$11,575 fursuit, 50 Shades of Celebrifurries, Inside Edition invasion – Newsdump (2/15/15)

by Patch O'Furr

Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag.  Story tips are always welcome. 

Nominate Dogpatch Press for an Ursa Major Award – get fuzzy hugs!  I love furries so much, blogging about them is it’s own reward.  But I love shinies too, so can the highly attractive readers of this site nominate it for an award?  Submit a Best Magazine nomination at the Ursa Majors site.  These hugs are worth it.  (OK, they’re worth nothing because I hug everyone for free. They’re just priceless.)

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                  Fandom News

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Ursa Major Awards nominations close on February 28.

The final ballot should be ready around March 15.  It will be announced here.  There’s a little time left to nominate your favorite creators.  Don’t wait! (Please also nominate College Humor’s Furry Force, the millions-viewed comedy animation.  Writer Adam Conover is super grateful for furry support.)

“Angel Dragon” fursuit sets new auction price record of $11,575.

The auction on Furbuy beat the recent record of $8,025 for Lavender Corgi, sold on 10/11/14.  The “Angel Dragon” is by PhoenixWolf Fursuits, maker of the popular suit for Telephone. The contest of 187 bids ended on 2/14/15.  There was controversy when some bids inflated the price to $14,000 before they were removed.  A followup article will share comments from Furbuy admins, and the seller. (Confirmation of payment is still pending.)  

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In the Media

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Tom Broadbent’s “At Home With The Furries” photo project in Marie Claire fashion magazine, and with Edward Fuzzypaws.

Marie Claire UK’s March 2015 issue has Tom and “Moon, the deer from Sheffield”.  In Tom’s second recent update: a poodle called Edward Fuzzypaws” is paired with Teddy, his first actual animal subject for the project. Adorable Edward says:

I found poodles are unusual in the furry scene, perhaps because of their style or character being a bit fancy, but they have always been dear to me. Prior to wanting to be an animator when I was a child, I wanted to be a poodle groomer.

At Home With The Furries

Inside Edition: “What Really Goes On At a Furries Convention.”

“INSIDE EDITION producer Nicole Kumar went in posing as a furry”…  The well known tabloid TV newsmagazine was refused permission to tape at Further Confusion.  They did it anyways.  Furries are not impressed.  The TV piece has been judged as neutral (it could be worse) but disrespectfully made – and badly low on content.  Mad commenters want a lawsuit.  As FurCon and others note, difficulty to prove damages and cost of legal fees make that impractical.  On Twitter, furries pictured in TV shots expressed annoyance, but let it go as not worth further worry.

Fur Real: Humboldt furries open up about the fandom, the furor and the freedom of fur.

cover0212Good, long article here.  The North Coast Journal, a free alt-weekly in Northern California, has a “sex” issue this week. Uh oh! But don’t be afraid.  The lengthy centerpiece article dives deep into caring, curious Furry-to-Journalist discussion.  It soothes fears with sensitivity about why furries would talk about sex at all when they get unfair portrayal.  It non-judgementally presents information usually kept between fans.  In my opinion, few articles have gone into such depth, and this publication and writer deserves a thank-you for good work. Digital edition with original layout.

Things to Seriously Look Forward To in 2015: Anthrocon.

The biggest Furry convention makes number 8 on this list of 10 things from “Visit Pittsburgh.”

“50 Shades” star Jamie Dornan has crush on cartoon fox.

We have a Celebrifurry:

Back in 2011, young Dornan told MTV that Disney’s animated Robin Hood from 1973 was his “favorite film of all time.” Needless to say, a children’s movie isn’t exactly what we’d expect from the steamy star of Fifty Shades of Grey

It Needed To Be Made“:

TRKEJ8Z

The Graham Norton Show on BBC America: Guests Discuss Their Cartoon Crushes. (Robin Hood? We know…)

99% Invisible podcast: more about mascots.

Wool E. Bull, the Durham Bulls mascot, gets a story in response to the Mascot episode that was shared in the last Newsdump.

I would never tell a kid that there was a man inside the suit. Even though I had talked with the soft-spoken, friendly man inside the bull costume many times, I would still sometimes get lost in the fantasy that Wool E. was a large, walking stuffed animal.

The Dam Keeper: Oscar nominated anthro animation to release on 2/17/15.

Find it on iTunes:

The Dam Keeper, an original animated short film by feature animation artists Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, tells the tale of a young pig encumbered with an important job, and the meeting of a new classmate who changes everything.

Zoo Security Drills: When Animals Escape.

Hope they never schedule this at the same time as a Furry con:

In some zoos in Japan and China, staff members perform regular security drills to practice their response to a large animal escape by using costumed zookeepers as the fugitive animals. Individuals in furry costumes or pairs in full-size mockups of larger animals run through zoo property, sometimes inflicting mock injuries, as fellow zookeepers work to surround, subdue, and recapture them.

Must-read book of the week.

Playing with a lion’s testicles: An African saying that means to take foolhardy chances.download