Monthly Archives: June 2009

First, a confession: I’m no great fan of M. Night Shymalan’s films. Some of my students think him a “genius” but that seems a bit giddy: The Sixth Sense (1999)  and Signs (2002) are watchable and clever in moments, but … Continue reading →

So a friend of mine (Yo, Morris) recently sent me this link to a trailer for the film version of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, starring Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, and Robert Duvall:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GACx8We7Vo. It looks to be the awesome apocalyptic … Continue reading →

So I’ve just returned from a six-day river rafting trip in western Colorado, on the Gunnison River in Big Dominguez Canyon, which my pal Barack has recently approved as a Wilderness Area. Beautiful redrock canyons, great birds: We saw Bullock’s … Continue reading →

If I hear another idiotic, brain-dead plug of Twitter from the mass media I’ll be screaming like Robert Downey Jr.’s gay monk character in the trailer for Satan’s Alley (for this little gem, see the opening credits of Tropic Thunder). … Continue reading →

So I was surprised to see my name on the (on-line version) front page of the NY Times today, quoting a favorable blurb from my review of Abraham Verghese’s novel Cutting for Stone. Here’s the review in its entirety, published … Continue reading →

So I managed to stoop and watch some actual network television last night, with enough commercial breaks to make me want to throw a Christian Bale-like tantrum at the tube, and caught another much ballyhooed glimpse of a grim future … Continue reading →