In yet another sign of the circus that the political/entertainment “Hispanic” environment has become, a group of “prominent” Latino musicians (i.e. Emilio Estefan et al) will be getting together to record We’re all Mexican, which according to Billboard magazine:
…. is a celebration of Hispanics and our accomplishments.
I think this basically means the celebration of the accomplishments of Estefan et al but we’ll see.
The track, set to be released later in September, will also includereggaeton singer Wisin, Wyclef Jean and even a Spanish-American chef.
According to The Internet, Hollywood director Ridley Scott is teaming up with studio giant Fox to produce a novel paralleling the life of escaped Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman.
Details are still sketchy, but Mexican twitteratti are already full of awesome ideas.
Ridley Scott hará película acerca de la vida del Chapo Guzmán. Esto es lo que me imaginé: pic.twitter.com/Q8WSgnMiNE
Kermit the Frog, the friendly frog that became so famous in TV shows such as The Muppets and Sesame Street is actually called “René” in Mexico and “Gustavo” in Spain. But I guess that’s just too much for an automated voice-recognition, translation program.
During a brief demonstration today of its voice search app, Google’s Senior Vicepresident Sundar Pachai, reached for his smartphone to ask Google — using his voice — on Google’s search app — “How do you say Kermit the Frog in Spanish?.
Google’s response “Kermit la Rana.”
Wait. What?!
As anybody who was not born in the United States, Kermit came to be known as René in Mexico and pretty much all Latin America, and Gustavo in Spain. And as far as this blogger can tell you, nobody in the Spanish-speaking world knows him (or her?) as Kermit.
Yet, I’ve found video footage of the poor thing (René/Hermit/Gustavo) trying to explain his identity problem.
During a brief trip to New York for Upfronts Week, Univision host Jorge Ramos took some time to interview John Oliver.
They touched on many serious — and not so serious — topics, including Oliver’s memorable interview with Edward Snowden, which led to the following exchange:
Jorge Ramos: Why do you think [Snowden] picked you, and not a respected journalist?
John Oliver: [LAUGHTER] I’m not a respected journalist, because I’m not a journalist, I’m a comedian!
Yet, my favorite part has to be when the pair set out to discuss the subject of electronic imperialism and how bloody frustrating it is when when automatic operators simply cannot understand us, the Mexicans and the British.
I know this video has been going around for several days now, and that many of you have already seen it, tweeted it, instagramed it, facebooked it, etc.
Still, this blog had to make sure this footage also lives here, not only for ‘posterity’ but as a daily reminder of what should be the duty of many of us: Make corrupt politicians accountable for their [disgusting] actions or, as Jorge Ramos contends, demand their resignation when necessary, which – of course – applies to this case. Absolutely.
At some point during this five-minute or so speech at a TIME Magazine gala honoring the Univision anchor he says:
In any other country, with a little bit of rule of law, the president would have been forced to resign. Guess what?
If you still don’t believe me when I say Spanish-speakers rule New York, you might want to keep an eye on the Empire State building this coming Sunday, April 26, when it is set to go totally red in celebration of Telemundo 47 New York’s 50 year anniversary. Yes, and it’s not a joke, my friends.
Per a press release quoting the great Cristina Schwarz (a personal friend, mind you)…
“On the evening of Sunday, April 26, viewers from all across the New York Tri-State area will be able to look up to the beacon of our skyline as it beams in red, in honor of our station’s past and the promise of our future as we reaffirm our commitment to be the first informers our communities demand and deserve.”
I don’t know you, but as a proud Hispanic, I’ll be anxiously waiting for the red lights to go up and then tune in my TV set to … Mad Men.*
*It’s nothing against Telemundo, really. I just need to know what’s going to happen with Don Draper’s sombrero,
After 53 years on the air, Univision today confirmed that Sábado Gigante, that weekly extravaganza featuring humor, music, contests and many, many scantily-clad Latinas will end its current cycle on Sept. 19, 2015, to coincide with the end of the 2014-2015 broadcast television season.
You know what this means right? This means no more Miss Colita or Miss Mamacita beauty pageants (i.e. no more fun for this blogger.)
Sniff, sniff
In all seriousness, he’s going to be missed, para bien o para mal. I also wrote this for when he was awarded to Lifetime EMMY achievement.
This happened this week on The Ellen Show. The sketch is funny, alright, but it’s interesting in that it’s further proof that Sofía’s “dimples” and strong “Latin accent” (fake or not) can be a real asset for so-called mainstream television outlets.
Last time the Colombian (not Columbian) bombshell was featured on this blog, she had been put to rotate 360 degrees during the annual EMMY’s award ceremony, because apparently that’s what you are supposed to do with hot, Latin women onstage.
This time, Vergara (aka the Colombian, not Columbian, bombshell) graces the May 2015 cover of Vanity Fair magazine, where she talks about many interesting things, including her [fake] accent and –what else?– her “Bombshell Empire.”
But she also talks about Leaning In, which I think it’s awesome and much more interesting than rotating.
Personally, I’m much more comfortable just lying down, but heck, that’s just me!
However, thanks to the power of Internet — and online press releases — I was able to follow closely the details of the 2015 edition of Hispanicize, including a very important piece of news: Gaby Natale, the blogger aka SuperLatina was at hand to “spice up” the Latinovator Award event with “a good dose of Tabasco sauce.” Why?
Per the aforementioned press release:
Hispanicize is like the Latino South by Southwest. If it’s happening, Hispanicize is where you’ll find it. That makes it a perfect fit for Tabasco, a very unique company that blends the traditionalism of a 147-year-old company with a cutting-edge sense of branding
I’ll do my best to try to attend next year, if only to see how far “my spicy background” can get me.
I’ll keep y’all posted, but Shhhhh…. Don’t tell anyone!
Jimena Sánchez is known as ‘The Mexican Kim Kardashian’
The Internet is an oasis of information, entertainment, endless time-wasting and — more importantly — thought-provoking inquiries.
Take Username_2000, a ‘Daily Mail Online’ reader in Los Angeles, California, who took to that empowering tool known as the “comments box” to ponder a likely burning question upon discovering the existence of Jimena Sánchez, a Mexican sports reporter who has come to be known as The Mexican Kim Kardashian.
Here’s Username_2000’s question as posted in the Daily Mail Online. (I’m leaving this here in case any one of you, loyal followers of this blog, feel like venturing a reply.)
La pregunta del millón
I’m sure he’s still scratching his head. Poor thing.
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.
‘Querida enemiga’ features two Scandinavian-looking Mexican chefs
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!
Can you spot the Latinos and non-Latinos? HINT: They are all Latinos
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.
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