Creative Commons license icon

June 2014

2013 Ursa Major Award winners announced at Califur 10

Your rating: None Average: 4.3 (4 votes)

The winners of the 2013 Ursa Major Awards for the best anthropomorphic literature, artwork and websites published in 2013 were announced May 31 at a ceremony during Califur 10.

Many categories had undisputed leaders; others were very competitive. Slightly Damned edged out Twokinds by just ten points in Best Graphic Story (which it won by more than 500 points last year), and Best Published Illustration was decided by eleven points.

While attendance at the ceremony (~35) was similar to prior years, the number of ballots cast declined again, from 1,782 two years ago to 1,113 in 2013 and just 856 this year.

May 2014 Newsbytes archive

Your rating: None Average: 2.2 (6 votes)

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

Review: 'The Jackal Queen', by Roy Lisman

Your rating: None Average: 3.9 (8 votes)

The Jackal Queen The front cover blurb reads: An Erotic Historical Tale. It is rated NC-17. Isaac Ellison, a part-albino cheetah (with unusually pale fur and a beefy physique like a Marine), and his inventor buddy, Raziel, a humanoid reptile (“He looked quite draconic, but slender as opposed to the more bulky builds of lore. Small spines dotted his scalp where eyebrows would be, and two long, black horns swept back almost uniformly with his fire colored mane that consisted of fur and light feathering, before the mane started springing out wildly in any direction it damn well pleased.” –p. 7), go back in time to an anthropomorphic Ancient Egypt. The Egyptians mistake them for warrior and fertility gods, and a tremendous amount of enthusiastic sex is had by all. In fact, until the ending, The Jackal Queen hardly offers anything but. Isaac and Raziel worry about changing history, but not much.

This is a mature content book. Please ensure that you are of legal age to purchase this material in your state or region. (publisher's rating)

FurPlanet Productions, July 2013, trade paperback $9.95 (138 pages). Illustrated by Kadath.

Opinion: The top ten movies of 2013

Your rating: None Average: 2.3 (13 votes)

Both are round, orb-like fruits, while one is usually red on the outside (though green, yellow and even orange are possibilities), its smooth, thin skin usually eaten, with firm, off-white flesh that ranges from sweet to sweet with varying degrees of tartness in flavor, with small brown seeds found inside the core of the fruit, while one is orange, obviously, with dimpled, but still smooth to the touch skin that, while edible, is rarely eaten directly, with much juicier flesh that is usually tarter, but not always, and still very sweet, with small tannish seeds throughout.

What am I doing? Oh, just comparing apples to oranges. Anyway, here are ten movies from 2013 you should watch sometime.

Shiness gets Steam Greenlight

Your rating: None Average: 4.7 (3 votes)

The video game Shiness got the Greenlight on Steam a few days ago (and has started fundraising, although there has been no word yet on the release date).

Shiness is a epic fantasy RPG game; its main character and some supporting characters are anthropomorphic, and it has fully animated cutscenes.

Origin and significance of the term "yiff"

Your rating: None Average: 3.6 (9 votes)

This article is a collaboration between Rakuen Growlithe and Christiaan Ferret.

When it comes to the furry fandom, we have many unique neologisms, including words such as fursona and the phrase pawing off, which have varying levels of acceptance in the fandom. Perhaps one of the most well-known is the term yiff, which is even understood by some non-furs. Generally accepted as a substitute for sexual activity, and able to be used as a verb, noun or adjective, it is now less accepted than in the past.

Commenting on the closure of ychan, Yiffy International and 420furs.org, Flayrah contributor Sonious remarked that yiff had not aged well. Shortly afterwards, Christiaan Ferret's defence of the word as a part of furry culture brought forth comments such as...

Though to me "yiff" will always just be a corny slang term that makes me cringe slightly everytime I hear it spoken aloud haha.

And...

I find the word annoying and needlessly cutesy, and I don't have the respect for it to study its etymology. It's just a really dumb word to me, and I'm afraid I can't say anything more about it. =/

However, we believe yiff has significance to the furry fandom as part of our shared culture and history. While we understand that not everyone will care for it, we do think it important to at least understand where the term came from.

Conker to return in Microsoft's Project Spark

Your rating: None Average: 4.4 (5 votes)

It's been almost a decade since we've seen Conker the Squirrel. Rather than make a new game with the foul-mouthed, hard-drinking rodent, Microsoft (which bought dev studio Rare in 2004) are adding the character to their Project Spark game-creation tool. [Dalon]

Some fans appear keen to create their own work featuring Conker, but many criticised Microsoft's unwillingness to make a standalone game, and also Project Spark's requirements of Windows 8/8.1 or an Xbox One (it's expected to release on the Xbox 360 late this year).

It's not the first time that Rare's characters and settings have been considered as a means to promote Microsoft technologies, with Conker, Banjo-Kazooie and the Viva Piñata characters (unknown to Rare's new employees) once slated for games featuring the ill-fated Kinect.

Video: 'The Penguins of Madagascar' theatrical feature

Your rating: None Average: 5 (4 votes)

Jerry Beck’s Animation Scoop has the first trailer for DreamWorks Animation’s The Penguins of Madagascar feature, now scheduled for release on November 26, 2014; trading places with DreamWorks’ Home, which is now coming on March 27, 2015.

Does this look funny to you? It certainly is furry. The four Penguins of Madagascar are back: Skipper (Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Chris Miller), Rico (John DiMaggio), and Private (Christopher Knights), adding to the cast the rival North Wind, a task force of an anthropomorphic wolf (Classified, the leader - Benedict Cumberbatch), snow owl (Eva, intelligence analyst - Annet Mahendru), seal pup (Short Fuse, explosives expert - Ken Jeong), and polar bear (Corporal - Peter Stomare). Their motto: "Nobody breaks the North Wind" -- a fart joke; ho-ho! They are all fighting Dave, a.k.a Dr. Octavius Brine, an evil octopus (John Malkovich) who is out to kill all penguins on his way to taking over the world. Who will win? Who do you think?

Review: 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' Pinkie Pie Party DVD (with bonus Season 2 DVD review)

Your rating: None Average: 3.7 (9 votes)

Pinkie Pie Party DVDKick it!” – Beastie Boys, “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)”

This is the fourth My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic five-episode DVD put out by Shout! Factory, and instead of attempting to create a theme for this one, the episodes collected all feature the character Pinkie Pie.

Pinkamena “Pinkie” Diane Pie is a hot pink Earth pony who lives in Sugarcube Corner, a sweets shop and bakery where she works; occasionally, with supervision, as a baker, but mostly as a party planner, which is her magical talent. That description makes her sound boring. She isn’t. As she represents the Element of Laughter, a distinction she won by making fun of some trees one time, she’s the show’s designated comedy relief, despite it already being a comedy cartoon. Basically, she’s the one who’s allowed to get away with jokes deemed too silly even for the average brightly colored cartoon pony.

Pinkie Pie’s episodes tend to be the funny ones.

Furry anthology 'Anthropomorphic Aliens' to debut at Anthrocon 2014

Your rating: None Average: 3.7 (7 votes)

Fred Patten will have a new anthology, Anthropomorphic Aliens, on sale at Anthrocon 2014. The 301-page book, published by FurPlanet Productions, presents eleven short stories and novellas featuring “furry” aliens from 1950 to 2013:
Anthropomorphic Aliens

The wraparound cover is by Roz Gibson.

FurryCon mark registration proceeds after initial denial

Your rating: None Average: 4.5 (2 votes)

FurryCon mark Soron's application to register the FurryCon logo as a service mark is proceeding, but only after the addition of a disclaimer of exclusive use of the term "furry con".

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office declined to register the New York state furry convention's name as a mark in August 2013, after identifying the terms 'furry' and 'con' as "merely descriptive":

“Furry” refers to “fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics.” - “Con” is a “common abbreviation for convention”.

At that time, a "furry" was also cited by the examiner as:

someone who is part of a subculture interested in fictional anthropomorphic animal characters with human personalities and characteristics

Various Wikipedia and WikiFur articles were used as references, as well as George Gurley's "Pleasures of the Fur" in Vanity Fair, the Anthrocon, Furry 4 Life, Furry Fandom Infocenter, Furry Connection North and Georgia Furs websites, and a con report on SoFurry.

'Star Fox' will return

Your rating: None Average: 3.6 (7 votes)

Star Fox Wii U A whopping eight years and an entire console generation since the last original Star Fox game, Star Fox Command (not counting Star Fox 64 3D, a remake of a remake), Nintendo has finally decided to dust off the space-faring furry franchise and give it a brand new game for the Wii U slated for sometime next year.

The game, which doesn't even have an official subtitle yet, was announced at this years Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), though Time magazine (not usually a magazine noted for its video game news scoops) leaked its existence a tad early. Not many details are available at the moment, but the game is being worked on by none other than Shigeru Miyamoto (a.k.a. the guy who had a hand in the creation of almost every Nintendo character you loved as a child).