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Author: Fred

“Fuzzy Ergo Sum”, by Wolfgang Diehr
Boalsburg, PA, Pequod Press, March 2011
Hardcover $ 38.00 (299 pages), Kindle $ 7.99

H. Beam Piper’s “Little Fuzzy”, about the discovery by humans of cute furry natives on the planet Zarathustra, was first published in 1962. It became a minor classic, being nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1963, and inspiring four other Fuzzy novels up to 1982.

Two of those not by Piper were later declared to be “not canon”, and Piper’s three Fuzzy novels were published together in 1998 as “The Complete Fuzzy”. As soon as the copyright on “Little Fuzzy” expired in 2006, numerous public domain editions were published in paperback and Kindle, and on the Internet by Project Gutenberg.

Now a new Fuzzy novel has been written by Wolfgang Diehr, a Piper fan who moderates the Piper Worlds discussion group on Yahoo.com. Diehr wrote the novel over three years with the editorial assistance of John F. Carr, the Piper expert who edited many of the Piper reprint collections for Ace Books in the early 1980s, and Carr has published Diehr’s novel through his Peqoud Press.

Find the full article here: flayrah – furry food for thought

Creative Commons: Full post may be available under a free license.

submitted by rootdown
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Author: mbulsht

This year was only my second year attending FanimeCon, a popular anime convention held every year in San Jose. It should come as no surprise that many Bronies out there are also anime fans, so I guess it was only natural that I’d meet a few at this year’s convention. This year, however, some fans decided to take it above and beyond and try out this whole “meetup” idea that many Bronies have been attempting lately.The meetup was started as a facebook group by fellow EqD/Ponychan poster Grez the Lizard Lord after a conversation the two of us had carried out in one of my Google Documents. He figured it would be a great way to pass the time during one of the slower parts of the convention. I and my room mates were among the first to be invited into the facebook group.

I have to admit, the facebook group seemed a little lackluster. There wasn’t a lot of response and only a few people actually posted saying they would be there. I expected three or four people other than my friends to show up.

Well, I was wrong.

It was still a modest group, only about fifteen people, but the whole thing was a ton of fun. We met out in front of the convention center at the edge of the fountains, and handshakes and greetings were exchanged. I was happy to see a diverse group of people, both in age and gender. Right away someone suggested we start playing songs. One fan had brought his laptop and speakers, and we all started singing along to “Winter Wrap Up,” “Giggle at the Ghostie,” and the MLP:FiM theme song. Even those of us like myself who have less-than-desirable singing abilities raised our voices and sang loud and proud, drawing odd looks from some of the passerby.

This turned out to be a great idea (thank you, whoever started it) because we managed to pick up a few bronies walking around outside the convention who hadn’t heard about the meetup.

We moved inside to the lobby where it was a little quieter, and my friend SlaveofIceTea (in his infinite wisdom) decided to start the whole thing AA meeting-style. We all formed up in a circle, gave our names, admitted to being a brony (or as he called it, “came out of the stable”), and named our favorite characters. After each of us finished, clapping and cheering abounded from the group. It was awesome, not just because we were all meeting new people, but because the clapping and cheering drew some even funnier reactions from anime fans passing by. I almost felt like we were trolling FanimeCon.

Unfortunately, this year we didn’t have very much planned for the meetup, so after about a half-hour we had finished with our little group circle and people started to break off and start their own conversations. I got to meet some pretty cool bronies. Let me just give some quick shout outs to a few of the fans there.

There were a few artists around, including 0r0ch1, and a couple of drawfriends from /pic. Fanfiction author Ebon Mane was there. Much to my fan-squealing delight, Eurobeat Brony also made an appearance. He was there, signing shirts and talking about music. Fyeahspikethedragon, a blogger from tumblr was there as well. You guys should definitely check out her Spike based blog, giving love to a very under appreciated character. It’s relatively new and needs more viewers!

At the beginning of the meetup we took a picture of those of us who showed up!

BRONIES!!!

Argh, I know I’ve forgotten some people too, so if you were there, speak up in the comments section! I super derped and didn’t bring anything to write with so I couldn’t get all your EqD/Ponychan usernames and I know a lot of you didn’t get in the picture (sorry!).

One Pinkie Pie showed up a little late. Oh well.

Well, it was quite sad, but after about forty-five minutes the meetup came to its inevitable close. People started breaking off to enjoy the various festivities FanimeCon had to offer, saying their goodbyes and vowing to meet up again next year. After the meetup, I decided to hang out with Grez for a bit and we talked about doing this again next year.

So if you attend FanimeCon every year, and you are a Brony, heads up! We plan to have a meetup next year, and the next, and the next, for as long as MLP and FanimeCon are going! Hopefully next time we’ll have a better plan for what to do, as well as advertise it a little more (I’m sure Sethisto over at EqD would love to help us out). And for those of you who were there, thank’s for showing up and sharing your love of MLP with us!

See you again next year.

-Ben Sims
(mbulsht)

Comments? Questions? Suggestions? Email me at E-Mail Hidden
Pictures were used with permission. If you would like a picture of yourself to be removed for personal reasons, please email me.

Find the full article here: BronyShow

Walt Disney Animation Studios returns to the Hundred Acre Wood with “Winnie the Pooh,” the first big-screen Pooh adventure from Disney’s feature animation studios in more than 35 years. With the timeless charm, wit and whimsy of the original featurettes, this all-new movie reunites audiences with the philosophical “bear of very little brain” and friends Tigger, Rabbit, Piglet, Owl, Kanga, Roo-and last, but certainly not least, Eeyore, who has lost his tail.

“The entire story takes place in the course of a day,” says director Don Hall. “It’s business as usual in the Hundred Acre Wood. Pooh wakes up absolutely famished and he happens to have no honey. So that sets him out on his journey, which is ultimately derailed-first by a contest to find Eeyore a new tail.”

Pooh later finds a note from Christopher Robin that reads: “Gone out. Busy. Back soon.” But then Owl misinterprets the note, proclaiming that the boy has been captured by a creature called a “Backson.” Soon, the whole gang is on a wild quest to save Christopher Robin from the imaginary culprit. It turns out to be a very busy day for a bear who simply hoped to find some honey.

The film is traditionally animated by Walt Disney Animation Studios.  It is considered to be a reboot of the franchise and goes back to the originally published stories as its source.  The film intertwines two stories that have never been translated to film or video.

From the Wikipedia Entry:

“The film is the second Winnie-the-Pooh feature made by Walt Disney Animation Studios to be based directly on the stories of Milne, following the 1977 film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Unlike this film which used live-action for its book sequences with the characters limited to the pictures, the book sequences in Winnie the Pooh use CGI animation and the characters are shown to interact with the text. It is also the first Winnie the Pooh film by Walt Disney Animation Studios that does not consist of a collection of animated shorts like its predecessor, as many earlier Pooh films were released under DisneyToon Studios, like The Tigger Movie (2000),Piglet’s Big Movie (2003), and Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005).”

Cast

• Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh/Tigger
• Tom Kenny as Rabbit
• Craig Ferguson as Owl
• Travis Oates as Piglet
• Bud Luckey as Eeyore
• Jack Boulter as Christopher Robin
• Kristen Anderson-Lopez as Kanga
• Wyatt Hall as Roo
• John Cleese as the Narrator
• Huell Howser

External links

• Official website
• Winnie the Pooh at Allmovie
• Winnie the Pooh at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Winnie the Pooh at Box Office Mojo
• Winnie the Pooh at the Internet Movie Database
• Winnie the Pooh at Rotten Tomatoes
• Winnie the Pooh at Walt Disney Animation Studios

 

submitted by leet_beast
[link] [14 comments]

This morning, we were hit with a flurry of notes telling us that the art aommunity, DeviantArt, was banning users from it’s rolls for being Sonic the Hedgehog fans.

It only took a few minutes to track down a post from one of the DA Admins, Y2Jenn to clear this up.

Journal Entry:

Guys, c’mon.

No one in the history of deviantART, in the past 11 years, has ever been banned for merely being a Sonic fan. No one will EVER be banned from dA in the future for being a Sonic fan. There’s unfortunately a really nasty rumor floating about that there is a “group” that can ban people for just being fans, or having Sonic themed work. The only people on deviantART that are capable of banning deviants are the staffers. And again, we’re NOT EVER going to ban someone for liking Sonic!

If your friends are getting banned it’s because they did something severe enough to warrant removal from our community. You may not know why they got banned but guys, please stop assuming we’re in league with a nasty troll group and out to kick everyone who is a Sonic fan off the site. It’s entirely up to the banned deviants if they want to share the exact reason as to why they were banned. Each banned deviant sees a message on their userpage that gives a quick reason for the ban. If they need further explanation a banned deviant can still contact the support center so they can talk to one of us.

I keep getting asked to protect people, which I’m all for! I may be a total hardass and part of the CEA team that has to deal with policy violations but I actually like you guys and want you to continue being a part of our community. But you can, from the very start, protect yourself by being familiar with our rules. They really aren’t hard to follow and are totally based around common sense!

So please stop freaking out and think! Are we really going to kick you and your friends out for just being Sonic fans? Reeeeallllly? To what purpose would that serve?
If you’re talking to a friend and they don’t understand why they were banned please encourage them to contact the support center! We’ll be more than happy to explain the admin action to them and, contrary to popular belief, deviants are given second chances from time to time.

All that said, just follow the rules. If you’re not breaking the rules you have absolutely nothing to worry about. 

Now, quitcher your fussing and enjoy the rest of the weekend! 

Full Journal and comments HERE

The rumor started from the banning of a circle of friends on DA who, according to the admins, violated Terms of Service and Site Rules by engaging in CyberSex and Ban Evasion.

The accounts in question are:
!Acethehedgehog, !AlexDarkBlade215, !xXAlex215xX, !darkwolfshadow91, !darkwolfwar65, !DaveOtow, !FLAMETHEWOLF1, !imafreakbic, !imstillafreakbic, !Kagome2010, !DarcieTheMixus, !maddrummer1, !milothewolf, !Miracle-The-Hedgehog, !nascartrainfan, !NovArtXXX, !PinkCuteHedgie, !roxasthehedgehog12, !SilverTheHeavanJumpe, !silvertheheavenjumpe, !sonic200000, !spork312, !STR-reborn, !XTRSTR, !talon-the-lynx, !windknight360
There has been further rumor that the users were being banned by a group of trolls through the use of the “Bantown” Chat room.  The users who were reporting this were not aware that the Bantown Chat room autobans anyone who joins – but the ban is restricted just to that chat room – it was meant to be humorous.

Advice – If you are a member of any art community, and all of a sudden, you get notes that the admins are banning people for for liking or being fans of (fill in your fan group here), try contacting the admins for verification, before spreading a rumor that does more harm than good.

"The Mysteries of Alfred Hedgehog" (made in France as "La Mysteres
d'Alfred") is a bit mixed in the furry department, with everything from
kemono-style characters to full-blown non-anthro body shapes. Still, it's
pretty good int he critical reasoning and science department, and it's kind
of fun. :)

This week on KnotCast, Savrin, Shiva, Fuzz, Rekkie and special token female Sairo discuss coming out. It's a pretty focused topic show. This weeks song is 'Path of Deception' by BlinD http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR02238/ Use our coupon code 'knot' at Adam & Eve for a great deal! www.adameve.com Episode 142 - Coming Out Early

r Peter Banki has two main passions. One is German literature. The other is plush toy animals. He's been playing since he was a child and has never stopped. For the past four years he has been running workshops using toys as a medium to help adults explore play and their sexuality.

Hey there, everybody! Sorry about taking about a month between podcasts, but would you believe that it took us that long to get not three, but instead two e-mails? We answer them both on this show, advising one person about controlling their weight and another about how to reach furmeets – and then what to do when they get there!

We’re looking at adding a couple of new things to Fuzzy Logic. First, we’re probably going to be recording most every Thursday from now on, e-mails or not; we’ll simply have shorter shows in which we discuss anything we want to discuss. Second, we’re probably going to start doing topics after this coming week’s episode (scheduled to record 6/2/11), so keep an eye on our FA page (fuzzylogicpodcast) to get some ideas on what to write to us about!

Per usual, e-mails go to fuzzy.logic.podcast@gmail.com and our Twitter account is fuzzylogiccast – give us a listen, and write on in!

Episode 5 – Post-Hiatus Hiatus

Episode 5 – Post-Hiatus Hiatus - Hey there, everybody! Sorry about taking about a month between podcasts, but would you believe that it took us that long to get not three, but instead two e-mails? We answer them both on this show, advising one person about c[...]

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[link] [8 comments]

Here’s another one for fans of super-villains, or dinosaurs: The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection now presents Sauron, swooping down this July. “Infected with a genetic virus, that forced him to drain the life essence of others to survive, Dr. Kyle Lykos was changed forever when he drained the mutant energies of the X-Man Havok. Mutating into a pterodactyl-like monster, Karl chose to use his powers for evil, naming himself after the arch-nemesis from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings novels – Sauron! This special 20-page magazine comes with a hand-sculptured figurine with exclusive slipcase and double-sided poster.” Check out the figurine below, and visit Mile High Comics to find out more about ordering.

 

image c. Marvel Comics

05/29/2011
By: CraftyAndy

Video review of the latest film Kung Fu Panda 2

It’s on par with the first, a little better perhaps, nothing mind blowing. It doesn’t divert from the original’s path and I like how it is kept open to continue. I have my gripes but they are explained in the video.

Attribution Non-Commercial

Author: Kyell Gold

Find the full article here: Unsheathed: K.M. Hirosaki and Kyell Gold

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.

The magazine MATE featuring AC as a Hip, Gay and Fetish party:

http://www.furaffinity.net/full/5821454/

-J

Furcast is taking a break this week.  The crew is off in Paradox’s secluded wolves den hammering out new ideas for the show.   Mark your calendar for Saturday, June 4th for the next show!  You can always join the chat room and live stream on Saturday nights at 8:00pm Eastern time (GMT -5).

We’re excited to see what new features will be added!

Furcast

New York Times Bestselling Author Cat Valente sits down with Kyell and K.M. to talk about her books, her relationship to furries, and who Lady Gaga should play in the movie adaptation of her book "Deathless." Unsheathed #81 - Interview with Catherynne Valente

submitted by amymyoung
[link] [5 comments]

[NOTE: This is a syndicated article.  It comes to us via Bronyville.  My Little Pony has exploded in to current Furry Fandom.  We realize not everyone is into the My Little Pony crazy; If you are, read on, if not, there are hundreds of other articles and podcasts listed here for your enjoyment. - Editor]

Author: mbulsht

 

Because Fanfiction is Awesome

Hey guys, Mbulsht here.

Firstly, I want to say that this is the first part of a two-part series of posts I am writing dealing with fanfiction. The idea here is to lay down some easy to understand guidelines for reading and writing. This isn’t any kind of handbook for fanfiction (I do not pretend to be any sort of expert in the subject), but you can think of it as a kind of checklist to follow. If you are interested in something more in depth, you should definitely check out Cereal Velocity’s own guide to writing fanfiction entitled “It’s Magic.” That will tell you everything you need to know about plot, dialogue, and everything in between. This little article I’m writing is just meant to be a few introductory words when it comes to new fanfiction readers/writers. Today’s post will be about reading; how to pick fics you might like, how to give proper constructive criticism, how to deal with bad fanfiction, and things like that.

Are you ready? Good.

In my last post, I talked briefly about fanfiction and how important a part of the fandom it is. Fanfiction, much like fanart, is a way for fans to show their appreciation for a show by flexing their creative muscles and creating works of their own. Fanfiction is also great for others in the fandom because often times it can serve to tide over rabid fans who are eagerly waiting for the next episode.

But from many of the post comments on Ponychan and Equestria Daily concerning fan works, I have come to realise that there are many people who do not read fanfiction. Not that they are averse to the idea (some of them may be, though many are not), but many of them are afraid to tread in unknown waters. Fanfiction does sometimes carry an unfortunate stigma with it, what with many infamous fics like “Cupcakes” floating around the internet.

So how does one get in to fanfiction? It’s simple. The first, all important step, is to

Take that leap of faith.

 

Dive into a good story!

There is some really good fanfiction out there, trust me. I spend most of my weekends browsing through the Equestria Daily fanfiction section selecting as many fics as I can that I find interesting, and delving into some absolutely stunning fan-created stories. MLP fanfictions have been able to make me laugh long and loud, and also sometimes shed manly tears. It is surprising how many good authors there are out there.

But of course, it is only natural that there will be fanfics out there that you will dislike. Perhaps it’s the style, or the subject matter, but inevitably you will stumble on something that you absolutely do not like at all.

So it’s important that you always remember to

Look before you leap.

Equestria Daily and Fanfiction.net both have this great genre/tag system built in. Equestria Daily uses tags like [grimdark] (that’s the really violent/scary stuff) and [shipping] (romance stuff) to denote what kind of story each fanfic is. Fanfiction.net has genre tags that it uses like “Romance,” “Mystery,” and the like. So always check what kind of story you will be reading before you open it up. If you happen to hate shipping, then don’t read shipping fics. If you know you don’t have the stomach to handle heavy violence, then don’t click anything labelled [grimdark]. These websites make it really easy to spot the things you might not want to read.

A good thing to remember is that although it is important for you to like what you read, it falls upon you to take responsibility by reading what you like. Those comments people post in shipping fics saying they “don’t like shipping,” or those comments others post in grimdark stories saying they “hate grimdark” are unnecessary. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. It’s that simple.

And once you have read, you should always share your opinion of the story. So never forget to

Give PROPER feedback

One of the biggest draws (my opinion here) of writing fanfiction is receiving responses. It’s a wonderful feeling, knowing that there are people out there you may never meet that are reading your work. So always comment back!

However, there are certain kinds of comments that really don’t need to be posted. The first are the ones I mentioned earlier. Telling an author that you didn’t read their story because you didn’t like their subject matter is unnecessary. Simply don’t read or comment. Other comments filled with flame and hatred are also unnecessary. If you read it and really didn’t like the way it was written, then comment back with the things you thought their fanfiction needed, or certain things that needed to be fixed. And always word your comments respectively. When you start name calling or start flaming a story, the author will simply ignore you.

We call this “Constructive Criticism.” Constructive Criticism is the best kind of comment you can give (aside from the “man this story is awesome!” kind of comment, of course) because it tells the author what kind of things the fanbase like or dislike, and can help them to improve their writing style. Ultimately, this is what everybody wants. An author wants to write the best story he or she can, and a reader wants to be entertained. So ease up on the hate, and always remember to be respectful. Because at the end of the day, the fanfiction author is taking their own leap of faith, and putting out their work on the internet. The last thing they want is to be hated on.

Well I think that about covers all the basics for reading. There’s just one last point here, and I think it’s the most important:

Share fanfics with everyone!

 

Share great stories with your friends!

Like a fanfic? Think its the most awesome thing you’ve seen since the start of the fandom? Don’t hesitate to show it to every brony you know! Often times really good fanfics slip under the radar because they’re posted in some obscure website or the author isn’t really well known. It’s on us, as readers, to help them get their work out there. And if you think something is really good, don’t hesitate to share it with Sethisto over at Equestria Daily. If him and his pre-readers think it’s good, then you can bet that fanfic will get hits like nobody’s business.

So let’s get to reading! There are some real works of art out there waiting to be discovered. In a fandom like this one, you can bet there will be something you like.

Well this is me, signing off for today. I’ll see you around, my fellow bronies.

-Ben Sims
(Mbulsht)

Questions, Comments, or Suggestions? Email me at E-Mail Hidden
Am I a fanfic writer? Why, yes! I am! I’m currently working on a [grimdark] called Patchwork (haha, pimpin’ my own stuff… I’m so pathetic…)

Find the full article here: BronyShow

A pair of big announcements from our friends at Cartoon Brew: Warner Brothers has just released the first teaser trailer for Happy Feet 2, set to premiere this November. No word yet on the sequel’s plot, but it has been confirmed that Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, and Magda Szubanski will reprise their roles from the first film, along with new voices Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Hank Azaria, and Pink. Also from Cartoon Brew recently: “Simba, Mufasa, Nala, Timon and Pumbaa are back and better than ever this fall when Disney’s The Lion King roars into theaters and homes in breathtaking 3D. A special two-week theatrical extravaganza kicks off Sept. 16, 2011, showcasing the Oscar®- and Golden Globe®-winning film on the big screen in Disney Digital 3D™ for the first time ever, and its highly anticipated home entertainment debut kicks off October 4, celebrating the Diamond Edition release of the epic movie The Lion King in high-definition Blu-ray™ and Blu-ray 3D™.”