Top Ten Lists – Page 2 – GringoPotpourri

Top Ten Small European Cities and Towns

My early July post about the Top Ten Large European Cities received larger-than-normal readership, and several engaging comments as well. I followed that piece of writing with a second post later the same month detailing the Top Ten Mid-Sized European Cities. I thought I would conclude the series with today’s entry, focusing on smaller cities and towns (and a few villages as well, courtesy of #6 on the list).

There are many worthy contenders, particularly in England, Germany, and Italy. I tried to include a broader geographic sampling of countries, and to include more than just “day trip, tour bus” towns (although there are a few of those in here, such as #5 and #10). Many of these small cities and towns offer enough to merit several days of casual exploration, and they all contribute to some of my favorite European travel memories. A post for another day, perhaps?

Thanks for following this series. Here are my Top Ten Small European Cities and Towns:
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Top Ten Mid-Sized European Cities

For a blog that is largely about travel, I have written surprisingly little about Europe. And yet, with the exception of a few Baltic and Balkan states, and such tiny, hard-to-reach republics as Andorra and San Marino, I’ve been almost everywhere on the continent. I have decided to share more stories from that corner of the globe.

In many ways, my favorite European cities are those places that are large enough to have decent nightlife and restaurants, a good network of hostels, and a few days’ worth of sightseeing…but not so big as to be overwhelming. Fewer than one million residents, let’s say. Not every city on the list below fits all of the aforementioned categories; Venice, for one, had just two hostels at the time of my visit, and the city went to bed early. Nuremberg, for that matter, had just one hostel. Of course, both cities had – have – restaurants and museums aplenty, and atmosphere to spare.

I look forward to continuing the series. Meanwhile, here are my Top Ten Mid-Sized European Cities:

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(And Still Another) Ten Good Stephen King Books (#41-50)

It is mid-July as I write this, and summer is in full swing. What better author for summertime beach reading than Stephen King? The prolific Maine writer of more than 70 novels, hundreds of short stories, several screenplays, and even a few non-fiction pieces has no shortage of material from which to choose.

There are several different types of King books – genres within genres. Take his short stories. These range anywhere from 5 pages to 50, let’s say. Most are all-out horror, but not all have “horrifying” endings. Or novels. Some, like “The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon,” are just over 200 pages, while others – “The Stand: For the First Time Complete & Uncut” comes to mind – exceed the 1,000 page mark. Some, like “Pet Sematary,” are quick-turning and gory. Others, such as the terrific “11/22/63,” are dense and thought-provoking.

The list you are about to read includes a good variety of King works. His first published novel, “Carrie,” makes the cut, as does his most recent collection of short stories, “The Bazaar of Bad Dreams.” The first volume of his massive “Dark Tower” mega-novel, “The Gunslinger,” is on here, as is his personal favorite piece of his own writing, “Lisey’s Story.” Of these, my favorites are listed in rank order, as decided by my admittedly-amateur entertainment critic-self.

So with that, here are (still) another ten good Stephen King books:

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Top Ten Large European Cities

Europe has been on my mind lately. I haven’t visited the continent since 2012, so it could be that I simply miss the place. Or it could be that recent late night TV airings of “Skyfall” and “Midnight in Paris” have left me nostalgic for my wandering days.

I immediately started thinking of some favorite places in Europe. A few, like the Bernese Oberland of alpine Switzerland, are pleasantly rural. Most, however, are either specific sights in specific cities…or the cities themselves.

Europe is blessed with dozens of cities and towns worth visiting. I have decided to share my favorites with you in a series of top ten lists. I am dividing my rankings into three separate lists. First, large cities – cities with over 1,000,000 residents. Next, mid-sized cities – let’s say 50,000 – 1,000,000. Finally, small cities and towns – any community with fewer than 50,000 people.

Here are my Top Ten Large European Cities:

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Top Ten Cuba

Cuba has been in the news these past few days following an announcement from the Trump White House that U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba will be rolled back to pre-Obama levels. This saddens me, although I should clarify that Cuba was never fully open to Americans, anyway. For one thing, American credit and debit cards still do not work in Cuba. For another thing, travel requires a reciprocal visa and is supposed to fall into one of 12 categories (click here for more information, and check back often, as policies are subject to change).

This is all too bad. Cuba is not our enemy, and nor is its leader, Raúl Castro, who took over for his more notorious brother roughly ten years ago. But Raúl has promised to step down in 2018, so who knows what the future brings?

I love Cuba, and it takes at least two hands to count off the number of things I like about the country. Below, after much nostalgic deliberation, is my Cuba top ten:

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(Yet Another) Ten Good Stephen King Books (#31-40)

2017 is forecast to be a good year for Stephen King. Last month saw the release of his latest Castle Rock novella, “Gwendy’s Button Box,” co-written by Cemetery Dance magazine editor Richard Chizmar. The April posting of the latest “It Part One” theatrical trailer set an online record for the most views, and before the year is out the big screen will also see the release of the long-gestating “Dark Tower” movie. The trailer for that also looks great, albeit very, very different from the 4,000-page anthology. If that isn’t enough, later this year Spike TV will host a 10-episode mini-series remake of “The Mist.” Here, too, is the trailer for that. Enjoy!

As I sit here, about to read “The Stand” for the third time, I want to note that few authors merit a top ten list, let alone four top ten lists! But then, few authors have the cumulative body of work that Mr. King has, with roughly 75 novels, collections, collaborations, screenplays, and non-fiction pieces. There may be a few pieces of rotten meat in that literary smorgasbord, but the list you are about to read takes us to number 40 and the books on said list are still good, perhaps even great.

So with that, here are yet another ten good Stephen King books:

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Top Ten Films of 2016

Last year wasn’t a good year for movies. It seemed that every other weekend saw the release of a second-rate animated film, or of yet another superhero sequel. I still haven’t seen “Moana” (which, as it happens, garnered strong reviews) or “X-Men: Apocalypse” (which did not).

There were several bright spots, however. Most of them came late in the year, and by the usual troupe of go-to writers, actors, and directors. Robert Zemeckis teamed up with Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard for “Allied,” a throwback to classics like “Casablanca.” (If only it was shot in black-and-white.) Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks worked together for the first time on “Sully,” one of the shorter – and better – movies of the year. Meryl Streep, Denzel Washington, Amy Adams, Jeff Bridges, Emma Stone, and Michael Keaton all showed up…some of them (the five-times-nominated Ms. Adams, for one) more than once!

Two trends revealed themselves as the nominations were announced: films starring minorities, and films based on actual events. “Hidden Figures” introduced us to the black women who worked, unheralded for many years, on NASA’s computing team, while “Loving” showed us what went down when a white man married to a black woman was told that he and his wife could not live in Virginia. Both movies took place in the same state, and around the same decade, and the events depicted in them really happened. Stylistically, however, they couldn’t be more different.

“Hidden Figures” and “Loving” each earned slots on my top ten list for the year. They are joined by eight other worthy films…three of which, like the two mentioned above, are based on actual events!

GringoPotpourri’s Top Ten Films of 2016:

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Even More Great Holiday Songs (21-30)

Winter came late to Tennessee this year. Although it is December, there are still leaves on the trees in my front yard. Two days of moderate rainfall hearkened the start of the cold season, and, wonder of wonders, aided in efforts to combat the nearby Gatlinburg fires.

But it has definitely turned cold. And speaking of fires, I wish I had a fireplace of my own to curl up in front of, perhaps with a glass of red wine in one hand and the dog by my side while we listen to some of my favorite holiday carols. And with that, I present, for the third year in a row, my ranking of ten (more) favorite Christmas songs.

Ten More Holiday Songs (with YouTube links):

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Even More Great Horror Movies (#21-30)

I love top ten lists! I have, in fact, already published two top ten lists related to scary movies. “Psycho,” “Halloween,” “The Shining,” “Friday the 13^th,” and “The Sixth Sense” are just five of my favorites, and they each appeared somewhere in the (thus far) Top 20. My original lists are here and here.

It is a funny thing about horror movies, though. They seem rife not just for sequels but for remakes as well. Four of the five films mentioned above have been remade (with the original remaining superior in each instance). As I continued the list for this Halloween season with ten more scary movies, I noticed that four of those films have also been, or are currently being, remade. Additionally, one of them is the sequel to a film that was remade, while another one is a remake!

What else can be said, except to remark about the genre’s durability and profitability…and for me to share my list of ten more great scary movies:

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Ten More Great Screen Biopics (11-20)

I recently watched an interesting pair of biopics that make for companion pieces of sorts. The first, “Unbroken,” a 2014 WWII drama directed by Angelina Jolie and taken from the 2010 book “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption” by Lauren Hillenbrand, reintroduces the world to Louis “Louie” Zamperini, the Torrance, CA-born long distance runner who made a splash at the Berlin Olympics in 1936 before joining the war effort, crashing into the Pacific, and spending two years in a Japanese POW camp. The second film, 2016’s “Race,” details the struggles of Ohio State graduate and African American track-and-field athlete Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals at those same Berlin Olympics – a new world record that made one Adolf Hitler none too pleased.

The two films complement each other in several ways. First, in “Unbroken,” we see a brief glance at the face of a black athlete in Berlin, and are supposed to assume that this is Owens. Second, both films depict, in that timeless sports drama tradition, the triumph over adversity and the struggle against impossible odds. Third – and a detriment to both films – they “whitewash” later aspects of their characters’ lives. The takeaway from Hillenbrand’s book was that Zamperini dedicated his post-WWII life to God. This fact earns barely a mention at the end of Jolie’s film. As for Owens, he battled the IRS for much of his post-Olympics life, but that subplot didn’t make the final cut of “Race.” If that small detail doesn’t make for the most exciting of dramas, it at least grounds the athlete in Everyman reality. Zamperini and Owens were just people, same as the rest of us.

A good sports drama will show us what made its subject such a remarkable athlete. A great sports drama will complement – or at least counter – the character’s physical accomplishments with humanizing (or, in the case of “Raging Bull,” the best sports biography, dehumanizing) subplots. Only boxing films seem to get it right.

My work was cut out for me last month when I came up with a top ten list of biopics – movies about the lives of real people. How do you depict a life on screen? And who is to say what makes a life worthy of having a movie made about it? Several of the films I came up were larger-than-life epics. Adventure films like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Patton” earned a few places on the list. Others, like “Frida” and “The Imitation Game,” revolved around artists and inventors. One, the aforementioned “Raging Bull,” focused on a truly gifted – but truly monstrous – human being.

But there are more than just ten good stories out there. Here are ten more great screen biopics:

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