DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: "Is Dating Tougher for Men or Women?"

In one week, on Wednesday, Dec. 7, hear about dates that will live in infamy. That’s when the Jinx Athenaeum presents a debate, moderated by Michel “The Brain” Evanchik, between the lovelorn man known as The Anonymous Blogger and literary agent Hillery Borton (soon to be one of the women immortalized on the VH1 dating show tentatively titled Crushed Out, premiering around February 2006) on the question:

Is Dating Tougher for Men or Women?

That’s Dec. 7 at 8pm, downstairs at Lolita bar (free admission, cash bar), northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, one block south and three west of the Delancey St. subway stop.

As for me, your debate host, Jinx Rational Agent Todd Seavey, my dating trials and errors have led to a mention in this recent New York magazine article by Amy Sohn about people who don’t want kids:

http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/nightlife/sex/columns/mating/14917/

I think being in this magazine officially makes me a New York resident after fourteen years of living here, so I’ll plan to remain here at least another fourteen (NOTE: my apologies to the rest of the world, but I’m staying put).

One advantage of New York is being surrounded by interesting writers, so let me conclude by suggesting some recent or impending works by friends of mine whose stuff might just make perfect gifts this holiday season, or maybe next holiday season for the ones that aren’t published yet (I hope this will make up for my own long-planned political tractatus still being, at least for now, unwritten):

Evolution (chapbook version) by Selene Castrovilla

The Thrill of the Chaste by Dawn Eden (if she includes a section on having dated an atheist, that’s me)

Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir by Janice Erlbaum

The Other War: Israelis, Palestinians, and the Struggle for Media Supremacy by Stephanie Gutmann

Scenes from a Holiday by Caren Lissner et al

Overheard in New York (based on their popular website) by Morgan Friedman and Jinx’s Libertine Director of Outreach, blogger Michael Malice (who in addition to this January publication will also have his biography Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story, written by Harvey Pekar, released in March and who cast the aforementioned VH1 dating show — busy man)

Batman: Year 100 by Paul Pope

Festivus by Allen Salkin

The Nine Lives of Chloe King by Celia Thomson, a.k.a. Liz Braswell, who writes cool young-adult fantasies under pseudonyms and reports that this one may become a TV-movie

And next year or so should see books in the works by:

David Kamp (on film snobbery, to accompany his existing book on rock snobbery)

Gersh Kuntzman (on Chrismukkah) — whose funny and tuneful play SUV: The Musical you should see in spite of its environmentalist premises

John Stossel

Virginia Vitzthum (on online dating)

and Christine Whelan (on dating among high-powered women)

So buy all of those as well. And Ron Bailey isn’t part of the New York-area nexus above, but you should read his Liberation Biology anyway. I confess that to save time I’ve decided that from now on I’m only going to read books written by people I know personally. (Being myopic may be frowned upon, but they can’t put you in jail for it or anything.)

You can also score some cheap gifts by coming to the Dec. 7 debate, where I’ll oversee the second Jinx Book Giveaway, my one big stab at being unGrinchlike this year (NOTE: God does not exist). I’ll keep future e-mails much more succinct.

(NOTE: The above was sent as a mass e-mail in the days prior to the debate and was posted on this blog retroactively in April 2007. Click here for other Debates at Lolita Bar.)

DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: Or Rather, an Urban Exploration Presentation

In one week, at 8pm on Wednesday, Nov. 2, Steve “Undercity” Duncan takes the Jinx Athenaeum back to its roots with a presentation about “urban exploration,” the forbidden hobby whence the Jinx Society sprang, its agents exploring rooftops, tunnels, ruins, and secret places around the world and sharing their findings with one another — and now with you. Join us at Lolita bar (free admission, cash bar) at the northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side (one block south and three west of the Delancey Street subway stop).

And before that (indeed, tomorrow night, Thur. 10/27 from 6-9pm), Steve’s girlfriend, Ellie Hanlon, is organizing a little riverfront exploration in the form of the Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club with food, music, art, prizes, and even moonlight canoeing, for $25 if you order tonight and $40 day-of: http://www.gowanuscanal.org

I won’t be able to attend the canoeing because of yet another swell event tomorrow (Thur. 6:30pm sharp), the Smith Family Foundation’s debate (at CUNY Grad Center, 34th and 5th) over the Hollywood communists of old, with the Nation’s Victor Navasky defending and my left-leaning friend Daniel Radosh’s more conservative dad, Ronald Radosh, attacking.

But if secret urban areas, Brooklyn canals, and Hollywood aren’t enough to expand your horizons, you can find a link to my third and final piece about New Orleans — and a link to info on my impending two-day gig in Vegas — in this recent article:

http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.653/news_detail.asp

And again, to get the most out of your travels to any city, please hear Steve Duncan at Jinx on Nov. 2.

(NOTE: The above was sent as a mass e-mail in the days prior to the debate and was posted on this blog retroactively in April 2007. Click here for other Debates at Lolita Bar.)

DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: "Is New Jersey Inferior to New York City?"

Poet and arbiter of taste Boni Joi will argue yes, novelist and Hoboken newspaper editor Caren Lissner will argue no, at the next Jinx Athenaeum, Wednesday, October 5, at 8pm (Michel “The Brain” Evanchik will moderate and Jinx Rational Agent Todd Seavey will host). So join us downstairs at Lolita bar, northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, one block north and three west of the Delancey Street subway stop (free admission, cash bar).

And four other matters:

First: here are two of what I hope will be a trilogy of distinct articles, based on my Phillips Foundation research on the topic, about New Orleans and musical tradition (when Katrina and the Waves do the inevitable tribute concert, I’ll do something more 80s-themed):

http://nationalreview.com/comment/seavey200509190838.asp

http://techcentralstation.com/091205D.html

Second: here, on the other hand, are the adventures of plush Cthulu, for all you Lovecraft fans (not for the faint of heart):

http://www.logicalcreativity.com/jon/plush/01.html

Third: meanwhile, Jinx attendee and Institute of Ideas associate Jean Smith and others launch a new and different debate society with money and fancy signs and everything — see http://nysalon.org/ — this Friday, Sept. 30, at 6:30pm at the CUNY Grad Center (34th and 5th), with Brian Lehrer taping it and all, just the way I would have tried to do if they’d put me in charge of the Smith Foundation, but I’m not complaining. Their first debate will be on “The Future of Politics” and will feature Frank Furedi, Richard Sennett, and Russell Jacoby, as described in greater detail here: http://nysalon.org/recent-events/index.html . These people will be very useful someday when you’re in a game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon and need to link the Reason Foundation to the Revolutionary Communist Party, so come meet them.

Fourth and finally: Jinx needs digital projection capabilities! Nov. will be Steve “As Seen on TV” Duncan’s thrilling slide presentation on urban exploration, the dark art upon which Jinx was founded, and if anyone has a Mac-compatible digital projector attachment to help make it possible, let me know, or contact him directly at: Steve[at]undercity.org

In the meantime, though: Oct. 5 is the NJ/NYC smackdown. The winner may surprise you, maybe, possibly. (And if there are topics you’d volunteer to debate in ‘06, let me know.)

(NOTE: The above was sent as a mass e-mail in the days prior to the debate and was posted on this blog retroactively in April 2007. Click here for other Debates at Lolita Bar.)

DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: "Are Chain Stores and Big Box Retailers Hurting New York City?"

Yes: Becky Ellis (Burning Man participant)
No: Megan McArdle (JaneGalt.net, The Economist)

Moderator: Michel “The Brain” Evanchik
Host: Todd Seavey

Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 8pm
Lolita Bar (northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side)
Free admission, cash bar

P.S.-for-tech-people: Got any good advice for the cheapest way to send out mass e-mails? The official Jinxlist is via Yahoo and my personal list here is just one big, big bcc field — but I could use recommendations for sending out the (much larger) lists used at ACSH, where I work, since our old service, maintained by the group ISIL, appears to have died (at least for now).

P.P.S.-for-New-Wave-fans: Though my television works only intermittently, which is for the best, let it be known I am rooting for Jordis ( http://rockstar.msn.com/rockers/jordis ) to become the new lead singer of INXS on the thrice-weekly CBS primetime show Rockstar:INXS, despite her shocking mishandling of Aerosmith’s “Dream On” last week.

But here, too, there is contention within the Jinx family, as onetime Jinx debater Marcia Baczynski (and her CuddleParty co-founder Reid Mihalko) are friends with the contestant named Ty and are rooting for him (and I predict these two will in fact end up being the last two contestants). Choose sides accordingly — but know that in truth Michael Hutchence dies again a little bit every time any one of these pretenders takes to the stage. Watch the world argue, argue with itself…

(NOTE: The above was sent as a mass e-mail in the days prior to the debate and was posted on this blog retroactively in April 2007. Click here for other Debates at Lolita Bar.)

DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: "Is America a Meritocracy?"

Is America a Meritocracy?

Todd Seavey will argue yes and Michel “The Brain” Evanchik will argue no, while Richard Ryan moderates.

That’ll be the Jinx Athenaeum’s debate next Wednesday, August 3 (8pm), downstairs at Lolita bar on the northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side (one block south, three west of the Delancey Street F J M Z subway stop — free admission, cash bar).

And on a more personal note:

Later that night in the same spot, celebrate thirty-six years of Jinx Rational Agent Todd Seavey’s life at the first-ever Jinx book-giveaway (with possible birthday karaoke afterwards, depending on interest level). The giveaway (instead of gift-getting) may make it an unbirthday of sorts but not by any means an “Unhappy Birthday” in the Smiths mode. (Think of me as a compassionate capitalist, or a guy with too much stuff cluttering his apartment. And I trust that likely Jinx attendees are too philosophical and have too much intellectual integrity to risk being bribed in favor of one debater or the other — none of my friends have shown a reluctance to disagree with me in the past.)

One other thing worth celebrating is that my Star Wars essay from Metaphilm.com was plugged on BoingBoing and is excerpted in the July Wired (p. 93), which completists may still be able to find on newsstands (the issue with Gorillaz, Quentin Tarantino, Neil Gaiman, William Gibson, and me in it) — though, of course, you could just read the whole piece online. On a similar note, you could watch this videotaped conversation between Hayden Christensen and George Lucas about fans’ unanswered questions:

http://movies.channel.aol.com/feature/starwars/unscripted.adp

And for those too far away to party/debate or too unhip for Wired, here’s something else to keep you entertained — the 50s-sci-fi-like sound of radio emissions from Saturn’s poles, courtesy of NASA:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia07966.html

Feel free to volunteer to debate a topic for one of our future gatherings.

(NOTE: The above was sent as a mass e-mail in the days prior to the debate and was posted on this blog retroactively in April 2007 here. Click for other Debates at Lolita Bar.)

DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: "Will Videogames Become More Important Than Movies?"

War of the Worlds or Halo 2, that is the question. Or rather: “Will Videogames Become More Important Than Movies?” Find out next week when Charles Herold (game reviewer for the New York Times) debates Scott Nybakken (former film critic for New York Press and the Seattle Stranger). Michel “The Brain” Evanchik will moderate and Todd Seavey will host.

It happens Wednesday, July 6, 8pm, at Lolita bar on the northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, one block south and three west of the Delancey Street subway stop (free admission, cash bar).

Feel free to suggest topics or volunteer as a debater for future Jinx Athenaeum Society meetings.

For those who can’t make it, here’s a glimpse, noticed by The Brain, of the videogame-dominated future some fear:

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/11944265.htm

(NOTE: The above was sent as a mass e-mail in the days prior to the debate and was posted on this blog retroactively in April 2007. Click here for other Debates at Lolita Bar.)

DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: "Should Marriage Be Only Between a Man and a Woman?"

Jinx debate: Marriage should only be between a man and a woman.
Yes: Bernadette Malone
No: Richard Ryan
Moderator: John Carney
Host: Michel Evanchik

Wed., June 1, 8pm
downstairs at Lolita bar on the northeast corner of Broome and Allen on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (That’s one block south and three west of the Delancey F stop; free admission and cash bar.)

I, Todd Seavey, won’t be hosting this time but still have the following contributions to make to society:

This article, written just before the mostly-great and continuity-respecting Revenge of the Sith came out, describes every devoted fan’s fear of plot continuity errors, whether in films, TV shows, or comic books (you might say I’ve been researching since childhood to write this one):
http://metaphilm.com/philm.php?id=416_0_2_0_M

Oddly enough, most of the copious reader comments about the piece are over on this other site (which in turn noticed my piece because of a reference to it on the Liberty & Power blog):
http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/2005/05/whenever_you_no.shtml

And thanks to NYPost’s Kyle Smith, I got to see an advance screening of Sith and contribute one line (about the oddness of the film’s brief reference to an off-screen resurrection) to this article.

On a similar sci-fi note, here’s a brief piece of mine about the earthly relevance of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, ending with links to some other items of interest:
http://www.acsh.org/factsfears/newsID.550/news_detail.asp

If rock trivia’s more your bag, check out the site co-created by my predecessor as Brown Film Bulletin editor, David Kamp (and then buy the book):
http://snobsite.com/

In stranger entertainment news, I have to ask a slightly awkward question: does anyone out there know if Ruth Morrison, New Jersey-dwelling thirtysomething writer of some Wonder Woman and Batman material a few years back (and at one point girlfriend of comics artist Alex Ross), is still alive? Apparently, some of her comics industry acquaintances here can’t recall seeing her since 9/11, when we think she was working in the financial sector, though she is not on official lists of the dead. Apologies in advance if this question causes chaos, but it seemed worth asking (if I hear anything, it will be in the next mass e-mail).

In other slightly depressing news, this man needs a liver transplant if you know anyone who can help:

Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 06:29:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: Stephen Gruber
Subject: Medical Need

Liver transplant desperately needed for Dr, Michael Harris, chief of pediatrics hematology at Hackensack University Medical Center and a member of Congregation Ahavat Torah, Engelwood, N.J.

He contracted hepatitis C from a needle stick while treating one of his pediatric cancer patients. He needs a cadaver liver blood type A or O.

If you can help at all with this great Mitzvah please call Joel Budin, M.D. at 201-567-4891 or Annette Jotkowitz, R.N. at 201-692-1861 or cell# 201-446-1274.

He has devoted his life to the care of pediatric cancer patients with love and compassion and now it behooves all of us to help him.

Please feel free to pass this on to your friends and other email lists.

P.S. Want to debate in or suggest a topic for one of these monthly Jinx Athenaeum Society meetings? Best to do so well in advance of the day, so e-mail me (and others who may want to be involved) your suggestions.

(NOTE: The above was sent as a mass e-mail in the days prior to the debate and was posted on this blog retroactively in April 2007. Click here for other Debates at Lolita Bar.)

DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: "Does Poetry Still Matter?"

DEBATE: “Does Poetry Still Matter?”
YES: Francis Heaney, author of Holy Tango of Literature
NO: J.R. Taylor, of New York Press
MODERATOR: Richard Ryan, of Verse Theatre Manhattan

DATE/TIME: 8pm, this **Tuesday**, May 3
(NOTE: NOT THE USUAL WEDNESDAY THIS MONTH BUT **TUESDAY**–AND PROMPTLY, SO ONE OF OUR DEBATERS CAN ESCAPE QUICKLY AFTERWARDS)
PLACE: downstairs at Lolita bar, northeast corner of Broome and Allen St. on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, one block south and three west of the Delancey Street stop on the F train (free admission, cash bar)

To bridge the gap between the eras of print and electronic media, I, your host, Jinx Rational Agent Todd Seavey, will also do a reading from three of the Star Wars films’ opening scrolls.

For still more Star Wars, JOIN ME at 6pm on Thur., May 19, outside the Regal Union Square theatre in Manhattan, for the 7pm show of the final Star Wars movie, REVENGE OF THE SITH — tickets are already on sale on Fandango for that date, and I already got mine.

I also just saw an advance screening of the swell Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the story of an ordinary man whose troubles begin when he discovers his best friend is not just a normal person from Guilford but in fact a space alien, so I recommend that, too — and on May 3 will also read aloud the bad poem used to torture the film’s heroes in one memorable scene.

For those who can’t make it, the poem is here:

http://www.englisch.schule.de/wiesmoor/Interpretation%20Vogon%20Poem.htm

(NOTE: The above was sent as a mass e-mail in the days prior to the debate and was posted on this blog retroactively in April 2007. Click here for other Debates at Lolita Bar.)

DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: "Does the Whole World Need Western-Style Democracy?"

Is democracy spreading in the Middle East and elsewhere (thanks in part to Bush/U.S. efforts) — or has our habit of intervening overseas begun a “countdown to infinite crisis”? Discuss this and related topics at our next event:

DEBATE: Does the Whole World Need Western-Style Democracy?
YES: Alex Jacobson
NO: John Carney
Moderator: Richard Ryan

DATE/TIME: Wed., April 6, 8pm
PLACE: Downstairs at Lolita bar, n.e. corner of Broome and Allen St.s (one block south and three west of the Delancey F stop on Manhattan’s Lower East Side) — free admission, cash bar

P.S. (trying to provide at least some entertainment for those who can’t make it to NYC events): The night of 4/6 also affords a close-enough opportunity, wherever you are, to toast the sixteenth birthday of my parents’ dog, Uber, who entered this world on April Fool’s Day 1989 — just as an earlier wave of democratization began toppling socialism in Eastern Europe. Uber is now blind, deaf, arthritic, and living with five cats, but her sense of smell is uncanny, she still goes for long walks, her mind is no more vegetative than it ever was, and freedom marches on.

(NOTE: The above was sent as a mass e-mail in the days prior to the debate and was posted on this blog retroactively in April 2007. Click here for other Debates at Lolita Bar.)

DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: "Do Women Naturally Belong in the Home?"

Three items, mainly for New Yorkers this time:
(1) I’ll now host the first-Wednesday-of-each-month http://JinxMagazine.com debates, so join me there monthly (and send me topic suggestions and offers to be a debater or the moderator — and check the site each month to see what the next topic will be):
DEBATE: Do Women Naturally Belong in the Home?
YES: Michel “The Brain” Evanchik, homemaker
NO: Heidi Reich, math teacher
DATE/TIME: Wed., March 2, 8pm
PLACE: Downstairs at Lolita bar, n.e. corner of Broome and Allen St.s (one block south and three west of the Delancey F stop on Manhattan’s Lower East Side) — free admission, unfree drinks
(2) Or watch Heaven war with Hell in CONSTANTINE (based on a comic book character from the DC Comics division my friend Scott Nybakken works for, though if it’s bad it’s not his fault) by meeting me in the lobby by one half-hour before the 2:45pm Sat. 2/26 screening at the Loews at 42nd and 8th (or the closest time to that at that theatre if the times change — and you should probably order your ticket in advance).
(3) And Jinx veteran Michael Malice is casting a new dating-documentary show. Contact the show if you’d like to participate, like so:
>Manhattan has the highest per capita population of single people in the world, yet making a connection can be an exercise in humiliation and heartbreak. But it doesn’t have to be that way. There’s a new documentary series for a major Viacom channel that examines how people find love in the greatest city in the world. We’re looking for interesting New York characters that have trouble fulfilling their romantic desires.
We’ll spend several weeks hanging out and talking about life and love with you. This is not a stupid dating show, but rather a fun and REAL look at people searching for–and sometimes finding–love. We want people you would not normally see on TV.
If you fit these criteria…
1) A great conversationalist
2) Pretty weird
3) Live in Manhattan or Brooklyn (or at least hang out there)
4) Are between the ages of 26 and 37
5) Ready to engage in a transformative journey
6) Having trouble dating in NYC
7) NOT a model/actor type
…we’d love to help.
>Send us your story and a pic to cgadtv[at]yahoo-dot-com
(NOTE: The above was sent as a mass e-mail in the days prior to the debate and was posted on this blog retroactively in April 2007. Click here for other Debates at Lolita Bar.)