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| NEW YORK — The hot spot du jour1)of Manhat-tan nightlife looms large over Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, where crowds of stylish YoCos — young cosmopolitans2) — were jostling3) inside one evening last week for the right to pay the $15 cover. Rather than crossing the velvet ropes4) for a rave, house party or disco, the hip patrons5) here were packing into a controversial lecture at the New York Public Library on the modern meaning of feminism. “We’ve both been going to bars and clubs less because events like these are more provocative6),” said Paul Torres, an MTV producer holding hands with his girlfriend of eight months, IT manager Amy Stemmler, also 30. Recent dates have included a museum crawl at MoMA and a discussion titled “Was the 20th Century a Mistake?” by German director Werner Herzog. “Maybe we’ll agree, maybe we won’t. But at least we’re getting inside each other’s heads.” In New York and other northeastern urban centers, including Washington and Boston, gray matter7)is the new black8) of the hip social scene. Thousands of young singles and couples are eschewing9) the perfunctory10) dinner and a movie for a growing circuit of late-night museum prowls11), Oxford-style debates with pre-feud12) cocktail parties and book readings with cash bars and after-hour bands. In New York, even spelling bee nights have popped up as a romantic twist13) for the chic14), unmarried and grammatically gifted. It is, observers of the trend say, a visceral15) backlash16) to life in a Paris Hilton world. It’s a chance to impress a mate, or a potential date, by flexing a body part that has lost ground in recent years to biceps17) and pecs18) — the brain. “Let’s face it, there really is nothing more sensual than caressing someone’s mind,”said Paul Holdengr er, who launched the library’s live lecture series that is now a staple of New York’s “intellidating” scene. Two years ago, the average age at library lectures was 68. It is now 41 and falling, driven down partly by a new crop of cutting-edge19) guests including underground cartoonists Robert Crumb and Aline Kominsky Crumb and director Jonathan Demme. “Our ears are a very sensitive place,” Holdengr er said, “and lectures give our crowd not only something to listen to, but something to discuss all evening long. You say a lecture isn’t romantic? I say but of course it is.” “Intellidating,” first coined 20) in England in 2002, sprang from “Intelligence Squared,” a live discussion series launched by a couple of British moguls21) whose professed22) aim was to make debating “sexy”. Heated debates on topics ranging from “Monogamy Is Bad for the Soul”to“Maggie Thatcher Saved Britain”brought in the London glitterati23), including actor Hugh Grant and, until their split in February, svelte24) girlfriend and socialite25) Jemima Khan. The concept leapt across the pond26) to New York last year with the American version of Intelligence Squared — IQ2US — launched by philanthropist27) and businessman Robert Rosenkranz. Housed inside the Asia Society building on the Upper East Side, the popular events have lured a following including conservative pundit28) Monica Crowley and her boyfriend, the venture capitalist Bill Siegel. The cheaper seats are peppered29) with budding young brainiacs who find heightened stimulation in verbal joust30). |
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