Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Category: Mainstream

December 7, 2014

Hazmat Party Foul, $3 Million Fursuit, Parades, Hugs, Tickling… Newsdump (12/8/14)

by Patch O'Furr

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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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.


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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 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 21, 2014

Poland: Weird, creepy conservatives make gross, inappropriate ban of Winnie The Pooh.

by Patch O'Furr

What I think about when I think about Furries.

What I think about when I think about Furries.

A Polish town had a problem considering the innocent cartoon bear as a mascot:

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?  

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November 18, 2014

Furry photo show leads to Movember cancer benefit, and “round table” talk on 11/22/14

by Patch O'Furr

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Harley (bandana) and Spottacus (glowing eyes) at “Furries & Despair”

San Francisco had a series of furry events last week.  Before it, I posted: “Independent shows and festivals offer new concept for furry events”. After, I posted about the enthusiastic response.  The creativity and demand for more couldn’t be contained in one event. Here’s further developments that spun off from the successful gallery opening of Ron Lussier and Bobby Pin’s “Furries and Despair” photo show.

Movember Benefit:

 
Donate at least $25 to Ron Lussier’s cause for Movember – and receive a 5′ x 5′ Signed Furry Portrait from his ‘Furries & Despair Show’!

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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 16, 2014

“New concept for furry events” brings enthusiastic response in San Francisco.

by Patch O'Furr

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.

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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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November 10, 2014

Fred Patten and Furries in FLAUNT fashion magazine

by Patch O'Furr

Historian and “elder statesman” of Furry fandom, Fred Patten, was recently asked to contribute to a high-end magazine: FLAUNT.  They’re “an international award-winning arts and culture publication based in Los Angeles.”  The editor’s request was for “a feature on cat people/cat culture for our upcoming NINE LIVES Issue.”

Fred sent me the below piece, adding a personal note –

I had hoped that it would contain more material about furry fandom, considering all of the material that I sent them.  But considering that FLAUNT is primarily a fashion magazine, it’s probably lucky that we got as much attention as we did.

COVER-785x1024If you got it, FLAUNT it!
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