Canadian Comedian Richard Ryder (website - articles - profile) is going to be busy this weekend. In conjunction with Toronto Pride, he will be hosting 'Homo Night in Canada' tonight - Saturday, June 27th. It's part of the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and it's Toronto's Annual Pride show and fundraiser featuring some of the best queer performers and comedians from across Canada and the USA. then on Sunday, June 28th, he will be the Main Stage Host.

If ever you have plans to come and visit Canada, and more precisely Toronto, then make sure to hook up with the Bears of Toronto. They are a relatively young group, being founded in 2006, yet they are an active bunch that raises funds for charity groups like FIFE. And this weekend (June 27th - 28th), the Bears of Toronto will have a booth at the Pride Parade, so head on over and support them cute cuddly Canadian Bears.

Bam... Boom... Pow... Wham (Holy Bat Bear!)... you see Flashes Before Your Eyes... and welcome to Daniel's world in which you will find some very delightful Sinister Bears, among a whole bagful of other interesting tidbits.

It's a brand new blog about Bears and comic books, all deriving from the creative mind and fingers of Daniel ~ a 28 year Spaniard out in Cadiz, Spain who's got a cool quick eye for cute Bearish men. His site is mostly in Spanish however he has been translating some of it to English lately which is great for a Canadian like me. Go check out his stuff, it's a lot of fun.

By the way, I got the Boom Boom Pow not from the old Batman show, but by the Black Eyes Peas (website - video) - it's their first single from their latest CD - the E.N.D.. And like Fergie sings, she likes that Boom Boom Pow and she's 3008 and I'm so 2000 and late... whatever the hell that means!...

Cute Canadian comedian Richard Ryder (website - articles - profile) has mentioned on his site that he will be coming out with his very first CD: "Wheels are turning! Plans are forming! And wardrobe is being selected! Life is very fast when you're famous and busy! Speaking of famous, be prepared... I'm recording my first CD in the spring! It's called 'Ask Me Nice And Buy Me A Present'...". We'll keep you posted once it's available. Make sure to also check out Richard's video page.

Tomorrow - Sunday, March 29th - the UpBear (website - articles - profile) guys will be getting together for their annual sugaring off, and it will also make their 6th anniversary as a group. This is going to take place at the Érablière Jacques Grégoire (outside of Montreal, Quebec) at 11:30AM. I, Bob Forrest (profile) will be there snapping pictures, so make sure to come by and say hello. Should be a great day.

My good buddy Eric (galleries - profile) with his super cute Daddy Bear roommate Mike (profile) attended the Toronto Spearhead's 39th Anniversary which was held last Friday, March 20th. Spearhead L.D.S.C (Leather/Denim Social Club) are involved in a variety of Leather events workshops in the Toronto area, and they began their club in 1970 making them the oldest Leather club in Canada.

They began their celebration with a 'Meet and Greet' at the Black Eagle Toronto, an event that was co-hosted with the Bears of Toronto. It was then followed by cocktails and supper at the Ramada Inn. Eric took pictures which you can see here.

2 upcoming events to note: the Spearhead's next charity event will be their Easter Food Drive for PWA (People With Aids) Food Bank which will be held on Saturday March 28th.

Secondly, Spearhead and the Bears of Toronto are hosting their Bear & Leather Fetish night on every 3rd Friday at the Eagle.

His name is Morgan and he runs a hot site The Great Canadian Male, the site in which 'Canadian straight guys go gay'. Now the site doesn't have that many Bears to look at, yet they are a few (if you browse the 'free tour' pages), yet what's important here is that the site is run and maintained by a very cute Bear ~ and that would be Morgan (photo #1 - photo #2). Check out their site, there's video clips previews for each and every straight male doing un-straight things.

It's time to get your tickets for UpBear's 'Sugar Shack for Bears' (website - articles - profile) which will be taking place at the Érablière Jacques Grégoire (outside of Montreal, Quebec) on March 29th. The tickets are sold up until March 15th at the Woof Bar and Bistro (website - articles - profile). UpBear will also be celebrating their 6th anniversary. Come visit Canada and take in a bit of tradition while your hanging out with cute French Canadian Bears...

I just got word from Gary Leger (pic) - Mr. Ottawa Bear '09 - that new and exciting things are being planned for the Ottawa Bears; the Bear group in Canada's capital city. First of all, they have been working on a new design of their website (and they have a new dot.com as well). 2ndly, they have just elected a whole new board of directors, and 3rdly ~ if you were at MOB (Mr. Ottawa Bear contest - photos) and had fun, then Gary states that more fun is on the way.

The UpBear (website - articles - profile) bunch from Montreal are celebrating their 6th anniversary by getting together for a Sugar Shack outing. The event will be taking place at the Érablière Jacques Grégoire and as they mention "the place is rustic and friendly oriented, known for its good food and its maple products". All this will be taking place on March 29th and tickets will be sold until March 15th and you can pick them up at the Bistro Bar Woof (website - articles - profile).

[Pics here from Mr. Ottawa Bear] Last weekend, The Ottawa Bears organized an excellent weekend of serious fun with a ton of truly good looking Bears showing up. Altho there were activities all weekend long, we were only able to make it for the contest ~ Mr. Ottawa Bear, and we took a bunch of pics. And congratulations go to Gary for taking the title.

So... Roger (galleries - profile) and I (Bob - profile) made our way over to the capital of Canada so as to be part of a great evening. We first went over to Eric's (galleries - profile) for supper, and altho we were on time, Eric said the show won't start until a little later... so... we showed up late. We missed the beginning, however we were there when they called the winner, and we were able to get some great photos in.

I met some new people and I lined up some photo shoots so that was excellent. I also saw some friends I hadn't seen in awhile, guys that have modeled for me in the past, like Shawn (galleries - profile) who was Mr. Ottawa Bear '08 and handed the title over to Gary. There was Ben Goodman (galleries - profile) who entered the contest and was a runner up. I also saw Richard (galleries - profile) and Daniel (galleries).

Just the other day (article) I mentioned that the Ottawa Bears are having their Mr. Ottawa Bear (MOB) contest which will be taking place in the capital of Canada... that is Ottawa... at the Swizzles bar on January 17th, which is tomorrow (Saturday). I also mentioned that Shawn (profile) will be stepping down as MOB '08, the same Shawn whom I took pictures of with his partner Warren (galleries here).

Well it looks like Roger (galleries - profile) and I (Bob - profile) are going to be at the event to take some pictures and possibly film some of it, and we will be going with Eric Z (galleries - profile). So if you're going to be there, come on over and say hi. Should be a good time.

[Members - click here] It had been so long since I had last seen David (galleries - profile) and Eric Z. (galleries - profile) together. It had been almost 2 years. Lots of changes for everyone since then. I had moved out of my house and fell in love with Roger (galleries - profile), Eric had sold his home as well and now lives in a flat in Ottawa. And David is working at a Big 'n Tall in Albany, NY and he's making plans on moving here to Canada, which will go thru soon for him.

So last weekend, Roger 'n I (Bob Forrest - profile) went on over to Ottawa for the day, and altho our visit was short and sweet, we did manage to snap over a hundred photos of this cute couple. You'll also see a few photos of Roger, however Roger took a lot of the shots while I filmed David and Eric.

I am right now working on that video. You'll be seeing a bit of sensuality, a bit of sex, a bit of bondage and a bit of tickling... actually quite a bit of tickling. I will have this clip done in a few days and will post it here in the Video section. Keep an eye out.

Time to hit the capital of Canada as Mr. Ottawa Bears (MOB) is almost upon us. The Ottawa Bears have a whole weekend planned with Bears at the Bath, Beareoke, Brunch, and the main event, the Mr. Ottawa Bear contest with Shawn (profile) stepping down as Mr. Ottawa Bear 2008. Looks like a great time with a bunch of fine good looking Canadian Bears, eh? (I'm Canadian, I can make fun of myself).

I get an instant message from Louis aka Gedfaucon (profile) on TubeBear. He wanted to let me know that ~ thru PlanetBears ~ he discovered the BearKink webpage (website - articles); a site which is maintained by 2 big and good looking Amsterdam Bears ~ Master Vaan and Slave J. Gedfaucon then went on to tell me that he became good online friends with this couple, so much so that he drew them a drawing.

Click here to see the drawing (you can see others from Gedfaucon's profile). He said that it took him 4 weeks to finish and 8 weeks by boat to get it from Canada to Amsterdam, but the drawing made it safe and sound. He also hopes that he just might be able to meet up with them so as to draw them in real life, so here's hoping that wish comes true for him in '09.

A 'Merry This...' and a 'Happy That...' is what Canadian comedian and actor Richard Ryder (website - articles - profile) wishes us for '09. Keep up to date with Richard by subscribing to his YouTube channel or making him your friend from his MySpace page. As well, Richard is the new Sunday host at 103.9 Proud FM, the world's first gay, commercial radio station (his profile there is Big Dick Ryder). Yes a Richard can be a Dick too (I am no comedian, I know).

[Photos here] It's funny how life works sometimes. I've been kind of this secret admirer of this really cute British Bear named Malc (profile). I came across his YouTube page awhile back and thought he was the cutest thing since the creation of puppies. I even thought he should have competed in Britain's Next Bear Model.

Well I get an email from Malc with a few photos. He's interested in modeling. Of course, I'm in Canada and he's in the UK so getting together for a photo shoot would be... well... very expensive. However he did send me a few photos which I'm sharing with you, and hopefully Malc will send more. Make sure to email him as well and to subscribe to his YouTube channel.

A couple of years back, I was doing a lot of running around with Eric (galleries - profile), and whenever his buddy David (galleries - profile) from the States would cross the border, then the 3 of us would get together and take a lot of photos. Those days seem kinda long gone. Since then, I have sold my house and met the Bear of my dreams (that's right... Roger - galleries - profile). As for Eric, he too sold his house, he moved around a bit from place to place until he finally settled into a condo in Ottawa. As for David, he tried to get a Canadian citizenship awhile back and I think it's still in process, but for now he works at a Big & Tall store in Albany, NY.

Anyhow, they sent me some recent photos and I thought I would share them with you - check them out here. They are still a cute couple. As an aside, I do see Eric from time to time altho we haven't worked on anything in awhile. Here's hoping that we'll come up with some new material in the new year.

After hearing how same-sex marriages are no longer permitted in California due to 'Proposition 8' (article), there's news from the other coast that Connecticut is now recognizing and permitting gay marriages. From this CNN article: "The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on October 10th that same-sex couples have the right to wed rather than accept a civil union law designed to give them the same rights as married couples". Will the east-coast Mormons come out and formulate their own Prop 8...? If so, there's always Vermont... or Canada...

I usually skip over 'gay' news and leave it to the bigwigs like Gay.com and PlanetOut, however the recent news about Prop 8 in California has caught my attention. I first sent out a RIM to my buddy list about it, asking if people knew about it. I got a few people saying they either don't follow gay news either or they don't live in the States. I myself live in Canada and same-sex marriage is legally binding from coast to coast (thanks CBELA).

About this Prop 8... in California, back in May '08, they became the 2nd state to recognize same-sex marriages. I remember the hoopla it caused and saw the stream of photos that poured thru as gays and lesbians took pics of their newly bound matrimony. Well just very recently, Proposition 8 surfaced... it's a ballot and the title of this ballot wants to 'Eliminate (the) Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry'. From Wiki (article): "Proposition 8 is a California State ballot proposition that would amend the state Constitution, to limit marriage to unions between a man and a woman".

From what I understand, not all the ballots have been counted for yet, however if it's reversed - meaning if it goes thru and same-sex marriages are no permitted in California... what happens to all those who did get marry? There's lawsuits right now involving those who did get married and those who planned on getting married.

2ndly - what interested me about this case - is that the church has gotten involved. 8 such religious groups have supported this ballot (the Mormons being the best known) and have poured a ton of money into it.

So... from what I understand... it's still up in the air. Here's a few videos I found in relation to this. This one a little cartoon which explains this Prop 8 (it's more for Prop 8 than against)... and here's one showing people protesting (chanting 'separate church and state' and 'shame on you').

Anyhow, as I mentioned, I sent out a RIM (Recorded Instant Message) to my buddies on TubeBear and I got quite a few responses back. Here's a fine response from DJ Reed (profile - what a fantastic beard he's got going there). DJ is one of the coordinators for Maximus - a group that organizes quarterly socials for butchy men who enjoy a good smoke: