Notice Anything Missing?

Here's some midday fun.

In the course of working with literally thousands of images from Daria episodes, UU, Pinhead, and I have found some very amusing "animation errors." Here's one, see what you think of it. Look at the image on the left, from "Daria!" when Ms. Li rushes into the gymnasium to announce the hurricane is coming. Then look at the right to see the students' reactions. You can click on the pix to get larger images.

Notice anything missing? You might want to view the episode (if you can) to confirm this. Fun stuff!

NOTICE: This blog finally went over 120,000 hits! Hooray!

The third incarnation of the New Ideas Thread has been created. Share yo9ur ideas and enjoy the results!

OUCH! The TAG.com website seems to be down at the moment. Stay tooned, the problem (whatever it is) is being worked on. The WAV files won't work until the site is back. Drat.

Go Back in Time With Just a Click

Wanna know what MTV's Daria website looked like on exactly this day, twelve years ago? Now you can find out! The link goes to the archived site at Archive.org. Thanks, WayBack Machine! (Image at right is the actual scene.)

On this very day, October 15th, Scene 8 of Galen "Lawndale Stalker" Hardesty's "Blood Oath of Patriots II: By Any Other Name" takes place. I'm just thankful this blog was able to let you know that.

Let's see, it's Nietzsche's birthday, it's Global Handwashing Day, I guess that's about it. Enjoy.

PPMB

• Finn Morgendorffer 7: History on Skates, by HolyGrail2007 (COMPLETE!): “Mister D told me I’m not Daria, Finn thought. Unlike when other people, like his mother, said that he wasn’t Daria, there wasn’t anything else to the statement. There was no subtext, no disappointment in not joining academic clubs. Mr. D did chastise him for his grades, and said he could do better, but there was no reason for him to do that.
  
• Finn Morgendorffer 8: Family Ties, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 1): Why the hell did I get suckered into this? Finn thought. He knew the answer to it, of course, but that didn’t make it any less believable. “What do you think?” The woman’s voice called from the dressing room. The door opened a second later, and out stepped Helen Morgendorffer, wearing a pink business dress.
• John Lane 43: We're On A Mission, by Richard Lobinske (part 1): "Hi, Tom. It's John Lane." "Uh, hi," Tom said, curious about the call. "What's going on?" "I was hoping to catch a ride from you this Saturday." "I guess, but don't you have a car?" "I don't trust it to go to very far."
  
• Lawndale's Finest, Detective Stories 5: Belfry, by Lorenzo Sauchelli (Part 1): Amelia caressed Quinn's head, "There's no fever, so it's safe to say the dose wasn't lethal. That's good news, it allows me to have time to work. And to know how much her mind was affected I would need all the time I can get to talk with her."
  
• Monster Madness, by Trscroggs (Part 1): In the early 1990s, humanity had its first contact with aliens. They weren’t friendly. A giant monster descended on Mexico City and all but destroyed it before vanishing. A short time later, the monster appeared again and leveled another large city. The third attack began like the first two, but...
• Unnamed story (Scenes No Daria Fanfic Should Have: Hump Day), by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): The captain of the Polk High debate team turned white with shock as the crowd in the auditorium, equally stunned, all set their gazes towards Daria. "But-but-but you aren't serious?" the boy gasped. "You can't actually believe shooting people will help make a better world?!"
• Unnamed story (Second Coming of the New Ideas Thread), by Dark Kuno (COMPLETE!): “What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss?” she asked as she finished off the last chip from the snack sized bag. The gas station attendant raised an eyebrow at the unusual question and said, “Ma’am?”

Thirteen

In Richard Lobinske's Falling into College series, Daria Morgendorffer met Jane Lane on October 14th, 1996. Happy 13th anniversary!

This is World Standards Day, whose website is not up to standard, at least using Firefox. (Can you spot the errors in the heading?)

And one of the actors who played James Bond turns 82 today. You go, dude.

Haven't figured out what else to add. Got any ideas? Put them in Comments. thx

PPMB

• Anti-Trope, by Pinkminx (Part 2): “I’m here to see the principal,” he said. The woman raised a questioning eyebrow and waited for him to continue. “I’m a new student.” He added, having a feeling he’d be using this line more than once during the course of the day.
• Fat Man's Grave, by TAG and Brother Grimace (Part 3): To stand in the entrance to Daria’s Inner Sanctum and gaze upon its eccentric splendor took my breath away. It was a teenage girl’s bedroom, but you wouldn’t have known it. It was a place where the color pink shriveled up and died.
  
• Our Time Now, by Charliefox2012 (Part 3): “Just trying to bring you out of your mood. You’re no fun once you’ve gotten irritated,” Jane said. “I’m fun?” Daria asked feigning surprise. “You know what I mean,” Jane deadpanned. “Meaning you won’t get any,” Daria said, raising an eyebrow.
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Stacy's Mom, Where Are You?), by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): Quinn showed up at Stacy's door and tapped her fashionable tennis shoes impatiently. C'mon, Stacy, if I miss a second of Boys 'r' Guys, I'm going to yank out your pigtails. [You are not going to believe this crossover. TAG]
  

The Other Bad Todd

In Daria lore, there are Two Bad Todds. One is well known from Beavis and Butt-head : Todd Ianuzzi, a brutal thug and gang leader. You may remember him beating up B&B a few times. Daria was never around him, smart kid. Great for fanfiction if you need muscle to get shot or stomped on.

And then there was Todd K. Feichmann.

You are very unlikely to have heard of this Todd (though I did mention him in this blog a long while ago). He was described only on old MTV Daria websites, and only the WayBack Machine can bring his tale to the present day. Here's what I've learned about him. Long-time fans might remember some of this.

This Todd is primarily known for creating the Lawndale High School website in 1994, for having been picked on a lot by high-school jocks, and for the revenge he took later on. About him, Jodie and Mack wrote:

The Lawndale High School Web site was established in 1994 by Todd K. Feichmann. At that time it consisted of his resume and a 3000-word essay on mutant battle psychology as encountered in the first six levels of DOOM. The scepter was passed to a small cadre of initiates after his graduation, but his spirit and love of nanotechnology still inspires the site today. We hope he is staying on his medication and feeling better about the fact that the simple elegance of UNIX is lost on the vast majority of today's computer users.

What we know about Todd comes from these webpages, some of which are difficult to access. If you click on a link and the webpage vanishes and is replaced by a modern MTV 404 page, try hitting ESCAPE as soon as the old page appears, to freeze it.

As this page shows, Todd created a special website called "Cleatopia.com" for guys he intensely disliked, so they could play fantasy football (Todd's idea of fantasy football, that is). On the webpage is written:

Hello, Kevin! Welcome to the first fantasy football site devoted to local high school jocks like yourself, who have tortured me mercilessly for years, rattling my will and shattering my fragile psyche until all that's left is a resentful, hypersensitive outcast who harbors vengeful visions of triumphant payback. Now I can finally suck your wallets dry and prove my intellectual superiority at the same time.

We also have real time stats, destructive viruses, and annoying clone bots for you to download. Have fun!

Founder and Visionary Todd K. Feichmann

To get to this page, you read Kevin's webpage first, where he dimly writes:

The first time I told Brittany I was spending a lot of time playing Fantasy Football she slapped me. So I explained all I meant was I like to make up imaginary teams for make believe football leagues, and it has nothing to do with daydreaming about naked cheerleaders doing pyramid formations. But then I started to think about naked cheerleaders doing pyramid formations and I guess I got a funny look on my face and she slapped me again.

Now I'll have plenty of time this weekend to check out player stats and injury reports and make trades and rethink my roster and order an apology bouquet from 1-800-GROVEL.

My fantasy football team is kind of like the imaginary friend I had when I was little (his name was Sporty and he was always sticking lima beans up my nose) except there are more of them and they don't hate my Dad. I miss Sporty.

I wonder where he is now?

When I first got into fantasy sports I used to play in leagues based on the NFL, or NCAA conferences. But now there's a new fantasy league that's about what I know best: Carter County High School Football! Did I mention that I'm the QB?

See, this kid named Todd K. Feichmann who helped me with my web page last year decided to put his smartness to non-nerdy use to start the league. And he only charges $29.99 to join: he says he needs the money for something called a particle decelebrator. Some kind of fancy vacuum cleaner, I guess.

Anyway, I'd really be kicking butt in the league if only I hadn't picked myself in the first round of the draft. I would trade myself now but no one wants me. I throw too many interceptions, sometime I get confused and call out phone numbers instead of plays, and I keep tripping over my laces (can't I remember to doubleknot?) I suck, I suck, I suck!

Maybe I shouldn't have drafted me. I guess football is kind of like dating: sometimes you choose the most obvious person under pressure and then you're stuck with them. At least that's what I heard Brittany telling the other cheerleaders. Then they all looked at me and shook their heads.

So Todd had his revenge on jocks, and Kevin never knew it. Sometimes that's for the best.


Wonder what Todd's doing now...


Let's check out the new fanfiction while we think.

PPMB

• NEW! Anti-trope, by Pinkminx (Part 1): Forgive me, I think I may need to backtrack a little, let me introduce myself. My name is Dean Morgendorffer, I'm a seventeen year old high school student and proud Lawndalian, okay I lied; I'm not proud to live in Lawndale, but it sure as hell beat the alternative.
• NEW! Fat Man's Grave, by TAG and Brother Grimace (Parts 1 and 2): Charles Ruttheimer the Third, man of mystery and adventure, as thoroughly and completely disguised from view as The Shadow, clouding the minds of men. Too long have my talents been wasted on childish trivia, too long have the world’s enigmas gone unsolved. It is time for my deeds to be writ large on the world, time for...
  
• Finn Morgendorffer 7: History on Skates, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 2): Mr. DeMartino seemed to be devoting his attention to cardio exercises, Finn noticed once he brought himself up to the weight room. Finn wondered briefly why Mr. D simply wouldn’t join a gym and get a trainer for such conditioning, but Finn reasoned that it would require payment, and he certainly wouldn’t do that.
• NEW! Legion of Lawndale Heroes Mini: Network Connections, by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): “Mister Mackenzie!” Mack Mackenzie instinctively tensed for a moment as a very familiar voice rang out from behind. “Uh, hello, Ms. Li!” he said.
• NEW! Regifted, by Ajar (Part 19): “Daria goes to Grove Hills now,” said Jane. “Remember?” “Right,” said Kevin. “It's a cooking school and someone poached her eggs, or something.” Jane humored Kevin: “Yeah, next week she's learning coq au vin.” “So they have sex ed in cooking school, too?” said Kevin.
  
• Sinspiration, by Vlora (Part 23): She laughed inwardly for a second before managing to get her legs over the edge of the bed. Her escape was almost complete until Trent pulled her back, keeping her firmly in place within his arms. Perhaps he thought she was someone better looking, older, maybe he thought she was Monique. "Morning Daria," he muttered through closed eyes and a pleased grin.

PPMB turns 10 years old today! Hooray!

Think Free!

Today is Columbus Day, which was once a big deal but is not so much anymore. The Vikings got here first, anyway.

Closer to Daria's interests, it is also Freethought Day, which for some reason strikes me as a very Daria-ish holiday. It was good enough for the founding fathers.

Moar l8r. Okay, l8r now.

NEW! Roentgen has discovered that Pepsi discovered that there are only 24 types of women! Yes! Isn't science great? How would you rate the women of Daria in the Pepsi-approved manner?

Pinhead is producing one of the most entertaining pictorial threads in ages. For your daily dose of artistic Daria humor, marvelously rendered, go to Small Joke. It's the best!

Speaking of art, Richard Lobinske has once again updated the 2009 Daria Visual Fanworks Listing. Thank you! Some great stuff is out this year, you gotta love it.

NEW! Kara Wild (the Great) has discovered that Daria is doing very well in a Television Without Pity Cartoon Survival Game! Excellent. Care to sign up and join in?

NEW! A reminder here that the Television Without Pity website has what is probably the second- or third-most active Daria message forum online ("Daria: You're Standing on My Neck"). I've added it to the Recommended Links at left. Go forth and read! (See the most recent messages here.)

Almost up to 120,000 hits! Yahoo!

PPMB

• Finn Morgendorffer 7: History on Skates, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 1): Man, that was quite a night! Finn thought to himself. Joey’s mother was out of town, so he had invited all the guys over to watch the game. Of course, a boy’s night with no parents around meant football, wings, and all the whiskey Finn could drink. (FF.net)
  
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part III), by jtranser (continued): In a place that's not a place, but a macrodimension of irrationality with an atmosphere. And where the geometry is all wrong, too: When looked at one way, all a human eye can behold is a sea of tormented, writhing pseudopods rippling in a dank, ultraviolet chemical breeze....
• Unnamed story (1,001 Deaths of Tom Sloane - Part II), by NightGoblyn (COMPLETE!): Tom's bedroom door opened, and he looked up from his novel with annoyed expression. His witty, caustic comment died on his lips as his jaw sagged open and his eyes widened.
  

Tom by the Numbers

(A reprint of an old article I've never sent out)

Do not read if you lack a sense of humor, or think people need to get a life/hobby/inflatable doll instead of thinking about these things. This was assembled by an amateur, professionals would never go near stuff like this with a 12.2 foot noodle. Void where prohibited by good taste. Individual results may vary. If rash, irritation or bleeding occur, see your doctor, but this had nothing to do with it.

A considerable amount of hot air has been generated on the topic of Tom Sloane and how the character influenced the show.

Here’s a quick analysis of how much the character did appear over the twenty-nine stories from Jane’s Addition to Is It College Yet?

Now you can have solid numbers when you argue how much time was or was not spent (wasted, idolized, whatever) on the character

Production number, title and brief description of Tom’s actions.

313: Jane's Addition: Tom asks Jane out, first overtures to Daria (Farmer joke)

401: Partner's Complaint: Daria and Jane at odds over Tom, he briefly appears to offer ride.
402: Antisocial Climbers: Tom not present, Daria tells Jane she’s sorry about her comments
403: A Tree Grows in Lawndale: Tom makes suggestion to help Kevin
404: Murder, She Snored: Tom not present
405: The F Word: Tom looks in surprise at ‘conventional’ Jane.
406: I Loathe a Parade: Makes effort to be nice to Daria, first evidence of attraction
407: Of Human Bonding: Tom not present, Jane says he’s bowling with friends.
408: Psycho Therapy: Tom has brief appearance on ‘JaneCam.’
409: Mart of Darkness: Aftermath of fight with Jane, Tom goes with Trent and Jesse to store
410: Legends of the Mall: Tom not present
411: Groped by an Angel: Tom not present
412: Fire!: Tom has conversation with Daria.
413: Dye! Dye! My Darling: The kiss.

Is it Fall Yet? First dates with Tom, temporary breakup. Tom says Daria may be scared of opening up.

501: Fizz Ed: Tom encourages Daria to see superintendent.
502: Sappy Anniversary: Tom + Daria forget anniversary. He considers romantic efforts corny
503: Fat Like Me: Tom not present.
504: Camp Fear: Tom not present
505: The Story of D: Tom encourages Daria to send in story, clod when it is rejected.
506: Lucky Strike: A few comments about trick question when Daria making test
507: Art Burn: A few comments about Jane’s art.
508: One J at a Time: Says he wants parents to like him, runs off with Jake and Jeffy
509: Life in the Past Lane: He and Daria have doubts about Nathan, Daria asks if they are in a rut.
510: Aunt Nauseam: Daria tells Tom to keep his distance when he tries to help.
511: Prize Fighters: Tom tells Daria about sleazy Wizard CEO
512: My Night at Daria's: Condom in wallet bad idea. About only attempt at romance.
513: Boxing Daria: Daria ditches going to the cove after accident to see Jane.

Is it College Yet? Effects of Tom’s wealthy background become more noticeable, Daria and Tom are clearly drifting apart. Daria breaks up.

Season: number of episodes (production number) percent of season or percent of total

Tom was not present in episode:
S4: 5 (402, 404, 407, 410, 411) – 38.5%
S5: 2 (503, 504) - 15.4%
Total: 7 – 24.1%

Tom’s role was minor:
S4: 3 (403, 405, 408) – 23.1%
S5: 4 (506, 507, 510, 511) – 30.8%
Total: 7 – 24.1 %

Tom had a short, but important role:
4: 3 (401, 409, 412) – 15.4%
IIFY?
5: 3 (501, 502, 505) - 23.1%
Total: 7 – 24.1%

Tom had a central role:
3: 1 (313) – 7.7%
4: 2 (406, 413) – 23.1%
5: 5 (501, 502, 508, 509, 512) – 38.5%
IICY?
Total: 8 – 27.6%

Daria asked for advice from, or had an ‘important’ conversation with Tom
4: 2 (403, 413) – 15.4%
IIFY?
5: 5 (501, 505, 506, 508, 512) – 38.5%
IICY?
Total: 9 – 31.0%

National Sausage Pizza Day, Hooray!

Today is National Sausage Pizza Day, and you know what to do, right? Go out for pizza! Or make it at home, as you wish. Turkey sausage is acceptable, of course.

The caption contest from yesterday needs more entries, hint hint.

Moar on the way.

Caption Contest!

Give this deserving image a caption we will never forget!

(Many thanks to Pinhead for the excellent image!)

A Trillion Channels and Nothing's On....

...except great fanfiction. Stay tooned for updates.

PPMB

• The Bleakness That Lies Ahead, by Malakite (COMPLETE!): [Won't spoil it. Great angst!]
• The Curse of El Smoocho, by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): [Won't spoil this one, either.]
  
• Finn Morgendorffer 6: Beautiful, by HolyGrail2007 (COMPLETE!): Her suspicions were confirmed a moment later when she pushed her way into his room. Her brother was lying face down on the floor.
• Sinspiration, by Vlora (Part 22): Trent seemed reluctant to reply. His hand scratched at the back of his neck. "Why do you always make me feel like an idiot?" "I could ask you the same question." "‘But you’re smart. I’m just a musician, I think with my heart and like… I dunno Daria, you make me feel like I’m always on trial."
• Unnamed story (Scenes No Daria Fanfic Should Have: Hump Day), by Greystar (COMPLETE!): This will not end well.
• Unnamed story (TAG: write a fic based on this bombing of the moon quick!), by Brandon League (COMPLETE!): "Gee, Daria, that moon really bombed," a smirking Jane Lane quipped....

Turning Over a New Leif?

Today is Leif Erikson Day, celebrating the first landing of Europeans on North American shores (meaning Newfoundland) just over 1,000 years ago. Leif was a Viking's Viking. Alternate histories sometimes toy with the question of what might have happened if the Vikings had managed to expand their colonies in the New World. It's anyone's guess there. Maybe we'd have the mighty Upchuck of the North or something.

The last known supernova in the Milky Way Galaxy appeared in the sky 405 years ago today. Closer to our own time, Entertainment Weekly named Daria Morgendorffer one of its "cartoon divas" 11 years ago. Daria gained her new status at the same time as did Tinkerbell, Veronica from the Archie comics, and... um... Foghorn Leghorn? WTF?

MTV Animation, which produced Daria and so many other wonders, closed its doors for good eight years ago today. The collage at upper right shows the major MTV cartoons 0f 1996, just before Daria appeared. Rest in peace, MTV Animation, and thank you.

GNUZ ALERT! Quiverwing has just posted the rules for the 2009 Daria Fanworks Awards on PPMB. Read over them now and start picking out your favorites!

PPMB

• NEW! The Curse of El Smoocho, by Roentgen (Part 4): Quinn stormed over to the door. "Daria, why do you want to ruin my life?" she yelled. "I'm sorry for lacing my boots in the unapproved 'under' method. With the help of God and family, I can change—"
  
• Detective Stories 4: Fledge, by NightGoblyn (COMPLETE!): Stacy leaned on her cane and, in an effort to distract herself from the constant itching of her right leg, peered over Daria’s shoulder at the computer screen. “What are you working on?”
• Finn Morgendorffer 6: Beautiful, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 3): “I’m fat,” Finn finally moaned. Unlike his normal complaining, Finn now sounded like he was two steps away from crying. “Fat?” Daria thought. She had many choice words to cut her brother down to size. Some curse words, some normal ones, and some Finn would have never heard of. But “fat” was not an insult she reserved for him.
• NEW! Meowlody Powers, by Richard Lobinske (COMPLETE!): The busy crowd and layout of store displays made Meowlody's job difficult as she patrolled the area. Zhreow would come in close, because, like Meowlody, she believed in the personal touch. That would be Meowlody's only chance to stop the assassination, even at the risk of being detected and forever losing her ability to be an agent. (FF.net)
  

The Eyes Have It

Wear glasses? Today is World Sight Day. Take care of your eyes. Take care of your glasses, too, or you'll end up like Daria.

Those of you in this fandom who are literate (all of you, in other words) will be happy to know that SF author Frank Herbert, he who gave us Dune and other brilliant tales, was born 89 years ago. Harvey Pekar, creator of the underground comic series American Splendor, turns 70.

Pinhead has yet another fine display of artistic ability at PPMB, this time a comic strip: "In the Fine Morning." I liked it.

PPMB

• The Curse of El Smoocho, by Roentgen (Part 3): It was a bucolic morning in Lawndale. The sun was now shining in the spring, and the birds were singing. Jamie White was very happy as he walked towards the Morgendorffer residence. The motto of the Lawndale Lions was clear: "Protect Our Women." The only question regarding Quinn Morgendorffer was, "Whose woman was Quinn Morgendorffer?" After a fistfight and some making-up, Jamie White carried his bruises proudly to Quinn's door and rang the bell. Silence. He was sure that Quinn would be glad to see him.
• Reaped Out 2: Sickle Sad World, by Pinkminx (Part 8): “Look George, I know what you’re going to say. I don’t care.” Daria said firmly and turned to go. “Just… just be careful okay? I don’t want you to get on Rube’s bad side.” (FF.net)
  
• Romin' Holiday, by TAG (COMPLETE!): Daria cast an uneasy gaze over the barren half of the dorm room. All she knew of her roommate-to-be was her name: H. Wayne. Too bad it could not have been Jane Lane, her best friend. The thought of dealing with a difficult roommate cast a pall over the pleasure of the moment.
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part III), by jtranser (continued): "What in the Hell happened to you?!" "I had to take care of some important business. I wound up having to kill myself."
  
• Tales of the Ringbearers: A New Ringbearer, by Aloysius (Part 3): The vampire stared at the girl and calmly set his beer mug down on the bar. Tony noted that none of the beer had been drunk, then looked at the undead man as he stood up. He was tall and thin, dressed in an elegantly tailored suit and held a folded up coat over his left arm.

More Stats: Where the Fans Really Are

Some readers are aware that I have an Internet site used for storing images, fanfiction, sound files, and occasionally webpages. Nearly everything on the "TAG.com" site (www.theangstguy.com, which has no front page) is related to Daria. Using a nifty program called Awstats, I can find out a lot about who clicks into TAG.com, such as where they are clicking in from. The table showing the national origin of TAG.com visitors for the year 2009 (to date) is just above. Click on it for the full-size image. For the sake of conversation, let's take a look at it for a few moments.

It is no surprise that most of those who view or listen to something from TAG.com are from the U.S.A. However, if you thought the next few slots would be filled with nations once a part of the British Empire, you are wrong. Enormous numbers of visitors come from Russia and China. Canada, Australia, and Great Britain are next, to be sure, but lo! there's the rest of Europe, Mexico, and Argentina. I've never seen numbers like these before. The worldwide spread of Daria fandom has caught me off-guard as well.

Thoughts? Discussion? Comments from those in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere?

I'll have more statistics later. Just wanted to get some chitchat started about where the Daria fans really are, and what they really like.

Prepare for Fanfic Download....

And for the third post of the day, we have fanfic.

Iron Chef: Social Services intervene at Casa Lane is the newest Iron Chef on PPMB, by Ms. Kinnikufan. The title says all. Give anyone any ideas?

Pinhead once again brings more "Small Jokes" to PPMB. Join in and share the goodness.

PPMB

• The Curse of El Smoocho, by Roentgen (Part 2): "General, I've got two lone ewes without a bell in Sector 16." "Affirmative, dude! Put them in the sheep pen. A rancher will be there in five minutes."
  
• Finn Morgendorffer 6: Beautiful, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 2): “What do you... uhhh... what do you think of...” Stacy stuttered so much Finn was starting to lose his patience. He took a deep breath and counted as Stacy tried to get out what she was trying to say.
• Sinspiration, by Vlora (Part 21): The youngest of the Lane family finally arrived home, her eyes oddly red and her hands clutching to her backpack. She didn’t bother to say hello to her brother and just went straight to her room. Once there, she slumped onto her bed and stared at the ceiling.
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef and/or Discussion: Gender Bender), by Pinkminx (Part 1): Let me introduce myself. My name is Dean Morgendorffer, I'm a seventeen-year-old high-school student and proud Lawndalian. Okay, I lied: I'm not proud to live in Lawndale, but it sure as hell beat the alternative.
  

Fakz & Figgurz 2 Maek U Happi

One thing I haven't done in a while is review some of the background facts and figures about this blog. Let's see what we've got.

Viewing: First, based on some testing I did, this blog appears to look spot on perfect with Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla Firefox 3.5, and Apple Safari 4.0. For some reason there are more indents with IE8, but it all comes out nicely. Opera 10.0 is a little worse but still acceptable. The images degrade for some reason as you switch pages, and the Followers section won't show up.

Visitors: At the moment, 118,603 total hits have been recorded for the site. An average of 131 unique visitors drop by every day so far in October, with 154 per day average throughout September. The blog gets hit about 191 times per day, so some visitors (particularly me, checking up on things) drop in more than once.

This means this blog keeps 130-150 people entertained every day. Not bad at all. We don't have the numbers that Harry Potter fandom has, but we do fine. Only 17 followers, though, so just over a tenth of all visitors can or want to get alerts for updates. Anyone else want to join the followers here? Come on in.

Nations: The country of origin of most visitors is not known. Of those that are known, the U.S.A. accounts for most (about 150 people at the moment), with less than a tenth as many each coming from Canada, France, Great Britain, and other places.

Linkage: Over 60% apparently have this site bookmarked and link directly to it. Links from DariaWiki, Outpost Daria, and PPMB account for less than 10% each, with the rest apparently coming straight from some Google search.

Browsers: About 60% of you use Firefox, 6.5% use IE, 4.6% use Safari, and almost 30% cannot be classified by browser, so who knows what you're using.

Monitor Size: I wasn't aware that the Toolbar Counter checked out your screen size. Lessee...

Unknown	444
1024x768	165
1280x1024	87
800x600	33
1152x864	29

For whatever that was worth. That's for October so far.

Moar l8r.

The Howl of the Cats Anniversary!

Remember that weird poem Daria tried to read to luckless seniors in "The Old and the Beautiful"? That was Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," and the first public reading of it was performed by the author 54 years ago today. Daria reenacts this fateful moment at left. A recording of Allen Ginsberg himself reading part of Howl can be found here. Quite possibly NSFW, but very interesting. I was born the year he wrote it.

Also in our Arts section, the musical "Cats" came to Broadway for the first time 27 years ago. It didn't leave for another 18 years, setting a record for stage performances. Mr. O'Neill reenacts the play at right, dressed as one of the "cats." Can you guess which "cat" he is? I'm not that familiar with the characters, though I did read the T. S. Eliot poem.

A famed Dariaverse villain was born this day in 1944 in Witney, Oxfordshire, UK. Who was that person? Guess before you peek.

DariaWiki has greatly benefited from the most excellent talents of Brother Grimace, Richard Lobinske, Roentgen, Quiverwing, JPAGC, Disco316, Gouka Ryuu, Saiyaman, Kchishol1970, and Ludraman. Thank you all! New pages have been flooding in as well: The Bug Guy, Electronic Alchemy, Memories, Meowlody Powers, The Missing Link, Pinhead, Quinn at College, A Small Stumble for Stacy, and Zachary Butler. Check it out!

Speaking of "Cats" costumes, Doc Forbin has a suggestion for Halloween. See what you think.

The Daria Fan Club is up to 1,436 members. Nice! You new guys, stick around for the DVD release, okay?

Stay tooned.

Let's Talk Content on This Channel

For a while we will put aside the celebration of oddball holidays and instead talk about content. Think of this as just another channel on the Great Internet TV, billions and billions of channels to chose from, and for the moment you chose to be here.

What would you like to see more of in this blog? What kind of content would keep you coming back?

Give me some discussion about this. I'd like to try something different and am trolling for good ideas. Send 'em my way in the Comments section. Thanks!

A Chimp and a Keyboard

Not much going on here. I was daydreaming for a moment, imagining what the fandom would be like a little over a year from now when Daria comes out on DVD. We've gone through a lot of changes in the last 12 years, all the comings and goings. Hope there will be a good number of us around when the product finally ships.

The same old problem is still here, how to keep the fandom's interest fresh during the long wait. I've been tinkering with various shared world ideas. Other people are creating marvelous art and writing great stories. A year is a long time to wait, but we've been around a lot longer than that. It will be a great day to have DVDs in our hands.

More "Small Jokes" from Pinhead are appearing on PPMB, specially altered renditions of Daria alter egos. Wonderful stuff. LATE ADD: And he has created a masterpiece collage from assorted alter egos: JAM!

LATE ADD: Roentgen has thrown down a really strange challenge before us. Can you resolve the impossible situation in Iron Chef: Contract Dispute?

LATE ADD: Malakite asks if Daria should have been called The Quinn Show. Who got the most on-screen time: Daria, Quinn, or Jane?

FF.net

• My Bizarre Daria Dream Fic, by FantasyChick (COMPLETE!): Jane, Trent and a long black haired guitar player were together on a patch of grass under some fully blooming trees and surrounded by fully blooming bushes.

PPMB

• NEW! The Curse of El Smoocho, by Roentgen (Part 1): "GAAHHHHHH!!" Quinn wiped her mouth as she looked up, but the pervert had disappeared without a trace. She didn't even get a good look at him.
  
• Finn Morgendorffer 6: Beautiful, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 1): “Hmmm...” He was thinking of inviting his Aunt Rita to come down for a game soon, but, unfortunately, Rita’s beau Roger had been in an accident recently, and things did not look good.
• NEW! The Highlander, by Smileyfax (COMPLETE!): Daria hated Highland, hated it down to her toenails. The Morgendorffers had almost escaped the town once, four years ago. Helen had had an interview to join a law firm in some town called Lawndale, but Helen had returned to Highland empty-handed, muttering about "damn perverts." Daria decided she didn't want to know. (FF.net)
  
• Lawndale's Finest—Detective Stories 4: Fledge, by NightGoblyn (Part 3): The message, scrawled in what was apparently lipstick, read, The science teacher tried to test me, but I’m not a humanitarian. As Robin read it, she heard a low giggle from the darkened room ahead. [NEWEST! Part 4: Stacy’s first clue that she wasn’t dead was the pain; a constant, dull ache that seemed to come from everywhere and pulsed in time with her heart beat. Her ear was ringing from the communicator blow out, and her ribs sent her angry messages every time she breathed. She slowly opened her eyes and noticed that the left lens of her goggles was cracked.]
  
• NEWEST! Meowlody Powers, by Richard Lobinske (Part 3): Instinctively curling her long tail close to her body, Meowlogy sneaked through the revolving doors and was free to roam the store, looking for her target. Anti-assassination duty was always messy business, especially when Meowlody was told that she didn't need to know the identity of the target.
  
• Rolling the Dice, by Ajar (COMPLETE!): Jane rolled some twenty-sided dice. “While you are distracted by this fascinating can, Tiffany suddenly faceplants the pavement.” “Faaace...plaaant...I alwayyys thought I'd beee a prettyyy flowerrr...”
• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part III), by jtranser (continued): The patterns within the patterns swirled and writhed, moving from fractals to paisleys to golden sections to previously unknown non-euclidean geometrical distortions.... [NEWEST! continued: While en route to the center of the milky way, the chinchillas suddenly left their places of concealment and erupted all through Stacy's ship body, breaking into thousands of launch tubes filled with Brussels Sprouts and ravenously devouring billions of sentient sprouts.]
  
• NEW! That Was Then, This Is Where I Don't. Fair Enough? by TAG (COMPLETE!): "I still don't know how Jane caught ebola from eating leftover Chinese food."
  
• NEW! Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Contract Dispute), by Smileyfax (COMPLETE!): Daria and Jane were walking to school, as was their wont. "Did you study for your math test?" Daria asked, knowing that the answer was probably no.
  
• Unnamed story (Scenes no Daria fanfic should have: Hump Day), by Aloysius (COMPLETE!): Daria, Jane, Kevin, Quinn, Charles, Scarlett, Sandi and Mack skipped all the way to Lawndale High School, arm in arm as they sang a song of friendship. "We're all friends, we all get along, everything that happens to us is always good, even the school lunch is good!"
• Unnamed story (TAG: write a fic based on this bombing of the moon quick!), by Deref (COMPLETE!): "It's easy for you to criticize, Daria. You have a teaching job to keep you busy—grading all those papers to keep you entertained during the wee small hours. I, on the other hand..." "...should have stuck to art instead of rocket science."

Those Who Can, Teach

This is World Teachers' Day, and having once been a substitute teacher myself I hereby pay tribute to those who struggle to bring light into the minds of our youth. And resist the urge to strangle some of them. Don't get me started. Thanks to Mr. O'Neill and Ms. Barch.

SFMB celebrates its sixth birthday today. Thank you, Thea Zara, for all your hard work!

Not a lot going on at the moment. Has anyone noticed if MTV has made an announcement about the Daria DVD anywhere on MTV.com? Kinda odd. Hope they put up more specific information before long.

Mutant and atomic-wasteland lovers: check out the discussion at PPMB on TMI+20: Lawndale after Three Mile Island goes BOOM!

The Thong Has Arrived!

Ace investigative reporter and Highland High freshman Daria Morgendorffer achieved her first-ever fashion scoop at left, as shown on the infamous Beavis and Butt-head episode, "Sporting Goods" (double meaning there), which aired 16 years ago today. In addition, The Space Age began 52 years ago today, and today is World Animal Day. Go for it.

We need an AU in which Daria continued trying to be an investigative reporter. Who knows where that would lead?

Today is also the second anniversary of Daria's infamous crossover appearance on the Comedy Central show, Drawn Together ("Lost in Parking Space, Part Two"). She was made a part of a Hostel parody in which, um, her vision was significantly altered. A detailed Wikipedia entry about the episode was archived, the original one having been deleted, only a bit of its information saved for an episodes summary.

FF.net

• Camp Out, by Dreamer Boy (COMPLETE!): Beavis and Butt-Head walked over to the tent next to theirs. Beavis suck his head through the flap. "Hello? Anyone in here? Meh heh heh heh." Daria's voice called from inside the tent, "Get out of here, Beavis!"
  

PPMB

• Helen's Night, by GlitterShrooms (COMPLETE!): Oh God, thought Helen as she lit up a smoke in the privacy of her own bedroom, how could I even possibly consider this?
  
• Just a Normal Lawndale Day, by Aloysius (Part 1): Call 911. We’ve stolen your brain.
• Lawndale's Finest: Detective Stories 4: Fledge, by NightGoblyn (Part 2): “Either of us could have ended up like Tomcat,” Stacy said, sitting up and grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat off her face. “We didn’t, and he doesn’t have to stay that way.” She glanced up at her mentor and smirked. “There is good in him, I have felt it.”
• The Stig, by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): Chequers turned to her best friend, Angel. "Guess what I heard? Heidi stuffs."
  

A Fanfiction Update Worth Waiting For

First, a public-service announcement:

OUTPOST DARIA
HAS UPDATED!

Look for the latest goodies here. Thanks!

NEWZ ALERT! Kara Wild has discovered that Daria is listed among Television Without Pity's Top 10 Spinoffs! Most excellent!

Some New Iron Chefs have hit town on PPMB.

• Glasses No More (Lorenzo Sauchelli): Daria loses her glasses. How will she cope?
• Who Is Rita Barksdale? (Ms. Kinnikufan): Can more light be shed on Rita Barksdale in fanfiction? Can you do it?
• Iron Chef and/or Discussion: Gender Bender (NightGoblyn): Reverse sexes on all characters, but keep their personalities. What happens next?
• Population Explosion: Create your own Daria character for everyone to use!

ARTSY NEWZ

• Pinead does a magnificent drawing of Jane Lane from "Daria 2007: The Girl from Hope."
• Pinhead next goes for a "Small Joke." Naughty, naughty!
• And he does the Lane Family's cats.

Richard Lobinske has a crossover idea for Bump. Please encourage him to write it.

Lots of new stuff is online, and here's the takedown for the shakedown of the rundown on the lowdown, so get down! (Note: I've tried to avoid repeating FF.net stories that have already appeared on PPMB, except to add their links to earlier mentions of those stories in the blog.)

FF.net

• Am I Home Yet? by Earthboy111 (Part 2, continued after 2.5 years!): Jane’s attitude hadn’t changed much, the two friends had seen very little of each other since the fall, despite their two universities being relatively close, each had been too engrossed in their own projects to socialize, at least that’s what they told themselves.
• Nothing Wrong with Being Hufflepuff, by Daria234 (Part 1): "Miss Lane! Are you sure that you're following my instructions precisely?" "I'll check again, Professor Snape," Jane responded. From the row behind them, Daria and Jane could hear Draco whisper, "What can you expect from a Mudblood?"
• Take Me on the Floor, by MandeeMistress (Part 4): Sunlight was such a brutal alarm clock. How long had she been asleep for? He vision was still impaired from the night before and her stomach was making waves comparable to the ocean. She had no idea where her glasses were, or how they had ended up off. She turned to her side and saw Trent...

PPMB

• Checkers and Angel, by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): "Gay? No way! Larry is so much not gay that it hurts!" Checkers spotted someone in the crowd. "Oh my god! Here he comes now! Shut up, shut up!"
• Finn Morgendorffer, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 4 COMPLETE!): “And just wait until November, Dad.” Finn turned to Jake, whom he hoped would be his ally in this. “The guys and I have been practicing our fighting. When you see me in the ring, you’re gonna be proud.” [Story followed by a round-table discussion of metrosexuality and ADHD.]
• Finn Morgendorffer 5: What Kind of Model?, by HolyGrail2007 (COMPLETE!): “You’ve got a good look, sweetheart. What’s your name?” “Sandi.” “Sandi, could you do a little runway for me? Just walk to the back of the room and then back here.” [Part 2: “Always remember your product, girls. When you are posing for catalogs, it’s all about you and the product. This leads to a happy client. Happy clients will contact your agent again, and your agent will remember it.”] [Part 3: Done!]
  
• La Tigresse, by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): "Before you ask questions...." muttered Tiffany, "I'm surrre you're interested in why...I'm in...the Fashion Club. When people meet me, they ask...whyyyy are you in the Fashion Cluuuuub?"
• Lawndale's Finest—Detective Stories 4: Fledge, by NightGoblyn (Part 1): “She’s awake, but she’s still groggy,” Amy said. “God only knows what kind of chemicals she has running rampant through her system. The blood work is all over the map, half of the compounds are things the lab guys have never seen before.” “Well, at least she’s alive, right?”
• Mart of Weirdness, Greystar (COMPLETE!): "Payday is currently experiencing a temporary power outage. Sales of butane, propane, methane, gasoline and other combustibles will be temporarily suspended until the sprinklers and ventilation system are working again, and we can get the damn doors open. Thank you for shopping the Payday waAAIIEEEEEEE!!!!!"?
  
• Meowolody Powers, by Richard Lobinbske (Part 1): Meowlody crept in through the barely open window and dropped to the carpeted floor without a sound. She stepped out from behind the curtain as if she'd been there all afternoon. "Meow." The Chosen One spun around and said, "There you are. Where have you been hiding?" "Mewor." Sorry, that's classified. [And now, Part II!: "Fresh, not frozen."]
• Our Time Now, by Charliefox2012 (Part 2): “Well, I'll show Helen. I'll pick up Quinn and make the lasagna,” Jake said building up confidence. “When Jake Morgendorffer says he'll do something, he dos it, I mean does it. Dammit!” he said firmly. Daria only watched him, hoping that this madness wasn’t genetic.
• Regifted, by Ajar (Part 18): “I know you brains aren't exactly good with this kind of thing, but when you want to stop rumors that you're going out with someone you shouldn't ask her friends how she's doing.” “Nonsense. I just want to know how she is dealing with the slanderous accusations. That would be of interest to me, whether they are true or not.”
• Room Spins, by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): "Are you surrrre you don't want to go down to the Quarry?" Skylar smiled. "Gag," said Sandi. "You're drunk." "And you shared. You had like a fifth."
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Population Explosion), by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): The attractive sixteen-year-old massaged her palm, still slightly sore after she had slapped that absolutely horrid Ruttheimer boy soundly across the face. How could he even imagine that I would find him attractive! He's small, and gangly, and for someone who supposedly comes from money, dresses like he's run through a thrift story with double-sided tape attached to his knickers, hoping something stylish would stick...
  
• Unnamed story (Scenes No Daria Fanfic Should Have: Hump Day), by thatLONERchick (COMPLETE!): For the fourth time in half an hour, Jane stuck her index finger deep into her belly button, brought the digit up to her nose and sniffed. "Why does my bellybutton smell like salami?"
• Unnamed story, by Teeki (Part 2): Still mostly asleep, Daria pushed aside the questions about the object on the floor and just kept walking. When she reached the lump, she stepped on it, squishing down hard like she had with all the Barbie shoes and purses and cars. But right away, she knew this was a bad move.
• What I'm Pondering, by Dennis (COMPLETE!): "Gee, Daria, what do you want to do tonight?" Jane asked. "The same thing we do every night, Jane!" Daria replied, deadpan as always. "Kill Tom."
• Wristcutters: A Daria Story, by Charliefox2012: [A great story, now up to Part 16! FF.net version is being revised.]
• Wrylight, by Pinkminx (Part 5): "... And I need you to help me collect the dinner later. I don't care if you refuse to eat..." Trent's voice trailed off as he stood on the threshold of his sister's room and saw Daria. He rubbed his neck nervously as his eyes shifted from Daria to Jane. "Ah, Janey?" (FF.net)
  

From the Peanuts Gallery....

It's lame deejays,
Charlie Brown.

—Jane Lane, "Jake of Hearts"

Fifty-eight years ago, Peanuts first appeared in the newspapers. Interesting that the strip runs in the Lawndale Sun-Herald, too. (How would Jane know about it otherwise?) Two good stories to read to celebrate: Petrel's "New Kids in Town" and "New Kids in Town II: Battling Practice." You'll see why.

A list of new fanfiction will appear hereabouts later. Still running a race with real life. Enjoy.

October Begins

Quinn, with the help of a good makeup team, here represents International Day for Older Persons, also known as International Day for the Elderly, better known as October 1st. It's also World Vegetarian Day, and the Three Js are too perfect (like peas in a pod) for the role.

One of the greatest (most awful) tabloids of all time, full of whacked-out news, scandal, and non-news right up there with Sick, Sad World, was founded 166 years ago today: News of the World. Daria could be an editor and writer for such a thing, couldn't she?

And happy birthday to the voice of Stacy Rowe, the great Sarah Drew. Cheers! And stay tooned.

ReAl LiFe strikes again

Hey, there. More Daria postings to come soon. Had to take a short break. Talk amongst yourselves. Here's a topic: when Jane gave Daria the "answers" for the psychological test Daria took in "Psycho Therapy," was Jane trying to have Daria committed, fearing Daria would steal Tom? Cite Biblical verses to support your thesis.