Strollerderby : teddy bears

Does This Look Like a Panda to You? Bill O’Reilly Thinks So.

SunnyChanel — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Bill O’Reilly appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart this week. Jon Stewart, out of the kindness of his heart, offered O’Reilly a cup of cocoa with a handful of mini-marshmallows, as well as a tiny stuffed bear named Mr. Snuggles. Why the gifts? To make the 6’4” outspoken Fox News blowhard feel safe, seeing that he’s “fearful” of what will happen to the country.

Of all the nonsense that spilled from O’Reilly mouth (and my apologies to any of his fans out there, but I can not stand the guy), the oddest was his claim that the cream colored teddy bear he held in his hands, similar to the one above, was a panda. Now, I can get confused between a Prarie Dog and a Meerkat but to confuse a panda from a standard generic bear? Well that’s just bizarre. Is it part of his M.O., seeing the world in his own stark black and white way - the world according to Billo? Is he just carrying on the linage of misinformation not unlike his own network claiming to being “fair and balanced” and spinning facts to meet their agenda? As Jon Stewart said in response to his panda comment “You need to get out of your limo and start seeing animals!”

Click here to see the video

Facebook Kicks Teddy Bear Offline

JeanneSager — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:01:00 GMT

Christopher Robin wouldn't fit in at Facebook. Winnie the Pooh's best friend treated his stuffed teddy bear like he was a real live bear. Facebook, meanwhile, has kicked a British teddy bear offline, stranding his growing friend list without a bear buddy.

Bartie Bristle's creator Amanda Middleditch put up the page as a "bit of fun." But the English bear shop worker says she got "a very abrupt e-mail saying they felt Barty could be somebody masquerading as somebody else and it could be dangerous." The page was deleted, and calls to Facebook by the British newspaper the Daily Mail were met only with reference to the social networking site's terms of use which cite a user must be at least 13 years old. Bartie is only 2.

Before you start creating a site for your daughter's favorite dolly or your son's beloved bear, take heed: the terms also warn against impersonating "any person or entity, or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent yourself, your age or your affiliation with any person or entity."

If your kids want to be friends with Bartie, they still can. He's found a new home at the Ning site, McBears, and his fan base is thumbing its collective noses at Facebook.

Image: McBears.com

News from Darkest Peru: Paddington Turns 50

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Attack of the Clowns!

Mom Plans to Burn Book her Son's Library Book - Really

Cloudy With a Chance of GI Joe? Hunt's On for Man Who Threw Action Figure

Is Your Daughter a Princess?

Book of the Week: Dudley the Daydreamer

editors — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:43:00 GMT

It’s odd when a children’s book is adult-relatable. Kid lit usually takes you to another world, frequently animal, with the express goal of teaching your little ones valuable life lessons. But Dudley the Daydreamer by Anders Brundin, illustrated by Joanna Rubin Dranger and translated by Frank Perry is a little more sophisticated than your favorite mouse. When we join Dudley in his ordinary world we get a load of adult drudgery: getting rained on at the bus stop, burning sausages, writing supplementary draft reports.

This Walter Mitty of Swedish children’s literature escapes his ho-hum job as assistant supervisor in the Civil Service by daydreaming of feeding ice cream to antelopes and landing on the moon. Even Dudley’s home life requires escapism. Rather than absorbing the nightly news, Dudley tunes out:

All they talked about on the news last night was war. War and more war. Someone’s got to save the world. “Find inner peace – stop making war!” says the head of the peace movement, Dalai Dudley.

While living in this alternate universe does not initially bode well for Dudley – he gets fired and can no longer daydream because he’s so incredibly hungry - eventually Dudley finds fulfillment in his “dream” job.

Other than the trite, “Hold on to your dreams,” the life lesson of Dudley the Daydreamer is this - when mom is shopping in the children’s book aisle, sometimes quirky illustrations and adult issues win out over sweet teddy bear families. – April Peveteaux

Dudley the Daydreamer (WingedChariot Press, 2008) can be found at Amazon for $11.01.

Book of the Week appears every other Friday. Sometimes every Friday. We’re fickle like that.

15 Seriously Demented Toys

Cole Gamble — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:03:00 GMT

Why give your kids a fluffy, cute toy animal, when you could give them one skinned alive? Or how about stuffed animal road kill. Or maybe you’d simply like to see a teddy bear impaled on a tree. Well, then step right up, folks, the Kiddie House of Horrors is right this way…

Artist Matt Kirkland stripped away the faux flesh of these furry friends in the name of art. Then you have the lovely Road Kill Toy collection. Meet Twitch and Grind, who have recently met their end. Teach your kids the facts of life with these adorable carcasses. Each comes with a toe tag and body bag. (Um, what happened to the realism? Road kill don’t get toe tags and body bags.)

Finally, have you ever wondered how a teddy bear would get stuck in a tree? So did Nic Nichols. He began photographing a strange phenomenon near his home: bears living in the trees. People speculated each bear represented a child in the community who passed away. Turns out a farmer found a teddy bear in the woods and put it up in the tree so that the owner may more easily find it. Others, seeing this tree bear, followed suit.

Check out original article here.Photos: weburbanist.com

Build-A-Bear Having a Rough Time

Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 14:20:00 GMT

Build-A-Bear Workshops opened back in 1997, and I'm guessing that as parents most of you have either been there or received a bear made there sometime between then and now, so you may or may not know how expensive these bears are.

BBW (the Build-A-Bear Workshop) stock has taken a hit. It's down 10.4% in the fourth quarter. This is a bad thing. It makes share holders very nervous. SELL! SELL! I'm kidding. Everybody knows it is 'buy low, sell high'.

The CEO, Maxine Clark, says it is just time for the company to invest in their growth. While that isn't a bad idea, I say it makes more sense not to charge a king's ransom for a teddy bear. I've never been to Build-A-Bear, and I have heard that it is very fun for kids and adults alike, but still, when a pair of bear underpants costs $5.00 and three pairs of boxer shorts for an actual child costs $5.99 I can see where this would be one of the first things people would cut out of their budget during a ~~recession~~ market slowdown.