Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joined the keeper and Phyllis and the rest of the clan in cheering on the newest member—Auggie, as he mastered the simple act of walking and quickly moved on to running, with occasional falls that were of no more consequence than a hiccup. “Those …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Send Help”
Self-Help: Movie Review of Send Help ★★★1/2 Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Submitted for your approval. A young man and woman are stranded on a beautiful desert island and work together to eke out the means for survival in a harsh unforgiving and hostile environment. The woman nurtures the man through a serious …
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Kickass and the Family Fixers
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis participating as observers in one of those family gatherings called to fix something that needs fixing where the potential contractor cost would approach the price of a good used car. It is always best to stage these “fix” events …
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Kickass and the Brewery
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, shares the news with the keeper that the Schlitz Brewery is all done after 150 years of helping “Make Milwaukee famous.” The keeper joined the Milwaukee Journal staff way back when payola favors to reporters was in vogue and on the first Milwaukee Journal Christmas Eve the keeper …
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Kickass and the Zoo Trade
Attribution: 江戸村のとくぞう, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is happy to assist the keeper in trying to salvage something out of the US-China meeting fiasco by suggesting that the POTUS be left in China in exchange for the Panda bear slated to immigrate to a US zoo. This seems …
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Kickass and Carl’s Hawk
Attribution: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, naps as the keeper remembers the occasion of his Chinese friend Carl Lee and the red-tailed hawk with the broken wing. The keeper happened upon the injured hawk on a morning pheasant hunt and wrapped it in his jacket for transportation …
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No-Win Situation
Attribution: Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash By Geoff Carter “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” —Vince Lombardi “Sixteen times a year, all thirty-two NFL teams give us what we’re looking for: speed, skill, violence, fantasy league orgasms and a final score. No confusion. No doubt. No indecision. A winner and a loser.” –Mike Barnicle Winning has …
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Kickass and the China Posse
Attribution: Photo by Joel Danielson on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, works with the keeper and Phyllis in their efforts to help people understand just what is going on with the POTUS as he surrounds himself with a posse of narcissistic billionaires while going off to China to try to trade his war for a …
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Kickass and Hair
Attribution: Mostafameraji, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, having adjusted long ago to his hairless condition, notes that both the keeper and Phyllis lucked out in the hair department, the keeper having dodged genes from his bald father that brother Orv picked up. Phyllis is equally fortunate with her lush …
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Kickass and Being a “Bitch”
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, stayed home on Mother’s Day, dreaming about his mother, and wondered about the uproar over the report that the POTUS called a black woman reporter a “bitch.” In the canine world, of course, “bitch” is a respectable label for any and all female dogs, …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “In the Blink of an Eye”
The Edges of Humanity: Film Review of In the Blink of an Eye ★★★ Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter One of the great overarching themes of literary thought when I was a student, an ideology that has since been overshadowed by postmodernism, postcolonialism, new feminism, poststructuralism, and deconstruction—all advances that served to include …
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Kickass and the Wind
Attribution: TapTheForwardAssist, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, naps as the keeper and Phylis recall the old Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem “The Wind” with its laudatory lines about the wondrous and mysterious ways of the wind, and the questions it poses for those who choose to hear them. Obviously …
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