At the L.A. Times Festival of Books we learned about Mythwalker at their big, impressive booth. Maybe it was the smiling corgi in armor that attracted our attention… Mythwalker is a geolocation fantasy RPG created by Nant Games for your cell phone. In it you can play one of three species: Human, Annu (a bird-like humanoid species), and Wulven (a canine species — from which the aforementioned corgi hails). Here is the lore: “Mytherra is a fantastical, parallel planet to Earth ─ a world where throughout history its people and mystical creatures have infiltrated the dreams of humans. Over time, these visions have formed the basis of Earth’s many myths and legends. After a prolonged period of peace, Mytherra is now under attack, which poses a direct threat to Earth as well. A powerful being, known only as The Child, has reached out through the Veil into our world seeking help. She recruits you – the Mythwalker – to uncover the truth about the attackers, explore the connection between the two worlds, and lead Mytherra’s heroes in the defense of their home.” And here is the idea: “MythWalker is a geolocation fantasy RPG adventure mobile game that brings The Child and Mytherra to life through an overworld traversal system, using real locations to tell the stories of Earth’s myths and legends. With narrative-driven quests tied to an intriguing storyline, a cast of magical and memorable characters, a deep progression system, and robust multiplayer modes, MythWalker will connect players worldwide through meaningful global gameplay.” Their web site has a whole lot more information.
FurNation now selling subscriptions to Magazine
Posted by Cyber-Dillo on Tue 3 Jul 2001 - 09:34FurNation is now taking pre-orders on magazine #2 and is also selling subscriptions up to magazine #5. Magazines #1 & #2 will be on sale at Anthrocon.
The proofs for #2 came back from the printer Monday the 2nd and look fantastic! It will be printed by July 15th. Pre-orders will ship the same day we get the magazines from the printer.
Go here to purchase a subscription today.
Wolves and coyotes in Yellowstone
Posted by mwalimu on Mon 2 Jul 2001 - 15:21CNN has this interesting article, Wily coyote outgunned by bigger canine cousin, about how coyote populations in Yellowstone National Park have been affected since the reintroduction of gray wolves in 1995. Coyote populations have been decreasing due to competition from the wolves, but naturalists are not concerned, seeing it as restoring the natural balance between these two predators, noting that the coyote population probably increased when wolves were eliminated from the park in the 1930s.
MI5 Spy Gerbils!
Posted by Anon on Sun 1 Jul 2001 - 09:25It's.....MI5 Spy Gerbils!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1415000/1415469.stm
Security Service MI5 once planned to recruit a
team of specially-trained gerbils as a secret
weapon to sniff out spies, it has been revealed.
Micah's Note: The British are just weird sometimes.
Pawpets looking for Pawpeteers
Posted by Aureth on Fri 29 Jun 2001 - 21:19From the PawPet folk, off of alt.fan.furry: "Anthrocon is less than a month away, and Funday PawPet Show is looking to book puppeteers for the 3 hour live show that will be occuring on Friday night between 4-7pm." Read on for more.
New Furry Enviro-centric TV Series
Posted by Teko on Fri 29 Jun 2001 - 13:24Stephen Silver is a British cartoonist & animator who's currently a character designer for Disney. As a personal project, he's developing an ecology-minded animated series involving a group of endangered species who are also time-travelling pro wrestlers. It's called Wild Life Force. Looks nifty, especially the Howard Cosell ferret.
Furry Music Foundation is Back
Posted by Aureth on Thu 28 Jun 2001 - 16:02From Chama on alt.fan.furry: "For those of you who asked why the Furry Music Foundation website has been unreachable lately, the server has been down due to a security issue (which is resolved now). You can yet again download furry music from FMF at http://www.furrymusic.org"
Man Bitten by Dragon
Posted by Micah on Thu 28 Jun 2001 - 10:01There's definitely something bizarre about being attacked by a komodo dragon. Fortunately, the man who got bitten had a good sense of humor about it. Read about the incident, and then for laughs check out Salon's interview with the dragon in question.
Selling Graphic Novels in Bookstores
Posted by Micah on Thu 28 Jun 2001 - 09:09Not sure whether to call this sf or furry news; it's relevant to both. Publishers Weekly recently had a fascinating article about selling graphic novels in bookstores, why booksellers should and how to do it... as well as a series of articles on how comics publishers are trying to reach a broader audience through online and bookstore distribution channels. This is greatly encouraging to me, since one of the reasons I've never really considered doing a graphic novel was because of the ghetto graphic novels are shoved into when the time comes to sell them. You don't reach an audience without distribution, and it looks like booksellers might be waking up to the fact that graphic novels do sell. Indeed, I remember the pleasure I felt when I discovered my local Borders had a shelf of graphic novels (and in fact, I bought one; while I don't buy single comic books, I will buy compilations of them). Here's hoping there'll be more graphic novel sections in the future. And hey, wasn't there talk of a Fusion graphic novel? Lex, are you reading? *grin*
Right Whale Rescue Failed
Posted by Micah on Thu 28 Jun 2001 - 08:15Some of you might remember a post I found off New Scientist a while back about rescuers attempting to free a male right whale, one of the few left in the wild. Unfortunately, their attempts didn't work and now they're hoping the whale will be able to free himself. This has to be one of the more frustrating times to be a scientist... being unable to save a creature so rare there are only 300 left, and giving it up to fate. You can read more about it at Salon. On a more upbeat note, cows also enjoy music, though they prefer ballads to hardcore rock and roll.
Engineering an Allergen-Free Cat
Posted by Neowolf on Thu 28 Jun 2001 - 07:38The NY Times reports an entrepreneur in upstate New York wants to engineer a cat without the protein that causes allergic reactions in 60 to 90 percent of sensitive people. He plans to sell sterilized animals for up to $1000. (Free registration required to access that site.)
FurBid Scheduled Down-time
Posted by Aatheus on Wed 27 Jun 2001 - 21:10In order to provide for a more stable system, FurBid will be moved to a new server tonight, starting at 11pm. As such, FurBid will be down from 11pm to 5am Pacific time, on 6/27/2001. All auctions that are scheduled to close during that time will be extended.
If you haven't been to FurBid, I invite you to check it out at http://furrybid.transform.to
Any questions, please send them to aatheus@transfur.com
Aatheus
FurBid Administaur
New Computer Animated Movie
Posted by Anon on Wed 27 Jun 2001 - 13:24Do you like mammoths, sloths and sabre-tooth tigers? 20th Century Fox is betting there's a lot of folks who will with the computer animated film "Ice Age," being produced now at Blue Sky in New York. This is the same group that produced the Oscar-winning short "Bunny." The teaser trailer is now running with selected movies, but you can see it now by going to http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox/ice_age/.
Resource for Female SF/F Writers and Fans
Posted by Micah on Wed 27 Jun 2001 - 09:08For the women in our audience (and fans of women), a link to Broad Universe seems in order, an organization devoted to the promotion of science fiction and fantasy written by women. Men are also encouraged to join if they support the cause. The website has a regular newsletter with industry and writing tips, a book list and some other info, as well as some cool things coming down the pike (like a PR database). The newsgroup is active and turns up some interesting posts on a regular basis. The Broad Universe launch was noted by Locus Magazine and the website got a review on the latest issue of SF Weekly.
A Shetland Zebra is born
Posted by STrRedWolf on Wed 27 Jun 2001 - 08:54What would you call a real shetland pony/zebra mix created by nature? A Shetland Zebra? Reports from Associated Press and Reuters with video from Brittan via Yahoo! News.
Review of A.I. (sans spoilers)
Posted by Kizeh on Wed 27 Jun 2001 - 08:38I wanted to share with you my views of Steven Spielberg's A.I.
Succinctly, the movie is long, grim, more Kubrik than Spielberg and will utterly fail in the box office.
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