Molotov brings us another inspired video that doubles as a lesson in modern Mexico: PAN, PRI, PRD, and el bono sexenal! By the way, do you know why Rudy Giuliani’s image appears so often in Molotov videos?

An apostador is anyone who makes a wager. Control Machete’s "El Apostador" comes off their album Uno, Dos. This exquisitely animated video backs up the song’s tale of have and have not. It must be your lucky day, because we’re betting that you are going to learn something!

Just over a quarter of Mexico’s 127.5 million people are aged 18-24, and as such the “youth vote” could easily make or break any candidate in Mexico’s upcoming election on July 2. Patterned after the “Rock the Vote” campaign in the USA, Tu Rock Es Votar is running a television, radio and web campaign that hopes to improve voter turnout in the Mexican youth population despite a general desencantado (“disenchanted”) attitude found amongst all eligible voters.

Tu Rock Es Votar, a.k.a. TREV, continues its efforts to rally Mexico’s youth to get out and vote come election day. It’s something of an unspoken secret that TREV’s organizers tend to lean to the left, but they strive to make the ads non-partisan.

Felipe Calderón is running for president of Mexico as the candidate of PAN, Partido Acción Nacional. “The National Action Party” is also the party of Mexico’s current president, Vicente Fox. Felipe’s campaign slogan? Para que Vivamos Mejor, “So we can live better.” We know there must a word play parody of this phrase, but we haven’t found it yet!

Does Felipe Calderón love his children? We are quite sure that he does. If this promotional video for the possible heir to fellow PANista Vicente Foxe seems to you to have a “North of the border” slickness, it may not be simply coincidental.

Harvard-educated Felipe Calderón, who the New York Times calls “a dapper man who speaks with all the fire of an economist,” is perceived as the safe, business-friendly presidential candidate. This video carefully cultivates a persona antithetical to the rougher-hewn López Obrador.

López Obrador’s campaign commercials really try to shake potential voters out of their sillas, attempting to give the potentially marginalized a strong message: “now it’s our turn, now it’s your turn!” He blatantly positions himself against the rich, those who “take the biggest piece of the cake.”

Enjoying almost full support by his party as their presidential candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador stepped down from his post as Mayor of Mexico City, aka D.F. (Distrito Federal) to campaign for the presidency of Mexico in the 2006 elections against Felipe Calderón.

Joselo Rangel is a native of Minatitlan, Puerto de Veracruz. He went to university, however, in Mexico City, at UAM (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana). It was there that he teamed up with Ruben Albarran to create the legendary Café Tacuba. “Sobriedad” is from his recent solo effort, Lejos.

Yes, Belanova may be a shill for Pizza Hut Mexico, but we are not going to hold that against this fine synth-pop dance trio who came together in 2000 in Guadalajara. How did the band create the name Belanova? An entrevista en español in Enkidu magazine tells all.

Javier (Jay) De La Cueva Rosales is known to many in Mexico by the stage name “Brian Amadeus Moderatto,” under which guise he serves as lead singer of the group Moderatto. Here we find Brian making a guest appearance with Belanova during a live show in Guadalajara, much to the delight of the tapatíos who filled the hall.

Edgar Huerta, keyboardist of Belanova, refers to Joselo of Cafe Tacuba as un cuate. The word comes from the indigenous Nahuatl word coatl, which means “twin.” But Joselo is not Edgar’s gemelo, cuate is known by all Mexicans to refer to a “good buddy,” a “dear friend.”

We are all familiar with ¿Cómo se dice…?, “How do you say…”—it’s a very useful phrase when inquiring about the right words to use. Denisse Guererro repeatedly uses a similar phrase, asking the audience ¿Cóme dice?, which also sounds like it might be something like “How does one say?” but in fact this is Spanish for “How does it go?”—she wants the crowd to sing along!

"Me Puedes" is the first sencillo (single) to be released by the phenomenal La Gusana Ciega in over five years. (And it’s great!) It’s from an album called La Rueda del Diablo (The Devil’s Wheel), which was recorded in Los Angeles under the direction of eight-time grammy winner Benny Faccone, who has worked his magic with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Ricky Martin and Santana.

As it turns out the young Arturo Vega, Mexican emigré actor and artist in New York, lived below a girl who was seeing a young man named Douglas Glenn Colvin (who would come to be known as “Dee Dee Ramone”). The two visionaries got to talking…

Division Minuscula hails from Matamoros, a Mexican border town just to the south of Brownsville, Texas. Despite having disbanded for five years while members finished their degrees and helped out with family businesses, the group is back and not yet forgotten, with this hit song, Sismo (Earthquake), shaking the airwaves.

Armando David Ortigosa decided that something needed to be done to motivate the young people of Mexico to participate in its presidential election. He looked north for inspiration, where the “Rock the Vote” campaign used pop stars to try and get young voters to the polls. The Mexican equivalent became known as Tu Rock Es Votar.

Could it be that the “Tu Rock es Votar” campaign resulted in a closer Mexican 2006 election, one that ironically left the youth feeling more disillusioned than ever? Felipe Calderón Hinojosa edged out Andrés Manuel López Obrador by such a thin margin that the losing side demanded a total recount, which was not granted. The ensuing cloud surrounding the election left a bitter taste in the mouths of many Mexicans.

Juan is a seller of large garden plants in the fashionable La Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City. Luckily for us, he was willing to tell us a little about his lovely merchandise, most of which grows native in the lush mountains of Oaxaca.

We skip backstage once again to get some final thoughts from La Gusana Ciega, learning a bit more about their career and personnel changes. Like many of Mexico’s popular bands today, they got their start at a Mexico City club called Cocotitlán, which is also the name of a municipality well known for its corn festival.

Belinda Peregrín Schull, was born in Madrid, but moved with her family at the age of four to Mexico City. At the age of 18 Belinda had already become an international superstar for both her albums and starring roles in various telenovelas as well as a role in the Disney Channel’s Cheetah Girls.

When one of their friends suggested that the band’s name should be Belafunk, just half of a bell rang for them. They wanted something more cosmic, stellar, and looking in the closest encyclopedia they ran into the word Nova. That’s how Belanova — a beautiful star — got its name.

Abraham Quintanilla, III (also known as the brother of late Tejano singer Selena) was one of the founding members of Los Kumbia Kings, a band he broke away from in early 2006 to form the Kumbia All-Starz, garnering many hits including "Speedy Gonzalez". The Kumbia All-Starz are from Texas.