The Mammalian Daily

Satirical fiction in newspaper form

Lovely to look at - Book by Noreen

OTD in 2014—Barkettes planning reunion: gossip site

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headsNtales

Gossip site headsNtales claims the Barkettes plan to reunite

Gossip site headsNtales says it is standing by a story it posted on Thursday night, claiming that a Barkettes reunion is in the works.

The site’s co-founder, Hortencia Guacamayo, confirmed that she has two sources with connections to Estelle, one of the Barkettes, who have guaranteed the veracity of the story.

“Without that, we wouldn’t have gone ahead with it,” Guacamayo said in a telephone interview this morning. “What would be the point?”

The Barkettes, along with Thisbe, their lead singer and the founder of the legendary group, have not performed together since 2007 (25 AZ). The previous year, the group embarked on its farewell tour but the tour was cut short due to Thisbe’s ill health. She has since kept a low profile, appearing only once with the Barkettes, on the occasion of the debut of “I Love a Man in a Collar,” Rauf Wiedersehen Shepherd’s documentary about the group that opened the 2012 Park Interspecial Film Festival (PIFF).

R.F. Aarrf, President of the Canine Music Association (CMA), said he wasn’t surprised to read of a possible reunion, but he would need more details to take it seriously.

“In the last five years, there have been at least ten stories claiming that a reunion or a new tour was being planned. When I see a date, or when Thisbe confirms, or when they start to sell tickets, then I’ll know it’s really happening,” he said.

OTD in 2015—PMoCA to exhibit Domestic Feline Art

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Domestic Feline ArtThe Park Museum of Contemporary Art (PMoCA) announced today that a new exhibition of Domestic Feline Art will open this Summer. The exhibition will be the first under recently-appointed head curator, Aamuun Maroodiga.

In an interview on TMD Radio this morning, Maroodiga said she chose domestic art for her first outing as curator “because it is so far removed from my own experience.”

“I wanted to remain at a distance from the art of my first exhibition,” she said.

Maroodiga, who spent many years teaching the Tuskan technique at the Hani Gajah School of Art, went on to say that domestic art makes her “uncomfortable…in a good way.”

“It takes me so far out of my comfort zone, that I have no choice but to put myself in the place of the domestic Animal and wonder, ‘How would I cope in this situation?'”

The head curator said the museum will draw from many different art forms: paintings, sculpture, performance art, among them.

“And we will be showcasing larger Felines as well,” she said. “Lions and Tigers…Felines whom we don’t usually associate with domestication, but who suffer from and with it nevertheless.”

The new exhibit, which has yet to be named, will open in the Summer.

OTD in 2017—Polar Bears’ Poetry Picnic director quits amid controversy

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polar-bears-poetry-picnicKumaglak Nanuq Polar Bear, who tried to make the Polar Bears’ Poetry Picnic more open and inclusive, has resigned after serving two years of this three-year term.

In a letter to the event organizers and to the Department of Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations, Polar Bear thanked the department for their confidence in him and expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to serve The Park’s literary community.

“I will be forever grateful to you for allowing me the chance to broaden my fellow Animals’ appreciation of my species and of poetry,” he wrote in his letter of resignation.

Polar Bear made no mention of the recent controversy, which Seymour K. Worthington Polar Bear stirred up a week before Saturday’s event. The former picnic director said he felt the event would be diminished by the upcoming changes such as the inclusion of non-poets and artists from other media and genres. He also offended many when, in an interview with Yannis Tavros on Toro Talk Radio, he made remarks that sounded as if he believed that his own species was superior in the field of poetry and he decried what he believed was the “watering down” of the genre in order to appeal to other species.

The Department of Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations has not commented on the resignation.

OTD in 2017—Millicent Hayberry to direct herself in second Colocolo mystery

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MillicentHayberry Actress Millicent Hayberry will direct herself in the upcoming Gianfranco Colocolo mystery, Aracari, The Burrow Theatre announced today.

The mystery is the second in a series written for the stage by Colocolo, who is best known for his award-winning thriller, Murder at the Fishbowl. Last April, the first play in the series, Godwit, opened to rave reviews and continued its successful run until late October, when it closed to allow Hayberry to campaign full-time for Park Official Prognosticator of Spring (an election she lost to Ditmar Bosmarmot).

This is the first time that Hayberry has directed. Best known for her portrayal of author Imogen Aardeekhoorn in both the stage and screen productions of Mixed Nuts, Hayberry has said that acting was her first love, but that she’d seriously considered trying other art forms, such as writing and directing.

“It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows Millicent that she would eventually go into directing,” Jean-Luc Briard, who directed Godwit, said in an interview in Misterio, The Park’s mystery writers’ magazine. “Her personality lends itself to directing. She likes to be in control at all times, but she is also a deep thinker and keenly aware of others’ feelings and motivations. These qualities make a superb director.”

Aracari previews will begin at The Burrow Theatre at the end of April. A gala opening performance will be held in May.

OTD in 2017—Polar Bears’ Poetry Picnic “diminished” by concept of openness: former director

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2012 Toe-Hair contest winner Seymour K. Worthington Polar Bear will serve as head judge of this year's contest, a little more than a month after organizing the Polar Bear's Poetry PicnicThe annual Polar Bears’ Poetry Picnic has lost its way, says its former director.

Seymour K. Worthington Polar Bear, who was the chief organizer of the popular celebration from 2013-2015, says the picnic is being “led astray” by the “concept of openness” and the participation of non-poets and artists from other media and genres.

In an interview with Yannis Tavros on Toro Talk Radio yesterday, Worthington Polar Bear complained that the inclusion this year of short plays, face-painting, and acrobatics, will “diminish” the event and cloud the purpose of it, which was to celebrate the genre of poetry.

“It was established as a pure event, an event of pure poetry,” Worthington Polar Bear said. “Now, they’ve muddied the waters and it’s hard to tell what it is.”

While he stopped short of explicitly criticizing Kumaglak Nanuq Polar Bear, the event’s new organizer, Worthington Polar Bear took a direct hit at what he called “the forces of inclusion” and “the push to appeal to all species.”

“There is a reason this event was established by Polar Bears,” he told Tavros. “Polar Bears have a long and proud history as poets and as a species that appreciates poetry. Not all species are interested in poetry and that’s fine. But must we water down the genre in order to appeal to them? Surely we needn’t fill in all the lakes and ponds because some of us can’t swim,” he said.

Worthington Polar Bear was also critical of the event’s recent attempts to make itself appealing to The Park’s younger citizens.

“I believe strongly in exposing our young to the arts, not of exposing the arts to our young,” he said.

OTD in 0215—Polar Bears’ Poetry Picnic will be held on Sunday, March 22: organizers

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Polar Bears' Poetry Picnic

Annual event will be held a day earlier

The 2015 Polar Bears’ Poetry Picnic will be held on Sunday March 22, one day earlier than previously scheduled.

The announcement of the change in date, which came fittingly in the form of a poem, was carried on all Park media this morning:

Hear ye, hear ye, one and all
Spring’s almost sprung, the ice almost thawed!
By this announcement, please be advised
Our Poetry Picnic’s date has been revised.
Poems will be read, recited, and sung
Seven days from now, less just one
We hope this change will find you all
Ready to answer poetry’s call.

See you there on Sunday March 22nd!

While the event’s organizers cited a better weather forecast as the reason for the change, Seymour K. Worthington Polar Bear said in a brief interview on Mammalian Daily Radio that he thought it made more sense to schedule the event on a weekend.

The Polar Bear, who wraps up his three-year stint as the Picnic’s chief organizer this year, confirmed that he will be requesting a permanent change in the date at his next meeting with the Archons.

“Despite the fact that Park Animals have always lived on a 24/7 schedule, they do seem a bit more relaxed on the weekend,” he told TMD Radio. “For this reason, I will be requesting that we designate the third Sunday in March as the Picnic day, instead of the date of March 23.”

The event, which is in its 20th year, will begin at 10:00 a.m. Park time on Sunday, March 22.

OTD in 2015—Uneasy writers: will Squeakeasy scuffle put Polar Bears’ picnic in jeopardy?

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owl_reading_sketch.jpg

Park poet Mirella Gufo reads her poetry at The Squeakeasy

Tuesday nights might never be the same at The Squeakeasy.

Once known as the night when Animals sway to the rhythm of poetry at the busy Park pub, last night’s scuffle, which ended in a number of injuries and arrests, may well make the evening synonymous with violence and interspecial tension.

According to Park Police, the commotion began when Mirella Gufo flew down to the microphone to read from her latest work.

“Some Animal made a remark about her beak and that’s what started it, according to witnesses,” Inspector Antonia T. Fossa of the Park Police’s Interspecial Investigations Unit told The Mammalian Daily. “And it devolved from there.”

Herman Wasbeer, who became involved in the fighting by accident, agrees that it started out almost innocently.

“It was a bad remark, for sure. And so unnecessary. But there was no violence attached to it at first. So, I told them to be quiet. We go there to hear poetry, not to hear what other Animals think of the way we look,” he says.

Unfortunately, Wasbeer’s intervention just added fuel to the fire.

“The next thing we knew, a whole flock of Geese descended on the place. Personally, I think they were just itching for a fight because they don’t even know Mirella Gufo,” he said.

Wasbeer says he tried to stop the Geese, but they turned on him.

“They were spewing hatred, honking about ‘stupid stripes’ and some other stuff that I couldn’t even understand. Then, a couple of Tabbies got in the act and you know it can’t be headed anywhere good when the Felines start fighting. The Geese told them to go to The Tabby Club, where they belong, and the thing just erupted into a room of flying fur and feathers.”

Wasbeer was bitten, though he says he doesn’t know by whom.

“I was arrested at first, but when they saw I was bleeding, they took me to the [Park] hospital. I guess it was later on that they found out I wasn’t one of the perpetrators.”

While he was released this morning, six more Animals remain in hospital, one in critical condition. Four others face charges, Police say, and will appear in court next week.

Meanwhile, the organizers of the Polar Bears’ Poetry Picnic say their event will go on as planned.

“We have no reason to think that our annual festival of poetry will be anything but peaceful,” says the event’s chief organizer Seymour K. Worthington Polar Bear.

OTD in 2015—Gossip site: “We have official special invitee list from Park Museum opening.”

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headsNtalesThe gossip site headsNtales claims to have in its possession the names of all the Animals who were specially invited to Saturday’s opening of The Park Museum.

In a post dated today, the site’s co-founder Hortencia Guacamayo says that headsNtales will be publishing the full list on the site later this week.

“It’s our right to know which Animals the Board of Governors felt were special enough to invite to their exclusive opening,” Guacamayo says. “Their slogan says that it’s our museum, but on Saturday it was a little bit more their museum than ours.”

OTD in 2014—Animal Actors’ Union takes stand on content in theatre, film

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Union of Park Stage and Screen Actors

The Union of Park Stage and Screen Actors (UPSSA) has taken a stand on the content of the plays and movies in which its members will participate in the future.

Current UPSSA President Wilbur J. Pika made the announcement this morning while speaking at the opening of the Millicent Hayberry Centre for the Study of Drama and Performance at the University of West Terrier.

“No longer are Park Animals willing to allow themselves to become accessories to the crimes committed by many playwrights and screenwriters. No longer will our well-trained and highly skilled members participate in so-called artistic ventures that denigrate Animals of any kind in any way,” he declared before a highly receptive audience.

Pika followed up his speech by distributing the “UPSSA Fair Representation of Animals in Theatre and Film Manifesto,” which outlines the circumstances under which UPSSA members will refuse work in plays and movies.

The most important part of the Manifesto, Pika said, is the fact that 97% of UPSSA members agreed on its contents.

“We had a series of very serious, you could even say sombre meetings,” Pika said. “And we were all in agreement that we would reject any work that depicts Animals as stupid, lazy, beholden to Humans, or in any other negative or stereotypical fashion,” he said.

OTD in 2015—Archons enact legislation designating March as annual “Museum Month”

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Park MuseumThe 2015 Archons have enacted legislation designating the month of March each year as “Museum Month” in The Park.

At a press conference held early this morning in front of the soon-to-be-opened Park Museum, Chief Archon Abayomi Tanishia Cuckoo made the announcement. Flanked by all 34 Archons, the Cuckoo spoke on behalf of her colleagues:

“On behalf of my fellow Archons, I proclaim the month of March as annual Museum Month in The Park.

In making this proclamation, we are recognizing the importance of documenting and understanding our history and celebrating our triumphs. At the same time, however, we must acknowledge our ongoing struggles. We hope the formal establishment of a Museum Month will facilitate just that and that the month of March will be a time for us each year to take an honest look at ourselves as a Park, to assess our accomplishments, and to rethink our goals as they relate to The Park as a whole and to each other as fellow citizens.

To that end, in conjunction with the Park Finance Office, we have made a change to The Park budget and set aside funds so that all Park museums will be able to welcome guests free of charge throughout the month of March each year. We hope this will help present and future generations to understand the history of The Park and the rôle that they themselves may play in its future.”

The legislation to which the Chief Archon referred goes by the formal name of “The Museum Month Designation Act” (“An Act to designate the month of March as annual Museum Month in The Park”). The legislation was signed February 23, 2015 and takes effect on February 26, 2015.

Opening ceremonies at The Park Museum will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, March 1, 2015.

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