Chief Ten Bears: April 2007

Love, Panda Style

How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Tag The Ways

Once in a while I tag along with Dave on his moonlight job as the chief photographer for the Sea To Sky News. These out-takes were taken around the time of his Royal Hudson project at the Squamish Rail yard, about 50km south of Whistler.

I dig graffiti, always have. God only know where this hails from. I'm unaware of anyone here who is as accomplished as these examples. For the spray-can challenged, the graffiti generator is here.

CP must have repainted the yellow bars on top for a practical reason.

The physically challenged are duly represented as well. The world of graffiti is an all-inclusive, all embracing kind of pseudo-hippy humanity.

A posthumus wish for years to come. The festive tag that keeps on giving for miles and miles.

Hello My Lovelies

These are the only flowers around the house at the moment. As a rule I don't make necklaces for sale. My jewelry skills are at a novice range and I'd hate for someone to buy one and have it unknowingly pull apart to bits. So, these exampes are made and worn at my own risk.

Some of these beads have been with me for a decade or more. The nice thing about being handy is I can change the configuration of most necklaces anytime I like. I also have a bad allergy with nickel and am mostly relegated to wearing stuff by me for me.

This is as plain as it gets around my neck. I'm heading towards a Bea Arthur complex in the near future.

The Truth Bear, and Other Things

The truth bear will set you free.

If a bear rides the Toronto bus system does anybody notice?

Vintage promo material of the A&W Root Bear.

What Jellystone National Park once looked like, a really fun place to be.

The rise and fall of Smokey the Bear, per Slate Magazine.

Whoa, there really is such a thing as a brown bear on velvet.

Bill the Bear has a bi-annual job evaluation.

Josh Groban's 'Panda Sex Song'

Sexual fulfillment alone is obviously not enough incentive for Pandas to make cubs naturally. A little Josh Groban can't hurt.

In other news, the panda porn scheme at Chiang Mai Zoo in Thailand didn't work. Bummer.

What? North America can't handle an issue devoted entirely to Knut?

As soon after I'd mentioned Knut in German Vanity fair, a tandem version is released here in North America. The excessive photoshopping belies Leo's efforts in actually 1) standing on a chunk of floating arctic ice far way from the nearest fixed piece to jump onto if that one sinks, and 2) unzipping one's jacket in possibly -25c weather (I've been on frozen lakes in wind chill and it is horibbly f*&king cold, even if your coat is zipped up to your eyeballs). Obviously Knut shouldn't be there and even so, I doubt he would look up like that if there wasn't some kind of incentive dangling overhead, like a nice bottle of warm milk.

Outtake pics are way more interesting. I once worked in daycare administration and remember how quiet the kids got at naptime (and how everything got peaceful for a precious 30 minutes). To a toddler, giving in to fatigue supercedes all logic, practicality and appropriateness.

This one's for Dave, who has identical camera gear and bags like what Knut is snurfling atop of. How cute is that?

Useful Things

Not all the wood I collect is destined for the fireplace. These bits are being hobbled together to make a midget chest of drawers about 15" high and 8" wide.

I use poly-fill rather than wood putty. It's easier to use and stains nicely.

Two coats of interior matte latex covers up the fact that there is four different types of wood in this project. The drawer pulls are beads attached to drywall screws.

Detail of the cap and a store-bought buddha hand.

In between waiting for glue to dry on the first set of drawers, I tackled this 15" by 6" by 5" dresser caddy. Note the continuous grain on the drawers and pulls made of flat beads.

Snow Must Go

We're so sick of snow that we've resorted to shovelling it off the grass and in the middle of the driveway, where it will melt much quicker.

It sure feels strange after a winter of clearing away snow to toss it around willy-nilly.

I pitched in and dug out some of the trees out front.

The neighbours must think we had a massive snowball fight.

Breaded Freak of Nature

Home cooked dinners are usually humdrum affairs not deserving a mention let alone a separate post... till I found this abnormal chicken finger in a bag from Costco. Almost 7" long and 4" wide, it is bigger than any fillet I've ever ordered at a restaurant.