The Fluffy guy

George Lopez, Paul Rodriguez, Cheech Marin, etc. are names that probably the US might know very well. The “Latino” comedy is one of the most demanded nowadays in the United States.

Mexican comedy and Mexican-American comedy, though they share many characteristics, are remarkable different and have their special kind of humor. While in Mexico the comedy is based in impressions, pun and wordplay; in the US the Mexican-American comedians base their humor in the auto-critic, the adaptation of the Hispanic societies and the stereotypes of the Mexicans in general.

Beaners, laziness, wetbacks, drunkenness, cholos and a lively use of the Spanglish are constant topics on the Latino Comedy shows. Even when it all started big in the 70’s for the Hispanic comedy, I personally think that George Lopez is the guy who put Chicano comedy on the billboards and gave a big impulse to it in the last years. Thanks to him, millions consider the Mexican-American comedy one of the funniest.

For Mexicans it’s no problem to make fun of ourselves, we do it all the time. However this Chicano comedy is not often appreciated in Mexico, most of all because it is done in English.

Gabriel Iglesias is “a comedian that happens to be latino” as he describes himself. He is an extremely funny guy if you are already familiar with the Chicano comedy and if not… well, he is still funny. In his case, due to his excess weight, he makes fun not only of his Hispanic heritage but also of his overweight and does it in a really amusing way using all the available sources.

Of Mexican descent, the US citizen comedian gives an accurate and funny impression of the difficulties that a Mexican-American use to have in the daily experience in the US. He is one of those talents that are always worth to watch, even for the European audience, who want to have another impression of the minorities living in the country of the junk food, as Gabriel properly shows calling himself “Fluffy”, a polite way to avoid “fat”.

The sound effects,  the impressions, the funny faces, the high-pitched noisy voices and the sometimes tipsy talks are his hallmarks and he uses them with a mastered talent for comedy. This cake-lover is also known because of his simple personality and his approachable character, where nobody is free of his jokes and nobody is avoided to know him personally.

I just can not stop watching his videos.

Titán

Alejandro Cuétara is one of those talents in Mexico that are still not in big billboards but suddenly can appear in a big and massive production as the leading role, and that wouldn’t be surprising, due to his fluency while performing. He’s an actor with a trajectory mainly in TV, where he has been also a host in nationwide shows like ¿Quién dijo yo?, a mexican version to Whose line is it anyway?

The following is a video that made viral because of the hilarious performance of Cuétara, where he personifies a “chilango” trying to hit on a girl but doing the worst mistakes and saying the most stupid comments, the complete performance of a douche bag.

Just let me tell you that the video is in Spanish and unfortunately there are no subtitles to it, but if you can understand a bit then you’ll also find it funny.

¡Pinches nacos!

Look no hands!

Sorry for the few posts lately but a friend of mine has been in the Hospital and I’m taking care of her and visiting her sometimes, but I’ll be back tomorrow to give some more material and news.

In the meantime let me share quickly with you the following website:

www.looknohands.com

This website is one of the best I’ve seen for musicians, mainly guitar players, because includes a complete collection of scales and chords in a simple and clear way. The best advantage is that you can adjust many parameters as tuning, link-handed setup, order of strings, etc.

I recommend to use the Advanced Section for guitar because it has a complete description of your desired setup. It is an excellent tool for those, who want to work on a scale for a song, or even for improvisation.

Check it out and let me know your opinion!

Mexico City beaches

It is Easter and Mexico is known for its strong religious involvement these days, but it’s even more well-known for its availability for parties. Unfortunately, not many people are able to get along with the expenses of going party all days.

However, the long weekends in Mexico (also known as “Puentes”) are the perfect excuse to go out, travel and enjoy what the country has to give. The most popular places to visit are always the beaches and they have always the highest incomes in “Puentes”.

Is it true that everyone is going to the coast? Well, actually not. It is true that big cities as Mexico City are commonly left immediately once the break starts, but not everybody has the money to afford a trip with the family, and remember that Mexican families are not small. So, how do Mexicans solve it and go to the beach? The bring the beach to the city!

The actual head of the Gobernment of the Federal District, Marcelo Ebrard, started a program in 2007 denominated “Vamos a la Playa”, where artificial beaches are built in the holidays integrating even sand brought from the closest beaches.

In these artificial beaches many activities are integrated like sports, games, competitions, etc. The entrance is affordable for most of the population and even in some cases is totally free. That’s why these places are mostly visited by the persons in the middle-low and low earning societies.

Following is a funny video of Motel Diablito, a show featured in the Cable TV Channel “Exa TV”, where its presenter gives us a hilarious introduction to the “Artificial Beaches” in Mexico City. It’s not in English, but the solely watching worth it totally.

And the second part:

10 000 sing the Ode to Joy

It is always impressive to listen to a powerful voice, such as the Opera singers. As you might know, I’m an Opera lover and is one of my favorite music styles.

This time I wanna share this video with you, it is a Choir with 10 000 singers from Osaka and Sendai, singing along with the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra. They recorded this amazingly beautiful version of the 9th Symphony of Beethoven, better known as the “Ode to Joy”, which is now the European Anthem.

The performance was directed by Yutaka Sado and it was dedicated to the memory of the victims of the tsunami. Just have a look to the video. I would really love to be in that concert!

Sweet Home Alabama (Electric Version)

All of us know this song, all of us like it, all of us recognize it when we hear it (always played in Oktoberfest), but never in my life I would think to play it as in the following video. The creators Eric Goodchild and Steven Caton built two gigantic tesla coils to generate different sounds with the sparkles and stuff… well, the result is very impressive and absolutely fun:

According to the description of the video:

The primary drive system for the coils consists of high power semiconductors arranged into an H-Bridge switching configuration. During a spark event, the coil is pulsed on for a few hundred millionths of a second. During this short time, thousands of amps circulate within the primary tank circuit and the energy is coupled into the secondary resonator through magnetism.

So what appears to be a continuous burst of sparks is actually a specific number of sparks generated per second. By modulating the number of sparks that emit from the coil each second, different tones can be produced by the coils.

Have a look to their videos, they’re not only playing that song, but also have many other different hits such as In the Hall of the Mountain King, Pirates of the Caribbean, House of the rising sun, Dueling Banjos, etc. Check also their channel, they have cool shit with lasers and stuff.

Science fucking rocks!

Assassin’s Creed for Kinect

This is actually one of the April’s Fool creations, however it is still a good idea. As commented by the creators, they shot the entire product in one day supported by friends with the corresponding post-production that made a great impression. Remember, is just a prank, but it remained as a possible solution, that can be implemented in a nearly future on a big titled game such as Assassin’s Creed.

Do we want it? Of course! But it’s not because we are lovers of the Kinect in action games, but because we need to try all kind of technologies in products like these. Some might like to control their games with the body, some not, but in the end those are merely different styles and likes. I would try it.

Google Maps 8 bits

It’s April’s fools and all companies are giving some Easter eggs away. Our god Google can not be an exception and, from the many pranks developed by the company, this has been my favorite.

I don’t consider myself a true gamer (I prefer to go out than stay in front of a computer or a console) but I really enjoyed my 8-bit life with the Nintendo. I even had Atari, Family and Super (among other consoles), but this kind of practical joke really surprised me.

For the lovers of Machine Learning, like me, you can easily notice how they developed such 8-bit Nintendo-like platform so quick and fun. Yes, you know how.

But stop chatting and go to Google Maps and you’ll see the normal interface, except for a small area in the top right corner of the map. Click on “Quest” (“Mission” in the German version) and your map will turn 8-bit. Done, you are ready to play with Goggle Maps as in the Nintendo. If you don’t believe me try it yourself and I’ll put here the video and a picture of my town and surroundings in Google Maps Nintendo.

 

Be nostalgic, Google gives you the tools.

Song of the day: Cold Gin

Long time since I don’t speak about KISS, my favorite band of all times. You all know how I love KISS and how I started to write the KISStory in Spanish. Yes, it is around there but I stopped right before the release of Dynasty.

Anyways, this time the song of the day deserves to be Cold Gin, a simple but melodic classic 70’s rock song. It doesn’t need a big orchestra or a complete instrumental arrangement to create a banging mood, and I mean “banging” in all possible meanings.

The song was written by Ace Frehley for the first album of KISS but sung by Gene Simmons because Ace was still shy about his voice

By the way, have you listened to the cover from Pantera? Everyone knows that Dimebag Darrell was HUGE fan of KISS, most of all a big fan of Ace Frehley and he really takes the song in his hands to create another rock smashing song. Why Cold Gin? Because it was his favorite song of all times…

Cold fuckin’ Gin, motherfucker!

Drunken Stick

I think this kind of animation has been spread in Internet since a long time ago, but never is to late to share the wisdom. This animation in particular is made by Hyun and appears to be the parody of Jackie Chan’s “Drunken Master”.

These cartoons are really simple but they remind me the times where toons and video games didn’t need to have a realistic image to give us lots of entertainment, when the leading roles were simple pixels on a screen and we had great times giving them life through our imagination.

I might be old, but I gladly can say that I really enjoyed those first animations.

Also please check the animation “League of Legends: Stick Figure Spotlight”. It’s pretty cool: