buried mirror: latest reflections

The Mexican Tourism Board’s campaign slogan seems a backhanded compliment to Mexico. IT seems to be saying you probably don’t expect much of Mexico, but it’s not that bad.
Funny thing is though, the campaign seems to be working. A huge display highlighting the slogan has been installed at the Miami International Airport. Mexico Premiere has [...]

Okay, this post has only the most remote possible connection to Mesoamerica. But I just came back from a trip to the Finger Lakes region of New York, where I visited a marshland nature preserve called the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. (The image shows a typical marsh vista at about the height of fall [...]

I’m not a big Pink Floyd fan, but the juxtaposition of their music with a family visit to the Maya site expresses something of how the public views Chichen Itza.

THE STRANGER ARRIVED as the dry season began to harden the jungle paths, allowing armies to pass. Flanked by his warriors, he marched into the Maya city of Waka, past temples and markets and across broad plazas. Its citizens must have gaped, impressed not just by the show of force but also by the men’s [...]

San Bernardino County Museum curator Adella Schroth admits the exhibition Five Suns: The Art of Ancient Mesoamerica (May 19-November 4, 2007) was inspired by Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto. That’s not surprising, but what is surprising is that the museum’s scholarship appears to have descended to the level of that of the film.
Among the show’s howlers (as [...]

Thank heavens that’s over.
The three most annoying idiot topics related to the Maya:

New seven wonders of the world
Maya 2012 prophesy
Mel’s Gibson Apocalypto

If these would go away the world would be a better place.

I’ve seen a lot of posts about the coming End of Days — to occur in 2012 according to the Maya calendar — in my feeds, and I’ve ignored them until now. Now at last Inner Diablog has made some comments on the subject that are worth linking to.

The clip below is a trailer for Estrellas de la Línea, a film about sex workers in Guatemala City who organized themselves as a football (soccer) team. Guatemala City has become a nightmarish places, and it goes without saying that these women’s lives must be very difficult.
The full story is at The Global Game.

Posting is a little light while I’m on the road. Meanwhile, for your amusement, here are a couple of images of the facade of the Mayan Theater (1040 Hill Street, near 11th Street) in Los Angeles.
The decorative motifs on the facade of the theater were inspired by elements of the late Maya sites of [...]