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The 3D version will be in US theaters on 16 September, 2011.

The 3D version will be in US theaters on 16 September, 2011.

My Little Pony, My Little Pony, what will today's adventure be? Well, in Friendship is Magic: Story of the Blanks, a retro-NES experience by Donitz, Applebloom talks herself into going with Twilight Sparkle to deliver a package to the magician in the forest. But the woods are dark and scary, and you'll never know what you will find... Flowers? Friendship? Magic? Love? Diamonds? Candy? Who knows? You'll need a beautiful heart, faithful and strong, to make it to the end, but a little bit of magic should make it all complete.

My Little Pony, My Little Pony, what will today's adventure be? Well, in Friendship is Magic: Story of the Blanks, a retro-NES experience by Donitz, Applebloom talks herself into going with Twilight Sparkle to deliver a package to the magician in the forest. But the woods are dark and scary, and you'll never know what you will find... Flowers? Friendship? Magic? Love? Diamonds? Candy? Who knows? You'll need a beautiful heart, faithful and strong, to make it to the end, but a little bit of magic should make it all complete.

A vibrant green tree-dwelling lizard has surprised scientists with its mental prowess by succeeding in a problem solving test.

The maternal ancestors of modern polar bears were from Ireland, according to a DNA study of ancient brown bear bones.

The maternal ancestors of modern polar bears were from Ireland, according to a DNA study of ancient brown bear bones.

There's a good chance this will be pulled down by the powers that be pretty soon, so enjoy it while it lasts. More than nine minutes of footage from Cartoon Network's Thundercats reboot has made its way online, our first lengthy look at the new version of one of the best afterschool cartoons of the late 1980s.

Magi-Cam spies an American Black Bear with her 8 month old cubs. As the family are not aware that they are being watched, the camera is able to pick up some fantastic new images of Bears at rest. Narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

A small selection of my essay on New York City fursuiters was recently published in China’s Vision magazine in the May 2010 issue.

Earlier this month, I offered one young female journalist $100 to write a guest post for this blog. Out of nearly 50 story pitches, I chose Lauren Rae Orsini, 24, a Washington, DC-based multimedia journalist, geek blogger, and web designer who covers anime, geekdom, and fandom. Lauren isn’t waiting on a journalism job to tell her unique stories; this new media journalist is doing it herself.

I just served three men their dinners, and now they want me to pose. My feet hurt from waiting tables all day, but I respect their wishes and curtsy in my ruffled petticoat. One man takes his camera out and I have to remind him that photos are a dollar. He hands me a sweaty bill and asks if he can be in the photo, too. I straighten my cat ears and stretch my face into a smile.

The Pets have come from around the world to New York City to live their dream, and take a chance at becoming the next "International Icon". Each one has a unique vision of who they are as artists and their passion and desire for fame drive them towards their goal. They discover that it takes more than raw individual talent to make it in the music Industry. Their performances lack the Magical element that will make them famous.

In the finale group performance the crowds go wild, and although none of the pets are chosen for the individual prize, they are given the opportunity to complete for a spot on the "Warped Tour". They decide to hit the road and write some music on the way to Los Angeles for the Battle of the Bands competition. They have always been outcasts, rejected by their communities, but now in the band they have found their new and slightly dysfunctional family. The Punky Pets adventure begins as they set out on their American Tour.

Walking, Talking Animals

Furries are a group of people who identify themselves, to varying degrees, as anthropomorphic animals instead of as humans. Mainstream coverage of their culture has characterized the community poorly, and as such the furry fandom, as it's called, has been reticent to go on the record in recent years. For many furries, the culture is an inherently sexual one, but for others, being a furry isn't about sexual expression at all. Furries find outlet for the identity by working as masoctos or children's entertainers or by making fursuits for others. Furriness is as much about performance as it is about the self. By the very nature of fursuiting--that is, of dressing up as walking, talking animals--the fandom is not taken seriously. The pictures in this series take an objective look at the lives of a small number of furries in New England, examining the community and individuals at a personal level.

"I don't drink coffee, I don't eat seafood and I make movies," asked local filmmaker Chris Diani of his Seattle residency, drinking a Coke at the Five Point, "What am I doing here?"
He kids. Seattle has been great to him. Diani moved to Seattle in about 1993, immersing himself in the local theater scene. Eventually he moved onto film, making the beloved gay zombie B-movie throwback Creatures from the Pink Lagoon. He likes grilled cheese sandwiches and sweater vests.

But that's not what we met to talk about. That would be furries. Yes, those furries. For his second feature film, classic film fan Diani is going from making a self-described "campy mix of classic B horror flicks and pre-Stonewall gay melodramas" (Creatures) to Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits, which he envisions as a throwback to the classic screwball comedies of the 30s and 40s. Think The Palm Beach Story with fursuits (and without the hunting subplot, because that would be unfortunate).

It goes something like this: there's a gay couple who are both broke artists. They break up to find sugar daddies, and one does! But when he goes to meet said sugar daddy at a hotel, little does he realize that his sugar daddy is a furry, and the hotel is hosting a furry convention. The hotel is also hosting a lightning strike victim convention (a real thing, for those not familiar) -- and because the boyfriend's best friend has been banned from said conventions and is desperate to get in, she bankrolls an epic quest to go win back our hero's heart.

But Diani swears the furries are not the butts of any jokes. Diani himself, although not a furry in the truest sense of the word, has been getting his fuzzy wuzzy sea legs wearing fursuits around Capitol Hill trying to spread the word about his fundraising project. He says he's gained some degree of understanding.

"It takes a lot of commitment to maintain your character," he explains. Not only are the suits hot as hell, but "there's this convention in the furry fandom that if you don't have a fursuit with a moving jaw, you shouldn't speak when you have your head on. So I've adopted that, and I've definitely become one of those voice-free furries... [it] adds to the mystique."

Not being able to speak is the least of his worries -- there's been a lot of pointing and grabbing, and someone even outright decked him once. But it's all been a learning experience.

"I would never presume to make a movie about furries -- it's like making a movie about gays," explains Diani, "there's no way anyone could ever make a movie about blank. But I'm trying to make a fun movie about a few characters that happen to be furries where the backdrop happens to be a furry convention... it's good fun. I went to Rainfurrest last year, the local furry convention, and you know, I had a blast."

Aside from his hands-on understanding, Diani sees parallels to how the LGBT community is treated in film, despite some of the "all caps replies" he gets from furries on Twitter. "Furries are often in a film as a prop, or as random comedic relief," he says, citing Hot Tub Time Machine as a perfect example of such treatment, "Who is this character, where did it come from? There's absolutely no backstory whatsoever... so I mean, I completely understand people's trepidations. I'm with you."

Glad to see that my story on fursuiters in New York City has been published by Epsilon Magazine in Greece. The magazine took some liberties with the images, by applying a strange graphic trick without consulting me or my agency. Not too happy about that, but happy to see the story get out there, nonetheless.

Scientists in Australia have found the skeleton of a "giant wombat" which lived some two million years ago.

Running to save his life, Aldwyn, the street-wise orphan cat, ducks into a strange store. Moments later Jack, a young wizard-in-training, comes in to pick out his familiar – a magical animal companion. Aldwyn’s always been clever. But magical? Apparently Jack thinks so—and Aldwyn is happy to play along. Anything to get out of town!

Once home with Jack in Stone Runlet, Aldwyn thinks that he’s got it made—a life of ease with a boy who loves him. He just has to convince the other familiars—the know-it-all blue jay Skylar and the friendly tree frog Gilbert--that he’s the telekinetic cat he claims to be.

Then, after the sky lights up with an omen, the unthinkable happens. Jack and the other young wizards are captured by the evil queen of Vastia. Together Aldwyn, Skylar and Gilbert must save them—but how?

On their thrilling quest across the land, the familiars will face dangerous foes, unearth a shocking centuries old secret, and discover a mysterious destiny that will change them all forever.

The new FX comedy Wilfred is equal parts crazy, hilarious, crude and brilliant. The half-hour, live-action series, adapted from the Australian series of the same name, follows Ryan (Elijah Wood), a young man struggling unsuccessfully to make his way in the world until he forms a unique friendship with Wilfred (Jason Gann), his neighbor’s canine pet. While everyone else, including his owner Jenna (Fiona Gubelmann), sees Wilfred as just a dog, Ryan sees a surly, yet irrepressibly brave and honest Australian bloke in a cheap dog suit. As Wilfred, the dog, shows Ryan, the man, how to overcome his fears and joyfully embrace the unpredictability and insanity of the world around him, the two develop an unlikely friendship that gives new meaning to “man’s best friend.”

A four-minute short with English subtitles from Gobelins, the French animation school, about a town and its relations with anthropomorphics.

Senior Thesis from Ringling College of Art and Design
Class of 2008

In the dangers of the Australian outback, a simple man ventures out to fulfill his life long dream... to ride in the pouch of a kangaroo.