Paul Levinson
Bio
Novels The Silk Code, The Plot To Save Socrates, It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles; LPs Twice Upon A Rhyme & Welcome Up; nonfiction The Soft Edge & Digital McLuhan, translated into 15 languages. Prof, Fordham Univ.
Stories (742)
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Justice in America: The View from the Jury
I served as foreperson on a jury seven ago -- in a fairly serious criminal trial in which an African-American man was accused of assaulting a white police officer -- and I wrote this the day after the trial was concluded, and my impressions and thoughts while still fresh in my mind.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Criminal
Brett Petersen’s The Parasite from Proto Space & Other Stories
Brett Petersen’s The Parasite from Proto Space & Other Stories has been compared to the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Ursula Le Guin, and Charles Bukowski, among others. Suppose I told you that I not only agreed, but added Frank Herbert, Sam Delany, and Olaf Stapledon to that lustrous list, and added them after reading just the first two stories in Petersen’s anthology. In the words of Ringo, would you stand up and walk out on me? If you did, that would be your loss.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Futurism
The Problem of Police Authority
The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police really got me thinking again -- as it should everyone -- about what we can do about this problem of homicide not prevented by but perpetrated by police who are supposed to protect us. It's a problem that has been erupting in America for decades, and caught on video ever since Rodney King was savagely beaten in 1991, which showed it's also a problem of assault and crimes committed by police that are less than murder. And though African-Americans are all too often murdered and brutalized by cops, Caucasians are also afflicted by life-threatening violence from police, as was the 75-year old man (Martin Gugino, a peace activist) thrown to the ground by Buffalo police, which landed him in serious condition in the hospital.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Criminal
The Vast of Night
The Vast of Night, made in 2019, up on Amazon Prime just at the end of May, has received enthusiastic reviews in publications as intellectually (if not physically) far apart as The New York Times and The New York Post. As usual, I don't quite agree with them. And though my disagreement is usually I think a film or TV series is much better than the carping reviews, in this case it's somewhat the opposite: though The Vast of Night had its moments, I didn't think it was quite that much.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Horror
Into the Dark: The Current Occupant
I saw "The Current Occupant" late Saturday night, the current 90-minute offering on Hulu's Into the Dark monthly anthology series. In a word: outstanding! A narrative that I'd say is up there with the best of The Twilight Zone, Black Mirror, Amazing Stories, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and the other science fiction and mystery anthology series in whose steps Into the Dark follows so vividly in this episode.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Horror
Review of 'Star Trek: Discovery 2'
I endeavored in my reviews of Star Trek: Picard and the first season of Discovery to keep them free of specific spoilers. But it is not possible to review the tour de force that is the second season of Discovery without them, so expect plenty of spoilers in what follows.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Star Trek: Discovery 1'
One of my favorite lines in any movie or television show is Jake Houseman (played by the inimitable Jerry Orbach) lamely apologizing to Johnny in Dirty Dancing -- "when I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong". That's what I have to say about not watching Star Trek: Discovery until the past few days. I wasn't in the mood for another Star Trek series, I didn't like paying for or even just watching yet another streaming service. But I was wrong.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Star Trek: Picard'
Just finished binging Star Trek: Picard on CBS All Access. It's the best Star Trek since Star Trek: The Next Generation, which is where Jean-Luc Picard was introduced. And unlike TNG which was episodic, this first season of Picard was serial, which is a big plus in my book.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Project Blue Book' 2.1
The pulpy science fiction that is Project Blue Book was back on the History Channel last Tuesday for the debut of its second season. I was kidnapped by a UFO so didn't get a chance to watch and review until now -- no, only kidding, I was really up in Boston last Tuesday, for a radio show in which my new album Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time was debuted. That's true -- listen to this -- and I promise everything else I say in this review will be true, at least as far as I know it.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice'
My wife and I finally had a chance to see the CNN documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice last night. It was just perfect -- in terms of the time it devoted to Ronstadt's many performances, the sheer range and power of them all, and the many people, after all these years almost as famous as she, with whom she interacted and changed their lives.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Beat
