Some people have weird hobbies. Video editor Trevor Carmick’s is animating beer labels. The Cartoon Brew’s Chappell Ellison has an article on Carmick and his animated beer labels, including a link to them. Since the labels include anthropomorphic animals, real animals, and fantasy monsters, I am including it here.

Besides, I suspect that most Flayrah readers like beer, whether it is anthropomorphic or not.

It was hard to believe that a man could see twenty-three winters before he began to live. It is harder even to believe that his life began all at once, on one night, with the occurring of three obscure and apparently random things; the death of a bird, the flash of golden eyes and the first of One Hundred Steps. But for Kirin Wynegarde-Grey, it did happen, just this way. His life began, as all great and terrible things do, in the Year of the Tiger. (p. 1)

And that, boys and girls, is how to begin a novel!

It is the reader’s option whether to take Dickson’s Tails from the Upper Kingdom series, of which these are Books 1 and 2, as science-fiction, set about 5,000 years in the future, or as high fantasy.

This is a powerful, post-apocalyptic story of lions and tigers, wolves and dragons, embracing and blending the cultures of Dynastic China, Ancient India and Feudal Japan. Half feline, half human, this genetically altered world has evolved in the wake of the fall of human civilization. (blurb)

Kirin Wynegarde-Grey is a genetic lion-man, and there are plenty of other half-feline men and women – leopards, tigers, ocelots, cheetahs, jaguars, lynx -- in these two books to please the reader.

“To Journey in the Year of the Tiger”, by H. Leighton Dickson. North Charleston, SC, CreateSpace, September 2012, trade paperback $14.99 (i + 343 pages), Kindle $2.99. 2nd printing, May 2013.

“To Walk in the Way of Lions”, by H. Leighton Dickson. North Charleston, SC, CreateSpace, October 2012, trade paperback $14.99 (i + 347 pages), Kindle $2.99. 2nd printing, May 2013.

Ryan Havens Tannenholz, a furry living in Boise, Idaho, has been arrested after being accused of having sex with a cat.

Police investigators say Tannenholz, 28, had "sexual contact by penetration" with the animal at a Boise house on several occasions between January 2012 and January 2013. An arrest warrant was issued on July 31, and he was arrested on August 1. Police did not specify how the alleged activities came to light.

Tannenholz was charged with six felony counts of crimes against nature, and one misdemeanor count of cruelty to an animal. If convicted, he would face a minimum of five years in prison for each of the felony counts, and up to six months and a fine for the misdemeanor charge. Tannenholz’s bond was set at $250,000; a preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 16.

This is the first DVD release of the newest incarnation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; this CGI cartoon debuted last year on Nickelodeon, and has been well received by fans of the older versions of the Turtles, as well as a newer fanbase in its target audience.

This DVD contains the first five (or six, if you count the “Rise of the Turtles” as a two-parter) episodes of the series. It also contains a smattering of bonuses, which are a bit better than the bonuses of the other animated series I’ve reviewed DVDs for. Unlike that other show, the creators of this series have been a bit less willing to let everyone and their dog upload episodes to YouTube, so the DVDs are a bit more necessary (though of course you can still get the episodes legally online for about the same price as the DVD, or cheaper).

Time for another fringefurry report on Anthrocon. Yes, rather belated. The intended audience includes both furries and National Puzzlers' League members, if you wonder about the choice of content.

The last time I did a report for Flayrah, someone complained that being mostly interested in furry comics and webcomics doesn't make one a 'fringe' furry. Well, there wasn't a single comic-related event in over 160 program items. A couple of panels on making cartoons, and two or three categories in the Ursa Major awards for 2012, which were announced at the con, but that's it. Still plenty for me to enjoy, though.