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*Welcome to a new contributor, babylawnmower*

Vice Magazine, home of the scathing Dos and Don'ts feature among other sarcasm-laden cultural commentary tidbits, is hosting (in conjunction with Dewar's) the kickoff event for the 2007 Bicycle Film Festival this Thursday, September 6th at Holocene. The evening will start off with a debate entitled “Bikes or Cars?” followed by music from Flosstradamus and DJ Beyonda. The debate will begin at 8:30, but Dewar's will be pouring complimentary cocktails starting at 7:30.

I attended the Debate Club co-sponsored by the Portland Mercury and the Bus Project last month (topic: Bikes vs. Cars) at rontoms, and, as you might imagine, it was very much a pro-bike affair; considering the fact that the car-friendly camp was 50% represented by Mel Zucker of the Oregon Transportation Institute, an old-guard type armed with arguments based on utterly irrelevant statistics, the panel was hardly balanced.

The Bus Project has not yet announced the topic for September's Debate Club, but the August forum on gentrification was sufficiently lively to compel me to encourage anyone with even a shred of interest in local goings-on to attend future events. The Vice shindig promises “two masters of argumentation,” setting the bar rather high, but hey, even if the discussion is weak and the point-making is flimsy, there's going to be FREE BOOZE.