Jorge Luis Borges's and Roland Barthes's Library for California

Simply put, Calisphere is an amazing visual treasure trove for the Californias. Here, for example, is a sample search for the term, "Mexicans."

I am in debt to dynamic duo at Hasta Los Gatos Quieren Zapatos for bringing this online archive to my attention.

Startling Moments in Cultural Studies History: Colonel Sanders in TJ

Professor Marc García-Martínez from Hancock College, a Latino/a Studies colleague and former student of mine at literature.sdsu.edu, sends in an image without attribution and with a mysterious origin! Sensing that I am a fetishist when it comes to the world of curious Mexican figuration he sends it to me imagining I will be delighted, when what really happens is that now I want to know the origin of this peculiar artifact.

Help! Write in soon!


UPDATE

LA Correspondent Checks In With Tip On New Blog

Josie Nericcio, my LA mole and beloved sister writes in to tip our ojos to Gawker Media's entry into Mexilandia or Latinalandia with Guanabee. Click here and sop it up! With stories like "Latino Boys: Are They Everyone's Play Things?" it has got to be good!

URGENT BREAKING NEWS: Houston Chronicle Sticks its Head Up its Ass!!!

Lalo Alcaraz's LA CUCARACHA has been dropped by the Houston Chronicle; write them and let them know what pendejos they are. Here's the skinny!


Pero Lalo, you have to write better gags than this:








Love,

Memo!

Colombiana Catalina Sandino Moreno: Latina Bombshell Redux

source: New York Magazine, August 27, 2007

The Fall of our Ugly, Toadying Mexican Attorney General

He might have been the face of all our tomorrows--the 7nth wonder of the Chicano/a universe.

In the best of all possible worlds.

Instead, he was a sycophant and a stooge; a creep and a cretin; a criminal and a fool.

As Alberto Gonzales rides off into the sunset, the shadows of Abu Ghraib lighting the way, let us pause for a moment of silence.

Of all the least seductive hallucinations of a "Mexican" in the imagination of America, let this one fade and fade fast.

adios Gonzales, pinche buey!

Memo

UPDATE

A great, short piece regarding Justice Department employees response to Gonzales's exit is now online.

Classic and Cutting Edge Mexican Semiotic Bonbons from BoingBoing.Net

BoingBoing.net's editors have a discerning eye when it comes to the figuration of Mexicans in visual culture; sample the video below and then take the Time Tunnel here to a posting with a smorgasbörd of delights from the past--and a free and downloadable album of Agustin Lara classics to boot!

The End of the Weekly World News and Noticias Del Mundo

I cannot confirm it, but I suspect the death of the Weekly World News will mean the end of Noticias del mundo--you can see a fantastic flickr archive of choice, delicious Noticias del mundo fotos here. Journalism may never be the same as these two purveyors of the semiotically perverse and factually ersatz bring down their curtains.