The Pen in Hand’s Guide to the Movies: The Legacy of Gene Hackman

(In Memorian: January 30, 1930 to February 27, 2025) Trish Overton, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter During his long and storied career, spanning back to his breakthrough role as Buck Barrow in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, Gene Hackman has excelled at portraying tough gritty characters as both a leading man and a character …
Read

Taken for Granted

Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter “Don’t it always seem to go/ That you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone/” –“Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell Humans have a peculiar tendency to become quickly accustomed to surrounding circumstances—particularly good circumstances—and then to subsequently take them for granted. The excitement of getting a …
Read

Kickass and VA Eye Visit

Attribution: Photo by v2osk on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, lends this space to the keeper to update his continuing saga with the VA eye clinic as it treats his advancing macular deterioration–AMD. A three-hour session of examination and consultation with top professionals answered all of the keeper and Phyllis’s questions and assured them that …
Read

Kickass and VA Eye Clinic

Attribution: Marianne O’Leary Creative Commons Attribution 2.0, Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, stays home this morning as the keeper and Phyllis trot off to the VA eye clinic to learn more about the recent changes in the keeper’s AMD–Age relatd Macro Degeneration.  After years of careful monitoring and treatment by the …
Read

The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Nickel Boys”

Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Bill Stokes ★★★★☆ Collective Memories : Film Review of Nickel Boys By Geoff Carter Memories come in flashes, snippets of sound, images, smells, sensations, or any combination of these. An assemblage of these recollections, like old snapshots, can recreate a life, a childhood, or a tragedy. Film is physically, in …
Read

Kickass and Kennedy Center

Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, says the keeper and Phyllis regret to inform their fans that they are withdrawing from their non-scheduled Kennedy Center appearance along with other great artists who find it unacceptable to have anything to do with a venue in which the center’s management attic has …
Read

Kickass and Obedience Commands

Attribution: Elf at the English-language Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, assists the keeper and Phyllis in passing along the suggested responses to the standard “Obedience Class” commands as they have been revised by Musk the Insufferable and his trusty Tin Man sidekick.             *SIT!: Place your hindquarters as …
Read

Kickass and Political Money

Photo by Geoff Carter By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in passing along survival tips in the money-dominated political circus which currently has Elon-the-Insufferable attempting to buy a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat for a guy who wants control of all female Badger bodies so he can dress them in …
Read

Kickass and the Spoon Player

Attribution: Wolfgang H. Wögerer, Wien, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis were hosted by neighbors Marsha and Jack to sit in on a zoom session with their friends, one of whom did a six-song performance of playing the spoons. It was a remarkable show, …
Read