Catching up with 'Bear With Me' (website - articles), in last week's episode, from Bruin (TubeBear): "we finally meet the fellow who is going to pierce Ed's earlobe, and the guy is an eyeful: heavy gauge ring through his nose, a ring stretching the hole in his ear lobe to 1" in diameter, and an industrial peg leg. This guy is major league scary! It's no wonder both Ed and Forrest have dropped out of Bear Mode". This week: "Ed is just a tad nervous about getting his ear pierced".

We are planning on saying goodbye to Jacques Garon aka PandaMontreal (galleries - profile) on Sunday May 31st. The details are all here. This will be taking place in Montreal, Quebec. First we will meet for a memorial service at St-Pierre Apôtre church for 10AM and then we will be heading over to the Woof Bistro Bar for 11AM for brunch with the UpBear guys. If you have any questions or comments, contact me (Forrest - email - profile) or Jean from UpBear (email - profile).

If you knew Jacques Panda in real life, or talked to him online, or just saw his pictures on the net, then please leave a few words on his TubeBear profile, in his guestbook section. I know Jacques touched a lot of lives online. Hugz.

Just when I thought everything was going to be alright now that Andy and his crew had made it on the scene, I forgot that the bashers had time to get to Paul... and from the look on Andy's face and Paul being a bleeding mess, I'm not so sure everything is going to be alright. This just might be a terrible Christmas holiday for all of those at Bear With Me if Paul doesn't pull through.

Please send your concerns and comments to Bruin (profile). He's taken this once 'light' cartoon to much more complex and even 'darker' levels than I ever thought he would have.

It's been a long Hellish road for Andy and Paul, ever since Andy's mom said to Paul that she didn't think he was right for her son. Paul left town to go back home however Paul's father and brother (and company) decided to beat some sense into Paul after finding out he is gay. Finally Andy showed up just in time and with passion began fighting them off, until he realized he's just not a fighter. Enter Ed and Forrest. Read Bear With Me, a weekly cartoon by Bruin (profile).

The Bear Amateur Galleries have been filling up quite nicely lately, however you just might not have noticed since all of this is happening in the Gallery section. I have been working hard at filling those areas up. The past few weeks, I've added over 3000 photos from exactly 100 different cute Bears who, at one point or another, have sent me their photos, some of them dating back as far as '99. Also, ever since I reopened the Bear Amateur Galleries, I've been receiving a lot of new sets as well and I have more to add. Here are some quick links to check these out ~ Gallery #1 - Gallery #2 - Gallery #3 - Gallery #4 - Gallery #5. And here are the BearPress galleries (from '99 - '00). Make sure to keep an eye out on these galleries as I will be adding more and more photo sets and yet I don't always mention that fact here in the news.

If you're interested in having your galleries displayed here on PlanetBears, just email me (Forrest - profile) or use the contact form, add your photos, and if you've got a certain Bearish look about you, then in exchange I will give you a membership to PlanetBears.

UpBear will be getting together for a spaghetti supper over at the Woof Bar & Bistro which is located at 1661 Ste Catherine street in the center of the Gay Village in Montreal. This is going to be their 2nd time doing this and from what I heard, the 1st time they did this there was a good turnout and the food was excellent. My partner Roger (gallery - profile) and I (Forrest - profile) are planning on being there so if you want to drop by and say hello, do not be shy.

UpBear is a group created by Jean (JBearWoof - profile) with assistance from Jacques (PandaMontreal - gallery - profile) and Woof is owned by Paul (Quebecois - profile).

[Members - click here] Here is a great little video clip of Roger (galleries - profile). It's the 1st video of Roger which I've added, it's just over 5 minutes, it's in hi-def, and Roger looks super trooper hunky chunky cute 'n furry... and huggable all over.

This video was taken last year actually, back in the summer of '07. First off, Roger was in bed, releasing a bit of tension, and I kinda snuck into the bedroom and caught him on camera. After he was finished he decided to take a shower. Again, me being the sneaky little bugger that I am, I came in and caught him all wet and soaking and covered in suds. Roger is so cute - the camera was made for him.

As I mentioned this is the 1st video of Roger that I've added to the site, and I have a ton of video so if you're a fan of Roger's, then expect some more Roger goodness. This is also the 1st video clip that I added that was filmed in HD, which means all the clips which will be added from hereinafter - stuff that I have filmed anyhow - will be in hi-definition.

Here are a few snapshots I took from the video (snap #1 - snap #2 - snap #3 - snap #4 - snap #5 - snap #6 - snap #7)

[PlanetBears members - click here] It's funny how life is... I hadn't seen Jacques aka PandaMontreal (galleries - profile) for over a year and a half, and in the past month I've seen him 3 times. It's mostly my fault for not getting together... I've been doing that whole 'love' thing with Roger (galleries - profile).

Anyhow, the last time I saw Jacques he handed me a bunch of CDs with photos of himself, some I posted in my last update (here) and some I'm posting today. This set Panda calls it his Sexcapades... it's all about him surrounded by his myriad of teddybears, him checking out guys in Uniform magazine and in a 'jerk off' session.

Last Saturday night the Woof Bar (website) held the very first Monsieur Bear Montréal contest. 5 guys competed and it was Robert Pettigrew who took the title. Check out the pics from the event here. On a personal note, my partner Roger (galleries - profile) was one of the contestants and he was runner-up, and from what I understand, he was very close to winning. Nevertheless he had fun and he looked great in his business suit and leather gear.

As I mentioned, we were there broadcasting the show live thru TubeBear - however we did have issues, mostly wi-fi issues. The connection would fade out, and each time it did we lost the broadcast, so there was a lot of reconnecting going on. The good news is that we taped the whole show, which means you'll be able to see it soon.

Once again, check out the pics here from the contest, and below is a RIM (Recorded Instant Message) Roger and I (Forrest) made the day after the contest.

TubeBear is going to be livecasting the 'Monsieur Bear Montréal' contest tonight - Saturday, August 30th - 10PM EST - at the 'Woof Bistro & Bar' (website - articles - profile) which is at 1661 Ste Catherine street in the Gay Village of Montreal.

This is going to be the 1st Bear contest ever that this city is going to see, so it's not only going to be fun but a bit monumental. Woof bar is also new and it's the 1st bar that is catering to Bears and their admirers. The owner is real cool and sympathetic, so we're all hoping this is going to be the start of a really good thing.

I (Forrest) will be broadcasting live from the bar, so if you cannot make it in person, then come by and watch it online, either on PlanetBears or on TubeBear. Make sure to send in some messages during the show.

ps - my hubby Roger (galleries - profiles) is going to be one of the contestants for Monsieur Bear. This is the first time he's ever done anything like this so he's a bit nervous but he's also excited and he's out to have fun. Make sure to come by and root for him, in person on online.

'RIM guys in your favourite chair... or RIM them while all cozy in bed... RIM 'em at work... and on business trips'.

There's a great feature on TubeBear... it's known as RIM which is short for Recorded Instant Messages. Everyone knows about IMs (Instant Messages) - typed messages in little boxes... well if you have a webcam, you can send Recorded IMs to your buddies, which is 100% better.

Honestly - what would you rather see, typed words from a guy... or a video from a hot Bear...?

We made a cute ad which you can see here on our YouTube page, and if you need some assistance on how to RIM, then go to my profile (Forrest), and from my list of videos, view 'How to RIM'.

It was just a couple of days ago that I mentioned that the Bear Boutique was about to go live. Well it's alive, kicking, and it's a bouncing brand new baby Bear boy.

This online shop is direct from France, and it's maintained by a very handsome couple - Axel (Thorn on TubeBear) and Pascal (Pakko). As I mentioned in the last update, Roger and I got to meet them and we took a few pics while we were in Chinatown (here). So head on over to their site and take a look at the t-shirts and baseball caps (coming soon) they have to offer. Roger was wearing one of their shirts the other day ~ which read 'Woofez Moi' ~ and more than one person asked him what it meant and where he got it.

Voulez vous Woofez avec moi, ce soir...?

The Bear Boutique website is not quite ready... yet... but they are planning on opening up shop really soon (as in the next few days). This online shop is run by 2 hot gentlemen who live in France ~ Axel (profile on TubeBear - Thorn) and Pascal (Pakko). They have come up with a real cute design for t-shirts and baseball caps and, realizing that there is no one in France working on Bear goods, that they would take the initiative and start something up.

Axel and Pascal were in Montreal not too long ago, and we (Roger and I, Bob Forrest) met up with them for an afternoon. We headed into Chinatown, ate, and had a few laughs. The visit was short but we did take a few snapshots (snap #1 - snap #2 - snap #3 - snap #4 - snap #5 - snap #6 - snap #7) of our afternoon together, and Roger is going to model some of the t-shirts for their website, and I'll add the pics up once they are ready.

Here are the recent photos of Alain, aka BearMontreal (profile). As I mentioned in the preview, BearMontreal is this 6'2'' dark and handsome Bear, born in Europe and has been in Canada for over a decade. He's trilingual (English, French and Italian) and he is of Italian descent.

He is a friend of Roger's (gallery - profile), and while chatting on TubeBear, BearMontreal wanted to have some photos of him taken. He mentioned me (Forrest - profile) and that I took pictures, so off we went into downtown Montreal for an impromptu photo shoot. It was already late so we were only able to get one set of photos in, however Alain stated he would really like a set of pics taken of him in the shower. Altho it's not been scheduled yet, we will be getting together in the near future to fulfill this shower scene.

For some previews, click here - preview #1 (small - large) - preview #2 (small - large) - preview #3 (small - large) - preview #4 (small - large).

Here is the 3rd and final set of Ben Goodman. Members, click here. Ben (profile) and I are trying to schedule another meeting, hopefully near the end of August... we want to work on another set of photos... we might even dabble with a bit of bondage.

In this photo set, you get to see Ben in a snazzy suit. He's on a business trip and he's now retiring back in his hotel room after a long day of work. He is just about to get undress and put on some leather so as to hit the evening Montreal scene when he decides to quickly login to TubeBear to see if he has any messages. He has one from Frank (galleries - profile), which he checks out. It's one of Frank dancing to some disco. He then gets another message from Forrest (profile), and he chats with him a bit, all the while getting undressed.

Click here to see some previews - here for some 800x600 pixels (pic #1 - pic #2 - pic #3) and the 1600x1067 pixels (pix #1 - pic #2 - pic #3).

It's a fun set, and there's video from this set as well, which will be coming soon (by early next week).

Here's someone who's got all the right ingredients to being a Daddy Bear; he's good looking, debonair, he's thoughtful, has a nice sense of humour about him, witty while intelligent, modern while paying attention to traditional ways. His name is Richard and he's a husky Bear from Montreal. Check out his gallery here.

These pictures were taken back in January '07. Now there's the long version as to why I never added these pics and there's also the short version. So here's the mid-length version: I met Roger (website - gallery - profile) just shortly after taking these photos, and when you meet the man of your dreams, everything else is placed on the shelf. I was also working on a Valentine's themed movie (it was January and I had a couple of weeks to work on it), and Richard's in it as well as Jacques aka PandaMontreal (website - gallery - profile) and Friedrich (gallery)... I have all the film for it, it's just a question of editing it... anyhow, that got shelved as well.

Fast forward to today and I'm re-discovering all this material I have, so I'm trying to add as much of it as possible, all the while working on some newer material.

Anyway, there you have it. Richard is truly a nice guy, make sure to send him a message via his profile. Click here to see some previews.

To all those who have a membership with PlanetBears (and those who still have their membership since the bear-pics days) - please email me or use the contact form and I will give you a temporary username and password to the BearFoot Galleries which has almost a thousand photos of Roger.

Now I posted this very same article back in the middle of May (here) and I was expecting a lot of you guys to email me. However, I didn't even get the fraction of emails I was expecting... which says to me that a lot of people don't read what's on the net... and well... I know I don't read a whole hell of a lot so I guess it's understandable.

In other BearFoot news: when I wrote that article back in May, I got an email from someone who was interested in buying the domain name. Now this was not the 1st time someone wanted to buy BearFoot but this was the 1st serious offer I received... well... it turned out that it wasn't so serious after all and this guy was just leading me on... I don't think he had any intention on buying the domain name, and we negotiated for a month and even when he got his asking price, he declined, which tells me he was a scam with too much time on his hands.

So... whatever... he's a donkey and I wasted my time. The bad news is that I wasted a month when I could have been working on BearFoot. The good news is that I get to keep the BearFoot domain name.

Anyhow... back to the article... to all those who presently have a membership with PlanetBears, please email me and I will give you a password to the site. It is a temporary password but at least you will get to preview the site. But once the website is finished and we're ready to go live, the password will no longer be good.

So please - contact me... I have something good to give you... honest.

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.

My partner Roger (gallery - profile) loves getting and receiving email. He has a bunch of friends he emails with and they all send each other either inspirational letters, funny videos or beautiful pictures from around the world... among other stuff. And every now and then, Roger will forward me an email he think I'll enjoy. So I get this one email he sent me and it's got incredible images... however it was the song that hooked me. I had heard before... somewhere... so I did a bit of searching and found it on the net. The singer's name was Iz ~ Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. He was 38 when he died, and at one point in his life he weighed 758 pounds which is pretty incredible.

By the way... I keep getting choked up each time I listen to it. Why? I don't know, but it strikes a chord somewhere deep within me. The song is a medley of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' and 'It's a Wonderful World'. Listen to it here and tell me what you think. For more info about Iz, check out his Wiki page.

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).