Photo by Skyler Sawyer on Unsplash By Geoff Carter (Originally published on October 31, 2020) I grew up in the sixties and seventies, in what might be called the golden age of the horror movie. Not only were we able to see films The Abominable Dr. Phibes and Scream and Scream Again at the drive-in theater, but every Saturday afternoons we …
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Month:October 2023
Kickass and Butterfly Snowflakes
Attribution: Photo by Kacper Szczechla on Unsplash, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper is big on accepting things but is sorely challenged this morning as a few random snowflakes drift down out of a gray sky with the obvious message that there is more to come, …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to Horror Films: The Next Generation
Damian Gadal, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter (Originally posted October 31, 2020) The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting longer, and there’s a chill in the air. Frost is on the pumpkin. The leaves are turning color. All this means one thing—Halloween is just around the corner. And that means …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Okja”
Attribution: Jorge Simonet, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons The Meat of the Matter: Review of Okja By Geoff Carter There are some films that evoke a keen sense of conscience or guilt in the audience—films that make us feel remorseful, guilty, or maybe even responsible. Documentaries like Sicko, Bowling for Columbine, Night and Fog, White Helmets, …
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Kickass and Boxcar Halloween
Attribution: LuigiGT12, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that the keeper cannot allow the Halloween of 2023 to pass without recalling once again the great multi city “trick” of moving a boxcar in Cameron to block off Highway 8, the major east-west route across northern Wisconsin. Just how …
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Kickass and Tribune Tower Space
Attribution: Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, unable to do much about the keeper’s thought process, is helpless now as the keeper considers the makeover of Chicago’s Tribune Tower into apartments and wonders who is now sleeping and living in his old office …
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Kickass and Attacking Pound
Attribution: Wtshymanski, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper suffered yet another attack by a stray pound that used ambush tactics in the night to join the other invader pounds in their waistline stronghold. Following a dining night out by the keeper and Phyllis, there was …
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Whistling In the Graveyard
Photo by Geoff Carter Por Dia de Los Muertos and Halloween (Originally posted on October 31, 2019) Photos by Geoff Carter By Geoff Carter While driving around running errands this last Sunday, my wife and I found ourselves in the somewhat unusual position of having some time to kill, a strange situation for us. It …
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Kickass Talks to Mom
Attribution: asobuno, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that every morning the keeper has a conversation with his mother: KEEPER: “Thanks, Mom, for teaching me how to tie my shoes.” MOM: “You’re welcome, Billy. Have a nice day!” The “mom” conversation is the reason the keeper sticks with …
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They All Fall Down
Artwork by Michael DiMIlo By Geoff Carter The dominoes are beginning to fall. Who will be next? Nineteen people were indicted in the Fani Willis RICO case against those conspiring to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. And, as we’ve seen so often in TV police dramas like Law and Order, Breaking Bad, or The Wire, prosecutors are …
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Kickass Appreciates October 26, 2023
Attribution: Corey Coyle, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper with the following plans for Oct. 26, 2023. *The keeper will not be joining the “thoughts and prayers” parade regarding the Maine shooting as he is both “thinking” and “praying” impaired in such matters and has been …
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Kickass and No Speaker of the House
Attribution: C-SPAN, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, aware of the keeper’s irresistible compulsion to do good, passes along a few reassuring remarks concerning the Repub’s inability to find a speaker of the house who believes in the house and the democracy it represents: *Think of the dilemma in …
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