Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 325

The Good Wife 5.11: Bowling Balls and Bogdanovich

What do bowling balls and Bogdanovich have in common?  They provided punchlines to two Good Wife stories tonight in episode 5.11.

The bowling balls knock down all the pins in a brand new story about copyright - in this case, of a recording - continuing The Good Wife's droll and savvy treatment of all things on the front burner of our information age.   Copyright is notoriously difficult to enforce, especially when it comes to musical performances.   But in a case in which two different bands record a version of someone else's song - whose copyright is fully acknowledged - and the second band's arrangement is exactly the same as the first band's, which in turn is noticeably different from the original band's, how do the artists in first cover proves that the artists in the second cover stole their arrangement?

See, it's complicated even to explain the issue.  In The Good Wife, it becomes another occasion for Will and Alicia to go at  it - in the courtroom and in Will's recollection of their first actual intimate event - but the case is won by Alicia's side because the second cover group not only copied the first cover group's arrangement, but literally used their track, as the presence of bowling ball sounds in the exact same places of both tracks conclusively shows.   The easy availability of videos any time you want to hear them is often cited as a reason copyright no longer works for music in our digital age.  But in this episode of The Good Wife, it becomes the creative artist's best friend against theft of intellectual property.

Bogdanovich offers a completely different kind of unexpected ending - in fact, a nice twist - to a story that's been percolating all season on The Good Wife.  Poor Eli has been worrying all season that Marilyn (played by Melissa George) is sleeping with Peter, or the two want to, or, when Marilyn reveals her pregnancy, that Peter is the father.  Tonight Eli's fears reach their apex as Marilyn reveals she wants to name the baby Peter, but cannot reveal who the father is.  Peter Bogdonavich comes to the rescue - the real Peter Bogdanivich, the director of The Last Picture Show, who steps up and takes credit for the fatherhood.

Another intersection of The Good Wife with the real world, and there'll be more next week, when some brand new Springsteen tracks will be played on a show in which another kind of video threatens Peter's career in a completely different way.  From bowling balls to the boss - not bad!

See also The Good Wife 5.1: Capital Punishment and Politicians' Daughters ... The Good Wife 5.5: The Villain in this Story ... The Good Wife 5.9: Reddit, Crowd Sourcing, and the First Amendment on Trial ... I Dreamt I Called Will Gardner Last Night

And see also The Good Wife 4.1 Meets Occupy Wall Street ...  The Good Wife 4.2: Reunited ... The Good Wife 4.3: "Template-Based Link Analysis Algorithm" ... The Good Wife 4.5 Meets The Sopranos ... The Good Wife 4.20: Anonymous ... The Good Wife Season 4 Finale: Good Twist!
And see also The Good Wife 3.1: Recusal and Rosh Hashanah ... The Good Wife: 3.2: Periwigs and Skype ... The Good Wife 3.7: Peter v. Will ...  Dexter's Sister on The Good Wife 3.10  ... The Good Wife 3.12: Two Suits  ... The Good Wife 3.13 Meets Murder on the Orient Express ... The Good Wife 3.15: Will and Baseball

And see also  The Good Wife Starts Second Season on CBS ... The Good Wife 2.2: Lou Dobbs, Joe Trippi, and Obama Girl ... The Good Wife 2.4: Surprise Candidate, Intimate Interpsonal Distance ... The Good Wife 2.9 Takes on Capital Punishment ... The Good Wife 2.16: Information Wars 



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Frozen Earth on National Geographic tonight

Actually, in another amazing feat of perfect timing, it's actually frozen earth - or impending blizzard - throughout most of the northeast right now.   And tonight, the other snow shoe will drop, in a big way, as National Geographic TV broadcasts the third episode in its How to Survive the End of the World series: "Frozen Earth".

I say "another" amazing feat, because the debut of the series - "Zombie Earth" - was broadcast in December just a week after the Fall finale of The Walking Dead, which drew a record number of viewers. That coincidence was likely planned by NatGeo.  It was a good bet that the world would be buzzing about zombies after The Walking Dead finale.  But tonight's frozen intersection is a sheer act of nature, which makes it even more chilling.

As with the other episodes, I'll be in my bunker, offering commentary from an undisclosed location. Also on hand will be David Bartell and other experts.   I'm not sure about the exact time of the broadcast.  NatGeo says 9pm Eastern on its site, which is likely right, but Cablevision in Westchester says 7pm - go figure, there's a frozen brain at work somewhere (in addition to mine).  But "Frozen Earth" will also be rebroadcast at 11pm.

Enjoy - and dress warmly!




See also How to Survive the End of the World on National Geographic and How to Survive the End of the World: The Story Continues and How to Survive the End of the World: From Biosphere to Frozen Earth

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Nashville Season 2: Fall Semester

I haven't reviewed much of Nashville this season - in fact, no reviews at all - but not because I haven't been watching and for the most part enjoying the series.  Herewith then a catch-up review of the Fall part of the second season.

First, the music is still outstanding, but not quite as good as in the first season. In particular, there's been no song as good as "The Wrong Song," which was just right, though Gunnar's songs are nearly as good as the ones he wrote and sang with Scarlett in the first season.  Rayna, because of the plot point about losing her voice, hasn't been singing as nearly enough as she should, and though the plot was good I'd rather hear her sing more.  Juliette's music is about the same - which is to say, excellent - and Will added a nice big cowboy energetic voice.

But speaking of Will, his gay story was a little lame - would he really be so tormented by his gay inclinations in this day and age, and would his career really suffer if he came out of the closet?   Maybe 10 or 20 years ago, I'd think, but not today.   And that made his apparent suicide at the end not only unfortunate - because we'll be deprived of his voice - but somewhat pointless.

On the other hand, it was good to see the prospect of the Mayor's wife eliminated from the series, as she was and continued to be one of the most unsympathetic characters in the series.  Next to go, I hope, should be Rayna's sister.

The business of the music business continues to be handled well, especially with Rayna vs. Jeff and Rayna's prospects with Edgehill.    Nashville is just beginning to take into account the revolution that the Internet has wrought on the music industry, and I hope there'll be more of this to come in 2014.

In the meantime, Nashville remains an excellent weekly soap opera, with welcome, original music in every episode.

See also Nashville: 'The Wrong Song' in the Right Series




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I Dreamt I Called Will Gardner Last Night

I don't usually remember my dreams, and I'm pretty sure I've never dreamed about a television show before, but I dreamt that I called Will Gardner last night - or, actually, early this morning.

I'm not sure exactly why I called him, but I think it's because I wanted his help in an intellectual property suit that I was pursuing.   In reality, I have no such suit in mind.

The conversation went like this -

Me:  Is this Will Gardner?

Will: Yes.

Me: (I explained the purpose of my call.)

Will: I'm not a real lawyer.

Me:  I know (and I further explained the purpose of my call).

Will: I'm not a real lawyer, but maybe I can help you, anyway.

And that was pretty much it.   I'm a little rusty on my Freudian psychology, so I have no idea what that means.   I did meet an attorney at a gathering yesterday evening - someone I had retained years ago, in an estate matter - by the name of Paul Gartner.  So maybe that was the stimulus?  And my wife and I had been talking in the past few days about a suit we initiated for one of our businesses and successfully concluded back in the 1990s.

Anyway, I do know I'm not currently thinking of suing anybody.   I'll also be looking forward to the return of The Good Wife in January, which is having one of its best seasons so far.

See also The Good Wife 5.1: Capital Punishment and Politicians' Daughters ... The Good Wife 5.5: The Villain in this Story ... The Good Wife 5.9: Reddit, Crowd Sourcing, and the First Amendment on Trial

And see also The Good Wife 4.1 Meets Occupy Wall Street ...  The Good Wife 4.2: Reunited ... The Good Wife 4.3: "Template-Based Link Analysis Algorithm" ... The Good Wife 4.5 Meets The Sopranos ... The Good Wife 4.20: Anonymous ... The Good Wife Season 4 Finale: Good Twist!
And see also The Good Wife 3.1: Recusal and Rosh Hashanah ... The Good Wife: 3.2: Periwigs and Skype ... The Good Wife 3.7: Peter v. Will ...  Dexter's Sister on The Good Wife 3.10  ... The Good Wife 3.12: Two Suits  ... The Good Wife 3.13 Meets Murder on the Orient Express ... The Good Wife 3.15: Will and Baseball

And see also  The Good Wife Starts Second Season on CBS ... The Good Wife 2.2: Lou Dobbs, Joe Trippi, and Obama Girl ... The Good Wife 2.4: Surprise Candidate, Intimate Interpsonal Distance ... The Good Wife 2.9 Takes on Capital Punishment ... The Good Wife 2.16: Information Wars 



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Banshee Season 2 Premiere: Sneak Preview Review

I just saw Banshee 2.1 - the first episode of the new second season, to air on Cinemax on January 10, 2014 - courtesy of a screener from Starpulse.   Here's a brief review, with no specific spoilers:


All major characters return, in the same condition they were in at the end of the first season.Hood sleeps with an unlikely beauty - her initiative.Zeljko Ivanek's on board as a new character - a Fed interrogator.A few more words about Ivanek - he's starred in either series-wide or more limited arc roles in more gritty television dramas in the past few years than I can keep track of, including 24, Heroes, Damages, Big Love, The Event, True Blood, The Mob Doctor, and most recently, just this Fall season of Revolution, in which he played a cunning, vicious interrogator dying of cancer.

He plays almost the same character in Banshee, without the science fiction of Revolution, but also driven by his cancer.  It's a credit to Ivanek, then, that although his character in Banshee is familiar - which makes him different from most of the other characters on Banshee who are sharply original and like not much else we've seen on television - he's a welcome addition to the story, if only because he can pull rank on the irritating FBI agent who was one of the few irritating characters in the first season.

But speaking of investigations, it still remains a mystery - at least in the first episode of the second season - how Hood can continue to avoid being unmasked by the FBI or anyone seriously looking into who he is.   I get that Job did a good job forging the digital data at the beginning of the series, but couldn't the FBI have someone in its West Coast offices do a little investigation into the real Hood - say, discover an offline print of a photograph of the real Hood - and therein find that our Hood in Banshee is not the person he claims to be?  

Without giving too much away, I can tell you that something's brewing in Banshee which might bring the real, deceased Hood to law enforcement's attention.

Meanwhile, the series is still bursting with tension and action and compelling people ranging from Kai and his niece to Sugar and Job and Ana and all the deputies in the Banshee sheriff's department.  I'll be back here after January 10 and before January 17 with a sneak preview of Banshee 2.2


Like crime stories that involve the Amish? Try The Silk Code

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Vanity Shelfie

I was delighted to read in the Guardian about the new trend in "shelfies" - that is, photographs not of yourself, but your bookshelf.  In my case, I have so many books that it would take me most of a day nonstop to photograph all of them.  So, in the interest of both modesty and immodesty, I confined myself to photographing just shelves with books written by me - novels and nonfiction - as well as books with my stories and essays.   A vanity shelfie.

Even that proved too much for the cool pic stitch app I downloaded, which provides a template for at most four horizontal photos.  I have five shelves with my books.  So what you'll see below is a my vanity shelfie of 4 out of 5.  I may at some point put in a shelfie for the mysterious 5th shelf, or wait until I get another shelf or two.

If you click on the shelfie, you'll be taken directly to my Amazon book shelf, where you can buy most of the books in the shelfie - not the foreign translations on the third shelf - and Kindle editions of most of my novels and some of my nonfiction books, as well.   And, in the holiday spirit, here's a page with freebies from my fiction and nonfiction, as well as my music.   Enjoy!


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The Consciousness Plague: nice long sample

The Consciousness Plague "more nearly reaches the heights of Isaac Asimov's classic sf mysteries than those of most other genre hands who attempt them manage to do these days." - Booklist

Here's the beginning of The Consciousness Plague -


Chapter 1

"Phil! Good to see you!"  Jack Dugan, one of the brass I usually worked with – recently promoted to the Commissioner's right-hand man down at One Police Plaza – extended his hand.  He pulled it back, to contain a wracking cough.
"You look terrible, Jack.  What are you taking for that?"
"Nothing." He coughed again, then extended his hand again.
I took it and made a mental note to wash my hands as soon as I left the meeting.
"I guess I should get some antibiotics for this," Jack continued.  "But I hate to use the stuff – they say so much of it is around that bacteria are building up resistance."
I sat down in the available chair across from his desk.  "Never knew you were so public-minded about that, Jack."
He gave me a pained smile.  "Antibiotics upset my digestion.  I'd rather have the cough."  He cleared his throat like a bulldozer moving dirt.
"Yeah, well, antibiotics are like dumb cops, aren't they," I said.  "They come on the scene and club everyone over the head – the good-guy germs in your system that help you digest your food, as well as the bad guys that make you sick."
Jack laughed, then coughed.  His eyes teared.  Finally he took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.  "Let me tell you why I asked you down here."
I nodded encouragement.
"You know, you and I have had some differences over the years about your penchant for bizarre cases–"
Yeah, tell me about it, I thought.  He'd removed me from cases at least half-a-dozen times.
"–and, even though I've been a skeptic, I was talking to the Commissioner the other day, and he of course thinks that our city has to be prepared for anything and everything these days.  There's no telling what the next threat to public safety might be.  So, he'd like you to head up a taskforce – you know, just to be there, with some possible plans in the waiting, if something really strange crops up.  That’s your specialty."  He cleared his throat, then went into a coughing spasm.  He pulled a bottle of water out of his desk and guzzled half of it down.  "So, what do you think?" he finally managed to say.
***Jenna sipped a glass of plum wine and smiled at me that evening.  "I know, you hate committees," she said.
I leaned back on the sofa in our living room.  "I've always accomplished more as a lone wolf," I replied.  "I've seen loads of these taskforces come and go.  Usually all they do isWaste time and eat up energy."
"But you told Dugan you'd think about it," Jenna said.
"Yeah.  I suppose it could be good to finally have some people working under me.  And some resources.  That would be an improvement on having to always go the Departmenton bended knee."
"You think there's some threat we don't know about that makes them want to do this right now?" Jenna asked.
I scowled.  "They wouldn't recognize something bizarre if it smiled in their faces – they'd say it was a hoax, and do their best to bury the evidence."
Jenna coughed. "Well, this damned cold or pseudo-flu or whatever it is certainly seems to be getting out of hand.  My sister told me everyone in San Francisco has it."
"Let's hope she didn't give it to you over the phone."
I gently rubbed her hand.
***
I called Dugan two days later to accept the offer.
"He's home sick with that bug," his secretary, Sheila,  told me.  "Both he and the Commissioner," she added. "Got them both.  Looks like the Department will be runby the secretaries for the next few days!"  She chuckled.
"No different than usual," I responded in kind.
Now she laughed out loud.  "Shhh, Dr. D'Amato.  Don't you give away our secret now!"
"It's safe with me, don't worry."
***
I was down in Chinatown a few days later on a boring case.  But it wasn't a total loss – I used the opportunity to replenish my supply of green tea and persimmons.
The woman at the fruit stand – hardly more than a girl, with a very sweet face – was coughing her head off.
That reminded me to put in another call to Dugan.
"Good timing," Sheila's voice crackled through my phone.  "He came back, fit as a fiddle, just this morning."
The sun was close to setting on this crisp March afternoon, and I was finished with my business in Chinatown, so I decided to hail a cab and go over to Dugan's office.  It could be useful for me to see the expression on his face when I accepted his offer – see if there was any true pleasure there.
The traffic was worse than usual.  I counted two water mains broken and gushing and a pothole that looked as if it might have been made by the asteroid that took out the dinosaurs.  Sheila was gone when I finally arrived. But Jack was still in his office.
"So I see you're feeling better," I said, and took Jack's extended hand.
"I feel like a million bucks now," Jack said.  "How you'd know ... oh, I guess Sheila told you I was sick?"
"Right–"
"I tell ya, this was a nasty one. I tried to fight it on my own as best I could – I hate taking antibiotics and those new flu meds – but it got to the point where I was up all night coughing.  The Commissioner was pretty sick too – he picked it up from me, I picked it up from him, who knows – but his doctor told him about some new antibiotic or something 95% guaranteed not to upset the stomach.  That stuff wreaks havoc on my digestion, you know–"
"Yeah–"
"So, anyway."  Dugan gestured to the available chair.  "Have a seat, Phil.  What brings you to this exalted office?"
"Well, I've decided to accept your offer," I replied.
"My offer?" Dugan looked puzzled.
"Yeah, you know, what you told me last week, about the taskforce."
Dugan looked at me as if I was putting him on, or confusing him with someone else.  "I haven't the vaguest idea what you're talking about."
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Something for the Journey

Hey, I'm a recalcitrant cheapskate when it comes to my fiction writing - meaning, I almost never write for no pay.   It could be a flat fee upfront, a royalty on sales, or, better yet, both, but in just about all cases, I need to be paid.  Stewart Brand used to say that "information wants to be free," and my response has always been, yeah, but writers need to eat.  In the academic world, I've written many a scholarly article for no direct pay, but that's because such publications help my career in indirect ways - you know, tenure, promotion, that sort of thing.  But since fiction usually has no such clout, it's lucre in hand or I'll decline the assignment.

But there are exceptions to all rules.  And so when I was approached with an invitation to contribute a short story to Something for the Journey, an anthology whose sales would all go - every penny - to a children's charity in Bristol, England, I gave it some thought.  Bristol is one of my favorite places in England after London.   Its chocolates and its university are both top-notch.  It was also the day before the anniversary of JFK's assassination, and I had a story in the trunk, which needed some updating, a new ending ... and, before I knew it, I had finished "Transfer of Power" at a little over a thousand words and sent it in to the anthology.

Something for the Journey was published yesterday (as an ebook on Kindle, with paperback soon to follow).   "Transfer of Power" is one of twenty-four short stories in all genres - short enough to be read on a bus or a train ride, hence the title.   The authors are

Dario Solera, Neil Bursnoll, T.L. Champion, Kathy Molyneaux, RJ Kennett, Peter Cawdron, Jamie Campbell, Sarah Dalton, Vincent Trigili, Cora Buhlert, Paul B. Kohler, Stephen Drivick, Stacy Claflin, Al Stevens, Sheila Guthrie, Dan Fiorella, Pru Moran, Paul Levinson, Melanie Nilles, James Griffiths, Seun Odukoya, V. A. Jeffrey, Frank Zubek, and Stella Wilkinson. 

Stella Wilkinson is the editor and Frank Zubek is donating his publicity.   You can get the book here - and, by the way, you can download a free Kindle app for Mac or PC if you don't have a Kindle - and there's more about the book and some brief interviews with authors here.

And, to pique your interest in "Transfer of Power" a little more, here's a famous photo that plays a central role in the story -


Bill Clinton shakes JFK's hand, 1963

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How to Survive the End of the World on Nat Geo: from Biosphere to Frozen Earth

Hey, in case you missed the second episode last night in National Geographic Channel's six-part series How to Survive the End of the World - "Hell on Earth" - it will be rebroadcast this Saturday night (December 21) along with the first episode, "Zombie Earth".

I got to say a few words on "Hell on Earth" about how biospheres - self-contained, fully-enclosed environments, with their own living systems producing recycling air, water, and food - could be a way of helping a small number of people survive the volcanic ash which would cover the Earth in the end-of-the-world Hell on Earth scenario.  And I actually did have some passing experience with the Biosphere 2 out in Arizona in the 1990s  - a real not hypothetical biosphere - having worked on other projects with one of the Biosphere 2's early bio-planners, Carl Hodges.  The system was indeed mainly funded not by the government but a billionaire - Ed Bass - as I suggested on the show last night (see clips below).   And it indeed partially failed, but mainly due to problems in keeping the oxygen at proper levels, and other ecological issues, and not because the inhabitants fell to fighting (though there were some intellectual disagreements among the inhabitants).

Dave Bartell did his customary good job of commenting.  It was good to see him in the bunker last night, but we've once again gone to separate locations deep in the bedrock of Brooklyn, and will be back, with any luck, when the next episode, "Frozen Earth," airs on January 2, but a new time, 9 instead of 10pm Eastern.   See you then!




See also How to Survive the End of the World on National Geographic and How to Survive the End of the World: The Story Continues

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Almost Human 1.6: The Blackmarket Heart and Double Dorian

The Blackmarket Heart ... that could have been the title for Almost Human 1.6.   It could also have been the title of a song on Nashville, and is reminiscent of an Edgar Allan Poe story, in any case.  But it would have worked well tonight on Almost Human, which offered another fine standalone episode of cops and robbers in the future, this time an operation selling heart organs designed to run out of time, unless their human receivers pay a continuing fee.

Almost Human as been good at configuring futuristic crime, just as it has been with the partner repartee between Kennex and Dorian.   Both are sharp, wisecracking, and one of the best cop partnerships on television since Starsky and Hutch.

Meanwhile, there's also an android story, or a new twist on the android set-up of this series, behind every corner.  Tonight we get to meet another Dorian model - not decommissioned, but serving as a janitor for his sins.   Up until now, we've see MXs in duplicate profusion.  And although we knew that there was more than one of Dorian, and why not another one walking around somewhere now, we were permitted the illusion that he was more or less unique as an android of his model in any kind of significant action in this world.

For Dorian's double to work, though, he needed to have a personality both distinct from Dorian's but different from it.   Michael Ealy did a good job of delivering just that.   And I give this episode creds for not doing what a more conventional television series might have done in these circumstances: have Dorian's double dying heroically because we can't have two Dorians at work in this series.

But Dorian's fellow model survived, which thereby opens up all kinds of possibilities for the future. Another reason to keep watching Almost Human when it returns another year closer to its time, in January 2014.





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