Fletch and Furry Daddy

64/365: Fletch and Daddy
Originally uploaded by chronic-shock

I thought this would be a great beard progress pic. It's just me and my son chillin' on the couch. Check out how huge my face fur is. Damn! Seeing my beard in a different medium rather than the regular looks in the mirror really puts it in perspective. I might have competition worthy facial hair. A couple months back I bought The Facial Hair Handbook by fellow BTUSA member and world champion Jack Passion in preparation for my next beard competition. I didn't get very far into reading it before leaving it in the seat pocket on a plane during a flight to Albany, NY a few weeks back. I've asked Santa for another copy.

BYU WTF?

If you know me, you know I grew up a Mormon (a.k.a. LDS). Why am I bringing this up on my beard blog? Well, because I found an interesting post on Beard Revue-you can't have a beard at BYU! Under the Dress and Grooming Standards section, the Bringham Young University honor code clearly states: “Men are expected to be clean shaven; beards are not acceptable.” That's totally bogus. Beard Revue suspects this code is in reaction to rise of the counter culture movement in the US and the rise of popularity of long hair and beards in the 1960s.

Still, if you’re a Cougar, there is the option of a beard waiver. You must “visit a BYU Student Health Center doctor by appointment. The doctor will fax his recommendation. The student then needs to come to the Honor Code Office to fill out some paperwork and receive the letter allowing the growth of the beard, if approved. If a yearly beard waiver is granted, a new Student ID will be issued after the beard has been fully grown, and must be renewed every year by repeating the process.”

Ironically, many of the early LDS leaders had beards. Even the man the school is named after was adored with facial folicles. See the links below for pics of the hirsuted Mormon brethren.

Brigham Young: http://tinyurl.com/qgt9rc
John Taylor: http://tinyurl.com/r6nx3s
Lorenzo Snow: http://tinyurl.com/qtqztn

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• BYU might allow students access to YouTube (arstechnica.com)

A future Shock beardsman

First bath at home
Originally uploaded by chronic-shock

It's been awhile since I've posted. But I have a very good reason-my son Fletch was born on June 28! Fletcher "Fletch" Owen was 7lbs 15oz and 21" long. I hope he becomes a competitive beard grower just like his dad. I just hope he didn't inherit the weakass Shock moustache. The pic is Fletch's first bath at home. I've been growing the fur on my face since mid-March. More pics of Fletch. Follow Fletch's saga.

BTUSA...On A Boat!

This is a video of 85 members of BTUSA on their cruise to Alaska to the WBMC.


Video is rated R for language and excessive facial hair.

More Grooming

Back in April, I did some blog "grooming". Now it's time for a whole new look. It's a beard friendly redesign. The new layout really helps to accentuate the theme of this blog. You can find a blog layout for almost any theme. Tell me what you think.

Beard Team USA News

Here's the latest from BTUSA's founder and self-appointed captain, Phil Olsen:

Report from Anchorage:

Wow! America is the new world superpower in international bearding, thanks to Beard Team USA! For the first time in history, Germany failed to dominate the World Beard Beard and Moustache Championships held in Anchorage on May 23. BTUSA members succeeded in capturing 19 trophies including 10 world championships.

What a great time we had in Anchorage! If you were there, thanks for coming and participating. If you weren't there, we missed you. If you won a trophy, congratulations. If you didn't win a trohpy, I am sure you will agree that you won just by being there.

As you can imagine, our membership numbers have soared in the wake of the WBMC in Anchorage. America's team now has over 1200 proud members growing beards for America.

Splitting Hairs:

Splitting Hairs, the documentary film about the world championships in Berlin in 2005, has been accepted for showing at the prestigious Silverdocs film festival in Silver Spring, Maryland (Just outside Washington, D.C.) on June 18. After the screening, I will be presiding over a fun beard contest (three categories -- moustache, partial, and full) for the entertainment of those at the screening. Any members who can make it should plan on being there. Email me if you are considering coming. Check out www.silverdocs.com. [I'm gonna try and attend the screening; it depends on Shock Jr.'s status -Shock]

Beard Team USA Nationals:

Plans are under way for the Beard Team USA Nationals next May. Possible locations include Las Vegas, Austin, San Francisco, and New York. Plan on being there! [I do plan to attend! -Shock]

WBMA:
I still have not heard from the WBMA about our proposal to allow the participants in the WBMC to vote on association matters. I will keep you posted.

Cheers
Phil Olsen
Founder and self-appointed captain
Beard Team USA

Beard & Moustache Poetry

Some dudes were shooting video outside the NYCBMC event. The volunteer participants read poetry related to beards and mustaches. I was one of them. My reading didn't make the final cut of the three minute video, Behold This Swarthy Face. It only took three months for them to finish the project, which is a blistering pace of one minute per month. But it is in HD.

Behold This Swarthy Face from Room5Films on Vimeo.