Pop Song of the Week: "La Isla Bonita"

They borrow from us; we borrow from them. What category this song falls into depends on your definition of us and them.

However, I do remember driving my late father up the wall back in 1987 by continually switching the car radio to this song when we were driving cross-country. I also remember the sister of my second Mexican-born girlfriend showing off a tape of the album from which this song was taken when my father and I visited her family during that same trip. So those are at least two reasons why I'm likely to remember this tune in a way that most people never will.

Book of the Week

Believe it or not, there was a time when writer Ed Morales was capable of writing in plain English. But nowadays he seems more prone to write in culturebabble...

Perhaps it's better to remember his best books of yesteryear rather than kvetch about the dubious stuff he writes today. And of all the books of his that I have the good fortune to read, Living in Spanglish: The Search for Latino Identity in America is the one that I like the best.

Thoughts on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

I should be embarrassed to admit this but I found this flick to be one of the most emotionally satisfying superhero movies that I have seen in a while. I found it even more satisfying than Avengers: Infinity War -- though considering my mixed reaction to that flick, that probably isn't saying much.

I was a bit surprised to see actress Lake Bell playing such a small part. (She played Vanessa Fisk, late wife of the movie's villain, Wilson Fisk aka the Kingpin.) For that matter, I was a bit surprised to hear actor Liev Schreiber's take on Wilson Fisk. (For some reason, I expected his character to have a deeper, more booming voice that had less of a New York accent.)

I did like the title character of Miles Morales, the first Afro-Latino version of Spider-Man to appear in the movies. For that matter, I also liked Spider-Gwen, whose popularity in fanboy circles does tend to undercut the notion that movie-goers just won't buy the idea of a superheroine who isn't either Supergirl, Wonder Woman or else a member of a group like the X-Men.

I suspect we'll see a sequel to this flick sooner or later but in the meantime, it's good to see proof that it is possible to make a good Spider-Man movie without Sam Raimi.

Trailer of the Week: Alita: Battle Angel

Cool! A Latina superheroine. This actually looks interesting, which means all the white film critics who are usually all about diversity when promoting their own favorite movies will undoubtedly find something wrong with it.

Book of the Week

Hey, it's a book of film essays written by an actual Latina. And yet she refers to her Peruvian ancestry only once. Almost as if she were a regular film critic. Or a film philosopher.

A Latina film philosopher... What a concept!

Seriously, I found this book quite interesting. I look forward to reading more of Ms. Chocano's work in the future.

Edited to Add:

If there's one major problem with this book, it's the way Ms. Chocano's writing makes me want to think twice about my review of Lars and the Real Girl. And that's hardly a bad problem to have.

TV Quote of the Week

Yes, people are allowed their private thoughts, and I shouldn't be so angry, but I am Latin, so I get to feel whatever I want.
--Sofía Vergara, Modern Family, "iSpy"

¡Feliz Cumpleaños, Judy Reyes!

Born November 5, 1967.

She played one of my favorite characters on the TV show Scrubs. She also played one of the most interesting characters on the otherwise dubious TV show Devious Maids. I am sure that she has been in other stuff as well but those are the main things I remember her from. However, I suspect I will have a lot more to remember her from in the future.

Iconos de Televisión (Latins I)

Book of the Week

The biggest problem with Americanos: Latino Life in the United States is that the people who most need to read it probably will not read it because they are quite sure that they already know what Latinos are like. Of course, those who are most likely to read the book will undoubtedly have similar notions about what actual Latinos are like but their notions are more likely to be based on fact since they are either themselves Latinos or else have Latino friends, in-laws, co-workers or relatives. So while it would be nice if they read the book too, I suspect that such a book will be doing little more than preaching to the converted.

Then again actor Edward James Olmos once said in response to a photo in this book that portrayed a Hispanic child playing chess, "Who puts chess with Latinos? Nobody. Or water polo? Or surfing? You just don't, in the U.S., put them together."

This quote makes me sad because when I was growing up, neither my Mexican-born father nor any of my Mexican-American cousins had any problem seeing chess as a Mexican-American activity. Indeed, as my father often noted, chess has quite a history in the Hispanic world. Unfortunately that aspect of chess history is rarely recognized here in the United States where chess is presumed to be not only an activity for smart people but an activity for white non-Hispanic people as well. And if I had not grown up with the type of relatives I have, I might have thought of chess in the same way that Olmos alluded to in that quote.

Indeed, as much as I would like to dismiss Olmos's statement as an obvious untruth, I can't help remembering that I had a problem seeing surfing as a Latino thing for many years even though some words of surfer slang -- for example, "chick" -- were derived from Spanish. For that matter, I rarely saw water polo as anything other than an activity for rich WASPs because that was the impression I got from American books, movies and TV shows -- an impression that might not have existed if a book like Americanos had existed in my youth.

So maybe I should not be so hasty about dismissing the importance of Americanos to would-be readers in the Latino and Latinophile communities. After all, it would be nice if would-be Hispanophobes read it too but that does not mean that there is not much in this book that non-Hispanophobes can learn from as well. And if you choose to be one of the few smart people out there who don't believe this book is worth reading, you can always look at the pictures.

Quote of the Week

My Latin roots are very strong. All my life, because I'm blonde and blue-eyed, people who aren't Hispanic can't believe I am. And people who are Hispanic always think I'm not, because I don't look like them. Being Latin is part of who I am and I bring that part to every role.
--Cameron Diaz

Book of the Week

Now that I have read Rick Najera's autobiography Almost White: Forced Confessions of a Latino in Hollywood, I owe him an apology. I never realized how much of a struggle he had with his various projects before I read this book and though part of me wants to be still skeptical, I have a greater appreciation for his work now than I did before. Of course, it would have been nice if Najera's own work had made such apologies unnecessary but you can't have everything.

Anyway, I can't guarantee that I will like his next film project but I would like to read his next book.

Quote of the Week

So instead of asking why we can't be considered American like everyone else, let's ask, why can't everyone else be more like us?
--Ed Morales, Living in Spanglish: The Search for Latino Identity in America

Quote of the Week

It is not wrong to be a maid, or even a Latina maid, but there is something very wrong with an American entertainment industry that continually tells Latinas that this is all they are or can ever be.
--Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, "The problem with “Devious Maids” goes far beyond Hollywood", NBCLatino.com, June 07, 2013.

My comment:

I know I should have commented on the Devious Maids controversy long before this, but unfortunately, I got caught up with other issues. I often put off commenting on controversial issues until I find the right words to do them justice, but unfortunately, the right words don't always come at a convenient time.

Anyway, as much as I admire Marc Cherry's and Eva Longoria's work on the TV series Desperate Housewives, I always have found that show's take on ethnic issues a bit embarrassing -- almost as if the hearts of the show's writers and cast were not really in it. In a way, I could understand. After all, Longoria's character Gabby Solis wasn't meant to be the ideal example of a Mexican-American woman any more than Ricky Ricardo was meant to be the ideal Cuban-American man. Indeed, part of what made her so entertaining on Desperate Housewives was that she was anything but an ideal person of any ethnic background and yet because she was less than ideal, she came across as being more human -- and thus, more believable and sympathetic -- than a more PC character would have been. (Then again I grew up with a father who always liked Donald Duck better than Mickey Mouse because he too was more "human" -- or at least more believable -- than the squeaky-voiced rodent. Not that a talking duck is all that comparable to Ms. Solis but still...)

As for the Devious Maids series, I have not seen it yet. And while I hesitate to comment on it for that reason, I have yet to read anything concerning it which would suggest it would be an improvement on Desperate Housewives. Indeed, as a person of Mexican descent who spent most of his life around relatives of Mexican-American descent -- and who has yet to meet any one who has ever worked as a maid or a domestic servant -- I can not help but be a little tired of seeing yet another TV series in which the main Mexican-American characters are maids. After all, it is not like such shows are rare. Indeed, I find it a bit ironic to note that most of my more prosperous relatives in Mexico are more likely to hire maids than be maids -- and yet one rarely sees such Mexicans portrayed on American TV shows.

But then most American TV shows are not made for either Mexican or Mexican-American viewers. And I doubt very much that the success of a Devious Maids is going to change that. Which is a shame -- for both Mexicans and non-Mexicans.

Comic Book Image of the Week

These two scenes from The Uncanny X-Men number 193 are among some of the few times Marvel Comics scribe Chris Claremont ever mentioned Latinos -- and naturally, he can't help getting it a little bit wrong. After all, few Latinos -- unless they're talking to a member of a different Spanish-surnamed ethnic group -- would use the phrase "us Latinos" when it would sound much more natural to say "us Cubans", "us Puerto Ricans", "us Mexicans" or even "us Americans."

Granted, this is a small quibble -- and even the Latin creators of the comic strip Baldo can't resist repeating the same trope -- as if their title character is suddenly going to become less popular if he turns out to be part of the "wrong" Latino ethnic group.

Then again it all depends on how literally you interpret the words "hermano" and "bro" in this scene. After all, it's not likely that Jaime Rodriguez would be using the words "us Latinos" to his own brother unless he really wanted to be very politically correct.

Of course, if you want more context for those two scenes, there is always this:

R.I.P. Carmen Zapata

American actress Carmen Margarita Zapata, best known for such movies as Sister Act and Point of No Return as well as her role as Doña Luz in the bilingual PBS TV series Villa Alegre, uttered her last tilde on January 5 at age 86.

She will be missed.

Quote of the Week

A really terrific guy comes along and says, "I wish you’d stay home and be my wife," and that’s the most logical thing in the world for a Latin. And I loved being a Latin wife -- you get treated very well. There’s a lot of attention in return for that sacrifice.
--Esther Williams

TV Quote of the Week

Now don't adjust your sets. You are seeing three Latinos on television.
--Herbert Siguenza, Culture Clash

TV Quote of the Week

I want to take this moment to thank our Latino audience for watching. And for those of you who can understand me but who are not Latino, I want to commend you for learning a second language.
--Nadine Velazquez, My Name Is Earl, “Barn Burner”

Pop Song of the Week: “Shakin'”

Who says gentlemen prefer blondes?

TV Quote of the Week

You’ll be fine. Just do what I did when I first met Ellie’s folks. Be yourself, only less Latino.
--Ian Gomez, Cougar Town, “When a Kid Goes Bad”