Feed aggregator

submitted by brb1006
[link] [10 comments]

Being rather new to the furry community, I thought it was time I finally watched this one, especially with Zootopia coming up soon. The director saying that Robin Hood was his main inspiration definitely got my interest.

I wouldn't say it's up there with Disney's best, but it was a lot of fun! It's certainly one of the best examples of how anthropomorphism can be used - it creates a highly intriguing world and defines the characters in a very unique way. I thought it was very clever which species were used to represent certain characters. Everything fit very well, from Robin Hood as a fox to Prince John as a maneless lion.

As a film it kind of lacks the epic scope of other Disney films like The Lion King though. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but I felt like there wasn't as much dramatic tension to this one as in many of their other films. I was also a bit disappointed that Maid Marion had no role in the finale, that was a bit of a missed opportunity.

But like I said, it was a lot of fun, if Zootopia is at this level I'll be very happy with it.

I think we all know what furries thinks of Robin Hood the character cough but what did you think of it as a film?

Also, what's your favorite scene? I loved the archery tournament.

submitted by kiwit179
[link] [3 comments]

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

Fuzzy Business 3: End Game, by Amelia Ritner
Seattle, WA, CreateSpace, November 2015, trade paperback $7.99 (173 pages), Kindle $1.99.

You would think that any book in a series subtitled “End Game” would be the final volume, wouldn’t you? Well, maybe you’d be right and maybe not.

In Fuzzy Business (May 2013) and Fuzzy Business 2: Fuzz Harder (December 2013), the young humanimal cat-girl Miara Cooper (she has cat ears, whiskers, a tail, and light fur) in San Francisco in the last half of the 21st Century finds herself the target of PAGE, a brutal anti-humanimal hate group who intend to make her a fatal example of what they do to anyone not 100% human. She is defended by the mysterious hunky coyote-man biker John, who starts out by kidnaping her, and the equally-handsome human Connor who, when she asks for help, comes running with “[…] An AR-15, a scoped hunting rifle with a wooden stock, a pump action shotgun, two .38 revolvers, a Glock identical to the one that John had pointed earlier, a laser-equipped Glock 26 that John snickered at when he saw, ten varying boxes of ammunition, a stun gun, a .22 semiautomatic rifle with an obscenely huge magazine of bullets attached to it […]” (Fuzzy Business, p. 113) and a lot more. She also has the help, whether she wants it or not, of pro-humanimal activists who insist on recruiting her into their groups. And PETA.

As I said in my review of the first two books, “If Fuzzy Business were dunked in any more feminine pheromones, it would read like a furry paranormal romance.” That doesn’t mean that there is no serious danger. Fuzzy Business 2: Fuzz Harder ends with John shot at close range and left for dead.

Fuzzy Business 3: End Game begins with Miara and lots of people including the police gathered around John’s hospital bed. He’s recovering, and it looks like they now have all the support and police protection that they need. The local and state governments are demonstrating their support of what the activists call Animal-Americans, the 100% human bigots are laying low, and the equally-murderous humanimal extremists who have declared any humanimals who believe in equality with humans to be traitors (one of them, Fox, shot John) are on the run. But there are still dangers, as are shown by another attempt on John’s life in the hospital.

Ritner tells two intermixed stories; Miara’s own, trying to get John to accept a witness protection program and trying to find a new job following the events in Fuzz Harder, and that of the humanimals in general society. While there is an active pure-human minority, many people are almost too much in favor of the humanimals. Mothers want their babies to be cute cat-, dog-, raccoon-, lion-, or tiger-human hybrids despite the sky-high costs.   Even beaver and moose humanimals. The government’s attempt to rigidly control the humanimal process is failing:

“The evidence of the existence of an underground market for Genetic Manipulation is overwhelming. There is no possible way that, even with multiple assisting surgeons and technicians, Dr. Finchley’s facility could produce as many manipulated individuals as we are seeing in the current generation.” (pgs. 47-48)

Since the legitimate medical process of manipulating a human embryo into a human-animal hybrid is extremely difficult and expensive, numerous cheaper though still expensive facilities of dubious legality are assumed by the public to have sprung up. Unlicensed and underground laboratories risk killing the mother or child, or having the embryo turn out to be a malformed freak.

“I took another sip of my tea, and thanked my lucky stars that my parents had already lived in California, and had caught the inaugural wave of Dr. Finchley’s treatment before he rose to great fame and fortune. I was sure there were thousands of women just like my mother, dying to augment their babies the same way I had been, who simply couldn’t go through with it now because of how much that rich bastard charged for his services.” (p. 50)

Miara had been studying for a P.I.’s license while working as a mall cop in Book 2. She now decides to track down Fox and the Mammal Mafia extremists by herself, especially since there is evidence that Fox is stalking her.

All of this is intermixed with Miara’s running commentary about her love life. She has not decided yet between the coyote-man or the human, and with John disappearing temporarily into the authorities’ witness relocation program, she concentrates on Connor.

“We had our differences, sure, but the sex was amazing.” (p. 60)

That’s Miara and Connor in the parking lot of a dance hall in Solapi’s cover painting. Fox, their nemesis, is in the car. Page 123.

Another murder provides Miara with the clue that leads her, Connor, and the police to the killers, after a lot of exciting risk-taking. Well, maybe not entirely exciting:

“‘Can you slow down a bit?’ I asked, readjusting my butt in my seat. Sitting on my tail was always uncomfortable, but Connor’s reckless driving was shifting my body back and forth over it. ‘You’re making me queasy.’

‘We’re being followed,’ Connor said simply.

[…]

‘Do you have any guns in here?’

He glanced at me with a lifted eyebrow. I let out a breath of air, hard, to calm myself. This was Connor. Of course he had weapons in his car. But would they be enough to stop Fox?” (pgs. 134-135)

Miara and Connor decide not to miss this opportunity to take down Fox personally, with the police screaming over Miara’s cell phone to let them handle it.

“My left hand touched something with angular plastic edges, and my fingers grasped it so I could pull it out. Was it a cheap knife? A throwing star, perhaps?

I opened my hand and looked at the thing inside. It was a Batman PEZ dispenser.” (pgs. 146-147)

What does Miara do with a Batman PEZ dispenser against a gun? Read Fuzzy Business 3: End Game to find out.

I won’t say how this ends, but it seems to conclude the series definitely. On the other hand, there are a few loose threads that could lead to more sequels. Ritner says in a note in my review copy that this is deliberate. “I left the book open ended enough that I may pick up the series again one day.”

But for now, Fuzzy Business is complete in three books; cheap as trade paperbacks and even cheaper on Kindle. If you’re not familiar with the first two yet, start with Book 1.

– Fred Patten

• Buy Fuzzy Business 3 on Amazon
• Buy Fuzzy Business on Amazon
• Buy Fuzzy Business 2 on Amazon
• Fred’s Review of Fuzzy Business 2 on Flayrah

submitted by Spectorlumis
[link] [4 comments]

submitted by _psycho_mantis
[link] [3 comments]

submitted by BluepatchTheDog
[link] [10 comments]

submitted by kerespup
[link] [13 comments]

submitted by ZarrowWrites
[link] [5 comments]

submitted by EH_Slivers
[link] [2 comments]

Hey ya there. I have been thinking for a long time that I might need more pals to talk with and after the last nights episode I finally realized how much I need em. So feel free msg me your kik/skype/steam details and we'll see what kind of wacky conversations we can come up with.

submitted by Yuppie2
[link] [21 comments]

Caught this one coming out! Fresh and new for 2016, this book describes itself best: “It starts with a chase. When Spencer Plain is pulled out of school in the middle of the day, he never expects to be speeding down the highway with his uncle, trying to outpace the car that’s tailing them. And he certainly never thought he’d find himself fleeing from a bear through the woods. And when he hears the bear say ‘We’ve been expecting you’, Spencer knows he’s just uncovered a whole world he’d never imagined. He’s brought to Bearhaven, a secret oasis his parents created for bears. But there are depths to Bearhaven that Spencer and his new bear cub friend, Kate, start to uncover. Spencer finds out he’s been there before, even if he can’t remember. He also stumbles into a rescue mission being planned, to save a bear in danger. He knows he can help, and he’s desperate to find clues to his parents’ whereabouts, so he and Kate decide to take matters into their own hands – even if they discover a secret that could threaten Bearhaven’s future!” The Secrets of Bearhaven by K.E. Rocha is available now in hardcover and paperback at Barnes & Noble — and check out this review site as well!

image c. 2016 Scholastic, Inc.

submitted by TigerSammich
[link] [10 comments]

submitted by Lizardonfire
[link] [8 comments]

submitted by mind-lux
[link] [comment]

Dear Papabear,

Hello, again. I just want to start off by saying my deepest condolences for your loss. I can't imagine what it's like to lose someone you care for so much and thank you for continuing to do this in spite of it.

I'm not entirely certain how to work this question, so I'm really sorry if it's confusing.... I used to be really smart, but not anymore, so I lost a lot of my vocabulary. Anyway, how do you know when to give up on something? I mean, does a person get a great realization or something? It's just I've wanted to work in veterinary medicine since I was 6, and now that I'm doing it ... I'm positively awful at it.... I can't do anything right. I'm just shy of a year at my job and I don't seem to be getting any better at it. I'm always being yelled at for my screw ups and I'm trying my very best but it's pretty clear it's just not enough.... I've had two panic attacks at work already. Thankfully, I was able to keep it hidden both times, so at least I didn't get fired. But I'm starting to think my mom was right, I'm just useless and not good at anything. That I should just find a dead end job that requires no skill or brain power and that's it. But, I'm just not ready give up.... Am I, as the expression goes, not seeing the forest for the trees?

Once again, thank you for your time.

Galileo (age 27, New York)

* * *
 
Hi, Galileo,

Before I answer in more depth, what do you mean "I used to be smart but I've lost a lot of my vocabulary"? Did you suffer an injury that caused you to forget words? What's going on there?

Hugs,
Papabear
 
* * *
 
Not an injury, but couple years ago, I terribly sick and it really messed with my mental facilities.
 
* * *
 
What was the illness, please.
 
* * *
 
Would you believe Lyme disease? I was in the that lucky percentage that it affects brain. I haven't been right since.
 
* * *
 
Hi, Galileo,
 
Okay, I believe I have enough information now, thank you. Let’s talk first about the Lyme disease. Very sorry that happened to you. If you haven’t already done so, I would apply right away for social security disability (http://www.disabilitysecrets.com/social-security-disability-lyme-disease.html and confer here, too: http://www.ssdrc.com/ssd-lyme-disease.html and here http://fromlymetolife.com/category/social-security-disability-for-lyme-a-how-to-guide/). You are probably eligible for government assistance because of your condition. You need to get documentation from your doctor and go through an application process, of course. Sometimes, sad to say, you also need to call an attorney to get what you deserve (our lame government often fights tooth and nail before it gives money to people who qualify, but it is worth the effort).
 
Okay, next: your job. Do your bosses at work know you had Lyme disease and it affected your mental faculties? If not, they really should know. Perhaps they can change your workload in order to compensate; if they do know and are still treating you this terribly, shame on them.
 
It’s not your fault that you are having these problems. Please don’t blame yourself and put all the guilt on you. You had a disease and it hurt you; would you blame yourself if you had fallen, struck your head, and suffered some mental impairment? No, you would not, and neither should you for this. Also, shame on your mother for calling you useless. I wish I could hit her on the nose with a rolled up newspaper. “Bad, Mom! Bad! No! No!”
 
What you need is a supportive voice or two or three in your life. I suggest you take a look at the following links for resources and advice:

• International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society http://www.ilads.org/
• Lyme Disease Association, Inc.  http://www.lymediseaseassociation.org/
• LDF (Lyme Disease Foundation, Inc.)   http://www.lyme.org
• Lyme Disease Network - blog site  afterthebite@gmail.com
• Lyme Disease Network http://www.lymenet.com

Galileo, before you go worrying about your career, you need to take care of yourself and learn how to manage what has happened to you because of this disease. Please take some time to do that, and then we can talk again.
 
Hugs,
Papabear
​

submitted by brb1006
[link] [6 comments]

submitted by -Sorne-
[link] [3 comments]

submitted by Wahots
[link] [12 comments]

submitted by aurowolf
[link] [4 comments]

submitted by CharlotteHoran
[link] [8 comments]