Joey and Jeffy Have Taken the Rivalry Too Far!

I'm really not sure which is stranger: that National Roast Suckling Pig Day exists as a holiday, or that someone working on the Daria alter egos decided that Jamie needed to be a roast suckling pig. I mean, the combination was too good for me to resist, but it really does raise some questions.

Today is also the anniversary of two essays by Michelle Klein-Häss: Control Room Update: The Battle Has Been Joined! and Daria Fandom: A Question of Gratitude, both posted on this day in 1998. Enjoy a taste of old-school fandom!

Fandom News!

• Keep up with the latest news on the Dariawiki Bureaucrat Election.


• Charles RB posted a new Iron Chef: It's A Wonderful Daria.


• Discuss the quality of Daria seasons three and four.


• A Daria movie is coming out next year...but it's not what you think.


• wouter has a question for fanfic writers.

Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Kevin Thompson's Got to Go!

The Lawndale High faculty doesn't seem impressed by World Teachers' Day, but they'd probably be a lot more enthusiastic if they could earn a decent wage for once. Or if they didn't have to deal with Kevin. Either one would be reward enough.

Also on this day in 1998, Michelle Klein-Häss published her essay, "Morons in the Control Room." It was a call to action against the technical glitches in the Daria broadcasts in 1998. Check it out for a glimpse of fandom in the early days!

Fandom News!

• Can you help clear up some generational confusion?


• Talk about horror movies with Dark Kuno.


• Read and discuss essays about Daria and "The System" and Lucky Strike.


• ozferret wonders when the Morgandorffers became Jewish.

Jamie's Made a Pig of Himself

What better way to celebrate an oddly-specific holiday like National Roast Suckling Pig Day than with an oddly creepy alter ego like this? I think this is one of those pictures that, no matter how curious you might be, you really don't want to know the full story.

Today is also the anniversary of two 1998 essays by Michelle Klein-Häss, "A Question of Gratitude" and "Control Room UPDATE: A Direct Route Has Been Opened!!!." Nothing earth-shattering, but an interesting peek into what the fandom was like almost twenty years ago.

Fandom News!

• Discuss the Russian minister jailed for 8 years for a bribe and related topics.


• Princess_Pasta shares some Daria art she bought.


• Add to the ""Superheroes are only human too" thread.


• What did you think of The Last Jedi?


• Vote in the Deadliest Warrior poll between The Punisher and Wild Dog.


• Astrocar82 wonders if there is any way to easily read old fanfictions posted on PPMB, and Roentgen offers a Rosetta Stone to read older PPMB posts.

Et Tu, Police?

I'm sure Upchuck would like to remind everyone that today is International Day Against Police Brutality, but I think too many female residents of Lawndale have been at the receiving end of his...ahem...charm to care. Jane, on the other hand, will be on hand with a camera to record police brutality against Mystik Spiral. If it ever actually occurs, anyway.

Today is also the Ides of March, which Roman emperors should beware and high school language arts teachers should avoid asking Kevin about.

Finally, it was on this day in 1998 that Michelle Klein-Hass posted her essay From Now On, Please Keep It Real! Whether you agree with the point or not, it's an interesting perspective of the show from back when it was still originally airing.

Fandom News!

• Szcz is looking for sites related to the history of U. S. fashion.


• Read and discuss the article about the Christian retreat from public life.


• What are your thoughts on the upcoming Ghost In The Shell live action movie?


• Wouter is asking for some help.

A Few Anniversaries of Fandom Note

Lots of Daria-related birthdays today (with the connections & links in parentheses). Christina Aguilera is 29 (Stacy Rowe alter ego at right); Brad Pitt turns 46 (many mentions); Steven Spielberg is 63 (Jaws, E.T.); Michael Moorcock is 70 (see here); Piltdown Man (at left) would be 97; Joseph Stalin would have been 131 (Stalin jokes); Saki would have been 139 (Clovis); and the Holiday Island High student named International Migrants Day turns nine but looks 17.

Eleven years ago today, the webmistress of one of the early major supersites, Michelle Klein-Häss of Lawndale Commons, wrote an essay about the demise of supersite Planet Daria. A year later, someone else wrote about the demise of Lawndale Commons. LC continued in a reduced capacity until 2003. The fandom's been through a lot of collapses and regrowth.

Fanfiction updates are on the way for the weekend. Stay tooned.

Not As "Lost" As You'd Think

It is supposed to be an axiom of the Internet that (almost) nothing is every truly lost. The vanished supersite Lawndale Commons was mentioned in an earlier post. Let's see what we can dig up about that site and what was on it.

The site, operated by the justly famous Michelle Klein-Häss (who appeared as a camper on "Camp Fear"), was a real supersite. It had its own IRC chat and message boards and everything. Tonight I discovered that it is possible to get a complete list of everything that the WayBack Machine stored about the site (not everything, but a lot anyway). Among other things, I discovered:

• ...something borrowed from the legendary, long-gone website Planet Daria.
• ...the origin of that idea that two seasons of Daria equal one year of "real time" in Lawndale.
• ...a map of Daria's Bomb Shelter.
• ...and Daria and Jane spinning around in 3-D CGI, rendered by John Markus. (LINKS ARE FIXED!) Now, is that totally cool or what?

Anybody remember all this? Wish I'd known about it when I got into the fandom in 2002. Missed it. Dang!

Oh, and you can get all of the fanfics ever stored in Lawndale Commons in the WayBack Machine, too, using the above method. Click through about 46 pages of stored images, web pages, fanfics, etc. No more missing fanfics. Nice.

Anything missing that I wish I could get now? The large image of the Lawndale crest, shown small-size in the logo above. Rats. Anyone remember this? Anyone remember to SAVE this?

Richard Lobinske has again updated the list of 2008 Visual Fanworks for PPMB and SFMB. I, on the other hand, have not updated the fanfic list yet. Sue me.

(Just kidding.)

LA-la Land

This was an interesting webpage. While tramping through the vintage where archive.org was stored, I rediscovered part of Michelle Klein-Hass's old msgeek.com website, and stopped at this page, which is the introduction to a story series she wrote. This was written before "Lane Miserables" aired, so you see how things evolved without further knowledge of what was planned for the Lanes. Very interesting take on the Lane family's history, current wealth, members, and location (for Lawndale). Thought you might like to see this.