Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

reviewing Black Doves; Dark Matter; Dept. Q; Detective Hole; Dexter: Resurrection; Fauda; For All Mankind; Foundation; Hijack; Memory of a Killer; MobLand; Outlander; Paradise; Presumed Innocent; Reacher; Severance; Silo; Slow Horses; Smoke; Star City; Star Trek: Strange New Worlds; Tehran;The: Day of the Jackal, Diplomat, Night Agent; Your Friends & Neighbors +books, films, music, podcasts, politics

George Santayana had irrational faith in reason - I have irrational faith in TV.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Fringe 10: Shattered Pieces Come Together Through Space and Time

Anyone who thought that Fringe was just milling around, taunting us with disparate slivers that would never come together, needs to see tonight's Episode 10, in which

1. We learn what is the likely the main thing that Walter was inventing years ago - a device that can pluck anyone or anything through space and time. Except, Walter never got to finish and test his device, but

2. This apparently is the bigger picture behind the apples through steel we saw a few weeks ago. Moving objects through solid steel is just one aspect of Walter's unfinished, untested device. Tonight it moves far more than applies, including

3. A nasty scientist or some kind of intense dude from that German "Wissenschaft" prison (means, science, as in Einstein) we also saw a few weeks ago. And before he takes his teleporting, steel melting leave, he kills his lawyer, last seen on The Tudors as Thomas Cromwell and earlier on 24 as Audrey's husband (not Jack, the British guy - well played in all cases by James Frain). The prison traveler also tells his guys on the outside, back in the US, to

4. Kidnap Olivia - who is indeed kidnapped - because

5. Massive Dynamics is finally getting a clue about Olivia and John Scott - she's drawing on some of his memories, which she acquired when she wasn't completely nude in that tank (though the script was sounding like she was supposed to be) (did Fringe or Fox make that scene a little more tame, because of the FCC?) (never mind, I don't want to start rambling off like Walter). But, yeah, Massive D is on to the danger that Olivia poses to them, and

6. Don't hold your breath for any more, because that's it, until Fringe returns in January.

But I'm thinking Fringe has really begun to prove itself, the pieces are beginning to make much more sense, and we have a fine science fiction show for at least the Spring ahead...

See also Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... 4: The Eternal Bald Observer ... 7: A Bullet Can Scramble a Dead Brain's Transmission ... 8. Heroic Walter and Apple Through Steel ... 9. Razor-Tipped Butterflies of the Mind

The Plot to Save Socrates

"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

more about The Plot to Save Socrates...

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Monday, December 1, 2008

Heroes 3: The Lore of the Comic Book Store

Second part of the eclipse on Heroes tonight, but more time was spent inside a comic story - with Seth Green, Prop. - and that's fine with me.

I think the first time a comic book store figured so meta-centrally in a science fiction-fantasy story was in M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable. In fact, I was in that comic book store, giving Night a Nebula award for his first movie, The Sixth Sense, back in 2000 - see the photo to the right. (A comic book store also figured in "The Superhero in the Alley," a superb episode in February 2006 from the first season of Bones, which I just saw other night - and which, given the timing and for all I know, might well have inspired some of Heroes.)

I already had a good feeling about comic book stores. In the Bronx, where I grew up, they were usually combined with candy stores and soda fountains - food for palate and well as thought.

Hiro is able to see what's going on, even with his little boy mentality, in Seth Green's comic book store, because it has copies of 9th Wonder, which have all of Isaac's drawings and stories.
I'm not sure if he saw the most important part - I think - of what happened tonight. Which is Sylar, who was really beginning to become likable, is shaken up by almost being killed by HRG, and may be bad again. In fact, he may have killed Elle at the end ... but I still come from the school that, if a person isn't blown to smithereens, right in front of your eyes on a show like Heroes, he or she may well still be alive. Come to think of it, didn't Nathan and Peter survive the atomic explosion? Well, I guess that wasn't right in front of our eyes.

Heroes continue as the most thoughtful, interesting season so far. And now that the sun is back out, we'll see more next week.

See also Heroes 3 Begins: Best Yet, Riddled with Time Travel and Paradox ... Sylar's Redemption and other Heroes and Villains Mergers ... Costa Nuclear ... Hearts of Gold and the Debased ... Seeing the Future Trumps Time Travel ... Superpowered Chess with Shifting Pieces ... Villains and Backstories ... The Redemption of Sylar ... Thoughts on the Eclipse, Part I ... Hiro's Time Traveling Closure

Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Cameron Meets A. E. Housman and Andre Bazin in The Sarah Connor Chronicles

An appealingly old-fashioned, almost sweet episode 2.11 of The Sarah Connor Chronicles tonight, with talk of A. E. Housman (of "An Athlete Dying Young" fame) and the capacity of photography to, as Andre Bazin put it, rescue an image from "its proper corruption" in time - make the image, in contrast to the reality, live forever.

As I discuss in my book, The Soft Edge, years ago I was at a flea market in Stanfordville, NY. I picked up a photograph from a table - I could tell by the kind of photography (cartes de visite) that it was taken back in the 1870s. The photo was of a woman, likely in her late teens, early twenties. And, there she was, looking out at me - across more than 100 years. Could she have had any idea, when that photograph was taken, that someone a hundred years later would be looking back into her eyes?

Cameron and a guy she knows in a library contemplate and discuss such things, as they hunt through a nifty series of photographs, recordings, and early film from the 1920s and after. They discover Myron Stark, whom Cameron recognizes as a Terminator. He accidentally burns down a New Year's Eve celebration - the fire was caused by the electricity that accompanies all travel through time. But he's not a good Terminator at all. He's on a mission - to kill someone at an appointed place in ... 2010. Stark has just arrived at the wrong time.

But it's the right time for this part of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, because it gives us a chance to see even more closeness to humanity in Cameron. She and the guy in the library, who's in a wheelchair, could almost become a couple ... except, well, he's very ill, and although it's not 100% clear why he's gone at the end, he's gone, and Cameron, after all, is still a Terminator.

She figures out what Stark is up to, and finally takes him on in the flesh and circuits, as the photographs of the past merge with the reality in the present. It's poetic - Stark's progress from old photography to real life - and much as A. E. Housman said. The Terminator never had to worry about seeing his record surpassed as he grew older, but neither was he better off dying young, because he was never alive in the first place.

And the same is true of Cameron. Whatever she had slightly going with the guy in the library couldn't last, because he, disabilities of not, was frail and human, and Cameron is something else. Will she miss the guy in library? Maybe the most we can say is she learned something from him, but who knows what, and she shows up next time, with donuts again, to get into the new person in the library's good graces ... this time, a woman her own age.

See also 2.1 Cameron's Back ... 2.2 Firing on All Cylinders ... 2.3 Who, Truly, Is Agent Ellison? ... 2.4: Meet Allison ... 2.5: Unpacking the Future ... 2.6: Terminator Mom, Human Daughter ... 2.7: The Saving Robbery and Cromartie ... 2.8 Perspectives and Death ... 2.9: An Idiot's Guide to Time Travel in The Sarah Connor Chronicles ... 2.10: Riley Lashes Out at Facebook ... 2.12: Sarah Connor Chronicles in Triple Time

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Christopher Hitchens Finds His Religion - Lashing Hillary Clinton

I just saw Christopher Hitchens lashing out at Hillary Clinton on Hardball - the same tired, ruddy rhetoric - Hillary's interested only in herself and her husband, the Clintons bring with them all sorts of sordid baggage, you've heard it all before.

Salon's Joan Walsh on Hardball did a good job of isolating Hitchens and his attacks as quirky and ignorant. But I do still wonder what it is that so motivates commentators like Christopher Hitchens, especially seeing as he had the good sense to endorse Obama, and offered that endorsement with eloquence and passion.

I really have never understood the intense dislike of the Clintons. Some pretty good friends of mine have it. But why?

At worst, Bill Clinton's celebrated lapse was personal, compounded by a public lie. I also would never again vote for him, because he signed the Communications Decency Act into law (see The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution for details).

But those transgressions - and I hold the second as much more serious than the first - hold not a candle to what Richard Nixon and George W. Bush, in their own ways, did to our country. And, even more important, it was Bill not Hillary Clinton who was the transgressor.

So, what, again, is Hitchens' problem?

I'm beginning to the think that this severe dislike of the Clintons is a lot like a religion, in that it resembles a statement of faith, at root not comprehensible to the rational mind, and presented with a zeal that admits to no contradicting evidence. If so, it may be best practiced in private.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Dexter v. Miguel: Psychotic Law v. Sociopath Science in 3.9-10

The showdown on Showtime is coming to a boil, as Dexter and Miguel up the ante in the past two episodes of Dexter, 3.9 and 3.10.

Miguel killed Ellen - I was wrong when I caught a glimpse of some other kind of passion when Miguel showed up at her door at the end of 3.8. And this has set in motion an escalating series of events and confrontations, including Laguerta falls into Miguel's arms (they have a history together), but comes to wonder if he is Ellen's killer, with a witness noting an SUV with halogen lights (which Miguel has), and his wife showing up and inadvertently letting Laguerta know that Miguel was not home the night Ellen was murdered...

This happened because bigmouth Rita told Miguel's wife. Not that I have anything really against Rita, or I'm rooting for Miguel - certainly not, I'm in Dexter's corner - but, truthfully, I never thought Rita was right for Dexter (I was liking Lila a lot more last year), and I guess, yeah, I wouldn't mind if Rita were out of the picture.

The confrontation between Miguel and Dexter is shaping as a classic between a powerful, raging hothead and a cool, deliberate careful killer, who actually draws strength when he's pressured or attacked. For Dexter, Miguel's tightening of the vice - threatening both Rita and Debra - is giving him an energy, unleashing the demon, to do what needs to be done. You can see it in the smile on Dexter's face.

But this will be one intense fight to the finish, with Dexter for the first time facing not just the law, as he did last year, but the law with all its powers gone psychotic in Miguel.

I'm looking forward.

See also Double Surprise ... The Bright, Elusive Butterfly of Dexter ... The True Nature of Miguel ... Si Se Puede on Dexter ... and Dexter 3: Sneak Preview Review

And here's a little peek at what's in store for Dexter ...

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It's Not HBO - It's A Quantum of Solace

Just back from Quantum of Solace - it was far better than some of the critics have been saying, but not as good Daniel Craig's first James Bond, Casino Royale, in 2006. There's not much in the way of gadgets, though MI6 has some cool thing which looks a lot like CNN's Magic Wall. And no real puns - about the closest we get of that is James telling a man on shore, "she's seasick," as he hands over an unconscious Camille he carries off the boat. But A Quantum of Solace has more than a quantum of humanity - of James Bond as not just a killing machine, but a human killing machine. Craig's killer, unlike Moore's and Brosnan's, tempers his performance with an underlying everyman soul, not flippant humor. As was the case in Casino Royale, Craig's Bond seems most like Sean Connery's, but Craig's is more vulnerable. The story this time is barely a story on it own - more a continuation of Casino than a story of its own - and that's mostly, I think, because the villain, Dominic, is second rate. No Blofeld, of course, but not even Le Chiffre from Casino Royale, who had great quirks and was a fine match for James in both cards and killing. But Dominic and the storyline worked ok, anyway, because what this movie was mostly about was Bond and his developing relationship with M, who has the best line of the movie ("I don't give a shit about the CIA," delivered only as Judy Dench can). Why was this low-key story ok for the 2nd Craig Bond? Because this rendition of James Bond, here at the end of the first decade of the 21st century, feels more like a series on HBO or Showtime, than what the Bond movies were throughout all of their earlier renditions. And as I've said many times, television can be a great medium.

The Plot to Save Socrates
"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly
"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News
"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book

Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE!

Excellent That Chris Matthews May Run for Senate

I just heard, again, on Wolf Blitzer's Late Edition on CNN, that MSNBC's Chris Matthews may run as a Democrat against Republican Arlen Specter for his Senate seat in Pennsylvania in 2010. Reports about this are flying all over the place.

I hope it's true. I live in New York, but I'd vote for Chris Matthews not only over Specter but just about anyone. I agree with most of Matthews' positions - his consistent opposition, from the beginning, to the war in Iraq, and his enthusiastic support of Obama are what most come to mind - but I also like the fact that, although he was once a Tip O'Neill staffer, and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1974, Chris Matthews is currently very much an outsider in politics.

We have long recognized that a life in politics is by no means a prerequisite for high office. Whatever we may think of Reagan and Schwarzenegger's governance - I certainly opposed a lot of Reagan's - there is no denying their effectiveness in office. Indeed, Renaissance men were among our leading Founding Fathers - in an age before xerox, Thomas Jefferson invented a way of automatically making a copy of a letter, as it was being written.

Matthews on television has been articulate and passionate. The main problem with his brand of Hardball is that he frequently interrupts and talks over his guests. That could be a big asset in the Senate.

Friday, November 28, 2008

MSNBC Runs Canned "Doc Bloc" As Mumbai Burns

I was just looking for a few minutes at MSNBC. You know what they were reporting? Nothing, really. From 6-8PM, and who knows how much longer today, MSNBC had on its canned "Caught on Camera," with footage of events that happened years ago.

Over on CNN, Wolf Blizter in the Situation Room was doing a superb job of reporting on the Mumbai Massacre, with interviews of survivors, discussion of what this means for world security with former Secretary of Defense William Cohen and other terrorism experts, and detailed information on the heart-rending story of Brooklyn Rabbi Gabriel Holzberg and his wife, murdered along with three other Jewish people at the Chabad Lubavitch. His two-year old had escaped with their brave housekeeper. Canadian Jonathan Ehrlich, who managed to escape from another one of the terrorist targets, one of the attacked hotels, also gave a poignant interview on CNN.

Fox News did an ok job of reporting, as well, on the still ongoing September 11th for India - though I did spot a rerun of O'Reilly on Fox tonight.

But what can MSNBC have been thinking? They have wasted our time, and driven away viewers interested in real news, for years with their "doc-blocs". They had the good sense in the recently concluded coverage of the 2008 Presidential campaign to greatly expand their political coverage. But who at programming was asleep at the switch at MSNBC today?

MSNBC will never maintain a leading position as a cable news source, or even be taken seriously, if they put "Caught on Camera" or any doc-bloc programming ahead of covering ongoing world catastrophes.

Added December 1, 2008: Check out and join, if you like, the Facebook group I just created: Stop the Doc Bloc on MSNBC. Wield the power of new new media to change television!

See also similar sentiments by Lionel on Air America and David Zurawik at the Baltimore Sun.

Added December 29, 2009: See also Media Coverage and Government Response to Terrorism in the Christmas Skies and MSNBC criticized on coverage

Twitter Provides a Valuable Window onto Mumbai Massacre

Amidst all the shock and horror on this Thanksgiving, about the massacre and ongoing crisis in Mumbai, there was this, from John Ribeiro, and something similar on many news services -

Micro-blogging site Twitter is also being used to pass on information, or to just express feelings about the terrorist attack, and sometimes about the inadequate coverage of the crises by some Indian TV channels...

Just as students sent email from the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989, letting the world and the mass media know what was happening, so Twitter and Facebook are providing some windows into what has been happening in Mumbai the past two days.

The new social media can't stop these atrocities, but they can stand as unique witness to the individual, human dimensions of what we see on television. These are some of the Tweets I noticed, just seconds apart, when I went back to Twitter a few hours after I first wrote this blog: "Indian officials are big on bulllshit, weak on results" ... "What guns are our commandos using???" ... "100 trapped at Trident" ... "this whole thing stinks, our govt have left us as sitting ducks, throw UPA out" ... "Japan had terrorist strike in past, China is blessed to have neighbors like us, we are not that fortunate". Twitter advised that 216 new Tweets on this subject had come in the 30 seconds it took me to capture the above Tweets. Of course, there is no guarantee that those microblogs all came from Mumbai – though, Twitter would have a record of the IP addresses.

But, no system is perfect. As Stephanie Busari pointed out on CNN.com/asia, "Someone tweets a news headline, their friends see it and retweet, prompting an endless circle of recycled information" on Twitter. And social media such as Twitter could have been used by the terrorists in planning and coordination of their attacks (a US Army Report in October expressed concern about this possible use of Twitter).

But in a world in which we struggle to make sense of escalating atrocities, even an imperfect additional window is helpful.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Cyberbullying Mom Got Just What She Deserved

The Lori Drew case was not a straightforward instance of cyberstalking, in which someone, usually with a false name and picture, befriends someone else on MySpace or Facebook, or some other social medium – usually, a vulnerable young teenage girl - with the goal of arranging a meeting with the new friend, in person, for whatever nefarious purpose. The remedy for this sort of cyberstalking is never meet a person face to face that you know only online, unless it is in a very public, safe place.

The Lori Drew cyberbullying instance was something different, although it occurred because of the same inability for anyone to know who their online friends really are, unless they already know them off-line.

The background of the case is pretty well known: According to Lori Drew, a 49-year old mother, her 13-year old neighbor, Megan Meier, was spreading nasty rumors about Drew’s daughter. Lori Drew exacted revenge. She created the false MySpace identity of "Josh Evans" on MySpace, and there befriended Megan Meier. "Josh" pretended to fall in love with Megan. And when the 13-year old was convinced of "his" love, Josh/Lori emailed Megan that "the world would be a better place without you." Megan, who suffered from depression, hung herself (see Channel Web for more details).

Local prosecutors were unable to get an indictment against Drew in Missouri, where she and Megan Meiers lived. But Federal prosecutors were able to indict her in Los Angeles (headquarters of Fox, which owns MySpace) on three counts of illegally accessing computers (misdemeanors) and one felony count of conspiracy under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The jury found her guilty of the first three, lesser charges.

As Kim Zenter pointed out in Wired.com, the prosecution was based on a "novel" equation of the use of MySpace to harass (in violation of its "terms-of-service" agreement) and "hacking" as prohibited under the Federal law. Although MySpace supported the prosecution, numerous legal experts and civil libertarians objected, and although I almost always agree with them (see my Flouting of the First Amendment), in this case I do not, and think the verdict, even for just the misdemeanors, creates an important precedent. Using false identifies for fun, role playing, and non-deceptive business is fine. But using a false identity to abuse someone – especially an adult abusing a child – is unacceptable, and harassment is not protected by the First Amendment in any case. New new media empower us in all ways, not only good but bad, including a parent’s understandable anger at anyone, including someone else’s child, who is causing any grief to her child. But we as society need to create whatever obstacles we can to prevent, stop, and punish any acting on this anger through the easy avenues of whatever media.

In some ways the most disturbing part of what happened to Megan Meiers is that she did not fall prey to "traditional" cyberstalking – she did not die because she foolishly met an online friend in person at some private place. Indeed, she did nothing wrong or foolish at all – other than falling in love with a "boy" on MySpace.

What can we do to protect our children from this kind of potentially deadly abuse?
Other than keeping them offline completely, or forbidding them to be "friends" with anyone that they do not already know – neither of which is likely to succeed in practice – the only remedy is to hold adults accountable, as the jury did with Lori Drew.

But children can also be abusive to other children on MySpace and elsewhere online, and, in the end, there is no law or enforcement than can protect us from our worst instincts, in new media, old media, or anyplace else.

music and interview with Truth on Earth, fighting cyberbullying with their music

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Fringe 9: Razor-Tipped Butterflies of the Mind

Another stranger than strange, increasingly compelling episode (1.9) of Fringe, with the pieces slowly, ever so slowly, beginning to come together.

We learn more about Peter. Not much, but enough to see he has some kind of odd, dangerous storyline. The question is how much of it intersects with Walter's and Olivia's - and we're still not sure how much Olivia's and Walter's coincide.

Meanwhile, Walter showed himself, again, to be a decent, more than decent, human being. He tells Olivia no one loves playing with drugs, on himself and other people, more than he - but he needs more time, to work out a safer method for her unsort the fused memories she now has of John and her. Unusually and bracingly sane for a mad scientist.

Memories made real were the cutting edge of tonight's story, which started out with razor-winged butterflies and ended with a knife to the throat, all served up in the brain in some way by Massive Dynamics.

I have a soft spot for butterflies - my family likes, them, too - and when the kids were young we'd plant milkweed to attract the monarchs. We even raised a few, and eventually they flew off to Mexico or who knows where. It was nice. My novel, The Silk Code, also had a butterfly connection.

I'm not sure, exactly, what this has to do with tonight's Fringe.... Wait, I know, it has to do with memories.

More next week.

See also Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... 4: The Eternal Bald Observer ... 7: A Bullet Can Scramble a Dead Brain's Transmission ... 8. Heroic Walter and Apple Through Steel ... 10. Shattered Pieces Come Together Through Space and Time

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Heroes 3: Thoughts on the Eclipse, Part I, and Its Consequences

Another good Heroes last night, with the first part of the eclipse which is robbing heroes and villains of their powers.

The most powerful part: the discovery that Daphne is badly disabled, and can't walk without crutches. She's the first hero I can think of whose superpowers not only make her a hero, but super in an area in which she had normally been far worse off than normal. I thought that was a touching, humane moment.

It was fun seeing Nathan fall out of the sky - he and Peter are now the same, since Arthur had already taken away Peter's powers. It would be interesting if the eclipse not only sapped the powers, but reversed what the powers had earlier accomplished. But that, of course, could unravel the whole series.

Claire's story was also handled well. Arthur sees her in his drawing in pretty bad shape, if not dead, as HRG carries her in the future. But at first HRG says Claire's wound is superficial. Since Claire can't heal herself now, that's good news. But it turns out the wound is a lot worse than that. Did Claire's superpower disguise also some sort of healing disability that she would have otherwise "normally" had?

But, speaking of healing, how did Elle recover so quickly, after being knocked out cold by HRG wielding a sideboard? An example of the resilience of all comic book characters, or something else, and special, about Elle...

Looking forward to more answers next Monday...

See also Heroes 3 Begins: Best Yet, Riddled with Time Travel and Paradox ... Sylar's Redemption and other Heroes and Villains Mergers ... Costa Nuclear ... Hearts of Gold and the Debased ... Seeing the Future Trumps Time Travel ... Superpowered Chess with Shifting Pieces ... Villains and Backstories ... The Redemption of Sylar ... The Lore of the Comic Book Store

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Riley Lashes Out at Facebook in The Sarah Connor Chronicles

My favorite single line of tonight's Episode 2.10 of The Sarah Connor Chronicles was when Riley lashes at her adoptive family and their obliviousness to the "bleached skulls" that await them, and tells them all they care about is looking at their "Facebook pages". I like that sort of new new media hipness in a science fiction show on television....

Not to mention - how does Riley know about the horrible future that awaits everyone? Well, turns out that she's from the future, too - and in some kind of cahoots with Jesse. I had a feeling, when she so stood up so bravely to Cromartie in John's house a few weeks - a really great scene - that there was more to her than meets the eye...

And, speaking of Cromartie, he's back tonight, too - as John Henry, the android incarnation of the AI at Weaver's nefarious company, and this is, once again, Ellison's fault. Because, not only did Ellison dig Cromartie up and give it to Weaver, but he also tells Weaver that AIs need to follow some sort of rules, some sort of moral code. But, like Dexter's code, these rules will turn to be better rules by which to kill. Ellison seems caught in an exquisite vice of the more he tries to do good, the more he unwittingly is helping Skynet.

Meanwhile, Cameron's unintentional sense of humor is increasing, and Jesse tells Derek she needs to stop Sarah, so John can stay safe. I'm thinking that, by the end of the season, either Jesse or Derek will be gone.

But, for now, I'm going to post a link to this little review on my Facebook page...

See also 2.1 Cameron's Back ... 2.2 Firing on All Cylinders ... 2.3 Who, Truly, Is Agent Ellison? ... 2.4: Meet Allison ... 2.5: Unpacking the Future ... 2.6: Terminator Mom, Human Daughter ... 2.7: The Saving Robbery and Cromartie ... 2.8 Perspectives and Death ... 2.9: An Idiot's Guide to Time Travel in The Sarah Connor Chronicles

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Monday, November 24, 2008

Faux Rahm Emanuel Bleeped on Saturday Night Live for Saying Real Words

In case you didn't see this message from "Rahm Emanuel" (played by Andy Samberg of "Dick in a Box" fame) recorded for Saturday Night Live, but, strangely, unplayed on Saturday's show...

I love when the line between reality and satire gets so thin.... After all, Rahm Emanuel really does talk that way - see the hilariously true RahmFacts for details. And didn't Joe Scarborough just say something like that, at least once, just a few weeks ago?

Yes, he did. And, you know, the only thing that bothers me about the SNL skit is that the language was bleeped out - which was sad - but also funny.

As I said in a blog post about Thom Yorke's song lyrics a few years ago, the bleeping out of "f*ck" in this day and age - actually, in any day and age - is fucking ridiculous.

Goes to show - truth can still be funnier than fiction...

True Blood: Last Bite of the Season

I really liked the climactic scene in the season finale of True Blood. Bill's love for Sookie gets him to brave the deadly sun to save her, but the sun's too strong and he falls a little short. Sam turns into a dog and gets Rene briefly off of Sookie - but Sam's almost kicked to death as a dog and then Sam. And Sookie, choked out by Rene, comes to, and kills Rene with a shovel. It was a powerful, satisfying scene, with a vampire and a shape-shifting dog to Sookie's rescue - but she's the one who ultimately saves herself.

I also liked Bill surviving - after Sam puts his sun-burned-with-a-vengence body in the ground - and Bill's first feeding on Lafayette made sense. (I predict he's still alive.)

I'm still not happy, though, with Rene being the killer. Sookie later explains that he was able to shut off part of his mind to her. That's a little too convenient.

But Bill being saddled with the rebellious vampire he made is a good touch, and I'm liking if not understanding whatever's going on with Tara and her protector - who also has some connection to Sam.

I'm looking forward to next summer, and will likely read the books by then. If I don't, it's only because I'm watching too much television (and writing a couple of books myself).

See also: True Blood Calling ... Penultimate True Blood

8-min podcast review of True Blood

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Sunday, November 23, 2008

A 24 Even Keith Olbermann Might Like: Redeemed and Ticking!

A superb, different kind of 24 and Jack Bauer tonight, in the two-hour special Redemption. No torture, except to Jack, and done to other good guys by bad guys. No CTU. And a more thoughtful, deeper Jack.

This could almost be the kind of 24 that Keith Olbermann would like-

Probably not. But Hillary Clinton probably would, and I certainly did.

Jack's in Africa in a fictional country, Sangala, being taken over by blood thirty rebels, whose specialty seems to be training kids - little boys - as soldiers. Back in Washington, President Daniels, played to despicable but somehow still vulnerable perfection by Powers Booth, is about to turn power over to his successor, the first woman President, Allison Taylor. (24, to its credit, was way ahead of the television curve with David Palmer as the 1st African-American President.) Daniels doesn't want the US to help or get involved in Sangala - that's what I mean by despicable - but Taylor does. Unfortunately, Daniels is still in charge for another hour.

The entire two-hour movie takes places in real time, from 3-5pm - the ticking tableau is as effective as always - and, given our upcoming Inauguration, the timing is just right, too. And, also as always on 24, there's even more danger in the nation's capital, with Jon Voight playing some high-level official who will do just about anything to keep what he's been doing secret. That includes keeping a potentially deadly eye on none other than the President's son - who looks to be maybe in his early 30s, and has a pretty hot and somewhat sharp-tongued girl friend ...

Redemption is a both a good shot of Jack and 24 in itself, as well as prelude to the next season, which begins in January, and brings Jack back to Washington, with Chloe, Tony Almeida (!), and who knows who else...

The clock's ticking.

See also 24 Season 6 Hrs 23-24: Finale

24 Season 6, 1-24 + Redemption

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Saturday, November 22, 2008

Penultimate True Blood: Looking for Another Killer

Well, the next to last episode of True Blood was powerful and provocative. Amy died happy. Jason's reaction made perfect sense. The kiss between Sookie and Sam was satisfying - at least to the viewer - and Bill's travails with that white trash vampire had just the right dollop of humor. I liked Tara, her mother, and whatever it is that Michelle Forbes is playing.

But I gotta say that I don't see Rene as the killer. Yeah, he had that conversation with Jason earlier on that fateful day, and he's certainly been around close enough to do the killings - but he just seemed too decent throughout the whole previous part of the series.

I know, that could be his front. And we know nothing, really, of what happened to his sister. But I would have liked to see some spark of brutal insanity in Rene prior to his picture coming in on the fax.

A lot of viewers, of course, have the read books, and know from them who the killer is. All the rest of us recalcitrant television viewers will know tomorrow...

But I'm guessing ... well, we'll see...

And what about the other big question - will Sookie choose Bill or Sam? She still loves Bill, but Sam is better for her ... I'll guess Sam. Unless - he's the killer ... Can shape shifters take on the faces of other humans?

I should have read the books ... But we'll know the answers tomorrow.

See also: True Blood Calling

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Gearing Back Up for Lost: Podcast Reviews of Season 4, Episodes 1-13, Right Here

The current television season, already in fine form with The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Fringe (J. J. Abrams' latest), Life on Mars, Dexter, True Blood, Heroes, etc - is gearing up for some returns of classics, with 24 to have a special two-hour episode this Sunday (which I'll of course be reviewing here), ahead of its new season in January, and Lost to unveil its 5th Season in January, too.

As an appetizer for those who are looking forward to Lost, and who may not have heard these the first time around, my podcast reviews of all 13 episodes follow below - you can click on the players and listen right here. In my opinion, Season 4 was in some ways the best season of Lost, especially in the superb Desmond time travel story. These reviews originally were heard on my Levinson News Clips podcast, and were usually recorded just a few minutes to a few hours after each episode.

You can also hear some of them on your cell phone - at 415-223-4122.

And my complete run of 54 Light On Light Through podcasts can be found, appropriately, at Light On Light Through....

Enjoy ... podcast players that you can use to hear the podcasts right on this page follow below ...

reviews of Lost, Season 4, Episodes 1-8

reviews of Lost, Season 4, Episodes 9-13

See also 1. Lost's Back Full Paradoxical Blast 4.1 ... 4.2: Five Flashbacks and Three Rational Explanations ... 4.3: Thirty Minutes and Big Ben ... 4.4: Kate and ... ... 4.5 Desmond 1 and Desmond 2 ... 4.6 The True Nature of Ben ... 4.7 Flash Both Ways ... 4.8 Michael and Alex ... 4.9 Daughters, Rules, and Some Truth about Ben ... 4.10 Almost a Dream Come True ... 4.11 Unlocking Locke ... 4.12 Hurley's Numbers on the Dashboard ... Season 4 Finale: Six More Thoughts, Plus One ...

and

2. More Thoughts On Lost 4.1: Those Who Went with Hurley and Those Who Stayed with Jack and Two More Points about Lost 4.1

and: Lost: Keys to What's Really Going On

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Friday, November 21, 2008

Life on Mars #7: Is Annie Real? Or, Is Life on Mars a False Memory?

Where else can someone be shot twice at point blank range in the chest, by his father, and recover so quickly that he dashes out of the hospital a day later? And the father and son are pretty much the same age? Why, on Life on Mars, in New York, of course...

And last night's episode #7 did all of that, and packed the most wallop we've seen so far in this surreal series. Sam from 2008, back in 1973, really gets to know his father, well played by Dean Winters of The Sarah Connor Chronicles. And there's a significant change in 1973 "history" - or maybe just the history that Sam is dreaming in his coma - as Sam's intervention prevents his father from killing ... Annie!

Which, again, raises the tantalizing question of what's really going on. Sam's quick recovery from his father's gunshots says coma - Sam isn't really back in 1973, he's dreaming it. But what about Sam's saving Annie?

Was there really an Annie Norris back in that 1973 precinct? Is Sam's memory, which he finally can see, that his father killed Annie back then, a real memory - or is it what we call today a false memory, not necessarily implanted, but brought on by the trauma of Sam's accident in 2008?

We'll need to see Sam back in 2008, awaking from his coma, to get answers to those questions - and to find out if Sam's "presence" back in 1973 has truly changed anything back then, or in 2008.... For example, what, if Annie is real, is she up to in 2008 (if she's still alive)?

Fortunately, we'll be able to learn more when Life on Mars resumes in 2009...

See also Life on Mars Debuts in America ... Life on Mars 2nd Episode in America: Coma, Time Travel, Mars Rover ... Life on Mars Goes On in America: What Happens When a Time Traveler Runs Into His Earlier Self? ... Life on Mars #4: All in the Family ... Life on Mars #5 Meets the Wire ... Life on Mars #6 Meets Itself on Television

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Thursday, November 20, 2008

Voter Switches from Al Franken to 'The Lizard People' in Minnesota

I was unable to speak when I saw this real ballot in the Coleman-Franken Minnesota Sentate race on Chris Matthews' Hardball tonight...

Clearly, this Minnesota voter changed his or her vote from Al Franken to The Lizard People. Minnesota Public Radio today offered the following helpful details...

This Beltrami County voter cast their ballot for Al Franken, but also put "Lizard People" as a write-in candidate, not only in the U.S. Senate race, but for several others. The county auditor/treasurer ruled that the vote should not be counted because it's considered an overvote. Representatives for Franken challenged that decision. (MPR Photo/Tom Robertson)

Two important points -

1. Even though a radio is involved in this report, it is not a "War of the Worlds" Orson Welles hoax - this ballot was really cast.

2. Although I do want Al Franken to win, it could be even more important to determine who, exactly, are "The Lizard People," and why this "Beltrami" voter wrote in their name...

Theories abound -

a - Reports of The Lizard People go back at least as far as 1933, Los Angeles...

b - On the science fiction side, there may be a Dr. Who connection ...

c - But, my favorite, and what I see as most likely, explanation hearkens back to Ken Johnson's brilliant 1982 V mini-series. In an age just before cable, this hard-hitting series of invading reptile aliens who took the shape of humans - but still swallowed mice whole and live as snacks - was just the thing for an audience starved and hard-bitten for good science fiction on television. V's sequel mini-series and then regular series were not quite as good, but all-in-all the V saga provided a much needed bridge between Star Trek: The Original Series, and Star Trek: The Next Generation, the new Battlestar Galactica and all the great science fiction that we now know so well...

So what was that "Beltrami" voter trying to tell us? I believe it was a plea for V - possibly a play on words on the "V" in True Blood, short for vampire blood, which in that series is a powerful drug - but more likely a shout-out for Kenneth Johnson's 2008 novel, V: The Second Generation, which came out this past February ...

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Give the Auto Companies the Loans - But with Strings that Help All Americans

I don't like rewarding the dumb and greedy policies of the big auto companies - for example, churning out huge numbers of gas-guzzling SUVs, when it was clear Americans were wisely getting tired of them - but, as many people have noted, letting the big three auto companies go under would put millions of Americans out of work, with destructive ripple effects all through the economy.

I thus think our government has no choice but to lend the auto companies the billions they need to stay in business, but with the following strings, to make sure the bailout helps those who deserve the help (the American people) and not those who don't (present management).

1. Fire the top management, with no golden parachutes.

2. Their replacements should make at most 1/10 of the current top exec salaries (which are in the multi-millions of dollars).

3. Lower the price of new autos to consumers, by at least 20-percent.

4. Provide tax credits for purchase of all new autos, which would offset state sales taxes. (Or, if all the states are willing to play ball, do away with the state sales taxes on autos, period.)

4. Insist on manufacture of more hybrids, and get them out to consumers more quickly.

I'm sure there could be other strings, and the ones above could be more effectively formulated. But you get the picture: Give the loans to the auto companies, but make sure the American people, not the execs who got us into this mess, truly benefit.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Where Have Olbermann and Maddow Disappeared To? Facebook to the Rescue

David Shuster's been doing Countdown for the past two nights, and first Arianna Huffington and then Allison Stewart have filled in for Rachel Maddow on MSNBC... I actually really like all of these people/anchors/commentators - but what happened to Keith and Rachel?

There was no announcement on MSNBC, and I couldn't find much on the Web, other than someone else who also was wondering what had happened to the two. I'd assumed there were on some sort of vacations, but ...

I posted a question in my Status on Facebook, and sure enough, Mike Plugh, one of my most brilliant and knowledgeable former students, came back with an answer:

Vacation. They ran straight through the election without a break and I think Rachel is on the Air America Cruise with some lucky listeners. Olbermann may be in his basement at his mom's house hitting rewind and play on the Ben Affleck impression at SNL.

Ok, vacation, like I thought. And Mike "thinks" that Rachel is on an Air America Cruise.

Assuming he's right - which I do - why couldn't MSNBC, and indeed Keith and Rachel, have told us?

He's a little advice for everyone with a regular news commentary show on television: Viewers get accustomed to seeing you. We miss you when you're not on.

You're in the news business. Keep us a little better posted...

Fringe 8: Heroic Walter and Apple Through Steel

Walter is the most original character on Fringe - as I've noted before, there's never quite been a mad scientist like him - and last night's Episode 8 was mostly about Walter. That's why it was so good, and, for my money, the best episode of the season so far.

The story went well beyond Walter's crackpot quirks, and even beyond his usual relationship with Peter, which last night's episode helped develop.

The science fiction came, in part, from hypnotic lights, which Walter quickly figures out. But the other part is an unfinished equation, which is a lot tougher to crack. The bad guys kidnap a boy whose musical-mathematical notations may complete the equation. An inmate of Walter's in his former prison may also have the answer - or, at least, knowledge of where the boy is being held. Walter, understandably, does not want to set foot in the prison ever again - but, to help save the boy, Walter does.

We thus see Walter more genuine and heroic than ever before. He also is a pretty good interrogator, and eventually gets some information out the inmate.

But not before Walter and Peter run afoul of the warden, chillingly played by William Sadler. I've admired his performance as a top-tier villain since Die Hard 2, and Sadler didn't disappoint last night. Neither did John Noble, who continues to bring just the right mix of genius, insanity, and compassion to his complex role.

I wasn't 100% clear who exactly was behind the kidnapping, and needing to complete the formula, and why - or even what exactly the formula did (it looked as if it allowed the bad guy to put his hand through the back of a closed safe, and take out out an apple he had earlier put in the normal way). But that's part of Fringe's charm, and I'm assuming we'll find out more...

See also Fringe Begins ... Fringe 2 and 3: The Anthology Tightrope ... 4: The Eternal Bald Observer ... 7: A Bullet Can Scramble a Dead Brain's Transmission

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Heroes 3: The Continuing Redemption of Sylar

Sylar continues to become less a villain and more a hero in last night's Episode 3.9 - going against the villainous focus in this season of Heroes, and making for one the longest and most original rehabilitations of a bad guy on television.

The rehabilitation has been long not only because it has been happening all this season, but even more importantly in the distance that Sylar has had to travel to become anything close to a decent human being. He was evil incarnate in the first season, and the only reason he wasn't quite that bad the second season was because he was without his powers for most of it.

Last night we learned, as many viewers suspected, that Sylar deliberately softened Peter's fall from the window - which Sylar hurled him out of - so Peter was not hurt. And Sylar learns empathy last night, as he takes not just the power but the pain from Elle, and without hurting her in the slightest. This part of the story is not for the cynical.

Arthur's villainy is intense that Sylar would not seem so bad, even if he were as bad as the first season. But it will be interesting to see where Arthur and Sylar go. Although Nathan and Peter seem the more likely heroes to stand up to Arthur, the ultimate contest this season may be between Arthur and Sylar.

It was also good to see more of Parkman and Daphne last night. The ancient god Mercury combined something of both of their powers - communication and speed...

But next week will be not about powers, but losing them. It will be interesting to see how our heroes and villains function without them - and who will recover first.

See also Heroes 3 Begins: Best Yet, Riddled with Time Travel and Paradox ... Sylar's Redemption and other Heroes and Villains Mergers ... Costa Nuclear ... Hearts of Gold and the Debased ... Seeing the Future Trumps Time Travel ... Superpowered Chess with Shifting Pieces ... Villains and Backstories

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An Idiot's Guide to Time Travel in The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Derek2 and Jesse1

Don't be insulted, we're all idiots when it comes to time travel and its paradoxes - that's what makes it so much fun.

But there was a great Sarah Connor Chronicles - Episode 2.9 - tonight, which had one of the best time travel dances of the series, and, for that matter, of time travel on television.

Jesse captures a Charles Fischer, back in 2008, from the future. He's a "gray" - a human who cooperated with Skynet in the future - and Jesse wants Derek to get Fischer (good to see Richard Schiff of The West Wing in this role) to tell them what he's doing in 2008. Fischer denies that he's Fischer. Jesse expects Derek to know exactly who Fischer is; Derek does not. Jesse captures then the young Fischer in 2008, and brings him into the room with the older Fischer. She tells Derek that Fischer in the future tortured Derek ... he has no recollection of this. Derek does eventually break the older Fischer in 2008, who admits that he's Fischer. Jesse kills him. She wonders how Derek could have had no recollection of what Fischer did to him in the future. Maybe it never happened, Derek realizes, and maybe we come from two different futures....

But how could that be? Why would Jesse remember Derek telling her that Fischer tortured him, if it never happened to Derek, because the younger 2008 Fischer was traumatized by what happened in that room?

Here's my explanation:

a. Derek1 is tortured by Fischer in the future. Derek1 tells Jesse1 about this.

b. Jesse1 travels back to 2008. She soon runs into the older Fischer in 2008 ... and all the events described in the paragraph above happen. The younger Fischer, because of what he saw in the room, does not go on to torture Derek1.

c. Therefore, in the future, at the instant the younger Fischer goes on that better path, Derek1 flips into Derek2. The two are identical in all ways, except that Derek2 has never been tortured. In this future2, Derek still loves Jesse.

d. Derek2 at some point after that travels back to late 2007 - before Jesse1 arrived. Jesse1 contacts Derek2 a few weeks ago, and what happened in the first paragraph - the action tonight - happened.

The key to this is that since Jesse1 traveled to the past, she retains memories of future1, and does not change when future1 becomes future2. But because Derek is still in the future at this point, he changes from Derek1 to Derek2 when the future changes from future1 to future2.

Ain't time travel grand? I think so, and I think The Sarah Connor Chronicles is doing a fine job of it.

See also 2.1 Cameron's Back ... 2.2 Firing on All Cylinders ... 2.3 Who, Truly, Is Agent Ellison? ... 2.4: Meet Allison ... 2.5: Unpacking the Future ... 2.6: Terminator Mom, Human Daughter ... 2.7: The Saving Robbery and Cromartie ... 2.8 Perspectives and Death

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"challenging fun"
- Entertainment Weekly

e-mail received from a reader:
Dear Paul, I just dreamed of airships flying between raindrops. I just returned from 2042 CE, where I sold my hardcover copy of The Plot to Save Socrates for seventy million Neo-Euros, because it had your response to this e-mail from way back in 2007 scotch-taped onto the inside of the cover. A Paul Levinson collector paid top Neo-Euro, because of the authentic archaic e-mail printout from you. It turns out that not many of your e-mails from before your tenure as CEO of HBO/Cinemax and terms as United Nations Secretary General will survive that far into the future. So, please respond to this e-mail, to help found my great-grandchildren's fortune. My Will will stipulate that they must share with your great grandchildren. Thanks! Tom

I of course happily replied...

42 reviews of The Plot to Save Socrates!