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Re: Chalupas (long, wildly off-topic)



At 11:23 10/9/99 +0500, Sarma wrote:
How did you expect me to see the advertisement in U.S.A TV
while residing in India.

regards,
sarma.

Interesting question. There are folks promoting remote viewing
of patients as a means of extending medical care to the U.S
hinterland (which cannot always support a physician in the
accustomed lifestyle).
I have a reactionary concern that this is a prodigal use
of telecommunications bandwidth.

Given that satellite TV has not spread pop culture onto the Indian
mainland (a finding that I am sure would have disappointed former
President Reagan, who hoped to speak directly to Russian hearts in
the closing days of the cold war by this means) I searched with
'chalupa' and 'taco bell' for some image for Sarma and found an
amazing variety of hits.

There were several academic faculty named Chalupa - see for example
this seminar description:
----------------------------------------------------------
Moderator: Ken A. Bugajski, Texas A&M University
Cynthia S. Chalupa,
PhD program, Germanic Languages & Literatures, Ohio State University,

"Dichter oder Denker? An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Works of
Friedrich Nietzsche"
-----------------------------------------------------------

There was a hail of Czechoslovak hits among which, the Chalupa Cup
described as a competitive rowing prize; a storm of UNIX RAID
commentary on Chalupa's LINUX (system software) recipe as well as
more conventional recipes from Australia, Denmark and Holland for
this Mexican dish including one that was featured on the commercial
web page of a Gas Chromatogram supplier, as well as repeated
mention of the Californian Dry Bean Council.

I saw that chalupa is a variety of tostada (mentioned earlier in
this thread) and surprised myself by noting that ch- is the fourth
letter of the Spanish dictionary (!)

TEXMEX-CHALUPA (Tex-Mex style tostada)
You will need to first make a batch of frijoles refritos.
This dish is more properly known in Mexico as tostadas.
Makes 12 chalupas. vegetable oil 12 corn tortillas etc...

http://www.zip.com.au/~cs/recipes/html/chalupa-1.html
http://www.wins.uva.nl/~mes/recipe/usenet/texmex-chalupa.html

Then there was a healthy offering of fan sites, including the surreal:
-------------------------------------------------------------
NEW FORM OF BIRTH CONTROL
PepsiCo subsidiary Taco Bell launched its controversial
"morning after" burrito, a zesty, Mexican-style entree that
prevents unwanted pregnancies if ingested within 36 hours
following intercourse


Prominent on a site of critical appraisal of the genre was this:
=======================================
In a message dated 4/2/98 1:42:48 PM, cbofinger@saimarketing.com wrote:

Can you believe this? Another reason marketers are getting a bad name!
In alt.politics.usa.republican, satiricus@aol.com wrote:

The problems with the Dinky, the Taco Bell Chihuahua concept
are five-fold:

First, in the weeks since its initial airing, emergency rooms of
veterinary clinics have experienced a significant surge of pet owners
bringing in their dogs for and to whom they'd actually bought and fed
Taco Bell food.
Apparently, the pet owners got the impression from the commercial
that dogs really go for Taco Bell. The most common malady vets
discovered: Large taco chip fragments wedged in the throats of
their pets. Notably, chihuahuas were the number-one breed of dog
experiencing that sort of problem.

Second, some consumers say they have been turned off entirely
by the notion that Taco Bell's food appeals to dogs.
Some have complained that the commercial reminded them more of
a dog-food commercial than a human-restaurant one.

Third, the commercial panders to an inside-cultural joke:
In Mexico and some parts of Latin and South America, some
unscrupulous streetside food vendors hawking beef and chicken
tacos, burritos, etc. have been known to substitute
"carne de gato y/o perro" --- that's *cat and dog meat* ---
for beef and chicken. So naturally, a Chihuahua dog
(an evocation of Chihuahua, Mexico whence originated the
Chihuahua dog breed) saying "Yo quiero Taco Bell."
("I want some Taco Bell food.") sounds downright cannabalistic of
that little dog --- from a certain point of view.

Fourth, the commercial also rankles some because it harkens
back to the old condescendingly stereotypical Frito Bandito
character, portraying Hispanics as backward peons.
There is an emerging Hispanic-American middle class that
understandably aspires not to be prejudged by stereotypes best
left in the past.
And understandably, as a growing political force, they don't
want to be stereotyped or typified as yapping chihuahuas or lapdogs.

Fifth, the appearance of the chihuahua speaking in a human
Hispanic voice saying, "Yo quiero Taco Bell" spooks some Hispanic
Americans of Mexican ancestry because of the Legend of La Chihuahua
Blanca, a legendary albino chihuahua that was said to be possessed
by a demon and would unexpectedly appear in the doorways of its
intended victims where in a human voice, it would speak rhyming
verses declaring a curse upon the person in question unless
they complied by feeding it or giving it what it wanted.

So there are indeed many legitimate reasons for so many to be
distressed by the Taco Bell commerials featuring Dinky the
Taco Bell Dog.


Sadly, though I was alert to any reference, however oblique to a
physics topic that would bring this discourse back to relevance
I was unable to forge the vital link.
And so I leave this meander, this divagation, this irrelevance
to your consideration.

Respectfully,



brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK