Photo by Geoffrey Carter By Geoff Carter Well, the Christmas season is upon us in full force. The commercials are everywhere. We’ve seen that ad for the car—or Energizer Bunny, wrapped in a bow and sitting in the driveway on Christmas morning at least one hundred times. Sometimes it’s hard to find the spirit of Christmas amongst all …
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Kickass and Cookies
Attribution: Ruth Hartnup from Vancouver, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, will be sleeping in to avoid being stepped on by the keeper as he–the keeper steps on and off the bathroom scale following cookie day at the weekly Vista West social hour: “Oh, Christmas cookie we love …
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Kickass and Polio
Attribution: National Archives at College Park – Still Pictures , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s two best boyhood pals came down with polio during the epidemic of the early 50’s. Both cousin Rob and neighbor Darold suffered lifetime crippling effects, with Rob henceforth walking only …
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Kickass and Finance
Attributiion: Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper peaked out at understanding financial matters with the $2 bill, and thinks of bitcoin as loose change chewed by the dog. This leaves him standing on the corner as the financial parade becomes so outrageous that it takes up the entire …
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The Pen in Hand’s Guide to a Vintage TV Christmas
“Oscar the Elf” Photo by Geoff Carter
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “X”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Young at Heart: Film Review of X ★★★1/2 By Geoff Carter The A24 production group has almost singlehandedly revitalized the horror film genre. With elevated horror epics like The Witch, Hereditary, or Midsommar this company has taken psychological terror to new spellbinding levels. Now, with Ti West’s The Film X Series, A24 has initiated …
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Kickass and Help from Phyllis
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper in a state of some distress as Phyllis takes on yet another project to go along with her many noteworthy artistic accomplishments. The keeper’s main concern, of course, is that the time Phyllis spends with her new paint and brushes will …
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Kickass Remembers December 7th
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that on this day that “will live in infamy” in FDR’s famous words, it lives on in the keeper’s memory as a ride in the family Model A Ford to stop at Riven Clark’s Standard Oil gas station on Highway 8 to hear …
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Kickass and Friday
Attribution: Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in noting the differing status of “Friday” through the aging process. From its glorious identity as the last day of school before an exciting weekend of carefree party and play, to its lifelong signal as the end of the …
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Duck for Love
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Leonardo da Vinci once asked, “Why does the eye see a thing more clearly in dreams than the imagination when awake?” and Joseph Campbell once said, “Myths are public dreams and dreams are private myths.” Sigmund Freud said dreams were “the royal road” to the unconscious. Yet for …
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Kickass Turns into a Goat
The Pen in Hand Blog featuring Bill Stokes
Attribution: Anita Martinz, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Krampus_at_Perchtenlauf_Klagenfurt.jpg
Kickass and One-Legged Peeing
Attribution: Tracey Adams from Atascadero, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, depending on the keeper to know everything, was disappointed when there was no solid answer to the question of whether or not the male human bladder empties faster if the male stands on one leg during the …
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