Eva Rinaldi , CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter Russell Crowe burst onto the American movie scene with his riveting performance as police detective Bud White in the box-office smash L.A. Confidential. His magnetic screen presence and rugged good looks are reminiscent of leading men from an earlier period in Hollywood film. He is, in many …
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Kickass and Deer Camp Racial Tranquility
Photo by Geoff Carter By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, striving mightily to get the keeper through the current deer season without incurring serious downtime, allows him the luxury of remembering the years at his Westfield cabin when his father and his father’s friend Pete spent the weekend enjoying the company of Bob Shepherd, …
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Kickass and Opening Morning
Photo by Laura College on Unsplash By Bil Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, indulges the keeper this “opening morning” as he–the keeper joins the multitudes out there in the woods watching the day come sneaking in on little gray feet. If the old hunters are there only figuratively, it is no less an emotional experience–this exercise of predatory …
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Kickass and the New Shelf
Photo by Phyllis Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, having flunked out of obedience school with the keeper, is trying to make a comeback and therefore supports the keeper’s compliance with requests that he display a photo of the shelving he claims to have recently constructed in the Vista West woodworking shop. While …
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Dialogues on Gazing Into the Crystal Ball: The Morning After
Tim Evanson from Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Predict-o-Bots, I have to say, not a bad effort by this team of wizened political observers. To a man, we predicted that Tony Evers would squeak …
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Kickass and Women Shelf Movers
National Museum of American History , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports a happy ending to the account of the keeper retreating to the Vista West woodworking shop and allowing a shelf-building project to continue until the lumber supply was exhausted with the result that placing the weighty and …
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Back to Basics
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter One of the main purposes of public education is to help mold conscientious, thoughtful, and responsible citizens. While most public-school curriculum emphasizes the core curriculum subjects of Math, Science, Social Studies, and English, our schools are mainly taxed with producing good and decent people—and they are still doing …
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Kickass and Tracking Snow
Photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper is the product of a northern community where a “tracking snow” is considered a good thing and has reference mainly to deer hunting; but he has a childhood memory of hearing the adults gossiping about how a …
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Kickass and Winter Dog Walk
Dan Bennett, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, hears the pitiful whimpering of all the pampered couch dogs on this first day of real winter–snow falling and ice covering everything, and the-go-for-a-walk leashes coming out: “What about the cat! She gets to do it in the house! How fair …
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Kickass and Mom’s Pants Alterations
Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division; 1944., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, stays out of the way as the keeper stumbles around the Vista West woodworking shop in the process of making shelves to hold some of the treasures from his lengthy past, which, in …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: The Legacy of Robert Mitchum
J. Fred Henry Publications, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter He was cool, one of the first anti-heroes of the silver screen. Maybe even a little cooler than Steve McQueen. With his world-worn face, half-lidded eyes, relaxed self-assurance, and deep sonorous baritone, Robert Mitchum exuded a powerful yet unassuming screen presence. You’ll never …
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Kickass and the Great Filter
Luke Hancock, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is at a loss to help the keeper deal with the “Great Filter” theory which has it that the reason we have not detected intelligent life on other planets is that civilizations out there in space evolve to get so smart that …
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