San Francisco Bay Area Furries are fluffing up for this weekend’s party. It’s the kind of subcultural crossover that makes this place Furry Mecca. (Except when Pittsburgh takes the title once a year.) Organizer Neonbunny says:
We did this a couple of years ago, and it was a ton of fun. We’ll have a space for fursuiters only, so we won’t have to worry about drag queens wondering what happens when glitter is combined with industrial fans. I do hope you’ll join us!
Frolic @ Bootie Saturday, January 30th, 9pm – 3:30am (room runs until 2am). DNA Lounge, 375 11th St, San Francisco. 21+.
The coming 2016 Furpocalypse is getting ridiculous: Netflix announces “Mascots” movie, from famed mockumentary maker Christopher Guest.
Brace yourselves, Disney’s Zootopia is coming. Now this: a grade-A Hollywood director is tackling “fursploitation”, my catch-all genre that has many mediocre failures and just a few sparkling hits (like CollegeHumor’s Furry Force.) Chris Guest is famous for popularizing “mockumentary” with movies like This Is Spinal Tap and Best In Show. His “Mascots” will be on Netflix in 2016. There’s little info about it yet except a very short summary:
Welcome to all the drama, intrigue and occasional excitement of the 8th World Mascot Association Championships, where a group of ‘unusual’ men and women, with big heads and furry suits, compete to win the prestigious Gold Fluffy Award and be crowned best mascot in the world.
Was Furry fandom turned into a freakshow against it’s will in the 1990’s?
Did the founders of ConFurence, the first Furry convention, run an ad in a “gay lifestyle magazine” that ruined everything?
This rumor has circulated for 18 years, but nobody has ever shown a supposed ad. Now, one Furry made the effort to dig up an obscure, rare 1997 publication, to show what’s really in it!
“Furry Pride” is redundant when you’re a talking animal. There’s no way you can’t strut your stuff, turn heads and light up a crowd with smiles. But when furries AT Pride join other groups with a bigger mission, it puts the magic where it most belongs – in a fabulous show – and makes a good cause better.
“Silicon Valley Pride has reached out to me as they would love to have fursuiters at the pride festival, August 30th. They will have a changing tent available, and can offer free admission for suiters that RSVP in advance.
The other person who they reached out to, who’s coordinating things right now, is Lani B. She’s pretty active in the South Bay cosplay scene, and they’ve reached out to her to get cosplayers to go as well. (Anime/comic type costuming stuff). Her email is dynamiccosplaycouple@gmail.com and she’s on facebook here.
The San Francisco Pride parade may be the premiere event for LGBT culture. It’s popular among the SF Bay Area Furries, so in 2015, their show-stealing presence in front of a million viewers made a standout event for the whole furry subculture. But it was far from the only one. (Expect a chat soon with Uncle Kage, about Anthrocon’s awesome accomplishments in 2015.) In fact, theirs wasn’t even the only Furry statement at Pride events around the world. Competition came from an unexpected place – Knoxville, Tennessee. Read the rest of this entry »
(Arrkay:) “This week we are “Ctrl:F’d.” Culturally F’d looks at furries and the history of the internet.
The episode was later than expected for 2 reasons: 1) I was hosting a Drag Party (Howl Toronto‘s “Fierceness Party”,) where I recorded footage to feature soon where we discuss the commonalities of fursuiting and drag queens. 2) It’s our longest episode so far, and will probably be the longest of the season!
As Michael from VSauce recently pointed out, on the internet, no one know’s if you’re a dog. This meme was originally from the July 5, 1993 edition of the New Yorker. No group on the internet holds this adage more closely than furries.
MUDs, MUCKs, and early chat rooms made Furry visible in the first online communities of the 1980’s and 90’s. That happened before computers were widely accessible, and even before the mega-infrastructure of the internet was built. This aspect of the fandom grew largely from colleges and universities, equipped with online connections and computers that were still far too expensive for home-use.
Of course this happened in San Francisco – “Furry Mecca”. (Sorry, Pittsburgh… you can borrow that title for one weekend a year, but you have to give it back.)
Andrew WK’s Pizza Party was planned for July 3. Furries called up the venue, 1015 Folsom, and arranged to be part of the show. The show managers went out of their way to accommodate fursuiters and help them change. There was a strong turnout for such an awesome happening.
Pittsburgh has always been a welcoming, accepting city for this fandom, and here’s to hoping it continues for this year’s Anthrocon. If you happen to see one of these NORMAL people in incredible costumes walking the streets of Pittsburgh, don’t be afraid to say hello.
Ad campaign with “Furries” ad found in copywriter’s portfolio.
A few months ago, this article got thousands of views – Mainstream advertising: “More and more, Furries are being hinted at in marketing media!” One of the ads for Mini in San Francisco had a provocative mention of Pride month and Furries. I didn’t know much of the context, until I found the entire campaign with brief comment from the writer . Many ads are in it, but he uses the Furries one as cover image. He captioned it: “Staying current on local events is key to showcasing our understanding of SF.” It would have been amusing to hear the copywriter’s pitch. I sent a few questions about the reaction, but sadly he didn’t reply. It’s good to know that furries have street cred.
Nasty little mockery of “furries” on Orange Is The New Black TV show.
Gay marriage just became legal across the USA. Even if you have no plan to get one, it’s a big deal. People of a few generations ago thought we’d have flying cars before this happened. The writer of “Furry Force” says:
It was already going to be one whopper of a party. But with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry fresh off the presses, Sunday’s Pride Parade in San Francisco became a rainbow-colored, joyous celebration for the ages.
Headlines, links and little stories to make your tail wag. Tips are always welcome.
____________________________
Media and Fandom News
_____________________________
The Animation Show of Shows: There’s no better source for artistic animation, and they need support.
This touring show presents the best of the best in the world of short films, by the most talented directors. It’s ordinarily only seen by invite at top movie studios (your Pixars and so forth), and at colleges, with special public access to those who hear through word of mouth. You may not have heard of it, because it’s been a personal project funded by one amazing guy, Ron. (He also runs Acme Filmworks, who directed a good couch gag for The Simpsons.)
I don’t ordinarily post crowd funding (too much to cover!) Leave that to awesome Furry journalist Corbeau at Furstarter. (We need more “furry news” specialists.) This is just an exceptional cause. If you like animation, don’t miss it.
Through this show, I discovered the hilarious short, Flamingo Pride. It shows what happens to the only heterosexual flamingo at the birds celebration. It’s almost as fabulous as the San Francisco Bay Furries will be this weekend, in the SF Pride parade.
On June 28, San Francisco Pride is going to be awesome for furries!
The Bay Area Furries are all ready to march in the parade. Pride is the height of street fair season in “Furry Mecca”. It’s one of the most loved activities for an active section of the community. 2014 was the first Furry appearance in the parade since 2005. They had attendance of 50+, and TV coverage with a million-strong audience. RSVP’s are 25% stronger than last year, with days left to grow. Two leaders got the event organized, despite unavailability of an important third from last year.
Califur visited by television naturalist Figgy Dobbs.
San Francisco Bay Area Furries are fluffing up for this weekend’s party. It’s the kind of subcultural crossover that makes this place Furry Mecca. (Except when Pittsburgh takes the title once a year.) Organizer Neonbunny says:
