"The Employee of the Month" Arrives, Along with a New Book!

 By: Andrew Bermudez

(Mustache Maniacs Film Co. Headquarters; October 30, 2020)

    With the year beginning to reach its conclusion, We have not one, but two very special releases today! Here is everything that you need to know.

The Employee of the Month Has Been Released!

    It's almost time for Septemberfest to end (in October), so that means our own entry to Septemberfest 2020, The Employee of the Month, is now here! The story is similar to the film being celebrated, The Citizen of the Year, but with some notable differences. Also, this film, being a celebratory film, has a special surprise ending! You can watch the entire film here or on our website.

Cities That You Must Absolutely, Positively, Stay Out of to Avoid Being Eaten Alive!!! Has Been Released!

    Just in time for Halloween, the new companion book to Forest of Fear, Cities That You Must Absolutely, Positively, Stay Out of to Avoid Being Eaten Alive!!! has been released! This new book expands upon the town of Howling Hollow and the forest as seen in Forest of Fear with brand-new information, history, and characterization, as well as locations not seen in the movie! Click here to visit the web page and start reading the book today!

Updates to the Official Canon, Including Today's Releases

    With any new release that effects our cinematic universe, there comes a time to update the official canon, either for house-keeping, patching up plot holes, or adding new stories. Today is no exception, so these are today's changes.

• Cities That You Must Absolutely, Positively, Stay Out of to Avoid Being Eaten Alive!!! is entering the canon as a travel guide that Mary Rawlins wrote about Howling Hollow, even though the book was already confirmed to be canonical in Attack of the Fifty-Foot Hamster. The book isn't set at any point in time, but was canonically published between 2011 and 2015 (the official book is canonically a second edition published in 2019, as it refers to events from Ocean of Fear).
• The town of Howling Hollow and the surrounding forest is subsequently being updated to better reflect the book. All of the information in the book is now to be treated as fully accurate information about the town in question.
• The Employee of the Month is entering the canon as events that take place in 2005. The film takes place mostly at Neighborly Accounting, Inc. in the coastal town of Paradisa Beach. The Cabana Bar & Grill seen at the end of the film is also in that same town. But if you recognize that grill, that's because its a nod to this whole celebration, yet it is also canonical. That means...
• The Citizen of the Year is entering the canon as events that take place in 2004, with the final scene taking place in 2005. This film also takes place in Paradisa Beach, which is canonically located along the coast of California towards the south, north of Santa Barbara. However, back in 2015, Septemberfest 2015 challenged animators to create a "Citizen of the Year Cinematic Universe," which canonized most of the entries for that film, retroactively meaning that...
• (un)denial is entering the canon as events that take place between 1966 and 2048, following the events of the life of the character only known as The Undeniable Neighbor.
• The Citizen of the Century is entering the canon as events that take place in 2004, immediately before the events of The Citizen of the Year.
• The Case of the Year is entering the canon as events that take place in 2006 throughout Paradisa Beach.
• Abduction of the Year is entering the canon as events that take place in 2005, shortly after Balser wins citizen of the year again.
• The Old and the Homeless is entering the canon as events from 2013, after both the bum and Balser have gone through transformative character arcs, mostly for the worse. However, one of the members of the House of the Gray Parrot is Toxikita. Maybe more than just a just a joke, she is being treated as Tox from Ninjago, which means that...
• Ninjago is entering the canon as events that happen on Ninjago Island during the period of time that the LEGO theme has run. It exists mostly within its own sphere, so seeing references outside of that story (such as the aforementioned Tox cameo) are going to be few and far in between. However, we see this move as inevitable considering 2016's release of Ninjago: Visions of Memories.

I bet you didn't expect today's canon change to amount to THIS! With that in mind, this does not canonize any of the other Septemberfest 2020 entries, as the cinematic universe theme did not carry over into this year's competition.

Construction Halted on New Studio Due to Blue Ridge Fire

    This past Monday, as we finished filming for The Employee of the Month, the Blue Ridge fire broke out near the studio. While it looks like the fire is not risking studio resources in any way, all studio personnel are on high alert, just in case the fire turns. The entire studio archive is on standby in the event of a mandatory evacuation, and construction on the new studio has currently been halted. Regardless, other studio functions are continuing as normal, under the condition that operations must stop in the event of an evacuation. However, as nearby evacuation orders were rescinded on Wednesday, an evacuation looks to be very unlikely.

Technical Issues...Almost Fixed

    In somewhat happier news, most of the technical issues that we've had over the past few months are almost resolved. We are still working on fixing the last couple issues that we have, but we are certain that this will only take a few more weeks, taking into account the fire situation. We have recognized what is causing these issues, so we are aiming on having this fixed by Thanksgiving.

UPDATE: All of the issues have finally been resolved. Now, where's some wood for me to knock on?

Lead Out

    Today's press release was a lot to take in, but we still have two more months until the end of this year! We still have some plans for before the new year, including our capstone for this year: Patrick: The Movie, coming December 25!