Midwest FurFest was hit by poisonous gas. I rushed out a short notice, and had tips sent in by friends like Mordi. Soon, the news was everywhere.
It's the biggest wealth of #furrynews for the worst reason this week... yeah I won't even attempt to wade into this. http://t.co/BSYfXigbX2
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) December 9, 2014
Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag. Story tips are always welcome.
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Midwest Fur Fest evacuated by chemical spill. Fursuiters: stick to good old fashioned rug cleaner!
Initial report: Chemical leak prompts evacuation during Midwest FurFest at Rosemont Hyatt.
Several people could be seen in animal costumes waiting outside of the hotel. Ambulances from area suburbs were on scene helping transport people.
More: Glass Jar with White Substance, Strong Chlorine Smell Causes Firefighter, EMS Hazmat Response, Evacuation. Man, that’s a hell of a party foul.
On November 15-16, 2014, Pacific Anthropomorphics Weekend brought a second Furry convention to the San Francisco Bay Area. PAW’s official attendance was 213. It was the result of much hard work behind the scenes.
If only con organizing was always as serene as the palm trees on the website.
I’m sorry not to post pure sunshine here: I think it’s an OK time for honesty, shortly after the con. Next year offers a clean slate.
Conflict came even before a con plan, in early 2014. Staff changes with January’s Further Confusion con caused discord among watchers close to the action. Like most things in life, it was complicated. Sides were taken for private debates not qualified to air. (It wasn’t all personal: a long-standing supporter was left frustrated by hotel union regulations, that couldn’t allow some volunteers to “work” for the event.)
A faction of former Fur Con supporters and friends acted to start a new convention. It would compete to take Fur Con’s place. Watchers knocked the “revenge con” plan, noting that a negative reason was a weak draw, diminishing positive reasons to persist. It was ultimately resolved by abandoning a conflicting date, to simply offer a welcome new option at a harmless time.
This weekend: Pacific Anthropomorphics Weekend brings a SECOND San Francisco Bay Area convention to San Jose, CA.
The long-established Further Confusion, occurring every January, is now augmented by PAW, a new event offering more than once a year activity. It features: “Photo Shoot, Dealers Area, Gaming and Semi-quiet Social Area, Open Cash Bar During Dances, Fursuit Dance Comp, Fursuit Games… and more!”
Courtesy of Super Jayhawk, from the Bay Area Furries mailing list:
“We’d like to announce that Furry Night Live, “The Greatest Show in Fur”, will be hosting a room party this next Saturday, November 15, at the Pacific Anthropomorphics Weekend Inaugural “Paw-Raiser” Fall Festival! We’ll be there to wish the new con well and will be having a party with a fursuit photoshoot, replays of classic videos from our legacy of all 10 shows since 2005, and throwing around ideas for new projects and videos we’d like to do.
Four events are back to back in San Francisco: Fursuit crawl – Furry portrait show gallery opening – Wild Things fetish party – Frolic dance party.
On Friday 11/7/14 is the “Embarcadero Fursuit Crawl“. The street fursuiting fun will move downtown, to a grand entrance at the gallery opening for Ron Lussier’s Furry portrait show. Ron’s creative partner, Bobby Pin, shares: More Press for the upcoming ‘Furries & Despair Photography Show’!
Saturday has the “art and sex” party – Wild Things. This furry fetish and petplay party has gotten tremendous response. (It’s for a special interest and adult activity doesn’t represent furries in general.) Afterwards is Frolic dance party: the monthly “mini-con” that attracts several hundred attendees, and helped influence spin-off parties across the USA.
The San Francisco Bay Area has so much activity, that furries often have multiple events to choose from at the same time. On Halloween there was a cosplay dance party, a house party, and a street costuming meetup. Consider what it says about developing subculture.
Furstock! Presented by Fangcon. Nov 7-9th, 2014 pic.twitter.com/24yXHMq1Zn
— Fangcon (@FangCon) August 2, 2014
FANGCON is “the only anthropomorphic convention located within the state of Tennessee”. Draconis submitted an exciting notice about their third annual event, happening this weekend.
Personally, if I wasn’t hosting a paw-print furry Twister game myself this weekend… I’d make like a Husky and pounce on their “largest Fursuit Twister Mat the fandom has ever seen.” Psst… Twister’s slogan is “The Game That Ties You Up in Knots.” Teehee.
Here’s links, headlines and little bites of news to make your tail wag. Story tips are always welcome.
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When people become stuffed animals (Wenn Menschen zu Plüschtieren werden)
Furries! Hack takes you inside the furry community…
“… to find out why people love dressing up as furry animals. Is it a sex thing? A creative outlet? Or, just a way to belong?” This radio/podcast for young Australians covers their con, FurJam.
Here’s links, headlines and little bites of news to make your tail wag. Tips are always welcome.
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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.
Road Raging Russian Beaten By Furries.
(Really, it’s non-furry mascots – but it makes a good headline.)
In July, I flew to Anthrocon in a rather poopy mood. Getting burdened with bad work on a fun trip will do that. I couldn’t even find a dog bowl of booze to drown my sorrows, because the stupid liquor stores had stupid closing hours. I walked back to the con hotel with a black cloud blocking the sparkles that usually follow my fursuit.
Then a stunning vision in a white fur coat grabbed me by my rainbow suspenders. She asked, “will you be my furry boyfriend?” The cloud flew away, and we turned into TV stars!
The Nomi Darling Show, episode #2, has our date. (It’s in “Love and the Fursuit of Happiness”, at the 26:00 mark.)
Sketch comedy/variety is the style of the show. It highlights “Short films, parodies, topical satire, and original music videos from underground musicians”. It reaches up to 80,000 viewers on Pittsburgh-based Gay Life Television – “the first LGBTQ-dedicated IPTV station in America that is both LGBTQ owned and operated.”
Here’s some news curated from a Furry view. Enjoy a big sloppy bowl of news bites, scoops, and Snausage links. Tips welcome- I’d love to post yours!
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– Fursuiter in San Francisco magazine.
This feature page about bronies has local furry “Quinnton Fox” in pony suit.
– Bronies in San Francisco’s The Bold Italic.
A photo project documents Bronies, and what being one means.
– Wall Street Journal’s furry Photo of the Day.
A police officer halts traffic as delegates arrive to Eurofurence in Berlin.
– Meetup.com’s Furry group made the cover of San Diego Reader.
