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.
Furry Fandom
Christmas: A Time for Reflection
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?
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.
Teens with Tails
The artist known as Mistystriker has posted a link to the Australian teen magazine Dolly. In the October 2009 issue, they are running a cover article (!) called “Super Furry Animals”. The tag-line reads: “These teens are taking the term ‘party animal’ to a WHOLE new level.” With several full-color pictures from Anthrocon 2009 (and several other sources), the article describes how a Dolly writer (along with a furry fandom friend) “snuck” into Anthrocon to have a look around. (Of course, they interviewed con chair Uncle Kage for the article, so it couldn’t have been much of a sneak!) The writer marvels at how much fun everyone seemed to be having, and the general silly atmosphere — in a good way. All in all a much more positive article than many we’ve seen of late. You can see the October 2009 Dolly cover here, and the pages of the article here, here, and here. Side note: It seems that the British teen magazine Sugar has run the exact same article, with the same pictures! Well now, that’s efficient…!
Furverts
Your ed-otter, dutifully passing it along here…
The book is called Furverts, by Michael Cogliantry (in hardcover, from Chronicle Books). This is from amazon.com: “Birds do it bees do it but no one does it like furries do it. Long an underground cult phenomenon, furries—people who dress up in furry animal costumes and role play—have gone global, holding conventions where furries from around the world can meet and mingle. Photographer Michael Cogliantry captures the kinky intimate side of the furry subculture—an elephant and a donkey a chicken and a fox caught in flagrante delicto. The playful board-book format opens with a peek-a-boo ring of fur on the cover inviting the reader into the ‘illicit’ and hysterically funny world of furverts.” Oh, lordy lordy lordy…
