Open Levinson
Paul Levinson
- Location
- New York City, New York, USA
- Birthday
- March 25
- Title
- Professor
- Company
- Fordham University
- Bio
- Paul Levinson's The Silk Code won the 2000 Locus Award for Best First Novel. He has since published Borrowed Tides (2001),
The Consciousness Plague (2002), The Pixel Eye (2003), and The Plot To Save Socrates (2006). His science fiction and mystery short stories have been nominated for Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Sturgeon Awards. His eight nonfiction books, including The Soft Edge (1997), Digital McLuhan (1999), Realspace (2003), and Cellphone (2004),
have been the subject of major articles in the New York Times, Wired, the Christian Science Monitor, and have been translated into ten languages. New New Media, exploring how Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and blogging have changed our lives, was published in September 2009. Paul Levinson appears on "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "The CBS Evening News," the “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” (PBS), “Nightline” (ABC), and
numerous national and international TV and radio programs. He reviews the best of television in his InfiniteRegress.tv blog. Paul Levinson is Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Fordham University in New York City
MY RECENT POSTS
- Best Grammys Ever
February 13, 2012 03:30PM - The Walkiing Dead 2.8: The
Farm, the Road, and the Town
February 13, 2012 01:05AM - Person of Interest 1.14: Reese
as Ronin
February 11, 2012 02:42PM - Fringe 4.12: Double Westfield
/ Single Olivia
February 10, 2012 11:02PM - NCIS 200
February 08, 2012 08:01PM
MY RECENT COMMENTS
- “I agree
completely!”
January 28, 2012 10:37AM - “Agreed!”
January 16, 2012 03:57PM - “Excellent point about
Ron Paul defending Romney on
principle.
The mass media
con…”
January 11, 2012 04:34PM - “Sorry - I always forget
that my Infinite Regress feed
to Open
Salon doesn't
carry…”
January 08, 2012 06:14PM - “In the case of Pool,
you're calling me a liar? I
specifically
say that I saw
him…”
January 01, 2012 07:52PM
Like all firsts - such as the first YouTube Presidential debate, back in the 20…
There has been a lot of discussion of the unconstitutionality of the new Arizona Immigration Law, which would allow police to stop any person they may find "suspicious" - or have "reasonable suspicion" that the individual is not in this country legally - and ask for the… Read full post »
Good for the US Supreme Court for overturning the 20-year ban on direct corporate spending on elections. Last time I checked, the First Amendment - "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press" - contained no language excluding corporations from its protectio… Read full post »
I've been saying for years that Shep Smith, who anchors the Fox Report on Fox News, is a class act. He did an heroic job - along Anderson Cooper of CNN, Geraldo Rivera of Fox News, and other reporters on the scene -- in holding the Bush government to account for… Read full post »
Back with clockwork weekly reviews of Dexter Season 4. Episode 5
was on tonight, the first new episode since my
sneak preview non-spoiler review of the first four episodes
last month.
What
I couldn't tell you in that non-spoiler review was that Lundy and
Debra would be shot at the end… Read full post »
Fringe
2.3 went in for some fine, classic science fiction again last week,
with a current twist - people that explode, not because they are
wired like suicide bombers, but because their body chemistry has
been changed to make the body itself a deadly, explosive weapon.
Alfred
I mentioned in my review of the FlashForward’s fine premiere last
week the Oceanic Airlines billboard that appeared in a Los Angeles
scene. I said it was a nod to Lost. I think it’s worth another
blog post to say it’s much more.
What that billboard does is proclaim that… Read full post »
Well, the gang's back at the hospital on House 6.2 tonight, but House is not,
and that means neither will the gang before too long.
House has his license back, but quits his job at the hospital, on
the logic that he can't just go back to his old way… Read full post »
A brutally honest episode 3.7 of Mad Men tonight, that starts with Peggy
out cold with a man in bed, Don beaten unconscious on some hotel
room floor, and centers around Don's unwillingness to sign a
three-year contract with Sterling Cooper.
In the flashbacks which mostly roll out the story, Conrad Hil… Read full post »
As a lead-up to the premiere of ABC's new series FlashForward
this Thursday - which I'll be reviewing here, and every subsequent
episode - I thought you might enjoy this in-depth interview I
conducted week before last with Robert J. Sawyer, author of the
novel upon which the series is based.
Rob… Read full post »
Heroes returned for Season 4 last night, with a two-hour premiere that was less apocalyptic than usual, and therefore I actually found more enjoyable. For the first time I can recall with Heroes, I was able to sit down and relax with it. In part this was because of the story… Read full post »
Well, I said earlier that joining of forces would be the way to
defeat Maryann in True Blood, and it sure was, but the joining
consisted of fewer forces, which in turn led to a surprise at the
very end.
With all humans under Maryann's power, it's up to Bill and Sam… Read full post »
The best moment in last night's True Blood 2.11 was Bill threatening
Eric about Sookie. This red hot triangle is the heart and soul of
the season.
Bill's meeting the Queen was also pretty good. I especially liked
her entourage standing by the pool, and she had a good line
about… Read full post »
An even edgier than usual episode 3.3 of Mad Men tonight, delving into -
Racism -
1.
Don and Betty's daughter Sally (wonderfully played by Kiernan
Shipka) finishes reading from Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire to
Grandpa. She leaves, comes back in the room, and swipes a $5 bill
from… Read full post »
What a day ... Ellie Greenwich also died today. She was 68. She wrote rock classics such as "Be My Baby" with Phil Specter and her then-husband Jeff Barry. With Jeff, she discovered Neil Diamond and produced his early great records. Ellie and Jeff performed as the Raindrops, and also wrote… Read full post »
Well, we finally got to see Maryann the maenad vs the assorted
forces of good in last night's episode 2.10 of True Blood on HBO.
And, as befitting a not yet quite season finale, the results were
tantalizingly inclusive.
1. Bill gives Maryann's neck a go, and ends up sick to his… Read full post »
A second episode of the third season of Mad Men tonight, especially rich in
Spring 1963 historical detail...
Don says the family will go to Carvel, after they do stuff the kids
will find boring in Tarrytown. Ah, Carvel ... its first store was
opened on Central Avenue, not far from where… Read full post »
Private, for-profit health insurance companies are
self-contradictory. They cannot pursue profits - try to make as
much money as possible - and support necessary health care. I know
this from first-hand experience.
Years ago, when our son was a little boy, he contracted a type of
pneumonia that did no… Read full post »
Well, I predicted last
week that Godric would not survive the bomb blast. I was wrong
- he did survive. But I was right that he would not survive too
long.
True Blood 2.9 had an ending that cried out to the cosmos, as
Godric stands on the roof in the dawning… Read full post »
A tip-top Season 3 premiere of Mad Men tonight. Betty's well
into her pregnancy, the Brits have taken over the firm, and-
1. The head of accounts is fired. Pete is told he'll be the new
accounts chief. He's chuffed, as only Pete can be. But his pure joy
is… Read full post »
Les Paul died today - he was 94. He was known as one of the
inventors of the electric guitar, which became the essential
instrument of rock 'n' roll. Just as important, he also developed
overdubbing and multi-track recording.
You can hear it on his hit records with his wife, Mary Ford… Read full post »
With the publication of my latest book, New New Media, just weeks away (Penguin Academics will be publishing the book on 4 September 2009), I thought I would share with you the interview Dr. Howard Gluss did with me on his KFNX Radio show on June 12, 2009. It provides a… Read full post »
It was nice to meet another member of Brenda Leigh's extended
family on The Closer last
night. Her niece is having problems at home, so she's staying with
her grandparents (Brenda's parents). But Brenda's mother has a
better idea - the niece can stay for the summer with Brenda!
But lest we… Read full post »
It was good to see Andy agree to be Baby Botwin's father on Weeds 5.8 last Monday. He's morphed from a sage, hilarious nut to a sage, hilarious nut who also has deep sense of responsibility and Jewish tradition. Andy was always a good uncle. Now he's stepping up to be… Read full post »
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