Attribution: U.S. Forest Service- Pacific Northwest Region, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports a casual conversation the keeper had recently with his neighbor Jim who just celebrated his 94th birthday and thus leads the keeper by a year or so. Jim told of his older brother Bob who …
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Counting Coup
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Some of us may remember Rod Serling’s classic 1964 political thriller Seven Days in May, a movie about a military plot to take over the United States government. Burt Lancaster stars as General James Mattoon Scott, a megalomaniac convinced that a new peace treaty between the USSR and the US …
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Kickass and Blind Sunset Viewer
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, agrees with the keeper and all those who raved about the incredibly colorful sunset of 7/9/24; and in keeping with the feeding of his out-of-control writer’s ego, the keeper remembers a fan letter from a Milwaukee Journal reader after the keeper wrote a column …
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Kickass and Meatloaf
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis in a generational junk handoff with son Mike and granddaughter Sarah as boxes of files and the keeper’s newspaper clippings were transferred as part of a meatloaf dinner overseen by Boo the family dog on the 5th floor outdoor deck at …
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Kickass and Windshield Relevance
Attribution: GREGHERRON, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, supports the keeper’s contention that injecting relevance into memories is something he should spend more time at, considering his inclination to loiter in memory lane. So, there is the memory of the keeper’s first off-farm job at Cliff Horstman’s service station …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Fancy Dance”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Mother Daughter Dances: Review of Fancy Dance It seems to be the era of the woman in film—and it’s about time. In the past few years, Barbie, Wicked Little Letters, She Said, Nyad, Promising Young Woman, and Drive Away Dolls have emerged at the forefront of a new wave of movies celebrating the struggles of …
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Dialogues on Second Fiddle: Don’t Keep us Hanging
Attribution: Illustration by Michael DiMilo Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., Paul C., and Geoff Carter Informal, gentlebot’s wager: Who will he pick? I won’t prejudice your insights with my pick, rather just put a list below. The list is by no means complete. Please add to it. …
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Kickass and the Voice of Gravity
Attribution: NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, commends the keeper for his discovery of “the voice of gravity,” and wonders if his name will now be associated with the likes of Newton and Einstein and the other great gravity thinkers that have preceded him? It happened accidentally, as …
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Kickass and Weed Edibles
Attribution: Monica Arellano-Ongpin, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper’s inclination to concoct “adventure omelets” for his breakfast—using whatever he finds in the fridge, caught up with him yesterday when, along with some leftover kale he found what he took to be a couple chunks of …
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Kickass and the Windshield Survey
Photo by Bill Stokes By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports that the keeper and Phyllis spent part of the 4thof July doing one of their windshield surveys to assure themselves that, despite a political state of chaos, there is a comforting dominant normalcy prevailing in the natural world and it is interesting to …
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Kickass and 4th of July, 2024
Attribution: CindyAbout/T/P/C/, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, is with the keeper and Phyllis on this 2024 Fourth-of-July as they embrace the day’s fireworks vocabulary and invite everyone to join them in wondering where they might self-identify among the various terms: Here’s a partial list for you to choose …
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Independence Day
(Originally published July 8th, 2021, but–unfortunately, and with the addition of the new SCOTUS, still as timely now as it was then) Artwork by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter Our nation is celebrating The Fourth of July today. Any American can—hopefully—tell you what this holiday is all about. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental …
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