Let me reference a couple of articles I found today.

Calling a Troll a Troll

BEAR | NOT BEAR: WAY TO BE A TROLL, ASSHOLE

I swear to God that I’ve talked about this before.  It sounds so familiar. 

Jabba The Bear Is Still A Bear

Oh yeah, I remember now.  I have this feeling that the creator of Bear | Not Bear, and the editor of Bear Magazine should hook up.  They both seem to have the same stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking, hair brained, bigoted nerf herder ideas of what a bear is.  I’m going to contend yet again that there is no solid definition of a bear.  Most, if not all of the images that appear on Bear | Not Bear are of bears.  He even posted COLTV010: Mr HOT Bear Contest ’09 Part 2.  As there is no contact information for the owner of the site, I have sent the request to the Tumblr Support Team.

This site is as offensive as the Bear Magazine’s editor’s comments on the Bear Community.  Every time I see something like this pop up, I’m infuriated.  This is not how the bear community was formed and I will not see this happen to it.  There’s more to bears then just fur, masculinity, and muscles.  Like all of mankind we are made in different shapes and sizes and there is no way you can give a solid definition of Bear.  I’ve always said that Husky, Hairy, and Homosexual was the closest, but I always say, “But that’s not completely true.”

When we start talking about labels within the bear community, I take them as a sign of our own diversity.  There’s Big Bears, Pocket Bears, Panda Bears, Black Bears, Muscle Bears, cubs, otters, puppies, wolves, and a plethora of other names.  In the end, we’re all bears.  Hell, even chasers and admirers are bears.  Anyone defined as just a bear to me means that he just can’t seem to be classified in one of the other subcategories.  Nothing wrong with that, you just don’t need another descriptor.

So, to you, owner of Bear | Not Bear.  FUCK YOU!

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• Best Bear Performer – DJ George Roussus
• Best Bear Artist – Ruben Gauna
  • Blogger
  • Blogger 2
  • Flickr
• Best Bear Campsite – Grampians Retreat with the VicBears
• Best Bear Business – Cameron at Louie’s on Castro St in SF
• Best Bear Bar – The Ally Bar
• Best Bear Club – NE Ursamen
• Best Bear Run – Provincetown Bear Week
• Best Bear Fundraiser – Joe Mannetti
• Best Bear Podcast – Bears In The City
• Best Bear Publication – Bear Magazine
• Best Bear Website – Bearbook
• Best Bear Porn Site – BearFilms
• Best Bear Porn Star – Jim “Gagbear” Growwl
• Best Bear Video – BearCity
• Best Bear Resource – Scruff
• Bear of the Year – Scott Abrahams

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Amazing Weekends

Feedback:

• Email from Kieren

Hey guys, I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your podcasts! I’m an Australian Cub who has recently come accross your podcast through The Cubby House podcast in Australia. Granted I’m listening to your older podcasts first and moving up slowly, but its great fun listening to you boys. You help make my afternoon walks something I look forward to, because it means I get to put on my iPod then listen, laugh and learn all while walking around my fair city of Ipswich (which by the way if you’re aware of the floods that have hit our town is slowly on the mend). I look forward to hearing all of your podcasts all the way up to your most recent ones and then trying my best to involve myself during your live sessions (hopefully the time difference isnt too bad so I can be awake, online and listen to you handsome guys). I dont really know if you guys have yet to discuss issues on Gay Adoption and that but since its one of our more recent little victories in Australia I thought I might ask you guys where you stand on the subject and how you all feel about the future prospects of yourselves as parents (were you to ever try) when a lot of straight (and gay) people seem to give you (and myself recently) the impression that its a nice vision but reality is its something you’re not really going to have much luck in acheiving…

Well anyway guys, I look forward to listening to more of your podcasts and hopefully I might get to hear what you think about my little suggestion.

Cheers,

Kieren (AKA. KezzCub)

P.S. Tim, I only recently had a look at your pic on your website and you didnt look anything like I thought you were going to. But I dont mean this in a bad way. I thought for sure you’d be a bit of a short, skinny, otter-type cub with glasses and a chest with maybe three hairs, but boy was I wrong. You, Jeff and Griff are all such hot guys. WOOF!

Topics:

• Best and Worst moments of COL

WTP:

• With the weather?! – Jeff
• I can’t eat at Chick-Fil-A any more! – Griff

Picks:

• Slow Cooker Taco Soup – Jeff

• AllRecipes.com Dinner Spinner Pro App for iPhone - iTunes Link – Jeff
• AllRecipes.com Your Kitchen Inspiration App for iPad – iTunes Link – Jeff
• Epicurious App for Android (and, pfft, iPhone) – Tim
• Build your own HTPC – Griff
• Google Apps – Griff
• Boy Butter – Griff

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Amazing Weekends

Feedback:

• Blog comment on episode 141 Food Coma from Chidiver

Shame on you Tim. Replacing a toilet requires one tool, two bolts, a wax seal, water connection and about 15 minutes of time. This is a simple project that you didn’t need to hire out for.

• Blog comment on episode 147 Targeted Unit from Chidiver

In response to Griff’s comment that he suspected that Orbitz was a gay friendly company. I spent that last year and a half sharing an elevator bank with them and can assure you that they are not only gay friendly, but judging from their staff, very bear/cub friendly as well!

• Blog comment on episode 148 Pocket Daddy Cub from Chidiver

Cubs, or however you self-identify. With the announcement of Griff’s imminent departure, I decided to drop you all a note of appreciation and a bon voyage to Griff.
Much like a intensely flavored and pungent cheese, I didn’t immediately take to Griff. In time, his podcast persona grew on me and I came to enjoy his contributions to COL. Not that I don’t enjoy all of the Cubs, but think that Griff and I are of similar ages and stations in life, and he was someone that I related to rather well. Much like a Buddhist Sand Mandala it is another lesson in impermanence as Griff parts ways from the Austin cubs and hopefully a new voice joins. Well, I’ve run out of metaphors to mix.
I suspect that at times you all question why you are podcasting. As a long time listener, I thank you for the times that your program. It kept me company while living a solitary life in the Middle East, provided entertainment commuting to work and a much needed distraction during my father’s illness and death.
I feel that the show is better with three hosts and hope that you find a new “third leg” to replace Griff soon.

COL News:

• COL Weekly shows coming to an end.
• Semen allergy suspected in rare post-orgasm illness – Chidiver

Topics:

• COL Post of 1/21 – Jabba The Bear Is Still A Bear and why did Tim post his disclaimer?
• finding your Friends as Porn Stars – From Cookie (audio clip)

WTP:

• “Holy Spirit” t-shirt

Picks:

• The Iron Bear – Tim
• The Match Game on YouTube – Jeff
• Kitchen Nightmares is Back! – Griff
• Ruby Tuesday’s New Menu – Griff

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Anyone else think Bear Magazine are stuck up SOBs?

January 14, 2011 5:21 pm via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@Boxtech

Jeffery Anderson

I am very sincere in my apology, and hope that Bear Magazine will accept it. They won Best Bear Publication of 2010 fair and square. Who am I to judge the magazine for what it has done for the community, especially if people like it enough to vote for it?

Then comes the question. Will I retract my tweet? Will I delete it so no one will see it when “Bear Magazine” is searched for on Twitter? No. That’s the way I thought about it at the time. Okay, so this is all the editor’s fault that I think this way. And I don’t like the images in the magazine. All this animosity I’ll eventually get to.

On the other hand, ALL BEAR and Euro-Bear are both published in Europe and the voting for the Best of the Bears is strongly US centric; 100% Beef and A Bear’s Life both seem to be fading. Also, did anyone think that Harbour City Bears Weekly Newsletter would have won anyway? Bear Magazine has been continuing to publish and attempts to appeal to the Bears. Bears at Large? Not necessarily, but to Bears none the less.

So where did my opinion of Bear Magazine come from? Let’s turn back the clock to 2009 for a bit and visit Bear Magazine issue 69. In the magazine, the editor, whom shall not be named, wrote a scathing article about how chubby does not equal bear. (Planet Bears posted an article that linked to a response to the article posted to LiveJournal. Both articles post the contents of the original article for everyone to peruse.) In this assertion, he is correct. In order to be a bear, you do not have to be chubby. Although not to my personal tastes, muscle Bears and the not so chubby bears are still bears in their own right. Where he goes wrong is asserting that chubby bears are not bears at all. He claims that BearFilms and Cyberbears have been continuously creating chub porn without a fit bear in sight. I don’t know about you, but looking through at least the BearFilms.com catalogue, I find plenty of fit bears alongside chubby bears and otters. Yes, I’m calling bullshit on claiming that BearFilms and Cyberbears do not include fit bears. I don’t want to just call out muscle bears as some of the bears in Bear Magazine don’t have six pack abs. Some do have a little bit of a rounder middle, but you must admit when scanning through Bear Magazine or it’s X-rated companion BearPlay, they are all fit bears. Does this show as just the ideal for the bear community? Is there an ideal for the bear community?

I beg to differ. I believe there is not one. There are bears of all shapes and sizes, as well as color and creed. Should a magazine that is trying to represent itself as covering the entire bear community not show more of a variety of men? Maybe, maybe not. How can I put down someone with a particular business model? It’s their choice to only present these types of bears in the magazine. While some may think they really should be calling it Musclebear, they were the first to snatch up the name of Bear Magazine before anyone else did. 100% Beef came out of the original Bear Magazine and they show bears of all types without discrimination. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen anything of the original Bear Magazine, but I feel comfortable that 100% Beef continued the tradition that started with the original Bear.

Did the editor ever apologize to the community for his assertions? Nope. While in the next issue of Bear, there was a response to his article about how wrong he was. This was a letter to the editor and not from someone who was also part of Bear Magazine. In the documentary Bear Nation directed by Malcolm Ingram, the editor was interviewed about his article and claimed that he just wrote it to spark a discussion in the community, not to stick up his nose and alienate a good portion of the community. I’m sorry, Mr. Editor-In-Chief. I didn’t believe one word of it.

After this recent debacle I decided to think upon my words. Do I have an impression of Bear Magazine that I really shouldn’t? They did get a large majority of the votes in the Best of the Bears Awards 2010. They must be liked by a good majority of the bear community to that. So I picked up the most recent issue of Bear Magazine. I must say I do not regret my purchase. Not because it gives me ammo, but more of the opposite. It’s actually pretty good!

This issue’s cover features Robert Gonzalez. A muscle bound, neatly trimmed bearded, lightly furry Latino. While not to my personal liking, he’s not half bad. This trend in the models continues through most of the models in the magazine. As I said before, some of the bears in here don’t have 6 packs, but are definitely more fit. The closest to someone my type was on page 23 who I couldn’t quite figure out what his name was. (I would have loved to be the tailor measuring his inseam.) The articles in this issue are all interesting and some are very artful. The pages are high quality gloss and the images stand out because of it.

Ooooo. They even have a short review of Starcraft II. However, Mengsk? A Hotty? I don’t see it. Totally Jim Raynor. And why wasn’t Tychus mentioned at all?! Never mind, I’m going on a tangent.

The magazine includes articles about woofy Top Chefs, Music reviews, and an article on Bearracuda. This is really a very well put together magazine. But . . .

Mr. Editor-In-Chief. Yeah, I’m talking to you. I assume that the layout, and approval. and editing of the articles are all you. I appreciate what you do to create this wonderful magazine. I have one piece of advice for you.

SHUT. UP.

Is there anything you yourself can write that would not antagonize a majority of the bear community? Your editorial in this issue, a year after “Jabba The Bear I Am Not”, just brought the whole thing back again. Starting off by childishly sticking out your tongue at the backlash from the previous article and saying “Ha ha! Take that suckers. We’re still around,” then continuing to defame the community you are trying to be a niche of by putting it in quotes! Yes, Mr. Editor-In-Chief, to you we’re not the Bear Community; we’re the “so-called ‘Bear Community’”. I just quoted that! Issue 73, page 8, paragraph 2, sentence 3, word 12. You’re simultaneously trying to be a part of a community while spitting on it like some piece of disgusting garbage on the streets. You love your muscle bear niche, Mr. Editor-In-Chief, I get that. I really do. However, your editorials are representing the rest of the bear community as scum. In the movie BearCity, Tyler referred to the muscle bears as the “Third Bear Reich”. I feel like you’re demonstrating the truth of this in your articles. Unlike you, by the end of the movie, the truth is shown. Muscle bears are just another niche of bears, and are still part of the bear community.

I respect your opinions, Mr. Editor-In-Chief. In reality, I disrespect the way you arrogantly say them. I can understand a statement stating that most people think bears are what happened “after you lost the battle of the bulge” (Simon from BearCity), that not all bears are chubby, but please, do not disregard them as not being bears. Do not alienate anyone who is not fit from being a bear. Do not invalidate the bear community. Bear Magazine is part of the bear community. Invalidating the community will invalidate your magazine.

Bear Magazine and its companion BearPlay are representing a niche of the bear community that may not be as well known, the fit and muscular bears. That’s perfectly okay. Keep doing what you’re doing. However, Mr. Editor-In-Chief, as your staff deserves an apology from me, I believe that the entire bear community deserves an apology from you.

Amazingly Long, Federal Holiday Weekends

Topics:

• Is there a weight cut-off for Bear/Cub-dom?
• Best of Bears Hacked?! – Jeff

WTP:

• No real snow days! – Griff
• Westboro Baptist to protest at 9 y/o’s funeral – Griff
• Forever Lazy – https://www.orderforeverlazy.com – ChiDiver
• Cellulitis – Tim
• Women’s Fashion at the Golden Globes – Tim

Picks:

• Ricky Gervais’ hosting of the Golden Globes – Tim
• Osteria Cicchetti – Tim
• Slow Cookers – Jeff
• Coffeeshop Scene in BearCity – Jeff
• Hipstamatic - ChiDiver
• IT Crowd Series 4 on Netflix – Griff
• COL150 – Griff

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Amazing Weekends

COL News:

• Weir is Queer!
• Gay Divorce Gets Boost in TX.
• Northern Trust’s new unit serves gay, lesbian clients – ChiDiver

Topics:

• Tim’s 2011 goals
• How Tim feels about John’s “Show Me Club”
• CES was boring!
• COL MeetUp

WTP:

• Excitement over iPhone on Verizon – Griff
• MacBook Kernel Panic!

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