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Fur Suit

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.

Dinosaurs Rock… for Kids!

Our wonderful, wonderful weird world…

They’re a musical band called Hevisaurus. They’re a heavy metal band for children (wrap your brain around THAT concept for a moment) that is creating quite a stir in Finland. Why? Because live on stage and in their videos the band’s members dress up in full-body dinosaur costumes! And the kids have been eating it all up. Their first album Jurahevin Kuninkaat is a certified hit in Scandinavia, and several of the band’s videos (like this one and that one) are getting a lot of views on YouTube. One thing there is not a lot of (yet) is background information on the band, other than the fact that members of several well-known heavy metal acts (including Dio and Sonata Artica) play in the group. But who conceived this? And who designed and built the costumes? Inquiring furry fans want to know! Interestingly, it seems that the actors inside the costumes really ARE musicians and really DO play their instruments, at least live in concert. If you can navigate your way through the Finnish, you can check out their web site and MySpace page.

Hevisaurus pose!

Hevisaurus pose!

Hevisaurus rock!

Hevisaurus rock!

Start 2010 right… with a Kitty!

Arabian Dreams is a new, provocative fur-suit calendar for 2010, starring a spotted cat known as Dreamsong. Here’s the description from Zazzle.com: “Dreamsong, Tjiran princess from long ago, accompanies you on a thirteen-month journey into the world of ancient royalty through fourteen high-quality large-format, frameable prints with companions 2 the Ranting Gryphon and Alexander James Adams.” Now that’s some company for a cat to keep! Follow the link to see pictures from the calendar and purchase your own copy for $22.95. You’ll also find links there to purchase some interesting furry-themed t-shirts.

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…!

Primal Visions Design Studio

Once again, their web site says it best: “Primal Visions Design Studios specializes in high performance creature costumes and effects, with an emphasis on naturalistic animals. We make fine animal and creature masks, costumes and effects for stage, film, television, tradeshows and the occasional well-to-do eccentric.” They also make costume and weapon accessories for their fur-suit creations, and they have created a line of post cards and even calendar projects to help advertise what they do. Their gallery at www.primalvisions.com is extensive, so check out what they’ve done.

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…