David A. Conrad, Ph.D.
@davidaconrad.bsky.social
Author of AKIRA KUROSAWA AND MODERN JAPAN (2022)
Essayist for RAN 40th anniversary Blu-ray (2025)
New book on postwar Asia in progress
Part-time stay-at-home dad, adjunct, historian, old movie fan
Essayist for RAN 40th anniversary Blu-ray (2025)
New book on postwar Asia in progress
Part-time stay-at-home dad, adjunct, historian, old movie fan
Honestly these spam emails are so depressing. Even when they're more stupid than they are depressing.
January 16, 2026 at 12:30 AM
Honestly these spam emails are so depressing. Even when they're more stupid than they are depressing.
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I don't think it's a good look for the Shah's son to be weighing in on this more than casually and in passing. When the current regime is replaced, it needs to be with a new regime, not the one that was buried in 1979, however superior it was.
January 11, 2026 at 5:21 AM
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I don't think it's a good look for the Shah's son to be weighing in on this more than casually and in passing. When the current regime is replaced, it needs to be with a new regime, not the one that was buried in 1979, however superior it was.
Movie rec: THE BIG SKY (1952) by Howard Hawks, replete with his trademark men-being-boys gigglefests. If you're half-watching, you'll think is dull at best, racist at worst. In fact it's the early 19th century come to life, barely filtered through 1950s mores, and scoffed at by an iconoclast.
January 7, 2026 at 5:05 AM
Movie rec: THE BIG SKY (1952) by Howard Hawks, replete with his trademark men-being-boys gigglefests. If you're half-watching, you'll think is dull at best, racist at worst. In fact it's the early 19th century come to life, barely filtered through 1950s mores, and scoffed at by an iconoclast.
Popular rage against Japan at the end of WWII was a reason why Truman's people felt they had to tiptoe around a policy to let the Japanese people decide the country's future. They only barely extended that promise to the Japanese government, which was a crucial part of achieving surrender.
One of the most lopsided results you'll ever see in a poll, from our weekend Washington Post poll www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int...
January 5, 2026 at 4:21 PM
Popular rage against Japan at the end of WWII was a reason why Truman's people felt they had to tiptoe around a policy to let the Japanese people decide the country's future. They only barely extended that promise to the Japanese government, which was a crucial part of achieving surrender.
Oh right, forgot to share my annual thing here. Looking forward to Mel Brooks' and David Attenborough's 100th birthdays, as well as commemorating several movie notables (including a couple of real dicks I barely held back on) who would have reached that age in 2026 www.flickchart.com/blog/10-star...
www.flickchart.com
January 4, 2026 at 6:48 PM
Oh right, forgot to share my annual thing here. Looking forward to Mel Brooks' and David Attenborough's 100th birthdays, as well as commemorating several movie notables (including a couple of real dicks I barely held back on) who would have reached that age in 2026 www.flickchart.com/blog/10-star...
Tellingly, it wasn't after Panama that Bush said "We've licked the Vietnam syndrome." It was after the Gulf War. Panama wasn't enough of a "real" invasion. People compartmentalize Latin American interventions.
January 4, 2026 at 4:47 PM
Tellingly, it wasn't after Panama that Bush said "We've licked the Vietnam syndrome." It was after the Gulf War. Panama wasn't enough of a "real" invasion. People compartmentalize Latin American interventions.
Yes, but they'll simply say that Latin America, the neighborhood, has always been a special case. It's Wilson and Huerta, it's Bush and Noriega, it's a consistent pattern regardless of party or ideology.
Looking forward to watching all the people who initially defended the Iraq war....
....who then "reinvented" themselves to align with Bannon's/MAGA's anti-forever war, "America First" isolationism....
....suddenly morph back into regime-changing, oil recouping, Neocon occupiers....
1/
....who then "reinvented" themselves to align with Bannon's/MAGA's anti-forever war, "America First" isolationism....
....suddenly morph back into regime-changing, oil recouping, Neocon occupiers....
1/
Q: You said the US is going to run Venezuela. So who's in power right now?
TRUMP: Well, we're gonna be running it with a group. We're gonna make sure it's run properly. We're gonna rebuild the oil infrastructure which will cost billions of dollars.
TRUMP: Well, we're gonna be running it with a group. We're gonna make sure it's run properly. We're gonna rebuild the oil infrastructure which will cost billions of dollars.
January 4, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Yes, but they'll simply say that Latin America, the neighborhood, has always been a special case. It's Wilson and Huerta, it's Bush and Noriega, it's a consistent pattern regardless of party or ideology.
Historians won't have to argue about whether it was for oil, because he said it was for oil.
But we will have to argue just a little bit, because I think it's underrated how much he did it because of the Nobel Peace Prize. He's "helping" Machado to try to impress the committee.
But we will have to argue just a little bit, because I think it's underrated how much he did it because of the Nobel Peace Prize. He's "helping" Machado to try to impress the committee.
January 3, 2026 at 2:19 PM
Historians won't have to argue about whether it was for oil, because he said it was for oil.
But we will have to argue just a little bit, because I think it's underrated how much he did it because of the Nobel Peace Prize. He's "helping" Machado to try to impress the committee.
But we will have to argue just a little bit, because I think it's underrated how much he did it because of the Nobel Peace Prize. He's "helping" Machado to try to impress the committee.
You cannot import haggis, one of the world's most versatile and magnificent foodstuffs, to the United States, so you see what I am reduced to.
(I greatly appreciate this Christmas gift.)
(I greatly appreciate this Christmas gift.)
January 3, 2026 at 4:47 AM
You cannot import haggis, one of the world's most versatile and magnificent foodstuffs, to the United States, so you see what I am reduced to.
(I greatly appreciate this Christmas gift.)
(I greatly appreciate this Christmas gift.)
Always worth noting that if you type "-ai" into your Google searches (no quotes), it removes that junk from the top! It's easy to make that into muscle memory. We shouldn't have to do it, and eventually they'll disable it, but for now it's a very welcome option.
I've stood my ground, but I hate how the companies have inserted it into everything. I don't want the AI summary at the top of a Google search. I hate that my new laptop has a dedicated button for Copilot that I can't disable. My phone will pull up Gemini if I press the wrong button for too long.
January 1, 2026 at 3:38 AM
Always worth noting that if you type "-ai" into your Google searches (no quotes), it removes that junk from the top! It's easy to make that into muscle memory. We shouldn't have to do it, and eventually they'll disable it, but for now it's a very welcome option.
Deep space explorer, hubristic, doomed from the outset.
I've been reading a lot of Arthur C. Clarke short stories.
I've been reading a lot of Arthur C. Clarke short stories.
Well, now I'm an English professor...
December 29, 2025 at 8:52 PM
Deep space explorer, hubristic, doomed from the outset.
I've been reading a lot of Arthur C. Clarke short stories.
I've been reading a lot of Arthur C. Clarke short stories.
Babette's Snack
A Few Dollars is Enough
#MakeAFilmCheaper
#MakeAFilmCheaper
The World is Quite Enough
#MakeAFilmCheaper
#MakeAFilmCheaper
December 29, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Babette's Snack
A kids' placement that's all the president's men. Little portraits of G. Gordon Liddy, Charles Colson, John Mitchell... Nixon's official portrait right at the end.
December 27, 2025 at 3:12 PM
A kids' placement that's all the president's men. Little portraits of G. Gordon Liddy, Charles Colson, John Mitchell... Nixon's official portrait right at the end.
"The enemies of reason have a certain blind look. He has that look, don't you think?" - Dr. Jacquin, The Duellists
December 18, 2025 at 4:21 AM
"The enemies of reason have a certain blind look. He has that look, don't you think?" - Dr. Jacquin, The Duellists
When artists die, the art remains as long as we can access it, and usually that's a comfort. There's a strange, heavy pain knowing we will never watch WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, PRINCESS BRIDE, SPINAL TAP again without remembering what happened. Like we never watch Natalie Wood movies in innocence.
December 15, 2025 at 4:50 AM
When artists die, the art remains as long as we can access it, and usually that's a comfort. There's a strange, heavy pain knowing we will never watch WHEN HARRY MET SALLY, PRINCESS BRIDE, SPINAL TAP again without remembering what happened. Like we never watch Natalie Wood movies in innocence.
Here for Navckid Keyd - er, one moment - Dick Van Dyke day! I previewed it at the beginning of the year in my annual piece about would-be or actual centenarians. www.flickchart.com/blog/10-star...
www.flickchart.com
December 13, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Here for Navckid Keyd - er, one moment - Dick Van Dyke day! I previewed it at the beginning of the year in my annual piece about would-be or actual centenarians. www.flickchart.com/blog/10-star...
There's comes a time when you have to click that unfollow button on ol' Paul Schrader. I made it through the AI-calypse, but I reached my breaking point with this morning's repost of a fake racist story from a hack social media propagandist.
December 12, 2025 at 2:42 PM
There's comes a time when you have to click that unfollow button on ol' Paul Schrader. I made it through the AI-calypse, but I reached my breaking point with this morning's repost of a fake racist story from a hack social media propagandist.
Reposted by David A. Conrad, Ph.D.
Can’t wait to read the book. Brilliant essay about why techbros are evil. And this is my new manta:
"There is no alternative" means "STOP TRYING TO THINK OF AN ALTERNATIVE." Which, you know, fuck that.
"There is no alternative" means "STOP TRYING TO THINK OF AN ALTERNATIVE." Which, you know, fuck that.
"AI is the asbestos in the walls of our technological society, stuffed there with wild abandon by a finance sector and tech monopolists run amok. We will be excavating it for a generation or more."
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
This piece on AI by Cory Doctorow is spectactular.
pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...
December 10, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Can’t wait to read the book. Brilliant essay about why techbros are evil. And this is my new manta:
"There is no alternative" means "STOP TRYING TO THINK OF AN ALTERNATIVE." Which, you know, fuck that.
"There is no alternative" means "STOP TRYING TO THINK OF AN ALTERNATIVE." Which, you know, fuck that.
Never say never, but I couldn't possibly care about David Fincher's tasteless, poorly-graded, uninspiring film bro "classic" SE7EN (1995) or be persuaded to watch it again short of payment.
(There are others, but many are widely-acknowledged trash, so this is one worth mentioning.)
(There are others, but many are widely-acknowledged trash, so this is one worth mentioning.)
December 10, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Never say never, but I couldn't possibly care about David Fincher's tasteless, poorly-graded, uninspiring film bro "classic" SE7EN (1995) or be persuaded to watch it again short of payment.
(There are others, but many are widely-acknowledged trash, so this is one worth mentioning.)
(There are others, but many are widely-acknowledged trash, so this is one worth mentioning.)
It was at one such party during undergrad that I first heard the music of Tom Waits. A memorable experience, but I also think it's the only time it happened throughout my 11 years in higher ed. (I suppose if it happens now that I am an instructor it won't count.)
Again, I have never once been invited to a professor house party
watching hedda, which I like, but boy is there a lot of effort culturally put into convincing us all that academia is a lot more exciting than it is.
December 10, 2025 at 4:38 AM
It was at one such party during undergrad that I first heard the music of Tom Waits. A memorable experience, but I also think it's the only time it happened throughout my 11 years in higher ed. (I suppose if it happens now that I am an instructor it won't count.)
Susan Sarandon?
...'s grandmother?
...'s grandmother?
December 9, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Susan Sarandon?
...'s grandmother?
...'s grandmother?
The best/worst author-targeting spam email yet.
December 8, 2025 at 7:39 PM
The best/worst author-targeting spam email yet.
So there's daily spam emails to authors like me who have fairly small books, and they ramble on for paragraphs about the book and then suggest paying for a review or an imaginary book club meeting, etc. To generate those paragraphs they're having AI write about our books. That can't be good.
December 4, 2025 at 3:14 PM
So there's daily spam emails to authors like me who have fairly small books, and they ramble on for paragraphs about the book and then suggest paying for a review or an imaginary book club meeting, etc. To generate those paragraphs they're having AI write about our books. That can't be good.
6yo: Isn't it funny how we disguised ourselves as cool people?
(He had put on his shark tooth necklace and given me a wrist band before going shopping.)
(He had put on his shark tooth necklace and given me a wrist band before going shopping.)
December 3, 2025 at 9:03 PM
6yo: Isn't it funny how we disguised ourselves as cool people?
(He had put on his shark tooth necklace and given me a wrist band before going shopping.)
(He had put on his shark tooth necklace and given me a wrist band before going shopping.)
The Rand Corporation has the data to show that victory in Vietnam is just around the corner. Models show that the introduction of IR8 rice in strategic areas, as well as an expansion of the bombing in other strategic areas, will result in Viet Cong defeat by December 1970. The math never lies.
December 1, 2025 at 1:44 PM
The Rand Corporation has the data to show that victory in Vietnam is just around the corner. Models show that the introduction of IR8 rice in strategic areas, as well as an expansion of the bombing in other strategic areas, will result in Viet Cong defeat by December 1970. The math never lies.