dates

Guys, don't let this be you.

So there's this friend of mine; let's call him Josh. He goes on this date, and it goes really well because he did a little bit of Facebook reconnaissance in advance to find out that the girl really digs sushi, gelato, and Wes Anderson movies.

Then he takes her back to his apartment for a "cup of tea" (oh, yeah right!) and then she notices that he's a little bit eccentric. You know, he's got a Star Trek blaster for his TV remote control, or maybe he'… Read more

It's a match made in Heaven.

Catholic Match announced Tuesday it acquired the assets of CatholicDaters.com. The parties, as expected, are gushing like newlyweds.

"It became clear, after some initial discussion, that an acquisition made sense," beamed Catholic Match co-founder Brian Barcaro. And CatholicDaters' founder, Andrew Weyrich, glowed: "Catholic Match embodies many of the values and concepts that were important to us at CatholicDaters."

But hey, this is America, where 50 percent of marriages end up in divorce. So Catholic Match has its work cut out for it in making the most of the … Read more

Outgoing and adventuresome types who don't like lunching alone might want to try out Noonhat, an experimental site that connects people looking for midday companionship. (For lunch, you pervert.) The site launched nationwide during Gnomedex. It's simple to use: you locate your position on a Google map, select the radius you're willing to travel for lunch, and enter in your e-mail and your desired lunch date. On the morning of the date, you're sent a notification with e-mail addresses of people looking to dine in the same area, if there are any.

And that's it. … Read more

You know those magazine surveys that say women reject "nice guys" because they try too hard? Here's a perfect example of what they're talking about.

Our insanely prolific friends at Japan's SolidAlliance have come up with the "I Love You" optical mouse, which announces its feelings whenever the scroll wheel is turned (unless your stomach turns first). And if you need more ways to unburden your pent-up emotions, the heart-shaped peripheral has lights that will turn a "shiny bright red" when connected.

Fareastgizmos says it's sure to "make that … Read more

Looks like I spoke too soon when I made fun of the nascent phenomenon of dotcoms throwing parties at the Whole Foods Bowery supermarket. Last month, it was a new hyperlocal social network; this month, it's urban uberblog Gothamist. And it's not just any party--it's "Check Out," described as "a delicious event for delicious singles."

I should stress once again the absurdity of it all: the historically edgy gangland of the Bowery, now home to a massive upscale supermarket that hosts singles mixers in conjunction with urban blog networks.

It's almost ironically … Read more

Axe body spray is just about the nastiest stuff on the planet--trust me, guys, don't wear it, it's girl repellent and is really only good for covering up scents that might make the cops come a'knocking--but they did come out with a particularly clever ad campaign. It's not often that ads me laugh out loud for real, but these did.

A series of photographs show visual tableaux of young fellows who clearly have spent too much time doing somewhat pointless things (training frogs to jump, occupying all ten high-score spots on an arcade video game, building … Read more

Wow. It's not often that we're left speechless by the sheer dorkiness of an item, but this one almost had that effect on us.

The very name of the "Lighted Head Magnifier" screams date-repellant, but it still can't come close to conveying the image in the photo shown here. In case anyone cares, Coolest-Gadgets says this piece of headgear provides 3.5x magnification, a spare light bulb and "non-slip fit." That may be so, but it still looks like a poor man's combination of a "Shade Blade" and an LED baseball cap, … Read more

We never thought we'd see an item worthy of as much ridicule as the solar hat fan, but this one comes close. Well, maybe not. But it's still eminently mockable.

The "Shade Blade" (classic name) is a prototype that Gizmodo says is billed as the "ultimate pair of sunglasses," presumably because of its theoretical ability to provide solar power for a variety of electronic devices. But frankly, the only thing "ultimate" we can imagine is how effectively it would function as a date repellant.

Not much else to say here, other than that Apple has made it official that the iPhone will be released on June 29. That's a Friday. This means, depending on your affiliations, that you can either breathe a sigh of relief that after the 29th you'll optimally stop hearing annoying iPhone rumors, or you can stop speculating and focus on raising that $600 to feed your addiction. Now go!

(Via Engadget)