Month: February 2016

Movie Beard

/ fearsomebeard / 14 Comments

We did it again. We found ourselves sitting in a cinema the opening weekend of the flick we were about to experience. A movie that was first previewed during our attendance of Comic-Con.

But first a public service announcement from the star of the show:

Deadpool, the anti super hero, super hero flick.Ryan Reynolds plays this one well. His playful and mischievous wit brings our twisted hero to life all while poking fun at himself.

Being a super hero story it has all the classic necessities: Regular guy (a hit man) mutates to have super powers, a lovely damsel (stripper) gets into distress, an evil villain (physician healer with unconventional treatments), a super hero sidekick (bartender) all combined with the chase scenes, love story, suspense, horror, sex, vulgar language, nudity, humor, shady characters, cameo appearances and even the positive redeeming moral message. Yep this flick has it all.

Clocking in right at 2 hours we found this film full of laughter, mischief and pure entertainment. It is most definately an anti super hero, super hero movie. The action, suspense, humor, special effects, acting and directing all seem to work. We give this one high marks and highly recommend it’s viewing.

My thumb is up as is Fearsome’s mustache. The better half and the niece who joined us also each give a thumb up. It was fun for the whole family. Check out the trailer…

Disclaimer: Caution to those with younger viewers, our niece is 18, I’m not sure I would want to take her if she was say…under 13. If you watched the public service announcement and/or the trailer I think you may know that by now.

 

Mindset

/ fearsomebeard / 5 Comments

Tax time.

Saturday the better half and I spent a romantic Valentine eve with our accountant. Before and after my Florida trip I spent countless hours organizing receipts and tallying up numbers. The better half spent many more hours than I sorting, figuring and solving problems. I thank him for his hard work. Balancing accounts is not my forte, especially multiple ones.

It is truly amazing to calculate it all up and see how much came in and how much went out. Dizzying would make a good adjective here. We are blessed. We are also blessed with quite the sizable tax bill. Once again we are blessed.

It is all mindset. Abundance is a mindset.

We could choose to focus on how much went out or what we could have done with the amount paid in taxes. We could choose to try to squeeze even more write offs and find one more penny to avoid paying. We could be angry that the government was taking what we had earned, what was ours. Choosing any of this is choosing to focus on what we don’t have. It’s a scarcity mentality.

One gets what one chooses to focus on.

Instead we choose to focus on abundance. We focus on what we do have. We celebrate goals achieved and celebrate the steps we took toward goals we are still working toward. We set new goals. We are grateful that we pay taxes. Paying taxes means we made money. We feel gratitude for the money we have to pay the taxes and bless the money that leaves our hands that it may bless all that it touches.

We have a beautiful home. We have nice cars, furniture, vacations, clothes, retirement accounts and investments. We have good health and we have each other. We have a wonderful life and a big part of that life is the society around us. That society exists because of our taxes. It exists because of the taxes you paid as well.

We choose gratitude and abundance. We feel contentment, happiness, peace and security.

It’s a mindset.

a·bun·dance (ə-bŭn′dəns)
n.
1.
a. A great or plentiful amount: an abundance of rain.
b. The condition of being in rich supply: bananas growing in abundance.
2.
a. Degree of plentifulness: “Species of low abundance are ignored in the calculation of predominance” (William M. Lewis).
b. Chemistry The amount of an isotope of an element that exists in nature, usually expressed as a percentage of the total amount of all isotopes of the element.
3. Affluence; prosperity: living in abundance.

Baking Beard’s EZ Sweetheart Chocolate Cake

/ fearsomebeard / 4 Comments

Fearsome Bakes!

It’s been too long since since we posted a cake recipe. It’s time, just in time to save your ass with your sweetheart! So as Valentine’s Day approaches did you forget to stop and get chocolates and roses? This quick and easy chocolate cake will make your sweetheart melt like a Hershey bar on your fingers.

Fearsome’s easy Sweetheart catching yummy chocolate chip cake featuring creme cheese chocolate frosting!

AKA ….The Valentine Catcher Cake

Preparing to ice, you can see the indentations of the baked in chocolate chips!

Preparing to ice, you can see the indentations of the baked in chocolate chips!

Start with a box, yes a box…this is easy so it’s not from scratch, of Betty Crocker Super Moist Devils Food cake mix. Mix the cake as directed but substitute one stick of melted butter in place of the oil. Split batter into two layer pans and then drop 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips onto each layer’s batter (1/2 cup each). Don’t mix the chips in, just scatter on the batter. Bake as directed. Cool for 15 minutes in the pans and flip out of pans onto a towel to cool completely.

The icing is the key and we do make that from scratch as it’s so freakin’ easy. In a medium mixing bowl start with 1 – 8 ounce package of room temperature creme cheese and place in bowl. Add 1 – 1 pound package of confectioners powdered sugar (this is about 4 cups). Add 3/4 cup of Hershey’s baking cocoa. Then add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 cup of milk. Start to blend on slow speed, as it starts to moisten slowly increase speed of mixer and have extra milk handy to add just a few drops at a time ….keep mixing and adding extra drops of milk on a higher mixer speed until icing is creamy and just spreadable. –Careful to not add too much milk thus making it too runny to hold on cake…add the extra milk just drops at a time to just get creamy and spreadable.–

Ice the cool cake layers then refrigerate for about an hour uncovered to set icing.

My sweetheart's gonna love me for this, yours will too!

My sweetheart’s gonna love me for this, yours will too!

Movie Beard

/ fearsomebeard / 5 Comments

A movie critic? A beard with an opinion? Movie reviews for beards?

How many movie posts does it take? I’m not sure but I think a line has been crossed.

RayBeard and Blobby might be getting a little competition. Hopefully they will just be proud of this hirsute fellows movie interests.

The latest and greatest news is that Fearsome talked me into taking him to see an actual new release of a movie the very weekend it was released. Gasp! Yes Virginia on Sunday while in Ft. Lauderdale instead of going to a bar and watching that big football game that was on, we went to a movie. Just the two of us. I am amazed how Fearsome seems to get in free with just my ticket purchase.

The movie:

Yes, our much anticipated Coen Brother’s film…Hail, Caesar! This one we could not wait any longer to see as we have been salivating over it for months. A premier weekend with a football game so big that practically no one would be at the cinema? Viewing perfection! Better yet we got to see at Ft Lauderdale’s vintage art house The Gateway.

image

I am a long time Coen Brother’s fan. I appreciate their dark complex humor, attention to detail, taste, talent selection and obviosly above average directing capabilities. Originally introduced to them through the classic flick Raising Arizona, I unfortunatley didn’t come to fully appreciate them until my first viewing of Oh Brother Where Art Thou? Personal appreciation of their brand is either black or white. One usually either adores or despises their work.

Hail, Caesar! did not disappoint this fan. From the accurate set decor to the campy dry humor, we enjoyed this flick. Fearsome and I both agree that we do not belive it is the Coen’s best. We do feel that it does live up to their brand and is good solid, yet twisted, entertainment. It is a film that we will see several more times in order to fully appreciate. Even if one doesn’t fully appreciate or comprehend the classic quirkiness that is all movies Coen, one will enjoy the classic old Hollywood sets, styles and look.

We award this film one thumb and one mustache up!     …..disclaimer here is that it is an Joel & Ethan Coen film, your going to love or hate us for recommending as we sincerely doubt there is any middle ground.

 

 

Reflections

/ fearsomebeard / 5 Comments
Ft Lauderdale Beach February 8, 2016

Ft Lauderdale Beach February 8, 2016

Yesterday was a magnificent day for a walk on the beach. Cool breeze and warm sun. I took advantage of the opportunity to reflect.

I have so much to be grateful for.

So much.