Culture Clash taught me to speak like a Vato

I just found the program for Culture Clash's latest production, Water & Power under a pile of junk mail. Tonk and I were fortunate to get tickets to the final show of the production at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown a couple of weeks ago. Although not as impressed with the actual performance, I was tickled to find a glossary in the program filled with Spanish slang that both Gringos and Chinos can appreciate.

Here are my favorites. I took the liberty to mix and match words and phrases:

Poquito mas mota -- A little more marijuana
Poquito mas gavachita -- A little more little white girl
Poquito mas pedo -- A little more drunkenness and/or trouble
Callate, Viejita! -- Shut up, Old Lady!
Clamate, Chavala! -- Calm down, Little Girl
Poquito mas cabeza, Chavala! -- A little more head, Little Girl
Que casualidad, que curioso -- What a coincidence, how strange (this is an actual phrase from the program booklet)

Oh how I love learning other languages. But in retrospect, I should have went to the Banksy exhibit which happened to have ended that same Sunday.

Check out the controversially painted Elephant in the Room:

I'm ambivalent about the elephant issue. It's such a beautiful art piece with a meaningful message. During the show, cards were handed out explaining: "There's an elephant in the room. There's a problem we never talk about. The fact is that life isn't getting any fairer…. 20 billion people live below the poverty line." On the other hand, I could see why animal activists were upset. Although nontoxic, the paint was unsafe and illegal to be used in such a manner. Plus, there was a huge crowd and it was very hot for the elephant.

Despite this, Banksy is cool as hell. His graffitti art has been all over LA. He's very anti-corporate, anti-government, yet his art is not didactic or obvious. It's actually very artful. It makes you think but not too hard. Just the way I like it.

So Banksy's just as political as Cultural Clash, but different. You should check out both websites that I conveniently included in my entry above (especially Banksy's).

Me entiendes, Chingadera? You get me, you piece of crap?

Si? Sabes! Palabra.