I just chanced upon a Flickr app that tells you all kinds of things about your Flickr photos, profile and stuff… I love checking stats on me blog and photos and stuff and thanks to this gizmo I found out some of my photos are being used around the web, all properly attributed and everything, just the way things should be.

The most prestigious is a photo of Tonalá on Wikipedia’s English Tonalá page, and probably the least prestigious would be the “sex shop and mariscos” one over here, it’s also one of me most popular photos. There’re also a few phototour related ones too. There’s a blog using my Victor Jara design to illustrate a post on copyright infringement… Hope Victor’s family aren’t too litiginous…

Anyroad, if you’ve got a Flickr account, check it out.

While roaming around the outer limits of YouTube I came across this pearl. I’ve put the lyrics and a rough and ready translation below (it looks like the live version below messes about a bit with the order of the verses mind). All about Guanatos (the locals’ name for Guadalajara) by a group from Guanatos, singing to people from Guanatos in Guanatos.

piensa todo lo q hay aqui - Think about all the things that are here
100% tapatio es todo lo q tienes q decir - 100% Tapatio is all you have to say,
apasionadamente. - passionately

piensa todo lo q hay aqui - Think about all the things that are here
100% tapatio es todo lo q tienes q decir- 100% Tapatio is all you have to say,
muy orgullosamente. - very proudly

siente lo q tu tienes aqui - Feel all the things you’ve got here
cultura,artesania - culture, craft
q le puedes mostrar a todo el mundo - that you can show to everyone
y el mariachi si senor - and yes, sir, mariachi (too).

Guanatos de corazon - Guanatos in my heart
100% tapatuyo soy! yeah - I’m 100% tapatio! Yeah!
mi cultura en la calle crecio. - My culture grew in the streets.

Las mujeres mas bellas son de aqui - The most beautiful women are from here
el clima perfecto - its perfect climate
y la juventud esta siempre sonriendo - and always-smiling youth
te abrira el corazon- will open up your heart

Guanatos de corazooooooon- Born and bred in Guanatos
100% tapatuyo soy! yeah- I’m 100% tapatio! Yeah!
mi cultura en la calle crecio.- My culture grew in the streets.

Guanatooos mi tierra q me vio nacer - Guanatos- the land where I was born
Guanatooos el tequila q me vio llorar - Guanatos- where tequila made me cry
Guanatooos es mi tierra q me vio nacer- Guanatos- the land where I was born
Guanatooos el tequila q me vio llorar- Guanatos- where tequila made me cry

Piensa todo lo q hay aqui - Think about all the things that are here
100% tapatio es todo lo q tieness q decir - 100% Tapatio is all you have to say.

And your Spanish word of the week is a Mexicanism, Naco meaning naff, tacky, of poor taste/ quality, cheap. I’ve a feeling this song qualifies…

My new favourite beach town for those on a budget…

Chacala, is about 10 minutes beachwards from Las Varas and 3 hrs from Guadalajara and is absolutely gorgeous. We rented a house for the 7 of us with a pool and everything. Brought the BBQ and had 48 hours of no internet (though it was available), sun, sand, seafood and Pueblo Viejo. We arrived late afternoon on Friday, stayed in the pool all evening, cooking up a storm of hamburguesas and suchlike. Then Saturday, arranged to have people come and cook camarones al mojo de ajo and a la diabla around the house in the evening and explored the town on foot and by boat. Monica clandestinely baked sita a delicious chocolate cake and all.

On Sunday we came home and went to the Lucha Libre in the evening followed by the Famosos Equipales cantina and yesterday (Sita’s birthday) went out for breakfast, then Tlaquepaque then (and I’m going to spell their name wrong in protest of them not allowing cameras) a FANTASTIC Mexican/Thai fusion meal at Annnitttta liiii followed by imported Californian wines chez nous. Plenty of Chacala photos on Flickr, and as per usual my favourites below:

Well, at least I’ve never been more prepared for a system breakdown than this time. Files backed up, settings, a handwritten list of programs to install… And (THANK YOU ANA!) a replacement computer lined up to boot. I really shouldn’t complain… I even remembered to backup my firefox saved password files. I’m probably going to invest in a decent amount of RAM for this computer though so it doesn’t get tied up during webdesignery. I’ll also have to find a USB lead to transfer my pix from now on.

Anyroad, now we’re off to the beach, Chacala it’s called. We’ve rented a house with a swimming pool for the weekend for the 7 of us (Set, Amy and Angeles are in tow also). And it’s allegedly only 4 hours away on toll roads. We’ve been wrong before though. Should be good.

Anyroad, thanks for your patience while posting’s been slow.

I’m in the process of wiping my hard drive and starting again from scratch. Not fun. Presently in the planning stages, listing all the CDs and downloads I have to find to reinstall my programs, from essentials, like XP, Office, Firefox, etc to when-i-get-the chance programs like Google Earth and Audacity. Then there’s all the photos, videos, mp3s, drivers, translations, extensions, websites, you name it, to back up to an external hard drive…

The computer’s shutting down with alarming frequency, and though the heat is definitely a factor, this reinstall needs to be done. I took it apart and the fans and vents are all clean, but something’s amiss. If this nuclear option doesn’t sort it out I’ll not be best pleased…