Category Archives: in english

em português, in english

3 films by Mexican directors nominated for the Oscars

Babel received 7 nominations (including best director and best picture), El Laberinto del Fauno (Pan’s Labrynth) 6 (including best foreign language film) and Children of Men 3.

I found the best quote about the three movies in a Brazilian website:

“Del Toro, Alejando González Iñárritu and Alfonso Cuarón are examples of movie makers that never stopped giving their own touch to their productions, regardless of being tied to big studios. Coincidentially, or not, all three are nationals of a country that still today is treated with disdain by the Americans. The prejudices won’t end any time soon, but their talent and their success is the best answer.”

In other news, the Spanish are also happy. Penélope Cruz is also nominated for best actress, some Spanish documentaries are in the fray, and the possible success of Laberinto del Fauno (Pan’s Labrynth) is also theirs, as a big part of the staff and all of the actors are Spanish.

Gustavo Santaolalla from Argentina created the score for Babel, and he’s also in the running.

I hope they all win, but of course the competion is tough.

in english

1st Matchday Clausura 2007: Chivas-Toluca

A reload of the Apertura 2006 final, Chivas received Toluca at the Jalisco stadium for the 1st matchday of the new tournament. In between the two games Oswaldo Sánchez, former captain, goalkeeper and idol, was sold to Santos Laguna and Ramoncito Morales was chosen in his place. Chivas was also selected by the IFFHS as the 24th best football team in the world, which doesn’t sound too bad either.

According to the news reports Saturday’s game was entertaining, with Chivas tying at the last minute with a sublime freekick from our new captain.

More information at mediotiempo.com, the video highlights below.
In other news, Hugo Sánchez had his first team training with the national team as new coach today. Twelve players have been called from those that went to the World Cup in Germany last year, and there are 8 players from Chivas.

I really like the new Adidas uniforms. Nike is not providing them anymore as their contract ran out, and the Mexican Football Federation didn’t renew their contract for two reasons: Adidas’s offer was better and Nike had serious problems meeting jersey demand from the public during the WC.

in english

The fish I can’t eat anymore


The fish I can’t eat anymore, originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado.

Tuna stocks have declined worldwide to an alarming extent. While searching for fish for sushi, my girlfriend didn’t allow me to buy tuna because “she wants our children to be able to eat it as well”. I agree, but I think that, hopefully, market economics will kick in and make it more expensive to buy, so less people will buy it until supplies replenish.

But in case that doesn’t work as markets aren’t perfect, there is an international meeting going on focusing on tuna stocks.

in english

Not recommended book: The Silent Takeover


Not recommended book: The Silent Takeover, originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado.

Read this book during the last month, didn’t really like it. On one hand it is good to see the arguments of the detractors of globalisation, but on the other hand I felt really disappointed that the book offers no solutions, just complaints. In some parts it really shows its age.

A favourable review here, an unfavourable here.

in english

A friend’s adventures in the UK

I was chatting over messenger with a good Mexican friend of mine who is now living in the UK. She told me a couple of stories that dovetail nicely with my own that I’ve also posted in this blog.

She’s rather fair-skinned, with blue eyes and blond hair, so I asked her if people believed her when she said where was she from. She answered that usually they don’t, but the worst part was with her doctor, who for half an hour analysed her facial features until declaring that “I thought that all Mexicans were short, dark Native Americans”. The funniest part was that he was Pakistani himself.

In another instance, after arriving in Barcelona for spending the holidays she was asked to answer a survey. The interviewer started going through the survey in English and as she stutterd with a word my friend ask her to switch to Spanish. The interviewer then seemed rather taken aback, as she didn’t expect my friend to be a native Spanish speaker.

So, the lesson is that in Europe people think she’s from an English-speaking country, whereas in my case people think I’m Morrocan, Turkish, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian, or even half-Thai half-Finn, but we’re both Mexican.

I think it’s time we all get rid of our stereotypes. They might be reference points, but they’re not very valid.

en español, in english

Current Mexican rock scene

Another article in the Rock en Español series.

In the last 6 years there has been an explosion of so-called indie rock bands in Mexico, giving it a very active scene. As has been the case before, some bands from other countries have also been performing in festivals such as the Vive Latino or Rock en Exa.

The rock scene in Mexico had been strongly supported in Mexico City with magazines such as Rock and Roll and radio stations such as the defunct Rock 101, Radioactivo and now Reactor. The latter released during the past two years a series of until now 4 EPs with the independent bands they have given airplay to called “¿Cuál es tu Rock? Mi primera caja de música” and they have been warmly received by a young public avid of new music. I have them all and heartily recommend them.

The bands included are (all are links to their Myspace profiles, where you can listen to their music):

Funnily enough, not all of them are Mexican, and neither do they all sing in Spanish, but that’s the kind of music that has been making the rounds there in the past couple of years.

More background on the current indie scene from El Universal.

in english

Preview: iPhone, a couple of days after the release

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Now, if you follow technology news I’m sure you have heard about the launch of the iPhone, Apple Inc.’s first product that marries an iPod with a mobile phone.

After reading a couple of previews (here, here, here, here and here), and owning both a 60 GB iPod video and a Nokia N93 I’ve made up my mind.

On the plus side I think that the design is very, very nice (as expected from Apple), and I’m sure that the interface will be easy to use and “sexy”. The browser also looks very nice (although those kind of browsers have been available before in other products). However, in my opinion this device has serious shortcomings. First in my mind is that it has no 3G connectivity. WLAN coverage is not ubiquitously available outside of San Francisco, so downloading music or browsing will not be as simple. Other issue that simply makes me literally scratch my head is the use of touchscreen. While in paper it sounds like a great idea, but given that the iPod is very scratch prone (I keep mine in a protecting case, as many people do) I truly wonder whether this will annoy users more than it will delight them. Also the fact of having Google maps without GPS or fast 3G connectivity kind of defeats the purpose of navigation (will you find a WLAN hotspot on the road?).

With my combo of N93 and iPod, I wouldn’t have the incentive to switch to a device that doesn’t hold as many songs on one hand, and doesn’t do photos, video and internet as well either, but that’s just me. Somebody who is an absolute fan of Apple’s products (and there are many out there) will buy it immediately.

All in all, I think it will be a steep learning curve for Apple, but I’m sure that their entrance to the market hasn’t been unnoticed by the SonyEricssons, Motorolas and Nokias of this world.