Attribution: USFWS Mountain Prairie, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis issuing the following executive order: All Wisconsin residents and visitors shall, within the next few days, immerse themselves in the birthing of the summer of 2025. It is a magnificent thing: trees in colorful new-leaf …
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The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “Companion”
Illustration by Michael DiMilo Body and Soul: Review of Companion ★★★★☆ By Geoff Carter What is it that makes us human? Is it sentience, emotional awareness, empathy, intelligence, or the knowledge of our own mortality? Is it the ability to manipulate our environment? We share many of these qualities with our fellow creatures. Birds build their …
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Happy Mother’s Day from The Pen in Hand Blog
Attribution: Photo by Nienke Burgers on Unsplash To all the great mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers–and to Mother Earth, too. Happy Mother’s Day!!
Kickass and World Mom
Attribution: Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper and Phyllis and the rest of the world to pause this day to think about Mom without whom none of us would be here. Thanks for that, Mom. And we know that if you were in charge, the …
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Kickass and Hummingbirds
Attribution: Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, watched the keeper hang the hummingbird feeder off his and Phyllis’s 5th floor balcony railing and refrained from laughing at such foolish human behavior. (Dogs can laugh but they do it silently so it doesn’t embarrass their keepers who are forever doing dumb and …
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Kickass and Chicago Bobs
Attribution: Photo by Pascal Debrunner on Unsplash By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, joins the keeper in welcoming yet another great “Bob” with Chicago ties onto the scene, but he cautions Pope Leo that he will never have the clout in the keeper’s life that his old pal Bob Shephard had. From a snowy Korean hillside with …
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Kickass and Military Industrial Complex
Attribution: Dsns.gov.ua, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, notes that the keeper and Phyllis can do nothing about their membership in the “US Military Industrial Complex” except pay their dues and complain about the annoying roar of F-35s sharpening the spears of war out at Truax. Want to go …
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Stemming the Tide
Illustration by Michael DiMilo By Geoff Carter The beat goes on. And on. It just won’t stop. Like the relentless pounding of a jackhammer or the thumping of an overdriven car speaker, the deranged agenda of the Trump administration and its Project 2025 adherents will just… not… stop. For a while, it seemed as if …
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Kickass and Canada Relations
The Pen in Hand Blog featuring Bill Stokes
Attribution: Aerra Carnicom, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CGI_Canada_Flag.png
Kickass and Santa Eavesdrop
Attribution: Douglas Rahden, Attribution, via Wikimedia Commons By Bill Stokes Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper tuning in his special communication skills to eavesdrop on a conversation from the North Pole: Santa: “Do we have any limits on the number of dolls we can deliver to one little girl?” Elf No. 1: “No Sir. It …
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Kickass Remembers Shirley
The Pen in Hand Blog featuring Bill Stokes
Photo by Bill Stokes
The Pen in Hand Guide to the Movies: Review of “The Room Next Door
Illustration by Michael DiMilo A Friend in Need: Review of The Room Next Door ★★★★☆ By Geoff Carter Film, like painting, is mostly–but arguably–a surface medium. While voiceovers and internal dialogues might allow audiences access to a character’s thoughts or intentions (think Sin City, Taxi Driver, or A Clockwork Orange), the audience is mostly constrained—as we are …
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