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.Friday, January 19, 2007
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?
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.
Thanks to ceronne and Rafael Peñaloza for the hint.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
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.
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.
Los teasers aquí, aquí y aquí. El trailer abajo.
Los teasers aquí, aquí y aquí. El trailer abajo.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
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):
More background on the current indie scene from El Universal.
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
More background on the current indie scene from El Universal.
Monday, January 15, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Mi maestra de francés
Los cuatro lectores (Catón dixit) de este blog desde el principio saben que soy un adicto a los idiomas. Sin embargo, últimamente me he sentido bastante falto de entusiasmo en mis clases y aprendizaje de francés (idioma en el cual leo bien, escribo a un nivel básico y hablo de manera fatal, aunque medio se me entiende). Después de un concienzudo análisis, me dí cuenta de que lo que no me gusta de mis clases de francés es la maestra.
Vayamos por partes (como diría Jack el destripador). Esta no es ni la primera ni la segunda ni la tercera vez que estoy estudiando una lengua que no es la materna, ni la primera vez que estoy estudiando dos idiomas al mismo tiempo (en orden cronológico he pasado por clases de inglés, alemán, italiano, finés, portugués y ahora francés y neerlandés, además de mi amado español mexicano chilango), y a lo largo de este tiempo me han tocado maestros malos, maestros buenos, maestros buena onda, maestros estrictos y maestros barcos entre otros, pero nunca me había tocado un maestro (maestra, en este caso) sarcástico.
Después de hacer el examen de colocación, me dijeron que me podía saltar el primer nivel (que dura un año) a lo que podríamos llamar Loditos II. Empecé con una maestra pero por cuestión de la maestría tuve que cambiar horario, con lo que me tocó la actual. Con ésta tal parece que no me congracié mucho dado que cuando nos preguntó en la clase cuál era nuestra experiencia con la lengua de Voltaire yo simplemente contesté "Ninguna, pero estoy leyendo De la guerra (von Clausewitz) en francés", lo cual parece que no le cayó muy en gracia. De tal manera que cuando me toca leer algún texto o hablar sobre algún tema, no sólo me corrige (que a eso va uno, a que le enseñen y lo corrijan), sino que lo hace de una manera, digamos, poco profesional como (al haber cambiado el sexo de un sustantivo por error) "¿Qué? ¿Ya lo volviste transsexual?" o (en un examen oral, donde expliqué que estoy comprometido) "La única manera en la que vas a mejorar es consiguiéndote una novia francófona" (y uno nada más pensando "¿Y qué ______ te acabo de explicar?").
Lo peor del caso es que creo que fuera de ese detallote es una maestra bastante buena y estoy seguro que he aprendido bastante, pero no la soporto, y la verdad es que ni ganas me dan de practicar mi francés fuera de clase, con lo cual no avanzo como quisiera. En realidad estoy muy desmotivado al respecto.
Lo bueno es que no hay mal que por bien no venga. Por razones de calendarización de la maestría, voy a tener que cambiar a otra clase otra vez, así que espero que me vaya mejor (si me pudieran mandar con la primera maestra que tenía sería excelente).
Vayamos por partes (como diría Jack el destripador). Esta no es ni la primera ni la segunda ni la tercera vez que estoy estudiando una lengua que no es la materna, ni la primera vez que estoy estudiando dos idiomas al mismo tiempo (en orden cronológico he pasado por clases de inglés, alemán, italiano, finés, portugués y ahora francés y neerlandés, además de mi amado español mexicano chilango), y a lo largo de este tiempo me han tocado maestros malos, maestros buenos, maestros buena onda, maestros estrictos y maestros barcos entre otros, pero nunca me había tocado un maestro (maestra, en este caso) sarcástico.
Después de hacer el examen de colocación, me dijeron que me podía saltar el primer nivel (que dura un año) a lo que podríamos llamar Loditos II. Empecé con una maestra pero por cuestión de la maestría tuve que cambiar horario, con lo que me tocó la actual. Con ésta tal parece que no me congracié mucho dado que cuando nos preguntó en la clase cuál era nuestra experiencia con la lengua de Voltaire yo simplemente contesté "Ninguna, pero estoy leyendo De la guerra (von Clausewitz) en francés", lo cual parece que no le cayó muy en gracia. De tal manera que cuando me toca leer algún texto o hablar sobre algún tema, no sólo me corrige (que a eso va uno, a que le enseñen y lo corrijan), sino que lo hace de una manera, digamos, poco profesional como (al haber cambiado el sexo de un sustantivo por error) "¿Qué? ¿Ya lo volviste transsexual?" o (en un examen oral, donde expliqué que estoy comprometido) "La única manera en la que vas a mejorar es consiguiéndote una novia francófona" (y uno nada más pensando "¿Y qué ______ te acabo de explicar?").
Lo peor del caso es que creo que fuera de ese detallote es una maestra bastante buena y estoy seguro que he aprendido bastante, pero no la soporto, y la verdad es que ni ganas me dan de practicar mi francés fuera de clase, con lo cual no avanzo como quisiera. En realidad estoy muy desmotivado al respecto.
Lo bueno es que no hay mal que por bien no venga. Por razones de calendarización de la maestría, voy a tener que cambiar a otra clase otra vez, así que espero que me vaya mejor (si me pudieran mandar con la primera maestra que tenía sería excelente).
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