The best part? Once you’re done with Christmas, you don’t need to throw this thing away, just chop these beauties and make tacos!
Nopales not your thing? No problem!
Mexican Christmas Be Like…
Category: Marketing & Advertising
FIFA 2022: Mexicans in Qatar Be Like…
A Mexican fútbol fan (most likely a chilango) traveled all the way to Qatar and brought with him a huge speaker blasting my country’s famed “¡Se compran.. colchones .. tambores .. refrigeradores … estufas … lavadoras … microondas … o algo de fierro viejo que vendan!” a recording that is now used by thousands of peddlers of scrap metal all over Mexico.
I have no idea who this dude is but he rules. (Oh and the vid is NOT mine, I sort of “borrowed” it from the Internet.)
#FIFA2022
I’m Gonna Make Blogging Great Again
OK, y’all. For years, Twitter was my favorite (and pretty much only) social media platform, but then Elon came around and broke it (i.e. fucked it up).
Not content with ruining everyting, tonight, on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022 el pendejo decided to reinstate the other pendejo, so, even if blogging takes longer and costs this blogger more money that it should, I plan to take all my taco –and -non-taco – funny rants here again.
I apologize to my almost 37,000 Twitter followers for the lack of activity over there. I promise I will try to keep the fun here as much as possible. And, yes, while there are no popular hashtags on WordPress, let me get you started on some good ones:
#PincheMusk
#PincheTrump
#FuckTwitter
#RIPTwitter
p.s. If you see this post pop up on your Twitter feed, it is because I have an automated feature set up for this so you can (hopefully) come visit, and not because I’m back on this hell hole again.
Thank you all for following me here. I promise to make blogging GREAT again!
#MBGA
Del Taco Wants you to Think these Are Tortas
If you thought Trump announcing a presidential bid for 2024 was the worst piece of news this year, think again: Del Taco – which dares call itself a “Mexican restaurant” – said it has added “Mexican-Style tortas” to their menu.
The company said (apparently with a straight face and via an unecessarily long press release) that their tortas are so epic that they will be known as Epic Tortas. Their excitement is such, that the chain temporarily changed its name to “Del Torta,” which –naturally– makes no sense whatsover.
This blogger is just gonna say one thing: Make Tortas Great Again!*
*and if you’re not up to the task, please just leave tortas alone.
Day of the Dead Is the New Cinco de Mayo –and I Can’t Even
Come November, there’s one thing that really, really, gets on my nerves (besides pumpkin-spice stuff, of course) and that is America’s obsession with the Mexican tradition known as Día de Muertos (basically Day of the Dead) or as some here dare calling it: Mexico’s Halloween.
Anyhow, in an effort to show you I was right when back in 2018 I decided to call Day of the Dead the New Cinco de Mayo, I will be posting here some of the most bizarre/sad/pathetic/senseless examples of what America is doing with one of Mexico’s most beloved traditions.
CLICK THROUGH THE FOLLOWING GALLERY OF HORRORS and be sure to check back as I’ll be updating this thing as soon as new barbaridades come my way…
I hate to say I told you, but I told you ….
Day of the Dead the new Cinco de Mayo ☝🏾 #DíaDeMuertos #ImCallingIt pic.twitter.com/4ywVobovC0
— Laura Martínez (@miblogestublog) November 2, 2018
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Netflix Teases ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’; this Blogger Braces for the Worst
One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez 1967 masterpiece, is coming to… a Netflix screen near you.
Yup, the streaming giant on Friday released the trailer of the series, which is being executive produced by Marquez’s sons Rodrigo Garcia and Gonzalo García Barcha.
It is the first-ever adaptation of García Márquez’s epic novel which follows the saga of the Buendía family and the building of the city of Macondo in the middle of a swamp.
Netflix has not yet announced a date of release, but this blogger will be closely watching to see how this thing plays out one of her favorite books ever –or becomes a flop, like many things Netflix has touched in the past. So, stay tuned.
I don’t know, man, even the trailer looks… too cute for my taste.
Barbie Día de Muertos Is Back – and She’s not Alone
Back in 2019, and just in time for Día de Muertos (or what Americans dare call “Mexican Halloween”) Mattel came up with a signature Barbie Día de Muertos which – according to a very long press release – featured a “long, embroidered dress decorated with flowers and butterflies [and] a crown with the iconic monarch butterflies and the cempasúchitl flower to honor, in every way, the symbols and offerings of this emblematic Mexican tradition.”
Today, as if the COVID-19 pandemic hadn’t brought so many calamities to the world, she is back, and she’s not alone: Mattel’s Second Edition Barbie Día de Muertos comes with a catrina-faced Ken Doll Día de Muertos, featuring a “charro look” and a “calavera sugar skull bolero tie and sombrero with a golden band.”
(Oh did I mention they’re like $80 each?)
And I thought Barbie Frida Kahlo was pathetic.
Hat tip: Gonzalo Jimenez
Barbie Befriends Latino, Learns to Salsa, Because Hispanic Heritage Month!
It’s only been, like, a day, but brands are already jumping on the Hispanic Heritage Month action. Take Mattel’s most annoying toy, Barbie, who is celebrating by befriending a Latino dude named Rafa who teaches her to –what else? – how to salsa.
This clip is barely a minute, but it has everything I’ve come to expect from these kind of “homages,” namely salsa, abuelas, Tito Puente, Yolanda Rivera and the island of Puerto Rico, where Barbie & Rafa remind us they can travel to without carrying a passport!
Hold on to your sombreros: The 2022 Hispanic Hellish Month is just getting started!
hat tip: @LeChancle
The NFL Changes “N” to “Ñ” to Give Logo an “Unmistakable Latin Flavor”
Remember that nonsensical trend of putting “eñes” where they don’t belong just to make something look –and sound– more authentically “Latino?”
Well, it looks like salsa makers and Hispanic journalists organizations are not alone in this thing. The latest to jump on the nonsensical “eñe wagon” (or should I say “wagoñ?”) is the National Football League, which has added an “eñe” to give its logo an “unmistakable Latin flavor.”
Ay, dios mío!
I get it. As we “celebrate” the dreaded Hispanic Heritage Month, corporations, politicians and NGOs want to sound all cute and Latin in order to properly pander to my people, but how about learning first to put the “eñe” where it DOES belong? Like in “jalapeño?” for example?
Mexican Entrepreneurship Knows no Limits: Queen Elizabeth II Edition
RIP Queen Elizabeth II, who died September 8, 2022 at 96.
Filing under Mexicans: How Can Anyone not Like Us?
Introducing the Hispanic Lettuce
Throughout a long and not-necessarily successful career covering all-things Hispanic, I’ve encountered all kinds of marketing tactics pitching “culturally-relevant” products to Latinos.
I have been particularly impressed with Kellogg’s honey-flavored Corn Flakes, Oreo’s cream-filled churros, Domino’s Chicken Taco Pizza and even the one and only Hispanic cheese.
However, of all the things out there making us, Latinos, feel right at home here in the U.S., the Hispanic lettuce (found this weekend at a Harlem bodega) takes the cake. Besides, how much do you think this bodega owner spent on targeted media?
Photo: Laura Martínez, Harlem, NYC
Who Needs Ramsays and Stewarts when you Have Doña Ángela?
Doña Ángela, the adorable abuelita behind the super successful YouTube channel De mi rancho a tu cocina, continues to reign on the video channel, where she has amassed (pun intended) over 4 million subscribers –and counting.
Doña Ángela is not TV famous, and her kitchen does not boast any Michelin stars, and that’s because she’s the real enchilada, cooking all kinds of delicious stuff from her humble kitchen in Michoacán. Watch her make everything, from juicy carnitas to cheese-stuffed chayotes (yum!)
But the best part of the whole thing (at least for this blogger) is that Doña Ángela continues to get way more pageviews than other folks pretending to cook online, including Martha Stewart (and her molcajete cat) and Gordon Ramsay, who once said dulce de leche tastes like shit (yup he did.)
Hat tip & chart: Latinometrics
IPAndemia: The Mexican IPA you Didn’t Know Existed
The mexicans have done it, my friends. I hereby present you with IPANDEMIA, a West Coast IPA celebrating “los héroes de la salud,” the heroes of our health –forever and ever.
Photos: IPA correspondent: Mariana Carreño King in CDMX.
(Filing under Mexicans: How Can Anyone Not Like Us?)
Move Over, Michael Kors, Here Comes the Jerga Skirt
Move over, Michael Kors!
Mexican clothing brand Cecilia México has come up with an awesome idea: To turn our beloved and ubiquitous jergas into the latest fashion craze.
I’d totallly wear one, so please don’t judge.
Filing under #JergaWear
My Thoughts on the Whole “Latinx” Debate
I really didn’t want to do it, but then I thought about it and, well, what the heck? In my latest column for Hispanic Executive Magazine I went down the “x” rabbit hole and tried to “Hisplain” the so-called controversy around “Latinx.”
In a nutshell:
I must tell you I do not use “Latinx” in my daily life or my writing, nor do I identify myself as such. (Truth be told, I’m totally fine being called whatever—as long as you don’t call me before 8:00 a.m.)
But you can also click here to read the whole thing…
MI BLOG ES TU BLOG 