????比塞爾是按照寫作時間安排《魔幻時刻》所選文章先后次序的。這種編排方式能夠清晰地體現(xiàn)出他作為一位作家的成長軌跡，但打破了編錄作品集的常識性規(guī)則，即把最精彩的文章放在最前面。這本書的開篇之作是全書中最無聊的，甚至對于迪金森、梅爾維爾和惠特曼的粉絲來說亦是如此；臨近結束的那幾篇文章要好得多。

????比塞爾在作者自序中稱，“這些作品都與魔幻有關，”因為“要創(chuàng)造任何事物，無論是一個短篇故事，一篇雜志人物報道，還是一部電影或者一部情景喜劇，都必須相信（即使只是暫時的）自己有能力施展魔法?！边@是一種很有吸引力的思想，但充其量只能算是一種非常模棱兩可的論點。人類一直都在創(chuàng)造事物，但根本就不認為這是魔法，甚至算不上什么成就。

????就主題而言，他選擇的作品缺乏關聯(lián)性。當然，就宏觀意義而言，它們都與流行文化有關：在這本書包含的15篇文章中，9篇是講寫作的，4篇是講電影的，1篇關于電視，1篇關于游戲。但深度探究的話，你就會發(fā)現(xiàn)這些文章的訴求點很集中。

????這本作品集最有力度的文章《電影色拉》（Cinema Crudité）是關于電影《房間》的評論，這部被一致認為非常糟糕的電影依然在全美各地院線的深夜檔放映，并且依然受到成群結隊的信徒們追捧。這部電影相當一部分“粉絲”似乎喜歡嘲諷影片的編劇、導演和主演湯米?韋素先生。比塞爾以非常恭敬，極其幽默的方式描述了這種諷刺意味：“為什么這么多的人會追捧這部電影？看到一位性格導演的神話殘酷破滅，眼睜睜看著一位藝術原本是為了觸摸星星、但最終只到手一塊便池蛋糕，是不是會帶給人一種滿足感呢？”

????令人欽佩的是，在采訪韋素本人時，比塞爾沒有使用不公正的語言來刁難他，但他同時也非常忠實地記錄了自己在會面時的真實感受。當時，韋素稱他的目標是讓90%的美國人去看《房間》，比塞爾對我們說：“聽到這里，我差點當著他的面笑出聲來?！?/p>

????Bissell arranges Magic Hours chronologically by when he wrote them. This demonstrates his clear growth as a writer, but breaks the commonsense rule of beginning a collection with the best it has to offer. The opening piece is the book's most boring, even for fans of Dickinson, Melville and Whitman; the essays toward the end are far stronger.

????In that Author's Note, Bissell argues that "these essays are about magic" because, "to create anything -- whether a short story or a magazine profile or a film or a sitcom -- is to believe, if only momentarily, you are capable of magic." It's an appealing thought, but a tenuous argument at best. People create things all the time without believing they constitute magic, or any achievement at all.

????Thematically, the work he has selected lacks any connective tissue. Sure, in a big-picture sense they all cover pop culture mainstays: Of the book's 15 essays, nine are about writing, four are about film, one is on television, and one on video games. But drill down and they are narrow in focus.

????The strongest essay in the collection, "Cinema Crudité," is about The Room, by all accounts a very bad movie that nonetheless still shows at late-night screenings all over the country and brings devotees out in droves. A significant portion of the movie's "fans" seem to enjoy ridiculing Wiseau, who wrote, directed, and stars in the film. Bissell handles this irony respectfully and humorously: "Why are so many people responding to this… Is it the satisfaction of seeing the auteur myth cruelly exploded, of watching an artist reach for the stars and wind up with his hand around a urinal cake?"

????When he meets Wiseau in person, Bissell admirably avoids taking unfair jabs at him, though he's also honest with us about what he felt during the meeting. When Wiseau says his goal is for 90% of Americans to see The Room, Bissell tells us, "At this I all but laughed in his face."