Happy Birthday, Stacy!

Today is Sarah Drew's birthday, and she's turning 31! Drew was of course the voice of Stacy Rowe, and hopefully that chocolate won't cause her sensitive skin to break out.

This is also International Day of Older Persons, so this would be a good day to volunteer to read to senior citizens at the Better Days Nursing Home. I recommend Ginsberg's "Howl," but don't forget to end each sentence as if you're asking a question? 'Cause then you sound, like, perky?

Fanfic Update!

• Daria is Raven's Apprentice, by project pegasus: "(Raven leaves Cyborg and joins the rest of the Titans) Daria: Where’s Cyborg? Why isn't he here? Raven: None of your beeswax, Ramona. Besides, I thought that you already eavesdropped in my conversation with Cyborg. Daria: I did. I just wanted to embarrass you in front of the others."


• Data Dump (reposted), by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): "'Daria Morgendorffer003,' said the prison robot, 'your record of behavior at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women has been reviewed. During your three years of incarceration, you have met the minimum behavior standards of the state of Maryland and you are to be automatically paroled to the general population. CommunityNet access is to be restricted for a further three years, but access may be reviewed on a monthly basis. You will be informed of the review results. Do you agree to this parole? Please answer "yes" or "no".'"


• Her Fear, by ST91 (COMPLETE!): "'please do not interrupt me, I repeat Darius is not your fault, you did not do anything wrong, we've been together for over a year, we really love each other and it is natural that you want us to become more intimate, Indeed I wonder how you managed to resist so much because you have the most sexy girl of Lawndale as girlfriend . I want it too , but last night I behaved like one of those old ladies who see rapists everywhere, it was my fault, so Darius I'll apologize and hope you can accept them .'"


• Homeless Daria Episode 4: Cafe Dispossessedo, by RX-87 (part 1): "'Seriously, though, what is that you're writing?' 'Just this story I'm writing,' Daria said indifferently, 'Well, rewriting, actually. It's something I had on my computer, you know, but...' her voice trailed off sadly. 'Yeah, I guess you're not really up for going back for it, huh?' 'Couldn't even if I wanted to,' Daria said, flatly. 'How's that?' 'It's gone. All of it's gone...'"


• Lawndale and Sandi Griffin’s Genie (Chapter 5), by cfardell_Brenorenz29 (part 6): "'So, you want Sandi to be running all over Lawndale all afternoon?' Louisa asked. 'Maybe,' Elias said. 'That seems like a good plan,' Louisa thought as she took a sip from her drink. 'Yeah,' Elias said with a smile."


• Riser, by Smijey (parts 1 and 2): "Jane lay curled in her bed, gazing intently at the wall. She didn't want to turn around, because that would mean looking at the blank canvas set up in the middle of her room again, and that would mean she would start crying again. She hadn't been able to paint since Daria had died." (Part 2)


• Rude Awakening Ep.9: Join The Club, by DIsaac (part 4): "JANE: Uhh, Daria what are you planing? DARIA: I have to talk with Jodie and her friend that’s coming to town. JANE: I don't like that plan. DARIA: It's a good plan. Trust me. JANE (starts thinking for a moment and then stops): Nope, it still don't change my opinion about your plan at all."


• School Spirit: Valentine's Day Massacre, by Smijey (part 3): "He wore a zoot suit like his contemporaries on the 'football team' (it seemed to be a privilege awarded to the upper echelons of the mob social structure...or something, Daria tried not to make sense of the insane situation too much), but had taken the jacket part off and had hung it on the coat hooks just inside the front door. He pushed the brim of his fedora up just a bit, so as to get a better view of her, causing locks of his black hair to poke out from under it. 'Look, I already set up the maze, so you don't need to do anything...if you want, we have the Pigskin Channel, so you can go watch that --' Kevin interrupted her with a grin. 'I ain't interested in pigs' skins. Your skin, now...'"

Out of the Box

Lots of stuff going on today in Daria history. Nine years ago today, the last Daria episode aired on MTV: "Boxing Daria." We got to look at her early life in Highland when she didn't get along with others, and ended with her a senior in high school, only marginally getting along with others.

Seven years from this day, one of Daria's daughters gives birth. In which fanfic does this occur?

Eleven years ago today, the last names of Stacy Rowe and Tiffany Blum-Deckler were revealed on the MTV website. A banner day indeed.

Fandum N0OoZ!

• Lord Akiyama has drawn Daria as she might have looked if he had taken MTV's loose guidelines and run with it. Amazing.
• NEW! We also have Angel Quinn from MDetector5 on the new art channel. Thank you!

More to come, for sure. And here it is.

PPMB

• Daria/Dorian, by LadieT (continued): After breakfast, Dorian helped Jake decorate the outside of the house. Jane jogged by and froze in place. Dorian was covered in Christmas lights that had fallen out of Jake's hands. Jane's laughter caused Quinn to go outside. She joined Jane on the sidewalk. "And me without my camera." Jane wiped a tear from her eye.
• Finn Morgendorffer 50: Matters of State, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 9): “I should get going.” Daria remarked. “And you should probably get dressed.” “Hm.” Trent looked down at his barely clad body. “Well, Monique is coming over, so I think I’m good.” “Now I really need to leave.”
• The Hallowed Halls of Fielding, by Roentgen (Part 39): In ten minutes, Quinn would enter her English I class and Goodlett would be waiting for her. This was it. The big showdown. Goodlett was planning to assassinate her. Unless I kill him first. Really, he's made it clear that I'm going to flunk. I guess he was hoping that I wouldn't show up, or transfer out, or beg for mercy or something. But I'm more than willing to waste his time if that's the case. She only hoped that her plan would work.
• Judith Strikes! Cat Scratch Fever, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): While Judith amused herself by going to Lawndale, Maryland (and ordering a meal from the Good Time Chinese restaurant, knowing that her presence near the trans-dimensional portal in the back would ring a lot of alarms, as this reality was watched over carefully) – her cloak silently moved across the darkened yard of the Morgendorffer-Fulton home in Williamstown, Virginia. It had been given a mission of its own to fulfill this night.
• Sleepwalker, by Jim North (Part 2): High-strung history teacher Anthony DeMartino's eye bulged and his nostrils flared as he crossed his arms and surveyed the mass of teenage humanity spread out before him. Though Lawndale was not by any means a particularly large or densely populated school district, he found that trying to help herd everyone grades 9 through 12 who had managed to get their permission slips signed looked as if it was going to be just as arduous and impossible as he had been fearing over the past seven days.
• Undefeated, by LadieT (previously published on FF.net)
• NEWER! The Vision of the Burning Cities, by jtranser (COMPLETE!): The little group of hobos were holding an emergency evening service in the former dime store on High Street. As each member entered, a libation of Cisco Red was poured on the concrete sidewalk and the words "Absit Omen" were uttered. Prayers were spoken, written, crumpled and burned. Their leader, Erica Flamen, bundled up in her green "Members Only" jacket, kept dancing on the checkout counter as they clapped and droned their drug-fueled invocation...
  

Curiouser and Curiouser!

This day is the 178th birthday of Lewis Carroll, the pseudonym of a very odd gentleman who gave us Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Pinhead and UU have sent two excellent images, one of Stacy as Alice (with her flamingo-croquet mallet), and one of Kevin as the Mad Hatter. Carroll's works have had some impact on Daria fanfiction.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was also born this day, 254 years ago, and he gets mentioned in a number of Daria fanfics. Today is also said to be National Chocolate Cake Day, and it is the birthday of a fanfiction character. Can you guess who it is?

Wraith says Sick, Sad World is back in business (thank heavens!) and he has some advice for webmasters on preventing it from happening to them. Go and read.

And VOTE! Less than a week to go before the Booties are announced!

Caption Contest!

What is going on here?

Write dialog, do a one-liner, describe the scene, go to it.

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.

What Did Stacy Rowe See?

Put your answer in "Comments."
Points awarded for rudeness and tackiness as usual.

Aloha from the Fashion Club!

Stacy Rowe shakes her fashionable grass skirt in celebration of Hawaii's 50th anniversary of statehood today.

Today is also the 36th birthday of computer wizard Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google (which operates Blogger.com, which makes this blog possible: thank you!).

It is a special day in animation history as well, being the 103rd birthday anniversary of Warner Brothers animator Friz Freleng, who invented so many WB cartoon characters I can't even list them all here. Daria probably knows most of them on a first-name basis. Would Daria be as sarcastic as she is without Bugs Bunny's snarky comments?

The American Bar Association, which maintains a code of ethics for lawyers in the United States, was formed today 131 years ago. This concept must make Jim Vitale laugh loud and long.

A news item from online, by way of the Jackson Free Press (Jackson, Miss.), is "Movie Review, Sort of" about IIFY? and MTV in general.

Richard Lobinske is trolling for Halloween costume ideas for a story he's writing in the John Lane series. Go help him out and make yourself famous.

Moar on the way.

Ears to You! or, That Body Part Goes Best with a Red Wine

Stacy Rowe is with us to honor two great events that took place today in history. On the left, she is costumed as Dr. Hannibal Lecter from the movie The Silence of the Lambs, to commemorate the ninth anniversary of the premier of the Daria episode, "Psycho Therapy." Tiffany has a saying worth repeating about "Psycho Therapy," so I will repeat it.

At right, Stacy dresses as a boxer to remember that fateful day twelve years ago when Mike Tyson got the munchies in the ring and bit off the ear of Evander Holyfield. You see at once how well the two events go together.

Today is also the 83rd birthday of producer, director, screenwriter, comedian, composer, and actor Mel Brooks, and I don't care if that has nothing to do with Daria, I'm celebrating, darn it. He created Blazing Saddles, for pete's sake, and without that we wouldn't have WacoKid! Or the line: "Would you like another schnitzengruben?"

Pinkminx unleashes awesomeness with a portrait of Trent Lane, full length, on PPMB. And speaking of art...

The 2009 Daria Visual Fanworks Listing has been updated by Richard Lobinske! Hooray!

I don't know what's going on, but there is so much fanfiction coming out lately, it just blows my mind. KEEP IT UP! BUT GIVE YOUR STORIES ACTUAL NAMES! Don't let them wander around like unwanted bastard children, never meant to be! Not like a love child, born in poverty! Love child, always second best! Love child, different from the... oh, sorry, got carried away. That is all. Nothing more to see here. Oh! Story names, remember that. Though, oddly, all of the unnamed stories below were as astounding as the named ones.

PPMB

• Color Coded, by Thecoffeeguru (COMPLETE!): “Is there any more business before I adjourn this meeting of the Fashion Club?” Sandi let her gaze sweep past the faces of her fellow fashion mavens, paying casual yet critical attention for indications of weakness, treachery, or indifference. Being president of the Fashion Club was tireless work, but someone had to do it.
• M4 I & II, by Silver (Part 2): Stretchers and EMTs flooded Lawndale High. The media chose this time to show itself as well. The shell-shocked students suddenly found themselves at the center of a very different sort of chaos.
• Tales of the Ringbearers: With New Responsibility, by Richard Lobinske (Part 5): Walking around the stands, Richard saw a poster that made him stop. It featured a winged woman with spear and shield standing over another fallen gladiator. He used his computer to translate the caption, "The Apocalypse. Five Years Undefeated Champion."
• Operation Nutblocker, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): "With HIM?" Jake's voice was fever-pitch high. "Of EVERYONE around here, you had to—I can't even say it!—with HIM?" "I'm sorry, Jake—I didn't mean for you to find out like this—" [Sick, sick, sick...]
• Unnamed story (1,001 Deaths of Tom Sloane - Part II), by Dennis (COMPLETE!): "Wanna hear a joke, Tom?" Jane asked. Her hands were behind her back, and her eyes were fill of mischief.
• Unnamed story (1,001 Deaths of Tom Sloane - Part II), by Kristen Bealer (COMPLETE!): Crouched in a dark and smelly sewer, CTU agent Tom Sloane opened the case in front of him and whistled softly under his breath. "Bad news, Daria," he told the computer analyst on the other end of his cell phone conversation. "It's a bomb. Nuclear. If we don't shut this thing down, the entire city of Lawndale is going to be history in less than a minute."
• Unnamed story (1,001 Deaths of Tom Sloane - Part II), Thecoffeeguru (COMPLETE!): "We'll just concoct ourselves a little hangover cure that'll induce him to spew red, white and blue, then."
  
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Worse Possible Breakup Scenario), by Disco316 (COMPLETE!): Daria sighed. "I'm sorry, Trent, but I can't go on like this. I mean, the sex is great and I like getting stoned with you, but there's nothing else there anymore. It's not you, it's me. I'm just... looking for more than this."
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Worse Possible Breakup Scenario), by Project Pegasus (COMPLETE!): Daria shifted the bag of potato chips and a half empty bottle of Arbor Mist under her arms as she walked toward the Lane's living room, eagerly anticipating the new episode of "Sick, Sad World" featuring a wide assortment of fertility drug mishaps. Just as she was passing the garage door, she heard Trent's voice obviously in great emotional distress. She pressed her ear against the door, not being able to resist the temptation to eavesdrop.
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Worse Possible Breakup Scenario), by Richard Lobinske (COMPLETE!): "I'm sorry, Helen," said Eric. "I can't pretend anymore, we have to break things off."
  
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Worse Possible Breakup Scenario), by Thecoffeeguru (COMPLETE!): Tom woke up with a crick in his neck. He realized after a second or two that he was fully dressed, and in Daria's bed. A quick look at the clock told him that it was a little after 4 in the morning. You know, that's it. I've really tried to make it work with Daria, but it's like dating a shadow that occasionally kisses you, then feels guilty about it.
• Unnamed story (Scenes No Daria Fanfic Should Have: TGIF), by Greystar (COMPLETE!): "You are now the property of Lawndale High. Break the rules and you will suffer. Obey the rules and you will suffer less!"
• Unnamed story (Scenes that Should Be: Brains for Rent), by Ajar (COMPLETE!): Tomdide, driven out of his childhood home stumbled along, too unfamiliar with the real world to know how to get along. He slept in the gutter, girl-less and starving but satisfied in the belief that he always knew best. When he awoke the next day half frozen to death he decided to go to the next town called Lawn-berghoff-trarbkdikdorff in the hopes that he would meet someone who would take pity on him. Upon coming to an inn he noticed two people eying him. [Daria/Candide, a first!]
  
• Unnamed story (Scenes that Should Be: Brains for Rent), by NightGoblyn (COMPLETE!): Daria sat up straight in her chair, her face going pale. “Are you trying to tell us that the Ill . . . that your organization believes there’s a threat to the continued existence of civilization, that it’s beyond your resources to prevent, and that you want five random people to fix it?”

The Greatest

The greatest athlete and sports hero in recorded history, who also happened to be born in my hometown of Louisville, is Muhammad Ali, born this date 67 years ago. He is the Greatest. Stacy does her best impersonation at boxing (seems to have a cut around her right eye), but unless she wigs out and imagines everyone is Sandi Griffin, she won't go very far. I don't think she's imitating any particular person here, but who knows.

Thirteen years ago today, Daria appeared in a Beavis and Butt-head episode entitled "Sprout." This is widely said to be one of the best B&B episodes. Enjoy it when you get the chance.

I'm having fun working on the Backgrounders site. So far, I've discovered that Shaggy not only can appear in two places at once (he's done it twice), time travel, and change his height, he can also shape-change into other students. I've also discovered a student in a jade-colored hoodie who can teleport. What the hell kind of school is Lawndale High? Jeepers.

Oh, and UU discovered an African-American girl who can change herself into a blonde in an instant. Seriously. Damn, these kids.

Fan-tastic!

Our guest star today is Stacy Rowe, the Unnoticeable Girl of the Fantastic Club, here to celebrate the 86th birthday of Marvel creator Stan Lee, who is directly responsible for the multitude of Daria superhero crossovers that have long plagued the fandom. Stacy of course is parodying Sue Richards, the Invisible Girl (now Invisible Woman) of the Fantastic Four. Stacy's on the left, Sue is on the right. Happy Birthday to Stan the Man! You rule, dude!

Rolling Stone cover, July 2000

Bingo.


i r0oL.







(Did you notice that Stacy is licking her lips?)

Dirrty?

Christina Aguilera. Stacy Rowe. They go together like...




No they don't. Anyway, it's Ms. Aguilera's 28th birthday today, and I mention this only because of the alter ego. And Steven Spielberg turns 62 today, bless his heart for Jurassic Park, velociraptors, and, by extension, Decelaraptor.

9-14: Be Strong, Stacy: Another Stacy Holiday!

Hooray! It's 9-14, another Stacy Rowe holiday! This one is in honor of Angelinhel's great fanfic, "9-14-04," written exactly four years ago today, in which Stacy Rowe . . . well, why spoil it. Read and see for yourself why today is so special! Thanks, Angelinhel!

I've missed a lot of important Daria dates from being sick for the last few days. Friday was the thirteenth anniversary of Daria's appearance on the Beavis and Butt-head episode, "Spare Me," in which Daria proves she knew how to change a car tire in 9th grade. This episode actually had an impact on a later Daria fanfic. September 12 was also the first diary date in Bacner's fanfic, "Diary of a Lawndale Student."

Ten years ago today, Daria contributed her thoughts to a People Weekly article on the best- and worst-dressed people of 1998. See what you find of interest in that article.

It is that time of year again for reading the 2008 Daria Fanworks Awards: Written and Visual Works rules. These have kindly been provided by (insert names here later). Thank you!

Want to read some bad fanfiction? Search no more! Go to this link: Scenes No Daria Fanfic Should Have-Who's Holding Daria Now?

Legendeld rants some more about fanfiction at his blog.

Breitasparrow reveals where she got her idea for the Jane-licks-Tom picture: Ewww!

The latest of 1,946 pages at DariaWiki is this one. Welcome to the nuthouse!

969 fans now registered at the Daria Fan Club!

Hmmm, Wikipedia's article on Daria is apparently flawed (introduction is too short). My God, how can we let this go on? Someone fix it, quick!

The list of 2008 fanfic is in need of updating, and I will update the list of the most recent stories here later today. Still having some leftover cold effects. Ugh. Don't get this one, it sucks.

Let's Celebrate Dead Stacy Rowe Day!

Today is a new holiday that I have created all by myself. I call it Dead Stacy Rowe Day. It celebrates all of the Daria fanfic in which the human doormat, Stacy Rowe, dies, which I think everyone will agree is worth a cheer or two.

Now why, you ask, did I pick this particular date? It happens to be the day after Labor Day, the date on which one of the most famous Dead Stacy Rowe stories takes place: Angelinhel's "Crimson Sunset." Click the link and enjoy.

While you're at it, here are some of the other fine Dead Stacy Rowe stories that have been offered to Daria fandom over the years.

• Yui Daoren's "The Emancipation of Stacy Rowe"
• Austin Covello's "The Death of Stacy"
• Brother Grimace's "Forever Sleeping Beauty"
• and two by me: "The Two of Them" and "Stacy in Hell"

Do you think there are enough Dead Stacy Rowe stories? I don't. Write some more, everyone! Contribute to the overflowing warehouse of beloved Dead Stacy Rowe lore. Thank you for listening.

P.S. The alter ego is of Stacy Rowe as a Keane girl. She looks so cute, you just want to put her in your pocket, take her home, and throw her in a vat of acid! Such fun!

ATTENTION: This is a humor article. It is meant to be humorous. Do not attempt to throw anyone living who is named Stacy Rowe into a vat of acid. I am talking only about the cartoon character, who deserves it.

In other news, Legendeld talks about creating original Daria characters, and breitasparrow shows three of the funniest "home movies" of Daria characters ever, thanks to Sims!


FF.net

• Girls Together Sarcastically #4: Closets Are for Hangups, by Dennis (COMPLETE!): “I don't know, Daria,” Jane Lane said from behind the drum kit. “That's an awful lot of time changes for one song.” (PPMB)
• A Simple Makeup Kit, by Richard Lobinske (COMPLETE!): How does Daria know how to put on makeup? Here is the (should have been canon) story.

PPMB

• John Lane 36: Promises, by Richard Lobinske (Part 5): Huh huh huh huh huh huh huh, Daria's gonna do it, huh huh huh huh huh huh!
• On the Couch, by durgarox (Part 2): “Guitar Hero?!” Jane sputtered, “This is what you call band practice?”
• Scenes No Daria Fanfic Should Have: Dawn of a New Nightmare (COMPLETE!): A silent but deadly emission—er, submission—from WacoKid.
• Sometimes It Rains, by legendeld (Part 6): "I come over to see how your makeup work was going and find you dying.”
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part II), by jtranser (continued): Just look around and tell me what you see. . . .
  
• Two Aunts, by legendeld (Parts 2 and 3): “I’m sure your mother is already worried I’ll give one of you two gay germs or something." (Huh huh huh huh huh huh huh, Amy's gonna do it, huh huh huh huh huh huh!)

SFMB

• Size Does Matter, by BlackHole (Part 30): “Morgendorffer! Watch it! I don’t want any casualties!” Mrs. Morris injected from the sidelines. (PPMB)
  

Thus Bulletin Just In. . . .

Oh, I also meant to point out that today marks the 62nd birthday of the bikini, which was named for an American atomic bomb test.









Just thought you should know that.

Go Ask Stacy Alice

Today is also the 156th birthday of Alice Liddell (rhymes with "fiddle"). She went on a boat ride as a young girl with the Rev. Charles Dodgson, who told Alice a story that she begged him to write down. And so he did, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was born, and later Through the Looking Glass. Both stories have had an impact on Daria fanfic.

UK Derefcon 2008 is in full riot for a second day in a row. Dublin is in ruins and the Daria Horde is rampaging across green and pleasant England once more. Molly Malone seems to have had a good time with the Horde, however.

More news after I wake up.

LATE ADD: Sort of awake now. Um, updates . . .

PPMB

• Mission: Ridiculous, by Doggieboy (COMPLETE!): A Daria/Mission: Impossible crossover in which a spy's cover is, um, blown.
• The Other Side Of Time: Witness To The Monkey Show, by The Sidhe (Part 1): More history lessons are learned while rummaging through the attic. (SFMB version)
  
• Size Does Matter, by BlackHole (Part 22): What good is a phone if you have no one to call? (SFMB version)

May First, and here are the headlines. . . .

Today is May Day, a day so special that you may as well click the link to read about it, as it would take too long to rant about it here. Spring is in the air, at least in the Northern Hemisphere in this area, and soon Stacy will come out of her cocoon and be a Stacy butterfly! Just kidding. She'll still be a spineless caterpillar. Kind of a gross picture, yeah, but it's Stacy and no one really cares.

All sorts of important things happened today in history, but there's barely more than an hour left in the day and I was too busy to do anything online, so just forget it.

Tomorrow is The Oaks, which is so important a race that all the schools in town are canceled (not a joke, they really are), and the day after that is The Derby, which has a bit less class than The Oaks but is more popular and better attended. I am not going to either, because I live here and have better things to do.

More later once I think of more to say. Need something Daria-ish here. Hmmm.

Rowe Warrior

The "future alter ego" of Stacy Rowe at the end of Is It College Yet? never fails to inspire. The mousy yes-girl of yesterday has transformed herself into a winning stock-car driver, gaining endorsements from fashion-product companies. You can't say some sort of change wasn't coming, given her depiction in the fifth season of Daria, but a race-car driver?

It's appealing, though. Several fanfics have taken this idea and run with it, most famously in Richard Lobinske's Falling Into College series (see "A Daze at the Races" and "Four Friends, Four Winds") and Milderbeast's wonderful "Moon over Daytona." A similar theme appears in "Stacy and the Lamp." True, Stacy did get killed in a car wreck in Austin Covello's aptly titled "The Death of Stacy," but generally speaking, that alter ego has made her into a minor legend in fanfic.

A folder rests in my computer's hard drive with the provisional title "White Line Nightmare." ("Daylight" was the more likely title, however.) It contains notes for an unfinished Road Warrior-like story in which a future Stacy drives across a wasteland America after a nearby supernova blasts away Earth's ozone layer. (And all this time people thought I was kidding about that.) I had in mind giving her some kind of grossly souped-up stock car (I was leaning toward a rebuilt '71 Barracuda) with various armaments and armor, UV radiation protection, and so forth. She travels the country alone on the Interstates, ferrying news, medicine, and mail between colonies of survivors. Then one day in the wasteland she meets someone from her past . . . and that was as far as I got with it. The story was barely started before it ended.

Anyone else have some good "Racy Stacy" stories to tell? You can use anything I mentioned above, it's not like I'm going to start writing on that anytime soon. Party on.

Subliminal Messages in Daria, Part 2: Backward Masking!

Fellow fans, I may be on to something huge, bigger than big, perhaps the greatest discovery in the history of animated programs: proof that certain episodes of Daria contained subliminal messages. For my research I have selected the episode "I Loathe a Parade," which has exerted a disturbing influence over me since the first time I saw it years ago. The episode has a dark, almost frightening erotic power in the most unexpected scenes.

Look at the sequence of images above. (Click on them to bring them to full size.) Tiffany and Stacy are talking on the parade float, but there is something about their conversation that preys on the unsuspecting mind. I have run their conversation over and over again without discovery of the cryptic images or words that exert their baneful effects over me. The strangest and most perverse thoughts come to mind as I listen to the two Fashion Clubbers talking, and I am compelled to restart the scene and watch it over and over and over and over again. What forces me to do this? What horrendous and secret evil was inserted into this scene that allows it to invade my dreams, stirring such alien yet seductive longings in me?

In a burst of inspiration, I considered it might be caused by backward masking, the reversed recording of subtle words and sentences into the background of normal speech or song. The images above show such a reversed flow of events, so you can see what I saw as I listened. I am convinced that the dark forces that have tormented me are somehow tied to this scene in particular. I will not rest until I know the truth, and then I will reveal all to the world! They called me mad! Fools, all of them fools!

That's all for now. Have a nice weekend.