DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: "Do Celebrities Have a Right to Privacy?"

It’s a special JINX/RLC/IHS combo-event Wed., Oct. 4 (at 8pm) as the monthly debate run by the (non-partisan) Jinx Society is hybridized with a gathering for all New York-area libertarians — and the whole thing is timed to coincide with the New York Film Festival.

It’s two levels of intellectual adventure at Lolita Bar on the northeast corner of Broome St. and Allen St. on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (one block south, three west of the Delancey St. subway stop), as downstairs sees a debate between actress/blogger Jill Friedman (http://meandmyredstapler.blogspot.com) and comedienne Jen Dziura (http://JenIsFamous.com) on the question “Do Celebrities Have a Right to Privacy?” (moderated by Michel Evanchik and hosted by Todd Seavey), while upstairs sees a gathering to chat about principles and pragmatism one month before the mid-term elections, organized by the Republican Liberty Caucus. Fueling it all (for those over twenty-one), the $500 worth of free alcohol (be sure to pick up your Jinx drinx tix) made possible by the support of the Institute for Humane Studies. That means IHS alums are especially welcome, including those with a special interest in media.

Indeed, people wishing to combine the film, liberty, and debate aspects of the evening might want to chew on this question: since Variety reports (http://www.variety.com/VR1117950446.html) that Angelina Jolie has now been confirmed to play the lead in a movie version of Ayn Rand’s libertarian novel Atlas Shrugged, will Jolie see the irony in playing a defender of liberty when in real life she recently encouraged press censorship in Namibia? And will she draw upon her experience as part of a torrid real-life love triangle to make the plot of Atlas seem more vibrant?

If Jolie is a hit as a laissez-faire capitalist Rand character, perhaps other A-list actors will soon want to consider playing one of these Fifteen Richest Fictional Characters, compiled by Forbes.
Speaking of Rand-influenced creative types, here, at long last, is comic book creator Frank Miller (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Give Me Liberty, Sin City) on NPR discussing how 9/11 boosted his patriotism (would that the thuggish Hugo Chavez had waved a copy of Sin City instead of Chomsky at the U.N.):

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5784518

Speaking of comic books, at ACSH we could still use a cartoonist for an assignment illustrating shortcomings of radical environmentalism, if you know anyone interested.

And speaking of 9/11, here are two articles by me about two of the less-often discussed aspects of that terrible day:

Health:

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/article/1635/

Architecture (this one, made possible by the Phillips Foundation, will also appear in the December cover-dated issue of Reason magazine):

http://www.reason.com/hod/ts091106.shtml

And speaking of Reason, note that my friend Ted Balaker from the Reason Foundation has a book out about how to end traffic congestion and why you aren’t fully free if you can’t get where you want to go.

Meanwhile, Christine Whelan (who should really bring all of her friends from the group Lead 21 to the Oct. 4 event mentioned above) has a book out about Why Smart Men Marry Smart Women (as I intend to if I can find one who’s sane, finds me attractive, and definitely doesn’t want children):

http://whysmartmenmarrysmartwomen.com/

No word yet on whether Christine’s next book will broach the more taboo topic Why Really, Really Smart Men Run Up Against the Troubling Statistical Fact That High-IQ Males Are More Common Than High-IQ Females (Just as Low-IQ Males Are More Common Than Low-IQ Females, Since Female IQs Tend to Bunch Up Closer to the Average, the Male Bell Curve Having Longer “Tails” and Thus Both More Geniuses and More Idiots), Making Really Smart Women a Very, Very Hot Commodity Though You Wouldn’t Know It from the Complaining Some of Them Do, but there’s only so much she can cover in one book, and she’s already put years of research into this one, so check it out.

And if you’re a smart nerd who’s lonely and you have a lot of spare time on your hands, you might want to spend some of it reading my all-time favorite comic book miniseries, now available online. Behold the Michael Moorcock-influenced and Grant Morrison-influencing Adventures of Luther Arkwright (for less than ten bucks). Created two decades ago but still cutting-edge, it’s like Doctor Who + Crisis on Infinite Earths + David Bowie, which is to say, nearly perfect and very much the sort of comic I’d want to do myself someday if I delved back into the business.

P.S. One more thing smart people of all stripes might want to consider doing with their spare time is participating in another special Jinx event (I’m not saying it’s more special than the Oct. 4 one described above, but come to both and see what you think) taking place Nov. 8 — on that day, we’ll meet on the second Wednesday of the month instead of our traditional first Wednesday, so that a panel of politically-diverse folk can give their reactions to something that will have happened the day before, namely, the potentially epochal mid-term elections.

If you’d like to represent your political “faction” (we’ll have just one from each, as defined by me) in a panel discussion on “What Do the Election Results Mean?” — and you have the guts to wing it a bit, since of course you won’t actually know what the results are until the night before the discussion — let me know and maybe we can use you.

In the meantime: see you Oct. 4.

(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: "Was Israel Right to Invade Lebanon?"

Jonathan Leaf and Richard Ryan debate the question “Was Israel Right to Invade Lebanon?” (with Michel “The Brain” Evanchik moderating and Todd Seavey hosting) at next week’s Jinx Athenaeum, Wednesday, Sept. 6 at 8pm, downstairs at Lolita bar (free admission, cash bar, a.c.) on the northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, one block south and three west of the Delancey St. subway stop. (Volunteers to debate specific future topics, especially if you have a willing, serious opponent, are welcome.)

It seems a fitting time to do a Middle East topic, with the fifth anniversary of 9/11 looming. Jacob Levy tells me that a novel has been written about irony-obsessed, thirtysomething writers and editors who went to Brown and now live in NYC coping ineptly with 9/11, so I may have to read it. Here’s the 8/27/06 NYT review.

On a somewhat related note, http://Radosh.net recently noted this fine cartoon about the conflict between science and religion:

http://thepaincomics.com/weekly041229.htm

By the way, if YOU are a cartoonist fond of science — and thus not overly fond of environmentalists — let me know, as ACSH may have some work for you illustrating a book on environmental controversies.

(And if you’re a non-leftist media/creative type who wants to be on a separate e-list for the monthly Manhattan Project bar gatherings and aren’t already, let me know — you might meet luminaries like Ryan Sager, author of Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians, and the Battle to Control the Republican Party, out this week.)

Thanks to everyone who sent birthday good wishes earlier this month.

(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 Big Business Prefer Big Government?"

YES: Tim Carney, author of The Big Rip-Off: How Big Business and Big Government Steal Your Money. NO: Michel “The Brain” Evanchik, of Evanchik.net. Moderator: Todd Seavey, Jinx Rational Agent and editor of HealthFactsAndFears.com.

This Wednesday, August 2 at 8pm, downstairs at Lolita bar on the corner of Broome and Allen St. on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (one block south, three blocks west, of the Delancey subway stop; free admission, cash bar). After the debate and q&a, an audience vote will resolve the question once and for all. A Tim Carney book signing will follow.

(PLEASE NOTE that this Carney, the Phillips Foundation Fellow and former Robert Novak employee who wrote this book…

THE BIG RIP-OFF

…is not the same Carney seen at prior Jinx debates, nor the Carney who edits at Wall Street Journal, nor the law student Carney, but rather their brother; audience members are allowed to use crib sheets
to avoid confusion [hint: each Carney has a different haircut].)

–There will also be drinks throughout in honor of your moderator’s shocking **thirty-seventh birthday**, since I’m too lazy to organize a separate night for that (it’s enough work being moderator this time out instead of playing my usual booker/host role).

–No need to bring gifts: I will once more give stuff away for my birthday, specifically bound copies, to the first ten takers, of my recent article for the NYU Journal of Law & Liberty, which, because the wheels of legal-journal publishing grind even slower than justice, contains my cautiously optimistic predictions for the second Bush term, made right after his re-election. Well, uh…maybe every birthday party should have a time capsule.

–More timeless, though, are my most-succinct-thoughts-ever on where humanity needs to go from here, recently posted on Spiked-Online along with thoughts on the topic from numerous alphabetized luminaries:

http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/surveys/2024_article/993/

P.S. In analyzing such issues, I try to be rational, though I suppose insight can come from dreams as well. For instance: I awoke this past July 4 morning from a dream about freedom. Specifically:

I dreamt I smoked hashish with Tony Blair on the Planet of the Apes.

I know, it sounds like a joke, but as is often the case with dreams, it all seems semi-logical when you look at it in pieces: I was part of some movie in which several people — including some older actors such as Shirley MacLaine and possibly Jack Lemon — were trapped in different lousy vacation scenarios, and I was stuck in some cell, so Dr. Zaius offered to sacrifice himself by letting _me_ shimmy out of the cell window while he held off the guards (I attribute the< appearance of Zaius in this positive role to the relatively cordial conversation he has with Charlton Heston while tied up on the beach in the penultimate scene of Planet of the Apes). As I escaped, though, it became clear that I was myself a Planet of the Apes-style chimpanzee, on the run from other apes, so I disguised myself in the (very normal early-60s) clothing of the locals, who were also chimps, and tried to blend in — but one of the humans in charge (yes, on this crazy, topsy-turvy version of the Planet of the Apes, humans were in charge) called me and another chimp over to aid in the lighting of a hooka-like hash pipe, which I did, and he was soon pretty stoned, and as I contemplated the next step in my escape it became clear he was also…Tony Blair. (Note: In real life, I don’t even use drugs, let alone hang out with apes and Tony Blair.)

P.P.S. I woke up after that, then fell back to sleep and had a dream about J.R. Taylor’s new blog (really). In the dream, he did video clips instead of blog entries, and in one he was criticizing the blogger (is there really someone specific?) who invented the practice of leaving visible strikethroughs in the erroneous parts of corrected and updated items. But J.R. was symbolically criticizing the practice as phony and pretentious by assembling shelves full of knickknacks such as ceramic figures, which do not require strikethroughs. Whatever. Anyway, here’s his actual blog, about conservative-seeming pop culture items, which is great — his first three entries were about zombies, Luke Cage, and 80s alternative rock, so he must be on the right track, and you’ll notice that the first comment on the July 28 item is from me (and is about drugs again, oddly enough):

http://RightWingTrash.com

J.R. is also the man who suggested that I see the thriller The Descent, opening nationwide August 4, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who is simply in the mood for ninety-nine minutes of “harrowing” (and if you go in knowing nothing, so much the better). No wit or subtlety or memorable dialogue to speak of, just the “harrowing,” and my apologies to anyone who spends years thereafter having terrible, terrible spelunking nightmares full of cute British women with pitons, as you well might. You were warned while there was still time to turn back.

J.R., thirdly, is also the sort of person who might show up at one of the monthly Manhattan Project non-leftist creative-folk bar gatherings I’m helping to organize, one more reason to have me put you on the e-list for those invitations if you aren’t already.

P.P.P.S. You could also see all sorts of interesting people at the August 3 (7pm) meeting of the group called the Junto, in the library at 20 W. 44th, including main speaker Bruce Ames, who I’m going to go hear because he’s a scientist who was a big influence on my thinking back in college and still is in my job at ACSH. As with the movie recommendation, though, I apologize if the Junto gives you nightmares, most likely without cute British women this time.

P.P.P.P.S. Again: no need for gifts on 8/2…unless…you wanna give by answering my (1) Mac-based, (2) dial-up-using, (3) surprisingly tech-ignorant blog-launching questions, since I’m thinking about finally starting a personal blog, in part to combat the once more upward-creeping length of these e-mails.

What? You’re surprised a man who edits a blog at work has no personal blog? And is on dial-up? Hell, I’ve got no cell phone and no cable either. Maybe I get my slowness to adapt technology — plus my internal calm, which echoes the steady rhythms of rural life — from my mother and her father, who both grew up on a farm in Norwich, CT that I, too, spent a lot of time on in my formative years, when I wasn’t playing in the woods. Mom just got e-mail, so she is for the first time reading this monthly mass-e-mail along with the rest of you. (Hi, Mom.)

Alternatively, you could commemorate my existence by buying a Todd Seavey hoodie, junior hoodie, tile, or dog t-shirt, none of which I had anything to do with creating (nor have even purchased, to be honest), conceived by my friends at http://PiecesofFlair.blogspot.com (where my picture also now pops up in the Comments section for each item):

http://www.cafepress.com/piecesofflair

Remember: me suing them doesn’t become a productive activity until they’ve made a lot of money off the stuff, so start purchasing. (I promise these are not turning into commercial e-mails — this situation is, obviously, abnormal.)

(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 Superheroes Have to Register with the Government?"

The day after the U.S. celebrates its birth, join us for a debate on a question that touches on fundamental issues of liberty and security in the aftermath of a crisis, whether the government should gaze through a scanner darkly at Superman, and whether freedom fighters should make a last stand against government even at the risk of…civil war.

Ken Silber (Scientific American Mind, Mental Floss) and Robert George (New York Post, NationalReview.com) debate the question “Should Superheroes Have to Register with the Government?” (with Michel “The Brain” Evanchik moderating and Todd Seavey hosting) at the next Jinx Athenaeum, Wednesday, July 5 at 8pm, downstairs at Lolita bar (free admission, cash bar) on the northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, one block south and three west of the Delancey St. subway stop. (Volunteers to debate specific future topics, especially if you have a willing, serious opponent, are welcome.)

Speaking of heroes and villains, here is evidence of an axiom worth keeping in mind: my enemies eat garbage, or at least Adam Weissman, the guy who led that rival faction of anarchists I faced a couple months ago, does (in his role as a leader of the so-called “freegan” movement, which eats from dumpsters to protest our wasteful agricultural system):

http://dumpsterdiving.meetup.com/4/members/1278801/photos/

P.S. Let me add that I don’t really see the world in terms of superheroes and supervillains, but I confess that until this month I was a comic book collector (I’ll still need to pick up Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers #1 in September, since it got delayed several months, but otherwise I’m kicking the habit just to save time and explore new hobbies).

But then, I have darker secrets than that: I really liked early Garfield, for instance, despite Roy Blount, Jr.’s view that anyone who likes Garfield should be forced to take a class called Minimal Understanding 101. I see from the Wikipedia entry on Garfield, by the way, that acclaimed comics writer Neil Gaiman (whose most renowned work can soon be purchased in a glorious hardcover Absolute Sandman collection, edited by Scott Nybakken) has praised a prankster who reprinted Garfield cartoons without Garfield’s thought balloons, turning the strips into a harrowing portrait of a lonely, possibly schizophrenic man named Jon who talks to his pets.

P.P.S. If comics aren’t your scene, though, here are some “real” books by some of my associates that sound like good summer reading:

Ethan Gutmann’s Losing the New China

Miranda Hickman’s The Geometry of Modernism

Tim Snyder’s Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist’s Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine

Selene Castrovilla’s By The Sword (a picture book about Benjamin Tallmadge, Washington’s chief of spies, not to be confused with Alexander Rose’s Washington’s Spies)

not mention the short story “Alberto: A Case History” by science-minded fiction writer Diane Greco in the winter/spring 2006 issue of Fence, if you can find it, and of course:

Carly Sommerstein and Mark Montano’s Window Treatments and Slipcases for Dummies

And in the next year or two, as if I needed still more reasons to keep living, there’s Katherine Taylor’s novel Rules for Saying Goodbye, Daniel Radosh’s book about Christian pop culture, a book from the CuddleParty.com founders, and possibly a tome on transportation issues by Ted Balaker (whose name is close to mine in the acknowledgments in our ex-boss John Stossel’s awesome new book, Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity, I must add).

And though I don’t know Jim Davis, I see that his book Garfield Blots Out the Sun: His Forty-Third Book is due in early 2007. Really. (At least in the U.S. — in the UK, they reprint Garfield at a different rate and print the panels vertically — it’s like China over there, despite our apparent cultural similarities.)

P.P.P.S. Even though I’ve already seen Superman Returns (which was pretty good), I suppose there is at least one additional movie based on comics that I’ll have to see in my lifetime, and some of you will be excited to see that the trailer is already viewable here, nearly a year in advance:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/spider-man_3/large.html

And lest we think all this of little relevance to everyday life, remember these photos of hardworking Mexican immigrants dressed as superheroes, forwarded by Dawn Eden (co-founder of a monthly bar gathering of non-left media folk, for which I can put you on the invite list if you like and aren’t already):

http://www.sfcp.org/programs.cfm?p=Project06Pinzon

(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 the U.S. Military Intervene in Iran?"

Chris Bischof and Zahra Joudi debate the question “Should the U.S.
Military Intervene in Iran?” (with Michel “The Brain” Evanchik
moderating and Todd Seavey hosting) at the next Jinx Athenaeum,
Wednesday, June 7 at 8pm, downstairs at Lolita bar (free admission,
cash bar) on the northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s
Lower East Side, one block south and three west of the Delancey St.
subway stop. (Volunteers to debate specific future topics, especially
if you have a willing, serious opponent, are welcome.)

And as entertainment for those nowhere near Manhattan:

Coverage of the April anarcho-capitalist counter-protest I led:
http://www.silverbulletcomics.com/news/story.php?a=1607

And more coverage:
http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2006-05-02/launder-anarchistfight

And a reminder why we fight: to stop thieving pseudo-superheroes like
these (pointed out to me by Caryn Solly):
http://www.sploid.com/news/2006/05/superheroes_ste.php

Finally, please let me know if you’d like to be on a separate list for
monthly gatherings (at a new venue) of the Manhattan Project,
non-leftists in media.

(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 Immigration Harming the United States?"

In between May Day and Cinco de Mayo, come to Jinx to make sense of today’s massive protests.

John Carney and Michele Carlo debate the question “Is Immigration Harming the United States?” (with Michel “The Brain” Evanchik moderating and Todd Seavey hosting) at the next Jinx Athenaeum, Wednesday, May 3 at 8pm, downstairs at Lolita bar (free admission, cash bar) on the northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, one block south and three west of the Delancey St. subway stop. (Volunteers to debate specific future topics, especially if you have a willing, serious opponent, are welcome.)

Meanwhile, if you’re writer or editor who’d like to be put in touch with the man who just wrote that tell-all book about working for Hustler and learning tons of dirt on icons of both left and right, JR Taylor (taylorhq[at]aol-dot-com) can put you in touch with him.

And for those who can’t make it to the debate, here’s some bonus entertainment:

With the movie of The Da Vinci Code opening in three weeks, there is controversy over inaccuracies in its depiction of religious history. Less talked about, but arguably far more important for humor purposes, is the question of whether these three videos — all produced by devout Christians — contain inaccuracies (I learned about them from Andrew Corsello, http://PiecesofFlair.blogspot.com , and http://AndrewSullivan.com , respectively — and BE WARNED that the first one contains lots of foul language, the second contains a banana and actor Kirk Cameron, and the third contains references to Sir Mix-a-Lot’s classic “Baby Got Back”):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?search=the+spirit+of+truth&v=7jIWWFBvs7A

http://www.devilducky.com/media/44860/

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5267894961075966307

P.S. If you’d like to be on the invite list (and aren’t already) for an unrelated monthly bar gathering for conservatives in media (possibly at a new, more Midtownish location, and we’re open to suggestions), let me know.

P.P.S. NOTE: I’m away (in L.A. and then DC) for about a week after Wednesday’s debate, so don’t panic if I’m unresponsive to e-mail until after that.

(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 the U.S. Fund Abortions and Contraception Overseas?"

Diane Rubino (of the Population Council) and John Zmirak (of the American Conservative magazine) debate the question “Should the U.S. Subsidize Abortions and Contraception Overseas?” (with Michel “The Brain” Evanchik moderating and Todd Seavey hosting) at the next Jinx Athenaeum, Wednesday, April 5 at 8pm, downstairs at Lolita bar (free admission, cash bar) on the northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, one block south and three west of the Delancey St. subway stop. (Volunteers to debate specific future topics, especially if you have a willing, serious opponent, are welcome.) A function of http://JinxMagazine.com

In the meantime, it’s movie week:

I briefly sketch the sketchy history of my fellow anarchists in this morning’s (Fri. 3/17) Wall Street Journal, on the occasion of V for Vendetta’s release (not to mention St. Patrick’s Day — beware, London), and you can also read it online here [Update: in the editing process, my genuine sympathy for anarchism may have been downplayed somewhat -- I think conservatives and anarchists can learn a lot from each other]:

http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110008105

At the real job, see the reactions of me and my fellow American Council on Science and Health staffers to Thank You for Smoking, released today. Our comments will be up by noon, here:

http://HealthFactsAndFears.com

You can read my comparison of the archaeological secrets in the book The Buried Soul to four current movies about sexy vampires here:

http://metaphilm.com/philm.php?id=470_0_2_0_M

Speaking of my fellow anarchists, or perhaps sexy vampires, learn more about Michael Malice by reading his biography, Ego & Hubris: The Michael Malice Story, in early April; meet him and his biographer, famed comic book writer Harvey Pekar, at the Union Square Barnes & Noble in Manhattan on April 11 at 7pm; and read this effective interview summary of him on the Random House website:

http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/egoandhubris/malice_interview.html

In other art news, you can see fiction writer (and libertarian) Katherine Taylor read, along with Elizabeth Koch (co-host of the Sweet Fancy Moses reading competition) and others, on March 23 at 7:30pm at Happy Ending, 302 Broome St. at Forsyth:

http://www.opiummagazine.com/events.html

Some of these things happen in the future but not the distant future, so please, please mark your calendars now (especially for the Apr. 5 abortion debate!). And if you’re a conservative in media who’d like to be on the invite list for an unrelated monthly gathering at Slainte bar and aren’t already, 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: "Should Gun Control Be Abolished?"

Will Snyder and Richard Ryan debate the question “Should Gun Control Be Abolished?” (with Bernadette Malone moderating and Todd Seavey hosting) at the next Jinx Athenaeum, Wednesday, March 1 at 8pm, downstairs at Lolita bar (free admission, cash bar) on the northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, one block south and three west of the Delancey St. subway stop. (Volunteers to debate specific future topics, especially if you have a willing, serious opponent, are welcome.)

There will be Q&A, though Cheney jokes should be limited to one per audience member.

P.S. If you’re a conservative in media and would like to be on a separate, unrelated invite list for a monthly gathering at Slainte bar (and aren’t already), let me know.

Speaking of conservatives, anyone interested will find me defending science and capitalism in a letter down at the 2/22 1:44pm slot on the new National Review blog about “crunchy conservatives” (who might also perhaps be called eco-paleos, if that’s any clearer):

http://crunchycon.nationalreview.com/

But to compensate for my defense of (aspects of) modernity, here are two new blogs by one of our February Jinx debaters, John Crouch, about shoring up the old institution of marriage:

http://www.FamilyLawReformBlog.com

http://www.FamilyLawNewsBlog.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.)

DEBATE AT LOLITA BAR: "Should the Law Make It Harder to Divorce?"

Lawyer John Crouch and writer-blogger Nichelle Stephens debate the question “Should the Law Make It Harder to Divorce?” (with Michel “The Brain” Evanchik moderating and Todd Seavey hosting) at the next Jinx Athenaeum, Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 8pm, downstairs at Lolita bar (free admission, cash bar) on the northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, one block south and three west of the Delancey St. subway stop. (Volunteers to debate specific future topics, especially if you have a willing, serious opponent, are welcome.)

Other fun:

(1) If you are a conservative of some sort in media and you aren’t already on the invite list for the monthly gatherings of such folk at Slainte bar in Manhattan (not the same as the monthly gathering described above), let me know and I should be able to add you to the list.

(2) Here’s a story about a snake and a hamster who are friends:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1518131

(3) Hey, my face is on Gawker (identified as “Glenn”), and I’m talking to DC Comics editor Scott Nybakken (who has so far survived the Infinite Crisis, albeit with slightly altered superpowers).

(4) U. of South Carolina historian Christine Caldwell Ames praises Pandora.com, which enables you, in about two seconds flat, to enter a song or artist you like and thus create an online channel of songs that resemble your pick. It’s like the bastard offspring of TiVo and iPod, so check it out.

(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 Public School Boards Have the Right to Mandate the Teaching of Intelligent Design as Science?"

John Carney and Ken Silber debate the question “Do Public School Boards Have the Right to Mandate the Teaching of Intelligent Design as Science?” (with Michel “The Brain” Evanchik moderating and Todd Seavey hosting) at the next Jinx Athenaeum, Wednesday, Jan. 4 at 8pm, downstairs at Lolita bar (free admission, cash bar) on the northeast corner of Broome and Allen on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, one block south and three west of the Delancey St. subway stop.  (Volunteers to debate specific future topics, especially if you have a willing, serious opponent, are welcome.)

(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 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.)