Oral Fixation was featured prominently in a 5 minute spot on the Food Network’s “Unwrapped” TV show last week. Since then, new orders and account requests have been flying in at an amazing rate, and we’ve been working overtime to keep up with all the demand for the tastiest and most stylish mints in America.

The show’s theme was “cocktail culture”, for which our Mojito Mints were a natural fit. The Food Network guys came to visit us in our Pennsylvania mint factory, filmed us mixing up a big batch of Mojito Mints, and talked to us about the main ideas behind Oral Fixation Mints—making everyday objects beautiful.

Fun stuff!

What does Kant’s 3rd Critique, the Algerian War of Independence, innovations in contemporary journalism, and Scandinavian religions have to do with each other? About as much as they have to do with mint making.

But none the less that’s what Jeremy, Henry, Eric, and Jon studied just a few years ago at, respectively, Princeton, Harvard, Rutgers, and Princeton. Looking back and reminiscing upon our overnight stays at the library, we thought maybe we’d see some connections to what we’re up to now in the mint world at large.

What do you think?

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Jon’s computer science thesis at Princeton was “Extra!Extra!”, a program that automatically scrapes the internet for related news stories, displaying different countries’ coverage of the same news events side by side, thereby circumventing the perceived American news media bias. It was a lot like Google News, about a year before Google News was created. At Princeton, Jon also founded Troubadour Magazine, a publication that uses personal travel narratives to discuss world cultures, with themed issues bearing titles like “Empire, Evildoers, Resurrection, and Pirates!

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Eric double majored in English and Religion and for his Honors Thesis in Comparative Religion decided to delve into the religious landscape present when the European continent was converted to Christianity. Scandinavia offered the best resources since it was one of the last areas in Europe to convert, leaving historians one of the only coherent mythological systems besides the Greco-Roman model of paganism. Research led Eric to interesting areas of study including Norse mythology and ritual practices, and the Christian conversion, which involved a relatively swift political conversion of kings and earls followed by a gradual, competitive, and often bloody acceptance of Christianity by the lay people.

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Henry’s thesis demonstrated connections in the development of people’s aesthetic and ethical relation to the world. It argues that will-bypassing experience, such as laughter, love, or an experience of the beautiful introduces the idea of otherness and verifiable authenticity, thereby making way for moral judgment. He concluded by claiming that Kant’s 3rd Critique makes the same argument, only more radically and much more subtly, giving foundation to his claim of universal necessity in the form of his famous “categorical imperative.”

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Jeremy wrote two theses: one on the relationship between third world intellectuals, French intellectuals and the French press during the Algerian War in an effort to uncover the changes in perception of self that emerged out of this conflict. The other thesis was on German reparation negotiations after world war II.

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Any questions? What us to send you some copies for some light reading? Let us know at mints@oralfix.com

January UPDATE

Rich & Royal Return to CBGB’s
It’s our first show in a month so we’re ready to throw down.
If you need your R&R fix before March make it out
NEXT FRIDAY
January 27th
11PM
CBGB’s Lounge
315 Bowery between 1st and 2nd Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan New York, NY 10003
www.myspace.com/richandroyal

RICH & ROYAL NEW YORK TOUR

Rich & Royal Are Embarking on a Gigging Tour of New York City. Remember where you heard them first.

The New York City tour begins tommorrow October 13th at The Knitting Factory at 11PM

RICH & ROYAL’s New York Tour

10/13/2005 11:00 PM - The Knitting Factory
74 Leonard St, New York, NY 10013,US –
Part of M.E.A.N.Y Fest 2005. www.meanyfest.com
————————————————————————————————————————

10/16/2005 08:30 PM - CBGB’s
315 Bowery, New York, NY 10003,US –
R&R hit OMFUG! The best band to hit the Bowery since the heyday of The Talking Heads and Television. You all know the spot. Be there as Rich & Royal make Rock N’ Roll History
———————————————————————————————————————— 11/03/2005 10:00 PM - Love Sexy @ Blaggards
8 W 38th ST btwn 5th and 6th, New York, NY 10028,US – $7.00
Rich & Royal has qualified for the NYC/NJ Buzz Band Search. This is the first of four rounds of shows that will definitely result in Royal success. Mark the dates as you see us passing through the quarters, semis, and finals. Be a part of it.
———————————————————————————————————————— 11/08/2005 10:00 PM - Alphabet Lounge
104 Avenue C, New York, NY 10009,US –
R&R hit the notorious Tuesday Night Rock N’ Roll Floor Show at the Alphabet Lounge. Perfect way to end your pre-hump day hump day. http://www.studio9c.net/alphabetlounge.html
———————————————————————————————————————— 11/17/2005 10:30 PM - Kenny’s Castaways
157 Bleecker Street between Thompson & Sullivan, New York, NY 10012,US – 8.00?
Rich & Royal set sail at the great Kenny’s Castaway’s in the heart of SOHO. Get ready for some of the best music ever heard echoing down the halls of Bleeker st. http://www.kennyscastaways.net/
———————————————————————————————————————— 11/26/2005 10:00 PM - Ace of Clubs
9 Great Jones St (at Lafayette Street), New York , NY 10012,US – 8.00
Rich & Royal return to the Ace of Clubs (formerly the ACME Underground). I know you’ll all be ready to rock and royal after you’ve had enough turkey leftovers and aunt sandwiches. Neighborhood: Noho 6 at Bleecker St; B, D, F, Q at Broadway-Lafayette St +1 212 677 6963
————————————————————————————————————————————— 12/09/2005 10:00 PM - R&R
416 W 14th St, New York, NY 10014,US – 10.00
R&R live at R&R. If ever a show was meant to be. Check out the Hottest New Band at the Meat Packing districts Hottest new club. As always, Dress to Impress.

We are proud to announce the opening of the Oral Fixation Gallery. This project has been in the works for over a year now, and we have finally pulled together the work of five amazing artists from all over the world, to constitute our inaugural exhibit. The artists are:

Vladimir Dubko, Belarus
A series of astonishingly original illustrations, inspired by the worlds of pop culture and fashion

Steen Brogaard, Denmark
Photographs from a Nokia cameraphone, full of warmth and texture, reminiscent of old LOMO images

Juan Ospina, Colombia
Hand-drawn illustrations providing social commentary on the politics and corruption rampant in contemporary Colombia

Conrado Almada, Brazil
A series of pages from Almada’s sketchbooks, consisting of wildly imaginative drawings and illustrations inspired by Almada’s two years living in Italy

Joon Powell, USA
A series of photographs and written vignettes of Tennesseeans who recently lost their healthcare coverage.

As you will see, this collection of work is diverse and startling for its candor, originality, and craft. We hope you enjoy seeing this work as much as we enjoyed collecting it.

As we have built Oral Fixation Mints over the past 2+ years, art and design have always played a seminal role. Henry and Eric compose amazing music with Rich & Royal, I (Jon) make interactive artworks over at Number 27, and all of our products are heavily influenced by the principles of art and design, namely an eye to detail, and an obsessively perfectionist approach to product development. The gallery is our way of giving back to the global community of talented young artists who inspire us to keep making beautiful products.

This is an exciting day for Oral Fixation, and we hope it will be the start of a great tradition! Here’s to art!

Everybody’s doing it! But who’s going to protect My Space from the dangers of poor oral hygiene and generic product design. Oral Fixation Mints!

Join our Oral Fixation Mints’ myspace.

Rich & Royal, featuring Eric Lybeck and Henry Rich of Oral Fixation will be performing after a two month hiatus during which the band recorded and composed several new songs. So you Rich & Royal fanatics out there, also know as, “Greedies”, make your way out to the World Famous Court Tavern 10PM Thursday night July 22.

Also check out the new (if temporary) Rich & Royal blog at www.richandroyal.blogspot.com.

Anyone interested in becoming a Greedie by joining the Rich & Royal fanclub send your request to richandroyal@oralfix.com

A delightful article on everyone’s favorite mints in the Foodie publication, “The Nibble”.

Nibble Nibble.

justcurio.us is an anonymous question and answer system, open to anyone, with one simple rule: to ask a question, you must first answer someone else’s question. Question yields answer yields question. Strangers helping strangers.

The questions can be about anything — the best Beatles album, your saddest moment, your biggest regret, your best childhood memory, the meaning of life, whether you should break up with your girlfriend, the best crepe place in Paris, the best cure for loneliness. Anything at all. This is our chance to lean on each other, to look to a stranger for help, to discover what other people think.

justcurio.us is entirely confidential, allowing anyone to ask and answer questions with complete anonymity. So, what’s on your mind?

And, for you mint lovers, start by answering this one.

This British dude ordered some 6Packs from us, and when they arrived, he chronicled the ritual of opening the box and unwrapping the tins, moment by breathtaking moment, with a lovely set of captioned photos, which he then posted on his Flickr site (we love Flickr!). You, too, can share in the same momentous experience as this man, if you order some mints of your own. Come on, you know you want to. Plus, when was the last time you received a package? Packages are fun! Give yourself a treat!

Oral Fixation made an appearance in this week’s very sexy Nerve Scanner, just above the picture of a translucent pink vibrator shaped like a woman. What an honor!

Back in college, we had a friend with a single pick-up technique: flicking open a slim 1920s cigarette case and offering you a smoke. (Curiously, this seemed to work best on non-smokers.) Now that smoking is banned in New York bars, we hope he has discovered Oral Fixation mints, with their similarly sexy cases and their self-conscious resemblance to narcotics. In any case, several dozen tins were shipped to our office last week and our desk has smelled like “Seven Deadly Cinnamon” ever since.