Showing posts with label reading sucks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading sucks. Show all posts

Friday, October 23, 2009

Birthday Time

According to Archbishop James Ussher, Earth is 6,013 years old today. This begins a large number of important anniversaries on this special date. Get ready.

Chicken Soup for the Butt (later collected as part of the megavolume, Reading Sucks) says that Daria is a Scorpio. Today begins the Scorpio part of the zodiac, so her birthday is sometime between now and November 21st. Happy Birthday, Daria! Now, if we only knew when Jane's birthday was....

This is also the birthday of "Weird Al" Yankovic, beloved of many in this fandom. Do you like chemistry? Today is also Mole Day for you science nerds.

Seven years ago today, the now-defunct online comic Mall Monkeys had some special guests. The artwork was borrowed from Outpost Daria.

Last year about this time, Daria fan Dr. Mike pointed out an unusual resemblance between another online character, Clarice, and Daria Morgendorffer. You be the judge, though I will point out Daria does like books and has been depicted (in canon) wearing an outfit like the one Clarice wears in her second-shift job.

Five years ago, "Save the Nauga’s Hide" was completed by Greystar. Fun story!

CURRENT NuuZ

PPMB
  • Anti-Trope, by Pinkminx (Part 4): Dean sat quietly at a desk toward the front of the class. He turned in his chair to survey the rest of students in the room, realizing the strong female presence in the first few rows of desks. In fact, he was the only male in the front section of the class; every other male student was seated in the back rows. As Dean pondered this abnormality his thoughts were interrupted by the shrill, nasally voice of his science teacher.
  • Finn Morgendorffer 9: Legends and Losers, by HolyGrail2007 (COMPLETE!): Finn stood up and looked at himself in the mirror. It was a ritual he performed at least three times a day, more if he had a date or other excuse to be presentable. And the mirror, just like before showed it’s reflection. Finn’s hair was a little in disarray because he had been laying on the bed, but he still looked as handsome as ever. Except for his mouth. Finn couldn’t smile.
  • NEW! Finn Morgendorffer 10: Finn the Brain, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 1): “When I assigned you that essay on the styles of writing poetry, I knew I’d get work that reflected the teen within, whether it be the happy-go-lucky cheerleader or the quiet, sensitive person—but never was I so impressed as I was by the essay that Finn Morgendorffer wrote for us!”
  • Invisible Love, by Charliefox2012 (Part 6): “What are you doing?” Duncan asked. “Drawing,” Jane said, not looking up from her sketchbook. Duncan smirked. “I kind of figured that.” Jane grinned. “Then why’d you ask? And you’re supposed to be smart.” (FF.net)
  • NEW! A Minty Move-in Day, by Aloysius (COMPLETE!): When the boy and his dad laid their loads on the unmade bed, they left the room and Linda sat her box on top of a nearby desk and wiped her forehead. “I hate carrying boxes,” she muttered. “So I’ll take a brief rest.” The Dawson boy looked at the woman and said, “Mrs. Griffin?” Linda looked at him, her eyebrows raised, and saw that he held out a mint container. “Would you like a Paul’s Fresh Mint?”
  • The Substitute, by Echopapa (Part 1): Angela Li looked up from her computer screen to the woman sitting at the opposite end of her desk. O’Neill’s nervous breakdown had left her short an English teacher, and the flu virus that was sweeping Lawndale had ravaged the available pool of substitutes, forcing her to hire from the outside. It was fortunate that this resume had arrived in her email yesterday; even more fortunate that this applicant was able to come over from Gotham City on such short notice.
  • NEW! Unnamed story (Halloween IC: The Mist), by NightGoblyn (COMPLETE!): "We're gonna die in here, we're gonna die in here, weregonnadieinhere, weregonnadieinhere, weregonnadieinhere!" "Stacy!" Quinn shouted, shaking her friend by the shoulders. "We're not gonna freakin' die! Now calm down!"

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Crack That Whip!

As you may recall from last year at this time, this day is the 269th anniversary of the birth of the Marquis de Sade, who gave angst a good name. BAD name, sorry, I meant to say he gave it a bad name. Freudian slip there.



Bottoms up!








Didn't mean to leave this much space. Drat.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

News about Uranus (huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh)

Twenty-three years ago today, Voyager 2 came within 50,680 miles of Uranus.

Huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh!

To commemorate this event, Beavis and Butt-head offer a science article at right (from Reading Sucks) all about Uranus—

huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh!

—that has actual science information from Daria herself. Click on the article to read it.

Nothing else happened today.


Uranus. Huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh!

Latest non-Butt-head news: Dad Draws Daria Art on Kids' Lunchbags, from Roentgen. Cool! Thanks!

PPMB
  • The Fall of the Angst Lords, Part 1: Rebels Without a Clue, by Gouka Ryuu (Part 1): With a mandolin in one hand, he awoke late... I guess that counts as practice, per Trent. A bit of faanfiction (spelling is correct) for all.
  • Long Trek Home, by Ranger Thorne (continued): Jane and Jennifer had practiced the biofilter regimen several times, but it didn't keep the two from being nervous. "That's one," Jennifer said finally.
  • Order and Chaos, by Legendeld (COMPLETE!): Maria looked down at the wooden plate in front of her and tried to keep an open mind. Seconds later she turned to Daria and begged in a desperate voice: “Please tell me this isn’t frog!”
  • Snuffed Animals, by Disco316 (Part 11): Quinn shuddered. “Eeeeew! Vampirism is so gross! Well, except for that 'Interview with Brad Pitt' movie; he’s good in anything.”
  • Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part II), by jtranser (continued): "We have many different enemies, Great Lady, so we must make haste. The stars and planets are approaching the required conjunctions, and there are those who would use those alignments for their own purposes."

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

But first, this commercial message....

Fresh from the pages of Beavis and Butt-head: Reading Sucks, we have the Abdominal Snowman (yes, yes, I know), using his special Abdominicizer® (as seen on TV!) to keep his abs looking hot for the women of Tibet. Daria appears in the book, so the topic is Daria related. Happy winter!

Also, we have the following new fanfiction, hot off the keyboards.

FF.net
  • Daria: The College Years, by Farren O'Blivion (Part 10—continued, hooray!): Trent watches a sunrise just before Mystik Spiral awakens to a new day.
  • Daria One Half, by BatLurker, a.k.a. Lorenzo Sauchelli (Part 4): Daria opened her eyes and glared at the ceiling. She heard noises from downstairs and then people yelling loudly in Japanese. "Oh, what a joy I didn't wake up dead."
PPMB
  • Arrival, by Legendeld (COMPLETE!): No one spoke at first as Quinn walked down the stairs to join them. Helen Morgendorffer seemed to be fighting the tears rolling down her face.
  • Invading, by Lorenzo Sauchelli (COMPLETE!): Armalin narrowed his eyes as he read the report about his current pet project. The results were far less satisfactory than what he had expected. He put the folder down and glared daggers at the whimpering scientist in front of him. "Care to tell me again what I just read here?" he said, a menacing finger pointing at the folder.
  • Once Upon a Time in Lawndale, by Disco316 (Part 3): Tom Sloane stepped off the train that had taken him to Flagstone. True to his letter, he wore his black dress shirt and a small straw hat, along with tan pants. He smiled in anticipation, as he had been looking forward to meeting with his bride since the day she left New Orleans, one month ago.
  • Other Side, by Legendeld (Part 3): Crossing universes is not as safe and trouble-free as you might think.
  • Turnabout Confusion Part II: All The King's Horses, by Dennis (continued): We are at DEFCON 2! Warning! We are at DEFCON 2! This is not a drill!
  • Two Halves, by Dark Kuno (Part 6 of Chapter 3): “It’s like a train wreck,” said Jane in an awed, hushed voice. “This is… without a doubt… the absolute WORST movie I have ever seen. And I can’t look away.” “I swear, Plan 9 gets better every time you watch it,” said Daria.
Moar l8r. Mebbe a surprise, to0.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Your Next Stop... The Twilight Zone

It is not well known that today, in addition to being Christmas, is the anniversary of the birth of Rod Serling, an award-winning screenwriter who created two enormously popular TV shows, The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery. He would have been 84 today. The Twilight Zone (the early episodes are now online) has had an outrageous impact on mass-media presentations of science fiction and modern fantasy. It also had an effect on Daria.

In the 1997 Beavis and Butt-head book, The Butt-Files (later collected in Reading Sucks), we discover that Beavis and Butt-head once traveled into the Twilight Zone and met Rod Serling. They also met the Twilight Zone versions of Daria, Stewart, and teachers at Highland High. (Think of the Star Trek episode "Mirror, Mirror." You've got it.) This two-page adventure is reproduced for your edification (it's a word, look it up) here and here. Start with the first "here," then move on to the second. For more atmosphere as you read, click here before going to the story.

Enjoy your nightmare.


Incidental Notes: "The Twilight Zone" is referenced many times in Daria fanfiction. Daria and Jane are both widely believed to be quite familiar with the show, despite it never being discussed in the Daria series. Some stories mention it in an offhand but relevant way (e.g., "Art Frieze" and "Fixing Dad"), but some weave the two shows together in a more intimate way, adding large doses of drama, horror, or startling change to the normal Daria presentation. Some of the most notable fanfics with clear Twilight Zone influence are named below.
The tale "Mirror, Mirror," a crossover with the Star Trek episode of the same name, appropriately offers homage to Rod Serling's landmark show at the end.

If you have some favorite Twilight Zone-style Daria tales, share them in the Comments section.

P.S. In an unrelated news story, Tom Sloane is still dead.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Happy Birthday, Daria! (Part 2)

In the 1998 Beavis and Butt-head book, Chicken Soup for the Butt, was a section on "ass-trology" that had Butt-head's face on the Scorpio sign and a note that Daria was a Scorpio. (This material was later collected in Beavis and Butt-head: Reading Sucks.) Despite the fact that this comes from a dubious source (Butt-head), it is the only information we have on Daria's birthday. The show never mentions it, except for a brief note that someone (Jake?) took a home movie of Daria's birth, which Daria has no interest in seeing ("Ew.").

More birthday info soon.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

The Fairy-Tale Wedding with the Horror-Story Ending

Daria's close personal friends, Beavis and Butt-head, are with us to help remember that special day 27 years ago right now, when I was poking through the bookshelves in a small U.S. Army store at Sullivan Barracks, in Mannheim, West Germany, and I looked up and saw the the color TV in one corner of the ceiling was showing Lady Diana and Prince Charles getting married just across the English Channel. Huh, I thought, then went back to looking at the books. I bought an SF novel by Gregory Benford, Timescape, which I enjoyed very much and highly recommend to everyone. I paid no further attention to the wedding.

But wasn't it just grand?


More later.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

got crabs?

Yes, today, with the help of Butt-head, we celebrate the arrival of the best-loved zodiac/astrological sign, Cancer. The most famous Cancer in Daria fandom is, of course, me, followed by Helen Morgendorffer, which we know for a fact thanks to The Daria Diaries. If you are a Cancer, give yourself a high five right now. I knew you could.

We will have more to say about Daria fandom as the day progresses.

This has been a public service announcement.

P.S. Oh, and Kara Wild is also a Cancer and having a birthday shortly, if not right now. Oh, and Kristen Bealer also claims to be a Cancer, but Kristen says a lot of things.

(Heh heh heh, you said ass-trological, heh heh heh.)

Monday, June 2, 2008

Whip it! Whip it good!


Bottoms up! Yes, that rascal the Marquis de Sade was born a mere 268 years ago today. He knew how to have a cracking good time.






Ahem.





Enough of that. More later. (NOTE: The link has been fixed. Sorry if that was confusing.)

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Beavis and Butt-head take a close look at . . . Uranus

The English astronomer Sir William Herschel discovered Uranus 227 years ago tonight, in a place called Bath. Rather than make crude, childish jokes about this event and insult your intelligence, Beavis and Butt-head (in an essay from Reading Sucks) will do it for me. Just click here. They even mention Daria.





I didn't have anything else to report.





Uranus. Huh huh huh huh, huh huh huh huh . . .