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We have two dramatic stories for the Christmas season tonight; tales of love and loss and an offer of a new chance for happiness.

"Jingle Bells" by Vixyy Fox

Read by Chris Hvidsten of the Outcast Novel Podcast

"An Older World" by Renee Carter Hall

Read by Peter Katt

Music cues by Infinity Squared

Sound effects used from the Freesound Project

AD 039 - Christmas Gifts - We have two dramatic stories for the Christmas season tonight; tales of love and loss and an offer of a new chance for happiness. "Jingle Bells" by Read by of the "An Older World" by Read by Music cues by Sound effects used from the

Ger, an indoor mouse, sneaks out from the manor house in search of adventures, but will the great wild world be more than he imagined?

"Ger" by Tafkart

Read by Peter “Terril” Schytte

AD Flash 020 - Ger - Ger, an indoor mouse, sneaks out from the manor house in search of adventures, but will the great wild world be more than he imagined? "Ger" by Tafkart Read by Peter “Terril” Schytte

I've recently read I.S.O (in entirety in one night/morning) and totally loved it! I'd like to find similar comics, but I haven't had much luck (all the stuff I've found is either dead or (dare I say it?) too gay). Does anyone else know of a live/completed comic series like this?

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Hey, we done did a podcast! Alkali & Xander talk about various things such as home ownership, placentas, Christmas traditions, and Beers Around The World. 001 - Placenta Soup - Hey, we done did a podcast! Alkali & Xander talk about various things such as home ownership, pla...

This nifty little note swapping program just came out on the e-shop for free! I figured maybe a few of us can band together and send each other silly doodles and such, it'll be fun!

Here's my code: 3823-8555-6771

Hope to see some of your scribbles!

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The trailers have begun to arrive for Madagascar 3, Europe’s Most Wanted, coming next June in 3D from Dreamworks Animation (of course). It’s directed by Eric Darnell (who co-directed the first two Madagascar films) and Conrad Vernon (Monsters vs. Aliens). Here’s the plot as described by the Wikipedia entry for the film: “Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock), Melman the Giraffe (David Schwimmer), and Gloria the Hippopotamus (Jada Pinkett Smith) set out to return to New York after escaping to Africa. Dependent on the mechanical know-how of the notorious monkeys and penguins, their plan inevitably goes awry and they find themselves stranded in Monte Carlo, where they try to escape Europe from animal control by joining up with a traveling circus by chance. Led by the venerable tiger Vitali, the animal-centered circus has seen better days. During the course of a tour through a series of European cities that ends in a fabulous big top in the heart of London, Alex, Marty, Melman, and Gloria help Vitaly, Gia the jaguar, and Stefano the sea lion, rediscover their passion for show business and reinvent circus performance.” In other words, they show them how to move it, move it…

image c. 2011 Dreamworks Animation

Here's the finished album art itself:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/7076294

And here's the artist's FA:

http://www.furaffinity.net/user/archangelzoranda

I thought she did a great job, and just wanted to give a shout out to her!

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It was suggested by a few folks that it would be good to do a semi-regular feature on some of the wonderful art that gets lost in the torrent of furry porn (which certainly has its place in our fandom).  For this post, we’ll be taking a look at Chris Goodwin on FA, who has been posting small drawings and paintings to his “Overheard” series for a while now.

Overheard - No, it's fine...

Taking overheard snippets of conversations and turning them into short two- or three-panel cartoons, Goodwin has created several small slice-of-life images, humorous and touching both.  While they contain anthropomorphic animals, these images aren’t strictly Just Furry, but represent conversations anyone could imagine themselves having or hearing out in the world at large.

Overheard - I just don't think it's that cold

I’m really no art writer, but one of the most striking and beautiful things about these images is the way each of the panels are tied together, both stylistically with their thin, sketchy lines, and through the use of a dominant color scheme.

Overheard - I will speak with you when you are not

Each of these comics can be read on its own, there is no arc, of course, but taking them all in one right after another gives the impression of travelling through Boston on a cold-ish day, stopping by a coffee shop on the way to the station.

Overheard - Well, maybe it's just a phase

The composition and art is beautiful, the colors captivating, and the subject matter often touching or heart-breaking.  Please, check out this awesome set on FA.

If you have or have found some interesting, out-of-the-ordinary art and would like to have it featured here, please let us know, and we’ll see about creating a small write-up here.  The only guidelines are that it should be unique in some way, different from the flood of porn that seems to take up most of the art sites out there; and that it should be either a set of images or a larger work, such as a graphic novel or comic.

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 "futrzasto??". 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".

Futrzasto?? 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.

For some reason I find it extra cute when couples don't quite "match-up." Example, I'm a Raccoon and my partner is a Goat. Are you oddly coupled? Tell me! I'd love links to art to see your happiness. Also, are you "perfectly matched" like a horse and a horse? I'd love to see that too! I'd love to hear if you switched animals for a mate, got lucky, or were only interested in your own breed.

(Please take the title lightly.)

Edit five hours after posting: Thanks so much for the responses! I've read everything so far and I'm really happy to hear so much feedback and see so many cute pictures. I hope I see more soon. :3 <3

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I was too excited to sleep, the night before Anthrocon 2005.  It was the first convention I would be going to, I’d be meeting some truly awesome people for the first time basically the minute I stepped into the hotel, and sleep just wasn’t going to happen.  In order to make sure that I could make it down to the airport without crashing or anything, I planned on subsisting almost completely on black tea through the night, then stopping on Starbucks twice on the way down from Fort Collins to Denver.  Unfortunately, both my roommates were asleep, so I was listening to music on my headphones.  I had forgotten that I had put the kettle on for tea, so I was interrupted from my jittery reverie by my roommate knocking on my door to inform me that the kettle had been whistling for five minutes or so by that point.  I was lucky I hadn’t boiled it dry.

With the lack of sleep and my excitement, I was basically useless for the first day of the convention.  I got into Philadelphia at around 2:30 or so in the afternoon and to the hotel by 3PM.  I stumbled into the lobby and met, for the first time, my friends, some of whom I had known for five years, by that point.

Due to my age and some lingering doubts about meeting furries, I had never really planned on going to a convention, at least not until the beginning of 2005.  I had met furries in person before, of course; my partner and I had visited each other on several occasions for the years previous, and I had a small group of furry friends around me throughout high school and moving into college.  It wasn’t really until March or April of 2005 that I started really meeting more and more members of the fandom, and then only when I was dragged to a local furmeet by a friend of mine, where I had plenty of fun.

The problem with conventions for me until that point was two-fold: first of all, there was this negative stereotype floating around about who furries were and how they interacted with each other – the most succinct comment to this was the oft-quoted “by and large, furries are bi and large” – which I found vaguely disturbing; and secondly, I was so used to interacting with my friends online that I wasn’t quite sure how well interacting in person with them was going to work out.  I knew, for instance, that my friend was a five and a half foot tall red fox on the Internet, but I had been assured that he was a good bit taller and most likely not actually a fox in person.  How would I interact with him?  I knew for sure that I wasn’t also a fox, so there were probably certain things that we were used to doing that wouldn’t likely happen in person: no swishing, for instance, and there would probably a dearth of nuzzling, murring, and all the rest.

Having started to interact more with furs offline, however, much of my fears were allayed, and I warmed quickly to the concept of heading out to a convention.  The people I had been meeting were normal people, and we had a ready-made topic of conversation.  I figured things would be fine with a few more of them around.  I pulled my money together and flew out to the final Anthrocon in Philly.  Rather than finding a bunch of normal people milling around with a ready-made topic of conversation, though, I found that conventions were a little more complicated than just that.

For me, the first con was all about validation.  It wasn’t so much that I was around a bunch of people who could talk about the latest fursuit they’d seen or bit of gossip they heard.  It was more than just a group of people, period.  Furry wasn’t something we did, it was something we were.  I hadn’t understood the concept of a furry lifestyle until then, but that certainly cemented home the fact that we weren’t just partaking in a hobby, but interacting with others who also had this integral part of their lives, and expressing that with them.  I don’t really mean to wax rhapsodic about my first con, it wasn’t all sunshine and scritches, just that it was certainly more than I had hoped for: my friends and I got along just as wonderfully in person as we did online.

It also helped drive home the idea that conventions are more than just a bunch of people interacting in person rather than online.  I talked to several of my friends that I had met at the local furmeet online and interacting in either location was just a matter of either typing or talking, it didn’t matter which.  A convention, however, is more a unique medium.  It’s not just a big furmeet, and it’s not just furries interacting offline instead of on; everything works slightly differently in a con setting.  It’s as if, after a certain number of attendees (lets say twenty five), or in a certain location (almost always a hotel), we cease being interested parties and become a little society of our own, with our own mores and modes of interaction.

Since I was pretty effectively hooked after that first convention, I did my best to head to several more after that, making several more Anthrocons and man Further Confusions, as well.  While I enjoyed my first few conventions in a near ecstatic state, I settled down soon after to relax and enjoy my time in these new surroundings and  in this new society.  Conventions have a rhythm to them, a tempo, or a curve.  There’s the building excitement leading up to the trip, the hassle of packing and flying, and the first exciting few hours catching up with your friends and having a few drinks, then the sustained joy over the next few days until things start to wind down, with more people leaving the area, having to go to bed early to make their early flights, crying in the hallways, lobby, and airport.  It’s something you settle into like a comfortable sort of routine.  Every convention’s different, of course, but I think the general experience follows that same ramp up, sustained level, then tapering off, even if, in the case of Camp Feral, there’s that last trip back out of the woods tossed in.

There are a few other seeming universals tossed in along with the convention.  It does seem possible to break the attendees down into several fairly constant categories:

• The New Attendee - Bright eyed, in the throes of ecstasy, the new attendee is easy to pick out from all other groups (excepting perhaps The Nut) as the one who is mostly gung-ho about everything.  They want to go to all the events, the want to ogle all the suits, they want to hug all their friends.  These folks are really relatively harmless, and they help keep the conventions exciting for those who frequent them.
• The Nut - Similar to The New Attendee, this person is totally gung-ho about everything, except that it’s almost certainly not their first con.  They have the relentless, determined enthusiasm that drives many groups to go to events or check out new restaurants in the area, or, on the flipside, drives many people nuts.  While it’s nice to keep some of that joy from the first visit to a furry con, and it certainly is good to keep experiencing them, sometimes it’s best to just calm down, breathe…
  
•  The Lobby Lounger - Sitting in the lobby and ordering a ceaseless round of drinks (even if they’re just waters), drawing and kibitzing, texting all their friends to tell them to “just meet me in the lobby”, this attendee is a near permanent fixture in the lobby of the main hotel, preferring to soak the con up rather than necessarily go out and experience it in panels and the like.
  
• The Wanderer - Wandering from lobby to Dealer’s Den to Artist’s Alley to the panels to their room to restaurants to the lobby ad nauseum, this person is easy to find, but not so easy to pin down for plans – why stop? They might miss something!  Of course, having spent the whole convention wandering around, there’s a chance they actually saw less than the might have otherwise.  An important sub-category of this is The Fursuiter, who wanders around with good reason – it’s hard to do anything in one place for long without overheating or, heaven forbid, not get quite enough attention.
• The Worker - There’s always money to be made at conventions, or if not money, a little bit of power, however benign.  The Worker is the artist who will work their way through the con to hopefully come out of the affair net positive, or the volunteer who will check badges at the door to do their part for the convention.  Even if it might be difficult to to see them for more than a few minutes at a time, they’re still an integral part of the con atmosphere.

There’s another universal almost too obvious to mention: convention badges.  Most any convention has their own, obviously, but within our fandom, it’s customary to not only wear the membership badge, but also art badges created specifically for the wearer.  These small, commissioned bits of wearable art represent the owner’s character, another unique artifact of the difference between our selves and our characters.  So unique, in fact, that, concurrent with the upcoming Further Confusion, there will be a portion of a gallery exhibition in San Jose dedicated strictly to the art of the con badge.  They act as a way to help carry our characters into our real-life interactions and blur the line between the two somewhat.  We may not all be dressed up like our creations, nor can we all swish and bark and so on, but at least we have a sign of just who we are visible to those around us.

Of course, anyone who has been to a furry convention knows the basic duck-and-weave of the con greeting.  With the near-absolute saturation of con badges, it’s be come standard practice to approach someone looking at their chest, sleeves, or belt, wherever they’ve hung their badges.  Depending on how friendly you are and whether or not you know the other person, you might jump straight into a hug after that, or start chattering right away.  If you don’t know them, of course, you still know more about them after that brief glance than you might if you had just met on the street, and that’s something we’ve written about before.  It gives a whole new meaning to “my face is up here” (and, of course, if you put a QR code on your badge, now they’re pointing a camera at their chest…).

The mystique surrounding the convention and the medium of interaction that it represents is an integral part of the fandom.  For many, our conventions are the high point of the year, a time to both see friends we rarely get the chance to see and blur the line between our selves and our characters.  It’s the time when we get to let down our guard somewhat and show some of our back-stage selves, show some emotion with how we feel about our little subculture, and maybe even act a fool in a giant animal costume.  They’re the time for us to live out our culture in person.  It’s interesting that, with a group based so strongly on interaction on the Internet, some of our highest points are the times when we get off the ‘net and hang out in person – whether it be to relax, to have fun, or to make money.

I’ll see you guys at Further Confusion 2012!

Honestly, a furry is the easiest person to shop for when you think about it. Plus a small statue/plush/picture of a person's favorite animal is usually rather inexpensive as well!

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