A Day for People Who Like/Don't Like Cats

As reported/not reported last year at this time, cat fancier/hater Erwin Schrödinger might/might not have been born 123 years ago today. He might/might not be famous for devising a means of getting rid of cats using quantum physics, a feat for which he won/did not win the Nobel Prize. Despite Schrödinger's cat experiment (see at left), cats still exist (or not).

This is International Youth Day, which still does Daria and Jane no good, and is also the birthday anniversary of Madame Blavatsky, the Theosophist who was parodied on Beavis and Butt-head (see image at right).

More soon, just remembered to update this thing. Okay, time to go.


GnEwZ!!!

• Another popular thread on PPMB: Shocking News for Daria and Quinn!
• Mystik Goldmine, by Breitasparrow, is new art: a Trent/Jesse image inspired by the rock movie Velvet Goldmine. Be advised there is mature content present, but implied only.
• Ms. Buzzdome herself has been at the sketchpad again, with amusing results.
• Hazazel's thread called Who is she? has now become Iron Chef: Slutty Girl.
• NEWER! Ken T has made a gracious offer to draw fan art by request. Get your requests in early!
• NEWEST! Ken T has located a bunch of his old fanfics! Hooray!
• NEWEST! LSauchelli has a new Iron Chef: Twins ("What if Daria and Quinn were identical twins?") Get goin'!
  

PPMB

• The Camera II, by Brian Taylor (COMPLETE!): The tape begins with footage of a tony neighborhood in Halloween dress. Carved pumpkins decorate porches. Spiderwebs dangle from overhangs and twine between columns. Bales of hay in yards. Haunts hanging from streetlights and bare tree branches. A teenage girl in a dark, professional-looking jacket stands by a tree. She still wears round glasses, still has wavy brown hair to her shoulders. It’s held back from her face with a black headband. She holds a dented microphone in her hand. "Chevy Chase, Maryland." Amy's voice is a little lower now, that of a teenager rather than a little girl.
• NEWEST! Finn Morgendorffer 55: Dreamer Without a Cause, by HolyGrail2007 (COMPLETE!): “What about you, Finn? Bromwell or Crestmoore, not bad choices either way.” “I know.” Finn chuckled. “But still, I gotta choose. I don’t wanna transfer, I hated being the new kid when I first came to Lawndale.” “You had the entire freshman class eating out of your hand in two weeks.” “Still, long move, haul all that crap. I’m only doing that as much as necessary. So, I think one college will be enough for me.” “Which one are you thinking about?” “Reasons for both. Jane’s here, Tom’s at Bromwell.” Finn answered. The three of them were certainly close. Finn and Jane were a cute couple, and the girl he was with now, Sierra Riordan, who was older, wasn’t the same as Jane. And Tom Sloane? The two were best friends, and, according to the gossip, their dads did as well. He wouldn’t be far apart from his friends. Jodie noticed Finn didn’t mention Daria, but she decided against it. Plenty of history between brother and sister.
  
• Grove Hell 2: All the Lawndale People, by Charles RB (Part 8): Outside, the night was calm and cool and you couldn’t hear the screaming. It had taken Daria a few minutes to stop crying, and then to shift slightly away from Amelia so she wouldn’t be involved in physical contact, and now she just sat in silence. They could have sat like that for a while, Daria not wanting to talk and Amelia unable to break the silence, if not for the police cars arriving, sirens whining into the night. The Resort staff must not have taken kindly to the near-riot breaking out. “Um... unless you want to talk to the cops, we should probably—” “Okay.” (NEW! FF.net)
  
• Helen Wheels, by Smileyfax (Part 2): Daria and her new friend Jane were walking home, discussing their after-school self-esteem 'class'. Daria still marveled at the discovery of a person with both an intact brain and intact sanity, and was even more awed that Jane wanted to be friends with her. "So then, after the role-playing, next class they put the girls and the guys in separate rooms and a female counselor talks to us about body image," Jane said. "What do they talk to the boys about?" Daria asked. "A classroom full of guys and a male teacher?" Jane asked, as if it were self-evident. And, to Daria, it was a moment later. "Daria!" "Eep!"
• NEWER! Homecoming, by Chris Tucker (COMPLETE!): The telephone was ringing as she walked in the door. "Hello... Yes, speaking. What? No! Oh, my God...What about the children? Do they know? Poor dears! Of course, certainly we'll take them in! Thank you for calling. Yes, I appreciate that. Thank you, goodbye." She dialed a number. "Jake, I just got a call. Liz and Bobby are dead. Apparently a car crash almost a month ago. Of course Mom didn't call. She probably hasn't told anyone."
  
• It's Her Party, by Chris Tucker (COMPLETE!): "Hey, Daria." (I've just seen a face, I can't forget the time or place) "Oh. Hi, Tom." (That we'd just met, he's just the boy for me And I want all the world to see we've met...)
  
• Jane Lane: Ace Attorney—Turnabout Teacher's Pet, by LSauchelli (Part 13): Jane glared at O’Neill, who had just been incarcerated under suspicion of being an accomplice to the murder of Cartwright. For a second she felt sorry for the man, but that feeling was quickly replaced by contempt when she remembered that he used to be her very worst teacher back at High School. “Well?” she simply said, when she decided he was calm enough to actually speak a few comprehensible words.
• NEWEST! John Lane 47: Another Look in the Mirror, by RLobinske (Part 3): "Why didn't you mention a pre-nup before now?" Helen suddenly yelled, causing everyone to jump. Daria stood and grabbed John and Quinn's hands. "Time to go." "Where?" Quinn asked. "Anywhere," John said as Daria pulled them toward the front door. "What about Dad?" "I'm sorry, Quinn. But he's on his own."
  
• Legacy, by Getrealordie187 (Interlude 4): "Why on Earth would I want to step into that thing just so I can get the crap beat out of me? I'm already afraid of getting shot in this place; the last thing I need is to get brain damage before it happens." "Boxing is a sport of strategy Cadet. You're not even allowed to step in my ring before you get the technique down. And that's not going to happen if you just stand there and bitch. I'll start with teaching you how to wrap your hands and get you started on the speed bag. I'm not asking."
• Morning Ritual, by NightGoblyn (COMPLETE!): "See ya after school, Mom, Dad!" Quinn waved at her parents as she headed across the living room, grabbed her backpack, and headed out the front door. Her dopey sister was still half-dressed and eating a bowl of cold cereal, but Quinn liked having an early start on her day. She walked to school with a bounce in her step and a lilting whistle on her lips, stopping in at the little coffee shop that was about halfway between home and school. "Hi, Barry!" she said, waving at the guy behind the counter as she made a bee-line for the bathroom. "The usual?" "No, make it a triple shot today," Quinn replied. "I've got a Fashion Club meeting before school and I need to be extra perky."
• NEWER! Raft College: The First Year, by rglovejoy (Part 22): It was dark when Daria woke up. She rested on her side, very warm and comfortable. Something wrapped around her torso, strong and immovable. Her back was also warm: it felt as though she were leaning into a firm, cloth-covered cushion. She sensed something else, large and strong, cupped over her right breast. Though there was very little light, Daria knew where she was: she was in bed with her Sam.
  
• NEW! She Can, by Charles RB (COMPLETE!): Julia reclined on her seat, letting the school assembly wash in one ear and out the other. (Something about modeling, or was it about being a model student? Something something "model"-something, anyway.) "Blah blah blah I am the Principal who is boring ignore me ignore me." Did I remember to record Scooby-Doo? Damn, that's gonna bug me all day now...
• NEWER! Summer, by Chris Tucker (COMPLETE!): The girls were settled in the new home. It was near the end of June, so their new "Mom and Dad" would get them into school in September. They had the whole summer to get to know each other. The nice family next door looked after the girls while Mom and Dad worked. Sometimes they stayed next door, sometimes the oldest girl would stay with them in their house. The girls were never alone. Unlike back in the old house.
  
• NEW! Unnamed story (Who is she?/Iron Chef: Slutty Girl), by Charles RB (COMPLETE!): The blonde girl with little clothes briefly gazed over the room and then jumped when she saw Daria. "Where did you come from?!" God, this again, Daria thought. "I'm Daria."
  

A Wedding and a Birthday (and Chocolate!)

A busy fandom day this day is, indeed. Rita Pietropinto Kitt, who voiced the snarky aunt Amy Barksdale on Daria, was married on this day nine years ago. She has an address for fan mail, so if you want to send her our regards, please do. (Amy Barksdale was married on September 8, 2001, of course.)

Just curious: Why were there never any alter egos of Amy Barksdale? Or Rita, for that matter, but mostly Amy? Anyone got any guesses? BTW I think her hair color is maroon or dark red, not auburn like Daria's. Just throwing that out there.

This is the 123rd birthday of the Statue of Liberty, and let us again say Thank You! to France for the gift that kept on giving. And great thanks to Pinhead for the revised and much enlarged image! (Click and see.) This is one of my favorite alter egos of all time.

According to some mythologies, today is National Chocolate Day, but there seem to be quite a few National Chocolate Days on the calendar. What the heck, celebrate anyway. Pig out.

Strange Thought for the Day: Did you ever notice how much some of the students and faculty at the medieval fair in "Fair Enough" look like they were popped right out of a Harry Potter pastiche? Think about it. Here's all this perfect fantasy fan art and no stories to go with it. (Almost.) Weird, man.

And now for the Halloween fanfiction. This date figures prominently in two different haunting fanfics: Mystik Slacker's "The Journal of Daria Morgendorffer," and Sam Lincoln's "The Space Between." Check 'em out. This is also an excellent time to read Richard Lobinske's "Bump in the Night." One particularly creepy story actually begins on this calendar day: "The Journal of Daria Morgendorffer," by Mystik Slacker.

Oh, heck, why not give away the store: go to this link and get the full Halloween experience from Outpost Daria. Best news of all: there's another stockpile of Halloween fanfic left to go! And more stories not included in either collection! (More tomorrow.)

PPMB

• Daria: Hunter, by Jim North (Parts 1 to 3): Underwear, shirt, jeans, glasses, socks, boots, shoulder holster, pack belt, jacket, gloves, Stetson. And, of course, her undersleeve specials. She performed a quick pat-down of her jacket and pants pockets to make sure she had her wallet and various bits of equipment on her, then stepped out the apartment's front door and into the only-just-bearable heat of yet another summer morning. Door locked, keys out, gravcar primed. Daria confidently backed the vehicle out into the skylane and set off to pick up Jane.
• Finn Morgendorffer 10: Finn the Brain, by HolyGrail2007 (COMPLETE!): Daria tried to crack a smile. She did enjoy it when her brother felt awkward. If Finn had cheated on this essay, Daria would have condemned him. If Mr. O’Neill took it easy on him, Daria wouldn’t have cared. But this was something else. You get to be a brain now, Finn, Daria thought. What do I get to be?

A few more thoughts:

Before anyone writes to me about all the Daria/Harry Potter crossovers out there, and there are a fair number of them now, I was more interested in seeing an original fantasy or modern fantasy take on everyone being a spellcaster or wizard of some kind. It's hard to do. I took the alchemical route with "The Other," but there are plenty of other ways to go with it, like astrology, magic use involving critter familiars, "psychic" magic, tarot magic, critter summoning, necromancy, and so on. The crossovers are great, I love many of them, but something different and original would be nice, too. My humble opinion only. See what can be done with this.

We close with a fifth "witch," Madame Blavatsky from Beavis and Butt-head. Click on her name in Labels to read more about her in an earlier post. Ciao.

The Medium Who Was Below Average

Today is the 178th anniversary of the birth of Madame Blavatsky, a spiritualist who founded theosophy, which is hard to explain so I won't. A medium named Madame Blavatsky (at right) appeared in a 1994 Beavis and Butt-head episode named for her. She turns out to be a fraud, of course, but the episode is quite funny. I wonder if Daria knew about this lady when she lived in Highland.

Cat fancier/hater Erwin Schrödinger might or might not have been born 122 years ago today, yesterday, or tomorrow. He is or is not famous or infamous for devising a means of getting rid of cats using quantum physics, a feat for which he won or did not win the Nobel Prize. To my amazement, no one known has ever written a Daria fanfic that makes use of the Schrödinger's cat experiment. Why not? What's wrong with you people?

Today is also International Youth Day, though I have no idea what good it would do Daria and Jane.

MDetector5 offers new sketches of the Fashion Club on PPMB. Enjoy.

PPMB

• Daddy's Home, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): Trent smiled as he stood in the doorway of the nursery, watching as his wife held up a crying infant from the crib, waving the child's tiny hand at him. "Look, it's Daddy," the woman said, smiling as the child saw Trent and stopped crying, holding out her hands for Trent to come and hold her. "Oh... you want Daddy to hold you?"
  
• Once More, With Sitting, by Richard Lobinske (Part 1): "Are you going over to Jane's tonight?" "No, she heard that there was a traveling Andy Warhol exhibit in Swedesville, so she hijacked Tom and his rusty steed to take her there." "So, where are you going?" "I'm babysitting for the Guptys."
• Partnership, by Dennis (COMPLETE!): Partnerships, I mused, are necessary in this business, but usually end badly. What's that, boss? Not planning on kicking Rocza and me out, are you? The mental voice of my familiar, Loiosh, was quizzical.
• Reaped Out 2: Sickle Sad World, by Pinkminx (Part 2): Daria's mind remained with her sister. She not only recalled their brief encounter, but replayed the sisterly moments they had once shared, the good and the bad. She was guilt stricken as she realized the bad moments far surpassed the good. (FF.net)
  
• Tiffalicious, by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): "We can't find Tiffany! She's on another one of her diets again... and when she goes on a diet for too long, she goes crazy."
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Daria Kills Jane, Or Vice Versa...), by Gouka Ryuu (COMPLETE!): "She had disappeared about ten years ago, right after graduating college. Her friend had been distraught about the whole thing, even though she was the most viable suspect...."