Your one-stop shop for all things Latin/Hispanic/Mexican
If you thought Mexican musicians were only good to cover the likes of Michael Jackson and such, think again.
This awesome pair has come up with a brand new rendition of El Titani, which apparently is “Mexican” for The Titanic and is rightly dedicated to some girl called Jazmín.
Be ready to [slightly] cover your ears and enjoy.
Oh, and just in case you don’t remember how the “original” went, here you go. And please don’t even dare arguing with me about which one is best.
St. Patrick’s Day was already this blogger’s favorite binge-drinking U.S. holiday, and now there’s even more reason to celebrate.
Paul Crowley, age 81, and grandsons will be taking advantage of the Mexican-themed celebration to host the grand opening of O’Crowley Irish Tacos & Juice Press Smoothies in Lindon, Utah.
According to the local press:
Irish tacos […] are made with shredded potatoes and can be topped with onions, cilantro, avocado and the regular lettuce, tomato, cheese plus sour cream and.. salsa verde.
I don’t know about you, but I’d love to try grandpa’s Irish tacos. They look like they would perfectly fit in one of these awesome taco truck taco holders.
… if I only lived in Utah.
Illustration: The Economist
Much has been written this week about the precipitous downfall of Venezuelan TV host Rodner Figueroa, who was fired from his high-paying job in Univision after making an inexcusable, racist comment about Michelle Obama live, during the superpopular daytime show El gordo y la flaca. More specifically – without mincing words – Figueroa compared the First Lady to someone from the cast of the Planet of the Apes movie.
Click here to watch the video of what he said exactly (in Spanish.)
Sure, Figueroa said something horrible. Yes, Univision did the right thing by reacting quickly and firing him “immediately” barely hours after he made the now infamous commentary.
But what many fail to see is that “The Figueroa Affair” is by no means new, nor shocking, at least for those of us who intimately know the ugly inners of Latin American – and U.S. Hispanic – media. As anthropologist Arlene Dávila wrote recently: “Sadly these types of comments are very common in Univision, and rarely regulated.”
While this is indeed true, is by no means limited to Univision. Take any television show in the U.S. (Univision, Telemundo, Azteca America, MundoFox;) Peru (SurPerú;) Mexico (Televisa, TV Azteca;) Venezuela, Colombia, etc. and you’ll see what I mean.
I grew up in Mexico City, and was always intrigued (not really shocked back then) to see that people on TV didn’t look at all like most people I saw on a daily basis. I mean, even the maids were all like, well-coiffed, blond actresses!
Wether it was telenovela stars or Cuban-born TV hosts, everybody looked (and still does) like they were all hailing from Scandinavia.
I dare you find a Black actor or actress (yes, there are Black people in Latin America;) an Indigenous Mexican (oh, yes, we have plenty) unless – of course – they are shown as objects of ridicule.
Want more? Take this promotional spot from Mexico’s media giant Grupo Televisa pretty much portraying Africans as a bunch of savages. Oh, did I mention Televisa is Univision’s partner, co-owner and provider of content?
See? Per the above examples, Africans (i.e. blacks) are savages, and Indians are pretty much non-existing. Thus, it was only natural that a local residencial developer in El Salvador this year used a light-skinned, blond family of three to pitch its “super affordable low-cost housing,” even though only a 0.1 percent of the population of El Salvador looks like these three.
Sure, pummeling Rodner Figueroa as if he were a Kim Kardashian piñata might feel like a good thing to do right now: It will make us feel great about ourselves as defenders of a racism-free world.
Just don’t forget: He is not the isolated racist weirdo they might have you believe in this wonderful universe that came to be known as Hispanic Media.
Some genius (i.e. Imgur user BarryAbrams) has invented a 3D doughnut cutter that basically makes it possible to 3D print a “donut taco,” whatever that means. The project, explained here in detail, allows to fill a doughnut with “taco stuff,” which is something his creator wanted to do when he was fifteen.
Per Abrams himself:
[The taco donuts] were partially dunked in queso cheese [SIC,] then some sour cream was piped on like frosting. A little guacamole, some cilantro and some sriracha to top it off.
I don’t know about you, but I feel like throwing a 3D-printed chancla to the inventor of this thing and politely demand some more taco respect.
Thank God for Mexico’s Los Tres Tristes Tigres, who will always make the unbearable not only bearable but just awesome!
I’m sorry for the English-only crowd, the lyrics of this 50 Shades of Grey (aka Vieja Lujuriosa) are simply delicious.
Enjoy!
Awwww, the Internet is full of wonderful things, isn’t it?
Take the growing crop of Latino-inspired products you can now buy online, promising you to hold onto our Hispanicness by acquiring accessories, clothing, nutrition supplements and –yes– hats, all inspired by Latinos or Hispanic people like -ahem, ahem- you and me.
One of such sites is Hispanic.com, which I only discovered today (apologies) and which peddles all kinds of awesome stuff, including a Latino-inspired wallet, a culturally-relevant stuffed armadillo or — better — a Que pasa vato [SIC] baby bib hereby featured on an adorable, albeti non-Latino-looking toddler.
However, if generic “Hispanic stuff” is not for you because you happen to belong to a special type of Hispanic (i.e. you are Cuban), we have something awesome just for you: The Cuban Food Market, where you can find some jewels from the island-to-become-Miami-in-no-time®, including a Le Cuban Salt & Pepper shaker or the Mama Ines [SIC] fridge magnet (below).
All I can say is one Very Latino Thing: ¡Ay, Dios mío!
Not content with launching a “Latin-inspired” line of products featuring a hot & steamy abuela and producing its own telenovela, Coffee Mate is back on its “hot steamy” theme, this time in the form of a short video featuring a Latina having way too much pleasure with her coffee.
Is this supposed to be a plug for the equally pathetic 50 Shades of Gray or what is this thing exactly?
¿Será amor? Pues así se siente. https://t.co/t2ETXmFIa0
— Coffee-mate (@Coffee_mate) febrero 6, 2015
Hat tip: Julio Varela
I am not a fan of awards shows; there are many and I can’t bother. But I must say Sunday night made for some great “Latino chuckle,” as Rihanna decided to dress up in Quinceañera fashion.
Here are some of my favorite memes (via The Flama and Latina, among others):
And this, of course!
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) will be soon hosting its Latinas in Media Conference in New York City, which I’m sure it will be interesting and all.
As a former member of your great organization, I hope you don’t mind my asking: Was that senseless “ñ” really necessary?
HINT: No
Quite frankly, it’s getting increasingly hard for this blogger to keep up with all the nonsense, but here goes.
Today, while I was minding my own business, trying to figure out what mariachis have to do with boring conference calls and Harvard, a very important piece of news broke –in very important media outlets, mind you. Disney revealed Elena of Avalor, its first “Latina princess.”
And what — may you be wondering — makes Elena of Avalor a Latina? Well, let Disney explain it in its own words:
Elena lives in an enchanted fairytale kingdom inspired by diverse Latin cultures and folklore.
Yes, I know, I know, that’s not really quite enough. But there is more:
Her family will include a grandfather named Tito and abuela named Cici and a royal advisor by the name of Duke Esteban.
And that’s where I thought “Of course!” and abuela and a royal advisor? She has got to be a Latina.
I never thought I would get to file a blog post under both, the Business Journalism and the Mariachi music tags but here it goes:
I have no idea why, but the editors of the presumably prestigious Harvard Business Review decided to use a photo of a (also presumably) mariachi trio to illustrate a tweet about a very important story on… ahem, ahem… conference calls. Yes, conference calls.
Of course I know there might be a great, philosophical — and, why not, intelligent — reason behind all this and I’m just too tired and crazy from all this cold medication, but seriously WTF?
Here’s the original tweet, which at press time had been retweeted and favorited a few dozen times. Oh, and just in case, I’ve taken a screenshot in case it disappears mysteriously into the night:
Sombrero tip: Begoña Lozano
Click on the video below to watch an awesome commercial by a not-so-awesome food product:
I don’t mean to be a party pooper but when your tiny little country is buried in debt, the last thing you want to do is pay $4 million for a 30-second commercial to air during a sports event that will likely be seeing by millions of people who will be too drunk — and too stuffed on guacamole– to care about going to Galapagos any time soon.
Still, according to media reports, the government of Ecuador has plunked down a whopping $ 3.8 million to air a a 30-second commercial during Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday night. The commercial will be to the tune of All You Need Is Love, by the Beatles, as it’s part of a larger All You Need Is Ecuador campaign aimed at American tourists.
Here’s a sneak peak of the promo leading up to the commercial that you probably won’t pay attention to this Sunday.
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