It’s one of those stories that prompts an immediate reaction. “Are you sure you heard that right?” Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, is the No. 4 city in the world, behind only New York, London and Paris, according to a survey of more than 18,000 people from 24 countries around the world, including the […]

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A significant percentage of the movies I have watched in the past two months has been while flying. In part, it’s because so few films I am interested in seeing have come out during that time. But a big part of it is the array of movies-on-demand available for viewing on the big and modern […]

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A few years in Abu Dhabi might lead a person to believe homelessness is not a significant problem around the world. In the UAE, everyone has a job … or they are headed for the airport. It’s the law. Which can lead to some jarring sensations, when you leave the UAE and touch down almost […]

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  Sure, it’s a little odd. When on vacation we sometimes go to the movies. In Paris. In Rome. It would not be unreasonable to expect that, on only the seventh day in Rome, something historical or important remained unseen or unexplored. But, sometimes, you just don’t feel like making the effort. Instead, we went […]

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  One of the best-known works pertaining to Rome and the Vatican and Rome from the past few decades is, sad to say, Dan Brown’s very schlocky popular novel: Angels and Demons. The book came out in 2000, and the Tom Hanks movie in 2009. I began to reread the book, just ahead of coming […]

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David Beckham signed with Paris Saint-Germain today, and in my humble opinion he missed an opportunity to end his career with a dramatic and daring flourish. Signing with PSG is consistent with Beckham’s peregrinations since leaving Manchester United in 2003 — big clubs in world cities. He could have done it in a far more […]

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When a reader finally gets around to his first Alan Furst novel, he or she likely soon will wonder: “Why hadn’t I heard about this guy before?” Furst may be the best writer of “spy” novels who is not a major publishing star nor had one of his books adapted for the screen. He is […]

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Our fifth consecutive Thanksgiving out of the U.S.  A tricky holiday, when you are overseas. As great as turkey is (low fat, lots of meat at a low price) and as great as the holiday is (a meal with family/friends with football) … it just doesn’t translate well anywhere that isn’t Canada. How have we […]

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In my lifetime, suggesting that Barcelona could compete with Paris as 1) a place to visit and 2) a place to live, would have been ridiculous. Talking 1960, 1970 … In 2012, it no longer is a ridiculous notion. From the perspective of sitting in a lovely restored apartment in Barcelona, after another beautiful day […]

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I was in a bar in Paris that night in 2006 when Zinedine Zidane was red-carded for butting Italy’s Marco Materazzi in the World Cup semifinals. It was a moment of madness. Materazzi was running his mouth, taunting Zidane, and the French star flipped out. We normally would not expect the moment to be turned […]

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