Furries In The Media

Hundreds of furries are in downtown San Jose this weekend for Further Confusion 2012. Photos?

http://app.tacksr.us/viewassignment.php?assignid=5595

Not quite sure what this is but seems there were a pair of harmless spectators at FC12 on a "social photojournalistic assignment" of events in The Bay Area. Pictures with captions for a small audience. Hope the intended delivery was to be "interesting and cute".

http://www.anthrocon.org/node/7564/discovering-anthropomorphus-erectus

Hey guys!

I'm a UK fur studying for a Masters degree in Film & TV Production. At the moment I'm on a temporary work placement at a production company. ^^

As part of my placement, I need to develop pitches (I'm learning how to write them, what channels want what sort of programmes, etc). One of my ideas is a furry documentary that's from a furry perspective. Not an outside person looking in, but actually furries trying to explain their community.

I have no idea if this will go ahead (unlikely) or if it'll just stay as a pitch-writing exercise, but I'd like to ask a few questions.

~ How do you feel about the furry documentaries out there? What do they do right? What do they do wrong? Are there any you like, or any you really disliked?

~ Are there any areas of the community that you think existing documentaries have under-represented? What's over-represented? What do you/don't you want to see?

~ Ideally, what would you like to see from a furry documentary? If you could make one yourself that showed the community in a positive light, what would you include? What wouldn't you include?

Or just your general thoughts? Any input is appreciated. <3 Thanks a bunch!

An article on Further Confusion 2012, by Sherilyn Connelly on the SFWeekly blogs:
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2012/01/furries_further_confusion_convention_photos.php

http://activate.metroactive.com/2012/01/furcon-invades-san-jose/



The anthropomorphic jamboree that is this year’s FurCon began Thursday and will go through the end of MLK weekend. If you’ve ever wondered about the cultural differences among dragons, how gravity affects various species, or what furries were featured in the Bible, this is the place to find out.

FurCon caters to people who call themselves “furries.” Participants of the lifestyle anthropomorphize their human qualities into their chosen animal character. The organizer of the event, Lee Strom, chose a raccoon named Chairo, for example. These animal-inspired personality types are referred to as “fursonas.” There are plenty of colorful furries at the convention and each brings a unique fursona.

All of this may seem a little bit silly, and it’s obvious that having fun is the furries’ main goal, but there is a more serious side to the whole thing as well. The organization that puts on FurCon is heavily involved in charity work and has donated over $130,000 to various nonprofits. The nonprofits are in line with the furry theme and mostly involve animal rescue and conservation efforts.

There is also an element of outreach, which is obvious from the various workshops offered at the convention. From “Writing in Furry Fandom” to “Become Your Avatar,” furries can sharpen their skills during the long weekend.

Furries are generally cordial and the overall feeling at the convention is pleasant. For a non-furry, the initial shock is temporary as everyone that shows up is explicitly there to enjoy themselves. Some of the costumes are extremely complex, from a woolly mammoth that convincingly walks on all four legs, to various critters equipped with servos that make their mouths move when they speak. The whole event is sophisticated in its organization and execution. As Lee explains about the team that puts the event on, “We have doctors on staff, we have nuclear physicists on staff.”

FurCon 2012 is comfortingly surreal, and enjoyable even to people who don’t anthropomorphize their persona into the animal form. For example, Klingons give an approving nod with their bone-plated foreheads by throwing a raging party that is quickly becoming the stuff of legend.

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2012/01/lee_strom_chairo_furry_costumes.php



​San Jose hosts Further Confusion 2012, California's largest annual furry convention, starting today (Thursday). Further Confusion 2011's attendance hit 2,801, and more than 3,000 attendees are expected this year. (Glossary Tip: The overall furry scene, fans, fursuiters, and those elsewhere on the spectrum, are collectively referred to as "the fandom.")
Lee Strom co-founded the first Further Confusion in 1999, and he has been actively involved with the fandom since before then as a fursuit maker -- including as the head of Frolic's NeonBunny -- as well as a party organizer and general raccoon-about-town. We spoke with Strom -- whose fandom name is Chairo (\chi'-ro\) -- about the history, art, and business of fursuits.



​What is the origin of fursuiting?
Fan costuming has been around far longer than the fandom. It became "fursuiting" only when the first convention, ConFurence, began in the late 1980s. Furry costuming is an extension of anthropomorphic art.
And "anthropomorphic art" means...?
"Anthropomorphism" is the assignment of human qualities to otherwise nonhuman entities, while animals and fantasy creatures are specific to the fandom. Furries who wear costumes do it for a variety of reasons. Some because they enjoy portraying a character, some because they love performing, others simply for the love of fur, and even others just be part of a rapidly growing expressive artistic subculture.

Who makes the suits? I'm guessing it's not an Amazon 1-Click kinda thing.
The fandom consists of professional as well as amateur costumers, the latter being predominant. Most people wearing costumes at a convention purchase their fursuits from makers in the fandom. The majority of fursuits are custom-made. Many get model sheets made from 2D artists who then supply them to the makers for transformation into costumes.


About how much do they cost?
Depending on quality, detail, and reputation of the maker, costumes vary greatly in price from just a few hundred dollars to well over $5,000. Average prices range from $1,500 to $3,000 for a well-made fursuit.
Do you make fursuits for a living? For that matter, can fursuits be made for living?
Unlike several talented individuals in our community, I do not make a living at making costumes. However, my creations generally fetch between $2,000 and $3000, and they take several months to complete in my spare time. If I were to bear down and work solely on a costume, I could get a full suit done in about a week.


What are the components of an average suit? (Bonus points if you can break it down into percentages.)
Most fursuits consist of a few standard items. Faux fur, foam (similar to what you might find in a couch cushion but a bit more dense), and poly fill (the stuffing found in most plush toys). There are several methods of constructing the heads, the most popular being foam added atop a balaclava (a spandex hood). Other methods include fiberglass, metal frame, plastic sheet, heat-molded plastic (vaccuform), and block foam (carved from a solid block rather than bits being added to a balaclava).



​The makeup of the materials vary. In general, about 80 percent faux fur, 15 percent foam, and 5 percent everything else (poly fill, plastic, glue, thread, zippers, spandex). A few ambitious people have included electronics, animatronics, and lighting elements. I made a head in 2003 with color-changing fiber optic whiskers.
Suits have gotten much more complicated. I have seen tails that wag, eyes that blink, and ears that twitch. Personally, I am working on a computerized lighting program for a costume. Lighting has become popular now that LEDs, EL Wire, and controllers are much cheaper and more available than they have been in the past.

Further Confusion continues Jan. 12-16 at the San Jose Convention Center, San Jose Marriott, and San Jose Hilton. For more details, visit the Further Confusion website.

------

Sherilyn Connelly is a San Francisco-based writer. She also curates and hosts Bad Movie Night at The Dark Room, every Sunday at 8pm.

Follow us on Twitter at @ExhibitionistSF (follow Sherilyn Connelly on Twitter at @sherilyn) and like us on Facebook.

Here is an article about a fursuit-builder in the January 12 edition of California's St. Helena Star newspaper (though the phrases "furry fandom" and "fursuit" are absent throughout):

Teen designer discovers hot glue, faux fur and Pluffy

The subject of the article, Rayne Mason, has a deviantART gallery here.

Up close and fursonal with the wild at heart - an article from Melbourne's The Age newspaper, describing activities at the 2012 MiDFur convention.

The low quality video is due to the Sandisk Vmate being about as cheap as a DVR can be. I'm hoping that the low quality will make NatGeo less likely to complain to have it deleted.

In case the vid gets removed from YouTube, you can download the edited avi here
http://www.interupload.com/files/3JATETIM/NatGeo_Taboo_Furries.avi_links

cute commercial...

http://vimeo.com/28551385

Uhmmm....

The National Geographic Channel will be doing a segment on furries and the furry fandom on an episode of "Taboo," 1/3/12 at 9PM PDT.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/national-geographic-channel/shows/taboo-1/ngc-furries.html

Sometimes, stuff like this makes me want to step OUT of the famdom....
Maybe I am getting too old for this?
-J

Just found out that the episode of NatGeo's Taboo that will feature a fursuiter will air on January 3rd at 9pm Eastern, 6pm Pacific and according the my local listing (Comcast Knoxville) at tvguide.com, will air again 3 hours later.

picture urls:
http://www.jelonka.com/news,single,photos,article,33041,p,5
http://www.jelonka.com/news,single,photos,article,33041,p,4

Raw:
http://www.jelonka.com/news,single,photos,article,33041,p,5

Google Translated:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jelonka.com%2Fnews%2Csingle%2Cinit%2Carticle%2C33041&act=url



White wolf, husky and sympathetic snow leopard prowled Square yesterday after walking costumes Piast intrigues, behavior and mainly positive "animal" energy.

Hotel owner Robert Futerhendler Caspar was very surprised when it turned out that score so unconventional lovers of "furry", ie those referring to disguise and animal behavior.

The term "furry" is derived from English and means the furry and "futrzastość". Specifies the person or community that is interested in and it takes creativity associated with the so-called. the art of "furry" as well as their behavior is trying to make the way of being an animal. Sometimes it also refers to the form of combining human and animal features, occurring in several forms. Persons belonging to the furry fandom are called the "furry" or called "furry".

Futrzastość as a lifestyle can be defined by a create equitable in character, behavior or appearance of the so-called. fursony, or animal form. A person who is "furry" may take different personality traits considered characteristic of the species of the animal, which has as its object to follow.

Some first discovered in the animal realm, others first learned about associations furry. In Poland, about 50 people involved in this peculiar hobby, but only eight have full dress your pet. At gatherings of world meet at about a thousand fans, of which 300 is sometimes dressed up. The cost of professional costumes ranging from a thousand dollars or more. Furry lovers dress up as cats, lions, horses, bears, birds and even ... snakes, even though neither the birds nor snakes have fur.

- Some people regard this as a hobby others as a lifestyle. Present yourself as an anthropomorphic animal in the flesh. We feel the characteristics of specific animals and for them to we change. I dressed as a snow leopard, because I like to move, I like to swim. It is a quiet animal, seems almost sounds merely growls, it flies very well and jumps on top of the mountain, is very agile and quick. I started my first fascination with the wolf, and a half years ago I went to the snow leopard, because I thought that the more I reflect - Kamil confessed Stachyra from Slupsk.

This fascination is not only the dressing in the form of animal, but also with the deepening of knowledge about them and collect a variety of gadgets such as figures, pictures or mascots. To Jelenia Gora arrived as tourists, together with two colleagues. One comes from Katowice, the other from Switzerland. We went to the streets in disguise and had fun together. Passers-by were delighted and made us a picture - he added.

"Fursona" is a furry character that can play different roles: the story of an ordinary hero or model, to the inner, more animal alter-ego or the object to follow for a person belonging to the furry community. Often, furry feel a very deep bond with his character. Sometimes even to the extent that they consider it as their own source of spiritual inspiration. Some even believe that in the human body is a real animal trapped soul.
"Felines" have promised that this year will return to Jelenia Gora.

A cute commercial I saw on TV that I thought I'd share. It features a cute animatronic bear suit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ503Ro-qkQ

The Taboo team have been looking to do a show on furries since before this year's Anthrocon - it looks like they got enough footage to put an episode together.

Cue a mix of exuberant fursuiters paired with the usual 'concerned' scientific commentators - who are careful never to give their own opinions, just discuss the ones which the show wishes to hear.

On the bright side . . . at least nobody's eating couch cushions like last time. That was just unhealthy.

Two radio announcers visited MWFF to find out what this whole "furry" thing was about. I found this a very well-rounded and positive radio segment! It's only about 8 minutes long, so give it a listen if you have the chance. :)

http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/2011-12-14/making-fuzzy-friends-midwest-furfest-94888

Quote from The Year of the Flood, authored by Margaret Atwood (as a sidenote it's a sequel to Oryx and Crake and it mostly takes place on a post apocalyptic Earth).

The below quote takes place early in the novel and doesn't have a lot to do with the plot, another reference or two to "furzoots" appear later in the novel but the one below is the first and takes place in chapter 7:

"Toby got a job as a furzooter: cheap day labour, no identity required. The furzooters put on fake-fur animal suits with cartoon heads and hung advertising signs around their necks, and worked the higher-end malls and boutique retail streets. But it was hot and humid inside the furzoots, and the range of vision was limited. In the first week she suffered three attacks by fetishists who knocked her over, twisted the big head around so she was blinded, and rubbed their pelvises against her fur, making strange noises, of which the meows were the most recognizable. It wasn't rape - no part of her actual body was touched - but it was creepy. Also it was distasteful dressing up as bears and tigers and lions and other endangered species she could hear being slaughtered on the floor below her. So she stopped doing that."

Furries Shine Strange Light Into the Darkness at Frolic Nightclub:
Sherilyn Connelly in the SFWeekly Blogs writes about her visit to last Saturday's furry "Frolic" event at The Stud nightclub.

In the light of a recent event, please allow me just five suggestions:

1. If you get approached by a reporter, please inform yourself about what they are usually writing and for whom.
2. If you do not have any experience in public relations management, please do yourself and the fandom the favor and politely decline the request.
3. If you are unsure, please ask those in the fandom for advice who do have experience handling the media. The media liaisons of larger conventions, for example. Or those in the fandom who work as journalists.
4. Don't talk about issues you aren't involved with.
5. And for heaven's sake, don't make a drama out of every provocation. The press will blow it up to the proportions of a scandal when they find out about it.

I'm not linking the article triggering this notice, and may I ask you to not link it as well, because lots of links are exactly what the publisher wants.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/panda-researchers-dress-cubs-15043921

Panda Researchers dress up in Fursuits!