A VERY SPECIAL DETECTIVE

When I was young and even more foolish than I am now, one of my Italian lecturers at university suggested that, as an occasional change from Dante and co., we read the weekly Topolino [Mickey Mouse] comics that are so popular in Italy. They were, and are, enormous fun and I've always thought one of the best parts is the retention of onomatopoeic words such as "bang, crash, thud, gulp" in English.  The comics are still selling like hot cakes here and long may they continue to do so.

Every now and then there is an edition based on a parody and this week sees the arrival of Topalbano, a parody, of course, of Andrea Camilleri's famous Sicilian detective, Inspector Montalbano, in a deluxe edition. [Topo = mouse.] Unlike most parodied characters, Salvo Montalbano is not drawn as Topolino, but has his own mouse likeness, because the editors wanted to keep the well-known identities of both characters in the two stories in the edition.

What does Andrea Camilleri think? He is delighted and said that seeing a preview of the comic in Catania was "better than getting the Nobel Prize" [for which he has been nominated].

Copies don't seem to have reached newsstands in Modica yet but you can see a picture here.

This is the cover of one of the first Topolino comics I read, dated 17th August 1969.  [Yes, I still have them all!]

BENVENUTI A POLLICA?

If Thursday night, until a few weeks ago, was "sexy chef night" on Italian television, Tuesday night now promises my "treat of the media week" in the form of the return of the two fictional chefs from the north and south of Italy respectively, Carlo Conforti [Fabrizio Bentivoglio] and Paolo Perrone [Giorgio Tirabassi] in the second series of Benvenuti a Tavola.

By the end of the first series, the rival chefs' wives had become friends, constantly exasperated by the antics of their husbands and forever trying to keep the uneasy peace between them.  The beautiful Pilar has left the Conforti restaurant but another [alas] beautiful Hispanic cook-cum-waitress has joined the Perrone establishment. High-school lovers Alessia and Federico have gone their separate ways in order to continue their studies and the romantic focus is now on Perrone's younger daughter. Popular Sicilian comic Teresa Mannino, presumably busy on Zelig Circus, has also left the cast for now. Renato, Conforti's sous-chef and fellow-conspirator, has been grieving for Mannino's character Lucia but has become the reluctant carer of a very cute dog. He becomes less reluctant when he realises there is money in the offing as a reward for his trouble but wait, Renato! Your boss wants some of that money and last week proposed a merger of the two restaurants to Paolo Perrone. "Mai" ["Never"], said Perrone but later, due to another Conforti plot, he is persuaded. Perrone makes it a condition of the merger that the two families travel to Pollica [in Salerno Province, Campania] to sign the agreement, as the only notary he trusts lives there and this is where some real-life controversy began the day after the episode was aired last week:

As I watched the episode, I was enchanted by the scenes of Pollica and decided to add the little town to my list of places I have yet to visit in Italy. I was also amused by the Perrone family's elderly relatives, who, declaring that they had had little forewarning of the visit, apologised for the modest food they were about to put before their guests. They then, of course, unveiled a feast fit for several kings and I had to smile as that is exactly what would happen in Sicily. Having gone to all this trouble, the elderly lady cooks sagely nodded and said they hadn't liked Conforti all along when it was revealed that he was trying to trick Perrone.

But what's this? In the next day's news, there was the Mayor of Pollica, Stefano Pisani, lamenting the fact that the "Pollica" scenes were not shot in Pollica at all.  Mr Pisani was careful to say that he does not want to cause any argument - he just wishes to point out that he thinks the production team had lost an opportunity and he would like to invite them, with all the actors, to spend some time in the "real" Pollica and get to know its beauty, its nearby blue-flag beaches and, most importantly, the local food. He assures the TV team that the Pollichesi would accord them a fantastic welcome.

Never mind, Mr Pisani - Pollica is still on my list!

Note:  I can't find any videos from the second series on youtube but there are some clips on this page of the programme's website.

SABATO MUSICALE - BUONA PASQUA

Something intellectual is called for, I think:

BUONA PASQUA A TUTTI!

SABATO MUSICALE

A sabato musicale of divided loyalties today, as Wales and Italy face each other in Rome in the Six Nations Rugby Tournament.  No apologies for reposting this:

Max Boyce - The Glory That Was Rome

THANKSGIVING - A "LET'S BLOG OFF" POST

Every two weeks, the blogosphere comes alive with something called a Blog Off. A Blog Off is an event where bloggers of every stripe weigh in on the same topic on the same day. The topic for this round of the Blog Off is "Memorable Thanksgivings".


I'll say at the outset that this post is going to be a bit of a cheat as I have only been to the USA once and not for Thanksgiving.  It is also late because I have la febbre.  


Anyway, as I can't really write about Thanksgiving, other to say that the holiday is not generally known here, I have decided to write about the things for which I would like to thank America:  

Who, after all, could not love the country which gave us Coca-Cola, Country and Western Music and "Kookie talk?"  I drank my fill of Coca-Cola in my youth and there is nothing like Country and Western music when you are in need of a good wallow in your relationship-induced misery.  As for "Kookie talk", it was a "cool" way of speaking popularised by the actor Edd Byrnes in the TV series 77 Sunset Strip which ran from 1958 - 1964.  Suddenly it was OK to be young and "Kookie" gave us our very own language.  The only problem for me was that my parents knew more of it than I did!

Edd Byrnes as "Kookie"

But there came a day, 48 years ago yesterday, when America changed and so, I believe, did we:  I refer, of course, to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and I can still feel the shockwaves of that news as if it had, indeed, happened only yesterday.  At school, all the boys wanted to be like JFK and all the girls wanted to be like Jackie, the epitome of elegance with her gorgeous suits, gloves and pillbox hats. We girls had "Jackie" fringes, too.  And this brings me to what I really want to talk about - books by or about Americans that I am thankful to have read.  Of all the biographies of Jackie, I have found Sarah Bradford's America's Queen to be the best researched and, however history finally judges this enigmatic woman, "Jackie" fascination is here to stay on both sides of the Atlantic.

Image: Wikipedia via White House

Still in the fifties and sixties and still on biography, let me turn to the person who has made me laugh more than any other in this life - the great,  inimitable Lucille Ball and I recommend Kathleen Brady's biography of her, Lucille.  In another era Lucy Ricardo would have had a job and her adventures would have been lost to us.  So thank you, Lucy, for all the fun.


I Love Lucy - Vitameatavegamin






Then there are the autobiographical volumes and poetry of Maya Angelou. What woman who has ever carried a little extra weight could not be cheered up by this?


Maya Angelou reads Phenomenal Woman




My favourite American poets are Longfellow, Edna St Vincent Millay, Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.  If you do not know it, I recommend the latter's Christ Climbed Down as wise, seasonal reading.

My post would not be complete if I did not mention two Americans who have written beautifully about Sicilian food:  They are Mary Taylor Simeti and Victoria Granof.  I have written about their books here and here.

But my favourite American author of all remains the one who delighted me as a child and she is Louisa May Alcott.  I'm still waiting for Professor Bhaer.

Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans and thank you for reading this blog.

Below is a full list of bloggers participating in this round of the Blog Off:

"IL PRANZO DI FERRAGOSTO"

I love this film, in which Gianni Di Gregorio, as Gianni, a middle-aged man who lives with his mother, does a ferragosto deal with his apartment block administrator:  if Gianni will look after the administrator's mother for the ferragosto holiday, the administrator will forget about some of the maintenance fees owed by Gianni.  On the day, the administrator arrives not only with his mother, but also his aunt.  Gianni rises to the challenge but, exhausted, calls a doctor friend to give him a tranquilliser - and ends up looking after his friend's mother too!

It reminds me of this episode of the 1980s Richard Briers comedy series, Ever Decreasing Circles:

Ferragosto evening view, from my bedroom:

WHAT I AM NOT DOING

I am not "singing in the rain" like Ernie Wise here, but feel more like Eric Morecambe at the end of the clip:



When it rains in Modica, it really rains and, because of a drainage system which can only be described as "unique", you need your wellies to cross the road! It's all Persephone's fault, of course...

SABATO MUSICALE

Food fun from two of the greatest:

Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers - Bangers and Mash

And I've unashamedly stolen this one from my friend M, who was among my first commenters on this blog and who still encourages me. Do pay her a visit. This is so cute I just have to post it!

Andrea Bocelli e Elmo - Time to Say Goodnight



Happy Independence Day from Simi and me to M and all our American readers!