Paul Levinson
Bio
Novels The Silk Code & The Plot To Save Socrates; LPs Twice Upon A Rhyme & Welcome Up; nonfiction The Soft Edge & Digital McLuhan, translated into 15 languages. Best-known short story: The Chronology Protection Case; Prof, Fordham Univ.
Stories (697/0)
Defending the Postal Service
It seems strange to have to write in defense of the U. S. Postal Service, but it's a measure of the depravity of the man in the White House, and how far he's willing to go in his flailing attempt to win another term in office. Removing sorting machines, removing mailboxes, doing whatever he can to gum up the works of a service that everyone loves and has never been more essential in this our age of the COVID-19 pandemic and the upcoming Presidential election. An election which could well determine the fate and future of democracy in this country. An election which the person now in office will do anything to win,
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in The Swamp
Kamala Harris: The First Step Back from the Precipice
I wrote a few days ago (and also posted a podcast) about why I strongly disagreed with Wade Davis's conclusion, in "The Unraveling of America" in Rolling Stone, that America was so far gone, in ways that the abysmal treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic epitomizes but didn't initiate, that nothing could reverse that decline. Nothing, including and especially, the upcoming Presidential election. I explained why I thought such a conclusion was not only dangerous but wrong, and cited FDR's election in 1932 as a ringing example of how a Presidential election can indeed make a difference, in that case, lifting us out of Great Depression, and enabling us to the lead the free world to defeat the Nazis.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in The Swamp
Why the Upcoming Election Matters
Canadian anthropologist Wade Davis posted a savvy article in Rolling Stone, entitled The Unraveling of America. Its thesis that America's generally atrocious handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, under our "buffoon of a president," laid bare a decay and decline that already was well underway, in racism and income inequality, is well-evidenced and well-argued, and undeniable. But I disagree with Davis on two important points, one historical, the other up and coming.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in The Swamp
Review of 'Balthazar'
My wife and I just finishing bingeing two seasons, sixteen episodes, of Balthazar, the French series on Prime Video Acorn, made in 2018 and 2019, streaming here since April. Despite it being about a Parisian coroner (Balthazar) who cuts open dead bodies and hasn't gotten over the terrible murder of his fiance (or maybe wife) 15 years ago, the series is actually a great pick-me-up in these, our very troubled, times.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'Absentia 3'
The third season of Absentia was up on Amazon Prime Video last month. I liked it the best of the three seasons so far because, well, I like James Bond type stories more than a vanished member of the family comes home after six years of missing, even if she is a high-powered FBI agent.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'Hanna 2'
Hanna 2 starts a little slow, with a few too many episodes devoted to Hanna getting back to The Meadows and re-uniting with/saving Clara. But once it gets over that, this second season delivers a story with far more punch and complexity than the first season, especially the complexity part.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'Reckoning'
My wife and I binged Reckoning, an outstanding psychological thriller about a serial killer and the detective bent on nabbing him that's been on Netflix since May. The ten episodes are each little masterpieces in themselves, and there's more than enough room for a second season, which I'd put at the top of any list to watch.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'Uncut Gems'
I realized years ago when I saw Milton Berle in a serious dramatic role -- I think in The Oscar in the 1960s -- that, contrary to what you might think, comedians can make excellent dramatic actors. Robin Williams confirmed this decades later, with a vengeance, in Insomnia.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'Code 8'
Caught Code 8 the other night on Netflix. It's at once a story of people with superpowers, robot cops, human cops, and criminals. The people with superpowers are feared by normal humans, with the result that most of the superpowered have become criminals. None of this is particularly original, but Code 8 is lifted by a real humanity that infuses the narrative.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Geeks
Review of 'Into the Dark: The Body'
I said in my review last week of Into the Dark's current episode, "The Current Occupant," that I'd be going back and coming back to review all the earlier episodes, so here's my review of "The Body," the very first episode in this Hulu series.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Horror
Review of 'Motherless Brooklyn'
The wife and I just saw Motherless Brooklyn on HBO. It's billed as an Edward Norton movie -- he also starred in it -- based on the Jonathan Lethem novel. I didn't read the novel (I was busy writing the sequel to The Silk Code when Lethem's novel was first published in 1999). But it's just as well. As readers of my reviews in Vocal may know, I like reviewing movies and TV series on their own terms, not on how they compare with the novels or short stories on which they may have been based. I will say that my wife mentioned that she saw that the Norton movie departed from the Lethem novel in many major ways.
By Paul Levinson4 years ago in Criminal