Babs and Knuckles in their Holiday Special Deck the Halls Artwork by Michael DiMilo Video and Story by Michael DiMilo In memory of Dave Bolyard The holiday season is all about family tradition. Whether it’s about going to Midnight Mass, carving the Christmas ham, avoiding the mother-in-law’s homemade eggnog, or sampling Grandma’s oyster stew, traditions …
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Kickass and Believing
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper has inside information that Santa accidentally touched the screen on his sleigh’s dashboard when it was in navigation mode, and the reindeer are now doing a U-turn over Butternut, Wisconsin, a small community that—like the rest of the state–believes. Earlier, …
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Living the Lie
Artwork by Michael Dimilo By Geoff Carter Sometimes the quality of competition in a contest is so evenly matched that picking a single winner would seem to be nearly impossible. For example, the 1975 Academy Award nominees for Best Picture included some fantastic movies, including Jaws, Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Nashville, and—the winner—One Flew Over …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to Spinning Classic Christmas Vinyl
Photo by The Retro Store on Unsplash By Geoff Carter (Originally posted in December 2019) While the Couch Potato will always be slavishly devoted to his TV home entertainment center, this week he will be putting down the universal remote in order to turn his focus solely on another entertainment form—music. Part of the reason for this departure …
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Kickass on Giving and Receiving
State Library of New South Wales collection, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is trying to communicate to the keeper just how to deal with giving and receiving in this season when the claim is promoted that “giving” produces greater satisfaction than “receiving.” That is hogwash, of course. Take …
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Blue Christmas
Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter (Originally posted December 2020) As we were trimming the tree last weekend, my wife asked me to bring in the laptop so we could listen to Christmas music. I complied—as any trained husband will—and set up the sound system in our dining room. And so we trimmed the …
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Kickass and the Republican Christmas
RAHurd, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joined the keeper in absorbing the sad, sad story of how the narcissistic dishonesty of Wisconsin Republicans has turned the state into a political garbage dump, as it was told Tuesday by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC. That ten Wisconsin Repubs forged an …
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Kickass and the Shortest Day of the Year
Winter Solstice Sunrise 2010 by Sian Lindsey, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, listened as the keeper interviewed the shortest day of the year (SDOY): Keeper: “So how did you end up as the shortest day of the year?” SDOY: “Daylight started to leak out through a big hole in …
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Oh, Christmas Tree
Artwork by Michael Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter (Originally posted in December, 2019) Each year, in the family holiday tradition, my wife and I venture out to buy our Christmas tree. We’re lucky enough to live across the street from a big tree lot so we don’t have very far to go—we can walk right …
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The Couch Potato’s Guide to Old/New Hollywood: The Legacy of Diane Keaton
Firooz Zahedi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Geoff Carter Probably best-known for her “La-di-da, la-di-da” refrain in her portrayal of the ditzy titular character in Annie Hall, that particular Diane Keaton role is nothing like her intense performances as the desperately promiscuous schoolteacher in Looking for Mr. Goodbar or the angry and frustrated wife and mother in Shoot the Moon. …
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Kickass and the Christmas Letter
Maasaak, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, has finally sent his letter off to Santa, and includes a copy here for the benefit of Phyllis and other Christmas elves: “Dear Santa: As you know, I have not been a ‘good little boy,’ but you have always managed to work …
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Kickass Under the Christmas Tree
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that with the Christmas tree safely in Phyllis’s capable hands—trimmed beautifully in a corner of the living room, the keeper is free to wallow in Christmas tree memories that illustrate why he has finally been demoted from any meaningful Christmas tree participation. It …
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