• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Manhattan Digest

All you need to know about Manhattan culture and so much more...

  • LIFESTYLE
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • LGBT
  • OPINION
  • TECHNOLOGY

george unda

All The “Tea” About Bear Week 2015 In Provincetown

by Ryan Shea

Ahh, summertime.  The weather is warm, the Mister Softee trucks are everywhere, and the bears no doubt spend one fabulous weekend flocking to Provincetown, Massachusetts for its 15h Annual Bear Week which just occurred between July 11th through the 18th.  Seeing as last year was my first year experiencing Bear Week in all of its glory (see more of that write up here), I decided to give it another shot with the full understanding of what I was going into.  Last year was a lot to take in, and I’m not just talking about the variety of men at the PTown Inn Pool nor the Dick Dock (or as I lovingly refer to it- the gay Dunkin Donuts).  I was aware of what the week had in store for me, yet this year seemed to be quite different from last year in many different ways.

Me and the fantastic George Unda!!
Me and the fantastic George Unda!!

This time around, I decided to relax a lot more and not stress the need to be at every single event and be out from 8am to 2am every single day.  That concept can catch up to you pretty quickly and your batteries will burn out by day three most likely.  The other thing I promised myself was to cook a lot more and eat at home as the restaurants (although fantastic) can get pricy and run up quite the bill for yourself by the end of the week.  I kept both promises and had a much more laid back, not so expensive week that actually turned out to be quite the positive for me.

The hysterical and talented Peter Bisuito (left) and his amazing partner Mark Flanders
The hysterical and talented Peter Bisuito (left) and his amazing partner Mark Flanders

This year’s Bear Week was chock full of fun times, great parties and a wonderfully organized event that really made its 15th Anniversary one of its best years to date.  The amount of men that came up this year seemed to have doubled from last year, and the general consensus that I got from this year like I did the last is that everyone for the most part has such a friendly disposition and really enjoys the level of getting to know each other at such a great capacity that it is nearly impossible for you to not enjoy yourself.  Some of the fun events that I really had fun at was the Boston Ironsides Charity event, Comedian Peter Bisuito’s hysterical comedy show, Bear Week’s very own Furball, The Fireman’s Ball and of course the daily Tea Dances happening at the world famous Boat Slip Resort right on Commercial Street.  Oh and anytime spent with my favorite guy George Unda (Detective Marcus Martinez on “Where The Bears Are”).

Chris Booth.  :)
Chris Booth. 🙂

Before and during my time at Bear Week I was a member of the “Bear Week In PTown” Facebook page which sort of lost track of what the page was supposed to be about.  Eventually it turned into a catty posting session of men being angry at each other for throwing shade about a “Did I Bring Too Many Clothing Options” post to the ferocious taking down of selfies that people would post on the page (myself included.  Peter Griffin voice- GUILTYYYYYYYY.)  The reason why I bring this matter up is I feel content like that would make someone not want to go based on a complete strangers reaction to a simple post that in the long run really shouldn’t mean too much.  Is Bear Week overwhelming?  To some, yes.  Can you go the entire time without feeling that way?  Absolutely.  As I said in last year’s post, it really is what you make of it.  I will say that if you do go alone it is is a little harder to penetrate (giggity) the field that is Bear Week, however as I ant to go nsaid previously there are so many amicable people there that it is hard to really justify any negativity at the actual event.  Just go, find what is right for you, and enjoy the heck out of the entire thing.  It is exhausting, exciting, liberating, sexual, boozy, hilarious and so many other adjectives all wrapped in eight days or less.  It is up to you though to determine which adjectives you leave with.

Some rando from SF.  Landon!
Some rando from SF. Landon!

Want to go next year?  Check out the Bear Week page for official registration dates and more.

Filed Under: LGBT, TRAVEL Tagged With: bear week, bear week 2015, cape cod, george unda, manhattan digest, provincetown, ptown, ryan shea

Help Where The Bears Are Reach Their Kickstarter Goal!

by Ryan Shea

Where The Bears Are, Ben Zook, George Unda, Manhattan Digest

What do you get when you combine a group of hot bears of all shapes and sizes, a murder mystery and comedy galore all jam packed in one hole, I mean season?  You get the wildly popular online series “Where The Bears Are” of course!  The hit show, which has developed quite the following over three years, is back for season four and the creators need your help!  They are doing a huge Kickstarter campaign to ensure that season four can happen and that you can continue to enjoy the ups and downs of this wild and crazy group.  Fellow MD writer and “Where The Bears Are” star George Unda touched upon this in a recent interview I did with him.  Now, with three days left for the Kickstarter campaign, every dollar counts as they are about 15 percent away from goal!

I sat down today with co-creator Ben Zook about the campaign itself as well as some juicy hints for season 4.  Take a look!

Ben Zook, Manhattan Digest, George Unda, Where The Bears Are
Credit to: Ben Zook

So Ben, this must be super exciting that Where The Bears Are is entering in its fourth season.  Did you ever expect it to make this is far when you first developed the show?

I don’t think so. We never anticipated how successful the show would become and getting to Season 4 is really amazing. We are really grateful and overwhelmed by the support we have gotten from people who watch the show. It’s wonderful!

Something that was recently brought up was how amazing it was to see a character like Daniel Franzese’s Eddie on “Looking” in such a spotlight, whereas gay roles on mainstream TV tend to only skew towards skinny/muscle.  Do you think we have come a long way in the bear community in terms of depictions outside of our own repertoire?

I love that “Looking” has the character of Eddie! Both the character and Daniel’s performance is terrific. I hope more mainstream TV shows follow suit. We need more big, hairy, sexy bears represented on television. I feel we do a nice job of it in our show. I love that we have men of all shapes and sizes being unapologetically sexual and confident. People need to see that.

One item that I have written about before that I have definitely noticed about Where The Bears Are is the diversity in the men you cast.  From color to size to age, you have a lot of it covered and it is done beautifully.  Do you think it is important to show bears in that particular kind of light?

Yes. We really try to be as diverse as possible in casting, size, age etc. We’ve done a pretty good job of it, but we are always striving to do better. It’s tough sometimes though because we have a smaller pool of actors to cast from because we are a low-budget web show. A lot of actors agents won’t submit them because it’s not huge TV money. But, we do the best we can. It’s Important that all colors, sizes, ages are represented because that is the reality of the world.

So let’s discuss the Kickstarter campaign that you are doing for Where The Bears Are.  You currently sit at about 85 percent, which is very exciting!  What can you tell my readers, in hopes they will donate, that will give them some bonus incentives in doing so?

I hope your readers will donate because raising the money is the only way a Season 4 will happen! We have to fundraise because a network would never put a show like ours on the air. We have to do it. And, that takes a lot of money. Our show ends up being a 2 /2 hour movie each season. Plus we shoot a 22 minute bonus holiday episode each year. So we really rely on our fans to fund each season. People love our show and if you haven’t seen it I would encourage everyone to check it out at wherethebearsare.tv Watch a few episodes and see what you think. Then throw us a little money for our season 4 on Kickstarter. The world is a better place with our show on the web!

Once the Kickstarter campaign is done and you have reached goal, what will be the next steps in terms of getting S4 started?  Do you have locations outside of LA that you want to film (Manhattan please!)?

If we reach our goal we will plunge right into pre-production and start shooting around the 1st of May! Season 4 takes place in lots of locations all over L.A and also Palm Springs. I WISH we could shoot in Manhattan but I don’t think that’s going to happen this year at least:)

Ben Zook, Manhattan Digest, George Unda, Where The Bears Are
Credit to: Ben Zook

Give us some hints on the upcoming season.  Anything you can divulge to our readers that will leave them wanting more, more more?

The season centers around the wedding of Todd and Nelson! Of course there is a murder once again that the bears have to solve. At the same time Reggie’s true crime TV pilot gets picked up by a network. And, Wood decides to start his own clothing line called, “Sporting Wood.” So he spends much of the season working with scantily clad bear swimwear models. Some drama happens between the detectives this season and you get to meet Nelson’s parents, which is going to be fun! Honey Garrett, Dickie Calloway and Hairy Potter are all coming back. We think this season will be our most romantic and suspenseful one yet!

Will there be any new characters added this season?  There is a really cute cub that would love to participate, that cub being me.  :).

Actually there will be several new characters! There’s a lot happening this season with the wedding etc. and a lot of people/suspects wandering around! If you are in L.A. during shooting let us know, maybe we can throw you in somewhere?

Of course, as is with anything in this community, you have dealt with naysayers with the common phrase “I don’t like this because I don’t see myself portrayed by anyone in the cast”.  I’ve seen this happen with bear events and just an overall feeling by some people in the community.  How do you counteract that with your show?

Once again, we try and represent all shapes, sizes, colors and ages. Tim Hooper and I are over 280 lbs and we do sex scenes. We also have “muscle bears”, thin guys, guys with and without fur etc. George Ridgemont is in his 60’s and we have cast members right out of college. We try to be ethnically diverse as well. Some characters are more masculine than others and so on. So, that is really all we can do. We try and have characters that people can look at and identify with. But the thing we also keep in mind with our show is that it is a campy comedy murder-mystery! So, the characters aren’t completely realistic at all. They are heightened exaggerations. That’s the way we make it funny in the end.

Now that 2015 is well under way, what are your ultimate hopes for Where The Bears Are and yourself this year?

I’ve always said that we will keep doing the show as long as people want to see it and are willing to help us fund it. So, hopefully we will get to do a Season 4, 5, 6, 7 and beyond!

Where The Bears Are, George Unda, Manhattan Digest, Ben Zook
Credit to: Ben Zook

Anything else you want to add?

Just thank you for writing about our show and campaign! I hope your readers will help us out and support our show: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wherethebearsare/where-the-bears-are-season-4-the-gay-comedy-myster

Filed Under: LGBT Tagged With: Ben Zook, george unda, kickstarter, los angeles, manhattan digest, where the bears are

Get To Know “Where The Bears Are” Star George Unda

by Ryan Shea

George Unda, Manhattan Digest, Where The Bears Are

In doing my ongoing series “Get To Know”, I have noticed that each person that I interview has a great deal of physical admirability but also has a vast amount of intelligence, humor and self awareness of who they are and of course how they are perceived in the larger scheme of things.  One of these people is my good friend George Unda, who currently resides right outside of Los Angeles in Long Beach, California.  I got to know George through my laptop screen (minds out of the gutters people) watching the hit online series in which he is apart of called “Where The Bears Are”.  Billed as a comedy-mystery series, it focuses on three different friends in the bear world who are thrown into a different murder mystery each season and have to figure out the whodunit aspect by the time the season ends.  George plays the hunky and charming Detective Marcus Martinez on the show. [Read more…] about Get To Know “Where The Bears Are” Star George Unda

Filed Under: LGBT Tagged With: george unda, where the bears are

Primary Sidebar

Navigation

  • HOME
  • OPINION
    • REVIEWS
  • BUSINESS
  • LGBT
  • ENTERTAINMENT
    • ARTS
    • MOVIES
    • MUSIC
    • TELEVISION
    • THEATRE
  • LIFESTYLE
    • TRAVEL
    • FASHION
    • HEALTH
    • FOODIE
    • STYLE
  • POLITICS
  • SCIENCE
  • SPORTS
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • U.S.
    • NEW YORK

Footer

  • ADVERTISE
  • TERMS OF SERVICE
  • CAREERS
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • Home
  • Contact
  • Legal

Copyright © 2023 · ManhattanDigest.com is run by Fun & Joy, LLC an Ohio company · Log in

 

Loading Comments...