Gays and God

Upon Jay's death from AIDS in 1994, the vultures began circling, and the good old days gave way to the present. Sorry, Pam, but such is "progress."

Karen Hayes
Houston

Making Book

Prolific author: Richard Connelly obviously doesn't know Mattress Mac too well either, otherwise he would know that this is his second book ["You Don't Know Mac," May 2]. The first book, Elvis Is on the Lot, was sold in local bookstores three or four years ago, and I have a copy.

Mac gets bashed a lot for self-promotion in his charitable giving, but who cares, as long as people are being helped? If you added up the community involvement of all the furniture stores in town, it would probably be only a fraction of what Mac has given back to worthwhile causes.

Mark Evert
Friendswood

Intellectual Pokémon

Eaten up: It is apparent that the writer of Night & Day [Dylan Otto Krider, May 2] is biased against video games. Anyone who thinks that video games (which incorporate reading, problem-solving and solid reflexes into one package) are less challenging and even "mindless fare" in comparison to comic books has obviously been in a cave for the last 30 years or so.

Play Pokémon on the Game Boy. Any of them. You will all eat your words.

Robert Stoute
Houston

Bye-Bye Liver

Caipirinha class: Imagine my dismay when the newspaper that brought me a 12-part series on the history of barbecue and a 32-part series on Mexican versus Tex-Mex got the Caipiroska all wrong ["Stirred and Shaken," by James W. Crooker, April 25]. It's not a Russian drink invented by a Gershwin piano player in an Argentine restaurant.

A Caipiroska is a variant on the national drink of Brazil, the caipirinha. Sip a caipirinha and enjoy one of the truly great summertime drinks. Brazilians will tell you that caipirinha means "little hillbilly."

Because making them is labor-intensive, it's nearly impossible to get a good caipirinha at an American bar. In Houston, the best are at Fogo de Chão and perhaps Rodizio Grill. Avoid the one at Bossa; they make it as badly as they spell it.

I hope you get good at caipirinhas before the weather gets too hot.

Bill Haase
Houston