Video dating before Vooji

September 29th, 2009 • by Samuel Agboola • 1 comment

After yesterday’s fake awful video-dating profile it seems fitting to follow up with a montage of real ones. Be warned, some of these guys are creepy. You’re going to want to take a ‘Silkwood’ shower after this.


Dating Montage

How not to record a video-dating profile

September 28th, 2009 • by Samuel Agboola • Leave a comment

Please – don’t do this at Vooji. Ever.

Desperation (a dating video) – watch more funny videos

No wonder you’re single

September 22nd, 2009 • by Samuel Agboola • Leave a comment

As most people know, there’s a world of strange to be found at Craigslist. For true connoisseurs of awful personals No wonder you’re single is a pretty addictive read.

The author dredges up the creme of the crap along with his own commentary. Ironically, some of the people featured must meet dates thanks to the unintended celebrity the blog delivers. That said, you really shouldn’t be dating these people, put down the keyboard.

Europe’s biggest singles festival

September 19th, 2009 • by Samuel Agboola • Leave a comment

If you like bedazzled style website design, whiskey and the Irish, Europe’s ‘biggest’ dating festival might be for you.

The month log revelry, held in Lisdoonvarna (which sounds more like a Finnish Death metal band than an Irish town) it’s a chance to stuff the coffers of visit a charming Irish town and perhaps make a drunken mistake which lasts a lifetime meet the person of your dreams.

Which woman wouldn’t trust a matchmaker for whom Willie Daly’s not a promise, it’s a name?

Interracial dating statistics

September 17th, 2009 • by Samuel Agboola • 2 comments

Blackstate has some interesting, counterintuitive, figures about interracial dating in America.

Asian women are most likely to marry outside their race, with 20.13% marrying white men and 1.12% marrying black men. Asian men are less diverse with 6.45% marrying white women and .28% marrying black women.

Black men marry almost identically to Asian men. 6.83% marry white women and .87% Asians. Black women are more conservative with only 3.16% marrying white men and .19% marrying Asians.

White men are the second least open group with a minuscule .24% marrying black women and a hardly impressive 1.27% marrying Asians – though that is the most commonplace interracial Asian relationship and represents more than a fifth of all Asian women’s marriages. White women win the prize for most racially homogeneous long-term relationships, .55% marry black men and .35% Asians.

I would have guessed these numbers completely differently. Even in 2009 98.49% of white men and 99.10% of white women marry people of their own race. It’s not much of a melting pot.

Possible reasons why? I’m not going to touch that with a barge pole. However, Jen Kwok does make a solid argument for dating Asian men in this YouTube clip.

Getting responses to online personals

September 16th, 2009 • by Samuel Agboola • Leave a comment

The OKCupid blog has some casual research on the things that get the most profile responses in their system. The obvious winner is missing – a fantastic photo – but I guess they figure you’ve either got ‘the look’ or you haven’t.

Their other points are more interesting but I disagree with some of their analysis. Here’s an alternate take.

1. Be literate

They say: Netspeak/textspeak are a turn off (excluding “haha” and “lol”).

We say: Only Prince can get away with texting abbreviations in email.

2. Avoid physical compliments

They say: Saying “You’re gorgeous” is “icky”.

We say: Saying “Your’re gorgeous” is both insincere, based on a photo, and obvious. Don’t.

3. Use an unusual greeting

They say: “Hi”, “Hey” and “Hello” are all bad online openers.

We say: They don’t work because the messages that follow them are normally devoid of all original thought. Surprise people, pleasantly – and they’ll return the favor.

4. Don’t try to take it outside

They say: Don’t share email or phone numbers too soon.

We say: …because it’s spamy and desperate. You’re already on a dating site, play a little bit hard to get just so the people you’re meeting can retain a little dignity.

5. Bring up specific interests

They say: Discuss shared niche interests, show you’ve read their profile.

We say: Be interesting and demonstrate you can talk about something other than yourself. Passion – about anything – is attractive.

6. If you’re a guy, be self-effacing

They say: Vulnerability is attractive.

We say: Confidence is attractive and confident people can admit their weaknesses without feeling diminished by them.

7. Consider becoming an atheist

They say: Being an atheist is way more potent than declaring a religious affiliation

We say: Have you seen truly devoted evangelists? It’s not sexy. Additionally, as a relatively small slice of the population, atheists are likely to be highly responsive to anyone who won’t try to convert them.

You can read the full report here

Japan’s virtual cheating problem

September 15th, 2009 • by Samuel Agboola • Leave a comment

I wish I read enough Japanese to know more about “Love Plus“, a virtual girlfriend program for the Nintendo DS which is ostensibly threatening relationships in Japan.

The game allows players to have a relationship with a computer generated avatar (hey, there’s a movie in that…) The problem seems to be obsessed men who refuse to be parted from their palm-sized entertainment devices to the chagrin of their flesh and blood partners.

It seems ridiculous today but falling in love with a pile of pixels will only get easier. It won’t be long before virtual people are as realistic as webcam images and many people have got on planes to meet lovers they’ve only shared email with.

Is it cheating?

(via TokyoMango)