arts & entertainment

'Anyone who uses online

, author of The Happiness Project

Picky, Picky

How author Amy Webb 'gamed' JDate to meet her match.

Heather Robinson

dards — and treat yourself as a product to
be marketed.
Here, our conversation with Amy Webb:

New York Jewish Week

A

my Webb, author of the newly
released Data, a Love Story:
Q: Some of your dating horror stories
How I Gamed Online Dating to
were really funny. You claim to have
Meet My Match (Dutton Adult; $25.95), is
found the perfect man for you on JDate,
a nice Jewish girl who got sick of going on
but online dating can be rough. Any
lousy JDates.
advice for women — and men — on how
Her family drove her crazy by telling her to keep their spirits up in the world of
to give a chance to every guy who wanted
online dating?
to go out with her, which led to
A: It's very easy to get dis-
a lot of dating disasters. After
couraged with online dating
an especially bad date, she
because either you're being
made a thorough, exhaustive
flooded with matches of people
list of everything she wanted
who are not interesting to you,
in a man, including the gen-
or you're reaching out to people
eral — "smart, funny" — and
and they aren't getting back
highly specific — "likes jazz
to you — or you are going on
only from the 1920s to the late
bad dates like I did. In the real
1940s:'
world, you wouldn't be meet-
Next, the 38-year-old Webb, Webb curr ently is
ing that many potential dating
the CEO o f her own
who lives in Baltimore, did
partners in such a short time
digital str ategy
market research on her com-
— and encountering that much
consultan cy.
petition by creating fictitious
rejection and disappointment.
male profiles on JDate. Then
So if you are feeling discour-
she crafted a "super profile" that enabled
aged, you can take comfort in realizing it's
her to market herself — and find — the
a bizarre process. But [by being selective
exact man she conceived of in her 72-point about whom you meet], you can separate
list. She chronicles this dating adventure in what happens online from dates that
her book, which also includes some pretty
happen in real life. Treat [what happens]
funny terrible date stories.
online as a database, and be selective.
Webb claims you really can find exactly
In my case, if I was going out on bad
whom you are looking for — if you tailor
dates, I could get mad at the chart but
your search precisely, maintain your stan-
wouldn't feel bad about myself.

le

Jews

Nate Bloom

Special to the Jewish News

New Flicks

Opening on Friday, March 1, is 21 and
Over, a raunchy comedy co-written
and co-directed by Jon Lucas, 36, and
Scott Moore, who are best known for
writing the original Hangover movie.
The plot: Straight-A college student
Jeff Chang (Justin Chon) is always
well behaved, and when his two best
friends, Casey (Skylar Astin, 26) and
Miller (Miles Teller), surprise him with
a visit, he's getting ready for his med
school interview the next morning.
What was supposed to be one beer
turns into a night of chaos and over-
indulgence.
Astin was a star
of the hit Broadway
musical Spring
Awakenings and co-
starred in the 2012
film musical Pitch

Astin

56

Perfect. Jonathan
Keltz (Entourage), 25,

February 28 • 2013

JN

appears in a supporting role as Randy.
Opening the same day is A Place at
the Table. This documentary explores
the tragic fact that almost 50 mil-
lion Americans aren't sure where
their next meal is coming from. The
problem is explored through three
real people (a single mother, a 5th-
grader and a 2nd-grader with asthma)
who are "food insecure." Academic
experts and celebrities working to
fight hunger are interviewed, includ-
ing actor Jeff Bridges and Chef Tom
Colicchio, 50, the top judge on the
Bravo series Top Chef.
The film was co-directed by Kristi
Jacobson and Lori Silverbush, 44.
In 2001, Silverbush, whose mother
is from Israel, wed
Colicchio in a Jewish
ceremony; they
now have two sons.
Colicchio, by the way,
performed a great
service for Jewish
food mavens when, in
2009, he saved the
Silverbush

Q: Did you have any concerns about
ethical issues involved in crafting fic-
titious male profiles and having real
people respond to them? Or in crafting
a "super profile" based on your research
of other women's?

A: If you walk into a club, or party,
you're not going to not look at other
women. A lot of people log in and check
out the competition, but [in 2005] when
I did this, it was not as easy to do that
(hence the need to create fictitious male
profiles).
As far as representing myself, at the end
of the day, I am who I am. For example,
there's a statistical advantage to having
long, straight hair, but it doesn't look right
on me so I didn't do that. This was an
exercise in product marketing. In order to
market effectively, you have to look your
best and write effectively.
There's also a statistical advantage to
not loading up your profile with specif-
ics. I did not talk specifically about the
kinds of things I find funny, like Curb Your
Enthusiasm. In real life, [my husband]
Brian gets very uncomfortable watch-
ing anything with Larry David — I think
because he is a younger version.

Q: Did you feel uneasy that your
search for love wound up requiring so
much calculated effort as opposed to
falling into place?

A: The only reason I believed things

famous Jewish chef (and University of
Michigan grad) Joan Nathan, 76, from
choking by performing the Heimlich
maneuver on her at a charity banquet.

New On The Tube

The fifth season of
the Bravo reality
series The Rachel
Zoe Project pre-
mieres at 9 p.m.
Wednesday, March
6. The new season
follows Rachel Zoe,
Zoe
41, and her husband/
business partner,
Rodger Berman, as they expand her
women's wear collection, do celeb
styling and open a hair salon. Their
infant son, Skylar, is often on camera.
Starting the same night at 10:30
p.m. is the new Bravo series Dukes of
Melrose. It features famous boutique
fashion owners Cameron Silver, 43,
and Christos Garkinos. We see them
as they show off their collections of
vintage couture and buy and sell great

A Love
Story

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Amy Webb created a 72-point list for
the perfect guy — and corralled him.

would just fall into place was what I'd been
taught in the movies — and by family.
When I think about the amount of effort
I put into making a grocery list, a recipe
or a presentation for a client, why on
earth would I not put that much time and
effort into meeting the man who is right
for me?
No, I am not disappointed in the effort I
made. I wear it as a badge of honor — and
it's something my husband loves. Who
wouldn't want to know your spouse has
put this much effort into finding you?
When Brian read my "list," he was incred-
ibly flattered to know he was exactly what
I was looking for.

Picky, Picky on page 58

pieces that were often owned by the
rich and famous. In the premiere show,
the duo are shown getting "A-List"
celebs ready for the Oscars.
Last November,
Silver spoke to
the London Jewish
Chronicle about his
new book, Decades:

A Century of Fashion,

and had some inter-
esting things to say
Silver
about Jews in fash-
ion: "In recent years
[I've] noticed a real decline in the
number of aspiring Jewish designers.
It was all about Donna Karan, Ralph
Lauren, Calvin Klein - but they are
now the old guard. Alber Albaz at
Lanvin is wonderful, but there are not
that many young ones. It's also not
the shmatta business it once was as
it's now all about conglomerates, and
there is so little manufacturing done
in the U.S. There are lots of Jewish
CEOs, but I fear the artistry has
gone."

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