Tag: mexico

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Arty Awesomeness Entertainment Featured Movies

Awesome Star Wars-Inspired Loteria Cards

We’re carrying on the Happy Star Wars happiness. It’ll stop soon I promise, for tomorrow shall belong to the dark side of the Force. Darth Vader tweeted this earlier today:

@darthvader: In addition, I declare tomorrow to be “Dark Lord of the 5th Day”. Send money. And rebels.

In any case, we thought you might like this. Ever since he was little, artist Chepo Peña has been a fan of Star Wars. He grew up playing Lotería which is a Mexican game of chance using a special deck of 54 cards, each possessing a special image and number.

Peña has mashed two of his favourite things together to create a new set of Lotería cards that where he replaced the traditional elements with characters from the Star Wars saga. For example in the La Luna card the moon is now the Death Star, or with card #9, El Barril, the barrel is now depicted by Artoo (poor little guy). Have a look at some of Peña’s Lotería cards after the jump.

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Cautionary Tales

The Pigs Strike Back, Swine Flu on The Loose

If pigs belonged to a shadowy brotherhood, they’d be laughing their trotters off right now. We live in very interesting times with marvels in science and technology happening every day. And now you can add to that list a never-before-seen mixture of viruses from swine, birds, and humans.

Swine flu is a respiratory disease, caused by influenza type A which typically infects pigs. It hasn’t normally infected humans, but the latest form can spread from person to person, and with that the potential to spark a global pandemic.

The new strain has killed up to 149 people in Mexico, infected 50 in the United States, six in Canada, two each in Spain and Scotland, with New Zealand and Israel confirming cases of swine flu today. As a result the World Health Organization has raised its alert level to phase 4, indicating the virus is becoming increasingly adept at spreading among humans. Phase 6 is the highest alert level where the virus spreads to another country in a different region and the global pandemic is under way.

Keep up-to-date with Reuters’ global coverage of the swine flu.

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Cautionary Tales Featured Photoworthy

The Big Picture: Mexico’s Drug War

In 2006, Mexican president Felipe Calderón declared war on drug cartels and committed government more resources to stop the violence and stem the flow of drugs. Since then, the government has made some gains, notably arresting “disposal expert” who dissolved over 300 victims for a Tijuana drug cartel. However, there have been heavy losses as well – gun battles, assassinations, and fights between rival cartels have resulted in over 9,500 deaths since December 2006 – over 5,300 killed last year alone.

Boston.com takes you through a series of photos (34 in total) of Mexico’s drug war on The Big Picture.

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Arty Photoworthy

Photoworthy: Isla Mujeres, Mexico

This amazing photo was taken by flickr user Patrick Smith whilst on vacation in Isla Mujeres, Mexico. It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing:

On the first day of my trip, the sun had set to the left of end of the pier, but I knew that over the next few days, the sun would move a little to the right each day. (In landscape photography it pays to know how the natural world works, just as a bird photographer must know the habits of the birds to get the best shots.) On the last day of my trip, the sun set right at the end of the pier. I was ready and had an image in my head of what I hoped I could capture. Fortunately the sun dropped below the clouds at the last minute and became visible right as the sun set. I had taken photographs on the previous evenings just in case this evening turned out to be cloudy just to be on the safe side.

So, I was lucky to be on vacation during this time, but the rest was planning!

– Found on Reddit.

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Entertainment Movie Reviews

Blu-ray Review: The Professionals

The year is 1917 and the Mexican Revolution is in full swing. Set against this backdrop, The Professionals is a hard-hitting western that tells the story of a group of mercenaries hired by an arrogant Texan oil baron, J.W. Grant (Ralph Bellamy), to rescue his kidnapped wife Maria (Claudia Cardinale). Maria went riding across the border into her native country Mexico, and was kidnapped by a ruthless revolutionary, murderer, thief, and all-round bad guy Captain Jesus Raza (Jack Palance). Raza has Maria stored away in a hideout protected by a 100-strong army and demands a $100 000 ransom for her safe return.

Will the hired guns be able to reclaim the billionaire’s trophy? Read on and find out.

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