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 (581/0)
The Wallet
My phone rang. I put it to my ear. “Professor Klein?” “Yes?” I had just taken off my coat, put on the water for tea, and the last person I wanted to hear from was Lauren from the office, as much as I generally liked her and her hardworking attitude.
By Paul Levinsonabout a month ago in Fiction
Review of 'The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey' 5
The saddest thing about the next-to-last episode of The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey on Apple TV+ is that it looks like Ptolemy is at last beginning to lose it. The "it" being the enhanced, super-sharp mentality that Dr. Rubin aka Satan's treatment has given Ptolemy. At that party, the occasion for Ptolemy's speech that Rubin attended -- the only white guy in the room, as Rubin (very well played by Walter Goggins, by the way) observed and noted -- Ptolemy can't quite get that last line out. Ptolemy (for my money, one of Samuel L. Jackson's best performances) is aware of that, too, but he soldiers on. He has crucial work still to do.
By Paul Levinson2 months ago in Futurism
Review of 'Slow Horses' 1.1-2
Hey, I quickly caught the first two episodes of Slow Horses on Apple TV+, attracted to it by its name. I recall Arthur Shelby cautioning his brother Thomas about "fast women and slow horses" in Peaky Blinders a few years ago, and my old song-writing partner Ed Fox (he wrote the music to my Looking for Sunsets in the Early Morning, I wrote the lyrics) writing a song called "Fast Women and Slow Horses" in the early 1970s.
By Paul Levinson2 months ago in Criminal
Review of 'Moonshot'
Hey, not every movie about humans in space has to be about blow-out battles for the galaxy, or, if the story is about planets closer to home, about being stranded on Mars or otherwise vexed by the red planet's harrowing problems. There's a place in movies about Mars for profundity delivered through joy, even the joy of maybe slightly older than teenage romance and humor.
By Paul Levinson2 months ago in Futurism
Deeper Problems at the Oscars
Most people are understandably talking about Will Smith really slapping Chris Rock in the face at last night's Oscar ceremony, after Rock made a tasteless joke about Will's wife Jada Pinkett Smith's hair (she has alopecia or hair loss). What Smith did was wrong, no doubt, but that incident uncovered more serious issues:
By Paul Levinson2 months ago in The Swamp
Review of 'Severance' 1.7
[Spoilers in the first paragraph and after ... ] The excellent episode 1.7 of Severance is entitled "Defiant Jazz" -- a fine title, which comes from the scene in which Helly is rewarded for her fine work with a music and dance time, and she chooses "Defiant Jazz," and Dylan attacks Milchick, biting him in the arm -- but I would've gone with "Overtime Contingency" for the title, because ...
By Paul Levinson2 months ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey' 4
It was good to see Ptolemy in top intellectual form throughout the whole episode #4 of The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey on Apple TV+. This ranged from putting the cops who came knocking of the door of his apartment in their place, to coming to terms with Hilly, to pretty much figuring out who killed his nephew.
By Paul Levinson2 months ago in Futurism
