Light On Light Through

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 175, in which I review Stowaway. blogpost review: Stowaway: Breathless Realism   See also The Missing Orientation    

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 174, in which I review, re-view, re-vu Tenet. Blog post review

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 173, in which "Captain" Phil Merkel interviews me about Joe Biden's speech to Congress last night, and how likely it is that Republicans in Congress will enact Biden's proposals into laws.  We also discuss the police killing of innocent African-Americans and other current events, including Michael Collins' (RIP) contribution to getting humans out into space. MaryBeth Rikouski joins us in the discussion. 

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 172, in which I review For All Mankind (Episodes 2.2-29) on Apple TV+. Podcast review of For All Mankind, episodes 1.1 - 2.1 Blog post reviews of these episodes: For All Mankind 2.2: The Peanut Butter Sandwich ... For All Mankind 2.3: "Guns to the Moon" ... For All Mankind 2.4: Close to Reality ... For All Mankind 2.5: Johnny and the Wrath of Kahn ... For All Mankind 2.6: Couplings ... For All Mankind 2.7: Alternate History Surges ... For All Mankind 2.8: Really Lost in Translation ... For All Mankind 2.9: Relationships ... For All Mankind 2.10: Definitely Not The End Red Moon (2000) by David S. Michaels and Daniel Brenton The Missing Orientation -- why we've made so little progress on and beyond the Moon in our reality The Loose Ends Saga -- another alternate space travel history ========================= anthology

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 171, in which I review Home Before Dark on Apple TV+. Blog post review of Home Before Dark Further viewing: The Opinionization of Journalism Further reading: Review of Andrey Mir's Postjournalism  

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 170, in which I review Q: Into the Storm. Blog post review of Q: Into the Storm. *Special thanks to my student, Kayla Auza (in my Digital Media and Public Responsibility class this term at Fordham University), who recommended that I watch Into the Storm.

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 169, in which I review Season 3 of Shtisel. Blog post review of Shtisel. See also Unorthodox: Less and More than Shtisel the first interstellar seder in space takes place in this novel  

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 168, in which I review For All Mankind (Season 1 and Episode 2.1) on Apple TV+. Podcast review of For All Mankind, episodes 2.2-2.10 Blog post review of For All Mankind Podcast reviews of other Ronald D. Moore TV series: Outlander: First Half Season Galactica Dylan Red Moon (2000) by David S. Michaels and Daniel Brenton The Missing Orientation -- why we've made so little progress on and beyond the Moon in our reality The Loose Ends Saga -- another alternate space travel history

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 167, in which I review The Map of Tiny Perfect Things, on Amazon Prime Video.  If Groundhog Day is a 10, I rate The Map of Tiny Perfect Things a substantial 9.   I explain why. further reading, blog post:  Review of The Map of Tiny Perfect Things further listening:  Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 166, in which I discuss how opinions and lies compete with facts in today's media, and lead to increasing polarization. Further reading: Postjournalism by Andrey Mir Lying by Sissela Bok Thanks University of Notre Dame for the image.  

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 165, in which Brian Standing on WORT-FM Radio (Madison, Wisconsin) interviews me about why I think Twitter's banning of Donald Trump was the right thing to do, even though that violates what I call the "spirit of the First Amendment".  We also discuss why I think government should keep its hands off social media. Further reading: I'm A First Amendment Scholar, and I Think Big Tech Should Be Left Alone Paul Levinson On the Power of Power and Advertisers Over Media

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 164, in which Captain Phil on WUSB-FM Radio (Stony Brook, New York) interviews me about last week's storming of the U.S. Capitol, Donald Trump, the prospects of his impeachment, and more. Further listening:  Episode 156:  Why Did So Many People Vote for Trump?    

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 163, in which I review Bridgerton, and say it's an alternate history Jane Austen story. Read this review:  Bridgerton: Alternate Austen      

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 162, in which I review four Blumhouse horror movies streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Further reading, written reviews: The Lie Black Box Evil Eye Nocturne

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 161, in which I review The Queen's Gambit, reported today (3 December 2020) in The Hollywood Reporter as "atop the Nielsen streaming chart" for the second week in a row. Further reading:  my blog post review of The Queen's Gambit

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 160, in which I review the just-concluded limited series on HBO, The Undoing.

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 159, in which I offer a McLuhanesque perspective about Tiger King, Netflix's runaway smash docu-series. Further reading:  McLuhan in an Age of Social Media Video with Jesse Ventura mentioned in the podcast

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 158, in which I discuss why the polls got so much wrong, again, in the 2020 US Presidential election.  They did predict that Biden would win, which he did, but by smaller margins in several states than projected in the polls.  And he lost Florida and Ohio, which the polls said he would win.  Why did this happen, again (it happened in 2016), what can be done about it, and what are the implications of this failure in polling for the future? Further reading:  "A Black Eye: Why Political Polling Missed the Mark. Again."  The New York Times  

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 157, in which I review The Crown season 4 -- the best season so far in this superb series. Further listening: Review of The Crown seasons 1-3 Further reading: Review of The Crown Season 1 ... Season 2 ... Season 3 ... Season 4  

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 156, in which I consider why more than 70 million Americans voted for Donald Trump in the just concluded Presidential election. Further reading: Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm