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George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.
22 December 2024: The three latest written interviews of me are here, here and here.
Some initial thoughts about the Season 4 two-hour finale of Lost (and a brief note about the very significant bit of extra footage in the replay of Lost 4.12) - with more surely to follow...
1. I had been thinking Ben was most likely in the coffin for most of this season before this evening ... with Locke, and, to a lesser extent, Michael, as possibilities. But Ben seemed too obvious as tonight's story unfolded - everything that he did made us want to hate him more, and we already knew he was off the island. So I began thinking Locke again. Still and all, I can't quite see why Kate would have such disdain for Locke (in contrast to Ben). On yet another hand, there's Jeremy Bentham and John Locke both being names of philosophers.
2. Where did the island move? No need to think it moved in space. Much more intriguing to think it moved in time - maybe to somewhere in the near future, where it will reappear in Season 5 or 6. (Time travel is becoming increasingly central to Lost - with Desmond's mental projection through time, the island and the ship being in different times this season, and now perhaps the island moving into the future.)
3. I'm thinking Jin survived the massive explosion on the boat. He was on the deck, and could have jumped into the water. (Unlike Michael, whose time had clearly come, as indicated by Christian.) Jin could have survived in the water, until some other boat picked him up.
4. It was great to see Desmond and Penny together. Their happiness is by no means assured, however, with Ben out to kill Penny.
5. Is Sun really going to be working with Widmore? I doubt it - I'd say she's infiltrating his organization.
6. Back to Locke in the coffin: If he's taken back the island, he will likely end up not dead. Indeed, dying - if he did commit suicide - may have been part of his plan to help get the Oceanic Six back home...
We'll see next year...
And presumably, Boone, Libby, and Charlie will have some role ... They were mentioned as three who survived the crash of Oceanic 815, but didn't make it, in the expanded press conference with Jack talking tonight. Charlie makes sense - he recently died, and his body might be floating somewhere. But why Boone and Libby?
Paul Levinson, Dominic Chianese, and David Lavery at the high point of The Sopranos: A Wake, a scholarly consideration of The Sopranos, at Fordham University, May 22-24, with more than fifty scholarly papers. (Photo by Kim Akass)
America began in response to what we see in the final two episodes of The Tudors' second - and thank goodness, not final - season.
Torture to get confessions, executions for no good reason other than the whim of the government - in this case, a psychotic King Henry VIII - these are the things that Thomas Jefferson and our Founding Fathers tried to make sure would never happen in America, by insisting on a Bill of Rights for our Constitution.
And the torture and the beheadings were searingly portrayed on The Tudors. The execution of Anne was more harrowing and indelible than any I've seen in any movie.
How could reasonable people allow this to happen? The answer, clearly, was that in the 1500s we were less removed from sheer barbarism that we might assume or suppose.
George Boleyn beheaded on the strength of a hug or two he gave his sister Anne. Henry Norris executed on no evidence at all. A Jesuit assassin lies to bring Anne down - he says he slept with Anne - and he's beheaded. Mark Smeaton the musician denies any carnal knowledge of Anne - because he had none - until torture makes him falsely confess it. He's beheaded, too.
But nothing compares in sheer power - in acting and rendering for the screen - of the beheading of Anne. Natalie Dormier's performance was as memorable as it gets. I'll certainly never forget it.
And Nick Dunning as Thomas Boleyn, Anne's father, was extraordinary, as well. He's thrilled not go to the grim reaper, even as his son has just gone there, and his daughter soon will. Charles Brandon expresses our outrage at Thomas, who soon proceeds to leave the tower, freed. He looks back up an Anne's window. She smiles at him, still loving her father, happy to see that he, at least, will live. He turns his back on her, and just walks on. He set much of this game in motion, and he walks away when the stakes turn deadly. (I wonder how much of this Thomas Boleyn of The Tudors really lived in the real Thomas Boleyn of history.)
Yes, this is the depravity that America was born as an action against, less than two centuries later. We have done a fair job of keeping to the better road - though torture apparently has not been beyond the tools of the current administration.
But that's a story for another blog post, when I review Recount, on HBO. For now, I'll just say the juxtaposition of The Tudors and our election in American is no coincidence in this cosmos.
Bravo to a great cast and a great second season. My only regret was not seeing more of Peter O'Toole as Pope in the last few episodes - but I hope to see that corrected next season.
Barack Obama came out swinging today in a South Dakotan town hall meeting and subsequent press conference - tough, eloquent, intelligent response to Bush and McCain's slurs about Democratic "appeasement".
Among the highlights of what Obama said -
.The Bush administration, supported by McCain, is responsible for the strengthening of Iran - a consequence of the U.S. destruction of Iran's enemy, Iraq, and on the basis of weapons of mass destruction which were never found.
.American Presidents ranging from Kennedy to Nixon to Reagan were unafraid to sit down and talk with our enemies, because they understood that talk is not at all the same as appeasement.
.Hamas was strengthened by the Bush administration's pushing of elections in the Palestinian territories before those places were ready. And - it was McCain, not Obama, who called for talks with Hamas several years ago, before McCain adopted the Bush agenda.
.Obama also made a good, clarifying statement about the Second Amendment: he supports it, but also supports regulation of guns, which he sees as not in conflict with the Second Amendment. (I agree. Unlike the First Amendment, which says "Congress shall make no law" restricting press and speech, the Second Amendment says "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed". This means that regulation of guns is permissible under the Second Amendment, as long as that regulation does not infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens to bear arms. In contrast, the First Amendment permits "no law" regulating speech of press. Obama didn't say all of this, but his position on the Second Amendment is consistent with it.)
.Obama challenged McCain to debate him about foreign policy, any time.
Such a debate will go a long way towards insuring Obama's substantial victory in November. Some parts of the world may indeed not yet be ready for Jeffersonian democracy, as Obama said today. But the United States surely is. Indeed, the time has never been better for presentation of rational arguments to counter the propaganda that has washed over our nation for nearly eight years - presentation of reason in response to distortion and misrepresentation, in response to McCain and Bush, as Obama did today.
The single most astonishing, reassuring image in tonight's thrilling episode 4.12 of Lost was Hurley's sequence numbers on the odometer of his red car, in his part of the ensemble Oceanic Six flashforward shortly after they are back into some kind of semblance of a normal life...
Lost has been making a fabulous attempt this season to give rational explanations - or, at least explanations not totally beyond the pale of understanding - for some of the major puzzles and mysteries of the past few years. We got an inkling of why Locke is the way he is, a little more about what makes Ben and the island tick, some powerful insights into Desmond's capacity to see the future ...
But those numbers. They never made sense in the past, and seeing them again tonight, at Hurley's birthday party in the flashfoward, brings home how stubbornly they defy any rational explanation. Why do they keeping coming up in Hurley's life? It's tempting to think they are just part of Hurley's delusion - but others have seen them earlier in the series. Tonight, Hurley's father apparently sees them, but we can't be 100% sure what he's seeing. All that we can be sure of is the numbers are reminding us that there's a deep, fascinating part of Lost that is as yet totally inexplicable - part of what makes this series so great. The inexplicable coincidence.
Otherwise, we see Sun establishing control over her father's company back in Korea in the future, before she will have her baby. Will this be a third quasi-corporate force, to play some role in the battle between Widmore and Ben?
We see Sayid happy with Nadia ... heartbreaking, because we know what will soon happen to her.
And we see Jack learning that Claire was his sister. This is why he has so much trouble being near Aaron - who reminds Jack that he didn't come through for his sister back on the island ...
Where a lot is converging on the Orchid ... Jack and Sawyer, Kate and Sayid and Richard's Others, Locke and Ben and Hurley ... and Keamy's killers ...
And back on the boat ... well, something's on the verge of exploding it out of existence ... and separating Sun and Jin, and who knows about Michael (who wants desperately to die), and Desmond (who wants desperately to live, now that he's in contact with Penny)...
All the players are still in process of being shaken up and together and apart and back together - to form the Oceanic Six and those left on the island and who knows where else...
But we'll have to wait two, too long weeks to find out.
Chris Matthews was at his best on Hardball tonight, taking talk-show host Kevin James apart on his inability to say what Neville Chamberlain did wrong in his appeasement of Adolf Hitler before World War II. The correct answer, of course, is that Chamberlain allowed Hitler to carve up Czechoslovakia - which emboldened rather than satisfied the Nazis, and led directly into World War II.
The wrong answer is that Chamberlain talked to Hitler. Talking wasn't the problem - giving away a piece of a sovereign country, in the hope that it could be bring peace, was the problem.
Matthews made all of that very clear.
It's especially helpful to keep that in mind, today, in the aftermath of Bush's comment in his address to the Israeli parliament, comparing Americans who want to talk to Iranian leaders to appeasers of the Nazis.
Barack Obama wasn't mentioned by name, but he was clearly the main target. Unsurprisingly, McCain issued a statement that agreed with Bush. (Click here for McCain's statement, and links to Obama's response.)
I've got to say that I never bought the idea that Bush's stumbling speech somehow was an unfortunate connection to a generous mind and soul. In contrast, Bush's words are carefully considered, and express a dangerous, almost paranoid mind. This was the mindset that got us into Iraq in search of nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. It was the mindset that led Bush to even indirectly compare Barack Obama to Neville Chamberlain before the Israeli parliament. And it's the mindset that McCain buys into.
But it's not the mindset of Barack Obama, who believes we can do better than saber-ratting, who wants to talk to our adversaries, as we keep America strong.
Hillary Clinton and other Democrats were quick to jump on Bush for his inapt analogy.
I'm heartened to see the media jumping on it, too.
The most significant election result tonight was not Hillary Clinton's big win over Barack Obama in West Virginia, but Democrat Travis Childers' win over Republican Greg Davis in the 1st Congressional district in northern Mississippi.
Why is Childers' victory so important? In addition to having a name that seems to come right out of some great work of Southern fiction or an early rock 'n' roller, Childers was stridently opposed by Republicans who sought to link him to Barack Obama.
The technique not only failed, but showed the kind of coattails Obama will have in the general election this Fall. Americans are tired of the Republicans, plain and simple. In Mississippi, the failure of the Bush administration in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath is all too close at hand. In Mississippi and everywhere around the country, Americans are fed up with high gas prices, the flagging economy, and the war in Iraq.
Hillary Clinton's victory speech in West Virginia tonight - one of her best - in fact spoke of those things. The fact is the Republicans have done such a poor job these past eight years that any Democrat can win.
But Hillary Clinton's win in West Virginia won't have any effect on Obama's getting the Democratic nomination - the state is far too small, and the win far too late in the process.
She would make a fine Vice Presidential candidate, in what I'm expecting to be a landslide for Obama and the Democrats in the general election this November.
for up-to-date conference information, requests for interviews, etc. - email levinson.paul@gmail.com or call Paul Levinson at 718-817-4863
IMPORTANT ADVISORY: Some of the language in the following program, quoted from episodes of The Sopranos, may be offensive to some people. Please know that we intend no offense to anyone with any of the language. Indeed, to the contrary, we are endeavoring in this conference to discuss, in a scholarly forum, the use of this language in a multiple-Emmy-award-winning television series, and its impact on our culture. Similarly, we expressly do not endorse, and in fact disagree with, any ethnic or gender stereotyping that any individual or group may derive from any of the conference presentations, or this conference as a whole. Again, to the contrary, one of the very purposes of this conference is to assess and analyze ethnic and gender stereotyping on television.
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The Sopranos: A Wake
Program at a Glance
All events at Fordham University, Lincoln Center
Lowenstein Hall, at 60th Street and Columbus Avenue
Track A: 9:00am-10:00am
Session 2a-Featured Speaker: Jason Jacobs [LL 310]
Session 2b—Featured Speakers: Kim Akass and Janet McCabe [LL 311]
10:00am-10:30am: Coffee [Pope Auditorium]
Track B: 10:30am-12:15pm
Session 3—Film Form and Filmmaking [LL 305]
Session 4—Therapy [LL 307]
Session 5— Ethnic Identities and the Italian Question [LL 310]
Session 6—Women and Gender I [LL 311]
Track E: 9:00am-10:00am
Session 11—Featured Speaker: Robin Nelson [LL 310]
Session 12—Featured Speaker: Martha Nochimson [LL 311]
10:00am-10:30am: Coffee [Pope Auditorium]
Track F: 10:30am-12:15pm
Session 13—Creating Narratives [LL 305]
Session 14—Intertextuality I [LL 307]
Session 15—Healthcare and Food [LL 310]
Session 16—Women and Gender II [LL 311]
12:15pm-1:45pm: Lunch Break
Track G: 1:45pm-3:30pm
Session 17—Intertexuality II [LL 305]
Session 18—Whiteness and Cultural Privilege [LL 307]
Session 19—Masculinity and Gender [LL 310]
Session 20—Role-Playing and Negotiating [LL 311]
3:30pm-4:00pm: Coffee [Pope Auditorium]
Track H: 4:00pm-5:00pm
Session 22—Featured Speaker: George De Stefano [LL 307]
Session 23—Featured Speaker: Jimmie Reeves [LL 311]
5:00pm-5:30pm: Coffee, Book Signing [Pope Auditorium]
Conclusion: 5:30pm-7:00pm
Session 24—Fade to Black: The Finale and The Sopranos Legacy [Pope Auditorium]
Featured Speakers: Maurice Yacowar, Doug Howard, Paul Levinson
Chair: David Bianculli
The Sopranos: A Wake: Sessions
Fordham University, New York (May 22-24, 2008)
All events at Fordham University, Lincoln Center
Lowenstein Hall
60th Street and Columbus Avenue
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
7:00pm: Opening Session [Lincoln Center 816] Housekeeping: Doug Howard (Suffolk Community College) Welcome: Paul Levinson (Fordham University) Session 1 Featured Speakers:
Gary Edgerton (Old Dominion U), “The Sopranos as Tipping Point in the Second Coming of HBO”
David Lavery (Brunel University), “Made Men to Mad Men: What Matthew Weiner Learned from David Chase”
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Friday, May 24, 2008
8:00am-9:00am: Registration, Coffee [Pope Auditorium]
9:00am-10:00am Track A
Session 2a [LL 310]—Featured Speaker: Jason Jacobs (U Queensland), “Christopher, Osama and AJ: Contemporary Narcissism and Terrorism in The Sopranos”
Session 2b [LL 311]—Featured Speakers: Kim Akass and Janet McCabe (Manchester Metropolitan U), “ ‘Blabbermouth Cunts’: The Sopranos and the Feminist Dilemma”
10:00am-10:30am: Coffee [Pope Auditorium]
10:30am-12:15pm: Track B Session 3 [LL 305]—Film Form and Filmmaking
Chair: Cameron Golden
Jody Malcolm (U West Florida), “The Final Analysis: Epiphany and the Possibility for Redemption in The Sopranos and ‘A Good Man is Hard to Find’”
Cameron Golden (Independent Scholar), “The Producers: The Dangers of Filmmaking in The Sopranos”
William Siska (U of Utah), “The Sopranos as Art Cinema”
Session 4 [LL 307]—Therapy
Chair: David Pattie
Matthew Leporati (Fordham U), “ ‘Sometimes what happens in here is like taking a shit’: Confession and Identity in ‘The Test Dream’”
Bruce Plourde (Rowan U), “Tony and Dora: Mastering the Art of Counter-Transferrance”
David Pattie (U Chester), “ ‘Whatever happened to stop & smell the roses?’: The Sopranos as Anti-Therapeutic Narrative”
Session 5 [LL 310]—“Ethnic Identities and the Italian Question”
Chair: Frank Tomasulo
Jonathan J. Cavallero (Penn State U), “Honoring Our Ancestors: Using The Sopranos to Mobilize Italian/American Ethnic Identity”
Laura Cook Kenna (George Washington U), “ ‘I can’t turn the other cheek on this . . . My father was a Knight of Columbus’: ‘Christopher’ and the Contested Construction of Italian American Identity”
Frank Tomasulo (Florida State U), “The Gangster as Guinea Hero: The Complex Representation of Italian Americans in David Chase’s The Sopranos”
Session 6 [LL 311]—Women and Gender I
Chair: Joseph Walker
Andrée Betancourt (Louisiana State U), “The Rise and Shine of Claire Fisher and Meadow Soprano: Good Mourning Daughters”
Marisa Carroll (Independent Scholar), “ ‘When it comes to daughters, all bets are off’: Meadow Soprano and the Question of Familial Determinism in The Sopranos”
Joseph Walker (Independent Scholar), “ ‘What’s Different Between You and Me’: Carmela, the Audience, and the End”
12:15pm-1:45pm: Lunch Break
1:45pm-3:30pm: Track C Session 6a [Pope Auditorium] A Conversation with Dominic Chianese (Corrado "Uncle Junior" Soprano) with Paul Levinson and David Lavery
3:30pm-4:30pm: Coffee, Book Signing [Pope Auditorium]—Akass, Bianculli, Creeber, De Stefano, Edgerton, Jacobs, Lavery, Levinson, McCabe, Nelson, Nochimson, Peacock, Yacowar
4:30pm-6:00pm: Track D Session 10 [Pope Auditorium]—Images of Justice and The Sopranos
Chair: Barbara Villez (U of Paris 8)
Antonio Ingroia (Prosecutor Palermo, Italy)
Fabio Licata (Prosecutor Palermo, Italy)
James Keneally (Criminal Lawyer, New York) special presentation: Phil Scala (retired FBI organized crime squad supervisor): “The Real-Life Sopranos: The Crime Family in New Jersey upon which The Sopranos Was Based”
6:15pm-8:00pm: Track C2 Session 7 [LL 305]—Dreams
Chair: Cynthia Burkhead
Terry Carney (Butler U), “From Mafioso to Kevin Finnerty: The American Way”
Sven Weber (Independent Scholar), “The Sopranos: Asleep—The Dream Sequences and Their Reflection on Television Structure and Complexity”
Cynthia Burkhead (U North Alabama), “Fishes and Football Coaches, Oh My! The Narrative Necessity of Dreams in The Sopranos”
Session 8[LL 307]—Journalism, Poetry, and Silence in The Sopranos
Chair: Steven Peacock
Bastiaan Vanacker (Loyola U, Chicago), “Journalism in The Sopranos: Don’t Shoot the Messenger”
Rebecca Bobbitt (Middle Tennessee State U), “Slouching Toward Jersey: The Sopranos and Yeats”
Steven Peacock (U of Hertfordshire), “Silence in The Sopranos”
9:00am-10:00am: Track E Session 11 [LL 310]—Featured Speaker: Robin Nelson (Manchester Metropolitan U) “Author(iz)ing Chase: Questions of Worth in Valorizing The Sopranos” Session 12 [LL 311]—Featured Speaker: Martha Nochimson (Cineaste), “The Sopranos, Relatively Speaking”
10:00am-10:30am: Coffee [Pope Auditorium]
10:30am-12:15pm: Track F Session 13 [LL 305]—Creating Narratives in The Sopranos
Chair: Sean O’Sullivan
Robert Piluso (California State U Fullerton), “ ‘Funny about God, and fate, and shit like that’: The Imminent Unexpected in David Chase’s The Sopranos”
Ilaria Bisteghi (U of Bologna), “The New Serial Television: The Sopranos and The Relay Race-Like Text Structure”
Sean O’Sullivan (Ohio State U), “Episode Five, or When Does a Narrative Become What It Is?”
Session 14 [LL 307]—Intertexuality I
Chair: Al Auster
Lindsay Coleman (U Melbourne), “ ‘Echoes in Eternity’: Gladiator and The Sopranos”
Kenneth T. Rivers (Lamar U), “Carmela in Paris: Culture Shock and Architecture in the ‘Cold Stones’ Episode of The Sopranos
Al Auster (Fordham U), “The Sopranos and History”
Session 15 [LL 310]—Healthcare and Food
Chair: Michael Grynbaum
Dianna Lipp Rivers (Lamar U), “Hospital Scenes, Nursing, and Healthcare in The Sopranos”
Kathleen LeBesco and Peter Naccarato (Marymount Manhattan College), “A Family That Eats Together, Kills Together: Food as Metaphor in The Sopranos”
Michael Grynbaum (Harvard U), “Mangia Mafia! Food, Punishment, and Cultural Identity in The Sopranos”
Session 16 [LL 311]—Women and Gender II
Chair: Nancy Roche
Elizabeth Mauldin (Oglethorpe U), “Carmela Soprano as Emma Bovary: European Culture, Taste, and Class in The Sopranos”
Lyndsey Lefebvre (California State U Fullerton), “Carmela Soprano: Fighting Our Battle?”
Nancy Roche (Middle Tennessee State University), “The Last Temptation of Melfi”
12:15pm-1:45pm: Lunch Break
1:45pm-3:30pm: Track G Session 17 [LL 305]—Intertextuality II
Chair: Paul Wright
Paul Wright (Cabrini College), “Half a Wise Guy: Paulie Walnuts, Meet Tom Stoppard”
Carl Wilson (Brunel U), “ ‘Even Brendan Filone’s got an identity and he’s dead’: Christopher Moltisanti and the Reflexive Subjectivity of the Constructed Self”
Glen Creeber (U Wales Aberystwyth), “Comfortably Numb? The Sopranos, New Brutalism and the Last Temptation of Chris”
Session 18[LL 307]—Whiteness and Cultural Privilege
Chair: Christopher Kocela
Renee Curry (California State U, Monterey Bay), “ ‘Bianca isn’t black; she’s pretty tan’: Desire, Repulsion, and Whiteness in The Sopranos”
Andrea Dottolo (Worcester State College), “Wops and WASPS: Using The Sopranos to Teach about Race and Racism”
Christopher Kocela (Georgia State U), “ ‘All Caucasians Look Alike’: Dreams of Whiteness at the End of The Sopranos”
Session 19 [LL 310]—Masculinity and Gender
Chair: Paul Lumsden
Paul Lumsden (Grant MacEwan College), “Tony and the Bear”
Melinda Di Condio and David Thierring (Independent Scholars), “Christopher’s Arc: The Existential Search of the Generation Y Gangster”
Session 20 [LL 311]—Role-Playing and Negotiating
Chair: Sarah Swan
Frieda Pattenden (University of Munich), “Role-play Reading The Sopranos: “ ‘You are all white professional males between 25 and 45’”
Sharon Sutherland (U of British Columbia Faculty of Law) and Sarah Swan (Independent Scholar), “ ‘It’s not a negotiation’: Getting to Yes with Tony Soprano”
3:30pm-4:00pm: Coffee [Pope Auditorium]
4:00pm-5:00pm: Track H Session 22 [LL 307]—Featured Speaker: George De Stefano (Independent Scholar), “A ‘Finook’ in the Crew: Vito Spatafore, The Sopranos, and the Queering of the Mob Genre” Session 23 [LL 311]—Featured Speaker: Jimmie Reeves (Texas Tech U), “Tony Soprano as Feral Father: Patriarchy in the Age of Hybridity”
5:00pm-5:30pm: Coffee, Book Signing [Pope Auditorium]—Akass, Bianculli, Creeber, De Stefano, Edgerton, Jacobs, Lavery, Levinson, McCabe, Nelson, Nochimson, Peacock, Yacowar
5:30pm-7:00pm: Conclusion Session 24 [Pope Auditorium]—Fade to Black: The Finale and The Sopranos Legacy
Chair: David Bianculli (tvworthwatching.com)
Featured Speakers: Maurice Yacowar (U Calgary), “Unpredictable but Inevitable: That Last Shot”
Douglas Howard (Suffolk County Community College), “No Justice for All: The FBI, Cut to Black, and David Chase’s Final Hit”
Paul Levinson (Fordham U), “The Sopranos and the Closure Junkies”
And coming in Summer 2011: The Essential Sopranos Reader(University of Kentucky Press) ... papers and essays from the May 2008 Sopranos Symposium at Fordham University
More good revelatory Cylon on Cylon interactions in 4.6 of Battlestar Galactica - or, more specifically, Cylons killing Cylons, not in the civil war, but one on one...
The most significant was Six killing a sister Six. The angel of death Six was my favorite Six - the one who is in a life-and-death political struggle with Brother Cavil (Dean Stockwell). Her sister was a platinum blonde Six, much like the one who is cosmically intertwined with Baltar, and is currently under lock-and-key on the Galactica. The blonde Six on the Cylon ship kills someone from Starbuck's party - a woman who as part of the resistance had killed this Six back on new Caprica - and everyone with Starbuck, especially Anders (a secret four Cylon himself), takes umbrage. Anders, in fact, wants to kill this Six, and the lead Six takes it upon herself, as a way of keeping peace, to kill her sister. Since there's no Resurrection ship around, these deaths really count.
One of the Sharons also gets blasted - in this case, by a toaster, who is trying to protect the Hybrid Oracle from being unplugged. There is also an excellent scene of a whole group Sharons talking to each other.
Meanwhile, the Oracle reveals some mostly inexplicable clues to Starbuck. But one thing is crystal clear - D'Anna (Lucy Lawless) is coming back, and she will play a crucial role, since she has seen the final five Cylons (in contrast to the viewers, who have so far seen only four).
With each episode, the difference between the "good" Cylons and humans recedes...
Some wonderful, decisive moments in history have been brilliantly portrayed in the past few episodes of The Tudors on Showtime. I've currently seen 8 of the new season, thanks to Showtime On Demand.
My single favorite moment, being the media historian that I am, was Thomas Cromwell's introduction - to us as well as Archbishop Cranmer and George Boleyn - of a great "new weapon" for the Protestant reformers, in Episode 6: the printing press. This scene was right on in its portrayal of how monarchs such as Henry were able to harness the advantages of the press in their campaign to break free of Rome, and establish their national identities. (And James Frain superbly played Thomas Cromwell, as he does in every episode.)
As media historians such as Marshall McLuhan and Harold Innis explained back in the 1950s, and I elaborated upon in my 1997 The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution, books printed in English and other national vernaculars in Europe helped crystallize a powerful sense of nationhood. Those few who were able to read were able to see words in their own languages rather than Latin. Public education arose primarily to teach children how to read. More and more people became literate, the Church weakened, and the rise of national states was off and running.
That, however, was only Part I of the story of monarchs and printers. In Part II, which we will not likely see this season, printers begin to break free of the monarchs, and print tracts and pamphlets that were critical of the monarchies. This led to crackdowns by the monarchs, and informed Thomas Jefferson and his insistence on a free press, and a First Amendment insuring it, in America.
Back on The Tudors, the other great moment of historical drama is the Pope's gradual declaration of cultural war on Henry VIII. You couldn't ask for a better actor than Peter O'Toole to play Pope Paul III, and his every word rings with resonance and almost cosmic authority. It won't be enough to overthrow Henry in England, but it's a pleasure to see on TV.
The Tudors continues to be a feast for the historical intellect - and hey, the sex and romance and heartbreak are pretty good, too.
new review of New New Media, 2nd edition: "Paul Levinson's book is a much-needed work, both for its incisive, user-friendly overview of new new media and for its optimism about the positive potential of these technologies for society and democratic action." - Barna Donovan, Explorations in Media Ecology, February 2018
October 16, 2015: "Edward Snowden at Bard College" blog post by me September 2, 2015: "The Eye in the Sky in the Hand: How Cameras in Smartphones Are Finally Beginning to Bring Police to Justice," abstract of talk I'll be giving at Digital Culture Symposium at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia on December 3, 2015
December 8, 2014: Arabic edition of New New Media, published Dar Al-Fajr, Cairo, Egypt November 12, 2014: "Why I'm Against Net Neutrality" blog post; podcast
August 7, 2014: "The Medium of the Book: Fifty Years after Understanding Media" abstract of Keynote Address to be given by me September 25, 2014 at Baylor University Symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the publication of Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media.
April 30, 2014: "Tetrad on Eyeglasses Flipping into Google Glass" blog post by me April 6, 2014: "Tetrad on the Selfie" blog post by me March 30, 2014: Arabic translation of New New Media, 2nd edition, sent to press; to be published worldwide by Dar Al-Fajr Publishing, Cairo, Egypt; watch for announcement
July 15, 2012, Bob Mann, "Let's Consider the Source," 7:30pm-8pm, XM Public Radio Channel 133 and Sirius Channel 196
July 17, 2012, Steve Adubato, "One on One,"12:30am, WNET-TV (PBS)
May 10, 2012: cover of 2nd edition - first look:
March 1, 2012: revised, 2nd edition now in publisher's (Pearson's) hands! New edition is substantially different from the first, with new chapters, new chapter order, and lots of new topics (see below). There will be time for additional updates until the book goes to press - some time in late May. After the book is published, if any one sees any errors, please put them in a comment to this post, and I'll list them - with credit - in a new Errata section on this page.
February 23, 2012: revised, 2nd edition of New New Mediaoff to publisher (Pearson) in the next few days. Here is some of what's brand new in this edition: Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, Foursquare, Klout, novel-in-tweets, WikiLeaks, Anonymous, SOPA, KONY 2012, The Tea Party, The Arab Spring, The Indignatos, Occupy Wall Street, Revolution of the White Snow, US 2012 Presidential Election ... more details, including Table of Contents
February 14-15, 2012: 1st mentions of New New Media 2e (second edition) in the media ... in Politico, "Fox 'course correction' rankles some," Keach Hagey, February 14, 2012 ... in Mediaite, "Some Conservatives Are Upset Over Fox News’ Alleged Move To The Left," Nando Di Fino, February 15, 2012
December 21, 2011: contract received for 2nd, revised edition of New New Media ... willhave newbig chapter on Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, and the Resurgence of Direct Democracy (the last words I wrote for the 1st edition in June 2009 were about the use of social media in the Green Revolution in Iran) ... expansion of election chapter to include new new media analysis of the American election of 2012 ... a new chapter on FourSquare and the digital/real world mix ... expansion of hardware section to include iPads and Kindles ... rearranged table of contents with Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube much higher up, focus on new Facebook Timeline, and addition of Google+ ... and much more ... publication date: July 15 2012
February 20, 2011: New New Media in 4th printing ...
Stay up to date with my analysis of new new media developments since the publication of New New Media on September 3, 2009. My new blog series, published on different blogs, and recorded on different podcasts: What's Newer than New New Media:
4. November 15, 2009: Academe and the Decline of News Media, The Chronicle Review (Chronicle of Higher Education), 18 academics including me briefly discuss; I see no decline
5. November 30, 2009: Weep Not for Newspapers ... a 15-minute podcast on why I think the decline of newspapers may be the best thing for journalism and democracy
20. February 23, 2011: Lecture at St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY: "North Africa Shows the Medium is Still the Message: McLuhan at 100"
21. February 28, 2011: "The Long Story about the Short Medium: Twitter as a Communication Medium in Historical, Present, and Future Context" published in Journal of Communication Research, Seoul, Korea ... 6000+ word essay written January 11, 2011, read the online version here
22. April 19, 2011: Jose Antonio Vargas and I on Dylan Ratigan Show (MSNBC), talking about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and politics ...
23. April 20, 2011: Chinese edition of New New Media published -
24. May 24, 2011: I'm interviewed by the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB Lab) right before my Keynote Address in Barcelona - see video
25. May 24, 2011: A clip from my Keynote Address at McLuhan Galaxy conference, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB Lab), in Barcelona: "YouTube Looks at You"
30.
October 19, 2011, 7pm screening in Angelika Theater (NYC) of Connected movie by Tiffany Shlain, followed by talk by me about movie & Occupy Wall Street direct democracy (see my review of Connected)
31. October 22, 2011, panel about Occupy Wall Street on Good Day Street Talk, Fox-NY-5 television, taped October 20, in which I discuss the impact of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube and on the reemergence of direct democracy
32. January 17, 2012: Is Wikipedia Wrong To Go Dark For SOPA Protest? brief article by me in Mediaite ... short answer: yes, Wikipedia should have found a way to oppose SOPA (which I also strongly opposed) that did not disadvantage people (like students) who rely on Wikipedia as a resource.
September 3, 2009:New New Media published by Penguin/Pearson, Allyn & Bacon, in the U.S and Canada ... "international edition" also shipped ... October 10, 2009: Kindle edition published
In the Media:New New Media=in the newspapers= August 19, 2009 Baltimore City Paper article "A Million Conversations" by Joab Jackson ... August 25, 2009 The New York Times article "Love That Tweets" by Lisa Bernhard ... November 2, 2009 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article "Race puts Atlanta election on national media's radar" by Kristi E. Swartz ... November 10, 2009 Duke Chronicle article "New media, new athletes" by Andy Moore ... December 7, 2009 Yahoo News: Decade in Review article "You power: The decade’s new media revolution" by Laura E. Davis ... December 20, 2009 Christian Science Monitor article "Show Me the Money" (not available online) by Gloria Goodale, cited by Cynthia Kurtz in "Show Me the Village" post in Story Colored Glasses blog ... January 8, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Curtains for prime time's 'Jay Leno Show'?" by Gloria Goodale and Daniel B. Wood ... January 9, 2010 Philadelphia Inquirer article "Leno was in a bind" by Jonathan Storm ... January 10, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "NBC pulls plug on Jay Leno show's prime time experiment" by Gloria Goodale and Daniel B. Wood ... January 12, 2010 CNN.com article "Same-sex marriage and the YouTube debate" by Doug Gross ... January 12, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Conan O'Brien rebuffs Leno move, throws NBC late night into chaos" by Gloria Goodale and Daniel B. Wood ... January 20, 2010 Federal Computer Week article "Social media swings tight Massachusetts Senate race" by Doug Beizer ... February 5, 2010 Federal Computer Week article "Agencies on track to meet open gov deadline" by Doug Beizer ... April 2, 2010 The Globe and Mail (Toronto) article "Media players set to climb atop iPad's platform" by Susan Krashinsky ... May 15, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Is Greyson Chance's serendipitous YouTube rise a ruse?" by Gloria Goodale ... May 17, 2010 Los Angeles Times article "YouTube turns 5, can't wait to grow up" by Alex Pham .... June 2, 2010 (Polish) Gazeta article "YouTube robi różnicę" by Zbigniew Basara ... June 8, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Unsure how to vote in California primary election, many turn to Twitter" by Gloria Goodale ... June 9, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "BP buys 'oil spill,' related Internet search terms to manage message" by Gloria Goodale ... June 25, 2010 Minneapolis Star-Tribune article "Internet drives music biz’s tween angels" by Jon Bream ... June 30, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "With show's end, what Larry King leaves behind" by Gloria Goodale ... July 8, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Emmy nods" by Gloria Goodale ... July 14, 2010 Christian Science Monitorarticle "Is FCC 'running wild' with its big fines for 'fleeting expletives'?" by Gloria Goodale ... August 4, 2010 Politics Daily article "Lady Gaga: The Left's Answer to Sarah Palin?" by Suzi Parker ... August 19, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Google TV: Why Hollywood isn't running scared" by Gloria Goodale ... September 1, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "The Blaze: Why did Glenn Beck really want to start a website?" by Gloria Goodale ... September 7, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "'Restoring Truthiness': Could spoof of Glenn Beck rally happen?" by Gloria Goodale ... September 14, 2010 Reuters article "Celebrities discover the downside of Twitter" by Zorianna Kit ... September 17, 2010 Politico.com article "GOP's struggles play out on Fox" by Keach Hagey ... September 27, 2010 Politico.com article "The Fox primary: complicated, contractual" by Jonathan Martin and Keach Hagey ... October 8, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Katie Couric election series: A nod to Charles Kuralt or Facebook?" by Gloria Goodale ... October 13, 2010 The Daily Beast article "Current TV Plans to Reboot" by Peter Lauria ... October 25, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Stewart-Colbert rally aims: 1. Change politics, 2. Sell knickknacks" by Gloria Goodale ... October 27, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Wi-Fi, Hulu, DVR, and the end of the tube as we know it" by Matthew Shaer ... November 1, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "Sarah Palin and Jon Stewart agree on this: News media are bad influence" by Gloria Goodale ... November 10, 2010 Christian Science Monitor article "A tepid return for Conan O'Brien: Time to rethink late-night talk?" by Gloria Goodale ... November 11, 2010 Philadelphia Inquirer article "Coco's young clique remains fervent" by Jonathan Storm ... November 18, 2010 Attacat Brain (Scotland) article "Video for Business" by Tim Attacat ... December 29, 2010 The Independent (UK) article "The Serious Side of Jon Stewart" by Guy Adams ... January 5, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "TV's Web revolution sizzles at CES 2011: Can your cable company survive?" by Gloria Goodale ... January 18, 2011 Chronicle of Higher Education article "Stanford U. Tops New Ranking of Colleges’ Influence via Twitter" by Tushar Rae andChristian Science Monitor article "Without Steve Jobs, can Apple's 'very strong bench' step up?" by Gloria Goodale ... January 19, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Comcast-NBC Universal deal: Can company now crush its rivals?" by Gloria Goodale ... January 24, 2011 Toronto Star article "Obama address to test Washington’s spirit of civility" by Mitch Potter ... February 4, 2011 New York Daily News article "Battle to be best Super Bowl commercial 2011 already raging: Meet the contenders" by Lauren Johnston ... February 7, 2011 The Globe and Mail (Toronto) article "AOL taps into Arianna Huffington’s star power" by Susan Krashinsky ... February 13, 2011 The Journal News (Westchester, NY) article "What authors in White Plains will be reading" by Bill Cary ... February 18, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Stephen Colbert vs. Arianna Huffington: what their spat is really about" by Gloria Goodale ... March 3, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Charlie Sheen on Twitter: How much more damage can he do?" by Daniel B. Wood ... March 10, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "In NPR scandal, small radio stations stand to be biggest losers" by Gloria Goodale ... March 30, 2011 ABC News report "Social Media Jobs: Are They For You?" by Danielle Waugh ... March 31, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Bad times at the box office: Is it competition, the economy, or bad films?" by Gloria Goodale ... April 1, 2011 Success Magazine article "The Facebook Age" by Sally Deneen ... April 4, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Katie Couric and 'CBS Evening News.' Is it time for them to part ways?" by Daniel B. Wood and Gloria Goodale ... April 21, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "DirecTV: Would you pay $30 to see a new release in your living room?" by Daniel B. Wood ... May 9, 2011 Patriot Ledger article "Exploring blue highways of communication" by John Reilly ... May 13, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Ashton Kutcher joins 'Two and a Half Men.' Will the show do better or worse?" by Daniel B. Wood and Gloria Goodale ... May 22, 2011 Miami Herald article "With Oprah gone, who is going to tell us what we think?" by Glenn Garvin ... May 22, 2011 Chicago Daily Herald article "Suburban soap fans try to save show" by Jamie Sotonoff ... June 2, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Anthony Weiner Twitter hack? What he should have done" by Gloria Goodale ... June 26, 2011 The Sunday Times (of London) article "The daughter of Icarus [Arianna Huffington] brings her online gamble to Britain" ... June 30, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "What to do for Social Media Day? Get connected!" by Chloe Stepney ... July 11, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Will Rupert Murdoch's woes cross the Atlantic?" by Gloria Goodale ... July 12, 2011 Newark Star-Ledger article "The Planking craze: Strike a pose -- then post" by Amy Kuperinsky ... July 28, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Social media mayhem: when flash mobs go from benign to malign" by Gloria Goodale ... August 15, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "'Flash mobs' vs. law and order: BART protest adds fresh twist" by Daniel B. Wood ... August 16, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "BART puts social media crackdown in 'uncharted' legal territory" by Daniel B. Wood ... August 19, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "West Memphis Three: Internet campaign, Hollywood drove their release" by Brad Knickerbocker and Daniel B. Wood ... August 21, 2011 Boston Globe article "3-D TV is here! But do we really need to tune in?" by Matthew Gilbert ... September 26, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "'Lion King' success: Should Hollywood fall back in love with 3D?" by Gloria Goodale ... October 10, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Does 'Occupy Wall Street' have leaders? Does it need any?" by Daniel B. Wood and Gloria Goodale ... October 10, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "How Netflix went wrong: Qwikster was good for company, not the customer" by Gloria Goodale ... October 18, 2011 The Daily Beast article "IndyCar Driver’s Final Moments" by Allen St. John ... October 28, 2011 techne review of Connected movie by James David Patrick ... November 24, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "How a new video uploading website could be a game-changer for Occupy Wall Street" by Daniel B. Wood ... December 8, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Digging for political dirt? Twitter could be the source for you" by Gloria Goodale ... December 17, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Lowe's stores face protests for pulling ads from Muslim TV show" by Daniel B. Wood ... December 19, 2011 FoxNews.com article "When Despots Are Just Like Us: Kim Jong Il Death Announced on Celebrity Site" by Jo Piazza ... December 23, 2011 Christian Science Monitor article "Religiously active people more likely to engage in civic life, Pew study finds" by Gloria Goodale ... January 10, 2012 Success Magazine article "Paul Allen is No Second Act" by Sally Deneen ... January 26, 2012 European Journalism Centre Magazine article "The revolution will be televised, streamed and uploaded" by Amanda Lin Costa ... January 31, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Michelle Obama: Why is she going on Jay Leno?" by Daniel B. Wood ... February 6, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Was Madonna Super Bowl half-time show obscene?" by Gloria Goodale and Daniel B. Wood ... first mention of New New Media 2nd edition February 14, 2012 Politico article "Fox 'course correction' rankles some" by Keach Hagey and February 15, 2012 Mediaite article "Some Conservatives Are Upset Over Fox News’ Alleged Move To The Left" by Nando Di Fino ... February 23, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "National Enquirer ignites furor with Whitney Houston casket photo" by Daniel B. Wood ... March 5, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Los Angeles Times joins the crowd, erects pay wall for the news online" by Gloria Goodale ... March 15, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Steve Martin tweets 10 funniest tweets not tweeted by Steve Martin" by Daniel B. Wood ... March 17, 2012 Forbes article "Five Tips to Tweet to the Millions Like Steve Martin" by Anthony Wing Kosner ... March 18, 2012 Scotsman article "Cashmore by name, cashmore by nature" by Martyn McLaughlin ... March 22, 2012 FoxNews.com article "Robert Downey Jr. denies he is anonymous commenter spreading Hollywood dirt in blind items" by Jo Piazza ... March 25, 2012 Daily Mail article "Poison of the Twitter trolls" by Paul Scott ... April 3, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Katie Couric vs. Sarah Palin: why battle for morning show supremacy is so hot" by Gloria Goodale ... April 6, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "'Bully' downgraded to PG-13 as ratings system assailed from all sides" by Gloria Goodale ... April 12, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "'Caine's Arcade': sweet film starring pint-size entrepreneur goes viral (+video)" by Gloria Goodale ... April 16, 2012 Mashable article "What Apple’s Ebook Fiasco Means for Amazon and the Book Business" by Peter Pachal ... July 12, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Biggest loser in DirecTV-Viacom feud? Both." by Gloria Goodale ... August 1, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Gore Vidal: a celebrity, a life writ large" by Daniel B. Wood ... August 30, 2012 Fordham Notes "Changes In Media Landscape Reflected in New Edition of Professor’s Book" article by Patrick Verel ... August 31, 2012 Reuters article "Eastwood, empty chair hijack Republican media coverage" by Jill Serjeant and Piya Sinha-Roy ... September 10, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "Did 'No Easy Day' author compromise US security on '60 Minutes'?" by Daniel B. Wood ...September 14, 2012 NPR's Marketplace "Did pop culture embrace Occupy Wall Street?" interview by Dan Bobkoff ... September 19, 2012 Fordham Observer article "Colbert Media Blackout Broken by Tweets by Harry Huggins ... December 11, 2012 Christian Science Monitor article "New UC logo: Marketing blunder? Or is storm of criticism overblown?" by Daniel B. Wood ... January 8, 2013 Register Citizen article "The politics and economics of information on cable television" by Andy Thibault ... March 30, 2013 Maclean's article "Must-see TV or Mandatory Diversity?" by Emma Teitel ... April 23, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "False tweet sinks stock market. Is anyone checking this stuff?" by Gloria Goodale ... April 30, 2013 Pure Politics cn/2 article "In the age of 'viral' political ads, who can trust politicians' numbers?" by Jacqueline Pitt ... May 10, 2013 Associated Press article "Moms On Facebook: How Mothers And Kids Keep In Touch On The Social Network" by Martha Mendoza ... May 26, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "Why You Should Do Absolutely Nothing This Memorial Day" by Daniel B. Wood ... May 30, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "Is 'Arrested Development' a dud?" by Daniel B. Wood ... July 12, 2013 BBC Culture article "The Internship: One long ad for Google?" by Tom Brook ... August 1, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "Is President Obama helping Amazon take over the universe?" by Gloria Goodale ... August 2, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "Why Rolling Stone boycott backfired, as Tsarnaev cover flies off shelves" by Gloria Goodale ... August 6, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "Washington Post sale a sign respected brands will matter, even online" by Gloria Goodale ... August 8, 2013 Christian Science Monitor article "Cable wars: Time Warner and CBS head into Week 2 of standoff" by Daniel B. Wood and Gloria Goodale ... August 13, 2013 MSN Money article "Time to pick up a newspaper stock?" by Michael Brush ... August 21, 2013 Associated Press article "Facebook Aims to Get the World OnLine" by Barbara Ortutay ... March 10, 2014 Christian Science Monitor article "'Cosmos': Can Fox reboot shine amid 'billions and billions' of options?" by Gloria Goodale ... April 2, 2014 Pocono Record article "Northampton Community College Twitter trolls feed on outrage" by Christina Tatu ... April 8, 2014 Christian Science Monitor article "'Game of Thrones': Why the Buzz is So Big" by Gloria Goodale ... April 10, 2014 Christian Science Monitor article "Stephen Colbert to take over 'Late Show.' But who is Stephen Colbert, really?" by Gloria Goodale ... April 15, 2014 Christian Science Monitor article "Google Glass: Who pays $1,500 to be an 'explorer' and why?" by Gloria Goodale ... June 2, 2014 Christian Science Monitor article "FBI manhunt via social media?" by Gloria Goodale ... October 16, 2014 Christian Science Monitor article "First HBO, then CBS offer streaming" by Daniel Wood ... November 11, 2014 New York Post article "Overexposed celebs: Give it a breast!" by Alev Aktar ... February 11, 2015 Christian Science Monitor article "Beyond Jon Stewart" by Gloria Goodale ... June 27, 2016 Media Matters article "Media Experts Rip CNN For 'Profoundly Disturbing' Lewandowski Hiring" by Joe Strupp ... July 21, 2016 Associated Press article "Roger Ailes out as head of Fox News"... August 16, 2016 The Hill article "Networks brace for decision on Trump-Clinton debate refs" by Joe Concha ... August 27, 2016 Newsday article "Presidential debate panel faces ‘challenge’ in selecting moderators by" Yancey Roy ... September 15, 2016 Inside Higher Ed article "The Value of Media" by Syd Steinhardt ... September 20, 2016 Parade article "Why We Love Longmire, Heartland and Westerns In General" by Rachel Weingarten ... September 20, 2016 The Hill article "Trump-Clinton debate expected to shatter records" by Joe Concha ... =on radio=September 2, 2009, interviewed by Mike McConnell, 700 WLW Radio
Cincinnati, listen to podcast here ... September 15, 2009, interviewed on the Kojo Nnamdi NPR show, listen to podcast here ... throughout the day, September 20-21, 2009, segments of a 50-min interview on KNX Radio, Los Angeles ... October 8, 2009, interviewed by Barna Donovan and Ernabel Demillo, Culture Wars, WSPC Radio, Jersey City, NJ, listen to podcast here ... January 19, 2010, interviewed by Fred W. Hoffman, KCPS Radio, Burlington, Iowa, listen to podcast here ... February 24, 2010, interviewed by Gordon White, Social Media Podcast, Edinburgh, Scotland, listen here ... January 24, 2011, interviewed by Janet Babin on Marketplace, NPR, listen to podcast and read transcript here ... July 19, 2011, interviewed by Phillip Adams on LateNightLive, ABC National Radio (Australia), listen to podcast here ... July 21, 2011, interviewed by Brian Lehrer on WNYC, NPR, listen to podcast here ... July 21, 2011, interviewed by Jim Fleming on To the Best of our Knowledge, Wisconsin Public Radio, listen to podcast here ... August 17, 2011, Voice of RussiaRadio, interviewed about flash mobs and democracy ... October 6, 2011, At Issue, Wisconsin Public Radio, interviewed by Bill Merens about Steve Jobs (1 hour), listen to podcast here ... October 16, 2011 Steele Talkin, WCCO Radio (CBS all-news, Minnesota), interviewed by Jearlyn Steele about social media, Occupy Wall Street, political bullying (1 hour), listen to podcast here ... March 9, 2012 Joy Cardin, Wisconsin Public Radio, interview by Gene Purcell about new new media and political protest (30 mins), listen to podcast here ... July 9, 2012 Joy Cardin, Wisconsin Public Radio, interview about New New Media, 2nd edition (60 mins), listen to
podcast here ... =on television= December 10, 2009, on Fox Business Channel, Is AOL Obsolete? see video ... February 9, 2010, on NY Nightly News, Mainstream vs. New New Media Coverage of Gov. David Paterson NY Times "story," interview by Chuck Scarborough and Melissa Russo, see video ... March 8, 2010, on Fordham Nightly News, How I Came to Write New New Media, and more, interview by Tom Gallagher, see video ... October 14, 2010, on Quarrymen News, "MyBodega Agency," interview by Tom Gallagher, see video ... May 22, 2011, on NBC Nightly News, "O-shaped hole opening in fans hearts" I talk about Oprah Winfrey's significance (1:36-1:44 into video), see video ... July 16, 2012, on PBS WNET-TV "One on One" with Steve Adubato, 7-minute interview about New New Media, 2nd edition, see video ... July 27, 2013, on BBC World "Talking about Movies" with Tom Brook (I start about 50 secs into video), see video ... September 7, 2014: talking about Celebrity Photo Hacking, on Arise TV, see videoReviews
- by Robert K. Blechman, in Blogcritics:
Levinson’s down-to-earth discussion of the “new new” media is an effective introduction to the impact of cyberspace structures and institutions on our current media environment.
Levinson writes from his own experience, shares his own anecdotes, and delivers his theories based on his own first-hand evidence in a voice that is equal parts scholarly and conversational.... New New Media is an excellent resource for anyone wanting to learn about the current configuration of multimedia options.
This is the missing textbook to the course that everyone is taking .... an excellent primer for thoughtful engagement with the unfolding culture .... If there is a Luddite on your gift-giving list, New New Media would be an excellent choice.
“New New Media” fills a significant void in the discussion of Mass Media .... other books gesture at the origins and importance of the newest forms of media but simply fail to engage new social media as meaningfully or provocatively as Levinson’s book does .... More than any other examination of the subject I have seen, Levinson’s “New New Media" was written to help foster the imaginings of the possibilities of those new media in the widest audience. Those familiar with the new social media will have their assumptions challenged. Those unfamiliar with them will find the book to be a provocative introduction to the ways the newest forms of social media have been and could be used .... Levinson’s book was provocative for myself and my students and served as an excellent starting point for many class discussions .... If Levinson sees the ultimate goal of theorizing about these new social media as securing a new social imaginary where each individual has not just the right to free speech but also the opportunity and capability to exercise his or her individual voice in a medium accessible to the entire world then “New New Media” could be considered the cornerstone.
But does doubling the adjective of new media mean we’re just dealing in doubletalk? My friend Chuck who teaches at Boston’s Northeastern University, would say no. Last August, he expressed a frustration to me when he asked, “Why do people insist on calling computers and the Net ‘new’ media? I mean, they’ve been around for a couple decades now.” Chuck isn’t alone in his thinking. A Fordham professor and author, Paul Levinson, has just written a new book called, New New Media...
... if you want to understand the Brave New World, Levinson’s book wouldn’t be a bad place to start.
-by Bradley E. Wiggins, in Journal of Communications Media Studies, Fall 2010
New New Media is definitely a fine choice for media enthusiasts, students, professionals, or basically for anyone who would like to have a physical
reference or starting point for the ever-expanding and regenerative field of media and communications.
-by Paul Soukup, in Communication Research Trends, 2011, vol 30 no 1:
... a good place to start on new media, with an experienced guide.
... does a really good job of defining what exactly is 'new' about these platforms and how they are changing the way we communicate and interact online.
Here are some early milestones in my writing of the first edition of this book:
May 10, 2008: I'm pleased to announce that I signed a contract with a great company - Penguin/Pearson, Allyn & Bacon - for publication of my next nonfiction book, in 2009: New New Media.This is my first nonfiction book since Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium was published by Palgrave/St. Martin's in 2004.
New New Media looks at blogging, YouTube, Wikipedia, Digg, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, podcasting, Second Life, iPhones, and other key examples of media in which consumers are producers, and the results are changing all aspects of our lives, from the way we watch television to how we chose our President.
I'll give you more details as I write the book, which I just started doing last week.
***23 February 2009: New New Media completed and sent off to Pearson, Allyn & Bacon. Expected publication date, 1 September 2009. I'll be adding the name Index to this post, and will keep you up to date on the publication progress of the book, and where I'll be talking about it, signing copies, etc once it's published...
****27 April 2009: first look at the cover!
Joan Walsh, Editor-in-Chief of Salon.com, says
Paul Levinson takes you on a walking tour – actually, it's more like a running tour – of the media innovations that are transforming our world. He's not just a scholar, he's an explorer, immersing himself in MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and multiple blogging platforms to help us make sense of the galloping changes in media. Have we entered a glorious new era of media democracy, or are these innovations leveling standards of fairness and authority? Levinson remains an optimist without being blind to the dark side of change. Whether you want to learn to blog, podcast or Twitter yourself, or just keep track of the way such tools are remaking the world around you, the "New New Media" is an indispensable guide.
Jeff Jarvis, Director of New Media Program, City University of New
York's Graduate School of Journalism; Founder, Entertainment Weekly; Creator, BuzzMachine blog, says
Paul Levinson provides an invaluable and encyclopaedic guide to the newest of new media invented so far.
Mignon Fogarty, creator of the award-winning Grammar Girl podcast, and author of the New York Times bestseller Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing , says
Insightful and comprehensive. The overviews are great for people who want to quickly get up-to-speed on the entire landscape or more experienced Web addicts who want to branch out, and the anecdotes and history will delight people who consider themselves old-timers.
***28 May 2009: Corrected copy-edits of New New Media sent off to publisher!
****24 June 2009: I'm interviewed by John Munson for 40 minutes on Wisconsin Public Radio about new new media in Iran and the world. Listen here.
*****18 June 2010: New New Media goes into second printing! Publication of new, revised edition set for Summer 2012!
And here's a taste of the book in the 20-minute interview Mark Molaro did with me on The Alcove, November 2007 ...
Some wonderful, decisive moments in history have been brilliantly portrayed in the past few episodes of 
Cincinnati, listen to podcast 
