June 3, 2015

Great news on the West Coast: PAWcon promises to bring back a legendary experience.

by Patch O'Furr

Pacific Anthro Weekend (PAW CON)

October 30th – November 1st, 2015

San Jose, California

It’s “Survival of the Furriest” this Halloween, with an end-of-the-world party to die for! Pacanthro.org has details. Follow their Twitter for updates.

Last year was their inaugural event. It snuck in under the radar of many. About 200 furries showed up for low-key fun. Fine-tuning of publicity and planning has brought great pawgress. PAWcon is following in the pawprints of the other well-established Furry con in San Jose, Further Confusion. (How many places are lucky enough to get two great cons?) Now they’re stepping up to stage it at Fur Con’s original venue, the Doubletree. Many people have missed the unique magic of that venue after outgrowing it. Those who remember (or missed it) can have it again!

Whoa, hang on. @pacanthro is at the San Jose Double Tree? Are you effing joking me?! 😀
— Lucipurr Meowingstar (@StripeyButt) May 1, 2015

They have kings, queens, and suites open for booking:

It is official, or room reservations link is up on the site and active! Go have fun 🙂 https://t.co/y0mdiWTu1X
— Pac Anthro League (@pacanthro) May 4, 2015

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June 1, 2015

Did the Axis Have Any Funny Animals? – WWII history from Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

SEE BOTTOM: At Fred’s request, a gallery of rare book illustrations from Van den Vos Reynaerde was scanned for this post by the UCRiverside Library.
Animal fables traditionally tell morals – this article shows a historically fascinating misuse of anthropomorphism for fascist and Social Darwinist goals.
“Dear Patch; This is basically rewritten from my article for Flayrah, Retrospective: Talking Animals in World War II Propaganda.“

Did the Axis Have Any Funny Animals?

Yes. Whether the Nazis and Italians did is technically debatable, but the Japanese certainly did.

(Oops! I am reminded that many younger people today do not know what “the Axis” was. “The Enemy” during World War II. Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy signed a mutual defense treaty on October 25, 1936 that Italy’s Benito Mussolini described in a speech on November 1 as putting Europe on a Rome-Berlin axis. Imperial Japan joined in 1937. On September 27, 1940, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a Tripartite Pact and formally declared themselves the “Axis powers”. They were joined during the next month by Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. “The Axis” during World War II meant Germany, Italy, Japan, and their allies.)

There were more funny animals assigned to them by American cartoonists for anti-Axis propaganda than there were of their own. The best-known today are probably the Leon Schlesinger/Warner Bros. animated short cartoons The Ducktators and Scrap Happy Daffy, and MGM’s Blitz Wolf.

In The Ducktators, directed by Norm McCabe and written by Melvin Millar, released on August 1, 1942, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis are ducks, Benito Mussolini is a goose, and “the Jap” (a stereotypical “Jap”) is presumably also a duck (although he looks more like a coot).

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May 30, 2015

Light: A Tale of the Magical Creatures of Zudukii, by T. S. McNally – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Light: A Tale of the Magical Creatures of Zudukii, by T. S. McNally.
Syracuse, NY, Bounding Boomer Books, February 2015; trade paperback $9.99 (151 pages), Kindle $4.99.

“Magical creatures” are the operative words here. I usually divide anthropomorphic fiction into either furry or funny-animal fiction, depending upon whether the anthro animals show some semblance of reality as to species, or whether they are “animal-headed humans”. In Light, though, the inhabitants of Zudukii are totally, blatantly fantastic. It is rare when two characters, say a brother and sister, are the same species, and all are basically humans. A bear has an otter sister, who has a kangaroo boyfriend.

Actually, he’s not exactly a kangaroo. While Garoo is usually called a kangaroo, he is more accurately described (disparagingly) as a kangabuck, a kangaroo with antlers; the son of a stag father and a kangaroo mother. See the cover by Selkie. But most characters do not display a mixed heritage. They are either one animal or the other.

Does Garoo hop or walk? The reader can’t tell. Does he have other non-kangaroo attributes? Page 29 says, “The crowd had grown to such a size that the kangaroo wrapped his tail around one of the posts as to keep himself from accidently falling into the water.” Kangaroo tails are not that prehensile.

Do the animals, including anthro birds, wear clothes or not? This is vague until page 31, when “Enveloped in a long green dress, a grey bushy form of a squirrel female […]” — although it’s still unclear as to whether all of the animals wear clothes or only some of them.

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May 28, 2015

There’s furries in Peru too, sad mascot documentary, Furrycon article – Newsdump (5/28/15)

by Patch O'Furr

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

Documentary: The Anti Mascot.

Lou Seal is the one Giants fans love.

The story of the San Francisco Giants’ Crazy Crab, the most outrageous mascot of them all. The 1984 San Francisco Giants were dreadful. But the team’s ill-conceived “Crazy Crab” mascot endured worse.

Shared by Excelsior30 on FurAffinity … a cautionary tale of how anthropomorphic costuming could make you a magnet for abuse. Professional performer Wayne Doba documents his experiences with water balloons full of pee, and back injuries from a “macho” attack by players from a rival team. (Get happier with Hulu’s mascot documentary series, Behind the Mask, that had an Emmy nomination for Outstanding New Approaches in Sports Programming.)

MNFurs becomes a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit.

News announcement. On FurAffinity, Aerak shares what it means to him: now the organization can officially host charitable activities like hospital fursuiting to brighten people’s days. MNFurs have a lot to be proud of:

In a matter of six years, with only the word-of-mouth advertising, MNFurs has gone from a small group of close friends and associates with a weekly meeting number of less then a dozen people to 40 to 60 people in the same room every other Saturday night. At the same time, we went from 20 to over 200 people on our mailing list.

Their growing presence in the world of fluffy stuff is bringing Furry Migration, “Minnesota’s first furry convention having its second year on August 28-30, 2015.”

Furrycon in Rochester gets a great media spokeskitty, Zeigler Jaguar. Read the rest of this entry »

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May 26, 2015

Anniversary of the New Jersey FurBQ Hoax – this bullshit cost $185,000.

by Patch O'Furr

Update: read to bottom for new details of the $185,000 cost!

Remember this sad thing? On May 26, 2012, the final New Jersey FurBQ was held for nearly 200 attendees. It ended seven years of a party loved by a community of friends. But it didn’t just die – it was killed with controversy and nasty headlines. The truth was buried under biased and false reporting.

It’s a tale of intolerance and ridicule. Misinformation and dishonesty. Exploiting and scapegoating. Shaming and moralizing against “offenses” like having fun and serving alcohol to adults over 21. A fake sex scandal, that provoked our own anti-sex hysteria. Beneath it all, dirty town politics.

They said they had photos of two costumers doing “simulated” public sex. Everyone freaked out and pointed at each other – but it was a wild rumor. The accusations failed burden of proof. Accusers are responsible to give evidence, but they failed to produce photos or even names, when harm made it critical to be fair. I say if it happened, we’d at least know names. If you’re a furry, you know how rumors go. Sure, evidence could have been held for confidentiality – but there’s no credibility for that. Photos didn’t just fail to exist – there were extra allegations of lying, a money incentive, and an unreasonable rush to judgement that was too perfectly provoked. It’s way past time to call it a HOAX. This may be the first headline to do it. (I found support from this DJ who was there.)
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May 25, 2015

Scale’s paintings push the limits of furry art, with surprising mainstream crossover.

by Patch O'Furr

(NSFW – nude paintings below!)

In “Furry Good Ideas“, Scale commented on my suggestion about starting a Furry art gallery:

Not sure if the times are ripe for a dedicated furry art gallery, but for what it’s worth I’m having some success entering furry paintings in local art shows… I’m also making a bet that a market niche for paintings actually exists within the the fandom and that a decent number of fans would like to own furry art which can be displayed alongside other kinds of art. The results are very encouraging so far.

The article was meant to encourage feedback like this, revealing a cool new story. Nice to meet you, Scale!

Scale does classical style anthropomorphic figure painting. Public display of his work puts him in a favorite focus of this blog: crossover. He isn’t just showing regular fantasy art to the public, either. It’s both painterly, and super hot! It’s the best of both worlds. Look at the dragoness below… the attitude, the pose, the voluptuous sculpted butt… excuse me while I fan my face for a minute.

Yeah.

I’m happy to share this as a nice surprise to the chairman of Eurofurence. He commented on my article about Biohazard’s crossover art stunt: Screen Shot 2015-05-11 at 5.43.25 PM

We’re seeing a little subcultural eruption, from as far across the line of “low art” as you can get. Scale’s art is pushing limits. His cool, thoughtful style speaks of Old Master sensibility, but the hot-blooded subjects are a weird combination that makes sparks. Isn’t that what art is for? The way people respond to it brings interesting thoughts about art meaning:

The bunny painting was accepted in the show without any problem. I keep finding evidence that most non-furries don’t read a picture like that one as a sexy pinup… I suspect most people just see it as a parody of human nudes.

OK, it’s sexy to furry fans (5,000 on his popular FurAffinity account), but he thinks it doesn’t communicate like that to the “normal” public. Is that a failure? Would they show it if it doesn’t speak to them? It has to work as simply good painting. It’s an example for furry artists: don’t make good furry art – make good art. Read the rest of this entry »

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May 23, 2015

Escape from St. Arned, by Rose LaCroix – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Escape from St. Arned, by Rose LaCroix
Dallas, TX, FurPlanet Productions, September 2014, trade paperback $9.95 (143 pages).

This title is a work of anthropomorphic fiction for adult readers only.

As LaCroix’s Basecraft Cirrostratus (June 2010) ended, Elor (Prof. Elor Kaya, cougar), Vinz (Vinz Nivariya, wolf), and Laz (Y’Lazde Malek, fox) appeared to have escaped from the despotism of Occidentania, and hiding in its lawless Basecraft Cirrostratus giant flying airbase, to the freedom of a new life in Riverlea in neighboring Lyocia. But as Escape from St. Arnaud opens a year later, everything is suddenly falling apart for them.

Elor loses his new college job when Occidentania’s old false charges of immorality against him reach Lyocia, and the rumors of immorality make it impossible to get a new job. Also, crimelord Hannock Burrad’s gang from the Cirrostratus is trying to kill him. But the rival criminal gang of Kerro (stoat), which has relocated in Lyocia and is supplying weapons to all the factions in Occidentania, offers to protect Elor and give him a job if he will deliver a shipment for them. Meanwhile, Hannock’s goons rough up Laz while looking for Elor, and the hot-tempered Vinz blames the cougar for his lover’s being hurt. When Laz sides with Elor, Vinz storms out. Then Laz leaves Elor for a different long-term job.

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May 22, 2015

“Unbelievably cute:” True-Tail animation series, from Skynamic Studios.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

Back in August 2013, Rod O’Riley’s In-Fur-Nation brought us the first news of Skynamic Studios’ “True-Tail” Adobe Flash animation series in preproduction. “A place where six unruly mercenaries must learn to work together … Or succumb to an ancient dark magic.” The six are Caleb, a kitten squire; Brutus, a bear warrior-knight; Viktor, a fox thief; Melody, a rabbit bard; Doh-Li, a half-dragon, half-deer priestess; and Kanikus, an ancient phoenix wizard. The art design is – unbelievably cute.

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May 21, 2015

Amazing BLFC report, Hug Permits, furries in national art shows. Newsdump (5/21/15)

by Patch O'Furr

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

____________________________

Mainstream sightings and fandom news

_____________________________

VICE parties hard at Fur-eh!

The article gets super friendly, and stays refreshingly non-judgemental. It can be hard to broadly cover an event with immersion in a tight circle of friends, so it’s only a small slice of the experience. Not all furries are way into parties. Some feel like it ruins think-heavy sci-fi focus. However, sci-fi cons with no parties are a world I don’t want to live in. You can make a furry con anything you want it to be. When they do party, nobody does it better!

Impressions from Biggest Little Fur Con.

I confess to partying too hard to cover this with it’s own article. (Thanks Vox for a great vid!)

It’s really amusing to see someone get covered head to toe in shaving cream. (It takes about 4 cans.)
Favorite shirt I saw: “I’M FAT – LET’S PARTY”
Thank-you’s for blogging? You might as well thank me for eating! Someone joked that it must take drugs to pound these out. Nope. Fursuiting is my drug.
Attendance of 2400+ makes BLFC the 6th largest con. (AKA “Biggest Medium Fur Con.”) That’s impressive to build in 3 years. The subculture is rising!
With the future Dystopia theme, a lot of fan interaction means they succeeded. Many said it was the best use of a theme they had ever seen. High praise.
More interaction I loved were the unofficial “Hug Permit” officers. They were funny, engaging… and helpful with secret wing-man encouragement. (See “code 90944?”) Come on… with 2400 adults together for a once a year celebration, how could that NOT happen? No judging. Further proof that “Hugs are the handshake of furries.”

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May 20, 2015

Funny-animal comics retrospective: The History of Hi-Jinx and the Hepcats – by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer.

I would like to thank Perri Rhoades for giving me the inspiration for this article and for making most of it easy. I used to have a complete set of Hi-Jinx, but when I had a paralyzing stroke in 2005 and was permanently hospitalized, some friends boxed up all my books, magazines and comic books and donated them to the Eaton Collection of Science Fiction and Fantasy at the UCRiverside Library. I have not seen them since. Fortunately, Rhoades has called my attention to the fact that much about Hi-Jinx and the Hepcats has been posted online since 2005. She has scanned all but one of the seven issues of Hi-Jinx for her LiveJournal, and she gave me her URL so that I could reread them at leisure for this retrospective. Even more, her scans have included the different covers of the Australian edition of Hi-Jinx, which I never knew about. Thanks, Perri!

Much of the remaining information is from The Comic Art of Jack Bradbury, a website created by his son, Joel (http://jbrad.org/index.html); and from Dave Bennett, a Hollywood animator and funny-animal fan for decades who knew Hi-Jinx’s artist Jack Bradbury personally. Bennett says, “Jack told me himself that all the Hepcats stories he drew were written by Cal Howard — he raved about how good he thought they were! Other than those stories and the Disney work he did, Jack wrote all of his ACG/Nedor/Pines/Standard stories himself. They were lettered by Tubby Millar.” And after I had thought that this retrospective was completed, Alter-Ego #112, August 2012 came along with “‘Something … ?’; A Study of Comics Pioneer Richard E. Hughes” by Michael Vance, containing never-before-published information about Hi-Jinx’s obscure publisher.

The American Comics Group’s Hi-Jinx, “Teen-Age Animal Funnies”, only lasted for seven bi-monthly issues in 1947/48. But it was – different. It was the only comic book to mix funny animals with teenage humor.

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