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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
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Author Archives: williamjcobb
On the Coen Brothers' "A Serious Man": A Guest Blogger Takes on the Critics of the Coen Brothers' Little (Misunderstood) Masterpiece
So it’s no secret I’m a serious fan of the Coen Brother’s latest film, A Serious Man, which I’ll call a Little Masterpiece. (Why “little”? It doesn’t have the epic sweep of, say, Doctor Zhivago, but then again, it’s not … Continue reading
Posted in Film
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On Dave Eggers's "Zeitoun" & the Odd Feel of Finishing a Book via Kindle: the Latex Comes Between Us
So I’ve just finished reading Dave Eggers’s Zeitoun, and here’s an easy reaction: It’s certainly a good addition to the many books written about the Katrina disaster. It makes you feel ashamed of our government’s disaster preparedness and, in particular, … Continue reading
Posted in books, Weird Science, writing
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"127 Hours" in Theaters Now, But Not Everyone in Utah Loves Aron Ralston
Last summer I stayed a few days in Green River, Utah, at the River Terrace Inn, a cool hotel right on the river, with a pool and hut tub, plus great birding: Scott’s Orioles, Western Tanagers, and Bullock’s Orioles, all … Continue reading
Posted in books/film, The West
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On the Republicans Return to Power: The Empire Strikes Back!
After all the blathering about the midterms elections (“Let’s Dumb Down America Now!”), at least one of the news sites should have led with the headline, “The Empire Strikes Back!” The least they could do. Boehner is a Darth Vader … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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A Smidgen of Hope in the West, and Another Good Defense of Obama
If you’re like me, last night’s election seemed a triumph for the latest version of the Know Nothing Party, and in honor of the writer who mentioned that historical reference most eloquently, I should note that Tim Egan sums up … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, The West
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On Leslie Kean's "UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record": We Are Not Alone, and the Visitors Have Some Awesome Toys
So I’m a sucker for UFO stories, though I remain a fairly strong skeptic. For instance, the more I’ve learned about the much-vaunted Roswell Incident the more I lean toward it being a rather complicated story of interstellar hooey. I’ve … Continue reading
Posted in books, Weird Science
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ABC News as Conservative Media Bias
I watch network TV these days only to keep an eye on what mainstream media bullshit is being tossed about, and the last week or two have seen several doozies: Last night their “White House correspondent” (nitwit in D.C.) Jake Tapper … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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Stephen Graham Jones's "It Came From Del Rio"—Is that Jack Nicholson or a Chupacabra?
So Stephen Graham Jones is at it again, offering us a new, seriously weird novel with the kickass title of It Came From Del Rio. I just started it and don’t want to give too much away, but it’s not … Continue reading
Posted in books, The West
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You Give Me Planetary Fever: On China's Coal & Global Warming
There’s a good piece in today’s Scientific American about China’s coal use/addiction, located here: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-china-avoid-the-carbon-trap-of-coal It has some excellent quotes, including this one: “Described with a little poetic licence, global warming is a planetary fever caused by burning too much … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change
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Corporate Shills Screwing Democracy, Plus Tattoo Publishing
It seems everyday brings a new (at least ‘recent’) low to our wobbly democracy: the Republican-dominated Supreme Court aka Justice John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Scalia et al have rigged the campaign finance laws to be now meaningless, allowing huge corporations … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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