Month: December 2020

The Not-so-Sucky Things that Happened in this Annus Horribilis

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January 7, 2020: Capturas antes de la pandemia…

I was going through my photo album of 2020 and found the above pic among the first ones I took in 2020. It was taken on January 7 from my hotel room in Las Vegas during a business trip. It was an intense week of work, but also filled with good memories and fun times with my colleagues, including a spectacular party to wrap up yet another CES. One could say the New Year was looking… peachy.

Barely nine months later, though, in the middle of an unprecedented pandemic, I found myself unemployed; unable to visit my family in Mexico or my partner’s family in France and pretty much uncertain about what the future might bring.

In 2020 I attended not one, but two Zoom funerals of friends who lost their fight to Covid-19. I wasn’t able to be with a friend when she lost a close relative to a non-Covid related illness.

Oh, and I wasn’t even able to say good-bye to my colleagues of 7 years. My office stuff was boxed and shipped to my home via FedEx, but the one thing I needed to recover in one piece –a beautiful Made in Toluca Darth Vader statue– arrived in a million pieces. (I really loved him. Look how great he was!)

To put it bluntly, this year sucked. BIG TIME.

At the same time, while writing this I feel ashamed for even complaining. After all, I have my health and my family in Mexico is fine (a miracle, considering the mess the government has made in dealing with the pandemic.) I got a couple new gigs with people I truly admire and who –for some reason– really really want me to work with them. Yay!

So….in the spirit of the moment, and in an effort to not feel so depressed, I decided to write a sort of TOP TEN list of the “Not-So-Sucky” things that happen this year.

So, here goes.

Jan. 31: Friends’ Reunion in New York City

Miami, Cuba, México, DC meet in the heart of NYC

Feb. 15: A Beautiful Hike Upstate

Feb. 28: Family Reunion in Temixco

March 19: Made a Meme that Went Viral

April 2: Wine & Liquor Were Always at Hand

May 25: Finally Learned to Finger Pick

June 2: Left the City and Did Pierre’s Hair (oops!)

Yes, I fucked up the side burns but it was my first time!

July 7: Found the Perfect Place to Spend Summer

Aug. 10: Outdoor “Happy Houring” with Pierre

Sept. 15: Mexican Independence Day in NYC

Oct. 1: Bought a Car, Moved Upstate

Nov 3: Need I Say More?

Nov. 5: Perfected the Art of Baguette Making

Yes, I make those. All the time…

December…?

I decided to leave this month open for now. There are still a few days left in 2020 and we can only wish for the best. Or something not so bad.

In the meantime…

What were the most wonderful things that happened to you in this Annus horribilis?

Merry Christmas from a CDMX Grinch Organ Grinder

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Nothing says Christmas in Mexico City like a Grinch organillero.

If you’ve ever visited Mexico, I’m sure you have noticed the ubiquitous organ grinders (known as organilleros,) that tend to gather around main plazas or outside churches to provide entertainment –and one of the most characteristic sounds of my country.

Nowadays, most of Mexico’s organilleros belong to a union (formed in the late 1970s) and wear their characteristic brown uniform and hats. But there are exceptions, of course, as this dude found by a friend in CDMX, who roams about the streets of the capital city dressed up as none other but The Grinch.

And this, my friends, is the most charming thing I’ve seen lately in this annus horribilis.

WATCH HIM IN ACTION:

Spanglish Version of “Georgia on My Mind” Is Catchy –and Will Hopefully Help Flip Georgia

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Georgia on My Mind’s Spanglish version will make you get up dance –and hopefully vote.

The East Los Angeles-band Las Cafeteras has partnered with the New Georgia Project to create a Spanglish version of the iconic song “Georgia on My Mind” to support Black and Hispanic participation in the Georgia US Senate Runoffs.

“We re-imagined the song as a cumbia w/trap elements to build bridges among the changing demographics in the South,” said Las Cafeteras on their YouTube channel. According to NBC, the The Latino electorate in Georgia is relatively young, and many are U.S.-born children of immigrants. Latinos are about 380,000 out of the 7.5 million eligible voters in Georgia overall, per the Pew Research Center.

The runoff elections, which will take place January 5, are very important as they will determine if Republicans or Democrats control the U.S. Senate.

The catchy song was launched with a video directed by Roberto Escamilla Garduno and Giovanni Solis. It tells a story of all those who are looking to Georgia, travelling to the state “to amplify the voices of the people organizing to #FinishTheFight”

WATCH. DANCE. VOTE. HELP FLIP GEORGIA:

Via: NBC

How I Ended up in Twitter Jail

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YOU are not crying. I am crying…

Ok I didn’t see *this* coming.

On the morning of Dec. 15, as I opened up my email account, I saw a message from Twitter with the following Subject: Your Twitter account has been locked.

My first reaction was –of course– W T F? ¿Qué chingaos hice? and started going through several possible scenarios.

Was it because of my multiple tweets mocking President Trump for having retweeting me once? Or perhaps, someone really important at the New York Times finally blew the whistle on my ongoing critique of their peas-in-guacamole recipe? (Let alone my Twitter bio.) Or…was it a collective denunciation by all those people whom I asked to DELETE THEIR ACCOUNT for not knowing how to eat tamales or make enchiladas?

Well, it was none of that.

What it was, according to Twitter, was punishment for having violated the Twitter Rules, specifically for “Violating our rules against promoting or encouraging suicide or self-harm.”

Self harm? Me? Tweeting about… self harm? Promoting or encouraging suicide? Perhaps, I thought, they misread something I tweeted about ham, not harm. But then I kept scrolling to find the offending tweet, which was not even an original tweet but a response to someone else’s retweet.

Here’s what happened.

On December 13, Montana legislator and former congressional candidate Tom Winter, tweeted his outrage about a piece of news that made a lot of people very angry (me included.)

I do not follow Winter on Twitter, but my buddy @dcbigjohn does, and this is why I saw the tweet to begin with. My response was brief and as you can see below, it was SUPPOSED TO BE IRONIC.

I guess the Twitter algorithm (assuming it was an algorithm and not a bunch of weird MAGA bots) doesn’t understand irony and doesn’t understand that in all the years I’ve spent on Twitter I have never (not once) promoted or encouraged self-harm. Heck, I’ve even been warning people about avocado hand like forever!

I guess I will remain in Twitter jail until Twitter decides to read up and weigh my appeal. In the meantime, the president of the United States continues to tweet unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and tons of misleading information to millions of people, while my beloved followers will have to live without my very important posts (VIPs) about tacos, tamales, enchiladas and other extremely important virus-related musings.

On the bright side, it has been moving to know there is a massive movement to bring me back: Thank you Le Chanclé for start stirring the pot, and to all of my friends showing concern.

I’m totally fine, so fine I’ll even starting happy hour earlier than usual. I hope to see y’all soon on Twitter.

In the meantime…

Medical Marketing in Mexico Be Like…

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“It’s not the cold; your member is just small”

Today in our always popular section Mexicans, How Can Anyone not Like us? I give you Dr. Ricardo Madrigal, whose urology clinic specializes in non-surgical penis enlargements and fixing other virile malfunctions. Judging from Dr. Madrigal’s marketing tactics, he’s not the one to beat around the bush when it comes to promoting his services.

“IT’S NOT THE COLD; THAT’S JUST THE WAY IT IS!” reads a recent billboard in Mexico captured by a Reddit user.

In addition to huge signs along local highways Dr. Madrigal is also very active on Facebook, where you can find tons of other incredible Christmas promotions.

Just in time for the holidays. Yay!

Via: Dr. Ricardo Madrigal on Facebook

CVS y más, the ‘Hispanic CVS,’ Expands to New York, New Jersey. Still, no Tacos in Sight

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A couple of years ago, Austin, TX correspondent, Sara Inés Calderón, spotted this on Stassney & S Congress Avenue, so this blogger had to go dig deeper into the meaning of “y más.”

And do I have news for y’all! According to an inexplicably long press release:

CVS “truly understands that Hispanic customers are looking for a more personalized shopping experience where they can find their favorite brands at competitive prices, convenient services, and a higher level of customer service in an envirorment [SIC] where they feel at home.”

They even have their own Website and this week opened a bunch of new outlets in New Jersey and New York.

Besides several typos, I couldn’t find a mention of tacos in this whole thing, so I’m NOT interested.

NEXT!

Tortas, Tacos and Trajineras to Encourage Mexico City Migrants to Vote in 2021

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‘A chilanga without a voting document is like a al pastor taco without pineapple’

Mexican electoral authorities are calling on chilangos (as Mexico City residents are known) living abroad to take part in the 2010 election and vote for a “Diputación migrante.” What this basically means is that migrants hailing from the city capital will be able to cast a vote for representation at the Mexico City Congress.

And what better way to convince chilangos to take part than using some of the things that make our heart beat the hardest? Tacos al pastor; tortas de tamal and trajineras.

As Mexico’s Electoral Institute (INE) inform us on a dedicated Website, being a chilango without a voting document is equivalent to really dull things: Like a taco al pastor without pineapple; a guajolota (torta of tamal) without bolillo or a trajinera without a name.

This blogger better go sign up for this thing ASAP.

‘A chilango without a voting document is like a guajolota without bolillo.’

Hat tip: Chilango Le Chanclé

Pinball Machines: The Latest Victims of COVID-19 in Mexico

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Reddit user IranRoman in Guanajuato, Mexico, captured this image showing two unsuspecting victims of COVID-19: Retro arcade games.

The sign literally says “Out of order because COVID-19,” which in Spanish sounds like they are not working because they “got” the virus, and not that they’re not available because of the virus.

Regardless, this is yet one more excuse for this blogger to exclaim… Mexicans: How can anyone not like us?

Photo Via Reddit