Light On Light Through

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 79, in which you will hear the complete 65-minute interview Patrick Rands did with me about my music, in June 2006.   I drove up to WZBC Radio studios outside of Boston on a beautiful early summer afternoon for the interview by Partick Rands on his "Test Patterns" radio show on WZBC (Boston College) Radio.  With my 1972 LP, Twice Upon a Rhyme, re-issued in mini-CD by Big Pink/Beatball Records in December 2008, and to be re-issued in a vinyl re-pressing by Whiplash/Sound of Salvation Records in November 2010, I thought this interview, in which Patrick played 14 of my songs (many rarely heard before) to be especially significant.   A complete playlist and links to the music on the Web follow below ... I had first come to know Patrick after his review of Rhino Handmade's Come to the Sunshine compilation CD in 2005 - the CD has my group The Other Voices (aka The New Outlook) singing "Hung Up On Love," a song I wrote with Mikie Harris, produced by Ellie Greenwich & M

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 78, in which you will hear a tale - all true - about time, space, the vision of an artist 100 years ago, the vision of another artist now ... a tale of two Presidents, of the power of the penny to bring us the past and make it come alive.   I interview Joel Iskowitz, whose depictions appear on the back of American coins and on UK stamps, on illustrations for NASA and the Boyscouts ... We talk about the capacity of a coin to capture the past and bring it to millions, how Victor David Brenner persuaded Theodore Roosevelt to commission a new Lincoln Penny back at the beginning of the 20th century, and how Joel envisioned this scene and rescued it from the oblivion of the past in a brand new lithograph.   This interview will be of special interest to historians, artists, coin collectors, and all students of communication and technology, and how this affects our psyches and our world...   Links: Joel Iskowitz's web page and Wikipedia page. Meet Joel in person on 13 Aug 2

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 77, in which I discuss concerns that I and other civil libertarians have raised about U.S. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's views of the First Amendment, in particular her suggestion that objectional speech - such as hate speech and in pornography - can be restricted by government if it uses laws against physical abuse in hate crimes (which are indeed Constitutional and necessary for the government) to chill or limit the speakers.Links:my Infinite Regress blog piece:  Concern about Kagan's First Amendment positionmy Daily Kos blog piece, with extensive commentary:  Concern about Kagan's First Amendment positionJames Doty's defense of  Kagan in SalonJonathan Turley's critique of Kagan, with link to her article about combating hate speech and pornographyLight On Light Through podcast interview with the Doningers about Sotomayor's decision in their caseMy 2005 Fordham University Keynote Address:  The Flouting of the First AmendmentHuffington Post discussion of Ob

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 76, in which I discuss how the new Arizona Immigration  Law, even as amended, violates the 14th Amendment to our Constitution.Links -Why the Arizona Immigration Law Is Unconstitutional my Infinite Regress blog post, with extensive commentaryWhy the Arizona Immigration Law Is Unconstitutional my Daily Kos blog post, also with extensive commentaryWhy the Arizona Immigration Law Is Unconstitutional my Open Salon blog post, also with extensive commentaryhome page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com                                          videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006                                                                            published on 3 September 2009:  New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates "challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly "Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 75, in which I explain why Neil Armstrong, James Lovell, and Eugene Cernan are right to criticize Obama's cutting of the humans to the Moon space programs.   The long and the short of it is we'll never know who were are, never understand what we are doing here in this Universe, from our vantage point here on Planet Earth, and humans on the Moon are a crucial step to getting off this Planet. Links: my recent blog posts on this subject at Infinite Regress, Open Salon, and the Daily Kos, and the spirited discussion in the comments Obama's 2011-2015 budget and mission plans for NASA full text of Armstrong, Lovell, and Cernan letter to Obama MPAndonee's comment in the Huffington Post discussion my 2003 book, RealSpace   home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com                                          videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006                                         

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 74, in which I present my original reviews of the first 10 episodes of FlashForward, from the Fall 2009.    With Flashforward to resume tonight, I thought these reviews - from my Levinson news clips podcast - might be a good way of catching up.   Links: New podcast reviews of new episodes of Flashforward (11 -) at Levinson news clips Blog post reviews of all Flasforward episodes at InfiniteRegress.tv My Light On Light Through September 2009 podcast interview with Rob Sawyer Come see my March 28, 2010 interview with Rob Sawyer at I-Con science fiction con   home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com                                          videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006                                                                            published on 3 September 2009:  New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates "challenging fun" - Entertainment Wee

  A special Episode 73 of Light On Light Through  -- in which I discuss my current assessment of the Prius I've been driving since September 2006, and which was the subject of Episodes 1 and 32 of this very podcast.   Given the serious problems with accelerator and brake action reported for the Prius and other Toyotas, I though I'd chime in here with at least one data point:  which is, although I did have a little problem with a headlight, my Prius is driving just fine.   Links: Light On Light Through Episode 1: Prius and BlueTooth Light On Light Through Episode 32:  My Sweet Prius, Part 2   Like science fiction? Jump into my short story, The Other Car, in which a Prius is a bridge to an alternate reality       home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv                                         videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006                                                                            published on 3 September 2009:  New New Media my latest no

A special Episode 72 of Light On Light Through  -- recorded an hour after ABC-TV pulled its station off Cablevision in the New York area.   Link to blog post:  Memo to Cablevision and ABC TV   home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com                                          videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006                                                                            published on 3 September 2009:  New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates "challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly "Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . there's a bite to Levinson's wit"-- in Curled Up With A Good Book Read the first chapter of The Plot to Save Socrates .... FREE

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 71: New New Media and Religion, in which I briefly discuss how blogging, Twitter, and "new new media" - which enable consumers of information to become producers - enable more human beings to consider and communicate about what it is that makes us human, what we're doing here in this universe, in other words, the essence of religion. Links: Free Twitter chapter from New New Media more about New New Media also Realspace: The Fate of Physical Presence in the Digital Age The New Landscape of Religion Blogosphere  with 9 commentators, including me.   home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com                                          videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006                                                                            published on 3 September 2009:  New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates "challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly "Da Vi

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 70:  A January 2010 TV Review Sampler.  I've been speaking and writing for several years - here on Light On Light Through, in my classes, on my blogs, in newspaper op-eds, and in my books - about the "new golden age of television" we are enjoying.   Indeed, I've been reviewing many of these great dramas - The Sopranos, Lost, Dexter - over on one of my other podcasts, Levinson News Clips.   These reviews are usually just 5-7 minutes, and I often post them within minutes of a show's broadcast.   This month of January 2010 has been an especially excellent month for television, so I decided to put together this special Light On Light Through sampler of my Levinson News Clips TV reviews of 24, Big Love, Bones, Damages, Fringe, Heroes, and House - all of which have come back on television with fine new episodes.   You'll find continuing reviews of every episode of these and other television shows on Levinson News Clips. Links: continuing podcast reviews of television on

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 69:  Leno, Conan, and New New Media .... in which I replay for you the entire 48-minute interview Fred W. Hofmann conducted with me on KCPS Radio, January 19, 2010, about the shake-up with Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien at NBC.  My thesis is that this has little to do with the talents of either late-night comedian, but rather is a result of the shift in audiences from network television to cable and the Internet.   I began to explore this shift in my 2009 book, New New Media, and I see the Leno-O'Brien events as just the latest rumblings in a television revolution which has just begun... Links: more about New New Media Twitter chapter from New New Media - free! Fred W. Hofmann on KCPS Radio   home page: http://paullevinson.info more blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com                                          videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006                                                                  

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 68:  Weep Not for Newspapers .... in which I explain why the decline of paper newspapers may be the best thing that ever happened to journalism and its goal of keeping citizens in a democracy well informed.   This is the latest installment in my continuing series, What's Newer than New New Media, which until now has consisted only of written blogs.Links: more about New New Media Twitter chapter from New New Media - free! my brief essay on this issue in The Chronicle of Higher Education home page: http://paullevinson.infomore blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com                                          videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006                                                                            published on 3 September 2009:  New New Media my latest novel: The Plot to Save Socrates"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly"Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News and Brian Charles Clark

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 67:  How Does It Feel To Have A Book Published? .... in which I chronicle the publication of my latest nonfiction book, New New Media, on September 3, 2009, with descriptions of events and expectations in August 2009, through the day of publication, and continuing with adventures in September and October 2009.   Highlights include mentions of the book in The New York Times and other newspapers prior to publication, interviews on radio shows, the book tour, the use of a blog in promoting the book, the first book review, the Kindle edition, and much more.   These reflections of an author - me, about New New Media - were first detailed in a series of eight short (5-minute) episodes in my Ask Lev podcast, where these writerly accounts will continue.Links: more about New New Media Twitter chapter from New New Media - free! my other books Ask Lev podcast - practical advice for writers my Four Rules for Writers home page: http://paullevinson.infomore blogs: http://Infini

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 66:  Robert J. Sawyer Talks About FlashForward .... With less than a week to go until the premiere of FlashForward on ABC Television on September 24, 2009, 8 pm Eastern time - based on Rob Sawyer's novel of the very same name - I was delighted to catch Rob on the phone in Toronto for this sage, penetrating interview in which Rob reveals what it feels like to be on the verge of having his novel seen on screens around the world in this ABC series.  Rob takes us through the steps of moving from novel to screen, his admiration for the stellar cast, his clear vision of possible future paths for his FlashForward novel universe, at a time when everyone will be coming to know the slightly different story in the television series, and much more.  Whether you're a writer with dreams of seeing of your words on the screen, or a fan of great science fiction is this new golden age of television, this is the interview you'll always remember.Links: more about Rob's novel, FlashForw

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 65:  An Introduction to New New Media ... 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 20-minute introduction to the way that Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and what I call "new new media" are changing all of us from consumers into producers, and in the process revolutionizing all aspects of our lives, from the way we watch television to the way we elect Presidents...Links: more about New New Media more about Dr. Howard Gluss radio show I'm interviewed about New New Media on Kojo Nnamdi show home page: http://paullevinson.infomore blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv and http://open.salon.com/blog/paul_levinson                       more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com                                   videoclips: http://www.youtube.co

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 64:  Moon 40 ... in which I reflect on watching our species land on the Moon 40 years ago, regret that we have not gone much further, and offer some reasons why we must.  They are more than scientific and economic, though outer space will give us much data and access to vast resources of energy.  But the deepest reasons are closer to spiritual - we will never understand who we really are, what we are doing here in this cosmos, from down on here on Planet Earth.  The universe beyond is, after all, part of our larger home...Links: my blog post: Forty Years from the Moon, and Still Counting my book: Realspace home page: http://paullevinson.infomore blogs: http://InfiniteRegress.tv and http://open.salon.com/blog/paul_levinson                       more podcasts: http://Levinsonnewsclips.com                                          videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006                                                                            coming in

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 63:  Sonia Sotomayor vs. the First Amendment: An Interview with Avery and Lauren Doninger.  The First Amendment has almost never been under greater fire.   Broadcasters are being fined record amounts and the FCC and Congress are calling out for more.   Students are being taught the wrong lessons about freedom of expression in some of our schools, and courts are supporting these schools.  One of those cases - involving a 16-year old high school student, Avery Doninger - made its way to the Second Circuit Appeals Court, where Sonia Sotomayor and two colleague justices supported the school.   Judge Sotomayor now seems likely to be confirmed by the US Senate to serve a lifetime position on the United States Supreme Court. In this special episode of Light On Light Through, I interview Avery Doninger and her mother, Lauren Doninger.  You can hear in their own voices what was at stake in Avery's case - what the case was all about - and their reaction to the adverse decisio

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 62:  Star Trek: Reborn, Reset, Resplendent ... in which I explain how the new May 2009 Star Trek movie succeeded in delighting lifelong fans (including me) as well as reinventing the Star Trek universe from the beginning (which I also immensely enjoyed) ... hint: think time-travel ...Helpful links: complete blog post: Star Trek: Reborn, Reset, Resplendent historical context: How Star Trek Liberated Television blogs about time travel check out Night Guy - our latest promo-suite podcast partner Enjoy... 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" - Entertainment Weekly"Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 61:  Author and Critic: Perilous Symbiosis ... in which I examine the love/hate mutually catalytic relationship of authors (or creators) and critics.   I look especially at the dangers and benefits to aspiring authors of writing critical reviews of works by other authors...Helpful links: My Advice to Writers - including my Ask Lev podcast List of my books - for you to read and criticize Enjoy... 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" - Entertainment Weekly"Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News and Brian Charles Clarke says The Plot to Save Socrates "resonates with the current political climate . . . heroine Sierra Waters is sexy as hell . . . there's a bite to Levinson's

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 60:  Isaac Asimov's Foundation and Frank Herbert's Dune Trilogies as Sources of Philosophy ... in which I discuss how the fate of Hari Seldon's "psychohistorical" equations in the Foundation trilogy and Paul Muad'dib's ability to see the future in the Dune novels gives us vivid, compelling answers to the perennial philosophic problem of what can we know of the future ... (Plot points mentioned only for the first two books in each trilogy.)  Helpful links: Invigoration of a Philosophic Issue in Science Fiction -my essay Asimov's Foundation trilogy and Herbert's Dune trilogy A postcard from Isaac Asimov to me from 1979 about Foundation Added in July 2021: new podcast episode: Thinking about Asimov's Foundation on AppleTV+ Enjoy... home page: http://paullevinson.info another blog: http://InfiniteRegress.tv                           videoclips: http://www.youtube.com/user/PLev20062006                                                                            my l