Margarita; Thumbing through Ebert; Girls to Grrrlz

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MARGARITA

THE GREAT MARGARITA BOOK: A HANDBOOK WITH RECIPES (1999)
by Al Lucero

Pp. 19-27 The Noble Origins of the Margarita
Pg. 20  Who invented the margarita?  One might just as easily ask, "Who
discovered fire?" (...)  The most commonly related story of the margarita's
origin is this one: (Created at Palm Springs, California--ed.)
Pp. 20-21  (As told by the ad agency for Cointreau. By Margarita Sames of
Acapulco, in 1948--ed.)
Pg. 21 (By Margarita Sames at the Tail of the Cock bar in Los Angeles--ed.)
Pp. 21-23  (AP October 1992 obituary of Carlos Herrera, who died at age 90.
He allegedly invented the drink at Rancho La Gloria, south of Tijuana, in
1938 or 1939--ed.)
Pp. 23-24 (Inspired by the Sidecar, which was allegedly invented in 1931 at
Harry's New York Bar on the Rue Daunou in Paris--ed.)
Pg. 24  (Created by Red Hinton, a bartender in Virginia CIty, after his
Mexican girlfriend, Margarita Mendes--ed.)
Pg. 25  (Created by Danny Negrete, manager of the Crespo Hotel in Pueblo,
Mexico, in 1936 for his girlfriend, Margarita--ed.)
Pg. 25  (Created by Dona Bertha, owner of a bar in Taxco, Mexico--ed.)
Pg. 25  (Created at Tommy's Place in Juarez in 1942, a popular spot with Fort
Bliss GIs.  Featured in Texas Monthly in 1974, with Pancho Morales as the
creator--ed.)

For the same information:
MARIA'S REAL MARGARITA BOOK:
A DRINK SO GOOD THEY HAD TO BUILD THE SANTA FE TRAIL (1994)
by Al Lucero

     I'll fly down to Mexico right away to check it out.

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THUMBING THROUGH EBERT

EBERT'S BIGGER LITTLE MOVIE GLOSSARY:
A GREATLY EXPANDED AND MUCH IMPROVED COMPENDIUM OF MOVIE CLICHES,
STEREOTYPES, OBLIGATORY SCENES, HACKNEYED FORMULAS, SHOPWORN CONVENTIONS, AND
OUTDATED ARCHETYPES
by Roger Ebert
Andrews McMeel Publishing, Kansas City, 1999
228 pages, paperback, $9.95

    Did Roger Ebert just put his name on this?  Did he write this?  What is
this?
    Someone asked me (after first contacting Allan Metcalf and others) about
"high concept."  It's not in this book.  Etymologies of legitimate movie
terminology like that would make a great book.
    The whole thing seems to be stuff submitted to Ebert from readers.  None
of it is interesting.  Most of it seems to be invented by the people who
submitted the items--like Murphy's Law-type inventions.  There are few (if
any) direct citations that are of any use.
    Thumbs down.

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GIRLS TO GRRRLZ

FROM GIRLS TO GRRRLZ:
A HISTORY OF Q (woman symbol--ed.) COMICS FROM TEENS TO ZINES
by Trina Robbins
Chronicle Books, 1999
144 pages, paperback, $17.95

     Sooner or later, every single comic ever produced will have its own
glossy new book.
    The book is divided:
Chapter One: Girls' Comics, 1941-1957
Chapter Two: Women's Comics, 1947-1977
Chapter Three: Womyn's Comix, 1970-1989
Chapter Four: Grrrlz' Comix, The 1990s
     Sabrina, The Teen-Age Witch is on pages 68-69.  The comic owners are
complaining about Melissa Joan Hart's pictures in the current issue of MAXIM,
but the first Sabrina in 1962 is a sex kitten who says "Hi!  My name is
Sabrina!  I hope I haven't disappointed you!"
    The book states on page seven that "it all started with Archie."  Wrong.
It all started a decade before with Harold Teen.  Unlike TIJUANA BIBLES,
there's no Madeline Kripke here.  Pg. 70 on the 1960s-1970s mentions "such
dialogue as 'He's strictly dreamsville!', 'Grow up!  You're yesterday,
baby!', and 'You're beautiful people, hon...and I sure do dig your groove!'"
     The author contributed to Wimmen's Comix, which started in 1973.  Pg.
93:  "In fact, _Wimmen's Comix_ was criticized for keeping the word _men_ in
its title.  Feminists were experimenting with new ways to spell their gender,
such as _womon_ or _womyn_."  Pg. 113: "In 1992, _Wimmen's Comix_ finally
removed the word men from its name and became _Wimmin's Comix_."
     Pg. 125:  "The girls of Bikini Kill and Bratmobile got together, coming
up with such slogans as 'Revolution girls style now,' and the term _Riot
Grrrl_.  Two of them, Allison Wolte and Molly Neuman, put together the first
Riot Grrrl zine, using that name, and the movement was born.  'Grrrl'
combined that reclaimed word _girl_ with a defiant growl--these were no
well-mannered, pink-ribboned 'nice girls.'"
    No pictures of Laura Croft--I want my money back.

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TOP TEN REASONS IT'S NOT BEEN A GOOD WEEK
#4--AMAZON.COM

      My letter about Amazon.com censorship appeared (with the damning facts
heavily edited) in the June 1999 WIRED.  My review of Robert Hendrickson's
awful NEW YAWK TAWK has never appeared on Amazon.com.  If you ask, they
answer with a form letter (after months of waiting).  If they answer at all!
     Right as the WIRED letter was published, my months-old review of LET'S
GO NEW YORK CITY 1999 was suddenly acceptable.  To "balance" it, the Amazon
staff probably wrote this anonymous review:

A reader from New York, NY
April 20, 1999  Five Stars
     Great help for the new person in town!  I recently relocated to New York
City with only this book in hand.  It has been invaluable in helping me
finding my way around as well as finding fun things to do.

     When I checked back again last week, my LET'S GO NEW YORK 1999 review
disappeared.  Only the anonymous review was there!
      I asked the Amazon staff why they did this.  There has been no reply.
I wrote another review that's on there--at least it was on there yesterday.
     Jeff Bezos, chairman of Amazon.com, was a winner of the week in this
Sunday's New York Post.  He made $874 million in a single day, and his net
worth is now $4.74 billion.