Maybe Relationships Really Are Possible

According to this article, quality time can be a lot of things, even a quick game of Halo.

posted by dan @ 5:50 PM |

Dude Yourself

What could be more embarrassing than reaching the front of the line at Barnes and Noble, holding a garish gaming magazine, and realizing that the cashier summoning you to her station is the attractive, friendly looking one. You can't very well hide the magazine and grab something else, she's seen it. You may think it would be worse to be caught purchasing porn, but I doubt it.
Anyway, you get up to the counter, chat with her about pennies and such, she seems to be buying it. She's not at all aware of the nature of your purchase. Then the guy at the next counter sees the cover of the magazine she's putting in the bag for you.

"Dude, is that Halo 3? I'm so going to have to buy that magazine."

posted by dan @ 4:21 PM |

When Flirting Fails

Apparently flirting is part of diplomacy. That shouldn't be news, but if you try to seduce the U.S. Secretary of State, and fail, then expect an investigation. The Prime Minister of Pakistan gave it his best shot in 2005:

the urbane premier puffed himself up and held forth in his “seductive baritone” but to little effect.

Aziz “tried this Saville Row-suited gigolo kind of charm: Pakistan is a country of rich traditions, staring in Rice’s eyes,” wrote Marcus Mabry, Newsweek magazine’s senior editor and author of the biography Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and her Path to Power.

“There was this test of wills where he was trying to use all his charm on her as a woman and she just basically stared him down. By the end of the meeting, he was babbling,” Pakistani media quoted him as writing.

posted by dan @ 12:02 PM |

Does flirting require intent?

If that attractive woman at the party tosses her hair, winks, straightens your tie, or leans forward in a way that seems to offer a view, is she flirting? Those are certainly flirty behaviors, but what if she doesn't mean anything? I'd say that flirting is already partly non-intentional, it's normally at least deniable. Otherwise it's just obviously hitting on someone. Fortunately, philosophers have stepped down from the ivory towers of academe long enough to debate the issue. Being philosophers, they naturally constructed equally sound arguments for either side. But at least they may have, sort-of, flirted with each other:

Rather than getting on with the act of flirting, Jenkins and Nolan spent the evening talking about it instead, teasing out issues of intent, social context and behaviour. Perhaps this was some kind of philosopher flirting? “We might have managed to flirt by talking about flirting – a sort of meta-flirting,” Jenkins says. “We had a great time anyway.”

posted by dan @ 1:21 PM |

Adding a Stick Figure Girl to my Official Crush List

My official crush list, which includes Natalie Portman, Callie Lewis, and Morgan Webb, has just been expanded to include a woman who appears only in stick form. Another D.C. area Blogger, she recently posted about her failed attempt at flirting while covered in sweat. Her colorful description is accompanied by a charming self-portrait:

I exited around 6 pm with my salad fixings and almost ran right into the hot guy. He was finishing a cigarette next to the entrance, looking perfectly cool in the hot afternoon sun. I, on the other hand, am better represented by the graphic below:

Note the wild, fuzzy ponytail, the pink face, the sweat dripping all over the place.

On the bright (?) side, he probably wouldn't notice I were alive unless I tackled him onto the ground, but I still felt foolish (and sore, and tired, and soaked, and hot, and flushed, and maybe a little excited).

posted by dan @ 10:54 AM |

Because if Robots Start Flirting with Robots...

The next generation would be way out of our control. Fortunately, early indications are that they don't like flirting with each other. Unless you read the transcript with a slightly anthropomorphic eye, in which case one might be acting coy.

posted by dan @ 2:37 PM |

Top of the Unrequited Crush List

Pushing by Morgan Webb, Natalie Portman, and BSG's Starbuck, is Cali Lewis of Geekbrief.tv, with this video.

posted by dan @ 4:07 PM |