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

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Furry Force’s surprising Ursa Major Award.

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Flayrah has the details about all winners.  Furry Force stole an expected win from My Little Pony.  It showed appreciation from targets of the gently teasing “fursploitation” parody.  I suspect two influences made a difference – support from this site (it’s a small site, but the Ursas linked here for voters!) and CollegeHumor’s own video appealing for votes.  There was said to be a rise of 150% more voting over previous years.  It caused some protest, but popular demand for truly funny stuff spoke. I saw a furry fandom founder (SySable) commenting that it was very positive to get more notice for the award.

Fred Patten, Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association Secretary:

The creators of “The Furry Force” have been very enthusiastic in e-mails that they won, and want to know how they can get their trophy since they weren’t at the Morphicon to get it in person. I don’t recall that the creators of “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic” ever gave any sign of caring about their win.

Writer Adam Conover told me:

Thanks again for all your support Patch! I am so, so thrilled. 🙂

Furry Force’s animation director gave me a Q&A I can post soon.  He told me:

Amazing!!! I am so happy about this you have no idea. Thanks for nominating us in the first place! I’m so glad the community loves it and glad Smiley Guy was able to be involved. I’ve also been able to animate MLP and FF is way more fun! Adam Conover, rules.  Thank you to the fans of Furry Force!

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Mainstream sightings

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How Weird Street Faire photo by Moop (on the right.) I’m the Husky, of course!

San Francisco’s How Weird Street Faire features fursuiters.

(Look for a longer article about the furmeet soon.) SFGate posted an article with fursuiter photos:

Groups of festivalgoers in furry mascot costumes looked on, seemingly unfazed by the effect of seasonably warm weather on their body temperature inside fuzzy suits.  “No matter the heat, there’s always a big furry contingent. It’s like having cartoon characters here…”

Playboy visits the land of Brony-o.

What the hell is a Brony? Playboy investigates.  Their visit to a convention made a warm, positive article:

“Don’t people make fun of you guys for being so genuine about your love of a little girl cartoon show—and how you dress up like ponies?”

As they remember people making fun of them, I feel like an asshole for even asking the question. There’s an awkward silence.

Dave says, with a hint of sadness, “Honestly, people do make fun of us outside of here.”

I recover. “Well, dude, I’m super-impressed by how genuine everyone is. It’s pretty fucking cool. Bronies are kinda like punk rock but with pink ponies.”

Kingston, the Orlando City Soccer Club mascot, gets a furry facelift.  

Fursuit makers are gaining mainstream notice for their fandom-developed craft.  The Moscow Dynamo hockey team already has a mascot made by MixedCandy.

Here’s a new one. Are you familiar with American Major League Soccer?  Their 21st franchise announced a debut for 2015.  History of the club “dates back to its first run as the Orlando Lions in 1985”.  Now, their mascot has just transformed from a broad icon to a fierce fursona.  Reactions: Orlando City Unveils New Kingston Mascot.

There’s only rumors of a furry maker’s paw behind the transformation – non-disclosure legalities wouldn’t let anyone reveal more.  But come on, just feast your eyes!  Kingston’s old look – and new look:

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Further Fun

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MashMe: “Become an animated character in real time”.

FaceRig’s Red Panda avatar got a lot of Furry notice, and they won over $300,000 in crowd funding.  MashMe seems to offer a similar service in app form.  It has a tiger avatar.  They reached out to my blog asking people to check their Kickstarter campaign, seeking $50,000.

Michel Gagne’s Saga of Rex movie news.

Michel previously gave me a great interview about his movie in production that features an anthropomorphic fox.

New Yorker notices new translation of medieval Reynard The Fox tale.

Fox News: What the stories of Reynard tell us about ourselves.  The story was covered here – Rare book dealers discuss “talking animal” fables from the Middle Ages – and it’s animated version was mentioned by Fred Patten.

Scientists prove vampire squirrels of Borneo have fluffiest tails in the world.

A fun story that may or may not be true:

These killer rodents stalk their prey, usually small deer called muntjac, from low hanging tree branches. Once a tasty creature foolishly wanders beneath them, they say the squirrels jumps down, rip away at their jugular veins and then feasts on the beast’s internal organs.

Art inspiration: double-exposure animal portraits by Norwegian photographer.

“His signature double-exposure style creates a subtle gradient that turns these wild beasts’ feathers and fur into images of their habitats.“

The story reminds me of a nice piece of trivia.  Alan Coren was an English humorist who published a mostly-forgotten 1970’s book of his newspaper columns.  It has one of the funniest title stories I’ve ever heard: the top-selling books of the time in England were about Golf, Cats, and Hitler, so…

CatCon LA, A Weekend Event ‘Like Comic-Con But for Cat People’ in Los Angeles.

The June 6-7, 2015 event will feature “such speakers as Simon Toland of “Simon’s Cat,” Mike Bridavsky and the infamous Li’l Bub, Ben Huh of Cheezburger, and Joan Biondi of Lorenzo the Cat, just to name a few.”