HAPPY NEW BEARD!

For the last 366 days, no razor, scissor, or cutting implement of any other sort has so much as grazed my face or the hair growing from it. I have learned that, while I may not be able to grow the fullest, bushiest, most satisfying beard, the prestige and glory that comes with attempting even the most meager of beards is a reward unto itself. With a beard comes self-confidence. With a beard comes respect from peers. With a beard comes an economic, somewhat less-illegal alternative to fake ID. This has been an incredible journey, and I would like to thank each and everyone one of you who have helped me reach this milestone. Without you, this project--though a huge effing failure regardless--would not have made it this far.
Of course, you are probably now curious about the next step. The final tally for my poll is as follows:

	Name:			%:
	The Close Crop			26.79%
	The Fidel (aka The Don't Do Anything)			10.71%
	The Pugilist			10.71%
	The DuBois			7.14%
	The Pennsylvania Dutch			7.14%
	The Man Ray			5.36%
	The Colonel			5.36%
	Le Surrealisme			5.36%
	The Strap-n-'Stache			3.57%
	The Fu Manchu			1.79%
	The 'Stache			1.79%
	The James Hetfield			1.79%
	The John Waters			1.79%
	The Pirate			1.79%
	The Some-Dude-From-An-Agatha-Christie-Movie			1.79%
	The Hulk			1.79%

(The three write-ins were for the "Hoke-Troika," the "chops or pugilist with shorter hair," and the "Malcolm X square goatee w/ soul patch.")
Now as much as it pains me, the Close-Crop won fair and square; however, supporters of the Fidel have by and large been the most vocal group, pleading for me not to shave a hair. This puts me in a bind--should I listen to a bunch of anonymous schmendricks who want me to do something I don't want to do despite the fact that I know many people will be disappointed, or do I blatantly disregard the will of people who took time out of their presumably busy lives to humor me by voting in this stupid little poll of mine simply because some people are louder? Well, due to unforeseen technical difficulties (i.e. accidentally bringing the plug for my beard trimmer to Oberlin and leaving it there over break) The answer to that question is temporarily solved--I'll clean up the hideous growth of scraggle currently creeping down past the proper border between beard and neck and slowly making its way toward my chest, and do some much needed trimming on the fringes, but beyond that the beard stays at least until I get back to school and can find the damned plug.
As usual, today's pictures are currently inaccessible. I took them on a friend's camera, and she won't be able send them to me until tomorrow at the earliest. But they will be posted at the earliest possible time.
Once again, thank you all for reading about, observing, and picking crumbs out of my beard for the last 366 days. It's been a hoot!
-Sam-o and his Beard.

Day 365

My beard is officially 365 days old. Unfortunately this blog thing hasn't worked out like I hoped, but the beard speaks for itself. The only question left is what the hell am I going to do tomorrow? (Word to the wise if you're doing some last minute voting: People who vote for the Close-Crop are scientifically proven to be mad boring. Just sayin'...)

Sick Beard

I swear, every semester right before I come home I get sick. What the fuck?
Scientific studies seem to suggest that voting in my poll cures the common cold; so do me a favor, will ya?

T-minus 18 days, 16 hours, 20 minutes

Close-Crop, 39.13%
Pennsylvania Dutch, 13.4%
The Pugilist, 8.7%
The DuBois, 8.7%
The Colonel, 8.7%
The Man Ray, 8.7%
The Fidel, 4.35%
Le Surrealisme, 4.35%
VOTE NOW!

Should I Shave Or Should I Grow Now?

About 3 weeks left. That means you have about 3 weeks left to vote for what I should do to my face on January 1st. It's currently looking like I'm gonna go for the boring ol' regular close-crop beard, but you don't want that to happen, do you? VOTE!

Happy December

If you're in Oberlin this weekend, come check out my band playing World AIDS Week local music night at 8:30 this Friday in Wilder Main. (I'm told there will be free wine and cheese!) Or go see some of my photos in the ELC Art Show, also Friday, 8-10, Edmonia Lewis Center. Oh, and don't forget to vote in my poll!

31 Days, 20 Hours, 24 minutes...

Black Friday

Happy Tofurkey Day

I'm thankful that I only have a month left. I love my beard and all, but I miss the feel of the breeze across my cheek, the ability to rub my chin, and not having scraggly ass hair coming out of my neck. Won't you vote in my poll?

Down to the wire

Well, it's almost 2009, and I'm almost done with my 366 days of facial hair. As you can see, it doesn't look very long, but don't let the picture deceive you--if I were to straighten my beard out it would be ridiculously long.
In preparation for my next step (i.e. shaving), I've created a poll to help get some ideas of what I should do with my post-beard face. Clean shave? No shave? You tell me:
What should my face look like on January 2nd?
There are a bunch of examples there, but feel free to add your own suggestions. I'll be updating this thing more frequently as the date gets closer. Until then...

What a joke

Man, this is a failure. Maybe if I ever decide to do this again, I'll actually be on my shit about documenting it, but as it stands the only thing I have to show for this project is the beard itself (mad long now, just to put it out there).

Day 183

Half way there! Pics to be uploaded in the morning.

Day 182: Six Months Down, Six to Go...

Well, despite the total meltdown of the visual, artistic portion of this project, today marks a milestone in my 366 Days of Facial Hair: the Six Month Mark. (Tomorrow marks another milestone--the exact midway point.)
To commemorate this fact, I present the following two items:
Item in the first: I'll try my damnedest to get back on track with the pictures.
Item in the second:

Cheers.

I am a cliche

So, yeah. Beard... Let's just leave it at I'm too busy to actually take pictures and upload them and update this thing. "Busy," right... But the beard is coming along nicely, it's mad long yo. I'd say it's about as long as it was in New York.

But anyway, in case the 3-7 of you who visit this page per week weren't able to attend the 16mm Filmmaking Exco's showing yesterday, I've uploaded my film onto YouTube. Sure, it looked a helluva lot better projected onto a big screen, but c'est la vie.

(I just noticed that I'm wearing the exact same thing as in my last video... Trademark?)
Peace in the Middle West