Here's a bit of news from the ever incessantly cute Joe Falconi (articles): "My fellow Bear model friend Anthony (we are both in Issue 5 of All Bear magazine - pic) is flying all the way from the UK to support HIV/AIDS charities! I will be flying out to Los Angeles to meet him and support him when he comes to America to volunteer to do the AIDS Charity Ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles next year,  in June 2011!
 
I look forward to promoting the amazing work that Anthony is doing. His goal is to raise at least $3,000! After flying all the way out to help the community in California, USA I hope that all of us do everything that we can to help him reach his goal and even go beyond it! Please, spread the word and support Anthony for this amazing volunteer work he is doing to help people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in California, USA!".

A bit of news surrounding German artist Mark and his website BearPictureArt (articles). First off it's now a .de and no longer a .com so you guys should change that if you have this fine artist linked from your site. And the other news is that he has a brand new website. You definitely need to go check it out and see all the incredibly good looking guys he's photographed, and check out his shop while you're there as well. From his site, Mark says to keep an eye out for more galleries, and that's exactly what I intend to do.

Here is the following that I know about an upcoming internet webseries. It's called Bulk and it promises to be "an exciting, raw, sexy dramatic web series exploring the Bear Community in New York City... BULK follows Leo Duran, who after months of avoiding reminders of his ex, has returned to the scene. Can he escape his past and find happiness again?". J. Julian Christopher and D.R. Knott are Executive Producers. Right now they have a Facebook page with what I believe the website is soon to follow (source: The Woofington Post).

One of the most important things in life is to discover your creative side, and when I visit sites Space Boy Robot, my first impression is that the artist who designed these insanely cute robots has truly tapped into his all-important creative edge that's within.

As mentioned on the site, these are "one of a kind,  hand crafted / hand painted, and uniquely designed robots"... and there's even ray guns too! Seriously adorable; if I had the cash I'd buy one of each and have the whole collection.

Jordan is the cute Bear Cub who makes these nifty robots. If you're interested in his work, make sure to send him an email, and make sure to visit his Flickr page as well. And getting back to buying his work: the shop is being moved and will be ready by the end of August.

As a young lad, BearMan of BearToons realized he had a knack for drawing cartoons and liked the idea of having the word Bear in his nickname - hence - BearMan.

Was BearMan relating to the Polar bear, or to the Grizzly, or maybe the Kodiak or to the Panda... to some 4-legged wild animal that was living deep within his psyche? Perhaps.

Or maybe BearMan associated his cool nickname to some inner 'beautiful' strength that was shining within him. Maybe BearMan would conjure up images of a mama bear playing with her adorable cubs, then that image altered once danger approached and mama bear's claws and fangs come thrashing out while her cubs run away for safety? Maybe that's what compelled BearMan to become...

'BearMan'... (I even intrigue myself sometimes...)... ...

For whatever reason BearMan decided to call himself the BearMan, there is one thing for sure - he's not into Bears like you and me and Leather Daddy makes 3. While growing up, BearMan had no clue (nor any interest) about our cute and cuddly culture known as the Bear culture, in which adult men do adult things to each other.

Being on the net, however, It was only a matter of time when BearMan would have to come face to face with the tens of thousands of Bearish men who love to grope and grunt each other (with or without their assless leather chaps, but clothes do make the man, they say).

Thankfully Kathy Griffin educated BearMan about Bear culture some time ago, so thanks Kathy, and thanks BearMan for not only being very cool, but about being normal. It's a bonus when talented guys are just normal about other people's ways and sexualities.

That being said, however, BearMan's cartoons are far from normal. They are a ton fun, and he there's some cool BearManiacs who would agree with me: BearMan is a fine, cool cartoonist.

Oh, I almost forgot the news: BearMan's recent cartoon - it's all about etymology.

There's some guys who beautify this world in their own unique way. One of these guys is Spanish artist Yotto Bano, and not only does Yotto beautify our world, he does so by drawing the most creative and colourful urban style graffiti with the cutest Bearish guys as his main focus. A quick visit to his blog Ursulalala will let you decide for yourself what you think, however I love his stuff.

Yotto sent me a message to let me know that his work can be seen in a brand new Bearish book entitled Hair - 'Hairy Men in Gay Art' - which was published in May 2010 (Hair's Press Release), and this meaty anthology was put out by the Bruno Gmünder Media Group.

From artist Yotto Bano: "I'm very proud to announce that I'm a featured artist in the recently published book 'Hair', an anthology dedicated to the Bearish aspects of visual art. It's quite nice to be in the same book with maestros like Ralf König and new school kings like Daniel Mainé of Flashes Before Your Eyes".

I have to thank Perdido - it is his incredible 'Bear Degeneration' world that you are seeing a little bit everywhere (here as in PlanetBears and a bit on Bear-Pics too). I have been blessed to be able to work with Perdido who just happens to be an insanely cute Italian OrsoBear that is twice as talented. If you haven't had a chance to follow Perdido's Bear Degeneration, it's definitely a roller coaster ride for those who love comics. The detail in each frame is almost like looking at wee little Bearish masterpieces.

Over the past little while, Perdido and I have been translating the original Bear Degeneration from Italian to English, and right now Perdido is waiting on me to catch up on my translations, however I have been having more fun with his cute little furry drawings than with the texts.

All this to say - it is on my todo list - to translate the next episode of Bear Degeneration for you English fans out there, that is. And for any of you who haven't had a chance to see this comic, then click here to read 16 episodes in English... and you Italian fans can stay tuned in the future with Perdido with his 22 episodes.

Bearpix.co.uk << BearPix >> <<!!!!>>

...not to be confused with Bear-Pics.

However, BearPix is BearPix & Bear-Pics is Bear 'Dash' Pics, so BearPix is the real BearPics... erm.. wait...

Whatever the fuck I'm talking about - Bearpix.co.uk is such a fucking cool site (I'm so proud and honoured to have a same sounding name as BearPix).

The site is owned and run by a bloke name James and this guy is all over the British Isles; photographing events for the Bear Scots, The Béar Féile, The ManBears and many other clubs. James also has another site which has more of this work - SkinPix. Professional (and thanks goes to Teddy of BEAR Magazine for pointing out this dynamite site).

It's been awhile since I've reported anything from the Bear With Me cartoon world... it seems that Mo has cut off all her hair and it's taking everyone by surprise. And that's what I love about Bruin's cartoon, is that no matter what's the story line, it's just so great to have Bruin's comics to check out every Monday. Bruin has been doing it now for 5 or 6 years, maybe even longer. There's something to be said about being consistent, and Bruin is, to me, Shultz and Disney all wrapped up in one, with an added ingredient: Bears...

If ever you're looking for a Bearish performer, then maybe a good place to start is at BiggNugg.com - and say hi to the incredibly cute Bear Cub: Bigg Nugg. This classy man has got a fine voice, smart lyrics, and holy smoke he's frikkin' cute - like have you ever seen a rapper look like Bigg Nugg in the str8 environment?... I mean, Bigg Nugg is a Bear... I bet you'd cuddle him in a heartbeat. Check out his music, and Bear clubs, start inviting Bigg Nugg to your events - start headlighting this seriously hunky husky masterpiece.

So I'm working on a graphic, I need an airplane clip art.

I Google: plane cartoon png... enter.

Oh ho and lo and behold, I land upon this cartoon of Kevin Smith in a plane. I then do a little doubletake when I see the name of the site - Bearman Cartoons - and the actual domain name of the site? Beartoons. I saw the bait and the hook went in... I needed to see more.

All the while, I'm like: oh wow, cool, a Bear artist I've never heard of before. I get some chips and begin to delve deeper into this nicely crafted 'Bear' site. I'm enjoying the comics, the commentaries, however early on in my investigations, something told me that this artist is not a 'Bear' 'Man' in the sense of the word that you and I use the word Bear, like 'HoneyBear, pass the grease... hugz'.

So no, he's not a 'Bear' nor into them, but yes, he's aware of Bears. I emailed Bearman, and he said that Kathy Griffin has been educating him on everything that adult 'Bear' men do. And if Bearman has challenged your political correctness, I think he did his job, but that's not me talking for him, just head on over to his site and form your own verdict.

This is a reminder that you can still catch the play 'Man Boobs' which is being performed as part of the Fresh Fruit Festival at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York, NY. 'Man Boobs' is a play by J. Julian Christopher, directed by Web Begole and features Jeffrey Marx & Robert Valin (of Urban Bear Weekend). 'Man Boobs' is playing until July 24th. "'Man Boobs' tells the story of two men who begin to share a night of passion until issues of obesity and self-esteem overpower their sexual and emotional connection".

Although there is no official date as to when this new Bears book will be released, we are beginning to see some previews. The book is simply called Bears and it's being put together by 2 extremely creative Argentinean Bears - Ivan & Gabo (website). The only thing I know so far about this Bears book is that the prologue is written by photographer GianOrso, yet I did see some stills - check out this gallery on Bear-Pics. 3 Bearish guys, some rope... oh the possibilities.

It's been awhile since we've gotten any news from the talented artist Robert Harmon of Bound In Ink, however he's been busy.

From Robert: "So what's been going on with Bound In Ink?  Well it's a funny thing I've been unemployed for 2 years and you'd think 'Well he's got all the free time in the world to draw'. Sadly life doesn't work that way bills have to be paid. So when no one was hiring I had to make a drastic decision. I've been full time freelancing for a year now and it's taken a huge amount of time away from Bound In Ink. So with that said it does mean that new work gets put on hold but, that's not to say Bound In Ink hasn't been busy.

For the past couple of months I've been working with various Bears, clubs, book publishers and artists on numerous projects. The singer/songwriter Kendall hired me to design his new CD cover for his upcoming album 'Oblivious'. Bruno Gmünder publishing asked me to participate in an Anthology book entitled Hair: Hair Gay Men In Art which is available at Amazon and TLA.

Philadelphia's oldest Bear/Leather bar The Bike Stop asked me to re-design the bars logo to establish a new message for the new owners of the bar. There's an upcoming show in Philadelphia at the Aphrodite Gallery . My fellow artist Angel Colon and I will are presenting at the gallery July-August and there's a meat and greet Friday, July 23rd.

Oh and lastly there's a new website for Bound In Ink - version 3.0.  So there's been tons going on but, I'm hoping to get back into full gear this summer to bring new work to the table".

Either you love or you don't. Either you hide 'em in shame or you flaunt them shamelessly. I'm talking about Man Boobs. Actually, this is to tell you about the play Man Boobs that is being performed as part of the Fresh Fruit Festival from July 20th thru 24th at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York, NY. The play is by J. Julian Christopher, directed by Web Begole and features Jeffrey Marx & Robert Valin (of Urban Bear Weekend).

"'Man Boobs' tells the story of two men who begin to share a night of passion until issues of obesity and self-esteem overpower their sexual and emotional connection". Go here to reserve tickets.

There's a very cool project at hand called Everyday Bears. It's a project by Bok Tye, an incredible photographer who's located in Atlanta, Georgia and he is making a call to Bears who would like to be a part of his 'Everyday Bears' project. From Bok: "I am looking for Bears and Cubs to participate in my next project - Everyday Bears - a photo book highlighting Bears as a part of our society. The objective of this project is to explore Bears' identity, including their contributions in our workforce and culture".

If you're interested, contact him. Bok Tye is also part of the Atlanta Bear Fest committee, an event that's taking place this upcoming 4th of July weekend, so make sure to contact him if you're in the vicinities. And a last fun link: Bok Tye's Flickr page.

Their project is shaded in secrecy... 2 very talented Argentinean Bears - Ivan & Gabo - sent out word that they are working on a book entitled BEARS back in December '09 and since then they have been quite tight lipped about this good news in a hardcover bundle, however they did post this recent pic to their Flickr Page. This looks like one book that will look quite fine on anyone's coffee table.

Guy Thomas is going to be celebrating 10 years of really incredible Bear artwork. A French artist and I have to say he's one of the top painters on this world when it comes to Bear work. And good news, Guy Thomas has several exhibitions coming up in the next several weeks in Paris, France (ah... to be in Paris in Spring... sigh). Flyer - but I suggest you visit his website and fall in love with the artist and his artwork.

Pinups is getting ready to release their 12th issue this upcoming June. The issue features a cleanly head shaven Guillermo grooving to some vinyl records. Pinups is this innovative magazine in which, in their words, they 'exaggerate' the centerfold by having the magazine something you can take apart and tile upon the floor... would it be wrong to make love on this? I guess if you're careful and clean up. Usually they have a launch party so we'll keep an i on that.

Triple wow... Andy proposed to Paul...! I have been away up north and have no internet up there... yet... so I'm always a little late with everything lately, however we're getting internet up there real soon so I'll be able to work up there and keep up to date, especially with very important news like Paul asking Andy to marry him. You think I'm kidding? This news is as big as the Mayan's missing 2013 calendar. Bear With Me.