A daily miasma of frivolity by two wanna-be cultural critics. Or: just, like, some good links, dude.

Tag Archives: Mexico

Nov 23 2012
Mark Twain, probably

“Forgive Me For The Expression, But Mexico’s Name Is Mexico”

“Forgive Me For The Expression, But Mexico’s Name Is Mexico”

RTT News staff report:

Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday sent a proposal to the Parliament to change the official name of the country.

The North American country’s constitution adopts the Spanish name Estados Unidos Mexicanos, which translates as “United Mexican States,” but Calderon wants to change it to just Mexico, by the name the country is known the world over.

…

“Forgive me for the expression, but Mexico’s name is Mexico,” Calderon told reporters at the presidential palace

The formal names of most countries include a noun like “republic” or “kingdom” or “commonwealth,” but there are a few that are just the name and nothing more, like Canada.

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Jun 22 2012
Mark Twain, probably

This is “Vista Aerea de la Ciudad de Mexico XIII,” a photo taken by Pablo López Luz of Mexico City in 2006.

It’s like the city is an ocean.

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Feb 10 2012
Mark Twain, probably

Josefina Vazquez Mota bids to become Mexico’s first female president

Josefina Vazquez Mota bids to become Mexico’s first female president

The Telegraph:

Josefina Vazquez Mota, a 51-year-old economist, became the first female presidential candidate from any of Mexico’s major parties when she convincingly won the National Action Party’s primary.

Excellent.

Mrs Vazquez Mota said that she had experienced sexism first-hand during her campaign.

“One of the hardest questions I have been asked is ‘How will you manage the army if you are having menstrual cramps?’” she told a Mexican newspaper.

What.

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Sep 22 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Gunmen dump 35 bodies on busy street in Mexicos

Gunmen dump 35 bodies on busy street in Mexicos

Fucked up news out of Mexico from E. Eduardo Castillo of the AP:

Masked gunmen blocked traffic on a busy avenue in a Gulf of Mexico coastal city Tuesday and dumped the bodies of 35 slaying victims as horrified motorists watched, authorities said.

Veracruz state Attorney General Reynaldo Escobar Perez said the bodies were left piled in two trucks and on the ground of an underpass near a shopping mall in the city of Boca del Rio.

Police had identified seven of the victims so far and all had criminal records for murder, drug dealing, kidnapping and extortion and were linked to organized crime, Escobar said. He didn’t say to what group the victims belonged to.

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May 17 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Mexico town’s mutant pointy boots create a craze

Mexico town’s mutant pointy boots create a craze

Here’s a story from the Associated Press about a bizarre trend in the Mexican city of Matehuala: cowboy boots with long, curved, pointed toes.

The next thing Calderon knew, it seemed like everyone wanted the bizarre, half-Aladdin, all-Vegas pointy boots, from little boys attending church ceremonies to teenagers at the discos.

Calderon fashioned the elongated toes from plastic foam and charged 400 pesos ($34) for the extensions. The competition began charging 350 pesos ($30) per 15 centimeters (6 inches) of new toe.

Boys who couldn’t afford that used garden hoses to make their own. When one added glittery butterflies, another made 5-foot-long toes and added multicolor glitter stripes. When one added stars to the tips, others added flashing lights and disco balls, strutting them on the dance floor to attract the girls, like peacocks spreading their feathers.

It even has an apocryphal origin story, featuring a mysterious man known only as “Cesar of Huizache.”

Make sure to click through to the story; the AP also published thirteen photos of these silly people and their silly shoes.

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May 05 2011
Mark Twain, probably

Today is Cinco de Mayo

Today is Cinco de Mayo

So today is Cinco de Mayo. I went to look up what Cinco de Mayo’s deal was on Wikipedia and found that I had a pretty incorrect understanding of what it is.

Apparently it’s not Mexican Independence Day (that’s September 16th). Instead, it commemorates the victory of the Mexican Army over the French in the state of Puebla. Furthermore it’s only really a big deal here — Wikipedia says in Mexico it’s only really celebrated widely in Puebla.

What’s really interesting is how it relates to the United States (and perhaps why it’s more widely celebrated here):

Historian Justo Sierra, has written in his Political Evolution of the Mexican People, that had Mexico not defeated the French in Puebla on May 5, 1862, France would have gone to the aid of the South in the U.S. Civil War and the United States’ destiny could have been very different

Freaky-deaky.

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