- 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
- Aliens Among Us: Probing Hillbillies and Freaking Shut-ins, How Netflix’s “Encounters” and Hulu’s “No One Will Save You” Prep Us for the Coming Alien Apocalypse, Kind of
- My Life as a Bob Odenkirk Character: On How Watching Netflix’s Black Mirror episode “Joan Is Awful” Mimicked My Experience of Watching the AMC series Lucky Hank
- “Bobcats, Bobcats, Bobcats”: Animal Life and a Tribute to “Modern Family”
- “The North Water”: This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Moby Dick
- Day 25: On David Quammen's "Spillover": Terrific Book That Foretold Our Pandemic, Kind of
Recent Comments
No comments to show.
Category Archives: Bears
On the Film Version of Dave Eggers's "The Circle" and a Nod to Cormac McCarthy's Essay "The Kekule Problem: Where Did Language Come From?": From the Ridiculous to the Sublime
So I’m not in the habit of beating dead horses (though I did once write a scene in which a couple got romantic while leaning up against one, but that’s a different story), and I don’t bother to review or … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Bad TV, Bears, books/film, Cormac McCarthy
Tagged Book Reviewing, Dave Egger's The Circle, Fiction Writing, Millennials, The Circle film version, The West
Leave a comment
On Adventures Gone Wrong: Stephane Gerson's "Disaster Falls" and Jason Kersten's "Journal of the Dead"
So I stumbled upon a book that touches close to home for me, as a naturalist who drags his young daughter with him to various outdoor locales seething with both beauty and danger, filled with the confidence and aplomb that … Continue reading
Monsters Within & Without the Bunker: On "10 Cloverfield Lane," Which High-Fives "The Revenant," With a Nod to the Original "Cloverfield"
So I was amused by the original Cloverfield (2008), with its cool poster of the Statue of Liberty and tagline: Some Thing Has Found Us. It’s no great film or anything—kind of a Heineken ad spliced with (the film version … Continue reading
Posted in Bears, books/film, Film, Horror Films, The West
Tagged 10 Cloverfield Lane, Fiction Writing, Film, Horror Movies, Stephen Graham Jones, The Revenant
Leave a comment
They Eat Horses, Don't They? "The Revenant" v. "Backcountry": A Tale of Two Bears, With Nods to Peter Stark's "Astoria" and David Roberts's "A Newer World"
So I’ve been getting caught up on some of the Oscar-bait for this year, as in watching Matt Damon’s improbable space rescue in The Martian, and seeing The Revenant in a local theater, where I laughed and made too many … Continue reading
Posted in Bears, books/film, Cormac McCarthy, The West
Tagged Backcountry, Book Reviewing, Cormac McCarthy, Fiction Writing, the film, The Revenant, The West
Leave a comment
Gunfire in the Aspens: the Realities of Cabin Life in the Rockies, With an Appreciative Nod to Walter Kirn in the New York Times
So I read today’s piece by Walter Kirn in the New York Times about cabin life and its status as an eddy of the American Dream (“Cabins, the New American Dream,” found here) with some amusement and recognition: I live … Continue reading
Posted in Bears, Birding, books, books/film, Horror Films, Owls, Photography, Politics, The West
Tagged Birding, Book Reviewing, Cabin chic, Good Fiction, The West, Walter Kirn
Leave a comment
On the Bear-Attack Film "Backcountry": Generation D Goes for a Hike
So I’m a sucker for a good bear-attack movie, having backpacked many times in the gorgeous/treacherous wilds of grizzly country (Alaska, Montana, Wyoming), where it’s often said that humans are not the top of the food chain, which can certainly … Continue reading
Posted in Bad TV, Bears, Horror Films, The West
Tagged Backcountry film, Film, Horror Movies, Millennials, The West
Leave a comment
A Bear Sighting, With a Literary Twist
So this evening as I was finishing a salmon dinner (note the subtle motif about to emerge), a bear showed up in my yard–actually he kind of shambled up. Ever the amateur shutterbug, I grabbed my camera and snapped a … Continue reading
Posted in Bears, books, Climate Change, Photography, The West, writing
Tagged Wildlife photos
Leave a comment