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As every traveler knows, a good sense of humor is essential when facing the mysteries and miseries of a foreign culture. That's what makes writers who can deliver fascinating stories from around the world while making us snort our cardamom chai through our noses such treasured commodities. For the past few months the CNN Travel staff has been scouring our shelves -- and convening a panel of outside experts -- to curate the definitive list of funniest travel books ever written.
If such a task is impossible -- as several contributors have suggested -- then the joke is surely on us. Sage though it is, not everyone applies the same criteria. Mark Twain, for one, took immense joy in making jokes about the rich and ancient cultures he encountered while writing "The Innocents Abroad": None of the above were responsible -- not to say culpable -- for the final list, whose contentious entries and order were determined by frequency of mentions, persuasiveness of arguments for and against and, in a couple of cases, naked autocratic preference.
At age 26, Troost leaves the cushy city life and embarks on a two-year stint in the heat-blasted "end of the world" -- in this case, the equatorial Pacific atoll of Tarawa in the Republic of Kiribati. Maarten Troost's 'The Sex Lives of Cannibals' is a comic classic of a travelogue that will completely change the way you look at the idyllic South Pacific. I accept this possibility like I accept the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. I have never encountered it. I cannot imagine it. I simply accept that there is a statistical possibility of its existence.
From Milan to Rome on a '61 Vespa nicknamed Sophia. If you understand the "Sophia" reference you'll appreciate not just where the Italy-intoxicated Moore goes, but where he's coming from.
No less an authority than Mario Batali blurbed the book as "a brilliant love letter to Italy ," and several on our panel agreed. The preeminent bard of genial travel laughs embarks on a state tour in search of the vanishing small town America of his youth Love his line about living in London, the weather there: Travels in Europe' is also excellent You can't beat the phone company, you can't make a waiter see you until he's ready to see you and you can't go home again.
A swaggering travel guide that takes in the good, the bad and the malignant features of 2, kilometers of Australia's East Coast. It was publicly burned by the mayor of Mackay, or maybe Townsville. I seem to recall the entry for Ipswich, my old hometown, was something like, 'Don't. They all play banjo with their toes out there. Extemporaneous pop culture critic Klosterman sets off on a U. Because he's not known as a travel writer and because this book wasn't marketed as one, Klosterman's unexpected and unique travelogue is unfairly overlooked.
It is pretty much without question the worst city in America. The reason 'Walking in L. Los Angeles is the only city in the world where the process of walking on the sidewalk could somehow be a political, and b humiliating. It is the only community I've ever visited where absolutely every cliche proved to be completely accurate. Some travel for discovery. Some travel to for recreation. Dyer travels for procrastination. To put off writing a book about D.
No less a comic authority than Steve Martin blurbed it as "the funniest book I have ever read," and several on our expert panel, including Andrew McCarthy and Little A publishing's Ed Park, rated it highly. Then she gestured to us to sit down: They are like that in Sicily, said Laura. Their instinct is to say 'no,' but once they have established that a thing cannot be done they are happy to do it.
Charmed and discombobulated in equal measures, unapologetic Yank Joe Queenan travels through Old Blighty -- homeland of his wife and extended family -- to find out what makes the British tick. The single peaked at 7 on the Italian chart and was 53rd in the annual list of sales. The album Studio Uno 66 featured the song as one of the standout tracks along with "Ta-ra-ta-ta" and "Una casa in cima al mondo".
It was the fifth biggest selling album of the year in Italy. She founded the independent record label PDU in collaboration with her father. The first record issued under the label was Dedicato a mio padre Dedicated to My Father. The lyrics talk about the manic attention of the press on an artist's private life.
She celebrated the 10th anniversary of her career with a concert at La Bussola, backed by the Orchestra Augusto Martelli.
Canzonissima was a Saturday night prime time variety show that aired on Rai Uno from September to January The song was performed as part of a musical fantasy, back to back with "Quelli che hanno un cuore", her intense version of " Anyone Who Had a Heart ". After a break of three months, Mina returned and recorded the song "Non credere" "Disbelieve" , composed by Luigi Clausetti and Pietro Soffici, with lyrics by Mogol , in April. One of the first introductions of the new repertoire was the Senza Rete live televised concert from the Auditorio A in Naples on 20 January The material provided by Mogol-Battisti was the core for five albums.
Mina was the biggest seller of The latter two albums were recorded during a break from live performances to give birth to her daughter Benedetta. Mina's comeback took place at RAI's variety series Teatro 10 in spring One of the highlights of the series was a selection of Battisti's songs performed in duet with the composer. The successes encouraged Enrico Riccardi to copy Battisti's style in Riccardi's composition "Fiume azzurro", which earned another place in the top of annual record sales in Italy.
The song is an easy listening dialogue between Mina's singing and Lupo's declamation. The lyrics' theme are hollow words. These intertwine the lady's lamentation of the end of love and the lies she has to hear with the male protagonist's recitation. In the dialog she scoffs at the compliments he gives her, calling them parole — just words.
The single was released in April and topped the Italian charts. It was covered by numerous Italian and French duets. Mina said she would be retiring from public appearances after an exclusive concert at the La Bussola Club on 16 September. Thousands of people turned up at the nightclub's doorstep. Mina lost her husband Virgilio Crocco in a car accident in She continued her career with the top Italian chart hits "E poi She recorded the theme song "Fa presto, fa piano" "Works Quickly, Works Quietly" for the film La sculacciata , issued in Mina's last live TV appearance was the final episode of the Milleluci series on 16 March Her last appearance on TV was her performance of "Ancora ancora ancora".
The video was the final number of the "Mille e una luce" show on 1 July Mina gave her last public performance on 23 August at the Bussoladomani theatre. It was recorded and issued as Mina Live ' Mina continued to release albums on a yearly basis with her son Massimiliano Pani as the producer. Between and , she published a double album each year. From the mids, the design of the album covers was trusted to Balletti alone.
A large part of her work has consisted of covering well-known songs; she has dedicated tribute albums to The Beatles , Frank Sinatra , Renato Zero , Domenico Modugno , Lucio Battisti , Enzo Jannacci , the Neapolitan song , and sacred music. Starting in , all of her records included the jazzy piano playing of Danilo Rea. After leaving the stage, her greatest chart successes have been duets.
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In , "Questione di feeling", a duet with Riccardo Cocciante , was the 13th biggest-selling single of the year in Italy and became an evergreen as a hit song is called in Europe. The duet album Mina Celentano , recorded with Adriano Celentano , was the biggest-selling album of in Italy. The break in Mina's TV appearances lasted until , when she released footage of her recording sessions. The videos were broadcast over the Wind internet site on 30 March. This resulted in millions of visits to the site on that night, and additional millions on following days.
After that event, Mina's singles started to chart in Italy again.
The track "Succhiando l'uva" , written for her by Zucchero , peaked at 3 on the chart. Mina's cover of "Don't call me baby Can't take my eyes off you " reached 4 in Italy. The single "Alibi" reached 6 in Italy. In recent years, Mina has been writing a weekly column on the front page of La Stampa from until and a page in the Italian edition of the magazine Vanity Fair , where she answered fan letters from until Mina continues to publish gold selling albums to the present.
She alternates pop albums with jazz-arranged projects and other styles, and keeps surprising with new musical collaborations. Meanwhile her voice and songs are omnipresent in radio and tv commercials, theme tune of sports programmes, talent shows where they sing classics , tribute shows, new covers, and even as samples in the recordings of other artists for example rapper Mondo Marcio.
Although not appearing live, she opened and closed the national Sanremo festival with her version of the Puccini opera aria " Nessun dorma ". Her voice was also present, singing a cover in video's by main sponsor TIM, at the Festival editions of and In there was quite hype about a second album of Mina and Celentano together: It became the best selling album of the year in Italy. Mina is a soprano with great agility [5] and a range of three octaves. Caught up in the wave of rock and roll sweeping across Italy in , Mina listened to American records [22] and was a frequent visitor at the Derby Club , [71] the Santa Tecla, and the Taverna Messicana clubs of Milan , which promoted rock and roll music.
In Mina's first TV appearances she further broke with tradition by shaking her head, hands, and hips to the rhythm. TV host Mario Riva named her one of the urlatori screamers , [17] [18] for her distinctive timbre and power. Later, the public called Mina the Queen of the Screamers.
Mina introduced her new sensual manner [43] in her presentation of the ballad "Il cielo in una stanza" in Thus, her non-conformist choices represented the emancipation of women in Italy, which did not accord with the dominant Catholic and bourgeois virtues prevalent at the time. The main themes of Mina's songs were distressing love stories.
To demonstrate Mina's vocal range, the composer Bruno Canfora penned the song "Brava", and Ennio Morricone wrote "Se telefonando" with numerous transitions of tonality. When she altered her musical style in , Mina changed her hairdo from short and straight to long blonde curls, and started to wear a black minidress.
As a result, the Portuguese were introduced to new cultures and ethnicities. Mina is a soprano with great agility [5] and a range of three octaves. Horseback riding is also available in and near Cascine Park. Several other tennis and swimming clubs are open to Americans. Although Italy produced
Mogol's and Lucio Battisti's first songs, particularly "Insieme" and "Io e te da soli", [77] showcased Mina's blues and soul skills. Around the time of their collaboration, Mina turned towards middle-of-the-road pop. The songs were characterized by frequent changes of rhythm, pauses, and dialogues between the voice and the orchestra. A fan of bossa nova , Mina recorded in Spanish and Portuguese from the start of her career and currently enjoys a fan base in Spain and Latin America.
It includes standards in Spanish, as well as Spanish covers of her originals. In , the musical Mina Mina has scored 77 albums and 71 singles on the Italian charts. She released an album every year during —, and continues to release new albums and singles. British singer Dusty Springfield referenced Mina in performance.
To celebrate Mina's 70th anniversary, the la Repubblica newspaper held a reader's poll to pick Mina's best song of all time. In a vote of 30, participants, "Se telefonando" emerged at the top of the list. In her early teens, Mina was a competitive swimmer for the Canottieri Baldesio sports club in Cremona, attended by the elite of the Cremonese bourgeoisie at the time.
Cremonese football club, at the swimming pool at her age of Mina fell in love with actor Corrado Pani in Their relationship shocked Italian audiences as he was already married although separated from his wife. Their son, Massimiliano Pani , was born on 18 April Due to Mina's refusal to hide the relationship, the singer was banned from performing on public Italian television or radio channels. As her record sales were unaffected and audiences demanded to see Mina on the air, RAI was forced to end the ban and let Mina return to television on 10 January Within a year, her affair with Corrado ended.
Mina's brother Alfredo Mazzini died in a car accident in A year later she and her father moved to Lugano , Switzerland. Mina's intimate relationships, however, remained in Italy, as she had a brief affair with the actor Walter Chiari. Mina's great love of the late s, with whom she had a relationship that lasted three years and almost led to marriage, was the composer Augusto Martelli. Her second spouse was Virgilio Crocco, a journalist for Il Messaggero , in As a result of their marriage, her legal name was changed to Anna Maria Mazzini Crocco.
Crocco died in a car accident in Mina became engaged to her current husband, cardiologist Eugenio Quaini, [88] in They were married on 10 January in Lugano.