Month: March 2016

Holiday Warning Lable

/ fearsomebeard / 13 Comments

This is the official warning to all readers.

We do not wish to offend so we are now publishing this official warning to the Internet;

We Celebrate Holidays on this here Blog Thingy.

In the past we have been reprimanded for such behavior. So we decided to post this warning in order to relieve ourselves of holiday liability.

First there was Christmas (the almighty lightening rod of all holidays). We have apparently offended some interneters through the use of the words Christmas & Xmas (man did Xmas cause an uproar!) We also offended some by wishing readers a Happy Chanukah and/or Hanukkah. Oh …and don’t let me forget the rant I received on a post about my God Son’s performance of the Nutcracker. The language of that comment alone could have earned the blog an adults only warning and possibly put Fearsome on an FBI watch list. He’s a kid for Christs’ sake, if he wants to dance the Nutcracker, let him.

Halloween is a boogie man as well. Some decided to reprimand The Beard as they apparently consider it pagan. Really? No! Tell me it ain’t so. Just for the reaction next year I’m adding Dia De Los Muertos! On the pagan subject let us not forget what happens when we dare mention the words Solstice, Holiday or even the fictional Festivus in the month of December….pure entertainment at its best I tells ya.

This years New Years wish was overwhelmingly well received….Oh wait…except this one who seemed to miss the Father Time/Baby New Year theme and recommended that an “adults only” warning should proceed Fearsome’s blog.

So far the heart holiday has made it through without any drama, so far.

Now as the avid readers you are you know what’s coming. A holiday about some guy who got named a Saint just because he chased all the snakes off of a North Atlantic island. Look I ain’t so sure about this story, if I was a naked snake on a North Atlantic island it sure wouldn’t take a Saint to convince me to leave for a warmer climate. Do not fear though as we here at Fearsome Beard aren’t going to leave out any holiday just because the story about it’s origins it isn’t quite plausible. So yes there will be some Irish, and near Irish, blessings coming your way this very week.

Watch out though as on the horizon we have a holiday about a resurrection that for some odd reason is celebrated with a bunny that hides dyed chicken eggs. Folowing just a month after the bunny one is holiday about a culture south of the United States border, that isn’t even celebrated in that culture. The summer holidays seem to go off without a hitch as at least until this point in American history their point is still somewhat plausible, after November it’s anyone’s guess.

We post this warning with the intention that readers will hopefully see the humor in it, the humor in most holidays and the intended humor ahead. Fearsome Beard is a blog for contemplation and personal growth. We love comments. Comments that agree and disagree. We find growth through good honest discussion.

Now get ready for some leprechauns and pots of gold…just follow the rainbows!

 

Can people not from Ireland be Irish?

/ fearsomebeard / 12 Comments

This is a question that popped into my head as I’m thinking ahead into this week of St. Patrick.

Many have noticed the turn toward Irish beards. I made a error calling the actor who once played Bond Irish. For that I apologize. Turns out he’s Scottish, but of Irish descent. So does that possibly make him Irish? What about me? I’m actually American, but of Irish descent as well. Can I be called Irish? Or considered Irish in some way?

My first name is the same as the mentioned actor who played Bond. A name I’ve always been told was not only Irish but an extremely common Irish name. My last name is different than the actor but is considered to be a very common Irish name as well. Can we be assumed to be Irish since we have Irish first and last names?

I am in agreement that one should never assume, but can one be considered so due to heritage?

I know this isn’t an earth shattering world changing contemplation. I however contemplate it in advance of this week when all things celebrate Ireland.

I read up a bit this morning on that certain Mr. Patrick whom has been named a Saint. It seems there’s many assumptions that aren’t quite set in stone facts. There are also some stories that have been proven incorrect. Yes this St. Patrick is not without a convoluted if not slightly shady past. Turns out this former escapee slave most likely was not from Ireland and apparently wasn’t accepted by the locals, at least at first, upon returning there as a man of the cloth. Can he actually be considered Irish as well? Or do you even have to be Irish to become the patron saint?

And what of this Irish Beard and Mustache association? Are they in Ireland? From Ireland? Decendants of Irish blood? ……Geeez! So much to contemplate.

Dont even get me started on the snakes.

A toe tappin’ weekend ahead

/ fearsomebeard / 11 Comments

Geez that Jimmy Somerville looks as young as I was when I first took a twirl to this very version of this classic on the dance floor.

Well it’s because he was as young as I was the very first time I took a twirl to this one! Go ahead, click on the vid and enjoy this throwback to the 1980s. Go ahead and take a twirl around the room…ain’t no one watchin’ ….and so what if they is?

http://youtu.be/DxsLoxbxeug

I most likely took my first twirl to this tune on the dance floor of The Copa Key West. I wrote about that dance floor HERE  and HERE and HERE. To say I loved The Copa would be making a statement of truth. However the first spin on the floor to this fabulous tune was several years before the trip that sealed my fate and moved me to the west coast. I guess you could say it was a warm up so I could impress him later when I met him.

The clip above I share simply to show Jimmy Somerville and the 1980s dance scene. That was the official video. However on the dance floor of The Copa of the mid 1980s you would have actually danced to this version:

Yeah, that’s the one! The remix that kept us on that floor ’till the sweat was dripping off the back of the shirts tucked in our waistbands. It’s a good thing that running the full length on each side of the massive dance floor that was The Copa, were long never ending cocktail bars. Therefore one never had far to go for a cold glass of refreshment. Damn that was a good club.

With this new found remix from my past it looks like all weekend this aging, but still young, ass will be busy twirlin’ around the house!

Movie Beard

/ fearsomebeard / 2 Comments

🎵Every Day Feels Like Summer With You🎵

Fearsome talked me into playing hookie yesterday morning. We indulged in a movie from iTunes over the iPad onto the Apple TV. What would we do without all these Apple thingys?

Who needs a preview when a movie features a toe tappin’ tune as fabulous as this one?

If someone had told me that I’d spend an hour and a half enjoying a SILENT animated film, I’d a told ’em they was crazy or on drugs. Then I would have had to apologize to them because they were right.

Shaun the Sheep is a good flick. It’s chock full of fun, humor, friendship, adventure and joy all with a bit of suspense thrown in. The animation is well done and a take on the claymation genre of which I am fond.  A heartwarming story is told through action and music without ever a single word.

I found this film a nice break from the norm. It’s Oscar nomination was well deserved. To ice the cake, it’s main character has one of my favorite names. We recommend this film for fun & easy entertainment viewing.

🎵Everything thing feels like starting a new🎵😃

California Dreaming

/ fearsomebeard / 13 Comments

Having been born in the 1960s, I grew up hearing an iconic tune.

California was a dream as far as I was concerned. A place far away and far different from my existence. It was a place I heard of and never a place I ever even thought of living. It was a place I might visit one day in my lifetime, a place to go on an exotic vacation.

A lot happened out there in California. There were news reports of unrest, politics, pollution and radical change. Hollywood was out in California. Movies and television shows came from there. The Beverly Hillbillies moved there. Lots of money and glamour seemed to be the norm for that place. Many musicians seemed to come out of California and many also met there demise there in the decadent lifestyle.

It apparently had quite a lot beaches. The Beach Boys came out of California and with them brought music and surf culture. I had never seen a surfer. California had sun and summer all the time, well except on the rare day it did rain and when it rained it apparently poured. A lot of hippies lived in California and it seemed to be a place that loved to party and hated war.

Sometime around age twenty one or two a lover of mine and I were discussing where we may want to live. I never dreamed of leaving our hometown, he had always dreamed of leaving our hometown. I decided to take out a map and just pick a place. He picked somewhere on the Midwest, Chicago I think. I picked San Diego just off the top of my head. I had never been further west than St Louis. I remember saying if I’m going to dream, I’ll dream California. I really knew nothing about San Diego at all. It just seemed nice to be close to Los Angeles, but not in LA. We both went about our life and stayed in our hometowns never even taking a step toward nor ever been talking about moving again. Eventually going our own ways, yet still there.

In my mid twenties I fell in love. I fell in love with someone who was from California that then was living in Seattle. Seattle, that was the city with the needle…right? I could picture living there. Seattle wasn’t a dream and seemed a reasonable place to live. I moved west, west to Seattle.

As the universe would have it Seattle was only temporary. I had once placed a pin on a map. I had set a goal. I had dreamed a dream. I put that dream on the back burner and went about life. The universe did it’s job, it’s job to take care of my dream while I lived life. The better half got an offer in California, San Diego California in fact.

Nine months after relocating further away from my home than I had ever even traveled (traveled in these United States that is) we moved to San Diego. It wasn’t until about six months of living here that I even remembered that day I had picked out San Diego as that place on the map. I was living a dream that I hadn’t remembered having. It was a dream worth dreaming. I have loved San Diego since first sight. This is home.

I had never even planned to leave the hometown in which I grew up. All my friends wanted to, I never had. Careful of the dreams you dream. Dreams do come true. I’m living a dream that I didn’t realize I was having.

This post came about yesterday as I was working out at my gym, World Gym San Diego. That gym is as Southern California as you can get outside of muscle beach up in LA, or Venice Beach to name it properly. Looking around and feeling the energy while I breathed in the ocean breeze, this small town boy realized he had always been California Dreamin’. He realized his dream in his late twenties. This year will mark the year I’ve decided to call the “tipping year”. I have lived here as many years as I lived back east. This is the year I’ve lived in my home as long as I lived in that home.

The iconic tune has even been updated.

My point with this crazy post? A point I’m so passionate about I’ll make it again…..I really had always dreamed of this place even when I didn’t believe in my dream. The key is I had my dream. Dare to dream. No dream is too big or too out there. Dreams really do come true.