Our Conversation Salons have been among the best Meetups we have had, and it is time for not one, but TWO new Conversation Salons. The first of these new salons will be "Sangria Salon: Inception and All the Movie Talk You Can Handle". It will be held on Saturday, August 21, 2010 at Moody's Pub, 5910 North Broadway, beginning at 7 PM.

Moody's Pub (http://www.moodyspub.com/) is a bit out of the way for many members, but I have to tell you: Moody's may just be the best beer garden in Chicago, a city with an endless treasure trove of terrific bars. What makes it great? The $9.50 pitchers of sangria, washing down the $8 half-pound Moody Bleu Burger burgers, in a huge, relaxed outdoor beer garden. See the video below. Moody's is right on the Red Line by the Thorndale el stop and it has a free parking lot. Hat tip to Roz for suggesting Moody's; I did my "reconnaissance" and I cannot wait to go back.

What is a Conversation Salon? In February, I defined it as "a gathering of people to have an exchange of ideas about a group of topics". As the title implies, in this salon, we will focus on movies, movies, and more movies (or film, if you prefer ). In the past, we covered a variety of creative topics, but with Inception (which I myself have not decided whether I liked, 24 hours after seeing it) coming out, and a summer of movies winding down by August 21, just movies alone should make for a very lively conversation. Topics to be discussed in this salon include but are not limited to (suggestions are welcome and this list will be refined as the date approaches):

A completely SPOILERFUL discussion of why I should like or dislike Inception (you have more than one month to see it)
Movies that we are supposed to like but do not, inspired by Roger Ebert's blog post, http://j.mp/d4KOHm
Comparing apples to apples? Inception versus Shutter Island
The other films of Leonardo DiCaprio
Comparing apples to oranges: Inception versus Hard Candy (if you have Comcast, Hard Candy is currently available FREE via On Demand)
The other films of Ellen Page and "What is she doing on Cisco commercials?"
The other films of Christopher Nolan
The best and worst of this summer's movies
Top independent films of 2010
The films of Sofia Coppola
The films of Francis Ford Coppola
Movies we are so ashamed of liking that we would not tell our best friends, yet we would gladly tell people we just met after a pitcher of sangria
Any other films that randomly pop into our heads (Shaun of the Dead, anybody?)
Any personal experiences YOU may have in film production
Any other film topic you could possibly want to discuss after all that!

• 
  Henri Boylan

  I'm kind of anxious to check this place out.

  Posted Jul 22, 2010 at 8:40 AM
• 
  Jester

  The burgers are tasty and the sangria is plentiful, fresh, and fruity. The atmosphere could not be more relaxed. I scheduled for August 21 so that hopefully it will not be 95 degrees. If we get nice weather, this Meetup will rock.

  Posted Jul 22, 2010 at 12:32 PM
• 
  Steve

  Finally got to meet the crew. Cool people. Great conversation and lotsa fun as well. I'll definitely be back. Jester, great job hosting.

  Posted Aug 22, 2010 at 2:29 AM
• 
  Jester

  Thanks to everyone for coming out tonight! It was great to meet our new members and attendees and of course hang out with everyone. Steve, thanks for the kind comments...it was great to meet you, and we will have to do some sort of creative hockey Meetups this fall. ;)

  Posted Aug 22, 2010 at 4:21 AM