Are you a hipster? Or are you so unhip you don't know what a hipster is?

Join Jester on Friday evening, February 26th, for the Creative Social Club's very first CONVERSATION SALON at the one point in the universe where hipster and non-hipster worlds collide, The Long Room on Irving Park Road, just west of Ashland. Note to those who RSVPed "Yes" prior to February 12th: We are changing the location from Hungry Brain to The Long Room and the time from 8:15 PM to 7 PM. We will take advantage of Hungry Brain's cheap beers at another time. I just think The Long Room is a little better draw on its own as a venue and I wanted an earlier start on the festivities.

There is simply no bar like The Long Room. First of all, it is right next to a Popeye's Chicken, so if you love that chicken from Popeye's, you will be in hog heaven, or maybe chicken heaven. However, as everyone who attended our last Meetup mini-afterparty knows, I strongly prefer the Colonel's Original Recipe, so my personal attraction to The Long Room as Organizer is due to (a) its easy accessibility from the CTA Brown Line, just two blocks east of the Irving Park stop; (b) a lot of city people can even walk there (OK, it would be an "exceedingly healthy" walk for most people); (c) the plenitude of street parking for members who are driving; (d) you can't miss it, being next to the Popeye's; (e) its tasty assortment of alcoholic beverages; and (f) most importantly, an ambience so cool, even the uncool patrons become cool just by association. Hey, I need all the help I can get. The bar is also very long and narrow, which scrunches people together. I HAVE RESERVED THE BANQUETTE AREA NEAR THE BACK (NOT THE FARTHEST BACK ROOM WITH THE PHOTO BOOTH; THE BANQUETTE IS A SECTIONED AREA OF THE BAR, RAISED BY ONE STEP) AND I WILL HAVE SIGNS TAPED, HANGING FROM THE TABLES, SO YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY MISS US. THE SIGNS WILL HAVE THE NEW CREATIVE SOCIAL CLUB LOGO, http://www.creativeso.... FOR ADDED INSURANCE, I WILL BE THE ONLY FILIPINO GUY ON THE PLANET WEARING A SMALL PIN OF THE AMERICAN AND WELSH FLAGS OVER A BLACK SWEATER.

What are we going to do at The Long Room? We are going to have our very first CONVERSATION SALON. Although I remain ashamed to cite Wikipedia, my laziness still overwhelms my academic standards and intellectual pride, and thus: According to Wikipedia, "the salon was a Chinese invention of the 16th century which flourished in France throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. The word salon first appeared in France in 1664 (from the Italian word salone, itself from sala, the large reception hall of Italian mansions). One important place for the exchange of ideas was the salon, a gathering of the intellectual, social, political, and cultural elites."

In other words, a CONVERSATION SALON is just a gathering of people to have an exchange of ideas about a group of topics. Today, we call this activity "hanging out". Hanging out is apparently what the French did right before their Revolution. We will commence our own "Meetup Revolution" by downing refreshments while engaging in wild (but moderated, and mostly congenial) conversation and even debate about a range of creative and intellectual topics, probably including but not limited to:

• Hipsters and non-hipsters: say hello to each other
  
• Technology and social isolation: Have the advancement and adoption of information, communication, and entertainment technologies over the last thirty years helped or hurt the way Americans initiate, build, and sustain relationships with each other? The empirical evidence suggests a lot of benefits, but of course I prefer to hear any negative anecdotes you are willing to share!
  
• Avatar: Overhyped videogame on the big screen or landmark film with provocative political statement?
  
• The future of 3D media: Is this really a big thing, much less The Next Big Thing?
  
• Ayn Rand: Some people love her, some people hate her!
  
• Who doesn't like Katy Perry?
  
• The Chicago creative scene: tales from the front
  
• Batali, Flay, Cora, or Morimoto: Who is your favorite Iron Chef?
  
• Very good reasons and very bad reasons to join, participate in, and leave a Meetup Group
  
• Looking ahead to the Oscars, looking back at the year in film and movies
  
• Whatcha wanna do? The year ahead for the Creative Social Club
  
• The Illinois Earthquake: Gateway to 2012 Apocalypse?
  

I will do a fair amount of moderating, along with Member #11* on the topic of Ayn Rand and whatever other topic Member #11 might like to lead. In general, these conversations can be very open-ended, with no defined objective in mind, but since some people may feel uncomfortable with that style of interaction, we will try to moderate the topics to some level of closure. Also, OTHER TOPICS ARE DEFINITELY WELCOME, as long as whoever suggests a given topic is willing to lead and moderate that particular discussion. (Give me more topics!) With me as Organizer, it is certainly clear that we need participation from experts and enthusiasts in music, art, food, etc., so everybody is welcome to lead.

Relevant Web sites:
http://www.longroomch...
http://chicago.metrom...
http://en.wikipedia.o...)

* Some of our members may belong to the Witness Protection Program. To protect their identities, I will refer online to peeps by their randomly assigned Member #. Numbers assigned will generally be jersey numbers of NFL players that I had on my 2009 fantasy football roster, but if you annoy me or if it arbitrarily strikes my fancy, I may assign you a lineman number or any number from negative to positive infinity.