Here in Canada, we're just starting our summer season while on the side of the world, in Australia, they are now enjoying their winter ~ altho I doubt their winter is anything like ours in Canada. But just why am I talking about the seasons...? Simply because I found some pics of Sylvain, aka TeddyBear (Gallery) from February '06, pics I never got around to adding (because they are a little boring, to be honest) and altho it's warm and sunny and muggy here, I decided to add them today.

You can see these pics here. It's just pics of TeddyBear walking around a small town that's built on a frozen lake, a city for fisherman. Some of the huts are pretty 'out there'.

Once again I scoured my archived files and came out with a few pictures of David (gallery - profile) and Eric Z. (gallery) which I never got around to adding to bear-pics, so I'm adding them here today. They were taken on a hot May morning in '05. We were all just sitting on the upstairs balcony and I took a few shots. We later went downtown and I took a few more there as well. View these pics here.

I didn't add them because I didn't think there was enough pics in order to make a set, and I guess there isn't actually that many pics, altho you do get a good view of David's legs. However I'm adding them because I'm accompanying these pics with a little 4 minute video... and this too I never added to bear-pics. This was taken in November '05 - it was around 9:30AM or so and my job was to get David and Eric up since we had to be somewhere for 10AM. They were sleeping in the guestroom that had my aunt's bed in it at the time (I refer to the bed being faggy)... they were slow to waking up so I decided to tickle them out of it. It's nothing more than a cute video (meaning - not sexual).

You can view this clip here (.wmv format - 45mb - you can right click to save) however it's much easier to view it via the net on PlanetBears' Video page (view it here).

[PlanetBears/bear-pics members - click here] When I first opened up TubeBear, I started featuring profiles of guys I thought were cute and had great photos. One of the very first gents I featured was a cute guy with the nickname Thudd (profile). His name is Ben Goodman and he lives in Ottawa with his equally cute partner Furry Fukker (profile)... fast forward a couple of months and Ben emails me, saying he's coming up my way for the opening of a new Bear bar in Montreal and would be interested in doing a photo shoot. It had been a long time since I've done a shoot (I mean, I've been taking photos of Roger for a year straight, but nobody else)... so let me rephrase, it's been awhile since I did a shoot with someone other than my partner, but luckily Ben and I worked really well, he's truly photogenic, cute, and we all had a good time over the weekend, especially when Ben's partner would crack jokes.

There's 2 sets added today in the Galleries - the 1st set is of Ben in Old Montreal, and the 2nd set is him in the hot tub at the Big Boys Guesthouse. I have one more set of photos left which I will add next week - it's him in (and out) of his business suit chatting on his webcam and laptop, and there's also Video that goes along with it.

I'm hoping that we'll all get together soon to repeat the process because I truly enjoyed working with Ben. He's a real good looking Bear, has a gentle smile, soft brown eyes, and all the while is funny, witty, energetic and intelligent.

Click here for a preview.

This is very simple - make me a banner for PlanetBears and you can win stuff. The winner will get a lifetime membership to the site including $100 and all those who participate are guaranteed a membership to the site for 1 year as long as I use your banner.

What you need to do is: create a banner - it has to be either 720x90 pixels or 250x250 pixels. I am also looking for a new logo for PlanetBears. You can make it in either .jpg, .gif or Flash .swf.

Also, you can use any of the photos I have attached here. Actually, those pics are kind of like a preview to the PlanetBears Galleries page, however you can use any or all of those photos in order to make a good looking banner. You cannot use any other photos (like a picture of your boyfriend or some hot photo you found online) and you don't need to use any photo at all ~ it's up to you ~ just make me a great looking banner and/or logo.

The winner will be determined by vote. I will place all the banners online and let guys vote on them.

I will put up more details about this contest as I work out the prizes (I will try to get some sponsors to send me some DVDs)... but the contest begins today - June 26th... and it will run right thru until August 1st, so it gives everyone a month to hand in their stuff.

You can either email your entry, use the contact form, or contact me (Forrest) via my profile.

You can make as many banners as you like.

You must be 18 years and older to participate.

Have fun, be creative, help PlanetBears look cool.

The following pictures were taken exactly 5 years ago - at the end of June of '03. I posted them on bear-pics but not on PlanetBears, so check them here (preview here).

This was when I was living close to a nearby beach, and there's a certain (secret) section of the beach that's for nudist. From what I can gather, the beach is about 75% straight / 25% gay. What I used to do a lot was take my bike, hike over to the beach, get naked, read and tan. However on this one occasion I hooked up with this Bearish guy who was interested in having his pictures taken. He told me he was straight, and I reassured him it was simply a photo session and nothing else. We came up with the handle Str8Bear.

Now this was the 1st time Str8Bear had pictures taken of him, and he was a bit nervous and shy at first, however he slowly began relaxing. Actually, he must have enjoyed himself because we got together another time - about a week later - and we took more photos... unfortunately that session got lost in a format, however I was able to save the 1st set, which you see here.

To see the full set, you need to be a member which will give you access to all the galleries as well as the videos.

These photos of Eric Z. (photo sets) were taken back on December '05, however they were never added to the Gallery section. It was while digging thru some files that I found them then realized they weren't on the net, so I decided to add them and you can see them here.

These pics were taken at Eric's home which he sold just recently. It was this big old house in Gatineau, much too big for Eric, so he finally got around to selling it and is now living in the Ottawa area. I don't see Eric much at all these days but we do stay in touch over the phone, and looking at these pics it reminds me of the fun we use to have at times.

This upcoming weekend, I will be getting together with Ben aka Thudd (TubeBear profile) for a photo session. We were also going to do some video, but I broke 2 digital cameras in the past week, but I still have one left so if I don't break that on by Friday, we might be able to get some video in.

Ben lives in Canada's capital city of Ottawa, which is just a couple of hours away from my hometown of Montreal. He is coming here with his partner Furry Fukker (profile) to check out the opening of a new Bear bar called Woof Bistro. I saw Ben's profile awhile back and featured him in the news. A short while later he contacted me requesting to have some photos taken for the Gallery section, and as I mentioned, we might also do a few short clips for the Video area. You might even see Ben online if you check out the LiveStreaming page every now and then as well.

Should be a lot of fun this weekend and I'll have the photos up by next week. To see a few pics of Ben (photos not taken by me), click here.

Added a few clips to the Video page. First there's a couple of Rocky (Gallery - TubeBear profile). The 2nd time Rocky and I did a shoot, he brought his guitar with him, so he sang a couple of songs and I recorded him singing. Check the videos here and here. Also, I have a couple of videos for those who like the bondage. The 1st one is all about the straight jacket, and the 2nd one is all about the stretching.

Now if you're new to PlanetBears, there's also a Gallery section. And if you want to see all the updates that have been going on, then check out the PlanetBears Update section. It'll give you the lowdown.

It's so much fun cleaning out old folders because I keep finding gems within them. I found a few photos of John aka TarotBear (PlanetBears' Gallery) that I didn't add to his gallery, so I figured I'll add them now, and even make them public. These pics were taken June '02 and it's photos of John in Montreal - at Man and his World (Expo '67) and in Old Montreal. Check 'em out here.

I haven't kept in touch with John, unfortunately. I did work on his site TarotBear.com in '03, however at some point he took the site down and right now there is nothing there. He did publish a book in '04 about Tarot reading entitled 'It's All in the Cards' (Amazon).

Digging through my archives I found that there were a couple of photo sets that I did with Steve, aka MogwaiCub (Gallery) that I didn't add to the PlanetBear's Gallery page.

These sets are old, from November '02, and I remember the little camera I used for these pictures... or most specifically... I remember I was very limited on the amount of kb space I had on the memory cards that came with the camera, and these being outdoor sets, I had to lower the resolution a little. Still, they are fun sets, and I added one online for the public - view it here - and there's a set in the members section - so members, go here (it's a bondage set in the woods).

ps - I have no clue where Steve is today. I know he wanted to go to Japan to teach English as a 2nd language, but that was 5 years ago. Steve and I worked together 2 times and he used to like to say that we need to work together 1 more time to complete the trilogy. That might be too much 'The Lord of the Rings' talking, but it would be great to see Steve today... see what he looks like.

Here's 2 sets of photos that I took with Mjollnir (gallery) and Eric Zoonino (gallery) that used to be on bear-pics and someone pointed it out that they remembered seeing them on the old site but not on PlanetBears. Therefor I added them (they are #5 and #6 in Mjollnir's gallery). Set #5 has Eric giving Mjollnir a shave... shaving his head, that is... and in set #6, Eric ties Mjollnir to a chair.

Once we finished the photo shoot, I looked at my digital camera and noticed I had about 2-3 minutes left in my memory slot. At the time, I was only working on photos but the camera I was using did have video so I thought - why not. It's just a short clip of the 3 of us fooling around, with the very big Bear Mjollnir of 6'4'' and easily 350 pounds tied to a chair. We discovered he's quite ticklish. This footage never made it onto bear-pics so it's the 1st time on the net. You can see it here in the Video section, and here's a few previews (here, here and here).

This is the final installment in the 'Frank: The Lost Videos' series. You can see it from the PlanetBears' Video page.

If you haven't been following, this is #8 in a set of mini movies Frank (gallery - TubeBear profile) and I (Forrest - TubeBear profile) made way back in '03 when we did a shoot. The pictures were added online but never the videos. Now rather than go into the whole history again about these lost videos, just follow these links and each one will fill you in to the story: Video I - Video II - Video III - Video IV - Video V - Video VI and Video VII.

In this video, Frank is tied down spread-eagled to the bed. He's blindfolded, collared, and he didn't know I was filming. There was a lot of talking however I edited out a lot of chatter (like talking about the series Six Feet Under) however I did keep some of the more interesting stuff we chatted about.

Now Frank had never been tied down before, so he was having a little time getting hard... but then we realized it wasn't because he was tied down... it's because he had to piss. Instead of untying him, I became very creative by having him piss in a plastic bottle. Seemed that Frank is 'pee shy'...

It's another fun video... altho unfortunately a little dark. Thing is - this was a new video camera for me so I was learning how to use it. While I was filming, I was also taking pictures with another digital camera. The problem was - I was basing the results of the pictures with what I was expecting the video to look like. Since the pictures were coming out bright and clear, I figured I had enough light while filming. I was wrong...

It was 9 year's today - May 19th 1999 - that I (Forrest - TubeBear profile) opened the my 1st Bear news site. At the time it was BearPress (does anyone remember...?). I worked on that beast for 2 years full time with nearly no pay.

Then in 2000, I opened bear-pics... because I decided to focus more on galleries than on the news, however I focused pretty much on both. I needed money, like everyone else on this green Earth, so that's why I decided to change the name. I took pics of some of the cutest guys ever for the next few years.

Then in 2006, I met Nikola (AdminBear - TubeBear profile) - and he made PlanetBears which is an incredible website. My sites were all html - his sites are all dynamic. In 2007, we opened TubeBear - and I forgot to mention - TubeBear turned 1 year on April 26th. I guess the reason I didn't mention that in the news is because my mind has always been fixed on May 19th. I've worked on a lot of sites in the past 9 years... however TubeBear's bday is important too.

Wow... 9 years (I say 'wow' every time May 19th comes around). I'm in my 10th year sitting in front of a computer all day, jerking my dick as I look at pics of good looking men. What a life...

Actually, I have been wanting to add all the archives I have online... but it's so much work... like adding current news... but I'll keep an eye out in my archive section and check out to see if there's anything word adding, like pics I've posted in the past but did not transplant them over to PlanetBears.

Guess who is coming back to Montreal? It's the super cute Frank from New Jersey - the one that looks like he should belong on the Sopranos set however once you get to know him, he's the biggest teddy bear kind of guy around.

Frank came to Montreal back in April of 2003 so it's gonna be 5 years since I've seen him. However, we have been talking on the phone and now online using TubeBear's webcam chat room. Actually, Frank has started to stream live so make sure to check out the LiveStreaming page and you just might catch him on cam.

We plan on doing a photo and video shoot so it's going to be great to have some new material of Frank. He was very popular back in the day and he's done nothing more than gotten cuter over the years. He's aging very well.

Make sure to check out his PlanetBears' gallery as well as his TubeBear profile. And check out the PlanetBears Video page (click here for more descriptions about the 'Lost Video Files'). And lastly, click here to see some previews from the set of pics we worked on back in '03 - and click here for some more previews.

[Members click here - become a member - previews here] If you've ever visited the bear-pics website I used to run before I closed it down, you just might recall of a shoot I had with Orlando aka Eito. Orlando was very popular and had a lot of online fans. He came up to my place from New York in September 2002 for a weekend and we had a great time, we took a lot of pics and I have a lot of fond memories of getting to know this handsome man. Once the weekend was over, we promised to keep in touch a lot and we even spoke about doing another shoot in the future. However... once he left, we really didn't keep in touch at all. I sent him the occasional email seeing how he was doing and how life was going, and his emails to me were just as scarce. The last email I got from him was March 2003 and he wrote "Hello Forrest, I never forget about you. Here for you" and with it he attached a set of photos he took so I could add to the site.

Exactly 3 years after that shoot we had, in September 2005, I get an email from a friend of his saying that Orlando is very sick and that he's in the hospital. I emailed this friend back asking if there was anyway to contact Orlando. I got a reply with a phone number. Unfortunately, I never called him, and 20 days after his friend initially emailed me, well he sent me another email, this time saying that Orlando had passed away. He was 42 years old.

At the time, I posted an article about Orlando on BearFoot (which at the time was a message board for guys into Bear feet), and holy smokes did I ever get a ton of email replies of guys sending in their condolences. It was really only then that I realized just how many people that Orlando had touched. He was truly a fantasy Bear for many many men.

Also at the time, I was torn - do I take his pics down out of respect or do I keep them up online...? I asked a few friends about this and they all said the same thing: Orlando is cute, he took great pics, he's turned on a lot of men so let him keep turning them on. What they said made sense, so I kept Orlando's pics alive.

However, I have a ton of pics Orlando sent me, and with his permission he told me to post these online. I kind of forgot about all of them (around 240 pics), but going through my archives I came across them and I decided to post these as well. So head on over to Orlando's gallery and check out the last 4 photo sets.

It's still sad to think that he's gone. Just like his pics, he was truly all what a Bear should be - nice on the outside and nice on the inside.

Click here to see some previews - there's some pics from the sets I added today plus there's a few pics that Orlando sent of when he was a younger Bear... and there's 3 quick pics of Orlando in handcuffs. Wish there was more but that's all that I got from him.

Once again, I'm going thru my bear-pics folders and came across these little gems. The guy is named Q and I'm pretty sure he's 100% straight however he was more than cool in sharing his photos with us.

Q really digs bondage, so much so that he even enjoys self-bondage, as this set of pictures will prove that. Here's the photos of Q showing us how to tie one's self up. Let's just hope he doesn't fasten his binds too tight or he might be stuck there for awhile. ps - I love his socks... also I added a few 'full bondage' pics... these ones Q had some help being tied up.

I can remember the evening I was sitting down at a bar with the prez of the now defunct Bears of Montreal... it was late November '98... and I decided then and there that I wanted to run a news site for Bears ~ however I didn't know the first thing about HTML. Well the prez referred me to another Bears of Montreal member, one who was running their site at the time. This is how I met François, aka Pugsley.

We started working together in Dec '98 on a site known as BearPress. Well, to make a long story short, we were just not compatible when it came to work. Pugsley was busy with a lot of projects, so we never got around to actually building that site together. In March,  we parted ways and I picked up a couple of HTML books and built BearPress on my own.

Altho we weren't able to work together, we were able to remain friends over the years. And in 2005, Pugsley was working on many different Bearish projects, one of them being the 1st ever Montreal Bear run. We took this opportunity to model him in and out of his t-shirts, and these photos are the result. I never posted these pics before... and for the life of me I don't know why, but never know matter, here they are. They are no nudes... and again I'm not sure why we didn't do any nudes because François has done nudes with others... but there are some light bondage pics so that kind of makes up for the lack of nudity.

What is Pugsley up to these days? To be honest, I'm not really sure. He was running several Bear sites but none of them are up at the present time. I'm sure he's working on something tho - François was never one to idle his time away.

For a preview - click here, and members go here to see the sets of photos in the gallery section.

Here are a couple of short video clips for you guys to check out. Members click here and then click here. They are videos of James (gallery) when he came to do a shoot with me. I was going through my files and realized that I didn't add these 2 videos, so here ya go. James is this super cute rugby playing Bear with big blue eyes and he stayed with me one weekend and the product was some really great pictures of this handsome young man. James had done several photo shoots for BearBound prior to working with me, so it was only fitting that we do a bondage set, and these videos compliment that set very well. I discovered he has a wonderful laugh when I was tickling his stocky feet.

2ndly... again going thru my files... I noticed I forgot to add some TarotBear photo sets. So what I decided I am going to do with these sets is that I will be adding them but I will also be making them public. So click here to see this public set and to see all of TarotBear's photos, click here.

For recent video/pic article updates, click here, here and here.

Here is #7 in the 'Frank - The Lost Videos' series (members - click here - preview pic - become a PlanetBears' member here). Actually, this should be video #1 since this was the very first video Frank and I shot together. And it was my first time ever filming an adult short video clip. Frank didn't know I was filming until afterwards because he was blindfolded the whole way through, and I was also taking photos of him at the same time, so Frank figured it was just a photo shoot.

Frank starts off with leather cuffs on his ankles and wrists, blindfolded (already mentioned that) and collared. I told him to remove his cuffs and well, you'd think it would be an easy enough task but try it while you're blindfolded, especially really good leather cuffs that have intricate locking devices. You're there watching Frank trying to remove them and there's a couple of times I felt like I just wanted to put the camera down to help him, but you can see the satisfaction on his face when he does remove them.

After that, I asked him to cuff himself, and he went one step further by cuffing one wrist to his package. He then takes the leg cuffs and places them on his ankles. And as you will see in #8, the next video I will be putting up soon, Frank gets tied up real well, hog-tied like.

Check out Franks galleries here as well as his TubeBear profile. To see the other articles for the 'Frank - The Lost Videos', click the following: Video I - Video II - Video III - Video IV - Video V and Video VI.

It seriously pays to have your stuff mentioned on PlanetBears - which is consequently added on TubeBear. If you have any kind of news that is Bear related - whether you are a Bear yourself or an admirer of the husky hairy mature man, then by all means email us or use our Send News form. Inclusively, we have a newsletter with over 7000 signed and we have added a new section to it - Affiliation News. What we are doing is adding news you guys send in.

Lately both PlanetBears and TubeBear have been getting a lot of traffic. Here are a couple of emails I recently received as living testimony. The 1st is from Jonathan Robinson of FunFur (website - TubeBear profile - YouTube page - articles): "Hi Forrest as always thank you for the support! I got a huge amount of traffic from your link today so it's appreciated! Have a good weekend! Hugs, Jonathan".

Here's another email from Steve and Hugo of DungeonBears (TubeBear profile - articles): "Hi Forrest. I have a question for you.  Did you do something special with your site yesterday. The reason I am asking is TubeBear rang up 4 sales on DungeonBears yesterday.  My site traffic also doubled yesterday. Whatever you did, 'A Big Thank You' - Big Hugs - Steve".

PlanetBears is truly the only Bear news website online. It is not a blog site and I (Forrest - TubeBear profile) have been taking Bear news seriously since it's important that we are represented properly on the internet. It's a mature site, sometimes adult, sometimes porn, sometimes erotic, yet it remains serious, and the increase in traffic has been proving this.