Light On Light Through

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 53 LOST 4 and 8 ...a special, jumbo compilation episode, in which you'll hear all of my reviews of the first part of Season 4 of Lost ... originally presented on my Levinson news clips podcast on the Friday after each Thursday's broadcast of Lost ... 9 reviews of the first 8 episodes (because I did two reviews of the first episode, I liked it so much), plus some special new commentary, presented here for the first time, with some additional thoughts I had about Episode 8, and the coming attractions at the end ... These eight episodes have been classic ... containing one of the best time travel stories ever on television, as well as some possible answers to the key mysteries of Lost ...Helpful links: Levinson news clips - the original podcasts, plus you'll find new, continuing podcast reviews of Lost there starting up again at the end of April Lost 4 and 13 - Light On Light Through Episode 54, with reviews of Lost Season 4, Episodes 9-13 Infinite Regress - blog post

Welcome to Episode 52 of Light On Light Through ... "Science Fiction in the New Golden Age of Television" ... It started in the mid-late 1990s with HBO's original series, especially "The Sopranos" in 1999.  This revolution in television - frank, gritty, real, intellectually sophisticated - soon spread to other cable and old-fashioned network television.   In the past few years, science fiction has taken a leading role.   In this podcast - based on a lecture I gave to the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society on 25 January 2008 (at the invitation of Lee Stein and Suzanne Rosin) - I look at the contributions of five science fiction series to this new golden age of television ... Lost, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Journeyman, Battlestar Galactica, and Heroes...Plus flashes ... mostly about the continuing Obama revolution, and a little about John "Palpatine" McCain...Helpful links: my blog reviews of Lost, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Journeyman, Battlestar Galactica, and Heroes... just ab

Welcome to Light On Light Through Episode 51, "Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton," in which I examine the strengths and differences of these two extraordinary candidates ... Obama may be the greatest orator of our time ... his election as the first African-American President would make history, as would Hillary Clinton's as the first woman in the White House President ... how do Obama and Clinton compare to the Republican candidates ... plus ... a critique of MSNBC's shoddy treatment of Hillary Clinton...Helpful blog links ... Obama Sweeps Three Primaries, Gives Magnificent Speech ... MSNBC Needs to Stop Sniping at Hillary ... I'm Voting for Barack Obama in New York Today home page: http://paullevinson.infomore blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv and http://www.myspace.com/twiceuponarhyme                          videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006                                                                           my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates"challenging fun" - Entertainmen

Welcome to Light On Light Through Episode 50 - my interview with Dr. Stanley Schmidt, long-time editor of Analog Magazine of Science Fiction and Fact, the leading science fiction magazine in the universe, as far as we know ... Stan talks candidly about what he looks for in a story submitted for publication ... how quickly he knows that a story works ... what he sees in the futures of science fiction, Analog, and his own work in the field ... Analog published 10 of my stories in the 1990s, and helped establish me as a science fiction writer.   This interview was not only a real pleasure for me to conduct, but I suspect will be a source for years to come of invaluable information and insight for anyone who aspires to being a published short-fiction science fiction writer ... Plus flashes ... The Plot to Save Journeyman - that is, three chances to win free copies of The Plot to Save Socrates, just by watching the next episodes of NBC's Journeyman!   (Note added in 2008: The contest ended in 2007.) Here's a list

Welcome to Episode 49 of Light On Light Through in which I converse with digital artist Ken Hudson aka Kenny Hubble of and about Second Life.  At ten million accounts and growing, the vibrant virtual community of Second Life is becoming a way of life for many.  Ken interviewed me in his Media Ecology Second Life series a few weeks ago, and I'm still enjoying it.  Ken and I talk about life in Second Life - how to do it, how to live it, and its relationship to real or "first" life in everything ranging from art and music to (of course) sex.  Whether you're an old hand at Second Life, a newbie, or just want to learn more about this fascinating place, you won't want to miss this special 40-minute interview (and, actually, there is no way that you can, because it will always be available here - and likely somewhere in Second Life, too).Plus - my avatar reads from The Plot to Save Socrates in Second Life  in December 2007 - enjoy the videoclip...."Athens, 2042... Sierra Waters had always done everything for the thr

Welcome to Light On Light Through Episode 48, an Interview with Rich Sommer, who plays Harry Crane on AMC's Mad Men.  Among the highlights - the "joys" of wearing real 1960s clothing ... what are they really smoking on the show? ... what does Rich think happened with Harry between episodes 12 and 13 of the show? ... how does Rich explain Harry's uncanny resemblance to Isaac Asimov (see photos below) ... how does Rich account for the rare anachronism on the show ... and much more in this exclusive interview, conducted just two days ago ...  We had a grand time in this interview! If you love the show, you'll want to listen to every minute of this ... If you don't know the show, you'll want to watch every minute of it after listening to this interview...Isaac Asimov (1965) and Harry Crane aka Rich Sommer (1960)Plus flashes ...  David Wiltse's Sedition at Fordham University Monday night, 7:30pm, Pope Auditorium, 60th Street & Columbus, free admission  ... I'll be on the radio Tues, 7:30 pm, on Bob Mann's Let'

Welcome to a very special Episode - #47 - of Light On Light Through ... our first year anniversary party!  Lots of surprises, special guests (see guest list, below), a contest in which you can win a copy of my novel, The Plot to Save Socrates ... never-before-revealed facts such as how I came up with the name Light On Light Through - what it means - and much more...Plus flashes ...  Mad Men concludes a brilliant first year on AMC ... and maybe a tachyon telephone on NBC's Journeyman ...Making rare guest appearances on this special anniversary podcast: James Harris ... singing Looking for Sunsets Shaun Farrell ... from Adventures in SciFi Publishing Jason Rennie ... from the Sci Phi Show Jake Cordova ... from Just Not Right Dave Worley ... blog, soundcast, more Norman the Movie Guy ... from That Movie Critic Show Scott Sandridge ... from Everyday Fiction Michael Burstein ... award-winning short fiction Diana Liwen ... from Fire of Spring Mike James ... from MikeThinks Gabriel Llanas ... from the Punk Horror P

Welcome to Episode 46 of Light On Light Through, in which I offer a modest proposal for greatly improving our political process:  why not work for the best candidates in each of the two parties, so as to give Americans the best possible choice in the general election.  I go over my choices - just Ron Paul for the Republican nomination - Gore, Obama, Edwards, Kucinich, Gravel for the Democratic nomination (a lot more to choose from there) - and give my reasons why.Plus flashes ... Judy Woodruff reclaims the fine art of the civilized, informative interview in her PBS NewsHour interview with Ron Paul ... Michael Clayton is a fine, originally directed movie ... still time to send me your mp3 greetings for the next episode of Light On Light Through - our first anniversary show...Helpful links: Modest Political Proposal my blog post Judy Woodruff interview with Ron Paul my blog post analysis The Silk Code podiobook - my award-winning novel, read by Shaun Farrell, available free -  at http://thesilkcode.blogspot.co

Welcome to Episode 45 of Light On Light Through in which we celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sputnik - the first artificial satellite to circle the Earth.  We look and the triumphs and the tragedies, and in particular, why we have moved so little and so slowly into space since then...RealSpace: The Fate of Physical Presence in the Digital Age, On and Off PlanetAlso in this podcast: an invitation to podcasters and anyone who can make an MP3 recording:  October 21, 2007 will be the first-year anniversary of Light On Light Through - send me your 10-second greetings, and I'll play them all in a special anniversary episode.  Feel free to mention and plug your own podcast, and whatever else you're doing.Plus flashes ... Heroes is back ... so is Dexter and Brotherhood ... and Journeyman - a great new time travel series - debuts ... all of this, and more... hear and read more of what I think about them in Levinson news clips and InfiniteRegress.tv ...Helpful links: Levinsonnewsclips.com InfiniteRegress.tv The Silk

Welcome to Light On Light Through Episode 44, An Interview with Obama Girl Producer Ben Relles ... We cover everything in this powerful, revealing 20-minute interview ... how Ben and the team at BarelyPolitical.com came up with the idea for Obama Girl ... how Amber Lee Ettinger was chosen to be Obama Girl ... the role of songwriter singer Leah Kauffman ... Barack Obama and his campaign's reaction to the Obama Girl videos, and Ben's response to this reaction ... placement of BarelyPolitical.com in the history and future of political satirical television and video ... You won't want to miss a second of this candid, informative interview...Plus flashes ... Ben Relles, Amber Lee Ettinger, and Leah Kauffman will be at my class at Fordham University, September 21 ... my thoughts about Dylan's "With God On Our Side" after seeing Scorsese's No Direction Home - does it remind you of Mike Huckabee's statement in the last Presidential debate about the role of "God" in our continuation of the war in Iraq (this in respons

Welcome to Light On Light Through podcast Episode 43, Violence and Videogames: The Truth, where I examine the two main types of "scientific evidence" that purport to show that violence in videogames leads to violence in the real world - and explain why they show nothing of the sort.  The experiments measure violence "profiles" based on results of tests, not violence in the real world.  The surveys show correlation not causation between violent videogames and violence in the real world - and I explain exactly what that means.I've been studying and teaching about the statistical flaws and inadequacies in these studies for years as a Professor of Communication and Media Studies.  If you'd like to really understand what these studies are trying to demonstrate, but why they do not, invest 15 minutes of your time and listen to this podcast. Plus flashes ... iTunes and NBC split - no big deal - bitTorent is the future, anyway ... now ABC is not only misreporting Ron Paul, but cropping Kucinich out of photos ... grea

Welcome to Episode 42 of Light On Light Through in which I replay the Sloan Ranger's 20-minute interview with me on WGNU Radio this past Tuesday, about the media's misreporting of Ron Paul's 2008 election campaign.  I discussed four examples of ABC's misreporting (and worse) with Lloyd Sloan - aka the Sloan Ranger - and he had an example or two from other media.   We discussed the problem of media bias in general - easy to find, it's pervasive - and I even offered my view that the FCC, in daily violating the First Amendment to our Constitution, is treasonous. A frank, colorful discussion which I very much enjoyed, and I hope you find useful. Plus flashes ...  I'll be talking to the NYC Ron Paul Meet-Up group in Manhattan this Tues, August 28, 7:30pm, at the Village Pourhouse, 11th Street and 3rd Ave, admission is free ... space shuttle Endeavor comes home safely with teacher Barbara Morgan ... Californication is still hilarious ... Helpful links: details on my talk this Tues at the Village Pourhouse the mean

Welcome to Episode 41 of Light On Light Through - a conversation with Mark Shanahan about Sedition - the new play by David Wiltse, in which Shanahan is currently performing ... We talk about the uniquely powerful medium of theater ... the importance of a play about freedom of speech in this day and age ... the response of the audiences to Sedition in its first week in Westport, CT ... the effect this play about a professor has had on me as a professor ... and much more ... a 25-minute interview ... Plus flashes ...  more summer television - John from Cincinnati ends, a jewel within an enigma ... Californication debuts, hot  ... Mad Men on AMC, a safe-way to experience non-stop smoking ... and a special preview flash: Obama Girl producer Ben Relles is coming to Light On Light Through.... Helpful links: my review of Sedition Westport Country Playhouse The Flouting of the First Amendment - my June 2005 Keynote summer television reviews at InfiniteRegress.tv The Barely Political Revolution - why Obama Girl is

  Welcome to Episode 40 of Light On Light Through in which we focus on a very unwelcome development: the media disenfranchising of Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul.  I admire his unflinching support of the Constitution (including the First Amendment), do not agree with every one of his positions, but whether we agree with any candidate's positions or not, we should be alarmed when a major news network such as ABC forgets to mention that a candidate, in this case Ron Paul, came in first in its poll, gives the impression that Ron Paul had fewer supporters at a rally than he in fact had, etc.  I've written blog posts about this abuse of our democratic system, intend to teach my Intro to Communication and Media Studies class at Fordham University about this in Fall, and am hoping this podcast will help get more word of this out to the American people... And this just in from Iowa - Ron Paul placed 5th in the Iowa Straw Poll.  Certainly not a win, but ahead of Tommy Thompson, and better than many expecte

Welcome to this special Episode 39 of Light On Light Through - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: The View from New York ... from the moment I left the bookstore a few minutes after midnight on Saturday I knew this was something as special as everyone had anticipated ... kids were sitting in front of the bookstore, delving into their copies (tell that to the myopic New York Times and all the other self-appointed experts who think literacy is waning) ... In this podcast, I give my first reactions to this extraordinary finale to an extraordinary series ... and to sum up those reactions:  J. K. Rowling has given the world what the Beatles did in 1960s ... the unique British contribution to entertainment and popular culture ... among the highlights ... the interaction of magical beings in this finale novel ... the radio in the forest ... my favorite line ... and much more... Plus flashes ... just one, devoted to the YouTube/CNN Presidential debate this past Monday, which I saw and reckon to be a major breakthr

Welcome to Harry Potter and the iPhone ... Light On Light Through, Episode 38 ... in which we consider the two biggest draws of the Summer of 2007 ... Harry Potter and the iPhone ... makes sense: what the iPhone does is magic ... and consistent with my anthropotropic theory of media evolution - as new technologies evolve, they become increasingly human, and do more things we imagine and yearn for ... Plus flashes ... BarelyPolitical.com's Obama Girl vids are revolutionizing the political process - for the better ... Mad Men is a great new show on AMC TV - cigarette companies and Richard Nixon are clients of this 1950s ad exec ... Helpful links: Read more about what I'm saying about the iPhone on InfiniteRegress.tv Also on InfiniteRegress - my Barely Political Revolution - Obama Girl says it's her favorite! - and my review of Mad Men The Silk Code podiobook - my award-winning novel, read by Shaun Farrell, available free -at http://thesilkcode.blogspot.com  or  http://podiobooks.com http://artofgraciouslivin

Welcome to Episode 37 of Light On Light Through ---> A Conversation with Robert J. Sawyer ... my good friend for more than a decade ... my predecessor as President of the Science Fiction Writers of America (and I served as his Vice President) ... Rob is winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel, the Nebula Award for Best Novel, and more awards, almost as numerous as stars in the universe ... he's Canada's premier science fiction writer ... We talk not only about Rob's novels - including his latest, rollback - but about the true value of science fiction to humanity, a trip to Mars that almost happened in the 1960s, the Pope's Astronomer, and much more ... a no-holds-barred, unedited 20-minute connversation... Plus flashes ... all Sopranos, baby ... I thought the ending was a masterpiece ... shades of The Lady or The Tiger and Hamlet ... advice to the closure-junkies ... Helpful links: Rob Sawyer's new novel rollback and his home page InfiniteRegress.tv  - my blog posts and podcasts about The Sopranos ... final

Welcome to Episode 36 of Light On Light Through ... in which we consider five questions that arise from the breathtaking Season 3 finale of Lost ... 1. how far in the future was the action in Los Angeles? ... 2. who's in the coffin? ... 3. who's waiting for Kate? ... 4. who is Naomi's boss? ... 5. is Mikhail immortal? ... Plus flashes ... more Lost ... still significant: inexplicable coincidences in the backstories ... Walt ... the paradox of the liar ... more Lost in Helpful links... First, my blog posts on Lost New Questions and other Lost matters - How Far in the Future? ...  Who's In the Coffin? ... Who's Waiting for Kate? ... Who Is Naomi's Boss? ... Is Mikhail Immortal? and  Lost and Alias: Now Something Else in Common... And some helpful links... Infinite Regress  my weekly reviews of Lost, 24, Heroes, The Sopranos, The Tudors ... and, coming soon, Meadowlands and Big Love... The Silk Code podiobook - my award-winning novel, read by Shaun Farrell, available free -  at http://thesilkcode.blogspot.com o

Welcome to Light On Light Through Episode 35 ... my exclusive predictions for the season finales this week of 24, Heroes, and Lost!  I'll say no more ... you've got to listen to the podcast (most of these predictions have not appeared on my blogs before).  Email yours to me at PaulLevinson@LightonLightthrough.com - if I receive them before the shows, and you're right, I'll mention your name on next week's Light On Light Through.... Plus flashes ... devoted completely to politics again, and mostly to the poor treatment Ron Paul is still receiving from mainstream media ... this time, why did Fox choose to conduct a poll via texting, and then denigrate the results because Ron Paul did so well? ... also, Democrats, next time take up Fox and every network on offers to host your Presidential debates ... you don't hurt Fox by refusing to debate on its network, you hurt yourselves and the American people...  Helpful links: Advice to Networks about Post-Debate Polls my blog postInfinite Regress  my weekly reviews of 2

Welcome to Harry Potter and the Refutation of Illiteracy or Episode 34 of Light On Light Through in which we consider how the extraordinary success of J. K. Rowling's novels refutes the view of some academics and critics that television, the Internet, and even texting on cell phones are making the world illiterate... Plus flashes ... devoted entirely to the shabby treatment the Ron Paul for President campaign has been receiving from ABC.com, Pajamas Media, and other media...  Helpful links: Harry Potter and the Refutation of Illiteracy my blog post The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution my 1998 book - for further details on literacy thrivingOpen Letter to ABC.com about Ron Paul and Second Open Letter to ABC.com and the Media about Ron Paul both from me  The Silk Code podiobook - my award-winning novel, read by Shaun Farrell, available free -  at http://thesilkcode.blogspot.com or http://podiobooks.com The Future and You May 1 episode ... Stephen Euin Cobb continues his Octob