As we continue our journey into advanced stages of Pandaphilia, something really exciting (if you have a kind of boring life, it was exciting) happened. I got a comment from a writer who was working on a book about pandas. He wanted to know how I started doing “panda satire” and whether I knew of other examples of pandas as humor material. Of course I had to look up his blog, to make sure he wasn’t some nut job, (or at least a harmless one, hopefully). He turned out to be Henry Nicholls, a serious writer of popular science with many magazine articles and a previous book to his credit. One thing led to another, and I offered to let him use one of my cartoons to appear in his book. Yay! It certainly was one of my proudest moments when I got my copy of The Way of the Panda hot off the press, with my very own cartoon in it. Attention Panda Shoppers! If you haven’t read this book, get it now! (available through Amazon and maybe your local bookstore.) Pandas, of course have written some of their own books as well:
But of course, sometimes when pandas write books, their um…fact thingies are not always um…welll…correct.
Well, till next time,
Be the Bear!
I want to know where you had hidden yourself for the last 2 years, after my Panda awakening. It seems to me like I have missed a lot of fun! I woke on Yun Zi’s BEARADAY from a local news story, that gave a link. I did miss a bit of time for illness, but I do not remember seeing anything by you before then. If you have heard that all Californians are nuts….they are—especially in the southern sector where our brains get baked in the hot sun. You should really glance at our blog….we have some wonderful writers, like Lucilla, but many of them are quite young. I love going back to older blogs before I was even around. P Wong has had some wonderful interviews as he played Mr. Tourist, and mostly talks to Gao Gao—-but does not limit himself to that one thing. My favorite Panda Photog is Rita Petita—See her fickr pages…she has been photographing the Pandas here in San Diego for almost 14 years….and visits them just about every week. They respond to her well because she knows them, and they know her. She is on VayKay this week—to China to get a few more shots of our old resident clown ZZ. She is the one who loved teaching aerobics, hanging by her toes, way up a tree. She has mapped out a great “photo” FOR me not OF me for facebook. I have an immense crush on Gao Gao’s Fluffy Furry Feetsies, the photos is a close-up of his feet. Su Lin is her special love—but I doubt she will see her since she just had her first breeding season there in China, and has a baby in the Semi-Wild Program area. Today she posted a Photo of Basi—the first Female Panda that occupied the Royal Panda Palace here at the San Diego Zoo. (Personally I think Bai Yun and the kids have redecorated all of the outdoor areas since then.) I imagine Rita’s fans will go wild when they see that she has posted a photo of our earliest Panda-Basi. Bai Yun’s first husband Shi Shi has been dead for quite a few years I think, he was the sperm contributor for Hau Mei, a mother of 9 or 10. Here is the link to her page(s)—I hope you enjoy and have time for them….Love Grammmie
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ritapetita/
Hey Auntie Grammie,
thanks for reading. I haven’t been hiding really, just taken some time to get into the world of pandas on FB. Thanks for your comments here and on FB, and a big thanks for sending the blog on to others. Lucky you to live so close to the zoo! I wish we had pandas in Seattle, but the office of panda procurement says that’s never going to happen. I hope to get down to San Diego one of these days. I went to NZ when Tai was still there, and I had also seen Ling Ling and Tsing Tsing. (also know as “The Nixon pandas”) thanks again for following!
Congratulations on your cameo!