Obama Arrives Late at Meeting With Latinos

President Obama on Wednesday made history by answering questions from U.S. Latinos during a live Webcast from The White House (or as he likes to call it these days, La Casa Blanca.) And because the meeting was with Latinos, he dared show up 10 minutes late, which was cool with me ’cause I was taking a nap anyway.

Mexico Beats Its Own Taco Record; Lacks Funds to Register Such Feat

So you guys thought I was joking when I said we (the Mexicans) know how to make the world’s largest and spiciest tacos, ever!

Not only New Mexico couldn’t beat regular Mexico with their huge navajo taco the other day, but regular Mexico has done it again, beating its own world record, by cooking a 50-meter long taco filled with an “indeterminate” volume of onion, rice, cilantro, pork cracklings, beef, chicken, eggs and sausages.

Alas, such an achievement could not be registered in the Guinness Book of Records, simply because sufficient funds were not available.

“We’re in the process of registering it, but it implies an expenditure that can’t be contemplated right now of more than 400,000 pesos (some $33,000),” municipal official Agustin Torres Pérez told EFE.

So hereby this blogger is launching a campaign for the officers over there at the Guiness Book record-thing to stop the nonsense and give my people a well-deserved discount. Or, perhaps, they will let us pay them in kind, with some delicious taquitos?

It’s Official: Mexicans Take Over New York City

In yet another sign that Mexicans are indeed taking over the Big Apple, a trajinera has been spotted in and around Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

See? We, mexicans, don’t only want our carnitas here, we also want to move around in our traditional means of transportation.

Well, actually, the trajinera thing is a piece of moving art that is part of this year’s Celebrate Mexico Now Festival. Never seen one in real life? Here is your chance, newyorkers!

Photo: Stolen from the Web site of the Queens Museum

Miss Venezuela 2011 Contestants Want to be Hashtagged, Retweeted

Didn’t watch this year’s Miss Venezuela contest? Shame on you.

But just because I’m so very buena onda, here’s the highlight of what you missed.

Hat tip to @LParavano, whom I know for a fact loves to be hashtagged, and retweeted

 

Hispanic marketing according to Jencarlos Canela

There is nothing more refreshing than spending some time with a 23-year-old U.S.-born Latino and hear his take on Hispanic media and marketing… Oh, and if such a 23-year-old is terribly good looking, well, all the better.

On Tuesday, I was lucky to moderate a panel featuring Mr. Canela and Post Foods senior director of marketing Tony Shurman.

The session focused on a Post Foods’ Hispanic marketing promotion featuring Mr. Canela as the spokesperson of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal.

When I asked Canela (a star of Telemundo telenovela Más sabe el diablo) about the content on Hispanic television, he simply said it isn’t “quite there yet.”

“Why do telenovelas have to be so… so… so… dramatic?” he asked.

And that was not all. While Shurman informed us the Jencarlos Canela campaign far exceeded the company expectations; the young kid said that was at least half the sales boost was owed to his mother.

“I got home and I was like, ‘Mom, what is this?’ There were cereal boxes all over the place…I asked her, ‘What are you going to do with all these cereal boxes?’

Click here to read a complete write up of my panel.

Southwest Crew Will Sing ‘Cielito Lindo’ to Show Respect, Appreciation for U.S. Hispanics

You gotta give it to corporate marketers for their continuing efforts to lure Hispanics to whatever it is they sell.

Take Southwest Airlines which is kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month by inviting everyone to come together on September 16th and sing Cielito lindo.

Yes, that is correct. On Friday, Sept. 16 Southwest flight attendants and crew will lead passengers in flight, at airport gates and airport ticket counters to join in and sing along. Per a press release sent out today by the airline’s Hispanic ad agency, Dieste:

“This is the way Southwest Airlines, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, found to show their respect and appreciation for the Hispanic community.” 

I don’t know you, but this blogger will feel respected -and very much appreciated- if she were to get cheaper tickets and less stripping and frisking at the airports.

I’m just sayin’ ….

Celebrate Mexican Independence Like the Locals

¡Viva México, chingao!

I hope by now you are aware that Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexico’s Independence Day. Sixteen of September is, and the bash actually kicks off on the night of the 15, so by the time the 16 actually arrives, everybody is just too drunk to remember anything. But while I’m still indulging in all-things Mexico these days, I decided to put together a quick list of the Five Things you Must Do to Celebrate El Grito in this increasingly globalized country.

1. Buy a Made-in-China Mexican flag.

2. Go to your nearest Walmart and stuck up on the cheapest non-Agave Tequila. (The real one is too expensive for the average Mexican, and its production is already exclusive for export.)

3. Tell your wife you want your pozole spicy, even if she cannot afford to buy meat anymore.

4. Tune in the Canal de las Estrellas to witness our pathetic president yell ¡Viva México! repeatedly

5. Yell ¡Viva México! -repeatedly- right after the president. Hopefully by this time you’ll be too wasted on the fake-Tequila methanol to feel any shame.

Repeat as many times necessary until you feel a true patriotic fervor. ¡Viva México! ¡Viva México! ¡Viva México!

6. If anything else fails, go have a Texican Whopper

New Mexico Unable to Beat ‘Regular Mexico’ in Cooking World’s Largest Taco

Mayor Jackie McKinney tosses diced tomatoes on what state officials are calling the "world's largest Navajo taco" in Gallup, N.M.

This blogger has absolutely no idea what a “navajo taco” is but residents of Gallup, N.M. got a taste of it this past weekend, when the city attempted to enter the World Records of Guiness by cooking a colossal one. According to the local press:

The taco, which was more than 10 feet in diameter, used 150 pieces of fry bread, 65 pounds of ground beef, 65 pounds of beans, 50 pounds of lettuce, 90 pounds of cheese, and more than 30 pounds of green chile.

Sorry, my friends, but the title-holder of world’s largest taco still belongs to Mexico, according to the Guinness Book of World Records itself. That cheese- and meat-filled concoction, which was prepared by the city of Mexicali in March 2003, weighed in at 1,654 pounds.

Ajúa!

9.11.11: The Day the World Met the Jorge Ramos of the General Market

I had always heard about this guy who, for some reason, Hispanic media kept calling the Jorge Ramos of the general market.

Today, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 I finally understood why.

And you thought this date had any other meaning!

Hat tip: Univision

Pure Mexican Awesomeness: How to Make a Trumpet Out of a Coke Bottle

Who said everything in Juárez is about drugs & violence?

Arriba, Juarez… ¡Chihuahua!

Hat tip: LeChancle