Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Category: Current events

May 13, 2015

Yay for street fursuiting! San Francisco’s 2015 How Weird Street Faire furmeet.

by Patch O'Furr

To me, street fursuiting is the best, most spontaneous form of “The Most Furry Activity”.  Street fairs are the best place to do it.  So, the start of street fair season is a special occasion.

In San Francisco, for at least the past several years, How Weird Street Faire has been first on the list.  After this, the season reaches a high point with the million-attended Pride celebration. It stays strong through October with events like the Superhero Street Fair.  It’s especially strong here because the crowds are very friendly to freaky spectacles and costuming – and the area may have the world’s highest population of furries.  Fun like this makes a good reason to say that the San Francisco Bay Area is Furry Mecca.

To any fursuiters who have never done it on the street, and feel like traveling – consider making a trip coincide with one of our meets.  You’ll get an amazing subcultural experience you can never have as a regular tourist.  That’s the beauty of subculture – friends wherever you go!  You can do this wherever you are, though.  Get inspired by my interview with Sakura Fox:  Renegade fursuiting is BEST fursuiting.

The 2013 How Weird furmeet gave us wonderful photos.  For the 2014 meet, ABC News gave a shout to furries picked out from thousands of costumers.  There was continuing recognition at the 2015 How Weird Street Faire, their 16th annual event.

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May 8, 2015

Thanks to Furry Force fans, Orlando’s soccer mascot, vampire squirrels: Newsdump (5/8/15)

by Patch O'Furr

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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CollegeHumorFurryForceLogoFlayrah 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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Photo by Moop.

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.   Read the rest of this entry »

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April 24, 2015

Inflatable bunnies, street fairs, Furry Fuel – can we have it all together? Newsdump (4/24/15)

by Patch O'Furr

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

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Mainstream sightings

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Torimitsu

BBC’s “The Why Factor?” will air a Furry story.

“Why do we project our emotions onto animals?” gives a 4-minute clip.  Flayrah has air times for the 18-minute piece.

Growing community of ‘furries’ finds acceptance on campus.

USA Today does “not THOSE furries” apologism.

Meet the Club: The furries.

A 10-member club got a short notice in the student newspaper of Washtenaw Community College in Michigan.

San Francisco’s How Weird Street Fair is this weekend.

The promo vid flashes furries at 0:59, 1:17, and 1:25.  For several years, fur meets at this cool event have marked the start of street fair season in the SF Bay.  It’s the best occasion for my favorite thing, street fursuiting.

On the same day as the fair… Blow-Up: a gallery show of inflatable art.

Not a big news item, but I was taken by the pink bunnies. Artist Momoyo Torimitsu gives a down-to-earth statement on her site.

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April 16, 2015

International mascot Trip E. Collie – love and theft at FWA – Newsdump (4/16/15)

by Patch O'Furr

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

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Media and Fandom News

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Huge French festival features San Francisco Bay Area furry and Good Boy, Trip E. Collie, as national poster dog!

FOURVIÈRE NIGHTS is a festival for theater, dance and music in Lyon, France – a center for French gastronomy and classic architecture. Look who’s on it now:

Trip Collie was very surprised when the festival picked him as their real-life mascot.  He’s on their website front page, and buildings all over France.  He says: “The festival has run for 70 years… runs June 2 – July 31. It has several hundred thousand attendees!”   For 2015, it’s featuring: “Björk to Ben Harper, to Iggy Pop, Joan Baez, Patti Smith, Robert Plant, the Chedid family, Christine & The Queens, Véronique Sanson, Bartabas and Florence Foresti.”

How did they decide to feature a furry from California?  I recognize Trip’s photo from Burning Man – they must be calling on the spirit of that festival.  And who can deny the adorable appeal of Hyena Girls’s suit making skills?  I can personally rate him as a 5-star cuddler.  You don’t get that by seeing pop stars from afar. Yay furries!  (And wow, that would be an amazing destination… Lyon had the best food I had in a visit to four parts of Europe.)

“What It’s Like to Attend a Furry Convention” – in Men’s Health magazine.

Researcher Debra Soh’s article was praised by furries who said – “It’s a broken record at this point, “Thought they were weird, turned out to be awesome.”  Debra recently appeared on this blog with a supportive statement: “A Lesson Everyone Can Learn From Furries.”

Hip hop artist Killer Mike at Furry Weekend Atlanta.Screen Shot 2015-04-15 at 4.01.19 AM

Killer Mike does music, acting, and “outspoken social activism” from a home base in Atlanta.  Apparently I’m lame because I didn’t know him before?  Now I do because he was tough enough to proudly hang with furries.  Nice.

Skypro Fursuits suffer vehicle and trailer theft at FWA.

Fans worried about loss of popular suits such as Telephone, but those were safe. Equipment was lost. April 12 update: “Car and trailer still missing and no word for the police. I dont think will ever be seeing our car again. :(“

Further Confusion 2015 covered by Science Fiction/San Francisco fanzine.

The writer reviews “one of my favorite conventions.” (PDF download, page 42.)

Furries: A Documentary – seeks funding on Kickstarter.

Production is complete and it’s just seeking post-production help.  It’s a great reason to check out what it will do with a modest goal of $2,500.

DJ contest: Furry is very close to winning, needs votes by April 17.
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April 8, 2015

“Wild Things” will fluff your fur with a second fetish party in San Francisco.

by Patch O'Furr

Wild Things 2:  at San Francisco’s Citadel club – April 12, 2015

Artists and dealers are invited to show and sell your wares.
Info: (Ask me – patch.ofurr at gmail.)

wildthings poster 2 SM

(Art: Boiler)

Spring brings the birds and bees… and a surprise almost too hot to bear!  The uncaged, unleashed Wild Things party is back.  A special group of furries are partnered with a BDSM dungeon to top their daring experiment from November.

The first party was more fun than a barrel of monkeys.  It beat all expectations… (and some naughty dogs who deserved spankings too).  The announcement here broke traffic records. It was this blog’s top article of 2014.  The party went so well, they had to hold back from promoting it.

With a short few days left, the surprise is here…

Get pre-sale tickets:

Wild Things 2: Spring Fever

 

It’s an open invite, Furry/petplay sex party.  It’s “a special evening play session with dirty art, lights and music, fun and games.”  It’s a “unique, gutsy, sexy, creative, WTF happening for consenting adult friends”.  Yes, it’s really everything that giggling rumor-spreaders fear… and fearless freedom-lovers dream about.

DON’T FREAK OUT…  Sex is just one sub-interest in the creative subculture of Furry.  It’s a wide umbrella covering “everything from Disney to Dirty.”  The “topic everyone loves to hate” doesn’t define it.  But it’s valuable to push limits and grow freedom of expression.  Sex is just an optional ingredient for some grown-ups who want it. Do you want it?  Come get it.

There’s accommodation for shy people.  The roomy club has space for dancing or cuddling, with fur and fluff.  Other chill space is set aside for no-touch socializing and party snacks.  Smoothies and snacks are included with admission.  (There’s no alcohol due to licensing of this kind of club.)

This is meant to be an art and performing event, with creative animal costumes and play… not like a dirty movie where people sit around looking bored. You won’t find anything like this anywhere else.  If you’ve seen “murrsuits”, they’re here.  Costumes are heavily encouraged.

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April 6, 2015

Vermont town selectively bans fursuiters: Prejudice complaint and update.

by Patch O'Furr

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Public fursuiting with the Vermont Furs.

 

IYCHXufVThe Vermont Furs have an active online presence including Facebook and Twitter. I see many positive events such as BBQ’s, bowling, camping, and a walk to benefit Cystic Fibrosis patients. They look like a fantastic group- the kind that makes me love everything about furries. But their activities are being harmed by treatment they feel is unfair.

Fursuiters kicked out of Mardi Gras event in Burlington, Vermont – but not others dressed in masks.

Why were they being singled out, the furries wanted to know, when the streets were teeming with other strangely dressed revelers?

“It’s just different,” was the response, Owens said.

A thoughtful and well-written article in the independent alt-weekly Seven Days recently covered the February 28 incident, and following talks with the city.  The given reason was a lack of performer permits – (to be clear, none of them were busking or asking for money) – and child safety concerns.

For evidence, there was mention of a bad incident with a costumed “Elmo” Sesame Street character in New York’s Times Square.  I googled the incident as suggested, but it didn’t mention children- only a panhandling offense.  At the Seven Days article, I commented that it was quite a stretch to pick one sensationalized headline from hundreds of miles away, for a “think of the children” argument about people who weren’t hurting anybody.

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March 31, 2015

Community > Commodity, and the value of WTF. Part 3 about the FurAffinity sale to IMVU.

by Patch O'Furr

A series of three articles:

 

  1. About the FurAffinity sale, and the issue of trade-offs.
  2. IMVU does a Q&A with me.
  3. Community > Commodity, and the Value of WTF.  Long live furries.

The conclusion brings it all back to commercialization.  I’ve reported this for a while:  Measuring the Furry Economy. – Mainstream advertising: “More and more, Furries are being hinted at in marketing media!” – And the recent $11,575 record fursuit sale and $17,500 top price. Also try: Furry, not an obscure little fandom any more.  I often say that the thriving growth of this subculture is built on WTF weirdness that can’t be digested by the mainstream.  Will that stay true?

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3) Community > Commodity, and the value of WTF.

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You could write a whole book about a subculture’s place in the larger culture.  (There’s a “Furry coffee table book” waiting to be written.) Here’s a very loose topic about it, with a point:

Commercialization makes some furries fear losing what they love.  But the normals-scaring, freedom-raising, limit-pushing, WTF part of it may save the rest.  The more fringe it is – the more it holds Furry back from acceptance, but keeps it strongly independent. More notice could be a win-win.

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March 30, 2015

IMVU does a Q&A with me. Part 2 about the sale of FurAffinity.

by Patch O'Furr

A series of three articles:

 

  1. About the FurAffinity sale, and the issue of trade-offs.
  2. IMVU does a Q&A with me.
  3. Community > Commodity, and the Value of WTF.  Long live furries.

The conclusion brings it all back to commercialization.  I’ve reported this for a while:  Measuring the Furry Economy. – Mainstream advertising: “More and more, Furries are being hinted at in marketing media!” – And the recent $11,575 record fursuit sale and $17,500 top price. Also try: Furry, not an obscure little fandom any more.  I often say that the thriving growth of this subculture is built on WTF weirdness that can’t be digested by the mainstream.  Will that stay true?

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2) Speaking with IMVU.

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FurAffinity just posted a Q&A with IMVU’s CEO Brett Durrett.  A furry responded: Ashamed for the fandom; an apology to CEO Brett Durrett. 

While seeking graphics, I just noticed they tweeted me from Fur Con in January!  (Not endorsement, just spreading furriness.) Yay! Can you spot me among the eye-blasting pink, sparkles and rainbows? I was in camo.

My Q&A started:

This is for both IMVU and Dragoneer (Mr. Piche). I assume that some details may be kept private. I’ll build a news article from the answers, aiming for positive information not gossip. I’m curious to know:  1) The story of how IMVU and FurAffinity came together.  2) Terms of ownership now.  3) The future and your roles in leading users.

They responded to my long list:

Attached is the interview completed by Sean Piche, Fur Affinity Community Leader, IMVU; Kevin Henshaw, SVP Business Development, IMVU; and Varsha Pande, Director, Community Experience and User Safety.  You’ll note a few of your questions were left unanswered as a matter of company disclosure policy.  Thanks for the opportunity to talk about the Fur Affinity acquisition.

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March 29, 2015

Fur Dance news – musicians and authors discover furries. Newsdump (3/29/15)

by Patch O'Furr

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

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Fandom News

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San Francisco and “Furclub” activity.

Organizers let me have an inside view of the second Wild Things party coming up in April in San Francisco.  November’s first event caused high traffic here and was a great success. Look for an update soon.

There was talk about Frolic dance party attracting furries for 5+ hour driving from Southern California. They have the long running Prancing Skiltaire house party, but they say they don’t have anything like Frolic.  Carloads have been coming more and more often.  They’re considering getting a bus.  Every month, 300+ attendees have been packing the dance to capacity.  The “furclub” movement is growing all over the place.  Organizer Neonbunny is open to lend the name to anyone who wants to use it.  In Europe, Cologne Fur Dance is said to draw 5-600 goers for two dances a year since 2008.

download (1)Author of “Funnybooks” learns what Furry Fandom is.

Fred Patten’s review got back to the author:

And for a review of Funnybooks written from a different perspective, that of “furry fandom,” let me refer to you Fred Patten’s review at this link. What is “furry fandom,” you may ask? I’m really not quite sure how to describe it, even though the phenomenon has attracted growing media coverage. Best you visit Fred’s “Dogpatch Press” site and explore “furry fandom” for yourself. Fred says of Funnybooks that it’s “the story of the comic-book publisher whose works did more than any others’ to inspire furry fandom,” and that should give you a clue as to what “furry fandom” is all about.

Remember Shawn Keller’s Horrifying Look at the Furries?

It’s been a long time, but he’s making new animation. Gorgeous!  Check his history to see a cartoon series he started 7 months earlier.

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March 27, 2015

FurAffinity’s new ownership makes a turning point. Should fans fear commercialization?

by Patch O'Furr

(Via Greenreaper):

Screen Shot 2015-03-20 at 6.46.18 PM

From 2008.  Anthrocon has grown to generate $7 million in 2014.

From 2008.  Anthrocon has grown to generate $7 million in 2014.

A comment from 8Chan:

The furry community is loaded with cash compared to other niche internet communities and it’s been exploding in popularity over the last decade. Nowadays it’s becoming more apparent with kickstarter and patreon making the figures public and internet companies are starting to move in on their turf to get a cut before it really goes mainstream.

And for those doubting that it’s about to enter the mainstream just wait until “Zootopia” from Disney comes out in 2016. Even Marvel giving prominent roles to a furry character in their recent major Hollywood movie would have been unthinkable 10 years ago, people who study the furry phenomenon are expecting it to explode soon. Universities and marketing groups are preforming surveys and studies on the fandom, this is considered a legitimate field of study.

A series of three articles:

 

  1. About the FurAffinity sale, and the issue of trade-offs.
  2. IMVU does a Q&A with me.
  3. Community > Commodity, and the Value of WTF.  Long live furries.

Read the rest of this entry »

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