Here’s links, headlines and little bites of news to make your tail wag. Story tips are always welcome.
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Around Furry Fandom
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Fursuit auction reaches $8,025.
The “Lavender Corgi” is meant to resemble singer Justin Bieber. At the price, the buyer could have bought a complete boy band. Too bad they didn’t have enough to get the real singer skinned and sewn into a Biebsuit. (For the ultimate fan!) There’s an idea for a trashy horror comedy movie- call it “Fursploitation?”
Wild Things: at San Francisco’s Citadel club – November 8, 2014 (18+)
Artists and dealers are invited to show and sell your wares.
Info:(Ask me – patch.ofurr at gmail.)
I apologize in advance for humping your leg. It’s that exciting to share news about a unique, gutsy, sexy, creative, WTF happening for consenting adult friends. But first, have a soft intro.
Is furry a “sex thing?” It’s the #1 topic that furries love to hate. Some call it a myth spread by media exploitation. But the internet is bursting with self-generated erotica. Reddit’s r/yiff community has more subscribers than r/furry. The media doesn’t have enough imagination to be that dirty.
Furclubbing: “A repeat/regular nightclub event by furries for furries.” The concept has been spreading since the late 2000’s. This kind of dance party is independent from conventions. It builds on their growth but takes things farther. It’s more established than informal meets or events that happen once. Those can stay inner-focused for friends who already know each other, but these events bring partnership with new venues that support and host furries. They’re a gateway to the public, so a stranger may walk in off the street and discover their new favorite thing. It encourages new blood and crossover. It makes a subculture thrive. There are connections to DJ and rave scenes. But this is its own unique movement!
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The Survey Questions
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Any party that responds will get their own featured article! (Check back for new responses linked with party names below.)
Do you know any others? Please share these questions to them, and send responses or tips to patch.ofurr@gmail.com.
Casual answers are fine (they will get partnership to create and boost an article). Please include graphics, pics or vids. What can you tell the fandom about these?
Canessa Gallery in San Francisco. November 7, at 7PM – 708 Montgomery Street.
Portraiture of fursuiters can be tough to pull off with as much energy as in person. That’s why I love promoting “Street Fursuiting,” and candid photos of it.
Fursuiting appeals when it engages viewers to interact. It’s animated and tactile. Staging their play can dull that down. Less-successful efforts can look like a diorama of stuffed toys. Cartoony suit design may not blend with surroundings, turning long views into eye-straining barf.
But no matter how they’re executed, they make memories with meaning to those who were there. If you’re furry, you get it. Art for the uninitiated is just a different purpose.
Ron Lussier’s “Further Confessions“ project overcomes the “stageyness” barrier in a compelling way. He juxtaposes portraits with personality expressed in hand-written statements. They reach through the frame, and greet you as personally as a hug. This stuff does FUN right. I have to say it’s the best fursuiter portraiture I’ve seen, and I think it’s an honor to have Furries featured this way in an art gallery.
I think society in general, especially when we have the internet and different ways of finding very specific niche culture- I think subcultures are taking off. People like to party, socialize, and be around each other – and use the internet to find new ways to get together and be together in person, not just on the internet. The internet makes us feel a little isolated, and we try to balance that by going to these crowded events… It’s changed in the last 10-20 years, and more and more people are seeking these crowds rather than getting away from it all. It’s why countercultures are thriving. It’s about events. Whether it’s a Furry convention, or Frolic, or other get togethers, it’s about events.
“Furclubbing” is the New Thing that I see becoming a trend since the late 2000’s. It’s been spreading by furries influencing others to start formal events independent from cons. This builds on the growth of cons, and takes things farther.
Neonbunny defines it as: “A repeat/regular nightclub event by furries for furries. There’s probably a half dozen events. Then there’s probably been a couple hundred one off furry events done in a bar or other legal (non house) venue.” As Howl Toronto puts it: Con dances happen once a year, and “that’s just not enough to fill the need!”
Facebook closed my account. There’s a wave of furry victims of this ill-planned policy. Did it happen to you too?
Behind the fursona, there’s deeper issues, like the way internet trolls enjoy gay-bashing and compromising safety for participants of certain live club events. These names are positive statements. Forcing you not to use yours is a negative statement.
When I organized a “hug-in” coinciding with a protest threat from Westboro Baptist Church (of “God Hates Fags” infamy), it was meant to be a positive thing of it’s own… but also to answer them with positivity. (They didn’t show- all we did was hug.) Facebook’s policy jeopardizes people’s safety to speak that way.
Here’s links, headlines and little bites of news to make your tail wag. Tips are always welcome.
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In the Media…
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What Is a Furry? Beyond the Masks at Furry Migration 2014.
A refreshingly positive article in the Minneapolis Citypages has a three minute video. It has heavy focus on fursuiters, but quotes literary-furries too.
Symbicort’s cartoon wolves. A :60 commercial spot for the pharma company was made to air nationally, using drawn 2D animation to beautiful effect you don’t see enough these days. (I’m interested to know what agency/studio made it… it looks like illustrator/animator Barry Bruner helped pitch it.
Wild Things: at San Francisco’s Citadel club – November 8, 2014 (18+)
