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April 30, 2007
Spencer Tunick Shoots Mexico City
Photographer Spencer Tunick, known for his photographs of landscapes covered in human flesh, will be shooting this coming Sunday, 6 May, in the Zócalo in Mexico City. If you happen to live in Mexico City and have always wanted an excuse to get naked in the Zocalo, now's your chance! You can't just show up though and hope to be in the picture. You have to sign up in advance. Only those registered to be in the photo will be admitted to the Zócalo, so us voyeurs who might hope to sneak a peek are out of luck.
See some examples of Tunick's previous work.
Posted by crispy at 01:48 PM | Comments (1)
April 22, 2007
Deep In the Heart of Texas, Part Six
The Congress Avenue bridge, Austin
One of Austin's famous contemporary tourist attractions is the Mexican free-tailed bats that roost in the Congress Avenue Bridge. Spring and summer find 750,000 to 1,500,000 bats living in the heat expansion joints of the bridge, and each night, they all come out to feed on flying bugs. Starting as soon as the sun sets and continuing for the next few hours hours, they all come out and fly away in a column that stretches out for about ten miles before they break up and hunt individually. Altogether, they eat some 10,000 to 30,000 pounds of insects nightly.
Our camera could not take pictures in the low-light at a fast enough speed to catch the bats in motion without being blurry, but here is a shot that Shawn took while we were on one of the popular 'bat cruises' that cruise along around and under the bridge.
Bats departing for nightly feeding, Austin
While it is cool to see a huge number of animals in their natural (or perhaps acquired is a better word) habitat, a quick word of warning if you choose to take a bat cruise: wear a hat. Although the boat tries to stay out from directly beneath the bats' flight path, the bats are unpredictable in where they will go, and if you end up under the column, you're likely to be lightly showered in feces. It's not so much that anyone could even see it on you (the bats are, after all, very tiny), but it's enough to know that it's in your hair.
Posted by crispy at 05:45 PM | Comments (2)
April 18, 2007
deTWOur
Longtime readers may remember when our street was used as a detour for a major street nearby, detailed in some of the entries from when we first moved in. That lasted for about five months while they basically moved that main thoroughfare underground into a tunnel. After they finished that, the tunnel opened and we were back to living in a quiet residential neighborhood.
When we returned from Texas, we found that we were again on a detour route, and this time, they are allowing buses on the detour. The incredible number of cars was bad enough, but the buses are loud and dirty. I was already complaining that it's the dry and dusty season here, requiring the place to be dusted, swept and mopped a lot more often, but now, with the unregulated exhaust of the buses, it's ridiculous. And the buses start running early.
Usually, we will be notified in advance when they're going to re-route traffic through here, but this time, we were taken by surprise. It was further confusing as to why they didn't do the necessary planning in advance to reroute the buses on major streets instead of through our little dinky residential ones. We learned last night why, from our ever-informative neighbor, Alberto.
It seems that when they put the tunnel in, they somehow forgot to put in necessary plumbing or drainage. Realizing this after they fact, they had to come up with a fast plan to rip out the existing stuff and put it in again, this time with plumbing.
The rumor is that we'll be stuck with it like this for the next three months.
Posted by crispy at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)
AP: Miss Mexico modifies pageant dress depicting hangings, belted by bullets
Mark Allen, our friend and editor of the Olney Daily Mail, brought our attention to this story from the Associated Press:
MEXICO CITY: Miss Mexico is redesigning her Miss Universe pageant dress — not because it is too slinky or low-cut, but because it is too violent.The floor-length dress, belted by bullets and accented by sketches of hangings during Mexico's Roman Catholic uprising in the 1920s, outraged Mexicans who said it was in poor taste and inappropriate for the world's most important beauty contest.
Read the full story at the International Herald Tribune.
Posted by crispy at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)
April 15, 2007
Deep In the Heart of Texas, Part Five
Romance (1931-32), Thomas Hart Benton
I try to keep things related to Mexico, but the connection here is tenuous, I must admit. The place has some works by Mexican artists, but it would be a shame to visit just for those.
The truth is, because we were so impressed by the Blanton Museum of Art on the campus at University of Texas at Austin, I want to be sure to give it a plug. It has a very good collection of art from the Americas, although it also has a decent collection of European art. The interesting thing there is that they have some rather peculiar works in that collection.
Saint Agatha's Breasts
It's all housed in a beautiful, brand-spanking-new building. I'm tell you, it's well worth the USD $5 suggested donation.
If you are in Austin and you like art, I highly recommend it. To visit, park in the Brazos Garage on the University of Texas at Austin campus and walk next door. (A money saving tip: if you take your parking ticket to the reception desk in the museum, you can pay just USD $3 for the parking and skip stopping at the cashier box on the way out.) Were we not short on time, breezing through the European collection, we would have spent about 4-5 hours total in the museum.
Waitresses from the Sparhawk (1924-25), Yasuo Kuniyoshi
They are currently in the process of constructing administrative offices, a café and a better gift shop next door.
Black and White No.2 (1960), Franz Kline
Even if you can't make it to Austin, you should check out their website, as they have a number of pieces from their collection online.
Obviously, they let you take photos (without a flash), but only of pieces in their permanent collection.
Posted by crispy at 02:41 PM | Comments (3)
Deep In the Heart of Texas, Part Four
Main Square, La Grange, Texas
The town of La Grange, Texas was immortalized by ZZ Top in their song of the same name, which talked about the in/famous whorehouse known as The Chicken Ranch.
Being a fan of both hookers and ZZ Top, I was considering planning a day trip to La Grange while we were in Texas, because it is only about an hour and a half from my sister's house. When I found out that the Mexican restaurant in town is Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant, that sealed the deal. Shawn and Carol were both kind enough to accompany me.
Here are a few photos taken in La Grange for your viewing pleasure. We didn't try to track down the location of the former Chicken Ranch, but we did chow down and walk about the main square.
Street, La Grange, Texas
Beef Marketing Material, La Grange, Texas
Guadalajara Restaurant, La Grange, Texas
I also bought some delicious Topo Chico sodas, since you can't get them in Mexico.
Posted by crispy at 01:10 AM | Comments (1)
April 12, 2007
Deep In the Heart of Texas, Part Three
Topo Chico Beverages From La Grange
Many of you know how I love Topo Chico products, and have read how it has been impossible for me to find them in Guadalajara (despite the assurances of many a Mexican that one can buy them there). It is one of the sad aspects of the relentless Americanization of Mexico that one can find Coca-Cola® products everywhere, but finding domestic sodas can be tricky. That seems to be by consumer choice; most Mexicans feel that domestic products are inferior to American brands.
When stopping to get a soda on our day trip to La Grange, we went to the convenience store next to Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant (403 North Jefferson Street, 979-968-5935). They had a cooler full of Topo Sabores (pictured above), which you can't even buy in Mexico. The kid behind the counter overheard me telling my sister Carol about the oddity that one can only buy Topo Sabores in the United States, and he assured me that they were in fact available for purchase within Mexico. But as I said, I'm used to Mexicans telling me how easy it is to find particular things there. I asked him where he'd seen them and he said Guanajuato and Guadalajara. When pressed on where in Guadalajara he'd seen them, he told me, "Near the center. San Juan de los Lagos." I verified that he didn't mean "San Juan de Dios," the big mercado in the center of Guadalajara, and he said no, "San Juan de los Lagos, in downtown Guadalajara." I had never heard of such a colonia, but since I'm not a walking directory of the neighborhoods within the city, I figured I'd look it up when we got back.
Upon returning to Carol's house, I looked up the Topo Chico web site to see if I had been mistaken after all. Maybe in my relentless skepticism, I'd misunderstood the web site before. No, it turns out. I had not. The web site indicates that the Topo Sabores are sold in the US only. One can get sangria and grapefruit flavors in Mexico (as well as plain mineral water), but not the range of flavors shown above.
And San Juan de los Lagos isn't a neighborhood in downtown Guadalajara. It's about 75 miles north of the city.
Posted by crispy at 07:16 AM | Comments (5)
April 08, 2007
Deep In the Heart of Texas, Part Two
Sign on Club, Deep Ellum
I have something to say about the difference between American and European cities... but I forgot what it is... I have it written down at home somewhere.
- True Stories
Just because you attribute a characteristic to a thing or a place, it doesn't make it so. The sign above Oki Dog saying that it is "World Famous" doesn't elevate it from the relatively obscure infamy it knows in Los Angeles. Calling a sheep's tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. Merely proclaiming the "Mission Accomplished" doesn't mean it has been.
Proclaiming that the United States is the land of the free doesn't keep Americans' personal liberties from slowly fading away, snatched by the government, willingly surrendered out of fear, or atrophying from neglect. On the contrary, life in the land of liberty is regulated and restricted much more than it is in Mexico, where people are permitted much more flexibility in what they do and how they do it. That doesn't necessarily make life in Mexico worry-free; in fact, it often makes life more frustrating. In the United States, people have a much greater sense of personal responsibility, instilled by history and civics classes and continually reinforced by the ever-present threat of lawsuits. In Mexico, you try to get away with whatever you can, and there's no need to feel bad about it unless you get caught. It's not really very noble.
Yet at times, the concept of personal responsibility gets pushed too far in the United States. Whenever I return here after being in Mexico, I am always surprised by how unnecessarily nasty people can be toward others. Shawn always cites the example of a business that he went to in Los Angeles once when we lived there that had a sign on the wall over their cash register that said:
WE DON'T PLAY THE CHECKING GAME! CASH ONLY!
"Checking game?" Why not just say, "sorry, no checks?" Why the need to make out like anyone wanting to pay by check is playing some shady con game? In the above sign, isn't it enough just to say "NO PUBLIC RESTROOMS?" Does it really need to admonish people with the whole, "You pee, you pay!" bit? And why is it such a big deal to let people use the bathroom?
I have heard the rationale that homeless people come in and use the facilities for more than just emptying their bladders (shaving, washing up, etc.). Obviously, that gives a bathroom a rather sketchy feel, but maybe if business owners were a little more upset about the fact that such people are homeless in the first place, it might be a little more productive. Yet in the United States, it seems the modus operandi is to criminalize the poor.
Sign on Club, Deep Ellum
In the above sign, they tell customers not to allow people to wash their windows for change. Why not? Is it really such a problem to have someone ask you if they can wash your windows for change? If you don't want you windows washed or you think it's not worth the spare change, tell them no. The sign also indicates that in Deep Ellum (and perhaps all of Dallas? All of Texas?), it's illegal to ask people for money. This offends Shawn greatly, as he thinks this is an unconstitutional denial of free speech. I tend to agree, but furthermore, I don't understand why it's illegal to ask anyone for anything. The government insists on it's share of my cash in the form of taxes and they don't even ask. They threaten me with legal action like seizing my assets or sending me to prison if I don't pay up. Those same people are going to turn around and make it illegal for other people to ask me politely if I will give them some money?
Help us help you to be safe and sound in Deep Ellum.
Why is more sound for people to urinate on the street or behind a tree in a park instead of doing it in a receptacle actually designed for the elimination of urine? How do people asking me for spare change threaten my safety?
I grant you, I've run into some aggressive panhandlers that won't take no for an answer and some have said that cash I've donated to them isn't enough. That sucks. People that believe that is wrong are correct to feel that way; anyone asking you for money should be appreciative of any help you give them. However, I don't understand why this rudeness gets American citizens so upset while the rudeness of "you pee, you pay!" doesn't seem to bother them.
In Mexico, you don't tend to see signs like that. Instead of restricting freedoms and criminalizing the poor, they take the free market approach. Instead they will often make it so that you can only get into the bathroom by paying something like MXN $3 (a little less than USD $0.30). This pays for the overhead: toilet paper, paper towels and regular maintenance. People that don't have the cash don't get in, but at least they're not being treated like scofflaws just because they have the unfortunate luck of being simultaneously poor and in need of a bathroom.
Posted by crispy at 09:12 AM | Comments (1)
April 07, 2007
Deep In the Heart of Texas, Part One
Shawn and I are on the road, visiting my sister Carol who has moved to Austin, Texas.
Brett With Hidalgo Mural, Dallas
Before coming here, we spent a few days in Dallas/Fort Worth, being shown around by our good friend Brett (a frequent commenter on this blog) because he grew up there. I have not been to Texas for 20 some years, but seen through the eyes of a gringo who has lived in Mexico for a little over a year, it's very interesting.
First, a word about Tex-Mex food, or rather, Mexican food in Texas.
El Fénix Restaurante, Dallas
One night, we ate at the original El Fénix restaurant in Dallas, and I must say I was surprised. Okay, while it's not exactly what I've come to think of as traditional Mexican food (they offer many north-of-the-border items like fajita-style nachos and sopapillas), their menu also had some telltale signs that honest-to-goodness Mexicans were involved with the food at some point. For example, they offer their queso fundido with chorizo or with mushrooms, like you would find it at many a location farther south. They also have chilaquiles, a dish that is ubiquitous in Mexico, but hard to find up here in the United States. I have had better Mexican food in Mexico. There is no doubt about that. Yet I was surprised at the degree to which the Mexican food in Texas resembled the food I've come to think of as traditional Mexican food.
One often hears the comment that Mexican food in the United States is more Tex-Mex than traditional Mexican food. Yet a lot of the Tex-Mex I've had in this state has not been like the Mexican food I've had in other parts of the country. For example, I would not say that Mexican food in California is like Tex-Mex, because the Tex-Mex I've had resembles traditional Mexican food more than it does Mexican food in California. Of course, I've not had the food throughout the entire state of Texas, but I have to say that my first impression is that the Mexican food here in Texas has gotten kind of a bum rap, since the crappiness of the bland food passed off as Mexican in other parts of the country is so often explained as being more Texan than Mexican. In general, the Mexican food I've had here has been much better than it is in other parts of the country.
It is a lot hotter on average, though.
Hernández Finer Foods, Dallas
Posted by crispy at 11:34 PM | Comments (5)