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submitted by Octacat
[link] [1 comment]

Author: Higgs Raccoon

This Thursday (July 21) sees the final performance of Squirrel, or The Origin of a Species, playing in the Redrum theater at Fort Fringe in Washington D.C., USA

A two-man comedy by Michael Merino, Squirrel is a dialogue between nineteenth-century naturalist Charles Darwin (played by Ian LeValley) and an American Grey Squirrel (played by Carlos Bustamante).

The play is presented as a series of skits, jumping about about in time and setting but roughly following Darwin’s life between his voyage on the HMS Beagle and his writing On the Origin of Species. Bustamante brings the Squirrel to life with only a grey hat with ear flaps, and his own squirrelly movements.

 

Creative Commons: Full post may be available under a free license.

submitted by allenizabeth
[link] [7 comments]

More on the theme of nightmarish images -- I like this one:
[link]

submitted by khyberkitsune
[link] [12 comments]

Nordguard: Across Thin Ice">Newest book Nordguard: Across Thin Ice by Blotch is out, having debut at AnthroCon ‘11 and it ranks in on a complete 180 degree than their previous jaunt into graphic novels Dog Days of Summer, a decidedly fluffier graphic work.  While Dog Days was limited to a mere week for each page, with the plot at the chaotic whim of indecisive voters, Nordguard was conceived and planned and created over the course of roughly two years.  It had a preplanned story with a year alone devoted to research, character structure and story landscape.  The effort shines through in an albeit brief but also fully-fleshed and engaging world that leaves you counting the probable year until the next release.

Set in winter harsh lands invoking Nome, Alaska or the Yukon trails of Jack London stories, scenery is at once both majestic and cruel.  The colors are beautifully rendered and were chosen with a keen logic in mind, separating characters and landscape easily while being true to the industrial/arctic look and feel of an 1890’s gold rush way of life.  The characters move and feel as vibrant living, breathing upright animals; setting upon their work and movements with fluidity and naturalistic movements.  Nickel’s joyful jerks and interjections display a youthful, energetic personality that is uplifting and a good contrast against characters much more serious, dour (London) who transmit their years of experience form their looks and manner of speech.

There are worries though; a Slavic major is a passenger for unknown reason and his mannerisms scream, “I am hiding something that will put this team in jeopardy” and I can only hope he is not as cardboard as I fear.  It’s best to put something as childish as preemptive judging like that down to lesser movies or books turning me cynical in older age.  There are still two more books where it a change.

And unfortunaly, the first book is a quick one.

This is the second time I’ve mentioned how short the comic is without any explanation, so let me say now; Blotch took the proactive route and was courteous to point out at their panel how due to deadlines their two choices were to chop out very important story arcs and material or cut the page limit at 75 instead of the intended 120 (roughly). And 75 pages sound, in theory, a lot. But because the story’s pace is continuous, with only one solid rest from the action once it picks, you’ll be holding the last page checking your watch to see if you just beat a Guinness world record. The pace is burning. From the word Go you are introduced to the world Pi and the rest live in with necessary points being brought upon the way in competent telling and b the plot’s requirement are off to adventure. The whole reason it’s done so soon is the constant new tidbits that come off each page giving continual reasons to read ahead; wanting to hear their explanation and discover the new unraveling of the plot, or something of the world explained, either a fantastical element or some real-world nugget of information coming through.  This tactic, while admirable and well done leaves the side-effect of the pages flowing into each one too smoothly, something that probably would have worked with the original page-limit.

Minor flaws aside, a great book through and through and a promising start to a trilogy.  While it pulls a cliff hanger after just 75 pages, it does so with all immediate dangers or unknowns settled so the reader is not left on a hitch pondering the fate of our heroes like a bad Saturday morning cartoon.  The fact that it reads fast does not undermine the story or characters, both of which hold you and keep you reading.   You are intrigued but not cheated, the characters are as of it all memorable and the while the cast is larger than there last endeavor, it is not yet unwieldy and unmanageable to keep track of, again thanks in part to smart art direction dividing each person with distinction.  Any one either a fan of Blotch, tales of the North or extreme climates or is just looking for something that’s shaping into a maturely created anthromorphic adventure would do well with this book.  I have minor trepidations concerning plot; will clichés override a solid story that’s keeping its cards to its chest for now or will the plot surprise me in book 2?  Regardless, I am quite happy to say I can’t wait to find out one way or the other.

Nordguard: Across Thin Ice can be purchased online at Sofawolf Press; https://www.sofawolf.com/products/nordguard-ati for $19.95.  The blog Nordguard (http://nordguard.com/) has updates to the trilogy’s progress.

Earl Z. Madness can be contacted via email; stud...@gmail.com or by phone (516) 603-6842.  His website of awesome can be found here; http://www.furaffinity.net/user/zeratul-luke/

 

07/18/2011
By: Super_Jayhawk

IRVINE, CA (AP) – Furry Night Live, “The Greatest Show in Fur”, returned to Califur on June 4, 2011 on June for a second year to celebrate the con’s Post-Apocalypse theme! We had an truly epic show, but we were saddened to find out that lots of people couldn’t see the show since we were over capacity at Main Stage, or couldn’t make it to the con at all!

Fear not, for now the entire show is online for free on YouTube! Come see Furry Night Live at Califur and even the previous show in February 2011 at Texas Furry Fiesta on our own YouTube Channel!

 

Thanks to all who helped with the show, from writing, video editing, performing, pre- and post-production to make the show our best one yet!

 

07/18/2011
By: CraftyAndy

It’s nice to have something light hearted to counter all the loud explosions, death, rape, and destruction that litters the majority of movies I see. Something charming and cute. With a simple plot of “finding a new tail for Eyeore,” you can’t get any more light then that. A fun short story before the movie plays as well. There are moments I feel the characters get too stupid such as when they were stuck in a hole in the ground; But it saves itself by being self aware at those times, or even when it’s being annoying. Example being: When ever someone came up with a new tail for Eyeore they sang the same song and when it came to Kanga she stops them and says “lets celebrate with silence.” Stuff like that made me smile. Yes the movie is nothing but fluff’n-stuff with a simple message of thinking about friends before yourself that probably could of been summed up in ten minutes but it’s what I expected and I think it’s what me and everyone else wanted to see in a movie like this. By all means see this, you’ll have fun.

Seemingly overnight my Twitter feed looked like it had been taken over by small girls. I knew something was up. Not only because I’m legally prohibited from befriending young girls on the Internet, but also because in between the squeals of delight over a cartoon about horses, there was still the normal, mundane tweets of a men in their 30s.

I know a lot of Bronies, and I don’t know how. But as any good journalist who has long since given up and just occasionally updates a blog, I decided to sleuth it out. I talked to Bronies who run podcasts, Bronies who draw art, Bronies with boyfriends, and even Bronies who have girlfriends. The whole time I compiled theories on what the cause of all this was. How do you explain the Bronies? I’m not sure you can. But I’m going to try, and as always I’ll do it as tactfully as I can.

There Goes the Neigh-borhood
It’s a little known fact and widely known conspiracy theory that we are being fed subliminal messages through our televisions. While some believe we’re being ordered to kill government officials, most think (and have shown in some cases), that we’re simply being told to buy more stuff. Why have one commercial when you can have two? So you have My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, a show that on the surface is aimed at young girls. But underneath the giggles and the slapstick is a feed, designed to draw in an older demographic. After all, it’s beneficial to get parents into the show, so that they’ll buy more merchandise. Only something went wrong, and instead of triggering a response in parents, it mostly attracts single males in their 20s (and gay men in their 30s to 40s). It explains why nobody can pinpoint what they like about the show. It explains why those who just watch it on YouTube are less affected. It even explains why Hasbro has such shitty My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic merchandise. Who needs quality when you’re compelled to swarm a Toys R Us in a 20 person pack and buy everything you see?

Foals, Fillies, and Cults
There’s a large sense of conversion among Bronies, that some say borders on cultish behavior. Those people are stupid, but there is something there with the Bronies. It’s possibly that being a Brony is actually a form of cult, one that you have to join and rank up in to fully understand, much like Scientology. The reason so many Bronies can’t tell you why they love the show so much is because they’re not authorized to explain to non-believers the secret messages of My Little Pony. The Bronies aren’t trying to bring you into the fold (herd?) because “friendship is magic”, they’re trying to get you to watch because recruiting new Bronies is the only way for them to rank up and get closer to the Divine, whom I assume is the spirit incarnation of Rainbow Dash.

My Little Dalai Lama
The Internet has made our generation a bunch of assholes. We no longer have the ability to enjoy anything unless we’re tearing it down, and even then we don’t take any joy out if it. So perhaps Bronies, these Bohemians of the Internet, have finally figured out how to genuinely like something, without irony or sarcasm. How the hell did they manage that? Did they just, as a group, decide to like it. You know like how your mom used to always say “Choose to be happy” when you were crying at Disneyland? Only this time it worked and now they just unabashedly like something! If this is true, then Bronies are closer to enlightenment than any of the rest of us. Which kind of makes you want to hate them even more, right?

This Shit Don’t Make No Horse Sense, But That’s OK
Or maybe it’s just one of the many slightly odd but interesting things people do that make them, well, interesting. We like to poke fun at the Bronies, but are they any weirder than groups of men who like to swim in frigid waters? Or convention attendees that create elaborate steampunk cosplay? Or the middle aged women who follow Weird Al Yankovic on his concert tours (hi mom)? No. Granted, I make fun of all those people, too, but they’re cool in my book. And really so are the Bronies. The show is solid, and even if it’s not your thing there’s definitely an appeal in some quality SatAm cartoons. Just go for it, Bronies, who gives a shit why they do what they do? It’s not like they’re getting off on all this.

Wait, I just searched My Little Pony on FurAffinity. Rule 34 Vore. Really, guys?!

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Author: E-Mail Hidden
On this week of KnotCast, not a single fuck was given. Well, thats not true, we read emails as usual, but expect crazy numbers of tangents! We talk about megapodcasts, animation, and standing up for what you like! We’ve got problem gamblers, rats eating baby, and life in Dallas! And we thought we’d actually do a short show for once, ha ha ha…….

Seriously though, we had a lot of fun this week. :3

This week’s song~
Kirby Super Star ‘Ska Buffet (All You Can Eat: Clean Version)’ OC ReMix

Don’t forget our coupon code ‘knot’ at AdamEve.com for a great deal!

Episode 146 – Breaking the 4th Wall (AAC; 27.5 MB)
Episode 146 – Breaking the 4th Wall (MP3; 70 MB)

Find the full article here: KnotCast News

The contents of this Podcast may have adult language and adult themes. The content is not produced by Furry News Network, but is posted for your convenience.

Author: E-Mail Hidden (..::XANA::.. Creations)

With half the cast missing, Fayroe and Paradox relaxed and slow started some wonderful classic email readin’. Can’t wait to do this again.

News:

• Using Google Plus? You may want to change your Profile Name

• Furocity staff ‘joining forces’ with Fur Affinity

• Furcast Servers Borked – Paradox Confused

• Lizard has problem-solving skills

• Hypoallergenic dog claims don’t stand up

• Prominent Homosexual Activist Says Bestiality OK “As Long as the Animal Doesn’t Mind”

 

Emails:

• c0de – “An Interesting topic”
• Draston – “?”
• Flakke – “Hipster Furry”
• [_WizeNDeadly_] – “Mate Problems…”
• Raxtus Pain – “LDS (Mormons)”
• Omega – “Exams, Videos, and FuzzBalls”
• Kira – “Musical Influences”
• Kage Ryuukin – “Greetings”
• Anonymous – “Furries.”
• Draston – “My B-Day”

Find the full article here: FurCast

The contents of this Podcast may have adult language and adult themes. The content is not produced by Furry News Network, but is posted for your convenience.

submitted by HappyWulf
[link] [5 comments]

Just wondering what /r/furry thinks.

submitted by evilsibe
[link] [40 comments]

Author: dronon

While we’re waiting to see how furry fandom is treated by Fanboy Confessional, now might be a good time to discuss a documentary that presents another fandom with respect.

In 2007, a video of an animatronic animal band performing Bubba Sparxxx‘s Ms. New Booty went viral. Director Brett Whitcomb and writer Bradford Thomason followed the video back to its source, and in 2008 produced a 72-minute documentary about the band and its fans: The Rock-afire Explosion (trailer).

Rock-afire boom . . . and bust

Rock-afire, like furry, is very much a niche interest with respect to other fandoms (comics, science-fiction, anime, etc.) in terms of how many people attend events. When you’re dedicated to a chain of family entertainment restaurants whose heyday started in the 1980s, the fandom must be pretty small. If you further limit it to fans nostalgic for the band that used to play there, the number is smaller still.

The Rock-afire Explosion was the work of Aaron Fechter, inventor of the Whac-A-Mole. In 1980 he teamed up with a group of businessmen to open a chain of restaurants,Showbiz Pizza Place, which would feature the animatronic band constructed by Aaron’s company, Creative Engineering.

At its height in the early 80s, Creative Engineering employed 325 people and built more than 200 Rock-afire Explosions in a four-year period. Showbiz Pizza expanded rapidly, only to discover they were losing money. In a desperate attempt to stay in business, they merged with a similarly-situated competitor – Chuck E. Cheese’s.

One condition of the merger was that Aaron had to transfer all copyrights of the band and its characters to Showbiz Pizza. Since Rock-afire was his invention, he wanted to keep creative control, but this was unacceptable. To add insult to injury, he was expected to hand the copyrights over for nothing.

Aaron and Showbiz Pizza slowly parted ways, and by 1990 the merger was complete. Most restaurants now used the Chuck E. Cheese label; though the animatronic band was still there, they were replaced with new characters atop the old equipment. A corporate video set to muzakdescribes how to dismantle the Rock-afire stage and coldly instructs, “destroy all of these props as they will not be used again.”

Devoted fans

Whitcomb’s documentary only presents six fans; it’s primarily the story of two of them: Chris and Aaron. Chris Thrash was a childhood fan of the Rock-afire Explosion. With the original chain long-gone, he decided he wanted one of the bands: “The show was really for me; I wanted it where Showbiz Pizza Place could never be took away from me again.” Eventually he managed to contact Aaron, who still had unused bands in storage, and bought one from him. Next, Chris started programming his own shows with new music, resulting in the online video that went viral.

Whitcomb gives depth to Chris and Aaron. Chris is visibly worried about his father’s battle with cancer and how much time they have left together. “Problems like that, or problems at work, sometimes if you just can’t handle the stress of life, people pick different ways to relieve that. I don’t choose to go to drugs or crime or anything like that. This is my escape from reality.”

Aaron, for his own part, is now the sole employee of Creative Engineering (the last few people being let go in 2003). With its sprawling rooms and storage spaces, he solders on as best he can with remarkably good humor, but with a hint of regret. In one scene, while he reminisces about a past friend who wrote a children’s song about getting older, he finds himself starting to cry.

Throughout the documentary, Whitcomb never talks down to his subjects – in fact he doesn’t talk at all, instead allowing the fans to speak for themselves. Their performance is heartfelt and genuine, accompanied by a surprising amount of surviving video footage.

Chasing the dream

There’s always an inclination to laugh at people during documentaries like this, like one fan’s tattoos, or as another starts to put on a costume. Mocking those who are different is an all-too common sociological trait, and schadenfreude is even easier from behind the safety of one’s screen. It reveals more about the viewer than the person being mocked, highlighting personality traits we consider desirable; how we judge others, and evaluate social worth. Extreme fans tend to get stereotyped – we forget or ignore that individuals are more than the sum of their obsessions (did you know the Tron guy can fly a plane?). But there’s no mockery here, just honesty.

What makes this documentary work is that it shows how fandoms help people derive a measure of happiness from their hobby. The world is a complicated place; if happiness is attained through some forgotten piece of pop culture, so what? Not everyone makes the best decisions in life, but how many of us have aggressively pursued a challenging dream, and achieved it?

Chris held down multiple jobs for two years to reach his goal of having his own Rock-afire band, and programming it is something he now enjoys. Aaron started his own multi-million dollar company with his inventions, and while it may not have worked out in the long run, the spirit of what he started still lives on. Along the way, they both fell in love and got married (though not to each other).

Overall, this documentary is an interesting little window into the lives of two fans. I don’t know how much interest it would hold for furry fans, but if you’ve been in any fandom for any amount of time, you start to get this vibe, of community and of comfort from making connections with others who share similar interests. I don’t personally “get” the appeal of the animatronic band – and neither do I expect anyone else to “get” furry – but while watching the Rock-afire Explosion, that fandom vibe was definitely there. Lastly, I should say I liked the background music used in this production, which included Super Furry Animals – an appropriate choice!

See more: Rock-afire Explosion videos uploaded by Chris and Aaron.

Find the full article here: flayrah – furry food for thought

Creative Commons: Full post may be available under a free license.

With half the cast missing, Fayroe and Paradox relaxed and slow started some wonderful classic email readin’. Can’t wait to do this again.

Download MP3

News:

• Using Google Plus? You may want to change your Profile Name
• Furocity staff ‘joining forces’ with Fur Affinity
• Furcast Servers Borked – Paradox Confused
• Lizard has problem-solving skills
• Hypoallergenic dog claims don’t stand up
• Prominent Homosexual Activist Says Bestiality OK “As Long as the Animal Doesn’t Mind”

Emails:

• c0de – “An Interesting topic”
• Draston – “?”
• Flakke – “Hipster Furry”
• [_WizeNDeadly_] – “Mate Problems…”
• Raxtus Pain – “LDS (Mormons)”
• Omega – “Exams, Videos, and FuzzBalls”
• Kira – “Musical Influences”
• Kage Ryuukin – “Greetings”
• Anonymous – “Furries.”
• Draston – “My B-Day”

FC-47 Fayroe’s Folfs - With half the cast missing, Fayroe and Paradox relaxed and slow started some wonderful classic email readin'. Can't wait to do this again.

With half the cast missing, Fayroe and Paradox relaxed and slow started some wonderful classic email readin’. Can’t wait to do this again.

Download MP3

News:

• Using Google Plus? You may want to change your Profile Name
• Furocity staff ‘joining forces’ with Fur Affinity
• Furcast Servers Borked – Paradox Confused
• Lizard has problem-solving skills
• Hypoallergenic dog claims don’t stand up
• Prominent Homosexual Activist Says Bestiality OK “As Long as the Animal Doesn’t Mind”

Emails:

• c0de – “An Interesting topic”
• Draston – “?”
• Flakke – “Hipster Furry”
• [_WizeNDeadly_] – “Mate Problems…”
• Raxtus Pain – “LDS (Mormons)”
• Omega – “Exams, Videos, and FuzzBalls”
• Kira – “Musical Influences”
• Kage Ryuukin – “Greetings”
• Anonymous – “Furries.”
• Draston – “My B-Day”

FC-47 Fayroe’s Folfs - With half the cast missing, Fayroe and Paradox relaxed and slow started some wonderful classic email readin'. Can't wait to do this again.

With half the cast missing, Fayroe and Paradox relaxed and slow started some wonderful classic email readin’. Can’t wait to do this again.

.postlink:link { color: #ff9900; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline; } .postlink:visited { color: #BB5500; } .postlink:hover { color: #ffBB00; } .postlink:active { color: #ffffff; }

Download MP3 (Right-click, Save)

News:

• Using Google Plus? You may want to change your Profile Name

• Furocity staff ‘joining forces’ with Fur Affinity

• Furcast Servers Borked – Paradox Confused

• Lizard has problem-solving skills

• Hypoallergenic dog claims don’t stand up

• Prominent Homosexual Activist Says Bestiality OK “As Long as the Animal Doesn’t Mind”

 

Emails:

• c0de – “An Interesting topic”
• Draston – “?”
• Flakke – “Hipster Furry”
• [_WizeNDeadly_] – “Mate Problems…”
• Raxtus Pain – “LDS (Mormons)”
• Omega – “Exams, Videos, and FuzzBalls”
• Kira – “Musical Influences”
• Kage Ryuukin – “Greetings”
• Anonymous – “Furries.”
• Draston – “My B-Day”

FC-47 Fayroe’s Folfs - With half the cast missing, Fayroe and Paradox relaxed and slow started some wonderful classic email readin'. Can't wait to do this again.

07/15/2011
By: CraftyAndy

The AC dance competition in it’s entirety.
List in order
Celementine, Mangusu, Sebastian, Mozee, Oreo, Kwik, JJ Fox, Taun Taun, Astu Fawx, Kotto, Doryuu, Twiggy, Neopan, Media, Sadie. Results
I also spared you all the uninteresting dialogue coming from the judges. Buddy was the only one with something interesting to say.

Modify, non commercial.

Article removed!

“Prominent Homosexual Activist Says Bestiality OK “As Long as the Animal Doesn’t Mind” – We are removing it based on Copyright issues.

This article was cross posted from another Furry news source.   The admin of that site posted it to see who was actually watching his news feed and we allowed it along with a number of their posts to come through this week – In this case, we did not double check the article for content or copyright.

Now – as for the topic of Beastiality, the bad thing is, it sometimes happens in the Furry fandom – See Krypto1701 & Krypto1701 Update - when this comes up, we will cover it.

One of our goals is to hold a mirror up to the Furry Fandom – so we can see how outsiders see us.  The message here is, if you love the Fandom, and want to see it flourish, be aware of what you do and how it will look for the rest of the fandom.

submitted by GarrTY
[link] [2 comments]