A long time ago, Kara Wild asked how long a blog devoting itself to Daria Fandom could last. And now, we know the answer. "About 1 1/2 years, give or take."

It is with regret and not a bit of retrospection that I put the Daria Fandom Blog on hiatus. I will be starting graduate school tomorrow, and I'm just not going to have the time to surf the message boards. Or rather, my goal is not to have the time to surf them: this shit can draw you in and I want to stay away from it to preserve my academic health.

My co-contributor Frank is feeling it's time to slowly cut his ties with Daria Fandom. I would like to thank him for his contributions during my busy summer, and I appreciate all that he has done. I would also like to thank Daria fan Greybird (you remember him?) for his work as co-contributor earlier on this blog. I've been honored to work with such fine gentlemen, and hopefully, working with me wasn't a gigantic pain in the ass.

As for the rest of Daria Fandom, I don't know if its time to actually leave (remember my saying: you don't leave Daria Fandom, Daria Fandom leaves you), but I do think it's time to put it at arm's length for a little while. This means not only less messageboard surfing, but it also means that there might not be frequent contributions to other stories I've been doing. Nothing under my current alias, which this time, I think I'll keep the semi-secret I've been keeping it. (Hint: if any known author suddenly stops writing, you can say, 'hey! I bet that guy/girl was CINCGREEN!' It might be fun.) Certainly no more updates on The Green Sink.

The final (foreseeable) Daria Excellence in Fandom Award will be granted. Hey, nine votes this time! I see that as a major uptick in voting, given the fandom. Most of the fans who voted were well-known fans, and their choice was virtually unanimous. The problem is that I was only able to "give" two awards. Even if I decided to give an award in 2007, by that time the blog would be so full of cobwebs it would only be read by Phenetermine bots, and the only vote would be mine. Perhaps it was just too early to give the awards, but I'm the kind of guy who would rather be too soon than too late.

If anyone wants to take over the DFB, fine. Make a good argument for ownership, and I'll give you the keys.

Until then, I have no last words since I'll be around. I still have to post the Excellence in Fandom Winner tomorrow. Besides, I remember when Karl Marx was asked if he had any last words on his deathbed.

"Go on, get out! Last words are for fools who haven't said enough!"

--CINCGREEN, 20 August 2006

New at FanFiction.net:

• “A Kindred Spirit,” by Paikuhan.
• “New Arrival,” by bhut.

New and updated fan fiction at The Paperpusher's Message Board:

• “The Meaning of Life,” a complete ficlet by Angelinhel.
• Roentgen added a new installment to what he terms ‘the slowest series on Earth,’ “New Drum, Same Tune.”
• DJW continues his “Open Windows” continuum with “Folk and Foolishness.”
• The Angst Guy posted a link to chapter 8 of “Scarlett.”∗
• Sleepless posted chapter 39 (!) of “Yuki-Onna.”∗
Micka added chapter 2,“History and Memory” to “Musings.”
• Richard Lobinske posted “Falling into College 48: Dividing Spiral.”∗
• Angelboy's “Embers” is now up to part 11.
• Decelaraptor completed “Revenge: Best Served Cold, With a Schmear.”
• Robin Sena posted “Why You Should Never Hire Brittany Taylor,” a short script-format fiction.
• Ranger Thorne posted “Esteemer, y'all!” another script-format fiction.

Items marked with a ∗ can also be found at the Sh33p's Fluff Message Board, which is host to these new and updated works:

• Ostragoth updated ”Estrangesters.”
• Roentgen continues “Legion of Lawndale Heroes.”

Fan art at The Paperpusher's Message Board:

• Christ Oliver found Enigma Wing's self-portrait with Daria, also available in her Deviant Art gallery.
• Greybird posted a link to various Daria avatars at LiveJournal.
• S.C. completed his Daria animated short, “A Little Knowledge,” offering it in a small You Tube format, a 640 by 360 Quick Time movie, and for those with fast connections and big monitors, a 1280 by 720 Quick Time movie. While many people have noted how much like the series this animation looks—per Kara Wild, even Glenn Eichler thinks it looks like an episode—its aspect ratio is 16:9 while the original series is standard television 4:3.
• S.C. also provides a drawing of Jennifer as a surfer, honoring a request from Angelboy.

Fan art: a frame from “A Little Knowledge,” cropped to 4:3 proportions. Click on the image for a comparison with the original 16:9 image:



Most of the short uses the entire width of the frame; this is from the only section that could be cropped.