It’s Not News to Us
Heir to the British throne His Royal Highness Prince Charles joined a group of dancers Wednesday in the picturesque Mexican coastal town of Campeche. El Chaz danced the Sarao Campechano dance, twirling his handkerchief above his head.
PREVIOUSLY ON BRITISH PRINCES:
Mas…His Royal Highness Prince Charles busts a move in Mexico (video)
Yo, calmate, guey! That “El Kookooee” photo from last week is really not El Cucuy, OK? It’s called “refraction,” gente. Get a grip.
Albuquerque’s KRQE News explains:
Mas…Watch: So you’re saying that really WASN’T a photo of ‘El Cucuy’?
It’s not much of a video but it rules as a wild examplar of 1940s pachuco “boogie-woogie jitterbug” (like Lalo Guerrero’s Los Chucos Suaves.) This performance features unstoppable rhumba-flavored proto-rock-n-roll beat-me-eight-to-the-bar-boogie-woogie highlighted by shouted Spanglish insanity. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s give a nice welcoming round of applause to Orquesta de Don Ramon as they perform Chicano Boogie. [The artwork is from the Arhoolie compilation album. Yes, the track ends abruptly.]
Lalo Guerrero is the Father of Chicano Music. His amazing musical legacy (he died in 2005) includes the classic Spanglish “boogie-woogie jitterbug” Los Chucos Suaves – the kick-ass dance-tune inspiration for Zoot Suit (the musical.) We especially like the abstract piano solo that goes off into outer pachucostan and comes back in the nick of time. ¡Que suave!
The Alicia Keys hit Girl on Fire would be perfect for an online video selfie, this Brazilian menina (girl) thought. Her mom? Not so much.
It’s hard to be female in America, as “gamergate” and the catcall videos show. But once you know how the system works, you can maybe find a way to make a change. Blythe Baird takes the mic with Girl Code 101.
Anthropology researcher Juanita Carmelita Gonzalez and her dog Ari — Juanita is the one in the turquoise stretch pants — walked the streets of Hollywood Monday. You won’t believe what happened next!
PREVIOUSLY ON JUANITA CARMELITA GONZALEZ:
Mas…Not just gringas, not just NYC: A Latina walks in Hollywood (video)
It started long before sportsball team names and mascots. America’s been hatin’ on NDNs ever since they were “discovered” in 1492.
Indian Country Today Media Network’s Christina Rose reports:
Mas…Not just team mascots! America’s hated on NDNs for years (toons)
Mexican archeologists last week announced the discovery of three new treasure-filled tunnels in the Temple of the Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcoatl) under the ancient city of Teotihuacan. The underground passageway was first unearthed ten years ago beneath the site, just outside of Mexico, DF.
Mas…The Feathered Serpent’s tunnel is full of treasures (video)
What do you do when a social media photo needs black friends and none of your many African-American amigos are around? There’s an app for that, new DVRSE. [NSFW F-bombs, etc.]
An education is the gateway to a climb up the career ladder, and you can get the skills you need to succeed at Vosotros Polytechnic Institute. Comes with a student loan guaranteed to last a lifetime!
I’ve decided on my Halloween costume for this year. I’m going as La Pequeña Hillary Hulk.
Slovak champion mountain biker Filip Polc strapped a GoPro camera on his helmet and recorded this insane downhill competition run earlier this month in Taxco, Mexico. Although he only came in second (!) this first-person point-of-view video will thrill you, give you vertigo or leave you shaking your head and asking, “Huh?” Polc won the Taxco competition last year. [VOLUME WARNING: LOTS OF ROAD NOISE.]
PREVIOUSLY ON TAXCO:
Mas…Mountain bike downhill insanity in Taxco, Mexico (video)
The New York Times got me to admit the truth. I’m a trouble maker:
Lalo Alcaraz uses his nationally syndicated comic strip, “La Cucaracha,” to highlight prejudice, challenge media representations and generally stir up trouble in humorous ways.
Cumbia de Piedra is an abstract chillaxed electro-cumbia video by Benetton’s Fabrica, for MOHS, the second album from violinist Jhon William Castaño Montoya. Animation by by Tomás Pichardo, from the Dominican Republic.
Mas…From Italy via the DR: Electrochill ‘Cumbia de Pierda’ (audio,video)
I love it when my vocation and avocation converge as they do in this wonderful comic installment of Wonder Woman from the one and only Pappy’s Golden Age Comic Blogzine. Pappy explains:
This delightfully oddball tale is set in Mexico with a beautiful eight-foot-tall señorita, bandits with bandoleros, Wonder Woman’s invisible plane, chains, bondage, and even Wonder Woman in bare feet walking over hot coals. Wow.
This Mexican melange is drawn by H.G. Peter, and is scanned from Sensation Comics #45 (1945).
An illustrator and lover of classic comics and a curator of artifacts focused on constructions of “Mexicans” in U.S. mass culture, rarely do I chance upon an artifact that blends these worlds (not to mention my not-so-secret fetish for fantastically strong women!)
Here’s a page from the issue featuring bandit “Mexicans,” Wonder Woman, freakish “Marya the Amazon maid” y mucho mas more [click to enlarge.]
Mas…Wonder Woman and Marya la Giant fight Mexibandidos (1945 toon)
A school in our neighborhood recently held a “Dress as Your Heritage Day.”
For one Friday, students were encouraged to wear items representing their backgrounds, and some did. Students walked around campus in a combination of family heirlooms and seemingly exaggerated symbols to reflect their racial/ethnic groups.
The rationale underlying this day was cultural celebration, and families and students were representing their own heritages in ways that they wanted. On the face of it, this seemed like good ole’ fashion fun where dressing up breaks the routine of school and students show-off their family backgrounds.
Somewhere, over the double rainbows, there’s a place on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies. And Honest Slogans, perfectly realized, from the Honest Slogans Tumblr.
Is there a decorated, haunted Halloween house in your ‘hood? Is it scarier than this one? Send your photo to info@pocho.com. We’ll share the top entries and pick the best one Halloween eve, Thursday night, October 30. Win a POCHO sticker and the admiration of your friends. Enter now!
We’re looking for photos of houses like this “ebola house” near USC in Los Angeles. [Photo via MyFoxLA:]
After his mother screams abuse because he won’t go to sleep, a Mexican niño’s prayer requesting God to Make Me A Saint gets answered in a ghoulish nightmare. [This video by Victor Orozco contains some NSFW adult language — pero en español.]
Mas…An abused kid prays: ‘Please God, make me a saint’ (NSFW video)
Jarina De Marco reinvents Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ I Put A Spell On You, santeria style, in Spanglish. [NSFW language.]
Contrast and compare with the original Screamin’ Jay version:
Mas…Jarina De Marco NSFW Halloween video: ‘I Put A Spell on You’
White people can’t help being white — they were born that way! But White Privilege can often get in the way of harmonious social relationships.
Mas…Before your White Privilege offends, get new Racism Insurance! (video)
“Police officer Jose Ruben Echeverria showed he had the moves Sunday in the Mexican city of Tijuana, dancing to some of Michael Jackson’s greatest hits while directing traffic. Numerous bystanders snapped photos of the dancing police officer, with some even joining in with him. Echeverria says he dances while directing traffic to make the experience of being stuck more pleasant for motorists and pedestrians. He also said it can help boost people’s mood and improve their attitude.” — RUPTLY.
Little Silveria learns a lesson she’ll never forget in this short video from director Yolanda Cruz.
More toons like this @ Coolness Graphed.
