Historical debates
March 2012 media roundup: Joe Strike, Ohio and VancouFur
Posted by GreenReaper on Sat 31 Mar 2012 - 22:16This month saw several furry appearances in North American news media, with coverage from newspapers, magazines, and a Canadian TV news outlet. What did they have to say?
While L Magazine's brief (and largely paraphrased) interview with New York City furry writer and artist Joe Strike veers towards adult babies and "mascot costumes getting sweaty", the conversation eventually gets around to "the core of furrydom—the fursona", with Joe distinguishing furs from other fans: "furs create their own characters". Anthrocon gets a mention, while Joe puts in recommendations for WikiFur and Fur Affinity.
VancouFur gained a fair amount of coverage. As previously mentioned, the Burnaby News Leader gave a positive but relatively shallow article on "people who like to dress in colourful, furry mascot costumes," published before the event began, while CTV had video footage (Pixie: "It frees up a lot of inhibitions, like I don't feel so constrained or shy - I'm allowed to be a little more outgoing - because it's not me, it's the character.").
Conversely, BG News (the student paper of Bowling Green State University) talks to several north-west Ohio furs, who refute the assertions made by Burnaby News ("Fur suits aren’t even really required."). The local Black Swamp Furs talk about their bowling escapades, while slipping in FCN's charity fund-raising. Sex comes up, but the furs hang firm to their position ("We’re not sex based at all. [..] TV shows sometimes show us like that, but we’re not. It’s the complete opposite of what we’re trying to do. We’re just people who like to hang out.")
A more detailed analysis of VancouFur, and of furry fandom as a whole, is provided by The Dependent Magazine [tip: reddit], whose representatives are first "grilled" by con media representatives, then mobbed by furs wanting to tell their story.
'Mongrels' axed by BBC Three
Posted by Higgs Raccoon on Wed 18 Jan 2012 - 22:09
British comedy puppet series Mongrels has been axed by its television station, BBC3.
The series, described as "Avenue Q meets Family Guy", centred on a troupe of five anthropomorphic animals who hung around the back of a pub on the Isle of Dogs in London.
Furry retailers deploy deals for 'Cyber Monday'
Posted by GreenReaper on Mon 28 Nov 2011 - 04:59Looking to stock up on presents for the holidays? Several furry retailers are participating in 'Cyber Monday', including Rabbit Valley (15% off $100 or more, in-stock only, to Dec. 1, code 'Cyber2011'), FurPlanet (15% off everything, 'FOXES') and FetishZone (NSFW; up to 50% off).
Bad Dragon had (NSFW) 40% off black, medium-firm toys for Black Friday, but sold out; a 10% global discount remains in effect for the next ten hours. [scottbob3/reddit]
Review: ‘Happy Feet Two’ should have been about krill
Posted by crossaffliction on Wed 23 Nov 2011 - 12:51
There's a long tradition of horror stories set in Antarctica. H. P. Lovecraft set In the Mountains of Madness in the white continent, featuring a race of giant cave-dwelling albino penguins who shrieked “Tekelili!” over and over.
Happy Feet Two continues the tradition of Antarctic penguins repetitively crying out horrific noises. Instead of shout-outs to Edgar Allan Poe, however, these penguins cry out dated pop songs. The horror, the horror.
Has the financial crisis affected your furry spending?
Posted by GreenReaper on Wed 12 Oct 2011 - 02:58Japanese company developing brainwave-controlled cat ears
Posted by Higgs Raccoon on Thu 5 May 2011 - 20:22Neurowear is developing a pair of cat ears which respond to the brain activity of their wearer.
Called "necomimi", the ears are mounted on a headband containing sensors, which pick up brain activity and move the ears accordingly. As the wearer concentrates, the ears point upwards, and when they relax the ears flop down and forwards.
Furnal Equinox summons the 'Wild Magic'
Posted by Scani on Tue 15 Mar 2011 - 22:23Canadian convention Furnal Equinox held its second edition this weekend in Toronto, cementing its place as Canada's most well-attended furry event.
Over 450 registered in the course of three days, and 110 participated in the fursuit parade.
The charity auction raised CA$4,000 for the Mississauga Humane Society, with a commission from South African Guest of Honour ZEN selling for $450. Fellow Canadian Guest of Honour FirestormSix provided fursuit photography and hosted a panel on fursuit care.
Congress may remove Rocky Mountain wolves' protection
Posted by GreenReaper on Tue 1 Mar 2011 - 15:39
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 populations illegal.
Now Michael Brune of the Sierra Club says lawmakers seek to withdraw this protection through a budget amendment. [tip: Ezno]
Furp killed in collision with drunk driver
Posted by Alexander Grey on Fri 20 Feb 2009 - 07:02
Furp, known outside the fandom as Patrick Reed, 29, was killed on the evening of February 18th, 2009, when his motorcycle was involved in a collision with a vehicle being driven by an intoxicated Marine.
Furp was an Iraq war veteran and regular staff member at Anthrocon, Califur, FurFright, Midwest FurFest and the Rocket City FurMeet; regularly providing operations and first-aid assistance. He was travelling on Highway 62 in southern California when he was struck by a vehicle moving at 65mph (104 kph), he was thrown from his motorcycle and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hundreds of memorials have since been left on news articles and his LiveJournal account. A memorial community has also been set up for people to mourn the loss of Furp.
Should animals have a right to privacy?
Posted by GreenReaper on Mon 3 May 2010 - 22:08A researcher at the University of East Anglia thinks animals should not just be seen as "fair game" for filmmakers, but should be granted similar privacy rights as humans.
Dr. Mills says animals sometimes withdraw from "public" areas, and appear to want privacy:
When confronted with such 'secretive' behaviour the response of the wildlife documentary is to read it as a challenge to be overcome with the technologies of television. [...] The question constantly posed by wildlife documentaries is how animals should be filmed: they never ask whether animals should be filmed at all.
The story came a day before the release of an amateur documentary from a group attending Midwest FurFest in 2008 and 2009, including covert footage of furs in their natural habitat.