Digging up Positivity - Furry charity and good news - May 2021

Ah, welcome to the May edition of digging up positivity. Slowly the world is recovering. All over the world we see events starting up again and I look forward to the moment I can travel again and see my friends abroad.

This episode we have several events, both virtual and ‘classic’, raising money for charity, Furry awards, a lot of meerkats and our special featurette is Pawsry, the driving force behind Global Furry Television, a staple from the Asian furry fandom.

But first, lets see what we have done for charity this month!

AnthroExpo

AnthroExpo, this year they held their convention on a virtual island because their theme was ‘shipwrecked’, but besides neat little places to explore, and an awesome convention stream to watch on the central place on the island, they raised $1,190.52 for the Asian Mental Health Collective and $1,127.52 was voluntarily donated by their kind guests to keep their own organization up and running.

Lynn

In The Netherlands, several kind critters made sure one that Lynn, a well loved member who loves all kinds retro, got a the funds to get a new laptop by raising $1,724, making sure she can continue to be creative and keep in contact with her friends.

Banjo-Tooie Speedfun

Adler the Eagle and his beloved Blaze raised $5,289 for the Cincinnati Tradition Drum & Bugle Corps while streaming the classic Banjo-Tooie for the Nintendo 64. An incredibly long stream that had so many fun moments and in the end the results were amazing.

Shep’s Wheelchair

Another great example on how the fandom can come together in support for one of their own. Over $5,000 was raised for Shep for her new wheelchair, greatly increasing the quality of her life. I wish her much love.

FurDU

And with everything recovering, we also have the ‘classic’ fur con returning. Our friends down under enjoyed FurDU, and they supported not one, but two charities. $4,308.95 was split between Fresh Start Rescue and NSW Rural Fire Service and Donation Fund.

Ursa Major Awards

This month the results of this year's Ursa Major Awards are in, and amongst the winners we have some previous guests of Digging Up Positivity! Like Rick Griffin, who won with his comic HousePets and Ash Coyote, who won ‘Best
Anthropomorphic Non-Fiction' work of 2020 with the documentary ‘The Fandom’. While this documentary can be viewed online, there is also a Blue-Ray version and if you want have a chance of getting a free copy, please respond to this video saying you are interested, and between these comments I will pick a random winner. Which will be announced at the end of next months’ video.

I really do recommend to check out the rest of the nominees and winners of this excellent award show. Maybe you will be introduced to some amazing work you haven’t seen before!

Good Furry Award

Speaking of awards, another staple in the fandom is Pappa Bears’ Good Furry Award. Every year several upstanding members of the fandom get nominated, and I was humbled to find out I was nominated as well. Past winners are Ash Coyote and Tony Barrett, also known as Dogbomb, both wins are very well deserved. Votes can still be cast on their website until the end of this month, so be quick! Like a meerkat chasing a nice scorpion.

Meerkat Manor returns

As a meerkat, of course I followed the adventures of the Whiskers family with Meerkat Manor. They will actually return! This time focusing on the next generations with Meerkat Manor: Rise of the Dynasty. It's a BBC America co-production with Oxford Scientific series, and will run weekly starting June 5th on BBC America. But on AMC+ you can see the first episode this weekend: May 28th.

Meerkat pups born in Amesfoort Zoo

Speaking of adorable meerkats, the Dutch Amersfoort Zoo, 3 little meerkats born! After two decennia they finally had a good match between a couple with this wonderful result. Things are going well, and I can’t wait to see them!

Welcome to O’Town

In April, Euni Cho uploaded a short animation she made at Sheridan College about a bunny travelling to the big city in the hopes of becoming a successful musician, but faces the challenges of adapting to her new home. The gentle atmosphere combined with the soft colours really makes this animation stand out. And of course, the link is in the description or at the top "i' sign right there.

Behind the scenes of the Mitchell vs. The Machines

Let it be known that I love animation, especially when people try to think outside the box. This was one of the reasons why I loved Into the Spiderverse. Not just because the story was well paced, the sound track was popping, but the animation style just struck me! And I was very pleasantly surprised by the Mitchells vs The Machines. And the more I started to look into the movie, the more Easter eggs and little nods I found!

Netflix Film Club has released a few little videos where they worked towards the style they did. And before you start to look around for videos pointing out all the lovely references and Easter eggs, be warned that you will wear out your pause button, because they are everywhere, from the design to the robots, to the shape of the PAL building down to the name PAL itself!

Bowsers Voice

One of the game series that I played throughout my life is Super Mario. From the NES version, and yes, even the Atari 2600 one, all the way up to my little trusty Switch. But I did not realize the rich and tumultuous history of the voice behind Bowser was.

Thomas Game Docs released a lovely video behind Bowsers voice detailing it all! Did you know Bowser in Smash Brothers is purely animal sounds? While in other games he speaks fluent English? Of course the fluent English is not done by animals, come to think of it. But his current voice actor had no prior experience other then a Scooby Doo voicemail. Not even joking. But he is doing a great job!

If you want to learn more about the history behind Bowser's voice, I do recommend you check out the link the description, or go to it using the "i" button.

Featurette

Discord interview with Pawsry from GFTV

Outtro

Thank you so much for sticking with us until the very end of the video. I am happy to announce that I am now working together with the excellent people behind Artworktee.com and soon you will be able to get your paws on some exclusive Thabo merchandise, ranging from lovely pins, T-shirts with designs I made myself, but also excellent artists such as Silverfox.

Seriously, that guy made the best drawing of myself ever! One of the reasons why I chose for Artworktee is because besides excellent products and a proper customer service, they also raised over $80,000 for various charities so far.

But with this all, I could not have done it without you all, and a special thanks goes out for my channel sponsors, both on Patreon and Subscribestar:
Cosmik with a K
Els Deckers
Falconeo
Hanzana
Ishnula
Kitako
Tantroo McNally
Taross
Score Chaser

We will return on the 26th, thank you all so much, and of course, all the hugs!