...where one can find a handful of Daria episodes in French. I'm not saying where they are, though. (Besides, I'm waiting for Kara Wild's "What now?" update at the DVD Blog.)

I decided to download Episode 208, "Chez les surdoues" -- "Gifted", in English, the episode where Jodie and Daria go to Grove Hills. It was a huge download with RealPlayer, about 70 MB. But I'm the kind of person who likes watching DVDs dubbed in languages which I don't speak, and listening to the dubbed dialogue without subtitles. So I listened to the nice French voice actors speak.

A few conclusions:

* Barch's voice seems less harsh. It's definitely less shrill and screechy.
* Ms. Li's voice sounds more dignified, and measured. In the "English dub", you feel as if Ms. Li is going to fly off the handle at any minute, but I didn't get that impression in the "French dub".
* Jake and Helen are just right.
* Daria and Jane are what they are. Daria is appropriately dry, and Jane's voice has the odd semi-baritone we associate with Jane's voice, truly a voice all its own.
* Quinn's voice sounds less soprano. However, the French voice actor gives it a more interesting and varied interpretation, seemingly more subtle.
* Sandi's voice loses a lot. The compelling baritone is missing, and we're just left with a voice that sounds like any other French teenage girl. They basically got Sandi wrong.
* Jodie sounds a bit more sincere, although I could just be hearing things.
* Tiffany's voice is a bit deeper. I would love for a French-speaker to translate Tiffany's "does this make me look fat?" into the accurate French words used on the dub.
* And finally, Trent Lane. Trent Lane is perfect, the French voice actor sounds better than the English one, with his bohemian ways finding the right voice. I wouldn't be surprised if the Lanes were formerly the Rues....

Added to the PPMB:

hey completed "Daria's Goodbye Wave" and Part 6 of "The Secret Life of Penny Lane" as well as "Lost in Suburbia" .
SigDiff completed Parts 2 and 3 of "The Lost Cobra" .
Dervish completed Parts VII through X of "Daria of the Drow" .
Micka completed "Dega Street" .
Lawndale Stalker completed more of "Quinn Angel" .
Richard Lobinske completed Parts 4 through 6 of "John Lane 15: Ring of Champions" .
DJW completed "The Dammitall Run".

Added to SFMB:

Mr. Orange added Part 3 of "Nue Experience" in the hidden section of SFMB.
Roentgen added Part 6.5 of "Legion of Lawndale Heroes" .
psychotol completed a new part of "An Accident" .

Added to Fanfiction.net:

"Teenage Kicks Hurt" by MadelineMoon

Fan art: Daria goes surfing -- a sketch by Wouter Jaegers. Full size link is here .

I recently posted "Why I Hate the Crappies, Too" to the Daria Fandom Blog, and Kara Wild, the creator of the "Crappies", has asked for blog space for a full rebuttal. Without further ado, Ms. Kara Wild:

Why the CRAPPIES Are Necessary (Or: Why I Like the CRAPPIES)

It's useless to talk about the CRAPPIES without mentioning the Booties. Had Cincgreen posted my entire message, you would have read that I started the CRAPPIES because I find the Booties to be offensive and unnecessary.

It's not that they're uniquely bad, and it's not that I doubt the intentions or ability of the overseers (if I did, I wouldn't have asked them to oversee the CRAPPIES), but that I find all contests that rank fanfics according to which is "the best" to be offensive. Why?

1) Because there's no way you can get the opinions of the broad group of Daria fans who read fanfiction, since many of them don't frequent the boards regularly, or any forum (alt.tv.daria, #daria+, AIM, etc.). Therefore, the results present a false impression that they are a fan consensus, when in fact they are the decisions of just a small group that, for all we know, could be groupies of a particular author and inclined to vote for him and her even if the work consisted of a food smear on a page. Regardless of whether this has happened in the Booties, there are no safeguards to prevent it from happening.

2) Because good fan authors don't need any more acclaim. The vast majority who win "best" or "favorite" awards are well known and have already received a lot of acclaim, as Cincgreen noted in his essay. Fanfics from these authors aren't greeted with, "Wow, that was a high-quality fanfic. Good job!" They are greeted with "That was AWESOME! The best thing I've ever read! You are the best writer EVER!" Why puff them up further by awarding them top prizes in a contest as well?

3) There are other ways to reward someone who is a good writer, but not very well known. For instance, I spotlighted E.A. Smith's "Love Labour's Lost" trilogy on the PPMB and from there, E.A. Smith became known not only for his good writing, but for his valuable contributions to fandom. If readers want to show their appreciation, why not write an extensive post about someone's story, or even just send the person an extensive review? I'm sure he or she would cherish that much more than the validation of some anonymous contest voters or ten posts exclaiming "That was SO cool!"

So yes, I don't like the Booties. If they folded tomorrow and no fanfic ranking contest emerged ever again, I would fold up the CRAPPIES for good. However, since the Booties are well liked, this is unlikely to happen. That being the case, I think the CRAPPIES serve as an important balancer. While the Booties, or any "best/favorite" contest, might give the false impression that the author is brilliant, the CRAPPIES bring that author back to earth by reminding him/her that his/her writing has real weaknesses. That keeps the author humble and always trying harder. The CRAPPIES put a damper on the "entourage effect" because even if a bunch of fans voted for their favorite author to win "most grating use of Mary Sue," what would be the result? Could the author honestly say he or she was proud of such an achievement?

Another reason for the CRAPPIES to exist is because fandom culture as a whole is tilted against criticism. While every now and then, you might find that someone has managed to place a critical post amongst the airy or laudatory posts in the latest serial thread, that person is oftentimes a well-established member of fandom with too high a reputation to sustain any real damage from the pushback that follows. You don't see too many new or lesser-known fans making genuine criticisms of a popular story, because what often happens is that 1) no matter how respectfully the fan gives the criticism, he/she will get accused of trying to dictate the tone of the story (never mind that by posting a serial in rough draft form, the author is asking for readers to do just that), when any good fan should be "tolerant" and accept the story exactly as is, and 2) several other fans will mutter that the critic is being a killjoy and "this thread isn't fun anymore." In the absence of an established outlet for criticism, the CRAPPIES have stepped up.

Looking at Cincgreen's reasons behind his dislike of the CRAPPIES, I admit I'm puzzled. He seems to share many of the same concerns that I have about the Booties. Yet Cincgreen likes the Booties, having just displayed the results on his blog. I recall that he based some of his approval of the first annual Booties on the fact that voting was completely anonymous, through an automated system. The pressure of a popular author on his or her "entourage," therefore, could be reduced significantly, since the voters wouldn't have to make their preferences known in an e-mail. However, the Booties voting was different this year. Not only did it take place through e-mail, but it used nearly the exact same voting procedure as the CRAPPIES, whereby voters sent their votes via text message. Even if the votes were unmarked, this was not an iron-clad anonymous system, which means that the Booties were closer in kinship to the Canadibrit awards and other "best of" contests that Cincgreen has disdained.

Moreover, Cingreen's argument strikes me as contradictory. On the one hand, he claims that the CRAPPIES are so silly and weak, the criticisms embodied in them don't have any real impact. On the other hand, he claims that the CRAPPIES are so harsh, they could scar the most sensitive writers, who are too bound by peer pressure to withdraw themselves from consideration. So are the CRAPPIES too weak or too harsh? It seems that they're damned either way.

Cincgreen, to address some of your specific points:

The CRAPPIES consist of a set of jokey categories to which any work can be nominated.

While it's true that the CRAPPIE category titles are silly, to provide some sugar with the medicine, I fail to understand what is "jokey" about the categories themselves. 1) Most overwritten story; 2) most implausible "canon" Daria story; 3) most implausible off-canon Daria story; 4) "fluffiest," most-lightweight story (thus its appeal to the Fashion Club; 5) the story with too much angst; 6) dumbest comedy; 7) most over-the-top psychotic action story; 8) most incomprehensible storyline; 9) story with the most namedropping; 10) the most saccharine story; 11) nastiest visual; 12) the story with the most glaring uses of Mary Sue; 13) most heavy-handed foreshadowing; 14) worst 'shipper; 15) most incomprehensible ending; 16) most out-of-character characters; and 17) the fanfic that most embodies several of these traits.

Most of the categories contain criticisms that I've seen you make about a story at one time or other. But let's say that I decided to create a contest with a harsher, blunter tone, with categories such as "The Worst Story of 2005" -- what would be the result then? Would anyone want to participate? Might not the nomination and voting process get a whole lot nastier? Realizing this in advance, I toned down the contest so that each category represented a poke in the ribs instead of a club over the head. The CRAPPIES aren't meant to say, "You're horrible!" but "You could do better." However, if you feel that a "You're horrible!" contest would be inherently more honest, you're welcome to hold one of your own.

There might indeed be some fans who don't think a nomination to a "Worst Fan Fiction" awards is a laughing matter….Their work is nominated one minute, and not nominated the next, which leads to questions as to "why did so-and-so's work disappear from the list"? This leaves the impression in the community that these people are...oversensitive. Unable to take a joke. You know...killjoys. Probably prudes, too. Not only does a person have to go to some trouble not to be nominated, their reputation ends up sullied as a result of having a nomination revoked, because in 21st Century post-modern life, there is no worse slander than to be accused of not having a sense of humor. You might as well be accused of child molestation.

b) just sit there and take it. Laughing with the jokes, accepting the nomination in "good humor" while at the same time dying a little inside. Yeah, they're laughing on the outside, but at the same time, they withdraw a little. The "community" is damaged somewhat.

I don't know where you get this idea from -- certainly not from me. I'm well aware that there are sensitive people who just don't want the attention, and that's why even last year (though stated on the message boards, not on the main page) I gave people the option to opt out. You would have us believe that no one opted out last year because everyone was too intimidated, but couldn't there be another explanation: They felt that they deserved to be nominated? As for the other authors joking about their nominations, that strikes me as both an acknowledgement of the silliness of the titles and a mild show of embarrassment ("Okay, okay, you got me"). If anything, I would think that an insecure, lesser-known author would take some comfort in seeing that better-known authors could be nominated and take it in stride; it would show said author that 1) his/her writing isn't dreck -- it just needs improvement -- and 2) criticism can be taken well; it doesn't have to be the end of the world. As for the CRAPPIES "damaging" the community -- doesn't that suggest that the community isn't strong if criticisms no sharper than Daria's could make it quiver? I find it rather odd that people drawn to a character like Daria wouldn't expect sharp criticisms to arise within the group every once in a while.

My guess? These works were nominated because someone wanted to tease someone else. "Hey, Joe, I'm going to nominate your work, tee hee!" "Well, go ahead (chuckle)!" And of course, the people who ended up getting nominated were the people for whom the concept of earning a CRAPPIE was patently ridiculous. These tended to be the best writers, the writers who would be most immune to such gnat-straining, the writers for whom a "worst" nomination would be the most difficult to justify, mitigating the possibility of hurt feelings. The awards became a contest in absurdity -- good writers getting bad fanfic awards.

The authors or fans might say that, but I doubt they would do so unless there was some real belief that the author deserved the awards, and the fact that the nominator and the nominee could laugh about it good-naturedly ought to send a signal that, again, these awards don't have to be the end of the world -- just a motivator to improve.

Is it so difficult to believe that there could stories whose superlatives have been over-hyped? Take Titanic: Except for one well-executed computer sequence, it could be on the level of Batman and Robin (a nominee for the Razzies in 1997). If there are stories whose superlatives seem puffed up, shouldn't there be a way for fans to make that known?

Moreover, there's nothing to prevent truly awful works from being nominated and winning. I just don't think any good would come of it. Suppose you had to vote for the winner amongst a line of the most dreadful writers known to fandom, people who couldn't improve even if you outlined their story yourself, yet who are already under the delusion that they are misunderstood geniuses: Would winning a CRAPPIE change them? Or would they use the occasion to either throw a huge tantrum or revel in the attention (and produce more horrors)? If there's anything worse than a good author getting too much attention, it's a bad author.

I suspect that in the end, our arguments will be circular, since we seem to share the same concerns, but have opposite visions for how they can be dealt with. Suffice it to say that if the CRAPPIES became the vanity-fest that Cincgreen believes them to be, I wouldn't hesitate to pull the plug and establish something else in their place. However, as of yet, I see no real evidence that this is happening or that it ever will happen.

Sick Sad World has updated! Click here to see what's new! (And no, it's not 2004.)

Two Grand Old Daria Fans (relatively speaking) made return visits to the PPMB. To say hello to Yui Daoren, go to this PPMB thread , and to say hello to John Berry visit this thread .

Added to the PPMB:

* Several works by hey including "Sharp Left" , Acts III through IV
of "PWNT" , Chapters 4 and 5 (and 0!) of "The Secret Life of Penny L:ane" , "Graduation" , "The Pro, Part 1" , "Sharp Left! The Beginning , "Tooth Marks" , and "Sponger" .

* The Angst Guy completed Part XXVI of "Outcasts from Beyond" .
* cynical added "He Who Laughs Last" .
* Lawndale Stalker added "Quinn Angel" .
* SigDiff added Parts 8 and 9 of "Lambda" and Part 1 of "The Lost Cobra" .
* Richard Lobinske completed "Falling Into College 43: Four Friends, Four Winds" and added three chapters of "John Lane 15: Ring of Champions" .
* MsHand completed Parts 12 through 14 of "Not Exactly" .
* Dervish completed six parts of "Daria of the Drow" .
* Angelinhel completed a new part of "House in the Woods" .
* Scissors MacGillicutty completed Chapter 1 of "In Dreams" .
* Mathilde completed Episode 7 of "Le dernier ete" (French language).

At the SFMB:

* hey added "The Return from Hell" in the hidden section of the SFMB.

Added to fanfiction.net:

"The Lane Boy" by chubby redburn

Fan art: Daria, Jane and the Fashion Club, all in a mighty big bed. (Art by Robin Sena.)

...me. Okay, not tonight. Monday night, where the guests are Marcia Cross from "Desperate Housewives" and whoever wins the Daytona 500.

However, I'll be in the audience, wearing my "Berea College" sweatshirt, along with my wife, Ruthless Bunny. That's right, not only do I have tickets to "Letterman" but I'm off to New York for the weekend and probably not back to Tuesday. I trust that you will not burn down Daria fandom while I'm gone.

The Dariacon Advisory System is currently being set to Andrea, or "Unabashed Apathy" until further notice.

Happy Belated Birthday to Brandon League (February 12th).

Glitter Berries has updated. Click here to see what's new.

The DVDaria Blog has also updated, and go here for the newest entry.

Deref is doing some data compilation for a proposed Daria convention in 2008 (see this link on the PPMB). Furthermore, a 2007 Daria convention link -- in time for the tenth anniversary of the initial airing of "Daria" on March 3rd, 1997 -- has also been added as a "sticky" to the PPMB (see this link ).

At the PPMB:

* Ranger Thorne added a new part of "Shadow of a Cynic" and a new part of "The Gem and The Sword" ("Daria"/"Teen Titans" crossover).
* hey has added several stories to PPMB. He has added an untitled ficlet , three parts of "The Secret Life of Penny Lane" and "Long Ago...." , as well as two parts of "PWNT", available at the Creative Writing forum at PPMB.
* jak981125 added Chapter 9 of his untitled story.
* Richard Lobinske added Parts 3 and 4 of "Falling Into College 43: Four Friends, Four Winds" .
* The Angst Guy added Chapter XXV-b of "Outcasts from Beyond" .
* E. A. Smith concluded his interview with Kara Wild regarding "The Driven Wild Universe".
* aeverett completed Part 1 of "A Time for Us" .

At the SFMB

* psychotol added another part to "The Naked Truth" in the hidden section of SFMB.

Fan art: the Fashion Club wants to know if you want a Fanta. (Art by Kemical Reaxion.)

For those who don't know what the "Crappies" are, I point you to this link . I've never quite wrapped my mind about what the "Crappies" are supposed to be about, but I assume that they are supposed to be some sort of Dean Martin Celebrity Roast for Daria fan fiction.

Former DFB co-author Greybird posted a message at the PPMB (the thread is located here ) that explained why he thought that Kara Wild's "Crappie" awards were, well...crap. Quoting from his original message:

Why should hard-working fanfic authors be subject to any sort of ridicule? Even "gentle roasting" (to quote the "Crappies" page)? Is any different, flamboyant, or unexpected approach to such writing thus to be made a target? That's one clear route to creative sterility.

The clear expectation is that those thus "honored" are supposed to suck up the abuse and take it, lest they be seen as some sort of bad sports. I always found that barbaric. Those at a genuine "roast" agree to be there and to take the satirizing openly. This is anonymous and hit-and-run.

Whereupon there began much Greybird-bashing.

Kara Wild had this to say:

The CRAPPIES experience some of the same problems. They obviously won't reach everyone in fandom, and to an extent they've become a popularity contest. I think that's why Cincgreen doesn't care for them -- he doesn't think the awards are harsh enough. But if they were extremely harsh, pulverizing the worst of the worst fanfics, I feel that they would be giving far more attention to the terrible authors than they deserve. The CRAPPIES are meant to be fun, yet humbling. We all know that fanfic excesses and cliches exist, even within the most celebrated works. You can laugh as you receive one, and either shrug it off, or consider it an opportunity to work on your writing. I received some CRAPPIE nominations last year and I think I won a category or two, yet I didn't fall apart. I wouldn't fall apart if my stuff from 2005 were nominated -- though I would HOPE that if it were, it was because the person honestly felt that my work deserved it and not because the person wanted to punish me for holding the CRAPPIES in the first place.

There are lots of reasons to dislike the CRAPPIES aside from Greybird's well-stated reasons.

I believe that the point Greybird was trying to make (and he can correct me if I'm wrong) was that, at some level, nominations are quite involuntary. The CRAPPIES consist of a set of jokey categories to which any work can be nominated. Daria fans send in their nominations for works to be nominated, and therein lies the problem.

There might indeed be some fans who don't think a nomination to a "Worst Fan Fiction" awards is a laughing matter. (Trust me, I know all about the perils of giving honest criticism.) When they wake up some Sunday morn and find that their story is on a list titled, say "Best Use of Stacy as a Dishrag", they are put in a bind vis-a-vis their position in the fan "community".

They have two options:

a) go out of their way to say, "I prefer not to be nominated". Their work is nominated one minute, and not nominated the next, which leads to questions as to "why did so-and-so's work disappear from the list"? This leaves the impression in the community that these people are...oversensitive. Unable to take a joke. You know...killjoys. Probably prudes, too. Not only does a person have to go to some trouble not to be nominated, their reputation ends up sullied as a result of having a nomination revoked, because in 21st Century post-modern life, there is no worse slander than to be accused of not having a sense of humor. You might as well be accused of child molestation.

b) just sit there and take it. Laughing with the jokes, accepting the nomination in "good humor" while at the same time dying a little inside. Yeah, they're laughing on the outside, but at the same time, they withdraw a little. The "community" is damaged somewhat.

But my criticism of the CRAPPIES is not the same as Greybird's. It not that I think that the CRAPPIES are "not harsh enough", rather, that the original intent of the awards has been perverted into something a bit more disturbing than a "gentle roast".

If you take a look at works that are nominated for CRAPPIES, you will find out that those works generally speaking aren't crap at all. Let's take a look at some of the CRAPPIE winners from 2005 (link is here ). "Next Time, This Time", "Smoking Mirror", "The Idiocy", "Estrangesters", "Gone", Alien Pond", "The Winters of Those Gone Before".

If those works are somehow "crap"...well, I think we're straining at gnats here, looking at a work with a microscope in a desperate attempt to find something wrong with it. These works are some of the most popular and higher quality Daria fanfiction written. Which is undoubtedly NOT why these works were nominated.

My guess? These works were nominated because someone wanted to tease someone else. "Hey, Joe, I'm going to nominate your work, tee hee!" "Well, go ahead (chuckle)!" And of course, the people who ended up getting nominated were the people for whom the concept of earning a CRAPPIE was patently ridiculous. These tended to be the best writers, the writers who would be most immune to such gnat-straining, the writers for whom a "worst" nomination would be the most difficult to justify, mitigating the possibility of hurt feelings. The awards became a contest in absurdity -- good writers getting bad fanfic awards.

If this was the end-all of the CRAPPIES -- a popularity contest turned upside down, as if a bunch of Miss America contestants were in competition for Wallflower of the Year -- it wouldn't be much of burden (but it would deserve a lot of eye-rolling). What bothers me more and more about the CRAPPIES is that people joke about nominating their own works.

It's in bad taste. And it's not that they realize that their own work has faults. Rather, the CRAPPIES is becoming a "me too! me too!!" type of contest, a bunch of fan fiction writers so incredibly desperate for attention that they'll pick any platform for it.

We'll stretch the analogy of the Dean Martin roast further. It was supposed to be an honor to be roasted by Dean Martin -- it sort of meant that your achievements in entertainment were so noteworthy and so unassailable that you could stand to sit there for an hour while other luminaries in entertainment -- your equals in achievement -- could make you a figure of sport, magnifying your idiosynchracies for the enjoyment of all involved. Now imagine some celebrity actually CAMPAIGNING for such a honor. "Pick me, Dean-o! Pick me! Make fun of me!" I'm sure Dean would have turned away in disgust and headed to the nearest bar.

If you look at last year's CRAPPIE winners, they all share one thing in common -- they don't need the notoriety. Their works didn't need it, and they didn't need it. Their works and their reputations stood proudly on their own feet.

If there's a hierarchy of sins in Daria fandom, it would probably go like this. The worst sin would probably be the outright plagiarization of someone else's work. The second worst sin would be to lift characters or entire plot concepts from an outside source, the akin of passing off "Memento" as your original idea and not a homage to someone else's.

But for me, the third worst sin would probably be attention-grubbing, desperately trying to hype your own work, calling attention to it at every conceivable moment, even nominating it for attention in a "worst of" awards. I can name two Daria fans who were notorious for attempts to pimp their own works. One unfortunately still writes (this was the person who put up the poll saying "which of my works did you like best?") and the other no longer writes Daria fanfiction.

Gentlebeings, if I can ask one thing of Daria fandom, it would be this...please, please, please, PLEASE do not pimp your own work. And the CRAPPIES are becoming a pimpfest. Which is why I hate them, and I feel I have good reason to hate them. I've been bitching about people pimping their own work for six years now.

If you want to call attention to someone's overlooked work, then don't make it a CRAPPIES contest. Add another category to the Booties ("Favorite Overlooked Work") or start a thread on PPMB where the works that really NEED attention can get some of it.

As for those good writers who feel they need to pimp work, which, frankly, is so damn good that people actually wait for it in anticipation, I can only quote Helen Morgendorffer: "We tell you over and over again that you're wonderful and you just...don't...get it! What's wrong with you?"

Happy Belated Birthday to Daria fans Bryan (February 7th) and Derek (February 10th)!

If you're a fan of Hot Topic, and if you wear an XS or XL size, they have Daria T-Shirts for sale!



Go to this link for more details!

At the PPMB:

* jak981125 has completed several chapters of his untitled work (go to the PPMB Creative Writing forum to find them).
* Richard Lobinske completed "My Parade Adventure" .
* E. A. Smith posted Part 6 of his interview with Kara Wild.
* Ms. Hand has posted Parts 10 and 11 of "Not Exactly" .
* Dr. Mike provided a link to Chapter 5 of "Crash on Volturnus" .
* cyke posted Chapter 9 of "New Masters of the Universe" .
* aeverett posted Part 1 of "A Time for Us" .
* Gregor Samsa posted Part 1 of "Dar" .
* Richard Lobinske posted Parts 1 and 2 of
"Falling Into College 43: Four Friends, Four Winds" .
* The Angst Guy posted Part XXV-a of "Outcasts from Beyond" .
* Angelinhel posted "House in the Woods" .
* SigDiff posted Part 7 of "Lambda" .

At the SFMB:

* M Man has posted more parts of "Naked in (Lawndale High) School" in the hidden section of SFMB.
* psychotol completed more parts of "Naked Truth" in the same section.

Fan art: Christ Oliver takes Beatnik Shaggy's suggestion and gets Daria to smile....

These are the complete Daria Fanworks Awards for works appearing in 2005. The winners will be semi-immortalized by being included in a link under the "Extras" section of the Daria Fandom Blog. A hearty congratulations to the winners!

Visual Works Winners:

Favorite Overall
"Ice and Fire" by nmorgendorffer

Favorite Original
"Daria Sketch" by Beatnik Shaggy

Favorite Comedy (Tie)
"Sandals" by Kemical Reaxion
"Ice and Fire" by nmorgendorffer

Favorite Alter Ego/Crossover
'Daria and Trent a la Arnold" by Kemical Reaxion

Favorite Single or Multi-Panel Comic
"Daria Surprised" by Christ Oliver

Favorite Erotic
"Nude Jane" by DJ
(Note : to see you need to be registered at DeviantArts)

Favorite Visual Inspired by the Television Series or Official Books
"Quinn and Daria Morgendorffer" by neoreflection

Favorite Visual Inspired by a Fan Written Work
"World Line - Lux Vivendi" by Greybird

Favorite Holiday Visual
"Quinn finds an Easter Egg" by Angelinhel

Favorite Traditional (pencil, ink, paint with no computer manipulation)
"Daria's yearbook picture" by Kemical Reaxion
"Ice and Fire" by nmorgendorffer

Favorite New Artist
Beatnik Shaggy




Written Works Winners:

Favourite Overall
"Illusions" by CharlieGirl, The Angst Guy and Angelinhel

Favourite Comedy
"A Little Knowledge is a Dangerous Thing" by Kristen Bealer

Favourite Drama
"Journey to the End of the Fashion Club" by Scissors MacGillicutty

Favourite Melodrama
"Darius" by The Angst Guy

Favourite Romance – Straight/Gay/Lesbian
"Night Holds the Key" by Anachronism Girl

Favourite School-Centered (Lawndale High)
“Still Life” by Angelinhel

Favourite Jane Story
"The Question" by Angelinhel

Favourite Helen Story
"All My Children #15: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Jake" by Thea Zara and Deref

Favourite Jake Story
"Alley" by Angelinhel

Favourite Quinn Story
"Pause in the Air #8: April Showers" by The Angst Guy

Favourite Use of a Background Character From the Television Series
"Pause in the Air #9: Labor Relations" by The Angst Guy

Favourite Pre-Esteemsters
"Memorial Day" by Angelinhel

Favourite Post-Is It College Yet?
"A Mother's Love" by Richard Lobinske

Favourite Character Development/Redevelopment/Growth
"When the Torrent of That Time Comes Pouring Back" by The Angst Guy

Favourite Alternate History
"The Trouble With Veronica" by Brother Grimace

Favourite Crossover/Parody
"Is It Doom Yet?" by Richard Lobinske

Favourite Science Fiction
"Drive" by The Angst Guy

Favourite Supernatural or Fantasy Horror
"To Understand" by Angelinhel

Favourite Supernatural or Fantasy Non-Horror
"Illusions" by CharlieGirl, The Angst Guy and Angelinhel

Favourite Erotica – Straight/Gay/Lesbian
“Quinn’s Nights at Casa Lane” by Dervish

Favourite Weird Idea
"The Trouble With Veronica" by Brother Grimace

Favourite New Series
"John Lane series" by Richard Lobinske

Favourite Holiday Story
"Memorial Day" by Angelinhel

Favourite Ongoing Story
"Bed and Breakfast Man" series by Ruthless Bunny

Favourite New Author
E.A. Smith

Favourite Non Fiction Essay
"Jane Lane : Hero in the Making?" by The Angst Guy

Johnathan Scanlan has this to write in his blog, "Honesty Hurts" , which is an blog dedicated to the examination of mass media. He writes the following about the "Daria" TV series:

Ok, so I'm halfway through somewhere between five or six books this week and haven't had much of a chance to really catch up on anything new. But my policy is to never review anything that I haven't finished, except save for something that will continue on into the future.

But where to start? Well, first it should be understood that the only place one can really experience Daria in a complete form is through internet downloads. And I don't believe this is unethical because I doubt MTV will ever manage to release the series on DVD, too much money at stake.

That said, Daria serves as a metaphor for the post-modern condition. While the critique of mass culture has been a universal theme of twentieth century modernism, the frustration with sameness is as clear in Daria as it is in Chestnut Hill House.

First, let's begin with clearly recurring icons. Sick Sad World reccurs in every episode as a criticism of television and high concept. Every time the television is on, it mentions some out there gimick, but by constantly playing very short clips throughout the series, with increasingly crazy off the wall stuff, we come to a sense of same old.

The critique of mass culture, and abuse of power in contemporary society is also brought forward by the two leading characters Daria and Jane. Their friendship is not just a redeeming thing that makes society tollerable, but is symbolic of the the critics themselves. Daria, exists independently but from the income of forces greater than herself, and Jane exists by a link to common people and creativity. What we watch is an alegory that represents the relationship between artist and intelectual, the arts and accadamia, human spirit and human mind.

Where Tom enters this mix as that of money and economics. In season 4, Jane finds what she needs by her connection with him but her art falls into the background of the series, then season 5 his support of Daria is a constant struggle to the point where she, unlike Jane, shuts out his interferance. He also knows how to nudge action in the right direction as businessmen often would.

Stepping back from the obvious alegory that emerges here, let's also take into consideration the role of Quin. Perhaps the name was chosen based on the comedia character 'Hallequin' who was a constant source of jokes and often assumed different identities, not to mention double talked, to get riches from his masters.

Quin's journey through the series is interesting in that she goes from being what she is expect to be to being who she is. Repeated attempts at self definition are standard within Erikson's series of life crisis stages. While Daria spends the series struggling with intimacy verses isolation, Quin struggles with identity verses role diffusion.

This struggle remains reasonably constant throughout the series, and what we gain from watching the character over time is the opportunity to see the value in knowing who we are. Noteably, the first time we see Quin socially at ease is with her friends at the end of 'Is It College Yet?' having discovered that she doesn't have to give up her identity to have friends.

Last of all, Jake and Hellen. While it is worthy of note that there is a clear class divide between Daria and Jane, the hard work of Daria's parents is one of the reccurrent aspects of the series. In the Morgendorffer household, both parents work, but both are troubled that they aren't earning enough. They're clearly above the poverty line, well and truely middle class, but they fear falling short of the ideal. And this obsession is repeatedly questioned by Daria and indeed the captive audience, because it seems absurd.

Why does it seem absurd to pursue wealth and the favour of ones employers? Well, that's because it is. When the emperor looks naked, the emperor is naked. According to Sharon Beder's book 'Selling the Work Ethic', the validation of wealth and work as a virtue is an anomolie in history and across cultures, and has been repeatedly pushed on people by those in power since the dawn of capitalism. It started as a way to build the church and ensure everyone does their part, but then became the validation for businesses to exploit workers and push them to extreme levels of productivity.

This aspect of contemporary capitalism is something that the Landon's exemplify by comparison. They shun the poor and Jodie, like her parents, justifies all her choices with the ends justifying the means.

Hence, a key theme across the whole series has been the "virtue of competition and wealth as absurd." That the fashion club keep stacy as someone to look down on in their midst, that the whole community thinks the sky is falling as a consequence of a losing a few football matches, and that Daria and Jane have somehow been spared from these things by their choice to not take part.

In the end, Daria asks us that in this farce that we call a society, maybe it's time to rethink what's important.

Will it happen? Will Daria fans finally get together and have the biggest Daria fan convention of all time on March 3, 2007, the TENTH ANNIVERSARY of the first airing of a Daria episode? Or is talk of a fan convention what Jake would call "self-abuse"? Go here and see if this is going to happen, or if it will all go up in smoke....

The DVDaria Blog has uipdate with new and important news. Go to the link to find out what's going on....

"Amy Terwillinger" is back with the infamous "Outpost Amy" website. Find about about the supersecret cartoons about Daria's aunt that "The Man" doesn't want you to see!!

Happy belated birthday (Feb 4th) to Daria fan wyrmrider!

Added to the PPMB:

* Angelboy posted another part of Chapter 3 of "Diary Entries" .
* Dr. Mike completed Chapter 4 of "Crash on Volturnus" .
* SigDiff posted Part 6 of "Lambda" .
* Richard Lobinske has concluded "Daria R" .
* The Angst Guy posted Chapter XXIV of "Outcasts From Beyond" .
* Darea-lover posted (??) "Upchack and the Magic Toofie" .
* DigiSim posted "Scenes from Lawndale" .
* Round One of the Angelboy/Dr. Mike Write-Off Challenge is in progress.
* Ms. Hand posted Part 9 of "Not Exactly" .

At the SFMB:

* Roentgen posted Part 6.4 of "Legion of Lawndale Heroes" .
* Bliss Ticks posted Part 3 of "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" .
* ostragoth concluded Chapter 8 of "Estrangesters" .


Added to Fanfiction.net:

"Eat It" by The Waco Kid
"Party Hard" by The Waco Kid

Fan art: unfinished work by Beatnik Shaggy. As Daria might say, "never let 'em see you smile...!"



Note: the art was mistakenly attributed to Christ Oliver. A correction has been made. -- CG.

If you've ever been to the website www.tv.com , you'll find discussion and interesting facts regarding lots of television shows -- including "Daria".

If you sign in with them, you have an option to rate various shows (but I needed to fire up Internet Explorer -- Firefox won't do it), to write reviews, and to add trivia and facts.

So why am I telling you this at all? People have rated all of the various 65 episodes of Daria, both movies, and even Episode #001, the pilot for "Daria", "Sealed With a Kick". And, with no further do, I present those ratings for your enjoyment.

Each person signed in to tv.com can rate any episode from 0 ("sucks") to 10 ("cool").
The list of ratings:

112 -- "The Teachings of Don Jake" 9.4
301 -- "Daria!"           9.1
414 -- "Is It Fall Yet?"  9.1
305 -- "Daria Dance Party"  9.0
307 -- "It Happened One Nut"  9.0
308 -- "Lane Miserables"  8.9
101 -- "Esteemsters"    8.8
108 -- "Pinch Sitter"   8.8
201 -- "Arts 'N' Crass"   8.8
204 -- "I Don't"   8.8
212 -- "Pierce Me"   8.8
410 -- "Legends of the Mall"  8.8
506 -- "Lucky Strike"   8.8
111 -- "The Road Worrier"  8.7
207 -  "The New Kid"   8.7
306 -- "The Lost Girls"   8.7
309 -- "Jake of Hearts"   8.7
412 -- "Fire!"           8.6
102 -- "The Invitation"   8.5
105 -- "Malled"           8.5
110 -- "The Big House"          8.5
209 -- "Ill"    8.5
211 -- "See Jane Run"   8.5
402 -- "Antisocial Climbers"  8.5
404 -- "Murder, She Snored"  8.5
408 -- "Psycho Therapy"          8.5
107 -- "The Lab Brat"   8.4
109 -- "Too Cute"   8.4
202 -- "The Daria Hunter"  8.4
203 -- "Quinn the Brain"  8.4
205 -- "That Was Then, This Is Dumb" 8.4
213 -- "Write Where It Hurts"  8.4
310 -- "Speedtrapped"   8.4
313 -- "Jane's Addition"  8.4
206 -- "Monster"   8.3
303 -- "The Old and the Beautiful" 8.3
406 -- "I Loathe A Parade"  8.3
501 -- "Fizz Ed"   8.3
503 -- "Fat Like Me"   8.3
507 -- "Art Burn"   8.3
510 -- "Aunt Nauseam"          8.3
106 -- "This Year's Model"   8.2
302 -- "Through a Lens Darkly:  8.2
403 -- "A Tree Grows in Lawndale" 8.2
407 -- "Of Human Bonding"  8.2
409 -- "Mart of Darkness"  8.2
411 -- "Groped by an Angel"  8.1
103 -- "Cafe Disaffecto"  8.0
104 -- "College Bored"   8.0
311 -- "The Lawndale File"  8.0
508 -- "One J at a Time"  7.9
514 -- "Is It College Yet?"  7.9
113 -- "The Misery Chick"  7.8
504 -- "Camp Fear"   7.8
509 -- "Life in the Past Lane"  7.8
512 -- "My Night at Daria's"  7.8
513 -- "Boxing Daria"   7.8
208 -- "Gifted"           7.7
502 -- "Sappy Anniversary"  7.7
312 -- "Just Add Water"          7.6
413 -- "Dye!  Dye!  My Darling!" 7.6
511 -- "Prize Fighters"   7.6
505 -- "The Story of D"          7.4
210 -- "Fair Enough"   7.3
405 -- "The 'F' Word"   7.2 **
304 -- "Depth Takes a Holiday"  6.9
401 -- "Partner's Complaint"  6.9
001 -- "Sealed With a Kick"  6.3

(**) There are two shows with this title that can be rated: "The 'F' Word", and "The 'F' Word, or 'Fail'". This rating is a weighted average of the two ratings given.

BIG NEWS: Some, but not all, of the Daria FanWorks Awards have been determined. As you know, I'm a big fan of the DFAs, so I'm torn as to whether I should announce the awards in their incomplete glory, or wait until everyone gets a chance to vote and break ties.

I have decided on the latter. Please go to this PPMB thread for instructions on how to cast tiebreaking votes. (Don't worry, we'll congratulate all the winners later.)

Outpost Daria has updated. Go here to see what's new. And note the new fan art on the front page by Christ Oliver!

Crazy Nutso's Rubber Room has been semi-reconstructed by its creator. For those of you who haven't seen it, go here .

Some new news from Father Martin at the Daria News Archive :

DARIA fans in the UK viewing MTV2 through the SKY satellite platform have been disappointed in recent weeks. The Sky electronic programme guide has been listing DARIA at 1500 and 1630 on weekdays, but fans report tuning in for the 1500 screening to find a sequence of music videos being shown instead of DARIA.

E. A. Smith has posted Part 5 of his interview with Kara Wild regarding "The Driven Wild Universe" .

Added to the PPMB:

sleepless has completed Chapter 37 of "Yuki-Onna" .
Gregor Samsa completed "Nestor" .
Dr. Mike completed Chapter 3 of "Crash on Volturnus" .
Xulchibara completed Chapters 1 and 3 of "Daria at the Third Layer of Silent Hill" .
SigDiff is up to Part 5 of "Lambda" .
MsHand is up to Part 8 of "Not Exactly" .
Darea-lover posted (?) "My date with darea" .
Richard Lobinske is all the way up to Part 17 of "Daria R" .
Deref posted a link to "Forest Primeval Part 2", which is the ninth chapter of "Writes of Passage" .

Added to the SFMB:

New chapters by psychotol of "The Naked Truth" in the hidden section of the SFMB.
New chapters by Mr. Orange of "Nue Experience" can be found in the same section.

Added to fanfiction.net:

Chapters 1 and 2 of "Vanity" by Mussimm.

Fan art: "Whip Jane" by DJ. You can see a larger version here .