reviewing 3 Body Problem; American Rust; Bosch: Legacy; Citadel; Curb Your Enthusiasm; Fauda; For All Mankind; Foundation; Hijack; House of the Dragon; Luther; Outer Range; Outlander; Reacher; Severance; Silo; Slow Horses; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Surface; The: Ark, Diplomat, Last of Us, Lazarus Project, Orville, Way Home; Tokyo Vice; True Detective; You +books, films, music, podcasts, politics
George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.
"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History
Welcome to LightOnLightThrough, Episode 123, in which the inimitable Captain Phil (on WUSB Radio) again interviews me about my new music, latest science fiction, and Donald Trump. But this time, there's my brand new album of science fiction related songs, Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time (now releasing by Old Bear Records), to talk about. And we're right in the middle of the impeachment trial of Donald Trump (author Bill McNulty joins us for the first part of this discussion). Phil also plays, at the start and end of the episode, two songs from Welcome Up.
Helpful links:
An excellent, satisfying and provocative finale (I hope of this season not the series) of Emergence just on ABC-TV. A finale in which the AIs took on some of the crucial characteristics of the Terminator over the decades.
Actually, two crucial characteristics. The most advanced AIs, Helen and Piper, can shape-shift and face-shift and therein take on the characteristics of other people and AIs. And they can move like a potent dust of nanobots. All of this adds up Jo "killing" Helen with Piper's help, Piper "dying" to absorb a lethal explosion and therein save a lot of the cast, but Piper "surviving" by, at Alex's suggestion, Jo putting Piper's code into Helen's "dead" body.
I put quotes around those words, because Piper didn't really die, and didn't really survive as 100% Piper. And neither did Helen, in both ways. The finale draws to a close with the proof that Piper is actually carrying some of the deadly Helen in Piper. Which means that Piper didn't entirely survive and Helen didn't entirely die. Which means, in turn, that the two-episode title "Killshot" for the last two episodes of Emergence was a clever flash of misdirection.
Which captures why I keep saying that Emergence has some very good qualities, and ought to be continued. I'd certainly want to see more of this AI story. And the personal relationships call out for further play, as well. I've been saying ever since we learned that Ed was very sick that Piper could and would cure him. We got just a hint of that in the finale. And Jo's complex with relationship with Alex, and now Ryan, deserves more time to work out, settle in, or whatever the best description of what will happen romantically.
So count me in as a definite viewer and reviewer if there is a second season. And, if not, as someone who will say to anyone who is interested that the first season was well worth watching.
Been a busy couple of weeks for me, so here, just before what I hope is the season not series finale of Emergence this Tuesday, is my review of episodes 1.11 and 1.12 (mostly 1.12) together.
What keeps popping up as this season of Emergence rushes to a close is the relationship of the humans who made the AIs, or who claim some kind of parentage of them, with their "offspring". Emily has been described for a while as Piper's mother. Now we meet Helen's "mother" - but unlike Emily and Piper, Helen's mother looks just like her "child".
Except, of course, Helen is an adult. It's useful to compare the characteristics of Helen and Piper. Helen has some awesome powers of survival. There's almost no way she can be killed. Piper seems much more vulnerable. Yet, the whole series now revolves around Helen risking everything to obtain Piper's powers.
All of this action takes place in an environment of new characters being introduced, and others killed, with the drop of an episode. Most of them are either AIs or have some deep connection to the AIs. Presumably the Department of Justice guy who gets Ryan out of FBI custody is an AI. It's been made clear that they are at least thousands of AIs out and about.
But, so far, only Piper and now Benny - who Piper keeps insisting has changed (for the better) - seem to be good. In the early episodes, it looked like Benny and Jo might have some kind of relationship in their future. What Benny did as an AI more than Benny being an AI ended that. But that's ok if we're rooting for Jo to have some romance in her life. She and Ryan make a good couple.
This Tuesday will be the finale of what I hope is just the start of a much longer story. Emergence has broken a lot rules in its first season, often being unfocused and all over the place. But it nonetheless has a strong science fiction heart, and I'd like to see it keep beating.
The pulpy science fiction that is Project Blue Book was back on the History Channel last Tuesday for the debut of its second season. I was kidnapped by a UFO so didn't get a chance to watch and review until now - no, only kidding, I was really up in Boston last Tuesday, for a radio show in which my new album Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time was debuted. That's true - listen to this - and I promise everything else I say in this review will be true, at least as far as I know it.
Here's the set-up, inherited from season one: Dr. Hynek (very loosely based on the real person) and Captain Quinn (totally fictitious) are the essence of Project Blue Book, now self-tasked with a very strange task indeed. Hynek believes flying saucers are real alien visitations. Quinn started off the first season doubting that, and moved from not so sure to pretty much believing it. But the two need to pretend that they think all the UFOs are hoaxes, so General Harding will keep them on the case of making the public believe that the UFOs are hoaxes. This is the only way Hynek and Quinn can keep on the cutting edge of this. Also, there's a gorgeous Soviet spy who is well on her way now to getting Quinn wrapped around her finger.
Episode 2.1 features Hynek, Quinn, and Harding out in Roswell, New Mexico, in our real history the continuing focus of all kinds of UFO investigations. Of course, in Project Blue Book, the UFOs were and are really from outer space, or least not of this Earth. And Harding wants to keep this quiet. He "confesses" to Hynek and Quinn that he indeed covered something up at Roswell a few years back. But it wasn't an alien spacecraft, it was some kind of new weapon that we could use against the Soviets, so of course he needed to keep it secret.
The continuing tension is how long can Hynek and Quinn keep their mouths shut, when they both know that Harding was lying in his confession? I thought last year, and still think now, that Harding himself might well be an alien. I mean, he looks like an extraterrestrial, you can't believe anything he says, and this series is science fiction, isn't it?
My wife and I finally had a chance to see the CNN documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice last night. It was just perfect - in terms of the time it devoted to Ronstadt's many performances, the sheer range and power of them all, and the many people, after all these years almost as famous as she, with whom she interacted and changed their lives.
I think my favorite part was at the very end, when Ronstadt, unable to perform since 2009 when Parkinson's caught up with her, sings harmony in 2019 with her cousin and nephew. She insists she isn't really singing, just piecing notes into the harmony, but the beauty of her voice comes through nonetheless.
That ending segment shows that not only she, but her capacity to bring the world pleasure through the sound of her voice, is still very much alive. All of us, famous and anonymous, sooner or later suffer the ravages of old age. The only way they can be avoided is via A. E. Housman's "Athlete Dying Young" or the tragic death of Kobe Bryant today.
It was great see Emmylou Harris, J. D. Souther, Jackson Browne, Don Henley, and so many others on the screen, now, and through the decades in which they had such mutually beneficial relationships with Linda Ronstadt. I was especially pleased to see Peter Asher, long Ronstadt's producer, who now hosts one of my favorite shows on Sirius XM's Beatles Channel, From Me To You.
The good thing about great musical performance, ever since Edison invented the phonograph in 1876, is that we can have them to hear forever. Add to that the invention of YouTube in 2005, and we now have the visual performances, too. I know that I and millions of others will continue to enjoy them.
Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time - digital, CD, vinyl
“Welcome Up” (words and music by Paul Levinson, 1968, 2018)
Hiding behind a raindrop
Shyly opening her sweet milk-chocolate eyes
Sleepily peeking out from dreams nine times her size
Welcome up
Stories below her window
She sees people puttering like pebbles on the street
Sunshine buttering the sidewalk ‘neath their feet
Welcome up
Always reaching for the source
Always reaching something lost
Gliding beyond the same drop
Stars are clear as day although it’s just past noon
Moons are plentiful and every crow’s in tune
Soaring above the sunbow
Light’s an avenue for worlds that may found
Life is teeming there in every crazy sound
Welcome up
Always reaching for the source
Always reaching what was lost
Riding until she can’t stop
Never in reverse, her trip is set on send
What is the universe and just where does it end?
Where does it end?
“If I Traveled to the Past” (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio, 2010)
If I traveled to the past
to change your mind
so you loved me then, and you loved me now,
would I have known to travel back in the first place?
If I traveled back so fast
that the world was blind
could I slip through time, could I slip the vine
of paradox that turns the best into the worst case?
It ain’t simple, it ain’t right
To turn the sun into the darkest night
If I could make it work, just one time
I could have it all, I could have you mine
If I traveled to the past
I would never tell
a single soul, my lips would be sealed
except when they brushed against your sweet face
If I traveled to the past
to change your mind
so you loved me then, and you loved me now, how
would I have known to travel back in the first place?
It ain’t simple, it ain’t right
To turn the sun into the darkest night
If I could make it work, just one time
I could have it all, I could have you mine
If only I could travel back through time
If only I could travel back through time ….
“Samantha” (words and music by Paul Levinson, 2005, 2018)
Samantha, can’t ya see
There’s no way lovin’ me’s
Gonna work for you
Yeah that’s sad but true
Samantha, fantasy
Is so sweet when it’s free
But our bill’s past due
Not much we can do
You come from an alternate dimension
That’s what makes you so appealing
That’s what puts me on the ceiling
You come from an infinite extension
They’ll pull you back there any time
Pull you back there on a dime
Samantha, dance with me
But don’t think that we’ll be
On the floor next year
Cause you won’t be near
Samantha, chances we
Could drift way out to sea
And it won’t be clear
If you’re really here
Your love just won’t survive inspection
Doesn’t matter what we’re feeling
All that matters is what’s real and
Your love’s just an astral projection
I can’t do the time
You can’t do the crime
Against reality
Samantha can’t you see
That we’re inside out
We can’t twist and shout
No, no, Samantha …
“Tau Ceti” (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio, 2010)
Tau Ceti
oh ya let me
go too fast, throw my past
to the winds and the fates of a sheer empty space
Tau Ceti
your doors met me
open wide, broke the ride
in the swirls to the gates of an unfathomed place
(bridge)
Everything’s bright at the speed of light
But I can’t tell if it’s cloudy or clear
Plato said we can only know what we already know
But he never took a spaceship out here
Tau Ceti
no force set me
on this course, found and lost
I came to your chill of my own free will
Tau Ceti
don’t forget me
when I leave, just a leaf
that blew through the halls of your soft cosmic squalls
“Picture Postcard World” (words and music by Paul Levinson, 1968)
Two people lounging in an air-conditioned room
filled with pushbutton perfume
and plastic petals always in full bloom
Two people gazing at a 98-inch screen
living color fills the scene
in electric shades of morning blue serene
(chorus)
We live in a picture postcard world
We do
They sent us a picture postcard, girl
It’s true
Where everything’s perfect but
nothing is real
Though our lives seem ideal
We’re unable to feel
Two people taking breakfast with a high-tech shake
just like grandma used to make
And for dinner there’ll be cybernetic steak
Two people playing hard at all the latest sports
Up and down the plasma courts
A sound mind must dwell in a sound body of course
(repeat chorus)
Two people …
“I Knew You By Heart” (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal, 2000)
The breeze that blew through your hair
when we passed on the street
The way you smiled when I stared
like you knew that we’d meet
It’s like we’ve been there before
But we’ve got to have more
It’s long overdue that we start
(chorus 1)
I knew you by heart
I knew you by heart
I knew you (by heart)
The sun that plays on your face
when I’m touching your cheek
The way it falls into place
every time that we speak
It’s way too strange to explain
but we’re right as the rain
It’s like we were never apart
(chorus 2)
I knew you by heart
No learning curve babe with you
I knew just what I should do
The first time out there’s no doubt
I knew you by heart
No point in playing a part
No point in being too smart
I loved you right from the start
I knew you (by heart)
(bridge)
Some day, something could go wrong
It’s true
No way that it could last too long
Cause you, you, you, you, you
(chorus 3)
Would know me by heart
No learning curve babe with you
I knew just what I should do
The first time out there’s no doubt
I knew you by heart
No point in playing a part
No point in being too smart
I loved you right from the start
I knew you by heart…
“Alpha Centauri” (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal, 2000)
Think of a place
far away as can be
and I’d still be thinking of you
Way out in space
beyond any sea
You’d still be the dream that was true
(chorus)
‘Round Alpha Centauri
You’re still the most beautiful star
Around Alpha Centauri
Our love can reach that far
Our love can reach that far
Light years from home
far away as can be
but I could be back in a flash
Worlds that I’ve known
mean nothing to me
Hey baby, you don’t have to ask
(repeat chorus)
(bridge)
From Alpha Centauri
I send you my story
’til I am no longer away
‘Round Alpha Centauri
there’s no need to worry
My love will grow stronger each day
(repeat chorus)
“Cloudy Sunday” (words by Paul Levinson, music by Linda Kaplan Thaler, 1968)
Cloudy Sunday
I wake to find you gone
Cloudy Sunday
The bed I sleep upon is strangely smooth and white
touched only by me and the empty night
Cloudy Sunday
A fog upon my brain
Cloudy Sunday
condenses into rain and tears begin to swell
But you couldn’t tell that I loved you well
(bridge)
So we loved each other in passing
But I’ll keep searching for something more lasting
Like the poet, looking, for the once in a lifetime rhyme
Cloudy Sunday
I glimpse a distant form
Cloudy Sunday
I sense that she is warm but question what I feel
Reflection of me or something more real
Cloudy Sunday …
=======================================
Where to get most of this music: Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time: digital, vinyl, CD
Welcome to LightOnLightThrough, Episode 122, in which I play for you the entire interview, along with the music, which Patrick Rands did with me the other day (January 21, 2020) on his show Abstract Terrain on WZBC Radio out of Boston (Newton, MA, to be more exact). You may recall that Patrick interviewed me in 2005 about Twice Upon A Rhyme and all the other music I had out in various corners of the world back then. That interview became episode 79 on Light On Light Through in 2010. The new interview spotlights my new album Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time, being released right now on digital. vinyl, and CD by Old Bear Records (see links below; limited vinyl being distributed by Light In the Attic). Patrick also plays some lesser known songs from Twice Upon A Rhyme, and all kinds of demos and singles of my music over the years he's dug up in his inimitable way. Enjoy -- and here's the playlist if you want to follow along:
1. "Samantha" Paul Levinson (words & music by Paul Levinson, 2018) from Welcome Up, Old Bear Records, 2020
2. "Alpha Centauri" Paul Levinson (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal, 2000) from Welcome Up, Old Bear Records, 2020
3. "Alpha Centauri" Peter Rosenthal (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal, 2000) studio demo
4. "Picture Postcard World" Paul Levinson (words & music by Paul Levinson, 1968) from Welcome Up, Old Bear Records, 2020
5. "Picture Postcard World" The Definitive Rock Chorale (words & music by Paul Levinson, 1968) single released on Decca Records, 1968
6. "If I Traveled to the Past" Paul Levinson (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio, 2010) from Welcome Up, Old Bear Records, 2020
7. "Welcome Up" Paul Levinson (words & music by Paul Levinson, 2018) from Welcome Up, Old Bear Records, 2020
8. "Tau Ceti" Paul Levinson (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio, 2010) from Welcome Up, Old Bear Records, 2020
9. "Cloudy Sunday" Paul Levinson (words by Paul Levinson, music by Linda Kaplan, 1968) from Welcome Up, Old Bear Records, 2020
10. "Cloudy Sunday" Linda Kaplan (words by Paul Levinson, music by Linda Kaplan, 1968) studio demo
11. "Antique Shop (The Coming of Winter)" Paul Levinson (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal, 1968) from Twice Upon A Rhyme, HappySad Records, 1972
12. "I'm Seeing You in a Different Light" Paul Levinson (words by Paul Levinson, music by Ed Fox, 1969 ) from Twice Upon A Rhyme, HappySad Records, 1972
13. "Ring Around My Rosie" Protozoa (words & music by David Fox, 1968), single released on Buddah Records (produced by Paul Levinson, Herb Abramson, and Ed Fox), 1968
14. "My Pink Hippopotamus" Protozoa (words & music by David Fox, 1968), single released on Buddah Records (produced by Paul Levinson, Herb Abramson, and Ed Fox), 1968
15. "Merri Goes Round" Sundial Symphony (= Don Frankel & Robbie Rist) (words by Paul Levinson, music by Ed Fox, 1969), single released on Big Stir Records, 2019
16. "Merri Goes Round" Trousers (words by Paul Levinson, music by Ed Fox, 1969), single released on HappySad Records, 1969 and on Wizdom Records, 1969
17. "Hung Up On Love" The Other Voices (aka The New Outlook: Paul Levinson, Stu Nitekman, Ira Margolis) (words by Paul Levinson, music by Mikie Harris, 1968), single released on Atlantic Records, 1969
18. "Unbelievable (Inconceivable You)" The Vogues (words & music by Paul Levinson, 1968), unreleased single on Reprise Records
19. "Park at Night" Paul Levinson & Paul Gorman (words by Paul Levinson, music by Paul Gorman, 1963) studio demo
20. "Sunshine's Mine" The New Outlook (aka The Other Voices: Paul Levinson, Stu Nitekman, Ira Margolis) (words by Paul Levinson, music by Stu Nitekman, 1969) studio demo, 1966 (on Spun Dreams album, HappySad Records, 2010)
21. "Pictures on the Phone" Paul Levinson (words & music by Paul Levinson, 2020) home demo
Not quite reunited. But Curb Your Enthusiasm was back last night on HBO for the beginning of its tenth season. And it hasn't lost a thing. Larry David and his situations are as funny and stiletto relevant as ever.
And, Larry is back in bed with Cheryl, where they both belong. She does have an allergic reaction to the talcum powder he douses himself with, but we won't go into that. It lands her in the hospital, but she's ok, and this promises an important course correction in the series.
Larry, as always, is too right in the grievances he finds all around him. But this season has some winning updates. Larry finds that wearing a MAGA hat can get him out of (and of into) all kinds of trouble. He has his eyes on a woman serving hors d'oeuvres, because she never seems to walk by him - another great example of a legitimate grievance that rings true. But she mistakes his staring for ogling, and when she confronts him, Larry of course accidentally does something that lands him in #metoo territory. Just for good measure in this area, we learn that Jeff is often mistaken for Harvey Weinstein.
Back to the MAGA hat, there's bound to be lots of politics, served up Larry David's way, in the months ahead. We can certainly use a little humor to leaven the grim headlines. I'm betting the real Bernie will make an appearance sooner or later.
Caught up with Avenue 5 tonight - the debut show of the new HBO series was on last night. It's billed as comedy science fiction. I'm always up for that. I like The Orville in many ways better than most of the Star Trek sequels. And as I mentioned in my review of Zoey's Fabulous Playlist last week, I discovered I really like science fiction musicals. Comedies and musicals are related, at least a little, right?
But I have to say that the first twenty minutes of so of this first episode of Avenue 5 were too slapstick for my science fiction tastes. The humor varied from forced to moronic. So, given that I don't usually waste time reviewing a series with no redeeming value, why I am reviewing Avenue 5?
Because, obviously, something in the last five or ten minutes makes me think it does have a lot of redeeming value. Here's the set-up: some kind of space luxury liner is out there in space, far from Earth, around Uranus. Actually, I think the place is closer to Saturn, but it's way out there, somewhere in that vicinity. And it suffers a glitch that causes two things to happen: a guy doing work outside the ship (the Avenue 5) gets killed, and the ship gets knocked off course. The upshot: the Avenue 5 will take three years not eight weeks to get back home to Earth.
Ordinarily, the Captain will marshall all of his or her smarts and assets and take some corrective action. The Captain is Ryan Clark, played by House's Hugh Laurie. And in a redeeming instant, we learn of a kicker, which makes most of that stupid humor worthwhile. Clark is not really a Captain. He's just playing a Captain, hired to do this because of his reassuring manner. The real Captain was the poor guy who got killed in space.
So, suddenly, I'm interested. I'll put up with the dumb schtick for at least a few episodes and report back to you, as fast as I can.
And an emotional powerhouse to a brilliant season to end this seventh season of Ray Donovan tonight, pretty much sandwiched between Linda Ronstadt singing Desperado at the beginning and Elvis singing You'll Never Walk Alone at the end, what more could you ask for?
Several points that especially struck me -
Daryll more than Declan was responsible for Smitty getting shot to death in that shoot-out. Although it was Declan's bullet, Daryll was the one who started shooting.
I'm of course glad that Terry didn't jump off the Empire State Building. Did he go up to observatory knowing that he couldn't jump off, or did he discover that after he got up there? I'm hoping it's the first - which would mean that Terry's conversation with Dr. Amiot (an absolutely perfect scene) had some impact on Terry.
I'm not entirely convinced that Mickey would've walked away, leaving Smitty there on the ground. All season, we have seen Mickey becoming a little bit more of a semi-decent mentch, especially after his resurrection. So, I just don't know if that was fully motivated.
I'm guessing that Ray and Molly are finished now, but that's too bad. They were a good couple.
No resolution of the Mayor vs. Ray, but that's ok, because it gives at least one major storyline for the next season. (My wife points out that the judge surviving puts the Mayor in hot water, but we didn't see how that played out.)
But this season proves that, all in all, New York City has been very good indeed for Ray Donovan the series. I've never been more disappointed that a season ended.
It started in the hot summer of 1960, when Marilyn Monroe walked off the set of The Misfits and began to hear a haunting song in her head, "Goodbye Norma Jean" ...
The six-person Democratic presidential debate just concluded on CNN was easily the best debate so far - best in clarity, power of ideas, and even charm - so far. Whether this was because of the fact that six candidates had more time than ten and more to express their views, or because these six candidates had better views to express ... well, it's probably a combination of both.
But I thought Klobuchar and Steyer especially stood out in their answers to just about all of the questions, and their concluding comments, and I expect that will help both of them in Iowa and beyond. But Biden, still not the most articulate person on stage, was clear enough. And Warren, Bernie, and Buttigieg were articulate and passionate, too.
My favorite exchange, in terms of both truth and humor, was between Biden and Bernie:
Biden: Kim Jong-un said: "Joe Biden is a rabid dog who should be beaten with a stick"
Bernie: "Other than that, you like him."
Biden" "0ther than that I like him. And then he sent a love letter to Donald Trump"
Next, I thought Warren got the better of Bernie in the "can a woman be elected President" controversy. Although Bernie denied saying that, and offered his view that of course a woman could be elected President, given that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016, Warren just seemed more believable in both her unspoken denial and her commitment to women in politics, with her example of woman being more electable than men.
On health care, I still remain unconvinced by Bernie and Warren about the way to get to universal health care in America. It's a laudable, essential goal, but Klobuchar, Biden, Steyer, and Buttigieg made more sense in building towards on what we already have, via the Affordable Care Act.
Warren was also excellent on politics not being the most important thing - in this case, returning to Washington and sitting as a senator in the trial of Donald Trump takes precedence. All the candidates agreed that, one way or another, Trump has to be removed from office. Seeing him voted out of office by the Senate would be satisfying, but I'll take any of the candidates on stage tonight beating him in the election this coming November.
