"Shock-Ra was founded in 2000 by award winning Fashion & Costume Designer Geoffrey Davis. This Toronto based design studio offers a variety of product lines and services ranging from custom costume & fashion apparel, home décor items, to lifestyle products like the Bear line of clothing.

This collection of clothing, accessories and home decor items was inspired by the seven colours commonly associated with Bear pride. Designed with inclusiveness, tolerance and acceptance in mind, each individual colour reflects the diversity of 'fur' and nationalities of the Bear community throughout the world".

Weekends signifies updates over at BearBound and that means 3 new galleries and 2 new videos. They also have a great special going on: "Sign up for a 3 month membership and we will give you an additional 3 months free! Or sign up for a 6 month membership and we will give you an additional 6 months free! That's 1 full year for just $59.95. Sign up for a 12 month membership and we will give you an additional 12 months free! That's 2 full years for just $99.95!".

The long running Bear soup in Montreal has a new location. BearJacq (profile) informed me that they have now moved their Bear Soup over to Sauna Ste-Cath on Ste-Catherine street from 5PM until midnight the very first Saturday of each month. The first soup will be tomorrow - July 4th - so hop into the soup and let the slurping begin.

Beware of things that go woof in the night at the Northeast Ursamen are present their upcoming SpookyBear Weekend which will be taking place from October 31st thru November 2nd at Provincetown, Massachusetts. The Northeast Ursamen are from Connecticut and are one of oldest Bear groups around, founded in 1992.

How to start a morning: find the slippers, get the coffee, open computer, read The Woofington Post. Do this every morning and you'll be a Bear in the know. It's a new blog and it's the "source for all things big & furry with special focus on the New York City scene". They are also seeking contributors for topical info for the NYC area including "nightlife, photography, restaurants, bear runs, politics, businesses and more". Thanks to Bearotic for pointing out this blog.

When Dave and I first spoke about doing some photos together for the gallery section of PlanetBears, he asked me - "do I have to do nudes?"... and I said "it's up to you...", so Dave decided that this being a 1st time for him to be photographed, he'll wait. And you know, he's a tease, heheh, these photos we took are very teasing. However, he's ubernatiously cute and I really liked working with him. Actually it would be fun to see Dave in a Bear spy flick :)

Say hi to Dave. His profile is BearenHeart. He's extremely smart, you've been warned, k...?

It's just right around the corner, it's Atlanta Bear Fest (ABF) hosted by the Southern Bears and it's all gonna take place in Atlanta, Georgia during the 4th of July weekend. You can't ask for better...

The Southern Bears are one of the oldest Bear clubs around being together for more than 16 years. They've also been getting a lot of good coverage in the press, like this article written about them and ABF in Southern Voice. Also, you will see their story in the upcoming David Magazine as they are getting both the cover story and a center spread (with cute Bears!).

Here are some updates regarding ABF: day passes are now available; 2 optional events at Mary's bar have been added - a pre-party 'The Honey Pot' on Wednesday's and 'Bear Happy Hour' on Friday night. Find out more here.

They have created a newsletter for those who wish to keep up to date with ABF and future runs.

And remember, Rich McGunn (photo - articles) will be there. This model is on the current cover of BEAR Magazine issue #67 (website - articles - cover - profile) and he'll be hanging out with them Southern Bears while fireworks burst all about ya'll (I'm a Canadian, I shouldn't really be saying ya'll).

There is a new movie in the making and it's going to be called BearCity... not only that, but they are casting. From their site they state that BearCity is going to be "the hirsute version of 'Sex and the City'. BearCity follows the funny, romantic and sometimes drama-charged adventures of a group of Manhattan Bears and Cubs as they gear up for a big Bear party weekend".

And yes, they are casting. Check out the type of characters they are looking for and then send in a headshot, and you never know, you just might be a very Beary superstar...! And thanks to Bearotic (website - article) for the scoop about this extremely cool upcoming flick.

Tired of happy fluffly cards with puppies and kittens on the front doing sickeningly cutesy things? Then head on over to NeilsNotes where you can let your id run amok while you send some of the funniest adult cards to your enemies and ex-bosses. There's also ecards as well. As for me, I'd like to see more of Neil hopping about in that bunny suit (poster). Take a look at his site and he offers discounts for groups.

Hope you don't scare easy because there's an event that promises to raise the fur off your back. It's the 1st Annual Beary Scary Weekend which is going to take place in Palm Springs, CA from October 29th thru November 1st.

"A four day weekend leading up to the last gay pride of the year in the United States. Starting with the famous Bear Koffi on Thursday night, a costume contest and dance Friday evening at Fur Friday at Hunters Patio Bar and a late night after dark pool party, the spooky splash pool party on Saturday at The Canyon Club Resort & Hotel with a BBQ lunch, and pumpkin carving contest".