Paul Levinson

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.

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.

Well, it's rare that a mystery or thriller surprises me with almost all of its twists, but the second season of You, now streaming on Netflix, did just that. And with the same wit and style that lit up the first season, maybe even more. All of which adds up to a highly, often immensely, enjoyable second season of this literate and introspective serial killer.

So here's where I am regarding the nine episodes of Star Wars: I thought the first trilogy, by George Lucas, was fabulous -- every bit as good, and maybe even better, than the other trilogy of that era, The Godfather (the third part of which, coming along almost 20 years later in 1990, not as good as the first two). And I thought, contrary to a lot of critics, that the second Star Wars trilogy, also by George Lucas, in the movie theaters at the turn of the 20th into our 21st century and a little after, was every bit as good as the first trilogy, and at times even better.

I'm not sure who the "His" is in His Dark Materials (I haven't read the books). I'm not even clear what the "Materials" are (the Dust? but I don't know yet exactly what that is, either). I do get the "Dark". And I also thought that last night's action-packed episode 1.6 moved preternaturally quickly.

Well, last night's episode 1.8 of Watchmen was my favorite so far. All the pieces came together; not easy in a time-travel story, especially when the time traveler is some kind of god, Dr. Manhattan, who, among his many impressive powers, has the ability to live and act in all times that he exists, at the same time, all of the time.