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Housework Becomes Fun With Furries

Chortopia is the name of a new educational game and phone app created by Aurasync. It has one basic goal: To help parents motivate their young children to make a habit of completing their household chores by turning those chores into “advenchores”. Kids visit the magical land of Chortopia, where they meet a variety of anthropomorphic and mythical creatures who need the children’s help setting things right in the land — by the kids completing various household tasks, of course. After the advenchores are done, kids can “collect” the various characters they have helped out as friends who will help the kids win various games that are also part of the app. Chortopia is available now at the Apple App Store, but you can also visit the Chortopia web site to find out more about it and see some introductory videos from YouTube as well.

image c. 2016 Aurasync

image c. 2016 Aurasync

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From Out of the Toy Box

Robert X. Burden is an artist who has taken an unusual subject and really run with it. He paints complex, highly-detailed, collage-like but highly-ordered pictures based on classic toy action figures from movies and TV. As such, of course he paints a lot of science fiction subject matter. And yes that includes a lot of Furry subjects, like the Thundercats and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Visit his web site to see more of what he’s done — and spend some real time looking slowly through all the detail he puts in.

image c. 2016 by Robert X. Burden

image c. 2016 by Robert X. Burden

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Fighting Like…

Space Cats In Space! is the name of a new animated computer game, currently under development. They have a Kickstarter campaign in place to try and finance the next step in the process. “An advanced twin-stick shooter space epic, SpaceCats In Space! Follows the kingdom of Meowfyre’s rebellion against the dogs of the Grolich Empire. Bomber strikes, wingman assistance and RPG-like leveling are all tools at your disposal in the battle to stop Oberluft Kommandant Arnuld Von Schloss and the vast Grolich war machine. Featuring animated cutscenes and full voiceover to immerse you in a World War II inspired space battle of cats versus dogs!” This is not the most “serious-minded” of fighting games out there… if the title wasn’t a giveaway, check out the intro video at the Kickstarter page! (Also this is obviously more for “cat people”!) As we write this there is just over a month left in their current crowd-funding campaign.

image c. 2016 Robotic Potato

image c. 2016 Robotic Potato

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Cats, Dragons… and now Mice!

Alan F. Beck is an artist who created a series called The Mousopolitan Museum of Art — “classical portraits by the mice masters”. In other words, world-famous works of art re-imagined as anthropomorphic mice. He has also written a children’s book (available through Create Space) called The Adventures of Nogard and Jackpot, which details what happens when a young kitten hears a noise within the closet and discovers a baby dragon. Both of these (and many other items) are on display at the artist’s web site.

image c. 2016 b y Alan F. Beck

image c. 2016 b y Alan F. Beck

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One Flew Over Florida…

The Adventures of Pelican Pete: A Bird is Born is the title of a 1999 book for kids by Frances and Hugh Keiser. (She wrote it, he illustrated it.) “A story in rhyme about a pelican egg which hatches into curious young pete. To protect his head from the sun, his parents find a child’s cap for him to wear. The Adventures of Pelican Pete is an entertaining, educational resource with appropriate environmental values that is expressed visually with detailed art work in vivid coloring.” Much more recently, animator Dani Bowman hooked up with a young film-maker named Keaton Bicknell to create a live action/animated short film based on the book. Now it’s making the rounds at various film festivals, but you can also view this 2015 film on Vimeo.

image c. 2016 Sagaponack Books

image c. 2016 Sagaponack Books

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Return to Narnia?

Word is out that Tristar Pictures have (finally!) given the go-ahead to begin work on the 4th feature film adaptation of the Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis. Next up is The Silver Chair — in which Eustace Stubb and his new friend from school, Jill Pole, wind up traveling back to Narnia… tasked by the lion-god Aslan with helping to find Prince Caspian’s missing son.  As usual with any Narnia story, talking animals abound. In this case, that especially means owls! After the last two Narnia films (Prince Caspian from 2008 and Voyage of the Dawn Treader from 2010) met with less-than-spectacular results at the domestic box office, many began to wonder if any of the rest of the books would see the light of movies at all.  Looks like at least one of them will! We found this out from Famous Monsters of Filmland, of all places.  No word yet on a director, stars, or a planned release date for The Silver Chair.

image c. 2016 C.S. Lewis

image c. 2016 C.S. Lewis

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One Good Dragon

Here’s a book we missed from last year. J.C. Stevens is an author as well as an artist — she has displayed at various fan cons. As such she is both the writer and the illustrator of her first book, Dragon Lad. It’s published through her own imprint, Dragon’s Egg Books. “Hatched into a world where dragons are on the verge of extinction, Dorg seems the dragon least likely to succeed. A magic curse has left him the size of a sparrow in a time and place where dragons are merciless predators. And Dorg is not just tiny. He has a different heart and soul than the rest of the dragons. He wants to be friends with the other creatures in his world, not eat them. He even empathizes with the humans that those of his species loathe. At first, all Dorg wants to do is to end the curse so he can be like the other dragons. But as he sets out on that quest, he encounters both friends and enemies who make him realize that being a big, mean dragon isn’t what he wants at all.” Find out more at the official Dragon’s Egg web site.

image c. 2016 by J.C. Stevens

image c. 2016 by J.C. Stevens

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Spooky Little Boy Hangs With Monsters

“Well before he becomes the famed horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, young Howard Lovecraft is a curious and imaginative boy living with his mother while his father is locked away in Arkham Sanitarium. But after his mother unwittingly gives Howard the legendary Necronomicon, he is transported to a dangerous and frozen world populated by horrifying creatures. After saving and befriending one such creature – Spot – Howard and his new friend set off on a perilous quest to save the kingdom and get Howard home. But Howard soon finds out that not everything is as it seems and not everyone is to be trusted.” That’s the idea behind Howard Lovecraft and the Three Kingdoms, a series of graphic novels written by Bruce Brown — based on the actual life of Lovecraft himself — and illustrated by Renzo Podesta. Now the first of the three stores, Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom, has been adapted into a CGI animated film (directed by Sean O’Reilly and featuring the voices of Ron Perlman, Christopher Plummer, and Jane Curtin, among others) which is coming this September on DVD from Shout Factory. You can find the graphic novels at Amazon, and learn more about the movie at the official site.

image c. 2016 Shout Factory

image c. 2016 Shout Factory

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Yes, Yes, Birds and Bees…

Flydra Creative is a collection of animations students at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinematic Arts. Lead by Jabril Mack, their first production is a 6-minute pilot for a 2D funny animal comedy series called Bailey & Clark — featuring the adventures of a bee named Bailey and a penguin named Clark, along with their friends and frenemies. The animated pilot is up on YouTube, but there’s also an official Bailey & Clark web site where you can find out more about the pilot and more upcoming adventures.

image c. 2016 by Flydra Creative

image c. 2016 by Flydra Creative