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Looking for a comic, might be furry?

Furry Reddit - Sun 18 Aug 2013 - 12:05

I don't actually remember if it was furry or not, but there was a strip featuring two boyfriends. In the one I'm looking for, one of them is growling and sulking, and the other slowly cuddles him into a hug. Sorry if that is too vague, I don't remember much else.

submitted by SqueakerBot
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Categories: News

Furry Crowdfunding Week in Review: 8-18-13

FurStarter - Sun 18 Aug 2013 - 08:36

Stop-motion anthro art with Sanpomichi and The Labyrinth

This week a couple of gentle, warm stop-motion animations. Now, it may be odd, possibly insane, to talk about the warm, sentimental story of the Minotaur of the Greek labyrinth, so we’ll start with a sweet slice of life from Japan, and then move on to the love between a mother and her son.

And then a bunch of other stuff.

Highlights

sanpomichi2Sanpomichi, A Little Oze

It’s hard to find words to describe the delicate, gentle beauty of this film project. I’d begin with “Kind of like the new Miyazaki film, elegant, a little pointless, but the pointlessness is a part of the beauty.” Then I’d try to compare it to “Blood Tea and Red String.” I’d say, “but it’s nothing like ‘Blood Tea and Red String.’ That’s a totally different sort of beautiful pointlessness.” Ultimately I went to Wikipedia, which gave me “Wabi-Sabi,” the delicate beauty given by time, imperfection, repetition, and the basic temporary nature of life.

Protip: you can ALWAYS find the words on Wikipedia.

sanpoSanpomichi is a slice-of-life film project, the story of a mouse who lives with her mother in a small apartment, the first a little worn from caring for mom, the second a bit stubborn, set in her ways, and the two have been in this pattern for some time. The title translates, roughly, as “a path, regularly and thoughtfully walked,” and that sums up the film project–finding beauty in the everyday. It’s a little bit “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” mostly in its artistic style and soundtrack, and a lot quirky, gentle, indie film. Take a look, this kind of storytelling isn’t for everyone, it’s a distinctly Japanese tale, at the same time ordinary and approachable. Cute mice, too.

labyrinth1The Labyrinth

Fair warning, mature subject matter and some NSFW images in KS page.

There’ve been a few movies made of the story of the Minotaur and Theseus. Usually they’re action/horror and don’t end well for the Minotaur, who, fair enough, has the weight of mythology against him. The Labyrinth isn’t guaranteed a happy ending (for the Minotaur, at least) but it’s a sympathetic story, focusing on love and pain in a family torn by epic stress.

labyrinth3Much of the narrative weight of Labyrinth is carried by mother and child, Queen Pasiphae and Asterion. From Pasiphae’s point of view, the story of the minotaur is that of her deformed and savage son, thrown into a labyrinth prison, and then used to terrorize the Greek people as the beast their sons and daughters are sacrificed to. Pasiphae must rescue her son before the darkness, isolation and madness (and Theseus) take him.

labyrinth2Long story short. Literally, since poster Tom Brierton originally created a feature-length film, but cut it to a more realistic 18-minute short–animating a stop-motion feature length film without Hollywood-style backing just wasn’t realistic. Brierton’s models are detailed, sympathetic, frightening. How can you not make a comparison to the mythological monsters of Harryhausen?  Brierton has been limited to cold CGI animation, so–and this is a problem with all Kickstarter animation projects–it’s hard to say what the final vision will look like, but all the elements of the project are laid out on his KS page, and it’s a strong preview of what might be to come.
Note: Images used above are included to promote the work of crowdfunding artists, and are owned by the original creator.

New Projects

Flynn: A Frog’s Journey (Books/Print. Ends: 9/13/2013)
Children’s/YA book, featuring a very stylish tree frog’s quest to restore his wife to health. (Don’t bother watching the “stock footage marathon” video…cover illustration is really strong and vivid!)

Samurai Chinchilla: The Animated Short (Film/Animation/Theater. Ends: 9/12/2013)
Relaunch of the project, now with more stills, concept art, and of course an origami kitsune.

The Labyrinth (Film/Animation/Theater. Ends: 9/12/2013)
Short film: a sympathetic and stop-motion look at the birth and life of Asterius, the Greek minotaur

Monster Derby (Tabletop Games. Ends: 9/11/2013)
A quick and silly board game of racing monsters. (The first 20 seconds of the KS video is particularly worth watching. Maybe not so furry but cute werewolf and minotaur.)

Kitsune: Of Foxes and Fools (Tabletop Games. Ends: 9/11/2013)
A card game of tricky kitsune plotting against foolish mortals, and possibly a tanuki. (Wait for the line in the video, “These are the foxes we’re not using.” Kickstarter proceeds are going toward improving the artwork, so hard to get an idea of the final product.)

Attack to the Pantry (Tabletop Games. Ends: 10/13/2013)
Old School Warner Bros cartoon style card game: Scoundrel animals animals raiding Grandma’s pantry for whatever they can carry away! (Page is mostly in, or originally in, Italian, but the sketchy concept art is fun and universal!)

March of the Art Dolls (Toys. Ends: 10/8/2013)
Ochoa‘s line of art dolls, a variety of expressive and wooly beasts

Dark Stalkers: The Movie (…Meh. Ends: 9/12/2013)
Talbain and Felicia are so cute, I want to love the KS of “Darkstalkers,” but…there is NOTHING in this page worth looking at…

Planet Earth Superheroes (…Meh. Ends: 9/13/2013)
Some cute illustrations in this “Kid Heroes Transform to Super Animals to Save the World” movie pitch, but the long, dull video’s a bit of a killer…

Discord in Equestria (…Meh. Offbeatr prelaunch voting)
…Huh? I’m pretty sure there’s an adult novel/game concept. It involves ponies, and discord. But the concept is more cryptic and garbled than a collection of “Myst” outtakes. Remember: You have only yourself to blame if you let this slip by.

 

Art

Animal Parade (Ends: 9/1/2013)
A faintly creepy interactive art exhibit and collection of colorful, marching animals with huge, staring, dead eyes
All my life I have wanted to be a double-pig early bird. Share this opportunity with me now.

Hunter Clark’s Sublime Creatures (Ends: 9/1/2013)
(NSFW) An artsy collection of animal-headed women, artistic nudes of mothers, mothers-to-be, and madonnas.
More about the beauty of the pregnant female body combined with animal symbolism than hybrids and anthros, but an interesting take on hybrids and lots of African carnivores.

Children’s Products

Rocko, The Christmas Bat (Ends: 8/21/2013)
Soft and friendly story of a forgotten halloween decoration that wants to be a Christmas decoration.

Jason and the Monster King (Ends: 9/13/2013)
Children’s graphic novel/ebook in the “kid hero visits dangerous magical otherworld” genre. Cute costumes and main character design!

Clothing/Costumes

Woof — Dog Themed Pinback Buttons (Ends: 8/25/2013)
Cute, quirky, 1.25-inch buttons for your jacket or whichever. Cute little guys! Cats too.
Scroll down a little, the “extra dog” pins are adorable :) Watch the artist on DeviantArt or FA

HouseBROKEN Clothing’s New Designs (Ends: 9/2/2013)
New additions to Housebroken‘s tee line–amost exclusively, sharp-dressed animal designs.
I’m wearing Pussy Enforcer on casual day this week.

Piki Charms (Ends: 9/21/2013)
Tiny charms for phones, etc, with an amazing range of designs, by DrawWithLaura
The goal is a little high for the nature of this product, but it’s to fund some business capital equipment. But it’s fixed-funding, so no accidental scams.

Comics/Graphic Novels

Birdland (Ends: 8/22/2013)
A comic set in New York City, thick with jazz, noir, murder, and anthropomorphic birds

Déjà Vu (Ends: 8/25/2013)
A sci-fi/fantasy anthro adventure featuring the art of Fox Holliday and lots of canines.
A tight, 20-day Kickstarter campaign, very cool.

Owlgirls (Ends: 9/1/2013)
A “paranormal detective” genre comic, three shadowy sisters touched by the goddess of Death. Oh, they have owl heads.

Caribbean Blue: Volume 2 (Ends: 9/2/2013)
Cat-girls and girl-cats on a tropical island in this colorful manga-style webcomic-turned-print.

Flashy the Overlord (Ends: 9/4/2013)
A graphic novel with simple watercolor illustrations about, possibly, coming of age and taking the throne in a fantasy kingdom.
There’s a strong interactive element in this project, community-building and writing yourself into the plot.

Danger Squad (Ends: 9/9/2013)
Sci-Fi Comedy featuring a crazy captain and malajusted crew, and a nice range of anthro characters and villians.

Woof Yorkers (Ends: 9/12/2013)
Cartoons from the dog park, a “keep the site alive” campaign from Woofyorkers.com
I’m on the fence on this one. Occasionally clever, occasionally cute, but it’s no “Housepets.”

Film/Animation/Theater

Cat’s View Feature Film (Ends: 8/21/2013)
A crime thriller filmed from a cat witness’s point of view, along with information about the life of a feral cat, trap/neuter/return projects, etc.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Blood Brothers (Ends: 8/23/2013)
A short, live-action TMNT film with some amazing props already in the works.
From the people who brought you Marvel Zombies: The Movie: The Trailer…. Disorienting KS video, total lack of business plan, but nice mock-ups.

Anthro: Animating the Soul (Ends: 8/27/2013)
A documentary look at beloved anthro characters and their creators.
Stitchfan has broken this project up into a series of small-goal IGGs, interesting model and I hope to see it succeed!

Werewolves of Predatory Moon (Ends: 9/1/2013)
Indie low-budget “creature feature” with a pack of werewolves and a commitment to costumes rather than CGI.
I can’t imagine what their faux hair budget is. Check the Predatory Moon website for more images.

BiPolar Bears (Ends: 9/1/2013)
Animated series about manic and depressive polar bear twins Manny and Preston (orderilies in a psych institute), the Post-Traumatic Puffins, Randolf the Alcoholic Reindeer, and other friends.
Bleah. The promo vid is “join me in my philosophy” rather than “here’s this cool product idea.” That plus very high goal/60-day campaign is a bad sign.

The Ballad of Thundercluck, Chicken of Thor (Ends: 9/4/2013)
“Half mortal. Half god. All natural chicken.” Short animated film with a celtic style, like a silly Secret of Kells. Ride with Thundercluck into glory!

Sanpomichi, A Little Oze (Ends: 9/9/2013)
Stop-motion film of a mouse’s daily life, her habits, her family challenges. Graceful slice-of-life.
I’d love to watch this back-to-back with Blood Tea and Red String. For contrast.

Tabletop Games

Ponies for Pathfinder Setting Handbook (Ends: 8/24/2013)
A MLP-inspired tabletop RPG setting handbook–inspired by, but not derivitive of.
You may want to look at the Ponies for Pathfinder Racebook first. The writer seems to have tried to create a legitimate stand-alone product, not a MLP mashup or comedy piece. So, points for a clear goal.

Havok & Hijinks (Ends: 9/24/2013)
A disturbingly cute card game: you play a dragon hatchling that got kicked out of the parent’s den, and now it’s time to find your OWN hoard!

Toys

The Kingdom (Ends: 9/4/2013)
Epic adventure with anthro monkey warriors–first graphic novel series, now a line of action figures.

Video Games

Fable Kart (Ends: 9/1/2013)
Multiplayer kart game in which the hare, turtle, and lots of animal friends crash and zoom around as they try to rescue the pages from Aesop’s storybook.

Edo Superstar (Ends: 9/5/2013)
Monkey-on-monkey fighting game with an ancient Japanese flavor from the maker of Yukiyoe Heroes (favorite video game characters as ancient Japanese block woodcuts.)
Honestly, I really don’t care about the game. I want the SWAG.

Adult

Chimera Labs (Ends: 8/27/2013)
Lovingly–that’s the word–detailed adult toys by Kharnak
I would like to meet the fennec fox that had one of those. They don’t usually grow that big…

Roundscape: Adorevia (Ends: 9/10/2013)
An ambitious and smutty narrative-driven free-to-play 2D sprite game, looking for some floating decimal point between the hentai fandom and “Lord of the Rings.”
I don’t think Lord of the Rings had quite as many money shots. Is this a furry project? Not really, but poster Kaliyo tells me that we can expect furry companions and transformations. We’ll see.

No Good Deed: A Macrophilic Choose-Your-Own-Adventure (Ends: 9/13/2013)
A multi-ending illustrated book-on-CD, with transformations, macro growth, and the occasional demigod. And lots of naked giant dragon critters.
Look for DNA‘s work on FA.

…Meh

Jax the Cat (Ends: 9/1/2013): A children’s comic series of talking cats, and a few talking mice. Very Don Bluth, and like Bluth’s work a mixture of charm and pain.
Out-Rigged Project (Ends: 9/12/2013): I wholeheartedly believe there’s an anthro video game concept in this wacky mish-mash of vague ideas, furry denial, wiki references, and typos…

…Causes

Dog houses for rescued wolf-dogs (Ends: 8/24/2013): Project Pawsitive’s campaign to raise money to upgrade wolfdog repair and shelters at the Loki Clan Wolf Refuge.
Save Virachey Park (Ends: 9/10/2013): Campaign to install motion-trigger cameras in Virachey park, Cambodia, to show it’s a worthwhile preserve of endangerd species. Do it for the dholes!

…Just For Fun

La Divina Caricatura (Ends: 10/1/2013): An American Bunraku-style (Japanese puppet theater) production, a pop opera with a few beautifully done anthro puppets, worth a visit to the IGG for the characters.

Categories: News

Furry Needs a Father Figure

Furry News Network - Sun 18 Aug 2013 - 07:57
Author: Hi Papabear, Greetings from Brazil! My question is if it’s worth to try a homosexual relationship and risk to lose my family love or at least not going to be like before, just for knowing me better? (I going to tell you just a little something about me, just to you understand me, I […]
Categories: News

Animation: ‘Planes’ vs. ‘Wings’

Furry News Network - Sun 18 Aug 2013 - 05:38
Author: Fred What is the difference between Planes and Wings? Quality. On August 9, Planes hit the movie theaters, while Wings hit the Walmart video bins. Jerry Beck has the story and a trailer on his Animation Scoop website. YouTube has the complete Wings, but in the original Russian. What is the similarity between them? […]
Categories: News

Artist claims work stolen from IndyFurCon parking lot, offers reward

Furry News Network - Sun 18 Aug 2013 - 02:38
Author: Higgs Raccoon Kigai Holt is an artist whose works include anthro art. Although not considering himself a furry, and not being deeply involved in the furry fandon, Kigai attended last weekend’s IndyFurCon 2013 to sell commissions in the Artists’ Alley. According to journals posted on deviantART and Fur Affinity, Kigai enjoyed the convention and […]
Categories: News

Disney promises “odd couple” furry flick ‘Zootopia’ in 2016

Furry News Network - Sat 17 Aug 2013 - 23:38
Author: Fred Zootopia (working title). A Disney animated movie about talking animals. How original! Amid Amidi reports on his Cartoon Brew website about Disney’s plans to produce a 2016 animated feature about a fox and rabbit “odd couple” in a world of talking animals. Let’s hope this gets farther than Silly Hillbillies on Mars. (Hey, […]
Categories: News

FC-135 Legal Dick

Furry News Network - Sat 17 Aug 2013 - 23:38
Author: studio@xanacreations.com (..::XANA::.. Creations) http://furcast.fm/logos/furcast-2013.png A crazy five person show with antics, humor, and great discussion. Download MP3 (Right-click, Save) Stories: Paradox and Microsoft’s Jeff FreezeFrame Car Problems News: Only 22% of Furries are GAY Director Byron Howard to Helm Disney’s Buddy Action Comedy ZOOTOPIA for 2016 Release Man charged with rubbing buttered toast on […] FC-135 Legal Dick
Categories: News

"Trinity" My three fursonas

Furry Reddit - Sat 17 Aug 2013 - 19:43
Categories: News

Shitty day by *Imalou on deviantART

Furry Reddit - Sat 17 Aug 2013 - 19:03
Categories: News

Let’s Talk About Sex

Love ◦  Sex ◦  Fur - Sat 17 Aug 2013 - 13:00

I spend a lot of time burying myself in the fandom, reveling in the connections we build and giving back in the best ways I can manage.  I’m not a good artist (just trust me on this – it’s best for everyone if I don’t draw), and my music career stalled after I graduated college: I’ve not yet found the means to jump-start it.  When it comes to fiction, I’m afraid I have more ideas than I have motivation.  It’s not a good combo, really, as I wind up with (quite literally) notebooks full of ideas with all of two stories to show for it.  I have a doofy time-travel story that somehow managed to involve choir music, sigh, and a short piece of erotic fiction that involves two foxes and some milkshakes.

I’m not an excellent writer.  My prose is loose, and the fact that keeping it that way is the only way I can manage to get anything done does not speak well for improvement down the road.  I can pull a mean metonymy, I’m average at alliteration, and if I squint for a while, I’m sure  I can squeeze out a metaphor, but I have no formal training in writing beyond the minimum required to graduate high school, and whatever it took to get my music degree.

What I do have going for me, however, is words.  I’ve got a lot of words.

So: lets sit down and have a little chat about sex.  Or – wait, cancel that.  Let’s have a grand discussion about it

In my delving within the fandom, I have wound up involved in a few projects, and one of those is the delightful, rather fuzzy book club Bookmarfs!.  The club is a very open affair, though we’ve got regular participants in the form of myself, my partner Forneus, a most excellent fox, Peri, TabbieWolf, and the inimitable Lunostophiles.  When we somehow managed to boil this month’s book down from a choice of <book about sex>, <book about heterosexuality>, and <essays on patriotism>, to <book about sex>, I was a little surprised, though hardly displeased.  All three were quite good, and while I do hope we get to Straight: The Surprisingly Short History of Heterosexuality and The Partly Cloudy Patriot sometime in the future, Mary Roach’s Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex has been a very interesting read, and there’s one passage in particular that I’d like to share:

The media’s ubiquitous coverage of sex and sex research – as well as the genesis and population explosion of TV, radio, and newspaper sex advisors – have chipped away at the taboos that kept couples from talking openly with each other about the sex they were having.  Bit by bit, sex research has unraveled the hows, whys, why-nots, and how-betters of arousal and orgasm.  The more the researchers and the sexperts and the reporters talked about sex, the easier it became for everyone else to.  As communication eases and knowledge grows, inhibitions dissolve and confidence takes root.

I think a lot about the ways in which we, as a culture, move forward.  JM and I have both written about it over on [adjective][species]; about the ways in which both conformity and transgression, each in their place, help to advance both individuals and society.  I think that the two writing platforms of [adjective][species] and LSF embody this nicely, when we get down to it.  Sure, there’s some mixing – there’s quite a bit of transgression on [a][s], and there’s bound to be a fair bit of conformity here on LSF!  Still, though, our whole point is to move things forward, whether it’s through reinforcing the ideas that tacitly pervade the fandom, or by challenging the very ideas that many hold dear.

The previous quote from Bonk comes from a section about the ways in which Masters and Johnson changed viewpoints with their publication of Homosexuality in Perspective in 1979. The book is admittedly not without its problems – the second half of the book apparently could be read as a tract on curing homosexuality, though I’ve not read it for myself.  The first half of the book, though, was spent dissecting the differences in sexual interaction between homosexual and heterosexual couples, whether they’d been together for years or simply assigned to be together that night by the researchers.  Between homosexual couples, Masters and Johnson noted, there was much more attention to one’s partner and much less attention to, to paraphrase Mary Roach, the author of Bonk, goals.  Rather than focusing on the goal of orgasm, the sexual act shifted on the act of providing pleasure.

As Roach admits in the quote, much has changed in the nearly 35 years since the publication of Homosexuality in Perspective.  Never mind problems in the HiP study, nor even social attitudes towards sexual orientation, the discussion around sex itself, as the author insists, has shifted.  We are becoming more open about sexuality (the reasons for which include, not least of which, commercial opportunity), and by virtue of becoming more open in general, we are becoming more open specifically within our relationships.  The taboos that dog us through the ages don’t stand in the way quite as often as they used to, and are easily knocked down by more knowledge, more discussion, and being more open.

They’re not gone completely, however, and that’s why, to paraphrase Vi Hart, so long as we construct barriers for ourselves, we always find ways to deconstruct them as well; and we will always construct those barriers.

To that end, I’d like to announce the first of (hopefully) several guides published and distributed freely within the furry fandom: The Love ◦ Sex ◦ Fur Guide to Safer Sex.

JM and I have been discussing such a thing in various guises for quite a while now, and I’ve spent the last month or so laying the groundwork for such a project.  The idea is simple: to provide a short, accurate guide or guides for distribution within our subculture to accomplish the simple goal of disseminating more information.  This is the heart of Mary Roach’s point in the quote above, it’s the fact that underpins the very existence of the [adjective][species] projects, and it’s the one thing mentioned over and over again whenever an idea such as this is mentioned.

Furry is nothing if not participatory, however, and so here’s the twist: all of the guides are open sourced.  Not will be, but already are, have been from day one.  “Open Source” has almost certainly permeated most aspects of our culture by now, but it’s still worth clarifying.  Anyone with the will to do so is free to make changes to the guides.  They are not, of course, open to vandalism – changes must be approved before they are merged in with the master copy – but they are open to everyone to not only suggest, but to be proactive and make corrections, to add information, and to extend the base of knowledge. We’ll get to the how in a bit.  First, though, let’s get into some goals and planning.

Rather than spend time listing what this is not, let me just explain a little bit of where I’m coming from on this.  I’m not a very sexually active person, despite my part in a site such as this.  Even between my partners and I, acts that even I would consider sex are decidedly rare, to the point where I would be comfortable with the label “gray-aseuxal” at the moment, in that sex sort of falls into this weird gray area.  Labels and identity are always in flux, of course, but I mention this primarily as a preface to the fact that despite that, we make it a point to talk about sex a lot.  A lot. If we could be said to have a favorite thing to talk about, it’s probably sex.  It’s in these discussions that we’ve come across the most internal strife in values instilled by parents, society, and even some parts of the furry fandom.  Sex, like many topics shrouded in taboo, also carries a lot of negative weight for people, and my primary interest is that of sex positivity.

Sex positivity is one of those topics almost certainly in need of its own article (or several), but in short, the idea is that sex and the discussion around it should never be a negative experience.  That was my tweet-length description, but we asked on Twitter a while back, and got several additional replies: “That each person has the right to express sexuality to their own degree without being made to feel bad about it”, and “it means accepting that a complex area of human interaction exists and is full of nuance that requires careful consideration”, and “sex positive means treating sex in a mutually joyous, consensual, fun, and funny manner.  It’s an expression of love, but not the only one by far, nor is it the only physical one” were just a few of the examples.

The primary goals of the first guide are:

  • Accurate and up to date information on safer sex, and
  • A safe and positive outlook on sex and sexuality.

Beyond that, we aim to make it as inclusive as possible, as well as pertinent within the fandom.  It should be interesting, fun, and worthy of discussion, just like the act itself.  And so with that, have at it!  Read, share, and contribute!  It’s all available here.

How it works

The guides are hosted, all together, in one git repository on GitHub.  A git repository is simply a folder of files that a program, called git, knows about.  Git is a distributed revision control system: it knows how to track changes made over time (the revision control system part), and it lets anyone work with the entire project at once or even host copies of it (the distributed part).  GitHub is a website that hosts these repositories in such a way that anyone can contribute to them.  This means that you can grab a copy of the entire set of guides (a process called forking), make the changes you want, save those changes back up to GitHub (a process called pushing), and then ask us at LSF to consider merging your changes in (a process called a pull request).  This is, by necessity, a very brief overview, but GitHub not only has some excellent documentation on the process at the top of their help page, but also a client for Windows that helps make the process much, much simpler.  If you need any additional help with git, please feel free to ask!  You can contact me directly at makyo@adjectivespecies.com.

Once you have made a change and created a pull-request on GitHub, try to get some input on the changes you’d like to make!  I’ll do my best to review every request that comes my way, but we’d like to have two positive reviews for each pull request to be merged, unless it’s something trivial such as fixing spelling or markup.  At that point, the branch will be merged into the master branch, and changes will go live soon thereafter on the site.  Additionally, once we get print versions of the guides, those changes will be merged and made available wherever the print versions will be distributed.  There’s more information on the whole process on the repo page on GitHub.

If you don’t wish to contribute directly – whether you don’t wish to have a safer-sex guide in your list of contributions on GitHub, or you simply don’t want to bother with git – that’s also fine!  If you have a change you’d like to make, you can simply tell us about it (or send us a diff) by emailing the address above.  I’ll work to create a branch to represent your work under my own account, and then offer it up for review, anonymously if you so choose.  If you don’t want to go as far as actually modifying the guide itself, you can also open an issue, which someone else can then resolve.  The goal is to make it as easy as possible to manage contributions, and we don’t want to leave anyone out!  Additionally, you can always help review upcoming changes (here is an example of a proposing changes), which will be announced here and over Twitter.  You can do that through email, as well.  Our primary needs for those are:

  • Making sure the information is accurate (we use the CDC as our benchmark),
  • Making sure the information is relevant (the guide should be clear and concise, and hopefully at least a little furry), and
  • Making sure the information is presented well (is it furry, does it look good, etc).

There are other ways in which you can contribute, as well – not only will we be having more guides coming up soon (the next planned is on relationships, along with the [a][s] guides for fursuiting and convention attendance), but we’ll also need a few pieces of art for each!  Finally, you can always help by spreading the word and getting these guides out there.  After all (say it with me)…

More information is better!

автоматы бесплатно скачать лягушки

Categories: News

FA United - When should I go?

Furry Reddit - Sat 17 Aug 2013 - 12:32

I just noticed that FA United is going on this weekend and is not far from me! I've never been to a con before. Should I hurry and get over there today, or will it still be going strong tomorrow? How late does it go tonight? I see there are events until 10pm, but are vendors still there that late?

Thanks! Kiiiinda nervous, kiiiinda excited.

submitted by pinklloyd
[link] [5 comments]
Categories: News

Furry Needs a Father Figure

Ask Papabear - Sat 17 Aug 2013 - 11:49
Hi Papabear, Greetings from Brazil! :D

My question is if it's worth to try a homosexual relationship and risk to lose my family love or at least not going to be like before, just for knowing me better?

(I going to tell you just a little something about me, just to you understand me, I hope you don't worry :x)

From the beginning, I am very thoughtful before take any decision, and I see all things that involves to nothing go wrong, harm others and not make mistakes (I know no one can live a life without do mistakes, but I try to avoid them as much as I can), and I am a perfectionist, I never had much friends, just a few and real good friends, most of the part I am antisocial, shy, I was always was trying to be funny at all time just to see one smile and make me happy :D, and never had much experiences in my life and I am beginning to be more open to them (Think less and do more I suppose). I've never been attracted to a woman or to man. I never kiss or a girl or boy. I'm starting to think I'm going crazy thinking so much about my sexuality and what I want in my life.

I grew up with my parents always fighting, my father always beat my mother real bad, and arrived at a point my mother gathered the courage to ask for a divorce (I was 13), finally she'll never have to suffer at his hands again (I live with her and my two sisters), he has to pay child support to me and my sisters but he paid only one year, he was forced to pay up until we reach 18 years, but he fled to avoid paying more and I never had contact with him again, so I begin my adolescence (14 years) without a father, now literally(when I lived with him was as if I was not his son, so much so that he said to my mom that he wanted a DNA Test), within my 14 years until my 18 I have spent more attracted to men than women, I wonder sometimes for lack of a presence of a father and I live with just my mom and my sisters, I may have been more influenced in some way by them having a more feminine, like this was going to me with the years, I always see them with boyfriends, hugging, kissing, leaving home to have fun at parties, I do not know. What I believe is that all this can be only psychological and spend, can not be? 

I think my parents is going to accept that, but not very well because no one in my family is homosexual neither bisexual, I will be a disappointment to my family as they themselves have said(in a moment of jest, but seriously saying), I love my grandparents, uncles, cousins from part of mother, from part of my father I lost contact with them also, I fear they going to make the talk harsh every time, look at me with a face disappointment and sadness(90% sure) and at worst lose touch with them too, without telling my friends that possibly lose it.

I don't even want to imagine lose all of this just for confirm what I feel and try it. It's too much. If I try and like and lose my family love, not try and continues normally or try and lose my family love and see that this is not what I want and lose all?!

Signed,

Sieg

P.S: Sorry if I wrote wrong, I hope you can understand what I wrote, you are the best! XD

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Dear Sieg,

I believe you are the first Brazilian to write Papabear. Thanks for your letter :-3 Your English is a lot better than my Portuguese, and I believe I understand what you are asking me, so no worries there.

I believe what you are experiencing has more to do with the lack of a strong father figure in your life than with your necessarily being gay. You might or might not be gay, but what is more likely is that you are simply sexually confused because you don’t have a strong role model in your life.

(Before I continue, a note to readers: I am not saying here that children raised by two fathers or two mothers cannot be socially well adjusted—heck, there are some women out there who make better male role models than men; what I will be talking about is statistical evidence of the negative impact on boys—especially heterosexual boys—without strong father figures in their lives.)

Studies have shown that boys who grow up without fathers (or with bad father figures) in their lives are more prone to drug use, do less well in school, are more likely to get into trouble with the law, have a harder time feeling like they belong anywhere, and are more confused about their sexuality, sometimes acting out in inappropriate, even harmful ways.

Therefore, before you worry about deciding where you stand on your sexuality, what you desperately need is a strong male role model in your life. I would suggest that you find someone like that with whom you can spend good quality time; someone who can help you learn to be a man, which is something your mother and sisters are not going to be able to do. This can be an uncle, or a grandfather, or perhaps a teacher, a coach, or an employer. You need a strong, older man in your life because your wife-beating, son-denying, hateful father was not a real man.

Once you find someone like that, spend as much time as you can with him, whether it is working a job, or learning something, or doing something recreational. You need this in your life.

Concentrate on this relationship, and don’t worry so much, for now, about your sexuality. You clearly don’t really know what your sexuality is at this point, so don’t try to “come out” to your family about being gay when you might not actually be gay.

I hope you can find someone like this in your life. Write again soon and let me know how you’re doing.

Papabear