Feed aggregator

We're back again and in this episode we talk about Motorcyclists getting kicked by cops, People jerking off in burger king, Monkeys steeling cameras, George Clooney's puppies, and we got a TON of emails! Episode -51 - Adam is still a goat!

The Year of Furry keeps bringing unexpected surprises.  Shortly before 2016’s furry fever explodes with Zootopia, here’s the satirical scandal of #tonytigergate.

Get ready to hack up a hairball about this, if you want furry fandom to get taken seriously without a speck of sexy humor about make-believe mascots.  (Or if you’re prudish and think cartoon kink is worse than ISIS.)  Stuff like this must have Disney’s defensive shields on maximum.

It started with furry flirting at Tony the Tiger’s Twitter account.  In November 2015, news media noticed that he was a long time Furry crush.  The buff, yiffable mascot for Frosted Flakes couldn’t tweet about cereal without pleas for his sweet tigermanmilk.  I shared all the news stories I could find about it:

• Tony the Tiger is being harassed by horny furries on Twitter
• Furries Take Cat-Calling To The Next Level On Tony The Tiger’s Twitter
• Tony The Tiger’s Twitter Account Keeps Getting Mentioned By Furries Looking For Sex
• Tony the Tiger gets harassed by furries all the time on Twitter
• Tony the Tiger Can’t Tweet Without Furries Begging Him for Sex

Kelloggs Answers Requests For Tony Tiger Dick Pics With 'Adult Edition' Cereal Kept Behind Counter @Gawker @realtonytiger @ashleyfeinberg

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) November 9, 2015

If y'all weren't aware, John Harvey Kellogg invented corn flakes to stop children from masturbating. Apparently it didn't work.

— Mouse of Habsburg (@favoritemouse) January 28, 2016

Tony’s sex appeal is a little ironic, when Kellogg’s is a company with the most over-the-top, puritanical sex-negative history you can imagine.

On the flip side, be amused or confused about a really dirty meaning for Tony’s bandana in gay hanky code.  This is hilarious to strange, dark corners of the internet.  Here’s a reference about it for those into Serious Cinema as much as Cereal Sin.  In 1980’s Cruising, Al Pacino learns things as an undercover cop:

Tony the Tiger turns tail.

 

Behind the scenes with Tony’s social media team, all of this heat was too much to handle.  Maybe they felt like it was Brand Vandalism… and this wasn’t even the first time this fall that Tony was target for a well organized prank. The first had nothing to do with furries- that PR crisis was fake, satirical ads.

Things came to a head in January 2016.  They started blocking all furries en masse, whether they deserved it or not.

• Gawker: Tony the Tiger Turns His Back on Twitter’s Horny Furries
• Huffington Post: Tony The Tiger Is Really Not Into All These Furries Asking For Sex
• NY Daily News: Tony the Tiger is getting harassed on Twitter by sexually aroused furries  
• Metro UK:  Tony the Tiger has started blocking furries due to their sexual fascination with him
• MTV News: Thirsty Furries Are Sexually Harrassing Tony The Tiger And He Doesn’t Think It’s Grrreat

Furry Twitter today pic.twitter.com/UbGFiVw8Ul

— WCKD DRGNS (@VeryDragons) January 27, 2016

Jerberjer on Twitter

Tony is testy, but Chester Cheetah wants to chill.

 

Across the internet, furries on the sidelines grabbed popcorn, or wagged their paws in shame.  Others cried about rejection by Tony and got the #tonytigergate hashtag trending.  This led another corporate spokeskitty to notice the poor, lonely furries.

A TALE OF TWO MASCOTS: HOW FURRIES SPURNED BY TONY THE TIGER ARE BEING EMBRACED BY CHESTER CHEETAH.

In short order, more corporate PR accounts jumped in to show tolerance against Furryphobia.  Their free hype was quite a spectacle of capitalist opportunity, with a cheesy coating of fun for those who staffed the boring social media jobs.

@WitchyCats @CasualFennec I welcome all fans to my twitter feed. Scales, feathers, or fur, if you enjoy my tweets then welcome!

— Chester Cheetah (@ChesterCheetah) January 26, 2016

i can't fucking handle this, tony the tiger blocked all the furries but chester cheetah is loving it pic.twitter.com/Sf0llpO0kb

— lion to myself (@taizou_hori) January 26, 2016

@Aldohusky @CasualFennec We're having an amazing time because we've got you amazing furries to talk to. ~ARA

— Applebee's (@Applebees) January 27, 2016

RPing with restaurants is my new favourite thing pic.twitter.com/yLVFU8Myk2

— #Applebae (@CasualFennec) January 27, 2016

What about this guy?  He probably doesn’t want to come out of the kennel, because all of this publicity is too hot to handle.  But check out his Chester fursuit.

Found a furry positive cereal. @RealCapnCrunch and @RealSeaDog are mates for life, says it right on his account. #furries #tonytigergate

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) January 28, 2016

@RealCapnCrunch is such a furry lover! https://t.co/bT32A14QK0

— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) January 28, 2016

I don’t normally go as a land animal for Halloween, but @ChesterCheetah has the second best facial hair in the biz. pic.twitter.com/EfdP4nVfnX

— Cap'n Crunch (@RealCapnCrunch) October 31, 2015 Tony gets back to selling wholesome diabeetus – and the Daily Show calls.

 

It must have hurt Tony’s pride to see Chester being the bigger cat.  Alpha jocks can be like that.  But in the end, he’s got cereal to sell and customers to please.  He put out a message to make nice.  Too bad he doesn’t realize what ‘cub’ means to a certain crowd…

I’m all for showing your stripes, feathers, etc. But let’s keep things gr-r-reat – & family-friendly if you could. Cubs could be watching

Fandom Fashions (“By Fans, For Fans”) have really upped their game recently. Their updated web site features many new designs for t-shirts and other handy clothing, with new designs covering many areas of fandom, pop culture, and yes, furry. Brought to you by none other than the artist known as Zhivago. (Whom, you may recall, was Guest of Honor at CaliFur 2015 — and whom you often see at many furry and comic book conventions.) Check it out.

image c. 2016 Fandom Fashions

Hello Everyone!

While this might seem like a review of previous episodes, this is a presentation of Viro the Science Collie's workshop at ANE2016 (and future cons) for those who are unable to attend. You can find the actual presentation under the "Presentations" page of our website.

For more information, including a list of topics by timestamp, see our Show Notes for this episode.

Thanks and, as always, be well!

FA 003 Non-Monogamous Furry Relationships 101 - A presentation of Viro the Science Collie's panel at ANE2016

In this super bite sized Smallballd, Killick reads some old emails and thoroughly embarrasses himself.

Lindt v Haribo: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34334776

Drone freeze ray: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34475158

 

Smallballd 03 – Emails And Thank Yous - In this super bite sized Smallballd, Killick reads some old emails and thoroughly embarrasses himself. - Lindt v Haribo: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34334776 - Drone freeze ray: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34475158 -  

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

Swords and Sausages, by Jan
Hong Kong, Tiger Knight Comics, September 2015, trade paperback $30.00 (unpaged [128 pages]).

“Once upon a time, nestled somewhere amongst the rolling hills of Vale Valley, was a lively, albeit small, kingdom. And in this kingdom was …”

The main things that there “was” are Tor (a hunky tiger) and Silver (a svelte white vixen), two inept street thieves, would-be con artists, and even more would-be road warriors (robbers), plus the local sheriff (lion). Other supporting characters include the sheriff’s town guard (wolves), and varied town merchants (assorted anthropomorphized mammals, reptiles, and birds). The gryphons are unanthropomorphized and are treated as eagles.

This first collection relates the occasionally bawdy misadventures of Tor and Silver (she loses her clothing a lot, if funny-animal cartoon nudity bothers you) around Vale Valley proper and surrounding small towns. They regularly get thrown into the VV pokey, and are released or escape after a few days. It’s not that Tor and Silver are stupid, but they are less intelligent than anyone else. The stories feature typical funny-animal slightly exaggerated comedy-adventure. The social level here is about what you’d find at a Renaissance Faire or a Society for Creative Anachronisms event. This collection turns slightly more serious at the end as the tiger & vixen wander outside of Vale Valley and discover that the two neighboring kingdoms are at war.

This first collection of Jan’s Swords and Sorcery webcomic is in a “Sunday-page” format of two tiers per page in a large 12” x 9” size, in full color on thick, glossy paper. $30.00 may seem expensive, but when you see how large and impressive this collection is, you will feel it is worth it. It contains the first eight chapters of the strip, from June 1, 2011 to December 28, 2014, plus an original 8-page bonus chapter. Unlike the collection of College Catastrophe, Jan’s other webcomic, which is a black-&-white paperback that feels designed to fit into your pocket, this Swords and Sausages compendium is a large, lavish volume fit to be a full-sized coffee-table art book as much as a comic-strip collection. If you like a bright anthro pre-1600 A.D. world without the dirt and disease that real history was full of, get this book – or read Swords and Sausages online.

Jan’s College Catastrophe collection is actually printed in Hong Kong, where Jan lives. Swords and Sausages is produced by Jan’s printer in the U.S., Paw Pad Printing in Memphis, Tennessee (the printer of the Memphis FurMeet’s publications). Orders are shipped by Paw Pad through FedEx, resulting in faster delivery of American orders.

–Fred Patten

• Buy on Tiger Knight

Very soon (mid-February, in fact) a new Kickstarter campaign will be starting up, looking to finance a brand-new furry-themed card game called Fur vs. Scale. They explain it best on their web site: “Fur vs Scale is a fast-paced tabletop card game for 2-4 players, pitting heroes of rival kingdoms against each other in strategic combat. The game captures the ebb and flow of your favorite arcade fighter, challenging players to construct winning combinations of attacks, blocks, counters, and super moves over four rounds to be crowned victor. Featuring colorful anthropomorphic animal characters with unique special abilities, Fur vs Scale offers a variety of depth that can be enjoyed by kids and adults of all ages. Fur vs Scale takes place in the world of Junea, a land at war. The fragile peace that existed for decades between the Kindgom of Leon and the Kingdom of Wyrm is shattered by the disappearance of a sacred idol, and the quest to solve the mystery sets heroes from both lands on a dangerous collision course. Relive their tales of glorious combat and guide your chosen hero to victory!” The web site includes a link to a YouTube video telling you more about the game.

image c. 2016 WarSpider Entertainment

San Francisco Bay Area Furries are fluffing up for this weekend’s party.  It’s the kind of subcultural crossover that makes this place Furry Mecca. (Except when Pittsburgh takes the title once a year.)  Organizer Neonbunny says:

We did this a couple of years ago, and it was a ton of fun. We’ll have a space for fursuiters only, so we won’t have to worry about drag queens wondering what happens when glitter is combined with industrial fans.  I do hope you’ll join us!

Frolic @ Bootie Saturday, January 30th, 9pm – 3:30am (room runs until 2am). DNA Lounge, 375 11th St, San Francisco.  21+.

Frolic, San Francisco premiere furry party, is teaming up with Bootie, San Francisco’s top mashup & bootleg party, to bring you a mashup of multiple cultures, including furries, drag queens, hipsters, live bands, and dj’s.

Frolic will be hosting the upstairs space (over DNA pizza), with changing space for fursuiters. Guest DJs include LycanCatt, Ikumma, Raid Zero, and NeonBunny. Groggy will be mixing up some video for us!

Fursuiters are free, just show your fursuit to the person at the door (Bootie’s policy is full costumes & makeup are free all night).  And of course, this includes access to the all 4 rooms of Bootie, all night, from 9pm until 3:30 am (our room closes at 2am, but the main room goes much later!)

$10 before 10pm, $20 after — CASH ONLY $15 advance tickets — SKIP THE LINE! available here.

See the official facebook post about the night, and more info about Bootie’s night:

San Francisco is home to many amazing subcultures, some of which have gone mainstream, like drag queens, and others that are a little more confusing to the general population, like furries. But both are facets of the diversity that makes SF great. So tonight, Bootie brings them together for one insane party to blow your mind! At 11 PM, Pepperspray, the Bay Area’s favorite drag rock band, takes the stage for a special live set, and for the Midnight Mashup Show, Catalysta takes to the silks high above the floor to present thrilling aerial escapades. Main Room mashup DJs A Plus D and Entyme keep the party rolling late into the night with the best mashups in the universe, keeping your tails wagging and your wigs bobbing!

Personally I like going a level beyond drag… but whether it’s gender or species, there might be more crossover than you think.  Check these out:

Article: Facebook’s ‘Real Name’ controversy, Drag queens, and Furries.  And a little bit of NSFW art:

Can you think of some good “Furry Drag” names?  My drag dog fursona could be Rin Tin Tits. Drop a comment with yours.

Cynthia Read goes goes by the name of Sparky in Fandom circles, and fannish conventions are where you are quite likely to find her work. “Sparky’s Stitches is my small home-based business, mostly centered around machine embroidery, although I do dabble in other crafts.” Lots of embroidered patches for lots of fannish pursuits in fact — including fantasy, furry, My Little Pony, and more. In fact more recently she has branched out and created a line of My Little Pony themed hoodies. You can see them on her web site, and also see a big selection of her embroidered patches for sale at her Etsy Store.

image c. 2016 by Cynthia Read

Island #6 (Image Comics) – Even with the ever so slightly reduced page count, you can still count on Island to be the greatest anthology out there in terms of casting its net far and wide to bring attention to new and unheard of comics talent on a monthly basis. The highlight this month is the story “Badge of Pride” featuring a group of young anthropomorphic guys as they navigate the social minefield of their local Pride event. Having followed his work on and off for years now it’s thrilling to see Onta’s work shown to a more mainstream audience and I was fortunate enough that he had time to answer a few of my questions last week about his new, more personal and story driven outing for Island.

This month also presents work from Gael B as well as a recoloured, reprinted sci-fi classic in the form of Fil Barlow’s Zooniverse.

Saga #33 (Image Comics) – Thirty Three issues in and Vaughan and Staples sci-fi epic shows no signs of slowing down as it continues to shock, thrill and delight in equal measures. Staples beautiful cover shows that the adorable journalistic couple Upsher and Doff are back after being warned off reporting on the story of Marko and Alana way back in the books second arc. While only briefly touched upon I look forward to seeing how Vaughan develops the relationship between the pair as they become embroiled deeper in conflict and conspiracy. It’s been briefly hinted that the pairs society doesn’t look kindly on same sex couples and it will be fascinating to see what the writer has to say on the subject in a series that really pulls no punches with its social commentary.

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>I have to stay in my dorm room all day because the flu so I thought I&#39;d spend the day chating with you guys cuz you always put me in a good mood and make me feel better. </p> <p>If you want to RP I&#39;m ok with that too just send a PM so not to annoy others. Also my English is not great sorry.</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

Yesterday’s extra long post about Zootopia described complicated relationships between fans and marketers, and asked: are they intentionally winking at furries, but keeping it hidden?  According to Fred’s wisdom, the sensitivity is nothing new.  

Dear Patch;

Cartoon Brew’s article described the petition against fan pornography of Disney’s forthcoming Zootopia and the reaction to the subject.

What seems most interesting to me is the apparent assumption that furry fandom (and people in general) are just discovering the pornography of high-profile animated cartoon characters with Zootopia.  Doesn’t anyone remember the furry fan pornography of Warner Bros.’ Tiny Toon Adventures TV series in the early 1990s, with the series’ own emphasis on gags about Buster Bunny’s not wearing any pants? It faded away after the program went off the air. It’s discussed in Reading the Rabbit by Kevin Sandler, an anthology of articles about Warners’ cartoon characters from Rutgers University Press.

I said in a review at the time:

Fans will doubtlessly be most interested in the next-to-last essay, Bill Mikulak’s Fans versus Time Warner: Who Owns Looney Tunes? This cites the Hollywood Reporter’s November 1, 1995 story about Warner Bros.’s discovery on the Internet of fan-drawn pornographic cartoons featuring its characters, and follows it up. The essay is rather one-sided since Time Warner’s legal department had little to say publicly whereas Mikulak downloaded plenty of fannish comments. He also obtained copies of two of Time Warner’s cease-and-desist letters from the fans, and he quotes these to present WB’s official stance. Mikulak notes that the ‘appropriation’ of popular copyrighted characters by their fans for their own non-commercial, and often erotic use has a long tradition (he cites Star Trek fandom), and that WB’s charge that erotic depictions are a ‘perversion of [WB’s] innocent cartoon characters’ is belied by the obviously lusty nature of much of the humor and innuendos basic to such personalities as Pepé le Pew and Minerva Mink, which build upon an established public acceptance of exaggerated cartoon sexual humor going back to Tex Avery’s Red Hot Riding Hood (1943).

In demonstrating his point, Mikulak quotes from numerous fannish Internet open conversations. These require his defining for the academic record of such terms as ‘furvert’, ‘spooge’, ‘anthropomorphics’, ‘furries’, ‘FurryMUCK’ and ‘Drooling Babs Fanboy’. Furry fandom isn’t being discovered by only the sensationalistic tabloid media any more; this book is from Rutgers University Press.

Most of the most daring Internet pornography was by Karri Aronon, who lived in Turku, Finland, and assumed that he was safe from Warner Bros.’ lawyers there. I never heard the outcome of that — whether the lawyers finally shut him down; whether Aronen stopped on his own after he grew up; or whether everyone lost interest in porn of the Tiny Toon characters after WB ended the TV series.  I haven’t heard of Aronen since then.

Anyhow, furry fan pornography of popular animated funny animals certainly predates Zootopia.

Best wishes;

Fred