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 Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 6 of X
Rob Sheffield makes the case for Ringo in the next chapter of his stellar Dreaming the Beatles, putting the question regarding Ringo as whether he was an all-time genius drummer who made the Beatles possible, or "a clod who got lucky, the biggest fool who ever hit the big time". Sheffield puts his chips on the genius.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 5 of X
Rob Sheffield's short chapter in his Dreaming the Beatles (actually, they're all short, which is good) is about "It Won't Be Long," and is about as fine a piece of music journalism, or rock 'n' roll analysis, or whatever you want to call it, as you can find. It's a holographic sample of why the book as a whole is so enjoyable and important.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming The Beatles: 4 of X
I don't want to get too far into Rob Sheffield's addictive book without posting another review, so I thought I'd check in here after finishing a chapter on George, which comes after discussions of Ringo (which I talk about in my last review) and Paul and John, which are of course a part of every chapter.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles: 3 of X
In the next chapter of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles -- I just realized that the chapters are not numbered, which means that each chapter is a piece of a hologram, a snapshot of the whole, like a verse in many a song -- we get a deconstruction of "Dear Prudence," which Sheffield holds to be one of The Beatles' best, and I agree (though they have so many bests the term hasn't the usual meaning for me).
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles: 2 of X
Among Rob Sheffield's many talents as a Beatles journalist -- not historian, because, as Sheffield convincingly demonstrates, the Beatles are far more important today than when they were writing and recording as a band, which back then was extraordinarily important indeed -- but among the delightful ways Sheffield makes his case is by fashioning his arguments from the Beatles' lyrics, so deftly that you don't even want a quote. Talking about John Lennon's unquenchable need to make a girl care, to make her "feel something," Sheffield concludes "Because if he doesn't reach her, the song is worthless and so is he. It's a love that lasts forever, it's a love that has no past".
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Beat
Review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles: 1 of X
I've always loved The Beatles. First as a fan, always as a fan. How much as a fan? Well, I was delighted to find a subscription to Sirius/XM Radio in my new car, early this month, and I promptly tuned it to MSNBC. Until The Beatles channel checked in on May 18, and that's what I listen to when I'm driving now. Even when I'm not driving -- I just came in from my driveway, because I wanted to hear the end of "Baby You Can Drive My Car". I'd probably still be there, if the urge to write this review had not been so strong.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Beat
Review of 12 Monkeys 3.8-10
The concluding three episodes of the penultimate season 3 of 12 Monkeys on the SyFy Channel last night -- soon to be rebranded in all caps -- was as good as the first seven, which is to say, superb indeed, and you can put that in all caps any time.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism
Review of 12 Monkeys 3.5-7
A superb, punching, philosophic triad of episodes 3.5-7 of 12 Monkeys last night, with Jennifer's most memorable line coming in 1953, "a thing for Asimov". This has almost nothing to do with the story, but it's meta-beautiful, since Asimov's The End of Eternity -- from around three years in the future, in 1956 - has always been, to my mind, at least, since the day I first read it back in 1959, the best single time travel novel ever written.
By Paul Levinson7 years ago in Futurism