What?!- – Say it ain’t so! Progressive Insurance’s Jamie in cahoots with bank robbers, and ones wearing cat masks, to boot? Well, Jamie is the eternal innocent, and when he signed on to be a wheelman, he didn’t understand that title to mean an escape car driver. Rather, wheelman is an old family name for Jamie..it’s Irish!
So when three cat animal-headed robbers make a hasty exit from the bank, Jamie cheerfully asks them if they’ve gotten their banking done.Unfortunately for the robbers, Jamie’s in no hurry to burn rubber leaving, either.He pulls out slowly, almost immediately stopping at a stop sign where he times the stop by counting 1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, etc.Jamie deals with their befuddlement by sharing that he has Progressive’s “Snapshot” feature, which rewards good, but not speedy drivers. These robbers are screwed…
And I guess that you could saythat these were cat burglars. I envy them their masks…
Dean Winters in his Allstate commercials effectively does a remarkable range of impersonations of objects, types of people, and to my interest, animals. In recent memory he has portrayed a raccoon, large breed puppy, bear, and my personal fave, a cat! Remarkably, he channels all of these creatures with little or no makeup, and often while wearing a suit. He doesn’t require a costume or prosthetics, rendering his minimalist but spot-on impressions by posture, actions, and attitude…
…and so equally masterful is Winters’ impression of a wild deer, emerging from a wooded area chewing on a leaf. He comes to a road, musing “What is thisthing?” as he freezes on that surface, because that’s what deer do. Transfixed by the headlights of an approaching car, Winters as deer is thrown up onto the vehicle before landing on the pavement before it, leaving vehicular damage in his wake…
Winters is not a dead deer, however, continuing to address us scuffed up while lying on the road surface. Heck, Mayhem is nigh about indestructible. And if you had Allstate insurance, you might save some bucks, and be saved from Mayhem…like him! 🙀
Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m the Grinch…of Mt. Crumpit!” – -(to the tune of, “Sympathy for the Devil,” by The Rolling Stones)
Atthis time of year, my thoughts turn naturally to The Grinch. He was, after all, a furry, and like many of us, misunderstood and much-maligned. Max was a furry too, an anthropomorphic dog, loyal and obedient to his master, even if the Ego to the Grinch’s Id.Max I suspect actually liked Xmas, and probably would have affectionately licked any Whos that he came across…
Now, can you imagine being visibly different as a child, then banished to lonely exile on the foreboding heights of Mt. Crumpit? As Kermit the Frog memorably lamented, “It’s not easy being green!”
Is there not, I say, a little bit of the pre-redemptive Grinch in all of us? Who of us has not had dark thoughts after being exposed to Xmas carols and commercials since Halloween? I mean, how many times can you suffer hearing “I Want A Hippopotamus for Xmas” before you utterly lose it?! 🙀
And let’s face it, The Whos were annoying in their relentless cheerfulness. They represented the overkill aspects of Xmas, and holding us all up to an impossible celebratory standard. Clearly, they needed taken down a few pegs, an infusion of Grinchiness…
Even pre-redemptively, The Grinch had some remarkable qualities. He was a survivor, a strong if solitary spirit who was a master strategist and a genius inventor with many skills, kind of the Wile E. Coyote of Xmas characters. His Road Runner was the Xmas overkill that is everywhere at this time of year. I submit to you that The Grinch was a cultural warrior, a tragic hero who only wanted peace and sanity, and perhaps a little Who Hash…
So respect and honor The Grinch, who meant well but whose reach exceeded his grasp. I shall celebrate The Mean One in my heart always, and save him a generous slice of roast beast…🦊
Drama Queens (and Kings, let’s be honest) are just about everywhere on the internet. You can barely enter a forum without encountering at least one, and they are easy to “trigger.” So it is appropriate that Dramamine has unveiled a spokes-animal that is an actual drama-llama, trying to get Rachel nervous about an upcoming flight…
…walking with her, the drama llama reminds the air traveler that she got nauseous during a previous flight, that the flight may get bumpy, and that she has a middle seat. But when Rachel whips out her box of Dramamine, the llama audibly gasps, stands back as the jet door closes, and tells the passenger that he or she is gonna wait right there!
Although the llama’s voice sounds male, if female would the drama llama be a momma? And at night time, would she be a drama llama in pajamas? Inquiring minds wanna know…
So if you see a drama llama, don’t feed it unless with Dramamine…and don’t confuse a drama lama with an emo alpaca, either… 🦊
This commercial for Mountain Dew blew me away…totally! It’s definitely furry-friendly. Three persons figure in it. A guy is working on his computer in a large office. He stares at his complexion on his monitor, and he is reptilian. A young womanin a diner happens to stare out the window, and sees her reflection as an exotic bird. A third guy is throwing out garbage in an alley, looks up, and sees his image as feline. This furry trio has gotta do the town, and they do!
We see these guys individually and collectively, the reptile viewing his reflection in an elevator glass and the big cat viewing his paw appendages. They go places, too, like a pool hall, making a fine entrance and getting admiring glances. The reptilian is shown performing in some kind of trendy club, playing to a receptive audience. Two of them are shown in an off-road vehicle.There’s no stopping these guys as they make the world their own in their idealized furry forms…
So enjoy…I think that someone out there in commercial-land finally understands the furry experience, and the inner self!And I’d drink a boatload of Mountain Dew if it would transform me… 🦊
Unto you, good readers, I show my inner self. Halloween’s here, a time that I relish more than Xmas. Let us rejoice and be glad in it with a few things that may help you get into the spirit of the season, one that is all too brief but precious in its brevity…
From Michael Jackson’s Halloween Special of several years ago (2017) we bring you Jim Parsons (best known as Sheldon Cooper) voicing Hay Man, and channeling the dance moves of Michael Jackson, complete with a back-up cast of animals that include foxes!What could be more appropriate than some foxes bustin’ some serious moves, because we’re feral, ‘ya see…because we’re bad…because we’re dangerous!
Yes, I’m an unabashed Halloween freak! I adore it, and resist all pressures to “outgrow” the holiday. One does not “outgrow” Halloween…it grows on you, and within you.- -Xmas spirit?- -I nurture the spirit of Halloween! I think that my enjoyment of horror gives me my dosage of Halloween year-round. It’s like a nutritional requirement for me, really…
We animal-spirits are a natural for Halloween, too. We can all draw inspiration from cats. Mine are daily trying to become more human, while I’m trying to become more like them. Perhaps we could meet in the middle…
Yes, Halloween has some dark elements, but it’s also a celebration, a kind of restorative reaching within yourself to validate and liberate what might be there. We need to kick back a bit against the bonds of civilization. This can be a cathartic experience, which ties in nicely with the furry fandom, which is communal but also intensely individual. We are never more free than when we embrace our inner animal…
So enjoy your Halloween, and carry a bit of it in your heart all-year round. I know that I do… 🦊
It’s daunting to deal with the Netflix series Stranger Things in a single post because of the scope and complexity of it. For those unfamiliar with it, suffice it to say that the series is a science fiction/horror delight, and it doesn’t get much sweeter than this!
Stranger Things might be compared to the works of Stephen King blended through The X-Files and run through Buffy the Vampire Slayer, though the comparison is inadequate. If watching the series, begin with Season 1 Episode 1, or it will seem incomprehensible. You may think you’re watching a kid’s series at first as the protagonists are all pre-teens initially, but hang in…
The Duffer brothers who created the series set it in the sleepy Indiana town of Hawkins in the 1980’s, where the government has been conducting secret unethical experiments on children with psychic powers, kinda like human lab rats. One of them, named Eleven as her subject number, has awesome psychic powers, and is at the heart of the show…psychokinesis and remote viewing are among her talents. Raised in a lab, Eleven initially shows a lack of language training, conventional education, and even human contact, but is a fast study...
And it gets stranger still, turning out that there’s kind of a portal to another dimension in the area called the Upside Down, through which monsters pass, and abduct people when it suits them. Some of the monsters closely parallel those of Dungeons and Dragons, such as the Demogorgon or Demo-dog…
There are other monsters jumping between dimensions, too, like the Mind-Flayer, which can possess people and assume a variety of forms. Those possessed can be referred to as the Flayed… 🙀
At the top of the food chain is Vecna, which sounds like an insurance company but who is actually another lab experiment gone terribly awry, and turned to the dark side. Once human, Vecna resembles someone who has been flayed and burned, and also possesses powerful psychokinetic powers, which leads to epic good-versus-evil battles with Eleven.
Soon to enter its fifth season, Stranger Things brings together science fiction, horror, and a little leavening humor in a rare combination, and is likely to hook you into its winning formula...
Werewolves on a train? – –Well, why not…it worked for snakes on a plane, and monsters and other nasties can be even more horrifying if their victims are somehow in a confined space with less chance to run or escape…
So take a British night train out of London, have it break down in a deep, dark forest infested by werewolves, and you’re set for some claustrophobic gory fun. Being British, however, this will be a proper train, complete with a tea cart girl dispensing tea and chicken sandwiches. There is a guard on duty, working a second shift but well-attired in a dress jacket, asking passengers for tickets…
Things start to go awry when the train hits a deer which clogs under the wheels, necessitating a stop where the investigating engineer becomes victim #1. Werewolves gradually approach and then infiltrate the train, which passengers progressively barricade. As the barricades are breached, the characters of passengers are revealed, and hand-to-hand combat becomes necessary with the werewolves, which to me rather resemble Yeti with upgraded dentition…these are humanoid werewolves, with not nearly enough hair and snout. I like a werewolf with a good muzzle, so I fault the creature design…
As the Nazis discovered, you can only push Brits so far, and in one memorable scene, a well-attired book-reading gentleman goes absolutely medieval on a werewolf’s head with a fire axe! Howl is recommended for moments of black humor such as this, and you can catch this 2015 film on Netflix or Utube…
Like many furries, I have a cheap fursuit, plus a full wearable head and a mask. They are all in shall I say the economy range, as that’s my budget. But what might be possible if you chose and could afford to throw over $15,000 into the creation of a stunningly realistic and detailed fursuit? The awesome results may be seen above…yes, that’s a suit, with a dude inside it!
The gentleman, identified only as Toko or in some locations Toco, chose to transform into a collie because of its size, the fact that it was his favorite dog, and also because he felt that a collie’s long hair would help to hide his human form.He hired the Japanese company Zeppet, known for creating sculptures and models for movies and commercials, to craft the suit. Creation of it took 40 days as numerous fittings and adjustments were made to get the best look and fit…
Now Toko-san as one might expect is somewhat limited in his movements while within the suit, and cannot move all of his limbs freely or excessively. But he is living the dream that he has had since childhood, and who are we to deny him that? The results are uncanny…
With Artificial Intelligence and robotics improving and growing exponentially, we are seeing more speculations about their evolving role in the future in the media and film. The question is, will we get lovable, benign intellectual androids like Star Trek’s Data, or Terminators that are our intellectual and physical superiors, and relentlessly intent on our destruction?
Until fairly recently with the notable exception of the robotic Maria in the 1927 film Metropolis, many androids were depicted as styled after males. That boy’s club was recently invaded by the arrival of M3gan in the movie, and Arisa in the Netflix series, Better than Us.
Now Arisa (above) was styled as an attractive young woman, and her intended marketing in this country was as a sentient companion and sex toy. Surprise, however…her origin was in China, where she was originally designed as a kill-bot! When her perceived adopted family is endangered, Arisa shifts instantly into that mode, neutralizing threats with extreme prejudice, and absorbing gunfire with only cosmetic damage…
M3gan (Model 3 Generative Android) is created by a brilliant robotics engineer as a playmate, teacher, and care provider for her niece when that girl’s parents die in a road accident. Standing about 4’ tall and resembling a 10-year-old girl, M3gan is intended to protect her charge from physical and emotional harm, but exceeds the limits of her programming and soon eliminates a dog, a neighbor, a bully of a peer, and eventually the CEO of the company who intends to merchandise her, performing a memorable and inhumanly lithe dance before she does so. It’s kind of a pre-slaughter celebratory thing, ‘ya see…and who can blame the girl, since the CEO is only getting what he deserves?!
So bring on the killer fem-bots! I confess to being in love with robots and androids since first laying eyes on Robby the Robot in Forbidden Planet….💕🦊
(…and so successful was M3gan that a sequel is in the works! Catch Better Than Us on Netflix, and M3gan on Amazon Prime Video…)
FOXSYLVANIA 
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