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Alex Vance reads “Double Blind” by Teiran
Author: toonces
Everybody has a weakness for a good thriller. The characters can be so dynamic and lively because they need to be, to be able to kick down doors and go in guns blazing to get results- or whatever. Point is, heroes certainly aren’t slouches. And this week’s story, Double Blind by Teiran, which was originally published in Roar 2, has a squad of misfits who maneuver their ways through a technotopic world of corporate espionage and body modification. Each member of the group must adapt to the technological environment in their own way – even a ferret who, born with mystical abilities, must keep all the wires on the outside.
“The body was your connection to the magic,” the narrator explains of the ferret, whose natural abilities fill in the gaps where technology doesn’t solve the problem. It’s hard not to keep this message in mind when considering the team’s muscle, a horse who has gone through the assembly line more often than a Hollywood starlet under the knife, and works only to afford to continually upgrade his body. In a world where people are already showing off the Verizon logo in the lefthand corner of their shitty trendy phone, it’s easy to see a direct path between ourselves and a future not-so-alternate universe.
You may have already read the story when we posted it on the blog, alongside an ebook you can take with you. If you have, great! We’d love to get your comments on the story – you can post them here, or you can e-mail me at toonces@drivingcat.org. You can even tweet at us. And if you bring up some good points, we probably won’t be able to resist reading them at the next meeting.
But if you were waiting for the audiobook – to listen to it in the car, maybe, like your favorite driving cat – we have the wonderful Alex Vance reading for you below. This is the second time Alex Vance has contributed his talents to the book club – though generally he acts as a fixer, wooing every i with a dot, and intimidating the ts into crossing themselves.
Find the full article here: The Bad Dog Book Club » Podcast
Get Shareaholic Link to this post!Unsheathed #74 - Kyell, K.M., and special guest Flain discuss predictions and make some revelations!
Am I a furry?
Honestly, all I do is browse the porn, then I'm done. Thats it. Conventions don't interest me, fursuits creep me out, and the fandom and their language makes me gag. Does this count or am I just a pervert?
And yes I know there isn't really just one way to describe furry, I just want to know what you guys think.
Edit: okay, say I decide to become a part of the fandom. Whats the best way to go about this?
submitted by maybefurry[link] [41 comments]
“Sanguine & Clockwork” by K. M. Hirosaki
Author: alexfvance
The reading that this podcast is a discussion of is located HERE
Thank you so much for stopping by! Not everyone’s arrived, yet- but I’ve still yet to get all the cheeses onto all the crackers, and- you brought a bottle of wine with you, right? Good- good. This is going to be fun, I think. I’ve always wanted to start a book club. I’m glad I finally found Skip and had someone organized enough to actually pull the thing off!
We wanted to start the show off on the right foot, so Skip and I dug into the Bad Dog Books archive and pulled out this entry from FANG 3 by K.M. Hirosaki, “Sanguine and Clockwork.” Written to fit the anthology’s theme of erotic fantasy, the story commits to a fantastic process of developing the relationship of two characters – Florian, a wizard, and Rentell, a Lord – to tell the story of a third character – Vico, an artificial fox crafted through sorcery and responding only and immediately to direct commands.
You can read the story right here on the Book Club website, where you’ll also find links to the story on FurAffinity and SoFurry so you can share your thoughts with the author directly.
For all the people who can’t read while driving like I can (though that might explain why I’m always driving over all those cliffs) we also have an audio book read by our very own Alex Vance.
Next episode, we’ll be discussing Double Blind by Teiran from ROAR Volume 2. You can read it here and leave comments – we might just discuss your thoughts or questions on air in our next meeting.
Thanks again for coming to this week’s book club!
Find the full article here: The Bad Dog Book Club » Podcast
Get Shareaholic Link to this post!Fur Affinity currently under DDoS Attack
Fur Affinity has been under a Distributed Denial of Service Attack since about 8am Eastern time. They have sent several notices out over twitter. No group has announced a reason.
The site is currently up and accessible but may be slow because of the continued traffic generated by the attack.
Tweets:
https://twitter.com/#!/furaffinity/status/42934119889514496
https://twitter.com/#!/furaffinity/status/42961699761963009
https://twitter.com/#!/furaffinity/status/42976306283024384
https://twitter.com/#!/furaffinity/status/42982763611160576
https://twitter.com/#!/furaffinity/status/43078854570553345
You can check the timeline here https://twitter.com/#!/furaffinity
What is a DDoS?
– A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is one in which a multitude of compromised systems attack a single target, thereby causing denial of service for users of the targeted system. The flood of incoming messages to the target system essentially forces it to shut down, thereby denying service to the system to legitimate users.
In a typical DDoS attack, a hacker (or, if you prefer, cracker) begins by exploiting a vulnerability in one computer system and making it the DDoS master. It is from the master system that the intruder identifies and communicates with other systems that can be compromised. The intruder loads cracking tools available on the Internet on multiple — sometimes thousands of — compromised systems. With a single command, the intruder instructs the controlled machines to launch one of many flood attacks against a specified target. The inundation of packets to the target causes a denial of service.
What can I do?
First, be understanding with the administrators. It takes time, effort and skill to defend a site against a DDoS. It makes the job that much harder when a site admin has to constantly respond to complaints from users about the speed of the site or the fact that some features may be down.
Second, make sure your PC, laptop or Android based smart phone has up to date Anti-virus and Anti-Malware software on it, and that your viris deffinitions are up to date, and your system scans are up to date. If your system is infected, you may be part of the BotNet that is contributing to the DDoS. And yes. We did say Android Smart Phone – as recent as March 1, a new virus is spreading through Android phones through the “Steamy Windows” app.
Image credit: Cisco Systems
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Alex Vance reads “Sanguine and Clockwork” by K. M. Hirosaki
Author: alexfvance
This week’s story asks its readers to consider the consciousness of an autonomous body.
Florian, the sorcerer at the heart of the story, is a seemingly more insecure Dr. Frankenstein.
And Vico, his mindless, obedient laboratory servant warrants the same sympathy Frankenstein’s monster demanded.
Our very own Alex Vance read this story for us this week, so that those of you with bad eyes or morning commutes or whatever can make sure to get in on the book club.
We hope you enjoy the story as much as you enjoy Alex’s smooth European accent!
Find the full article here: The Bad Dog Book Club » Podcast
New information on the death of ch?ken Hachik?
Author: Rakuen Growlithe
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have come up with a new theory to explain the death of the famous dog, Hachik? (also known as ch?ken ['faithful dog'] Hachik?).
Hachik? was an Akita Inu who was born in Japan in 1923. He became the pet of Professor Hidesabur? Ueno of the University of Tokyo. For around a year Hachik? would meet his master, at the end of the day, at Shibuya Station.
On 21 May 1925 Prof. Ueno died from a stroke while at the university. For the rest of his life Hachik? continued to make the trip to the train station and wait for his master. Hachik? finally died in 1935.
Find the full article here: flayrah – furry food for thought
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Get Shareaholic Link to this post!Pennsylvania EFM Announce March Meets
March 4th EFM will be seeing the movie Rango. No show times are available yet, but we will plan it for between 5-8pm. Keep checking back for an official meet time.
We will be meeting at the Regal Cinemas at Oaks.
180 Mill Road
Oaks, PA 19456
(610) 666-6697
March 12th’s furmeet will be another bowling event!! Like last time it will be located at Limerick Bowl @5pm till when ever we feel like it. Fursuits are welcome and there is a bar and arcade located at the bowling alley. Not to mention FOOD!!
It is $4.25 a game and $3 for shoe rental, so make sure you have enough money on hand.
If we have enough people we can get a group discount. It would be $39.95 per lane for two hours w/ shoe rental included. *5 people per lane* That is a little under $8 a person. So make sure to show up by 4:45pm if you want to bowl for cheap!
More info on the alley can be found here, http://www.limerickbowl.com/
Address
653 W. Ridge Pike Limerick, PA 19468
RSVP is required only if you plan to bowl, but a shout on the page to let us know you are coming is appreciated
To RSVP to either meet, please visit their site here: http://www.pa-furry.org/node/2119/efm-march-furmeets
Get Shareaholic Link to this post!Amazing Race has contestants dress as Kangaroos
Apparently, dressing in fursuit is becoming quite the “in” fashion… at least on reality tv.
Producers of The Amazing Race had contestants dress inkangaroo suits and wear spring loaded shoes during one part of a recent challenge. We’ll let you be the judge…
Kangaroo Costumes
Read more on After Ellen
Get Shareaholic Link to this post![HYPE] Sunnyville Stories #2 now available
For further info, contact Max West, i...@sunnyvillestories.com
SMALL PRESS COMIC, BIG WORLD
New creator debuts a well-written comics series
Comics writer-creator Max West announced the first print release of
Sunnyville Stories, a comics series in development for nearly two
years.
FNN Adds Bad Dog Book Club’s Podcast to regular features
With the number of furry authors growing, as well as a swelling library of materials, FNN has begun adding book reviews to it’s features. Some reviews will be just that – an evaluation of the book, in written form. We have several people who will be working on reviews in the coming months.
To make this more of a multimedia experience, we started looking for podcasts about books and found the Bad Dog Book Club. They have just started their podcasting series in the past month. So far, the content has been very enjoyable. With this in mind, we approached them about syndicating the Podcast and readings here at FNN, and got the blessing of Alex Vance, Bad Dog Book’s owner.
The podcast its self is hosted by Skip Ruddertail and Toonces. The readings are being done by Alex Vance.
We’ll be releasing the current podcasts over the next couple of days to let everyone catch up. After that, you should see the podcast appear here in the “Book Reviews” category within a couple of hours of it being published.
I hope you enjoy the readings as much as I have and I encourage you to support the authors!
First Podcast will hit the front page this afternoon.
Get Shareaholic Link to this post!ILM gets Animated; Rango opens March 4
This stunning virgin foray into feature-length animation from Verbinski and the vfx miracle workers at Industrial Light & Magic (his primary collaborator on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” pics) looks and feels nothing like the toons that have come before. “Rango” boasts not only the most photoreal visuals this side of “Wall-E” but a refreshingly unique narrative sensibility to boot, starting with its Charlie Kaufman-worthy opening monologue and Greek chorus — technically, a mariachi band of bright-eyed Mexican owls whose songs fit the score’s playful marriage of Hans Zimmer bombast and Los Lobos energy.
Depp plays a zonk-eyed pet lizard traveling cross-country through the Mojave Desert when a freak accident leaves him stranded in the blistering sun. Far removed from his natural habitat, the green-skinned, Hawaiian shirt-wearing reptile finds it virtually impossible to camouflage himself in his new all-brown environment, choosing instead to pass for something he’s not, a fearless gunfighter named Rango.
With no real-world experience but a near-inexhaustible supply of good luck, Rango looks exactly like what the naively optimistic denizens of Dirt need right now: a hero. Their old-timey desert outpost is beset by predators and ruled by a corrupt mayor (Ned Beatty, playing a less huggable villain than he did in “Toy Story 3″), who clearly has a hand in the mysterious drought making all their lives miserable. That much even younger auds should be able to follow, though John Logan’s hilarious script is loaded with two-dollar dialogue and wonderfully baroque expressions sure to confound even a fair number of adults.
Live-action helmers have had mixed success making the transition to animation of late, but Verbinski brings real vision to the endeavor, conceiving a world that starts small — contained within Rango’s terrarium, in fact — and gradually expands to accommodate nearly all of Monument Valley in a way auds can intuitively follow. Even more impressive than the world itself is the incredibly varied ensemble that populates it, a motley mix of reptiles and rodents in which no two are redundant, each memorably designed by Mark “Crash” McCreery and his team, then brought to life via a bull’s-eye match of critter and character actor. Though the entire cast is terrific, standouts include Bill Nighy as venomous Rattlesnake Jake, Ray Winstone’s menacing gila-monster henchman Bad Bill and Isla Fisher as Rango’s long-lashed love interest, Beans.
Where “Rango” ultimately falters is in the uncomfortable juxtaposition of kid-friendly entertainment — represented by unnecessarily bombastic fight scenes that feel out of place within Logan’s more intellectually spirited screenplay – and the savvier, self-reflexive humor clearly aimed at adults. The only major pop-culture references here are a cameo by a Hunter S. Thompson lookalike and an amusing run-in with a mystic Man With No Name-esque figure (voiced by Timothy Olyphant). Though most of the laugh-out-loud moments result from either witty wordplay or inspired physical comedy, even the fart jokes feel fresh by contrast with the delivery we’ve come to expect from toondom’s more established players.
It’s hard to call originality “Rango’s” greatest asset when the story itself trades so heavily on established Western movie tropes, but the project clearly comes from a completely different place than any other American-made animated feature. That radical departure is reinforced by the look of the film, which is now the third toon to rely on Roger Deakins as a virtual cinematography consultant.
Considering ILM’s incredible background in live-action vfx, it’s no surprise the company brings a staggering level of realism to the lighting and textures throughout. The shocker is just how good their character animation work is: From the way Rango walks to the subtlest eye twitch, this quirky chameleon’s screen presence is more plausible than even some of Depp’s most beloved flesh-and-blood creations, raising the bar for other studios going forward.
While on the subject of eyes, Rango’s peepers violate the prevailing wisdom that bigger is better, with scaly lids covering all but a tiny pinhole at their center, inviting us to consider the performance of the character’s entire face rather than just his shiny irises. It should also be said that even projected in 2D, “Rango” makes better use of dimension than many stereoscopic toons.
- Johnny Depp as Rango (a chameleon)
- Isla Fisher as Beans (a desert iguana)
- James Ward Byrkit as Waffles (a horned toad)
- Abigail Breslin as Priscilla (a mouse)
- Alfred Molina as Roadkill (a nine-banded armadillo)
- Bill Nighy as Rattlesnake Jake (a western diamondback rattlesnake)
- Harry Dean Stanton as Balthazar
- Maile Flanagan as Boo
- Ray Winstone as Bad Bill (a gila monster)
- Nika Futterman as Akiano
- Claudia Black as Angelique (a red fox)
- Ned Beatty as Tortoise John (a desert tortoise)
- Timothy Olyphant as the Spirit of the West
- Alanna Ubach as Fresca
- Lew Temple as Furgus
- Ian Abercrombie as Ambrose
- Stephen Root as Doc (a squirrel) and Merrimack (a rabbit)
- John Cothran, Jr. as Elgin (a bobcat)
- Beth Grant as Bonnie
- Gil Birmingham as Wounded Bird (a Chihuahuan raven)
- Blake Clark as Buford (a Sonoran Desert toad)
- Joe Nunez as Rockeye
- Daisy Eckersley as Melonee
- Alex Manugian as Spoons
The film was produced by Nickelodeon Movies, Gore Verbinski‘s production company Blind Wink, and Graham King‘s GK Films. The CGI animation was created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), marking the first feature animation done by ILM, generally aspecial effects company. During voice recording, the actors were given costumes and sets to “help give them the feel of the Wild West”. Star Johnny Depp had a 20-day window in which he could voice his role as Rango, and the filmmakers scheduled the supporting actors so as they could do their scenes with Depp and interact with him. Verbinski said his attempt with Rango was to do a “small” film after the large-scale Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, but that he underestimated how painstaking and time-consuming animated filmmaking is.
External links- Official website
- Rango at Allmovie
- Rango at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Rango at Box Office Mojo
- Rango at the Internet Movie Database
- Rango at Metacritic
- Rango at Rotten Tomatoes
- Rango: The World (official videogame website)
Big Changes at ASIFA-Hollywood
For those of us cartoon fans (and would-be animators) who’ve been following the controversy between ASIFA Hollywood (the largest chapter of the International Animated Film Society, and home of the Annie Awards for animation) and Disney/Pixar, this is some big news: A shake-up in the leadership of the Hollywood Chapter, and news of some big changes planned for how the organization works. Cartoon Brew has the story, quoted here from the ASIFA-Hollywood Press release: “ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the selection of its new President, Frank Gladstone, at its February board meeting. Gladstone replaces Antran Manoogian who held the position for over 20 years. Longtime ASIFA-Hollywood VP [and TAG President Emeritus] Tom Sito chose not to run for re-election; taking his place is Jerry Beck [one of the head-honchos at Cartoon Brew -- ye ed-otter]. ‘First and foremost, we owe Antran Manoogian an enormous amount of respect and admiration for his many years of selfless devotion to ASIFA-Hollywood,’ says Gladstone. ‘Antran has seen the organization through a period of unparalleled growth and success, going from a small club to an organization of over 4000 members. During his stewardship, Antran established, among many achievements, a digital archive, and built the Annie Award into the most important honor in animation. Though I’ve been part of ASIFA and the animation community for a long time, I am looking forward to being the ‘new face’ of the organization and to making some significant changes to the status quo. For starters, this includes updating our membership qualifications, establishing a representative voice for every animation studio and creative technique, building an advisory board of animation luminaries and revising the voting structure of the annual Annie Awards. In the next few weeks ASIFA-Hollywood will be holding meetings with executives from all the major studios to get their input on how we can improve our infrastructure. ASIFA-Hollywood will take this time to ask its members, both individual and corporate, to come together and advise them on how best to chart the course for decades to come. In addition they will invite many of its members to join the executive board.’ Frank Gladstone has been a professional animator, producer, director, writer and teacher, first managing his own studio, and then working in management positions for Disney, Warner Bros. and DreamWorks, among others. He is currently the CEO of the animation consulting firm, Gladstone Film, teaches worldwide and is the ‘artist-in-residence’ for the ACME Network.”
Episode 131 - Disco Infurno
Ironic, coming from someone named "dogboner"
Essay: Best Methods to Come Out as a Furry
Congress may remove Rocky Mountain wolves’ protection
Author: GreenReaper
The repopulation of grey wolves in Montana and Idaho led to their removal from the Endangered Species List in 2008, concerning many conservationists. But last August a U.S. federal judge ruled this kind of subdivision of species illegal.
Now Michael Brune of the Sierra Club says lawmakers seek to withdraw this protection through a budget amendment. [tip: Ezno]
Find the full article here: flayrah – furry food for thought
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