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Recent Posts
- Rachel McAdams film “Send Help” (2026) Makes Comic Gold Out of “Survivor” and “Alone” Audition Videos
- “The Wiggle Room”: A Short Story
- On the New Film “Grizzly Night,” Based on the Nonfiction Book “Night of the Grizzly” (1971)
- The Alien-Hunting Wives: Trump’s Novel Solution to the Coming Alien Invasion
- On the Gerard Butler film “Greenland”: Maybe Trump Thinks It’s Real, Why He Wants the Icy Island?
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Tag Archives: The West
"Dr. WarmLove or: How I Stopped Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Heat"
So I had the odd Flashback Experience of being visited last week by a college roommate I had not seen in twenty years (and we were roomies much longer ago than that, at the University of Texas, in Austin, circa … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, The West, Water Crisis
Tagged Climate Change, Drought, The Bird Saviors, The West
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Chris Nolan's "Interstellar" as Half-Baked Cli-Fi, or What Does Matthew McConaughey Eat in Outer Space? Pretzel Ions?
So I must first confess I’ve never been seduced by the eye-candy of Christopher Nolan’s films: Yes, they’re imaginative, clever, outlandish and topical. I’m all for that. But at some point they tend to turn so “Hollywood” that you have … Continue reading
Posted in books/film, Climate Change, The West
Tagged Book Reviewing, Climate Change, Drought, Interstellar, The Bird Saviors, The West
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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
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Review of Reif Larsen's "I Am Radar" in the Dallas Morning News
So I’ve neglected this lonely little blog so often I should seriously feel guilty, but . . . I have my reasons. Note that I say I should feel guilty. But I don’t. (Well, maybe just a tad scrap of guilt is swirling around the door … Continue reading
On the Death of Kent Haruf: One of Our Finest Novelists, and a Friend
So on this snowy morning it’s a sad day to hear of the passing of Kent Haruf, author of Plainsong (1999), Eventide (2004), and Benediction (2013), among others. (For more details, see a piece in the Washington Post, here.) Although I … Continue reading
Posted in books, books/film
Tagged Book Reviewing, Fiction Writing, Good Fiction, Kent Haruf, Photography, The Bird Saviors, The West
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The Heat Is On: Melting Santas and Family Values in the Era of Climate Change
So I haven’t blogged in—oh, just about forever (over two months)—but I’ve been fine and dandy, thank you very much, and trying to keep my ducks in a row: Besides being a professor, and all that entails, mainly I’ve been … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, The West
Tagged Climate Change, Drought, Photography, The Bird Saviors, The West, Water Crisis, Wildfires
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Review of Malcolm Brooks's debut novel "Painted Horses," and What I've Been Up to All This Time
So I feel bad for my uncared-for little blog here, languishing away as I rush about in my busy life, never finding time to nurture, as they say. It’s like the freckled orphan in the corner, who you notice now … Continue reading
Posted in books/film, The West
Tagged Book Reviewing, Fiction Writing, Good Fiction, The West
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Review of Peter Heller's "The Painter" in the Dallas Morning News
So here’s my review of Peter Heller’s new novel, The Painter, today in the Dallas Morning News, here. It’s a good book, and I’ll have more to say about it this week, but for now I’ll let this review speak. … Continue reading
Posted in books, The West
Tagged Book Reviewing, Fiction Writing, Good Fiction, Peter Heller, The West
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Melting Ice Caps v. The In-Laws, With a Derisive Sneer at Marco Rubio
So I haven’t written much about Climate Change in a while (and in fact haven’t blogged, due to the hectic rush at the end of the term, but that’s over with, thank god) and here comes a batch of bad … Continue reading
Posted in Climate Change, Politics, The West
Tagged Climate Change, Politics, The West
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"American Hustle" Kills SuperDud XLVIII
So on Sunday afternoon I went to see American Hustle, which should win the Best Fun Picture category at the Oscars, and after which my wife wryly noted, “I don’t think we saw Amy Adams breasts enough.” (See the film, … Continue reading
Posted in books/film, The West
Tagged American Hustle, Book Reviewing, Film, The West
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