At the L.A. Times Festival of Books we learned about Mythwalker at their big, impressive booth. Maybe it was the smiling corgi in armor that attracted our attention… Mythwalker is a geolocation fantasy RPG created by Nant Games for your cell phone. In it you can play one of three species: Human, Annu (a bird-like humanoid species), and Wulven (a canine species — from which the aforementioned corgi hails). Here is the lore: “Mytherra is a fantastical, parallel planet to Earth ─ a world where throughout history its people and mystical creatures have infiltrated the dreams of humans. Over time, these visions have formed the basis of Earth’s many myths and legends. After a prolonged period of peace, Mytherra is now under attack, which poses a direct threat to Earth as well. A powerful being, known only as The Child, has reached out through the Veil into our world seeking help. She recruits you – the Mythwalker – to uncover the truth about the attackers, explore the connection between the two worlds, and lead Mytherra’s heroes in the defense of their home.” And here is the idea: “MythWalker is a geolocation fantasy RPG adventure mobile game that brings The Child and Mytherra to life through an overworld traversal system, using real locations to tell the stories of Earth’s myths and legends. With narrative-driven quests tied to an intriguing storyline, a cast of magical and memorable characters, a deep progression system, and robust multiplayer modes, MythWalker will connect players worldwide through meaningful global gameplay.” Their web site has a whole lot more information.
A review of 'Migration' disguised as a how-to guide for movie reviews (or vice versa)
Posted by 2cross2affliction on Sun 14 Jan 2024 - 12:46How do you review a movie?
Let’s take, as an example, the movie Migration. The purpose of a review is to give the reader an idea of what the movie is like, and whether or not they might want to spend the time and money to watch it. The basic facts of the movie should be listed; so, in this example, Migration is a computer animated movie from Illumination (The Secret Life of Pets, Sing), directed by Benjamin Renner (Ernest & Celestine, The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales). I included examples of the creator's previous work that might give my audience some idea of what to expect. However, this can easily be found on free sources like IMDB or Wikipedia, and a review is not just a recitation of facts.
A brief plot synopsis is usually a good idea. In Migration’s case, the story is about a family of ducks (Kumail Nanjiani as father Mack, Elizabeth Banks as mother Pam, Caspar Jennings as son Dax, Tresi Gazal as daughter Gwen and Danny Devito as uncle Dan) who decide to migrate from their tiny pond to Jamaica. It plays like a road trip comedy, but with ducks. Along the way, they have adventures with a decrepit heron (voiced by Carol Kane) and her mute husband, a one-legged pigeon (voiced by Awkwafina), a caged parrot (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key) and a cult-like group of farm ducks, while being chased by a chef who specializes in duck à l'orange.
Once we have details of what Migration the movie is, we can move on to the reviewer's opinion.
Insular lawmaking leads e621, Pornhub to block North Carolinians
Posted by Sonious on Mon 8 Jan 2024 - 19:55Just before the new year chimed in, furries in North Carolina - and a few others nearby - found themselves blocked from accessing well-known fandom imageboard e621, which indicated that they would no longer be serving the state without further discussions with legal experts:
Due to the current legal situation in North Carolina and the uncertainty surrounding it, we will be blocking access to e621.net from North Carolina until we can consult with our legal counsel on this matter. We did not come to this decision lightly and we will do what we can, as we can, to rectify and remedy this situation so that we can restore access to those users that are affected by this matter. We sincerely apologize for this inconvenience and will have an update as soon as possible. - e621 news updates - 2023-12-31
e621 is not alone in this action, as Pornhub has also blocked access to its page in North Carolina.
Newsbytes archive for December 2023
Posted by Anon on Sat 6 Jan 2024 - 09:42Contributors this month include 2cross2affliction, dronon, earthfurst, and GreenReaper.
2023 Furry Charity Index
Posted by Pegla on Sun 31 Dec 2023 - 19:35Welcome to this years’ Furry Charity Index. And first of all, I would like to thank everybody who has been submitting charities, without your help we could not make this video! We will start with a little breakdown of the numbers first, with some examples from every category, then we will vibe with some chill music while we go through all the charities, and boy, are there a lot of them! And in the end we will give out the final numbers and of course, the grand total compared to the previous years.
Normally I try to put all my sources in the description below, but for this video, there are so many, I have linked a google sheet where you can check out the sources. And all the amounts have been converted into US dollars. So...let’s get started!
Trailer: 'Kung Fu Panda 4'
Posted by 2cross2affliction on Sun 17 Dec 2023 - 21:50After 16 years since his first movie and eight years since his last, in Kung Fu Panda 4, the titular panda Po will return March 8 of next year. He's been holding something back for a while now, and as this trailer shows, he's finally going to get it all out of his system. (People might have been expecting it to be bit bigger, actually.)
Review: 'The Boy and the Heron'
Posted by 2cross2affliction on Tue 12 Dec 2023 - 22:15The Boy and the Heron was released earlier in the year in Japan by Studio Ghibli, with no trailer and minimal advertising, the point being made that it is a movie by Hayao Miyazaki from Studio Ghibli. Like, if you know, you know, and if you don't, keep mum because the people who know will judge you. In America, GKIDS is the distributor, and they mostly kept to this same strategy, though as it had already been out in Japan over half the year and had it's Western debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, so they did eventually release a trailer. The film is available in Japanese with English subtitles, or English dubbing; both versions were available at my local cinema, so unless you're situated in a very rural area, it shouldn't be that hard to find your preference. This review is based on the English dubbed version; Ghibli films have traditionally had good English dubbing, and this film is no exception.
Newsbytes archive for November 2023
Posted by Anon on Mon 4 Dec 2023 - 11:17Contributors this month include 2cross2affliction, dronon, earthfurst, and GreenReaper.
Digging up Positivity - November 2023
Posted by Pegla on Sun 26 Nov 2023 - 11:11Hello you! Welcome to the last Digging Up Positivity of the season and trust me, we are ending with a bang... or shall we say squeek? With the Mother of the Dutch Angel Dragons, the Matriarch herself: Telephone. And we also have more charity news, animation, creativity and much more. I just can’t wait to show you all the things! But first the charities.
Review: 'Five Nights at Freddy's' (the movie, not the game)
Posted by 2cross2affliction on Thu 9 Nov 2023 - 20:59Do you like scary movies?
I do. A downside of reviewing movies for a furry site is that you don't get to review horror very much, and when you do, it kind of feels like you're stretching more than a little (not pseudo-apologizing for this one, though, it's awesome). What you end up reviewing mostly is movies whose intended audience is for kids, and though the primary audience of Flayrah seems to be adults, its sometimes important to acknowledge that there are limits to what can and can't be done in a lot of more mainstream productions featuring talking animals.
Which makes it even wierder to finally get to a wide-release horror movie featuring a bunch of characters the furry fandom has embraced (if e621 is any indication), and my most positive response is, "yes, but the kids'll love it!"
Five Night's At Freddy's is a (very soft) PG-13 horror movie, directed by Emma Tammi, and is an adaptation of the 2014 horror video game of the same name, created by Scott Cawthon, who is a credited writer on this movie. The premise features an abandoned "dinner and a puppet show" pizzeria and arcade haunted by ghosts who possess the old animatronic puppet attractions. Though given a theatrical release, it's also available on the Peacock streaming service.
Newsbytes archive for October 2023
Posted by Anon on Fri 3 Nov 2023 - 19:40Contributors this month include 2cross2affliction, dronon, GreenReaper, and Rakuen Growlithe.
Review: 'Captain Laserhawk: Blood Dragon Remix'
Posted by Codes on Thu 2 Nov 2023 - 20:33Captain Laserhawk: Blood Dragon Remix is a Netflix animated series from Ubisoft Film & Television. The executive producer, Adi Shankar, previously worked on Castlevania, another Netflix animated series. The show is loosely based off of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. In fact, this show references multiple Ubisoft franchises, which has led to the show gaining interest online. Most of the notoriety that this show has been gathering has been its depiction of Ubisoft's former mascot, Rayman. I know seeing Rayman swear like a sailor piqued my interest for the show. Luckily, the show is a lot more than just showing beloved gaming mascots swear.
Digging Up Positivity - October 2023
Posted by Pegla on Sun 29 Oct 2023 - 11:49Welcome a new fresh Digging Up Positivity, and with this fresh look we are still going to cover all those amazing charity events in and around the furry fandom, but also LEGO, Chillhop, animation and our special guest is Mylo! A really advanced and amazing photographer from the Netherlands. And if you want to win one of those lovely comfy paw pillows those meerkat pawsby ArtworkTee, stay with us till the very end, but first, the charities.
Current and upcoming animated films (2023-2024)
Posted by dronon on Sat 21 Oct 2023 - 21:27It's been 18 months since the previous list of current and upcoming animated films, so why not do an update? Last time, I thought I did a pretty good search, and then Mink found more.
What's become clear is that thanks to Covid, film distribution is a mess. Some animated films are endlessly delayed, some get shown early at film festivals before getting a limited release up to a year later in their home country, and some just... show up, and it's anyone's guess which streaming services will carry them, or for how long.
For many of the films below, I can't find streaming versions yet - this might be because I'm in Canada. If you find out they're available in your area, let us know in the comments. (Justwatch has been a great help.)
I'll provide ratings from IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes with [I=] and [RT=], if available. This list relied largely on Wikipedia. It's an okay source for older films, but isn't especially reliable for upcoming titles. So this is definitely an incomplete list. For babysitting films, Sturgeon's Law usually applies (90% of everything is crud). But perhaps there will be a few unexpected surprises - time will tell! So first, let's talk trends.
Lookouts - Furry Western where Romeo and Juliet gets a hint of Brokeback Mountain
Posted by Sonious on Wed 18 Oct 2023 - 18:29Lookouts is a visual novel Western adventure where you play as a one armed wolf scout for a notorious gang. The 2022 Ursa Major nominated game is available to play in browser, or pay what you want to download at itch.io. It features art by Coldoggo, music by Jamie, and ParanoidHark composing the story and programming.
The art seems to take inspiration from Northwest Indigenous styling to form simple and effective character silhouettes for use in the story. The form not only lends itself well to the Western format, it makes the artstyle instantly recognizable and stand out from its other visual novel peers.
Gaming Furever relaunches
Posted by JoJoJoshua on Tue 17 Oct 2023 - 21:02Some of you may remember GamingFurever.com! We first launched in 2011 as a place where furries and anthro video game enthusiasts could come together to discuss current happenings, get the latest gaming news for games featuring furries of all sorts, and to host a database of every type of game featuring animal anthros, or games where you play as an animal.
We grew over the next ten years to host an incredibly talented group of volunteer staff and writers who streamed a bevy of games, published quality editorials and reviews only found on GF, and facilitated many new friendships for visitors to the site and community.
In the late 2010s, life for me, as the head of the site, was in flux and busier than ever. It became hard to put as much of a focus on GF as it truly deserved, and maintaining the website in a secure manner became too much of a responsibility to keep it going. To top it off, 2020 was what it was for everyone, and it felt like a good time to go on a bit of a hiatus. Important word: hiatus!
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