Category: Beartoons

  • Wombat Facts

    Wombat FactsToday’s cartoon lesson on Australia, takes us to discuss the lesser popular marsupial, the wombat.

    Interesting that indeed wombats poop square shaped pellets.  They are practically blind and use their scent to find each other (no wonder Binky doesn’t bathe) so their square poop won’t fall off the log or other areas they drop it.  And because they don’t process the vegetation they eat very well, someone decided they would make a good source of paper fiber.

    For those who don’t recognize the glass wearing animal in the lower right, that is Binky a Wombie from Peter Marinacci’s webcomic Wombania.  He says that wombies are genetically altered more intelligent wombats.  Whenever Peter posts a cartoon with Binky I tend to act like I don’t like him.  And Binky returns the favor if you have ever read the comments on my posts.

    So yes.  The first ugly cousin of the cute koala are wombats/wombies.   Well really just Binky (the rest of the wombies are cute).

    Wombat-Bearman-Cartoons

     

     

  • I love Kangaroo

    Bearman Cartoon I love KangaroosSo once again today’s cartoon was based in some semblance of truth.  One of my top 3 things we did was visit the Australian Zoo (aka the Steve Irwin Zoo).  Because of liability and stupid people, you don’t have the same level of interaction with animals in the U.S. as you can in Australia.  We literally could enter the pen with the Kangaroos, Wallabies and Koalas.

    Kangaroo-being-fed-Bearman- Koala-Bearman-Cartoons

     

     

     

     

    BUT……………..as cute as they were and typically not being an adventurous eater,  I only hesitated for a moment when I saw Kangaroo on the menu.    Much like Ostrich or Buffalo is in the states, Kangaroo is a very lean meat.  Unlike the other two it didn’t seem as gamey and was quite enjoyable.

    One of the guides said we could minimize green house gases caused by cows by instead moving to a kangaroo diet for our meat.  However, the guide wasn’t entirely correct.  While the majority of methane that cows produce come from their burbs (an affliction that seemingly kangaroos are immune), the roos do fart.   Yet the amount of methane produced by kangaroos is about 1/3 of that produced by cows.   So why aren’t there kangaroo farms cropping up all over the states.  Climate.  According to this article “The meatier breeds do not thrive outside of the Australian climate. They are sensitive to humidity, which means that it’s very difficult to breed them outside of Australia.”

     

  • Tipping in Australia

    Bearman Cartoons Tipping in Australia

    To commemorate my trip to Australia (yes that is where I have been) I am going to do a series of cartoons that give you and idea of what it is like to experience the great Down Under.   The Series is “Ken Groo with the Low Down on the Down Under”

     

    Ken Groo's Low Down on the Down Under

    Obviously the first in the series has to do with tipping and what is customary in Australia.   You read the guides and ask people that have been there and you find out that tipping is NOT customary in Australia like it is elsewhere in the world.  That is because they charge more and therefore pay a higher salary to waiters, clerks, etc.  Well that is what they tell you.

    What actually happens is that you are bombarded by Tip Jars everywhere.   As an American we are accustomed to tipping for any service such as throwing in your change to the coffee shop clerk or putting in a percentage of the check for a meal as a tip.  So it becomes confusing Down Under.  Am I looked at as a cheapskate if I don’t throw in a tip?  Or am I looked at as a sucker if I do because I don’t know any better.   Luckily for me I don’t have a conscience so I went with the guides and screwed everyone out of extra money.

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    I thought it was the end of the world already as my site crashed for about 6 hours.  Something over my head with a php something so I updated it to the most recent version and then I could see the site but not get to the admin page.  So I dropped it back to 5.2 and finally got back online.  So sorry if anyone had trouble getting in.   All that to say that just in case the world really comes to an end before my update on Sunday, remember when you see all the memes/cartoons about the end of the world, back in 2009, I was the first.

    End of the World Again Mayan Calendar 2012 Cartoon by Bearman Cartoons

  • Gangnam Style Takes over Justin Bieber

    Bearman-Cartoon-Justin Bieber Gangnam Style

    So Korean pop sensation PSY’s video for his song Gangnam Style has just surpassed Justin Bieber’s Baby video as the most watched on YouTube.   Now I am not a Justin Bieber hater like most.  In fact if you look at the stats, he has more unlikes on his YouTube video than likes.   I think he has talent.  But with many celebrities, I think sometimes they screw up royally when trying to remain relevant.

    That is why the caption “Gangnam Takes Over Bieber” is a double entendre.  Obviously the first way to look at it is PSY’s video taking over Bieber’s.  But with the second you have to fully understand what Gangnam Style means.  It mocks people that are posers.  Those who act like something they are not.   Well it seems for all his success, it isn’t enough for Justin.  Now he has resorted to stunts like this.

    According to the Huffington Post Article, he tweeted this shirtless pic to his followers. Seriously? Not only do you have to try and show your “sex appeal” but really you had to pull your pants down too? Interesting strategy.

    Well good news for Bieber is that he and PSY have the same manager so maybe there will be a forthcoming collaberation.

  • Twinkie The Kid’s Last Ride Cartoon

    Bearman Cartoon Twinkie the Kid's Last Ride

    I am sure by now the news is out world wide that Hostess is out of business because they could not come to an agreement with their Baker’s Union.   Hostess is the maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread ceased operations completely this week, looking to liquidate all it’s assets and it’s iconic brands.  Also chopped were 18,000 employees.

    Of course the company was in bankruptcy prior to this event.   A smart move would have been to announce potential closing of the company several months ago in hopes of driving business to a lackluster performing market.   Just look at the reaction because of the actual closing:

    The above picture was the scene at my local Kroger store on Saturday.   Twinkies, Ding Dongs etc wiped off the shelves.  The only thing remaining was the 100 calorie packs (ironic).   And now opportunists are trying to cash in on collectors and people who can’t get enough artificially flavored excess by buying up the stock and selling it on ebay and craigslist.   With the demise of Twinkies, carnies worldwide are screaming in pain due to lost sales of deep fried Twinkies.

    Not everyone is unhappy.  I saw the Little Debbie delivery guy and you would have thought he won the lottery.  Because guess who get double space now to hock his wares?

  • Texas Secedes from United States Cartoon

    Editorial Cartoon Texas Secession and Illegal Immigration

    Seems some conservatives are none too happy about President Obama being reelected.  Disappointment is one thing and I am sure you heard many threats from people saying they were leaving the country if Obama got reelected.  Well I guess they realized that most of the rest of the world is more socialist than the United States so instead, there are several states with petitions going to secede from the United States.   One of the most active is from a group in Texas, who has pulled in more than 80,000 signatures so far.

    Where is this petition taking place you ask, well on the White House website of course.  Seems that any group that can get 25,000 signatures in 30 days would elicit a response from the President.  We’ll wait and see what he says.

    Oh and some facts on illegal immigration were found here including the fact that Texas has about 16% of the illegal immigrants in the United States.

     

  • Obama’s Secret Weapon

    Bearman-Cartoon-Obama Wins Because of Hurricane Sandy

    Wouldn’t I have had egg on my face today if I had drawn today’s editorial cartoon and my prediction that President Obama would win was wrong?   Well I was right.  If you asked me 10 days ago, I would have gone with Romney.   Interestingly none of the pundits are talking about how the poll numbers moved back into President Obama’s favor after his several visits to the East.   As I allude to in the cartoon, he finally showed the leadership that has been missing in the past several months.   HOWEVER, if the election were another two weeks away, it may have swung back to Romney with the issues surrounding recovery and returning to normalcy.

    Hopefully the President and the Republican lead House will be able to reach across the aisle and actually start compromising on some issues and do the job we need them to do.  Four more years of posturing and sticking their heads in the sand isn’t going to do a damn thing for the country.

    UPDATE

    Christina of Pop Smoothie sent me this picture of an Obama bobblehead doll she got at a Cincinnati Cyclones Hockey Game.  You can see Obama wearing the Cyclones jersey! Nice.

  • The Sky is Falling

    10-31-12-Bearman-Cartoon-Obama Romney Chicken Little

    Woo Hoo, only two more days before the sentiment of today’s editorial cartoon is over.  I can safely say that I am not the only one with voter fatigue.  The bad news is that whomever does win, we will still be hearing this sentiment from the other side for four years.

    Usually I am a purist and like to wait until election day to cast my vote.  You never know what scandal might come out the day before the election that will change your vote.   Well for those of us who don’t vote a straight ticket.  Last minute I have to go out of town on election day so I had to opt for in person early voting.

    You would think that with Ohio being a battleground state, there would be more than one option in my county to early vote.  Nope.  One place, the Board of Elections downtown.   Originally I was going to go on Saturday but then I heard that Will.I.Am and Vivica A Fox were going to be down there and I knew that the lines would be way too long because gawkers want to gawk.  Instead I went on Friday.  Not much better choice.

    This was the line.  Well the line once I turned the corner.  There were just as many people around the building before I got to this point.  From the back of the line to the door was 35 minutes.  From the door, up the steps and to the front of the line was another 35 minutes.  Time to vote:  5 minutes.   So I did my civic duty in 1 hour and 15 minutes.   I hope you will make a minimal effort to go vote.

  • Disney buys Lucasfilm Cartoon

    For those of you who follow me on Facebook, Google Plus or Twitter, you might have already seen this Cartoon meme I did of Mickey Mouse wearing a Darth Vader helmet saying “Luke I am your father now!”.   Yesterday it was announced that Disney was purchasing Lucasfilm (home of Star Wars) for $4 Billion.

    Luckily for me I had a lunch break yesterday and was able to get on top of drawing this before all the other meme’s started their way around the internet.   I had a blistering 142 people share this on Google plus and a few on Twitter/FB as well.  Now if I could only get my normal cartoons to do so well.  Maybe I should just do cartoon meme’s from now on.

  • Bearman Cartoon: Why I keep a Home Phone Line

    Bearman Cartoon Reason to Keep a Home Phone Line

    Hat tip to Colleen of Tix Comix who prompted my memory in my last post as to the main reason I keep my home phone line.   I lose my cell phone all the time in the house and am always using my home phone line to call it.  Sure I can use the locate function on iphones, but then I have to remember how to do it.  And what if I lost my cell phone during a power/internet outage?

    Oh and look, I used my own handwriting on this one.  Now you know why I tend to type text.