Valiant Bandit "Mexicans," Revisited......

art: Jim Steranko

source: {NSFW}

More "Mexicans" in the History of Hollywood: Abbott and Costello Edition...

source: heritage auctions

a highres clip from the film

capturing abbott and costello's 

witty reparte!

MIA or Mexicans in Action

Ace new Fullerton correspondent Susy Jimenez sends in this cool t-shirt, an ironic take on the infamous "don't hit the Mexicans" sign ubiquitous up and down the interstate here in SoCal.  Gracias Susy for the post!

The British Are Coming, The British Are Coming.... to Insult Mexicans!

link

As with most stories on the Galleryblog, hit the image above to be instantly teleported to the story; direct link here.

Arizona, In the News!

Thanks to Lalo Alcaraz and Pilar Marrero, via Facebook, for the tip!

KPFK's crack squad of sound engineers have already streamed and podcast this afternoon's show!

extra update, July 30th, 2009 @ 9:03pm--click the beer for the story



original posting, July 28, 2009; updated July 30, 2009.


It's me and Gustavo Arellano going toe to toe chatting/charlando on the untimely demise of Taco Bell spokesdog, Gidget, and, first up, the Henry Louis Gates debacle.

Go here to stream! here, to download. here, to podcast.

Here's a look at one of Gidget's more popular commercials:



update

here's an interesting email exchange between Gustavo Arellano, myself, and a well-researched listener! The beauty of radio: there is always someone out there listening that knows a little more than you do (that said, the Egyptian origin of Chihuahuas is a debate for another day!)

Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2009
Subject: Re: Success of the Taco Bell Chihuahua
From: "P. Sergio Serrato"
To: Bill Nericcio

The Taco Bell Chihuahua was not a terribly effective ad and is not ranked in the Ad Age 100 best Ad Campaigns of the 20th Century. The Taco Bell Chihuahua became a cultural icon but it did not increase Taco Bell's sales. In fact, it lead Taco Bell to fire its marketing head and the ad agency that produced the Chihuahua ads: TWBA/Chiat/Day. I work in market research and this is a constantly referenced case study. Ads should do more than raise awareness of what they are advertising, they MUST motivate action (purchase) of the product being advertised.

His earlier note to Arellano on the Gates arrest is also salient and cogent:

From: P. Sergio Serrato
Sent: Tue 7/28/2009 4:23 PM
To: memo@sdsu.edu; Gustavo Arellano
Subject: Libertarian quote on the Gates/cop issue

Gentlemen,

I am listening to your conversation on KPFK.org and Gustavo mentioned a Libertarian point of view on the Gates/cop issue. One of my libertarian associates posted an interesting perspective on the issue:

Race is irrelevant. A cop has no right to arrest people for being rude. The cop was an intruder. The urge to defend police for their criminality will always render the rightwing completely unable to understand and defend liberty. best,

P.

When Playboy Magazine Does the Work of Tex[t]-Mex, You Know There's Progress on God's Green Earth

[click image to enlarge; source: Playboy Magazine, 2008]

I will save for a later posting an extended posting that thinks through our American (and now, European) fascination with "Mexican" anal/fecal figuration at a later date; ScholarX, an anonymous exegete now working at a university in the deep, old South, has touched this subject (yikes) at the Old-School Tex[t]-Mex Galleryblog.

What Else Would Speedy Gonzales Be Chasing?

Every time I relent and decide to reconsider the value of the criticism I have received for "outing" Speedy Gonzales as a handy purveyor of "Mexican"-ness in the Americas, I run into something like the bumper sticker below. The thesis of Tex[t]-Mex is pathetically simple: that the more you study it, the more you realize the semiotic history (and, unfortunately, destiny) of "Mexicans" in the Americas--"Mexican" are nothing more and nothing less that the choice U.S.A. synecdoche (part for whole, as in "all 'hands' [sailors] on deck") for criminality and sexuality.



Still and all, I love the little bugger and this bank does not totally suck!

Memory Lane: The Hot Tamale Kid

When I was not scarfing down Milky Ways, reading comics, and pasting Wacky Packages to the good furniture in our house, I was probably at the candy aisle at Barrera's Stop & Shop in Laredo, Texas on Corpus Christi Street, buying more processed sugar and looking for more tasty morsels of inked gold! (more comics!). Occasionally, I would buy these "Mexican" laced goodies, "Hot Tamales" immortalized on Jason Liebig's flickr site. Little did I know that decades later I would be adding another chapter to my growing list of collectable "Mexicans." "Maria" meet "The Hot Tamale Kid"--a marriage made in heaven (at least a sort of Francis Galton meets Westworld heaven).

Speaking of Wacky Packages, here's one that had me rolling on the floor back in the day...


... and one that makes me cringe now...