MTV's True Life has issued a casting call for furries aged 16-25, and potential cast members are already posting about it. [tip: sohjin]

True Life is is billed as following "unique persons in their everyday situations, and [documenting] the problems and goals they face." Their most recent episodes were "I'm A Chubby Chaser", "I Can't Please My Parents", "I'm A Sex Offender" and "I Have Diabetes".

True Life previously covered the fandom in infamous "Sex2k" segment Plushies and Furries.

Two directors were mentioned by name in last month’s Newsbytes; Martin Scorsese and John Carpenter. Unfortunately, neither is making a furry movie, which would be awesome.

These two Young Adult talking-cat fantasies are recommended for readers age 10 “and up”. Yes, they are up to our age level and Furry interest.

“The Tygrine Cat”; Cambridge, MA, Candlewick Press, April 2008, hardcover $15.99 ([vii +] 242 pages); map by David Atkinson.

“The Tygrine Cat on the Run”; London, Walker Books, January 2011, paperback £5.99 (286 [+ 1] pages).

When the original SoFurry launched at the end of 2009 there was a certain amount of displeasure with the new site. Despite this, the user count more than doubled, and by June 2011 SoFurry had over 150 000 users. Staff then launched the SoFurry 2.0 beta, an attempt to completely redo SoFurry, improving the code and addressing user complaints.

During the seven-month beta period, there were regular bug fixes (and a public list of upcoming features). This wasn't limited to submitted bugs; SoFurry owner Toumal also responded to criticisms about the site, for example on Chipotle's review of furry story sites. The project was not without problems, however, and the site at one point seemed to face copyright challenges concerning part of it's code, namely for the chat feature.

The team worked hard and on 23 January, after about three days of down time, SoFurry was reborn. I took the time to ask Toumal a few questions regarding its development and future.

The “Mollisan Town quartet”, by pseudonymous Swedish author Tim Davys, is (are?) four hard-boiled complex crime thrillers, each set in one of Mollisan Town’s four districts, with a stuffed-animal cast. Hey, if regular animals can be anthropomorphized, why not plushies?

“Amberville” (February 2009); hardcover $19.99 (343 pages), Kindle $8.99.
“Lanceheim: A Novel” (June 2010); hardcover $21.99 (371 pages), Kindle $9.99.
“Tourquai: A Novel” (February 2011); hardcover $19.99 (325 pages), Kindle $9.99.

The first three novels were published by Albert Bonnier Förlag in Stockholm in 2007, 2008, and 2010, and published in English by HarperCollins one or two years later; all three are translated by Paul Norlen. The concluding novel, Yok, is scheduled for July 2012.

American television broadcasters ABC and The CW have both ordered pilots of new series based on the traditional tale Beauty and the Beast.

The Disney-owned ABC's pilot has been described as "a fantastical re-imagining of the classic fairy tale set in a mythical, dangerous world wherein a beautiful and tough Princess discovers an unlikely connection with a mysterious beast". The CW's pilot, in the meantime, will be loosely based on the 1987 cult-classic CBS series starring Linda Hamilton and Ron Perlman.

Epic Films, an independent film group operating in Adelaide, South Australia, has released a trailer for a project entitled Wastelander Panda.

The pilot for an in-development television series, Wastelander Panda features an anthropomorphic, machete-wielding panda wandering a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The trailer has been likened to a hybrid of "Mad Max, Kung Fu Panda, and The Book of Eli".

The project began when when film students Victoria Cocks and Marcus McKenzie outlined the story of a young girl, Rose, who is raised by a panda. The 24-minute pilot features a $2000 mechanical panda head designed by Lion of the Sun Productions. [Trailer after the cut]

Last month, long-standing manufacturer of animal sex toys Furrystyle was about to give up. To the rescue came former exclusive European distributor YiffyToys, who purchased the manufacturing molds, inherited the name, and took on the tasks of not only continuing production but also introducing new models. Now the move is complete (NSFW, large files).

This gritty crime novel is a parody with anthropomorphic dog and cat detectives. Oh, gee, we haven’t seen THAT before!

San Bernardo is their territory, a seething metropolis where fat-cats prance in the exclusive island enclave of Kathattan while working dogs wallow in the stinking squalor of the Kennels. (back-cover blurb)

NYC, Simon & Schuster/Scribner, July 2009, trade paperback $14.00 (259 pages), Kindle $10.99.

Toronto-based furry convention Furnal Equinox has released its first newsletter of 2012.

The convention is actively seeking contributions from attendees in the last 50 days before the convention, including conbook submissions, panelists and volunteers.

Staff of 3D role-playing chat simulation game FeralHeart (successor to Impressive Title) have taken it offline for a week, from 24 January 00:00 UTC until 31 January 00:00 UTC.

Owner and founder Razmirz posted a thread on their forums explaining the suspension:

The reason for this is the increasing number of complaints regarding the game/forum. I don't refer to the ones about the game not working. I'm referring to complaints from users parents.

We are down to the nitty gritty; the Annies announced their nominees last month, nominations for the Ursa Majors have opened, and yesterday morning the nominees for the Academy Awards were announced.

… if you read Chinese.

There has been a recommendation of this one-minute TV commercial from Hong Kong, for the Mannings Plus pharmacy chain. It was first posted on YouTube on January 3; we presume it first appeared on TV this year.

The Recommended Anthropomorphics List tries to give credit to not only the sponsor of recommended TV commercials, but also the advertising agency that produced the commercial and, if possible, the ad agency’s director of the commercial. In this case, all the information is in Cantonese, which we cannot read.

We have asked the recommender and on YouTube, but we do not have a reply yet. Can anyone help? Are there any credits here for who made the commercial?

Blake T. Sanderford, known as Xanth in furry fandom, was arrested last Wednesday for "crimes against nature and aggravated cruelty to animals" after posting an online video of himself sexually molesting a dog. [FoxTrotFever/furrydrama_2]

Sanderford, a resident of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, was arrested January 18 after State Police received a complaint about the video. He remained in jail on Thursday on a $11,000 bond.

Sanderford's computers were seized for further investigation; his dog was taken into the care of the Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter.

Update (25 Jan): Insane Kangaroo reports contacting the shelter, who said the dog had been transferred to a foster home. When asked whether she would be put down, they replied "we don't put down animals which are the victims."

As the remaining conversation is now off-topic, comments have been closed.

Results for the Summer 2011 International Furry Survey led by Dr. Gerbasi and Nuka were released last month, and some are quite surprising. The study attracted 1940 participants (179 'non-furry'). 45% came from Anthrocon 2011; the rest filled out the survey online.

The same team ran an online survey last January, and a follow-up at Furry Fiesta 2011.

This survey swept in members of several related groups, most of whom saw themselves as distinct from furries. 74.4% of participants identified solely as furry, while 8.8% claimed to be therians and 4.7% otherkin. 3.6% felt they belonged to both furry and one of these groups.

Significant differences were found between furries and therians, and male and female furs.