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It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for, the winners of the 2019 Cóyotl Awards will be announced TONIGHT via Periscope on our Twitter account! It will be hosted by guild president and Cóyotl Awards chair Linnea “LiteralGrill” Capps alongside a miniature fuzzy co-host in fur suit. In case you have forgotten, here are the works up for the awards this year:

Best Short Story:

“Dirty Rats” by Jan Seigal (The Jackal Who Came In From The Cold)

“Night’s Dawn” by Jaden Drakus (FANG 10)

“Pack” by Sparf (Patterns in Frost: Stories from New Tibet)

Best Novella:

“Minor Mage” by T. Kingfisher

“Love Me To Death” by Frances Pauli

Best Novel:

“Titles” by Kyell Gold

“Symphony of Shifting Tides” by Leilani Wilson

“Fair Trade” by Gre7g Luterman

“Nexus Nine” by Mary E. Lowd

“The Student – Volume Three” by Joe H. Sherman

Best Anthology:

“Patterns in Frost: Stories from New Tibet” edited by Tim Susman

“Fang 9” edited by Ashe Valisca

“Fang 10” Edited by Kyell Gold & Sparf

So don’t forget to tune in tonight and see the winners. We wish all these writers and editors the best of luck and we hope to see you all there!

Baboon! is a new full-color wordless graphic novel from Dark Horse, written and illustrated by Spanish writer and artist Pau (Atlas and Axis). “After the death of its adopted leopard mother, an orphaned baboon wanders the wild in search of companionship and a sense of identity. Luckily for our ape-hero, he stumbles upon the troop of baboons from which he was originally stolen, and falls in love with the troop’s head female. The young baboon will do anything to earn the affection of his new love interest and earn the respect of the animal kingdom while he’s at it.” It’s out now in trade paperback. Comics Beat has a preview.

image c. 2020 Dark Horse Press

OwO What’s this? *A million people notice ur bulge*

Imagine trademarking ‘UwU’ & ‘OwO’. Here’s a story about owning and using ideas.

Original fandom art can be an oxymoron sometimes. The topic started with one furry’s story about John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight:

My fursona’s dick was LITERALLY on national television. — (Reddit)

It's real: pic.twitter.com/sWi26FV7ew

— Changa Lion (@LurkingGrue) June 22, 2020

Here's @RadiantOtter's statement and I got to say they and their knotted otter cock are amazing.https://t.co/lP2sk0Zepp

— Changa Lion (@LurkingGrue) June 25, 2020

Showing the furry porn wasn’t 100% welcome, and even treated as invasive. It made a discussion about permission to share things posted in public.

There are legal technicalities of Fair Use or seeking permission which may not always match popular/practical usage. Many furry sites and accounts would be gone if copyright holders forced them to take down fan art that they thrive on. It can make a lot of grey zone that some artists dive into.

A lawyer could explain (I am not a lawyer), but remember that social media is media, and sharing is valuable to artists.

Source

I don’t usually look at the Furry_IRL subreddit hosting the discussion about this, because why bother with hordes of people you don’t know on a flood of low-effort memes. (Overusing memes gets into what this is about — especially in a case like mass-scraping content from Furry_IRL and reposting it on Twitter to hack/cheat followers for clout and profit.)

In this case the comments got pretty thoughtful. I looked at complaints about showing a tweet without asking for permission first, then looked up articles about it. Many complaints seemed to belong on r/BadLegalAdvice but many saw good sides to it. Tweeting is like shouting in the public square and if you can’t quote stuff people don’t want you to quote, there’d be no reporting (or comedy).

• Quoting Tweets Is Fine, But Twitter Would Rather Not Say So — (Forbes)

The shared tweet literally asked to be looked at by outsiders. It was posted to 330 million Twitter users and beyond, who already gave permission to share. You own the stuff you created but Twitter has license to use it anywhere they want including letting other companies use it.

It doesn’t even look offensive by intention. John Oliver looks like an ally to me:

Source

Furry ally: John Oliver promoted a book about gay rabbits, A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, to troll homophobic politicians (with charity for LGBT youth.)

The John Oliver Rat Porn is making messages to me by journalists, food banks and more. @Newsweek went beyond and called the 90's TV station manager (and quoted my 5 year old article.)

Here's the true story behind 'Last Week Tonight's' rat erotica painting https://t.co/Yiu5kS9WfU

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) March 31, 2020

Keep in mind, I put my money where my mouth is. My articles about the Rat Erotica were a source that got little credit when the media picked up the story 5 years later. For many years I have been putting this content out for free, besides some nice Patreon subscriptions that barely cover a budget to pay artists. (I just love the fandom.) I’m happy to see them shared and sourced by other media.

News is one of the most exploited and least protected areas for this. The news industry is decimated by online sharing, and they don’t know how to preserve revenue and jobs. It’s good for everyone who likes the service and terrible for the service. Especially when it’s so essential in times of crisis. (Do you read the news? Do you pay for it?)

THE WILD WEST OF ART — More about internet creators, influencers and memes.

A tipper talked to me about John Oliver and linked more to think about.

(Me:) I think John Oliver was making a benign wry joke. If he was malicious then I’d say he shouldn’t. It’s nice to blur a handle but I don’t think neglecting to do that is that bad. There’s so many cases where people get mad about credit or call it faked, or it’s a record that matters in the future. I think the TV appearance also helps make it easier for fans to be as bold as you please.

(Tipper:) Here’s some more general copyright/IP stuff with artists, influencers, etc.

The story of Richard Prince and his $100,000 Instagram art — When does appropriation go too far? (TheVerge.com)

This artist is making mega-millions ‘stealing people’s work’ — (NY Post)

That artist enlarges Instagram posts by others, invokes Fair Use and sells them. That’s reaaally pushing it. “The lawsuits are part of the art” … he must be a masochist!

Illustrator Lili Chin Files $1 Million Copyright Suit against Kohl’s — (Artnet News)

Artist Sees Her Own Adorable Dog Drawings On Kohl’s Products, Sues — (Consumerist)

Between quoting by John Oliver’s media company (HBO) vs Kohl’s copying for a product — I liked HBO adding comment while copying art on socks doesn’t do that? But the real issue is if you can afford to defend your work. For 99% of fandom artists, disputes are way below the cost of going to court.

A million here, a million there; sooner or later, these people are talking about real money. One of the legal firms commenting about the Kohl’s case had a ‘best practices guide’ on how artists can protect their work pre-emptively.

Did you see the recent Twitter fiasco with the Bratz dolls CEO?

The Billionaire CEO Behind “Bratz” And “LOL Surprise” Dolls Called A Black Influencer Who Accused Them Of Plagiarism “A Disgrace To Black People” — (Buzzfeed)

Besides the earlier incident a few months ago with the boyband brother who ripped off art from an artist, I’m surprised it hasn’t become more widespread.

Berlin Artist Jonas Jödicke Speaks Up About Aaron Carter Art Fiasco — (Forbes)

For the influencer in the Bratz story, perhaps her claim looks coincidental… but his response is so awful. There can be a big cost from bad PR. 

Those overseas bootleg shirt sites are such a plague too. They offer a product for just a short time and make it impossible to fight theft.

Yeah, total fly-by-night operation. Double-bladed libertarian heaven/hell. Muh free market, & can’t use the government to sue their ass.

Best word for it. I looked into people making money by churning out meme shirts (with slogans, not stolen art) and it looked like a fun and interesting operation if you’re on top of looking at traffic stats. It had quite a shady side too with people poaching each other.

Do they trademark the slogans like “OK BOOMER”?

Maybe they’ll do “Owo what’s this.”

UwU

— U.S. Army Esports (@USArmyesports) June 30, 2020

Trademark ‘UwU’ & ‘OwO’? Imagine doing that, you could be a huge troll on everyone using it.

Well the trollface guy had his original art on DeviantArt, IIRC, he selectively enforced his copyright, disallowing some to not use it.

And Pepe the Frog.

The Maker Of The Trollface Meme Is Counting His Money — (Kotaku.com)

Here’s his copyright claim vs. DeviantArt.

Thanks!

I found a lawyer addressing this: MONETIZING INTERNET MEMES & COPYRIGHT LAW.

“As of mid-2015 Carlos had made over $100,000 through various exploitations of the Trollface (both merchandise licensing, as well as settlements under claims of copyright infringement he brought against various parties).”

But — “The Atlantic just published a story about how making money off Internet memes is becoming harder and harder. The pace of online trends and the time frame for what people think is funny (or at least, funny enough to spend some money on) is too fast to keep up with.”

This makes me think that more niche internet stuff is more likely to show up in bigger media.

Look for more fursona dicks on national TV soon.

UPDATE: why all the crazy views? Where are you coming from… Drop a comment! — Mystery solved: Google recommendation. 

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, please follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Share news on these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for anything — or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here.

One of DC Comics’ most steadfast anthropomorphic characters returns once again with the new Man-Bat miniseries. “For years Kirk Langstrom has struggled with his monstrous alter ego Man-Bat and the serum that transformed him. But he’s finally hit rock bottom following a devastating setback, and he’s going to take out his anger on every single citizen of Gotham City. Will the combined might of Batman and the GCPD be enough to stop Langstrom once and for all? Or will this just be the start of Man-Bat’s devastation?” Issues are in the shops now, written by Dave Wielgosz and illustrated by Sumit Kumar.

image c. 2020 DC Comics

English：https://globalfurrytv.news.blog/2020/07/07/good-furry-award-winners-announced-ash-coyote-named-winner/ 《兽圈》毛兽记录片也许已完成了首映，但还有多一个惊喜正在等待着该片的导演。好兽奖（英：Good Furry Award）是一个表彰毛毛们在兽圈中所表现杰出精神的奖项，他们在今年本届奖项已将Ash Coyote评为其的得主。 网站上的感言表彰了她在帮助他人更好了解兽圈，以及在制作最近的《The Fandom》专题片方面所做出的贡献。 她将收到一张500美元的支票和一个水晶奖杯。 除了她之外，还有三位荣誉奖获得者，他们是： Aleshka Alejandra，她是首个连续两次获得荣誉称号的毛兽 考特尼-“努卡”-普朗特（Courtney “Nuka” Plante），因参与FurScience而闻名，据说他 “做了很多有关帮助消除兽圈的错误信息的工作”，并“支持了他当地的毛兽团体”。 亨特-弗斯基（Hunter Fusky），因其善良和社区精神而被认可。

点击此，读中文版 The furry fandom feature film may have finished premiering, but the director of the film is still in for one more endorsement. The Good Furry Award, an award recognising furries for their outstanding spirit in the furry community, has named Ash Coyote the winner of the Award.  Testimonials featured on the website recognised her […]

English: https://globalfurrytv.news.blog/2020/07/07/the-fandom-boom-furry-docu-film-the-fandom-premieres-thefandom-trends-on-furry-social-media/ 每年7月4日周末，毛兽们会争先恐后地赶往匹兹堡市参与Anthrocon，世界第二大兽展。但由于目前新冠疫情的影响，其及全球许多的展子都被迫取消。 尽管如此，这反而成为了一个“毛兽历史课”之周末——探索了解兽圈多姿多彩的历史，及这如何塑造了今天的毛兽社区。在上周五新加坡时上午8点整，Ash Coyote的毛兽纪录专题片《兽圈》在油管上正式首播，这引来了许多毛兽和非毛兽们的积极反响。 这部近一个半小时的专题片记录了兽圈从初期的小型艺术聚至个横跨全球多国的社区的多年历程。影片透露，兽圈在成长道路上遇到了一些其中包括涉政、媒体和性等等的一些波折，但影片最后将全部包揽在一个纵观兽圈至今的路程及它如何将别人的生活变得更好的放大镜。 我们希望非毛兽的观众们能从这部电影中清楚地了解我们的兽圈；学到说，兽圈并不是什么 “恋物癖社区”，反而只是一些穿兽装到处奔波的一群人——我们是一个充满活力，对拟人艺术感兴趣并为此而庆祝的群体。 我们都是将其中包含的各种不同成分和动力给聚集在一起，希望这（电影）将导致后代对我们的社区有一个更好的理解。 ——导演Ash Coyote 随后，许多毛兽们在推特等等的毛兽社交上对此表示了积极反应。在美国，#TheFandom标签甚至在其成为了潮流。为了表示支持，许多毛毛们向这部电影做出了捐款和鼓励，有些网友们表示，这部电影“给他们带来了对兽圈历史的新尊重”。到目前，该影片在油管上共积累了100万多点击量，许多外语字幕也在此时正在制作中。 《兽圈》中文字幕：https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1JV411674v/

点击此，读中文 The fourth of July weekend in the US is a weekend when furries would race to Pittsburgh to attend the world’s second largest furry convention, Anthrocon, which is cancelled due to the current pandemic. Despite this, instead it became a weekend where furries had a history lesson on the furry fandom’s multicoloured history, and […]

English: https://globalfurrytv.news.blog/2020/07/07/covid-19-and-furries-3-furcons-cancelled-jmof-wild-north-and-alamo-city-furry-invasion/ 本周，有三个，其中包括一个在2021年举办的兽展，全部被取消。 日本兽展Japan Meeting of Furries，之前定于明年1月7至10日举行，已宣布取消。他们的新日期是2022年1月7至9日。 https://t.me/WildNorthUD/61 英国兽展Wild North已被改在明年举行。所有的门票和房间预订都会自动转移到2021本届展。不过，毛兽们仍也可以申请退款，只要他们在英国7月26日午夜之前完成手续，也就是当天新加坡时早上8点，美国东部时晚上7点。他们的新日期是2021年9月24至27日。 https://www.furryinvasion.org/2020-to-2021-faq 位于德州的美国兽展Alamo City Furry Invasion也被改在明年举行。与Wild North一样，所有的门票和房间预订都将转移到2021年。不过，出于经济上的考虑，该展无法提供退款。他们的新日期是2021年10月8日至10日。 这样一来，今年总共有75个兽展被取消，4个被推迟，22个今年将举行。

点击此，读中文版 This week, three furcons are cancelled, that which includes one held in 2021. Japanese furcon Japan Meeting of Furries, slated to be held on 7 – 10 Jan next year, has announced cancellation. Their new dates are 7 – 9 Jan 2022. https://t.me/WildNorthUD/61 British furcon Wild North has moved to next year. All tickets […]

https://youtu.be/Dlneg4AsCeE http://patreon.com/draggetshow http://draggetshow.com shirts - https://dragget.merchminion.com/ https://soundcloud.com/the-dragget-show also on spotify, iTunes, etc. discord: https://discord.gg/xC8e35B telegram: https://t.me/draggetshow Alkali & Boozy on Virtual Anthrocon! - https://youtu.be/Dlneg4AsCeE http://patreon.com/…

今天是夏日祭典開始後的第三天！這次要發布的投稿為穹夜所繪製，作品名稱為Summer Times，請各位獸們一起欣賞穹夜所帶來的精彩作品吧！

作者：穹夜

作品名稱：Summer Times

Have you heard about Dogs Are People Too: A Collection of Cartoons to Make Your Tail Wag? We hadn’t! It’s a collection of full-color dog cartoons (duh) the syndicated panel-comic Speed Bump that writer and artist Dave Coverly published a while ago in book form. Well now, perhaps to give equal time, he has brought us Cats Are People Too: A Collection of Cat Cartoons to Curl Up With. Published under the Square Fish imprint, you can check out a preview over at MacMillan Publishing. Both books should be available now.

image c. 2020 Square Fish

 Content warning for discussion of predatory behavior in the fighting game community. 

We crawled out of our pits of despair to record this week. The bronies are at it again, Texas realizes they've really screwed us, furries of color are going to make a convention of their own and that's a cool good thing, and me too comes to the gaming world again.

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Southpawscast 

Episode 467 - Pony Struggle Session -  Content warning for discussion of predatory behavior in the fighting game community.  We crawled out of our pits of despair to record this week. The bronies are at it again, Texas realizes they've really screwed us,

MOOBARKFLUFF! Click here to send us a comment or message about the show!

No guest this week but we have a great time talking about various subjects and Taebyn has a laughing fit during storytime! Tune in and have a laugh with us!

Support the show

Thanks to all our listeners and to our staff: Bearly Normal, Rayne Raccoon, Taebyn, Cheetaro, TickTock, and Ziggy the Meme Weasel.

You can send us a message on Telegram at BFFT Chat, or via email at: bearlyfurcasting@gmail.com

Bearly Furcasting #10 - Our 10th Episode! Independence Day!

Be sure to see Alkali Friday doing standup on Anthrocon Online! Podcast #230 - The Earl Of Bradsbury - Be sure to see Alkali Friday doing standup on Ant…

夏日祭典活動開跑啦！從今天開始，我們將每三天發表一幅繪師們精采的作品，讓各位獸們在炎熱的夏天中大飽眼福，享受夏日的美好！

在祭典開催的第一天，首先要為各位帶來的是由刺刺所繪製的作品，《夕陽下的夏季》！

作者：刺刺
作品名稱：夕陽下的夏季

Premiering JULY 3, 2020 at thefandomfilm.com.

When the media shows furries, do they get it right?

It’s a constant furry worry. In 2017 it was announced that CNN was making a show about them. Backlash rose about sensationalism, but few critics gave a fair shake to the producers of This Is Life with Lisa Ling. Then it came out and it was “a flat-out advocacy piece on behalf of Furry“, said Joe Strike, a fan since the 1980’s who wrote a book that covers the subculture’s run-ins with bad media.

Joe Strike’s Furry Nation is the essential fandom history book.

Positive response didn’t satisfy every critic. Some asked why the 3 fans featured by CNN didn’t include more diverse people. But the show (with an asian-american woman journalist) got backlash while asking volunteers to raise their paws and be counted. That seems like damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

In answer to this, The Fandom is a documentary made by the fans. It features outstanding writers (like Joe), artists, animators, musicians, costume designers, event organizers and founders. It celebrates the roots with pro quality and appeal for outsiders who might not have given a fair look before.

For decades this subculture has thrived despite adversity. Bad media is one kind, but not the only kind. Some is internal. Some is homophobic. Some is happening right now with this screwy year. There’s even a villain to tell you about.

$10 million worth of trouble

Anthrocon is the 2nd largest furry convention, led by Uncle Kage (Dr. Sam Conway), the longstanding CEO and fandom public relations figure. It was due to bring $9.9 million to Pittsburgh’s economy in 2020. Now it’s among 70 furry cons canceled by COVID-19. The movie is launching anyways on the con’s dates, without opportunities that could have won distribution. (No film fests either.)

In the parallel universe where COVID-19 never materialized, parallel me is at this very minute climbing into a van with my parallel crew, headed to parallel Pittsburgh.

— Uncle Kage (@Unclekage) June 30, 2020

That makes this all-crowdfunded movie even more special and timely.

Time marches on, founders die or get forgotten, and it gets more important to share their stories of how a fandom got its identity. One of them, Mark Merlino, co-founded ConFurence as the first furry con. Imagine seeing one con rise to hundreds! He talks about branching out from other fandoms: “They couldn’t tell what to make of us” (because it’s not based on just one genre or property like Star Wars).

Mark and others define the nature of the beast. Each thread starts with archival sources, then ties them together with current fan interviews.

The story

• Zines: 1970’s-80’s fans started with APA zines where they could see and be seen. Mail was like “slow motion internet” where a reply could take a month. Furry Library curator Summercat talks about it. (More: Unearthing a cool fossil — A 1980’s letter shows furry fandom before the net.)
• Conventions: Mark Merlino and his partner Rod talk about meeting each other as fans, and how many felt alone until they met each other and saw “you draw like this too?” Meetings became parties, clubs, and ConFurence. (More: A brief history of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization, America’s first anime fan club.)
• Internet: Early BBS and MUCK activity brought furries together before the Web, making them one of the first subcultures to rise with it.
• Queering: For artists, using characters as ideal selves helped develop freedom to come out with role play, and band together in their own space.
• Growth: Over time these threads merged into a movement. Artists make a living from it. There’s a new wave of fans turning the old con masquerade into up-close raging dances. Bubbles, the manager of five cons, talks about being one of just a few women among all the leaders.
• Controversy: Growth and freedom pushes limits, and leaders face hard questions. They say sex is something any humans do. The first fursuiter was kinky and gets compared to pin-up art that’s normal to comic fans. Joe Strike talks about bad media and Uncle Kage talks about the challenge of answering it.

It’s not so much a narrative with stakes and a payoff but it does lead up to a conflict.

The villain

Media relations make Uncle Kage bemusedly address rumors of furry cons being “like a Pride fest on acid”.

Kage isn’t the villain, unlike in some media that have painted him like a “family values” propagandist. You can really empathize with his viewpoint when he asks if you’d like to step in front of a camera and answer sex questions while your grandma watches.

You might miss one of the movie’s most key moments if you don’t think about it. A 1990’s group bent on purifying the fandom is featured: the Burned Furs.

In old video, Burned Fur Eric Blumrich says: “I’m not asking people to behave differently than general society, I’m asking them to behave LIKE people in general society.”

His long-gone group isn’t the villain, though. It’s not publicity-hungry media, or even bigoted judgement. The villain is part of a conflict about losing identity:

UwU

— U.S. Army Esports (@USArmyesports) June 30, 2020

That’s a verified brand and a US Army recruiting project using furry fanspeak. Imagine recruiters setting up shop in a con dealer den and making predatory pitches. That’s hyperbole, but it helps show the villain lurking on the edges of The Fandom. It’s conformity.

CONCLUSION

I keep an eye out for all media about furries, and often call the Furry 101 kind boring. The Fandom raises the bar by giving an intimate tour with quality and heart. It’s 95% positive celebration.

Documentaries can show more drama or criticism or bad sides than this really does. But how much negativity do you need in these times? Not to say that this documentary has no opinion — it’s strong advocacy.

The strength in The Fandom comes in context of past fighting about things that come out gently now. They’re natural roots here. In the very beginning it points out that furry fans are heavily LGBT. That developed during the AIDS crisis, and they faced internal member homophobia. But times changed. Elders in the movie are often cis white males, but it also features POC, female and trans members from a newer wave of fans. Publicity about the movie points out the all-LGBT crew, and the director, Ash, is reinventing a career after transitioning and feeling distanced from the industry.

Sex isn’t ignored and that brings up a funny thing. For a few seconds, a vintage 1990’s video lingers on Uncle Kage’s badge and a certain fursona name. It’s like a “dogwhistle” only furries will notice.

The Fandom is recommended to show your friends or family or have a furry movie party. It makes the history time-capsule-worthy. They got it right.

• See it on July 3: thefandomfilm.com
• Papermag.com: This Doc Answers All Your Questions About Furries
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: New documentary ‘The Fandom’ chronicles history of furry nation
• Fuzzball Storytime: “The Fandom” A Documentary About Love and Acceptance

Like the article? These take hard work. For more free furry news, please follow on Twitter or support not-for-profit Dogpatch Press on Patreon. Want to get involved? Share news on these subreddits: r/furrydiscuss for anything — or r/waginheaven for the best of the community. Or send guest writing here.

在这个月里，由于新冠病毒继续发展，来自美洲、欧洲和亚洲的12个兽展被取消并推迟到明年。