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[HYPE] Sunnyville Stories #2 now available
For further info, contact Max West, i...@sunnyvillestories.com
SMALL PRESS COMIC, BIG WORLD
New creator debuts a well-written comics series
Comics writer-creator Max West announced the first print release of
Sunnyville Stories, a comics series in development for nearly two
years.
FNN Adds Bad Dog Book Club’s Podcast to regular features
With the number of furry authors growing, as well as a swelling library of materials, FNN has begun adding book reviews to it’s features. Some reviews will be just that – an evaluation of the book, in written form. We have several people who will be working on reviews in the coming months.
To make this more of a multimedia experience, we started looking for podcasts about books and found the Bad Dog Book Club. They have just started their podcasting series in the past month. So far, the content has been very enjoyable. With this in mind, we approached them about syndicating the Podcast and readings here at FNN, and got the blessing of Alex Vance, Bad Dog Book’s owner.
The podcast its self is hosted by Skip Ruddertail and Toonces. The readings are being done by Alex Vance.
We’ll be releasing the current podcasts over the next couple of days to let everyone catch up. After that, you should see the podcast appear here in the “Book Reviews” category within a couple of hours of it being published.
I hope you enjoy the readings as much as I have and I encourage you to support the authors!
First Podcast will hit the front page this afternoon.
Get Shareaholic Link to this post!ILM gets Animated; Rango opens March 4
This stunning virgin foray into feature-length animation from Verbinski and the vfx miracle workers at Industrial Light & Magic (his primary collaborator on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” pics) looks and feels nothing like the toons that have come before. “Rango” boasts not only the most photoreal visuals this side of “Wall-E” but a refreshingly unique narrative sensibility to boot, starting with its Charlie Kaufman-worthy opening monologue and Greek chorus — technically, a mariachi band of bright-eyed Mexican owls whose songs fit the score’s playful marriage of Hans Zimmer bombast and Los Lobos energy.
Depp plays a zonk-eyed pet lizard traveling cross-country through the Mojave Desert when a freak accident leaves him stranded in the blistering sun. Far removed from his natural habitat, the green-skinned, Hawaiian shirt-wearing reptile finds it virtually impossible to camouflage himself in his new all-brown environment, choosing instead to pass for something he’s not, a fearless gunfighter named Rango.
With no real-world experience but a near-inexhaustible supply of good luck, Rango looks exactly like what the naively optimistic denizens of Dirt need right now: a hero. Their old-timey desert outpost is beset by predators and ruled by a corrupt mayor (Ned Beatty, playing a less huggable villain than he did in “Toy Story 3″), who clearly has a hand in the mysterious drought making all their lives miserable. That much even younger auds should be able to follow, though John Logan’s hilarious script is loaded with two-dollar dialogue and wonderfully baroque expressions sure to confound even a fair number of adults.
Live-action helmers have had mixed success making the transition to animation of late, but Verbinski brings real vision to the endeavor, conceiving a world that starts small — contained within Rango’s terrarium, in fact — and gradually expands to accommodate nearly all of Monument Valley in a way auds can intuitively follow. Even more impressive than the world itself is the incredibly varied ensemble that populates it, a motley mix of reptiles and rodents in which no two are redundant, each memorably designed by Mark “Crash” McCreery and his team, then brought to life via a bull’s-eye match of critter and character actor. Though the entire cast is terrific, standouts include Bill Nighy as venomous Rattlesnake Jake, Ray Winstone’s menacing gila-monster henchman Bad Bill and Isla Fisher as Rango’s long-lashed love interest, Beans.
Where “Rango” ultimately falters is in the uncomfortable juxtaposition of kid-friendly entertainment — represented by unnecessarily bombastic fight scenes that feel out of place within Logan’s more intellectually spirited screenplay – and the savvier, self-reflexive humor clearly aimed at adults. The only major pop-culture references here are a cameo by a Hunter S. Thompson lookalike and an amusing run-in with a mystic Man With No Name-esque figure (voiced by Timothy Olyphant). Though most of the laugh-out-loud moments result from either witty wordplay or inspired physical comedy, even the fart jokes feel fresh by contrast with the delivery we’ve come to expect from toondom’s more established players.
It’s hard to call originality “Rango’s” greatest asset when the story itself trades so heavily on established Western movie tropes, but the project clearly comes from a completely different place than any other American-made animated feature. That radical departure is reinforced by the look of the film, which is now the third toon to rely on Roger Deakins as a virtual cinematography consultant.
Considering ILM’s incredible background in live-action vfx, it’s no surprise the company brings a staggering level of realism to the lighting and textures throughout. The shocker is just how good their character animation work is: From the way Rango walks to the subtlest eye twitch, this quirky chameleon’s screen presence is more plausible than even some of Depp’s most beloved flesh-and-blood creations, raising the bar for other studios going forward.
While on the subject of eyes, Rango’s peepers violate the prevailing wisdom that bigger is better, with scaly lids covering all but a tiny pinhole at their center, inviting us to consider the performance of the character’s entire face rather than just his shiny irises. It should also be said that even projected in 2D, “Rango” makes better use of dimension than many stereoscopic toons.
- Johnny Depp as Rango (a chameleon)
- Isla Fisher as Beans (a desert iguana)
- James Ward Byrkit as Waffles (a horned toad)
- Abigail Breslin as Priscilla (a mouse)
- Alfred Molina as Roadkill (a nine-banded armadillo)
- Bill Nighy as Rattlesnake Jake (a western diamondback rattlesnake)
- Harry Dean Stanton as Balthazar
- Maile Flanagan as Boo
- Ray Winstone as Bad Bill (a gila monster)
- Nika Futterman as Akiano
- Claudia Black as Angelique (a red fox)
- Ned Beatty as Tortoise John (a desert tortoise)
- Timothy Olyphant as the Spirit of the West
- Alanna Ubach as Fresca
- Lew Temple as Furgus
- Ian Abercrombie as Ambrose
- Stephen Root as Doc (a squirrel) and Merrimack (a rabbit)
- John Cothran, Jr. as Elgin (a bobcat)
- Beth Grant as Bonnie
- Gil Birmingham as Wounded Bird (a Chihuahuan raven)
- Blake Clark as Buford (a Sonoran Desert toad)
- Joe Nunez as Rockeye
- Daisy Eckersley as Melonee
- Alex Manugian as Spoons
The film was produced by Nickelodeon Movies, Gore Verbinski‘s production company Blind Wink, and Graham King‘s GK Films. The CGI animation was created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), marking the first feature animation done by ILM, generally aspecial effects company. During voice recording, the actors were given costumes and sets to “help give them the feel of the Wild West”. Star Johnny Depp had a 20-day window in which he could voice his role as Rango, and the filmmakers scheduled the supporting actors so as they could do their scenes with Depp and interact with him. Verbinski said his attempt with Rango was to do a “small” film after the large-scale Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, but that he underestimated how painstaking and time-consuming animated filmmaking is.
External links- Official website
- Rango at Allmovie
- Rango at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Rango at Box Office Mojo
- Rango at the Internet Movie Database
- Rango at Metacritic
- Rango at Rotten Tomatoes
- Rango: The World (official videogame website)
Big Changes at ASIFA-Hollywood
For those of us cartoon fans (and would-be animators) who’ve been following the controversy between ASIFA Hollywood (the largest chapter of the International Animated Film Society, and home of the Annie Awards for animation) and Disney/Pixar, this is some big news: A shake-up in the leadership of the Hollywood Chapter, and news of some big changes planned for how the organization works. Cartoon Brew has the story, quoted here from the ASIFA-Hollywood Press release: “ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the selection of its new President, Frank Gladstone, at its February board meeting. Gladstone replaces Antran Manoogian who held the position for over 20 years. Longtime ASIFA-Hollywood VP [and TAG President Emeritus] Tom Sito chose not to run for re-election; taking his place is Jerry Beck [one of the head-honchos at Cartoon Brew -- ye ed-otter]. ‘First and foremost, we owe Antran Manoogian an enormous amount of respect and admiration for his many years of selfless devotion to ASIFA-Hollywood,’ says Gladstone. ‘Antran has seen the organization through a period of unparalleled growth and success, going from a small club to an organization of over 4000 members. During his stewardship, Antran established, among many achievements, a digital archive, and built the Annie Award into the most important honor in animation. Though I’ve been part of ASIFA and the animation community for a long time, I am looking forward to being the ‘new face’ of the organization and to making some significant changes to the status quo. For starters, this includes updating our membership qualifications, establishing a representative voice for every animation studio and creative technique, building an advisory board of animation luminaries and revising the voting structure of the annual Annie Awards. In the next few weeks ASIFA-Hollywood will be holding meetings with executives from all the major studios to get their input on how we can improve our infrastructure. ASIFA-Hollywood will take this time to ask its members, both individual and corporate, to come together and advise them on how best to chart the course for decades to come. In addition they will invite many of its members to join the executive board.’ Frank Gladstone has been a professional animator, producer, director, writer and teacher, first managing his own studio, and then working in management positions for Disney, Warner Bros. and DreamWorks, among others. He is currently the CEO of the animation consulting firm, Gladstone Film, teaches worldwide and is the ‘artist-in-residence’ for the ACME Network.”
Episode 131 - Disco Infurno
Ironic, coming from someone named "dogboner"
Essay: Best Methods to Come Out as a Furry
Congress may remove Rocky Mountain wolves’ protection
Author: GreenReaper
The repopulation of grey wolves in Montana and Idaho led to their removal from the Endangered Species List in 2008, concerning many conservationists. But last August a U.S. federal judge ruled this kind of subdivision of species illegal.
Now Michael Brune of the Sierra Club says lawmakers seek to withdraw this protection through a budget amendment. [tip: Ezno]
Find the full article here: flayrah – furry food for thought
Creative Commons: Full post may be available under a free license.
Get Shareaholic Link to this post!Tiger Costume Puts Congressman In Trouble
Seven-term congressman David Wu (D-Ore.), who got into some hot water last week when it was revealed that he had sent photos of himself in a tiger costume to his staff, among other instances of bizarre behavior, has been making D.C. headlines all week.
But it seems Wu has ignored D.C. media. Most accounts of his erratic behavior come from his hometown newspaper, The Oregonian. Even Roll Call, which usually doesn’t have a problem getting a hold of members of Congress, had to rely on an interview Wu did with KGW-TV in Portland for their reporting. The Hill hasn’t been able to speak with Wu either. Instead, they cited his appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” as did Politico.
Read more here: FishbowlDC Blog
Get Shareaholic Link to this post!Furries of Walmart
Ok, which one of you got the munchies last night?
Image: http://i.imgur.com/cjEqW.jpg
Original post: http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/fuf3y/my_buddy_saw_this_at_walmart_last_night/
submitted by sns_abdl[link] [23 comments]
The Isle of 100,000 Graves
The European artist known only as Jason is known for is stark graphic style and his rather eccentric stories, often told without dialogue — works like Werewolves of Montpellier and Meow, Baby! Now, Jason has returned with a new hardcover, full-color graphic novel for Fantagraphics Books, and he’s enlisted the services of award-winning French writer Fabien Vehlmann. The Isle of 100,000 Graves comes to stores this April. In it, we meet a little girl searching for her father, who encounters blood-thirsty pirates… and an island where young executioners go to learn their deadly art! Of course there’s an entry for the book at Amazon.
image c. 2011 Fantagraphics Books
Hey i just wanted to say sorry.
For all the bullshit people give furries, i cant imagine why people in the reddit community who advocate freedom of expression so avidly could attack a group of people for being different. anyhow i just want you all to know that some of us people in the world find you all to be extremely brave for doing what makes you happy despite the constant rudeness that comes at you.
With much respect ~Cecil
submitted by Derp_Derp_Dragoon[link] [25 comments]
Skunkpaws
I’m a furry from the Inland Empire Region of Southern California. I’m a twenty two years old student working on a Business Administration degree. I’ve been with the anthropomorphic animal fandom for the past eight and a half years. Up until recently I was a fox and would go by the name Foxpaws. I just changed my species to a skunk and you’ll never guess my new fursona’s name.
I’m a huge movie buff. I tend to watch fifteen to twenty movies a month. I’ll see pretty much any movie, unless it has too much romance, not enough action, isn’t funny, doesn’t involve a story line about getting laid and instead has a story line about making it special, gets too gay, gets too straight, or lacks a rocket launcher. Yeap, I have a very broad range of movies.
I also read tons of web comics. I found the fandom through the web comic, Jack. My library of web comics has increased to over one hundred different web comics since then. Some of my comics are the comedies such as The Class Menagerie, Furthia High School, and Bugcomic. I also enjoy the action comics like Zodiac, The Conspiracy, and Codename: Hunter.
I spend a lot of my time hanging out with people and driving across SoCal. I particularly love going out and meeting new people. It’s my love for people that makes me want to start a position here. Meeting new people is always fun.
Find me online:Icefoxsage1@yahoo.com
Get Shareaholic Link to this post!Season 5 - Show 41
Coming Out of the Furry Closet
I’ve recently been asked advice on coming out as a Furry. While I am not well qualified to give such advice, others of you may be.
I know about the coming out process on some levels because I “came out” twelve years ago as a homosexual. Coming out as furry really hasn’t been on my map. I’m the kind of person that segments my life. Work life, family life, home life and social life are all kept neatly apart. It’s a system that works for me, but it doesn’t work for everyone. The way I have things segmented, I don’t have to explain to co-workers or family about my hobbies, although everyone I associate with is aware that I have actively participated in Sci Fi & Fantasy conventions for almost 27 years.
This this in mind, I have a hard time giving advice on how to come out as a furry. I think one reason I have a hard time with it, is I don’t live “furry” as a lifestyle. I am a furry because I enjoy the art, and the social aspects. I don’t get into the “lifestyle” aspects or the “fetish” aspects of being furry. Coming into my home, you would be hard pressed to look around the place and pick out things that tell you I am a furry. I don’t keep furry art on my walls or as my computer desktop. I have a total of four plushies, two of them given to me as an infant, and the other two by former boyfriends. Even my tails (I have five), collars and fursuits are neatly tucked away. I bring them out for conventions and meets.
So I am not a good person to ask about how to come out as a furry; however, some of you may be the right persons.
If you care to, please tell your “Furry Coming Out Story” in the comments section below. I think hearing how others have deal with telling friends and family about being a furry will go a long way to helping others understand our fandom and subculture. You are also welcomed to post links to resources explaining the furry fandom.
An example is Anthrocon’s “What is Furry” pamphlet – You can find it here
Coming out of the Furry closet has another side as well. There are friends you find that show all the signs of being a furry, even down to the “fetish” aspects, and refuse to be called a furry. If you know anyone like this, be understanding with them until they are ready. Because of trolling on the internet and unfavorable media attention over the past 20 years, there can be stigma attached to the term “furry”. Not everyone is capable of dealing with it.
If you have a story in this vein that you wish to share, you are also welcomed to post it below.
Please remember – FNN is not a place to make fun of someone, call them out or troll. Any comments violating this will be removed and depending on the severity, the commenter banned. Please play nice.
This video is presented with our tongues firmly planted in our cheeks! – Enjoy
Get Shareaholic Link to this post!New “Furry Rights” petition circulating
If you have been in the Furry fandom for any legnth of time, you have most likely found someone who will ridicule you for being a member. Likewise, you may have found an individual who crusades against “fursecution” (persecution of Furries).
Recently, we were sent a link to the latest of a string of petitions aimed at stopping “fursecution” and giving Furries rights.
I hate to break it to some of you, but the Furry fandom is a subculture, much like “goth” is a subculture as well as “trekkies”. For a few within the fandom, “Furry” goes even deeper and becomes a fetish. It goes the same for other subcultures; for example, I know several people who have turned their fascination with vampires and vampirism into a fetish.
It comes down to this. We are part of a “fandom”. Fandom can be defined or explained as the state of being a fan or all that encompasses fan culture and fan behavior in general, or the study of fans and fan behavior. We are fans of animals, real or imaginary, given human characteristics. We have the same rights as any other fan group.
People calling to give Furries rights, for some reason, see us as being denied freedoms. In fact, that is not the case. In the United States, at least, there are no laws restricting any “furry” related activity – unless you consider laws in some states that restrict masks in public places. Those laws are not targeted at furries or fursuiters but at anyone wearing something covering their face in a public space. The laws are designed to cut down on criminal activitys such as robbery.
The target of this particular petition is the “Anti Furry Coalition“. AFC is one of dozens of websites across the internet that actively troll furry websites and message boards, and in rare cases, may even have members show up at furry conventions or gatherings.
I have to admit, at several large science fiction conventions in the past couple of years, I have seen a couple of AFC fliers and one door hanger, but no one was taking any of this seriously.
By posting plea after plea to sign a petition, or by flying off the handle whenever someone trolls your FA journal or a message you’ve posted on a board, you are giving them exactly what they want. You are “feeding the tolls” and acting like a “butthurt furry”. Further, there is growing agreement that internet petitions don’t work for any cause.
FNN recently dealt with a troll. The person was posting derogatory comments in all of the posts we had about SportyPup. For us, it was easy to deal with. We deleted the comments and then banned the individual, without letting anyone get into an argument or discussion over this users comments.
The fact of the matter is, there will always be someone who dislikes you for some reason or another. The best thing we can do is ignore these people. If we, as individuals, and as a fandom, stop reacting to groups like AFC, Anonymous, and Encyclopedia Dramatica users, in most cases, they will go find another group to troll.
The best advice I have is delete the petition. Be the bigger person and just walk away from these people. They are not worth your time or energy.
If, after reading this, you are still compelled to sign a petition, you can find the one I have referenced here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/fb/1/rights-to-furries/
Edit: We were sent a link to another recent petition here: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/stophatingfurries
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Furry Fiesta 2011 Closes setting three records
Reported via their Tweet Stream, Furry Fiesta 2011 broke the following three records:
Number of consecutive furry conventions held in Texas -Previous record was 2, also held by Furry Fiesta
Record for third-year furry convention attendance. The previous record was 911, set by RainFurrest.
Record for fastest furry convention to hit 1000 attendees. The previous record was 4 years, also set by RainFurrest.
Instanbul, the Con Chair tweeted:
With 1034 attendees on year three, we have defeated all three records. I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve accomplished so far.
Unofficial numbers for their charity CARE:
By @MatthewEbel Over $4,000 was raised for C.A.R.E. by just over 1,000 people at@furryfiesta this weekend.
Furry Fiesta’s Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/furryfiesta
Istanbul’s Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Istanbul777
Matthew Ebel’s Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/matthewebel
Get Shareaholic Link to this post!Cuddly Russian Mascots in trouble
Allegations of plagiarism, high-level political meddling and sheer poor taste on Sunday marred Russia’s choice of three furry mascots to represent the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
Russians chose three mascots — a cute snow leopard, polar bear and hare — by popular vote in a seemingly innocent television show late Saturday that aimed to choose a people’s mascot.
Eyebrows were first raised when the initial favourite to win the most votes — a portrayal of Russian Father Christmas Ded Moroz — was rather undemocratically ditched from the competition by the organisers.
Then the most votes went easily to the mascot which strongman Prime Minister Vladimir Putin had declared his favourite — the “strong, fast and beautiful” snow leopard.
Prominent political analyst Dmitry Oreshkin told Moscow Echo radio that it was possible some none too cuddly tricks engineered the result through a rigging of the telephone system.
“Just after Vladimir Putin showed his sympathy for the leopard, its votes climbed sharply,” he said.
Read more here: Cuddly Russian Mascots in trouble
Get Shareaholic Link to this post!Hasbro's Ratuki Game-Video
I was watching TV today and saw this commercial featuring a cheetah playing a card game by Hasbro named Ratuki and decided since its media and furry I would post the embeded video link here Enjoy!