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NASA has its first Latino flight director
     NASA reports that the first person of Hispanic heritage to lead Mission Control is now working as a flight director for the International Space Station.
After completing more than 700 hours of training, Ginger Kerrick began active duty in September, according to NASA’s web site. A flight director has the overall responsibility to manage and carry out shuttle flights and station expeditions.
Kerrick is joined by another Latino, Richard Jones, who is now in training to become the first Hispanic to lead space shuttle teams when flights resume. 
Since the beginning of America’s space program, only 58 individuals have directed human space flight missions. The Flight Director Class of 2005 is the second largest ever appointed and the most ethnically diverse, NASA said.

Most common Hispanic surnames
     In 1950, the United States Census Bureau started compiling lists of Spanish surnames found in the U.S. population. It updated the list again in 1960, 1970, and 1980. For the 1990s, a new approach was used, as it was with the 1990 census that the Bureau began including names in permanent electronic records.
    The top five Hispanic surnames are Garcia, Martinez, Rodriguez, Lopez and Hernandez, in that order.
     To see the ranking of the 639 most commonly occurring Hispanic surnames in the U.S., go online to
http://www.hispaniconline.c...

Novelas are going international
     The United Kingdom trade paper Broadcast reports the Latin American TV staple of telenovelas could be “the next big thing to take the international TV market by storm.”
     The paper says German viewers are already hooked on these daily soap operas and reports that Fremantle Media plans to produce the formats in other European territories.  Translated versions of telenovelas are already popular in Russia and Eastern Europe.
   Meanwhile, the Web site Filmstew.com reports that actress Salma Hayek is working on a U.S. version of the hit Colombian telenovela, Betty La Fea (Ugly Betty) that would air on ABC.  Betty La Fea is about an unattractive secretary who falls in love with her handsome boss who heads a fashion design company.

The first reggaeton movie is in the works
     Movie producers are jumping on reggaeton, the latest hot trend in music, with several films in the works.
     The Puerto Rican mix of hip-hop, Jamaican dance hall and salsa, delivered in staccato Spanglish, has been a hit on the radio and can be heard locally on Play 103 FM.
     The entertainment industry publication Variety reports that the biggest names in Reggaeton — Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Tego Calderon and Pit Bull — are being courted to either play themselves or do cameos in these pics. Daddy Yankee has even produced his own film, in which he plays a fictional reggaeton star. His low-budget “Straight from the Barrio” is reshooting some scenes and is in talks with potential distributors, according to Variety.
    Among the companies developing film ideas are Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions, Lion’s Gate Films and Propaganda films,  Variety said.