Benito Juárez, in Very Good Company

I decided to make an impromptu visit to my family in Mexico City this week. My first outting this morning was to the neighborhood “papelería.” My 9-year-old nephew needed a Pritt and to bind his homework. I bought a Tin Larín, a mazapán and a Slinky.

Who needs Staples and Office Depot when you can have a good ol’ papelería?

I can assure you they’ll satisfy all your stationary needs –and more.

Benedict XVI to Surrender Ring; Keep Mexican Shoes

Papos

UPDATE: Thanks to my followers I learned Benedict will not necessarily wear his Mexican shoes on his last day (Feb. 28) but will “definitely” keep them upon his retirement.

The Vatican today announced Benedict XVI will lose the Swiss Guard, the papal ring and his iconic red shoes when he retires Feb. 28. He will, however, hang on to his Mexican brown leather shoes… which this blog will refer to as #Papos.

Happy retirement… and Keep on walkin’

¡Ajúa!

How to Make ‘Albondígas’ con Chopote [i.e. Chipotle]

I do not know where I had been hiding, but I cannot believe I didn’t know anything about the Hispanic Food Network. Until now.

Watch Mike Gonzalez here tell you how “albondígas con chopote” [sic] are very close to our Mexican hearts and other culturally-relevant wonders.

The Mexican music in the background is PRICELESS. I hope you people would appreciate it as much as I did.

Yummy!

Comedy Central’s Idea of ‘Funny’ is a Bunch of Mexicans Competing in a Siesta Contest

You guys know I’m all up for funny & irreverence. But there are things that -when done badly- are just not really that funny.

Take this commercial via Wieden + Kennedy Sao Paulo, Brazil, which actually made it to the short list of Cannes and pitches Comedy Central as a TV channel “as serious as we are.” It kicks off with the following copy:

“Between 1 pm and 3 pm in the afternoon, there are more people taking siestas, than there are people working in Latin America.”

Here’s the video. Watch (if you’re not busy taking a siesta, that is) and tell me what you think. Funny? Hilarious? Not so much? Dumb? *

*Do leave a comment. Don’t be lazy like a Latin American!

Sombrero tip: @adictivomag

This Blog Will be in Hiatus for a While, but I’m Leaving You Guys in Awesome Company

I know thousands some of you will be obsessively clicking on http://www.Miblogestublog.com looking to get your daily fix of sardonic commentary about the wonderful world of Hispanic media. But you cannot have your pambazo and eat it too. This blogger is tired and needs to regroup and plan a content strategy for the second half of 2012… It won’t be easy.  December 2012 will bring us two very important milestones: The End of the World (on December 21nd to be precise) and the inauguration of Enrique Peña Nieto as President of Mexico.

This blogger hasn’t decided yet which of those two events will be the most catastrophic, but I promise to keep you posted.

Bored yet? Read my archives. I promise you’ll have fun, fun, fun.

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.