Tag: Humor
Slate Takes a Nudist Vacation
by Eva Holland | 09.08.10 | 2:50 PM ET
“Human Guinea Pig” columnist Emily Yoffe bared all for journalism. Here’s the introduction to her resulting, funny dispatch:
The most disconcerting part of my visit to a nudist camp I’ll call “Hidden Bush” occurred when I got in a discussion about the benefits of nudity with a longtime member I’ll call “Dick.” Nudists, nudists will tell you, are very friendly, and Dick had spotted me as a newcomer as I stood naked and adrift by the pool. He came over to welcome me and proselytize for the benefits of nudism. He told me about the cruise he had taken to Alaska with 2,000 other naked people, and as I tried to envision all of this sagging flesh chugging toward unsuspecting caribou, I was distracted by a more immediate, awful sight. I could see myself reflected in Dick’s sunglasses. All of me. It was impossible to follow our chitchat as I watched my pale flesh quiver every time I made a gesture.
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Yahoo! BuzzEight Great Travel Twitter Tweets for August
by @worldhum | 09.02.10 | 12:13 PM ET
iStockPhoto What makes a good travel tweet? Here are eight favorites from the past month.
Anxious About Full-Body Scanners? xkcd has a Solution
by Eva Holland | 08.16.10 | 4:59 PM ET
Here’s the web comic’s, er, modest proposal. (Via James Fallows)
Your Flight Attendant Jokes Do Not Amuse JetBlue
by Eva Holland | 08.11.10 | 1:06 PM ET
The airline’s been objecting to cracks about Steven Slater’s infamous emergency chute escapade via its official Twitter account. Of course, this only inspires the tweeting jokers to new heights; here’s comedian Andy Borowitz’s response: “At @JetBlue you have to pay $5 extra for a sense of humor. Exact change, please.”
Meanwhile, the New York Times has unearthed the 1947 story of a Bronx bus driver who got fed up with his job—and took his rig on a 1,300-mile joy ride. That sounds even better than a trip down the inflatable slide, no?
Eight Great Travel Twitter Tweets for July
by @worldhum | 08.02.10 | 11:42 AM ET
iStockPhoto What makes a good travel tweet? Here are eight favorites from the past month.
Video You Must See: ‘Newport (Ymerodraeth State of Mind)’
by Michael Yessis | 07.29.10 | 12:25 PM ET
In this Welsh town, "Chips, cheese, curry makes you feel brand new." Take that New York and Jay-Z.
Where’s the Perfect Presidential Vacation Spot?
by Eva Holland | 07.28.10 | 4:35 PM ET
Over at McSweeney’s, Chris White looks back at the presidential vacations of yore, and wonders where—in a much-changed America—today’s presidents should go. Here’s White:
We need something isolated, like an island. But not just any island. Martha’s Vineyard is easier on the Secret Service, but it comes at a terrible price: you are known as the kind of person who vacations in Martha’s Vineyard. Public opinion takes no vacations, and you cannot be a man of the people while throwing champagne in the face of the insolent butler who smudged your boat shoes. Harry Truman had the right idea, chilling out in earthier Key West—but there was much less vomiting and public nudity in Key West those days, even when Hemingway was in town.
Last summer, our own Tom Swick had a few presidential vacation suggestions of his own. (Via @travelerlauren)
The Onion: Data-Recording Parrot Recovered From Plane Wreckage
by Eva Holland | 07.28.10 | 12:53 PM ET
The Onion News Network has the scoop:
World Cup of Travel: Spain vs. The Netherlands
by Robert Reid | 07.09.10 | 11:58 AM ET
The FIFA World Cup will be settled Sunday. We'll settle which country in the final is the best travel destination right now. Let's go to Robert Reid's chart.
‘Thrill Ride Alternatives for the Anxious’
by Michael Yessis | 07.02.10 | 10:47 AM ET
Some theme park comedy from World Hum contributor Kate Hahn. Try riding the “Pit of Comfort”:
For something a little different from Disneyland’s “Tower of Terror.” In this softly-padded shallow crater, riders lie prone and watch a condensed three-minute episode of a classic sitcom where everything turns out all right in the end and the jokes aren’t too hard to understand. Then everyone looks under his or her seat cushion to find a “winning lottery ticket” which can be used to purchase comfort food in the adjacent snack area. Actually lowers heart-attack risk.
The rest of the rides are over at McSweeney’s.
Eight Great Travel Twitter Tweets for June
by @worldhum | 07.01.10 | 10:07 AM ET
What makes a good travel tweet? Here are eight favorites from the past month.
Audio Story: Tagish Elvis and Me
by Pam Mandel | 06.23.10 | 8:50 AM ET
In Skagway, Alaska, Pam Mandel finds an unlikely way to salvage a bad trip
Travel Reads for Summer Laughs
by Eva Holland | 06.22.10 | 4:30 PM ET
The Baltimore Sun offers up a list of funny travel books for your summer beach-reading needs. Three of our 100 Most Celebrated Travel Books of All Time—“In a Sunburned Country,” “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “The Innocents Abroad”—made the cut. (Via The Book Bench)
Why My Travel Book Will be Called ‘Walk the Lost World of the Great Black Sea’
by Michael Yessis | 06.15.10 | 12:23 PM ET
I’m confident it will be a best seller. Here’s why: I fed the titles of the 100 most celebrated travel books of all time into a word cloud creator, and, as you can see, all the words in my title are quite popular.
Readers and critics will love my book. Sean Penn will buy the movie rights. I will be rich.
Video: Celebrating Dubious Achievements in Travel
by Eva Holland | 06.09.10 | 12:43 PM ET
The Titanic Awards offers up a highlight reel of travel fails:
What’s the Only Thing Worse Than a Fear of Flying? Having Something in Common With John Madden.
by Michael Yessis | 06.01.10 | 12:53 PM ET
Jean Hannah Edelstein managed to make me laugh and feel her pain in this essay about her flying phobia.
I think about how after the plane crashes, my family and I will be featured in a special issue of People magazine about the tragedy, and other people waiting at airports will sit at airport gates, waiting for delayed flights, biting their nails, and reading about how we all died in the tiny plane’s flaming wreckage. And they will think: How sad.
This is, in fact, a special technique I have developed over most of my life to prevent the plane from crashing: If I think enough about the crash, if I am sufficiently scared, then it won’t crash and I’ll feel sheepish, because the opposite of what I anticipate always comes true. If I don’t do this—if for just one minute I think, “Hey, this is OK. What a nice view, and a tasty small bag of cheese-flavored pretzels,” then that singular happy thought will make the plane disintegrate in mid-air like the balsawood gliders my brother and I used to chuck out of our bedroom windows. So when we at last are boarding the plane, hours delayed, I am thinking more about the special issue of People and what kind of coverage we will get, and assessing the other passengers at our gate. That man is handsome, so he will get some extra column inches, perhaps even an inset box with a color photo and some details about his work with underprivileged children. That lady is scowling and has really unfortunate hair. I think they will print her black-and-white memorial headshot extra small.
Travel StatShot: What Are We Travel Writing About?
by World Hum | 05.26.10 | 10:56 AM ET
An unscientific, Onion-esque and completely arbitrary statistical look at travel
‘If You See Something, Say Something’?
by Eva Holland | 05.05.10 | 1:13 PM ET
In the wake of this weekend’s attempted car bombing, Slate’s Noreen Malone heads to Times Square in search of “suspicious activity.” The result is an unusual sort of ode to one of the world’s most famous public spaces. Here’s a taste:
I asked Ghazi what sort of “unusual” behavior might grab his attention. “Someone panicky or paranoid,” he said. “You make a logical assumption that he’s off his meds.” And how often does he see that? “Oh! Every day.”
Good Evening, Ladies and Gentlemen
by Tom Swick | 05.04.10 | 10:16 AM ET
iStockPhoto On what might happen when a travel writer takes the podium
Introducing Choice Air
by Eric Weiner | 05.03.10 | 11:40 AM ET
iStockPhoto Finally, in 2012, comes an airline where you don't pay for any services you don't want or need. Including smiles.