Author Archives: Panda in Chief

About Panda in Chief

Anne Belov paints, writes, makes prints, and is the founder of The Institute for Contemporary Panda Satire. You can find her paintings at the Rob Schouten Gallery and Fountainhead Gallery, her cartoons on The Panda Chronicles, and her new book here. She also writes regularly for The Whidbey Life Magazine, a free journal of art and culture on Whidbey Island. Her main regret in life is that there is no MacArthur Grant for Panda Satire.

Day 4: 31 Days of Pandas

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Before we get to Sunday’s feature cartoon, here is today’s 31 Days of Pandas offering. As you all know, pandas adore cuppycakes and when in London, all pandas head for Peggy Porschen’s Cakes! It’s hard not to read this as “I’d like a piggy portion of cake,” but that’s not the name of the place. The name is Peggy, NOT piggy!

Here is Bob waiting in line to get some cuppycakes!

I’ll have…um…4 of everything.

And now…here’s today’s ‘toon!

Is Bob still trying to have opinions? Wait! am I a celebrity?

Be the Bear…
Bob T Panda, from the Island of Misfit Pandas (Thank you A.M.Y.!)

Day 3: 31 Days of Pandas

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Yes, it’s Day 3 of 31 Days of Pandas! October in Oxford was remarkably not rainy, unlike Western Washington this month and last. Could we please have one sunny day? But I’m getting distracted. While at Oxford, Mini Bob decided he wanted to visit one of the many colleges there. We went on a short self guided tour of Merton College, and pondered what it would be like to study in such a cloistered, academic environment.

Mini Bob even visited the chapel at the college.

Mini Bob visits the chapel at Merton College

Be the traveling bear!
Bob T Panda

Fabulous Furry Friday

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Not only is it Day 2 of 31 Days of Pandas, it is also Fabulous Furry Friday, where we turn on the Panda Way-Back machine, and pull out some of our (okay, MY) favorite ‘toons.

But first, here is another photo from the Travels of Mini Bob!

At the Botanical gardens in Oxford, with The Cheshire Cat.

Nothing like a little yoga to mellow a panda….

Here is Babette being a very helpful panda. “Would you like to use my pen?”

A panda by any other name, would smell...well, they would just smell...

It’s never to early to start getting ready for The Panda Season of Love!

The secret lives of the wild panda!

What makes a panda run? Cuppycakes, of course!!!!

Have a Fabulous Furry Friday!

Be the Bear,
Bob T Panda

Day 1: 31 Days of Pandas

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Mini Bob Started his travels in Oxford, which besides being a really cool place, is a hotbed of children’s literature, past and present. Think CS Lewis of Chronicles of Narnia fame, or Professor Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland.

But the other thing England has in abundance is beer, and some pubs are friendly to bears.

Having a beer at The Bear!

Be the bear…or is that the beer?
Bob T Panda

Bob Has an Opinion

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I know, I know, I know…you come here for entertainment. You come for a little pandy relief from the horrors that comprise the real world. I sympathize. I really do. You come to see funny, badly behaved little pandas, doing non-panda-like things. You didn’t come here to get my OPINION on all this mishegas that is going on. But the fact that I know and can use the word mishegas correctly in a sentence, means that I am a target for that meshugener shmendrik and his minions.

So. I have opinions. read them, don’t read them. It’s okay. Hold your hands over your ears and hum softly to yourself while you scroll till you get to the pandas. It’s okay. I’m glad you’re here. But ya gotta know, I have opinions. And one of my opinions is that these are not normal times. This is not a normal president. We must not normalize hatred or discrimination. Pandas are black and white and asian, and sometimes it’s hard to tell what gender they are. If that isn’t diversity, I don’t know what is.

Okay! you can look now! The editorial is over!

oh…um…maybe not.

You just couldn’t keep your mouth shut, could you?

And by the way, tomorrow starts 31 days of pandas! I’m doing something a little different this year, because…um…I didn’t have time to draw a new cartoon every day. The usual schedule of new ‘toons on Sunday and Wednesday continues, along with a bunch of my favorite encore presentations on Fridays. On the other 4 days of the week, we have …(make a trumpet sound here)…

The Travels of Mini Bob! Huzzah!

Mini Bob has just returned from a fabulous trip, sponsored by the Froggwell Cultural Institute, to jolly olde England, where, among other things, he got to see the honest to god original drawings and sketches from The House at Pooh Corner! More on that later, but be sure to tune in tomorrow for the the first day of Mini Bob’s travel photos!

Panda On
Bob T Panda

Meihems to the Rescue

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When you need pandas, you can’t do better than a little bit of Meihem to fix what needs fixing. Needless to say, Pinky is going to need some extra persuasive coaching to be convinced to come out from under the covers. But meanwhile, back at the zoo, there was some real life drama happening. Bubba’s real life counterpart, Bei Bei had to go in for emergency surgery, due to a “lemon size lump of bamboo” plugging up his guts. He is back home and resting quietly (I believe Pinky is reading him her rough draft of her autobiography, in order to lull him to sleep) and I’m sure I will have a ‘toon or two relating to the ordeal, but first, this!

When you need help, best call for MEIHEM!

Care for a little Meihem?

And don’t forget to get ready for this years 31 Days of Pandas! We have a special treat, The Travels of Mini-Bob! Get ready to join Mini-Bob as he visits Merry Olde England, and some historic sights (and Pooh Bear!!!!!)

Panda On!
Bob T Panda

In the Tradition of Some of the Great…

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…popular cartoonists who often used political themes and issues for their cartoons, I thought I’d share some of my more political ‘toons that have appeared over the years. Personally I’ve always thought that humor with a little bit of a bite to it (pandas have very sharp teeth) are funnier than ‘toons that are merely cute and sweet. It may be a bit presumptuous of me to put myself in the tradition of Doonesbury, Pogo, and Bloom County, But I have always been drawn to the somewhat snarky. Calvin and Hobbes is not usually overtly political, but he dealt with some big issues from time to time. They are my favorites!

Enjoy!

Is it really all black and white?

Naughty bear or cuddly menace? You be the judge!

Vote for Bob!

A cartoon before pandas!

Babette has ..um…toned her wardrobe down in honor of this important occasion.

In the words of Winnie ther Pooh, “I think it’s time for a little something.

And one of my all time favorites….

How much can a small panda stand?

Panda On!
Bob T Panda

We All Feel Like This

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Alas, poor Pinky. She so thought she was going to win. She had the perfect color of pink picked out to re-paint the White House, so it could be the Pink-y House. I don’t know WHAT she is going to do with all those hundreds of gallons of paint that is stored in the elephant house. We all feel for Pinky.

But what has Pinky been doing since the election?

Not even CUPPYCAKES????

CALL IN THE RESERVES!!!!

Panda On!
Bob T Panda

Coming soon! 31 Days of Pandas! Where in the world is Mini Bob?

Can I Have Extra Whipped Cream on Mine?

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Who doesn’t love whipped cream? And who doesn’t look forward to Starbucks’ special holiday drinks, or those red cups?!? Now, for those that know me well, they know that I worked at *$ many moons ago, and even though I have departed their shores some 28 (almost 29!!!) years ago, I still harbor…um… a little bit of a grudge against them. But I have to say, this story had me rooting for them, or at least their hard working baristas…Twitter followers made a relevant point, that if DJT supporters wanted to BOYCOTT Starbucks, they were…um…going about it in somewhat ineffective way.

And dude…they weren’t discriminating against you by serving you slowly. It takes time to make a half caff triple pandachino with part non fat milk and extra syrup and extra whipped cream. And you were standing behind that person. If you want your coffee fast, go to a gas station. (And I still don’t know how the barista would know who you voted for, in order to serve you more slowly.)

So I made a ‘toon celebrating chronicling the event.

Can I have EXTRA extra whipped cream?

Panda On!!!!
Bob T Panda

And don’t forget, you can get any of the WeREndangered cups from my cafe press store: Pandyland

Panda On, Panda On

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Yes, I am panda-ing on, even in the face of my unease over what is to come after this devastating outcome to the election of 2016. Panda on, Panda on! We must panda on. We have lost so many bright stars from the sky: Gene Wilder, Leonard Cohen, Alan Rickman (sob), Prince, David Bowie, Bob Elliott, Harper Lee, Gwen Ifill, Muhammad Ali, Elie Wiesel (what must he be thinking right now?) and so many more. Some of my panda friends on Facebook have lost those nearest and dearest to their hearts.

Must we go on? In the words of Gene Wilder in his role in Blazing Saddles, “We must, we must.”