Paul Levinson
Bio
Paul Levinson's novels include The Silk Code & The Plot To Save Socrates; his LPs Twice Upon A Rhyme & Welcome Up. His nonfiction including Fake News in Real Context, The Soft Edge, & Digital McLuhan have been translated into 15 languages.
Stories (583/0)
Review of 'The Time Traveler's Wife' 1.2
A powerful episode 1.2 of The Time Traveler's Wife on HBO last night, because-- [Spoilers ahead ... though, actually, a lot of the story of The Time Traveler's Wife is Henry telling his younger selves, as well as Claire at various ages, spoilers of one kind or another about what's going to happen, and/or what can't happen, regardless of what Henry or anyone at any age may want or not want to happen. So maybe, if I'm being true to this story, I shouldn't warn you about spoilers. Though, come to think of it, you and I live in a world in which there is no such thing as time travel, as far as we know, so what goes on in a time travel story doesn't really apply. Anyway ... ]
By Paul Levinson4 days ago in Futurism
Review of 'Night Sky'
Just finished binging Night Sky on Amazon Prime Video, another travel to other worlds narrative that does it not through space ships or time machines, but some kind of conduits or portals built by some interstellar or intertemporal civilization. Outer Range did a good job of this with a time-travel hole out on the range. Night Sky does this with a portal to another world in a shack in the backyard. And it's lifted immensely by two peerless lead performances by J. K. Simmons as Franklin York and Sissy Spacek as Irene York, an aging married couple in the fictitious town of Farnsworth, Illinois.
By Paul Levinson4 days ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Time Traveler's Wife' 1.1
The Time Traveler's Wife debuted on HBO this past Sunday night. Based on the 2003 novel by Audrey Niffenegger which I haven't read, made into a movie in 2009 which I saw and really liked but didn't review (because I was too busy promoting the first edition my then new book, New New Media), HBO's offering is a brand-new series. I thought the first episode was excellent.
By Paul Levinson9 days ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' 1.4
How cool and meta-perfect is The Man Who Fell to Earth new series on Showtime? Well, in episode 1.4, just up last night, we learn that Thomas Newton, who came to Earth all those years ago, in the 1976 movie starring David Bowie in the role, lost his memory,
By Paul Levinson10 days ago in Futurism
Review of 'Star Trek: Strange New Worlds' 1 & 2
I saw the first two episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount+ late last night and really enjoyed them. More than Picard and a lot more than Discovery, to rank the new Star Treks that Paramount+ has been rolling out. Strange New Worlds brought back a lot of the verve and joy of watching TOS aka the original Star Trek series. And here are some of the more specific reasons why:
By Paul Levinson11 days ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' 1.3
The Man Who Fell to Earth just keeps getting better and better. The last few minutes of episode 1.3 were the best so far in this very fine series. Faraday tells the audience -- assembled in the narrative and whoever's watching the episode on Showtime or Amazon Prime or any way else on Planet Earth -- "I've come with a prototype for a quantum fusion process," and proceeds to make good on his claim by lighting London up in the night. England swings like a pendulum do.
By Paul Levinson17 days ago in Futurism
Review of 'Outer Range' 1.7-8
Well, Outer Range certainly saved the best for last -- the last two episodes (of what I hope will be the first of at least a few seasons) -- waking us up like after a fever has broken and everything is clear, or at least, a little clearer.
By Paul Levinson19 days ago in Futurism
Review of 'Star Trek: Picard' 2.10
A strong season two finale of Star Trek: Picard on Paramount+, with at least a handful of scenes that were memorable, brought tears to the eyes, and were otherwise very good to see. Let's divide them between resolved and opening up a new vista:
By Paul Levinson21 days ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Man Who Fell to Earth' 1.2
Well, I just loved the second episode of The Man Who Fell to Earth, especially the ending. [Spoilers ahead ... ] I mean, with the world and this country in the states that we're in, it was especially good to see this happy ending on the science fiction screen. And it was set up perfectly. Faraday aka The Man Who Fell to Earth had said earlier that it was time for Justin's father Josiah to die (always great to see Clarke Peters on the screen). He had lived his purpose. And we'd previously seen that guy up in Alaska take his life, after almost killing Spencer. So ...when Faraday walked into Josiah's room, and put his hands on Josiah, asleep ... well, I thought the worst. And instead: Faraday cured him, draining out and taking in what had wrecked Josiah's body. And he was whole and healthy again. Good to see on this day.
By Paul Levinson23 days ago in Futurism
How to Overcome The Supreme Court Decision to Strike Down Roe v. Wade
Lawrence O'Donnell pointed this out on his MSNBC show a little past 10pm Eastern time last night: The Supreme Court is what it is today because two Presidents who did not win the popular vote -- George W. Bush and Trump -- got to appoint Supreme Court justices.
By Paul Levinson25 days ago in The Swamp
Review of 'Outer Range' 1.5-6
Well, here's my idiosyncratic review of one of the most idiosyncratic series on television. Ever. As in -- as I said in my previous Outer Range review -- in Twin Peaks territory, or west of The Twilight Zone, certainly when it comes to the west pasture.
By Paul Levinson25 days ago in Futurism
Review of 'Star Trek: Picard' 2.9
I'll start off this review of Star Trek: Picard 2.9 by saying I thought it easily was the best episode of the season. Every major character was sharpened, in some cases to the point of having an epiphany, in other cases with the result of being transformed into something very different from what they were all season.
By Paul Levinson25 days ago in Futurism
