Light On Light Through

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 223, in which I interview Dan Abella about his new book, The Theater of the Mind.

Among the topics we discuss: Marshall McLuhan, Julian Jaynes, Gestalt psychology, ideas for inventions and music in dreams, the power of the spoken word and the acoustic, the history of motion pictures, the essence of "poetic faith," how art reduces stress, and much more.

More about The Theater of the Mind here and here.

Publications and Music mentioned in the interview:

• The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (Julian Jaynes)
• The Photoplay: A Psychological Study (Hugo Münsterberg)
• Biographia Literaria (Samuel Taylor Coleridge)
• (free article) "McLuhan's Space" (Paul Levinson)
• (music) "Welcome Up" (Paul Levinson)

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 222, in which I share the talk I gave yesterday in Krakow, Poland via Zoom at PhilosophyCon about the aesthetics and philosophy of assessing the screen adaptations of the science fiction classics Dune (1984, 2021), Foundation (2021), The Man in the High Castle (2015-2019), and The End of Eternity (1987).

Thanks to Michal Tadeusz Norworyta for moderating.

Q & A at conclusion.

Relevant videos:

• The complete PhilosophyCon panel
• Cora Buhlert, Joel McKinnon, and Paul Levinson discuss the first season of Foundation (also available in audio podcast)
• Paul Levinson interviews Rufus Sewell about The Man in the High Castle

Relevant blog posts:

• Review of Dune (2021)
• Review of The End of Eternity (1987)

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 221, in which I review the ninth episode of Invasion on Apple TV+.

Earlier podcasts about Invasion:

• November 30, 2021 Review of Invasion 1.8 ... November 20, 2021 Review of Invasion 1.7 ... November 13, 2021 Review of Invasion 1.6 ... November 6, 2021 Review of Invasion 1.5 ... November 2, 2021, Review of Invasion 1.4 ... October 26, 2021, Review of Invasion 1.1-3

Written blog post review of Invasion 1.9 is here.

Talking about "Space Oddity" on WNBC News after David Bowie's death in 2016.

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 220, in which I review Dexter: New Blood 1.4 on Showtime.

Written blog post review of Dexter: New Blood 1.4

Written review of episodes in all eight seasons of Dexter (the original series):

Reviews of Dexter Season 8 Premiere: Mercury in Retrograde, Dexter Incandescent ... Dexter 8.2: The Gift ... Dexter 8.3: The Question and the Confession ... Dexter 8.4: The "Lab Rat" and Harry's Daughter ... Dexter 8.5: Just Like Family ... Dexter 8.6: The Protege ... Dexter 8.7: Two Different Codes? ... Dexter 8.8: "A Great Future" ... Dexter 8.9: The Psycho Son ... Dexter 8.10: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ... Dexter 8.11: "Not the Old Dexter" ... Dexter Series Finale: Solitude, Style, and a Modicum of Hope

Reviews of Dexter Season 7.1-3: Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 7.4: The Lesson in Speltzer's Smoke ... Dexter 7.5: Terminator Isaac ... Dexter 7.6: "Breaking and Entering" ... Dexter 7.7: Shakespearean Serial Killer Story ... Dexter 7.8: Love and Its Demands ... Dexter 7.9: Two Memorable Scenes and the Ascension of Isaac ... Dexter 7.11: The "Accident" ... Dexter Season 7 Finale: The Surviving Triangle

Reviews of Dexter Season 6 Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 6.4: Two Numbers and Two Killers Equals? ... Dexter 6.5 and 6.6: Decisive Sam ... Dexter 6.7: The State of Nebraska ... Dexter 6.8: Is Gellar Really Real? .... Dexter 6.9: And Gellar Is ... ... Dexter's Take on Videogames in 6.10 ...Dexter and Debra: Dexter 6.11 ... Dexter Season 6 Finale: Through the Eyes of a Different Love

Reviews of Dexter Season Five Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 5.4: Dexter's Conscience ...Dexter 5.8 and Lumen ... Dexter 5.9: He's Getting Healthier ... Dexter 5.10: Monsters -Worse and Better ... Dexter 5.11: Sneak Preview with Spoilers ... Dexter Season 5 Finale: Behind the Curtain

Reviews of Dexter Season 4: Sneak Preview Review ... The Family Man on Dexter 4.5 ...Dexter on the Couch in 4.6 ... Dexter 4.7: 'He Can't Kill Bambi' ... Dexter 4.8: Great Mistakes ...4.9: Trinity's Surprising Daughter ... 4.10: More than Trinity ... 4.11: The "Soulless, Anti-Family Schmuck" ... 4.12: Revenges and Recapitulations Reviews of Season 3: Season's Happy Endings? ... Double Surprise ... Psychotic Law vs. Sociopath Science ... The Bright, Elusive Butterfly of Dexter ... The True Nature of Miguel ...Si Se Puede on Dexter ... and Dexter 3: Sneak Preview Review

Reviews of Season 2: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and All's ... Well Season 1: First Place to Dexter

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 219, in which I review the eighth episode of Invasion on Apple TV+.

Earlier podcasts about Invasion:

• November 20, 2021 Review of Invasion 1.7 ... November 13, 2021 Review of Invasion 1.6 ... November 6, 2021 Review of Invasion 1.5 ... November 2, 2021, Review of Invasion 1.4 ... October 26, 2021, Review of Invasion 1.1-3

Written blog post review of Invasion 1.8 is here.

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 218, in which I review Part 3 of Peter Jackson's The Beatles: Get Back documentary.

Relevant links:

• review of Get Back, Part 1
• review of Get Back, Part 2
• "It's Real Life" -- an alternate history story about The Beatles
• The Omnipotent Ear
• my review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles
• A Vote for McCartney (my first published article, in The Village Voice, 1971)

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 217, in which I review Part 2 of Peter Jackson's The Beatles: Get Back documentary.

Relevant links:

• my reviews of Part 1 and Part 3
• Real Life" -- an alternate history story about The Beatles
• The Omnipotent Ear
• my review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles
• A Vote for McCartney (my first published article, in The Village Voice, 1971)

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 216, in which I review Part 1 of Peter Jackson's The Beatles: Get Back documentary.

Relevant links:

• my reviews of Part 2 and Part 3
• Real Life" -- an alternate history story about The Beatles
• The Omnipotent Ear
• my review of Rob Sheffield's Dreaming the Beatles
• A Vote for McCartney (my first published article, in The Village Voice, 1971)

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 215, in which Cora Buhlert, Joel McKinnon, and I talk about the first season of Foundation on Apple TV+.

Cora's reviews of the first season of Foundation are here ... also check out Joel McKinnon's Seldon Crisis podcast and his What I Like about the Show on Reddit

Talk to us on Twitter: @CoraBuhlert @JoelGMcKinnon @PaulLev

Enjoy the video of this podcast episode.

Joel McKinnon interviews Paul Levinson about Star Trek, Foundation, and Isaac Asimov on the Seldon Crisis podcast.

Paul Levinson and Joel McKinnon discuss Severance on the Light On Light Through Podcast

• earlier Paul Levinson podcasts about Foundation: November 19, 2021 Review of Foundation 1.10 ... November 12, 2021 Review of Foundation 1.9 ... November 5, 2021 Review of Foundation 1.8 ... October 29, 2021 Review of Foundation 1.7 ... October 22, 2021 Review of Foundation 1.6 ... October 15, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.5 ... October 8, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.4 ... October 1, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.3 ... September 24, 2021: Review of Foundation 1.1-2 .... July 17, 2021: Thinking about Asimov's Foundation Series on AppleTV+ ... March 12, 2009: Asimov's Foundation and Herbert's Dune Trilogies as Sources of Philosophy

Postcard from Isaac Asimov to me in 1979 about the Foundation trilogy

In addition to Asimov's novels and autobiographies, these three books were discusseded in this episode:

• Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction by Alec Nevala-Lee (see also review)
• In Pursuit of Truth: Essays on the Philospphy of Karl Popper edited by Paul Levinson
• Practical Criticism by I. A. Richards

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 214, in which I review Dexter: New Blood 1.3 on Showtime.

Written blog post review of Dexter: New Blood 1.3

Written review of episodes in all eight seasons of Dexter (the original series):

Reviews of Dexter Season 8 Premiere: Mercury in Retrograde, Dexter Incandescent ... Dexter 8.2: The Gift ... Dexter 8.3: The Question and the Confession ... Dexter 8.4: The "Lab Rat" and Harry's Daughter ... Dexter 8.5: Just Like Family ... Dexter 8.6: The Protege ... Dexter 8.7: Two Different Codes? ... Dexter 8.8: "A Great Future" ... Dexter 8.9: The Psycho Son ... Dexter 8.10: Watch Out, Buenos Aires ... Dexter 8.11: "Not the Old Dexter" ... Dexter Series Finale: Solitude, Style, and a Modicum of Hope

Reviews of Dexter Season 7.1-3: Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 7.4: The Lesson in Speltzer's Smoke ... Dexter 7.5: Terminator Isaac ... Dexter 7.6: "Breaking and Entering" ... Dexter 7.7: Shakespearean Serial Killer Story ... Dexter 7.8: Love and Its Demands ... Dexter 7.9: Two Memorable Scenes and the Ascension of Isaac ... Dexter 7.11: The "Accident" ... Dexter Season 7 Finale: The Surviving Triangle

Reviews of Dexter Season 6 Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 6.4: Two Numbers and Two Killers Equals? ... Dexter 6.5 and 6.6: Decisive Sam ... Dexter 6.7: The State of Nebraska ... Dexter 6.8: Is Gellar Really Real? .... Dexter 6.9: And Gellar Is ... ... Dexter's Take on Videogames in 6.10 ...Dexter and Debra: Dexter 6.11 ... Dexter Season 6 Finale: Through the Eyes of a Different Love

Reviews of Dexter Season Five Sneak Preview Review ... Dexter 5.4: Dexter's Conscience ...Dexter 5.8 and Lumen ... Dexter 5.9: He's Getting Healthier ... Dexter 5.10: Monsters -Worse and Better ... Dexter 5.11: Sneak Preview with Spoilers ... Dexter Season 5 Finale: Behind the Curtain

Reviews of Dexter Season 4: Sneak Preview Review ... The Family Man on Dexter 4.5 ...Dexter on the Couch in 4.6 ... Dexter 4.7: 'He Can't Kill Bambi' ... Dexter 4.8: Great Mistakes ...4.9: Trinity's Surprising Daughter ... 4.10: More than Trinity ... 4.11: The "Soulless, Anti-Family Schmuck" ... 4.12: Revenges and Recapitulations Reviews of Season 3: Season's Happy Endings? ... Double Surprise ... Psychotic Law vs. Sociopath Science ... The Bright, Elusive Butterfly of Dexter ... The True Nature of Miguel ...Si Se Puede on Dexter ... and Dexter 3: Sneak Preview Review

Reviews of Season 2: Dexter's Back: A Preview and Dexter Meets Heroes and 6. Dexter and De-Lila-h and 7. Best Line About Dexter - from Lila and 8. How Will Dexter Get Out of This? and The Plot Gets Tighter and Sharper and Dex, Doakes, and Harry and Deb's Belief Saves Dex and All's ... Well Season 1: First Place to Dexter

Coming tomorrow, Tuesday, 23 Nov 2021 -- a conversation with Cora Buhlert, Joel McKinnon, and me about the first season of Foundation. If you're not familiar with their work, here's where you can get to know them:

Cora Buhlert's reviews of the first season of Foundation ... Joel McKinnon's Seldon Crisis podcast ... Joel's What I Like about the Show on Reddit