Dogpatch Press

Fluff Pieces Every Week

Tag: indie

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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February 4, 2015

The History of Furry Publishing, Part Two: Current Publishers – by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer. Continuing Part One: Beginnings.

Sdownload (4)ofawolf Press, founded by Tim Susman and Jeff Eddy and currently run by Jeff Eddy, originally from his homes in East Falmouth, Massachusetts and later St. Paul, Minnesota, and now from a warehouse in the latter, was the first really successful furry publishing company in the U.S. Sofawolf became official in October 1999 as a sole proprietorship, with its first publication, the furry general fiction magazine Anthrolations #1, in January 2000.   Anthrolations was originally scheduled for semiannual publication in January and July, but it soon ran into the drying up of submissions – except for furry erotica, which Susman & Eddy did not accept for Anthrolations. #7 was published in July 2003, and #8, the final issue, was not until November 2006.

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February 3, 2015

The History of Furry Publishing, Part One: Beginnings – by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Submitted by Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer. Part Two, Current Publishers, posts tomorrow.

rowrbrazzle090xThis is to some extent a “define your terms” question. Furry fandom got started, depending upon whom you ask, with the amateur press associations (APAs) Vootie and Rowrbrazzle. Vootie, “The Fanzine of the Funny Animal Liberation Front”, run by Reed Waller & Ken Fletcher of Minneapolis s-f fandom, lasted from April 1976 to February 1983; 39 bi-monthly issues. Vootie self-destructed when its Official Editors, Waller & Fletcher, grew too disinterested to continue it any longer. A member, Marc Schirmeister of Los Angeles, tried to keep it going, failed, and started its replacement, the quarterly Rowrbrazzle, beginning in February 1984. Rowrbrazzle was designed so that, when the Official Editor steps down or is unable to continue, another member is selected to replace him. Rowrbrazzle is still going after thirty years; the current O.E. is William Earl Haskell of Houston, Texas. So it’s technically a current furry publication.

HUZZAH-48-2002-1-2252-6298Vootie and Rowrbrazzle, and later furry APAs such as the Furry Press Network, Huzzah!, and Canada’s FURthest North Crew, exist(ed) as membership clubs averaging 25 to 30 members, whose members print their own fanzines in enough copies for all members, and send them all to the O.E. for assembly into a super-fanzine of 25 to 30 copies that are sent to each member. The only way to get a copy is to join the APA and publish your own pages. Private membership APAs are traditionally not counted as furry publishing.

The earliest generally available publication in furry fandom was the fanzine FurVersion, published by Kyim Granger (real name: Karl Maurer) of the San Francisco Bay area. FurVersion ran for twenty-one issues from May 1987 to November 1990. It began as a simple mailing list of furry fans’ names and addresses, so they could keep in touch with each other in pre-Internet days. Fans began sending in their sketches and amateur fiction for publication, and FurVersion quickly turned into an amateur magazine for furry art & fiction. It had a cover price and subscription. FurVersion was the first of many amateur magazines published by furry fans from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. The most famous and successful was Yarf!; the Journal of Applied Anthropomorphics, edited and published by Jeff Ferris of the San Francisco Bay area, with the help of Bay Area furry fandom. It lasted for 69 issues, from January 1990 to September 2003. Yarf! is currently being republished as five-issue volumes by Jarlidium Press of Seattle (see below).

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December 23, 2014

Theta, by Sasya Fox – book review by Fred Patten.

by Patch O'Furr

Fred Patten, Furry’s favorite historian and reviewer, submits this review:

Theta, by Sasya Fox

Mountain View, CA, Snowfox Press, August 2013, trade paperback $14.50 (395 [+ 1] pages), Kindle 99¢.

Theta is a formulaic but rip-roaring space opera. The titular protagonist is Jale Bercammon, the 36-year-old chief steward(ess) of the OCS Freeta, a luxury space liner in an interstellar civilization. She has served aboard the Freeta for almost twenty years, rising to the chief steward position and coming to think of her staff and the crew of the Freeta as her family. The first sign of trouble on this trip is their landing on the planet Brynton, in the midst of a violent civil war. Practically all Brynti civilians are desperate to book passage off-planet, and the Freeta is rapidly over-packed with upper-class refugees. One of them is the mysterious Miss Theta, an apparent almost-comatose adolescent who is brought aboard as a medical patient and booked into the finest stateroom on the ship. Captain Erin is personally instructed in Theta’s care, which includes giving her a prepared injection every four hours and:theta

Do NOT attempt to engage Theta in conversation.

Fine, until Jale learns that Theta is an almost-castrated male, and he is being given not medicine but Banerethin, which ship’s Doctor Jrmnia freaks out over because it is a drug so illegal that he could be executed for allowing it to be brought on board. Strangely, as the days pass, Theta becomes more rather than less coherent and amnesiac. He makes it impossible for Jale and her crewmates to ignore the order not to talk to him, but refuses to discuss who he is or what is happening to him.

Then the Freeta is captured by pirates. Their actions make it clear that they have chosen the Freeta because they learned on Brynton that it is carrying an incredibly valuable treasure, which none of the Freeta’s crew knows anything about. When the frustrated pirates cannot find any treasure, they kill a few passengers and crew, impress a few more as slaves – including Theta — and leave. When the crippled Freeta finally reaches its destination, several days overdue, it is besieged by authorities who investigate what happened in detail. Jale is given the job of telling what happened to Theta to his assigned recipient. His reaction is not anything like she expects:

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October 6, 2014

Q&A with master animator Michel Gagne, part 2. Another in a series for fans and Furries.

by Patch O'Furr

TSOR_cover_700hgtDogpatch Press interview series:  Artists, animation directors, DJ’s and event organizers, superfans, and more…

Animator Michel Gagne talked about his movie, The Saga of Rex, in Part 1.  In Part 2, he says more about the movie and his overall career.  He also says that his 2004 Anthrocon Guest of Honor experience is the only Furry experience he’s had.  But there’s plenty of reasons to consider him a fan and inspiration to things we also love…

Michel Gagne Q&A, Part 2

 

(Patch) – Will the movie stick closely to the Saga of Rex graphic novel, or are you playing with adaptation?  

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September 30, 2014

Q&A with master animator Michel Gagne, part 1. Another in a series for fans and Furries.

by Patch O'Furr

Dogpatch Press interview series:  Artists, animation directors, DJ’s and event organizers, superfans, and more…

This week, animator Michel Gagne gets a two-part interview.  (Part 2 here.)  You may have seen his work on movies for Don Bluth, Warner, or Pixar.  He was Guest of Honor at Anthrocon 2004. In 2012, Kickstarter backers pledged $57,875 towards his own animated movie, The Saga of Rex. The result was a 4:00 teaser, released in 2013 as progress towards the Rex movie.  

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September 5, 2014

Interview series: Movie directors, animators, artists, event builders, superfans, and more.

by Patch O'Furr

Creators and Doers make a subculture thrive. Whether they build it from grassroots – or feed it from outside with stuff that furries like – they have valuable words to say.  I didn’t plan to build a collection of interviews – it grew naturally from one. It will get updated often.  Let’s start with a great top example:

Michel Gagne is one of the giants of the animation world. You may have seen his work on movies for Don Bluth, Warner, Pixar, and more. He was Guest of Honor at Anthrocon 2004. In 2012, Kickstarter backers pledged $57,875 towards his own animated movie, The Saga of Rex. The result was a 4:00 teaser video, released in 2013 as progress towards producing the Rex movie.  What’s he up to since then?

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Video | May 1, 2014

Did Ke$ha rip off the Furry video of this indie rapper?

by Patch O'Furr

In 2012, I helped MC Crumbsnatcher and crew from San Francisco’s local art scene make his Furry music video for his song, Let’s Get to Humpin’. I’m the Husky fursuit dancer, and I hooked up some of the background dancers with Bunnywarez costumes on a shoestring budget. (Paying a costume maker in strings isn’t easy, let me tell you.)

Crumbsnatcher met Ke$ha, and gave her some of his work. A few months later, her own “Furry” video was released… and Crumbsnatcher claims it’s suspiciously influenced by his work. At the 3:40 mark, you get a minute of comparison. This is NSFW for dirty gay lyrics and sexy dancing.

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March 7, 2013

Opinion: Indie web series ‘Fursona Files’ looks a little mangy

by Patch O'Furr

Flayrah News, 3/7/2013:

I haven’t seen this shared around until I noticed it on the Bay Area Furries mailing list.

Admit One Productions presents – Fursona… A SNEAK PEEK from Courtney James.

(EDIT: video down, try here.)

According to their website:

What’s your Fursona? Thats [sic] the million dollar question asked in this fast paced black comedy web series about the adventures of Virginia Blake – a successful investigative journalist – who is writing an expose on the FURRY underworld to save her tarnished career!

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