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Goodbye 2011… Hello Awards Season!

Dec 31st, 2011
by rodney.
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As we wish you all a happy, healthy, and creative New Year in 2012, it’s time to start thinking about what we’re going to award from 2011! Besides the Oscars and the Annie Awards (which many of us follow closely), for Furry Fandom it’s time to start thinking about the annual Ursa Major Awards, the anthro-fan’s answer to the Hugo Awards ™ from science fiction fandom. Nominations for 2011 are open to any and all, and they open on January 12th. If you visit the Ursa Major Awards web site, you’ll find the Recommended Anthropomorphics Reading and Viewing List for you to peruse, listing some of the many interesting items of anthropomorphic interest that came about in 2011.  Like what?  Well… movies like Rango, Rio, Puss in Boots, and Kung Fu Panda 2… TV series like Thundercats, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic… books and stories by authors like Kyell Gold, Alflor Aalto, MCA Hogarth, and Paul Kidd…  plus comics, games, artwork, and a brand new category for Best Anthropomorphic Web Site. All this and much much  more! But remember: An item does NOT need to be on the Recommended List for  you and your friends to nominate it for an Ursa Major Award. It just needs to be Furry! [Check the web site for how the Ursa Majors define that!] After the the nominations are tabulated, the voting will begin this spring — followed by the Ursa Major Awards presentation at CaliFur in Southern California this June.  Remember, last year more than 1,000 fans world wide took part in the voting.  Help to make that number even bigger in 2012!

image c. 2011 ALAA / Heather Bruton

Anthroview

Sep 27th, 2011
by rodney.
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Anthroview is a brand-new furry-themed magazine created by long-time fan Summercat. According to the web site it’s “dedicated to providing reviews and articles relevant to the Furry Fandom” and “will be reviewing artwork galleries, stories, animations, comics, costuming, games – anything and everything made for the furry fandom by the furry fandom”. Issues are going to be available in both electronic and traditional print formats. The first issue will be premiering this week at Antheria in California. Flayrah has an interview with Summercat discussing his plans and aspirations for the new magazine.

Furry, the Film

May 2nd, 2011
by rodney.
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Lindsey Batdorf is a student at Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, completing her degree in Digital Film-Making. Recently she completed her thesis film, called Furry. It tells the story of a college student and furry fan, who attempts to explain himself to his friends, fellow students, and his would-be girlfriend. According to the director, “This film is intended to shed a positive light on the furry fandom while also poking some fun at it as well. If you like it, thank you! If you don’t like it for whatever reason, you are entitled to your opinion. Can’t please everyone!” Lindsey has a trailer for the completed film up on Vimeo. Unfortunately, she can’t post the entire film on-line, due to college restrictions, but she says it will be showing up at various film festivals in the near future.

More Furries Voting!

Apr 24th, 2011
by rodney.
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Voting has closed for the 2011 Ursa Major Awards, celebrating all your favorite furry stuff from 2010. Can’t tell you who won yet — that’ll be announced at a special awards ceremony at Morphicon, taking place May 12th through 15th in Columbus, Ohio. Definitely looks as if there will be some surprises though! We can tell you that this year over 1,300 fur fans from around the world took part in voting for their favorite furry-themed movies, TV series, comic strips, games, and more. That’s a growth of more than 200 voters from last year! As usual, visit the Ursa Major Awards web site to find out more about the award winners and nominees, past and present.

Time to Cast Your Vote!

Mar 15th, 2011
by rodney.
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The Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Association (ALAA) has announced the nominees for the 2011 Ursa Major Awards, celebrating the best anthropomorphic offerings of 2010. “More formally known as the Annual Anthropomorphic Literature and Arts Awards, the Ursa Major Awards are presented annually for excellence in the furry arts. They are intended as Anthropomorphic (a.k.a. Furry) Fandom’s equivalent of the Hugo Awards (presented by the World Science Fiction Society), mystery fandom’s Anthony Awards, horror fandom’s Bram Stoker Awards, and so forth” [from the Ursa Majors web site]. And so, the nominees in ten categories are:

 

Best Anthropomorphic Motion Picture (Live-action or animated feature-length movies):
Alpha and Omega, from Lionsgate
How To Train Your Dragon, from Dreamworks Animation
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, from Village Roadshow Pictures and Warner Brothers
Toy Story 3, from Walt Disney Pictures and Dreamworks Animation
The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader, from Walden Media and 20th Century Fox

Best Anthropomorphic Dramatic Short Work or Series (TV series, one-shots, advertisements, or short videos):
Adventure Time, from Pendleton Ward and Cartoon Network
Foxy Bingo, ad campaign produced for Foxy Bingo
Mongrels, from BBC Three
Orangina Naturally, ad campaign produced by Gorgeous Enterprises for Orangina
The Regular Show, from Cartoon Network
Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention, from Aardman Animations and BBC One

Best Anthropomorphic Novel (Written works of 40,000 words or more):
Basecraft Cirrostratus by Justin Lamar
Descent by Phil Geusz
Otters In Space by Mary Lowd
Save The Day by D. J. Fahl
The Seventh Chakra by Kevin Frane
Shadow of the Father by Kyell Gold

Best Anthropomorphic Short Fiction (Stories less than 40,000 words, poetry, and other short written works):
Bridges by Kyell Gold
False Dawn by Kyell Gold
Felis Ex Machina by E. O. Costello
Gerty and the Doesn’t-Smell-Like-a-Melon by Mary E. Lowd
The Peculiar Quandary of Simon Canopus Artyle by Kevin Frane

Best Anthropomorphic Other Literary Work (Story collections, comic collections, graphic novels, non-fiction works, and convention program books):
Furpiled #4 by Leo Magna
Different Worlds, Different Skins, edited by Will A. Sanborn
Iron Claw Bestiary by Chris Goodwin
i.s.o. #1 by Vince Suzukawa
Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris

Best Anthropomorphic Graphic Story (Comic books and serialised online stories):
Concession by Immelmann
Furthia High by QuetzaDrake
Cruelty by Rukis
Lackadaisy by Tracy J. Butler
Twokinds by Tom Fischbach

Best Anthropomorphic Comic Strip (Newspaper-style strips, including those with ongoing arcs):
Broken Plot Device by Lis Boriss
Faux Pas by Robert and Margaret Carspecken
Little Tales by Genesis Eve Whitmore
Housepets! by Rick Griffin
Sandra and Woo by Powree and Oliver Knörzer

Best Anthropomorphic Magazine (Professional magazines, amateur zines, fanzines, internet-only magazines):
Anthropomorphic Dreams Podcast, by Will A. Sanborn
Heat, published by Sofawolf
New Fables, edited by Tim Susman
South Fur Lands, edited by Bernard Doove
Tales of the Tai-Pan Universe, edited by Gene Breshears

Best Anthropomorphic Published Illustration (Illustrations and cover art for books, magazines, convention program books; coffee table portfolios):
Big Red: Lady Sings the Blues by Richard Bartrop (Midwest Fur Fest program book illo)
Cenotaph by Susan Rankin-Pollard (Spontoon Island fanzine illo)
The Seventh Chakra (cover) by Kamui
Shadow of the Father (cover) by Sara Palmer
New Fables Summer 2010 (cover) by Mary Mouse

Best Anthropomorphic Game (Computer or console games, role-playing games, board games):
Disney Epic Mickey, from Junction Point Studios and Disney Interactive Studios
Furry Basketball Association (on-line roleplaying game)
Rocket Knight, from Climax Studios and Konami
Sam & Max: Season 3, Episode 1: The Penal Zone, from Telltale Games
Sonic Colors, from Dimps and Sega

 

Voting for the 2011 Ursa Major Awards will be open until April 17th. To find out how to cast your vote, visit the web site at www.ursamajorawards.org. Also, check out the Ursa Major Awards Live Journal to see links to some great examples from each of the nominees.

Ursa Major Nominations Open!

Feb 4th, 2011
by rodney.
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Here we are in a new year, and once again it’s time for all the Furry Fans out there to nominate their favorite movies, books, comics, TV shows and more from the previous year for the annual Ursa Major Awards — Furry Fandom’s answer to the Hugo Awards ™ from Science Fiction Fandom, the Anthony Awards from Mystery Fandom, and so forth. In other words, these are the people’s choice awards, where the fans themselves get to pick out the best from all the material released in the previous year — in this case, January to December, 2010. Last year, more than 1,000 fans around the world voted on the best anthropomorphic media from 2009, and the Ursa Majors hope to top that record this year. Get involved! Visit the Ursa Major Awards web site to find out about how to nominate your favorites. Don’t remember all the great movies, books, video games, art, or whatever that came out in 2010? Fear not! The Ursa Major web site provides a handy Recommended Reading and Viewing List to help jog your memory. (Just keep in mind: Things don’t have to be on the Rec List to be nominated. It’s just there to help you think of things). Nominations are open now in each of 10 categories, and they close at the end of February. Then the actual voting will begin in March. The awards themselves will be handed out at a lucky Furry Fandom convention this summer.

Welcome to 2011… Let’s Award 2010!

Jan 1st, 2011
by rodney.
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It’s another new year, and once again it’s time to take a look back at the year before… and decide what we really liked about it, from the point of view of Furry Fandom.  The Ursa Major Awards are the furry fans’ answer to the Hugo Awards ™ from science fiction fandom, the Bram Stoker Awards from horror fandom, and so forth. In other words, these are the awards the people choose themselves, celebrating the best of what we have to offer — in this case, anthropomorphic characters and their creators. Every year hundreds of furry fans the world over take part in nominating and awarding their favorite furry games, comic books, comic strips, artwork, TV series and shorts, movies, and more. The first step is what’s called The Recommended List.  This is just a reminder of what cool furry-themed pieces came out in the qualifying year — in this case, 2010, January to December. We’ve reviewed numerous items over the last year on this very web page, and most if not all of them could qualify for the awards — if you, the fans, nominate them. So visit the Ursa Major Awards web site and add your favorite items to the The Recommended List.  Remember though, the List is not a nomination — it’s just a reminder of things that exist, sort of a “Fur Your Consideration” listing if you will. Proper nominations begin this spring, and the awards themselves will be handed out at a furry convention this summer.

Christmas: A Time for Reflection

Dec 25th, 2010
by rodney.
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Merry Christmas, Blessed Solstice, Joyful Kwanzaa, and in general Happy Holidays to all of you. And of course, good wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year.

For those looking to learn more about Furry Fandom, or perhaps just to see what some folks think, you might want to look at Furries — An Inside Look, a new student film by Curt Pehrson that’s up on Vimeo. Here’s his description: “This documentary gives an inside perspective on the strange and interesting subculture known as the furry fandom. Filmed at Midwest Furfest 2010, a major furry convention, the fandom is explained by furries in their own words. This project was both a personal and an academic undertaking. The concept and production was my own, but I also got college credit for producing it, as an independent study at Bradley University.” The film has, needless to say, sparked a lively debate in the fandom already. Check it out at Vimeo and join in the discussion.

Furries on the Radio?

Sep 2nd, 2010
by rodney.
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In Southern California there is a mixed-format radio station, 93.1 FM, which is part of the Jack FM franchise. It’s an automatic station with no DJ’s that plays no requests. The station’s official slogan is “Playing What We Want”. Recently, this bumper appeared between songs on the station: “Just like being a Furry or canning your own tomatoes, playing what we want is a way of life”. Wow.

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