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From Out of the Toy Box

In-Fur-Nation - Tue 16 Aug 2016 - 01:59

Robert X. Burden is an artist who has taken an unusual subject and really run with it. He paints complex, highly-detailed, collage-like but highly-ordered pictures based on classic toy action figures from movies and TV. As such, of course he paints a lot of science fiction subject matter. And yes that includes a lot of Furry subjects, like the Thundercats and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Visit his web site to see more of what he’s done — and spend some real time looking slowly through all the detail he puts in.

image c. 2016 by Robert X. Burden

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Categories: News

Episode -28.1 - There....we fixed it

Unfurled - Mon 15 Aug 2016 - 14:50

A real episode this time! Vox, Tal and Adoom all manage to survive technical issues and bring their sultry tones to enjoy. Episode -28.1 - There....we fixed it

Categories: Podcasts

Episode -28.0 - The shark broke everything

Unfurled - Mon 15 Aug 2016 - 14:48

Thanks to techinical difficulty the first try at this episode failed. Vox is here to explain and to bring you Kaar with his segment anyway! Episode -28.0 - The shark broke everything

Categories: Podcasts

ep. 130 - Inner City Olympics - Reminder: We're on Patreon! If you could kick us …

The Dragget Show - Mon 15 Aug 2016 - 12:02

Reminder: We're on Patreon! If you could kick us a buck or two, we'd greatly appreciate it. www.patreon.com/thedraggetshow ALSO, we're not just on SoundCloud, you can also subscribe to this on most podcast services like iTunes! Inner City Olympics! White people Olymics! Politics! Listener feedback! Exclamation points!!! Don't forget to hang out in our telegram chat, now w/ over 100 members! telegram.me/draggetshow Lastly, don't forget to check out our YouTube, where we have many extra vids, Dragget Plays, and live streams & recordings of the podcasts. www.youtube.com/user/DraggetShow/videos ep. 130 - Inner City Olympics - Reminder: We're on Patreon! If you could kick us …

Categories: Podcasts

Les Ailes du Singe. T.1, Wakanda, by Etienne Willem – Book Review by Fred Patten

Dogpatch Press - Mon 15 Aug 2016 - 10:47

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Les Ailes du Singe. T.1, Wakanda, by Étienne Willem.
Geneva, Switzerland, Éditions Paquet, May 2016, hardbound €14,00 (48 pages).

This is another fine entry in Lex Nakashima’s & my project to bring American furry fans the best of new French-language animalière bandes dessinées. We covered Étienne Willem’s previous four-volume L’Épée d’Ardenois, set about the 13th century with knights in armor. Les Ailes du Singe, The Wings of the Monkey, is considerably different. It’s set in New York in 1933, with knights of the skies.

It’s March 1933, in the depths of the Depression. Tens of thousands of people are out of work, eating in soup kitchens and living in Hoovervilles. Harry Faulkner (monkey), a top pilot in the Lafayette Escadrille during World War I, and the owner of his own barnstorming and movie stunt-flying Jenny biplane during the ‘20s, has fallen on hard times; but he’s not so desperate that he’ll take a job as a common mechanic. He complains to his girlfriend, Betty Laverne (deer), a newspaper reporter for the Herald, and to his own mechanic, Lumpy (pig), that he wants a job that will let him fly.

Meanwhile, the mayor of New York (rabbit) is gambling on jump-starting a return to prosperity – and advancing his own political career – by sponsoring a fleet of high-profile dirigibles (which the mayor secretly owns a share of) powered by synthetic helium, that will replace the railroads in crossing America in comfort and speed. The first of them, the Navy dirigible Wakanda, is about to cast off from the Empire State Building on its posh maiden voyage to California. The flight is covered by Betty.

Except that the Wakanda is taken over by gunmen led by Lydia, a sultry leopardess who poses as an entertainer. They have replaced the champagne for the festivities with mustard gas that they threaten to explode if stopped, not only destroying the Wakanda but also killing the people in the city below them.

A guest temporarily escapes and manages to send a message before he is recaptured. The Navy sends a man to get Colonel Fischer (pelican), who is attending the premiere of King Kong. Harry, in the audience near him, overhears the emergency and runs for his old Jenny. It is in hopeless condition, but Lumpy has made friends with an immigrant German doctor-professor (goat) who has invented an experimental aircraft. Harry and Lumpy take off for the Wakanda, which Harry gets aboard and meets up with Betty.

The last 25 pages of the 46-page album is Harry’s & Betty’s adventurous recapture of the Wakanda from the gunmen, and Harry’s ditching it in the Hudson River to save New York. But they have discovered several things during their adventure. The Wakanda was not a limp-framed dirigible but a fixed-frame zeppelin. It was not filled with non-flammable “synthetic” helium but with Z-03, a new gas invented by Howard Hughes (Doberman) who won’t say what it does except that it’s highly flammable. The gunmen who seized the Wakanda are said to be terrorists, but they are more clearly pirates who planned to divert its flight to Brazil, and then …? What is Howard Hughes’ connection to them? And what had the old goat inventor been doing in Germany before he came to America? There are plenty of loose threads to lead to the next four (or however many) volumes.

Les Ailes du Singe (The Wings of the Monkey) is for readers who like 1930s-style pulp action-adventure with a funny-animal cast. Willem has evidently researched the period. The 1933 clothing looks authentic. The date of early March 1933 was when King Kong premiered. The fat mayor of New York is fictitious, tailored to Willem’s plot, and the character of eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes is closer to the legends about him than to the reality. Les Ailes du Singe is a pulp thriller that authors like L. Ron Hubbard, Frederick C. Davis, and Lester Dent used to churn out during the 1930s, and that the Indiana Jones movies have been keeping alive. It looks like Étienne Willem has another winner here – with anthro animals.

– Fred Patten

Categories: News

Fighting Like…

In-Fur-Nation - Mon 15 Aug 2016 - 01:47

Space Cats In Space! is the name of a new animated computer game, currently under development. They have a Kickstarter campaign in place to try and finance the next step in the process. “An advanced twin-stick shooter space epic, SpaceCats In Space! Follows the kingdom of Meowfyre’s rebellion against the dogs of the Grolich Empire. Bomber strikes, wingman assistance and RPG-like leveling are all tools at your disposal in the battle to stop Oberluft Kommandant Arnuld Von Schloss and the vast Grolich war machine. Featuring animated cutscenes and full voiceover to immerse you in a World War II inspired space battle of cats versus dogs!” This is not the most “serious-minded” of fighting games out there… if the title wasn’t a giveaway, check out the intro video at the Kickstarter page! (Also this is obviously more for “cat people”!) As we write this there is just over a month left in their current crowd-funding campaign.

image c. 2016 Robotic Potato

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Categories: News

South Afrifur Pawdcast, 14 Aug 2016 - South Afrifur Convention Talk

South Afrifur Pawdcast - Sun 14 Aug 2016 - 22:32

Categories: Podcasts

Cats, Dragons… and now Mice!

In-Fur-Nation - Sun 14 Aug 2016 - 01:59

Alan F. Beck is an artist who created a series called The Mousopolitan Museum of Art — “classical portraits by the mice masters”. In other words, world-famous works of art re-imagined as anthropomorphic mice. He has also written a children’s book (available through Create Space) called The Adventures of Nogard and Jackpot, which details what happens when a young kitten hears a noise within the closet and discovers a baby dragon. Both of these (and many other items) are on display at the artist’s web site.

image c. 2016 b y Alan F. Beck

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Categories: News

FC-241 Caught Between Two Bottoms - Annnddd we're back. Three weeks off means three weeks of news and social shenanigans packed into a big fresh episode.

FurCast - Sat 13 Aug 2016 - 22:59

Annnddd we’re back. Three weeks off means three weeks of news and social shenanigans packed into a big fresh episode.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

News:

Emails:

K the Koyote – “Choosing A Path In Life”
Enzo – “Zoophilia?”
Myron the Red Panda – “Convention Hotel Etiquette?”

FC-241 Caught Between Two Bottoms - Annnddd we're back. Three weeks off means three weeks of news and social shenanigans packed into a big fresh episode.

Categories: Podcasts

FC-241 Caught Between Two Bottoms - Annnddd we're back. Three weeks off means three weeks of news and social shenanigans packed into a big fresh episode.

FurCast - Sat 13 Aug 2016 - 22:59

Annnddd we’re back. Three weeks off means three weeks of news and social shenanigans packed into a big fresh episode.

Download MP3

Watch Video Link Roundup:

News:

Emails:

K the Koyote – “Choosing A Path In Life”
Enzo – “Zoophilia?”
Myron the Red Panda – “Convention Hotel Etiquette?”

FC-241 Caught Between Two Bottoms - Annnddd we're back. Three weeks off means three weeks of news and social shenanigans packed into a big fresh episode.

Categories: Podcasts

[Live] Caught Between Two Bottoms

FurCast - Sat 13 Aug 2016 - 22:59

Annnddd we’re back. Three weeks off means three weeks of news and social shenanigans packed into a big fresh episode.

Download MP3

Link Roundup:

News:

Emails:

K the Koyote – “Choosing A Path In Life”
Enzo – “Zoophilia?”
Myron the Red Panda – “Convention Hotel Etiquette?”

[Live] Caught Between Two Bottoms

Categories: Podcasts

Furry's Classmates Mock Him, and His Girlfriend Turned Her Back on Him

Ask Papabear - Sat 13 Aug 2016 - 12:20

Dear Papabear,

So I've been attending a new animation and art college and It's been going great. Sort of. I got into furries when I was 14 years old and I love it to this day. But it seems people at my university have a problem with furries. So a few days ago we were told to do a project. A simple animation texture on water and hair, I asked my professor on if I could draw FUR. As I was planning to draw an anthropomorphic ANIMAL. As I'm not often able to speak to him personally, I was basically forced to only be able to ask him in-front of everyone. So, After I asked the question, a few people chuckled, I brushed it off. So as the professor I could assume wondered why, he asked me, and I told him I was drawing an anthropomorphic animal. No harm in that, correct? Wrong. There was about 4-5 people in the room hysterically laughing at what I'd asked. Again, I brush it off. So the professor didn't laugh, he knew what it was, but didn't think much of it. So he said yes. As I was working on my project on my digital tablet, a few students behind me happened to look at my screen. When they first heard "anthropomorphic" I imagine they didn't think quite of FURRIES. So when they saw the drawing/WIP of the animation, they asked me if I was a FURRY. I said yes; I now know that was a horrible choice. They laughed and laughed. I could hear them whispering about it and chuckling about it for the rest of the time of that class.

After that day, I had a couple people come up to me as I was walking to my dorm, yelping "yiff yiff! yiff yiff!" In my ear. It just bugs me a whole lot how they assume I enjoy that side of the fandom. I told them to stop. They laughed, and they did it again today, but more of them. Almost the whole school knows at this point. But that’s not all. I had a girlfriend by the name of Aleshia, she knew I was a furry, but she didn't really know what a furry WAS. So I can assume that those specific students, or maybe others, told her what the "public" knows as a furry: a monster that dresses up in animal costumes and has sex. And her, being a very gullible person, believed it. So she broke up with me today, and I'm devastated. I've tried for 3 hours today trying to talk to her and she won’t listen. How do you think I should get over this? Or, even better, prove to these people furries AREN'T bad people!

Aquil (age 17)

* * *

Dear Aquil,

Let’s be clear that there are a couple reasons for the mocking you received: 1) your fellow students’ ignorance of furries, and 2) because of the social dynamics in schools where cliques find a target person who is seen as weak and vulnerable to mock, tease, even beat up so that they can reinforce bonds with the “cool” people. These are not people who are interested in hearing arguments about the true nature of furries (no matter how correct or well-reasoned). They are only interested in finding someone to pick on so they feel better about themselves. For this reason, trying to educate them is pointless.
What you need to do, then, is deal with them as one must deal with any type of bully: ignore them. They only have fun and get off on their bullying when you give them a reaction. Even a simple “Stop doing that” is sufficient for them because they know that you don’t like their teasing, which is what they want.

So don’t react. Indeed, ignore them completely. As Nick Wilde said in Zootopia, remember to never let them know they have gotten to you because that’s what they want. The only time you should take a criticism to heart is when it comes from a person you respect and who is trying to help you. These people do not qualify in either category.

Also, keep in mind that laughter is an effective weapon. Instead of acting upset, laugh at them.

As for your girlfriend: I’m sorry what happened, but, seriously, do you want a girlfriend who believes some stupid social clique more than you? If she truly loved you, she would be supportive of you and listen to what you have to say in your defense. Instead, she turned her back on you and didn’t even give you that chance. You don’t need a girl like that. Keep looking. You’ll be better off.

Hugs,
Papabear

One Flew Over Florida…

In-Fur-Nation - Sat 13 Aug 2016 - 01:59

The Adventures of Pelican Pete: A Bird is Born is the title of a 1999 book for kids by Frances and Hugh Keiser. (She wrote it, he illustrated it.) “A story in rhyme about a pelican egg which hatches into curious young pete. To protect his head from the sun, his parents find a child’s cap for him to wear. The Adventures of Pelican Pete is an entertaining, educational resource with appropriate environmental values that is expressed visually with detailed art work in vivid coloring.” Much more recently, animator Dani Bowman hooked up with a young film-maker named Keaton Bicknell to create a live action/animated short film based on the book. Now it’s making the rounds at various film festivals, but you can also view this 2015 film on Vimeo.

image c. 2016 Sagaponack Books

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Categories: News

FWG Member Spotlight: Madison Keller

Furry Writers' Guild - Fri 12 Aug 2016 - 12:00

Tell us about yourself and a recent published project of yours.

I have been writing since 2012 and published my first novel near the end of 2014. My newest project is The Dragon Tax Book One, which came out in June 2016. This originally was published in 2015 as a short story in the anthology A Menagerie of Heroes, which went out of print just a few months later.

I’d had so much fun with the characters I’d already written several more stories of their continuing adventures. I’d planned on perhaps doing a series of linked short stories, but with the very first one out of print and hard to find, I scrapped that idea. However, I’d had to cut some scenes to fit in the word count limit and I had the idea to add back in those missing scenes and tighten up the story, making it a novella length work and republishing it as a stand alone first in the series.

Why do you like using “furry” characters in stories?

I enjoying figuring out how furry features and characteristics would change a society’s fundamental values. I also like using it to explore aspects of human behavior that wouldn’t come up in non-furry fiction.

What made you want to become a writer? Are there authors or books that strongly influenced you?

I was a huge bookworm and devoured the entire science fiction/fantasy section of the local library as I was growing up. I wanted to be a writer to tell the stories that filled my own head. However, I let others talk me out of pursing a career in writing and threw away everything I’d been writing in junior high and high school. With the advent of the Kindle I began reading many self-published works and was re-inspired to again put pen to page.

In high school I was inspired by the likes of Piers Anthony, Tracy Hickman, Walter Jon Williams, and Barbara Hambly. Lately I’ve been devouring A.E. Marling’s Enchantress series, Charles Stross’s Laundry files, and Jonathan Howard’s Necromancer series as well as many other books.

Tell us a bit about your writing process. Do you see yourself as a “pantser,” an outliner, or somewhere in between?

I’m an outliner all the way. Before I write a single sentence of my manuscript I’ll outline the plot, define all the major characters, and do high-level worldbuilding. As I write I will expand character profiles, add world-building details, and tweak the outline.

Do you have any advice you’d give other writers?

Don’t let other people discourage you and never stop writing. Read a lot, everything you can find, but especially books in your chosen genre.

What’s a project you’re working on now, or that may be coming out soon?

I’m currently juggling three projects—working on the next books in the Dragon Tax series, finishing up the final planned book in my Flower’s Fang universe, and outlining a new werewolf urban fantasy trilogy set in central Washington state that is as of yet un-named.

Where can people find you and your work?

All of my work can be found on Amazon or on my website, flowersfang.com.

Categories: News

Return to Narnia?

In-Fur-Nation - Fri 12 Aug 2016 - 01:59

Word is out that Tristar Pictures have (finally!) given the go-ahead to begin work on the 4th feature film adaptation of the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. Next up is The Silver Chair — in which Eustace Stubb and his new friend from school, Jill Pole, wind up traveling back to Narnia… tasked by the lion-god Aslan with helping to find Prince Caspian’s missing son. As usual with any Narnia story, talking animals abound. In this case, that especially means owls! After the last two Narnia films (Prince Caspian from 2008 and Voyage of the Dawn Treader from 2010) met with less-than-spectacular results at the domestic box office, many began to wonder if any of the rest of the books would see the light of movies at all. Looks like at least one of them will! We found this out from Famous Monsters of Filmland, of all places. No word yet on a director, stars, or a planned release date for The Silver Chair.

image c. 2016 C.S. Lewis

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Categories: News

Long Distance Relationships - What does it take to sustain a Long Distance Relationship? Join an extended crew today as we discuss some of our relationships that worked, and some that didn't

WagzTail - Thu 11 Aug 2016 - 23:33

What does it take to sustain a Long Distance Relationship? Join an extended crew today as we discuss some of our relationships that worked, and some that didn’t

Metadata and Credits Long Distance Relationships

Runtime: 34:35m

Cast: Levi, Path, Wolfin

Editor: Wolfin

Long Distance Relationships - What does it take to sustain a Long Distance Relationship? Join an extended crew today as we discuss some of our relationships that worked, and some that didn't

Categories: Podcasts

Long Distance Relationships - What does it take to sustain a Long Distance Relationship? Join an extended crew today as we discuss some of our relationships that worked, and some that didn't

WagzTail - Thu 11 Aug 2016 - 23:33

What does it take to sustain a Long Distance Relationship? Join an extended crew today as we discuss some of our relationships that worked, and some that didn’t

Metadata and Credits Long Distance Relationships

Runtime: 34:35m

Cast: Levi, Path, Wolfin

Editor: Wolfin

Long Distance Relationships - What does it take to sustain a Long Distance Relationship? Join an extended crew today as we discuss some of our relationships that worked, and some that didn't

Categories: Podcasts

Episode 324 - Some Dude's Sky

Southpaws - Thu 11 Aug 2016 - 22:46

Savrin and Fuzz are back this week to talk about Bowie, travel woes, successful Kickstarter projects, gush about Netflix stuff, and more. We didn't have much in the way of emails this week so it was a shorter show, but we also did our shoutouts to all our awesome Patreon folks this week. Thanks to all of those who support us- y'all rock! Our Patreon: www.patreon.com/Knotcast Episode 324 - Some Dude's Sky

Categories: Podcasts

Science of Centaurs | Episode 33

Culturally F'd - Thu 11 Aug 2016 - 17:02

Categories: Videos

Furry Times – a lesser known blog with some quality fandom interviews you should see.

Dogpatch Press - Thu 11 Aug 2016 - 10:26

Ahmar Wolf’s profile pic

I have an impression that “Furry News” sources are limited to a very select handful of ones with general focus (Flayrah, Adjective Species, or Dogpatch Press). There’s also a few specialized ones (Furstarter, Gaming Furever, Furry.today for videos, or some literary ones with inconsistent presence.)

Furry Times only recently came across my radar. It was by direct outreach from Ahmar Wolf (the founder who may work with a contributor from time to time). It escaped my notice because I had never seen it linked on social media, and it didn’t easily come up in searches for general furry topics. But it’s been steadily active since 2009.

There’s good content at Furry Times, and the furry world needs more of this. Briefly, I’ll say that finding it takes a lot of wading through random and non-furry filler that could benefit from much more focused curation. I’ll give a little critique about that after a few good examples you should see.

If the blog was focused on stuff with this approach, it could be a real contender for another furry news source beyond just a personal blog. If that doesn’t matter and it’s just a place to put personal thoughts, OK – but if the original content is meant to be seen, it could use focus.

Let’s look at why this blog may be underexposed. (Views are one thing, engagement and recognizable presence are another.)

It’s not obvious what the blog is for. The “about” says almost nothing. The title implies news. The content has multiple personalities – between timely furry information and videos, social media memes best for Facebook, copies of non-furry clickbait, and art/comics.

There’s a huge amount of filler. Even more complicated, it’s mixed with porn art/erotic stories. Now, furries and porn have a special relationship of duality and personal expression. Unlike many other topics/communities, I think that this mix could work well if done carefully. Let’s set the “gray area” of unauthorized sharing aside, and say that at least carefully curating the porn is a Must. Give people a reason to see it here, rather than going to a porn-specific blog. I think that unpredictable sharing of adult stuff can fight against attracting regular viewers interested in informative content (especially if they read at work), or presenting Furry as it’s own legitimate thing (whether the reader is in or out of the fandom.)

I see many posts with comments off. Others have very little if any engagement, a good sign of need for improvement with curation. I would go as far as to say that the amount of posting should discard about 85% of what’s there and consolidate some of the rest with a little added commentary.

The original or timely furry “newsworthy” content seems not to pay enough attention to “new and informative” or at least Voice. Often it’s only mildly interesting stuff you could see anywhere, without consistent timeliness, category, or original information/opinions about it. Random videos and comics without date or credit could at least have a reason for why they’re worth your time.

It’s well known that formal copyright is rarely respected by casual blogs using “internet rules”. I won’t lecture about etiquette. But at the very least, try to consistently credit and link creators and artists, or share it to them directly so they know. For reposting entire pieces, try instead to use an excerpt with link to the original. Doing anything else splits the content between legit and pirate. If it’s meant to share pirate content, take care. Celebrating older stuff that isn’t maintained elsewhere is different from maybe competing directly with creators.

The layout isn’t very appealing for reading long-form stories. It’s kinda cramped in width without much image layout among the words, and it’s lacking bolding etc. to break up the text. It is interesting to see some categories in the links in the side (add a News section?) and especially the “downloads” page.

The very best thing here is when Ahmar comment on the Downloads page: “I have a passion for old furry publications, enough so I decided to make them available for free download.” A focus on that passion could make an extremely interesting curated blog. (I’ll avoid discussing etiquette, and just say that sharing old stuff could be especially welcome if there are some original thoughts or links to more info, every time it’s shared.)

There’s potential here. The above interview articles show it. A lot of trimming is in order to bring it out. Try commenting to Ahmar and see if it helps to aim his work towards what you might want to see. Hearing from readers can be very important to bring out the best.

It seems like Ahmar Wolf really likes running Furry Times. If these suggestions don’t suit, instead of just changing the blog, consider splitting it into several. Having ones for furry news, adult art, and personal stuff could bring more enjoyment for everyone.

Categories: News