "Anton sat at the conference table in his wheelchair. Also present were Mia, Erwin, and the others who had interrogated the prisoners."


• Daria the Invincible, by TheBrodsterBoy (part 2): "'So, run this one past me one more time amiga?' When Daria had called Jane on the phone, telling her she was indestructible and was gonna profit off it, Jane wasn't quite sure what to think."


• Daria The Temptress, by WildDogJJ (parts 1 and 2): "It was a sunny Sunday afternoon on the North End of Downtown Boston." (Part 2)


• Edicius, by elainefr (part 13): "'Tom?' 'Thought you might want some dessert.' He held up the doughnut laden bag. She smiled and allowed him entry. He handed her the bag and kissed her on the cheek as he came in."


• The Greasy Fry (Daria and the Gang Thread II), by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): "'You know Jodie,' Quinn said, 'the funny thing is that I wasn't always an intellectual.' 'I suspected as such,' Jodie said. 'You always seemed to be a bit too put together.'"


• Life At First Sight, by YouthofOz (COMPLETE!): "Sandi Griffin didn't believe in love at first sight. It was a stupid idea. Yes, you could want something when you first saw it, or like it. But love? You couldn't love something right away." (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6) (Part 7) (Part 8) (Part 9) (Part 10) (Part 11) (Part 12) (Part 13)


• Life That Dare Not Speak Its Name, by YouthofOz (parts 1 - 3): "It was two weeks since the paintball fiasco." (Part 2) (Part 3)


• Reason Awakens (Iron Chef: Four Post Fashion Scenarios), by EntrancedCat (COMPLETE!): "In the short history of the Fashion Club at Lawndale High many teenage boys had marvelled at the shortness of chief accessory officer Tiffany Blum-Deckler's mini-skirts even as many teenage girls whispered behind her back about the length of leg Tiffany was disposed to expose to assay the limits of Lawndale's lax dress code."


• A spring afternoon (Iron Chef: The Return of 7 item list story game AKA CHOPPED: PPMB STYLE), by JPAGC (part 2): "There was no sign of Jake when Daria and Jane passed through the foyer, though the mess of card boxes and wrapping styrofoam remained. Jen went directly into the kitchen, opened a cupboard an took out two mugs."


• Switch (Extended Play mix), by frogfarm (COMPLETE!): "MORGENDORFFER KITCHEN, the evening of the concert. HELEN is rapidly shuffling through paperwork and stuffing it into a briefcase. JANE-in-DARIA stands at the counter with her, looking flummoxed. Also slightly more arty than usual, in a tie-dyed shirt and hip hugger jeans."


• Unnamed story (LLH Short Entries #2), by Roentgen (part 169): "It had been a long meeting, and the members of Chapter One were in a morose mood. Sandi knew it, and she hadn't gotten to the big news yet."


• Winter Is Coming, by Meester_Lee (part 12): "That might have been the highlight of Friday evening at Schloss Morgendorffer except that the phone rang as the Morgendorffers were finishing up dinner—a mixture of home-cooked vegetables and pre-cooked roast chicken that Helen had picked up from Lloyd's."

Amanda Lane's Favorite Holiday

Daria the not-so-social butterfly is ready to help us celebrate National Learn about Butterflies Day. The first lesson is that you can take that jar with holes punched in the lid and shove it somewhere uncomfortable.

Today is also Pi Day, for the math geeks out there. It's generally accepted that you can celebrate by eating some pie, but make sure you calculate the circumference first!

Fanfic Update!

• Camp Feel (IC: Random Pairing Challenge 2018), by JoeMerl (COMPLETE!): "Thirteen-year-old Amelia Drew walked slowly around the grounds of Camp Grizzly, head down and feeling depressed."


• Clash of the Families (Quinn, Season 3), by WildDogJJ (part 1): "Quinn and Jim are having Sunday dinner with Jake and Helen. Jake is serving up...something. Jake said 'You guys are gonna love this. I call it Linguine a la Jake!'"


• Daria of the Milieu Something Slimy, by Meester_Lee (part 3): "'Want me to walk you back to your classmates?' asked Luanne. 'Sure,' said Daria. Daria had limited experience with metapsychics; unlike their counterparts in dolphin and cetacean species, human metapsychics were few and far between."


• Daze of Thunder, by WildDogJJ (COMPLETE!): "Quinn is having pizza with Sandi and Joey. It was supposed to be a double date but Jim had to work late. Sandi asked 'So, where's Jim? Did he actually blow you off for another girl?' Remembering what happened the previous month Quinn said 'Sandi, don't even joke about that.'" (Part 2) (Part 3)


• Harry Potter Morgendorffer, by Meester_Lee (part 20): "Helen's telephone rang a couple of minutes later. It was the receptionist from downstairs. 'Mrs. Morgendorffer,' she said, 'there is an Alban Doubledoor here to see you.'"


• Letters for Grandma (IC: Random Pairing Challenge 2018), by nightbeast37 (COMPLETE!): "Grandma Barksdale calmly relaxed on the recliner seat of the family home she had lived in for the past 40 years. She had endured a rather heated family reunion and just wanted to pretend it never happened."


• Life, family and friends, by JPAGC (part 2): "Daria arrived home from school late afternoon. It was the beginning of Autumn. The sun was setting down earlier and the air was getting cold, but there was still enough sunlight to walk home with a clear path."


• Problem solving, by Rémi (part 2): "Trent was feeling very ill at ease while Jane fixed the necktie she forced him to wear with the suit she had chosen for him. He protested weakly : - Girls, I don't like this date idea at all. Couldn't we make it... simple and quick, as it was with Daria ?"


• Reflections, by Lady Evil (part 14): "Jane stirred the soup as Vixx borrowed the phone to call Ollie. 'Yeah, honey, I'm real sorry I can't come to dinner tonight.' she was saying. 'In fact I might not be home until early tomorrow morning.'"


• Search Engine Obfuscation, by WellTemperedClavier (parts 3 - 6): "By the time she'd graduated, Daria knew how to write a literary paper without having read all the literature in question. Doing so was mostly about figuring out how to torture the text into making the point she wanted." (Part 4) (Part 5) (Part 6)

Mmm...Butterfly Pie

Daria's here to help teach us because it's Learn about Butterflies Day. Jane already knows all she needs to know about them: if you try to hold one tightly in your hand, it will blah, blah, blah. Whether or not she's tested her theory regarding tearing off its precious little wings is unknown.

For the math geeks out there, this is also National Pi Day. Celebrate by calculating the circumference of a circle, or by eating a nice piece of pie. Your call.

Fandom News!

• Mike Quinn wonders if there's a problem with the forum's e-mail button.


• Wouter recommends creating a specialist site for Dariarotica.


• Kem shares her experience with her recent LASIK surgery, and you can vote in MartinUK's related poll about vision.


• ceforman shares his personalized answering machine messages from Daria.

Definitely Don't Hold This One Tightly in Your Hand!

It's Learn about Butterflies Day, and Daria appears to be taking the direct approach to learning. Jane's not interested, because she's learned as much as she cares to about butterflies from her mother.

For the math geeks out there, this is also National Pi Day--3/14! Have some pie, either dessert or pizza, but make sure you calculate the circumference before you eat it. If you're not already aware, today at 9:26:53 it will be 3/14/15 9:26:53, which corresponds to 3.141592653, the beginning digits of pi. Geek on, my friends!

Fanfic Update!

• ПРЕКРАСНЫЕ УТРА, by Shad_Tkhom (COMPLETE!): "Том на­пил­ся. Пер­вый раз в жиз­ни. Ут­ром по­нял, что в пос­ледний."


• ХОЛОДНЫЙ ДОМ, by Shad_Tkhom (COMPLETE!): "... Дарья открыла глаза ... Она ушла из своей палаты ранним утром и свернулась в этом кресле клубочком не только чтобы быть поближе к Джейн. Больничная кровать оказалась вампиром — Дарья чувствовала себя не отдохнувшей — скорее наоборот — ослабевшей ... И этот сон ..."


• A Boring Summer, by ST91 (part 6): "As the first act of his work as a tutor, Dario asked Brittany which were the subjects in which she had difficulty and of these, which were the most difficult topics. Once he learned that Brittany had difficulty in all subjects except PE and that for each subject there were many topics not clear to her, an hour and a half had passed and the situation wasn’t very good."


• #eyepatchgate (Scenes No Daria Fan-Fic Should Have: The Madness Sets In), by Smijey (COMPLETE!): "Joe Adler sidled up to the witness stand, at which sat the cool, composed Daria Morgendorffer sat. He had her dead to rights, and nobody, not even that shark lawyer of a mother she had, could do anything about it."


• Lies of Life, by Princess_Pasta (part 1): "'I'm sorry, Daria, there's just nothing I can do.' 'You don't understand. I need this grade. All I'm asking for is a few more days. Three at the most.' 'My hands are tied. I'm sorry.'"

April Showers Bring The Flowers

Two thousand years ago, give or take a few, today was part of Floralia, a Roman celebration of the goddess Flora (who looked over flowers and plants, of course). Floralia actually began yesterday, but Wikipedia had the wrong day down. Can you imagine that? Anyway, Floralia was quite popular with the Romans for reasons I can't go into here, so perhaps you should click on one of the previous links to find out why, if you are not at work. (Nothing obscene, just... naughty.)

This is also Workers Memorial Day in the U.S. and Canada, to commemorate those who died while performing their jobs. They live on in our thoughts and prayers.

ALERT #1! The Daria DVDs ARE OUT!!!

ALERT #2! UK orders for the Daria DVDs are being filled and mailed!

ALERT #3! Special message from Glenn Eichler!!!

PPMB

• General Semantics, Private Angst, by Gwrtheyrn (Part 23): "Your head is just a bit large, not freakishly so," said Dr. Sloane. "Stop. You'll put me all a-flutter with your honeyed words," Daria replied, in a flat, deadly monotone.
• The Hallowed Halls of Fielding, by Roentgen (Part 26): "Wx xrx hxrx txdx tx hxnxr xxxsx at Fxxldxnx whxx xxll xxxry xxr xxnxxxrx xntx txx xxxmy txxxtxrx xf Gxxxvx Hxx. Txx xxxxx mxx xf xxr xxxlxvxx Fxxldxnx Blxx xxxx. Thxsx xxx xx rxxdx tx dxpaxx xnd txxx txx bxxr xx xxx xxgx, xx xt wxxx. Nx onx cxn sxy thxx thxxx yxxxg mxn, xxx xxnxxt xxf xxx Fxxldxnx xxxlxtxc txxdxxxx, xxx nxt prxpxxxx, nxt cxxxxxxx, xxx nxt cxpxblx xxx xxx xxxk xx dxlxvxxxx gxxdxrxx xxxtxry."
• NEW! Mrs. Sloane, by Liz Ruiz (Part 1): "Tommy," Mrs. Sloane addressed her husband, making a point of ignoring the other man. "That shade of green is isn't really what you should wear today. I thought we had agreed on the dark blue suit." Daniel saw the candidate stop in mid-bite. He would've sworn that the senator was turning a slight shade of green himself. Very few things fazed Thomas Sloane.
  
• NEW! Parents Are People, by Legendeld (Part 1): “So you and Dad are really going to get married?” Quinn said softly. Amy held up her hand to show the engagement ring. “Yes, I hope you both are ok with this but I understand if you aren’t. All I ask is that you give us a chance.”
  
• Unnamed story (Scenes no Daria fanfic should have: Ouch Time), by Yogi (COMPLETE!): “Oh my god!” Jake exclaimed “Daria's gay, too?!?” “WHAT?” Daria yelled. “What do you mean 'TOO'?” Quinn cried.