Univision Journalist Pays Awkward Homage to Don Francisco

The celebrations around the 50th anniversary of Sábado Gigante have included everything, from a one-on-one interview with this blogger in Queens, to an October 27th telecast that registered over 7 million total viewers.

But none of these festivities comes close to the homage paid by journalist Tony Dandrades, a Univision anchor and reporter for Primer Impacto. Watch. Cringe. Enjoy. Repeat if necessary.

This ‘App’ is so Mexican, it Spells ‘Menu’ With an ‘ñ’

On the hunt for fake Mexican food? There’s an app for that!

Some genius in the applications world has come up with the Mexican Food app, which according to its creators will teach you the ingredients of every burrito and help you navigate to nearby taquerías. Because as everybody knows, Mexican food is all about burritos and tacos.

Judging from some screenshots available (I have better things to do with my $0,99) one can tell the creators of the app went the extra mile to make sure things were properly spelled in Spanish –or at least pretend to know how to spell words in make-believe Spanish, such as “meñu.”

Who Says God Is ‘Out’?

If you thought you knew everything about soccer and about Argentinian’s passion for the sport and their own God (i.e. Diego Maradona), think again.

This summer, la Iglesia Maradoniana (the Maradona Church) counts 40,000 loyal followers. Their religion is simple: Nuestra religión es el fútbol y como toda religión ha de tener un Dios. (Our religion is soccer, and as such it has to have a God.) …So guess who this God is?

Unfortunately, the church’s Web site has not been translated -yet- into English; but for those of you lucky enough to understand the language of God, I leave you with Diego’s own Our Father:

Diego nuestro que estás en la tierra,
santificada sea tu zurda,
Venga a nosotros tu magia,
háganse tus goles recordar,
así en la tierra como en el cielo.
Danos hoy una alegría en este día,
y perdona aquellos periodistas
así como nosotros perdonamos
a la mafia napolitana.
No nos dejes manchar la pelota
y líbranos de Havelange…

Diego

Meanwhile on the Web…

And speaking about the media and covering what really matters, more than 180,000 people have logged onto celebrity-news Web site http://www.tmz.com to cast their vote on one important issue: whether Salma Hayek’s boobs are real or not.

The verdict is not great for my paisana, with only 53 percent saying ‘yes, they are the real thing’. To see for yourself and make an informed decision, you can even access before and after pictures on the subject.

As for me, I decided not to cast my vote … yet. I’ll wait for after the birth of her first child to avoid any confusion. In the meantime, I’ll keep scouring over the media looking for stuff to be on top of the news.

Mi Casa es tu Casa


My grandmother used to say that la ociosidad es la madre de todos los vicios (Idleness is the mother of all vices.) While no one can ever dispute that, I would like to add a modern twist to her very wise insight: “Unemployment is the mother of all blogs.” (Of course, there’s also my friend Diego who says: “Idleness is the vice of all mothers,” but that’s a whole other story.)

Now that you’ve read this far, I might as well let you know who I am: I am a bilingual, not-yet-acculturated Mexican journalist and editor specialized in media, marketing and advertising. I’ve lived in a bunch of places, including Singapore, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Paris, Santiago de Chile and New York City.

In my most recent position, I was the founding editor of Marketing y Medios, an English-language trade publication devoted to explaining the Hispanic market to a non-Spanish speaking audience of executives and marketers. I left that company in December of 2006, following its sale to a new owner.

Prior to my wonderful two and a half years there, I was responsible for creating and launching the Spanish-language edition of The Wall Street Journal, as well as coordinating and editing their Spanish-language Web edition at americas.wjs.com. Before joining the Wall Street Journal, I had worked as a reporter and editor for newspapers and magazines in Mexico, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile and Los Angeles.

And last but not least, I’d like to add that before graduating with a BA in Journalism at the Escuela de Periodismo Carlos Septien Garcia, in Mexico City, I completed my high-school education at the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore.

Throughout my career, I have developed extensive experience and industry contacts in journalism, marketing, and advertising. I am fluent in English, Spanish and French and have promised myself to take up Mandarin some time soon. You never know.

So bienvenido a mi blog. Welcome to my blog. Mi casa es tu casa or, as my friend Carlitos suggests I’d say, Mi Blog es tu Blog.