Winnie the Pooh has been banned from a Polish playground because of his “dubious sexuality” and “inappropriate” dress… one councillor even denouncing poor Pooh as a “hermaphrodite”.
What caused the dirty minds of the town council, who were thinking way too hard about Winnie the Pooh’s no-no spot?
Last week, San Francisco had a series of back to back events: a street fursuiting “crawl”, a furry photo gallery opening, a fetish party,(a private special interest thing not representing others), and Frolic dance party. The series drew more furries than my butt attracts fleas.
It was first-time fursuiting for Sketchywolf. He attended all of the events, and posted about it:
I’ve never seen so much love for furries from random strangers! So many photos! So many smiling faces! … Fursuiting turned out to be even more fun than I imagined it to be! I love the reaction of others when they see a suit. Walking over to Frolic suited, and back to the hotel and the end of the night, I was stopped by people wanting to take pictures! I danced, I partied, I hugged EVERYBODY. Oh! I had SO MUCH fun!
Before the events, I posted: “Independent shows and festivals offer new concept for furry events”. Each was organized separately, but with loose ties. They used special venues and locations to add character beyond the “sterile/consumer” vibe of a hotel (like one comment said). I called it a model for growing beyond cons, and proposed a new, free-range fair or festival concept. Judging by the enthusiastic response, the idea was more than hype. It’s a sign of a burgeoning subculture. Let’s look at how things went.
I’d save this tidbit for a “Furry Newsdump”, but why waste a perfectly good headline like that?
Here’s a story about a photo tour by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un. It was produced by their Glorious Socialist People’s Ministry of Correct Learnings (or whatever they call their state propaganda machine). The setting is a disturbingly empty, candy-colored orphanage. I think it was supposed to make him look cuddly. (But I’m just wondering if they ate the babies?)
None of the dictator’s censors noticed that someone with steel balls had posed plushies screwing in the scene. (I just hope whoever did it made a beeline for the border.) Scroll down for delicious details.
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.
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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New 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.
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 fromNoa 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.
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.
Pro wrestling is fake! Anyone with “good taste” sneers at it, right? But if wrestling is fake fighting, they do real falling. That’s tough performance. As Roger Ebert said, the sport isn’t real, but the activity is.
“The Wrestler”, 2008 movie directed by Darren Aronofsky, impressed me more than 99% of movies I’ve ever seen. It earned about as much love from pro movie critics. It impressed me by showing the humanity of a despised “bad taste” subject. It wiped sneers off faces and put a headlock on your heart. (Ha.)
Low culture
I love furries the same way. Wrestling doesn’t get much respect, and neither do they. But some “Low culture” thrives when it’s disregarded by the mainstream. Freedom comes with insulation from notice. Wikipedia names: “escapist fiction, kitsch, slapstick, camp, toilet humor, yellow journalism, pornography, and exploitation films”. Comics used to be considered trash. Add wrestling, and Furry.
I’d love to see furries treated as worthy characters for a movie that’s even remotely as well done as The Wrestler. Is this the year it’s starting to happen? Are furries getting more respect… at least as a niche demographic for movies?
A stranger approached the Furry community to get this movie review. He was a journalist for a European film festival, seeking our perspective. When he said “fursuit fetish”, he was greeted with dislike for media exploiting our thing.
But I found the question respectful, without cherry-picking responders. I sent a response that I might be a good match, because I organize fur meets in San Francisco (where fetish gets more tolerance than most places)- plus I work on movies professionally. This is my thing!
It can hurt to lump together all of the dreaded media (hiss!) as exploiters. “Furries are hiding stuff- it must be bad.” Journalism is important, and the difference between Euro movies and Hollywood is like the difference between types of journalism. This journalist made the kind of approach that any storyteller would take to learn about a subject. FINSTERWORLD approaches it’s audience sincerely, too.
New updates from Dawgtown, animated movie featuring sympathetic fighting dogs.
