Dialogues on a Tooth for a Tooth: Riding the Downward Spiral

Attribution: Kobi Gideon / Government Press Office of Israel, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring The Fabulous Dadbots: Mark M., Mark O., Dave S., Dennis C., Paul C, and Geoff Carter “The Democratic Party’s years long unity behind President Biden is beginning to erode over his steadfast support of Israel in its escalating war with …
Read

Kickass and Lost Remote

Attribution: Pelatone73, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the following fact: The average American spends two and one-half days annually looking for lost items, resulting in a $2.7 billion replacement cost. Kickass also notes that from a sheer entertainment point of view, the antics of the keeper …
Read

Food for Thought

Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Mexican Street VendorTomascastelazo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Fast food is an institution in our culture. McDonalds, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Subway, Chick-Fil-A, Arby’s, Domino’s, and Taco Ball franchises are everywhere. You can’t drive down a city street or the main drag of a small town without …
Read

Kickass Finds His Way

Attribution: Ian Sane from Oregon, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, wags his cast iron tail at not being part of the keeper’s latest fiasco which should have been as simple as three old men meeting for lunch at downtown Capital Lakes. In his perpetual fog of false …
Read

Kickass Remembers Walking to School

Attribution: H. A. Brendekilde , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in noting the abuse suffered by those who have the audacity to mention that they walked to a country school through thick and thin and winter blizzards. Just as these ancients get no respect for having …
Read

The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies : Film Review of “Big Eyes”

Attribution: Fernando de Sousa from Melbourne, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter The Art of the Deal: Film Review of Big Eyes The film Big Eyes opens with a daring escape. The year is 1958. Margaret Ulbricht (Amy Adams) is—for reasons unknown to the audience—leaving a bad marriage, the irony of which soon becomes …
Read

Kickass and Gerrymandered Geese

Attribution: Jocelyn Anderson, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the keeper’s observation that during the close-to-a-century that he has been alive his relationship with the Canada geese has gone from farm-boy fascination with the high-flying V formations that signaled distant other-worlds of romantic wildness and mystery, to …
Read

Kickass and Defining Scum

Attribution: Scum on Lake near Palm House, Kew Gardens, London by Christine Matthews, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper considers the aspiring POTUS Repub candidates comparable to the line waiting in front of a port-a-potty at the country fair—their need is not for relief but for …
Read