Senator Alex Padilla vs. the American Gestapo

  

The above is the complete extant video of what happened to US Senator Alex Padilla the other day in California, the state he represents.  We don't see what happened before this, but the video begins with Sen. Padilla being pushed by some kind of Federal agent.  Padilla tells his assaulter who he is -- "Senator Padilla" -- and his assaulter's response, joined by other assasulters, is to wrestle the Senator to the ground.

I use the word "assaulter" because assault is defined as any offensive or unwanted touching of the body.  Assault is a crime, and it doesn't matter whether the assault is done by whatever kind of Federal agent.  The job of any kind of police is to apprehend criminals, and stop crimes from happening if the crime has not already occurred.   Their job is manifestly not to assault a US Senator, or any other person exercising their Constitutional rights --  in Senator Padilla's case, the right to free speech guaranteed in the First Amendment.

And assault, unfortunately, is not the worst crime that can be committed.  In 1970, four unarmed protestors at Kent State University were shot dead by National Guardsmen sent there by the governor of Ohio.  None of those murderers were ever brought to justice.

I call them, and their current incarnations, Gestapo, because that's what this flagrant disregard of rights, and appliance of violence to crush those rights, ultimately leads to.  Whether it's a US Senator pushed to the floor and handcuffed, or Marines facing down peaceful protestors in Los Angeles today, these assaults on our democracy need to stop.  And their perpetrators, and the people who put them in that place, need to be brought before a court of law.

Law enforcement needs to stay focused on the prevention and solving of real crimes, like the assassination of Democratic State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark in Minnesota early today.

***

And here's another video of Sen. Padilla at Secretary Noem's event*. That video shows that Padilla was a little rude, for asking a question (in a conversational tone of voice -- certainly not shouting) while Noem was talking. Certainly not grounds for being forcibly removed from the event. Had I been in Secretary Noem's place, I would have answered the question and invited the Senator up to join me on the stage.

*Thanks Frank Tomasulo for sending me this URL for the two videos in this post.

The Better Sister: A Better Who Dunnit

My wife and I binged The Better Sister on Amazon Prime the past few nights, and we really enjoyed it. Here's why:

• Top-notch cast:  I mean, you can't go wrong with Jessica Biel (a sister) and Kim Dickens (a police detective).  And Elizabeth Banks (Love and Mercy!) as the other sister was superb.  (She was also in an hilarious episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm -- actually all its episodes are.) It was great to see Gloria Reuben (playing a lawyer) back on the screen, and Michael Harney (NYPD Blue!) playing Doorman Arty.  Also Corey Stoll and Matthew Modine with less time on the screen, were memorable too.
• The story was pretty strong, too.  I did guess who did the killing pretty early on.  But that's just me, and it was fun to see the story unfold.
• The title itself was good, because it invites you to think about who the better sister is, as the plot unfolds.
• It takes place mostly in New York -- in both the Hamptons and NYC -- always a plus with me.
• It's a summer story, with lots of swimming, that plays all kinds of roles.
• And The Better Sister moves quickly, in a stylish way that avoids swagger. 

All of this based on a 2019 single novel by Alafair Burke, herself the daughter of crime novelist James Lee Burke, and she's also a professor of law at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY (where I used to teach before coming to Fordham) a little over an hour west of the Hamptons.

Will there be a second season?  No current plans for one, but I certainly hope there is one.

Brian Wilson: What He and His Music Mean to Me

I grew up listening to rock 'n' roll, which was half doo-wop, and half Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Elvis.  As the 1960s began to emerge, the Four Seasons in 1962 and the Beach Boys in 1963 carried on with a modernized, popified doo-wop sound.  The Beatles were closer than just around the next corner.  And that was the milieu in which I formed my first group, The Transits, slightly more old-fashioned than the Four Seasons and the Beach Boys, but covering their best songs.

The Transits sang at the YMHA on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, a stone's throw from Yankee Stadium in early 1964.   "Dawn" and "Rag Doll" by the Four Seasons and "Surfer Girl" by the Beach Boys were at the top of the list of the songs we covered.  As I walked a girl home whom I'd met at the concert, I told her I was tired of being in a group that sang those kinds of songs -- I wanted to be in a group that sounded more like The Beatles.

The Four Seasons would never progress very far beyond their pop doo-wop origins.  But the Beach Boys under Brian Wilson's leadership sure did.  As is well known, The Beatles' Rubber Soul in 1965 inspired the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds in 1966 which in turn inspired The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967.  While The Beatles were recording and releasing Sgt. Pepper, the Beach Boys were doing the same with their Smiley Smile album featuring "Heroes and Villains" (also released as a single).  So the two groups were not only inspiring one another, they in effect were co-creating across the continents, a musical incarnation of Marshall McLuhan's global village, which he prophetically wrote about in The Gutenberg Galaxy back in 1962.

For a variety of reasons, however, "Heroes and Villains" didn't get the immediate acclaim it so eminently deserved.  It has been one of my all-time favorite recordings since the moment I first heard it, though I can't quite recall where that was.  The harmony in that recording -- like the harmony in the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B" adaptation on Pet Sounds -- is in the stratosphere, the ultimate evolution, at least as of now, of multi-dimensional doo-wop.

Brian Wilson did not get the adulation at first hearing that "Heroes and Villains" amply merited.  But I touted it everywhere I could.  My wife Tina and I were thrilled to hear Brian sing it in the Beach Boys reunion tour, at their performance in 2012 in White Plains, NY.  It was a sad night, not only because of course Dennis and Carl Wilson weren't there, but because WFUV disc jockey Pete Fornatale, who had been one of the champions of everything Beach Boys and Beatles on his Mixed Bag shows, had recently unexpectedly passed away.  (Come to think of it, I may have first heard "Heroes and Villains" on Pete's original "Mixed Bag" show on  WFUV back in the 1960s.   Pete, by the way, is the hero of my 2024 novel, It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles.)  But it was wonderful indeed to see and hear Brian in person.

I still think The Beatles are the best rock group to ever have written and recorded myriad forms of rock music.  Over the years, I've switched back and forth between the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones as to which is the second greatest rock group in history.  But I think I'm content now to leave it with both of them tied for second place, and every other great group vast caverns below them.

Thank you Brian Wilson, rest in peace.  Your "Heroes and Villains" will always be playing somewhere, and you are its hero.

MobLand: The Godfather of Streaming Television

Just saw the finale of what will almost certainly be the first season of a tour-de-force series about warring crime families on the other side of the pond, i.e., the UK.  MobLand has everything -- a powerful, unpredictable story bristling with what The Godfather and its sequels did so well in movies.  That would be a potent, explosive blend of violence and family dynamics that can make your head spin.

Here I'll talk about two ingredients that brought this kick-in-the-solar-plexus across: the music and the acting,

First, MobLand has one of the best theme songs I've heard in years:  "Starburster" by Fontaines D.C.  I mean, I'm no expert in hip hop, but I know "Starburster" has powerful elements of it, and the recording suits the story to be told in every episode to a tee, as well as being instantly unforgettable mind candy. 

And that's just for literally starters.  In the finale alone, we get major songs by Johnny Cash (sung twice) and The Rolling Stones.  Like in The Godfather trilogy, Goodfellas, and all immediately classic crime family dramas, the music of MobLand is at once avant garde and classic.  

Now let's get to the acting.  Pierce Brosnan gave an astonishing performance as Conrad Harrington, the anti-hero crime boss whose gang is at the center of the action.  This man played two characters who were suave to the max -- Remington Steele and James Bond -- and in MobLand he trashes those icons and goes vehemently in the opposite direction, cursing and screaming and giving loud and withering vent to his anger and his other moods with the best of 'em.   Meanwhile,  Helen Mirren, a world-class actress, is every bit as vicious and violent in her role as Maeve Harrington, Conrad's wife..  Neither of them are youngsters, but I wouldn't want to meet either of them in a dark alley.  Or a lit one, either, for that matter.

And alongside these veritable criminal forces of nature -- Emmy-worthy spectacular -- we have Tom Hardy's portrayal of Harry, the Harringtons fixer (a lot of "Har"s in that sentence).  He's calm, contemplative but deadly when he needs to be.  Like Brosnan and Mirren, Hardy is a world-class actor, great in just about everything he does, but yet to establish himself in a role as luminary as James Bond, Vito Corleone, or Michael Corleone.  But his performance in MobLand could move Hardy into Al Pacino territory.

The lesser-known actors in MobLand were excellent, too.  Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon) as one of Conrad and Maeve's sons, gives a heart-rending performance, as does Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey), for different reasons, as Harry's wife.   The truth is, there's not a weak performance in this powerhouse of a series.

Hey, I managed to review MobLand without even a hint of a spoiler.  I'm going to listen to some more Fontaines DC music now.

Dept. Q: Nordic Noir in Scotland

I've always been a big fan of Nordic Noir.  That might seem a bit unusual for a bigger lifelong fan of science fiction, as well as an author of science fiction novels and stories.   But the two genres are close cousins -- if detective mysteries are whodunnits, science fiction can be aptly read and seen as whatdunnits -- and some authors combined the two genres, as Isaac Asimov astutely did with his robot detective novels (I took a crack at that genre blend as well, with my Phil D'Amato stories and novels).

But Nordic Noir -- which can be geographically identified as stories that take place in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland -- has a special zing, a platter of gruesome crimes, investigated by slightly cracked but brilliant detectives who also manage to have a wicked sense of humor.  Dept Q., which takes place in Scotland, has all of these characteristics in gleaming pitch black spades.

The TV series, which debuted on Netflix at the end of May, is based on a series of novels by the Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen.  My wife and I binged the nine episodes over several evenings concluding last night.  (Is watching nine episodes over several nights rather than in one sitting aptly termed "binging"?  You tell me. I will say thanks Netflix for putting all episodes up at once, which permits binging, whatever exactly that means.)

The transplantation to Scotland works great -- it is, after all, in the northern part of the British Isles, and many of the characters have Nordic names.  The cold case team that investigates the disappearance of Prosecutor Merritt Lingard is, as per Nordic Noir protocols, a group not of three misfits, but of deeply wounded, highly talented people.  DCI Carl Morck was nearly killed in a previous case that left one of his partners (James Hardy) unable to walk, and killed another. Akram Salim is a Syrian immigrant with a calm Sherlockian logic and demeanor and a harrowing past (one of my favorite characters now in any series).  And DC Rose Dickson is on desk duty at the beginning of the series, traumatized because she accidentally killed an elderly couple with her car.  See what I mean about deeply wounded?

And to make matters worse for our characters, but better for the series, they're actually embroiled in one way or another in at least three horrendous cases:  the disappearance of the prosecutor, the shooting that hit Morck (he's physically healed but psychologically struggling), and the case that Lingard tried and lost before she disappeared (in which a man who probably killed his wife was found not guilty).  And indeed there are all kinds of other murders that come to light as the story proceeds, propelled by gunfire, tempestuous family relationships, various kinds of romance, dreams, and a hyperbaric chamber.

The great story is served by memorable acting, with Matthew Goode as Morck, Alexej Manvelov as Salim, Leah Byrne as Dickson, Jamie Sives as Hardy, and Chloe Pirrie as Lingard.  And hats off to Scott Frank and Elisa Amoruso for inspired directing.  I give Dept. Q my highest recommendation and can't wait to see more.

Your Friends and Neighbors: Definitely Worth Getting to Know

Just saw the finale -- the 9th episode -- of the first season of Your Friends and Neighbors on Apple TV+.  I'm saying first season because Apple renewed it for a second season before the first season begun.  A smart move because Your Friends and Neighbors, billed as a comedy-drama, but more a drama with some comical touches about some of the ethical profundities of life -- at least life in the New York City area -- is a tour-de-force of a series in a multiplicity of ways.

Here are some of those (in general non-spoiler) ways:

1. It's easily Jon Hamm's best role and performance since Mad Men.  Indeed, Hamm is so natural and energized in the lead role -- Andrew Cooper aka Coop -- that it could be Coop could equal or even exceed Don Draper.  Time will tell.

2. The rest of the acting is top-notch.  Amanda Peet as Coop's former wife, Olivia Munn as his sometimes lover, even Corbin Bernsen as, well, Coop's despicable boss, a minor role, are all memorable. So are Isabel Gravitt and Donovan Colan as Coop's kids.

3. The essence of the plot:  Coop is fired from his high-stakes financially wheeling-and-dealing job.  He takes up stealing -- literally stealing -- from his neighbors to stay afloat.  As a result of which, he ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, looking guilty for a murder he didn't commit.  Along the way, we meet bevy of compelling characters including his fence; an unlikely but effective partner-in-crime; and a sister with a pretty good voice and some impressive songs (Lena Hall plays Coop's sister, and actually wrote and sings an original song as well as singing the covers -- a nice touch).

I have no idea if the depiction of this upper crust in Your Friends and Neighbors is accurate (I live in the greater New York area, but as a professor I'm not really privy to what goes on in boardrooms and the like).  But that doesn't really matter.   Your Friends and Neighbors is not a documentary, not even a docu-drama.  It's a work of fiction, in which it splendidly succeeds.

Paul Levinson interviews Tom Cooper 1 May 2025 about Wisdom Weavers

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 412, in which I interview Tom Cooper about his new book Wisdom Weavers: The Lives and Thought of Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan published on May 1, 2025 by Connected Editions.

A group of 51 scholars from the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, and Poland gathered on May 1 via Zoom -- a mini global village -- to see this interview with Tom Cooper. The interview and subsequent Q&A is presented here in audio its entirety. We started off with some casual conversation ...

• Transcript of the complete Zoom Chat that took place after the interview
• Get the book in Kindle, paperback, and hardcover here
• Other audio interviews about Wisdom Weavers:  Captain Phil interviews Paul Levinson about Wisdom Weavers on WUSB Radio ... Frank LoBuono interviews Paul Levinson and Tom Cooper about Wisdom Weavers on the Being Frank podcast
• Watch the entire interview on video

 

Check out this episode!

Black Bag: Pick It Up

Just saw Black Bag, which popped up on Peacock on May 2, after debuting in theaters here in the U. S. on March 14.  It has a lot to commend itself,  including a top-notch cast, with Michael Fassbender (whom I just saw in The Agency, the CIA in London series which I reviewed the first three episodes of here), Cate Blanchett (who starred in lots of great movies and series, including recently Disclaimer, a brilliant literary psychological drama which I reviewed here), and Pierce Brosnan (formerly Remington Steele and James Bond, of course, currently starring in Mobland (giving a tour-de-force performance as a gang boss; I'll be reviewing it after its finale next week, but I can tell you now that it has one of the best theme songs I've heard in many a year).

Black Bag actually has some music running through it, too.  It has some action, but most of the time it's more a chess-piece cosy that Agatha Christie would have appreciated.  It also, like The Agency, flaunts the very best of current and possibly imagined AI and digital media in the spy-craft it details.  But its best feature is Fassbender's George and Blanchette's Kathryn as a loving couple who are likely good guys, and the rest of George's team, evenly matched between men and women who are also romantically involved in one way or another.

If I had a complaint, it probably would be that the narrative resolved itself a little too quickly, and may have played better as a limited series of three or four episodes.  Also, the villain was not as ingenuously concealed as in Agatha Christie's work, and maybe more time for that story to spool out would have been helpful too.

But the mix of espionage and romance worked well, and one advantage of a movie over a TV series is that you're not investing as much time in watching a movie as you would a series, so the movie's lack of perfection is less objectionable.

Criminal Minds: Evolution 18.3: Flowers from Hotch, Derek, and Spencer

It's been a while since I've seen an episode in any television series as emotionally effective -- as emotionally right -- as episode 18.3 of Criminal Minds: Evolution (actually, the third season of Criminal Minds: Evolution, which got the appendage Evolution in its title when Criminal Minds resumed on Paramount Plus in November 2022 after 16 powerful seasons on CBS, which concluded in February 2020).

[And there will be big spoilers ahead ... ]

The occasion was the funeral of Will, J. .J.'s husband, who died of sudden natural causes at the end of last week's episode 18.2.  Penelope and Emily are sitting together.  Penelope says the flowers are stunning.  Emily points to them and says those are from Hotch, those are from Derek, and those are from Spencer.

The mention of three major characters from Criminal Minds -- Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, and Spencer Reed -- for various reasons no longer on the show, but still alive (and that actually confirmed by this mention) -- was itself a classy move by the makers of this rebooted series.  All too often in television, especially broadcast TV where Criminal Minds spent its first 16 seasons, characters who leave the series are all too often out of sight out of mind, and never mentioned again.  So when I heard Hotch, Derek, and Spencer mentioned, I thought good for Criminal Minds: Evolution for growing up and becoming more like real life.   (I will say the Chicago shows and the Law & Order shows, both on NBC -- with the exception of Law & Order: Organized Crime, now on Peacock -- occasionally make references to characters no longer on the show.)

But the best was yet to come, when Spencer arrived at the funeral and joined his beloved colleagues/friends.  I've been wondering since Evolution began three years ago why Spencer was no longer on the BAU team, i.e., on the show.  I even said so in my reviews.  Whether this appearance was a one-time event, or the beginning of a re-integration of one of the best characters from the original series (the best, in the opinion of many) remains to be seen.  But his appearance at this funeral, what he said to J. J. -- "I'm always here for you guys" -- was a memorable moment, indeed.  In fact, I would say that moment, and the entire reappearance of Spencer, was one of the most memorable moments I've ever seen in a fictitious TV drama.

Matthew Gray Gubler played this moment as Spencer (Dr. Spencer Reid) just perfectly.  A. J. Cook as J. J. deserves an Emmy for her performance.  And the truth is all the acting was letter perfect in this remarkable episode.  Kudos to everyone involved, including Jeff Davis and the other writers, and Joe Mantegna who directed (who also plays Rossi, a major character).  This episode, entitled "Time to Say Goodbye," is the way television should be done.  It's definitely not time for Criminal Minds to say goodbye.

See also Criminal Minds: Evolution 17.1-17-.2 The Elusive Profile ... 17.3: "BAU Gate" ... 17.4: Progress ... 17.6: Gideon, Morgan, Hotch ... 17.7: Jill Gideon

And see also Criminal Minds: Evolution 16.1-16.4: Outstanding! ... 16.5: Assessment of What Could Have Happened at the End ... 16.6-16.8: Better Than Ever on Paramount Plus ... 16.9: Elias Voit and David Rossi ... 16.10: Gold Star

===

Some reviews of episodes from earlier seasons:

Criminal Minds 8.12: Spencer's Burden

Criminal Minds 7.1: "The Is Calm and It's Doctor" ... Criminal Minds 7.3: Meets House and The Unit

Criminal Minds in Sixth Season Premiere ... Criminal Minds 6.2: The Meaning of J. J. Leaving ... Criminal Minds 6.3: Proust, Twain, Travanti ... Tyra on Criminal Minds 6.13 ...Criminal Minds 6. 17: Prentiss Farewell Part I ... Criminal Minds 6.18: Farewell Emily ... Criminal Minds 6.19: Fight Club Redux Plus ... Criminal Minds 6.20: Emily's Ghost ... Criminal Minds 6.21: The Tweeting Killer ... Criminal Minds 6.22: Psycho and a Half ... Criminal Minds 6.23: The Good Lie ... Criminal Minds Season 6 Finale

Criminal Minds 5.22 and the Dark Side of New New Media

 

Carry-On: Do-See

So I just got around to watching Carry-On, a Die-Hard-like roller-coaster of an airport thriller which has been on Netflix since December.

No Bruce Willis in the movie, but Carry-On does have Justin Bateman as an anti-hero, "Traveler," though just outright, contemptible, highly intelligent, ruthless villain may be a more apt description.  The hero (Ethan Kopek) is played by Taron Egerton (Elton John in Rocketman!), and he puts in a very good performance.

The plot is vaguely familiar, though I don't think I've seen anything exactly like Carry-On before.  How do you get a lethal aerosol weapon on board a plane?  You target the pregnant wife of a young TSA screener and tell him you'll kill his wife (who conveniently also works at the airport) if he doesn't let the deadly package go through and on to the plane the bad guys want to destroy.

The movie has plenty of action, all kinds of would-be heroes and outright heroes, including Danielle Deadwyler (Station Eleven) as a rambunctious LAPD detective. There are some good twists and turns along the way, and the movie also has the you-never-know-who's-going-to-die ingredient that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I won't tell you anything more about Carry-On because I don't want to give anything away, but I will say that if you're looking for a fast-paced, chic car-chase of a movie (and there actually is a car-chase in the movie), one that takes place on Christmas Eve (hence its kinship to Die Hard, and also Black Doves), you can't go wrong with Carry-On.

See also Black Doves: Snow White Thriller

more about The Silk Code here

The Last of Us 2.7: Those Who Die

Well, a lot of characters died in the season 2 finale of The Last of Us on Max tonight.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Two more of the people who presided over Joel's killing die in 2.7: Owen is killed by Ellie because he draws a gun and attempts to fire on her.  Mel is accidentally killed by Owen as he fires his gun (after being shot by Ellie) and his bullet hits the wall, bullet bouncing off whatever the wall is made of, so the bullet hits a very pregnant Mel in the neck, who dies before Ellie can save her baby (by cutting the baby free) as Mel is pleading with Ellie to do.

And that's the least of it.

Before the episode is over, Jesse is shot and killed by Abby (he was the most ethical character in the show), and Abby fires point blank at Ellie, before the screen turns black in an end-of-The-Sopranos moment.

Of course, that final scene in The Sopranos was the final scene of the series, not of the second season in a continuing series.   And there was no gun shot in that final scene, before all went black.  David Chase, the main brains behind the series, now says that scene was meant to "imply" Tony Soprano's death.  But having read I. A. Richards, who a century ago, back in the 1920s, said we can safely ignore explications by authors of their works (there could be interpretations they didn't intend which are nonetheless valid, or the authors could just be lying), I don't think we should pay much if any attention to what Chase says about his masterpiece.

But back to The Last of Us:

1. Since the series is continuing, even a gun fired before all goes black is no proof of anything.
2. And there's no point looking at the game from which The Last of Us series is derived, because the makers of the series have been free to change whatever they wanted to change from the game when they made the series.

So is Ellie dead?  How should I know?  At this point, we can't even be sure she's been shot.  But I'd bet we'll find out more in Season 3.

And although it's too soon to say the following about Ellie, paraphrasing what Shelley said about Keats' death -- weep not for Ellie, 'tis death that's dead not she -- we can certainly apply that to Jesse, a brave, highly ethical soul that we could certainly use more of in our world off-screen, and the ethical crisis that's now raging.  Here's to Jesse, whose morality is eminently worthy of veneration.

See also The Last of Us 2.1-2.2: The Killing Cold ... 2.6: Father and Daughter Flashbacks

And see also The Last of Us 1.1-1.2: The Fungus Among Us ... 1.3: Bill and Frank ... 1.4: Gun and Pun ... 1.5: Tunnels ... 1.6: Joel ... 1.7: Riley's Wise Advice ... 1.8: Ellie vs. the Resort ... 1.9: The Limits of Utilitarianism

more about The Silk Code here

Dylan Debuts His Cover of Ricky Nelson's "Garden Party"

 

I just saw Bob Dylan singing Ricky Nelson's "Garden Party" in San Diego (on May 15, 2025) a few hours ago on YouTube.  I posted a link to it on all my social media.  But I had to say more.  In no order of importance (because I think all of these points are important):

• Dylan's voice is outstanding.  I mean, his voice was already sounding better in his 2020 Rough and Ready LP (with a standout performance in his "Murder Most Foul" lament about the assassination of JFK), but his vocal in "Garden Party" has a real depth and subtlety, hitting some notes with a fluency almost approaching that of "Lay Lady Lay".
• This cover shows, again, how Dylan is a mentch.  He must have greatly appreciated (1) when Ricky Nelson did a fine cover of Dylan's "She Belongs to Me" and (2) probably even more so when Dylan heard his name in "Garden Party" ("Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan's shoes").   This was, after all, certainly more appealing than what John Lennon said about Dylan explicitly in "God", and a whole lot better than Lennon's put down of Dylan (without mentioning his name) in The Beatles' "I Dig A Pony" (it was no doubt no consolation that Lennon also put down The Rolling Stones in that great song as well).
• There's something very, I don't know, comforting, in reciprocal covers.  It shows, at least to me, that there's something fair and good about this cultural universe we all inhabit.  That's an important discovery, because the universe as we all know deals out all sorts of disappointments and betrayals (especially in show business, but more recently even more obvious in politics and its tentacles).

Dylan, when he broke through in the 1960s, was an absolute master of lyrics, at the zenith of that craft.  Cole Porter previously held that position, and Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison were often close seconds, but I've always thought that Dylan held and still holds that position alone.  It's good and gratifying to now see him make his mark in the increasingly important micro-genre of covers.

See also: Dylan's "Murder Most Foul": From Then to Now and Dylan's "Rough and Rowdy Ways": Well Worth the Wait and "A Complete Unknown": A Nearly Completely Superb Biopic, Slightly Alternate History

And here are Ricky Nelson's twin sons talking about Dylan's cover of their father's song (begins about 3 mins into the video):

See also It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles (chapter 8), where Ricky Nelson dies in 1996. ...

Fountain of Youth: Pretty Good Drink

Just saw Fountain of Youth on Apple TV+.  I don't feel any younger -- though I already felt quite young -- and the movie didn't star Harrison Ford, though it did have echoes of Raiders of the Lost Ark, with a bit of the Da Vinci Code thrown in.  So, all in all, I'd say it's diverting enough and worth a watch.

[There will be some spoilers ahead, starting with the next sentence ... ]

Bernie Sanders would likely like this movie, because the arch villain turns out to be the billionaire financing this mission to find the fountain can bring those who drink from it eternal youth.  And I have to say I found this a little trite, even verging on ridiculous.

But the action was brisk and had some unexpected turns, including a beautiful agent of the Vatican, who seemed to be a villain but turned out a hero.  And appropo the search for youth, a boy contributed a lot to the narrative, with his knowledge of music.

And I always consider it a plus when it turns out that I actually learn something from a movie, especially when it's a fantasy adventure not a Ken Burns documentary (which I always learn a lot from).  Did you know there's a so-called "wicked" Bible, in which the word "not" is left out the Seventh Commandment "Thou shalt not commit adultery."  This was supposedly an error in a printing of the King James Bible, but you never know.

John Krasinski (recent Jack Ryan), Natalie Portman (Star Wars of course and everything), and Eiza González (Baby Driver) lead a fine rollicking cast, able to throw out funny one-liners and real and metaphorical punches with equal ease.  No sequel has yet been announced, but given the starpower and savvy that went into the movie, I'd say it's certainly likely there'll be one, and I'd definitely see it.

more about The Silk Code here

 

Mission Impossible 7: Dead Reckoning: Well Beyond Bondian

With all the promotion of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, set to debut in U.S. theaters in the next few days, I thought it was high time to see Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, released in 2023, and which is actually Part 1 of the two-part story which will conclude with The Final Recognition.

So I saw Dead Reckoning on Paramount+ last night.  And I was struck by several things, all of which have been inexorably building over this eight-movie run, which, as we all know, began as one of the best television series in history:

1. Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt has been getting more and more like the best secret agent in movie history, i.e., James Bond.  Hunt is a far better fighter than anyone ever was in the Mission Impossible TV team.  In fact, the strength of that team resided in its group prowess, and while Hunt has an impressive group behind him, he clearly has powers not only equal to Bond's but sometimes approach Superman's.  I mean, he leaps more than tall buildings, and in Dead Reckoning he jumps off a jagged mountainside, high above a fast-moving train he's attempting to intercept.

2. Cruise's Hunt shares another Bondian characteristic: a penchant for beautiful women.  In Dead Reckoning there are at least a handful.  My favorite is Ilsa Faust, played by Rebecca Ferguson, most recently in a crucially starring role in Silo.  Much like Bond's women, Hunt's are not only beautiful but keenly intelligent and resourceful, and they're central to events in which the narrative turns.

3. Whereas the MI team on television were invited to lend a hand in reducing or stopping significant challenges to US security, Hunt and his crew are called upon to stop challenges to the world order that verge on jeopardizing humanity itself.   In it that sense, Hunt may be even a little more than Bondian, and in Dead Reckoning he approached Terminator territory, fighting an AI menace that -- in the opinion of at least some so-called experts -- has become since 2023 the greatest threat our species has faced, and in this case engendered.

I don't share that view, but I do look very much forward to see how it all turns out on the screen in The Final Reckoning very soon.

See also Mission Impossible 6: Fallout: Better (These Days) Than Bond ... Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol

The Last of Us 2.6: Father and Daughter Flashbacks

A superb, emotionally wrenching flashback episode 2.6 of The Last of Us on Max tonight -- actually a series of flashbacks -- in which we learn why Ellie and Joel were so estranged in the opening episode of this second season.

[And I suppose there are spoilers ahead ... ]

The reason, in a nutshell, is that Joel swears to Ellie that he won't kill Eugene, who was bitten, but Ellie estimates has enough time see his beloved wife, Claire (played by Catherine O'Hara), the town's psychologist, but Joel kills Eugene anyway, then lies to Claire, saying Eugene killed himself, in front of a horrified Ellie.

Before this, we see Joel and Ellie at some of Ellie's earlier birthdays, as the two grow closer and closer together as father and daughter.   Flashbacks, if done well, can really make a series soar, as was demonstrated so brilliantly in Lost.  And this a standout episode in the second season of The Last of Us, where we already have seen the seen the immediate future to this father-and-daughter narrative:  after the two sort of reconcile as the last flashback in 2.6, Joel is tortured and killed in 2.1 by Abby, and her gang and a worse-than-horrified (too weak a word) Ellie, unable to do anything, look on.

Pedro Pascal puts in a masterful performance as Joel, as does Bella Ramsey as Ellie.  It was also great to see Joe Pantoliano back on the screen as Eugene, and Claire reading George R. Stewart's Earth Abides (made into a TV series that's pretty high up on my list of science fiction series to see).  And I really liked Ellie in the space exploration museum in the flashback that preceded the one in which Joel kills Eugene.  Getting out beyond this planet is arguably the greatest accomplishment of our species.  And it was potent indeed to see this astonishing accomplishment laid low by the fungus that has wiped most of our species.

And on that pessimistic note, I'll try to lighten the atmosphere by wishing Ellie a happy birthday.  I have a daughter, but I'm no expert on father-daughter relationships, because every one is different, not to mention that Ellie has been celebrating her birthdays in an apocalyptic nightmare of a world.  Ours certainly is no bargain these days, but we're nonetheless a lot better off on the other side of the screen than are Ellie and her cohorts.

See also The Last of Us 2.1-2.2: The Killing Cold

And see also The Last of Us 1.1-1.2: The Fungus Among Us ... 1.3: Bill and Frank ... 1.4: Gun and Pun ... 1.5: Tunnels ... 1.6: Joel ... 1.7: Riley's Wise Advice ... 1.8: Ellie vs. the Resort ... 1.9: The Limits of Utilitarianism

more about The Silk Code here

Law & Order Season 22 Finale: Another Prime Moral Quandary

Law & Order on NBC -- the original Law & Order -- has pretty much since the day it debuted in 1990 excelled in confronting some of the toughest ethical issues in the prosecution of crime.  Its focus on DAs, ADAs, and their assistants in the courtroom part of bringing criminals to justice could amount to a veritable MA in the ethics of criminal justice, and I'd wager that specific programs in this TV series have found their way into many a class in the John Jay College of Criminal Justice here in midtown Manhattan, a few blocks away from the Lincoln Center campus of Fordham University, where I've been a Professor (at the Bronx Rose Hill Campus) about the same number of years that Law & Order has been on the air, taking into account its eleven-year hiatus from 2010-2021.

[There will be spoilers ahead ...]

And the Season 22 finale of Law & Order that aired last night provided a fine example of that ethical probing, in this case the problem of (a) if you know for a fact that someone committed multiple brutal murders over the years, but (b) the evidence via which you know this is ruled non-admissible by the judge (either thick-headed, or brilliant, or anywhere in between), is it (c) right to bend the rules, to the point of doing whatever it takes to get the guilty party off the street and behind bars or worse?

It was clear that this episode would be morally gut-punching about 30 minutes into the story, the beginning of the "Order" part, when we learn that ADA Samantha ("Sam") Maroun's sister was years ago one of the victims of the killer who would be on trial.  Executive ADA Nolan Price, who will be prosecuting the case in court, wants Sam to have a minimal role in this prosecution, but of course she doesn't, and in her zeal to see the killer brought to justice she coaches a witness to make sure he gives a conclusive ID of the suspect.  Nolan struggles with whether to let the defence attorney know.  The DA Nick Baxter subtly advises Nolan to forget that he knows what Sam did, but after agonizing over what to do, Nolan plays by rules. This in turn also of course results in the arrogant smirking killer being found not guilty.

And things only get worse from there.  Not only is killer found not guilty, he's soon shot dead.  Nolan pays Sam a visit.  He knocks on her door.  She opens it.  "Please tell me you had on nothing to do with this," Nolan says to her.  Sam, looking stricken (as she has for most of this episode), slams the door in his face.

Now the question of whether to take justice into your own hands is one which has arisen not only in crime fiction but science fiction, where the question of whether it would be right for a time traveler to kill Hitler as a baby has been considered in more than one narrative.  It would be hard to ipso facto say that course of action is out of the question, and the same is true about Sam and the man she knows brutally murdered her sister.  But I have to say I think there's a good chance that Sam didn't do it.  The parents of the latest victim were in court when their daughter's sicko killer was declared "not guilty," and they looked none too happy.  Sam's stricken look at the end of the episode (especially fine acting by Odelya Halevi as Sam and Hugh Dancy as Nolan in this episode, by the way) could well have been not one of guilt for what she did, but one of anger at Nolan for thinking she might have murdered her sister's killer.

The good thing about season rather than series finales is we'll learn more in September, when Law & Order will return for its next season.  Have a great summer!

See also Law & Order 22.16: The "Luigi Mangioni" Case

Paul Levinson interviews Tom Cooper re: Wisdom Weavers: The Lives & Thought of Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan

Transcript of Complete Zoom Chat that Took Place During Interview

00:26:23 PHILIP MORAIS: Hi Tom. Hi Paul. Good to see you both.

00:32:32 Joe Kennedy: @#$%^&(!!

00:33:05 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Boa noite from São Paulo, Brazil! 🖖🌟

00:33:08 Michael McLuhan: Greetings from the Estate of Marshall McLuhan in Canada NOT THE 51ST STATE!

00:33:17 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "@#$%^&(!!" with 😁

00:33:20 Dr Greg Lewicki: Reacted to @#$%^&(!! with "😁"

00:33:23 Robin Levenson: Reacted to "Greetings from the E…" with 😂

00:33:31 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Greetings from the E..." with 😁

00:33:32 Dr Greg Lewicki: Reacted to Greetings from the E... with "😂"

00:35:01 Renee Peterson: Greetings from Australia 🇦🇺

00:35:14 jessicanicolet: Reacted to "Greetings from the E..." with ❤️

00:35:17 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Greetings from Austr..." with ❤️

00:35:51 Dr. Mary Donohue: Reacted to "Greetings from the E…" with 😂

00:35:59 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Greetings from the E..." with ❤️

00:37:03 Renee Peterson: Reacted to "Greetings from the E..." with ❤️

00:37:10 Renee Peterson: Reacted to "Boa noite from São P..." with ❤️

00:37:13 Thomas Klinkowstein: Greeting from Soho in Manhattan 🙂

00:37:17 Renee Peterson: Reacted to "Greeting from Soho i..." with ❤️

00:37:33 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Greeting from Soho i..." with ❤️

00:38:03 jessicanicolet: Reacted to "Boa noite from São P..." with ❤️

00:38:19 jessicanicolet: Reacted to "Greeting from Soho i..." with ❤️

00:38:25 jessicanicolet: Reacted to "Greetings from Austr..." with ❤️

00:38:52 Dr Greg Lewicki: Reacted to Greetings from Austr... with "❤️"

00:38:53 jessicanicolet: Howdy from Kansas

00:38:55 Dr Greg Lewicki: Reacted to Greeting from Soho i... with "❤️"

00:39:00 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Howdy from Kansas" with ❤️

00:39:06 Dr Greg Lewicki: Reacted to Howdy from Kansas with "🍻"

00:39:38 Phoebe Loew 'student': Greetings from Los Angeles!

00:39:49 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Greetings from Los A..." with 🌟

00:39:53 Renee Peterson: Reacted to "Greetings from Los A..." with ❤️

00:40:03 jessicanicolet: Reacted to "Greetings from Los A..." with ❤️

00:41:08 Dr Greg Lewicki: Reacted to Boa noite from São P... with "❤️"

00:41:45 Dr Greg Lewicki: Reacted to Greetings from Los A... with "🌟"

00:43:44 Thomas Klinkowstein: Reacted to "Greetings from Los A..." with ❤️

00:43:46 Thomas Klinkowstein: Reacted to "Howdy from Kansas" with ❤️

00:43:47 Thomas Klinkowstein: Reacted to "Greetings from Austr..." with ❤️

00:43:48 Thomas Klinkowstein: Reacted to "Greetings from the E..." with ❤️

00:43:50 Thomas Klinkowstein: Reacted to "Boa noite from São P..." with ❤️

00:43:54 Thomas Klinkowstein: Reacted to "@#$%^&(!!" with 😁

00:45:21 Howard: Greetings and salutations from Winnipeg, Manitoba where Marshall McLuhan grew up from ca. 1915 to 1934 upon graduating from the University of Manitoba to continue his studies at Cambridge University, England. Regards, Howard R. (J.) Engel, President & C.E.O. The Marshall McLuhan Initiative Inc.

00:45:32 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Greetings and saluta..." with 😲

00:50:42 Robin Levenson: Media Ecology was NEIL POSTMAN

00:51:40 Michael McLuhan, Estate of Marshall McLuhan: Regarding Gutenberg Galaxy, the contract was signed in that name in early '61 and the book was in progress from at least 1959.

00:52:04 williambuxton: Didn’t MM use a phrasing similar to media ecology somewhere?

00:52:36 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Media Ecology was NE..." with 🤔

00:53:17 Renee Peterson: Thank you for discussion on ‘media ecology’ I am currently finishing my final edits of my literature review for my PhD thesis featuring media ecology + celebrity + social media influencers + traditional media personality. I am now thinking about my chapter on media ecology.

00:53:42 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Thank you for discus..." with 👏

00:55:00 Michael Grabowski’s iPhone: Our brains fill in the gaps from incomplete perceptions

00:56:33 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Replying to "Thank you for discus..."

How great Renee! I'd like to read your PhD thesis as soon as it's ready. 

00:56:57 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Our brains fill in t..." with 👍

00:57:11 Renee Peterson: Reacted to "How great Renee! I'd..." with ❤️

00:57:56 Renee Peterson: Replying to "Thank you for discus..."

Thank you! Fingers crossed submitted this year and finalised. Can you please connect with me via LinkedIn? https://www.linkedin.com/in/renee-peterson/

00:58:46 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Thank you! Fingers c..." with ❤️

00:59:28 Robin Levenson: Neil was my teacher & head of my dissertation committee  & I believe he said he came up with Media Ecology to name our Dept.

00:59:49 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Replying to "Thank you for discus..."

I don't have any social networks (I'm from the 19th century), but I'll save this link of yours. Thanks :)

01:00:10 Renee Peterson: Replying to "Thank you for discus..."

no worries - here is my email: renee.peterson@me.com please connect

01:00:20 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Neil was my teacher ..." with 😲

01:00:30 Dr Greg Lewicki: Reacted to Thank you for discus... with "👍"

01:00:38 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "no worries - here is..." with ❤️

01:01:15 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Replying to "Thank you for discus..."

Got it! I finished my PhD last year and it will be a pleasure to talk to you!

01:01:15 Howard: AI is " A-1" according the U.S. Secretary of Education because we have so much stake in it. -- HR(J)E

01:01:50 Renee Peterson: Reacted to "Got it! I finished m..." with ❤️

01:01:59 Renee Peterson: Replying to "Thank you for discus..."

Congratulations! Amazing!

01:02:27 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "AI is " A-1" accordi..." with 🤖

01:02:28 Dr Greg Lewicki: Replying to "AI is " A-1" accordi..." 

 Absolutely. I work with military forecasters on that issue and it will be - already is - a multiplier of state power

01:03:36 Robin Levenson: Replying to "Thank you for discus…"

Yes, I finished mine in 2007 but feels like yesterday…..

01:03:51 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Congratulations! Ama..." with ❤️

01:03:55 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Yes, I finished mine..." with ❤️

01:04:14 Dr Greg Lewicki: Reacted to AI is " A-1" accordi... with "🤖"

01:05:30 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Replying to "Thank you for discus..."

(The truth is: it ‘never’ ends, because we keep wanting to learn... the research bug is contagious...)

01:05:39 Renee Peterson: Reacted to "(The truth is: it ‘n..." with 😂

01:06:08 Robin Levenson: Reacted to "(The truth is: it ‘n…" with 😂

01:08:21 John Donovan: Reacted to "(The truth is: it ‘n..." with 😂

01:13:25 Gabriel Kennedy: Replying to "Thank you for discus..."

How much of an influence was Joyce on McLuhan?

01:14:24 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "How much of an influ..." with 📚

01:16:25 williambuxton: Replying to "Thank you for discus..."

big! particularly Finnegans Wake.

01:17:01 Michael McLuhan, Estate of Marshall McLuhan: Reacted to "big! particularly Fi..." with 🎉

01:17:56 williambuxton: Replying to "Thank you for discus..."

Innis gave MM’s Mechanical Bride as an Xmas present to his son.

01:18:22 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Innis gave MM’s Mech..." with 😲

01:18:28 Tripp Whetsell: Replying to "Thank you for discus..."

What was your biggest surprise about McLuhan in terms of new discoveries while writing this book and were there any particularly formidable hurdles you had to overcome in writing it?

01:18:38 Dr Greg Lewicki: Quantum computing will boost AI. No opposition between the two here :)

01:20:30 williambuxton: Did you have much contact with A.J. Watson when doing your PhD?

01:27:44 Laura Trujillo: Congratulations to both!! This interview was great!!

01:28:16 Dr Greg Lewicki: Thank you for the invitation and insightful interview! I have to succumb to 3AM momentum in Europe. My utmost pleasure, let's stay in touch via LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grzegorzlewicki 

best regards, Greg

01:29:11 Prof. Paul Levinson: Thanks for attending this event, Greg!

01:29:18 Dr Greg Lewicki: Reacted to Thanks for attending... with "❤️"

01:30:04 Renee Peterson: Congratulations @tomcooper - this was amazing! Very insightful and inspiring! Thank you @Prof. Paul Levinson  for the invitation - I look forward to watching the recording of the questions. I am off to teach at The University of Melbourne. It was great to see familiar faces and new faces! Please feel free to connect with me via LinkedIn. Have a great day or evening!

01:31:06 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Congratulations @tom..." with ❤️

01:31:36 Prof. Paul Levinson: Thanks for coming by, Renee!

01:33:01 David Nostbakken: A mater class, Tom! Would loved to have been your student. Looking forward to your full book. Good on you. Unfortunately I have another session at 9:00 and must step away.

01:33:11 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "A mater class, Tom! ..." with ❤️

01:36:33 Joe Kennedy: For anyone looking for the Raise Hand, Click Reactions on the bottom and there's an option.

01:36:52 williambuxton: Innis’s daughter Anne often remarked on her fathers

01:36:53 Joe Kennedy: Not very intuitive IMO.

01:36:55 Prof. Paul Levinson: Thanks for coming to our interview, Laura — and thanks for all the promotion!

01:37:07 Laura Trujillo: Reacted to "Thanks for coming to…" with 👌

01:38:40 williambuxton: Fathers good sense of humour. This comes across in his correspondence

01:39:57 Michael Grabowski’s iPhone: Reacted to "Our brains fill in t…" with 👍

01:44:01 williambuxton: Very enjoyable! I look  forward to seeing the book. I have to go.

01:45:45 Gabriel Kennedy: Thank you for hosting this great conversation Paul. Best of luck with the book, Tom. It sounds like a great read.

01:46:28 Prof. Paul Levinson: Thanks for coming by, Gabriel!

01:49:41 Howard: As McLuhan said "There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew."

01:51:07 franklobuono@optonline.net LoBuono: It's tough enough for me!! LOL

01:52:00 Prof. Paul Levinson: Reacted to "As McLuhan said "The..." with 👍

01:52:36 Morgan Stone: I have to head out, but thank you so much for the talk! It was very insightful, and has been a fascinating conversation. Have a great evening!

01:52:36 Michael McLuhan, Estate of Marshall McLuhan: There is a McLuhan for young adults: Marshall McLuhan Wise Guy by Judith Fitzgerald . It is very good.

01:53:04 Prof. Paul Levinson: Thanks for coming to our interview, Morgan!

01:53:50 Prof. Paul Levinson: Replying to "There is a McLuhan f..."

Thanks — good to know!

01:54:46 Michael McLuhan, Estate of Marshall McLuhan: Replying to "There is a McLuhan f..."

Great job here Paul. Great book Tom! I must check out though.....

01:55:35 Howard: Another good title along these lines is W. Terrence Gordon's "McLuhan for Beginners" (2012)

01:56:28 Four Arrows, aka Don Jacobs: I think it would be useful to have Marshall here today. He did not hire me after my making it to his top three candidates in Marin County. He told me there was only on reason that was full of many possible reasons (or words to that effect.) He had asked me how many hours I slept each night and I told him, as an athlete, I sleep an average of 8 hours.  He said he did not think I would work out. I thought at first it was about work hours, but do you think it was that it’s also possible he saw 8 hours of sleep as a sign of being too "normal" or perhaps not radically committed enough. He surrounded himself with people who were intensely driven—sometimes to a fault, perhaps, but, I wish he were part of our team today!

01:57:59 franklobuono@optonline.net LoBuono: This was terrific!! So nice to meet everyone!! :)

01:58:32 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "This was terrific!! ..." with 😎

01:58:38 Kathy Merlock Jackson: Thanks for an enlightening interview and discussion.

01:58:51 Prof. Paul Levinson: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DM4GZ99J/ref=nosim/?tag=dexter2a-20

01:59:10 Matthew Lindia: Thanks! Great interview and insights!

01:59:42 Thomas Klinkowstein: Thank you Tom and Paul. A wonderful 90 minutes!

01:59:49 franklobuono@optonline.net LoBuono: Reacted to "Thank you Tom and Pa..." with 👍

01:59:52 Four Arrows, aka Don Jacobs: Thanks Tom , fourarrows73@gmail.com  or fourarrowsbooks.com

01:59:52 Prof. Paul Levinson: Thanks Tom!

01:59:58 tomcooper: Replying to "Thank you Tom and Pa..."

twcooper@comcast.net

02:00:08 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "twcooper@comcast.net" with 🖖

02:00:29 tomcooper: Tom Cooper  twcooper@comcast.net

02:00:45 PHILIP MORAIS: Replying to "Thank you Tom and Pa..."

Great talk.

02:00:46 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Muito agradecida! Grazie!!! Thanks 🙂 Great conversation. 📚

02:01:08 franklobuono@optonline.net LoBuono: Perfetto!!!!

02:01:19 Fabiola Ballarati Chechetto: Reacted to "Perfetto!!!!" with 😎

02:01:34 Michael Helm: Thanks so much for doing this and hope for more!

02:01:36 Howard: Many thanks fo a most enlightening and engaging evening.  Congratulations to Tom for a total de force of a book on two of Canada's world class thinkers! -- HR(J)E