From: pluck@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Thomas Pluck)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.furry
Subject: THE 3 DAY PHILCON REPORT OF IMPORTANT & FUNNY STUFF
Date: 16 Nov 92 23:13:57 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

The Unauthorized PhilCon Furry Report
brought to you by Tom Pluck who has nothing better to do

This is by no means extensive, edited, or polite, and is one of those stream
of consciousness things, so if you don't like it, remember, no one asked you
to read it.

	This was my first attendance of a furry party and also the first time
I attended PhilCon.  So this is sort of the recollections of an innocent waif
tossed into the merciless waves of fandom (Not.). This is actually the brief
and choppy story of a smartass who had a good time.

	The furry dealer's table. It was small but well stocked, having port-
folios of work for sale by both Eric Schwartz (of Amy the Squirrel fame) & 
Taral Wayne.  Both offered nice and inexpensive copies, some on Bristol board,
which is especially nice. The table had Refractions and WildLife, loads of Red
Shetland & Equine (thanks to Jim Groat's attendance), Xtra Spicy Tails and some
other nice stuff. It was a little hectic trying to figure out who to give your money too, and some of the dealers didn't have change, but there was a good 
selection and there were plenty of people to talk to. Other artists/etc. who
were there included:  Wolf Kidd of Montreal, Pete (Speet!) Stoller, Juan
Alfonso, Jimmy Chin, John Nunnemacher, Ken Sample, Dusty Rhoades, Richard
Chandler (Gallery), Ray (Rune) Rooney, The Alstons, Steve Martin (more on him
later), David (Jareth) Reiss, and Mark Rogers (Samurai Cat).  If I forgot you,
I'm sorry, it's not intentional. :)

	The Art Show!  It was very good, about the size of the dealer's room,
and most artists got a good representation.  Highlights were Jim Groat's
bullet-riddled Elvis calendar page, and the puddles of drool underneath Boris
Vallejo's paintings, among other things. Monika Livingston had a nice display
of laserprints; Groat had a nice show of Shetland and sick funny stuff; Dave
Reiss also had a good showing. The surprise of the day was when an original
Amy the Squirrel colored ink went to auction and netted $200. It was a very 
nice piece, and while Eric Schwartz didn't seem too excited about it, I'm sure
he'll be back next year, and I'm glad. I myself managed to nab an original 
painting from Rogers's upcoming book "Samurai Cat Goes to the Movies," 
pleasing Rogers who stopped to thank me in the payment line, and making Jim
Groat grumble, since he couldn't find Rogers' stuff in the art show. Two other
people outbid me at the last minute, and you know who you are. My agents will
catch up to you soon enough. :)

	The furry party!  Except for the drawing on the door, with a skunk with
a clothespin on his nose pleading "Please Bathe," I was told it was much like
other furry parties. The room's less than subtle bouquet was not that bad, but
then again I had a cold and I'm used to using Newark public bathrooms. It
wasn't that bad, really. We had the A/C on full blast.:)  The VCR brought us
"Meet the Feebles," a bizarre and funny New Zealand bastard muppet funnysick
film, Plymptoons, furry and non furry anime, Rover Dangerfield, and another
toon about a sheepdog, which sounded like it was from Australia, but I'm 
probably completely wrong. We also saw an episode of "Back to the Future" in
which Jimmy Chin did the layouts. Nice. Most of the artists attended the party 
off and on, and the sketchbooks did fly. I myself prefer Bristol board, 
something you can frame, and doesn't get lost in a sea of pages of other art,
but to each their own. As the room reached Tokyo-subway-full capacity, another
party splintered off downstairs, mostly furrymuckers... Monica, Zoe, Alyt, 
Tugrik, Hatch, Worgfunk, Wysperwynde, Guppy, Growl, Drew, Jareth, Blaze, 
Steris, Anthony, Roxiana&Japhet (me), Bunnell, John Cooner, Wentil et al 
(again, if I forgot you, I'm tired) attended. At the second party people
mostly sat around, sketched, played a tape of filks (*gag*) and ate these
really tasty chocolate covered coffee beans that I have to find. 

	The overview. I had a load of fun.  The highlight of the entire weekend
had to be when most of the other artists attacked Steve Martin with silly
string canisters, however. He practically looked like a fluorescent Cousin It
by the time he escaped. And it was all caught forever by the magic of home 
video! After that, Groat and Speet had a duel at ten paces, and then proceeded
to spritz any furry fan in range until their cans were dry. Much fun. I was
told that Tugrik is hoping to digitize frames of Martin's assassination for
posting on Tezuka as .Gifs, so look out for them.

Last but not least...
Top 5 reasons FurryMuck is better than a furry party:
5) No fanboys telling you "That position's called 'Riding St. John!'" when
   ogling spooge art
4) Steve Martin doesn't try to sell you his b/w photocopied catalogs for $5
3) The handguns are only in people's descriptions, not being dryfired in a 
   crowded room
2) You only smell things when you type 'smell here'
1) Two simple commands:  /gag and page #ignore

Top 5 Reasons furry parties are better than FurryMuck
5) No lag
4) You rarely get hugged by drooling strangers
3) You can't accidentally walk out in public naked for long
2) ASCII art is not as good as a skunk sketch by Eric Schwartz
1) There's no one whining 'I wish I could make it to the con....'

Please have a sense of humor. :) Oh, one last thing... A free copy of The 
Marion Fox Special by Scott Alston to the person who e-mails me with the 
name of the person this was my first impression of:
	"No, really, take off the Groucho glasses"

If you were there and were wondering who I was, I was the one who might be
mistaken for a guy with a black poodle sitting on his head. 5'7", stocky, 
lots of black curly hair, long black coat and the Pepe le Peu sweatshirt :)
Hope to see more fellow fans at the next PhilCon, ConFurence 4, and any other
Con I drag myself to,
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      ##        |\    /|     S                        Or:
    ==%%==      | \  / |      H                  Thomas Pluck
      ||        |^ \/ ^|       A         pluck@andromeda.rutgers.edu
      ||       /        \       D         71222.2667@compuserve.com
      ||      /  {}  {}  \       O
      ||     /___      ___\       W  F       "To live is to war with trolls."
      ||         \    /               O           ---Henrik Ibsen
      ||          \@@/                 X       
      ||                                    (Roxiana & Japhet on FurryMuck)
      \/
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Newsgroups: alt.fan.furry