Homework con Drama: Long Live the Telenovela!

I make no secret of my eternal addiction to Telenovelas. So imagine how delightful it was to see this homework assignment. "So I had to do a Spanish assignment to show I can speak the language- everyone else did a song.... I made this." Wrote Julie Bryan on Reddit. Via:Gawker

A new print for sale at the Mextasy/Eyegiene Tictail Shoppe! Lupe Velez!

click to enlarge; click here for more info/purchase

New Posting!

@eyegiene pic.twitter.com/kwqH7tX885

— William Nericcio (@eyegiene) December 1, 2013

New Backsplash for the Tex[t]-Mex Galleryblog! One of the New Prints Available on the Mextasy/Eyegiene/Textmex Tictail Outlet Mall...

click image to enlarge; click here to shop for prints and more...

A Thanksgiving Thank You to the Readers, Lurkers, Visitors, and Accidental Guests of the Tex[t]-Mex Galleryblog

click to enlarge

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving!

I have been doing this blog de desmadres since 2007 and the regular visitor will have noticed a dearth of updates of late. Some of that has to do with the evolution of the blogosphere. Blogger, god love it, just has not made it as easy to post as Tumblr and Facebook, so a fair number of posts that used to go here now show up on the Facebook book page for Tex[t]-Mex or the Eyegiene tumblr (set up to support and be a resource for my new book Eyegiene: Permutations of Subjectivity in the Televisual Age of Sex and Race).

And, of course, there's the fabulous competition that have now far and away surpassed the scope of this venture--the amazing Pocho.com run by Lalo Alcaraz y su crew, Gustavo Arellano with Ask-a-Mexican and the OC Weekly (the rag he edits like William Randolph Hearst's lovechild fathered with Che Guevara and Lupe Velez) and the equally outrageous Latino Rebels--and I can't forget Sara Ines Calderon's internet universe nor the NewsTaco crew. This nefariously talented cabal of sites and people are more on top of things than I can be toiling away in my day job as a lit prof, so at some point, I just gave up trying.

Despite the passing of time, however, I intend to keep this beast alive, if only to support the evolving life of my original book with the University of Texas Press--Tex[t]-Mex: Seductive Hallucinations of the "Mexican" in America. Now in its latest incarnation as a traveling museum exhibition called Mextasy, Tex[t]-Mex, the blog, will always be there for you intrepid visitor, seeking answers to the mysteries of Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, Latinas/os and other strange brown beasts prowling the corridors of this (sometimes) beautiful planet!

¡Gracias!

Read about the evolution of Tex[t]-Mex to Mextasy in a piece I just published in Frederick Aldama's new edited anthology Latinos and Narrative Media: Participation and Portrayal with Palgrave with the gnarly title "Tex[t]-Mex, Seductive Hallucinations of the 'Mexican' in America, 2.0 or 'Narcissus Mexicanus': A Diary Chronicling the Transmogrifying Metamorphosis of a Mexican American’s Neurosis from Psyche to Book to Museum and on to the Internet."

TEXTMEX, MEXTASY, EYEGIENE Lecture today @ UCLA | Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at 4pm | GRATIS

Click poster to enlarge or go here for details!

Breaking News! Sex Sells! Sexy Latinas Sell!!! STOP THE PRESSES ;-)

Bordertown! New Animated Series from Fox and Seth McFarlane--Lalo Alcaraz on the list of Writers! Links to the Story from the LA TIMES and CARTOON BREW

Don't Panic Amigos. The End is not Near

UPDATED POSTER!!! From Tex[t]-Mex to Mextasy to Eyegiene--Public Lecture at UCLA Chicano Research Center!

click to enlarge

Thursday, November 19, 2013 @ UCLA--more details to follow:

click to make larger...

New Santo Poster Auction!!! Santo vs. The Vice Mafia (Peliculas Latinoamericanas S.A., 1971). Mexican One Sheet (27" X 37"). ... via Heritage Auctions

auction link here

Diego Luna's CHAVEZ! Official Trailer

The Votes Are In! Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) Unanimously Elected OCTOBER 2013 PENDEJO OF THE MONTH! "I Can't Even Look at You Edition"

Texas politicos just love the notoriety that comes with being a Tex[t]-Mex Galleryblog PENDEJO OF THE MONTH--witness the pendejoness of Pete Sessions (bizarre caucasian bestiary candidate numero uno) who in a meeting with President Obama over the recent budget meltdown mouthed words of infamy (and classlessness) at the "leader of the free world." Sessions comment? "I cannot even stand to look at you".... which would be funny if it wasnt old school racist logic fueling the fires of his utterance.

More on the debacle from the Daily Kos.  and from the Huffington Post and from everyone.

Feliz Cumpleaños Celia y Gracías a Google

Without apology, here at Tex[t]Mex we express fawning adoration for epic Latina screen sirens.  These women hold an indelible place in the world's entertainment history, in spite of constant discrimination, and alienation from their own heritages. Today Google made our day by dedicating a Google Doodle to the powerhouse singer Celia Cruz. Take a look:

About Celia


Y más
I dare you to listen without dancing
 Guantanamera

Alfonso Cuarón Does More than Harry Potter and Children of Men! GRAVITY and the Global Impact of Mexican Intelligentsia on World Cinema

Cool story in the LA Times on Alfonso Cuarón's GRAVITY--I don't have time right now to blog about it, but the impact of Mexican figures (Carlos Slim, Guillermo Del Toro) on global media and entertainment is a key part of our evolutionary now...

It just keeps happening ... Fox "News" marking National Taco Day in the only way it can.

Hey, you are brunette, named Maria, give off a sexy Latina vibe, so you must have grown-up on tacos, right?  WTF!

CLICK this link for the absurd video and story.

In Honor of MACHETE KILLS Breaking Out Soon From Hollywood, Some Golden Age Blood-lusting "Mexicans" from the Past!

click here for the whole story!

Visit the Eyegiene/Mextasy Tictail Shop to Adorn your Walls with Textmextian Semiotic (and Semi-idiotic) Madness!

click the image below to be instalinked to mextasy

Semiotic Xicanosmosis: Remarkable 1960s Tourism Poster from Mexico Anticipates the Entire Pop Surrealism Movement in the United States and Abroad!

Marty Robbins, Breaking Bad Finale, Felina and More

I will probably come back to this soon to grapple with it in more detail, but I wanted to point out that Breaking Bad's conclusion is totally suffused with Tex[t]-Mextian intrigue, beginning with the Marty Robbin's ballad El Paso that provides the foundation (if not a total foreshadowing) of the final episode Felina's events.  Here's a good recap of last night's final episode--filled with spoilers (you were warned!!!).



Here are the lyrics for the Robbins classic and a couple of cool streaming versions of the song, below, one recorded live in Australia:

EL PASO

Out in the West Texas town of El Paso
I fell in love with a Mexican girl.
Night-time would find me in Rosa's cantina;
Music would play and Felina would whirl.

Blacker than night were the eyes of Felina,
Wicked and evil while casting a spell.
My love was deep for this Mexican maiden;
I was in love but in vain, I could tell.

One night a wild young cowboy came in,
Wild as the West Texas wind.
Dashing and daring,
A drink he was sharing
With wicked Felina,
The girl that I loved.

So in anger I

Challenged his right for the love of this maiden.
Down went his hand for the gun that he wore.
My challenge was answered in less than a heart-beat;
The handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor.

Just for a moment I stood there in silence,
Shocked by the FOUL EVIL deed I had done.
Many thoughts raced through my mind as I stood there;
I had but one chance and that was to run.

Out through the back door of Rosa's I ran,
Out where the horses were tied.
I caught a good one.
It looked like it could run.
Up on its back
And away I did ride,

Just as fast as I

Could from the West Texas town of El Paso
Out to the bad-lands of New Mexico.

Back in El Paso my life would be worthless.
Everything's gone in life; nothing is left.
It's been so long since I've seen the young maiden
My love is stronger than my fear of death.

I saddled up and away I did go,
Riding alone in the dark.
Maybe tomorrow
A bullet may find me.
Tonight nothing's worse than this
Pain in my heart.

And at last here I

Am on the hill overlooking El Paso;
I can see Rosa's cantina below.
My love is strong and it pushes me onward.
Down off the hill to Felina I go.

Off to my right I see five mounted cowboys;
Off to my left ride a dozen or more.
Shouting and shooting I can't let them catch me.
I have to make it to Rosa's back door.

Something is dreadfully wrong for I feel
A deep burning pain in my side.
Though I am trying
To stay in the saddle,
I'm getting weary,
Unable to ride.

But my love for

Felina is strong and I rise where I've fallen,
Though I am weary I can't stop to rest.
I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle.
I feel the bullet go deep in my chest.

From out of nowhere Felina has found me,
Kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side.
Cradled by two loving arms that I'll die for,
One little kiss and Felina, good-bye. 

{more below the two videos}







addenda: check out UCSD profe Curtis Marez' piece on Breaking Bad in Critical Inquiry online.