Creative Commons license icon

September 2013

Review: 'Mindtouch', by M. C. A. Hogarth

Your rating: None Average: 3.7 (9 votes)

Mindtouch It is unfair to compare Hogarth’s novel set at a university in her Paradox universe with Pixar’s recently-released Monsters University, but the superficial parallels are obvious. Instead of the no-two-are-the-same monsters, there are the seeming-dozens of different species of the Pelted, and some humans, wandering about prestigious Seersana University. Instead of a big green eyeball and a blue-lavender furry monster as main characters, there are a pale, tall humanoid Eldritch and a short, furry centauroid winged Glaseah.

The big difference is that in Monsters University, the cast all look different but are all from the same culture. In Mindtouch, the different species are from different societies. The students may know intellectually that they are in for some “different” experiences at S.U., but it is still a shock when they happen.

Orientation began, as he had half expected, with a speech by the associate dean of the College of Medicine, of which the xenopsychology school was a part. He was one of the Seersa, the foxine Pelted who’d given the world its name, a lean and grizzled elder with salt-and-pepper fur and the intensity of a medic. Jahir listened to his monologue while marveling that he was actually here … sitting in a chair in an auditorium filled with aliens. The woman in front of him had silk-furred ears that were trembling from the effort of catching every word. The ends of the rows had spaces for centauroids to recline, or the more avian aliens to perch. He was, very definitely, no longer home, and if the stress of his danger at being so crowded was giving him a headache, well … it was worth it, for the newness of it. (pgs. 28-29)

Studio MCAH, July 2013, trade paperback $16.99 ([3 +] 408 [+ 7] pages), Kindle $5.99.

Furry Movie Award Watch: August 2013

Your rating: None Average: 3 (2 votes)

Hey, it’s the two year anniversary edition of Furry Movie Award Watch!

However, I don’t feel much like celebrating; this wasn’t exactly a banner year for the column. Let’s see; I was late November, February, April and May. [This time, it was the editor's fault.] Oh, and there was the part where I only got one out of three awards I was supposed to guess right. And the movie that beat me was terrible; not even a fun terrible, like Avatar or Prometheus, but a boring terrible. I can’t even find myself really mad at the choice; I mean, it was a nice, safe pick, after all. Nothing interesting at all going on here.

So, anyway, no funny pictures of animals with party hats this year.

Online security in furry fandom

Your rating: None Average: 4 (2 votes)

Hopefully, all Internet users have, by now, heard about the United State's widespread spying programme which has recorded huge volumes of data passing through America. Just as concerning is the looming, default porn block in the UK which will not only block porn by default but also violence, alcohol, smoking and Internet forums, among other things. These programmes should be of major concern to all Internet users. They are also a perfect opportunity to talk about online security.

August 2013 Newsbytes archive

Your rating: None Average: 3.3 (4 votes)

Contributors this month include crossaffliction, dronon, Fred, GreenReaper, Higgs Raccoon, mailboxbooks, Patch Packrat, Rakuen Growlithe, RingtailedFox and Sonious.

Camp Feral! 2013 - the biggest yet!

Your rating: None Average: 4 (4 votes)

Camp Feral!The 16th annual Camp Feral!, a furry summer camp founded in 1998, was just held with the biggest attendance to date. With 135 campers, Feral! surpassed its 2006 record of 132.

A double-header of Uncle Kage and 2 The Ranting Gryphon draw record crowds. More than two-thirds of attendees registered as Sponsor or Patron, with a record number of Patrons (29).

Camp Feral! was the last group to eat in the Main Lodge, a rustic building erected in 1934 that has been the focal point of the camp site since its founding. In 2012, Feral! was last to use the Rec Hall stage before it was torn down to make way for a floor hockey space.

The dates for 2014 are Thursday, August 21st to Monday, August 25th. The theme will be 'Algonquinos.' Typical of Feral!, the theme will be a bizarre mashup of all things high fantasy – from Lord of the Rings to Game of Thrones – with a uniquely 'Feral' twist.

Furry Connection North closes after six-year run

Your rating: None Average: 3.5 (11 votes)

Michigan furry convention Furry Connection North, has announced its closure due to the retirement of key senior staff members.

In a statement, chairman Gir Tygrin detailed the group's struggle to deal with the growth of the organization, and their ultimate decision that the amount of work needed to allow FCN to continue to exist and "not change its core mission":

[…] would be unrealistic and would potentially compromise the integrity of the event.

The organization's supplies and funds are to be donated to other events and charities; the latter have already received $21,299.67 from this year's charity fundraising efforts.

FCN was first held in 2008 with 372 attendees, and attracted 1,259 this year. It had banned minors from registering in 2013 over the "serious burden" of ensuring parental consent.

Full statement follows . . . See also: Photos from FCN 2008, 2010 and 2013 (fursuit group shot)

Review: 'Housepets! Are Gonna Sniff Everybody' (Book 4), by Rick Griffin

Your rating: None Average: 3.3 (7 votes)

Housepets! Are Gonna Sniff Everybody Housepets! Are Gonna Sniff Everybody is the fourth annual collection of Rick Griffin’s award-winning (Ursa Major Awards, Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip, 2009 to 2012) Internet full-color comic strip, following Housepets! Are Naked All the Time, Housepets! Hope They Don’t Get Eaten, and Housepets! Can Be Real Ladykillers. Book 4 collects the strips from June 6, 2011 to June 4, 2012. These are the story-arcs #43, “The Great Water Balloon War” to #55, “The Trial in Heaven”, plus all the one-off gag strips between those.

Book 4 is back to lacking a real title page. Boo, hiss!

North Charleston, SC, CreateSpace, August 2013, trade paperback $13.95 (53 pages).

"The Happiest Show on Earth" art exhibition opens Saturday in Culver City

Your rating: None Average: 3.6 (5 votes)

Nouar - Oswald's Weiners Flayrah has published announcements of several art exhibitions at the WWA gallery in Culver City, California. The exhibition “The Happiest Show on Earth” will be on display there from September 7th through October 5th, with an opening reception on Saturday, September 7th from 7–10 p.m.

“The Happiest Show on Earth” consists of 89 paintings by 54 artists, showing their interpretations of famous Walt Disney characters including many anthropomorphic ones – Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, Robin Hood and Little John, Goofy, Bambi, and more. You can guess the general artistic approach by some of the artists’ pseudonyms: Beast Brothers, GORElla, Kill the Giant, and Super Ugly. Would you pay three and four figures for these? Here they all are; you can buy them online at the link above.

Review: 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows'

Your rating: None Average: 4.5 (2 votes)

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows' logo Back in the day, growing up in a lower middle class family, I didn’t have access to many games. Luckily, those that I did have a chance to play were enough to keep me entertained for many hours. Of the eight Nintendo games we owned, TMNT III: The Manhattan Project was one of the most played. Not only was it fun to play, but it was one of the few where a sibling could join in on the fun – well, ‘fun’ as long as you didn’t choose the game option where you could damage one another.

Since this was a staple of my childhood, and I hadn’t been exposed to many of the TMNT games since then, I had many expectations for this game. Could it keep the solid combat, the engaging environments, and yes even the comedic charm of that old classic had while bringing it’s own mark to the table? Or would it be closer to (shudder), that first infuriating Turtles NES game? I was about to find out.

Where are the plant-based fursuiters?

Your rating: None Average: 2.8 (12 votes)

Audrey II Botanical furries? Hello? Show yourselves! I'd love to see some Triffids...

My first casual search turned up this carnivorous beauty. Can you name more? Or could this be a new frontier for novelty anthropomorphic performing?

My original submission was very brief, but apparently made a psychic link to provoke the same question on Tumblr a day later.

Three comic book reviews: Pull List #16 ('Guardians of the Galaxy', 'TMNT' and 'Wolverine and the X-Men')

Your rating: None Average: 3 (3 votes)

Welcome back to another exciting issue of Pull List! This time, we’re starting off with a review of a comic with a raccoon wielding a sci-fi gun on the cover, followed by the beginning of the “Cityfall” arc in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Finally, I decided to revisit Wolverine and the X-Men because some furry things are happening in it, and also it’s a lot of fun.

Anime: 'Space Dandy' to blast onto Japanese TV in 2014

Your rating: None Average: 3.8 (4 votes)

Space Dandy poster Space Dandy is cuming (pun deliberate) in January 2014 – but not to America.

The news is spreading that it was announced at guest Shinichir? Watanabe’s panel at Otakon 2013, August 9-11 in Baltimore, that he is directing Studio Bones’ new TV anime space comedy, Space Dandy, scheduled for broadcast next January in Japan.

This is exciting news because Watanabe is the brilliant director of Cowboy Bebop, and two of the sequences in The Animatrix, among others. Though Dandy may be human, there are plenty of anthropomorphic aliens in it, starting with Meow, his partner.

Watanabe said that this will be "not an anime to be taken seriously." Oh, you think!?