By Geoff Carter Illustration by Michel DiMilo The NFL playoffs. The NCAA College Football playoffs. The Rose Bowl, the Sugar Bowl, the Cotton Bowl. The start of NCAA Men and Women’s Basketball conference play. The NBA All-star game. This list doesn’t even include hockey. college volleyball, or the multitude of world soccer leagues. Not to …
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Category:Michael DiMilo
Kickass and Political Advice
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis hard at work trying to befriend the incoming administration by suggesting ways for it to identify with old tried and true political words and phrases: *Change Lincoln’s use of “better angels” to “bitter angles.” *Rearrange “Fly the flag” to …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Film Review of “Rebel Ridge”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Messing with the Man: Review of Rebel Ridge ★★★☆☆ By Geoff Carter The revenge story is one of the oldest narratives out there. From vintage tales like Hamlet, Medea, Julius Caesar, A Cask of Amontillado to more modern iterations like Carrie, Dune, and The Revenant, the revenge story also seems to resonate with audiences. …
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Oh, Christmas Tree
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Each year, in the family holiday tradition, my wife and I venture out to buy our Christmas tree. We’re lucky enough to live across the street from a big tree lot so we don’t have very far to go—we can walk right over. It’s very convenient. It’s also …
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Eating Our Young
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter America has always been full contradictions (the more cynical among us might say hypocrisies). It is a place where anyone with enough spunk, luck, and wherewithal can become rich and powerful, but it is also a country where abject poverty runs rampant. It is a place where people …
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The Pen in Hand’s Guide to the Movies: Ringing in the New Year
Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash By Geoff Carter We’re almost there. We only have one more day of 2025 to endure. Thank God. It’s been a year of firsts. There’s a few we would like to celebrate, others not so much. But New Year’s Eve is a time to look forward to fresh starts and renewed aspirations. It’s …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Film Review of “Queer”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo A Man in Need : Film Review of Queer ★★★1/2 By Geoff Carter William S. Burroughs was one of the giants of the Beat Generation, helping to define the disaffection of an entire generation. This alienation was reflected in his body of literary work as well as the recent film adaptation …
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Crises of Conscience
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter The world was shocked when Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Health Insurance, was recently murdered in broad daylight on a busy street in Manhattan. Reports confirmed a gunman clad in a gray hoodie who fled on a bicycle and then escaped on a bus and that shell …
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Kickass and Guns
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis as perplexed as everyone else at Madison’s recent inclusion in the school-shooting category but they refrain from joining in the inane response of “thoughts and prayers” and try to embrace the following “bottom line” as proposed after a recent …
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The Pen in Hand’s Guide to an Unconventional Christmas: A Michael DiMilo Production
Babs and Knuckles in their Holiday Special Deck the Halls Artwork by Michael DiMilo Video and Story by Michael DiMilo In memory of Dave Bolyard The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions …
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Blue Christmas
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter As we were trimming the tree last weekend, my wife asked me to bring in the laptop so we could listen to Christmas music. I complied—as any trained husband will—and set up the sound system in our dining room. And so we trimmed the tree and drank some …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to Spinning Classic Christmas Vinyl
Photo by The Retro Store on Unsplash By Geoff Carter While those of us at The Pen in Hand will always be slavishly devoted to his TV home entertainment center, this week he will be putting down the universal remote in order to turn his focus solely on another entertainment form—music. Part of the reason for this departure …
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