King of the Seas

Happy Neptunalia to all fans of the Roman Empire out there. Mack appears as Neptune courtesy of MTV art staff (sent to us by renown superfan Pinhead). Today begins Neptunalia, as it were. By odd coincidence, this date also marks the beginning of a strange sea voyage in one Daria fanfic.

This is also a historic birthday date, and I will let you guess who was born today who also made it into the ranks of Daria alter ego artwork. Oh, boy.

And, this day marks one of the strangest and most harrowing aircraft flights of the modern era. Twenty-seven years ago, an Air Canadian passenger jet unexpectedly ran out of fuel and was forced to glide to an emergency landing. As it happened, the pilot was a glider pilot and knew exactly what to do to land safely. A brilliant feat of flying, indeed. Enjoy the TV documentary on YouTube. (Any fanfic ideas from this?)

Moar l8r. Okay, it's l8r now. And if you want to read something good about Daria online, try this. Thanks to InvisibleDan for finding this.

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• The Continuing Adventures of an ANGRY!!! Young Man, by Charles RB (Part 4): The third date with Claire would be to the cinema. Unfortunately, the chances of Claire liking Valley Forge Massacre—said to be the most violent ‘Nam film ever!—was going to be remote, so Anthony decided to take her to the new chick-flick romcom East Fulham. He HATED chick-flick romcoms. But you made sacrifices for love.
• Daria: Hunter 6—Infectious, by Jim North (continued): Anthony opened his mouth to speak, but the 'bot cut him off with a wave of its hand. "Hold that thought!" not-O'Neill said. "I've found that it's far more difficult to get other members of the opposing team to agree to their own deals with the devil if one of their number has already turned me down. So! Miss Burns, what do you say to—" "You talk too much," Burnout said.
  
• Finn Morgendorffer 54: On the Outside of Love, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 1): “You know, I really like your idea of recompense. You can miss any prom or dance or anything you want.” Finn was out of breath, naked in his bed, as Sierra was dressing. “Cool your heels, hotshot,” Sierra returned. “It loses its appeal when it happens all the time.” “Speak for yourself,” Finn returned.
• The Hallowed Halls of Fielding, by Roentgen (Part 46): "Ms. Morgendorffer, Ms. Timothy," Morioka said, singling out Daria and another student. "You two'll be wearing that hair of yours tied behind your back. I'd hate to see either of you hoisted like the Wicked Witch over the stage because one of you got her hair caught in the gears." She turned her attention to the others. "You have to learn every aspect of the stage, and you're going to get a crash course in shop safety and that means power tools."
• Judith Strikes! Lunch, by Erin M. (COMPLETE!): Reiko frowned. "What? I'm the Senior Guide for that Cluster. You can't pull me now! The only other Guides available are Nabiki and Gosunkugi, and Gosunkugi has his duties split between the Cluster and the Collective." "We know, and we wouldn't pull you otherwise, except that there's an emergency in the Lawndale Cluster," Lazlo replied. Reiko rolled her eyes. "Oh come ON. The Lawndale Cluster has tons of reality defenders inherent there as it is. Any damage done is usually fixed by the Agency anyway. What's so important that the normal Guides for that Cluster can't possibly—" "The locket's in the Lawndale Cluster."
• Judith Strikes! Rest Stop, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): “So... have you come to kill me?” Judith lifted her head as she untangled herself from her red cloak, and saw the hated image of one of her doppelgangers raise up from the bed where she lay in shadows, and thin beams of bluish-white moonlight. “Yeah,” Judith breathed out, slow and angry. “Pretty much.”
• NEW! Judith Strikes! The Rise and Fall of D.D. Morgan and the Sanity Assassins, by Brian Taylor (Part 1): You've seen the video by now, haven't you? The one filmed during her final concert? Of course you have. Sure, you can lie about it. You can say you don't want to see anything like it. It offends your sensibilities. You never liked her music, anyway, you say during parties, eyes darting furtively over to the CD cabinet just to make sure nobody catches you in the lie. But then, you said the same thing about the Zapruder film, and how many times have you seen Kennedy's dying moments? Head goes forward. Head goes back. Lights go out. This is the same thing. Why deny it?
  
• Judith Strikes! You'll Never Walk Alone, by Charles RB (COMPLETE!): The Lawndale Lions was about to play Fielding with a 2000-strong audience, and no one official had spotted her placing agents & conning patsies through the stadium. Judith was having a good day. She began to slip out, heading for the exit (she didn’t want to be seen around when the fuzz cracked down), but she made sure she’d see the chaos that would erupt in the next twenty seconds. Ah, Fielding. Tom’s school. They had this coming. “Five... four... three... two... one...”
• The Lane That Wasn't, by LadieT (Parts 4 and 5): A couple of hours later, Jane woke back up. She was feeling physically better, but mentally and emotionally she was still suffering. She tried to survey the room without hurting her neck. She froze when she saw a taller, skinnier version of Daria staring at her from Daria's side of the room. A smile came over the woman's face as she walked toward Jane. "Ahh, I'm glad to see my favorite niece is up. How are you feeling?" "Hi, Aunt Amy." How do I know this woman's name? I've never heard Daria mention her before? Could it be I am a Morgendorffer, but Daria looks just like her. (Part 5)
• NEW! Night Time Is the Right Time, by Chris Tucker (COMPLETE!): "Swell. I'm naked in the middle of nowhere. Again. I hate this nightmare. Show yourself and lets get this over with so I can wake up screaming and get everyone in the house all freaked out yet again." The gray skies. The featureless plain. Not a single herd of beautiful wild ponies running free to be seen anywhere. "This place sucks." [Part of the "Season in Hell" series]
• Pulp Fiction, by Chris Tucker (Prologue, Parts 1 and 2 and 3): "OK, what makes you think I'm intelligent?" "'Ah, Watson. You see, but you do not observe!' The bookbag is from the Raft student co op. The modestly sized school crest is embroidered upon it. Your polo shirt is also from the co op. I see the collar where it peeps out from the neck of your sweater. A unique shade only available at Raft. Part of the school colors. Further, your bag is obviously stuffed with textbooks. Finally, Raft only accepts the cream of the crop of applications. There are NO stupid people at Raft. Ergo, you are intelligent! And as for being pretty, that's written all over your face. I take it you don't own a mirror. Oh, I hope you're not a vampire. Miserable things, vampires. The very devil to get rid of, you know!" By now, she was laughing out loud. "My name is James Clark Wilder V... and you are...?" "Um, Daria Morgendorffer." (early version of Prologue) (Prologue) (Part 2) (NEW! Part 3) (Daria/Doc Savage)
• Unnamed story, by Ranger Thorne (COMPLETE!): Jane scowled at Alison as she tried to slip around her to the door. When Alison stepped in front of her, the younger woman gritted her teeth and growled, “Alison, I like guys. Now get out of my way.” “Yeah, you like guys and hanging out with bisexuals in their bedrooms.” The smirk returned, “Hey, I even bought you dinner.” “Dinner was settling a bet. And I didn’t know you were bi.” “Sure you didn’t. Sorry, baby, but I never hit on straight chicks.” “I’m not interested in women. Now let me out of here.” “You mean you're not ready to admit it.” She leaned forward, “That’s okay. I’d be happy to —” anything else she was going to say was cut off as Jane, freaked out that Alison had leaned in too close, shoved her. To the surprise of both, Alison was sent flying back into the door, only to have the hinges give way and deposit Alison into the yard on a door that skidded for at least five yards.
• NEWER! Unnamed story (More Crossovers Not Yet Crossed Over), by RLobinske (COMPLETE!): "Professor Daniels asked me to double-check his translation of the Latin inscription." "Busy work? From what you mentioned, he's a gifted linguist." "A joke. He knows the language a hell of a lot better than I do. Anyway, it was still fun." "So what did it say?" "Basically, 'Here Lies Jupiter. Do not open.'" "Jupiter's coffin?" "Like I said, a joke." "Not really," another voice said from the other end of the room. (Daria/Stargate)
  
• The Vision of the Burning Cities, by jtranser (continued): In the cold grey shadows of the dimly lit street stood a great locked wooden gate carved with numerous cryptic glyphs worn smooth by the casual touch of impious hands over the centuries. Trembling, Stacy approached the door and reached for the door knocker. As she touched the bronze ring, the central panel of the door suddenly lit up its carvings with a bright yellow light. Then it appeared to ooze streaks of tar-like red blood as a primitive intercom buzzed and crackled while a suave voice gave her a message: "I'm sorry, but we're celebrating a murder right now. You'll have to come back later."
• NEWER! Two Halves 6: Role Models, by Dark Kuno (Part 3): “Why would the school need bulletproof skylights?” asked Jake as he gave his eldest children a quizzical look from across the kitchen table. “Because the pigeons have upgraded to the heavy duty munitions,” returned Alex. “Pigeons? Damned lousy rats with wings! Every time you wash your car...” Jake began to mutter angrily.
  
• We're 700 miles from Chicago. It's 6 in the morning. We've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of gum and we're both wearing bowling shirts! by Chris Tucker (COMPLETE!): Anthony DeMartino found Jane Lane in his empty classroom. That was the first surprise. The second surprise was that the usually unflappable Ms. Lane was crying her eyes out. He knew Lane was Morgendorffer's best friend. And he suspected that the reason this poor child was crying had something to do with her friend's illness. OK, Tony. Low key. Don't scare her. Softly: "Ms. Lane?" [Part of the "Season in Hell" series]

The Fandom's Fourth

A mere 148 years ago today, a peculiar English reverend told a fantastic story to three little girls, all sisters, while they were on a boat trip. Ten-year-old Alice, the middle sister, asked him to write it down, and three years later, he did and published it, and that is where we get all of our Alice stories. No kidding. (Thanks to Pinhead for the very relevant alter ego at right.)

As noted in an earlier blog post, number of Daria fanfics take place July 4th. It was of course the day of the Landons' party in Is It Fall Yet? (scene 20). It has also appeared in the following fanfics, arranged in alphabetical order by story.

• Best Served Cold (Ms. Geek)
• Blood, Sweat, and Cheers, Conclusion (Kristen Bealer)
  
• Bromwell Bound: That One Fateful Summer, Chapter 6 (HolyGrail2007)
  
• By the Twilight (Wildgoose)
• Daria: The Next Chapter 3—Life Is Like a Firework (LadieT)
• Family Collision (Richard Lobinske)
• Fast Times at Lawndale High (Danny Bronstein)
• Finn Morgendorffer 33: Independence (HolyGrail2007)
  
• Fireworks (C. E. Foreman)
• Fun on the Fourth (Richard Lobinske)
• If You Only Walk Long Enough (TAG)
• Into the Fray (Minx)
• Jane Lane: Ace Attorney (LSauchelli)
  
• John Lane 38: Yeah, It's Summer, Conclusion (RLobinske)
• Movies and Moonflower (Brother Grimace)
  
• Reaped Out 2: Sickle Sad World, Chapters 12+ (Minx)
• Sarcasm at 1600, Chapter 16 (Mike Xeno) (and poem by Tildessmoo)
  

Do you recall any other Fourth of July Daria stories? If so, post them below in Comments.

There's a songfic that references this day, too.

• Mike and the Spiral (with Jodie Landon) present: “Firecracker" (Ranger Thorne)

July 4th also marks some important fanfiction events, such as:

• the birthday of Jane Lane's daughter (guess the name of the daughter and her father)
• the anniversary of the creation of the first Super-Soldier (the 69th anniversary is this year, see if you can name the Super Soldier)
• the day a budding superhero created a UFO scare on the US west coast (name the superhero)
  

Quite a day, wouldn't you say?

Jake in the Winner's Circle

Today marks the annual running of The Oaks at Churchill Downs, the big race between fillies just one day before the Kentucky Derby. And, of course, Helen Morgendorffer is the filly to beat! (That was not meant to be a joke about the riding crop Jake is holding. But maybe it is.) Whew, is it getting hot in here, or is that picture smokin'?

Tonight, however, is Walpurgis Night, Europe's version of Halloween. Hence we use the Three Js as the witches from Macbeth. (Yet another Shakespeare reference!)

Thanks to Pinhead for the big images. Stay tooned, more to come later.

LATE NOTE: Just because I want to, here is a small tribute to the best horse ever born. I loved this guy. Enjoy.

Happy Science-Fiction Day!

Isaac Asimov, the immortal Russian-American science-fiction writer (and biochemist, science writer, fantasy writer, mystery writer, and writer of everything else, to the tune of 500+ books) was born this day 90 years ago. It would be impossible to calculate his influence on my life, as I devoured whatever he wrote that I could find back when I was in high school. The Internetz have proclaimed this as Science-Fiction Day in his honor, and so be it. Thank you for everything, and thank you, UU and Pinhead, for the above image. (Can anyone guess where it came from?)

More shortly, need to wake up first.

Happy National Hangover Day!

To help you through this time of self-induced alcohol-fueled existential angst, we have fanfiction for you. But first, the art. Before that, though, the newz.

NEWZ!

• More discussion about crossovers to be: what works, what sucks, how to do it, everything.
• The Other 2009 Fanworks (i.e., the Dariarotic ones) have been listed by Disco316. READ & VOTE!
• The Daria: Hunter Shared World Series Bible has been upgraded & updated by Jim North.
• Two intriguing new Iron Chefs: A Nanny for the Morgendorffers, by Ms. Kinnikufan; and Cargo Ship, by Derek.
  

THE ART!

• Hershey-chan's masterpiece: Jane/Mack! In living color, no less! And there was much rejoicing!
• Disco316 has collected all of 2009's Adult Visual Works for Booties voting.

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• Daria Is Raven's Apprentice, by Project Pegasus (continued): "Say Robin, Old Man Wayne is rich. Maybe he can loan you a little more than that stack of dimes you're packing."
• The Dream of the White Darkness, by jtranser (continued): At that point, long supple wires came out of the mask's mouth and directly plugged into her forehead. At that instant, a Powerpoint presentation streamed into her brain in a strict orderly fashion. At the same time, Daria was aware that all the directories and files in her brain were being renamed as inconsistencies were removed and consigned to the Land of the Gone Forever.
• Esteeminator: The Daria Morgendorffer Chronicles, by Jim North (Part 1): Just as she started walking down the sidewalk, lights started flaring from a nearby alleyway, accompanied by an electrical noise. At first Terry thought that a transformer must have exploded, but the light and sound continued for several seconds before tapering off. Curious—and worried that someone might have been hurt by the display, or something else important might have been damaged—she carefully edged around the corner to see what had happened. Before Terry could get a good look, she was almost run down by a young woman exiting the alley. The girl was thin, but with an athletic build, which was easy to see since she was completely nude. She looked the older woman up and down, then spoke in a flat, emotionless voice. "Your clothes. Give them to me."
• Falling into College 72: Valley of Love and Delight, by Richard Lobinske (Part 1): "Please tell me that you're going to be gaming and not using it to watch CGI porn. If you're going to do that, have a little self-respect and get a real stripper."
• Invisible Love, by Charliefox2012 (Parts 9 and 10): The idea of Jane being with a guy made his heart seize painfully. And he knew that he was in trouble if he was starting to have feelings for his best and only friend. I can’t like her! This can’t happen! She is just a friend and a good one at that. I will not ruin this with a stupid crush. (FF.net)
  
• Legion of Lawndale Heroes Mini: Fundamental Attribution Error, by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): Jane once told me that Daria will help someone in need, that she can be a soft touch. And I heard that when Daria was at USAES, she made out with all of the telepaths. Telepathically. I think.
• A Night of Bells (but no Whistles), by Doggieboy (COMPLETE!): "Well, I guess that I can call you an iron maiden now, huh?" "Oh, you're a real laugh riot."
• Spirit of the Law, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): "You're the Devil." Helen said it as a statement, not a question, and without a touch of fear in her voice. "I knew that I'd probably run into you sooner or later—but I thought I'd run into you at a hearing at the appellate level..."
• Tears of the Cynic, by thatLONERchick (Part 1): Daria awoke in a fog. She lifted her head from the pillow, hair stuck to the side of her face and ruffled with sleep, to find a single glistening ruby perched upon the white linen pillowcase. Unease gripped the girl and the last fuzzy fingers of sleep fell away as she stared down at the blood droplet and slowly, a trembling hand traced her cheeks, lips, nose, chin. Nothing. Daria's eyes closed as her fingers wiped first tear duct, then the other. Red-tinged emerald eyes opened to the thick smear of blood across her fingers. Her heart fell, and she sighed. "Someone is going to die today."
• Two Halves 5: Mall Rat Blues, by Dark Kuno (continued): “Mission accomplished,” the freckled boy announced. “You seem to still have a full set of teeth, so I doubt Brittany agreed to model bikinis for you,” commented Alex.
• Unnamed story (Ryōri no Tetsujin (Iron Chef): Twit...errrrs), by Ajar (COMPLETE!): [too short to sample]
• Unnamed story (Ryōri no Tetsujin (Iron Chef): Twit...errrrs), by Jim North (COMPLETE!): [too short to sample]
• Unnamed story (Ryōri no Tetsujin (Iron Chef): Twit...errrrs), by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): [too short to sample]
• Unnamed story (Something That Popped into My Head (Damn tvtropes)), by Gouka Ryuu (COMPLETE!): It couldn’t possibly be true. That’s what Daria thought to herself from the moment she read the letter and all the information in the packet she had received in the mail about a week ago. The mantra was still going through her mind as she tried to decide whether this all thing was a good idea or not.

This concludes the year 2009 in Daria fanfiction. Thank you for being with us. Just ahead: 2010. Peace out.

New Year's Traditions: Getting Totally Wasted

While this tradition seems pretty obvious, there are special procedures that must be observed:

1. Singing traditional songs.

2. Playing traditional games.

3. Eating traditional foods.

4. Unintentionally destroying property.

5. Having deeply meaningful conversations.

6. Offering candid assessments of the party.

7. Offering candid assessments of the partygoers.

8. Escape.

9. Final thoughts.

In with the Old, Out with the New!

Pinhead and UU have once again come through for us. In with the New Year, out with the Old Year, something like that.

The following posts are this blog's feeble attempt to cheer those who are spending the New Year's celebrations at home on the computer. Unlike me.

Oh, you might check out the constantly growing number of "In the Spotlight" online interviews with Daria fans, by Daria fans, on PPMB. Vlora and Devilkitty are the new ones up.

And Minx's new version of Quinn.

And Vlora's continuing display of outrageous artistic talent, of which I have none. (The Daria pin-up is mind-blowing.)

NEWZ FLASH! Torn Between Two Sisters!

In the grand tradition of the worst supermarket gossip tabloids, mega-actor Ralph Fiennes (born 47 years ago today) once found himself torn between the steamy lusts of two oppositional sisters: the brainy and cynical Amy Barksdale (left) and the blonde Rita Barksdale (right). As you recall, Amy confessed her undying devotion to Ralph (pronounced like Rafe, rhymes with safe) in "Through a Lens Darkly," but tragically lost him to the scheming Rita before the airing of "Aunt Nauseam" (Rita: "... I promised Ralph—you know, the actor I've been dating—I promised to take him to New York for his birthday, maybe catch a play or two.") Thus, we know "Aunt Nauseam" takes place near this day, in December about 1999-2000.

Why would two animated sisters find themselves catfighting over this man? A close look at Mr. Fiennes in his best known work outfits, shown below, reveals all. No wonder these hot-blooded women cast aside all sororal affection and civilized decency to have him for their very own!

Another cold case solved by the unstoppable Detective TAG. (Thanks once again to the awesome UU and Pinhead for the great images above!)

Movie Quiz: Name the three roles that Ralph Fiennes played in the three movies represented in the above images. Then say what it was about each role that got the Barksdale sisters so hot and bothered. On the other hand, maybe we'd best skip that. And skip the part about how Helen Morgendorffer fits in there, too.

You Woke Up the Dead, So Put 'Em to Bed

Gettin' late, party's over, zombies have to be reburied. My thanks to Pinhead (at right) for the most excellent alter egos, to UU for more magnificent images, to Richard Lobinske for chipping in some excellent art with his posts, and to you for reading this.

The more alert among you might notice that this website has now joined the last existing Daria Webring, which apparently started out as the Other Daria Webring. It kinda fun to explore the ring and see where it leads; not very big at the moment but there's room to grow. Webrings were big about a decade ago. They're still around, good to see 'em. Maybe more webmasters will join in for the fun of it.

Hope your Halloween was a good one. Tomorrow is a new day and a new month (and this blog will run over 124,000 hits). Cheers.