Field Notes Premium Edition

Eyes of Laura Mars. You remember that—a movie from 1978?  I do. Not that I can tell you what the storyline was about. Just that it was the first thing that popped up on my family’s television on that day in 1979 when Cablevision of Baton Rouge completely rearranged my world. No longer was I stuck with three network channels and a crappy UHF channel showing useless [Read More] …

I am banned from Ukraine. Like, I cannot set foot in the country. Granted, it’s my own fault. Was a total accident. But in the world of geopolitics, total accidents are apparently cardinal sins. Stick with me, there’s a travel lesson in all of this. It all started because I was dating a woman—now my [Read More] …

Sun, sea, sand, and…Popeye. Yep. Popeye. In particular, the Robin Williams, live-action movie incarnation of the famous, spinach-eating cartoon sailor always at odds with Bluto and forever pining for skinny-as-dental-floss Olive Oyl. The movie, made way back in 1980, was filmed in a small cove on the northwest corner of the Mediterranean island of Malta. [Read More] …

Welcome to your Sunday digest…my weekly breakdown of the things we’re thinking about and talking about in the Global Intelligence world. I’d like to begin this week’s edition by wishing you a Happy Fourth of July! After the difficult past year of COVID restrictions, I think we all deserve the opportunity to rest, relax, and [Read More] …

My phone dinged. I looked at the screen—a text message from a friend I grew up with: “I carry pepper spray in my pocket now. I’m thinking of getting a pepper-ball gun. Sh** is just crazy out in the streets now.”  It was the second such conversation I’d had in 10 days from friends in the U.S.—one in [Read More] …