Podcast appearances and mentions of David Thomson

David Thomson discusses his latest book, A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies

Anne and Ryan check in with a slew of fall festival announcements, from the Venice lineup to key films at NYFF, Toronto, & Telluride. They review "La Bola Negra" and Netflix's Oscar slate, discuss some positive news out of LA, and check in with the unexpected pause in the Warner/Paramount merger. Finally legendary film critic David Thompson joins the podcast to discuss his provocative new book, "A Sudden Flicker of Light." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You didn't have to look someone in the eye while you extinguished their life, and you could do it from a distance.” — Mike McIntire on what the gun changedIs there an American way of violence? Earlier this month, the film critic David Thomson blamed gory Hollywood movies, like Coppola's Godfather, for glorifying it. Today's guest has an even more brutal answer. According to Mike McIntire, the three-time Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times investigative journalist, it's the gun itself that can be blamed for the perpetual American plague of violence.Yes, the gun did it. In his new book Ricochet: Guns, Greed, and the American Way of Violence, McIntire observes that every developed country has violent movies, violent video games, and significant mental illness. But what no other country has are schoolchildren, grocery shoppers, and churchgoers massacred on a regular basis. Up to forty thousand Americans die from guns every year — half of them suicides — and yet we treat these uniquely dangerous machines as if they were iPhones.How did this catastrophe happen? McIntire's answer focuses on the law as much as the culture. English common law imposed a duty to retreat in the event of conflict. Then, amid the centennial jingoism of 1876, an Indiana court declared that “retreat” was not “the tendency of the American mind.” A “true man,” explained an Ohio court, doesn't fly from threats. Stand your ground was born — and with it, a legal redefinition of what it means to be an American.And then there's the NRA — founded in 1871, ironically, by a former New York Times correspondent as a marksmanship club, and radicalized a century later. Its greatest coup was reframing the Second Amendment from militia clause into individual right — a maneuver that Warren Burger, a Republican chief justice, called the “biggest fraud” ever perpetrated on the American people. And today even the NRA looks moderate compared to new online radical right-wing gun rights groups.McIntire, a gun owner himself, doesn't preach. Instead he describes his first murder scene as a young cop reporter — the dead man peacefully lying in the grass, one small round hole in the side of his head. Clean, efficient, clinical. Like an iPhone app. That's the American way of violence. The gun did it. And will continue to do so until America retreats from its deadly love affair with the firearm.Five Takeaways•       It's the Gun Itself. Every developed country has violent movies, violent video games, mental illness, and toxic social media. What none of them has, McIntire argues, is a repetitive, constant problem of schoolchildren, grocery shoppers, and churchgoers being massacred. Up to forty thousand Americans a year die from guns — half of them suicides — and firearms account for three-quarters or more of all homicides. Yet America treats these uniquely dangerous things as ordinary consumer goods, bought, sold, marketed, and carried around like an iPhone or a wallet. Whatever role Hollywood plays — and McIntire takes David Thomson's argument seriously — you have to start with the one thing that is actually different: the gun.•       A Daily Trickle of Bloodshed. When a plane crash kills two hundred people, there is a massive media and government response. When two hundred people die in scattered shootings across fifty states in the same period, there is a local news story, and then nothing. Gun violence in America has slipped into the category of acceptable losses — background noise. The conundrum for gun-safety advocates is how to sustain attention on a crisis that only becomes visible when the next Sandy Hook or Parkland arrives.•       No Duty to Retreat. English common law, imported into the colonies, required you to retreat from a public confrontation before resorting to lethal force. Amid the centennial fervor of 1876, American courts began overturning homicide convictions on new grounds: retreat, declared Indiana's Supreme Court, was not “the tendency of the American mind,” and a “true man,” added an Ohio court, need not fly from an aggressor. The repeating rifle helped make the old duty obsolete — you cannot outrun a bullet — and stand your ground became canon. Every week, somewhere in America, the defense still succeeds.•       “The Biggest Fraud”: Rewriting the Second Amendment. The founders' great fear was a standing army; the amendment preserved a well regulated militia — trained and disciplined, not unlimited. Beginning in the 1970s, the NRA underwrote sympathetic scholarship, law reviews, and court cases in a deliberate long game to recast the amendment as an individual right — moving guns from common law, where legislatures can regulate, into constitutional law, where they largely cannot. Warren Burger, the Republican former chief justice, called it the biggest fraud he had ever seen perpetrated on the American people. Now the Supreme Court's “common use” test — found nowhere in the Constitution — means a weapon popular enough may be unbannable, with AR-15 bans next on the docket.•       The Death Star Eclipsed. McIntire's cache of internal NRA documents traces the organization's path from post-Civil War marksmanship club — cofounded by a former New York Times correspondent — to radicalized lobbying juggernaut, complete with pro-gun Democrats like John Dingell on its board. Today it has been outflanked by no-compromise groups like the Firearms Policy Coalition, which at any given moment is pushing more lawsuits against state gun laws than the NRA. Guns remain the third rail — Beto O'Rourke said “hell yes” to taking away AR-15s and has not held office since. The irony in McIntire's prescription: gun-safety advocates should copy the NRA's own generation-long legal strategy.About the GuestMike McIntire is an investigative journalist at The New York Times and a member of three Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting teams, whose work has exposed everything from Russian election interference to the hidden financial incentives of policing. He is the author of Champions Way: Football, Florida, and the Lost Soul of College Sports. He lives in Ridgefield, Connecticut. His new book is Ricochet: Guns, Greed, and the American Way of Violence (One Signal/Atria, July 2026).References:•       Ricochet: Guns, Greed, and the American Way of Violence by Mike McIntire (One Signal/Atria, July 2026). Jane Mayer: “McIntire is both a superb reporter and storyteller.”•       A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies by David Thomson — the recent Keen On guest whose argument about Hollywood and American violence opens the conversation.•       The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford — the classic anatomy of the American funeral business that lends this episode its central question.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comDavid is a historian and perhaps the greatest living film critic. He's the author of more than 20 books, including biographies of David O. Selznick and Orson Welles, and The New Biographical Dictionary of Film. His new book is called A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies. It's a wonderful extended rant in some ways, a love letter and a searing indictment of cinema. I was a little intimidated talking with him, but it was a lot of fun.For two clips of the episode — on the uptight genius of Hitchcock, and the authoritarian nature of cinema — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: born in South London in 1941 and his home damaged by the Blitz; his father leaving when he was born; his boyish mix of fear and delight at the cinema; the shower scene in Psycho; how film denies you the chance to stop and think; the directors who relish white space (e.g. PT Anderson); Birth of a Nation and Triumph of the Will; newsreels before TV; real nuke explosions on screen; Oppenheimer; from communal theater viewing to solo smartphone viewing; Game of Thrones and the insane production value of TV these days; Breaking Bad; Trump the ultimate product of TV; his telegenic Cabinet; the danger of deepfakes; Paul Schrader's First Reformed; the audience's love of car crashes and villains; Godfather I and II; contrasting Hitchcock and Malick; Tree of Life; nature in Thin Red Line; Fincher's Seven; Robert Bresson's religious films; Scorsese's Silence and Last Temptation of Christ; the vulgarity of Spielberg (e.g. the red dress in Schindler's List); ep. 3 of Adolescence; and Nolan's new Odyssey.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: John O'Sullivan on conservatism, Azam Ahmed on terrifying new drugs, Robby George on natural law, and Megan McArdle on pretty much anything. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

“Someone said, oh, you look like Steve Bannon, and I love you for that… No, I just shaved my hair and lost some pounds.” — Kaya Genç on Trumpism's global fanbase The NATO circus rumbled into the Turkish capital of Ankara this week resembling more of a gun show than an alliance summit. Ringmaster Donald J. Trump promised Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the F-35s and lifted the very sanctions that Trump himself had imposed. Erdogan handed out pistols to the assembled leaders — with poor old Keir Starmer (no Winston Churchill) leaving his at the airport. And observing all these clowns from Istanbul was the Turkish novelist and essayist Kaya Genç. As a contributor to the anthology How We See It: The World Looks at America in the Age of Trump, Genç is a keen America watcher. He first set foot in the United States in January 2017, stumbling into New York City's protests against Trump 1.0's Muslim-ban. What seemed temporary — Trump as a bizarre historical aberration — looked to Erdogan-literate Kaya Genç like an operating manual for 21st century populist authoritarianism. Turkey, Genç argues, has spent a century Americanizing itself. First with the 20th century Marshall Plan, the highways, the Hilton hotels, and finally an American-style executive presidency operating on the politics of referendum. Now, he says, the whole world — from Turkey to France and Britain — is living with the consequences of 21st century Americanization. Like a more functional NATO, right-wing populists operate like an international alliance. Erdogan, Trump, Meloni, Le Pen and Farage are like a club in which projecting strength at summits buys impunity at home. And this club has a house style. Turkish right-wing columnists, Genç reports, deploy Michael Corleone on their X banners — exactly David Thomson's warning earlier this week about Hollywood's glorification of on-screen violence. So, in a way, America observers like Kaya Genç got a sneak preview of Trump's America in movies like The Godfather. First as cinema, then as life. From both Turkey and Russia with love. Five Takeaways •       NATO: The Club of the Mighty. The night before the summit, activists were rounded up in Ankara — LGBTQ rights defenders, labor unionists, journalists — as threats to NATO security. In Turkish civil society, Genç explains, NATO doesn't represent the liberal world order; it represents the mighty, and has since the writers of the 1960s. The summit itself was a military passion show: jets overhead, revolvers gifted among the attendees, and a host country whose ruling politicians no longer hide that arms exports — including the drones Ukraine used so effectively — are now the mission of the Turkish economy. •       Trump: A Star Among Right-Wing Voters Everywhere. In India, a chubbier, longer-haired Genç was once told: you look like Steve Bannon, and I love you for that. The Turkish media savaged Biden but forgives Trump everything — Netanyahu is the villain of the Turkish press, while Trump speaks the language. Not Turkish (though he tried a phrase): the language of the presidential system. The Turkish right's America has always been selective — yes to the death penalty and gun ownership, no to labor rights, free expression, and the trans movement — an instinct as old as the poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy's advice to copy Germany's industriousness and leave out the decadence. •       Living the Consequences of Americanization. Turkey began its republic in the 1920s on the European model — parliament, proportional voices for an ethnically diverse country. After the Marshall Plan, it re-forged itself on the American one: highways, Hilton hotels, burger joints, and eventually an American-style executive presidency, approved by referendum over the objections of people like Genç. That's why Trump 1.0 read so differently in the two countries: in New York it looked like an exception to be fought off; in Ankara it looked like how American politics works — and something to imitate. •       Populists Learn Like Large Language Models. Did Erdogan create the model, or is Trump teaching Erdogan? Neither, says Genç: it's a dialogue — right-wing populism learning from itself the way AI learns from language models. The AKP ran a Gramscian culture war through the institutions; Meloni, Le Pen, and Farage apply the cosmetic soft brush that makes fascist-rooted politics presentable. Join the club, project strength at the summit, and whatever you do domestically stops mattering. Putin, notably, is not in the curriculum: Turkey is returning its S-400s to get the F-35s, and Russia is becoming a footnote. •       The Hologram and the Pushback. Ekrem Imamoglu — the Istanbul mayor Genç profiles in The Dial as the hologram candidate — won the city with socialist municipalism, and the skeptics who warned it would alienate the pious were simply wrong. Soft liberalism, the faith Genç himself held since the nineties, is disappearing; the pushback is finding its heroes in dead poets — Rosa Luxemburg, and Sevgi Soysal, whose novel Walking is out in English from New York Review Books. From Istanbul to Middle America, Mamdani to AOC, Genç's advice to the left is the same: don't fragment — conquer the big parties. About the Guest Kaya Genç is a novelist and essayist from Istanbul. He is the author of Under the Shadow: Rage and Revolution in Modern Turkey and The Lion and the Nightingale, and his writing appears in The Dial, The Guardian, Foreign Policy, Index on Censorship, and Jewish Quarterly. He is a contributor to How We See It: The World Looks at America in the Age of Trump (The New Press, June 2026), edited by The Dial's Madeleine Schwartz. References: •       How We See It: The World Looks at America in the Age of Trump, edited by Madeleine Schwartz (The New Press, June 2026). Publishers Weekly: “A much-needed reality check.” •       Madeleine Schwartz — founder and editor-in-chief of The Dial, editor of the anthology, and a recent guest on the show. •       Under the Shadow: Rage and Revolution in Modern Turkey — Genç's account of Turkey's political generation, published just after the 2016 coup attempt. •       Ece Temelkuran — the Turkish writer and recent guest whose How to Lose a Country globalized the Turkish case as a warning to democracies everywhere. •       Sevgi Soysal — the Turkish novelist who died at 40, whose Walking — a portrait of Ankara slowly killing itself for profit — is out in English from New York Review Books, reviewed by Genç. •       David Thomson — the film critic and recent guest whose argument that Trumpism grew from Hollywood's lov...

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comStephen is a psychoanalyst and author. He used to teach clinical technique at the Institute of Psychoanalysis, and also psychoanalytic theory at University College London. He's the author of The Examined Life: How We Lose and Find Ourselves, and his latest book is Love's Labor: How We Break and Make the Bonds of Love.For two clips of the episode — on what psychoanalysis is really for, and the benefits of friendship vs romantic love — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: born in Gary, Indiana; his birth defect requiring many surgeries; his Jewish family emigrating from Eastern Europe; college at Berkeley and Oxford; arrested at the Chicago Dem convention; befriending Anna Freud; Sigmund and his studies in hysteria; loneliness in adolescence; how falling in love is very different than love; my own psychoanalyst of 25 years; trauma from my childhood; the losses that marriage entails; breakthroughs after breakdowns; detaching from the idea of yourself; legal marriages vs psychological ones; falling back into trauma because it's familiar; the power of love's precarity; victimology; Philip Roth's “the ecstasy of sanctimony”; lessons from Othello; surrender vs submission; Esther Perel's Mating in Captivity; seeking traits in a partner that mirror a dysfunctional parent; how sex is different for men and women; gay promiscuity; male-male marriages lasting the longest; HIV and the threat of deportation; dating with HIV in the ‘90s; and how to be a better listener.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: David Thomson on cinema in US history and culture, John O'Sullivan on conservatism, Robby George on natural law, and Megan McArdle on pretty much anything. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

On this week's episode, I'm rejoined by renowned critic and film historian David Thomson to discuss his new book, A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies. It's a bracing tome, given its thesis: That the film screen has fundamentally altered who we are and how we interact with the world, in ways mostly negative. I'll have more on this book in my newsletter this week, but I really hope you pick it up; there's a lot to chew on in it.

From one of cinema's wisest and most penetrating observers, an arresting new perspective on the sweep of film historyDavid Thomson has been called "the greatest living writer on the movies." Here is a career capstone of sorts-a one-volume history of film and screens as illuminating and provocative as his classic Biographical Dictionary of Film. In tracing the progress, from the Lumiere Brothers to the Coens, Thomson glories in the great movies, but admits to increasing unease over what the medium has done to us-promoting fantasy, misleading models of sexual identity, the cult of authority, power, and happy endings.This revisionist history is as alert to technology and business as it is to art and fun in tracing our pursuit of the lifelike instead of life. By turns trenchant, lyrical, and comic, Thomson uncovers our addiction to voyeurism and villainy, and a habit of passivity that has betrayed our political and cultural identity. In a survey that reaches from Metropolis to Rear Window to Anora, this will redirect ideas about film everywhere. As The New York Times has put it, "Thomson proves anew that he is irreplaceable.=Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

From one of cinema's wisest and most penetrating observers, an arresting new perspective on the sweep of film historyDavid Thomson has been called "the greatest living writer on the movies." Here is a career capstone of sorts-a one-volume history of film and screens as illuminating and provocative as his classic Biographical Dictionary of Film. In tracing the progress, from the Lumiere Brothers to the Coens, Thomson glories in the great movies, but admits to increasing unease over what the medium has done to us-promoting fantasy, misleading models of sexual identity, the cult of authority, power, and happy endings.This revisionist history is as alert to technology and business as it is to art and fun in tracing our pursuit of the lifelike instead of life. By turns trenchant, lyrical, and comic, Thomson uncovers our addiction to voyeurism and villainy, and a habit of passivity that has betrayed our political and cultural identity. In a survey that reaches from Metropolis to Rear Window to Anora, this will redirect ideas about film everywhere. As The New York Times has put it, "Thomson proves anew that he is irreplaceable.=Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

David Thomson joins me to discuss his new book, A Sudden Flicker of Light. Although we both love movies, we've noticed that movies have distorted our way of seeing the world, changed our sense of reality, and most of all, turned politics into a fascist mass spectacle. After all, Hitler, Stalin, Lenin, and Mussolini all loved movies. Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin love putting themselves on screen. Totalitarianism and the cinema have always been linked, and politics is less democratic, and more cinematic, than ever.Here's a link to the book: https://flyleafbooks.com/book/9781668205730

Lynval Golding of two-tone and ska legends The Specials , on the band's final album, Live from the Cathedral, which was recorded in Coventry Cathedral. and which pays tribute to the band's late frontman Terry Hall. Photographers Tish Murtha and Sandra George, whose work represented disadvantaged and marginalised communities in Newcastle and Edinburgh respectively, were not given the recognition they deserved in their lifetimes. Now with major exhibitions at Baltic Gateshead and City Art Centre in Edinburgh, we discuss the significance of their work. David Thomson is renowned as the doyen of film criticism, but his latest book - A Sudden Flicker of Light - is billed as a revisionist history of the movies and asks us whether the film industry has given us false expectations of life. He speaks to us from California. And we're joined live in the studio by the artist who's won an international competition to create a permanent memorial to author Dame Muriel Spark in Edinburgh, the city of her birth. Presenter : Kirsty Wark Producer : Mark Crossan

“For all the paperwork of democracy — government by and for the people — we have become a citizenry of spectators who simply want to be entertained. And we are accustomed to the realization that we can't do anything about what's on the screen.” — David Thomson Has the prolific film critic David Thomson fallen out of love with the movies? That's the question I began my conversation with Thomson, arguably the greatest living writer on film. My question was triggered by his revisionist movie history (out today), A Sudden Flicker of Light, which, while still glorifying film, nonetheless recognizes the damage that the medium has done to us. No, he hasn't fallen out of love with the movies, Thomson responded. But he did acknowledge a new kind of wariness about his beloved medium — a suspicion of auteur worship, that tradition which concentrates on the great artistry of individual directors like Welles, Hitchcock, and Scorsese while ignoring what the motion picture medium as a whole has done to society. “What has God wrought?” Samuel Morse asked about the telegraph. David Thomson is asking the same question about the consequence of movies. Cinema, particularly Hollywood, Thomson argues, has spent a century disempowering audiences. Sitting in the dark, gazing at the screen, people have lost their agency. This passivity, Thomson argues, has invaded our political life, transforming us from citizens into spectators. No, Mr Smith hasn't gone to Washington. Instead, America has become a theater of gawkers addicted to screen entertainment, unable to discriminate between a sudden flicker of light and reality. Thus the degeneration of America into a violent Coppola movie. Thus The Joker who has crawled out of primeval darkness and now monopolizes all our screens. You could make a movie about it. Call it “Being There” or “Network.” Or perhaps “The Truman Show.” Five Takeaways •       Cinema Has Trained Us to Be Spectators — and That Has Destroyed Our Agency: Thomson's central argument: sitting in the dark watching a bright light in front of them, audiences learned that the thing on the screen is not their responsibility. People are not really hurt on screen, no matter their bodies are torn apart. They are not really happy, no matter what they say in the film. And whatever happens, the audience remains a spectator. Extrapolate that out into a broader world and you have a society in which, for all the paperwork of democracy and government by and for the people, people have become a citizenry of spectators who simply want to be entertained. America, Thomson believes, is in that state. •       Every Cut Is Violent — and Every Cut Is a Marriage: Thomson's most original observation is the smallest: the cut. A cut is where the stream of imagery you are watching goes from one shot to another. It is a separation — but it is also a marriage. Every cut says: join them up. The way we measure the effectiveness of directors from D.W. Griffith onward is that they found ways to put shots together so that film had sequence and order, like the order of sentences in writing. And every cut has an element of violence in it, because you are seeing one thing and then, bang, you are watching something quite different. We have never taught our children what a cut is — even though they have spent far more of their lives watching moving imagery than reading. That neglect, Thomson argues, is consequential. •       The Culture of Manhood and the Systematic Neglect of Women: Thomson's most politically charged observation: the culture of manhood and the serious neglect of women was going on in virtually every film he saw until at least the 1980s, and you could argue well beyond that. That is, he says, a kind of tacit advertising — a way of saying, look, this is really a very good way for how the world should be. It is something that has become harder and harder for him to endure as an idea. And he thinks that the war in Iran would not have been as likely if America had had enough women running the country — because women feel and think together in concert in different ways, with more room for compassion, sentiment, and plain rationality. •       Cinema Is Deeply Educational — and We Have Ignored That: Thomson's answer to Andrew's challenge: what does any of this have to do with movies? Everything. You cannot have a mass medium without the mass being affected, without the ways in which they think being shaped. The movies have given us examples of how to live that have been intensely persuasive. They are deeply educational. And yet we have permitted them, and like every technology humans have ever invented, we have let the technology take control of us rather than the other way around. Children spend far more time watching moving imagery than reading — and yet we do not teach them what a cut is, what a camera angle means, how the medium constructs its reality. That neglect has been, Thomson believes, catastrophic. •       Citizen Kane Is the Definitive American Film — Not The Godfather: Andrew's final question: what is the definitive movie about America? Not The Godfather, Thomson says, because the Godfather films cannot overcome their attraction to authority. There is a reverence for dark power in the Godfather films. Whereas in Citizen Kane, there is all through the film a terrible ruefulness about what happens to people who seek power. Welles absolutely understood and was intensely critical of the personality that needed power and authority — and he was afraid of it. For that reason, it is still for Thomson the definitive American film. Thomson has been known to doze off watching it, because he knows it too well. On July 4, he plans to watch something different. Ideally, The Odyssey. About the Guest David Thomson is the author of more than twenty books on film, including A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of the Movies (Simon & Schuster, July 7, 2026), The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (six editions, 1975–2014), Orson Welles, The Big Screen, Have You Seen…?, and biographies of David O. Selznick, Marlon Brando, and Nicole Kidman. Michael Ondaatje has called him “the best writer on film in our time.” He lives in San Francisco, where he is Andrew Keen's neighbour. References: •       A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of the Movies by David Thomson (Simon & Schuster, July 7, 2026). •       Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) — Thomson's definitive American film; discussed extensively in the conversation. •       The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) — referenced as ...

David Thomson, the author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, Have You Seen...?, Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles, and many more, is one of the most prolific and influential writers about film and film history. He is also the favorite writer of Screen Drafts Legend Darren Franich. When the opportunity arose to speak with Mr. Thomson about his new book, A Sudden Flicker of Light, we insisted on taking it, and created a whole new show just to do so! Please enjoy this very entertaining inaugural edition of The Sit-Down with Darren Franich, an as-needed venue for culture writer Darren Franich to have in-depth conversations with the most interesting minds in film and television. David Thomson's A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies is on bookshelves now!

David Thomson, the great film critic, discusses his increasing disquiet with film — and how movies have helped deliver us to authoritarianism. He describes film's adulation of power, which has been almost religiously illuminated on the screen. David Thomson, A Sudden Flicker of Light: A Revisionist History of Movies Simon & Schuster, 2026 Book Launch with David Thomson at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley on July 12, 2026 The post What the Movies Have Wrought appeared first on KPFA.

The revered British writer on film — a critic, historian and author of more than 40 books, most famously one first published in 1975 under the title ‘A Biographical Dictionary of the Cinema' and updated and reissued five times since as ‘The New Biographical Dictionary of Film' — reflects on how a childhood stammer led to his fascination with words and desire to speak out; the happy accidents that led to his dictionary, and why there won't be a seventh edition; and why he believes — and asserts in his latest book, out July 7 — that the proliferation of anti-heroes on screens big and small may have led to the presidency of Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comJohn is a political philosopher. He retired from academia in 2007 as Professor of European Thought at the London School of Economics, and he's now a regular contributor and lead reviewer at the New Statesman. He's the author of two dozen books, and the most recent is The New Leviathans: Thoughts After Liberalism, which we discussed on the Dishcast last year (after first having him on the pod in 2023).For two clips of the episode — on what the Founders would think of the 250th, and sizing up the next prime minister of the UK — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: the deadly heatwave in Europe and its lack of AC; the Putin-esque corruption of Trump; the Joker-esque nature of US politics; civic exhaustion; our broken trust with the rest of the world; losing the Iran War; the stranglehold of Hormuz; fears over the Strait of Malacca; the JCPOA; Fukuyama; edge-lording and DOGE; the embarrassment of Trump's 250; his plunge in the polls; the socialist wins in NYC; DEI collectivism; Vance's Catholicism; Rubio's future; Tucker 2028; the collapse of free speech in higher ed; Keir's departure; Andy Burnham's rise; his neo-Blairite populism; Farage and Reform; Restore Britain; Kemi Badenoch; Scott Wiener hounded by transqueers; masks used by ICE and activists; the surge of antisemitism on the left and right; the Le Pen and Bardella factions; AfD; the EU becoming more right-wing; mass migration and Boris; the Swedish crackdown; Islamism; Meloni becoming a centrist; Putin and Ukraine; the drone revolution and Taiwan; the hope of Ossoff; and the World Cup.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Stephen Grosz on the struggles of love, David Thomson on cinema in American history and culture, John O'Sullivan on conservatism, Robby George on natural law, and Megan McArdle on pretty much anything. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comBob is a journalist and the author of many books, including The Moral Animal, Nonzero, The Evolution of God, and Why Buddhism Is True. He's written for countless magazines, including The New Republic, where he co-wrote the TRB column with Mickey Kaus. They also co-founded Bloggingheads TV, and Bob taught in the psych department at Penn and the religion department at Princeton. Today you can find him on Substack at the NonZero Newsletter, and his new book is The God Test: Artificial Intelligence and Our Coming Cosmic Reckoning.For two clips of the episode — how AI flatters its users, and the rapidly converging threats from AI — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: Bob's reporting on AI in the early 1980s; Geoffrey Hinton — “the godfather of AI” — warning us about AI; “doomer-in-chief” Eliezer Yudkowsky; Bob's own evolution on AI; the Tree of Knowledge; how AI is a more challenging global issue than nukes; the need for international regulation; the noosphere, our “global brain” — and its author, the visionary Christian, Teilhard de Chardin; neural networks; ChatGPT; Musk and self-driving cars; BF Skinner; philosopher John Searle; olfactory AI; virtual reality; AI designing drugs to induce spirituality; Anthropic's Dario Amodei; Sam Altman calling Trump an NPC; AI stoking conspiracies; Leo's encyclical; cognitive empathy; the Iran War; China vs Taiwan; kids befriending AI agents; Hal in 2001; the movie Her; silicon neurons that evolve; AI threatening the human need to be needed; job losses; scams; electoral risks; populism and tribalism; how is AI a continuation of human evolution; and the many positive potentials of AI.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: John Gray on Trump's new world, Stephen Grosz on the struggles of love, David Thomson on cinema history, John O'Sullivan on conservatism, Robby George on all our disagreements, and Megan McArdle on pretty much anything. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comTiffany is a cultural historian, writer, and broadcaster. She has been a critic and presenter on BBC Radio 4 and now serves as a trustee of the British Museum. Her latest book is Strangers and Intimates: The Rise and Fall of Private Life. It's a fascinating book of history and political insight: how privacy is deeply connected to liberal values, and why its abeyance matters.For two clips of the episode — on the first sexual revolution in England, and when privacy strengthened patriarchy — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: growing up in an Anglo-American household; losing and keeping accents; privacy a rare thing in history; the Greeks and Romans; the human tendency to gossip; the Reformation and private faith; Thomas More against Martin Luther; Cromwell banning Christmas; Hobbes and the right of conscience; Locke and natural rights; Marie Antoinette; Rousseau and self-creation; spying; the emergence of the back stairs; the Romantics and subjectivity; Wollstonecraft and women's equality; the Sodomites' Walk; the rise of coffee shops; John Stuart Mill; child abuse; marital rape; Betty Friedan; defending homosexuality based on privacy; outings; Lewinsky and the Starr Report; consent and policing sex; hook-up culture on campus; Obama's private life; Hunter's laptop; reality TV and Trump; Harry and Meghan's worldwide privacy tour; OnlyFans; and a defense of hypocrisy.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Bob Wright on the evolutionary force of AI, John Gray on Trump's new world, Stephen Grosz on the struggles of love, David Thomson on cinema history, John O'Sullivan on conservatism, Robby George on all our disagreements, and Megan McArdle on everything. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comDaniel, previously the editor-at-large at The American Conservative, is currently the editor of Modern Age, a conservative academic quarterly journal. He's also a Distinguished Fellow in Conservative Thought at the Heritage Foundation and a columnist for The Spectator — and one of the few Trump supporters allowed to write op-eds for the NYT. I wanted to engage the most intelligent defense of Trump I could find. And Dan did not disappoint. But you be the judge.For two clips of the episode — on Trump as a corrective to the liberal establishment, and questioning how revolutionary the American Revolution really was — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: born into a Navy family in Missouri; going to UK grammar school in the Thatcher years; George III; Locke and self-government; the French Revolution and Jefferson; Washington and US neutrality; Jackson and populism; the Spanish-American War; Burke and Oakeshott; paleoconservatism and Pat Buchanan; the rise of China's economy; the managerial elite; mass migration; multiculturalism; Obama the deporter-in-chief; nuke proliferation and the JCPOA; Trump as disruptor; Hazony's The Virtue of Nationalism; January 6; Biden betraying his moderation; the woke youth vs weak liberals; lawfare against Trump; shutting down the border; ICE in Minneapolis; evangelical fervor over Israel; the antisemite card; the Iran War; ethnic cleansing in Palestine; Ukraine's drones; NATO finally stepping up; the Trump cult and AWOL Congress; caving to China over rare earths; Bezos and the WaPo; the ballroom; crime down in DC and better parks; and Trump purging dissenters.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Tiffany Jenkins on privacy in a liberal democracy, John Gray on Trump's new world, Bob Wright on the evolutionary force of AI, Stephen Grosz on the struggles of love, David Thomson on cinema history, James Verini on Ukraine, John O'Sullivan on Hungary, and Robby George on all our disagreements. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comBen is a writer and political adviser. He served as a deputy national security advisor and speechwriter to Obama for both terms. He's currently a co-host of “Pod Save the World,” a contributing opinion writer for the NYT, and a contributor for MS NOW. He's the author of After the Fall and The World as It Is, and his new book is All We Say: The Battle for American Identity: A History in 15 Speeches. We avoided saying anything that might upset the Ellisons. Enjoy!For two clips of the episode — on AIPAC opposing the JCPOA, and our latest catastrophe in the Middle East — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: raised in NYC by a Methodist dad from small-town Texas and a Jewish mom whose relatives died in the Holocaust; lots of political debate growing up; Hemingway and Fitzgerald as formative writers; Orwell; Graham Greene and the brokenness of the world; Obama's sense of realism; Lee Hamilton a key mentor; moving to DC after 9/11 to write about foreign policy; Obama and Crimea; Syria and the refugee crisis; the Paris agreement; Netanyahu's disdain for Obama; the antisemite card; the Iron Dome; the Dish covering the Green Revolution; Hegseth's hubris; the LEGO meme videos; Trump's supervillain statements; the Hormuz debacle; the IDF quartering its soldiers in Palestine; the never-ending settlements; pogroms in the West Bank; the abuse in Israel prisons; the Greenland threat; NATO stepping up to fund Ukraine; the drone revolution; Trump's demagogic genius; Obama's speechmaking; his Peace Prize; Niebuhr; Lincoln's second inaugural; FDR's “Four Freedoms” speech to end isolationism; JFK; the talent of Jon Ossoff; and the disappointments of Obama's post-presidency.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Tiffany Jenkins on privacy in a liberal democracy, Daniel McCarthy on conservatism, John Gray on Trump's new world, Bob Wright on the evolutionary force of AI, Stephen Grosz on the struggles of love, David Thomson on cinema history, James Verini on Ukraine, John O'Sullivan on Hungary, and Robby George on all our disagreements. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comBill is a historian. He currently teaches at the University of Texas, where he holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. Chair in History. He's the author of more than 30 books, including The First American and Traitor to His Class. His new book is American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington. As part of our occasional series on great Americans, it was time for the OG American. I learned a lot reading the book and talking to Bill.For two clips of the episode — on Washington's humane display of aristocracy, and how he's the antidote to today's politics — head to our YouTube page.Other topics: Bill growing up in a Catholic neighborhood in Portland, Oregon; teaching at a Jesuit high school in his early 20s; the different styles of historians; Washington born into the Virginia gentry; losing his dad at a young age; smallpox as a teen likely making him infertile but protecting him during war; his skill at land surveying; joining Ben Franklin in the Ohio Company of land speculation; British arrogance toward colonists; GW accidentally sparking the French and Indian War; his grudge against the Crown; losing most of his battles but winning both wars; his Dunkirk and his D-Day; a meh tactician but a grand strategist; his wise retreats; absconding to Mount Vernon; Hamilton and LaFayette as surrogate sons; attacking the Brits on Christmas; holding the army together at Valley Forge; the deep loyalty of his men; keeping his ego in check; Shays' Rebellion; GW the key to securing the Constitution; declaring neutrality in European wars; his farewell address; and warning against partisanship.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy. Coming up: Ben Rhodes on Iran and speech-writing, John Gray on Trump's new world, Bob Wright on the evolutionary force of AI, Tiffany Jenkins on privacy in a liberal democracy, Daniel McCarthy on conservatism, Stephen Grosz on the struggles of love, David Thomson on cinema history, and Robby George on all our disagreements. Please send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

Is the secret to a longer, healthier life hiding in the Book of Numbers? Dr. David Thomson brings his expertise in physiology and aging to uncover why complaining might be killing you, spiritually and physically, and why keeping your eyes on Jesus Christ changes everything.YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/iTm4P3OpCbAFREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookBook of Mormon: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastBMBook WEEKLY NEWSLETTERhttps://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletter SOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastTIMECODE:00:00 - Part 1 - Dr. David Thomson00:38 Giants vs. Grasshoppers02:27 Teaser 03:43 The Bronze Serpent: Beholding vs Glancing08:57 Complaining to one another vs Talking to the Lord15:18 The Rabble:Who do we listen to?24:55 Why study aging?26:54 Aaron's Death30:44 President Nelson: Length vs. Quality of Life31:46 Positive mindset and cognitive health35:42 Elder Boyd K. Packer: Staying engaged in the gospel43:07 The 4 Big Levers for healthy aging51:20 Delegating the Spirit: Moses and the Seventy53:20 Being set apart59:52 Criticizing vs sustaining1:03:14 Gaining a testimony of living apostles1:05:17 Miriam's leprosy–consequences and mercy1:09:46 Waiting for Miriam1:10:58 End of Part 1 - Dr. David ThomsonThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsAmelia Kabwika: Portuguese TranscriptsHeather Barlow: Communications DirectorSydney Smith: Social Media, Graphic Design "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Dr. David Thomson returns to unpack the twelve spies, the science-faith relationship, and what Balaam's donkey teaches us about the people who see what we can't.YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/3Y8zqekYn5IFREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookBook of Mormon: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastBMBook WEEKLY NEWSLETTERhttps://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletter SOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastTIMECODE:00:00 - Part 2 - Dr. Dave Thomson01:34 Giants and grasshoppers: “We're toast!”02:34 Caleb and Joshua vs the ten–focus on God05:10 Believing Jesus Christ07:18 Trust what Jesus Christ said He can do11:51 “We're not earning heaven, we're learning heaven.”13:42 Elder Renlund reminds to choose to keep the commandments16:46  2 Nephi 25:23 reimagined20:45 Science and faith–a perceived conflict23:44 President Nelson: All truth is compatible29:59 Alma 32 and the Scientific Method33:43 Balaam and his donkey29:43 Who are the donkeys in your life?41:30 Dr. Thomson's donkeys49:39 President Hinckley taught that faith is like a muscle51:48 Muscle growth and faith59:17 Closing testimonies1:47:18 End of Part 2 - Dr. Dave ThomsonThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsAmelia Kabwika: Portuguese TranscriptsHeather Barlow: Communications DirectorSydney Smith: Social Media, Graphic Design "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Mike and Duncan chat with David Thomson, co-founder of Annandale Distillery. We chat through the start and progression of Annadale Distillery, diving into two new South of Scotland bottles of whisky as we go:Man O'Words - Double Oaked Ex-Bourbon - Cask 1563 at 58.9%Man O'Swords - STR Ex-Red Wine Cask - Cask 387 at 57.9%As well as Annadale related stories we cover off all our usual bits and pieces, what's been in our glass and up our ass!

David Thomson left school at 16 with no qualifications, worked in a boot factory for £130 a week, and joined the army because there was nothing else. By the time he was done, he was the #1 financial advisor in the UK - doing 7 mortgages a week while others struggled to do that in a month. In this episode of Rural Sales Success, David breaks down the exact system behind elite sales performance - the stuff they never teach you. We cover: → Why growth mindset is bulls**t (and what actually works) → The hidden curriculum behind every top salesperson → His dead-simple referral system that put his business on steroids → The PIGGY model - the future pacing tool that closes deals → Why you can't get transformation from information alone → How to use your daily commute as a secret weapon Whether you're driving between farms or building a sales team from scratch - this episode will change how you think about selling. Rural Sales Success is New Zealand's podcast for rural sales professionals who want to think bigger, sell smarter, and build something worth having. Subscribe so you never miss an episode. Connect with David on ⁠LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-thomson-suada/ Know more about what he does ⁠here: https://www.suada.com/ +++ Grab your copy from Amazon⁠ here: https://www.amazon.com.au/365-Days-Rural-Sales-Mastery/dp/B0F1489HH4/ (or join our Facebook Group below to get a free online copy). Want to make more rural sales? Get your FREE copy of my first book “How To Succeed In Rural Sales” ⁠Ebook: www.ruralsalessuccess1.com/ebook Connect with or Follow me on LinkedIn: nz.linkedin.com/in/stjohncraner Subscribe to my weekly rural sales email (which goes out to 3500+ rural sales professionals worldwide) here: bit.ly/3voaPS7 To join our private Facebook Group where we share a ton of free rural sales and lead generation tools almost daily join here: www.facebook.com/groups/285326399207141/ For details on our training programmes you can check out what we do for sales teams with our Rural Sales Success™ programme here (www.ruralsalessuccess1.com/programme-invitation) or for managers with our Rural Sales Manager Mastery™ programme here (www.ruralsalessuccess1.com/programme-invitation) For more on us, what we do and who we work with: www.ruralsalessuccess.com / www.agrarian.co.nz

Handling Leads and "Flash to Bang" Time: Learn why contacting a lead instantly is "massively important" to prevent competition. David explains how to open the call with high energy, demonstrating that you are an expert and are "cool, social, relevant, interesting and intriguing".1 The Science of Sales: Understand how to utilise principles of influence, such as reciprocity, framing, negotiation, and future pacing, so clients say yes to your requests at a higher case value.1 Protection Conversation: David shares his highly effective technique for introducing protection early by asking, "If you lent me £250,000 and I died, would you want your money back?". He stresses the need to always present a client with three choices: a good, a better, and a best option.1 The Open Loop Referral System: Discover how to get more recommendations than you can "ever dream of" by neutralizing reciprocity. The system involves telling a client, "Don't thank me now, Alex," and setting up an "open loop" for them to repay the favor later by providing referrals.1 Recruiting and Training: David explains that he looks for four key traits in advisors—energy, an edge, the ability to execute, and a winner's attitude. He details how systemised training, using models he learned as a top financial advisor, can get an advisor banking £12,000–£15,000 a month within two to four months.1 If you're ready to build a strong, systemised business that can scale and sell, this is essential listening. Brought to you by the team at The Lead Engine who specialise in generating mortgage leads.

Welcome to the second of a two-part special all about Burns Night.Burns Night, celebrated on Robert Burns' birthday, 25th January, is a worldwide phenomenon and I wanted to make a couple of episodes focussing upon the night, the haggis, but also the other foods links regarding Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns.So, if you're readying yourself for a Burns supper, I hope this episode gets you even more into the celebratory spirit. If you're not marking Burns Night – well, hopefully after listening to this, you will be inspired to get yourself some haggis, neeps, tatties and a dram of whisky. Hopefully, a Man O'Words single malt from the excellent Annandale Distillery – why, well, you will find out very soon.Today's episode is a jam-packed one where I speak with three guests all about Robert Burns and his links with Dumfriesshire, Southwest Scotland. First of all I speak with Jane Brown, Honorary President of the Robert Burns World Federation, and ex-manager of The Globe, Robert Burns's favourite haunt when he lived in Dumfries during the last eight years of his life. Jane has attended and spoken at many Burns Nights all over the world, so there's no one better to talk about with Burns's life which had several links with food and drink: there's Burns Night and the Address to a Haggis, his time as an exciseman and as a farmer, and his time at the Globe. Then there's the Globe itself and all of the precious artefacts contained within it that have been painstakingly conserved by owners Teresa Church and David Thomson.David and Teresa also own the Annandale Distillery, which produces a delicious and unique single malt whisky. It's available unpeated and called Man O'Words, after Robert Burns, and the other is peated and called Man O'Sword, after the other local historical figure associated with Dumfries, Robert the Bruce. Like the Globe, the old distillery was saved, beautifully conserved and brought back to life by David and Teresa.In today's episode we talk about Burns's before and after graces, Burns's penchant for scratching poetry on windows, the importance of cask size on the flavour of whisky, and just what exactly possessed David and Teresa to buy the Globe and a falling-down distillery – amongst many other things.The Globe Inn websiteAnnandale Distillery websiteThe Robert Burns World FederationFollow 1610 at the Globe on social media: Instagram @theglobeinn1610; Facebook https://www.facebook.com/theglobeinn/?locale=en_GB; X @The GlobeInn1610Follow Annandale Distillery on social media: Instagram: @annandale_distillery; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annandaledistillery/?locale=en_GB; X: @AnnandaleDstlryIf you can, support the podcast and blogs by becoming a £3 monthly subscriber, and unlock lots of premium content, including bonus blog posts and recipes, access to the easter eggs and the secret podcast, or treat me to a one-off virtual pint or coffee: click here. This episode was mixed and engineered by Thomas Ntinas of the Delicious Legacy podcast. Things mentioned in today's episodeArticle:

Il est l'homme derrière le président, un pur produit du rêve américain revenu d'une enfance cabossée. J. D. Vance, l'un des vice-présidents les plus puissants que l'Amérique ait connue. Notre invité a enquêté sur lui pendant des mois, rencontré ceux qui le connaissent et peuvent décrypter les ressorts d'une ambition que l'on dit sans limite.

durée : 00:12:24 - L'invité d'un jour dans le monde - Il est présent partout, le bras droit de Donald Trump, un libéral très conservateur et catholique, fait figure de successeur légitime chez plusieurs membres des républicains. On en parle avec le journaliste co-auteur du documentaire “J.D. Vance : la revanche d'une Amérique” David Thomson. Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les autres épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France.

durée : 00:36:24 - Le 18/20 · Un jour dans le monde - Dans l'ombre du président américain Donald Trump se dévoile un personnage très actif, conservateur et catholique. Le Vice-président des Etats-Unis aux multiples conversions est le personnage central du documentaire “J.D. Vance : la revanche d'une Amérique” de Thomas Snegaroff et David Thomson. Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les autres épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France.

durée : 00:36:24 - Le 18/20 · Un jour dans le monde - Dans l'ombre du président américain Donald Trump se dévoile un personnage très actif, conservateur et catholique. Le Vice-président des Etats-Unis aux multiples conversions est le personnage central du documentaire “J.D. Vance : la revanche d'une Amérique” de Thomas Snegaroff et David Thomson. Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les autres épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France.

Film brings to us — with unparalleled rawness — what feels like the intimate experience of war. But how true is that visceral feeling? And how do the tension and excitement of war on screen ultimately affect our sympathy toward each other and our humanity? David Thomson, one of the greatest film historians of our time, argues that movies — even those with antiwar intentions — perpetuate war. (Encore presentation.) Resources: David Thomson, The Fatal Alliance: A Century of War on Film Harper, 2023 The post War and Film appeared first on KPFA.

In Cineversary podcast episode #89, host ⁠Erik J. Martin⁠ celebrates the 80th birthday of Brief Encounter, directed by David Lean. He and his guest David Thomson – the distinguished film critic, historian, and author of Sleeping with Strangers: How the Movies Shaped Desire – climb aboard the romance express and discuss why this film still matters, its impact on cinema, relevant themes, and more. Learn more about the Cineversary podcast at www.cineversary.com and email show comments or suggestions to cineversarypodcast@gmail.com.

Sales teams have more training, more tools, and more AI than ever — yet execution in the field continues to break down.In this episode of the OnBase podcast, Barry Flaherty and David Thomson explain why traditional sales training fails and how teach-back sales training and AI coaching help teams build real capability without burning out sales reps.Drawing on decades of experience across enterprise sales, scale-ups, and behavioural science, they explore why information alone never creates transformation, how onboarding and ramp time can be fixed, and why AI should act as a coach, not a cop.If you lead sales, enablement, or go-to-market teams, this episode delivers practical insight you can apply immediately.What you'll learn:why most sales training doesn't translate into performancehow teach-back sales training improves retention and confidencethe role of AI coaching in modern sales enablementhow to reduce ramp time and onboarding failurehow to scale sales teams without losing culture or empathyAbout Barry Flaherty Barry is a GTM and sales strategy Leader and Board advisor/member. He has 25 years of experience in Tech and Media that includes Enterprise Sales & Alliances in integration, cloud and automation. He is the Founder of All Good People and is now growing a portfolio of established Tech companies and scale up's and capital raising.Connect with Barry.About David Thomson Founder and CEO of Suada, David is dedicated to helping organisations unlock the full potential of their people through cutting-edge digital learning solutions. With over 25 years of experience in sales, technology, and business transformation, he lead Suada's global mission to revolutionise online learning by incorporating the science of retention and persuasion.Connect with David.

A podcast to accompany the release of my book Darkness Visible: the Cinema of Jonathan Glazer, available HERE Jonathan Glazer has created some of the most unforgettable images in twenty-first-century cinema. From the dreamlike menace of Sexy Beast to the haunting abstractions of Under the Skin and the chilling banality of evil in The Zone of Interest, his films blend surreal intensity with razor-sharp formal control. But Glazer's world doesn't stop at the cinema screen-it extends into commercials, music videos and short films that have redefined visual storytelling. In Darkness Visible, critic and author John Bleasdale guides readers through the full scope of Glazer's career, offering a vivid, provocative and deeply informed portrait of a filmmaker who resists interpretation even as his work demands it. With chapters on each feature film, along with Glazer's groundbreaking work in advertising and video, this is the first comprehensive account of a visionary whose cinema explores the dark undercurrents of modern life-and leaves audiences changed. John Bleasdale is a film critic and writer whose work is regularly published in Variety, Sight and Sound, The Economist, The Financial Times and The Guardian. He is also a contributing editor of The New World and hosts the podcast Writers on Film podcast. His book The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick (2025) was published by the University Press of Kentucky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A podcast to accompany the release of my book Darkness Visible: the Cinema of Jonathan Glazer, available HERE Jonathan Glazer has created some of the most unforgettable images in twenty-first-century cinema. From the dreamlike menace of Sexy Beast to the haunting abstractions of Under the Skin and the chilling banality of evil in The Zone of Interest, his films blend surreal intensity with razor-sharp formal control. But Glazer's world doesn't stop at the cinema screen-it extends into commercials, music videos and short films that have redefined visual storytelling. In Darkness Visible, critic and author John Bleasdale guides readers through the full scope of Glazer's career, offering a vivid, provocative and deeply informed portrait of a filmmaker who resists interpretation even as his work demands it. With chapters on each feature film, along with Glazer's groundbreaking work in advertising and video, this is the first comprehensive account of a visionary whose cinema explores the dark undercurrents of modern life-and leaves audiences changed. John Bleasdale is a film critic and writer whose work is regularly published in Variety, Sight and Sound, The Economist, The Financial Times and The Guardian. He is also a contributing editor of The New World and hosts the podcast Writers on Film podcast. His book The Magic Hours: The Films and Hidden Life of Terrence Malick (2025) was published by the University Press of Kentucky. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Relebogile Mabotja speaks to Dr. Sanju Sobnach who is a Transplant surgeon at WITS, Dr David Thomson a Transplant Surgeon at UCT and Dr Bilal Bobat a Hepatologist at WITS and Donald Gordon Medical Centre about the importance of organ donation on World Hepatitis day. 702 Afternoons with Relebogile Mabotja is broadcast live on Johannesburg based talk radio station 702 every weekday afternoon. Relebogile brings a lighter touch to some of the issues of the day as well as a mix of lifestyle topics and a peak into the worlds of entertainment and leisure. Thank you for listening to a 702 Afternoons with Relebogile Mabotja podcast. Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays from 13:00 to 15:00 (SA Time) to Afternoons with Relebogile Mabotja broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/2qKsEfu or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/DTykncj Subscribe to the 702 Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/v5mfetc Follow us on social media: 702 on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/Radio702 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dans le supplément de ce samedi, deux grands reportages consacrés aux 100 premiers jours de la gouvernance de Trump aux États-Unis. En première partie, nous verrons quels en sont les impacts en Afrique australe, puis nous reviendrons, en deuxième partie, sur l'attaque du Capitole du 6 janvier 2021. Avec nos envoyés spéciaux, revivons les espoirs de grâce, des pro-Trump les plus ultras, soulevés par le retour de leur idole à la Maison Blanche et le développement d'une véritable culture du 6 janvier. Trump à la Maison Blanche, impact particulier pour l'Afrique australeMercredi 30 avril 2025, cela fera 100 jours que Donald Trump gouverne les États-Unis, et au-delà qu'il fait frissonner la planète. Avec un tourbillon d'ordres et contre-ordres et de coups de balai. Licenciements massifs de fonctionnaires, coupes des aides internationales, augmentation des droits de douanes… des décrets signés presque quotidiennement. Stratégie du chaos pour le monde – Afrique comprise. Avant de se rendre à Maseru, capitale du Lesotho, royaume tourné en dérision par Donald Trump, direction l'Afrique du Sud, en pleine crise diplomatique avec Washington.Un Grand reportage de Valentin Hugues qui s'entretient avec Jacques Allix.Trump, le retour : attaque du Capitole, le grand pardonPlus de trois mois d'interrogation, d'inquiétude, de bouleversement pour les États-Unis et le monde. Dès l'investiture du 20 janvier 2025, le ton était donné. Oui, le redevenu président allait tenir ses folles promesses de campagne. Et oui, ses milliers de partisans qui avaient pris d'assaut le siège du Parlement, sans qu'il réagisse, allaient être graciés. Cette prise de contrôle manu militari du Capitole du 6 janvier 2021 contestait ainsi la victoire du démocrate Joe Biden. Ce reportage est une rediffusion. Un Grand reportage de David Thomson et Guillaume Naudin qui s'entretiennent avec Jacques Allix.

Demain cela fera 100 jours que Donald Trump est à la Maison Blanche. Plus de 3 mois d'interrogation, d'inquiétude, de bouleversement pour les États-Unis et le monde. Dès l'investiture du 20 janvier 2025, le ton était donné. Oui, le redevenu président allait tenir ses folles promesses de campagne. Et oui, ses milliers de partisans qui avaient pris d'assaut le siège du Parlement, sans qu'il réagisse, allaient être graciés. Cette prise de contrôle manu militari du Capitole du 6 janvier 2021 contestaient ainsi la victoire du démocrate Joe Biden. Ce reportage est une rediffusion. Avec David Thomson et Guillaume Naudin, revivons les espoirs de grâce, des pro-Trump les plus ultras, soulevés par le retour de leur idole à la Maison Blanche. Et le développement d'une véritable culture du 6 janvier. «Trump, le retour : attaque du Capitole, le grand pardon», un Grand reportage de David Thomson et Guillaume Naudin. 

Taxes and wars go hand in hand. And as much as our current partisan politics suggest otherwise, it wasn't a Democratic U.S. president that ushered in the income tax. It was a Republican president - Honest Abe! And later, it was during another Republican president's term that the income tax became permanent - William Taft. The irony of it is that the poor masses and the progressive middle class pushed for the income tax to get the rich to pay their fair share. Now, the poor and the middle American families seem to shoulder most of the income tax burden. In this interview, I discuss the following with my guest scholar: ►British taxes on American colonies - justified or not?►"No Taxation Without Representation"►Shays' Rebellion - America's first uprising against taxes►Hamilton's controversial plan for America's debt ►How the federal government paid for itself all those years before the income tax ►How the Civil War changed tariffs and taxes►Why the U.S. Supreme Court struck down income taxes►Why the masses pushed for an income tax amendment - did we do this to ourselves! ►How WWI and WWII affected tariffs and income taxes ►Capitalism and Correlation between lower taxes and higher economic activity and investment

In this episode we welcome David Thomson back for a third time. We discuss the relationship between war and cinema featured in David's book, The Fatal Alliance: A Century of War on Film. Hope you guys enjoy this conversation. Thanks for stopping by.https://linktr.ee/silverscreenvideoThanks for stopping by. Feel free to email at silverscreenvideopodcast@gmail.com with any comments or thoughts. Also be sure to follow us on Instagram @silverscreenvideopodcast, Twitter @SilverVideo, and TikTok silver.screen.vid.

Zoomer Orson Welles protege joins me for a Citizen Kane-like adventure through the entire career of the man who believed in magic perhaps too much -- or, perhaps, too little. We look at almost every film he made, we lean in for his radio, we applaud his theater, we gasp at his tricks and read his biography ("Rosebud" by David Thomson). Maybe we can find out what this giant boy was missing... With Darius Csiky host of 8pl8s podcast Part 1 of 2. For the upcoming second half, double the overall episodes, and smoke break mini-eps, subscribe to the show at patreon.com/filthyarmenian   Hope to see you there.  X/insta @filthyarmenian

Historically, America thrived on tariffs. In fact, we had tariffs from the very beginning - from Colonial times to the Confederation period to our Constitution, and then throughout the antebellum period, through America's industrial rise and from there up to WWII. In this episode, I'll share a brief review of this history along with my take on how Pres. Trump's tariffs may be different than previous tariffs in U.S. history.   ☑️Images from left to right: Pres. Andrew Jackson, Donald Trump and George Washington, and Sec. of Treasury Alexander Hamilton

Terrain miné ou tabou, dans de très nombreux pays, de l'Afrique à l'Amérique, l'éducation sexuelle est au mieux un sujet de débat de société, au pire un enjeu de guerre culturelle entre courants conservateurs et progressistes. L'éducation sexuelle est pourtant essentielle à la santé, à l'autonomie des enfants et des adolescents et à la prévention des agressions sexuelles. En Afrique subsaharienne, plus de 60 % des jeunes ne savent pas comment se transmet le VIH et comment s'en protéger, selon l'ONUSIDA.Comment élaborer un programme complet et consensuel ? Et chez vous les voisins et les voisines, qu'en est-il de l'éducation sexuelle dans votre pays ? Est-ce un tabou, un sujet de polémiques ou un enseignement comme un autre ? Avec :• Frank Burbage, co-pilote du groupe d'élaboration du projet de Programme d'Éducation à la Vie Affective, Relationnelle et à la Sexualité (EVARS) au Conseil supérieur des programmes, membre de la Commission Indépendante sur l'inceste et les violences sexuelles faites aux enfants (CIVIISE) et inspecteur général honoraire de l'Éducation nationale• Hélène Laubignat, présidente de l'APEL, Associations des Parents d'Élèves de l'enseignement libre (écoles privées). Et nos correspondants :- David Thomson, correspondant de RFI à Miami, USA - Ottilia Ferey, correspondante de RFI à Stockholm, Suède.  Programmation musicale : ► Coucou – La main sur le coeur, Aya Nakamura ► Chocolat - Queen Rima. 

Dans le supplément de ce dimanche, Grand reportage week-end vous emmène aux États-Unis, au 6 janvier 2021, date de l'attaque du Capitole. Des partisans de Donald Trump avaient fait exploser leur colère face à la victoire de Joe Biden, en assiégeant le Capitole. Aujourd'hui, inversion de situation ! Donald Trump vient d'être investi 47è président des États-Unis, et a promis de gracier les partisans inculpés après cette attaque. En seconde partie, direction le Cap-Vert, dans ses fonds marins. Trump, le retour : attaque du Capitole : le grand pardonEn ce 20 janvier 2025, Donald Trump redevient président des États-Unis. La superpuissance mondiale. Mais il y a 4 ans, le 6 janvier 2021, des milliers de ses partisans prenaient d'assaut le Capitole de Washington, le siège du pouvoir législatif, pour contester dans le sang, la victoire de Joe Biden à la présidentielle. Une journée inédite qui a sidéré l'Amérique et le monde. Aujourd'hui, l'histoire s'inverse.Donald Trump et ses partisans sont de retour au pied de ce même Capitole pour célébrer son investiture. Celui qui était devenu un paria, après le 6 janvier, revient plus puissant et populaire que jamais après sa nette victoire contre sa rivale démocrate, le 5 novembre. Dès son premier jour à la Maison Blanche, Donald Trump a promis de gracier ses partisans inculpés après cette attaque du Capitole de 2021.4ème volet de nos reportages sur le retour de Donald Trump au pouvoir. Le Grand Pardon, signé David Thomson et Guillaume Naudin.Un Grand reportage de David Thomson et Guillaume Naudin. Entretien avec Jacques Allix. À la recherche des trésors archéologiques sous-marins du Cap-Vert Dans les fonds marins, au large du Cap-Vert, archipel au carrefour des routes maritimes entre l'Europe, de l'Afrique et de l'Amérique, une partie du patrimoine historique est encore ensablé. Épaves de bateau avec ancre ou canon, objets de navigation ou du quotidien tombés de navires, à des époques entre le XVIè et le XVIIIè siècle.Quelques archéologues commencent depuis une dizaine d'années à s'intéresser à ces vestiges encore inexplorés, ils sont Mozambicain, Comorien, Erythréen ou Cap-verdien. Ils portent ainsi les balbutiements de l'archéologie sous-marine du continent africain. Nous sommes dans des eaux cristallines ; peu profondes, toutes proches de la côte.Un Grand reportage de Théa Ollivier qui s'entretient avec Jacques Allix.

En ce 20 janvier 2025, Donald Trump redevient président des États-Unis. La superpuissance mondiale. Mais il y a 4 ans, le 6 janvier 2021, des milliers de ses partisans prenaient d'assaut le Capitole de Washington, le siège du pouvoir législatif, pour contester dans le sang, la victoire de Joe Biden à la présidentielle. Une journée inédite qui a sidéré l'Amérique et le monde. Aujourd'hui, l'histoire s'inverse. Donald Trump et ses partisans sont de retour au pied de ce même Capitole pour célébrer son investiture. Celui qui était devenu un paria, après le 6 janvier, revient plus puissant et populaire que jamais après sa nette victoire contre sa rivale démocrate, le 5 novembre. Dès son premier jour à la Maison Blanche, Donald Trump a promis de gracier ses partisans inculpés après cette attaque du Capitole de 2021.4ème volet de nos reportages sur le retour de Donald Trump au pouvoir. Le Grand Pardon, signé David Thomson et Guillaume Naudin.«Trump, le retour : attaque du Capitole, le grand pardon», un Grand reportage de David Thomson et Guillaume Naudin. Réalisation : Ewa Piedel.

On this special partner episode of Scran where we are visiting Annandale Distillery in Dumfries and Galloway. Established in 1836 and reborn in 2014, Annandale is one of Scotland's oldest operating distilleries. Owners Prof. David Thomson & Teresa Church, purchased the site in 2007, and reopened in 2014 following a £12.5 million restoration that now welcomes over 50,000 guests a year. The Distillery has won numerous accolades to date. As we approach their ten year anniversary Rosalind wanted to learn more about the distillery and the impact it is having both locally and on the whisky scene since it opened. You'll hear from Tour Guide Emma O'Neil who showed Rosalind around the distillery. She also chats to James Rogerson, Annandale's Spirit and Tasting expert, Mark Trainor who is Head of Production, Buildings and Estates at Annandale and Grant Warwick who is a Cask Custodian.  Rosalind learns all about the restoration of the distillery, how they are doing things differently and the huge effort being put into creating a real community that is invested in its people and its legacy. You can find out more on their website annandaledistiilery.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Thomson is an ex army veteran who became a leading financial advisor turned education technology entrepreneur. David is the Founder and CEO of 'Suada' a game changing learning platform that combines the

Orson Welles made F for Fake in the early seventies, while still bobbing in the wake of a Pauline Kael essay accusing him of being cinema's greatest fraud. Ostensibly a documentary on the famous art forger Elmyr de Hory and his biographer Clifford Irving (a talented faker in his own right), the film blurs the line between fact and fiction in an effort to explore art's weird entanglement with illusion, magic, and ultimately, the search for truth. This is a film unlike any other, and it is arguably Welles's most important contribution to the evolution and theory of film aesthetics. Join the Weirdosphere online learning community by enrolling in Phil and J.F.'s inaugural course, THE BEAUTY AND THE HORROR (www.weirdosphere.org), starting June 20th. Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies). Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) and 2 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-2), on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com) page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia (https://cosmophonia.podbean.com/). Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! RERERENCES Orson Welles, F for Fake (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072962/) Gilles Deleuze Cinema 2 (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780816616770) Elmyr de Hory, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmyr_de_Hory) art forger Clifford Irving, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Irving) American writer Howard Hughes, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Hughes) American aerospace engineer David Thomson, Biographical Dictionary of Film (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/178394/the-new-biographical-dictionary-of-film-by-david-thomson/) David Thomson, Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780679772835) Pauline Kael, [Raising Kane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RaisingKane)_ “War of the Worlds” radio drama (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(1938_radio_drama)) The Farm Podcast, “Horror Hosts, Films & Other Strange Realities w/ David Metcalfe, Conspirinormal & Recluse” (https://shows.acast.com/exclusive-subscribers-shows/episodes/horror-hosts-films-other-strange-realities-w-david-metcalfe-) Orson Welles - Interview with Michael Parkinson (BBC 1974) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dAGcorF1Vo&ab_channel=FilmKunst) Geoffrey Cornelius, Cornelius (https://mythcosmologysacred.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/G.-Cornelius-Chicane.pdf) Victoria Nelson, Secret Life of Puppets (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780674012448) Lionel Snell, My Years of Magical Thinking (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780904311242) Sokal affair (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair), hoax Werner Herzog, “Minnesota Declaration” (https://designmanifestos.org/werner-herzog-the-minnesota-declaration/)