Apocalypse? And How!

This day marks the 86th birthday of justly famed actor Marlon Brando, who gets some subtle mention in Daria. Brando's famous role as a renegade Army officer in Apocalypse Now is parodied in the alter ego with Timothy O'Neill at right. (See this image for comparison.) Other scenes from that movie are referenced in "The Daria Hunter," particular with Mr. DeMartino's dark imitation (below left) of Brando as the insane officer of Apocalypse Now.

I was poking around in MTV.com and noticed two startling news items about Marlon Brando and... wait for it... Beavis and Butt-head. You have to read these two (here and here) to get it. Whoa! That's just bizarre!

What else is going on... I'll have to post all the new fanfiction here later today. Stay tooned for moar.

Apocalypse Ciao

"The Daria Hunter" premiered twelve years ago today on MTV, early in the second season. It was revealed in a flipbook on the MTV Daria website that this episode contained parodies of famous scenes from movies about the Vietnam War. (Click the link to see.)

Curiously, the next three days after this one are each the anniversary of the showing of an early episode in a new season of Daria, and all are in chronological order with today, too (second season, third, fourth, and fifth). This should be a fandom holiday week or something.

The humor thread of False Facts About the TV Show "Daria" just gets better and better.

LATE NOTE: I just noticed that Daria's Sick, Sad Life Planner says today is the anniversary of the announcement of the cloning of Dolly the Sheep, but it was actually on February 22, 1997. The CD-Rom does contain an amusing comment on the event from Daria.

PPMB

• NEW! After Daria, by Ravynstone (COMPLETE!): It didn’t take her long to find the urn. Jake had taken it upstairs, to the bedroom he once shared with Helen. The urn sat on right side of the dresser. Amy touched it with one hand, and sighed. The urn was cool and slick, made of some kind of plastic that looked like china. Amy tapped her fingers against it. Hell, she thought. If you’re going to do it, girl, just do it.
  
• NEW! Daria: Hunter—Strictly Business, by Jim North (continued): The second round of laser blasts started, breaking the bounty hunters out of their shock and sending them in an all-out run toward the outer door. The empty corridors to either side of the area blurred as they propelled themselves forward, Daria somehow managing to almost keep pace with the much faster Jane. [And now even more!]
  
• A Descent, by Silver (COMPLETE!): Pretty. Annoying. Dead. The words echoed through her mind as she twirled. It had started well enough, with wine, ruby red. Flowing, first from bottle, then jug, then box. She giggled. It had been so pretty, so beautiful to watch, a ruby waterfall cascading into glasses, into mouths.
• NEW! The Dream of the White Darkness, by jtranser (continued): "My God! Daria, what the hell happened to you?! You look like you saw a ghost!" "Close. I ran right into the Wigley Phenomenon. You know, the alien consciousness that's present in the most intense dreams of the criminally insane."
  
• Finn Morgendorffer 33: Independence, by HolyGrail2007 (COMPLETE!): “But it’s okay,” Finn soothed. “I’m not angry, and I’m not sorry. I do like you, Jane, I do. It’s... it’s just...” “Daria will castrate you with a pair of rusty gardening shears,” Jane finished.
• General Semantics, Private Angst, by Gwrtheyrn (Part 13): Daria anxiously awaited some sort of response to her ring. She was beginning to feel the increasing chill in the breeze against her rain-dampened clothing. I can’t even get myself captured by villains on cue. My sister would never have had this problem. She’d have them bringing her sodas. Not too much crushed ice. Maybe a wedge of lemon.
• Regifted 2: I Put Away Joyless Things, by Ajar (Part 5): This better not be another telemarketer, Graham thought as he anxiously picked up the phone. “Is this who I think it is?” he asked. “I'm the one whose butt you have to kiss.” “You say kiss, I say how much tongue.”
• Unnamed story, by Minx (Part 1): My name is Quinn Morgendorffer. If you find this it means one of three things: we’ve been forced to flee and abandon all non-essential items, we too have been captured, or we’re all dead...

Jasper Johns and the Flag Tattoo That Was the Wrong Color

Acclaimed artist Jasper Johns was born 78 years ago today. Devoted Daria fans might remember his name cropping up in "Speedtrapped," in the scene in which Jane is inking a flag "tattoo" on fellow inmate Sally. A police officer objects to the tattoo because the flag is "all the wrong colors." "It's an homage to Jasper Johns, an important late-twentieth century artist," Jane replies. "Besides, I don't have red."

If there was no red, then it is likely that the flag drawn on Sally's arm looked like the image at left: Jasper Johns' "Moratorium," created in 1969. The dot in the middle of the picture is there on purpose. If you stare at it for about half a minute, then look away at a white background, you will see an afterimage showing the American flag with its correct colors. Johns was fond of recreating the American flag, but usually he painted it as it actually appears, red, white and blue. "Moratorium" was an exception, and for a reason.

It's interesting that "Moratorium" appears on Daria, even obliquely, as it was controversial when it came out, produced by Johns for a poster for an October 1969 peace rally calling for a moratorium on the war in Vietnam. The painted flag's colors are completely the opposite of the real flag's colors, reflecting the view that America's involvement in Vietnam War was not what this country was all about. It's a strong political statement. Were the Daria writers aware of this? Was this a subtle part of the show's generally left-of-center politics? How much of this work's history is Jane supposed to be aware of? An interesting set of speculations.

It's also interesting that "Speedtrapped" shows nice cops who make Jane and Mystik Spiral work at a children's birthday party for their traffic sentence. The world of Fremont is a nice place. It's more the reflection of how we'd like America to be, and "Moratorium" is now a relic of another time. (Side note: Today is also Peace Officers Memorial Day in the U.S.)

Just some random thoughts on a small part of the show that kept catching my attention. Thanks for listening.