I am using an RSS web reader service called bloglines to keep track of all the blogs and news sites I read. The big advantage is that it is very simple to use and add different feeds, besides not being tied to a single PC.
La bloguera de 95 años
La señora María Amelia empezó su blog el año pasado, cuando por su cumpleaños uno de sus nietos se lo regaló al ver que le interesaba todo eso del internet.
Es, sin lugar a dudas, uno de los mejores blogs que he leído últimamente. No se me hace raro que le hayan hecho tantas entrevistas y ya haya salido tantas veces en periódicos de diferentes países de habla hispana.
Aquí entre nos, a mí me gustaría leer blogs de mis abuelos, de mis tíos abuelos y de los abuelos de mi mujer. Hay muchas historias que quisiera saber completas. Además me parecería muy interesante conocer más sobre sus puntos de vista sobre acontecimientos que nosotros consideramos históricos y para ellos son simplemente parte de sus vidas, y sé que no soy el único.
El mexicano errante
Me confieso chilango. Llevo casi 7 años fuera de México (prácticamente me volví adulto fuera), y he sabido adaptarme muy bien a la vida fuera de mi país, lejos de mi familia y mi gente, aunque el messenger, el skype, las visitas y las largas distancias son una maravilla. Tan bien, que no sé cuándo regrese. Le comentaba a una amiga alemana de mi clase anterior de francés (ya me cambié otra vez) que tengo tres pulseras en la mano izquierda. Una me la compré en Greenwich, en el meridiano cero. Otra es un regalo de graduación de ingeniería de mi abuelo. La última es una pulsera tricolor, en verde, blanco y rojo (o más bien, verde, gris y rojo, porque ya está muy sucia) que me compré en el Zócalo del D.F. justo antes de partir en el 2000. Mi idea entonces era (muy romántico yo) que me quitaría esa pulsera cuando regresara a México a vivir. Cuando le dije la historia a mi amiga me quedé pensando que aún no sé ni le veo para cuándo me la voy a quitar.
Aunque Europa creo que ya la conozco relativamente bien (aunque me falta buena parte de esa área entre Alemania y Rusia que ya no sé si llamar Europa Oriental o Europa Central), del Lejano Oriente sólo conozco un país, de Medio Oriente dos, de Sudamérica tres, de África ninguno y de Oceanía tampoco. Quisiera ver más mundo antes de regresarme a mi tierra, porque sé que cuando regrese para establecerme va a ser muy difícil para mí volver a salir. O quién sabe.
Not recommended book: The Silent Takeover
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.
El Fogoncito va a China
La cadena mexicana de taquerías El Fogoncito ha decidido abrir sucursales en China. Yo me pregunto, ¿cuánto tiempo tardará antes de que salgan fotos de versiones piratas en Pinches Chinos?
Disclaimer: No estoy de acuerdo con algunas actitudes del site anterior que podrían ser interpretadas como racistas.
Actualización: Las fotos en Flickr. Como la de abajo. ¿A poco no se les antoja?
I knew there was something wrong last night
During the whole day I heard some strange noises coming from the street, but funnily enough no rain. I didn’t go out as I’ve been studying for exams. Now I found out that there was a storm in Northern Europe. Two persons died in Belgium.
Thanks to ceronne and Rafael Peñaloza for the hint.
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.
¿Y tú, cuánto cuestas?
Olallo Rubio, el alguna vez locutor de la extinta estación de radio chilanga Radioactivo, nos presenta su primer largometraje.
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):
- Los Búnkers
- Plastilina Mosh
- Instituto Mexicano del Sonido
- Lady Bombón
- The Cosmetics
- Réplica
- Furland
- De Saloon
- Yokozuna
- Abeja
- Vainilla
- La Live Band
- Subdivisión
- Álbum
- Turbo
- Comando Groovy
- Nortec Collective
- Quiero Club
- Lasser Moderna
- Los Dynamite
- Lost Acapulco
- Niña
- Telefunka
- The John
- Monocordio
- Chikita Violenta
- Fatalist
- Ghaia
- Twin Tones
- Chicote
- Hugo
- El Hombre Bala
- Los Gatos
- Entre Ríos
- Fenómeno Fuzz
- L. Camorra
- Los Abandoned
- Mario
- Los Fancy Free
- Veo Muertos
- Porter
- Pastilla
- Austin TV
- Los Látigos
- María Daniela y su Sonido Lasser
- Columpio Asesino
- Golden Rainbow Kid
- Victoria Mil
- Hummersqueal
- Vaquero
- Phono
- Cahuenga
- Volován
- San Pascualito Rey
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.
Preview: iPhone, a couple of days after the release
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.