December Dating Wrapup
You, the reader, should know several things after reading this blog:
1. "Modern Love" often tries to be fresh and thoughtful, but typically leaves a bad aftertaste.
2. "Meet Market" tries to be sincere and endearing, but typically arrives as comical and embarassing.
3. Brian Van tries to be consistent, but typically doesn't update much in the month of December.
Let's try to catch up a bit. First, in the Times:
- 12/11: Lisa Baker shares an essay about her experience being a surrogate mother. It was an acceptable entry, if you don't mind the "Reader's Digest" type of Modern Love essay. Oh, and would you have guessed that Lisa's writing a book about her experience as well? That trend is getting a bit annoying.
- 12/18: Debora Spar writes about adopting a foreign child. This essay isn't a precursor to a book, but of course she's writing some kind of book (as it's mentioned at the end). This one strikes me as somewhat odd; this woman becomes obsessed with foreign orphans online (no, not these foreign orphans) and decides to cherry-pick one for herself. The essay ends on a somewhat awful note, as Debora finds herself again browsing orphans occasionally - as if she's not satisfied with what she's got. Bah. Also, she's a professor at Harvard - so if, like myself, you smelled a whiff of "overpriviledged upper-middle-class family gets to help save the world one self-absorbed task at a time", you were correct.
- 12/25: Merry Christmas! You get the heartwarming tale of Ellen Pall and her father's descent into dementia. How cheery! Oh, and this is part of Ellen's "series of essays on loss and redemption." Which means that at some point in the future, there will be something you should buy! I'm not going to be unfair to the essay itself - it was rather good - but this makes for three Readers' Digest essays in a row.
Aside from the schmaltz and woe, I also have a problem with these essays being rather unspecific about the setting while being published in a New-York-City-based newspaper. What happened to all the romance stories? Do people not find love in Manhattan or Brooklyn anymore? Heck, I'd settle for something from the Bronx at this point! Perhaps "Bullets Over My Baby", or "I Left My Heart In Mott Haven."
Onto Meet Market:
* Jackson had went with Jocy - great choice! - and the two hit it off fabulously. Jackson, it seems, has great taste in nightlife and also knows how to dance. In the end, he had no problem charming Jocy and showing her a great time. She definitely wants to see him again (and vice versa), so we have our first successful date in a while! Nice!
* The following week, Rose chose the seemingly charming Jim. And here's where I mail it in and skip a date review, because I can't get to the archived version. Whoops! I seem to remember that both daters were well-behaved and the date executed nicely, except I think Rose was just going to move on anyway. I wish the both of them luck in the future. And you can check out Jim's blog for entertainment purposes if you'd like...
* This week, Andrew went with Leora for a date at Paris Match (the place where I had my own Meet Market date... not a bad venue). Andrew starts with, "I could tell right away that she was a very decent person" - which I find is the least romantic way to describe a date! Does this get better or worse?
Oooh, tough break Andrew! I know you thought Leora was a hottie, but she just wasn't feeling it with you! Sad, sad. Again, winter dates suck.
For next week, I'm not too hopeful. Jennifer starts with:
*grunt!* *snort!* Aside from the fact that I'm not 6 feet tall myself (one reason to take umbrage to such comments), I should add that a very small portion of the population is really that tall. Most men fall somewhere in the middle, as the bell curve would dictate. So, that said, I can't have any hope that she'll bond with any of these guys if she really sticks to that demand. Also, how tall is she? I mean, if she's 6 foot herself, I'd understand that preference... but why do I get the feeling she's one of those 4'10" midgets who make crazy declarations like that? Puh-leeze. If you think you're too good to date in your own height range, you shouldn't be dating at all.
The guys? Mitchell's been here before, and I'm going to reject him again. A bald artist with a middling profile - I don't think Jen's going to go for him. (You're a nice guy, Mitch; tune up your profile and keep hitting the scene) Michael is a handsome and brainy guy, but we don't know anything more about him from his printed profile. Aaron is back for another go-round, and he's a good guy (also probably tall enough for Jen), but is he appropriate for our date picker?
I'll go with Aaron, because his profile is a lot more effective than Mike's. Much of the voting is going to Mike, entirely because he's a pretty boy. But we already know that's how things work with Meet Market.
Happy New Year to all! I'll see you next week...
1. "Modern Love" often tries to be fresh and thoughtful, but typically leaves a bad aftertaste.
2. "Meet Market" tries to be sincere and endearing, but typically arrives as comical and embarassing.
3. Brian Van tries to be consistent, but typically doesn't update much in the month of December.
Let's try to catch up a bit. First, in the Times:
- 12/11: Lisa Baker shares an essay about her experience being a surrogate mother. It was an acceptable entry, if you don't mind the "Reader's Digest" type of Modern Love essay. Oh, and would you have guessed that Lisa's writing a book about her experience as well? That trend is getting a bit annoying.
- 12/18: Debora Spar writes about adopting a foreign child. This essay isn't a precursor to a book, but of course she's writing some kind of book (as it's mentioned at the end). This one strikes me as somewhat odd; this woman becomes obsessed with foreign orphans online (no, not these foreign orphans) and decides to cherry-pick one for herself. The essay ends on a somewhat awful note, as Debora finds herself again browsing orphans occasionally - as if she's not satisfied with what she's got. Bah. Also, she's a professor at Harvard - so if, like myself, you smelled a whiff of "overpriviledged upper-middle-class family gets to help save the world one self-absorbed task at a time", you were correct.
- 12/25: Merry Christmas! You get the heartwarming tale of Ellen Pall and her father's descent into dementia. How cheery! Oh, and this is part of Ellen's "series of essays on loss and redemption." Which means that at some point in the future, there will be something you should buy! I'm not going to be unfair to the essay itself - it was rather good - but this makes for three Readers' Digest essays in a row.
Aside from the schmaltz and woe, I also have a problem with these essays being rather unspecific about the setting while being published in a New-York-City-based newspaper. What happened to all the romance stories? Do people not find love in Manhattan or Brooklyn anymore? Heck, I'd settle for something from the Bronx at this point! Perhaps "Bullets Over My Baby", or "I Left My Heart In Mott Haven."
Onto Meet Market:
* Jackson had went with Jocy - great choice! - and the two hit it off fabulously. Jackson, it seems, has great taste in nightlife and also knows how to dance. In the end, he had no problem charming Jocy and showing her a great time. She definitely wants to see him again (and vice versa), so we have our first successful date in a while! Nice!
* The following week, Rose chose the seemingly charming Jim. And here's where I mail it in and skip a date review, because I can't get to the archived version. Whoops! I seem to remember that both daters were well-behaved and the date executed nicely, except I think Rose was just going to move on anyway. I wish the both of them luck in the future. And you can check out Jim's blog for entertainment purposes if you'd like...
* This week, Andrew went with Leora for a date at Paris Match (the place where I had my own Meet Market date... not a bad venue). Andrew starts with, "I could tell right away that she was a very decent person" - which I find is the least romantic way to describe a date! Does this get better or worse?
Leora: The problem is that most of the guys you meet are very nice but you just don't click. And that's what happened here. We had a nice evening. We got the check about 11 p.m. and both headed home - alone.
Oooh, tough break Andrew! I know you thought Leora was a hottie, but she just wasn't feeling it with you! Sad, sad. Again, winter dates suck.
For next week, I'm not too hopeful. Jennifer starts with:
she is looking for "a man that is 6 feet tall and above" ...
*grunt!* *snort!* Aside from the fact that I'm not 6 feet tall myself (one reason to take umbrage to such comments), I should add that a very small portion of the population is really that tall. Most men fall somewhere in the middle, as the bell curve would dictate. So, that said, I can't have any hope that she'll bond with any of these guys if she really sticks to that demand. Also, how tall is she? I mean, if she's 6 foot herself, I'd understand that preference... but why do I get the feeling she's one of those 4'10" midgets who make crazy declarations like that? Puh-leeze. If you think you're too good to date in your own height range, you shouldn't be dating at all.
The guys? Mitchell's been here before, and I'm going to reject him again. A bald artist with a middling profile - I don't think Jen's going to go for him. (You're a nice guy, Mitch; tune up your profile and keep hitting the scene) Michael is a handsome and brainy guy, but we don't know anything more about him from his printed profile. Aaron is back for another go-round, and he's a good guy (also probably tall enough for Jen), but is he appropriate for our date picker?
I'll go with Aaron, because his profile is a lot more effective than Mike's. Much of the voting is going to Mike, entirely because he's a pretty boy. But we already know that's how things work with Meet Market.
Happy New Year to all! I'll see you next week...
posted by Brian Van at
7:46 AM
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