- 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
Climate Change Expert Richard Alley in the Parking Lot, Obama in the House
So yesterday President Obama visited Penn State and I wasn’t able to go, having to teach a class at that time, but the whole town (and my students) were atwitter with excitement, and irritation, because the traffic was all screwed … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Politics
Leave a comment
On Neil Genzlinger's "The Problem With Memoirs," a Witty Look at Bogus Memoirs in NY Times, or a Book Review With Balls, plus a ShoutOut to Karen Russell's "Swamplandia!"
I haven’t been blogging much lately because I’m caught in a vortex of Academic Hell, coping with various problems brought on by our sickly economy, and here’s to hoping it will end soon: the bad economy, that is. Academic Hell … Continue reading
Posted in books, writing
Leave a comment
"My Father's Guns," an essay remembered in response to the Tucson Shooting
Tim Egan had another good piece in the NY Times about the Tucson shooting and the gun control debate, here: He mentions his family as gun owners and users. I have a similar history, though with more tragedy than I … Continue reading
Posted in books, Politics, The West
Leave a comment
Sarah Palin Anthem: Sad or Funny?
A friend of mine (Thanks, Morris!) sent me this link, and I can’t decide whether it’s funny, or just sad. You decide. http://www.buzzfeed.com/ashleybaccam/sarah-palin-battle-hymn
Posted in Politics
Leave a comment
The Classic Library v. Kindle Disposability of eBooks
Over the holidays something struck me (as all wrong) about the rise of ebooks and “Kindle editions”: In Colorado I have a kind of classic library, not a zillion crappy paperbacks, but a good number (around a thousand, I would … Continue reading
Posted in books, writing
Leave a comment
A Star Is Corn: "Country Strong" & the Gwyneth Paltrow Gagfest
There needs to be some complicated noun (perhaps the Urban Dictionary can get on this, better than “hiberdating” or “internet coma”) to express the rather long-winded “feeling of revulsion when seeing overexposed celebrities in internet-news headlines that you’ve just become … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Leave a comment
Prisons, Poverty, & Pickups: The Other West
So I’ve just driven 1720 miles from Colorado to Pennsylvania . . . . . . and the contrast between Western and Eastern U.S. is on my mind. One thing I notice is the discrepancy between the media myth of … Continue reading
Posted in The West
Leave a comment
Deer & Coyotes in the New Year
I’ve had deer and coyotes in my yard at the start of this new year, so something must be right with the world. I double-checked and corroborated that the mountain scenes in True Grit were filmed near Santa Fe, which … Continue reading
Posted in The West
Leave a comment
"True Grit" in the True West
So last night I saw the Coen Brothers’ True Grit in the mountain town of Canon City, Colorado, which was at one point in the 1880s the stagecoach stop east of Bighorn Canyon. A Western in a town of the … Continue reading
Posted in Film
Leave a comment
Peter Benchley's "Jaws," the Novel, as Toothsome Holiday Reading
One thing good about the holidays, and about being away from home and routine, is Weird Reading. I have a first edition hardback of Peter Benchley’s “Jaws” (1973) on my bookshelf in Colorado, and picked it up to pass the … Continue reading
Posted in books/film
Leave a comment