Attribution: Capitol Theater, Madison, Wisconsin: Warren LeMay from Covington, KY, United States, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis joining neighbors Marsha and Jack to catch the last Madison Overture performance of “The Assassins,” the Sondheim-Weidman musical created 35 years ago and updated to include …
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Month:August 2025
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Lost in the Library
Photo by Geoff Carter By Geoff Carter In the present-day wonderland of streaming movies and videos available on dozens of cable channels like HBO or Apple TV, old television programs on retro TV stations like MeTV or Cozi, and platforms with huge libraries like Amazon Prime or the Criterion Channel, it seems as if every …
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Kickass and Recliner Experience
Attribution: DelmerViramontes, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis having weathered out of a drive to the middle of the state Saturday found themselves with a daylong opportunity to stay off the stormy roads and do something worthwhile. Phyllis did some organizational work with members …
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Kickass and Weather
Attribution:Mathias Krumbholz, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, asks the keeper and Phyllis to explain their decision to reschedule a planned drive across mid Wisconsin just because advance weather information tells them they would be in the middle of a band of possible severe thunderstorms most of the afternoon. …
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Kickass and Uncle Ralph
The Pen in Hand Blog featuring Bill Stokes
Attribution: Sheldon Dick, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lancaster_Co.,_PA._Enos_and_Herbert_Royer_and_farm_hands_eat_dinner,_Royer_farm,_1938_by_Sheldon_Dick.jpg
Kickass as a Hogan’s Hero
Attribution: CBS Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper waking up this morning remembering the day he shot one of Mrs. Hogan’s chickens. Walking past the Hogan farm on returning from the squirrel woods with no squirrels, Mrs. Hogan hailed the teenage keeper and asked him …
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Founding Fathers, Lost Sons
Attribution: John Trumbull, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter About a month ago, my brother, a historian himself, gave me a copy of Rick Atkinson’s The British are Coming, the first volume in his American Revolution trilogy. Mr. Atkinson is a renowned historian, having penned another series, The Liberation Trilogy, about the Allied Victory in …
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Kickass and Numbers
Attribution: Lara Robinson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, using only those numbers approved for use by the current Washington cult-that-couldn’t-shoot-straight, changes his official birthdate from 9/11/31 to TBM which translates to “TRILLIONS/BILLIONS/ MILLIONS” the language most often used by the clueless cult crowd as …
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Kickass and Shot in the Eye
Attribution: Rhcastilhos. And Jmarchn., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper starting the day with the VA eye clinic deciding whether or not he needs yet another shot in the eye to protect him from the advance of the macular degeneration that was so generously handed off …
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Kickass and Hummingbird Visit
Atribution: Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the Keeper and Phyllis were welcomed to the day by the strident demands of a hummingbird checking out the balcony geranium and the empty hummingbird feeder and then banging on the glass door and shouting a profane laced lecture about cross-species responsibility and …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Film Review of “Death of a Unicorn”
A Rare Breed: Review of Death of a Unicorn Illustration by Michael DiMIlo ★★★★☆ By Geoff Carter Every now and then a movie comes along that not only stretches the envelope but tears it wide open, combining usually disparate elements or sensibilities into a new and unique vision. Everything Everywhere All at Once is a good example …
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Kickass and Heaven and Hell
Illustration by Michel DiMilo By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in his curiosity regarding the messages from thousands of pulpits this Sunday morning on how to behave in a manner that gives the best chance of going to heaven; and then he notes a message from the POTUS “commander in thief” …
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