News Flash: Panda Climbs a Tree

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Ha ha! that was a gratuitous headline if there ever was one. Of course a panda climbs a tree! Bubba has been climbing up a storm, ever since they let him explore the great outdoors. So, this cartoon is kind of old news, but it wasn’t when I drew it. Mommee Mei is now confident enough in his abilities that she can take a nap or chow down some boo while he is wowing the crowds with his feats of daring.

But when Bubba first started exploring the dreaded hemlock and the gingko of terror, Mei thought he might need just a little help to get started.

You can’t just DO stuff. You need instruction from an expert!

Moms…gotta love ’em.

Meanwhile, we have been having weather not very conducive to pandas, with horizontal buckets of rain today. Blergg. The good news is that it is perfect weather to work on my latest project, which will be available sometime this millennium. I don’t mean to be snarky, but it turns out a graphic novel is a whole heck of a lot of work. Sometime next month I will start sharing some sketches in progress, but for now, can I just say it is either going to be awesomely cool, or a complete pile of crap.

Sigh…We creative types are subject to mood swings and insecurity, if you haven’t figured this out yet. But never fear, Pandas are on the move, and we will bring you all the pandas that fit!

Be the Bear,
Bob T Panda

Kung Fu Panda revisited

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Oh me, oh my, Friday night I went to see Kung Fu Panda 3 and the bears did not disappoint! If you haven’t seen the movie yet, (and I strongly urge you to go right this minute) and you don’t want to read any spoilers, I suggest you skip this section and head on down to today’s ‘toon, so I don’t ruin the experience for you.

I have to admit, I was a fledgling Pandaholic when the first Kung Fu Panda movie came out, and to put it mildly, I was skeptical, if not downright dismissive of the idea. Then I went to see it and all I can say is WOW! Goofy, but lovable Panda Po aside, the movie is a visual treat and movie 3 was no exception.

The film team even visited the panda kindergarten and went to the Chimelong Panda reserve to meet the worlds first surviving panda triplets, Mengmeng, Shuaishuai and Kuku (also known as Pinky’s minions) and gave them a cameo role in the movie.

Po travels to his long lost, unremembered home with his real panda dad to gain the vital panda knowledge needed to fight this movies’ supremely evil villain, and in the process discovers his roots and a whole lot of (wait for it) adorable baby pandas, not to mention a female panda that appears to have studied at Babette de Panda’s charm academy for young pandas ladies.

I laughed, I cried, I gasped with amazement. I can’t end this review without mentioning the incredible lushness and visual excitement of this movie. As a fine artist (besides being a panda satirist) I love movies that capitalize on relevant art styles and references. Nods to traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, not to mention amazing color combinations and dynamic compositions make this movie an aesthetic, as well as a pandarific experience. If you can see it on a big screen, do it. Do it now.

And now, on with our Sunday feature ‘toon…

Huzzah! Pandas save the day!

Hope you enjoyed today’s cartoon, and do go see Kung Fu Panda 3. Heck. see all of them again! I know that I will! and I bet Po will get an Oscar tonight for best panda in a dramatic role, don’t you think?

Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda

Be the Bear

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I just listened to an interview with the guy who played the grizzly in the movie The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and ahem…THE BEAR!!!!! Let me say right here that no matter how many well deserved Academy Awards this movie wins this weekend, I have no intention whatsoever of seeing this movie. This guy studied a lot of bear attacks, so he could…um…be the bear.

It was really interesting to hear about all of the preparation and mechanics/ technological magic that went in to making the scenes with the bear attack so realistic. If you’re interested, you might be able to catch the podcast on CBC’s Day Six.

However, I would never dream of boycotting movies containing …pandas. Um…KUNG FU PANDA 3!!! (which I have plans to see tonight!)

So, in honor of both the bear (yay!!!!!) from The Revenant and the Kung Fu Pandas, here are some being the bear related cartoons for your Fabulous Furry Friday Fun!

“Is it a documentary?”

Being the bears!

Huzzah! Bring pandas to Washington State!

Speaking of being mauled by bears…

Thanks again to Henry Nicholls for alerting me to this story

And I’ll be sure to let you know what I thought of Kung Fu Panda 3 after I see it tonight. I bet is going to get an Oscar for best panda in a dramatic role!

Be the BEAR,
Bob T Panda

Smile! You’re on Pandid Camera 2

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Poor Bubba. What a shock it was to find out that people had been watching him ALL. THE. TIME. on the panda camera. Are they really allowed to do that? I’m afraid so, Bubba, and what with your sister’s presidential aspirations, not to mention your Cubby of the Year Award, you won’t have a moments privacy during your entire residence at The Pinksonian Zoo.

Between Apps on mobile devices, 24 hour panda cams, and all the videos and photos taken by visitors to the zoo, your EVERY. SINGLE. MOVE. will be recorded and commented on. Not to make you self conscious or anything.

Add to that, the time honored tradition and privilege of older children to tease, torment, and generally one up their younger siblings. Not that I know anything about this. HAHAHAHAHA! For the record, I am the put upon younger sibling. But we are all done with that, right?

I has no sekrets!!!!

Meanwhile, over on Kristen Lamb’s blog, she has been taking to task those online news sites that make a practice of not paying writers. C Hope Clark, over at Funds for Writers (one of my favorite and always read newsletters) has also addressed this extremely disturbing trend. As a writer, painter, and cartoonist, I have come up against this idea that “if you love doing something, you should do it for free”. Phooey on that! As both Kristen and Hope have both so eloquently said, creative people have the same bills everyone else does. We have rent, mortgages, doctor bills, need food, clothes, you name it.

Now, I post this blog for free, and you can search the archives at will. I do this willingly. You can walk into the gallery that shows my paintings and see them for free. You can even see them online. The only way I make any income is if someone buys my paintings, books, or reproductions. If that truly is not in your budget, come visit here often; visit your public library. I’ve been there and I am a great fan an user of public libraries. But if you have the wherewithal to buy books or paintings, be they mine or any of the thousands of great writers and artists out there, please do. It will be appreciated and is the only way we keep from living in a cardboard box. Visit my book page or Pandas Love Links page. And don’t support sites that make money from the work of creatives without providing compensation to those who create the content.

Be the (slightly preachy) bear!
Bob T Panda

Smile! You’re on Pandid Camera

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Come on Bubba…won’t you give us a little smile? didn’t you know we were…um…watching you?

What’s that blinking red light over there?

As any of you who happen to be younger siblings know very well, that it is the time honored tradition, (or is that privilege?) for older siblings to torment younger siblings. Now, I was not watching pandas when Tai Shan was a mere cub, but I don’t think he would have put his little sister through the same things that Pinky has put Bubba through. That’s just my opinion and I have nothing to back this up. He did send her….ahem…some very nice presents.

We might say that as the middle child, Pinky has worked hard to distinguish herself. One could wish that she didn’t appear quite so gleeful when she gets Bubba all wound up. But what fun would that be?

Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda

The Panda Season of Love Begins

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Oh yes, the Panda Season of Love has begun once again and panda fans around the world anxiously await the joyous announcements of impending panda pregnancies! This year Australia (being on the opposite side of the globe) is anxiously awaiting a possible perfect puffy panda popkin, but as with all things panda procreation, we don’t often know that something will happen until it actually happens!

Is it any wonder that pandas visit therapists more often than any other animal? (Okay, I just made that last bit up, for those of you who are paying attention!)

But now, let’s get on with the show of encore presentations for Fabulous Furry Friday on The Panda Season of Love!

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

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

The Scottish pandas have had a few disappointments…

I am only making some of this up.

And of course, as noted Pandologist Henry Nicholls has pointed out, wild pandas are a whole different ball game!

Thanks guys! No, really.

So sit back and be the bear! The panda season of loooooove only lasts two day! It pays to be ready!

Bob T. Panda

Pinky has a Cunning Plan

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Oh that Pinky! She snuck off to the Iowa caucuses, using Daddy’s credit cards and now there are rumors of her showing up in New Hampshire, as well as appearances scheduled in South Carolina! But what kind of cunning plan has she used so that no one will realize she has left the zoo?

And is her willingness to let Bubba play with Mr. Bun NOT a sign that Pinky has learned to share (as IF!!!!) but a way to buy his silence when she sneaks out of the zoo?

What do YOU think?

That Pinky is too clever for her own good!

Meanwhile, after listening to the GOP “debates” on Saturday night, (didn’t I have anything better to do? Apparently not.) I think I can honestly say that having a roomful of baby pandas on stage would not have been any more unruly than what was happening before the world and everyone. I get that there are legitimate differences of opinions both between and within political parties. I have even (gasp!) voted for republicans in state elections. But I think that requiring participants of these “debates” to wear shock collars which would provide a mild but emphatic shock when the wearer lied, would have provided a more illuminating discussion. Just saying.

You have a clear choice. #HeyWhyNotVote4Bob or #Vote4Pinky

We could do worse.

Be the Bear
Bob T Panda

Get Ready for The Panda Season of Love

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You might not realize that Valentine’s Day takes place in mid February because it commemorates the beginning of the Panda Season of Love. I’m pretty sure I am not making this up.

Would I lie to you?

I thought it was time for a new Valentine’s Day cartoon, because the last one I did was at least four or five years ago.

So here it is!

it’s the panda, the panda season of love!

And word from the Toronto Zoo is, they have both a girl and a boy, going strong but not names yet. What’s wrong with “Bob” and “Babette”? I think they have a nice ring, don’t you?

Meanwhile, I hope you are celebrating the opening days of the Panda Season of Love with those you hold dearest. And…um…if you have any extra chocolate, send it my way. Okay?

Be the Schmoopy Bear!
Bob T Panda

A Silver is the Same as “First Loser”

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Fabulous Furry Friday takes a look back at last year’s Giant Panda Global Awards (or whatever the heck it’s called now. ) As you may or may not be aware, Pinky did not win either of her categories (Favorite Panda Outside of China or Panda Personality of the Year) Okay, there are a lot of really cool pandas who don’t live in China, but for Pinky NOT to get Panda Personality of the Year, that’s just wrong!!!! As for her Silver Medal in the FPOoC award, as Pinky says, getting first runner up is just like getting “First Loser”.

As we have not had time to work on cartoons celebrating this year’s awards, let’s look at the ~~atrocities~~ festivities from last year!

Introducing Princess Dumpling

Wait a minute…triplets??????

Don’t tell me you’re surprised.

And now that Bubba has won Cubby of the Year….who knows what Pinky will do. There were rumors of Pinky sightings in New Hampshire last week, but just HOW is she getting away from the zoo with no one being the wiser? Tune in next week to find out!

And coming up on Sunday is a new Valentine’s Day cartoon, as we kick off the Panda Season of Love! And since the Australian pandas have their seasons reversed, we are not awaiting word as to whether the lovely Ms Fu Ni (Chinese for “Party Girl”) at the Adelaide Zoo is really pregnant or just prevaricating for pastries.

We also have several new panda centric cuppycake recipe over at They Draw and Cook; one for Valentines Day and on for Chinese New Year!

Till next time!
Be the Bear
Bob T Panda

Is Tian Tian campaigning for Pinky?

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The video of Tian Tian of the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC was all over the internet as well as television and newspapers a few weeks ago, as Tian Tian showed us just how much fun playing in the snow is. Well, it is if you’re a panda and don’t have to shovel your sidewalk and figure out how to get to work!

But the rest of us…well, at least the rest of you who live in places where snow shows up on a regular basis, we have a somewhat different relationship with the cold white stuff.

Meanwhile, Pinky seems to figured out how to turn Daddy’s fame into a plus for her presidential campaign…

Pinky never misses a trick!

Well, I did hear that the host of Meet the Press suggested that a panda should be president. Or maybe that’s just hearsay. And maybe it wasn’t Pinky, but a panda with …ahem…more experience that should be considered. I don’t know. But then again….

The results of the Giant Panda Global Awards have been announced and um…Pinky did not win the two categories she was nominated in. I am pretty sure there will be repercussions, especially since baby brother Bubba totally rocked the Cub of the Year category. This is not going to be well received. Stay tuned.