Hey everybody,

I have a few other Meetup ideas in the works, including a debate on the Twilight franchise, a return to Gallery 180, and a George Harrison Meetup in 2011, http://meetup.com/u/8..., but I wanted to bring to your attention two new upcoming Meetups on the Calendar:


NEW MEETUP #1: Sangria Salon: Inception and All the Movie Talk You Can Handle

What: Sangria Salon: Inception and All the Movie Talk You Can Handle

When: Saturday, August 21, 2010 7:00 PM

Where: Moody's Pub
5910 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 275-2696

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....) 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. Watch this video, http://youtu.be/WeAGP.... 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!
  

RSVP to this Meetup:
http://www.creativeso...


NEW MEETUP #2: Coffee Salon: Creative Show-and-Tell, Design Chit-Chat, and Other Shop Talk

What: Coffee Salon: Creative Show-and-Tell, Design Chit-Chat, and Other Shop Talk

When: Saturday, September 18, 2010 10:00 AM. This starting time is tentative. When you RSVP, the system will ask you what time you would like to start, in addition to two other questions on content. After receiving your inputs, I will schedule this Meetup to accommodate the highest number of people for that day.

Where: Dollop Coffee Co.
4181 N Clarendon Ave
Chicago, IL 60613
773-275-0626

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 second of these new salons will be "Coffee Salon: Creative Show-and-Tell, Design Chit-Chat, and Other Shop Talk". It will be held on Saturday, September 18, 2010 at Dollop, 4181 North Clarendon, beginning at 10 AM (tentatively).

Dollop Coffee & Tea (http://dollopcoffee.c...) is a North Side coffee shop with reasonable coffee-snob street cred and has been used by other Meetup Groups for their events. It is relaxed and fairly cozy (actually, I consider it a bit dingy, but dingy is ideal for what I want to do with this Meetup), has free WiFi, and is not far from the Red Line. Best of all, it has a wealth of board games in the back room for Henri and I to play in case we are the only two people who show up.

This Conversation Salon will be a departure from past Salons and any other Meetups we have attempted to date with the Creative Social Club. No, it is not just the daytime scheduling and the lack of alcohol. In this Meetup, we do not want to consume or appreciate other people's creative work. In this Meetup, WE CALL ON ALL CREATIVE MEMBERS TO SHOW AND TELL US ABOUT YOUR WORK, ideally (but not necessarily) on a laptop, whether it be some design, video, photographic, music, written, multimedia, or other creative work. If you do not have your own work, you can show and tell us about the work of someone else which you like (or even dislike, for that matter) in particular. The idea here is to get into the nitty gritty of creativity, and to begin a monthly Saturday coffee dialog among creative people about creative things.

WE WANT ACTIVE SHOW-AND-TELL PARTICIPANTS, so please tell us what you would like to discuss. Topics in this salon include but are not limited to the following, and this list will be refined as the date approaches:

• The design logic that went into the Creative Social Club Web site (yes, there actually is a logic and custom elements)
  
• Online color tools that I use
  
• My favorite blogs
  
• Henri's show-and-tell
  
• YOUR show-and-tell
  
• How are you using social media to advance your creative pursuits?
  
• Other creativity-related technologies you would like to discuss (in some Meetups, we have discussed the joys of PHP, as one example)
  
• Creative goings-on in Chicago
  
• If all else fails, board games!
  

RSVP to this Meetup:
http://www.creativeso...


Thank you very much,


Jester