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 (696/0)
Review of 'The Man in the High Castle' 3.2-3
The Man in the High Castle episodes 3.2-3 go full bore into alternate realities, including: Dr. Mengele in New York schooling a shocked Smith about them, with Smith even remarking that this sounds like something out of "Frederic Brown"—a real science fiction writer in our reality, known mostly for his humorous science fiction stories, but author of the 1949 What Mad Universe, a novel with plenty of humor but also alternate universes. (The mention of Brown continues the weaving of elements from our reality into the alternate history of the Nazis and Japanese winning the Second World War that is the central story of The Man in the High Castle, with elements of our reality seeping through.) Smith, later watching one of the movie clips, sees his son Thomas alive and well, giving him a far deeper than professional stake in getting into or to the bottom of these alternate realities. Out West in Japanese California, the access to alternate realities is more mystical than scientific, as they are in the Nazi East Coast of America. This mysticism, by the way, is more consistent with Philip K. Dick's approach, but I like the way it's expanded to laboratory science in this third season of the story. Julianna's sister Trudy—the one who wasn't killed in her reality, but was in ours, now back in our reality alive and with Julianna—is discovered by Kido, the Japanese inspector who happened to kill her. This creates an unacceptable situation. Although Tagomi gets her and Juliania freed, they need to do something about Trudy, given Kido's understandable desire now to find out what's going on. Fortunately, I Ching is just thing to send Trudy back to her reality in a flash.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Man in the High Castle' 3.1
With the kick-in-the-gut news of the all-but-certain confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U. S. Supreme Court yesterday, I only managed to see the first episode of the third season of the brilliant Man in the High Castle on Amazon Prime last night. Its alternate history of the Nazis and Japanese winning the Second World War was much more enjoyable than the real news in our reality. Herewith a review of that first episode, with more to come as I see the rest over the weekend.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Paul McCartney at Grand Central Station
My wife and I saw Paul McCartney and his band perform at the Nassau Coliseum a year ago. We loved it. Thought it was the best concert we'd ever attended. Tonight's nearly surprise concert at Grand Central Station, which we just saw live streaming on YouTube, was even better. I'm not kidding. I'd intended to live tweet it at least a little, but the music was too good to do anything other than watch and listen. I managed a couple of snapshots at the beginning, then even that was too much of a distraction from this wonderfully astonishing performance.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Beat
Review of 'Manifest 1.1'
I reviewed the 9 and 1/2 minute sneak peek of Manifest in August, and said it had some outstanding possibilities as a time-travel drama. I therefore watched the full first-hour debut last night with great expectation. And it was good. But...
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Paul Simon Farewell Concert at Prudential Center
Tina and I saw Paul Simon's Farewell Concert at the Prudential Center the other week. We both thought it was one of the very best concerts we've ever attended—and that includes at least two concerts with Simon & Garfunkel decades ago.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Beat
Jose Antonio Vargas and Joy Reid at Powerhouse Arena
I first heard about Jose Antonio Vargas in 2007 from my wife Tina. She was editing Barack Obama's and Hillary Clinton's Wikipedia pages, and Jose had called her for an interview in a article he was writing for The Washington Post about the impact of Wikipedia on that Presidential election. Those were early days in the advent of social media—or what I call New New Media (buying a book online is new media, creating a book online is new new media, or consumers becoming producers). Twitter and YouTube were just a year old, and Wikipedia, though a little older, was not allowed as a reference in student papers in probably every class except mine at Fordham University. But it was a new new medium par excellence —anyone who could read an article on Wikipedia could edit it—and Tina and Jose recognized its importance.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in The Swamp
Joan Baez at the Beacon Theater
There are so many ways I could begin my review of Joan Baez's superb concert at the Beacon Theater the other night - 1. This is the second time in less than a week that Tina and I attended a farewell concert: Paul Simon's at the Prudential Center in Newark last week and Joan Baez's the other night. In both cases, the concerts were so good that it's hard to believe these masters of music, voice, and lyrics are retiring from touring.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Beat
Review of 'The First'
Tina and I binged The First on Hulu the last couple of nights -- the first being the first mission with people onboard to Mars. We enjoyed it immensely. I'd say it's the best of any-mission-to-anyplace-in-space narrative on screen, and that includes some masterful motion pictures like Apollo 13 and The Right Stuff.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Manifest' Sneak Peak 9-and-1/2 Minutes
Having flown back a few days ago from The Mars Society Convention in Pasadena, and time-travel being my all-time favorite genre, how could I resist watching the nine-and-a-half minute sneak preview of Manifest, a series about a plane that travels instantly through time from 2013 to 2018, to debut on NBC at the end of September?
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Futurism
Review of 'Sharp Objects' 4
"You can't change history," Mr. Lacey tells Amma, as she tries her little best to seduce him—or begin to seduce him—in the fourth episode of Sharp Objects on HBO last night. If this were a time travel story, some character could set forth to prove Lacey wrong. Well, there is a kind of time travel in Sharp Objects, but it's the metaphysical or mental kind, not what we saw in the recently canceled Timeless series on NBC.
By Paul Levinson6 years ago in Horror