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submitted by QtPlatypus
[link] [8 comments]

...and here's a nice follow-up video to the article of humans training dogs to bark.

It’s a question that tends to arise when a neighborhood mutt sees a cat at 3 a.m., or if you live in an apartment above someone who leaves their small, yapping dog alone all day: Why do dogs bark so much?

Perhaps because humans designed them that way.

submitted by SamuraiSmurfette
[link] [1 comment]

An adult male fox is a 'Reynard', a female is a 'Vixen', and a group of foxes is called a 'skulk', an 'Earth', or a 'troop' of foxes. All this just goes to show that people who make up labels are idiots, since none of these words even come close to the truth. A fox is awesome. A male fox is awesome, a female fox is awesome, and a group of foxes is just about the most awesome thing that could ever happen. No, foxes are so cute, I need a new label just to describe them. From now on, foxes are Awesomegreateriffic.

Nightmarish images from a French campaign to stop the spread of AIDS.
(Nightmarish unless you're an arachnophile, I guess.)
NSFW.
[link]

submitted by Rad2
[link] [comment]

From the FurAffinity Twitter: We are currently investigating an issue with site access. Please hold.

It is unknown at this time if they are under a DDoS attack or if there has been a problem with the database.  The site currently reads:

System Error
Database responded: Too many connections!

Update from Dragoneer:

Dragoneer wrote:

We’re working on resolving it. It was a problem with MySQL. We’re going to be restarting the services and running checks on the system, just be sure.

1:00am EDT:

http://twitter.com/#!/furaffinity/status/85935654235680768

@furaffinityFur Affinity The site’s back. Services will be slow while the database re-caches (usually takes 10-15m).

 

Author: toonces
Okay everybody, we had a good time talking about dongers and hoohahs and what have you, but now it’s time to remember that we’re all going to die and there’s not a damn thing any of us is going to do about it, and if you can’t deal with it, just go ahead and go crazy. Why not? It went well enough for Newberg, the aging taxidermist at the heart of this week’s story from Not Tube. Inside his head, the chattering of stuffed animals fleshes out the various subsets of a broken man’s mind.

We hope you enjoy the podcast! Sure hope it’s better than swallowing yourself into the black and endless!… Read more..

Find the full article here: The Bad Dog Book Club » Podcast

The contents of this Podcast may have adult language and adult themes. The content is not produced by Furry News Network, but is posted for your convenience.

Stolen from RazorWulff:
http://www.961kiss.com/cc-common/gallery/photos.html?album_id=186111&p=17189504#/0/17189504


342 pictures with the radio personalities featuring AC attendees... I'm sure a lot of you will see yourselves in this gallery!!


I wasn't there, but maybe you were?
-J

Author: crossaffliction

Though it led the race at the box office this weekend, Cars 2 has become Pixar’s first critical failure after over a decade of critically acclaimed films.

This dismal showing with critics, plus new rules for the Academy Award for Best Picture, may have opened up the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for furry movies, with Rango and Kung Fu Panda 2 both currently top (if early) contenders for the title.

Cars 2 currently has a aggregate score of 33% on Rotten Tomatoes – considerably lower than previous Pixar pictures, most of which are above 90%. Critics lambasted the mediocre storyline, kid-unfriendly violence and dependence on a character (Larry the Cable Guy as Tow Mater) who many found annoying. Most reviews begin with a variation of the line “it had to happen sometime,” and agree that the animation itself is top notch.

Academy rules

According to the Academy, a year must contain at least eight animated movies released to theatres for the award to be presented; there are currently 18 listed on the Animated Movie Guide for 2011. In a year where 16 or more movies are released, the shortlist grows from three to five. However, not all movies listed may qualify, and there have only been two years in which five features were nominated.

New rules affecting movies released in 2011 require that at least five titles be nominated, and up to five more if the Academy feels they deserve it. Cars 2 would have been less likely to make the cut even if it had been a critical darling.

Past victories

Pixar has won Best Animated Feature five times since the award’s inauguration in 2002, and has never failed to gain a nomination. For the last two years, a Pixar feature has also been nominated for Best Picture. However, the shortlist contained ten pictures in those years. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is the only animated movie to be nominated to a shortlist of five titles.

Though animated movies are unlikely to win Best Picture for the foreseeable future, nomination virtually assures a victory in the Best Animated Feature category. Up and Toy Story 3’snominations gave them a distinct edge over distinguished (and furrier) challengers such asFantastic Mr. Fox and How To Train Your Dragon.

This year it seems to be a moot point, as Cars 2 will probably be lucky to get a nomination for Best Animated Feature, with multiple titles from multiple studios making decent runs for the title.

Stiff competition

Rango currently holds the year’s best wide-release animated movie score on Rotten Tomatoes, with Kung Fu Panda 2 right behind. The original Kung Fu Panda was nominated for the award. Rio, another furry contender, is also ”certified fresh,” and has a decent studio pedigree.

Other upcoming movies with furry themes and decent chances of nomination include Winnie the Pooh (with its traditional animation and Disney heritage giving it an edge), A Cat in Paris (the Academy likes to round out the Best Animated Feature shortlist with a smaller-release animated film) and Happy Feet 2 (the original Happy Feet beat out Cars for the award). Less likely furry contenders include Puss in Boots – probably too commercial for the Academy – and the smaller release The Lion of Judah, with a current rating of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The biggest challenge to a furry victory may come from none other than Steven Spielberg, who is directing his first animated movie this year, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn. Just being a Spielberg directed movie could get it on the ballot.

Though 2011 is shaping up to be a good year for furry films at the Academy Awards, it’s possible that none of these films may win the fandom’sUrsa Majors, with the homegrown Bitter Lake throwing a twist into possible nominations. Cars was nominated for an Ursa Major in 2006 as an example of anthropomorphism, despite receiving the poorest ever reviews for a Pixar movie; its sequel is unlikely to manage that in such a furry-rich year.

 

submitted by Jezon
[link] [14 comments]

submitted by HappyWulf
[link] [10 comments]

Howard Stern reports about AC this year.

http://www.shabooty.com/2011/06/28/howard-stern-show-interviews-attendees-at-furry-convention-anthrocon-2011-audio-pause.php

submitted by Rad2
[link] [21 comments]

For some time now, more and more furry fans have been learning about an annual art project: The Rare Anthros Calendar. Each year, a group of artists get together, each one creating a painting of a ‘rare’ animal, anthropomorphized. Now the definition of “rare” has changed each year.  In 2011, the theme was extinct animals. For 2012, the theme is mythical creatures, and recently the roster of artists for the 2012 calendar was announced. It includes the artists known as: Ashalind, CentraDragon, Tiina Purin,  Donna Quinn, Mike Love, BubbleWolf , AlectorFencer, Katmomma,  Qzurr, Nimrais, Heather Bruton, Bloodhound Omega, Windfalcon, and Kaji. Yes, that’s 13 in all: It’s a baker’s dozen of mythical creatures! Including such legendary beasts as the unicorn, the dragon, the gryphon, and the jackalope, as well as more obscure (rare?) mythicals such as the tanuki and the peryton. You can visit the official Rare Anthro Calendars Deviant Art Page to find out more about ordering next year’s calendar. There you’ll also find links to the pages for the previous years’ calendars, some of which are still in print as portfolios.

By Nikolai

Simple observations on the Furry Fandom and the media over the last decade.

The Furry Fandom is an ever-growing beast. Anyone who has been paying attention to convention numbers and website statistics could tell you that. Back in the 90’s, and even the early 2000’s, Furry was still very new. For a lot of people in the world, it still sort of is. As it grew, it began to draw attention to itself.

Then, pop media began to take notice, and, you guessed it, they focused on sex! While a facet of pretty much any way of life, unless you’re a priest, monk, or otherwise unable, sex is still a big target for most shock stories. Why? Because, let’s face it, sex sells, and everyone’s buying.

That’s when “The Big Three” hit. MTV, CBS, and Vanity Fair striking a three-blow wound to the fandom that still holds purchase in discussions about the media and the fandom as a whole to this day. For those not in the savvy, here’s a reminder: They were all about Furries and sex. That’s pretty much it. Now, it is important to note that the infamous Vanity Fair article, the CSI episode “Fur and Loathing”, and MTV’s Sex 2k “Plushies and Furries”, despite the fact that they were all commercial pseudo-journalism, all touched on something real. That’s why it stings so much to talk about it.  Even MTV’s special was, in a way, frighteningly accurate, but the show was about sex, so they weren’t about to report fairly on every aspect of the fandom, much like if they had chosen people with uniform fetishes instead. CSI and Vanity Fair were more damaging because they tried to utilize a blanket definition, and they failed, instead finding the sexual shock behind the curtain. Thing is, they still found it.

Like it or not, Furry is very permissive and open. This is a good thing, to a fault. It allows people to be themselves, and really is, in a sense, about complete and utter, nigh anarchic freedom. If someone wants a pocket society to live in that will most likely be less likely to judge you harshly, Furry, for so many, is that place.

There are drawbacks to this, of course, especially in a society where propriety often takes precedent over all else. This is changing, but the world really isn’t ready for the relatively radical freedom that exists within the fandom. Mom and Dad probably still won’t get it for a lot of us, and some of them will outright reject it and revile it. For many others, it is almost impossible to understand. For furries, however, it has become our home, our crazy, loud, insane home, and we love it… most of the time.

When The Big Three came out between 2001 and 2003 people flipped out, and understandably so. The fandom had gone from relative obscurity, and it had been, three times, shoved out into a poorly maintained spotlight with its proverbial panties around its ankles. And so, the harsh relationship with the media began where before, if there had been one, it was not nearly so tense. These tensions are still very apparent today in the regulations of multiple conventions across the country, some outright banning any and all media coverage.

Thankfully, for a time, it seemed that the fandom had escaped the bad media. There were sporadic articles and mentions of the fandom for a number of years, but nothing huge really hit. Furries had sort of decided to keep their heads down after being nearly crucified as nothing but a bunch of perverts. Mostly, this was due to lots of media regulation at conventions.

Anthrocon, being the largest of the conventions, began to get real media attention. In 2007, a fairly short, simple, innocuous interview was done at the convention by WTAE channel 4 news. It was, in a way, the beginning of a number of fair and unbiased releases. Later that same year, a rather daring reporter from the Hartford Advocate went undercover at FurFright, though the report still seemed fairly positive. It was the beginning of a new era of media coverage where the right people were giving Furry a fair description.

Since then, there most certainly have been ups and downs. Furry conventions have been covered coast to coast in the United States, and multiple articles and shows have cropped up overseas, most of which have portrayed an overall good view of the fandom. Even G4’s recent report wasn’t bad, though of course it was made to entertain, not so much to inform. Considering the possibilities of cable TV’s “pick and choose” tendency, it came out quite well.

Tyra’s episode featuring some furries didn’t help, for sure, and TLC’s “My Strange Addiction” didn’t either, though in a way, those things are simply being overshadowed by media coverage from real reporting outlets including international news giant Reuters.

This year, Anthrocon, which just ended, was covered by many different sources. This of course came with the good and the bad. Mostly, though, it appeared to be good, honest, unbiased news coverage with a few people on the side from other sources. This unfortunately included someone who managed to infiltrate from Howard Stern’s crew, achieving perhaps one of the more damaging “reports”, if not the most damaging for content out of sheer misunderstanding and choosy information gathering.

Still, even the worst report was from a crappy, backwater show that few people listen to. Howard Stern isn’t Vanity Fair, CSI, nor MTV. So don’t worry, it’s a bump in the road and nothing more.

As time goes on, however, and conventions get bigger, they will inevitably draw more and more attention. Furry is growing, plain and simple. The media is going to notice us eventually all across the world. The thing is, we are a very different group of people looking to be, essentially, very human in that we chase what we desire regardless of what other people might think. For some people, that will simply be too much to handle. We won’t be accepted universally. No group ever is. The thing is, real media will tell a good story. We’re friendly, happy people, just looking for an outlet to express ourselves very outwardly. There are many different people from all walks of life; from all sexual backgrounds, celibate to sluts; and from conservative to liberal. It’s crazy how different we all are, and yet it all comes together around the expressive, zany, and genuinely open world of the Furry Fandom. However people want to view us is up to them. We’re here. We’re awesome. Get used to it.

[EDITORS NOTE:  We are unable to verify the exact number of subscribers who currently listen to the Howard Stern Show.  Before moving to SeriusXM, Stern had an active audience of 10 million listeners, mainly in the 18-45 male demographic.  Since moving to SiriusXM, Stern has repeatedly claimed that he has an audience of 20 million listeners.  Current estimates have his listener base between 3 and 4 million casual listeners.]

All very positive coverage this year:

• Return of the furries: Anthrocon in Pittsburgh for sixth year: They may be cute, but they also spend a lot of dough
  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 24, 2011
• Furries Flood Pittsburgh
  Beaver County Times, June 26, 2011
• Pittsburgh inundated by furries -- fans of animated animals
  Reuters, June 24, 2011

I don’t know who their cast member “Wolfie” is interviewing – the “furry” has a heavy accent.

This “furry” describes his experience as a zoophile.

[EDITORS NOTE:  We are unable to verify the exact number of subscribers who currently listen to the Howard Stern Show.  Before moving to SeriusXM, Stern had an active audience of 10 million listeners, mainly in the 18-45 male demographic.  Since moving to SiriusXM, Stern has repeatedly claimed that he has an audience of 20 million listeners.  Current estimates have his listener base between 3 and 4 million daily listeners.  His show is also replayed via his cable & satellite on-demand channel, Howard.TV The show is broadcast on both Sirius 100 and XM 100 and runs an average of 6 full times in a 24 hour period as the show is repeated.  Recaps are broadcast as a wrap-up show on Sirius and XM's Howard  101 channel]

Audio posted under Copyright Fair Use provision:

17 U.S.C. § 107

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 17 U.S.C. § 106 and 17 U.S.C. § 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.

Break Down of clip by MarksFriggin.com:

Wolfie At Anthro-Con. 06/27/11. 8:50am
After the break we heard some prank calls the guys had Evil Dave Letterman make to a public access show. Fred also played ZZ Top’s ”I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” as they were coming back.

Howard came back and said he’s bad but he’s not nationwide. Then he said he is nationwide. He said not everyone has satellite though so maybe he’s not nationwide. Robin said everyone could get satellite and get the show so he is nationwide. Howard said he can imagine playing that song on guitar. He said if he had any musical talent he’d be playing it for Robin.

Howard said he knows it’s getting late but he has to get to this. He said there’s a thing in Philadelphia that’s called the Furry convention. Gary said it’s called Anthro-Con. It’s about dressing up like furry animals. Howard said these people are into furry outfits. Robin said they had an episode of CSI about this.

Howard said they sent Wolfie out to the convention. He said it’s not just 20 people. He said there are a lot of people and they have a parade before the convention. Gary wadi said they say there were 6,000 people at the convention and 1000 in the parade in costume. Howard said Wolfie said there were a lot of gay people there but not all of them were. Howard said that he was also told it was in Pittsburgh, not Philly.

Howard said these people dress up like their favorite animal so he’d probably dress up like a dog but he is becoming a cat person. Howard said he’s so glad they took in these two cats. He said they love them and he’s become a cat person.

Howard said Wolfie ran into a few people and you might think they’re kind of weird. He said some of them go 24/7 in their costumes. He said they’re Anthro-morphic and they have some kind of disease.

Howard played one clip where Wolfie interviewed a guy with a heavy accent and he was talking about furry porn and how he has like 10,000 images. Howard asked who gets into this kind of thing. Wolfie asked what the best way to clean semen off your outfit is. The guy had an answer for him. The guy said his semen is hard to clean when it’s wet so he waits for it to dry. He said he uses water to clean it after it dries.

Wolfie asked the guy how he got into that lifestyle. The guy told him he was into watching sex with animals. Then he came across the furry outfits images. Howard played more of that and the guy was talking about how he has had sex with dogs. He said he likes German Sheppards. He said they are very obedient. Howard said this guy has no shame. Howard said Wolfie is in shock right now after hearing all of this.

Howard played more of the guy talking about how he has sex with the dogs. He said he’s only done two. He said that he lets the dogs fuck him in the ass too. Robin said she had no idea the guy was letting the dogs fuck him. Howard said that’s got to be against the law. Robin said it’s definitely against the law. Howard said they have to lock this guy up.

Howard played more of the guy talking about how every person and every dog’s semen tastes different. Howard said this guy was a gold mine. He said that Wolfie should have brought him in there. The guy was saying that he had tasted a friend’s semen and it was sweet. Howard said there can’t be anyone better than that.

Howard played another interview Wolfie did with a guy who said he’s into his own species which is fox. Howard said Gary was telling him that they are so serious about this that they stick to their own species that they dress up like. Howard said this is no joke. He said this country is going down hill. Robin said they get in groups and lay around like animals would. Howard said this is psychotic. He said he’s never heard of such a thing. Robin asked if there’s a way to get off this planet.

Howard played more of that interview and the guy was talking about how he has masturbated to furry porn. He said it’s no different than Star Wars fans masturbating to that. Howard said they should all be locked up.

Howard asked what kind of convention this is and where the police were. Howard played another clip of a guy who dresses up like a cat was talking about what that’s like for him. Howard wondered if people are going to become trans-species. He said that he’d take a lot of pleasure in that. Howard said he’d love it if Cher’s other kids morphed into animals.

Another Furry was talking about what his parents think of him dressing up. He said they’re not happy. He also claims that he goes to work dressed up like an animal. He works in a restaurant so Robin wondered if he has to wear a hair net. Howard said that would be a fur net. Howard said he can see the day when people turn into cats and dogs. He said he’d like to see that and see them able to marry others.

Gary said he was looking at the list of what’s available to do at the convention. You can go to a panel for ”Are You a Werewolf” and some other things like that. He said they have a Husky Meet and Greet. He said there are a lot of weird things like that. He said you can go to class to learn how to be a handler. Howard said they have one called ”Flea Collars, Are They Safe.” He read that list that Gary was reading and they had a bunch of strange things like that.

Howard read some rules about how to approach these people. The rules are the same as they would be for animals. You approach them from the front and don’t scare them. Howard said that they had etiquette for the elevators too. He read about all of that and talked about how nutty the whole thing is.

 

Author: Vox

Hey there everyone. Episode 38 up and good to go!

The bull has run off to AC. Vox and Roland fill in the gap with a new guest!

Find the full article here: UnFurled » Podcast