Tag Archives: panda kindergarten

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!!!!

Mr. Wu’s first appearance on The Panda Chronicles

Thank you all for coming! Buy my book here!

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.”

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!

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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

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

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

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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….

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

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

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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

And Speaking of Baby Pandas…

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What? Weren’t we speaking of baby pandas…? Well, with all these incredibly cute pictures of the adorable baby Bubba (aka Bei Bei) at the national Zoo this week, it is most difficult NOT to have baby pandas on the brain.

THIS is your brain on pandas. Any questions?

If there was a cute-o-meter installed at the exit to the panda house at The National Zoo in Washington DC, it would have broken under the strain of so much cuteness.

But Bubba is not the only American Panda to have ever trod the trail towards the bright lights of stardom. This week, Fabulous Furry Friday brings you highlights of some of our other favorite panda cubs!

“Howdy do! I’m Mr. Wu! Who are you?”

For some reason, panda cubs are fascinated by fallen leaves…

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

And Pinky became her…um…pinkitudinal self very early…

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

And then there was the gender reclassification of the Meihem twins of Cublanta…

downloadable paper panda upgrade

Ready for panda kindergarten!

So remember to check in with us on Sunday, when we bring you live coverage of Bubba’s debut to the public, which will actually be occurring the day before. Okay, okay, so it’s really not live. What can I say? We are a low budget operation here.

Keep being the bear, and buy stuff with pandas on it!
Bob T Panda

Happy New Year …

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Happy New Year from The Institute of Contemporary Panda Satire!

Princess Pinky helps with new years resolutions

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

Are you one of the resolution people?

Bob still likes to get out in the field once in a while.

…Or are you more the polar bear plunge type?

Be the Bear
Bob T. Panda

See you on Sunday with a brand new ‘toon, when Pinky takes on the new zoo opening times!!!!!!!!

Day 31: The Ultimate 31 Days of Pandas Post

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It has finally arrived! Day 31 of 31 Days of Pandas. As ever, I am grateful to all who have stuck it out, all who have commented, all who have embraced these pandas and welcomed them onto your screen. I am especially grateful to those of you who have bought my books and goodies from my Pandyland Cafe Press store! But mostly, I am grateful that you enjoy what I do here, and have chosen to return.

The life of a creative professional ( a term I am not entirely comfortable with, but it is the closest I can come to what it is I do) is a very uncertain one. Will anyone respond to my work? Will I make enough money to live? Should I have married a dentist, like my parents wanted? Will I have to endure one more family dinner with great Aunt Mildred telling me how successful her daughter is, and how she just bought a vacation home in Hawaii? And what was it you do, again?

I was reminded recently of Neil Gaiman’s commencement speech that he gave at MY alma mater, The University of the Arts, in 2012. It’s referred to as “the make good art” speech, and that sums it up. All I want to do is make good art, and maybe tell some good stories along with it. The video is about 20 minutes long, but well worth it. It’s inspiring as all get out! Go watch it. We’ll wait right here…

Meanwhile, it’s New Year’s eve at the panda kindergarten…

The panda kindergarten at their best…or is that worst?

And we still have to finish the 12 Days of Crispmoss…

On the twelfth day of Crisp-Moss, My Panda cam Did See….

MX: no, Pinky, you may NOT have a Bamboo-tini!

I can’t hear you….

F-F-F-FI-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-VE Cuppycaaaaaaakes!

whew!

Everybody sing!

Be the Bear everyone, and let’s be careful out there!
Bob T. Panda

Day 30: Oh My Gosh We are Almost …

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We are almost at the end of 31 Days of Pandas! I hope you had as much fun as I did traveling down memory lane and are looking forward to our regular schedule of new ‘toons every Sunday and Wednesday, and an encore presentation on Fabulous Furry Fridays! I can hardly wait!

OOOOO! Pinky is a star!

F-F-F-FI-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-VE Cuppycaaaaaaakes!

Almost done!

I, for one, am looking forward to a…um…backbreaking schedule of pandas, pandas, pandas in 2016, and I hope it is enough to save me from the debacle that the 2016 presidential election is sure to be. Whatever happens on the political front, you can be sure that princess Pinky, the Meihems, little Bubba, and all the other pandas will up the ante. Of course with the level of absurdity, (or as brilliant writer Jasper Fforde refers to it: The Stupidity Surplus) reality will be difficult to top.

well, until tomorrow,
Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

Day 28: Will These Pandas Ever Go Away?

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Gosh, we hope not! In fact, we are hoping for even more pandas to grace our fair shores. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, there are high level panda procurement talks happening between China and Washington state. All pseudo thumbs crossed for a panda invasion to my home sweet home state!

Meanwhile, pandas are waiting to sing the next verse of…

The Twelve Days of Crispmoss!

Oh no! Not again!

FIIIIIVE cuppycakes!

whew!

Keep Being the Bear!
Bob T. Panda