Category Archives: the essential pandaness of being

From the Futile Gestures Department

Okay, I know I am going to get some flack for this one, but as an endangered species, I tend to be rather skeptical of gestures that say “I’m a Sensitive New Age Guy and I really care….” but don’t actually do anything to rectify, ameliorate, or heal a past injustice.

OK, Seattle City Council. What is this gesture really going to fix?

call me a cynic, but….

Am I going to get in trouble for this one?

Stay tuned to find out. (The panda kindergarten says, “if you haven’t pissed someone off today, you still have work to do.”)

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

Pandas: Masters of the Pregnant Paws

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**Please note: In Friday’s post, I messed up Mehitabel’s story links on Cat Stories, but now it is fixed. You can read her story here. Or maybe the panda kindergarten is responsible for this misdeed.

The proliferation of phony panda pregnancy plots are prancing through the panda sphere. Oh PPPah! we proclaim! These punctilious pundits are profoundly proficient in propelling poppycock pertaining to prevaricating perfidious pandas. Phooey!

Gosh, that was fun!

Everyone who knows anything about pandas, knows that not only is it notoriously difficult to get a captive panda pregnant, but also that once the deed has been done, it is impossible to tell if they actually are pregnant until the little bundle (or bundles) of joy appear. There is much real information on pseudo-pregnancy in pandas, should they care to look for it.

Of course, these journalistic faux paws make excellent fodder for panda satire, and so, we thank you for your idiotic news story. One small misstep for man, one giant leap for panda satire.

Prevaricating pandas perceived in pregnancy pastry ploy

Meanwhile back at the ranch, Pandamorphosis is now out on iBooks and Kindle! Huzzah! You can check it out right from here! Progress is being made on Book 5 of The Panda Chronicles as is the work to make the previous books available for your Kindles, etc. Whee! Who says pandas are Luddites?

Happy Labor day to those pandanistas in the US, and to everyone else, it’s back to work with you! Tomorrow is just plain old Monday!

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda.

There’s got to be a morning after…

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Cake smeared and tired, Princess Pinky and the Meihems returned to their respective corners, to calm down and…um be lectured to by their mommees.

Things got a little busy around here yesterday (don’t ask) so there is no new cartoon today, but hey! you got a new cartoon on Friday and Saturday, so pipe down over there!

More Pandamorphosis news!
The Kindle edition is now available on the Kindle store, and if you’ve bought a copy of Pandamorphosis through Amazon, past or present, you can get the Kindle version for a mere 99 cents! whee! Sort of like having your cake and eating it too. The iBook version remains free until Monday, August 25th till 5PM Eastern time. The Kindle version is quite different than the ibook version. I had fun playing with the graphics, and would love to hear what you think about it.

Huzzah!

But I don’t want to leave you without a Princess Pinky cartoon on this all-pinky-all-the-time Pinky Fest Birthday weekend, so here’s one of my recent faves.

Oh dear….are you going to leave her there?

More from Inspector Panda, Princess Pinky and the Meihems next week!

Keep being the bear and don’t forget to get your copy of Pandamorphosis! Huzzah!
Bob T. Panda

Yes, I am an Icon

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During the great Smithsonian Smackdown, I kept flashing on that comment made so many years ago by John Lennon, when the Beatles were at the height of their popularity. During an interview, he made a comment that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus Christ, which started a storm of not so favorable opinions of the fab four.

I wanted to say (and probably did), lighten up, for crying out loud! He meant it as a joke!

So, when Princess Pinky Bao Bao won the Smithsonian Icon contest against the American Flag and Woody Guthrie, who could blame me if that old news story went through my head?

What can I say? Princess Pinky is an icon, and it’s her birthday this week. Lighten up!

Here’s another of my favorite Princess Pinky cartoons, to help you could the hours (minutes, seconds) till Saturday.

Just the thing for a cozy evening at home with mom and the panda cam!

Only one more shopping day!

Be the bear
Bob T. Panda

Princess Pinky Bao Bao has a birthday…

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Yes, we are heading into what we like to call “high birthday season” around here, which is the week of your actual birthday. While Pinky Bao Bao’s ACTUAL birthday is not till next Saturday, you can excuse her (and us) for getting a little excited about it, and getting an early start.

So, to get you in the mood, here are some of her feature presentation cartoons from her first year of life in The Panda Chronicles.

Such a little darling! How could her big brother resist spoiling her?

Pinky tests her powers….

National Zoo cub makes mom Mei Xiang disappear

oops.

Princess Pinky is fooled by Mei Xiang at the National Zoo

Oh Princess Pinky, mom has a trick or two up her paw, I think…

Princess Pinky helps with new years resolutions

You say you want a resolution, well, you know, it is hard to change a bear….

Stay tuned for more Pinky next week (sort of a Pinky film festival, you know?)

Meanwhile back at the panda ranch, we were inspired by the upcoming Dot Day celebration on September 15th to create a new ‘Celebridot.” Don’t know what Dot Day is? International Dot Day is a celebration of creativity that was inspired by Peter H. Reynolds’ book “The Dot”. This site is filled with other authors, illustrators, and celebrities who share in the dream of a more creative world. (from the Celebridots website) You can learn more about Dot Day here.

There has been much on the news and in social media this week about depression, in the wake of Robin Williams’ death. Creative people are often prone to depression. While engaging in creative pursuits cannot stop or eliminate depression and despair, having a creative outlet can help to channel these feelings, and give a person a little breathing space till the blackness lifts. I am here today, partly because I had a creative outlet, and my creativity was encouraged to grow by some teachers and other adults in my life. Do check out the Dot Day website, and then see if there is something you can contribute. Even encouraging one child you know makes a difference in the world.

My dot for 2014. What a great tradition!

Be the bear!
Bob T. Panda

The UnBEARable Snarkiness of Being

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Really, sometimes real life just makes it too easy to be snotty and make fun of something I hear about on the news. An actual radio station in Calgary, Alberta determined that because their listeners were getting much of their news from abbreviated social media sites, like Facebook and Twitter, that maybe their listeners were thinking that the songs they listened to were way too long.

I am not making this up.

But I am going to make fun of it.

Aren’t you done yet?

There is some understandable and justifiable backlash coming from the recording artists whose songs are being butchered, and rightly so. What’s next? Is someone going to walk into my gallery and ask just to buy the “best” part of the painting? Maybe so.

Be the Bear
Bob T. P…(shortened due to waning attention span of readers)

I’m late, I’m late…..

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Oh my ears and whiskers! I had been doing so well, getting all my cartoons done and posted in advance, but this bear is wearing the “semi-famous artist putting on an show with 11 artists” hat this week, and expecting 400-600 people to show up at our show, so, if I am a little behind, I have a good excuse! Check it out over at the Froggwell Blog!

But Inspector Danger is my middle name Panda cannot be stopped!

Mr Wu is still skeptical of Babette’s story…

“fuggedabout the bleeping tape!”

Well, I could go on, but I still have miles to go before I sleep! I hope you are still celebrating Mr Wu’s Birthday! We will bring you more Wu on Fabulous Furry Friday, and remember, pandas like being shared with your friends and families!

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

A Friday so Fabulous and Furry…

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…that we can hardly contain our excitement! We are in the run-up to one of the most exciting days of the year!

Yes, I am referring to Mr Wu’s SECOND BIRTHDAY!!!!!! Will he take a bath to celebrate the occasion? Don’t count on it. But it’s not a problem, since we are on the interweb, and Mr Wu is happily, if fragrantly, in Pandiego!

Here are a few of my favorite cartoons about Mr Wu. If you want more Wu, more of the time, I suggest you acquire a copy of the fourth Panda Chronicles collection: The Panda Chronicles Book 4: The Book of Wu!

Yo ho ho and a bottle of BooBeer!

“Wu calls his dance, ‘Ode to a Weaf’ “

Mr Wu speaks out! Huzzah for our now year old twins in Zoo Atlanta!

Fanmail from some Flounder?

Hope you are getting lots of cuppycakes ready to celebrate with Mr Wu on his actual birthday on Tuesday July 29th! And BTW this week is National Zookeepers week, so let’s put our paws together for all of Mr Wu’s girlfriends, and the nannykeepers that keep Pinky and the Meihems in line. A special mention should go out to the panda house folks at Zoo Atlanta, for their totally awesome animal care that they accomplished when Lun Lun surprised them (and apparently herself) with twins!

And a further bit of news from the Panda Publishing front, get a first look (not to mention first taste,) of what we have up our sleeves…er…paws with The Panda Chronicles Cuppycake Cookbook, coming to you…um…eventually from the paws of panda aficionado and chef du cuppycake, Vicky Vladic over at her blog, V Something Speaks. She shares the first recipe from the book, celebrating our very own birthday girl-to-be, Princess Pinky.

If you want to know when this book will be a reality, subscribe to this blog (and/or V Something Speaks too!) and you will know before anyone else! You could really help us out if you test recipes as she shares them, and let us know how they worked for you. You can also follow me on twitter @pandachronicle where I’m sure I will be telling all I know!

Huzzah!

Be the Bear and have a fabulous cuppycake filled weekend!
Bob T. Panda

Episode 7: A Suspicious Document

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The plot is thickening, no question about it. Babette du Panda has presented the alleged will of Minette, in an attempt to convince Inspector Panda that she is the rightful owner of the prized painting.

But first, here is the previous episode for those who have just tuned in!

Oh, that Mr Wu is a clever little bear! Is Madame du Panda trying to pull a fast one?

and now, our story continues!

Is this plot thickening, or what?

I don’t know about you, but I think this document is VERY suspicious!

Mr Wu observes an interesting detail….

Oh my! here we are on the edge of our seat, and what’s with the tape on Mr Wu’s ear, anyway?

“Fuggedabout da bleeping tape!”

Tune in next time for our next episode. A suspicious document, indeed!

Bears of Mystery!
Bob T. Panda

They are watching you!

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Once again, news from the real world inspires me with tales of pandas doing stuff that they shouldn’t be doing. Thanks to Panda-spondant Charlene J. for alerting me to the story on unmanned drones being used to track wild pandas. We are still working on the story about the bear that fell through a skylight in Alaska, (NOT a panda, I might point out) in a brazen attempt to gobble up cuppycakes at a birthday party. Dude! Just ring the bell! I’m sure they would ask you in if you would just ask politely!

Every move you make, we’ll be watching you!

This is an excellent learning opportunity for the panda kindergarten! I mean learning about science and wild pandas. What did you think I meant?

Be the bear!
Bob T Panda

And be sure to tune in next time when Inspector Panda returns!