- February 2026
- January 2026
- November 2025
- October 2023
- September 2023
- September 2021
- April 2020
- September 2019
- May 2019
- August 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- October 2017
- August 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- November 2016
- October 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- December 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- May 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
Recent Posts
- “Song Sung Blue” Makes Kate Hudson Oscar Worthy
- On Randall K. Wilson’s “A Place Called Yellowstone”: Award-Winning History of Yellowstone National Park
- On Candice Millard’s “River of Doubt” and “River of the Gods”: Bugs, Snakes, and Disease Aplenty
- More Alone than “Alone”: On Adam Shoalts’s “Vanished Beyond the Map: The Mystery of Lost Explorer Hubert Darrell” (2025)
- Rachel McAdams film “Send Help” (2026) Makes Comic Gold Out of “Survivor” and “Alone” Audition Videos
Recent Comments
No comments to show.
Author Archives: williamjcobb
"Cinema Verite" Worth Watching
So last night was the premiere of HBO’s Cinema Verité, the film about the film of the Loud family, billed as the first reality TV show, which is both a ground-breaking achievement, and considering our times and the Kardashian family … Continue reading
Posted in Film, The West
Leave a comment
On Finishing a Novel, Softly
So I haven’t been posting anything of late as I’ve been plunged into my own writing—specifically, finishing a novel. I’m usually amused at depictions of writers in movies, how cornball they often are: Usually the writer begins a novel by … Continue reading
Posted in books, writing
Leave a comment
"Big Love" Swan Song: Goodbye to All Those Sister Wives
So I’ve been a fan of HBO’s series Big Love since it began, and now that it’s in the final episodes (I think there are two left now), it’s going out with a dramatic bang. Bill Paxton and Jeanne Tripplehorn … Continue reading
Posted in Good TV, The West
Leave a comment
Review of Karen Russell's "Swamplandia!"
Here’s a url to my review of Karen Russell’s debut novel, Swamplandia! that appeared in today’s Dallas Morning News. It’s a good, fun read, not a great literary book, closer to a Young Adult novel than most reviews are acknowledging, … Continue reading
Posted in books
Leave a comment
Aimee Bender reads "The Fake Nazi" & Timothy Egan Sees Through the Facebook Craze
So Thursday night I’m in the (not quite final, as I’m still feeling it) throes of a sinus infection, weak and tired and congested, home in my cold Pennsylvania house, shivering and threadbare, listening to the mice scrabble in the … Continue reading
Posted in books, Social Networking
Leave a comment
"Out of the Wild: Venezuela": "Survivor" Meets "I Shouldn't Be Alive"
For days now I’ve been pinned by a boulder of work and only last night realized I had to saw off my arm like that (dubiously motivated) Aaron Ralston dude in 127 Hours . . . . So I watched … Continue reading
Posted in Bad TV
Leave a comment
Supercomputer Cheats on "Jeopardy," Ray Kurzweil and "The Singularity Is Near"
So I actually watched a bit of “Watson” the computer on Jeopardy, and it was obvious the computer seemed to have a huge advantage in timing, that he wasn’t pressing that buzzer gadget that slowed the humans down, particularly noticeable … Continue reading
Posted in Bad TV, books
Leave a comment
J. D. Salinger Bio Sounds Good, and a Writers Party in Austin, circa 2006
So back in 2006 I was at an opulent writers’ party, a post-event thing at the Texas Book Festival, standing next to Frank McCourt and Maureen Down, Richard Ford and Jay McInerny, who today is reviewing a new biography of … Continue reading
Posted in books
Leave a comment
Hype Aversion to Facebook & Twitter, Nod to Evgeny Morozov's "The Net Delusion"
Leave it to the folks at the Urban Dictionary (who sometimes seem to have too much time on their hands: check out the P-words and you’ll get an idea of what I mean) to come up with a term for … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
Leave a comment
In the Footsteps of Richard Alley: Mark Hertsgaard's "Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth"
So today’s NY Times Sunday Book Review has a review of what sounds like a good book in the climate change library, HOT: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, by Mark Hertsgaard, here: I asked Richard Alley, in our parking … Continue reading
Posted in books, Climate Change
Leave a comment