Author Archive for Grecia Montelongo

Abuelas nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Published
by
Grecia Montelongo
on May 21, 2008
in Generally Speaking
. 1 Comment

abuelas The Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo are a group of “grandmas” dedicated to making a positive and meaningful impact on their community. This group of non governmental human rights activists have been dedicated to fighting for the promotion of human rights for the past 30 years.

Since 1977, their ultimate goal has been to find the children kidnapped because of the political repression that took place in the Argentine republic during the last military dictatorship.

They fight to return these children to their legitimate families and create conditions to insure that this terrible violation of children’s rights never happens again, seeking punishment all those responsible.When they celebrated their 20th anniversary in 1997, 59 children had recovered their identities and their families.

The abuelas have been recently recognized for their hard work and nominated for the Nobel peace price. You can show your support to their nomination by writing to nobelabuelas@gmail.com and also by sharing their story with friends and family. Visit their website for more on their amazing story story and view their nomination letter.

http://www.abuelas.org.ar/english/history.htm

Chef Carlos seeks good lemon-lime recipe

Published
by
Grecia Montelongo
on April 28, 2008
in Generally Speaking and In The News
. 1 Comment

Top Chef’s Chef Carlos Fernandez invites all Latinos to submit their best recipe containing 7UP. This recipe can be anything from appetizers to entrées and it can be baked, fried, cooked, you name it . The main rule is that it has to have that lemon-lime taste provided by 7UP. So bring out your cooking tools and creativity and show him what you can do! The recipes can be submitted online, by mail, or even personally handed to chef Carlos himself. He will hold a tour across the U.S. where he will demonstrate how to cook his favorite 7UP recipes.

Here are the tour dates:

Los Angeles, Ca: May 8 - 25th
Phoenix, AZ: June 2 - 8th
Houston, TX: June 16 - 29th
Dallas, TX: June 30- July 13th
Chicago, IL: July 13 - 27th

For more information and contest rules, visit the http://www.receta7UP.com.

Viva Hollywood!

Published
by
Grecia Montelongo
on April 10, 2008
in Latino Culture and Latino Television
. 0 Comments

As we Latinos know, Telenovela stars are among the most sexy, hot, emotional and extreme that tv offers. Seems like the rest of America will soon be made aware of that when the premiere of VH1’s “Viva Hollywood” airs on Sunday, April 13th at 10:30pm. VH1 is in search for America’s “numero uno telenovela star” and the series will document the journey to stardom of the 12 lucky contestants.

telenovela

The Viva Hollywood cast compiled of bilingual Latino and Latina aspiring telenovela stars: Alexcy, Berto, Enrique, Geovannie, Gisel, Jainmy, Kalain, Janet, Jenn, Roseny, Silvia and Vinci will move into the “Casa De Locos” where they must master the “7 Deadly Sins of Telenovelas:” passion, lust, charisma, drama, fire, seduction and scandal. These “sins” are disciplines each

cast member must learn in order to capture the over-the-top style of a true telenovela star and impress the celebrity judges. These celebrity judges include actress and singer Maria Conchita Alonso and actor singer/song-writer Carlos Ponce. Celebrity astrologer and Latino legend, Walter Mercado, will appear in each episode to give the contestants guidance on their journey

and alert the cast of their upcoming challenges. Sofia Vergara, Daisy Fuentes, Angelica Vale, Charo, Christian De La Fuentes, Lorena Rojas, Maria Celeste Arraras and Perez Hilton have signed on as celebrity guests as well.

Vh1’s Jeff Olde commented on the reasoning behind the show:

“Each day, an astounding two billion people around the world watch telenovelas which are a vibrant and historic part of the Latino community. We wanted to tap into and expand on the

passion that surrounds this phenomenon,” said Jeff Olde, Executive Vice President

, Original Programming and Production, VH1. “If you love telenovelas, you will love this show, if you never heard of a telenovela you will love this show because the stakes are huge with a real chance at international superstardom and that is an appeal and a hook that is universal.”

In the end, only one contestant will win the honor of being named “Nume

ro Uno Telenovela Star,” and a prize package that includes a contract with Telemundo and a role in one of their upcoming telenovelas, representation from artist management company Latin World Entertainment , a year’s lease at one of Miami’s hottest condominiums, the Flamingo South Beach and a cash grand prize of $100,000.

MySpace Latino sets an official launch party date

Published
by
Grecia Montelongo
on April 4, 2008
in Generally Speaking
. 0 Comments

Last Thursday, MySpace announced its plans to launch a bilingual version of its leading social-networking website tailored to US Latinos.

The website will be in Spanish and English and its offerings will include entertainment, sports, music, and fashion content from Impremedia, Gibson Guitar, Remezcla, Billboard and Spanish Broadcasting System.

They have now set the date for their official launch party in Miami on April 11th! Tego Calderon, Circo, Locos Por Juana and DJ Pauer are scheduled to perform with a TBD announced special guest. Check it out if you are in the area, visit www.myspace.com/showssecretos for more information.

myspacelatino.gif

Baseball team targets Hispanics

Published
by
Grecia Montelongo
on March 28, 2008
in Business Solutions and Sports
. 0 Comments

diamondback.gifHispanics are being sought after by the Diamonbacks in an effort to expand their fanbase. In a state like Arizona, where the Hispanic population has reached 29.2%, they are key for the baseball league to improve their incoming revenue.

The Diamonbacks hope to achieve the same success that was attained by the LA Dodgers when they hired lefthanded pitcher Fernando Valenzuela , whose popularity with fans become known as “Fernandomania”. Since Diamondbacks can’t count on the next Valenzuela to draw in Hispanic fans, their efforts will have to take another form.

So how can the Diamondback cater to the Latino public?? According to president Derrick Hall, “You have to have bilingual signs. You have to have bilingual employees.” They are currently hiring Spanish speaking ticket booth operators “So if they’re not comfortable communicating in English, there is someone they can speak with.” They also try to find Spanish-speaking operators and tour guides, but they are “hard to keep” because they are in such high demand in the area.

Other efforts done by the Diamondbacks include reaching out through Hispanics through their media with special promotions, working with Univision and Spanish language newspapers such as La Voz and TV y Mas. The Diamondbacks broadcast all 162 regular season games on radio in Spanish. They also offer the largest Spanish TV package in Major League Baseball with 50 games shown on a Phoenix UHF channel. For the past two seasons they have staged Hispanic bands for post game concerts, which Hall said has drawn “huge crowds”.

Hall said one mistake that’s often made by baseball teams is to promote only Hispanic players to the Hispanic fans. Although they might have special connection to certain players, Hispanic fans are committed to the entire team.