Historical debates
Survey: Foreign Furry novels
Posted by Fred on Sat 20 Oct 2012 - 21:52
I recently had an article, “The Furry Novel That Nobody Has Read”, published in Anthro #32, November-December 2011. It is about the Dutch About Reynard the Fox (Van de vos Reynarde), by Robert van Genechten, published in 1941. The reason that I had not read it is that it was only published in Dutch, which I do not read. (Yes, I once had a copy.) The reason I said that nobody else has read it is that it is a very anti-Semitic pro-Nazi talking-animal satire that equates rhinoceroses with Jews. There was never an English-language edition, and due to modern anti-Hate literature laws in America and most Western European nations, it could not be reprinted or translated today. (Correction: at least one modern Dutch neo-Nazi group is trying to keep the 1941 Dutch edition available.)
But what about other, modern Furry novels in foreign languages that have never had English-language translations? They certainly exist, and Furry fans in France, Germany and other nations can read them in their own countries; and they theoretically could be translated into English some day. What have we English-language readers been missing?
Weasyl goes up, then down again over "obvious issues"
Posted by GreenReaper on Tue 2 Oct 2012 - 06:51
New art site Weasyl has been taken down after just a day online, while developers "work on some obvious issues".
The site's support forum has been flooded with threads reporting a variety of issues and feature requests.
More seriously, some are already probing for vulnerabilities, though at least one has been reported responsibly.
Weasyl appears to be hand-coded, raising the spectre of security holes, although past experience may have been enough to encourage the use of basic precautions.
Update (8 Oct): Weasyl is back, with a laundry list of fixes.
Opinion: Do rabbits need a reason?
Posted by crossaffliction on Mon 3 Sep 2012 - 21:53In my review of fluffy’s Unity Book 1: Ascent, I mentioned in the first line that I was dubious about furry science fiction. I gave that book a positive review, despite it being furry science fiction, because it was good science fiction. In concluding my opinion piece on furry criticism, I added as an afterthought that I am also dubious about the value of furry prose.
In both cases, Phil Geusz seemed to take these assertions as personal challenges. To the furry criticism piece, he suggested I try Watership Down, a book I was – to put it mildly – already familiar with. As readers had given me plenty more suggestions about what I could spend my spare time with that were not as friendly, I did not give it much thought.
But Geusz was more effective with his response to the Ascent review, offering up one of his own books in defense of the idea. I immediately plumped for another rabbit book, The First Book of Lapism, based on an earlier review by Fred Patten.
I chose this book for a variety of reasons, but the main one is the basis for this piece. Geusz’s story about a rabbit based religion is another good piece of furry science fiction, and it illustrates a need for “justification” in furry writing.
'True Life' still keen to film furs, but Brits want therians
Posted by GreenReaper on Wed 23 May 2012 - 21:28
Since we last covered MTV's True Life, the show has taken footage of several furs, but is seeking more. From an email:
This is a docu-series to chronicle the real life of a Furry. We have no intention of showing Furries in a negative light but instead hope to dispel some of the media myths out there about them.
The renewed casting call was recieved with scepticism on the furrymedia LJ community.
Meanwhile, UK-based Zig Zag Productions (whose shows are often "factual entertainment") hopes to contact a more rarified group – therians and otherkin.
Adult Swim's 'Check It Out' to profile furries on Sunday night
Posted by GreenReaper on Thu 12 Apr 2012 - 21:18U.S. cable channel Adult Swim is showing an episode of Check It Out! about furries, entitled 'Animals', to be broadcast Sunday 11:30PM CST (10:30PM MST, 12:30AM Monday EST/PST).
Update (18 Apr): The full segment is now available, but has no more furry-specific content.
Interviewer 'Dr. Steve Brule' leads with such incisive questions as "How come you wanna be an animal?", "What kind of animal do you want to be?" and "How do you catch an animal?" Excited by the concept, he suggests "[turning] into some animals and see what'd happen!"
Brule (dressed in a donkey suit) was not impressed by the resulting mini-fursuit-parade, calling it "not that fun", but "what else are you gonna do, dressed up like a dang animal?"
The furs, Amy and Crash the Dog, were recruited after the producers had difficulty finding participants. [Higgs Raccoon]
'Anthro' comeback is announced
Posted by Fred on Thu 18 Aug 2011 - 00:33Quentin “Cubist” Long, editor/publisher of online literary magazine Anthro, has announced its comeback starting on 1 September with issue #31, September-October 2011:
IT LIVES! It seems that a lot of you have been under the impression that ‘Anthro’was dead. Pushing up daisies. An ex-netzine. And it’s true; given the evidence at hand, we have to admit that ‘Anthro’ certainly looked like it had assumed ambient temperature. What happened? A fair amount of personal stuff got in the editor’s way, much of which can be summarized as, ‘Man, that Real Life sure does suck sometimes, huh?
Fortunately, the suckage has stopped sucking. And that means the editor can get back to doing what he does so well – namely, producing new issues of ‘Anthro’. [cont.]
Anthro, with a mixture of fiction, poetry, comics, articles, columns, interviews, and editorials, appeared in thirty bimonthly issues from September-October 2005 to July-August 2010, then stopped updating without any word, although all issues have remained online. It was assumed to be dead, but Cubist now says that it was just dormant.
Furry convention scam: Furry Beach
Posted by Rakuen Growlithe on Wed 27 Jul 2011 - 08:59In a recent journal (now deleted), Dragoneer reported the 'new' furry convention, Furry Beach, to be a scam. Its advertising movie was made using clips from a variety of furcons and furmeets.
Since the announcement, the convention's website has gone offline and the fkandfriend's deviantART account, linked to the convention's PayPal account, has been deactivated.
So . . . fursuit sex?
Posted by GreenReaper on Wed 26 Jan 2011 - 12:12Philadelphia Valentine burlesque show to feature 'furries'
Posted by GreenReaper on Tue 25 Jan 2011 - 00:41The topic of anthropomorphic animals is coming to the Walking Fish Theatre next month, as it shows "Kiss Me Furry" – a Valentine edition of Revival Burlesque. [broadwayworld.com]
When the heir to the Yummy Pussy cat toy company fortune is kidnapped, her stepmother, Mrs. La Prix, hires a Private Jane to solve the mystery. One P.I. Martel and her boy Friday go undercover and infiltrate the secret nightclub, "The Fur Pile".
Explore the seedy underbelly of the world of ..."furries"?!?
The noir burlesque play – described as "like Hitchcock, but Grace Kelly is dead and there is more nudity" – was written by Max Guerin and is guest-directed by Madi Distefano (interview).
The show plays Friday 11th (8 & 10PM), Saturday 12th (8 & 10PM) and Monday 14th (8PM) at 2509 Frankford Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19125. Tickets are $15 online, or $18 at the door.
Ursula Vernon makes waves, ruffles feathers at NJ libraries
Posted by GreenReaper on Mon 26 Jul 2010 - 22:22
Ursula Vernon's mythological representation of Capricorn as a sea-goat was commissioned as the poster-beast of the New Jersey Summer Reading Program, and featured in libraries and promotional material across the state.
Her work was packed with symbolism, but turned out to be controversial in a way she had not anticipated. [snow pigeon]