BEAR Magazine has a new website, check it out!

As many of you know, BEAR Mag has been around since '87 (that's like 23 years - wow), and if you want to find out the full story about BEAR, check out this Wiki page, however the following is from BEAR's About page (dealing only with the new publishers - Bear Omnimedia):

"In 2008, BEAR underwent the most dramatic metamorphosis of its history, re-emerging with a new publisher, a new look and a new direction to reflect the many levels of an emerging contemporary, mature, masculine, upscale market. BEAR is now taking its final leap to becoming a sophisticated resource for an evolved audience. Once again a flagship, the result is a crisp, modern look with fresh editorial content featuring dynamic, editorial art photography and provocative non-fiction/fiction, blended with humor and informative articles on current interests, politics and style.

With a current distribution of 25,000+, BEAR is on the leading edge of the resurgence of masculinity and embodies the ideals of iconic hyper-masculinity that reflects the aspirations and interest of its readers. It delivers the ultimate showcase for promoting brands, goods and services to masculine gay and bisexual men and their admirers.

Print and Digital - BEAR is committed to getting your message out to our readers through our printed & digital issues using 2D barcoding technology to work synergistically with the web, banner advertising on our web properties, Facebook, Twitter and our ever-growing opt-in email list".

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.

You know what's fun about working on the net...? Being able to possibly guide you Bearish guys to something new, and in this case, maybe even get you to appreciate some music you thought you never could actually stomach.

Meet Violent J (on the left).

Insane Clown Posse is his band - and wow, well - either you know 'em and you're a Juggalo, or your subconscious fear of clownz is right about now beginning to surface.

In my case? I think Violent J is cute!...

Most of their songs involve murdering dirty pedophiles (so if you're a dirty pedophile, I can see how these guys can strike fear in your dirty hearts)... however... when I hear a song like 'Fuck the World' (as in - the people on the world, not the world itself, must clarify that)... when I hear that song, I get the urge to turn it up and dance out my angsts.

I don't think I'm a Juggalo, however I have seen NIN in concert (was a bit boring) and I've seen Marilyn Manson in concert (better)... however these guys I would like to see.

Like I said - I think Violent J is cute, and no I really don't need to run around the net trying to find pics of him without his makeup. I grew up liking KISS at the age of 6, and when KISS took off their makeup years later, well it was then that those cats scared the bejeezus out of me.

However, with Violent J, I bet he's all kinds of cute and cuddly behind his makeup and evil lyrics, but I don't want to take Violent J for anything else than what he is right now, and that's a highly talented husky, burly rapper who is redefining freedom of speech within lyrics.

Fuck the World (1999)
Insane Clown Posse

ps - don't bother trying to analyze his rhymes 'cause, well, he says it 93 times...

Cub Club 2010 - it's happening right now, in Charlotte, NC. This event is running from today (July 29th) right through until August 1st. From what it says on their site, tickets are still available at the door, so for any of you near that area, you should swing by - it might change your outlook on life. Going back to the topic of their site, take a look at the fun stuff they've got lined up for this upcoming weekend for them cute Bears - and most importantly: them Cubs!

This is not Bear related, just geek related: biologist Craig Venter is going to go down in history as the inventor of artificial life, so says this Wiki article: "The breakthrough is the culmination of fifteen years of research, research which saw the creation of a synthetic bacterial genome and the transplant of a genome from one species of bacteria into a second. 'Synthia', a nickname derived from synthetic life form, combines these two techniques to create a 'new life form'. See the video.

I realize this is a little Bear site on this magnificently huge planet of ours - not a place for social outcry - however one cannot be ignorant to what is happening right now. There is a hole in our planet. Our planet is bleeding.

She - the planet - our home - is speaking to us. We're gonna have to come together and listen to what she - our home - has to say to us. We need to somehow get this fixed as quick as possible, clean it up as quick as possible and hope it never happens again. We all need to make sense of this. We all like our cars so there is nobody to blame or all of us to blame. We all need oil - so how do we work in harmony with what our planet wants to give us. I think we need to start over and rethink how we want future generations to live - we need better global understanders - that is: people who can see the planet as their mother, as their home, and not become a COMPLETE planet of greedy little fuckers hiding behind huge and ancient corporate brand-names.

We also need to rethink our tired and broken economic system which isn't working out well for none of us it seems (like we're all trying to milk a nickel and a dime out of each other - it's a little pathetic).

We need a global economy - one with our most intelligent professionals in all fields - doctors in every field, working together through a global economy with the aim to distribute the goods that our planet - our home - provides us. We need to forget about profits, which is an impossible thought to think for some, however, with the internet, we're learning that profits move about - all of a sudden a singer is rich the next day his music is online for everyone to download... no more royalties for him. Now with oil - so many oil companies are vying for land and the pressure is on each company to produce more - for profit.

Once we have the experts and no longer idiots with full pockets - once we have the professionals come in - and with the internet - with time - war will be something that people will only read on Wikipedia and will never have to live through - since the whole purpose of living on planet earth is to live in peace and harmony with her - our home - yours and mine - everyone's home. 

The internet is the start. Mother Earth will speak to us through the internet and she'll assist us with our stupid ways, like not knowing what to do when you have a leak 1 mile below in the ground for a month. This is the worst catastrophe our planet is enduring ever in our entire history of our existence - and this is affecting all of us no matter where you live... so again... we need to come together quickly on this and make sure we clean this up properly - by letting all the experts in, not for profit, but to work together as a team. Where are the other oil companies? They need to come in quick with their guys and help out. We need something done quickly.

(Photo from CNN).

Back on November 24th '09, a couple known as the Salahis crashed the president's Barack Obama's state dinner (article - Wiki). The party crashers later claimed they were invited, however once Barack Obama himself stated that the Salahis were never invited, well, they are big trouble now with the possibility of receiving prison time.

The Salahis had to stand in front of a hearing in which they were asked tons of questions (32 of them) yet, under the orders from their attorney, they plead the 5th on every single one of them. To see the full hour hearing, see this video.

What is sad about this - Tareq Salahi is cute - would be even cuter with some facial hair - however the things people will do in order to get attention scares me... oh.. and do something stupid and you just might see yourself being parodied on SNL.

So... click click click... I'm on some site... click click... I see a photo of some famous actor in India... click click... this guy is cute and has a really familiar look about him. I found out that his name is Mohanlal (Google images) so I do a Wiki search for his page and I find out that he has acted in "300 films in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil and Kannada languages". Crazy impressive!...

Then it begins to dawn on me why this guy is so familiar. It isn't because I've seen any of Mohanlal's movie (I really don't understand most of Bollywood type movies, or, to be honest, I really don't care for them)... it's because Mohanlal could easily pass as the late Eito aka Orlando's (galleries) brother... or at least a cousin.

For those who don't know, Orlando is one of the first guys I photographed and who passed away a few years back. If you're a big Bear lover, you've surely come across Eito's photos online at some point, however go here to jolt your memory.

At the beginning of 2010, actor/comedian Artie Lange (images - videos) tried committing suicide, stabbing himself 9 times in the stomach (news). At first when I heard the news, my first reaction was - "this guy is an extremely cute and really husky Bearish looking guy - how come I never heard of him before?...", however after a quick search, I realized I had seen him before, way back in 95 or so when he was on MadTV and then later in a horrible movie 'Dirty Work'. Fast forward 15 years later, and he's in the hospital from self-inflicting wounds. I realize why I did not hear of Lange afterwards - it's because he's been primarily working on the Howard Stern Show for the past 10 years, and I never listen to that show.

Taking a look at his Wiki page, Artie Lange has had health issues for quite some time, going on and off heroin while his weight has been far from constant (from 230 to almost 300).

It's really sad when a comedian can be so unhappy. Maybe not sad... perhaps ironic...? I'm just hoping that this is a huge wake-up call for Artie Lange - that he'll not only get the proper care, yet also begin to realize that life is a true gift.

Burj Khalifa - world's tallest building (Wiki - Video) officially opens today - January 4th 2010. Triple wow! I wonder if I would have the courage to go up to the top of it - 828 meters high. I think I would. What a sight it must be. It's got hotels, offices, luxury apartments, a swimming pool on the 76th floor (highest pool as well)... 'n more stuff, just incredible, I'm still reading up on all the wonderments this structure has to offer.

So People magazine announced their Sexiest Men Alive award, giving it to Johnny Depp. No surprise there - their candidates all having that slender/slim GQ look, guys like that Vampire in those Twilight movies. So no biggie and definitely no surprise.

But then Moviefone came out with their UnSexiest Men Alive award. Some of their choices are spot on - like actor Gary Busey (Wiki) who scares me a little, but they went ahead and chose guys like the one seen in the thumbnail - Philip Seymour Hoffman? And in that article of theirs, they went ahead and placed the most unflattering photo of him. Seriously - this actor is a cutie. And some of their other choices are pretty stinky - and again - they decided to post the worst photos they can find of these people.

Anyhow, we still know what the 'media' world finds attractive: the slim, the gaunt, the almost anorexic, all the while the 'media' continues to look down on guys who are even slightly overweight, categorizing them as 'ugly'. Shame on the 'media. I also think we still have a long way to go before we see the likes of Ed Asner or Bob Hoskins (in their heydays) ever getting considered as the 'Sexiest'... or guys like Seymour. However here on PlanetBears, these guys are all #1.

So you have a dream of being a Bear porn star...? Thinking of quitting your day job in hopes to become an international Bear model, having 1000s of fans flip through your photos, tears running down their eyes as they cannot believe the beauty that bestows in front of them?

Ok, maybe that's a little over the top, however this is just a little reality check to all those who believe they will become rich by doing Bear porn. Let's take a look at Frank Martini as he's probably the best example when it comes to being a Bear icon, a Bear porn star and an every day name in many a Bear household.

Who is Frank Martini, you ask? Well you most likely know him by his stage name - Jack Radcliffe (articles). He is undisputedly the most famous porn star that Bear culture has ever gazed their eyes upon. When his face first appeared on the cover of BEAR magazine way back circa late 80s ~ early 90s, he became the fantasy to all those who love husky beefy furry men, all the while helping to break down barriers as to what sexy signified.

But what you need to know is that Frank has always maintained a true job all the while 'moonlighting' as a model. Frank was a computer analyst at one time, and today he is a realtor in San Francisco (Wiki). I just need to point this out as I get many requests from men to have their pictures taken, and some of them have hopes on being a star. Of course it's very possible that one will become famous, yet, when it comes to being a Bear model, guys should remember that they should be doing this primarily for the fun and the novelty of having their photograph taken, and of course to have the photos to look back on during their life. Yes it's fun to be a model, however there is really not all that much money in it. Many models don't get paid at all, and often enough they have to pay the photographers. Same goes for videos. So yes, get your picture taken - life is much too short and the body is very beautiful, but don't think of quitting that day job... not just yet.

Lastly, Frank had retired from doing Bear porn yet he came out of retirement last August and accepted to pose for the launching of the new BEAR magazine (website - articles). And for all you Jack Radcliffe fans, you can pick up his Box Set here at the Bear Omnimedia Store. And if you're looking for a home to buy in San Fran, well you can always ask for Mr. Martini to show you around, and if you don't buy a house, you can maybe get him to sign an autograph.

Spanish artist Simon has been diligently working at his craft which consists of drawing super brutish Bearish men (and many of them have an uncanny resemblance to Ed Asner (Wiki) during his Mary Tyler Moore days). And where can you find this talented man's work? On his site - Brute by Simon (website - articles - TubeBear).

A bit of news: Simon realized that he didn't have the time to manage both his Yahoo!Group and his Flickr page, so he decided to close his Yahoo!Groups. However - to his surprise - removing his Yahoo! account also removed his Flickr account (Flickr was acquired by Yahoo! in 2007). So what Simon had to do was create a new Flickr page - which you can find here.

Lastly - if you want to see the uncensored versions of his photos, simply contact him.

In the last PlanetBears poll, I asked you if you were a W.O.W Bear, and to my surprise, 40% hadn't a clue what W.O.W is... or maybe you don't know its acronym form, however it stands for World of Warcraft, and I gotta tell ya, I know so many Bears who play this game from the casual player to the religious playing hours every day.

From Wiki (article): "With more than 11.5 million monthly subscriptions, World of Warcraft is currently the world's most-subscribed" online multiplayer role playing game. That's just insane. As for myself, I've never played it. Why? It's because I know that I have an addicting behaviour and the minute I begin building a character, well it's goodbye to getting work done, goodbye to spending time with Roger, goodbye to walking the dogs and letting them pee and poop all over the house... it's goodbye to the sun. So no, I've never played it and I never will. I'll stick with the occasional Jr. Pacman game.

A former football coach - David Jason Stinson - has been acquitted on homicide charges after one of his players collapsed and died during a practice on a hot August day (video - video). His temperature hit 107 degrees. From this CNN article: "The defendant said to his kids, 'We're going to run until someone quits". I'm not really sure if this is what Herbert Spencer meant when he coined the phrase "survival of the fittest"...

I think the Bible needs revising... I think the 1st commandment should be "thou adult shall have sex only with another consenting adult". What with Roman Polanski's 1977 drug/rape case splashing headlines all over again, there's another lesser known story about Raymond Lahey - a Roman Catholic bishop in Nova Scotia (Canada) who was stopped at the Ottawa airport and had his laptop seized which contained child pornography (article - video).

So what is his punishment? From Wiki (article): "His bail condition states that he will reside at Notre Dame du Calvaire Abbey in Rogersville, New Brunswick. He is prohibited from visiting parks or public libraries, being in the company of children or youth under the age of 18 unless a parent is present, cannot possess a computer or encryption devices, access the Internet, use a webcam or visit computer stores".

I have not been able to figure out the connection between priests and pedophilia, however the history books are overfilled with such stories. Do they believe that if they pray and worship Jesus and God that they will be forgiven for their sinful minds...? Do they hope that by entering the priesthood that their pedophilia sickness will go away once they are filled with the Holy Spirit...?

Unfortunately, pedophilia is a serious problem, one that religion fails to recognize and psychology fails to cure. As for child pornography, stricter laws need to be applied, moreso than just confiscating their computer goods and house arrest.

One good thing tho - Jesus doesn't want Raymond Lahey as a sunbeam anymore.

This is not Bear related, and it's also late - this article should have been posted on August 17th - since that was the day that Wikipedia logged in its 3 millionth article. Wikipedia is just one of those phenomenally incredible sites which has truly taken on a life of its own. The site opened in 2001 and it remains in the top 10 most visited sites (#6 at the moment, according to Alexa). Bear related - this article will keep you in the loop about Bear culture.

'News' and 'information' are strange entities... sometimes you hear of things many years later and wonder why you never heard of them before. This happened with me and 'The Video Diary of Ricardo Lopez'. This story dates back to 1996 however I caught wind of it a few days ago. To those who know this story well, the following are a few speculations and some background to those who haven't heard of this story...

So back in 1996, when Björk began peaking as an international star with a couple of hit albums behind her (Debut and Post)... a most unlikely of fans went... nuts? Not sure how else to put it. I don't know if you can go nuts at 21. I personally think you can only go nuts when you're older - when you know better but you just don't follow better judgement - 21 is still young and still impressionable, but Ricardo Lopez has demonstrated to me that a potentially intelligent potentially caring young man... could lose his mind and destroy everything around him.

First off, Ricardo is a straight male who has the strangest 'thing' for Björk... I don't know how else to put it... one moment he wants to hold her and cuddle her and the next he vehemently hates her and states how much he wants to hurt her: the fact that Björk was dating this black rapper Goldie at the time infuriated Lopez and he began devising a plan on destroying Björk. How?... via a package that will spray sulfuric acid once she opens it. And once he mails the package, he will then go home and kill himself.

I found all this out about this guy when I came across this YouTube video. It's a string of clips taken from the many hours of video diary that Ricardo Lopez was keeping at the time. He began chronicling his insanity of wanting to kill Björk right up until he kills himself in his home with the camera running.

I then discovered that there is also documentary edited by Sami Saif in 1999 and it was leaked (IsoHunt) onto the internet in January 2008 (Wiki). The documentary is 70 minutes from the 20 hours of raw video diary, however Saif mentions at the beginning that he will not show the suicide at the end of his documentary, so you do not see when Ricardo decides to shave his head, paint his face, and kill himself.

But guess what - welcome to the internet where you will find everything and anything. If you really want to see this 21 put the gun in his mouth and pull the trigger, then yup - it's on the net. It's disturbing but if you are going expecting to see part of his head blow off, then you'll be disappointed. All you see is him putting the gun in his mouth and then him falling off his chair out of frame. Very anti-climatic.

What gets to me is here is this young man who could easily be a truly loving person, marry, have kids... yet somehow insanity envelops him and he loses all connections to reality. He states at one point in the video that he will be infamous for what he is doing and he is right, he'll go down as the infamously dumb - taking away the gift of life is the dumbest thing... right after wanting to take the life of someone else. So yes, he'll go down as the dumbest of all since he wanted to take his life and another with him.

It's just difficult for me to understand why a guy like this who 'looks' like a nice guy can be just pure evil. I guess I'm going to keep learning that it's not what people look on the outside that matters - it's what going on in the inside, and unfortunately, people seem to guise their insides well.

Over the past while I've been heading over to the Woof Bistro & Bar (website - articles) in Montreal (Wiki) to do some filming and participating. I myself don't drink, but that doesn't stop me from going and having a good time: they also have food and they make a mean Virgin Caesar.

I filmed the first Bear contest ever in our wonderfully culturally diverse city ~ 'Monsieur Bear Montréal' '08 (video) with Robert Pettigrew taking the title and my cutest hubby on the planet, Roger (galleries ~ profile) came runner up (I am seriously proud of Roger for competing and having fun - video from the aftermath and afterthoughts of the contest). We even livestreamed the event on TubeBear. We've attended their Bearotic - a party they have once a month. We've eaten there, we've met up with friends there, and we even held our memorial party for our friend Jacques aka PandaMontreal there (video - an event hosted by UpBear (website - profile). And right now, with summer in full swing, you can hang out on the patio since the main drag - Ste. Catherine street - is open to pedestrians allowing shops and restaurants to extend their goods.

So all this time I've been filming stuff here and there, and I decided to put together this 7 minute video for Paul (profile), the shop owner of the Woof Bar & Bistro. Turn it up if you like Madonna vs. ABBA (a remix by Offer Nissim).

What do I like about Bears... let's see... hmm... ah, of course, I like Bears because they are relaxed, mature, down to earth, cool, chilled, Bears on Ice... wh...?

Yes, it's Bears on Ice. The Bears of Iceland (Facebook) are inviting you to their event which will be taking place in the northernmost capital that any Bear event ever took place - Reykjavik (Wiki). Just how incredibly cool would it be to visit Iceland, and all the while be among some great looking IceBears. Check out their program as they have a bunch of stuff lined up, like a trip the world famous Geothermal Blue Lagoon. Hook up with these Bears as its taking place from September 10th thru the 13th.