Cultura

It’s Not News to Us

Richard Montoya and Edward James Olmos walk into a bar…

by


It was a hot afternoon, much like today. Walking into the cool darkness of East Side Luv in Boyle Heights was a relief. It was crowded, about two dozen people milling about, some busy setting up recording equipment, others huddled in small groups. Waiting. It was “media day” for Water & Power, which comes out today.

I’d watched the movie the night before in a small screening room somewhere in Hollywood. Dark, unsettling, violent, suspenseful, heartbreaking, redemptive … I had questions, but so did everybody else.

I was finally called over, and before long, the movie’s writer and director Richard Montoya and Edward James Olmos, the film’s presenter, were seated in front of me. I had 15 minutes, more or less.

Abelardo de la Peña Jr. (AdlpJr): What got you involved in Water and Power?

Edward James Olmos (EJO): The single most important thing about movies: The script, the story, the writing. Richard is a genius. Go watch the movie. You watch the movie, and you see, all of a sudden …

Mas…Richard Montoya and Edward James Olmos walk into a bar…

Happy May Day from the Workers of the World (music video, lyrics)

by


Enjoy the Internacional, the world-wide (Get it? It’s international!) anthem of those red commie cabrones in Cuba and Venezuela and China and North Korea (and lurking in secretive cells everywhere else but the lame stream media sheeple won’t tell you that.)

May 1 is May Day AKA International Workers’ Day. Today the communist comrades sing this stirring appeal, with its hummable melody and a vague vision of a better future that’s hard to disagree with, except maybe the LUCHA FINAL aspect.

Yet even as they sing this Kommie Kumbaya, the Marxist minions are locking millions up arbitrarily, invading foreign countries, spying on their fellow citizens and — we’ve read reports — killing innocent civilians by remote control. Oh, wait.

THE INTERNATIONALE LYRICS IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH:

Mas…Happy May Day from the Workers of the World (music video, lyrics)

Elise Roedenbeck: Top porn search terms by state (video)

by


Sweet dreams are made of this -- who am I to disagree?
I travel the world and the seven seas. Everybody's looking for something.

Elise Roedenbeck — she’s @buttronica on the Twitter — learned the same lesson when she investigated the top porn search terms broken down by state. Everybody’s looking for something. They’re looking for massage. And cream pie. And cream pie massages. In somebody else’s state, right? Don’t be so sure.

PREVIOUSLY ON STUFF BROKEN DOWN BY STATES:

Mas…Elise Roedenbeck: Top porn search terms by state (video)

Stars to record ‘You Are An ^%$#’ for Donald Sterling [photos,video]

by

(PNS reporting from HOLLYWOOD) Stars from television, music and sports are set to gather in the old A&M sound stages (now the Henson Studios) on La Brea Avenue here today to record a rebuke to Donald Sterling, racist owner of the Los Angeles Clippers.

Galvanized by community organizer Emiliano Zapata Shabazz-Jones, who wears the mantle of slain civil rights pioneer Ricky Martin Luther King, the assembled stars will record The Donald Sterling Song — You Are An ^%$#.

“This ain’t no National Honky League,” Shabazz-Jones wrote in a scorching email scheduling the superstar session, “and we ain’t dancing to no Sweet Georgia Brown on Maggie’s Farm no more!”

Mas…Stars to record ‘You Are An ^%$#’ for Donald Sterling [photos,video]

Cutest historical Native American baby pics evah! (photos)

by

navajocroppedPaul and Petra Ratner made a film called Moses on the Mesa, which tells the true story of Solomon Bibo, the Jewish governor of the Native American tribe of Acoma in the days of the Wild West. And along the way (part of their quest for historical accuracy) they assembled a treasure trove of period photos of Indians, which they share on Facebook.

[Editor’s Parenthetical Thing] We are not like THOSE OTHER SITES WHO RUN SHAMEFUL IMAGES SCRAPED FROM INSTAGRAM OF CATS WRAPPED IN BLANKETS. CAN YOU IMAGINE?!   PEOPLE CALL THESE TORTURED, CONFINED KITTIES PURRITOS!!!

[And the two preceding paragraphs have led up to this] Instead, POCHO chooses to run a few specific pictures we found on the Moses page — stunning portraits of Indian babies in Indian baby carriers. Very Indian. Many papooses. Such cuteness. Wow.

[Additional Geeky Editor’s Note] Technically, “papoose” means baby, not the baby board. What you call a papoose IN a baby carrier is another issue altogether. 😉 

Mas…Cutest historical Native American baby pics evah! (photos)

‘Mom, where do chiles come from?’ ‘From Oaxaca, mija!’

by

ancientchiles

Chile peppers were first domesticated in the area now known as Oaxaca, in eastern Mexico, about 8000 years ago, according to scientists.

Popular Archeology explains:

Central-east Mexico gave birth to the domesticated chili pepper — now the world’s most widely grown spice crop — reports an international team of researchers, led by a plant scientist at the University of California, Davis.

Results from the four-pronged investigation — based on linguistic and ecological evidence as well as the more traditional archaeological and genetic data — suggest a regional, rather than a geographically specific, birthplace for the domesticated chili pepper.

Mas…‘Mom, where do chiles come from?’ ‘From Oaxaca, mija!’

Losing your religion on the Internets and Pocho Ocho other things

by


The more you use the Internets, the more likely you are to lose your religion, according to a new study.

NPR explains:

America is less religious than ever before. The number of Americans who reported no religious affiliation has been growing rapidly, doubling since 1990. That kind of rapid change matches another societal trend — growth in Internet use. The percentage of Americans who say they used the Internet went from nearly zero in 1990 to 87 percent this year.

Now, a detailed data analysis finds the two trends aren’t just related, but that wider Internet use may actually be leading us to lose our religion.

Mas…Losing your religion on the Internets and Pocho Ocho other things

Sometimes you feel a little … Mexican @ Chi-Chi’s (video)

by


Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you feel a little Mexican. Am I right, people? ¡Orale! Let’s hear it out there! Give it up for the Mexicans! You, Pedro wearing the Pendleton, put down the filero before you applaud. OK. No offense, ese. Just sayin’.

Everybody feels Mexican in this this goofy 1987 commercial from the “casual dining” chain Chi-Chi’s — including the popo!

The outfit closed in this country in ten years ago but will forever be remembered for the invention of the word “salsification.”

PREVIOUSLY ON MEXICAN FOOD COMMERCIALS:

Mas…Sometimes you feel a little … Mexican @ Chi-Chi’s (video)

National Poetry Month: ‘Obama Shoulda Seen This’ (NSFW video, photos)

by

National Poetry Month means — to us — poems by and for the people, like Jesús Iñiguez with his poem about immigration. Spoiler alert — Iñiguez is not exactly happy with Administration policies and questions President Obama’s legacy. [NSFW “F-bomb.”]

Post by Jesús Iñiguez.

 

More from the Obama Legacy blog:

Mas…National Poetry Month: ‘Obama Shoulda Seen This’ (NSFW video, photos)

Mascot Madness! Brazil’s Mr. Balls, meet India’s Mr. Poo (NSFW video)

by

ballsandpooThis story is not about the shameful racist pro sports team mascots that purport to honor Native Americans. It’s about icky Senhor Testiculo (photo, above left), the mascot of Brazil’s cancer society, who we think has just been “out-grossed” by Mr. Poo (photo, right), who comes to us from UNICEF in India.

Señor Poo is central to a publicity campaign to urge kids in India to Take the Poo to the Loo (instead of taking a dump somewhere in the open.)

Mas…Mascot Madness! Brazil’s Mr. Balls, meet India’s Mr. Poo (NSFW video)

Mexicans + Lexington, Kentucky = ‘Mexington’ (photos, audio)

by

mexingtonheaderSteven Alvarez, POCHO amigo and Assistant Professor (Writing Rhetoric and Digital Media, Latin America Studies, English) at the University of Kentucky, teaches a course called Mexington, about the growing community of Mexican Americans in UKY’s hometown, Lexington.

Here’s a student podcast interview with the Profe (he’s on the Twitter, too) and a few selected photos from the recent field trip he led to Mexington.

Mas…Mexicans + Lexington, Kentucky = ‘Mexington’ (photos, audio)

+ Load More Posts