Monthly Archives: April 2012

Homage to Horace Greeley: "Go West, Young Man"—With a Sony Nex-7 Camera in Hand

Posted on April 30, 2012 by williamjcobb

So every year about this time I break camp and head west to Colorado, where I hole up to write and enjoy the mountains. That Horace Greeley quote has stayed with me ever since childhood, and I’m always longing for … Continue reading →

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Pete Dexter's Great Novel "The Paperboy" Now Coming Out as a Film, Starring Nicole Kidman, No Less, As a Skanky Prison Wife

Posted on April 23, 2012 by williamjcobb

So I just stumbled across this little gem of good news: Pete Dexter’s knockout novel The Paperboy (1995) has been made into a film, which is about to be shown at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, starring Nicole Kidman, among … Continue reading →

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James Cameron's Metaphor of Climate Change as the 21st Century Iceberg to Our Big Oil Titanic, Plus a Shout-out to E.O. Wilson's new book "The Social Conquest of Earth" and the Coen Brothers classic "Barton Fink"

Posted on April 21, 2012 by williamjcobb

So I’m not exactly a huge fan of James Cameron films, full of over-the-top razzle-dazzle, some great images (such as the Titanic sinking, rising into the air and all the unfortunate passengers plummeting into the water) but enough bad melodrama … Continue reading →

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Big Friend Is Watching You, or Facebook Jumps the Shark. Plus No Fiction Pulitzer for 2012?

Posted on April 17, 2012 by williamjcobb

So I’ve been waiting out the Facebook contagion/timesuck as long as possible, and I still fend off its tentacles every now and then—”Why don’t you have any Friends, Bill? I have 2,893, and I keep in touch with all of … Continue reading →

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The Birds Are Dying: Or in the National Wildlife Refuge, It Looks Like We Need "The Bird Saviors"

Posted on April 11, 2012 by williamjcobb

So more depressing news in the climate change/Western drought world. It seems that persistent drought conditions are drying up wildlife refuges in California, reported here. My new novel, due out June 21st, is titled The Bird Saviors, and one of … Continue reading →

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Be Careful of What That Next Climate Might Look Like, and Reflections on David Keys's "Catastrophe: An Investigation Into the Origins of Modern Civilization"

Posted on April 9, 2012 by williamjcobb

So Thomas Friedman in Sunday’s NY Times had a good piece about the environmental factors at play in the so-called Arab Spring popular uprisings, here. This is an aspect of climate change that usually gets ignored—political instability. I think everyone … Continue reading →

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Colorado in Drought and Further Reflections on Michael Mann's "The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars," Or What's That Hot Breath on Our Necks? The Dry of Things To Come

Posted on April 6, 2012 by williamjcobb

So Michael Mann’s The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars is one of the best books that deals with both global warming/climate change and the politics surrounding it, especially the “despicable me” world of climate change deniers. I’ve read many … Continue reading →

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