“The timing of my fiancee’s pregnancy was anything but perfect, with us living in different states and having trouble finding a house.

I was terrified of fatherhood because of who my father was[n’t]. For a time during which many would be excited, I had feelings of doom inside of me. I was already expecting this pending happiness to one day turn to pain.

Magnolia coming into our lives ignited a flame that steadily rages inside me, incinerating every fear of some other man I once dreaded becoming.

200 words or less could never do justice to what being a father means to me. The joy is monumental compared to anything else in life.”

– Nathan Davis

Want to share a story about fatherhood? Email [email protected]

Check out the previous editions of Father Figures here.

The past several weeks have been challenging ones for Texas, with snowstorms and unusually-cold weather shocking residents of the Lone Star State. Local heroes have been stepping up left and right, helping neighbors and strangers make it safely through the treacherous weeks. Actor and Texas native Matthew McConaughey is one such hero, but fortunately, he has the resources to help more than your average Texan. McConaughey loves his state, so much so that he’s even considering a future as a Texas governor. After seeing the devastation following recent storms, the actor and author stepped up to help.

“As most of you know, my home state of Texas was just hit with the worst winter storm it’s had in the last 70 years. It left a whole lot of people without power, water, and a whole lot of basic necessities,” McConaughey said on Instagram.

With power finally restored for most Texans, McConaughey points out that frozen pipes and busted water lines have left Texans in a state of crisis. From individuals to hospitals providing life-saving care, everyone relies on water – but right now, much of Texas is forced to go without.

“Camila and I are presently working with some wonderful organizations on the ground in Texas, but we know help is going to be needed for a while. That’s why Camila, the Just Keep Livin Foundation, and I are putting together a virtual benefit to directly help the necessary long-term effort to rebuild Texas and take care of those in need.”

 

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A post shared by Matthew McConaughey (@officiallymcconaughey)

The Just Keep Livin Foundation was founded by Matthew and his wife Camila, and its main goal is to empower students to live healthier, more active lives. The organization also instills a sense of responsibility to kids in its programs, reminding them how important it is to give back to their communities.

McConaughey states that the virtual benefit will happen in the next two weeks, but in the meantime, he plans to share information about resources and ways to volunteer for those who are able.

The actor’s empowering video ends with a call to action and reminds us that it doesn’t take much to help. This quote perfectly sums it up, “Right now is the best time to safely check on your neighbor. Go knock on a door, go volunteer, and if you’re a ‘have’ please help out a ‘have-not’, there’s a bunch of them.”

The Dad Staff is donating to a collection of food and warming centers throughout Texas to help families in need. Impact Your World allows us to contribute to 14 organizations, including The Red Cross, Mercy Chefs, Austin Pets Alive, as well as local food banks in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. If you are able, please consider donating any amount here.

Another day, another new streaming service.

The latest platform to debut is Paramount Plus, which lands March 4th and is actually just CBS All Access rebranded and will be home to a bucket-load of movies and TV shows from Paramount Pictures and a variety of networks, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, and Nickelodeon.

There have already been a handful of movies announced that will eventually land on the platform, including A Quiet Place 2, Mission: Impossible 7, and No Time to Die, and yesterday news broke about an exciting new revival that 90s kids are sure to be excited about.

Rugrats!

That’s right, the beloved animated series featuring Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, Susie, Phil, and Lil is coming to Paramount Plus as soon as this spring, and it will feature the entire original cast! This time in CG instead of 2D because it’s 30 years since its 1991 debut and times have changed.

“Rugrats is one of the most iconic cartoons recognized by fans around the globe, and this original version is one we are taking great care and pride in creating for a brand-new audience,” said Ramsey Naito, President, Nickelodeon Animation. “Having the voice cast behind these special characters come together is one of the essential pieces to making the show recognizable and we can’t wait to watch this talented group bring them to life again.”

Neither can we!

Check out a clip from the new series:

What do you know about Matthew McConaughey? We all know the Dazed and Confused line “Alright, alright, alright” by now. You’re probably familiar with his weirdly serene Lincoln commercial. You might have a partner who waxes poetic about his abs. If you have a particularly great memory, you might recall the infamous “naked bongo drum” incident. But… do you really know McConaughey? Do you know what he believes in and what he stands for? He obviously has a “cool” vibe — and reading through some of the best Matthew McConaughey quotes, it seems clear this proud Texan is genuinely chill.

Bottom line? He’s more than just the caricature of a laid-back guy he’s been sketched out to be. He’s an impressively hard worker and notoriously thoughtful about the roles he takes. McConaughey isn’t his left-behind stoner character, Dazed’s Wooderson, or the guy who hooked up with J.Lo in The Wedding Planner. These quotes are, quite honestly, a wild and inspiring ride that offers more than just proof of who McConaughey is — they also offer some great advice for living your best life (as cliche as that may sound).

1 “I don’t want to just revolve. I want to evolve. As a man, as a human, as a father, as a lover.”

2. “If I’m doing something, I do like to take it to the limit. I’ve got a high ceiling. A wide threshold for seeing what those boundaries are for myself. I’m very resilient inside. I find things that I like and do, and boy, I do like to stick to them.”

3. “The good part about jealousy is that it comes from passion. It’s also the dangerous part, and it’s an ugly emotion that hurts.”

4. “Life is not fair. It never was, and it isn’t now, and it won’t ever be. Do not fall into the trap — the entitlement trap of feeling like you’re a victim. You are not.”

5. “Every hero doesn’t do this great big hero thing. They do the simple thing over and over… and they stick to it.”

6. “My life is a road, man. I need to keep moving.”

7. “Now, you lose something in your life. And there’s gonna come a time that you’re gonna know: There was a reason for that. And at the end of your life, all the things you thought were periods, they turn out to be commas. There was never a full stop to any of it.”

8. “I believe in living in the present and making each day count. I don’t pay much attention to the past or the future.”

9. “I’m a fan of the word selfish. Self. Ish. When I say I have gotten a lot more self-ish, I mean I am less concerned with what people think of me. I’m not worried about how I’m perceived. Selfish has always gotten a bad rap. You should do for you.”

10. “Life’s barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you get good at.”

11. “The first step that leads to our identity in life is usually not ‘I know who I am,’ but rather ‘I know who I am not’ process of elimination.”

12. “The best advice comes from people who don’t give advice.”

13. “The best education I’ve had in my life is to travel.”

14. “I’ve never been a jealous person, and I’ve never felt built up by someone else’s failure — that’s a cheap thrill.”

15. “It’s a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates.”

16. “There’s two sorts of fear: one you embrace and one you should listen to and turn the other way.”

17. “We dissect failure a lot more than we dissect success.”

18. “Instead of denying these fears, declare them, say them out loud, admit them, give them the credit they deserve. Find the courage to overcome them.”

19. “My rule is to break one sweat a day.”

20. “Just because you can? Nah, it’s not a good enough reason to do something. Even when it means having more, be discerning, choose it, because you want it; do it because you want to.”

21. “We have a big appetite for putting people down, but at the heart of everyone, there’s enough room for all of us to succeed.”

There is a new player in the chicken sandwich wars, and it is a taco. And no, this isn’t one of these “Is a taco a sandwich?” debates (but is it tho), it’s a new chicken sandwich taco from Taco Bell. Yep, Taco Bell has entered the chicken sandwich battlegrounds.

When it comes to killer chicken sandwiches, it used to be Chick-fil-A and then everyone else. And then along came Popeyes, and the wars were on. Wendy’s spicy chicken has always been a competent player, but they’ve tried to up things with a jalapeno popper sandwich. After experimenting with spicey McNuggets, McDonald’s is rolling out several different new fried chicken sandwiches (a true act of desperation) and Burger King is reportedly joining the fray later this year (yawn).

Let’s be real, it’s still a battle between Chick-fil-A and Popeyes. But, Taco Bell is an intriguing newcomer. The new “Crispy Chicken Sandwich Taco” is rolling out next month at select locations and everywhere later this year. Here’s what you need to know: it’s an all-white piece of chicken, marinated in jalapeno buttermilk, fried with a crunchy tortilla chip coating, and served in a puffy bread shaped like a taco. It’s topped with creamy chipotle sauce, and you can spice it up with jalapeños on top.

 

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I am not a fan of the gimmick sandwiches trying to enter the arena with the true greats. But even I must admit, this sounds incredible. And it is coming at the right time for the taco chain, which alienated some of its most vocal customers earlier this year when they culled popular items from their menu and tried to explain by saying “Covid shrug emoji.”

They have brought back their Nacho Fries, but fans still yearn for their Mexican Pizza. They gave us a wine to pair with Chalupas.

But Crispy Chicken Sandwich Taco? Here for it.

And you can tell the competition is worried, because they are trying to mock it:

@popeyeschicken#LoveThoseTacosFromPopeyes #FYP #ForYou #DIYrecipes #DIYtacos #PopeyesChicken #popeyeschickensandwich♬ original sound – Popeyes Chicken

The chicken wars are about to get a lot spicier.

Losing a beloved pet, in any sense of the word, is utterly heartbreaking. But when you know your furry family member is out there somewhere, scared and alone, going on with life feels impossible. When an 8-year-old Golden Retriever named Neesha was out for a walk with her humans and her German Shepherd brother, Harley, the peacefully snowy day took a dark turn. After spotting a deer in the distance, the dogs took off running before their humans could react.

Harley returned, but Neesha was nowhere to be found. The family returned to the spot where they last saw Neesha time and time again, even bringing a basket of unwashed clothes in the hopes that she’d be drawn to the scent of her family.

They turned to social media to share their story and ask locals to keep their eyes open, and even used drones to scan the area in an attempt to spot their beloved graying pup.

“We went on social media and posted it out. Then a weekend later, we were still looking for her, we were starting to give up hope,” Erina O’Shea Goetelen, one of Neesha’s owners, told the Irish Times. “We just thought she was eight, it’s been two weeks, there was no way she could survive that.”

On a frigid day two weeks after Neesha’s disappearance, Doctors Ciara Nolan and Jean Francois Bonnet were out for a hike when they spotted something unusual at the top of the mountain. As they grew closer, they realized that there, laying near a patch of rocks, was a dog. The dog was too weak to bark or stand, and the hikers knew they were her only chance of survival. They wrapped the shivering dog in their spare clothes and began their descent.

@jeanfrancoiswillem##dog ##lostdog ##rescue ##mountain ##pet ##ireland ##lost ##dublin @ciaranolan05

♬ Surrender – Natalie Taylor

After several false starts, slipping and falling while attempting to carry the dog down the mountain, the heroic hikers secured the exhausted dog to Bonnet’s backpack using a scarf. Nearly five hours later, the hikers completed their 10 km trek down the mountain and immediately returned home to warm and feed the starving dog.

Nolan and Bonnet reached out to a local rescue group who put them in touch with Neesha’s awe-stricken owners. “On Saturday, I had a voicemail from this girl called Ciara Nolan,” O’Shea Goetelen recalled. “When she said she had our dog, we were like what? You couldn’t. She’s dead. So we contacted her and picked her up from them.”

Finally, Neesha returned home to recover from her traumatic ordeal. She had lost roughly a third of her body weight and seemed to be just as shocked as the rest of her family that she managed to make it home in one piece. Neesha is thrilled to be back with her humans, and understandably, seems to need regular reminders that she’s home for good – that her happy ending isn’t just a dream.

“She snuggles up in her bed sleeping but she gets up now and again for a rub,” O’Shea Goetelen says. “She lifts her head up to look at us.”

Over the past few months, there has been endless speculation about the future of the MCU. This extends from the movies that have been delayed by the pandemic, like Black Widow and Inhumans, and the TV universe that kicked off with WandaVision and its continuing surprises.

One of the most obsessed over properties is the forthcoming Spider-Man 3 movie, which may or may not dive deep into the multiverse. The rumors have been flying about Tom Holland’s third (and final) feature film as Peter Parker, from Dr. Strange’s role (the wizard also has a multiverse-focused sequel in production) to the potential appearance of characters from other studio Spideys, like Jamie Foxx’s Electro and both Tobey Maguire’s and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-mans (Spider-men?).

Now that speculation has extended to the film’s possible title.

Three of the movie’s cast members, Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jacob Batalon, ignited social media by sharing the first set photos from Spider-Man 3, and teasing fans with their own ideas about what the title might be. The first movie was called Homecoming, the second was Far From Home, and now the third is expected to feature another spin on the theme.

But it’s probably not one of the ones they shared on their IG accounts.

Each of the cast took to Instagram to share the “news.”

Holland shared a set photo of the trio, which included a mock-up title card for one potential, 80s inflected title (Spider-Man: Phone Home), then Zendaya did the same, but her title had a 90s-slang kinda feel (Spider-Man: Home Slice), and Batalon’s casts the project in a very different, Fatal Attraction sort of light (Spider-Man: Home Wrecker).

As usual, social media took it all in stride.

Zendaya, Tom and Jacob really woke up and chose violence #SpiderMan3 pic.twitter.com/Jtkn1NDBGv

— giuls ◟̽◞̽ (@Giuls2828) February 24, 2021

Obviously, the cast was having some fun, and playing up the constant breathless rumors that have been swirling around this movie, and the MCU in general, for years now.

Unfortunately, there’s no real word on what the actual title might be. But with this clearly coordinated social media goof, some real news must be on the horizon. Maybe even a teaser?

We’re dying to find out what’s in store for us with the multiverse, and everything else, in Spider-Man 3: Homey Don’t Play That!

The internet doesn’t forget.

Years and years ago, back in the dark ages of the internet and social media, Metallica angered the tech gods by thwarting Napster, the music-sharing software that allowed everyone everywhere to download all the music they wanted – for free.

Was it legal? It was pre-legal, in that there weren’t any real laws preventing it, or, at least, no real way to regulate it. Until Metallica made a stink and Napster essentially got shut down.

In fairness, Metallica, and countless other artists, were being robbed by this widespread pirating, but they still came off like old men yelling at clouds. And now, some 20 years later, the internet got a little payback.

The elder statesmen of metal were playing a concert for BlizzCon – an annual gaming convention held by Blizzard Entertainment – that was being live-streamed on Twitch. The only problem is, Twitch didn’t want to get sued for sharing music they don’t have the rights to, so users who tuned in didn’t hear For Whom the Bell Tolls or One or Enter Sandman or Unforgiven.

Instead, they heard some bland, 8-bit music that made for a hilarious juxtaposition with the band’s hard-rocking histrionics.

According to Eurogamer, the dubbing didn’t occur everywhere, only on the Twitch Gaming channel.

Regardless, the irony was noted:

There’s something really funny about Metallica being dubbed over during Blizzcon due to copyright concerns.

The band famously went to war with file sharing service Napster 21 years ago to prevent copyright infringement on their music. Kind of a Frankenstein’s monster situation.

— Colin McNeil (@McNeilColin) February 20, 2021

Metallica not being able to play their own music live because of DMCA that came about in large part due to Metallica’s advocacy of it is a hell of a full circle.

— Charlotte Clymer 🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) February 20, 2021

Watch the beautiful disaster unfold:

The historically cold weather in Texas left the entire state in shock. Millions were left without power, people were stranded, homes and buildings were damaged – cities were wildly unprepared and unequipped to deal with the extremely unusual weather, and as a result, the people of Texas leaned on each other for support. The humans of Texas suffered, and sadly, so did the animals.

The animals native to Texas prefer the warmer climate, and just like Texas’s human residents, they were caught off-guard by the unexpected cold. In the waters of South Padre Island, thousands of endangered sea turtles live happily in the warmth they need to survive. In a typical winter, there may be a few days too cold for the turtles, but the water generally stays warm enough for them to remain there safely. This winter, however, temperatures dropped and refused to budge. The sea turtles were in danger.

Despite the personal stressors the residents of Texas experienced due to the cold, despite water shortages, dangerous travel conditions, and power outages, selfless volunteers banded together with one mission: they had to save the turtles.

Volunteers scrambled to gather supplies and provide transportation, with organizations like Sea Turtle, Inc. pulling turtles from the frigid water and moving them to the temporary safety of the South Padre Convention Center. SpaceX provided the heroic organization with a backup generator, which proved invaluable after the facility lost power.

We have surpassed more than 4,900 cold-stun sea turtles in the largest recorded cold-stun event in history. These endangered sea turtles are our number #1 priority your support and encouragement has been overwhelming. Donate here to support our efforts: https://t.co/9ajzm5oTTv pic.twitter.com/dEqu4Q8xtS

— Sea Turtle, Inc. (@SeaTurtleInc) February 19, 2021

When turtles’ internal temperatures drop, similar to humans experiencing hypothermia, their heart rates slow. They experience paralysis and float to the top of the water, leaving them in danger of being attacked by predators. In a typical winter, it isn’t unusual for volunteers to save several dozen turtles from too-cold conditions. But during this extremely taxing winter, thousands of cold-stunned turtles were pulled from the freezing South Padre water, some over 100 years old and weighing hundreds of pounds.

On Tuesday, Sea Turtle Inc. shared an incredible update on Facebook. They explained, “After an exhaustive 24-hour effort that went through the night and has just ended this morning, Sea Turtle, Inc. was successfully able to release more than 2,200 previously cold-stunned turtles into the open ocean of the Gulf of Mexico. We still have lots of work to do but we are rejuvenated with passion and having seen our first released turtles swim away. Thank you for your patience while we worked tirelessly overnight to get this work done.”

The Dad Staff is donating to a collection of food and warming centers throughout Texas to help families in need. Impact Your World allows us to contribute to 14 organizations, including The Red Cross, Mercy Chefs, Austin Pets Alive, as well as local food banks in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. If you are able, please consider donating any amount here.

“This dad works so hard helping to support his dad’s small business that will one day be his.

Sometimes I envy his time alone in the truck when I’ve had a rough day with our three kids, and from time to time my attitude is less than joyful when he walks through the door.

Then he does this quietly without any prompting. Dear Lord in heaven, thank you for this husband and father!”

– Angela Schroeder

Want to share a story about fatherhood? Email [email protected]