Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week
April 28, 2015

Bête, by Adam Roberts – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

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

Bête, by Adam Roberts
London, Gollancz, September 2014, hardcover £18.00 (311 [+ 1] pages). download (2)

“As I raised the bolt-gun to its head the cow said: ‘Won’t you at least Turing-test me, Graham?’

‘Don’t call me Graham,’ I told it. ‘My wife calls me Graham. My mum calls me Graham. Nobody else.’

‘Oh, Mister Penhaligon,’ the cow said, sarcastically. We’ll have to assume, for the moment, that cows are capable of sarcasm. ‘It won’t much delay you. And if I fail, then surely, go ahead: bye-bye-bos-taurus. But!’

‘You’re not helping your case, ‘ I said, ‘by enunciating so clearly. You don’t sound like a cow.’

‘Moo, ‘said the cow, arching one hairless eyebrow.” (p. 3)

Graham Penhaligon is a farmer. Farmers traditionally slaughter their cattle and serve them at family meals. So Farmer Penhaligon kills his cow, despite its pleading to him to spare it.

And finds himself arrested for maybe-murder. Which he expects.

Bête is set in the near future, when the animal-rights movement – specifically an organization called Deep Blue Deep Green (DBDG) – is going about surreptitiously raising some animals’ intelligence – specifically, in this case, Farmer Penhaligon’s cattle – to force the courts to decide whether an animal with artificially raised intelligence is a thinking animal no different from a person, and thus a legal person. The courts have declared a moratorium on the killing of such animals while the legal debate goes on; which has been going on for seemingly forever, as such social movements tend to do.

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April 27, 2015

Furries get best seat in the house for MC Crumbsnatcher’s toilet rap.

by Patch O'Furr

Nerdcore rap and furries: it’s a match made in the demented mind of MC Crumbsnatcher, a guy who taught me a thing or two about how to rock out and be silly.  That’s what I did for his disgustingly catchy song, “Boy I Don’t Think It’s Sleazy (Cuz We’re In a Bathroom).”  The new video is fourth in the ultra-gay, only-from-San-Francisco series that you definitely shouldn’t watch if you’re easily offended.

Fursuiters included Neonbunny, and me as a blinged-out Husky, complete with gold grill.  Todd wore the toiletsona suit.  (Shhh, don’t tell… at 3:09, I got caught drinking from the bowl. Bad dog!)  This video finally lets Crumby marry his penguin boyfriend.  Is that a tear in my eye… or just backsplash?

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April 24, 2015

Inflatable bunnies, street fairs, Furry Fuel – can we have it all together? Newsdump (4/24/15)

by Patch O'Furr

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

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Mainstream sightings

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Torimitsu

BBC’s “The Why Factor?” will air a Furry story.

“Why do we project our emotions onto animals?” gives a 4-minute clip.  Flayrah has air times for the 18-minute piece.

Growing community of ‘furries’ finds acceptance on campus.

USA Today does “not THOSE furries” apologism.

Meet the Club: The furries.

A 10-member club got a short notice in the student newspaper of Washtenaw Community College in Michigan.

San Francisco’s How Weird Street Fair is this weekend.

The promo vid flashes furries at 0:59, 1:17, and 1:25.  For several years, fur meets at this cool event have marked the start of street fair season in the SF Bay.  It’s the best occasion for my favorite thing, street fursuiting.

On the same day as the fair… Blow-Up: a gallery show of inflatable art.

Not a big news item, but I was taken by the pink bunnies. Artist Momoyo Torimitsu gives a down-to-earth statement on her site.

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April 23, 2015

French Anthropomorphic Animal Animated Features, Part 4 – by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

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

Series: Part 1 – Part 2 – and Part 3.  This is the last of four parts. Continuing from where we left off …

20521275.jpg-r_160_240-b_1_D6D6D6-f_jpg-q_x-xxyxxBlackie & Kanuto (Black to the Moon 3D), directed by Francis Nielsen. 81 minutes. April 17, 2013.

Blackie (or Blacky) is a black sheep who goes out of her way to be “different”. Kanuto is an exasperated sheepdog who is in love with her. When Blackie decides to travel to the Moon, Kanuto reluctantly joins her. Other characters include Blackie’s loyal followers, Pepe (horse) and Marvin (duck); Fancy, Cloe, and Victoria, the sheep fashionistas who are jealous of Blackie; Theodora, the motherly operatic cow who thinks that Blackie should be a ballerina; Karl Wolf, the haughty lupine fashion designer; Hu Flung Pu, the martial artist spider and his illegal spider seamstresses; the three Patrino Russian canine cosmonauts who have a rocket ship; Rainbow (Grumbo), the macho U.S. Army dog and rival sheepdog who acts more like Rambo; two Bulgarian birds from a singing TV reality show contest; and Pinkie, the sheep who is experimented upon and becomes as large (also as unfriendly) as Godzilla.

Blackie & Kanuto was a CGI Spanish-French-Italian animated feature premiered at the May 2012 Cannes Film Festival, and first released in Spain on February 15, 2013. It was shown in different countries (it was extremely popular in Russia) in different edits. Other titles included Head Over Hooves and Pup. Read the rest of this entry »

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April 22, 2015

Special Features and Top Articles at Dogpatch Press.

by Patch O'Furr

Updated Feb 2019

  • Did you hear about that one time when President Obama invited a furry to the White House?
  • Read interviews with personalities like Pixar movie directors, punk rocker Jello Biafra, comedian Margaret Cho, and the most devoted fans.
  • See how fursuits sell for $25,000, and the biggest furry conventions raise six figures for charity and millions in local spending.
  • Furries in movies, on the front pages, featured on Youtube, trending on Twitter, and more.

Dogpatch Press has published over 1200 articles so far.  These got high traffic, dug deep to uncover a story, or they’re just favorites.

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interviewsINTERVIEWS FOR FANS AND FURRIES:

Makers and Doers make a subculture thrive. Whether they build it or feed it with stuff we like, they have valuable stories to tell.

A THRIVING SUBCULTURE – PAST AND FUTURE, POLE TO POLE.

There’s a fur con somewhere in the world every weekend of the year. There’s furry houses with multi-generations of fans. Here’s roots, coming opportunities, spotlights on what makes a good community, and how far their influence goes.

“CELEBRIFURRIES” AND STREET CRED:

Furries have more influence than they even realize. Advertisers covet the street cred of subcultures. Disney winked at us with Zootopia. Are there celebrities who are secret furries? How do other subcultures overlap? What are the peaks of mainstream recognition for the fandom?

patch_icon_fursuitFURSUITING, THE MOST FURRY ACTIVITY.

It’s the the most original fandom creation, with it’s own coined name.  Nobody does it like furries and nothing else represents them so directly. Fursuiting is a booming cottage industry and makers are raising the craft until they’re envied by commercial mascot designers. Only 20% own this costly wearable art with scene-stealing looks, but a picture is worth a thousand words.  It’s hard to deny their huggable appeal (representing the touch-based name of this subculture.)

THE FURRY ECONOMY: 

economy

Cons are expanding at a healthy rate. Furry creators work fan-to-fan with self-sufficiency that even supports full time careers. Their main site Furaffinity is an independent project acquired by a venture-capital funded company.  It’s rising beyond a full-fledged subculture to possible commercialization. How will it develop?

“PALEO FURRIES” – ANTHROPOMORPHISM IN HISTORY:patch_icon_history

Fandom has hidden connections to a rich history of art and performance. A “museum of furry” could exhibit work that look like it’s from a parallel universe. Call them Paleo Furries. A “Panto-animals and Paleofurs” con panel could uncover hidden depth for what we love.

THE FURRY ART WORLD

It’s one of the most creative fandoms because all the content is self-generated. Sometimes it gets recognition in galleries and more.

THE FURRY MOVIE SCENE.

Film and video can be more challenging than other media where furries thrive. Other subcultures have developed enough to support independent film making. There have been a few attempts at furry features and some outside ones that come close. There are many fursuiting shorts (especially music videos) and animation student work. The holy grail might be a furry-made animated feature.

patch_icon_fame

FURRY MUSIC AND DANCE PARTIES – IT’S A MOVEMENT:furclub

Since around 2010, furry dance parties are getting established as urban night life.  They build on the growth of cons, but take their own direction in partnership with established venues.  Howl Toronto says – Con dances happen once a year, and “that’s just not enough to fill the need!” There’s also a slice of the fandom that makes original music and is starting netlabels, composing for video and games, and performing at cons.

BAD MEDIA, GOOD MEDIA.

Media exploitation makes sensitivity about being in the spotlight, but it’s a chicken-or-egg relationship. Rising recognition and appreciation brings power to negotiate and be better represented.

ANTHROPOMORPHIC POLITICS OF THE WORLD.

Like Democrat donkeys, Republican elephants, or “Animal Farm” the political allegory by George Orwell.

FANDOM POLITICS.

CHARITY AND SUPPORT.

WHEN FURRY MEETS FURRY – “THE TOPIC THEY LOVE TO HATE”.patch_icon_furry_love

It’s not an urban legend – some furries get wild. But sex isn’t a definer.  It can be a family friendly hobby too.  Media hypes sex, but romantic themes are part of being human, and furries are just regular people with extra rich imaginations.  Being unusually open and expressive is required for an interest spectrum beyond the default.  It can cause controversy. It also makes first-time visitors call them the most friendly people you could ever party with. This blog is anti-prude and not shy about sex-positivity.

FURRY PRIDE TIMELINE.

San Francisco Pride is one of the biggest Pride events in the world, with organizing by Patch since 2012.

FURRY TRASH.

Sometimes it’s fun to mix satire and comedy with news.  Keep Furry Weird.

LIMITS AND LIBERTIES IN SOCIETY

protestAcceptance is a big feature of furry subculture. It draws interests together, but nothing represents every member, because membership is self-defined.  Some interests get conservative disapproval. It makes tension between freedom and collective interest. It can involve prejudices, laws, or times for a social group to stand up for itself.

WHAT’S WRONG INSIDE FANDOM?

Furries have been punching-bags with sensational media exploiting them as freaks.  It can come from bias to only look for the worst in people. It can show stigma, shaming, scapegoating, or a streak of homophobia. But negativity doesn’t build anything, and that’s why it’s losing power with time. If you hear of “inherent” problems, look at the positive, expressive nature of the group.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT:

Any community has crime, so it naturally happens with furries sometimes.  Most everything they do is harmless and positive, but rare problems can get sensationalized and it needs caution about bias.

SPECIAL GUEST POSTS BY PUP MATTHIAS:

ideasMORE SPECIAL GUEST POSTS:

FRED PATTEN PRESENTS:

Check his tag.  Fred was a star guest poster, with a long resume as fandom historian and reviewer.

THE REGULAR NEWSDUMP (phased out):

See the “Newsdump” tag.  These digest posts had curated links and “list worthy” small stories from around the web and the border between subculture and mainstream.  They gave a look at the state of the community over time.

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April 21, 2015

Does your fursona have a phone? Google has free, personal furry numbers for you.

by Patch O'Furr

Aggrobadger

(Hugs: Aggrobadger)

Want to set up a fur meet, or check out a new friend you found there?   But are you worried about stranger danger, or crank calls full of murrs and panting?

Give them a furry number.  If you have a google account (and your paws can dial phones), you can get a new number within minutes that rings through to your regular phone.  It’s useful for all kinds of reasons, including protecting your fursona with a memorable personal code.

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April 20, 2015

Godsfire, by Cynthia Felice – Book Review by Fred Patten.

by kiwiztiger

Godsfire, by Cynthia Felice. Map.
NYC, Pocket Books, June 1978, paperback 0-671-81472-9 $1.75 (264 pages).

downloadI am surprised by how many people have included this book’s cover by Boris Vallejo on their lists of “Only the worst Sci-fi/Fantasy book covers”, or “25 Worst Book Covers of All Time”, or “I Am Judging You By Your Cover” (16 book covers with snarky feminine hygiene comments). I could come up with at least twenty-five covers worse than this with no trouble. And to wax sexist for a moment, can any cover with a shapely naked cat-woman be really bad?

But this is a review of the novel, not its cover art. Planet of the Apes notwithstanding, 1978 was still before intelligent non-humans were common in science-fiction, judging from the book’s blurb: “Feline creatures in charge and humans as their slaves!”

Godsfire is narrated by Heao, the sixteen-year-old protégé of Academician Master Rellar on a planet inhabited by anthropomorphic felinoids. The opening pages make frequent mention of the characters’ sinuous tails, sharp claws, and other feline characteristics.

“I was prepared to leave, but the man had the most mischievous twinkle in his eyes that I’d ever seen. Then the tip of his tail began to twitch. Without the smiling eyes, that twitch would have warned of battle, but now I realized it was an invitation to play. I laughed.” “His boldness was nearly frightening, yet there was no malice in his eyes and his tail was coiled casually around his ice-laden coat.” “Baltsar delicately slit the belly of the choicest fish with his index claw, and, after a slave took away the entrails, he slivered the tender flesh for me.” “I speared a sliver with my eating claw and chewed gratefully.” “His tail was twitching again and he was smiling. Why had he ignored my shaking tail while we ate?” “I smiled, coiled my tail demurely about my waist, and said, ‘Thank you, Baltsar.’” (pgs. 4-8)

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April 18, 2015

Cat’s Pawn and Cat’s Gambit – book reviews by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

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

“Dear Patch; Here is an unpublished old review, written years ago for Cubist’s Anthro site and left unpublished when Anthro folded.”

Cat’s Pawn, by Leslie Gadallah.
NYC, Ballantine Books/del Rey, March 1987, paperback 0-345-33742-5 $2.95 (262 pages).

Cat’s Gambit, by Leslie Gadallah.
NYC, Ballantine Books/del Rey, March 1990, paperback 0-345-36478-3, $3.95 (247 pages).

1eb34310fca09d58533ba010.LDespite being action-packed, this duo of space operas is unusually pessimistic, even despondent. Cat’s Pawn begins with a framing story set on Terra centered on Talan, the Oriani ambassador to Terra, glumly failing in his mission to win support from the Terrans in their struggle against the interstellar spreading Kazi. Symptomatic of the problem is that the Oriani do not wear clothes and look like large, bipedal housecats; and what Terran can take a funny-animal cat seriously?

The majority Terran attitude is similar to the American isolationists in 1940 who did not see any need for America to get involved in World War II. Talan stoically watches a TV interview with an average Terran:

“‘Now, you see, that’s just what I mean. They’re not people at all; they’re furry sons-a-bitches. They’re all over the place, trying to take over – furry ones, scaly ones, long ones, round ones, and some with nineteen legs. I tell you, mister, I like my people to look like people. And that’s all I got to say.’ He relinquished the mike, waved at the camera, and strode off.” (p. 11)

Cat’s Pawn opens with Melissa Larkin, a Terran woman who needs to see Talan because, fifty years earlier, he knew her now-dead grandfather, Bill Anderson, one of the few Terrans who ‘went native’ on the Oriani homeworld, Omnicron Orionis. Talan cannot help her, but the query introduces the reader to the Oriani:

“She was determined not to stare, though talking person to person with someone who looked a lot like a big-headed pussy cat gave her a funny feeling. Of course he was rather large for a pussy cat. The tips of his big ears came level with her nose and would have been higher except for the slightly forward posture balanced by the long, swinging tail.” (p. 1)

and

“55 kilos of highly intelligent being with long fangs that hung down below the line of his mouth like ivory daggers was nothing to giggle about.” (p. 5)

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April 17, 2015

Carl Barks’ Duck: Average American, by Peter Schilling Jr. – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

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

Carl Barks’ Duck: Average American, by Peter Schilling Jr. Illustrated.
Minneapolis, MN, Uncivilized Books, January 2015, trade paperback $12.95 (122 pages).download (3)

Furry literature is all well and good, but it’s important to remember that furry fandom did not invent it. One of the most important influences that led to furry fandom, and furry literature today, was the Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck stories written and drawn by Carl Barks (1901-2000) during the 1940s and 1950s. Today, those comic-book stories are all being reprinted, and are the subject of serious literary analyses. Here is something that is a little lighter.

“Critical Cartoons is a series of books on comics with a new approach. Cut loose the smartest writers on the whole of comic book history: classic comic strips, superhero epics, independent masterpieces, underground transgressions, obscure gems by well known masters, and more. Each volume of Critical Cartoons is long-form criticism that’s passionate, idiosyncratic, provocative and entertaining.” – (publisher’s blurb)

From this example, Critical Cartoons is a series of small, thin books of literary criticism about comic books, each by an expert of sorts. Peter Schilling Jr. is the author of Mark Twain’s Mississippi River: An Illustrated Chronicle of the Big River in Samuel Clemens’s Life and Works, a combination 19th-century travelogue and third-person nostalgia piece, and The End of Baseball: A Novel. Schilling identifies himself in the Introduction as a lifelong hater of “comic books”, but as a youth he made an exception for the Donald Duck comics by “the Good Artist”. Eventually, as he grew up and comic-book scholarship began to be published, he learned who Carl Barks was.

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April 16, 2015

International mascot Trip E. Collie – love and theft at FWA – Newsdump (4/16/15)

by Patch O'Furr

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

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Media and Fandom News

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Huge French festival features San Francisco Bay Area furry and Good Boy, Trip E. Collie, as national poster dog!

FOURVIÈRE NIGHTS is a festival for theater, dance and music in Lyon, France – a center for French gastronomy and classic architecture. Look who’s on it now:

Trip Collie was very surprised when the festival picked him as their real-life mascot.  He’s on their website front page, and buildings all over France.  He says: “The festival has run for 70 years… runs June 2 – July 31. It has several hundred thousand attendees!”   For 2015, it’s featuring: “Björk to Ben Harper, to Iggy Pop, Joan Baez, Patti Smith, Robert Plant, the Chedid family, Christine & The Queens, Véronique Sanson, Bartabas and Florence Foresti.”

How did they decide to feature a furry from California?  I recognize Trip’s photo from Burning Man – they must be calling on the spirit of that festival.  And who can deny the adorable appeal of Hyena Girls’s suit making skills?  I can personally rate him as a 5-star cuddler.  You don’t get that by seeing pop stars from afar. Yay furries!  (And wow, that would be an amazing destination… Lyon had the best food I had in a visit to four parts of Europe.)

“What It’s Like to Attend a Furry Convention” – in Men’s Health magazine.

Researcher Debra Soh’s article was praised by furries who said – “It’s a broken record at this point, “Thought they were weird, turned out to be awesome.”  Debra recently appeared on this blog with a supportive statement: “A Lesson Everyone Can Learn From Furries.”

Hip hop artist Killer Mike at Furry Weekend Atlanta.Screen Shot 2015-04-15 at 4.01.19 AM

Killer Mike does music, acting, and “outspoken social activism” from a home base in Atlanta.  Apparently I’m lame because I didn’t know him before?  Now I do because he was tough enough to proudly hang with furries.  Nice.

Skypro Fursuits suffer vehicle and trailer theft at FWA.

Fans worried about loss of popular suits such as Telephone, but those were safe. Equipment was lost. April 12 update: “Car and trailer still missing and no word for the police. I dont think will ever be seeing our car again. :(“

Further Confusion 2015 covered by Science Fiction/San Francisco fanzine.

The writer reviews “one of my favorite conventions.” (PDF download, page 42.)

Furries: A Documentary – seeks funding on Kickstarter.

Production is complete and it’s just seeking post-production help.  It’s a great reason to check out what it will do with a modest goal of $2,500.

DJ contest: Furry is very close to winning, needs votes by April 17.
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