Newsbytes archive for November 2021

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Contributors this month include 2cross2affliction, dronon, earthfurst, GreenReaper, and Rakuen Growlithe.

Digging Up Positivity - November 2021

Your rating: None Average: 2.9 (8 votes)

Hello and welcome to the November episode of Digging Up Positivity. October and November are traditionally busy months filled with all sorts of conventions and events, and boy does it show in our overview. We got a lot of fundraisers for various charities all over the world this time! Which brings us to our featurette: Joe G. Bear, our American friend who is one of those wonderful people behind Team Tony, one that is working so hard to raise funds against this terrible disease of ALS [Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]!

But first we have the other charity news, followed by some animation news including Disney’s Zootopia+ and of course after all of these things, we will find out who has won that wonderful Thabo Meerkat T-shirt ‘I am just a mere kat’.

So now, on with the show!

The rough road to animal personhood

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Max undergoing surgery.
Max undergoing surgery.
Beaks are extremely important to birds, allowing them to hold objects and feed themselves. One can easily imagine the problems that a blue and gold macaw named Max experienced, when his beak was pulled off after two fights with other birds. Human caretakers helped him eat again, and when his remaining lower beak grew too long, they regularly shortened it so it was the right size for his tongue.

In search of a long-term solution, a South African team of veterinarians, doctors and other professionals led by Prof. Gerhard Steenkamp worked together to design and attach a 3D-printed beak for Max. As has been previously covered on Flayrah, many other animals have also received prosthetics when they've needed them.

Death's Door - Turns out death is actually a great adventure

Your rating: None Average: 3.5 (12 votes)

DeathsDoor.jpgDeath’s Door is a game where you play as a crow who has been tasked with reaping a soul. However, things become complicated as someone rips one of your assigned souls from your grasp. This leaves you on a quest to hunt down some monstrous beings who are doing everything they can to stall their egress from the world of the living.

Gameplay-wise it has the exploration and dungeon crawling elements of a Zelda game. However, the large boss fights are punishing and far more difficult than the Nintendo faire. They seem closer to Dark Souls boss fights in terms scale— but not quite as brutal, a nice moderate difficulty.

I honestly hope this one wins the Ursa Major award for gaming in 2021.

Usually, I don’t have a horse in these races, as most of the games I get an opportunity to play are in a backlog from prior years. Luckily, as a furry, I don’t ever feel compelled to keep up with the Joneses of the world and consume the latest titles. Instead I play anthro games as my audience votes on which one they would like to see me play. So it is rare that I get to play a game in the year it came out.

This treat of a game was published in July of this year, developed by Acid Nerve and published by Devolver Digital. It is available on PC and XBox consoles. And this October the voters decided this would be a good game to play. You know, death is spooky. However, the game is not of the horror genre.

Chaotic Good Furry Trolling - From Human Resources to Airplane Undercarriages

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November has been a bit strange as people prepare for the first Midwest Furfest since the closure due to the COVID pandemic. However, in spite of the anxieties, there have been some interesting stories of good natured ribbing that have escaped furry orbit into the mainstream world.

Today we go over two of these events that happened this month from a Human Resource debacle and a fuselage scribble.

The quest for the defining 'Wind in the Willows'

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The Wind in the Willows DVDs With many eyes trained upon stories such as The Legend of Sleepy Hollow this weekend, I was inspired to do a small tribute piece on the B-side of Disney's version. To think; The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr. Toad mainly came to comprise this format when it was decided that making two separate features wasn't budget-savvy. It's also worth a mention that this is one of my favorite stories from childhood, and even so today.

Newsbytes archive for October 2021

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Contributors this month include 2cross2affliction, BlindWolf8, earthfurst, and GreenReaper.

Digging Up Positivity - October 2021

Your rating: None Average: 3.4 (9 votes)

Welcome to the October edition of Digging Up Positivity. This month we are pleased to see the conventions returning, and with that, all those lovely charities that they support. The featurette of this month is Cassidy Civet, known by many as that critter that appeared at the Eurovision Song Festival, but by all means, this feline is not limited by that. But first, lets start with this months charitable highlights.

A new sort of animal: 'Lady into Fox', by David Garnett

Your rating: None Average: 3.1 (19 votes)

I don't feel the need to justify bringing up David "Bunny" Garnett's 1922 short novel Lady into Fox in a furry context. As the title suggests, the story involves a lady who turns into a fox. Technically, it is not a story about an anthropomorphic animal, and is in fact about the direct opposite of that, a zoomorphic human. Of course, this is a nitpick. I doubt anyone cares.

Sylvia Tebrick as a fox merrily chasing ducks in a cute little dress, from Lady into Fox

On the point of genre, however, there is one area where I would like to make a rather more controversial "take" on the subject matter. Though the novel was a bit unclassifiable when it was first introduced, with H.G. Wells (an author known for his use of anthropomorphic animals) praising it as "a new creation, a new sort of animal, let us say, suddenly running about in the world," a phrase that I imagine had him enthusiastically punching the air at his own cleverness.

More modern takes tend to classify it as a "contemporary fantasy". However, I find it to be entirely different: it seems nothing more (or less) than a tale of the supernatural; a ghost story whose 'ghost' merely requires a few scare quotes - or, put another way, a horror story.

Streaming review: 'My Little Pony: A New Generation'

Your rating: None Average: 3.2 (15 votes)

'My Little Pony: A New Generation' movie poster And so it begins. Again.

The long running My Little Pony is introducing its latest toyline "generation" with what was supposed to be a theatrical movie. Due to the whole "ongoing pandemic" thing, that was mostly canceled (it was released theatrically in a few regions) and the whole thing moved to the streaming service Netflix, where any further spin-offs will also be held. My Little Pony: A New Generation is directed by Robert Cullen and José Luis Ucha with co-director Mark Fattibene, and has been available on Netflix since September 24 in most regions.

Not to beat around the bush, but the last time My Little Pony launched, it was kind of a thing. I'm sure the vast majority of Flayrah's readership is well aware of the "brony" subculture, but if you somehow missed it, or would just like a refresher, this Ursa Major-nominated video by YouTuber Jenny Nicholson is recommended – though you could always troll through Flayrah's "My Little Pony" tag. The upshot: there are higher expectations attached to this series relaunch than usual.

Review: 'Star Wars Adventures: Ghosts Of Vader's Castle #2'

Your rating: None Average: 3.6 (5 votes)

'Ghosts of Vader's Castle' A-cover, by Francesco Francavilla 'Ghosts of Vader's Castle' B-cover, by Derek Charm

Kismet on a recent outing brought me into contact with an issue of this Star Wars offshoot, published by IDW Comics, which advertises itself in that usual, effective way.

Ghosts Of Vader's Castle #2, which offers a choice of subtitles between "Attack Of The 50-Foot Wookie" and "The Wicked Wookie", is a diversion of a diversion that hit distribution in September. It comes from regular writer Cavan Scott and is illustrated by mainstays Francesco Francavilla and Derek Charm. Permit me to guess your thoughts; no, Disney has NOT purchased Bucky O' Hare.

Fursuits and fursuiting survey by Charleston Rat

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Charleston Rat Some of you might be familiar with my Facts About the Furry Fandom video on YouTube. After it went viral, I decided to make a series out of it, following it up with More Facts About the Furry Fandom and Facts About Furry Meetups & Conventions.

The next video in the series will be about fursuits and fursuiting. However, unlike the previous videos, most of the information I'm looking for isn't easy to find via reliable sources like FurScience and [adjective][species]. Therefore, I've decided to take a different route.

I've created a short survey about fursuits and fursuiting which I'd like you to fill out. Most of it consists of "yes/no" and "choose what you prefer" questions, with a few exceptions. You don't need a fursuit to take part! You just have to be a furry.

Also, feel free to spread the word about this survey in other furry social media!

At the end of the survey, you can enter your name into a prize draw and potentially win $250. As long as you're over 18, and can accept a PayPal transfer, you're eligible for the draw if you complete the survey before the deadline. More details are in the survey's introduction.

The deadline is Friday, November 26, 2021.

Culturally F'd enters The Bone Zone

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Meet Rattles: Lives in bones, eats bad movies, pukes acid, vulture.The Bone Zone.

Our new Vulturally F'd host Rattles has a unique appetite. He eats terrible movies, looking for that juicy, so-bad-it's-good fermentation of cheesy old cinema. The lair he calls home is the Bone Zone, a hollowed-out corpse of a once mighty beast, nesting in an old video rental store.

With nothing but an old TV to keep him company, he shares his favourite meals with you, and warns you to steer clear of certain buffet items strewn about the floor of his cave. In proper Culturally F'd fashion, all the films Rattles will be reviewing feature anthropomorphic characters at their core. (Show trailer)

Of Lindsay Lohan, Canine Cartels, and NFTs

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Lindsay Lohan's Fursona Celebrities, gang references, and questionable measures of affluence are not the typical fare for a furry fandom news site. However, this trifecta from the underworld rose from the earth on the 30th of September in the year of 2021.

It all started when a celebrity known as Lindsay Lohan made a tweet prompting a pack of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) called the Canine Cartel, using a dog character designed for her which is being put within this 10,000 token pack. With each of the individual tokens being put up for auction, including her own.

Reception by the fandom has mostly been negative. Some pointing out the lack of ears on the character's art, some showing agitation on having anthro characters being used to promote NFTs, others indicating that this was just a celebrity doing some arms-reach appreciation of the fandom while avoiding actually working with those in the fandom.

Today we’ll go over this event, furries' relationship with NFTs and crypto, and why this event may not be as furry as people in the fandom and media are making it out to be.

Newsbytes archive for September 2021

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Contributors this month include 2cross2affliction, BlindWolf8, dronon, and GreenReaper.

From the Yerf Archive