Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter When I was kid, we used to be able to order paperback books in school from The Arrow Book Club, a division of Scholastic Books. I remember eagerly looking through the order form at titles like 13 Spooky Stories, A Wonderful Trip to the Mushroom Planet, The Forgotten Door, or …
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Category:Social Commentary
Kickass and the Weinermobile
Attribution: connect the dots from Washington, DC, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper, pitifully unable to turn in all of his “PRESS” credentials, will be working the top story of the day, that being that one of the Oscar Meyer wienermobiles tipped over on …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Bad Faith”
Godless: Film Review of the Documentary Bad Faith ★★★★★ Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Documentary film is a versatile beast. It can be used, as in Harvest of Shame or Sicko, as an expose; or, as in Steve Van Zandt: Disciple or American Movie as a profile or biography; or also; like Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth or Supersize Me, a cautionary tale. Or, …
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Kickass Gets Wrong Day
Attribution: Photo by Waldemar on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in asking how long does it take for a misidentified day—thinking Saturday is Friday, before there is an appropriate adjustment by the rest of the world and Saturday actually becomes Friday? There is an ongoing experiment in progress, which of course has …
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Kickass and Dog at RNC Convo
Attribution: Governor Jim Justice, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, was excited along with the keeper and Phyllis to see a dog on the stage at the RNC Convo in Milwaukee as the Repubs passed around and praised their leader’s version of America as his kingdom. “Babydog” an English …
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Kickass and July 14th Notes
Attribution: Bidgee, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, looks over the keeper’s mish-mash mental notes from June 14, 2024 to see the following: *Sunrise obliterated by rumbling thunderstorm. *Assassination attempt missed by an inch. *400 million guns. *Second graders. *Reagan and JFK and Bobby. *“Just get over it!” *Secret …
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Kickass and Dog God
Attribution: Takashi Hososhima from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is mulling over the keeper’s most recent theory that the Earth is a dog and humans are on this Earth Dog as fleas where they suck enough blood to reproduce briefly before they are scratched off by …
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Dialogues on Second Fiddle: Don’t Keep us Hanging
Attribution: Illustration by Michael DiMilo Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Informal, gentlebot’s wager: Who will he pick? I won’t prejudice your insights with my pick, rather just put a list below. The list is by no means complete. Please add to it. …
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Independence Day
(Originally published July 8th, 2021, but–unfortunately, and with the addition of the new SCOTUS, still as timely now as it was then) Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Our nation is celebrating The Fourth of July today. Any American can—hopefully—tell you what this holiday is all about. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental …
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Kickass and Money in Politics
Attribution: Revised by Reworked, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in wondering how a democracy can possibly continue to function when $50 million donations are as much a part of the election scene as standing in line to vote? With unlimited donations welcomed into the political …
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The Birds and the Bees
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Earlier this spring, we were heartened to see our old friend the mother robin return to her nest tucked above the heater on our front porch. Last year, she hatched three broods throughout the spring and summer, and so we were able to watch the hatchlings grow until …
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Anticipation
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter There was a time not so long ago when the only mail was snail mail, telephones were attached to the wall, and mail order deliveries took weeks instead of days—or hours. Computers took up entire rooms instead of fitting in your backpack or sitting in your pocket. If …
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