Tag Archives: National Zoo

A Halloween Carol*

With profuse apologies to Charles Dickens. *
Yes, it is time for a new adventure/ fractured (some might say bamboozled) literary classic! Princess Pinky stars in her first feature length adventure,

A Halloween Carol*

Has Pinky been a naughty panda? I think that goes without saying!
The dramatis personae (pandasonae?) is as follows:
Pinky as, well, as Pinky
Mr Wu as the ghost of the panda kindergarten
Mei Xiang as herself
Bubba as Tiny Panda (his first role!)

and more to come!

Bubba's first feature role!

Bubba’s first feature role!

Stay tuned for the next episode!

Be the Bear
Bob T Panda

Fabulous Furry Friday Returns!

Yes, it is Fabulous Furry Friday once again! Huzzah! This week we look back on some of our favorite moment with the panda kindergarten.

Let’s start with one of the most important events in a young panda’s life, the Bear Mitzvah!

Today, you are a bear.

Today, you are a bear.

...if I were a panda, yadda dah dah da- da- da- AAARGH! I can't stop!!!!!

…if I were a panda, yadda dah dah da- da- da- AAARGH! I can’t stop!!!!!

And what would you get if you put an infinite number of pandas (highly unlikely, We ARE endangered, after all!) in a room with an infinite number of typewriters?

After all, the playings the thing....

After all, the playings the thing….

And what happens in the panda kindergarten, stays in the panda kindergarten….

The panda kindergarten in las vegas hotel room

What? Pandas are ALWAYS naked.

Bob, Bob, Bob...when will you ever learn?

Bob, Bob, Bob…when will you ever learn?

Is it any wonder that Princess Pinky was a first round draft pick for the panda kindergarten?

Bao bao changes panda cub gender

Pinky is VERY powerful. Be afraid, be very afraid, Mr Wu.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend, and remember, it’s never too late to have some cake! And…um… you could read ALL of these cartoons, any time you wanted to, by buying all of the Panda Chronicles Books! Book 6 coming soon! Just Sayin.’

Be the Bear,
Bob T. Panda

Loyalty is Required!

You know, it just doesn’t pay to mess with Pinky. Unless of course, you are Pinky’s mom.

And don't even THINK about talking back to Bai Yun!

And don’t even THINK about talking back to Bai Yun!

Did you see? Pinky’s little brother made an appearance. Will he be a good panda, or will he succumb to the siren song of Pinky Power and a cabinet post? Hmmm…which would be more fun?

Sorree, mommee…..

Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda

More Loyalty Oafs

As I sit here, trying to type with big furry paws, it has come to my attention that that some of the human candidates are having a debate tonight. I am not looking forward to debating Princess Pinky. I think she will fight dirty. and then there is the matter of the “leftover Christmas decoration” in the back of my closet. I am sure I did not decorate there last year. Pretty sure, anyway. Could this have something to do with why she knows everything I have been planning?

Meanwhile, I think I am beginning to see why the Two Timing Political Consulting Agency has not finished my video.

Hmmph!

Pinky: I will build a really, really big wall around your zoos if you don't sign my oaf.

Pinky: I will build a really, really big wall around your zoos if you don’t sign my oaf.

Meanwhile, I am making progress on compiling Book 6 (!!!!!!!) of the Panda Chronicles! Stay tuned to find out the title and see the cover! I hope to have it available no later than the end of October!

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

Loyalty Oaths

Omniscient Editor’s Note: It was bound to happen sooner or later…Princess Pinky would demand to know where Wu and the Meihems stand. Of course, this puts the Meihems in a very difficult position, vis a vis Bob and their political consulting firm. They are supposed to be working on Bob’s campaign video, not signing loyalty oaths for Pinky.

And they say politics makes strange bedfellows. very strange, indeed!

You can't make me....

You can’t make me….

How will this all end?

Meanwhile back at the panda ranch, Pinky’s real life brother turned three weeks old on Saturday, and is doing well. I think Pinky has plans for him….

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

BTW, did you know it is National Cup(py)cake Week this week? I’m ready to celabrate! Huzzah! I happy to report that my favorite London Cuppycake establishment got a mention as one of the 10 best cuppycakes in London.

 

 

 

Pandas Go Viral Part 2

The other day on Fezbook, Pinky’s Secretary for Saying Nice Things About Pinky reprimanded me for saying that it shouldn’t always be all about Pinky. Sigh. Is this fair? I mean the election is more than a year away and she already has been appointing cabinet members? I mean, who ever heard of that cabinet post? and Secretary of Interior Decorating! Is that really a thing?

Meanwhile, I am trying to reach my political consultants who are not answering their mePhones. Where is MY campaign video? I need it so that my campaign can go viral, for crying out loud.

It's just not FAIR!

It’s just not FAIR!

Meanwhile, in the world of real pandas, the newest panda at the National Zoo in Washington DC has turned 3 weeks old! He’s getting fat and sassy, and I’m pretty sure he is going to make his debut here very soon.

Keep being the bear!
Bob T. Panda

Happy Birthday To You!

Well, this may be a first for The Panda Chronicles.

You know how people who are born on holidays like Christmas or 4th of July always complain that no one ever really celebrates their birthday because..um…MAJOR HOLIDAY!!!!!DUH!!!!

So, think about what it means to be born on what is probably the most infamous day in recent American history (and I don’t mean the day that the Supremes appointed George W. President) Yeah, I am talking about the ultimate conversation stopper. What if your birthday is on September 11th? Let me put that another way, in case you missed the reference.

What if your birthday was on 9/11?

Well, that just happens to be the case for one of The Institute for Contemporary Panda Satire’s most faithful followers, a young woman from my home town of Phillie PA. so in honor of your birthday, we bring you….

A Salute to Cake! Happy Birthday, Cami Taylor!!!!!

Bob T. Portrait with cuppycake

yoga for pandas

All salute the sacred cuppycake!

Thanks again to Henry Nicholls for alerting me to this story

Thanks again to Henry Nicholls for alerting me to this story

Legalize cake today! Prevent illicit cuppycake activities.

Legalize cake today! Prevent illicit cuppycake activities.

Escape! Come with me, little cake, so we can be alone together.

Escape! Come with me, little cake, so we can be alone together.

Bee-lieve!

Bee-lieve!

One panda's disaster is another panda's delight!

One panda’s disaster is another panda’s delight!

Mini Bob Contemplates some cuppycakes from the famous London Bakery, Peggy Porschens

Mini Bob Contemplates some cuppycakes from the famous London Bakery, Peggy Porschen Cakes

Well, apparently, much to my surprise, I could go on and on with cartoons of pandas and cakes, but I won’t!

Happy birthday, once again Cami….be sure to…um…have some cake. How did I know about this? Let’s just say that small pandas have big mouths. I’m looking at YOU, Emperor Pew! ( see article: When good pandas go bad!) Thanks for alerting me to the news that there is something to celebrate about 9/11. That Bamboo Psychic network is really something!

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

FFF Asks: Who’s Your Daddy?

In all the excitement of the birth of twin panda cubs at the National Zoo, and then the sad news of the smaller of the cubs death, a little news item got…um…overlooked and everyone wants to know: Who’s your daddy?

For today’s Fabulously Furry Friday line up of encores, we revisit some ‘toons that ask that very question.

"It was dark....there were men in masks...."

“It was dark….there were men in masks….”

Who's the bear???!!!

Who’s the bear???!!!

And who can forget the “transformation” of Po and the Meihem twins of Cublanta?

Bao bao changes panda cub gender

Pinky is VERY powerful. Be afraid, be very afraid, Mr Wu.

And finally, we apologize (Ha! No we don’t) for anthropomorphizing pandas, and…um…making fun of them.

Our lack of taste is only exceeded by our sense of the absurd.

Our lack of taste is only exceeded by our sense of the absurd.

Hope this Friday is treating you well! and remember, you can have ALL these cartoons to read again (and again) with the Panda Chronicle series, books 1 thru 5 and coming soon! Book 6!!!!

Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda

Don’t Look in the Back Seat!

um…you know when you watch those scary movies, and there is a malevolent force in the back seat, as the hero/heroine drive blithely and unconcernedly around the dark country side. And the camera cuts to a shot of the evil one starting to rise up in the back seat, and you jump up and yell at the screen:

Don’t turn around!!!!!!! Don’t look in the backseat!

Well, think of that as you start to read this cartoon.

Warning: do not read with food or drink in your mouth.  #YouHaveBeenWarned

Cue the menacing music...

Cue the menacing music…

Meanwhile back on the National Zoo panda front, Xiao Mei Tian (not his official name, just a crib name, as he won’t get either his real name or his panda satire name till he is a hundred days old) has survived his fist week. He is starting to develop his panda markings and is getting nice and round. Huzzah!

I think we can deduce from this cartoon that Pinky is not quite ready to give up her presidential aspirations.

I will have to think of something to distract her….
Be the Bear
Bob T Panda

Mr. Bun Has a Question

The Cubbycake Chronicles Continues

It has been a highly emotional week for panda fans around the US and around the world. Panda Research centers in China continue to have success raising not only single cubs, but also twins, and last year, the first instance of surviving triplets occurred. In the US, however, we have only had one pair of surviving twins at Zoo Atlanta, known here affectionately as Bert and Ernie, or the Meihem twins.

Last Saturday’s birth of twins to Mei Xiang at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC caused great celebrations, not only among the panda faithful. In a world that seems to be going nuts with new random shootings every week, and natural disasters like the out of control wildfires in my home state of Washington, two new baby pandas seemed like just the thing to cheer ourselves up.

It was not to be. One of the cubs was too small and too weak to survive, and he died on Wednesday. My heart and sympathies go out to all the panda house staff at the SNZ. They have been working around the clock since the start of Mei Xiang’s labor. They are exhausted as well as heartbroken and they deserve our support. If this cub could have been saved, they would have done so.

The surviving cub is doing well. Mama Mei continues to prove herself an excellent mother. This is the first time we will have two cubs in residence at the same time at the SNZ. I can’t wait to visit and see the new cub, which will remain with Mei Xiang for about 18 months.

But that is the real world, and THIS is panda satire. So we take a moment to wipe our tears and blow our collective noses and get on with the show. I wanted to do a cartoon that commemorates the loss of this cub, without getting excessively maudlin. I hope you agree that this fills the bill.

And of course, it stars Pinky.

Mr Bun has a question, daddee.

Mr. Bun has a question daddee.

Be the Bear,

Bob T. Panda