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Character meme: who is my character?
General | Posted 12 years agoThis is fursona meme I stole from Karakina, because i found it interesting to think about. I reordered the questions, because they make more sense in my case this way.
What made you choose the species of your main Character?
I'm into BDSM and especially into ponyplay. When I found furry community, being a horse was the logical choice. Also, my last name 'Valášek' means 'gelding' in Czech. So, nomen omen.
Do you have a back story for your character, if so does it have anything to do with your own history?
Generally, I view my fursona as my avatar in cyberspace (read 'Snowcrash' from Neal Stephenson, if you don't know what do I mean). I generally tend to behave kind of equine when communicating online, even with non-furry persons (I'm known for snorting, neighing and kicking my business parthers when IMing).
But now I'm thinking about making my char somewhat more independent, create some backstory and world to fit in. Actually, I started something like that in roleplay with Mikairu, so maybe I should do something about it.
Is your character just like you, or how you want to be?
Something in between. Originally, I viewed my character like something I'm missing in me. But it seems like he's being like me more and more.
Does your character have the same personality you have?
Mostly, yes.
Does your character have the same dislikes and likes as you do?
Yes. In addition to it, he hates felines in general, with special regard to cougars. He thinks tigers are cute, though. It's kind of... um... specieism I like to roleplay. IRL, I don't have anything against cats, though I don't understand them and I'm a dog person. Also, he's more easy going that I'm, less intellectual and more instinctive.
Does your character look like you at all?
Kind of. He's less fat than I am (although definitely kind of overgrown). He's what I would be, living his lifestyle, which is bit healthier than mine :)
Is your character the same gender as you, if not why?
We are both males.
Do you have more then one main character?
No. I have only one character, although I play with an idea to create one or two more for roleplay purposes.
Is your character mated, if so is it to your real life significant other?
If not are they looking for a mate, or are they a swinger so to speak?
I never exactly thought about any kind of relationship of his. So, he's free agent right now, I suppose.
Is there something special about your character that you think sets them apart from others?
Physically, no - on purpose. He's just regular Friesian horse. Jet black, with long mane and tail. Maybe the difference is that he has human hands and feet, not hooves (for various reasons). Mentally - I don't know. Maybe I'll make some interesting back story for him.
Do you have much art of your main character?
Quite a bit, yes. Look into my gallery and favs.
Would you ever consider parting with your main character, if so why?
Don't think so.
If you suit, do you have a suit of your main character?
Yes, I have.
Have you ever roleplayed with your main character, or do you prefer not to?
I love roleplaying my character, although I usually don't have anyone to roleplay with. If you wish, I'm Altair on FurNet, usually at #furrycz :)
Do you consider your main character to be a part of you in any way?
I consider my character to be my projection. Image of myself in different world, being it cyberspace or some kind of 'world as myth' environment.
What made you choose the species of your main Character?
I'm into BDSM and especially into ponyplay. When I found furry community, being a horse was the logical choice. Also, my last name 'Valášek' means 'gelding' in Czech. So, nomen omen.
Do you have a back story for your character, if so does it have anything to do with your own history?
Generally, I view my fursona as my avatar in cyberspace (read 'Snowcrash' from Neal Stephenson, if you don't know what do I mean). I generally tend to behave kind of equine when communicating online, even with non-furry persons (I'm known for snorting, neighing and kicking my business parthers when IMing).
But now I'm thinking about making my char somewhat more independent, create some backstory and world to fit in. Actually, I started something like that in roleplay with Mikairu, so maybe I should do something about it.
Is your character just like you, or how you want to be?
Something in between. Originally, I viewed my character like something I'm missing in me. But it seems like he's being like me more and more.
Does your character have the same personality you have?
Mostly, yes.
Does your character have the same dislikes and likes as you do?
Yes. In addition to it, he hates felines in general, with special regard to cougars. He thinks tigers are cute, though. It's kind of... um... specieism I like to roleplay. IRL, I don't have anything against cats, though I don't understand them and I'm a dog person. Also, he's more easy going that I'm, less intellectual and more instinctive.
Does your character look like you at all?
Kind of. He's less fat than I am (although definitely kind of overgrown). He's what I would be, living his lifestyle, which is bit healthier than mine :)
Is your character the same gender as you, if not why?
We are both males.
Do you have more then one main character?
No. I have only one character, although I play with an idea to create one or two more for roleplay purposes.
Is your character mated, if so is it to your real life significant other?
If not are they looking for a mate, or are they a swinger so to speak?
I never exactly thought about any kind of relationship of his. So, he's free agent right now, I suppose.
Is there something special about your character that you think sets them apart from others?
Physically, no - on purpose. He's just regular Friesian horse. Jet black, with long mane and tail. Maybe the difference is that he has human hands and feet, not hooves (for various reasons). Mentally - I don't know. Maybe I'll make some interesting back story for him.
Do you have much art of your main character?
Quite a bit, yes. Look into my gallery and favs.
Would you ever consider parting with your main character, if so why?
Don't think so.
If you suit, do you have a suit of your main character?
Yes, I have.
Have you ever roleplayed with your main character, or do you prefer not to?
I love roleplaying my character, although I usually don't have anyone to roleplay with. If you wish, I'm Altair on FurNet, usually at #furrycz :)
Do you consider your main character to be a part of you in any way?
I consider my character to be my projection. Image of myself in different world, being it cyberspace or some kind of 'world as myth' environment.
Some new photos on InkBunny
General | Posted 14 years agoSince horse fursuits are now in despise on FurAffinity un the grounds of being fetish, I uploaded some new photos to InkBunny: https://inkbunny.net/submissionview.php?id=176188
PSA: How to prevent your data from being lost in HDD failure
General | Posted 14 years agoThis journal has nothing to do with furry. It’s about computer technology and data backup. Several of my furry friends recently lost their data due to theft or hard drive failure. Especially for artists, losing your work can be very frustrating experience. So this is kind of “public service announcement”. I’m going to show you two methods how you can backup your data easily and for free or for a small fee.
If you can read Czech, there is similar article in Czech on my blog: http://www.weblog.rider.cz/articles/257
There are two services I use for my backup: Windows Live Mesh from Microsoft and CrashPlan.
Windows Live Mesh is a software and online service used primarily for synchronization of files across several computers. So if you have desktop and notebook, you can keep your data in sync. Windows Live Mesh is part of Windows Live Essentials, available for free at http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials. You need Windows Vista or above, Live Mesh does not work on Windows XP, although some other parts of the Live Essentials suite do.
The beauty of Mesh is that when both computers are connected to the same local network, the communication goes direct, not using your Internet connection. Only when the computers are separated, the synchronization goes over Internet. So if you need to synchronize lots of data, you can do it quickly over gigabit local network and then synchronize only the changes over the Internet.
Windows Live Mesh also offers 5 GB of cloud storage, somewhere in Microsoft datacenters, you can synchronize with. So if you have less than 5 GB of data to backup, you can synchronize your computer only with the cloud store. If you have more than 5 GB, you need two or more computers – you can then use the 5 GB for the most critical data and for data you need to have accessible from anywhere via web interface.
There is also service called Windows Live SkyDrive, offering 25 GB of free space, but this is accessible only trough web interface, not via automatic synchronization.
Second service I use is called CrashPlan, available at http://www.crashplan.com/. This is a backup solution, not synchronization one. Crash plan is software and service. The software is common backup tool. It can backup to different hard disk (which is fine, but wouldn’t protect you when your horse gets burned down on be robbed). Or it can backup to different computer. The different computer may or may not belong to you. The backup is encrypted, so it’s unreadable without the proper key. So you can for example cooperate with some friend and backup each other.
The third way to backup with CrashPlan is to use their online storage. It’s paid service, but is actually quite cheap, unlimited version costs between $3-5, depending on pre-paid time. Then your data are stored (encrypted, with your private key, on your machine, if you wish) on CrashPlan’s servers.
Problem with the cloud storage is the initial seed, which may take a very long time to complete, depending on your backup size and connection speed. In my case, it took about two weeks to upload the first set (which is about 500-700 GB of data). If you live in certain parts of world (US for sure, maybe Canada) you can perform this seed by sending them hard disk with your data, there was a service for that I can’t find at the moment.
Then the backup is performed incrementally, as your data changes. By default, CrashPlan keeps history of your files for 30 days, so if you will delete or change something in error, you can rollback.
My personal setup is following:
My main computer is my laptop. I also have two desktop computers in two different cities (Prague and Brno). Basically all my data on laptop are synchronized with the two desktops using Windows Live Mesh. Archives and other big things I do not carry with me all the time are stored only on these two desktops (servers, actually) and synchronized only between them.
In this stage, all my data are at least in two copies in two different locations (two desktops), most of them in three (third copy is on my laptop).
The most important data I synchronize to the 5 GB Mesh storage as well, as additional location. I also store all my talks and presentations there, because they’re readily available from any PC connected to the Internet, over web browser.
One of the desktop computers is then backed up to the cloud using CrashPlan service, which brings another location into the play and also ability to get 30-day history of all files.
My setup is quite elaborate and for most people, far easire solution will work just fine. The key ideas are:
1. The backup process should be fully automatic. If it relies on you to remember and manually perform backup, it would not work. You’ll forget it, sooner or later.
2. All data should be at least on two different storage devices (physical hard disks).
3. It’s good idea to have more than one physical locations as well.
There are various other services similar to the mentioned above: SygarSync, DropBox, Box.net, Mozy… I don’t have personal experience with them and don’t use them – which does not mean that they’re bad.
If you can read Czech, there is similar article in Czech on my blog: http://www.weblog.rider.cz/articles/257
There are two services I use for my backup: Windows Live Mesh from Microsoft and CrashPlan.
Windows Live Mesh is a software and online service used primarily for synchronization of files across several computers. So if you have desktop and notebook, you can keep your data in sync. Windows Live Mesh is part of Windows Live Essentials, available for free at http://explore.live.com/windows-live-essentials. You need Windows Vista or above, Live Mesh does not work on Windows XP, although some other parts of the Live Essentials suite do.
The beauty of Mesh is that when both computers are connected to the same local network, the communication goes direct, not using your Internet connection. Only when the computers are separated, the synchronization goes over Internet. So if you need to synchronize lots of data, you can do it quickly over gigabit local network and then synchronize only the changes over the Internet.
Windows Live Mesh also offers 5 GB of cloud storage, somewhere in Microsoft datacenters, you can synchronize with. So if you have less than 5 GB of data to backup, you can synchronize your computer only with the cloud store. If you have more than 5 GB, you need two or more computers – you can then use the 5 GB for the most critical data and for data you need to have accessible from anywhere via web interface.
There is also service called Windows Live SkyDrive, offering 25 GB of free space, but this is accessible only trough web interface, not via automatic synchronization.
Second service I use is called CrashPlan, available at http://www.crashplan.com/. This is a backup solution, not synchronization one. Crash plan is software and service. The software is common backup tool. It can backup to different hard disk (which is fine, but wouldn’t protect you when your horse gets burned down on be robbed). Or it can backup to different computer. The different computer may or may not belong to you. The backup is encrypted, so it’s unreadable without the proper key. So you can for example cooperate with some friend and backup each other.
The third way to backup with CrashPlan is to use their online storage. It’s paid service, but is actually quite cheap, unlimited version costs between $3-5, depending on pre-paid time. Then your data are stored (encrypted, with your private key, on your machine, if you wish) on CrashPlan’s servers.
Problem with the cloud storage is the initial seed, which may take a very long time to complete, depending on your backup size and connection speed. In my case, it took about two weeks to upload the first set (which is about 500-700 GB of data). If you live in certain parts of world (US for sure, maybe Canada) you can perform this seed by sending them hard disk with your data, there was a service for that I can’t find at the moment.
Then the backup is performed incrementally, as your data changes. By default, CrashPlan keeps history of your files for 30 days, so if you will delete or change something in error, you can rollback.
My personal setup is following:
My main computer is my laptop. I also have two desktop computers in two different cities (Prague and Brno). Basically all my data on laptop are synchronized with the two desktops using Windows Live Mesh. Archives and other big things I do not carry with me all the time are stored only on these two desktops (servers, actually) and synchronized only between them.
In this stage, all my data are at least in two copies in two different locations (two desktops), most of them in three (third copy is on my laptop).
The most important data I synchronize to the 5 GB Mesh storage as well, as additional location. I also store all my talks and presentations there, because they’re readily available from any PC connected to the Internet, over web browser.
One of the desktop computers is then backed up to the cloud using CrashPlan service, which brings another location into the play and also ability to get 30-day history of all files.
My setup is quite elaborate and for most people, far easire solution will work just fine. The key ideas are:
1. The backup process should be fully automatic. If it relies on you to remember and manually perform backup, it would not work. You’ll forget it, sooner or later.
2. All data should be at least on two different storage devices (physical hard disks).
3. It’s good idea to have more than one physical locations as well.
There are various other services similar to the mentioned above: SygarSync, DropBox, Box.net, Mozy… I don’t have personal experience with them and don’t use them – which does not mean that they’re bad.
Note to self
General | Posted 15 years agoNote to self: Next time before I switch my laptop to projector during a talk before äuditorium full of people, check that I have closed Outlook containing lewd conversation with my mate.
Yes or no meme - anyone interested?
General | Posted 15 years agoI mostly ignore memes, but this one is quite interesting, so I stole it from :userjaelo:
1. You can ONLY answer Yes or No.
2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages/comments you and asks. And believe me, the temptation to explain some of these will be overwhelming... things are not exactly as they seem.
3. It is harder than it looks, but NO explanations! You will want to. but don't!
Kissed any one of your Facebook friends? - yes
Been arrested? - yes
Kissed someone you didn't like? - no
Slept in until 5 PM? - yes
Fallen asleep at work/school? - yes
Ran a red light? - no
Been suspended from school? - no
Experienced love at first sight? - no
Totalled your car in an accident? - yes
Been fired from a job? - no
Fired somebody? - no
Sang karaoke? - no
Pointed a gun at someone? - no
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? - yes
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? - yes
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? - yes
Kissed in the rain? - no
Had a close brush with death - yes
Seen someone die? - yes
Played spin-the-bottle? - no
Sang in the shower? - no
Smoked a cigar? - no
Sat on a rooftop? - yes
Taken pictures of yourself naked? - yes
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes? - no
Skipped school? - yes
Eaten a bug? - no
Sleepwalked? - no
Walked a moonlit beach? - no
Ridden a motorcycle? - no
Dumped someone? - no
Forgotten your anniversary? - yes
Lied to avoid a ticket? - no
Ridden on a helicopter? - yes
Shaved your head? - no
Blacked out from drinking? - no
Played a prank on someone? - yes
Hit a home run? - no
Felt like killing someone? - yes
Cross-dressed? - no
Been falling-down drunk? - no
Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry? - yes
Eaten snake? - no
Marched/Protested? - yes
Had Mexican jumping beans for pets? - no
Puked on amusement ride? - no
Seriously & intentionally boycotted something? - no
Been in a band? - no
Knitted? - no
Been on TV? - yes
Shot a gun? - yes
Skinny-dipped? - yes
Caused someone to need stitches? - yes
Ridden a surfboard? -no
Drank straight from a liquor bottle? - no
Had surgery? - no
Streaked? - no
Taken by ambulance to hospital? - yes
Passed out when not drinking? - no
Peed on a bush? - yes
Donated Blood? - no
Grabbed electric fence? - no
Eaten alligator meat? - no
Eaten cheesecake? - yes
Eaten kids' Halloween candy? - huh? Don't understand
Killed an animal when not hunting? - no
Peed your pants in public? - no
Written graffiti? - yes
Still love someone you shouldn't? - no
Think about the future? - yes
Been in handcuffs? - yes
Believe in love? - yes
Sleep on a certain side of the bed? - no
1. You can ONLY answer Yes or No.
2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages/comments you and asks. And believe me, the temptation to explain some of these will be overwhelming... things are not exactly as they seem.
3. It is harder than it looks, but NO explanations! You will want to. but don't!
Kissed any one of your Facebook friends? - yes
Been arrested? - yes
Kissed someone you didn't like? - no
Slept in until 5 PM? - yes
Fallen asleep at work/school? - yes
Ran a red light? - no
Been suspended from school? - no
Experienced love at first sight? - no
Totalled your car in an accident? - yes
Been fired from a job? - no
Fired somebody? - no
Sang karaoke? - no
Pointed a gun at someone? - no
Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? - yes
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? - yes
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? - yes
Kissed in the rain? - no
Had a close brush with death - yes
Seen someone die? - yes
Played spin-the-bottle? - no
Sang in the shower? - no
Smoked a cigar? - no
Sat on a rooftop? - yes
Taken pictures of yourself naked? - yes
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes? - no
Skipped school? - yes
Eaten a bug? - no
Sleepwalked? - no
Walked a moonlit beach? - no
Ridden a motorcycle? - no
Dumped someone? - no
Forgotten your anniversary? - yes
Lied to avoid a ticket? - no
Ridden on a helicopter? - yes
Shaved your head? - no
Blacked out from drinking? - no
Played a prank on someone? - yes
Hit a home run? - no
Felt like killing someone? - yes
Cross-dressed? - no
Been falling-down drunk? - no
Made your girlfriend/boyfriend cry? - yes
Eaten snake? - no
Marched/Protested? - yes
Had Mexican jumping beans for pets? - no
Puked on amusement ride? - no
Seriously & intentionally boycotted something? - no
Been in a band? - no
Knitted? - no
Been on TV? - yes
Shot a gun? - yes
Skinny-dipped? - yes
Caused someone to need stitches? - yes
Ridden a surfboard? -no
Drank straight from a liquor bottle? - no
Had surgery? - no
Streaked? - no
Taken by ambulance to hospital? - yes
Passed out when not drinking? - no
Peed on a bush? - yes
Donated Blood? - no
Grabbed electric fence? - no
Eaten alligator meat? - no
Eaten cheesecake? - yes
Eaten kids' Halloween candy? - huh? Don't understand
Killed an animal when not hunting? - no
Peed your pants in public? - no
Written graffiti? - yes
Still love someone you shouldn't? - no
Think about the future? - yes
Been in handcuffs? - yes
Believe in love? - yes
Sleep on a certain side of the bed? - no
Invitation to the furry convention in the heart of Europe
General | Posted 16 years agoAs you may or may not know, I'm longtime member of the organization team of ČeSFuR, furry convention held in the geographical center of the Europe: the Czech Republic. This year's ČeSFuR will happen between June 6th and July 3rd near Prague.
More info and registration can be found at http://www.cesfur.org/. Some additional info especially for foreign visitors can be found at http://www.en.cesfur.org/information.
ČeSFuR started as a convention mainly for furries from former Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, but quickly outgrew this idea and now has many international attendees.
Our con is relatively small convention (we expect around 70-90 attendees this year) so we can host it not in four-and-half-star hotel in city centre, but rather a smaller hotel in countryside. This also means that whole convention including full board and accommodation costs around 80 €. Considering that Prague is hub for lots of low cost airlines this may make our con interesting and affordable even for furries affected by current "economic downturn".
Any way, you'll be welcome at ČeSFuR and I'm looking forward to meet some furries I know only from FA. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
More info and registration can be found at http://www.cesfur.org/. Some additional info especially for foreign visitors can be found at http://www.en.cesfur.org/information.
ČeSFuR started as a convention mainly for furries from former Czechoslovakia, now Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, but quickly outgrew this idea and now has many international attendees.
Our con is relatively small convention (we expect around 70-90 attendees this year) so we can host it not in four-and-half-star hotel in city centre, but rather a smaller hotel in countryside. This also means that whole convention including full board and accommodation costs around 80 €. Considering that Prague is hub for lots of low cost airlines this may make our con interesting and affordable even for furries affected by current "economic downturn".
Any way, you'll be welcome at ČeSFuR and I'm looking forward to meet some furries I know only from FA. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Techno meme
General | Posted 16 years agoHa! Finally meme for me - so fitting that I just had to stole it from 
-star-
1) Do you have a cell phone?
Yes, since 1995 if I recall correctly. At this moment I have HTC TouchPro (Raphael).
2) What features does your phone have?
My phone is pocket computer, running Windows Mobile. So it has basically any feature I wish it to have. The one I use most is permanent OTA (over the air) sync with my Exchange server.
3) Do you have a PDA or Blackberry?
Yes, TouchPro is PDA.
4) Do you have a laptop computer?
Yes, IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad R61. It's my main tool of trade.
5) What do you use to determine the day's weather?
I don't care about weather in general. If the conditions are extreme, like storm, I will see it anyway. In some instances I look at http://teplomer.altairis.cz/ which collects online data from our digital thermometers both inside and outside.
6) Do you have an iPod, MP3 player or similar device?
No, but I listen to music from my PDA, it has SDHC card slot.
7) Do you have a handheld video game player like a PSP?
No. When I'm bored, I read.
8) Do you use your PC for gaming?
The only games I play are Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band. And I have XBox for that, since they're not available for PC anyway.
9) How much time do you spend online per week.
Unless something really strange happend, then 168 hours I do what I can to be constantly online and reachable, it's one of my obsessions. My PDA is constantly synchronized with our Exchange Server, so any e-mail I receive is instantly delivered to my pocket.
10) How do you get your news?
Via RSS, I use Google Reader.
11) Do you have cable or satellite TV?
I don't have TV. In Brno branch we have technically basic cable TV, but I'm not even sure if it works.
12) Does your vehicle have connections for USB devices, iPods or the like?
I don't have any vehicle, so no :)
13) Do you often use the calculator function on your cellphone?
Last time I used it was at EF, where my friend got his arm broken and I was recalculating the price for healthcare, since the doctor couldn't count properly. I don't remember using it before.
14) Do you think technology will make people smarter?
No. Technology does not have power to change people, to make them dumber, smarter or whatever. However, technology has the power to allow people to express themselves better. Smart people would be smarter due to technology and dumb would be even dumber.
-star-1) Do you have a cell phone?
Yes, since 1995 if I recall correctly. At this moment I have HTC TouchPro (Raphael).
2) What features does your phone have?
My phone is pocket computer, running Windows Mobile. So it has basically any feature I wish it to have. The one I use most is permanent OTA (over the air) sync with my Exchange server.
3) Do you have a PDA or Blackberry?
Yes, TouchPro is PDA.
4) Do you have a laptop computer?
Yes, IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad R61. It's my main tool of trade.
5) What do you use to determine the day's weather?
I don't care about weather in general. If the conditions are extreme, like storm, I will see it anyway. In some instances I look at http://teplomer.altairis.cz/ which collects online data from our digital thermometers both inside and outside.
6) Do you have an iPod, MP3 player or similar device?
No, but I listen to music from my PDA, it has SDHC card slot.
7) Do you have a handheld video game player like a PSP?
No. When I'm bored, I read.
8) Do you use your PC for gaming?
The only games I play are Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band. And I have XBox for that, since they're not available for PC anyway.
9) How much time do you spend online per week.
Unless something really strange happend, then 168 hours I do what I can to be constantly online and reachable, it's one of my obsessions. My PDA is constantly synchronized with our Exchange Server, so any e-mail I receive is instantly delivered to my pocket.
10) How do you get your news?
Via RSS, I use Google Reader.
11) Do you have cable or satellite TV?
I don't have TV. In Brno branch we have technically basic cable TV, but I'm not even sure if it works.
12) Does your vehicle have connections for USB devices, iPods or the like?
I don't have any vehicle, so no :)
13) Do you often use the calculator function on your cellphone?
Last time I used it was at EF, where my friend got his arm broken and I was recalculating the price for healthcare, since the doctor couldn't count properly. I don't remember using it before.
14) Do you think technology will make people smarter?
No. Technology does not have power to change people, to make them dumber, smarter or whatever. However, technology has the power to allow people to express themselves better. Smart people would be smarter due to technology and dumb would be even dumber.
Back from EF - and going to upcoming fursuit photoshoot
General | Posted 16 years agoYesterday (or technically, the day before yesterday, as it's just after midnight here) I returned from Eurofurence. I have already processed my photos. Some of them are published here, most of them in my private photo gallery: http://gallery.rider.cz/Events/Furr.....urofurence_XV/
I was pleased with EF15 (save for the stupid policy - see previous journal). Unlike most of furries, I don't cry fo the Ringberg hotel. The staff there was surely nice, but generally staff in convention hotels is like that. Or the hotel wouldn't stay in business for long.
What was terrible was the dance music everywhere. As a rock/metal guy, I was in pain all the con. So I'm now healing myself with Billy Idol, Journey and Sabaton.
This evening I'm going for fursuit photoshoot, for publicity on movie I acted in. I hope that I'd be allowed to show some of the photos here - I don't know the photographer. I'm in the mood to do something wild, though :)
I was pleased with EF15 (save for the stupid policy - see previous journal). Unlike most of furries, I don't cry fo the Ringberg hotel. The staff there was surely nice, but generally staff in convention hotels is like that. Or the hotel wouldn't stay in business for long.
What was terrible was the dance music everywhere. As a rock/metal guy, I was in pain all the con. So I'm now healing myself with Billy Idol, Journey and Sabaton.
This evening I'm going for fursuit photoshoot, for publicity on movie I acted in. I hope that I'd be allowed to show some of the photos here - I don't know the photographer. I'm in the mood to do something wild, though :)
Now it's official: I'm intimidating (and banned @EF)
General | Posted 16 years agoLife is full of surprises. Before a while I was officially and explicitly forbidden to wear my horse fursuit at this year's Eurofurence. My suit (see for example at http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2389140/) was banned on the grounds of "being intimidating" and that it "was cause of unrest last year". And I wasn't even wearing my whip this year!
I agree that - unlike most of other suits - I'm not cute, fluffy and sweet. Horses, at least as I see and experience them, aren't. The suit is surely designed to look as a figure of authority. While I was designing it, I had image of police or security officer in mind. And I was told that's the overall impression my suit makes, rather than its specific components (which are quite common anyway).
I fully understand the right of convention organizers to make any rules they see fit and enforce them. I also agree that certain things are matter of taste. Also I understand that as an attendee I'm bound to obey the rules. Finally we reached some kind of solution about how to mix parts of my fursuit with common clothing to make it less "intimidating".
The good part of it is that Gyroplast, the chief of EF security, was very helpful and responsive and "just following orders" as he told me with the grin - we're in Germany, after all. The rules are derived from policy. The same policy which allows you to wear collars, but without leash attached and being led by someone. I think the policy is bad, has gone too far, too restrictive and needs to be changed.
There is a feedback session, which is the proper place and time to voice the concerns like this. It takes place on Sunday from 14:00. I will definitely be there. If you feel the same about the policy and if you are at Eurofurence, please come there as well.
Thinking about it, I should probably be proud. Even real horses are often seen as "intimidating" or downright dangerous by some people who fear them. At least we weren't drawn to the verge of extinction like wolves, for example. Maybe because unlike them, we are obedient and useful.
I agree that - unlike most of other suits - I'm not cute, fluffy and sweet. Horses, at least as I see and experience them, aren't. The suit is surely designed to look as a figure of authority. While I was designing it, I had image of police or security officer in mind. And I was told that's the overall impression my suit makes, rather than its specific components (which are quite common anyway).
I fully understand the right of convention organizers to make any rules they see fit and enforce them. I also agree that certain things are matter of taste. Also I understand that as an attendee I'm bound to obey the rules. Finally we reached some kind of solution about how to mix parts of my fursuit with common clothing to make it less "intimidating".
The good part of it is that Gyroplast, the chief of EF security, was very helpful and responsive and "just following orders" as he told me with the grin - we're in Germany, after all. The rules are derived from policy. The same policy which allows you to wear collars, but without leash attached and being led by someone. I think the policy is bad, has gone too far, too restrictive and needs to be changed.
There is a feedback session, which is the proper place and time to voice the concerns like this. It takes place on Sunday from 14:00. I will definitely be there. If you feel the same about the policy and if you are at Eurofurence, please come there as well.
Thinking about it, I should probably be proud. Even real horses are often seen as "intimidating" or downright dangerous by some people who fear them. At least we weren't drawn to the verge of extinction like wolves, for example. Maybe because unlike them, we are obedient and useful.
