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.

Chinese New Year Preview

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It’s almost time for Chinese new Year, and once again the panda kindergarten will present their Salute to the New Year. That means it’s time for encore presentations of previous pandy kindy extravaganzas! Huzzah!

The year of the bunny…..

Oh that panda kindergarten!

And then there was The Year of the Dragon….

the year of the dragon, panda kindergarten

Huzzah! it’s the year of the Dragon!

Not to mention another of Bob’s literary attempts at greatness, inspired by the Year of the Dragon….

What do you mean by “was?”

And then we skipped the year of the Snake, because…um…snakes?

So then it was on to the Year of the Horse. Huzzah!

Huzzah! It’s The year of Pandas on Horsies!

I want to know when it will be the Year of the Panda? I mean, come on…pandas come from China, and yet we have no year of the PANDA!!!!!!!????

Mehitabel’s note: Pfft! Seems to me that around here it is ALWAYS the year of the panda. Get over it!

So stay tuned for this years salute to The Year of the Sheep! And (here comes the commercial!) remember that it can be the year of the panda everyday when you support The Panda Chronicles by buying our books! Huzzah! Thank you all who support us this way.

Be the Bear,
Bob T. Panda

The Giant Panda Zoo Awards Part 2

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We couldn’t just leave poor Princess Dumpling with Pinky on top of her wrestling, (or trying to, anyway,) trying to wrestle the award for Panda personality of the year away from Princess Dumpling, the rightful owner. Apparently winning the silver medal was not good enough for Pinky, and she..um…tried to redistribute the awards. Actually, she probably wanted all three awards for Panda Personality and who can blame her?

Princess Dumpling is no dope, however, and she seems to have the lowdown on Pinky and her methods for world domination. Meanwhile, Mr. Wu is probably laughing up the sleeve of his trench coat as Pinky comes face to face with this years terrible trio of interlopers.

Wait a minute…triplets??????

I’m sure the voting system for the Giant Panda Zoo Awards is quite secure and impervious to devious panda perpetrators, isn’t it?

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

The Giant Panda Zoo Awards Part 1

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Welcome to the event you have all been waiting for! No, it’s not the Super Bowl, although I have heard that it might be happening sometime soon.* Yes, it’s the Giant Panda Zoo Awards, with your hosts, Babette de Panda, and the actual creator of the Giant Panda Zoo Awards, Jeroen Jacobs. I warned him that I draw pandas much better than I draw people, so if he looks like maybe he might be a panda, I apologize in advance.

Unlike the real world where pandas don’t get much opportunity to socialize with one another, in the world of panda satire and panda stories, pandas really get around a lot. I know, I know, we anthropomorphize pandas and all our pets as well, but heck… why not? Why shouldn’t pandas get to travel and attend award ceremonies? Don’t answer that.

Meanwhile, on with the awards ceremony!

Huzzah!

Introducing Princess Dumpling

We apologize to anyone who is offended by gratuitous panda butt depictions…oh wait…no we don’t.

* Actually, we do know that the Super Bowl is being played today. We even know who is playing!

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

What could be more Fabulous than Friday?

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Next week we take a look at The Giant Panda Zoo Awards ceremony and all your favorite pandas will be there! Will Pinky attempt to wrestle the gold medal for Panda Personality of the Year away from her cousin, Princess Dumpling? Does Babette de Panda have something up her haute couture sleeve to disrupt the ceremony? What skullduggery will Inspector Panda and his very clever assistant Mr. Wu uncover? Did Mei Xiang hide Pinky’s magical wand so she can’t…um…make adjustments to the awards?

Stay tuned till Sunday, when all will be revealed. We thought we would share some of Pinky’s triumphs and moments of glory to get you in the mood.

Uh oh! This year they only got BRONZE in bestie habitat!

“Do you know who I am????” Yeah, we do.

Beware, the power of the paw!

Princess Pinky is drawing a line in the sandbox.

Pinky answers difficult questions from the press in her own way.

Have a Fabulous Furry Friday! And don’t forget, your purchase of all of the Panda Chronicle Books (and Pandamorphosis) helps to keep the panda satire coming your way. Not to mention that you can have panda fun at home seven days a week. Huzzah!

And, if you love the artwork of Pandamorphosis, prints of all the major images from the book are available from my page at The Gratitude Gallery website. Check ’em out! You might also enjoy visiting some of our friends, pandas and not, from our Pandas Love Links page. Tell em we said “Hi!”

Tea Time for Pandas

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In our never ending quest to bring culture to the panda kindergarten, Bob decides to introduce them to the quintessential English High Tea, complete with little cucumber sandwiches and…um…cuppycakes. It is tea time for pandas!

The long, dark tea time of the soul….

I think it is time for a little something! I feel rather 11 o’clock-ish.

Just a reminder to stay tuned to this station on your internet dial, as next week we bring you more from the Giant Panda Zoo Awards! Interviews with award winning pandas, as they walk on the red carpet and pass through the velvet ropes, keeping the riff-raff away (and of course, by riff-raff, we mean anyone who isn’t Pinky)

Get ready for a star studded evening as all the nominated pandas strut their stuff for their fans.

Till then, Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

Bao Bao Responds to Her Defeat…

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Today, our nation’s number one panda, Bao Bao responds to her stunning defeat in this years Giant Panda Zoo Awards. The GPZA is a little like the Acadamy Awards, for pandas, so it’s easy to see why little miss Pinky would be so um…shall we say agitated? by her disappointing showing in this year’s voting.

But first, we have a story of sordid deception, tragedy, sugar overload, unfair advantage and death by chocolate, brought to our attention by one of our alert readers, Ms Jayelle of Brooklyn NY, about some hunting practices that IMHO are just the tiniest bit unfair, not to mention not very sporting. Now before anyone gets their panties in a knot, let me say I am an unashamed carnivore, or I suppose more accurately, omnivore. I have friends and neighbors who hunt deer and elk and stock their freezers to feed their family for the winter.

I say bravo, and that they are more honest eaters than I am, as the only hunting I do is for what’s on sale at our local grocery store. But this tale, from the bear centric area of New Hampshire smacks of unfairness to me. I mean, who doesn’t know that bears love sweets, and that chocolate can kill your dog if he eats enough of it. So, in the spirit of the Panda Chronicles, (meaning that we make fun of stuff, no matter how serious it actually is) here is our response to this story.

If I have but one life to live, let me give it for a cuppycake.

And now, as promised, Princess Pinky’s first response to the news that she did not win the gold medal in the Giant Panda Zoo Awards, (despite her…um…best efforts)

You might want to cover your ears.

Don’t tell me you’re surprised.

We’ll have more from our recorded coverage of the actual Giant Panda Awards ceremony, coming to you on The Panda Channel, host of Zoonooz, in the weeks to come. Stay tuned so you don’t miss it, or better yet, sign up to get new posts three times a week in your inbox. You can also sign up for our monthly (I swear I am going to get to this really soon) Newsletter. Both sign-ups are at the top of the right hand column on all pages, except for the home page.

Be the bear!
Bob T. Panda

Breathe Deeply! It’s Fabulous Furry Friday

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I thought after Wednesday’s encounter with the panda kindergarten, Bob needed to chill to a bit and embrace his inner panda.

Nothing like a bit of the great outdoors to straighten up the panda kindergarten.

Just how hard would it be…

…to embrace your inner panda?

No cats were harmed in the drawing of this cartoon.

Be the Bear. Embrace your inner panda!
Bob T. Panda

You can bring a bear to culture…

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…but you can’t make them behave themselves.

You know the old saying, you can bring a bear to culture, but you can’t make them learn the ancient rites of the tea ceremony, but that doesn’t stop Bob from trying to bring culture and refinement to the panda kindergarten. I can hardly write that last sentence without snorting and giggling madly. Some how, “culture and refinement” used in the same sentence as “panda kindergarten” invokes the image of merriment and …um…Meihem.

You can lead a bear to culture, but….

Hmmm…Bob will have to call on his inner panda to recover from this learning experience with the panda kindergarten. As you may have noticed, Pinky and the Meihems are now full members in good (or is that bad?) standing in the panda kindergarten. Pinky was a first round draft pick.

I can’t let the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday go by, without mentioning that it marks my 27th year of creative self employment. While I have had to be even more creative in the last six years in the making a living part, it has been an excellent ride, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. In fact, had the economy not gone sideways, panda satire might never have come into existence! And isn’t that a thought that would keep you up at night?

Keep Being the bear. I couldn’t do it without you.
Bob T. Panda

Pinky’s Snow Day; Part ‘C’

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The liddle pandas have come in and hung up their coats, taken off their boots, and settled in for a little refreshment! What is a snow day without a steaming cup of cocoa?

Meanwhile, all seems to be quiet on the Northwestern front. Progress is being made on another pending project, The Panda Chronicles Cuppycake Cookbook: Favorite Recipes of the Panda Kindergarten. This is a project that has been in the works (between other projects) for a little over a year, with panda and panda satire aficionado Vicky Vladic, who hails from Australia. You can read more about her over at her blog, VSomethingSpeaks.

You might say that this collaboration is a child of the internet, since I have never been to Australia and I’m pretty sure she’s never been to the Pacific Northwest Washington State. We never would have met, let alone have an easy way to work on a project together, were it not for the world wide cyber living room, where you can find just about anything…even pandas! Stay tuned to this here site, if you like pandas and cuppycakes (and let’s face it, who doesn’t like frosting?)

But now, there are some pandas waiting!

Well, they did hang their coats up.

The way of the princess never runs smoothly.

Be the Bear,
Bob T. Panda

Fabulous, Furry, and Friday

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What could be better? For those of you who are new in these here parts, Friday is the day we…um…relax a little bit and present a few pages from our vast archives of panda satire. But hmmmm…what to post, what to post…..?

Because I’m thinking about cupcakes…..

…because Babette hasn’t appeared lately

because…misery bear!!!!!

Friday is also the day we take the opportunity to remind you that you can have pandas at home…well, not real pandas of course, but the pandas of The Panda Chronicles are ready to step off the screen and into a book that you can hold in your very hands, and your purchase helps to support the art of Panda Satire. Huzzah for you!

For fans of Pandamorphosis, I’d like to remind you that you can find prints of some of the drawings from the book over at The Gratitude gallery of Fine Balance Imaging.

Who could resist pandas in the refrigerator?

Till next week,

Be the Bear
Bob T. Panda