You might hear the sounds of some furniture being moved around in the background. "Move we must."

If you pay close attention, you might notice that Greybird is no longer a co-contributor at the blog. The truth is, the current demands on Greybird's personal and professional life have increased and he is taking his absence.

I have always welcomed Greybird's input on the blog. I considered him a co-owner in all senses of the word when he graciously agreed to help out. His impact has already been felt, in the way posts are styled, in changes to the look of the blog and of course, in the high quality of his posts to the DFB. He has an open invitation to come back when he wants and I wish him the best, and hope that he will visit us in the comments sections now and then.

The second bit of news is that we have a new co-contributor to the blog, Jackie Dobson. Soon, Jackie will make a new post to the blog and make the appropriate introductory remarks, but I leave that up to Jackie.

Take care,

James

P. S. Greybird pointed out a correction to the last post. According to GB, Planete Daria has never been OFF line. I am confusing it with Triste Monde Tragique. Both French-language Daria sites had screen captures; Triste Monde Tragique had the larger connection. Triste Monde Tragique remains off-line. -- James

edit: I can't stand how Blogger makes you connect your first name and your last name like that. Hope you don't mind that I changed it. -Jackie

For those who might not know it, Planete Daria (and all its wonderful screen captures) are back on line!!

Happy Belated Birthdays to two Daria fans, Deref and Greybird! (and let us not forget a Happy Belated Birthday to nmorgendorffer!)

E. A. Smith has interviewed Kara Wild regarding the "Driven Wild Universe". Her answers to fan questions start here .

The Daria FanWorks Awards (The "Booties") are still taking votes for writing and visual awards. Winners will be announced after the end of January.

Added to the PPMB:

Dr. Mike added Part 1 of "The Seven" .
Dr. Mike also added Part 1 of "Crash on Volturus" .
Sleepless added Chapter 14 of "Broken Connections" .
Derek added Episode 2 of "Celebrity Jeopardy: Daria Edition" .
Ranger Thorne added a new part of "The Gem and The Sword" .
SigDiff added two parts of an untitled "Daria"/"Half-Life" crossover.
Richard Lobinske added Parts 7 through 10 of "Daria R" .

At the SFMB:

Mr. Orange added the Part 1 of "Nue Experience" in the hidden section of SFMB.
cyke added Chapters 1 and 2 of "Mighty Moronic Power Rangers" .

Added to fanfiction.net:

"The Labyrinth of My Mind" by Emerald Martini

Fan art: First, a new picture of Daria and Jane by Christ Oliver....



...and second, Milo has answered the challenge and provided a picture of Helen Morgendorffer at 16!

A belated Happy Birthday to long-time Daria fan Mike Quinn.

At the DVDaria Blog , Kara Wild has posted Anne D. Bernstein's ("The Daria Diaries", "The Invitation") answers to fan questions. Go here for the results, but if you have Internet Explorer as your browser, go here .

FANART WANTED : a fan picture of Helen at the age of 16, in period clothing (the 1960s). Bonus points for a picture that doesn't look like the modern interpretation of Helen jammed in a costume.

At the PPMB:

* Ranger Thorne added a new part to "The Gem and the Sword" . ("Daria"/"Teen Titans" (cartoon) crossover)
* The Angst Guy completed Part XXIII of "Outcasts from Beyond" .
* Richard Lobinske completed Parts 3 through 6 of "Daria R" .
* Mike Xeno completed Chapter 14 of "Sarcasm at 1600" .
* Ms. Hand completed Part 6 of "Not Exactly" .

At the SFMB:

* Bliss Ticks added a new chapter of "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" .
* Roentgen added Part 6.3 of "Legion of Lawndale Heroes" .

Daria art: let's see how good you are. Can you name all of the characters in this lineup from "Beavis and Butt-Head"?

Lawndale Leftovers has just updated! Go to the link to read the works of fan fiction that might have been....

Daria fan Martin J. Pollard is off to Las Vegas.

At the PPMB:

* The Daria Hunter posted Part III of "Daria's Star Wars: The Lawndale Menace" .
* Ranger Thorne began posting "The Gem and the Sword". ("Daria"/"Teen Titans" crossover)
* Richard Lobinske posted Parts 1 and 2 of "Daria R" . ("Daria"/"Fantastic Four" crossover.)

At the SFMB:

* psychotol posted another part of "An Accident" .
* Bliss Ticks posted Chapter 1 of "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" .
* Roentgen posted a new chapter of "Legion of Lawndale Heroes" .

Fan art: by theartistformerlyknownas. (Full-sized picture is here .)

There are 36 screen captures which can be found at a site called generiquestele.com. The site link is here .

Here are two of my favorite screen captures. The first is where several students confront Mr. DeMartino after sports and clubs are excised from the yearbook:



The other is one of young Helen and Jake:



There is a disclaimer (in French) at the bottom of the page. It states that unauthorized reproduction is prohibited, so nobody tell MTV.

Both the 2005 DariaFanWorks Written and Visual Nominations are up. For voting instructions, see this thread for the written awards and this thread for the visual awards.

Daria fan Crossada is 49.

With his 5000th post on the PPMB, Daria fan Deref is the first person to reach the coveted (?) rank of "Mind Controller".

The Angst Guy has an interesting thread at the PPMB: "Essays on Dariadom we want to see".

At the PPMB:

* Ranger Thorne wrote Chapter 6 of "Shadow of a Cynic" .
* Dr. No Good completed "Dariarama Episode 2: The Series Has Crashed Landed" .
* angelboy completed a new part of "Diary Entries" .
* Richard Lobinske completed "John Lane 14: Fairly Illuminated" .
* MsHand Part 5 of "Not Exactly" .

Fan art:

MDetector5 posts "Oh, Naughty Girl!" here . (Note: Adults only, or watchers of "Family Guy".)

With no further ado, here is the complete list of visual works nominated for a 2005 Daria FanWorks Award. The list -- and corresponding comments -- are copied directly from this thread at the PPMB. For instructions in voting, see the corresponding link at the left hand side of the DFB. (Links will be added later.)

Favourite Overall

"Forgotten But Not Gone" by The Angst Guy
"Rockaby Sweet Baby Jane" by Ranger Thorne
"All My Children #13: Expanding Horizons" by Thea Zara and Deref
"So Long As Men Can Breathe" by E.A. Smith
"The Tempest" by E.A. Smith
"Three" by Richard Lobinske
"Illusions" by CharlieGirl, The Angst Guy and Angelinhel
"A Mother's Love" by Richard Lobinske
"Last Stage Out" by Renfield

Favourite Comedy

"The Bands of Summer" by Gregor Samsa
"At The Harvest Festival" by Ostragoth
"Attack of the Fifty Foot Fashion Club" by Gregor Samsa
"A Step Too Far" by DJW
"The Third Woman?" by Brian Taylor
"A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing" by Kristen Bealer
"Extra Credit" by Brandon League
"Cynical Symphonies: Introducing Daria Morgenbunny" by Ranger Thorne
"My Big Fat Lawndale Wedding" by Teeki
"It's That Guy" by Richard Lobinske

Favourite Drama

"Kidnapped" by Lawndale Stalker
"The Tempest" by E. A. Smith
"Last Stage Out" by Renfield
"Journey to the End of the Fashion Club" by Scissors MacGillicutty
"All My Children #13: Expanding Horizons" by Thea Zara and Deref
"All My Children #15: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Jake" by Thea Zara and Deref
"Spring Breaks" by Thea Zara
"Best friends, Forever and Ever" by Sleepless
"Falling Into College #39: And the Bubble Burst" by Richard Lobinske
"When the Torrent of That Time Comes Pouring Back" by The Angst Guy

Favourite Dramatic Comedy
(Added in the drama category for having only one nomination)

Favourite Melodrama

"Three" by Richard Lobinske
"Last Stage Out" by Renfield
"To Understand" by Angelinhel
"Journey to the End of the Fashion Club" by Scissors MacGillicutty
"Graduation" by Angelinhel
"Be Careful What You Wish For" by Angelinhel
"Cries For Help" by Dervish
"Is It Doom Yet?" by Richard Lobinske
"Darius" by The Angst Guy
"When the Torrent of That Time Comes Pouring Back" by The Angst Guy

Favourite Romance – Straight/Gay/Lesbian

"All My Children #13: Expanding Horizons" by Thea Zara and Deref
"All My Children #14: The Moon in The Man" by Thea Zara and Deref
"Night Holds the Key" by Anachronism Girl
"Lead Us Not Into Temptation" by Richard Lobinske
"Falling Into College #25: Freedom of Speech" by Richard Lobinske
"Quiet Girl" by Sleepy Lotus
"Falling Into College #19: Seeking Hearts" by Richard Lobinske
"Falling Into College #35: A Few Important Details" by Richard Lobinske
"Quinn’s Nights at Casa Lane" by Dervish
"Dariatation" by Sailor Ranger (a.k.a Angelboy)

Favourite School-Centered (Lawndale High)

"Still Life" by Angelinhel
"We All Fall Down" by Angelinhel
"A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing" by Kristen Bealer
"Graduation" by Angelinhel
"A Very English Fanfic" by Phoebe Neale
"At The Harvest Festival" by Ostragoth
"Achievement Appeasement" by Dervish
"Driven Wild #21: Into the Fire" by Kara Wild
"Driven Wild #22: Tomorrow Never Knows" by Kara Wild
"John Lane #4: The Maze Thing" by Richard Lobinske

Favourite Jane Story

"Falling Into College #30: A Part That’s Gained" by Richard Lobinske
"Rockaby Sweet Baby Jane" by Ranger Thorne
"The Question" by Angelinhel
"Deus Jane" by The Angst Guy
"Home for Pizza a.k.a Of Sibling Bonding" by Kaimelar Feylove
"The Third Woman?" by Brian Taylor
"Be Careful What You Wish For" by Angelinhel
"So Long As Men Can Breathe" by E. A. Smith
"Seven Days" by E. A. Smith
"Falling Into College #38: Lane Closure" by Richard Lobinske

Favourite Helen Story

"Falling Into College #28: The Parents Are At Rest" by Richard Lobinske
"Falling Into College #24: Silver Lining" by Richard Lobinske
"The Tempest" by E. A. Smith
"All My Children #13: Expanding Horizons" by Thea Zara and Deref
"All My Children #14: The Moon in The Man" by Thea Zara and Deref
"All My Children #15: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Jake" by Thea Zara and Deref
"All My Children #16: Summer of Love" by Thea Zara and Deref
"Falling Into College #39: And the Bubble Burst" by Richard Lobinske

Favourite Jake Story

"Falling Into College #28: The Parents Are At Rest" by Richard Lobinske
"Alley" by Angelinhel
"Falling Into College #24: Silver Lining" by Richard Lobinske
"All My Children #13: Expanding Horizons" by Thea Zara and Deref
"All My Children #14: The Moon in The Man" by Thea Zara and Deref
"All My Children #15: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Jake" by Thea Zara and Deref
"All My Children #16: Summer of Love" by Thea Zara and Deref
"The Love Song of Jake Alfred Morgendorffer" by Gregor Samsa
"The Tempest" by E. A. Smith
"Morgendorffer PI" by Gregor Samsa

Favourite Quinn Story

"Pause in the Air #8: April Showers" by The Angst Guy
"Falling Into College #31: Esteeming Lysistrata" by Richard Lobinske
"The One Day We Forget" by Brother Grimace
"Falling Into College #22: Fashionable Graduation" by Richard Lobinske
"Memorial Day" by Angelinhel
"Lunchtime, Doubly So..." by Brother Grimace
"Talil" by Guy Payne
"Graduation" by Angelinhel
"Driven Wild #21: Into the Fire" by Kara Wild
"Driven Wild #22: Tomorrow Never Knows" by Kara Wild

Favourite Use of a Background Character From the Television Series

"Falling Into College #27: Lost Eagles Found" by Richard Lobinske
"All My Children #13: Expanding Horizons" by Thea Zara and Deref
"Still Life" by Angelinhel
"Illusions: The Unswerving Punctuality of--" by CharlieGirl and et alia (a.k.a Scissors)
"Monique’s Subtraction" by Richard Lobinske
"Country Wisdom" by Kristen Bealer
"Last Stage Out" by Renfield
"John Lane #8: Killing a Legend" by Richard Lobinske
"Pause in the Air #9: Labor Relations" by The Angst Guy
"Spring Breaks" by Thea Zara

Favourite Pre-Esteemsters

"All My Children #13: Expanding Horizons" by Thea Zara and Deref
"All My Children #14: The Moon in The Man" by Thea Zara and Deref
"All My Children #15: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Jake" by Thea Zara and Deref
"Highland Blues: If You Want Fashion You Got It" by Napalm Krigbaum
"Country Wisdom" by Kristen Bealer
"Memorial Day" by Angelinhel
"The Question" by Angelinhel
"Why I Hate Nachos" by Napalm Krigbaum
"The One Day We Forget" by Brother Grimace
"Rockaby Sweet Baby Jane" by Ranger Thorne

Favourite Post-Is It College Yet?

"The Swan Maiden" by Nemo Blank
"Night Holds the Key" by Anachronism Girl
"Journey to the End of the Fashion Club" by Scissors MacGillicutty
"A Mother’s Love" by Richard Lobinske
"The Tempest" by E. A. Smith
"My Big Fat Lawndale Wedding" by Teeki
"Lying Eyes" by Sleepless
"Love’s Labours Trilogy" by E. A. Smith
"Bed and Breakfast Man #30: Winter of our Discontent" by Ruthless Bunny
"Falling Into College #25: Freedom of Speech" by Richard Lobinske

Favourite Character Development/Redevelopment/Growth

"When the Torrent of That Time Comes Pouring Back" by The Angst Guy
"Falling Into College #25: Freedom of Speech" by Richard Lobinske
"Rockaby Sweet Baby Jane" by Ranger Thorne
"A Mother’s Love" by Richard Lobinske
"The Question" by Angelinhel
"Kidnapped" by Lawndale Stalker
"Love’s Labours Trilogy" by E. A. Smith
"Last Stage Out" by Renfield
"The One Day We Forget" by Brother Grimace
"All My Children #13: Expanding Horizons" by Thea Zara and Deref

Favourite Alternate History

"Night Holds the Key" by Anachronism Girl
"Ms. Morgendorffer’s Profession" by Gregor Samsa
"Rockaby Sweet Baby Jane" by Ranger Thorne
"Three" by Richard Lobinske
"Be Careful What You Wish For" by Angelinhel
"The Trouble With Veronica" by Brother Grimace
"Daria Disenfranchised" by Napalm Krigbaum
"Is It Doom Yet?" by Richard Lobinske
"Driven Wild #22: Tomorrow Never Knows" by Kara Wild
"John Lane #1: John" by Richard Lobinske

Favourite Crossover/Parody

"Is It Doom Yet?" by Richard Lobinske
"Holy Bad Idea!" by DJW
"Free Your Mind Instead" by Steve Cross
"Extra Credit" by Brandon League
"Cynical Symphonies: Introducing Daria Morgenbunny" by Ranger Thorne
"The Love Song of Jake Alfred Morgendorffer" by Gregor Samsa
"Morgendorffer PI" by Gregor Samsa
"Daria/Star Wars" by Ranger Thorne (chapters 1 through 4, and Special
features)
"The Third Woman?" by Brian Taylor
"Seven Days" by E. A. Smith

Favourite Science Fiction

"Drive" by The Angst Guy
"Three" by Richard Lobinske
"A Mother’s Love" by Richard Lobinske
"It’s That Guy" by Richard Lobinske
"Daria/StarWars" by Ranger Thorne (chapters 1 through 4, and Special
features)
"Attack of the Fifty Foot Fashion Club" by Gregor Samsa
"Is It Doom Yet?" by Richard Lobinske
"Free Your Mind Instead" by Steve Cross
"Illusions" by CharlieGirl, The Angst Guy and Angelinhel

Favourite Supernatural or Fantasy Horror

"Aftershocks" by Angelinhel
"Graduation" by Angelinhel
"Encounters of the Vampire Kind" by DJW
"Seven Days" by E. A. Smith
"Sudden Death Overtime" by The Angst Guy
"Be Careful What You Wish For" by Angelinhel
"Cries For Help" by Dervish
"To Understand" by Angelinhel
"An Ill Wind" by Dervish

Favourite Supernatural or Fantasy Non-Horror

"Why I Hate Nachos" by Napalm Krigbaum
"Illusions" by CharlieGirl, The Angst Guy and Angelinhel
"Daria Morgenpotter & The New Same Old, Same Old" by Daniel Callahan
"Cynical Symphonies: Introducing Daria Morgenbunny" by Ranger Thorne
"3-D Chess" by Brother Grimace
"Is It Doom Yet?" by Richard Lobinske
"Deus Jane" by The Angst Guy

Favourite Erotica – Straight/Gay/Lesbian

"Mr Big" by Pseud O’Nym
"Bar Fly" by Mr Bigglesworth
"Quinn’s Nights at Casa Lane" by Dervish
"Witches’ Flight" by Mr Bigglesworth

Favourite Weird Idea

"Journey to the End of the Fashion Club" by Scissors MacGillicutty
"The Amazing Adventures of D-Day and the Mighty Jane!" by The Angst Guy
"Illusions" by CharlieGirl, The Angst Guy and Angelinhel
"Three" by Richard Lobinske
"A Mother’s Love" by Richard Lobinske
"Best friends, Forever and Ever" by Sleepless
"The Trouble With Veronica" by Brother Grimace
"Without a Shower" by M Man
"Deus Jane" by The Angst Guy
"Talil" by Guy Payne

Favourite New Series

"First Summer series" by Richard Lobinske
"John Lane series" by Richard Lobinske
"Love’s Labours Trilogy" by E. A. Smith
"Cynical Symphonies" by Ranger Thorne

Favourite Holiday Story

"Falling Into College #34: For This, We’re Thankful" by Richard Lobinske
"Falling Into College #32: Bump in the Night" by Richard Lobinske
"Falling Into College #25: Freedom of Speech" by Richard Lobinske
"Falling Into College #36: Christmas Melody" by Richard Lobinske
"TheOne Day We Forget" by Brother Grimace
"Memorial Day" by Angelinhel
"First Summer #3: Fun on the Fourth" by Richard Lobinske

Favourite Ongoing Story

"Pause in the Air" series by The Angst Guy
"Falling Into College" series by Richard Lobinske
"All My Children" series by Thea Zara and Deref
"First Summer" series by Richard Lobinske
"Driven Wild Universe" series by Kara Wild
"Bed and Breakfast Man" series by Ruthless Bunny

Favourite New Author
(Since we already have a winner - only one multiple nominee, he/she will be known with the rest of the winners)

Favourite Non Fiction Essay

"Daria Temporal Analysis Project" by Richard Lobinske
"Jane Lane : Hero in the Making?" by The Angst Guy
"Byronic Daria" by Hannah Edle
"Daria and the Marvel Universe" by DJW

With no further ado, here is the complete list of visual works nominated for a 2005 Daria FanWorks Award. The list -- and corresponding comments -- are copied directly from this thread at the PPMB. For instructions in voting, see the corresponding link at the left hand side of the DFB.

Favorite Overall

"Jane and Daria" by Christ Olivier
"C'mon Daria it'll be fun" by Beatnikshaggy
"Ice and Fire" by nmorgendorffer
"Going to the Chapel" by nmorgendorffer
"Well wet by moonlight" by nmorgendorffer
"World Line - Lux Vivendi" by Greybird
"Will they or won't they" by Christ Olivier
"Jane, Daria & Tom" by Christ Oliver
"Imagining Jane imagining" by Beatnik Shaggy
"Daria Surprised" by Christ Oliver

Favorite Original

"Imagining Jane imagining" by Beatnik Shaggy
"Daria - The Fashion Club" by MouseS
"Jane and Daria" by Christ Olivier
"Ice and Fire" by nmorgendorffer
"Going to the Chapel" by nmorgendorffer
"Well wet by moonlight" by nmorgendorffer
"Daria Sketch" by Beatnik Shaggy

Note : A "Jane" by Crystal Dragon has been nominated. Unfortunately, the picture is no longer available, and has been removed from the list.

Favorite Comedy

"Sandals" by Kemical Reaxion
"Nurse Quinn 2" by MDetector5
"Ice and Fire"[/url] by nmorgendorffer
"Going to the Chapel" by nmorgendorffer
"Well wet by moonlight" by nmorgendorffer

Favorite Alter Ego/Crossover

Daria and Trent a la Arnold" by Kemical Reaxion
"French Maid Quinn" by MDetector5
"Slave Daria" by Lawndale Stalker

Favorite Single or Multi-Panel Comic

"Daria What If" by Wouter (see also page 2)
"Be a man" by Wouter
"Daria Surprised" by Christ Oliver

Favorite Erotic

"Nude Jane" by DJ
"Nude Daria" by DJ
"Daria Surprised" by Christ Oliver
"Quinn posing" by DJ
"Daria Joins The Triple Cross Club" by Wouter

(Note : to see the three works of DJ, tou need to be registered at DeviantArts. To see Wouter's comic, head to the Comics section of the Dungeon)

Favorite Visual Inspired by the Television Series or Official Books

"Daria's Yearbook Picture" by Kemical Reaxion
"Daria my way" by obsidianfyre
"Quinn and Daria Morgendorffer" by neoreflection
"Trent Lane" by Track9

Note : "Daria and the hurricane" by Wouter can not be viewed using the DeviantArt address that was submitted. This fanwork is removed from the list.

Favorite Visual Inspired by a Fan Written Work

"John Lane" By Richard Lobinske
"Portrait of Jane Lane (from 'April is the Cruelest Month')" by SRA
"Portrait of Daria Morgendorffer (from 'April is the Cruelest Month')" by SRA
"Jane's gown" by Richard Lobinske
"Darius" by Ranchoth
"World Line - Lux Vivendi" by Greybird
"Ice and Fire" by nmorgendorffer
"Going to the Chapel" by nmorgendorffer
"Well wet by moonlight" by nmorgendorffer
"Daria from Accidental Future" by Beatnik Shaggy

Favorite Holiday Visual

"Quinn finds an Easter Egg" by Angelinhel
"Daria's Easter Bonnet" by Thea Zara
"Jane, Daria & Tom" by Christ Oliver

Favorite Image Manipulation

One entry only. Moved to the alter-egos section.

Favorite Digital (completely computer generated)

No entries

Favorite Traditional (pencil, ink, paint with no computer manipulation)

"Daria's yearbook picture" by Kemical Reaxion
"Ice and Fire" by nmorgendorffer
"Going to the Chapel" by nmorgendorffer
"Well wet by moonlight" by nmorgendorffer

Favorite Mixed Media

No entries

Favorite Sculpture

No entries.

Favorite New Artist

Beatnik Shaggy
nmorgendorffer
greybird
Christ Oliver

I decided I would perform a thought experiments and share the results with you.

The idea was that I would try to rank the popularity of various stories posted at the PPMB.

What I would do is very simple: divide the number of viewings of a topic by the number of replies. For example, suppose a story had 10 replies and 250 total viewings. One would rank the story as 250/10 = 25.

There were a few caveats:

1) I would only do the first page of the stories in Creative Writing on PPMB.
2) A story had to get at least one reply (to avoid a division by zero error).
3) There had to be at least 100 viewings of a story (to avoid non-representative stories).
4) Iron Chefs were not counted.

Here were the results. Whether they are an accurate judge of the popularity of
certain stories is hard to say. There is definitely some sort of selection bias, but what it is I leave to smarter minds.

Saving the Spotted Owl: 42.28
Sarcasm at 1600: 37.08
Another Damn New Kid Series: 35.75
Dariarama: 33.3
Daria's Star Wars: The Lawndale Menace: 32.7
Sever: 29.46
Diary Entries: 29.29
Shadow of a Cynic: 27.57
Daria 3059: 25.04
First Summer 7: 24.75
Outcasts from Beyond: 24.64
Daria's Popular: 24.57
Sheep Go To Heaven, Goats Go To Hell: 24.25
Driven Wild 22: 23.08
Falling Into College 42: 22.07
Celebrity Jeopardy: Daria Edition: 16.5
John Lane 14: 12.36
Legion of Lawndale Heroes Reposting: 9.67

It might be interesting to do a recalculation that weights not only the views-to-posts quotient but total posts as well (say total posts squared/views).

And now you know what I did today instead of cleaning the floors.

It appears that one of the Fanworks Awards tabulators -- now also a judge -- is choosing to reveal in public who's sent in nominations or not.

Take in her PPMB post, and my reply, and judge matters accordingly. Including how it may apply to your vote.

With the nominations having closed for the Fanworks Awards, those tabulating the votes have apparently taken it upon themselves to materially change the rules for them.

The voting pools are being limited to ten nominations per category, and "oversized" pools are being reduced by two of the overseers, who are now acting as judges.

I'm posting below what I posted at the PPMB. (With James's long-standing interest in these awards, I'll also note explicitly here what has been true for other statements of opinion at this Blog: James and I speak for ourselves, and we don't mean to imply that we speak for the other person.)

---

RLobinske wrote at the PPMB, in the revised posts for rules for Written Works and Visual Works, after the nominations closed on 10 January:

Because of the great response (thank you), we have found that some categories have a large number of nominations. To help keep the number of works for everyone to review to a manageable level, each category will be trimmed to about 10 final nominations.

For each category, the works with the highest number of nominations will be included. For situations where including all the works with the same number of nominations would result in an oversized pool, a prevote will be done by nmorgendorffer and Mr. Orange (because I have numerous written and visual works, I will not be involved) to select the nominations to be included in the final 10.

Neither of these rules, after the fact, strikes me as being fair, especially with their not being announced in advance of the close of nominations.

To know that no more than ten nominations would remain for a category would very likely have made voters more selective, and thus affected how many categories one chose for nominating a particular work.

And as to culling nomination pools that are "oversized" (itself undefined) yourselves, by making a "prevote," this makes you, the voting overseers -- well, two of you, anyway -- into judges, where you decide what works are worthy of final voting.

That's a material change in the nominating methods. If it were known in advance that two of the overseers would be judging nominations as to whether they should be included, not merely tabulating nominations, that would also have affected nominating.

You had a year of saying that you were going to accept all nominations. Now, it's only those that fit your numerical limits, and, in some cases, those that are acceptable to two overseers who were just self-promoted to judges.

You don't change the rules this much at this point, Richard, not if you're to have them be objective. That's not having them be "set in semi-clay," with last-minute "final detail" clarifications. It's bending them to fit your preferences.

Richard Lobinske has set (in semi-firm clay) updates for how to vote on the 2005 Daria FanWorks Awards.

Go here to find out how to vote for written works.
Go here to find out how to vote for visual works.

The final list of nominations will be ready on Thursday, January 12th.

At the PPMB:

* Dennis completed "Celebrity Jeopardy: Daria Edition". He has also posted a website where we can find all of his "Daria" fanfic. (Link is here.)
* Richard Lobinske completed Parts 1 and 2 of "John Lane 14: Fairly Illuminated".
* Mike Xeno completed Chapter 13 of "Sarcasm at 1600".
* Dr. No Good completed "Dariarama" ("Daria"/"Futurama" crossover).
* The Angst Guy completed Chapter XXII of "Outcasts From Beyond".

At the SFMB:

Lawndale Stalker completed "Breakfast With Dad".

"Art": I downloaded Dante's Magic Card Maker v. 3.2 and created some fanwork of my own. BTW, I know nothing about how "Magic: The Gathering" is played -- I tried to learn, and it seemed to be ridiculously complicated -- but I like the cards.

Let's get a pithy and perceptive dose of the way it was Back Near the Beginning, shall we? (Before a lot of us latched on to this fictional chick, true enough. And before some made her milieu into a Way of Life *sigh*)

From The Hartford Advocate, apparently 4 December 1997 (see comments) ...

---

A Poster Girl for High-Minded Sarcasm

Daria, where have you been all my life?

By Michael Kuczkowski

When I first laid eyes on Daria Morgendorffer this summer, I tell you, it was love at first sight. I stumbled across a "Daria Marathon" on MTV one Saturday in August. Three hours straight of Daria, the network's new, literate, full-length animated series. I came in at the beginning of "Cafe Disaffecto," wherein our heroine is confronted by her touchy-feely, wet-handshake of an English teacher, who asked her how she felt about the recent theft of computers from the local cyber-cafe.

His emotions were on his sleeve. "We can't hail our friends across the globe and say, 'It's a beautiful day in the cyber-hood,'" he said. "They didn't just take a few computers. They took a symbol of our virtual community."

Great, I thought to myself, another mindless sycophant conjuring nauseating visions of world peace through Internet connections. Then Daria spoke. "Come together with the planet?" she asked, her delivery a wry, dry Jeanane Garafalo. "By staring at a screen for hours? In a room full of people you never say a word to?"

Dammit! This was good. And it got better.

The teacher, Mr. O'Neill, inspired by Daria's cynical remarks, embarked on a fund-raising project to rebuild the coffeehouse, sans computers. Threatened by her parents to begin participating in some after-school activities, Daria reticently agreed to sell chocolate bars door-to-door to support the cause, enlisting the help of her artsy and even more dour friend, Jane.

Daria: "Do it for sisterhood, or something."

Jane: "Are you nuts?"

Daria: "Then do it for the opportunity to look inside people's houses and find out what screwed up tastes they have."

Jane: "I'm bringing a Polaroid."

Daria's quest for extracurricular credit suffers a setback when she refuses to sell chocolate to a huffing, puffing hypoglycemic housewife who passes out after answering the front door. Daria salvages her efforts by delivering a rousing, anti-communist speech at the debut of the new coffeehouse, sparking the football team to riot, closing the cafe down yet again.

I was impressed. More than that, I think I was in love. Suddenly, the words popped into my head, uncontrollably. She's COOL ... he-heh.

§    §    §

Hold on a sec. Did I miss something? Isn't this MTV, the network of Singled Out, Beavis and Butt-head and the Video Music Awards? Since when did they start airing a sophisticated cartoon with brains?

No one ever got rich overestimating the intelligence of MTV's core audience. After all, the movie Beavis and Butt-head Do America grossed $65 million worldwide last year. (He-heh, I said gross.) But the boys' run is over -- the show's final new episode aired last weekend. Now we're just stuck with reruns.

Enter Daria, who got her start in a supporting role on Beavis and Butt-head as the intellectual polar opposite of the show's dumbass main characters. She thought they were stupid enough to be amusing, in their own way. (Isn't that how we all feel?) They thought she was cool too, probably because she was the only female character on the show to talk to them.

Daria's story editor Glenn Eichler says Daria always seemed like more than just a supporting character. "The character on Beavis, she had a lot of back story that sort of never came out," Eichler says. "We just thought she was worth developing. We took a gamble."

So this year, Daria moved into a new town -- Lawndale -- where she attends a school filled with airheaded superficiality. There's dumb jock Kevin, the quarterback of the football team who blows off his science experiment with Daria to watch the Pigskin Channel on cable TV, and his cheerleader girlfriend Brittany. There's Quinn, Daria's younger, cuter, popular sister, who's vice president of the Fashion Club, a group dedicated to pondering immortal questions, such as: hiphuggers or skorts -- those adorable crosses between skirts and shorts?

Daria works because the lead character has deadly timing and good writing on her side. Irony is her weapon, and she wields it like an ax. "I don't have low self-esteem," she says, after flunking a psychological test at her new school. "It's a mistake. I have low esteem for everyone else." As does Jane: "I like having low self-esteem. It makes me feel special."

At the same time, there is enough realism to make the show relevant -- and wildly entertaining. Daria's overachieving baby-boomer parents are frighteningly accurate. Helen is a workaholic attorney, who believes the optimum use of quality time is taking one of her daughters to a meeting with her time management consultant. Jake, Daria's lovable dad, is overstressed and clueless.

§    §    §

Not all of the episodes are sure-fire hits. There's something a bit too zany in the family camping outing, in which everyone but Daria trips out on wild berries. And some of the self-absorbed supporting characters are insufferably self-absorbed. A marathon of this can quickly wear you out. Thankfully, Daria's biting sarcasm never wanes.

But soon -- next February to be exact -- there will be more Daria. And she will still be smart. Eichler and producer Susie Lewis Lynn promise a wide range of new adventures in the next season, including a paintball trip, a romantic interlude, and a journey to a wedding.

One thing is certain: it will definitely be better than the monotony of Beavis and Butt-head reruns. Ah, Daria. Where were you when I was 16?

Daria airs at 10:30 p.m. Monday on MTV, and in unpredictable, three-hour marathons on the weekends.

Copyright © 1997 New Mass. Media, Inc.

What is the point of "Daria" fandom?

One might conclude that this is a snarky question, the sort of question you ask after a bourbon or whenever you come to the conclusion (in your darkest hours) that the activity to which you have devoted hours looks less and less like joy and more and more like a massive waste of time. This is the question a parent might ask a child: "What is the point of watching all those 'Sailor Moon' episodes, anyway?"

However, I ask it as a serious question: What is the point of "Daria" fandom?

Right now, "Daria" fandom has two main message boards: the Paperpusher Message Board (in a few years, people are going to be asking Kara Wild, "Why did you name it the Paperpusher Message Board?") and the Sheep's Fluff Message Board. And one thing that any outsider would notice is that only a small part of each message board seems, at first glance, to be devoted to anything regarding "Daria".

The SFMB does use the word "Dariacon" and does mention a few characters (Jane, Brittany) in its message board topic headers, whereas the PPMB reluctantly admits that it is a "Daria" message board -- in the foreign language sections. Any mention of Daria beyond these lone signposts would be found only inside the forums. It's as if there were a swimming pool, with the odd feature that one could only tell if there was water inside by taking a blind leap and praying not to break one's legs.

A non-fan would not know that there's a history behind the PPMB having board topics free of any mention of Our Heroine -- with the show off the air, Paperpusher made the deliberate decision not to discriminate, not to say, "You're only allowed to talk about 'Daria' here." He wanted the boards as open as possible, so that people did not feel as if they needed to watch 65 episodes and 2 movies before they could begin posting.

I think Thea Zara made the same decision, for the same reasons. Myself, I had a different opinion. During the time when I only posted at the Scorched Remnants Message Board, I considered myself the Wyatt Earp of the board, unafraid to turn my guns on anyone who wanted to turn the purity of "my" message board into a message board on My Personal Problems or My Political Opinions or My Thoughts on English Architecture. If you weren't talking about "Daria", I wasn't interested in listening. Which was indeed a shame, since the SRMB missed a lot of interesting conversation.

And yet, a lot of our "Daria" message boards have very little to do with Daria, for good or for bad. On both boards, non-"Daria" discussion outnumbers "Daria" discussion by a factor of about 2:1 (unsupported statistical guess). I had a chance to look at another message board of another fandom. They seemed to be doing better, their signal-to-noise ratio was about 1:1.

Which leads me to wonder: What is the purpose of "Daria" fandom?

Looking at the message boards, it appears that both boards are places for "Daria" fans to discuss ... well, anything. Do you like "Daria"? What else do you like? What are your political opinions, your "deep thoughts", what movies have you seen? What kinds of personal bonds can we form? How's so and so doing? What kind of dirty, erotic thoughts do you have, and do you care to share them? Where did John Doe go, he was so active on the boards only months ago? Oh, and by the way, what do you think about That Chick With the Glasses?

I remember reading somewhere that you could divide fandom into four parts. My memory isn't so good, since I can only remember three of the pieces.

The first part is made up of the True Believers. For these people, Fandom Is A Way Of Life. They are the Daria Defenders, the people who believe that Daria is the One True Goddess ... and that people should be converted, by sword if necessary. They take "Daria" fandom seriously (and perhaps, too seriously). Very hard bunch of people to get along with, because they can only seem to talk about "Daria" to the exclusion of anything else. (I number myself in the first group.)

The second part is made up of those who believe Fandom Is Just A God-Damned Hobby. "Daria" fandom has its place in the world ... but that place isn't everything. They'd really rather have a lot of fun than talk about "Daria". While Group One draws up its charts, Group Two is busy drinking in the backroom, telling jokes, and having a high old time. I'm sure many "Daria" fans proudly call themselves members of this group, because if fandom isn't enjoyable, then what good is it? They don't find joy in picking through minutiae like the first group.

The third part is made up of ... well, it's really hard to tell why these people got into "Daria" fandom. These are the people who NEVER seem to talk about "Daria". One wonders if it's because they don't feel they could say anything that Groups One and Two haven't well covered, but one also wonders if they don't have anything to say at all. I'm sure we could name a few message board posters who seem to post about ... well, about nothing but their problems and the government and movies, and you could find ten thousand words by these hangers-on and "Daria" not deserving of mention even one time. Like I said (but it bears repeating), you wonder how they got here at all.

All three groups are in a sort of detente. You'll find them in just about any fandom. No one group makes up the entire fandom. But something might seem very strange if one of the groups went missing.

So what is the point of "Daria" fandom?

Is the point "Daria"? Is the point the social experience, where "Daria" is the core of that experience? Is the point the fannishness, the feuds, the in-jokes, the secret histories common to all fandoms? Is "Daria" the reason people get together, or is it just an excuse that people use to get together and form social bonds? Is "Daria" the medium, the message, or what?

Oh, the strange things that go through my mind ...

An interesting thread on alt.tv.daria: Should one purchase a bootleg set of "Daria" DVDs, or should one go to the trouble of making one's own set?

Father Martin Sylvester reports some bad news at The Irony Maiden:

UK broadcaster Five, the first free-to-air channel to show "Daria" in the UK, has passed the expiry date of its license to show the second "Daria" movie, "Is It College Yet?" Although Five bought the movie-length episode that ends the whole "Daria" project, it has not shown it.

And by the way ... a Happy Belated 48th Birthday to Father Martin.

Kara Wild reports that "Daria" writer Anne D. Bernstein (The Daria Diaries) has agreed to answer fan questions. Ms. Wild is busy compiling a list of questions to ask.

Mr. Orange reports that only a few nominations have been sent in for visual works categories for the 2005 Daria FanWorks Awards. Go to the thread, look at the websites, and start nominating.

At the PPMB:

Richard Lobinske completed "Falling Into College 42: Registering Annoyance".

At the SFMB ... first, the erotica section is getting quite an, uh, workout.

Dervish began "Jane Lane in All Good Things Must Come to an End".
Psychotol posted the first two parts of "The Naked Truth".
Deref contributed to the "Sodom Me, Sodom You" thread.

... and in the safer sections of the Sheep's Fluff Message Board:

Roentgen posted Chapter 6.1 of "Legion of Lawndale Heroes".
Richard Lobinske posted "The Pact".

Fan art: A version of Jane Lane from the movie "Heavy Metal", by Richard Lobinske ...

The DVDaria Blog has, along with news notes, a new set of responses to questions posed to Glenn Eichler. (One supplemental question with answer is posted at PPMB.) Several mysteries are at least partially resolved.

The Contrarian's Corner has a fan fiction update for the new year.

Kara Wild, who operates both of those sites, also put forward some requests to prolific fanfic authors, as to more easily hosting, linking, and revising their work. The resulting PPMB thread has garnered much discussion and additional suggestions.

If anyone has recommendations as to hot-link-capable, preferably ad-free Web hosting options, at low or no cost, please make them in that thread or send them to the DFB. We may add a page here of links to such services, along with site-maintenance and graphics tools.

At the PPMB:

~ RLobinske has sketched a "Heavy Metal Daria." (Further discussion is in a related Iron Chef and in a thread at SFMB.)

~ The selfsame Bug Guy has the first three parts of "Falling Into College" part 42, "Registering Annoyance," and has apparently finished "First Summer" part 7, "Cruising."

~ A revived Iron Chef using minor "Daria" characters, "And the Last Shall Be First."

~ A vignette by Robin Sena, "Sheep Go to Heaven, Goats Go to Hell."

~ MsHand has part 2 of "Not Exactly."

~ New reports arise of allusions to Daria in the "Beavis & Butt-head" book (if that phrase isn't as oxy-moronic as they are), Reading Sucks.

~ Is there a Daria resonance, character or series, in the comic book "Sandman"? You decide.

~ Taryn has archived the "Tanandaria" put-yourself-in-the-frame art project, for "those who remember." Details and more links are here.

~ MDetector5 has two versions of art for a "Devil Quinn."

At the SFMB:

~ Stacy Rowe! A new column! (Transcribed by Roentgen.) You can get some questions answered about the current situation in "Legion of Lawndale Heroes."

~ Angelboy added to chapter 3 of "Diary Entries."

~ DJ posted a revised version of his nude of Quinn, in the adult section.

While gathering the next fan-works update, I felt compelled to put forward for broader attention a fairly impassioned commentary, by The Angst Guy, that I ran across ... and which was well-buried:

[In the past year] a huge amount of outstanding fanfic has been produced. We've got the Booties going on, I've sent in my nominations, and Kara asked for some critical thinking on what we've done.

I really like literate writing, stuff that shows the person not only knows how people act and react, but can add material from literary works to the story, which is in part what "Daria" is all about. Daria is a book-reader, she's a brain, she makes offhand remarks about people that are rooted in the larger context of the media and classics of the time (e.g., her remark about the novel 1984 in "Psycho Therapy"). Several authors do this extremely well (Gregor Samsa and Scissors MacGillicutty), and it's wonderful to read. [...]

What I also like is the cross-pollination between "Daria" fanfic and other genres of fiction, which I believe keeps the fanfic field fresh and vital: canon comedies, farce, dramas and melodramas, morality tales, science fiction (from time travel to space opera), erotica, fantasy and supernatural, horror, superheroic, alternate histories, detective mysteries, crime stories, political exposes, religious explorations, psychological thrillers, romances (straight and gay), action / adventure epics, and slice-of-life tales, with unusual features such as crossovers, fourth-wall violations, stories-within-a-story, author-style parodies, variable viewpoints, first-person accounts, present-tense format, stream-of- consciousness styles, and reality warping, in the form of novels, short stories, ficlets, scripts, songfics, poetry (including haiku), and serials, with literary influences from Homer to Joyce.

"Daria" fanfic survives because of its infinite flexibility. It has become, through the efforts of its creators, a sea that touches every shore, an ocean with sunless trenches and sunlit wading pools. It is joy and sorrow, brilliance and foolishness, shadows and rainbows. There must be canon so the great cycle of tales remains true to its roots at some level, but it must be admitted that even the original show toyed with style and presentation ("Depth Takes a Holiday," "Tales of the Mall," "The Misery Chick," and "Daria!"), and the alter-egos tugged on the imagination and whispered, "What if ...?"

Damn the straitjackets! Damn the rules! Full speed ahead, by God!

Whew! Gloriosky! I can't say I agree with everything here, especially on how malleable the series may be (more later), but it's intriguing.

It's truly sad, by my lights, that T.A.G. apparently felt that something this passionate (originally in two parts) could only be posted, at least thus far, in a rhetorical sewer. I can't fathom it.

Outpost Daria updated on New Year's Eve with a last batch of fan fiction and fan art for the year.

The Irony Maiden updated on New Year's Day in its news service and in its TV listings for the U.K., to ring in 2006.

So you know "Daria" Webbers are not too groggy! More posted here after Monday's Rose Parade -- probably soggy!