newsletter jan10

8/14/2019 Newsletter Jan10

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2/12

Pride March 2010: We want you there!

Pride March is on again, now in its 15th year. Vicbears will once again

be marching as part of Pride March, and we want you there!

Sunday, February 7th.

Vicbears will be meeting at 1:00pm at the assembly point, on the cornerof Lakeside Dve and Fitzroy St, St Kilda.

The march commences at 2:00pm and proceeds down Fitzroy St toCatani Gardens.

This is great exposure for both Vicbears, and the GLBTI community as a

whole. It would be great to see as many of our members as possibleattend to show your support.

Hope to see you there!

Contact Us

PresidentRick Cooper

m. 0438 355 [email protected]

Vice PresidentLuke Mitchell


TreasurerWill Knight

[email protected]

SecretaryPeter Undy


CommitteeJack Chapman


CommitteeJason Buttigieg


CommitteePeter Burgess


CommitteeJoe Davis-Westlandm. 0408 347 778

[email protected]

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[email protected]

Feedback

[email protected]

VicBears Ink [email protected]

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Vicbears Inc.

P.O. Box 1408Collingwood VIC 3066

www.vicbears.org.au

p. 0409 360 031f. 03 9314 0659

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Visit us also on Facebook.

In this issue

Pride March 2010 Page 2Prez Sez Page 3Prez Sez (cont) Page 4Upcoming Events Page 4Den Nights Page 4VicBears Give Back Page 5

New Website Page 5Member of the Month Page 5Bearaoke II Page 6Bearaoke II Pictures Page 7Thanks Yous Page 7Contribute to Vicbears Ink Page 7Men on Men Art Competition Page 8Vice Presidents Report Page 9Mannhaus Page 10Bear Clubs Page 11Album, Song and Game Reviews Page 11Movie and Game Reviews Page 12


3/12

Prez Sez

Hi Guys,

Well here we are, the firstnewsletter for 2010. I hope youall had a fantastic festive seasonand new year. Once again you

will see a fantastic new format ofthe newsletter, as Joe Davis-Westland has done a fantastic jobto create something that is freshand exciting. I hope you all enjoyit.

Firstly a quick mention ofcommittee movements. Oursecretary, Mike Jenkins andordinary committee member Alf

Mena have decided to move onfrom the committee. I would like towish them both well.

We have appointed a newsecretary to the committee, PeterUndy. Peter has had extensiveexperience in committees acrossMelbourne over the years and Iwelcome his wealth of knowledgeand experience to Vicbears.Peter has been slaving away to

clear up the backlog ofmemberships and renewals thathave built up and you should allhave your cards etc by now. Ifnot please drop an email [email protected].

We have also appointed JoeDavis-Westland as a committeemember. Joe has also volunteeredto take on the role as the editor of

VicBears Ink. Joe has had a lot ofexperience with other committeesand also has web skills etc thatwill help VicBears move forwardwith our electronic media.

Please welcome Peter and Joewhen you see them at our nextDen night.

The December Den night onBoxing Day saw VicBears and theLaird take on a new challenge. Asyou may know we had a clothingand food drive for All SoFabulous and PLC. The night(fillerword)

turned out to be a raging successwith the boys from All So Fabulousoverwhelmed with the responsefrom our members and guests on

the night. They had so muchdonated they were simply blownaway, having to fill up two cars.We also managed to receive aton of food for the PLC foodbank. Thanks to every one of youthat contributed, it was heartwarming to know that ourcommunity continues to support ourown. VicBears and the Laird Hotelwere so impressed with the

response that we have decided tohold this event on an annual basis,so save your surplus prelovedclothing now for next December.

January has been a very busymonth as usual. With Midsummawe try to get out there and fly theflag for VicBears. This year wehad a very successful day atCarnival with so many bearscoming up to greet us. We also

served as a shelter for thedrenched bears at every showerthat fell during the day. It was funbeing caught in the middle of allthat fur. Bearaoke 2 came alongon Den night this month and onceagain has proven to be a fantasticevent that makes a change to ournormal den nights. It is trulyamazing the talent that existsamongst the bear community.

Thanks to Shane, Charles andScott for hosting the night. Wewill look forward to their returnfor Bearaoke 3 in April, moredetails later. We also had DownUnderBear on Australia Day withover 200 members and guestsattending. The night turned out toonce again be a fantastic success.Feedback has only been positiveso we look forward to our nextone during SH10. We also hit thepool at Wet on Wellington for thereturn of Bearsoup with a BBQlunch and a chat by the pool. Agreat time was had by all, in

many ways!

February will be a quiet one forthe team with Den night on the27th, so come along for a funsocial night. The BBQ will berunning from around 7.30 so getthere early have a feed andenjoy the night.

March sees VicBears heading upto Daylesford for Chillout.VicBears will be at Carnival forthe day. We have a good

selection of old VicBears t-shirtsthat we would like to clear out aswell as our VicBears club t-shirtsand hats for sale. If you donthave a club t-shirt or hat, come upand see Jason, Jack or myself onthe day. I am certain we havecatered for all shapes and sizes.

Planning is at full steam forSouthern HiBearnation 2010. Our

Logo for this year has beenfinalised and we will be launchingSH10 at our next den night, socome along and see what wehave in store for you in June. Soput these dates in your diary 13 20 June. Yes this year we are aweek early and will be startingthe week on Sunday 13 June atthe Laird.

Continues on page 4.


4/12

SH10: Dates

The dates for SH10 have been

announced. Lock these dates intothat calendar now!

June 13 20, 2010

A fantastic week of events, makesure you book your annual leavenow!

Upcoming Events

Schedule these upcoming

dates into your calendars now!

February7th Pride March

Come along and marchfor pride withVicbears.

27th Den NightFebruarys Den Nightsees the launch of

SH10.

March7th Chillout Festival,

DaylesfordHead west for the longweekend and see whatDaylesford has tooffer.

27th

Den NightCome on down to theLaird for a BBQ, beerand a good night.

Prez Sez (cont.)From page 3.

This will be the Sunday of Queensbirthday so come along for afantastic start to what will be afantastic week of events includingthe Australian Premier of a moviethat has a similar feel to Sex andthe City but with a beary twist.

VicBears has selected our charityfor SH10. Way Out providessupport for same sex attractedyouth in country Victoria. You willsee more details from Way Outduring the build up to SH10.

Anyhow I think that is enough from

me for this month. Thanks onceagain to all our members for yourgenerous donations on BoxingDay. Thanks for your supportover Midsumma and lookingforward to seeing more of you atden nights.

Dont forget that we will belaunching SH10 at our Februaryden night so come along and see

what is on offer.

Cheers,

Rick C.

Den Nights

VicBears members get together at TheLaird Hotel for their monthly Den Nightsas well as monthly social nights. At DenNights there are cheap drinks, raffleprizes and always plenty of new bearsto meet and greet. During the summermonths there is also a BBQ so you canhave a good feed. Den nights are heldon the fourth Saturday of every month.

Entry is free, but we ask for gold coindonation at our BBQs to help raisefunds for charity.

Remember to bring along yourmembership card! VicBears Membersget 15% off all drinks on Den Nights!

There is also a Member prize drawevery month for a gift voucher from ourfriends at Mannhaus & spot prizes.

Our next Den Nights are:

February 27th March 27th April 24th May 22nd


5/12

Vicbears Give Back

Den Nights have always beenabout catching up with your bearmates for some drinks and havinga good time, so it was awesometo see everyone open up theirhearts and donate to the ALL SO

Fabulous Shop and Positive LivingCentre on Boxing Day.

In a time of year that is all aboutgiving, VicBears wanted to giveback, and we're happy thecommunity managed to donate awhole heap of clothing andseveral boxes of food to thesecharities.

All the money raised from ourraffle tickets and gold coin BBQwent to the charities as well, whichis fantastic!

We of course couldn't have done it without the support of the LairdHotel, and we're happy to tell you all that it was such a success thatwe'll be doing it all again during our December Den Night this year aswell.

Thanks again to everybody who donated!

Member of the Month

Name:Rob Camm

Nick/Online Nick:Aussieass

Occupation:Learning Strategist

Identify As:Aging Cub

Beard, Goatee or Mo?Beard

Vicbears Member:For 9 years now

Favourite Holiday Destination:Palm Springs, CA.

Favourite Vicbears Event:Southern HiBearnation

Boxers, Briefs or Commando?Jockstrap

Wii, Xbox or Playstation?

XboxCats or Dogs?Dogs

Mild or Chilli?Chilli

Summer or Winter?Summer

Introvert or Extrovert?Out there!

A Mans most attractive quality?Their heart.

Final Comments:Its great to be back!

New Website Launched!

Stay informed. Visit the all new Vicbears website, and access news,upcoming events, pictures and more

www.vicbears.org.au


6/12

Follow us on Facebook.

Join the Vicbears Facebook Groupand receive instant notification ofupdated events, and correspondwith other members.

Shanobear and his crew will return to Melbourne for Bearaoke 3,booked in at the Laird Hotel for April 24th.

Best performer prizes and raffles on the night. Look forward to seeingyou!

Not sure what to sing? Online song lists at:http://karaoke.shanobear.com

Bearaoke II

Ok, so after the first Bearaokewas pleasantly surprising as a hit,we simply had to do it again; andthis time it was even bigger!!

It's amazing to see some of the

talented singers in this community,and wonderful to see some newfaces there on the night who werewilling to get on stage and give ita go.

Shanobear, Charles and Scottwere great as usual hosting theevening, and everybody had sucha good time that we're going todo it all over again in April for

Bearaoke 3! Yikes!!

So get your songs ready for April - big thankyou to the boys atMannhaus for supporting us with prizes and of course the Laird forletting us turn the place into a crazy karaoke bar for the evening!

Woof!!


7/12

Contribute

We are always looking forpeople to contribute articles,photos, and information onupcoming events, both locally andinterstate; movie reviews andmore.

Please, if you would like to

contribute to the Vicbears InkNewsletter, let us know byemailing:

[email protected]

Vicbears would once again like toexpress our gratitude for thesupport of the Laird Hotel andMannhaus, whose contribution toVicbears allows us to continue torun events and activities for ourmembers.

Thank you so much!

Also, a big thank you to DavidCooke aka. Cookie, forcontributing the photos featuredthroughout Vicbears Ink.


8/12


9/12

Vice Presidents Report

Howdy fellas!

Well, here we are in 2010already... and I personally have noidea where the time has gone! I'mstill in recovery from SouthernHiBearnation last year, and nowwe're less than 5 months away fromthe biggest bear week of the southhappening all over again! We'revery excited this year, adding andchanging some events to give thecommunity more fun things to do asa whole, so keep an eye out in thenear future when passes for theweek go on sale; I know you'regonna love it!!

Den Nights are always a fun nightto be a part of, but Boxing Day2009 made for a very special DenNight as we banded together todonate as much as possible in theway of clothes and food to the ALLSO Fabulous Shop and the PositiveLiving Centre. We had the boysfrom each charity on hand to seehow big our bear hearts were as a

community, and with what wouldhave been at least 20 massive bagsfull of clothing along with severalboxes of food (not to mention all themoney we raised from the BBQ andraffle tickets!), we were able tomake a very generous donation onbehalf of everybody in the VicBearscommunity. I've said it before, but I'llsay it again - thank-you toeverybody who donated and wasthere supporting the event on thenight.

The madness of Midsumma meantthat we had one of our biggestbear weekends ever, kicking offwith Bearaoke 2 on Saturday nightthe 23rd; Shanobear and his crewcame down from Sydney again tohost the event, and it was evenbigger than our first Bearaoke lastyear!

So big in fact that we're doing it allover again in April; so for those thathad a fun night singing alone andfor those who somehow missed out,it'll be back before ya know it!

I was pleasantly surprised again

by all the singing talent in thecommunity, and the guts ofpeople to get up onto stage andsing their arses off!

DownUnderBear soon followedon the Monday, with Bear Soupon the Tuesday, and both eventswere great successes; it wasgreat seeing you all strip downtwo days in a row just to have a

good time, so thanks for comingalong.

Last but not least, we havePRIDE MARCH coming up - it's onthe 7th of February (that's THISSUNDAY, people!). We have alot of bears in Melbourne and awhole lot of pride, so let's show'em this year that we are alarge and important part of thegay community by marching -

contact us for details, or checkout the event on Facebook tofind out where to be in St. Kildaon Sunday.

That's it from me; lookingforward to seeing you all soon!!

Big woofs and bear hugs!

Luke M.

Festival City Bears invites you tothe inaugural Teddy Bears GoExploring, a leisurely drivethrough the Adelaide Hills,gathering treasure as you go,

culminating with a Sausage Sizzleand The Best Loved Teddycompetition on Sunday 28thFebruary.

For further details, visit:www.festivalcitybears.org


10/12


11/12

Album Review

Ke$ha"Animal"

Bursting onto the music scene lastyear with her infectious single "TiKToK", many were uncertain thatthe catchy tune would set her upfor any serious future within theindustry.

Luckily for her, "Animal" bringswith it more of the same addictiveand catchy pop beats such as newsingle "Blah Blah Blah" and otherdancy numbers like "Party at aRich Dude's House".

Songs such as "Hungover" and"Blind" offer a more serious sideto show that she's not all about thepartying, and her lyrics whichoften sound like a drunken slureffectively come across as never

being overdone or clich, andprove that she may just be herefor the long haul.

- BoradorCub

Game Review

New Super Mario Bros.

While some might argue thatNintendo have run out of ideaswith their most popular franchise(Look! Now Mario is doing thesame thing, but BIGGER!), it'sdifficult to argue the appeal ofplaying the old Mario Bros. thatwe know and love, but with shinynew graphics, new enemies, newlevels, new powers and on top of

it all... play it with three of yourclosest friends at the same time.

The charm of Mario is certainly notlost here; enemies will take amoment to stop and bop to thebeat of the soundtrack, andplaying with the Wii controller justworks, even though some of thewaggle feels a little bit forced attimes.

The game is best played with mates though, as much fun can be headjumping on each other's heads to launch to higher ground, throwing eachother at enemies as weapons and racing to the flag at the end andseeing who can jump the highest.

Teamwork is one thing, but competingagainst each other can be just as muchof a laugh. It may not re-invent thewheel, but it reinvigorates a classicinto something exciting for thisgeneration, which is worthy of some

gratitude.

- Luke M.

it's difficult toargue the appeal of

playing the old MarioBros. that we know

and love

Bear Clubs

Bear Men of Adelaidew. bmofa.org.aue. [email protected]. P.O. Box 2258 Kent Town

SA 5071ph. 0404 413 260

Darwin Bears Clube. [email protected]. P.O. Box 2826 Darwin

NT 0800ph. Sparkie 0408 301 805

Harbour City Bearsw. hcbears.come. [email protected]. P O Box 1532 Darlinghurst

NSW 1300ph. 02 8572 9913

BrisBearsw. brisbears.org.aue. [email protected]. P.O. Box 6, Nundah

QLD 4012ph. Info Line: 0424 699 259

Bears Canberraw. bearscanberra.com/e. [email protected]. G.P.O. Box 1694 Canberra

City ACT 2601ph. Don 0412 085 455

Bears Perth Inc.w. bearsperth.orge. [email protected]. P.O. Box 885 Mt Lawley

WA, 6929ph. Paul/Michael 08 9271 1685

Novabears(Newcastle and Hunter region)w. groups.msn.com/Novabears

Auckland Bearsa. 15 McIlroy Avenue HillsboroughAuckland NZ 1005


12/12

Game Review

Bayonetta

What's more interesting than anancient witch whose entire outfit

comprises of her own luscious hairwrapped tightly around her bodyalong with her ability to shootguns with her ankles, legs spreadwide of course, while doing ahandstand?

There's not much more interestingthan that, but apart from soundingincredibly gimmicky and over-the-top (which... it is), Bayonetta also

provides one of the most fun andsuccessful action titles in recentmemory.

The combat system is smoothflowing and exciting, the storylineis just crazy enough that it worksand the entire thing feels like awell-polished Devil May Cry...with sex appeal.

Bayonetta herself is a geeksfantasy; slender with long darkhair and a pair of spectacles thatmake her look like the insanely hotlibrarian of death, and visually it'sa delight to play through.

It might not be for everybody, butBayonetta without a doubt is oneof the best action games I'veplayed in a long time.

- Luke M.

Movie Review

NineStarring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench, Fergie

Tasty ingredients dont always make a good pizza

I can never understand how an awesome

director, acclaimed screenwriter(s) and anamazing cast of actors still lead to afucking boring movie. Think Batman andRobin, Night at the Museum and somewould say Oceans Eleven.

Well somehow Rob Marshall (Oscarnominated for Chicago), Michael Tolkin(Oscar nominated for The Player), the lateAnthony Minghella (multiple Oscar nomsas well as winning one for making sandlook pretty in The English Patient) and a

cast of beautiful and award winningwomen (including Sophia Loren, NicoleKidman, Dame Judi Dench) somehowturned the musical Nine into a yawn fest.

Basically dual Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis plays an Italian director Guidowhose earlier work was apparentlyawesome but has found his last couple offilms turn into major flops. His next filmItalia is set to begin shooting shortly but

he does not have a script. So the filmexplores his relationship with 7 womenwho have influenced his life as he comesto grips with his lack of self-confidence.

The basic structure of the film sees Guido either reflecting about a timein his life or an encounter with one of the women and then theres asong. This just sees each sequence head further and further down BanalAve.

I found myself counting down how many women were left to sing so Iknew the movie was coming to an end. And then Marion Cotillard throwsmy math by singing twice!

There is no doubt this is a beautiful movie to watch. The set pieces areoutstanding and the costumes worn by these amazing actresses shouldsee it garnering an Oscar nod for that however it was just boring.

I couldntve cared less whether Guido came up with a script, in fact Ireally hoped he wouldnt and he would find himself lumming it on thestreets.

For me the highlight was Fergies number. Not only for the song, Be

Italian, but the costumes and choreography were exceptional.

Because of this song and the costumes Im gonna give this movie twostars.

- Mike H.

I found myselfcounting down howmany women were

left to sing so Iknew the movie

was coming to an

end

newsletter jan10

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