Group therapy in a blog.
Archive for June, 2004
TV IS LOVE
021 years
Of course, I’m in love with my TV, that goes without saying. But this is something different: a new dating TV channel in Israel. Here’s an excerpt from Viva Sarah Press’s article in the Jerusalem Post (you may have to register to access the article in its entirety):
Lying about one’s looks when it comes to TV is a hard thing to do – as each participant on the new dating service will feature in her or his own self-promoting video clip. The two-to-three minute clips, done in interview format, will be broadcast around the clock and will cost approximately NIS 480 to make. Subscribers who want to view the channel at home will have to pay NIS 35 a month for the service. Everyone will receive an intranet post box through which to communicate with potential partners.
As opposed to Internet dating where everyone and anyone can peruse a profile on line, Klika’s service can only be accessed by subscribers. And to be a subscriber of Klika, one has to show his ID card to prove he is who he says he is.
“You can get a picture on the Internet that is five years old,” says 32-year-old Ganor, who has on line dated on-and-off for three years.
“The video is current. JDate.com, even with a picture, is still a blind date. Here, I can choose the videos to watch. I don’t see TV personals as a blind date.”
And that’s exactly what Klika is about.
“We’re trying to take the blind out of date,” says Arieli, 39. “On the Net, you’re in a fantasy world. You never know what the person looks or sounds like until you actually meet him. I’m single and it’s easier for me to date someone having already seen him.”
For Ganor, who recently returned from abroad and is between jobs in the hi-tech field, that the television medium enables interaction is a bonus.
“I’m very cynical and I see people don’t understand what I write,” she says. “The Internet is flat. There’s no tone on the Web.”
I just keep remembering that the camera adds ten pounds. And I know that unless people have professional makeup and hair crews working on them before air-time, people look different on TV than they do in real life. So, as usual, I’m skeptical. But we’ll see what happens, if this takes off in Israel and if (a big if) it ends up migrating to the States.
NEW JEWISH WEEK ARTICLE
021 years
My new column’s up and this one is about, um, surprise, JDate.
Here’s the link: A New Profile, A New You.
(And if you decide to contact E-Cyrano for profile help or go to the workshop at the 92nd Street Y, tell Evan I sent you!)
A READER DISCOVERS THE UP-SIDE TO CENSORSHIP
221 years
I guess there’s always a way to make lemonade from JDate-given censored lemons.
A reader writes:
I think the jdate censors now block the word “excite.” There is a guy whose profile used to begin, “Promise to Excite and Entice…” (He’s in my list of people who’ve viewed my profile. Now it says, “Promise to and Entice…”
Is this because some small number of people use an email service at excite.com? Soon there will be nothing left. I’m glad you’ve exposed this problem, though, because now I am not as judgmental about sentences that seem disjointed. Instead of assuming the writers are careless or stupid, I can blame it on jdate…
I agree. Knowing that there are other forces at work on these profiles make me also think twice about discarding a profile for perceived lapses in otherwise-coherent sentences. I’m more tolerant now, and it’s all because of me.
HOW TO JDATE FOR FUN, PROFIT AND JAIL TIME
021 years
The Forward reported that an Orlando man used JDate to “lure women into dating him†was arrested in Broward County, and bail was set at $21,000. (Here’s the URL, though I think you’ll have to register with the site in order to view it.)
I know many of you are thinking that maybe he was arrested because he claimed to be 5’10 and he was really 5’5. But no…the 34-year-old was charged with grand theft. He swindled at least fifteen women, “stealing credit card information, personal checks, a car and identity information.â€Â
The kicker? The so-called “Internet Casanova†who is described as a “published poet,†wasn’t even Jewish. And a close reading of the article reveals that only one of the swindled women was a JDater.
What do we learn, boys and girls? Sweet words aren’t everything, and anything that seems too good to be true probably is.
Dating in general, let alone Internet dating, is a scary world: go forth and have great adventures. Just remember to proceed with caution.