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.

Journalistic Follies

A couple of weeks ago, a story hit the news: an anchorman misremembered or misspoke or what ever you want to call it, but anyway, he claimed he did something that didn’t happen. Since then a few other news show hosts and politicians have joined in with their own versions of revisionist histories. Here at the Institute for Contemporary Panda Satire, we are hardly in a position to cast the first (if any) stones, as our memory is hardly what it used to be.

Bob has his own journalistic follies to contend with.

Oh, Bob, you didn't really say that, did you?

Oh, Bob, you didn’t really say that, did you?

Leave it to Mehitabel to keep things on track!

Be the Bear,
Bob T Panda

Fabulous Furry Friday Salutes International Polar Bear Day

Yes, there really is an International Polar Bear Day. There is also Take Your Cat to Work Day, Intergalactic Cuppycake Day, and Panda Awareness Day. Okay, some of those I’m a little fuzzy on, but today really is International Polar Bear Day.

Therefore, we thought it was high time we shared as many of the polar bear cartoons we could find in our archives! Huzzah!

Oh those polar bears! What jokers they are!

Oh those polar bears! What jokers they are!

Mr Polar Bear! It's not time for lunch yet!

Mr Polar Bear! It’s not time for lunch yet!

Bob still likes to get out in the field once in a while.

Polar Bears are really, really, REALLY big, compared to pandas!

Pandas using performance enhancing substances? Say it isn't so!

Pandas using performance enhancing substances? Say it isn’t so!

Have a happy International Polar Bear Day! Where being the bear REALLY  means something!
Bob T. Panda

 

I Won’t Grow Up!

Panda Satire fans should be reassured, that like many fictional characters, (I, as the omniscient narrator and manipulator of my imaginary panda universe have decreed,) Princess Pinky will remain a willful, out of control, delightful toddler in these pages. Well, I might let her age a little bit, but the best jokes are (for the moment, at least) predicated on her cubbyhood status.

DC panda fans have occasionally pointed out that there is a mouse or two that shares the panda habitat, and they have named him “Larry.” What better advisor could Pinky have as she transitions to her big girl life? Her own Jiminy Cricket, so to speak.

What could be better than a bear and her mouse?

What could be better than a bear and her mouse?

Children’s literature is full of characters that won’t grow up, Peter Pan being the most famous. Why should Pinky be any different?

If you missed it on Sunday, I hope you’ll hop over to Inspokes to read my interview about Pandamorphosis. There be Pandas, indeed!

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

Don’t forget! Friday is International Polar Bear Day! Join us as we present encore presentations of our polar bear collection!

Parting is such sweet sorrow…

…between moms and baby pandas, especially for all of us watching Bao Bao and her mom Mei Xiang. Let’s be clear here: Pandas do not live in family units, and after cubs reach the point where they can eat bamboo like a big bear, it’s time for them to seek their fortune in the real world.

It is rather disconcerting for the folks watching at home on their panda cams, especially because the relationship between cubs and their mom is so sweet…at least, just before the time mom turns around and runs them off, sometimes quite aggressively. Parting is such sweet sorrow, only in the movies, not among bears.

But that’s in real life, and this is Panda Satire!

Just a reminder: repeat after me: this is fiction.

Just a reminder: repeat after me: this is fiction.

Does Pinky have a new friend and confidant? Stay tuned, oh panda satire fans!

BTW: I was just interviewed on The Inspokes blog, a blog for writers and illustrators of books for children. I hope you’ll pop over and give my interview about Pandamorphosis a read.

Huzzah!

Be the Bear,
Bob T. Panda

Who you calling fat (Tuesday)?

Yes, it’s Fabulous Furry friday, where we look back at our favorite examples from the Panda Chronicles archives! Huzzah!

This week holds several occasions of note, the first being Fat Tuesday (or as we like to call it around here, Extra Fluffy Tuesday), The Chinese Lunar New Year, and coming up on Sunday, The Academy Awards.

A note about the discrepancy as to whether this is the Year of the Sheep, Goat, or Ram: our friend over at Vsomethingspeaks wrote an excellent essay on just why there is no absolute agreement on this year’s designation. You can read all about it here, as well as get a new delicious sounding recipe! We stand our portrayal of the Year of the Sheep…because…um…pandas in sheep costumes, right?

Here’s our salute to Fat Tuesday!

We call it "extra Fluffy Tuesday" around here.

We call it “extra Fluffy Tuesday” around here.

Thank you for that interesting and yet wildly inaccurate history, Bob!

And here’s our nod to the Academy Awards:

What will Christopher Robin say about this?

What will Christopher Robin say about this?

After this weeks guest appearance of Richard Parker, how could we not celebrate both The Life of Pooh as well as The Life of Pie?

The Life of PIE....get it? *chortle chortle*

The Life of PIE….get it? *chortle chortle*

Have a fun filled weekend, everyone!

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

More Selfies with Tigers; an update

We recently received an update on the question of the wisdom of taking selfies with tigers, thanks to alert reader, mystery writer, and panda satire fan Sandra Parshall. It seems that there is a “thing” about posing for selfies with wild animals. Maybe people think it makes them look cool, or sexy, but one wonders how sexy you would look with a bear or a tiger clamped onto your arm. Or your head.

Really, just don’t do it.

New York state has decided that they needed legislation to protect people from their own…um…oh heck, I’m just going to say it…stupidity. Sigh.

Here’s our original tribute to selfies with tigers:

Much better to take a selfie with pandas!

Much better to take a selfie with pandas!

You know we're just kidding about this, right?

You know we’re just kidding about this, right?

There was a bright side to this story, and that was Mehitabel got to be in a cartoon with one of her “peers” with no pandas! Huzzah! Not to worry, the pandas will be back on Friday.

Be the bear,
Bob T. Panda

 

Salute! To the Year of the Sheep

Once again, the panda kindergarten stages their annual Chinese New Year’s pageant, this year we salute the Year of the Sheep! I know! I know! Are you already picturing little chubby panda kindergarteners dressed up as fluffy little sheep? I know I am.

Of course, in some interpretations, it is The Year of the Ram or the Year of the Goat.

Just saying.

Look out!!!! Oh, those triplets!

Look out!!!! Oh, those triplets!

Really, there is nothing cuter than an upside down panda. Except maybe an upside down panda in a sheep costume.

Be the Bear
Bob T. Panda

Happy Valentine’s Day…

From the Panda Chronicles. as you may know, Valentine’s Day is the gateway to…wait for it…the Panda Season of LOOOOOOOOOOVE. So for your fabulous Furry friday entertainment, I bring you some of my favorites from The Panda Season of looooove.  Now you can have a happy Valentine’s Day with pandas!

Huzzah!

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

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

I hope people haven't had enough of silly love songs!

I hope people haven’t had enough of silly love songs!

Did he really have to tell them THAT????

Did he really have to tell them THAT????

...because Babette hasn't appeared lately

…because Babette hasn’t appeared lately

I smell frosting!

I smell frosting!

And along with the Panda Season of LOOOOOOve, it also means that mommee and me time for young pandas is coming to an end. Remember when Mr. Wu was about to get his own “big boy” room?

Xiao Liwu and Bai Yun

Too soon, too soon, a Wu and his mom will go their separate ways…

And so it goes! Have a laugh on me!
Be the Bear, ya’all!
Bob T. Panda

More Pandas in the News

I did promise you that I had a veritable plethora of panda tales (or was that tails?…no matter) and here is another absolutely true story which, coincidentally enough, is about pandas! Huzzah!

I swear, I can’t make this stuff up.

Today’s story is a tale of treachery, of impostor pandas, of impersonation of their black and white fluffy goodness. Is that a panda I see before me?

Apparently not.

Here’s the actual news story, so that you know I am not making this up. That includes the quote by the spokesperson for the Animal Protection Party. Just saying. Quite frankly, Mehitabel has way too many rights around my house, if you ask me.

Well, it LOOKED like a panda...

Well, it LOOKED like a panda…

Stay tuned for more true stories and the panda kindergarten’s Chinese New Year Celebration coming up next week!

Be the Bear,
Bob T. Panda

Pandas in the News

Those of you who have been following the exploits of Bob and the panda kindergarten for some time know that I am exceedingly fond of real news stories that either feature pandas or can be subverted to somehow be about pandas, even when they are not.

Are you following all that?

Anyway, our first story comes to us courtesy of alert readers Sarajane Eppley and Karen Willie, who both alerted me to this story about pandas’ relationship with themselves, or more accurately their reflections in mirrors. BBC Earth brings us this story about a peculiar panda particular!

This is a job for panda satire!

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is that handsome panda I see before me?

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is that handsome panda I see before me?

Thanks again to Karen and Sarajane for alerting me to this story. Tune in on Wednesday for another story of pandas in the news!

Be the Bear,
Bob T. Panda