Your Assignment, If You So Choose to Accept

1. Read this .

2. Mail the guy at contests (at) retrocrush (dot) com.

Voting Ends Today

Voting for the 2005 Excellence in Fandom Awards ends today. See information on the left hand side of the screen regarding how to vote if you have not done so. Results announced either tomorrow or afterwards.

Hopefully an update either today or tomorrow.

Update

Kara Wild briefly updated the DVDaria Blog . The number of signatures on the DVDaria petition has crossed the 16,000 mark.

The WWOEC site is dead. It was the last site that had Wouter Jaegers's adult Daria artwork.

Deref is looking for beta readers for "All My Children - Chapter 15".

At the PPMB:

thea zara posted two parts of "What You Reap".
Richard Lobinske completed Part 7 of "John Lane 7 - Writes of Spring".
sleepless completed Chapter 30 of "Yuki-Onna".

At the SFMB:

The Angst Guy completed Part 3 of "Darkness".
Napalm Kracken finished "MTV's True Life: I Was a Marvel Anti-Hero".
Crazy Nutso completed Part 1 of "Marvel Comics Presents: Daria!"

There are two more days left to vote for the Excellence In Fandom Awards. Vote if you haven't done so. The winner will be announced after July 1st.

Schedule:
Two tests on Thursday.
Visit to mother on weekend.
Another test next Wednesday.

Will update when able.

Outpost Daria Updates

Outpost Daria updated on June 24, 2005. Go here for what's new.

At the PPMB:

Gregor Samsa completed Part 10 of "The Boys of Summer Redux".
E. A. Smith interviews The Angst Guy about writing.
Richard Lobinske completed Part 4 of "John Lane 7 - Writes of Spring".

At the SFMB:

Mistress Daria's Dungeon will be updated soon.
Roentgen completed a new part of "Legion of Lawndale Heroes".
Napalm Kracken completed Chapter 5 of "MTV's True Life: I Was a Marvel Anti-Hero".

Notices:

1) Only five more days to vote for the 2005 Excellence in Fandom Awards. See the links on the left to find out how to vote.

2) I have a test on Monday and two tests on Thursday. Posting will be sporadic.

Too Early

At the PPMB:

cyke finished Part 1 of "The New Masters of the Universe". (Daria/He-Man crossover)

Art: a weird screen capture from "Daria's Inferno".

Heppy Birthday!

Happy Belated Birthday to Kara Wild.

Martin Sylvester wrote Shout Factory , a DVD label specializing in cult shows if they would consider releasing Daria as part of their lineup. He received a response sometime before June 21st.

Your suggestion is appreciated. However, we have no connection to MTV or their library of programming and, therefore, have no plans to release Daria.

DJW completed Part 4 of "The Dammitall Run".
The Angst Guy completed a new part of "Darkness".
Richard Lobinske completed Parts 1 and 2 of "John Lane 7 - Lessons of Spring".

Added to Fanfiction.net:

Chapter 5 of "What Happens Next?" by Kaimelar Feylove

Test on Wednesday

At the SFMB: The Great Saiyaman added two pages to his new erotic Daria comic (Quinn/Lindy) at the hidden forum of SFMB.

Happy Birthday to "WhyDoesCheeseSmell?"

Remember

At the PPMB: Dennis is continuing his serial.

Added to Fanfiction.net:

Chapter 30 of "Bed and Breakfast Man" by Ruthless Bunny

Oh, yeah, this Sunday is Father's Day. So remember yer Dad, and if he's alive, give him a call and get him something special. A card, at least.

Sheep's Fluff Updates

Well, I said school would keep me busy, and it has. This post should catch everything up completely.

Voting remains active for the 2005 Excellence in Fandom award all the way till June 30th. If you have not voted yet, please do so.

From The Daria News Archive :

New fans voting for DARIA have reversed the decline of the show in the chart of most-wanted unreleased DVDs. A total of 2,272 votes has brought DARIA back up to number twenty in the chart at tvshowsondvd.com.

thea zara has updated The Sheep's Fluff . Check here to see what's new.

At the PPMB:

Richard Lobinske completed "First Summer 2 - Leading Example".
Ranger Thorne completed "Not All Endings Are" (Daria/"Star Wars" crossover).
The Angst Guy completed the first part of "Darkness", a new serial fanfic.

At the SFMB:

milderbeast and Deref completed "The Many Loves of Thalia Gillis" (Daria/"Dobie Gillis") crossover.

Fan art: by Salaime:

Scary Stories

sleepless completed Chapter 29 of "Yuki-Onna".

I Got Nothin'

So it's free thread time. Chat amongst yerselves.

Deref's Photos

From the Daria News Archive :

The online petition calling for every episode of DARIA to be released uncut on DVD has now attracted sixteen thousand signatures. A fan called Sara-Jane Shepperd added her name to the petition today, becoming signatory number 16,000.

Photo montages of all the Dariacons Deref attended while in the United States can be found in this thread .

At the PPMB:

Nemo Blank finished a new chapter of "The Replacements".
E. A. Smith completed his interview with fan author Richard Lobinske.

At the SFMB: Roentgen completed a new chapter of "Legion of Lawndale Heroes".

Glenn Eichler Answers Questions (Part III)

The DVDaria Blog has updated.

In addition, Glenn Eichler has answered the third series of questions posted by Daria fans.

The regular link is here .
The link for users of Internet Explorer is here.

Glitter Berries Undergoes Redesign

Take a look at the new Glitter Berries site. A lot of interactive features have been added; click here to find out what they are.

Guy "Deceleraptor" Payne has returned from the hospital. Congratulations on his recovery.

Gregor Samsa completed Part 9 of "The Bands of Summer Redux".

Question

Added to Fanfiction.net:

"Some Things are not Meant to be Said" by CharmedFan232. (Note: CharmedFan232 asks that you "READ AND REVIWE PLEASE!")

Question: in this scene, without looking at your tapes, what other Lawndale business is Daria and Tom close to?




Answer in comments thread below.

Five Hundred

The Daria Encyclopedia 1.0 just posted its 500th article - and we're nowhere near done.

Fan art by Jennifer Larkin: Brittany in normal clothes (from Outpost Daria).

Bullets

A question added to the University of Missouri at Kansas City's School of Law torts handout by Professor Rogelio Lasso in 2002:

With a gun strapped to his thigh, Charles (Upchuck) Ruttheimer stands in front of Daria Morgendorffer and tells her that she is a baby-killer and he will kill her if she continues to work at the Lawndale Women’s Clinic. Assault?

According to Kara Wild, this is Glenn Eichler's take on the idea of Quinn in Iraq (from Guy "Deceleraptor Payne's Kadhimiya):

""Quinn in Iraq? Suuuuuuuuuure." "

Added to Fanfiction.net:

Chapter 5 of "Some Things are Not Meant to be Said" by CharmedFan232

It's In The Mail

Kara Wild, in a comment section on the DFB, states that Glenn Eichler has sent his responses to the third set of questions regarding Daria. (Ms. Wild hints that those who thought Daria might be a conservative might be disappointed.)

And now, some personal news. Next Monday I begin school in Atlanta - the first steps on my actuarial science degree. However, I'll be a full-time student. This means, therefore:

a) not much updating on the Daria Encyclopedia 1.0 , and

b) cut back updating on the Daria Fandom Blog . There might be gaps of entire days when the blog doesn't get updated, depending on my school schedule.

You have been warned.

Down to 21

A reminder: voting is still open for the Excellence in Fandom Award. For details, go to the link and don't forget to cast your vote.

From the Daria News Archive :

The number of fans voting for DARIA in the tvshowsondvd.com poll of most-wanted unreleased DVDs has not been enough to keep pace with votes recorded for other shows, and DARIA is now at number 21 in the chart, down two places since last week. 2,243 people have voted for DVD releases of DARIA.

sleepless completed Chapter 29 of "Yuki-Onna".

At the SFMB, Shallow15 completed "Research".

Added to Fanfiction.net:

Chapter 4 of "Some Things are Not Meant to be Said" by CharmedFan232

Fan art: "Chibi Stacy" by Shaun Nakasone (from Outpost Daria).

Questions

Thanks to Alan, Dr. Mike, and Scissors MacGillicutty (alphabetical order there) for helping out on the Daria Encyclopedia 1.0. We are now at over 200 articles of varying lengths, and rising....

If you want to help with the encyclopedia, I wrote a mini-tutorial right here . Wiki questions will also be answered in this thread - not immediately, mind you, but eventually, so have patience.

Links to both encyclopedias will be added on the left links side.

Incidentally, last night, while I was trying to sleep, two questions about Daria fandom itself came to my mind.

1) Why has Daria fandom never had a true convention? Deref was kind enough to visit several Daria fans this year, and there have been multiple "mini-cons", but how come there's never been a yearly convo of one sort or another? Is it because

a) the fandom's too small,
b) the fandom's too young/too poor,
c) no one is interested, or
d) some other reason?

2) How come there are currently no gay males in Daria fandom? When reading the SFMB's...uh...hidden sections, there's a lot of talk about homosexuality and lesbianism...among females. And I think at least one female Daria fan has outed herself as a lesbian or as a bisexual at the least.

However, I only remember one male fan who outed himself as at least bisexual, and I don't think he's active in the fandom any more. Is the reason:

a) that the fandom would be threatening to a gay male, or,
b) gay males just aren't into Daria?

Quick Update Before Workout

The Great Saiyaman has completed Page 3 of his erotic comic in the hidden section of SFMB.

Daria Encyclopedia 1.0

Happy (Belated) Birthday to Taryn!

The Daria Encyclopedia has gone to a new 1.0 level. I have decided to move the encyclopedia to a "wiki" type form. If you're unfamiliar with that, a "wiki" form allows users to log in and make changes to the Encyclopedia on their own. They can add sound files, pictures, and make changes to text as needed.

Dr. Mike has been gracious enough to agree to host the Encyclopedia on his site at http://www.tdjc.net/dariawiki/Main_Page . He has also agreed to help move entries over. Hopefully, the first few entries will be up, people will be able to create accounts, log in, and start making changes. (Or simply enjoy the encyclopedia as it comes along.) The 0.0 version will remain at dariaencyclopedia.blogspot.com .

At the PPMB:

Ranger Thorne completed three parts of "Hard Truths, Cold Hearts" (a Daria/"Star Wars" crossover).
Richard Lobinske completed "Falling Into College 35 - A Few Important Details".

At the SFMB: Shallow15 added a new part to "Stained Class" in the hidden forum.

Added to Fanfiction.net:

"Some Things are Not Meant to be Said" by CharmedFan232

Da Tuffest Broads on Oith

The Fashion Club.

Does power yoga together.

Sandi: had no fear of kicking Upchuck in the groin.
Tiffany: wanted to look into having the cariacture artist's fingers broken.
Stacy: emotionally unstable, furiously beat up pillow due to "pillow hair".
Quinn: survived several years with Daria unharmed.

I have no worry that the FC can take care of themselves on dates. Just a thought.

Sunday

Richard Lobinske completed Part 4 of "Falling Into College 35 - A Few Important Details".

Fan art: "Daria and Tom's Wedding", by Mahna Mahna (from Outpost Daria) ....

Surfing the Alien Pond

E. A. Smith, on the PPMB suggested that Daria fan fiction authors be interviewed so that there could be some discussion regarding what particular authors were thinking when they were writing their stories.

This got me in the mood of looking at the more popular authors of the last two years and in doing some fic review again. In order to keep a tighter choke-chain on my pyromaniacal tendencies, I'll do a more structured review of a fic, in this case, of Richard Lobinske's "On Alien Pond". I'll do strengths, weaknesses, confusing parts, and general impressions.


Plot summary : Daria, after a broken marriage to Tom Sloane and a failed relationship with Trent Lane, decides to pack it up and head to that cabin in Montana. There, she unexpectly finds herself the caretaker of three children from an alien planet.

Strengths of the story :

1) The work is very engaging. Mr. Lobinske is very skilled at maintaining the reader's interest throughout the entire story, except perhaps near the end where plot points bog down in too much detail.

2) The premise is approached as realistically as one can approach it, given the structural elements of the plot. Daria's attempts to raise these children are beset with difficulty almost from the vary beginning, and indeed, become a critical element of the story.

3) I felt the way that Daria handled her breakup with Trent was very much in the way I'd expect Daria to handle something like that.

Weaknesses of the story :

1) Tom's "surrender" to the expectations of his parents. This seems have become almost a cliche by now. (Take note, I am not blaming Mr. Lobinske for it.) In a lot of fan fiction, there is the exectation that Tom is completely spineless when it comes to his parents and given any conflict of interest between what Tom wants and what his parents want, Tom will sooner or later give in. It's almost becoming the equal of other fan cliches, like "complete bitch Sandi".


2) Why would Daria's writing go unsold? A premise is that Daria couldn't get published because of the divorce. I don't agree with that premise; on the contrary, you would think that after a nasty divorce people would be interested
in what one of the parties had to say. I don't think the Sloanes have that kind of hold over the literary world.

3) For large segments of the story, there is too much of an emphasis on plot mechanics and not enough regarding Daria as a character. There was one time when I was reading the story where I felt, "this story could be about
anybody, with some other person's name substituted for Daria's, and it wouldn't make much of a difference".

However, the Daria/Leafrunner confrontation put the story back into its correct balance, and we got to see more of the character and less of the plot.

Confusing parts :

What was Helen supposed to make of such a strange letter? Wouldn't Daria have sent a letter like that to Jane first, rather than Helen? Did Helen receive the letter at all? And what was her reaction to it?

Final impression :

A good read, but I probably won't read the two sequels.

Read "Alien Pond" here .

Your comments? Fair review? Unfair? Praises? Torches being lit?

Here Comes the Bride

Daria fans Kristen Bealer and Bryan have gotten married. Best wishes to the Happy Couple. (Let's see, that's three Daria couples married...or is it four?)

Beta Readers Wanted

Brother Grimace is looking for new beta readers for his fic. If you're interested, you might want to send him a private message on PPMB.

At the PPMB: Richard Lobinske completed Part 3 of "Falling Into College 35 - A Few Important Details".

At the SFMB: Roentgen completed a new chapter of "Legion of Lawndale Heroes".

In the Weirdest Places

I caught this on Fark.com , of all places.



"Consider me a loyal viewer!"

Contrarian's Corner Updates

Contrarian's Corner updates with the Driven Wild Universe primer and the new board reports page.

Martin Pollard will be away for a week on a visit to Nashville which will last until June 12th. He will, however, be auto-receiving e-mail. ( Heads up to Greybird. )

Richard Lobinske completed Part 2 of "Falling Into College 35 - A Few Important Details".

Fan art: by Katherine Goodman (at Outpost Daria):

When The Whip Comes Down

Due to both PPMB and SFMB being down for much of yesterday, Kara Wild has posted an alternate links page where one can receive info and make posts. The link page is at http://www.the-wildone.com/ppmb.html ; I will probably add it to the links at the side.

Happy Birthday to Wouter Jaegers ("The Great Saiyaman").

Both Isabelle Young-Johnson and "LOTR_Dan" have graduated their respective schools, so congratulations to both of them.

A pic of Daria fan Isabelle Young-Johnson, with red hair, is here .

Richard Lobinske completed Part 1 of "Falling Into College 35 - A Few Important Details".

Added to Fanfiction.net:

Chapter 13 of "Quiet Girl" by Sleepy Lotus.

The Six Year Itch

PPMB and SFMB have been down for most of the day.

One thing I find odd about the Daria Universe is the fact that Helen and Jake have been married for almost 25 years. They don't seem like the kind of couple that could make it to their silver anniversary.

Looking at Richard Lobinske's Daria Timeline, and using the 2000 version of the timeline (which assumes Daria graduated in 2000), you have Helen and Jane getting married in June of 1975 and Daria being born between October and November of 1981.

That implies six child-free years. Whether or not Helen and Jake were living on the commune, or as young yuppies, it certainly wasn't children that kept the couple together initially.

However, I ran across this quote on the Internet:

The median length for a first time marriage ending in divorce is eight years (Census Bureau 2002) and, overall, 43 percent of marriages break-up within 15 years.

Helen and Jake have been very lucky for their marriage to have survived so long. It seems that fandom falls into two groups. Group A believes that despite their problems, Helen and Jake have a fundamentally strong relationship. Group B believes the opposite, that despite the good moments Helen and Jake are heading for divorce in the future.

And since the "median length" for a marriage is eight years, it makes me wonder - was having Daria an attempt to provide more togetherness? After all, Helen and Jake had dodged childhood for six years, so Daria's conception was most likely NOT an accident, but planned deliberately. (Quinn, I'm not so sure about.) Did Daria's birth keep Helen and Jake together longer than normal? Would Helen and Jake have had a better marriage without Daria and Quinn?

Just some thoughts.

2005 Excellence in Fandom Awards

A new month, and new awards.

Click here to see what's going on. ( the link is www.geocities.com/cincgreen/2005eif.html ) I'll also be adding a link to the left of the screen.

To vote:

a) contact me at either cincgreen at yahoo dot com or send me a private message to 'CINCGREEN' at the PPMB,
b) contact nmorgendorffer at either nmorgendorffer at yahoo dot com or send her a private message to 'nmorgendorffer' at the PPMB,
c) contact gearhead by sending a private message to 'gearhead' at the PPMB.

The comments thread should not be used for voting. Votes cast there will not be counted . However, you can make your arguments for (or against) fans on the nominations list, make arguments that certain fans not on the list should get votes, or just...make arguments.

Reminders will pop up every week. Voting will close at the end of June 30. Results announced in early July.