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Recent Posts
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Category Archives: writing
Big Friend Is Watching You, or Facebook Jumps the Shark. Plus No Fiction Pulitzer for 2012?
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
Posted in books, Social Networking, writing
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The Birds Are Dying: Or in the National Wildlife Refuge, It Looks Like We Need "The Bird Saviors"
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
Posted in books, Climate Change, Politics, The West, Uncategorized, Weird Science, writing
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Review of Noah Hawley's "The Good Father" in the Dallas Morning News
So here’s my review of Noah Hawley’s new novel, The Good Father, published Sunday in the Dallas Morning News (click the hyperlink ‘review’). I liked the novel, even if it’s ultimately a downer story, of a father searching for the … Continue reading
Further Reflections on Scenes Cut From the Film Version of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road," Or Films You Wish You Had Seen, and Some You Wish You Had Not
So being a diehard Cormac McCarthy fan (and more than just a little bit suspicious), I feel the hand of God or Fate or Providence in the fact that one of my students this semester was an actor (Baby Eater … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Bad TV, books, books/film, Film, The West, writing
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Does Sarah Palin Know Where Germany Is? and a Shout-Out for Mark Leyner's new novel, "The Sugar Frosted Nutsack"
So last night I caught HBO’s film Game Change, about Sarah Palin’s (improbable? nightmarish? absurd?) role as John McCain’s veep in the 2008 election, and it’s surprisingly good. Why surprisingly? I’m not a huge fan of biopics/reenactments of contemporary events, … Continue reading
Posted in books, books/film, Good TV, Politics, writing
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Mitt Romney as The Feckless Male
So one thing fascinating about being a professor is that you notice over a span of years the changes in student behavior and trends. While I’m of the mind that human behavior doesn’t change all that much across the ages, … Continue reading
Posted in books, Education, Politics, writing
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The Effect of Reading Nicholas Carr's "The Shallows" on E-Reading: Just Say No to Distractions
So here’s a little (naive) gem in the NY Times this morning, an article about the lure of online distractions while e-reading titled “Finding Your Book Interrupted … By the Tablet You Read It On,” which contains this quote: “Can you concentrate … Continue reading
Posted in books, Uncategorized, Weird Science, writing
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Did William Gay Really Write His Books? Meddlesome Neighbors Want to Know
So there’s an obituary of Southern Gothic master Wiliam Gay in last week’s daily NY Times (Feb 29th) that I almost missed, which has a few illuminating details and quotes, such as describing his novel Twilight (2006) as “textbook Southern … Continue reading
Posted in Art, books, books/film, writing
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Review of Thomas Mallon's "Watergate" in the Dallas Morning News
So I’ve reviewed Thomas Mallon’s new novel Watergate in the Dallas Morning News today, and it can be found here: http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20120217-book-review-watergate-by-thomas-mallon.ece Janet Maslin reviewed the same book this week in the daily NY Times book reviews, and I thought her … Continue reading
Posted in books, Politics, writing
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Facebook Will Make You Sad, and That's Funny, Kind of
So I love this, in the NY Times today: “A study published last month in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking found that the more time people spent on Facebook, the happier they perceived their friends to be and … Continue reading
Posted in Social Networking, writing
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