The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Film Review of “Triangle of Sadness”

Photo by Jake Hills on Unsplash https://unsplash.com/photos/23LET4Hxj_U Human Triangulation: Review of Triangle of Sadness A herd of male models—if that’s the proper collective noun for a group of them; maybe a pride or a flamboyance or a charm of male models would be more appropriate—at any rate, at the beginning of the film Triangle of Sadness, this group is …
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Kickass and Planetary Comment

Antonino Vara, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that the keeper’s special communications powers intercepted an outer space transmission from an advanced planet that his been observing Earth since the human species came down out of the trees:          “Your Earth Observation Authority (EOA) is happy to report that …
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Kickass Speaks for Chickens

Adriel anv00, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is cooperating with the keeper in responding to the following message from chickens: “To whom it may concern, and all of those who eat eggs, not to mention chicken soup and drumsticks. “Recent events–mainly food prices, have brought unexpected attention to …
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Kickass and Author Issues

Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, passes along the keeper’s observation that authors work to have their books “bought,” and if that doesn’t work out to their satisfaction, they then seek to have their books banned, in the interest of getting attention, of course. The keeper’s history several years ago …
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Bursting the Balloon

Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter The story was all over the headlines—”Pentagon Says It Detected a Chinese Spy Balloon Hovering Over Montana”, NY Times, 2/2/2023, or “Chinese Spy Balloon flying over U.S. ‘right now,’ Pentagon says”, Washington Post, 2/3/2023. And on and on. The story dominated the news cycle for the entire week, culminating on February …
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Kickass and ED in the Congressional Chambers

President Joe Biden, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Biden_delivering_the_2023_State_of_the_Union_address_2.jpg Kickass, the doorstop dog, naps as the keeper rants about the obvious epidemic of ED–“Elect the Dumb” as it was displayed Tuesday night in the congressional chambers during the state of the union speech. The juvenile antics by shouting know-nothings was handled skillfully by the President, …
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Dialogues on D.C. Disconnect and Scorpio Rising: Fear and Loathing in the Freedom Caucus

Crglenn, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Capitol_Building_01.jpg Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Mark M., Dave S., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Hey Bots, (3) news items from today At the risk of being redundant, I think the culprit for this is chiefly the orange ex prez, potentiated by Bannon, FB-etc… and others. …
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Kickass and Old Guy Lunch Talk

Charles Clyde Ebbets , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper met three old friends–Harry, Chan and Marshall for lunch, and if the conversation had been prohibited from the subjects of infirmities, death, and rascal politicos there would have been long periods of awkward silence. Imagine that: four guys getting …
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Kickass and Women in Wineries

Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that in the keeper’s continuing efforts to analyze the downfall of humanity, he observes that the historically accepted social trend of men hanging around taverns is now being replaced by women hanging around wineries. This cannot help but be a positive cultural turnaround …
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