Tag Archives: panda kindergarten

It’s Going to Get Worse Before it Gets Better

I apologize to you all in advance, in case the current run of ‘toons traumatizes you. But with art as well as in politics, it sometimes gets worse before it gets better. In my work to reintroduce Mittens the Cat (with a whole new fur-do) I am finding that I can’t make up anything more absurd or horrifying than what I hear on the radio or read online.

So in the words of someone or another, sometimes writing satire is just quoting the news. Tom Leher, maybe?

Be very afraid. Bob is…..

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

But before we bring Mittens on, there is the little matter of Mr. Bun. He seems to be…um…missing. Dis. Will. Not. Stand. Hmmm…we seem to be saying that a lot.
Be sure to tune in on Wednesday to see what’s up with Mr. Bun.

Be the Bear
Bob T Panda

Note: I just got word from the folks at WordPress that my site was down for 7 minutes this morning, but now it is back on track. Either it was Pinky trying to hijack my site, or Mittens the Cat got word that we were going to be revealing his evil plans and new fur-do. Be very afraid.

Hostages

Well! It seems that the recent International Incident has been resolved, but I suspect there may be more shenanigans yet to come! After all, this is not the first time Pinky has been involved in a hostage situation! Thanks to Vicky Vladic of VsomethingSpeaks, who reminded me of this, and thus gave me an idea for this Fabulous Furry Friday post. As you know, Friday is the day that we take a look back at panda satire past. Huzzah! We are hostages to the weekend!

Let’s revisit the scene of Pinky’s last indiscretion! (Okay, it’s not the last one…I’ve lost count of how many naughty things she has done, but it is the only time we know of when hostages were involved.)

Excuse me, Mr. Watterson, but....

Excuse me, Mr. Watterson, but….

I love a good art forgery, don't you?

“how does you spell ‘hostage’?”

Oh dear, the Mei-hem twinkies have made Pinky mad. Uh oh.

Oh dear, the Mei-hem twinkies have made Pinky mad. Uh oh.

He who laughs last, laughs...um...last.

He who laughs last, laughs…um…last.

We also had a recent techno-glitch, when I made a minor (I thought) change in how the blog landing page was set up. This little insignificant change somehow cancelled the email notification of posts for my subscribers. Oopsie. Being that my technical knowledge is extremely limited, and relies on naps, sugar laden snacks and pushing random buttons, it took a little bit before the problem sorted itself out. At least I think it did. I’ll let you know after my nap. If you missed last Friday’s post, here it is! It is ironic that the glitch happened on Friday the 13th, isn’t it?

Here is a ‘toon that demonstrates my vast technological knowledge:

Lamentations of Luddites lay waste to Linguini.

Lamentations of Luddites lay waste to Linguini….Call 1-800-U-R-LOSER

Be the Bear
Bob T Panda

Fabulous Furry Friday the 13th

It is Fabulous Furry Friday AND Friday the 13th but I don’t think that we have any cartoons specifically dealing with Friday the 13th, (oddly enough…) so I will have to remedy that! So here is a post on the subject from our good friend over at VSomethingSpeaks.

I guess I will just have to look for some cartoons where our cast appears to be particularly unlucky in some fashion.

Pandanastics star, PO of Atlanta Zoo, practices for the Olympics, while the Torch Bears continue their around the world journey. Where will they turn up next?

Pandanastics star, PO of Atlanta Zoo, practices for the Olympics, while the Torch Bears continue their around the world journey. Where will they turn up next?

This looks kind of dangerous, doesn't it?

This looks kind of dangerous, doesn’t it?

Never underestimate the power of a good "fart joke"

Never underestimate the power of a good “fart joke”

What makes a panda run? Cuppycakes, of course!!!!

I smell FROSTING!!!!!!!!

Love the hobby horse on a spring (inspired by a REAL photo of a REAL panda on one.

Love the hobby horse on a spring (inspired by a REAL photo of a REAL panda on one.

National Zoo cub makes mom Mei Xiang disappear

oops.

Have a great day, and remember, that you should be nice to all cats, unlike the panda kindergarten. Just saying. Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane, and remember, if you enjoy reading a bunch of my ‘toons all at once, why not pick up copies of ALL the Panda Chronicles Books? You’ll be glad you did!

Till Next Time…Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda

Fabulous Furry Friday presents…

Today is Earth Day and we almost forgot to celebrate it. Of course, anything with pandas is rather celebratory, so um…have I convinced you of anything yet? Darn… sO let’s just forget all about what we might or might not have forgotten, as Fabulous Furry Friday celebrates Earth Day because….

We R Endangered!

Yes, that’s right, pandas are endangered and if you think we are going to let you forget it, you have another think coming!  Check out this fun video I found about pandas on youtube!

After you’re done watching that, here’s the Friday line up for this fabulously furry day!

This was way too much fun. :o)

You forgot your Binky Bar!

One of my early 'toons! (and still one of my faves!)

One of my early ‘toons! (and still one of my faves!)

Vote for pandas! We're endangered!

Vote for pandas! We’re endangered!

Does being endangered have NO privileges?

Does being endangered have NO privileges?

...we will always have Paris....

Pandas support all endangered animals!

Keep cool, cat, and don't go blaming women for stuff. That is SO not the way to get votes...

Keep cool, cat, and don’t go blaming women for stuff. That is SO not the way to get votes…

Hope you have a happy and fulfilling Earth day…um…when you’re endangered, does time really matter? Well, yeah, actually it does.

Be the Bear!
Bob T Panda

Fabulous Furry Friday

We are still popping champagne corks and eating cuppycakes to celebrate my newly agented status, so I thought I would share more of my literature of the panda ‘toons for this weeks fabulous Furry Friday! Huzzah!

From the earliest days of panda satire, pandas have been writing books about…well, about being pandas…

Everything I know

Everything I know

And then, there was Bob’s memoir, “Black and White Like Me”…

More literature of the panda!

More literature of the panda!

And of course we wanted to encourage a love of reading in the panda kindergarten…

I think you get my point....

I think you get my point….

And what panda doesn’t have an abiding love of Shakespeare….?

After all, the playings the thing....

After all, the playings the thing….

And let’s not forget that in addition to panda satire, I am also a painter…

You say sumi-e, I say Tsunami

You say sumi-e, I say Tsunami

Keep being the bear!
Bob T Panda

Literary Pandas

This week, Fabulous Furry Friday salutes Literary Pandas and Literature of the Panda! Huzzah!

And now, the pandas are out of the bag!

This week, after the conclusion of a six month mentorship program through the Nevada chapter of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, I have been taken on as a client by my brilliant and kind mentor, Gordon Warnock. I’m already on the Fuse Literary website listed as a client!!!! I hope they have hidden all the cuppycakes, because, well, you know…pandas!

I can’t say enough good things about the Nevada mentorship program. If you are a member of SCBWI, I recommend you look in to it, (the next cycle does not start until 2017, so you have some time to get a project in working order). I met many wonderful writers, who I hope will be friends for life. And to all of you here who have been following me since the early days of panda satire, I can only say thank you a thousand times. Maybe ten thousand times. You keep me going with your laughter and comments. Stay tuned. Pandas are going places and I hope you’ll come with us.

But first, how about some Literary Pandas?

It all started here.....

It all started here…..

Do you like my new book?

Do you like my new book?

Pandas have long been active in literary pursuits

Pandas have long been active in literary pursuits

What do you mean by "was?"

What do you mean by “was?”

May all your Fridays be Furry and Fabulous!
Be the Bear,
Bob T Panda

Celebrate Wu

I love Mr. Wu, San Diego’s junior panda in residence. Because Mr. Wu turns four years old this summer, he will most likely be moving to China sometime this fall or winter, I thought we should celebrate Wu and all things relating to the Wu self today.

I know, I know! I hate the idea of his leaving us too, but it is part of the deal we make with China in order to have pandas come and live here. And because Mr. Wu’s dad, Gao Gao, was born in the wild, Wu is of particular value as the future father of more little pandas. So we must shower him with love and affection while he is here, and try not to cry too much until then.

So let’s have a Fabulous Furry Friday salute to Mr. Wu!!!!

"Howdy do! I'm Mr. Wu! Who are you?"

Mr. Wu’s first appearance on The Panda Chronicles

Thank you all for coming! Buy my book here!

Thank you all for coming! Buy my book here!

Yo ho ho and a bottle of BooBeer!

Yo ho ho and a bottle of BooBeer!

While Mr. Wu was the only cub in the U.S. we had Mr. Wu Wednesday!

"You are right and Wu is wrong...I'll never do it again, mommy."

“You are right and Wu is wrong…I’ll never do it again, mommy.”

where happy pandas eat bamboo, oh why, oh why, can't...Wu?

where happy pandas eat bamboo, oh why, oh why, can’t…Wu?

And who could forget the exciting story of The Wizard of Wu? And remember, you can read all of the Mr. Wu stories in Book 4 of the Panda Chronicles: The Book of Wu! Get it here!

Have a great weekend, everyone! More pandas coming your way on Sunday!

Be the Bear
Bob T. Panda

It’s International Panda Day!

No, really…it really is International Panda Day! Who knew? Um…well, someone told me it was and while I have been trying to find some corroborating evidence that it IS in fact, International Panda Day, how about we just say that it is and have a panda party to celebrate!

Huzzah! it’s International Panda Day! Let’s have some cake!!!!!

Um...what cho doing wif dat hammer, pinky?

Um…what choo doing wif dat hammer, pinky?

And if you are done celebrating, why not head over to the nice folks at Pandas International and check out goodies in their store. All the purchases there help provide support for pandas. I mean real pandas. Because, without pandas, there could be no panda satire!

Meanwhile back at The Institute for Contemporary Panda Satire, things are heating up on the election front, Bubba gets cuter day by day, and the Meihem twins are hanging out and being about as adorable as two teenage pandas can be.

I hope everyone whose clocks changed for Daylight Savings time has adjusted. It’s only an hour, but it throws me off for weeks, it seems.

And if you haven’t signed up for my newsletter mailing list, you might want to think about doing that. There is a sign up form on the top of the righthand column. I know I have not sent out very many newsletters, in fact it’s probably been 6 months since the last one. Oopsie. My bad. But I just discovered how to make a secret password protected page here, and I am only going to send the password to people on my mailing list. How do you like them apples? I plan to put fun stuff on there, and maybe only leave each page up for a couple of months. We’ll see how it goes. I hope to get a newsletter out sometime next week, so you have a little time to put your email address in the little box that says: Get even MORE Pandas and Powered by Mailchimp at the bottom of the box. At the rate I send out newsletters, I’ll hardly be a nuisance at all, and I swear on the deluxe size box of cuppycakes that I will never share your email address with anyone else.

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

40) Su Lin the first. From a a personal photograph that found it's way to me.

Su Lin the first. From a a personal photograph that found it’s way to me.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

With news of a state dinner for the folks from Canada at the White House, following quickly on the heels of the photograph of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with two adorable panda cubs on his lap, It’s anyone’s guess who’s coming for dinner!

Are Pinky and Bubba invited as well? I mean, now that the PM and the Toronto Twinkies are such good buds, I can’t believe he’d leave them at home! and will Mei Xiang and Tian Tian be invited as well? Seems like the PM might be the sort who has permissive attitudes towards pandas and would let them get up to any number of hijinks, and where Pinky is concerned, well, you just can’t be too careful!

The long, dark tea time of the soul....

The long, dark tea time of the soul….

You can lead a bear to culture, but....

You can lead a bear to culture, but….

And this would not be the first time that pandas attended state dinners at the White House…

I am only making some of this up. copyright 2012 -A. Belov

I am only making some of this up. copyright 2012 -A. Belov

And if you are not aware, this weekend we leave Daylight losing time behind, and get up one or earlier…or is it we go to bed later…Fall forward…spring back…heck…I don’t know. Let’s just have a pajama day and sleep in!

Bob explains daylight savings time to the panda kindergarten

spring back, fall forward?

And if you haven’t bought any stuff with pandas on it lately, now is a good as time as any!

Be the Bear!
Bob T Hey Why Not Vote 4 Bob Panda

Kung Fu Panda revisited

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!

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