Category: Why I Love Mexico

Taco Bell Wants the ‘Taco Emoji’ to Look Like this

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The proposed taco emoji by Taco Bell
The proposed taco emoji by Taco Bell

Taco Bell has launched a campaign through the site Change.org to push for the creation (ASAP) of a taco emoji, because as Taco Bell — and yours truly — knows, this is really a really top priority and stuff.

Per Taco Bell’s formal petition before the Unicode Consortium, a non-profit that regulates the coding standards for written computer text that includes emojis:

The taco emoji is a potential candidate for the release, but we need your help convincing them THE TACO EMOJI NEEDS TO HAPPEN.

I’m not the one to criticize such noble effort; in fact, I’ve been pushing for “culturally-relevant” emojis for some time time. But Taco Bell — and the Unicode Consortium — must understand a taco emoji couldn’t possibly look like the one above (Exhibit A).

A taco emoji should look like this. (Exhibit B)

A taco emoji should resemble this
A taco emoji should resemble this

So speaking about priorities and without further ado, let’s vote, shall we?

The Top Ten Reasons Why Everyone Should Spend New Year’s Eve in Mexico City

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zocaloI first started this list in 2010, and — fortunately for me and a few million other chilangos –— it stands intact.

So, in the most old-fashioned Letterman-style countdown, here are the Top Ten Reasons Why Everybody Should Welcome the New Year in Mexico City.

1. You can ice-skate in the middle of the Zócalo. For free.

2. Mexico City was the first Latin American city to have legalized gay marriage (not that I plan to marry a gal there. Yet.)

3. There are virtually no illegal Mexicans there (we’re all documented…sort of)

4. We think homophobes are just like Hitler

5. You can say “Happy New Year!” a full 2 hours before they do so in California

6. Our churches still know how to protect their sanctity

7. You can swear up to 20 times a day there

8. Chilangos beat the hell out of the English in group smooch

9. We have awesomely named sushi trucks…

sushingon_ivans1

and last, but not least:

10. Street taco makers will do anything to protect your health

Got other reasons? Share them with me and see you in 2016.

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

This is What a Mexican Clinic Did to your Babies Born in 1974

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'Fuimos cambiados al nacer'
Yes, this is an actual print promotion of the ‘Cambiados al nacer’ initiative

From the “Only in Mexico” and “Not The Onion” archives, comes Cambiados al nacer (Switched at Birth,) an initiative launched by a group of citizens in Toluca, Mexico, informing people born between July 23 and 24, 1974 that they might have been given to the wrong set of parents.

So far, the Facebook page of Cambiados al nacer has a mere 418 followers, but heck, they even got a story in a local newspaper, aptly titled: Se equivocó la cigüeña (The Stork Made a Mistake.)

I personally find this very amusing, mostly because I was not born in Toluca in 1974, but if you did, you should be worried. Very. Worried.

Hat tip: @Oscargutiez

 

Mexicans in New York are Also Tired –and Pissed– about Ayotzinapa

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JonasTrujilloGonzalez
My assignment was to remember Jonás Trujillo González, a native of la Costa Grande del Ticuí, presumably murdered on the night of September 26, 2014. Nice to meet you, ‘Beni’

I wish I had something funny to say about what’s happening in Mexico these days. But I can’t. Nobody can. This has got to be the one time in which this blog has had to put on a sad face.

Mexicans today organized a non-violent, beautiful event in New York City that served not only to express rage at Mexico’s failed state, but -more importantly- to remember each and one of the 43 students murdered in Guerrero. Thanks to organizers like Emilio Montez and Lorena Patiño I was given the opportunity to spend some time getting to know Jonás Trujillo Gonzalez (aka Beni), a native of la Costa Grande del Ticuí, and one of Ayotzinapa’s 43 “missing” students.

I have no idea where Beni is right now, but I’m sure he is in a better place than he was on September 26.

Here are some photos I took today in Union Square. Feel free to steal, copy, paste, share, spread, etc.

WARNING: Photography is not really my thing, so please bear with me.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For references, read the following articles.

Drug Gang Killed Students, Mexican Law Official Says NYT

A test of Peña Nieto’s mettle. The Economist.

Le président mexicain part vers l’Asie en laissant un pays en colère. Libération

 

 

Attention, Architects: Here’s Your Chance to Add some Diversity to your Next Project

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Screen Shot 2014-11-06 at 4.27.41 PM

I know squat about architecture, but apparently when it comes to architectural renderings, there is –surprise, surprise!– a serious lack of diversity, with most projects using white folks as renderings to represent people in, say, a Mexican supermarket or a Colombian coffee shop.

With that in mind, a group Latin Americans set out to create Escalalatina, an image bank, which aims to provide a way for Latin American architects to fill their renders with images of “real Latinos,” so that next time you see a model of, say, a shopping mall, instead of seeing a very white person, you could actually insert a masked wrestler, Emiliano Zapata or even Cuauhtémoc Blanco (notwithstanding the whiteness of his name) because you know you always bump into those people in the mall.

Heck, you can even go for this AWESOME ice-cream vendor:

heladosvia: Arch Daily

 

Americans Want to Trick you into Drinking ‘Nopal Water’

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What on Earth is 'True Nopal?'
What on Earth is ‘True Nopal?’

The US$5.99 ‘Cactus water’ promises to be 100 percent natural and gluten free. But let me clue you in on a little secret: We don’t really drink “Nopal water,” and even if we did, we wouldn’t pack it inside Tetra Pak and then claim it’s all natural.

Remember: Nothing lives in Tetra Pak without some delicious NaC₇H₅O₂ (aka sodium benzoate.)

Just sayin’

Photo: Laura Martínez

Google’s Latino-Specific Web Domain has Mexicans Talking

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Google this month launched a new Web domain – .soy – that is “intended to create a place online for the Hispanic community,” because apparently, we have nothing to do with the whole .com community (or, as I like to call it, the regular Internet.)

But while the new domain has had its detractors and its share of criticism, I can assure you at least my Mexican friends are taking the whole thing very seriously.

To wit.

soycomosoy

Gracias, @elementoL2

What Else Were you Going to call a Mexican Restaurant?

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Call me crazy, but I think calling your Mexican restaurant Illegal Pete’s might not be a super terrific idea. Still, founder Pete Turner seems unaffected by the “fury” of about 50 people demanding a name change.

I’m sure it must be difficult to embark on a name change, especially if your name is Pete and you already has several restaurants open and many more to come. But, how about Undocumented Pete’s?

Just an idea!

Via: CBS Denver

Sir Richard Branson Will not be Making you Tacos [Thank God]

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No, Sir Richard Branson will not be making you tacos
No, Sir Richard Branson will not be making you tacos

So much for the VTG (Virgin Taco Gate).

Virgin, Virgin Mobile and Sir Richard Branson himself vehemently — and hilariously– have denied any involvement with the upcoming taco chain known as Virgin Tacos.

Virgin Mobile Mexico’s press release was actually funny and included some reference to the Virgin Taco Gate:

Unfortunately, we really suck at cooking Mexican food; however, we are very good at treating our customers as rockstars. […]

The “Taco confusion” has led to a series of hilarious tweets by both, Virgin Mobile Mexico and Sir Richard Branson himself, who incidentally was in Mexico this week.