Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Category: animation

January 19, 2015

Animation: “Thunder and the House of Magic” – by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

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

I would like to thank my sister, Sherrill Patten, for getting this On Demand on her TV so I could see it.

Actually, I could pretty much just repeat my comments about “The Nut Job” on Flayrah last February. “Thunder and the House of Magic” is an 85–minute CGI Belgian animated feature from nWave Pictures that was released as “The House of Magic” in French, in Belgium, France, and the French-speaking parts of Switzerland, on December 25, 2013 for the Christmas market. The Boston setting and the title and signage in English (there is even a U.S. 5¢ coin) suggest that it was always intended for the American market. Its original American trailer as “The House of Magic” with an announced release date of July 25 seems to confirm this. Something fell through, and it was finally picked up for North America as “Thunder and the House of Magic” by The Shout! Factory, primarily a DVD releaser. The Shout! Factory gave it an extremely limited American theatrical release in ten cities on September 5 (for one week?) to qualify it for the Oscars, Annies, Golden Globes, and other 2014 awards nominations, then sold it to On Demand TV networks for the rest of September (Sherry & I saw it on Time Warner Cable for $6.99), and has announced it as a Shout! Factory DVD on September 30 for $22.47.

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December 24, 2014

YELLOWBIRD is Flying Your Way: animated movie news from Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer, tells me:

A brand-new French animated very anthropomorphic movie, Yellowbird, that I’ve never heard of, is going to be shown in the USA. According to information mostly from Jerry Beck’s Animation Scoop website, Yellowbird is directed by Christian De Vita and produced by the TeamTO Studio in Paris.  It won’t even be released in France until February 18, 2015.  Wreckin Hill Entertainment, an American distributor, has bought the American rights and will give it a brief theatrical release in December, with a DVD release in April 2015.  From the poster and the trailer, the American voice dub has already been completed.  The Cartoon Brew says that the announced American release is in only five theaters in the Detroit area, and that the only American review so far says that it’s only for 4 to 7 year olds — which the trailer does not imply.


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December 16, 2014

Five 2015 Furry Features – by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Fred Patten, “Furry’s favorite historian”, submits:

Screen Shot 2014-12-11 at 4.27.40 AM27 theatrical animated features are coming in 2015, and most of them are furry, or at least anthropomorphic. Cartoon Brew covers them in an article by C. Edwards: “27 Animated Features To Look For In 2015”. My thanks to Edwards for telling us what to look for.

Of course, not all 27 feature anthropomorphic characters. Yet the majority of them do, from the definite animals (well, birds) of Animex Producciones’ El Americano: The Movie to the “are they furry or not?” alien Boovs of DreamWorks Animation’s Home. Some contain all-furry casts, like DreamWorks Animations’ Kung Fu Panda 3, while others contain only one anthro character amidst lots of humans, like Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur.

Are these all the animated features coming out during 2015? Probably not. But these are what have been announced so far. Also, some of these are foreign theatrical films that will probably not be released in North America. You may have to look for them on DVD in 2016 or 2017.

Here are five from the Cartoon Brew’s list of 27 that look definitely furry, and definitely worth looking at.

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December 4, 2014

Animation from India: a critical look for furry fans – by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Sent in by Fred:

“Dear Patch- Are you interested in samples of recent Indian anthropomorphic TV commercials?  Most are in Hindi or a combination of Hindi & English.”

“Hi Fred- I suspect that this work doesn’t get much traction in the USA, and there are few furry fans caring about animation specific to India.  Besides, I think that you can run into a common bias:  people are unhappy with the glut of generic CGI style animation and they like seeing traditional drawn art.  That’s a bias from young people in art school, North American fans with strong nostalgia for older cartoons… and cheap overseas work making it harder to produce.   I just wanted to put it out, that bias is there.  I’m sure some good work may be missed because of it, but I haven’t seen a lot from India, even at film festivals that actively curate obscure stuff.  I DO like focus on animation – the stuff I post is very creator-centric.  But if you include such material in a broad topic, that’s a way to share it. – Patch”

romeoReaders: is this story missing good work by not giving it a chance?  There are a few furry fans for the Bollywood animated movie Roadside Romeo.  One blog calls it the ultimate furry movie, highlighting “how unapologetically sexy it was for a talking animal movie” (A good or bad thing? Up to you.)  One furry on a “foreign animated animal movies” topic calls the movie “actually REALLY good”:

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What’s Wrong With Indian Animation?– by Fred Patten

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December 2, 2014

Dawgtown and The Saga of Rex: updates for standard-bearing indie animation.

by Patch O'Furr

The five-decade tradition of Saturday morning cartoons is gone.  On Flayrah furry news, Ringtailedfox shares a thoughtful story about  the demise of “animation on over-the-air television”. It marks a cultural shift. Times are changing communication business, media and fan culture.

The specialized art of hand-drawn animation seems gone in Hollywood.  But not to artists.  Some world-class artists are boldly working to produce 2D animated feature films outside the system.  They don’t bear standards, in the sense of status quo… they’re carrying the flag of pioneering indie spirit.

Two such indie productions have new updates.  They’re of high interest to furry fans.  Directors of both did interviews for Dogpatch Press.

Dawgtown update

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November 25, 2014

Recommendations for the 2014 Ursa Major Awards for excellence in the furry arts

by Patch O'Furr

UMAweb1_2aCollege Humor’s “Furry Force” cracked up watchers with a grossout Furries parody that struck Youtube gold in April.  “Yiff mode activate!” probably won’t be heard in a big time superhero movie soon, but the two animated shorts were popular enough to get 3.5 million views up to now.  Even many targets couldn’t hate it, because it’s not outsider derision.  It’s laugh-with-you comedy from personal experience, according to my interview with the writer, Adam.

I sent Furry Force to the Ursa Majors Recommended Anthropomorphics list, for best “Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short Work” of 2014.  In April, I asked Adam how he’d like one.  He said:

I’d be incredibly honored to be nominated for an Ursa Major award! The furry community knows what they want and what they like, so I’d consider that a real honor as a writer.

Speaking of that list… a little blog like Dogpatch Press, which only reaches a handful of highly attractive readers, couldn’t compare to publications with real audiences.  But if you feel like it, I can’t stop you from sending it to recommended@ursamajorawards.org for “Recommended Anthropomorphic Magazine”.  (They don’t want “detrimental” material, so ask if they take bribes to allow scurrilous gossip anyways.)

Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian fan, submits this:

“There are less than two months left to recommend titles for the ALAA’s 2014 Recommended Anthropomorphics List.  See the Ursa Major Awards website for the current 2014 Recommended List.  The next update will be on November 30.  If you have read, seen, or played anything furry that was first published or released during 2014, and it is not already on the Recommended List, please recommend it yourself before the end of the year.

Nominations for the 2014 Ursa Major Awards will open on January 15, 2015 (the first day of Further Confusion 2015), and will remain open until February 28, 2015.  Fans often use the Recommended Anthropomorphics List as a guide to what is worth nominating.  If there is anything that you consider worth recommending, don’t wait for someone else to do it.  Speak up!”  – Fred Patten

Address again: recommended@ursamajorawards.org – I have hugs for anyone who sends anything, because furries are cool and sharing their stuff is cool.

Readers may value this tip that Fred posted at Flayrah:

I have not seen any mention of next year’s Ursa Major Awards presentations anywhere. This was announced at this year’s presentations at CaliFur X, but it has not been publicized anywhere.

The presentation of the 2014 Awards will be at Morphicon 2015, in May 2015.

The presentation of the 2015 Awards will be at What The Fur 2016, in May 2016.

 

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November 24, 2014

Photogenic furries on the radio – Dirty cats in “safe sex” animated PSA – Newsdump (11/24/14)

by Patch O'Furr

News from: North Dakota, Britain, Australia, Austria, Buffalo and San Francisco.

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

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In the Media

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Prairie Public radio interviews Furry author, Tempe O’Kun.

tempo321NPR broadcaster Prairie Public’s “Main Street” covers North Dakota news, arts, movies and books.  They invited Tempe O’kun for an in-depth conversation.  Hear the Furry author’s 23 minute talk on Main Street.

Tempe is granted a welcome level of respect.  He’s introduced as an author first, college teacher and person, and then one of those Furries.  The well-researched questions don’t bat an eye at the mix of “cuddly, steamy furry romance” presented in his popular SoFurry collection, or judge the hot fan-fic and porn at his FurAffinity page.  Good.  It skips non-issues to introduce the genre of furry (like expectations of character type: sly foxes, etc.) – and writing style chat that authors will want to hear.

Tom Broadbent’s “At Home With The Furries” photo doc update:  Bhavvels Bunny.

In Five pro photographers advancing the art of furry documentary, I named “whimsy” as Tom’s signature approach.  The carefully chosen fantasy scenes he presents show great storyelling.  Tom’s blog updates never fail to impress – this week’s subject is Bhavvels.  It explains Tom’s approach- “The setup:”

…should reflect the personality of the furry, but equally the personality of the person inside the suit. The two are interconnected in a very unique way, unlike in fact than any other form of cosplay I am aware of ( I’m prepared to be proven wrong of course)

It is in fact a collaboration, a trust between me and the furry.  That relationship and theimportance of maintaining that bond may go some way to explain how protective I am of the project and the furries themselves.

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November 18, 2014

Fangcon’s Draconis in hospital, Claw & Quill, Watership Down – furry Newsdump (11/18/14)

by Patch O'Furr

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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Fangcon’s Draconis / Calamity Cougar recovering from heart attack suffered shortly after the con.

Shortly before Fangcon, Draconis submitted a tip for my article about it.  It was a shock to hear bad news in short order.  I’m happy to see his positive video response about recovering, performing like a pro and furry all the way.

Claw and Quill: regrouping.

Watts (Chipotle’s) online publication attracted much anticipation from readers seeking smart furry magazine content, but it hasn’t put much material out.  The “long-overdue” second magazine issue has been conspicuously absent.  Now comes good news – a recent update from Watts explains a change from webzine format to WordPress, allowing multiple contributors to add content.  (I’d sure love to see more than the handful of blogs like this.)

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November 14, 2014

Animated features that qualify for the 2014 Oscar: thoughts from Fred Patten

by Patch O'Furr

Oscar-related movie news: 2014 brought a wonderful new level of recognition for furries.  Finsterworld was short listed for German nominee for best foreign picture.  This smart, outrageous and thoughtful art-house drama was developed by consulting furries, who worked with the director to put fursuiters in the film.  It may be a somewhat obscure title to North American audiences, but it makes up with quality. The movie is excellent, not just because it’s furry… it’s worth a watch for anyone who’s into smart movies.

Fred Patten, historian and mega-respected elder fan, sent in the below piece.

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Twenty Animated Features Qualify for the 2014 Oscar – But How Many Are Anthropomorphic?

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October 22, 2014

Animated Dawgtown news, cool pandas and creepy clowns. Furry Newsdump (10-22-14)

by Patch O'Furr

Here’s links, headlines and little bites of news to make your tail wag.  Story tips are always welcome.

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Movies and video

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maxNew updates from Dawgtown, animated movie featuring sympathetic fighting dogs.

It’s an ambitious, traditionally hand-drawn animated drama about captive dogs fighting for freedom.  It has voice acting by George Foreman, and the indie spirit of a Ralph Bakshi movie.  The  director was super cool about providing a great interview to this blog.  Storyboard progress is just posted, and he reports “Getting close to half the film (40 min) complete.”  The new scene shows Max, the hero, lost on the dangerous streets of New York City.  

See a rough animatic of Dawgtown storyboards in motion. 

Here’s the next fursuit music video you were expecting.  NOA NEAL – FULL MOON PARTY.

Call it a modest trend. Here’s a “sexy video full of crazy Cosplayers, playful cheerleaders and a band of exuberant dancers.” It’s from Noa Neal, a Dutch-born, Belgian pop singer since 2003.  In 2009 she had a career boost from a talent show.  Since 2012, she’s known for presenting kid’s content on Euro TV.  In 2013 she moved to the US to write and record with a producer associated with Katy Perry, Carly Rae Jepsen & Miley Cyrus.  Her new single was recorded in London and produced in Finland.  It might not be an Ylvis-style novelty hit, (let’s hope fursuiters don’t have to hear another song yelled at them), but it’s fluffy, harmless fun.

 

noa

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