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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Review of John Stith's 'Pushback'
I usually review science fiction novels here. But when I came across Pushback, an adrenaline pumping mystery novel by John Stith, who wrote Red Shift Rendezvous, one of my all-time favorite science fiction novels, hey, how could I resist? Besides, the who dunnit of mystery and detective fiction is a close cousin of the what dunnit of science fiction.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'The Rook' 1.7
A great, almost-all explained penultimate-of-the-season episode 1.7 of The Rook last night, in which we learn how Myfanwy knew she was going to lose her memory, and in turn why she wrote that note and left other information for her future amnesiac self, and how specifically she got into that position with no memory on the bridge, surrounded by a bunch of dead guys.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Loudest Voice' Finale
The Loudest Voice concluded tonight with John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth," played under postscripts that tell us what happened to major characters after the story portrayed in the series ends. In many ways, that combo—Lennon's song and the postscripts—were the most compelling part of the series, which was plenty compelling, already.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in The Swamp
Review of 'Fleabag'
My wife and I just binged Fleabag on Amazon Prime Video. Easy to do, since the two seasons add up to a total of 12 episodes (or about half of what a single season of network television used to be). Easy to watch, since the dialogue was brilliant, frank, witty, and hilarious—not to mention that it all takes place in London (our second favorite city, after New York, where we live).
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Geeks
Review of 'The Rook' 1.6
Myfanwy meets her sister in The Rook 1.6 -- assuming she is her sister, real family. This in contrast to Checquy, who act as if they're her family. Checquy is certainly as dysfunctional as many families, we'll give them that. (I like how each of the Checquy pronounces their name slightly differently, you notice that?)
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Loudest Voice' 1.6
That's what Roger Ailes says in The Loudest Voice 1.6—"television has replaced the political party." I'm not so sure. I mean, I believe Roger Ailes certainly thought that and likely said that. But I'd say Twitter more than television is the most significant political medium in this Trumpian age. Maybe 2016 was a little too soon for anyone, even Ailes, to recognize that. Maybe Ailes was constitutionally incapable of recognizing the Twitter revolution, given his running the engines of television for politics, going back to Nixon.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in The Swamp
Second 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate, Part 2 of 2
The headline of the second part of the Second Democratic Presidential Debate on CNN last night is that Joe Biden did a lot better than he did in the First Democratic Presidential Debate on MSNBC last month. He was still a little inarticulate at times, and a little too prone to let the moderators interrupt him, but he was very impressive. And so was just about everyone else on stage in Detroit tonight.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in The Swamp
Second 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate, Part 1 of 2
I thought the first part of the second 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate, on CNN last night, was much better than the first part of the first 2020 Democratic Presidential Debate on MSNBC last month. By "much better," I mean that almost every candidate on the stage expressed her or himself better than what we saw last month.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in The Swamp
Review of 'The Loudest Voice' 1.5
The fifth episode of The Loudest Voice makes clear what the series has been more than hinting at all along: it was Ailes more than anyone else who put Trump in the White House. Or, at least, the coming attractions do, after we see Ailes do his utmost to get Obama to lose in 2012. Ailes blames his failure on that score to the lameness of Romney as a candidate.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in The Swamp
Review of 'The Rook' 1.5
The Home Secretary came into focus in The Rook 1.5 this past Sunday. No figurehead, she, but a crucial player, who's been having an affair with Conrad, and wants to be Prime Minister. And she's well played by Gina McKee, whom I first noticed in The Borgias.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Reflections on Mueller Testimony
Reflections on Mueller's Testimony Before House Judiciary Committee, Yesterday Morning Mueller is clearly not a very fluent speaker, and all too often responded to questions by deflecting to his report, or just flat-out declining to answer the questions. But there were several powerful responses from Mueller yesterday morning:
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in The Swamp
