Blogcritics Author: Paul Levinson

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

The Best Novel You Likely Never Heard Of

Paul Levinson — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 07:17:27 EDT

It's by David S. Michaels.And you never heard of him, right?He published a novel, in the year 2000, entitled Red Moon (not to be confused with Michael Cassutt's novel of same name published around the same time). Cassutt's novel is good. Dave Michael's is among the best three or four novels I've ever read, period.The background of the novel: I've always been fascinated by the collapse of the Soviet space program in the 1960s. The Soviets jump-started the space age with Sputnik in 1957. They got the first animals and then the first people up into space. They sent spacecraft -- with no people -- to the moon. They were on the verge of getting people there.They inspired John F. Kennedy -- in the names of both wonder and security -- to put the U.S. on a course to send a man to the moon and safely return him by the end of the decade. Which we did.But the Soviets never made it. Their move into space hit a strange stone wall. And the lack of continuing competition between the Soviets and us was likely the most significant factor in the fizzling of our own efforts in space. Forty years later, and we have yet to set foot on the moon again, or anywhere beyond our space station.What happened to the Soviet space program? The death of its mastermind, Sergei Korolev in 1966, no doubt was a grievous blow. But... I don't know... there were a lot of other talented people working in the Soviet space program. The death of one man, however important, should not have led to the crash of the entire program.Red Moon provides some breath-taking science fiction answers.How I found out about the novel: It was at a reading I was giving at a science fiction convention - Balticon (in Baltimore) in the Spring of 2001. David S. Michaels came up to me after the reading, with a copy of my novel, The Silk Code, for me to autograph. Then he pulled a 600-page book out of his backpack, and asked me to please accept it, as a gift.I wasn't sure what to say. First, traveling back from Baltimore to New York by train (I love driving, but trains even more) is no fun with a heavy bag of books, which I already had. Second, as a writer, I find I don't read as much fiction as I would like - if I'm writing a novel, which I usually am, reading someone else's can throw me off course. But...There was something about Dave, and I was already keenly interested in the subject, so I thanked him for the present and added it to my bag (it was filled with non-fiction books, by the way, which I do read when I can).It was well into June before I had a chance to open Red Moon. And when I did - well, I couldn't put it down. It might as well have been a new Foundation or Harry Potter novel. The subject, the plot, the characters, the writing was brilliant. I contacted Dave right away, told him how much I enjoyed the novel. It had been published by a very small press. I told him I would try to get it to the attention of a bigger publisher.Which I did... But all of this was right before September 11, 2001, when lots of things changed in the publishing world (most of which is headquartered in New York City). And in the aftermath, at least the publishers that I had been in contact with were doing other things, cutting back their acquisition lists.And so, nothing more happened with Dave Michaels' Red Moon. I listed it as my #1 favorite first science fiction novel on a list I started on Amazon. (It's a pretty exclusive list. I'd highly recommend Bob Katz's Edward Maret, which is #2 on the list. Wen Spencer's Alien Taste and Larry Ketchersid's Dusk Before Dawn are there, too.)Amazon now has an "out of print" sign on Dave Michaels' Red Moon page. (I also have a reader review of the novel there.)Now that I'm thinking about the book again, I'm going to do once more what I can -- in a hopefully more successful attempt -- to help get it published.In the meantime, if you're at all interested in the space race, what could have been, why what happened -- and didn't happen -- happened, the extraordinary human struggle to reach the cosmos, give yourself a treat, and see if you can score a second-hand copy of this novel somewhere. Trust me - you'll be caught up in an adventure, in an intrigue of alternate and real history, that you'll never forget.

author, professor, media commentator; tv reviews of 24, Brotherhood, Californication, Dexter, Heroes, Journeymen, Lost, Mad Men, Weeds, The Wire often minutes after the episode ends; novels & nonfiction books published; MySpace

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, An Early View From New York

Paul Levinson — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 17:10:29 EDT

The final Harry Potter novel sold over 8.3 million copies in the United States in its first day of publication. It deserves every one of the sales, and many more.My wife and I purchased our copies, and one for our daughter, a few minutes after midnight on Saturday, at a Barnes and Noble a few minutes from our house (our son and his girlfriend bought their copies around the same time, in the city). When we left the store, kids with their copies were sitting in front, eagerly reading. I should have taken a picture.I finished the novel around 5 this morning. My family had finished about a day earlier (hey, I had to leave a little time for watching television - but I also like to read at a leisurely pace).There were so many things I loved about the novel. I'll go over some of them here. But consider this review a work in progress.The interactions among the magical species were better than in the any of the previous novels: The banking, sword-making goblins, in particular, were fleshed out, and played a crucial role in this story. So did house elves, and the giants and centaurs put in good appearances, too. Harry, Hermione, and Ron even got a chance to ride another dragon.All the beloved elements of the series got a great workout: Whether you like Patronuses or Nearly-Headless Nick or the magic of wizardry painting (enabling the people in portraits to talk to viewers, move to other frames in their vicinity, or even migrate to other portraits of themselves, wherever they may be - as a media theorist, I especially like that) - they're all here.It was good to see radio in the picture: Harry, Hermione, and Ron spend an amount of time on the run, cut off from knowledge of what is happening to their friends and enemies. As I was reading a heart-warming, riveting section in which Ron is able to tune in a pirate radio station - Potterwatch - I realized that only someone from Britain could write this so effectively. When that country teetered on the edge of falling to the Nazis at the beginning of World War II, it was Winston Churchill's voice on the radio that kept it going. Harry Potter is in many ways a uniquely British contribution to the world - at once British and universal. Much like the Beatles, it reflects the special genius on the other side of the Atlantic for entertaining and educating the world.Lots of good details that explain oddities in our world: For example, why you sometimes walk or drive down a street, and notice the numbering on the houses has missed a beat - as if a number was accidentally skipped or left out. (This was probably in earlier novels, too, but it was good to get that little insight again. One of the best things about science fiction and fantasy is their offering exotic but logical explanations for everyday oddities.)My favorite line: Molly Weasley, dueling with Bellatrix: "NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!" Yeah, all caps, and deservedly so.Life and deaths: With a few exceptions, all warranted, and deeply satisfying.Quibbles? Inevitable - no story, even the one J. K. Rowling has given us, can be perfect for every reader. But they're so few - indeed, just three, really - that I can put them here in one small paragraph: (i) Several good people died at the end, who didn't need to, or whose deaths were too off-scene and therefore didn't seem motivated. (ii) I don't get why Harry, Hermione, and Ron refrain from using killing curses on the villains, and confine themselves to stuns, etc. (iii) There was an unnecessary Epilogue.But these are small reservations to an extraordinary ending to an extraordinary series.I'm sure I'll be writing more about Harry Potter in the days, months, and years to come...

A Weeds Refresher: Series Returns to Showtime on August 13

Paul Levinson — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 07:10:06 EDT

With Weeds returning to Showtime on August 13, I thought I'd give myself a treat and watch the first two seasons On-Demand. I'm still close to bursting out laughing over some of the scenes and characters. I would say the series is right up there with Curb Your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development as fall-down, laughing-out-loud comedy. But Weeds also has a darker side, which really kept me on the edge of my seat by the end of the second season (nice accompaniment to falling down laughing).For anyone who's been living on Alpha Centauri or thereabouts the past few years: Mary Louise Parker plays Nancy Botwin, a suburban single mom who deals weed. Her husband Judah dropped dead unexpectedly while jogging, leaving Nancy no insurance and a load of bills. She has two sons - Silas (Hunter Parish) a high-school student and Shane (Alexander Gould) just breaking into puberty. Her brother-in-law Andy (Justin Kirk) moves in to help. Lupita (Renee Victor) the housekeeper doesn't do any work, because she discovered Nancy's stash and that's her price for keeping quiet.There's hilarity in almost every family scene, but Andy is in a class by himself. He explains the ins-and-outs of masturbating to Shane, who's been gumming up the plumbing with his used socks. He provides sage counsel to both boys about girls and women. He gets involved with a sexy wacko himself as he goes to rabbinical school to avoid going to Iraq - until a dog bites off two of his toes, giving him grounds for a medical deferment if needed.The first season is mostly laughs, as Nancy struggles to get her business going and make ends meet. But it ends with a startling scene - the first guy she has let herself romantically sleep with after her husband's death is DEA, a drug enforcement agent.This sets up the considerably more sinister but even funnier second season. Nancy secretly marries DEA agent Peter (Martin Donovan), who says he loves her. The idea is that Peter, as her husband, can't be compelled to testify against her, and nor would he want to, since public disclosure of being married to a drug dealer would ruin his career. It's not that Nancy loves him - she certainly likes him, at this point - it's that she's willing to do anything to protect her business and her family. She's not above using sex and whatever is necessary. I actually think this makes her more admirable.Meanwhile, her business is booming. Conrad (Romany Malco), who starts out as a low-level drug runner, turns out to be a George Washington Carver of weed, and develops a highly desirable variety. Nancy and Conrad put together a cartel of characters to run the business, including Saturday Night Live's Kevin Nealon as the pot-smoking town councilman Doug, and Andy Milder as the hapless lawyer Dean, whose wife Celia, delightfully played by Elizabeth Perkins, is Nancy's best friend and a grade-A shrew.But something's gotta give, given that Nancy doesn't fully love Peter, and is not comfortable sleeping with him in Judah's bed -- and it does. In the stunning ending of season two, Nancy is ... well, I won't give it away for you, in case you haven't seen it.I can't wait for August 13 and season three. In addition to the resumption of the story, it will be great to hear what Weeds does with its theme song. Season one featured Malvina Reynolds singing "Little Boxes". Season two had Malvina singing only in the final episode, with a different artist - ranging from Elvis Costello to Engelbert Humperdinck! - singing the theme song for each of the others. This went one better than The Wire, which has a different artist singing "Down in the Hole" each season. I like "Down in the Hole" better than "Little Boxes," but it will be fun to see what Weeds does with its boxes this season.This side-splitting, serious comedy is clearly part of our new golden age of television and precisely what Congress and the FCC would excise from cable if they get their way. Grab it while you can.

TV Review: The Sopranos Or The Tiger? David Chase As Frank Stockton

Paul Levinson — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:32:01 EDT

Some thoughts on the remarkable ending of The Sopranos:I've seen many responses to the ambiguous ending, ranging from disappointment and outrage to satisfaction and joy.Much like the response to Frank R. Stockton's "The Lady, or the Tiger," when it first was published in 1882. The short story of course went on to become a classic. A suitor for the princess of a kingdom is put on trial by the king. He is put in an arena and asked to pick one of two doors. Behind one is a lady, behind the other is a tiger. If he picks the door with the lady, he will be set free, and would live, but would be obliged to marry the lady. If he goes for the door with the tiger, he'll be ripped to shreds. He of course does not know which is behind each of the doors. He loves the princess, so choosing the door with the lady may leave him heartbroken, but at least alive.The princess knows what is behind each door. She loves the suitor. She gives him a signal - indicating which door the suitor should choose. If he chooses the lady, the princess will see the man she loves spend his life with another woman. If he chooses the tiger, the princess will see him die.He opens the door, and... the story ends right there. Much like The Sopranos's cut to black last night.Let us assume, for the moment, as many viewers have argued, that the blackness plus the conversation with Bobby on the lake about what happens when you get whacked (you never see it coming) mean that Tony is shot in the head by the guy who walked into the bathroom. But... did he kill just Tony, or Tony and Carmela, Tony and A.J., Tony and Meadow, maybe everyone at the table? And, if we allow that perhaps the darkness is not Tony's, then maybe someone else at the table, or everyone else other than Tony, is killed.Then, of course, if we allow the possibility that no one was killed, then the guy just went to the bathroom not to take care of business but to do his own business. So David Chase has given us a Sopranos, or the Tiger ending.He's the princess -- he knows what's behind the door of darkness. And we're all the suitors in the arena. But unlike the princess, Chase is not clearly pointing to any door. And unlike the suitor, we have many more choices than two. But like the suitor, our choice of door depends upon what we think Chase wants us to see beyond it, and, even more importantly, what we in our hearts most want to see.PS -- One other thing, Frank R. Stockton published a sequel to "The Lady, or The Tiger": "The Discourager of Hesitancy: A Continuation of 'The Lady, or the Tiger?'" -- three years later, in 1885.And, in the interest of full disclosure, I should also mention that my own novels -- such as The Silk Code and The Plot to Save Socrates -- have been criticized here and there for not providing more definitive endings. So I may be naturally disposed to liking ambiguity.

Is Mitt Romney a Cylon?

Paul Levinson — Thu, 7 Jun 2007 21:06:40 EDT

We may need to give this possibility some consideration. Here is what I've noticed, thus far:1. Mitt Romney said "null set" twice last night in the Third Republican Debate, for no apparent reason.2. His favorite novel is Battlefield Earth.3. No one person could have so many different positions.4. Mitt Romney's father, George Romney, was President of the American Motors Corporation (before running for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1968). AMC was known for its innovations in assembly-line production of compact cars.5. George Romney, in the same Presidential campaign in 1968, admitted he had been "brainwashed" in a visit to Vietnam.6. Mitt Romney's firm, Bain Capital, acquired an interest in Staples.7. Romney ran for, and was elected, Governor of Massachusetts, even though he was not a legal resident of the state for the required seven years.8. Battlestar Galactica unexpectedly announced that its next season, the 4th, would be the last. What else could be done, given the outside chance that Romney might be otherwise occupied in 2009?9. Where do you think Battlestar Galactica got the idea of Baltar as President?10. Just look at him.

TV Review: Lost - Charlie, Underwater Babes, And My Finale Prediction!

Paul Levinson — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:43:23 EDT

We had a real heart-in-your mouth Lost last night, which I really enjoyed. First, I'll say a little about the show. And then, I'll offer my prediction about the big change in the show which people say is coming.Last night: I just knew Charlie wasn't going to die. That would have been too obvious, with the build-up to that all season, and especially last night. But it was a great Charlie show anyway. Any time I can hear a few bars of "You All Everybody," I figure I'm coming out ahead. And the list that Charlie wrote of the greatest moments of his life, and tying that into the flashbacks, worked great last night, too. More about flashbacks in a bit.But I also figured that Desmond would try to dive down to the Looking Glass, and swap his life for Charlie's. Actually, if Desmond can really time travel, an earlier version of his self might have even been able to get to the Looking Glass, and save Desmond's future, heroic self from drowning.But the resolution worked just fine for me - and it will be fun to see just who those blonde underwater babes are - what their relationship is to Ben, Richard, and who knows what else on the island.Which brings us to next week. I have no knowledge of anything that will be on next week's show; I've seen no copy of any script; consider the following just a theory:I think we have seen the last of the flashbacks, or close to it. I predict some of our castaways will get off the island - certainly Claire and her baby - and others (like Charlie) will remain. And next year, rather than the flashbacks (which were getting a little boring, anyway), we'll see the adventures of the remaining castaways and The Others and who knows who else on the island, and the attempt of those off the island to save them. The off-island story, in the present, will replace the flashbacks.* Maybe next week we'll even see Michael, and find out what happened to him, off the island.Should be a superb two-hour finale next week, even if my predictions don't pan out.*I've already written, elsewhere, that I think the inexplicable coincidences in the flashbacks hold the key to what's really happening in Lost. If I'm right about the flashbacks mostly ending, this means that we'll likely have a flashback or two in the remaining future seasons to explain the inexplicable flashbacks of the first three seasons.

Harry Potter And His Refutation Of Illiteracy

Paul Levinson — Mon, 14 May 2007 03:57:17 EDT

As we move into the two-months-and-counting phase of the time in July when the final Harry Potter novel will be published, I thought it time to once again proclaim what I've been saying ever since the first Harry Potter book broke huge some ten years ago: the extraordinary success of Rowling's books should shut down, once and for all, the claim that we live in an illiterate age.The sales of these six novels have been extraordinary - nearly 90 million in the United States alone, another 36 million in the U.K., for a total of 270 million copies in 62 languages worldwide, including Latin and Ancient Greek (hey, someone should go back in a time machine and give a copy to Plato).And these novels have been more than bought and skimmed - anyone I've ever seen with a Harry Potter novel has been totally engrossed, bubbling and eager to discuss the most minute and profound points in the book. Harry Potter's readers are not only legion, but literate, and highly so.Not that this will convince the ghostly critics who lashed out at motion pictures nearly a century ago (see my book, The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Age, for details), and their descendants who did and are doing the same about television, the Internet, and even texting on cell phones: all of which are said to be dishing out a "vast goo of meaningless stimulation" (this from Harper's editor Thomas Zengotita), which render us callous, senseless, dumb, illiterate, and, for the worst like Jack Thompson about video games, even violent.Never mind that. Even before Harry Potter and his magic, literacy rates had been holding steady in the age of television, and book sales had even been increasing (see The Soft Edge for figures). The proposition that photochemical, electronic, and now digital media are eroding our minds has always been an article of faith, subject to refutation by neither common sense nor hard evidence.But, oh, I'm looking forward to the beach this July. To the copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that will be on so many blankets, in so many hands. Each will whisper, to any academic who ever underestimated the power of the human intellect, to anyone who ever doubted the thirst for good narrative in every generation... in a chorus of millions and millions... you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong.

TV Review: Heroes - "Pictures With No Words"

Paul Levinson — Wed, 9 May 2007 01:44:58 EDT

"It has only the pictures, not the words," Hiro says to Ando about Isaac's unfinished comic book at the beginning of "The Hard Part," and that's a good description of just what the heroes are dealing with as they try to stop New York City from exploding.Who is the exploding man?Ted is the original source of the nuclear power, and he has arrived in New York. However, Peter has absorbed it, and Sylar can acquire it by taking Ted's brain. When we add in the fact that Candice can make anyone see anything she pleases, and Peter and Sylar can each get her power in their particular ways, we have a story in which even pictures are not reliable. We certainly have no idea what the picture in the comic is thinking or saying. Pictures with no words. Scenes that show what's happening but are almost blank slates for the viewers. It is a semiotician's sweet dream.Seeing the future has always been a risky business - just ask Hari Seldon in Asimov's Foundation series or Paul Muad'dib in Frank Herbert's Dune. The harder you work to prevent something bad from happening, the more you risk being the one to make it happen. Heroes risked spinning out of control in the first third of this season, as heroes were introduced with new powers almost at the drop of a hat, but the convergence of everyone in New York City is giving the series a satisfying, irresistible focus and intensity.We are beginning to see the components of the final picture. Now all we need are how they fit together, and the words.

TV Review: The Tudors - "Henry's Apothecary"

Paul Levinson — Mon, 7 May 2007 21:46:36 EDT

They were so close to us - this is a theme I keep noticing and enjoying on Showtime's The Tudors - but they were very different, as well, and that's also fascinating to see. The Tudors and everyone alive at the beginning of the 16th century lived closer to death than we do - especially from disease at an early adult age - and maybe that's why they lived so intensely.The sweats affected everyone, royalty and peasant. It was most likely caused by an influenza virus, and could be horrifyingly rapid in its fatal result - dancing in court by seven, dead by eleven, as one of the sayings from the days of the Tudors put it, with only slight exaggeration.Had Henry a time machine, he would have feared this illness even more than he did. The sweats would kill his daughter Queen Mary. (Elizabeth, his daughter by Anne, then became Queen. Hard to say exactly how Henry would have felt about that.)As it was, Henry was worried enough. And in The Tudors, this worry is magnified to the point of being almost unbearable when Anne Boleyn gets the sweats. This is one of Jonathan Rhys Meyers' most powerful performances in the series. I found myself touching my own forehead for symptoms as I was watching.They couldn't do much to either ward off or cure a deadly flu in Henry's time -- not all that much different for us today. Henry does have a cabinet full of unctions, ointments, and remedies. Henry carefully explains to his friends what they do - in what for some reason is my favorite scene - and urges them to take a concoction of marigold, manus christi, sorrel, meadow plant, linseed vinegar ... and ivory scrapings. I wrote them down ... you never know. And hey, they worked for Henry!Anne recovers without the marigold infusion. I'm not giving anything away here - everyone knows how she dies - and I'm sorry she will, because I could watch her and this series forever.In the remaining episodes of this season, there will be other deadly dangers to deal with. Including, as the ever perceptive Thomas More observes, the onslaught of Lutheranism, which he fears could be more perilous to the England he knows and loves than even the sweats.

The First Republican Presidential Debate: Three Of Them Don't Believe In Evolution!

Paul Levinson — Fri, 4 May 2007 05:12:28 EDT

And now to the Republican debate on MSNBC last night, for which I want to give the same kind of performance analysis as I did for the Democratic debate last week - that is, how presidentially the candidates presented themselves, as distinct from whether or not I agree with their positions.Except -- I just have to say -- did you see that three Republicans raised their hands to signify that they did not believe in evolution? And, once again, the camera did not move in close enough. From what I could see, it wasn't Giuliani or McCain and I'm pretty sure it wasn't Romney at the other end. But three others Republican candidates did raise their hands. (They have been identified as Sen. Sam Brownback, Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Rep. Tom Tancredo.) The mind boggles - I thought for a second I was watching The Tudors, except then it would have been more entertaining...As for the rest of the debate: the three front-runners -- Giuliani, McCain, and Romney (currently in the descending order in the polls) -- did fine. There were no real upsets there. Giuliani could have been a little more dynamic, and perhaps lost a bit of ground to McCain. Mitt Romney certainly looked and sounded the best, in terms of the Democratic JFK standard. But if I had to pick a winner, I'd say McCain by a hair over Giuliani, with Romney very impressive.I've often indicated my admiration for the constitutionality of Ron Paul, and it was a pleasure to hear him talk about the need for declarations of war tonight, and the importance he places on freedom of expression. But he's not a dynamic speaker, and I think the best we can hope for regarding Dr. Paul is that whoever is next President of the United States appoint Ron Paul to some important cabinet position where he can remind us, more effectively than as Congressman, of the need for our government to adhere to the Constitution.And a last point about the media, and in particular its presentation of this debate: although I like Chris Matthews as an interviewer on his MSNBC Hardball show, I was annoyed with the way he cut off so many of the candidates' answers. The American people would have been better served by a debate that ran a few minutes longer, in which every candidate was allowed to have a little more say.