99% Invisible: 146- Mooallempalooza
December 31, 2014 9:48 AM - Subscribe

Jon Mooallem writes brilliant stories about the weird interactions between animals and humans, interactions that are becoming ever weirder and more designed. This episode features two stories: Jon talks about Teddy Bears vs Billy Possums, then selections from Jon's book "Wild Ones" with live with musical accompaniment from the band Black Prairie.

Full show transcript, with photos and videos, can be found at 99pi.org
posted by jazon (6 comments total)
 
Man that TR story is really fucked up. His assistant finds an already sickly bear, maims it, then leaves it dying for TR to kill? Then even though TR wants to "spare" the poor thing they kill it anyways because it's the humane thing to do? (Actually I sorta agree with that part, it probably would have been worse to let it die a slow death with a head wound.)

However I love stuffed animals and have a very cute stuffed bear so I guess I can't complain too much.

The Billy Possum is...wow. I don't know how they expected that to take off. Then again I really hope that the next 99pi Kickstarter includes some kind of Billy Possum swag.
posted by radioamy at 4:26 PM on December 31, 2014


There was so much WTF in this episode.

I knew about Roosevelt refusing to shoot the bear (which I did think was a sweet story), but it's amazing that the fact that they still killed the bear and roasted its paws isn't more widely known. (maybe it is and my Canadian is showing?)

My northern self also thinks opossums are hideous hellbeasts and so it was hilarious to me that anyone would even try to make them cute. Bears are at least kind of roly-poly shaped and can look cute if they keep their mouths closed though.

I also really liked the musical segment -- I was worried that it was going to be like that recent TAL segment where the music kind of distracted from the words, but this was beautiful.
posted by sparklemotion at 6:56 AM on January 2, 2015


Was this a clip show or something? I swear I heard both of these segments before.
posted by entropicamericana at 11:10 AM on January 2, 2015


The Billy Possum is...wow.

It's pretty hilarious in retrospect, and it's no surprise the idea died an ignominious death, but the picture in your "wow" link... actually is kinda cute.
posted by psoas at 3:21 PM on January 2, 2015


entropicamericana: I was scrolling back through old shows and saw what looked like the live/musical portion in late 2013.
posted by radioamy at 12:36 PM on January 5, 2015




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