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Ilana Friedman has met some losers using online dating sites — so many that the new York City singer has created an entire cabaret act around her experiences, called “Kissing Frogs.”

First there was the 29-year-old her mother found on The JMom.com — his last girlfriend was his first cousin. “If he had been from Alabama, I could almost forgive it,” quipped Friedman, 24. “But he was from Philadelphia.”

Then, Friedman met a 36-year-old on another dating site who had lied about his age. she nearly canceled the date when he told her beforehand that he’d had an “inappropriate” dream about her. The next morning, he texted Friedman a “vulgar” photo of his naked body.

“I don’t put any stock in [online dating] at all. It’s like window-shopping — fun, but not fulfilling,” said Friedman. “But you never know if someone you meet is your soul mate.”

Now researchers confirm that romance and dating has gone digital. It is the second most-popular way of connecting, surpassed only by meeting people through friends.

But, they caution, Internet dating is not scientific, and singles should not waste their time on websites that charge for their services.

A review of 400 psychology studies and public interest surveys was commissioned by the Association for Psychological Science and will be published in the February edition of its journal Psychological Science in the Public interest.

“Online dating has entered the mainstream, and it is fast shedding any lingering social stigma,” said researchers from the University of Rochester, Northwestern, Texas A&M, UCLA and Illinois State.

Dating sites don’t have “published, peer-reviewed papers” to explain their methodology, and they do not explain in sufficient detail how people are matched, said the researchers.

“There is no particular reason for people to use sites that charge a lot of money to offer something they cannot deliver,” said co-author Harry Reis, a nationally known relationship expert and professor of psychology at the University of Rochester.

However, he said online dating does provide wider opportunities to meet people.

“The Internet holds great promise for helping adults form healthy and supportive romantic partnerships, and those relationships are one of the best predictors of emotional and physical health,” he said.

When dating online, it’s fine to rule out those who have unsuitable habits, such as smoking, or belong to a different religion, but beyond that, making a check list “leaves out the magic another person can bring to you,” said Reiss.

“We suggest they try not to have the shopping mentality and not view alternative people the same way they do a pair of pants,” he said.

Instead of checking off the different qualities to look for in a mate, imagine talking to the person or going on a vacation with them, he said.

And don’t look at more than a “handful” of profiles in a given city.”With 250 profiles to go through in 20 minutes, you can’t have a check list,” said Reiss.

As for what makes a good match, “You can’t quantify it,” Reiss said. “You can define it, but we do not know how it occurs and where it comes from. … Science isn’t there yet.”

TattCafe.com, a niche market dating website for tattooed singles 18-29 years available in 15+ countries communicating in 10 available languages.

Vancouver, BC (PRWEB) February 19, 2012

no matter what your age, dating can be fun and flirty but at the same time, it can be very intense, confusing, and a minefield of decisions. Adults between 18-29 who live an alternative lifestyle, with visible tattoos and piercings, can now avoid those first impression judgements by joining TattCafe.com and meeting others who have had the same experience.

A majority of online dating sites require a profile photo of a smiling face but TattCafe.com feels that body parts featuring tattoo artistry are just as important to describe members accurately. So even the shyest of members can feel comfortable giving a glimpse into their personalities without fully ‘exposing’ themselves.

TattCafe.com not only encourages its members to email, sms, video chat, speak to each other using an anonymous calling feature but create/attend social events, such as tattoo conventions posted in their Groups and Events areas.

“Membership has been growing steadily over the past few weeks with singles in Canada, the US, Ireland and Israel being the most interested in meeting others who are devoted to the lifestyle associated with body art and culture,” says Helen Siwak, president of TattCafe.com. “Statistically our members have a fondness for their pets, music, travel, and life choices such as being vegetarian, volunteerism, activism and alternative spirituality.”

This lifestyle dating portal also has a companion blog: http://www.TattCafe.wordpress.com that will be accepting content from all TattCafe.com members and community members.

TattCafe.com is positioning itself to be the lifestyle portal for the tattooed and those who love them. People, events, forums, and charity fundraising all feature prominently in the future of this niche market dating site.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/2/prweb9209624.htm

RUSSELL Brand has moved on from Katy Perry with a mystery woman.

The 36-year-old actor – who filed for divorce from the ‘One that got Away’ hitmaker in December, citing irreconcilable differences – was spotted dropping a brunette beauty back at her apartment after she spent the night at his new Los Angeles home following a date at The Largo Theatre.

A source told The Sun newspaper: “Russell is a single man again and starting to move on from Katy.

“Like any guy, he had missed female company. he isn’t quite back to his old ways yet, but he’s very much back in the saddle.”

Russell — who was known for his womanizing ways prior to meeting Katy — has reportedly been moving on from the former couple’s 14-month marriage with more than one woman much to the shock of the ‘Firework’ singer.

An insider recently said: “Katy discovered through her friends. One of the women told a friend of hers and it got back to Katy.”

Despite Russell being legally entitled to half Katy’s $44 million fortune, he is believed to have told her he doesn’t want anything from her and wants their split to be as amicable as possible.

Tags: russell brand

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Claire Sinclair and Marston Hefner

As we continue to hate Chris Brown throughout the day, I’d like to call to your attention another instance of alleged domestic violence involving two semi-famous young people. Claire Sinclair, 2011′s Playmate of the Year, was dating Marston Hefner, Hugh Hefner’s son, on and off for about a year and a half beginning in August of 2010.

On Sunday night, as the couple was moving into a new apartment in Pasadena, CA, Marston allegedly got so upset in the middle of an argument that he kicked, punched, and shoved Sinclair, leaving a bruise the size of a peach on her upper right arm.

Marston posted $20,000 bail a few hours after he was taken into custody, and Sinclair filed a restraining an emergency restraining order against him. In a video interview with E! Online, Sinclair describes what happened that night:

There’s nothing that’s not disturbing about this, but as someone who has always had a fondness in my heart for Playboy, I’m particularly disgusted that Hugh Hefner hasn’t spoken out about what happened that night. I don’t agree with everything Hugh Hefner has ever said or done, but I’ve believed that he at least respected, in a way that a lot of the rest of the country did not, the women he’s worked with, like Sinclair, whose forward thinking and cajones (if you will) have allowed him to have the career that he’s had.

But it becomes immediately and abjectly impossible to believe any of that when he refuses to make a statement about one such woman being beaten by his own son. as Sinclair says in the video, it’s a little understandable, I guess, to want to protect his family. but it’s not understandable, nor is it acceptable, to stay mum on this topic, particularly because ignoring domestic violence is one of the things that allows the cycle to continue.

On Wednesdays, Amanda Chatel will be sharing stories about her strange, fascinating and sometimes wonderful dating life. if it makes you want to date, check out TheGloss dating page.

When my friend Anne decided she wanted to give online dating a try, she also felt I should as well. I did not agree with her, but this didn’t stop her from creating a profile for me.

Anne, being the complete opposite of me, made my profile just like hers, but to use her words “edgier.” I think “edgier” in her mind was meant to represent the difference between the two of us. she prided herself on having this Jennifer Lopez body and did everything in her power to even look just like her physically. I, on the other hand, had tattoos and I had seen Nine Inch Nails in concert — in high school well over 10 years ago. So considering Anne’s affinity for commercial radio, her favorite store being Express and having never tasted a cheese even remotely more interesting than cheddar, I truly was in her mind “edgy.” we had been friends since 4th grade and somewhere along the line we had changed drastically in our personalities and preferences. I was “edgy” (although I’m really not) and she was something out of crowd of TRL fans on MTV — a show I don’t even know still exists.

Anne updated my profile often — which I only saw once strictly so I could roll my eyes — and sort of marketed us as two friends looking for two male friends for a double date. When she finally heard back from two guys who seemed “normal, sweet and not axe-murderers,” she set up a date for us during a weekend I’d be in Boston visiting her. my idea of our weekend, I thought, would be free of drama and mostly involve her perfectly made martinis (she had been a bartender in college) and movie marathons, but when I met her at South Station she shrieked with excitement when she explained: “They’re MIT grad students! not only are they smart, but I’m sure they’re going to make so much money someday!” unlike Anne, I wasn’t concerned with marrying someone with the potential to make the big bucks; I was more concerned with bedding a lead singer of an indie rock band.

It took me all of five minutes to get ready for the date. from the couch, I watched Anne apply and re-apply her make-up, curl her hair and desperately try to discern between which shimmery lipstick was most appropriate. I should point out that this was just a few months ago and from what I’ve gathered about life, shimmery lipstick went out in oh, 2001 or so — and that’s being generous.

When all was said and done, Anne looked like she’d been plucked out of a Victoria’s Secret catalog; the back to be exact, where those clothes that I don’t even know who would ever wear muck up the pages with sweaters and jeans that would make most people cringe.

I was in head to toe black and Anne frowned at my ensemble. “You couldn’t even try?” she asked.

“For the last time, my soulmate is drunk somewhere in a gutter at the moment, so I’m not really giving a fuck at the moment,” I explained. she reached for her new Kate Spade bag, I picked up my canvas bag that I had gotten at the Strand after dropping too much cash on Franzen and Eugenides novels just the week before, and we made our way to the bar where we were supposed to meet these “MIT grad students.”

For close to 30 minutes we waited. As each pair of relatively attractive men walked through the door, Anne jumped up with excitement to see if they would see her red scarf — that was what they were supposed to be noticing. But nothing each time. As we began to figure that we had been stood up, much my relief and much to Anne’s utter disappointment that I feared I’d have to hold her back from jumping in the Charles River on the way home, she got a tap on the shoulder.

“Anne?” asked a lanky guy with thick glasses that sat crookedly on his face and wearing a sweater that I’m quite certain not even my blind great grandmother would wear. “It’s me. John.” underneath the bar, I felt Anne give my leg a tight squeeze. she was silent and motionless otherwise.

“Mandy?” asked the other one who was straight out of the 1980′s movie Revenge of the Nerds with his tucked in t-shirt and high-waited slacks (yes, slacks.) “I’m Twain.”

“Twain?” I asked. “As in mark?”

“Yeah! Just like that!” responded this Twain character with glee as if he were shocked I could put two and two together.

They sat down and joined us for a drink. being civil, I did most of the talking while Anne sat silently and ordered shot after shot while John proceeded to put, what I’m assuming were “moves,” on her. When Twain spoke bits of froth accumulated at the corners of his mouth, and when John tried to make a joke it was something so far over both our heads that only Twain understood and laughed. they were awkward in their movements, socially inept in their conversation skills and explained that they didn’t drink — which had already become obvious as they consumed tea, while Anne drowned her disappointment in endless shots (that eventually became free once she unbuttoned her shirt a little more) and I sipped my Guinness slowly.

It was when John and Twain suggested we go to a “hot club for some dancing,” that Anne raced to the bathroom, missed the toilet and threw up on the floor instead. As I stood over her, with her hair pulled back from her face, I asked her if she had learned a lesson. “Yes,” she said, “No matter how interesting someone seems online, if they don’t have a photo up, it’s for a reason.”

“they didn’t have a photo up and that wasn’t a red flag for you?”

“I just want to be in love,” she sobbed. As she continued to throw-up the seven or eight shots she had consumed, I headed to the bar and explained that she and I were going to go home.

“But you seem all right,” said Twain, “You should come home with me. I have new sheets.” As he said this, he put his hand on thigh, far too close to my crotch, and flirtatiously looked over the rim of his Chester-the-Molester glasses. could the two of them possibly be anymore stereotypical? where the hell was Val Kilmer from Real Genius when you needed him?

“No thank you,” I said. I paid our tab and let the MIT kids take care of their tea bill. I carried Anne’s dead-weight drunken body home almost 15 blocks, as cabs in Boston just aren’t as prevalent as they are in NYC while she cried the whole way about love being a joke and being duped by John and his promises. I didn’t ask what promises she meant, but she never tried online dating again.

I should add, however, that my grandfather went to MIT and he was a pretty crazy, drunken, womanizer, so I’m well aware that John and Twain don’t represent every student there. But I do know that if someone is studying something I can’t even pronounce, I’ll pass — those people aren’t usually lead singers in indie rock bands who have a habit of being drunk in a gutter somewhere in Brooklyn anyway. and like I said, those are the real “winners” for which I’m always on the look out.

Not all nerds are like Poindexter, some are really hot and cooler than most people. But you won’t know that until you check out TheGloss dating page.

February 13, 2012 | 2:41 am

Posted by Ilana Angel

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This past Saturday night, the Jewish Journal held its first singles event and I was honored to be a part of it.  By a part of it of course I mean this was my baby and I was thrilled with how the event turned out.  it was the forward thinking of Rob Eshman and David Suissa that propelled the idea forward, and the support of Jay Firestone that made it all happen.

Over 100 LA area singles came together at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel for drinks and a little chat.  Danielle Berrin moderated a conversation with myself, Seth Menachem and Elliot Steingart.  we talked about sex, love, faith, hope, online dating, and in my case, going from jaded to bitter at the lack of good dates, and abundance of bad dates in Los Angeles.

The range of guests went from young people in their twenties, all the way to some lovely people in their seventies.  it was really fascinating to see so many generations of people all united in their search for love.  Whether your search is for something casual, serious, sexual, or happily ever after, no matter what your age, the road to love is the same.  Difficult.

I was honestly touched by how many people there read my blogs and asked questions about things I have written about.  Writing is very solitary so it was lovely to hear my work had resonated with people.  a highlight of the night was meeting women who had dated some of the same men I have written about while chronicling my dating life.  Hilarious.

I am painfully honest in this blog.  I have written about my sex life, lack of a sex life, good dates, bad dates, being lonely, and the profound joys and difficulties of being a single mother.  my stories matter to me and it was nice to see that they matter to other people too.  Dating sucks, but our event showed me that singles do not.  I met some great people.

There was a man in his late twenties who told me he was new to dating, socially awkward, and a virgin.  He was the sweetest man and I’d like him to meet a very special girl because he was darling.  I met a man in his sixties who felt the need to tell me just had sex with a woman in her forties and he was quite remarkable in bed.  Two opposite sides of the dating spectrum.

There were equal numbers of men and women, old and young, and in the end we are all feeling the same frustrations.  there were Jews of all levels of observation, as well as non-Jews.  If my dating preference is to only date Jewish men then surely I can understand why women of all faiths would want to date a Jew.  Jewish men rock, so I get the attraction.

The Jewish community is small, and I think we all get locked into our temples, or circles of friends, and once we exhaust the dating options there, we find ourselves dating online.  Meeting someone at an event like we had this weekend was so much nicer than dating online.  you see someone in person and there is a comfort in knowing they are looking for something.

Online, people hide behind their stories. In person, there is an honesty that is refreshing.  Stepping outside of you own community, into the Jewish community at large, is really a great thing, and that will be my hope for the next event, and there will be a next one.  our goal will be to unite the Jewish community of singles beyond our own inner circles.

This was not your typical singles event.  there was mingling and exchanging of numbers, but there was also an open forum to talk about being single and that will be expanded for our next event.  People want to not only hear about your experiences, but also share their own.  there are a lot of single people in LA, and the more we know, the smaller the world becomes.

I met a lot of people that told me they have someone for me to meet which is fabulous.  Going to a singles event is not always going to result in meeting someone, but could end with you meeting someone who is going to help you meet someone.  I learned a lot from our singles event experiment and I cannot wait for the next bigger and better go round.

When I left the hotel at 11:20 there were couples in the hotel bar having drinks, people sitting in the lobby chatting, and that was the fun part. they say it takes a village to raise a child, and this weekend we learned that it takes a community to find your beshert.  you never know who will know the person that you will be your next great love.

Thank you to everyone who came out for our event.  it was a pleasure to meet you all and I appreciate your feedback on how to make the event better.  being single sucks, but knowing you are not in it alone makes it better.  I am not a fan of online dating but I will continue to do it because as long as I do, it means I have hope, and hope keeps bitterness at bay.

To the Israeli man who arrived late because he got lost, I think you are lovely and regret not giving you my number.  to the lady in her late fifties who told me she wanted me to dance at her wedding, I can’t wait.  to everyone who got dressed up on a Saturday night to come and hang out with us, thank you for coming and for reminding me to keep the faith.

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A new report says there’s no compelling evidence to suggest matching algorithms on dating websites actually work. (Shutterstock)

Dating websites that claim they can find your perfect match with a scientific algorithm are full of it, according to a team of psychologists.

“To date, there is no compelling evidence that any online dating matching algorithm actually works,” said Eli Finkel, a social psychology professor at Chicago’s Northwestern University, in a press release.

“For years, the online dating industry has ignored actual relationship science in favour of unsubstantiated claims and buzzwords, like ‘matching algorithms,’ that merely sound scientific.”

“If dating sites want to claim that their matching algorithm is scientifically valid, they need to adhere to the standards of science, which is something they have uniformly failed to do.

In fact, our report concludes that it is unlikely that their algorithms can work, even in principle, given the limitations of the sorts of matching procedures that these sites use.”

But Markus Frind, a spokesman for the Vancouver-based dating site Plenty of Fish, disagrees. He said his site uses “a field of mathematics called data mining … that is used in virtually every industry.”

“Our matching algorithms work just fine. if you say you don’t want to date a smoker, it doesn’t make any sense for us to show you smokers. it doesn’t make any sense for us to show you people outside of plus or minus six years of your age, it doesn’t make sense to show men who are shorter than a woman. it also doesn’t make any sense to show a female doctor a carpenter,” he said.

“It’s very easy for us to predict people you will never date. It’s also very easy to predict what kind of relationships will fail. The goal of a matching algorithm is to show you people that you would actually date and stay in a relationship with.”

But the report, which will be published in the next issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest, maintains a solid relationship needs a lot more than shared interests and similar viewpoints.

“Developers of matching algorithms have tended to focus on the information that is easy for them to assess, like similarity in personality and attitudes, rather than the information that relationship science has found to be crucial for predicting long-term relationship well-being. as a result, these algorithms are unlikely to be effective,” said Finkel.

The report takes further aim at online dating as a whole, noting that browsing through profiles commodifies the dating experience.

“Thus far, the industry certainly does not get an a for effort,” Finkel added.

DALLAS, Feb. 2 (UPI) — Dallas-based dating Web site Match.com said its second annual comprehensive study on singles found differences along political lines.

The Web site said the online survey of 5,541 single adults in the United States, conducted by research firm MarketTools, found conservative Republican respondents were the most likely to be very satisfied with their sexual activities, with 40 percent answering the question affirmatively, but they were also the least likely to have had sex in the past 12 months.

Match.com said Democratic respondents were the most likely to consider a sense of humor, similar lifestyle, sense of independence and a feeling of equality when searching for a partner, while Republicans were more likely to seek a similar background, same political beliefs and a desire to marry.

The survey also suggests 87 percent of single men and 91 percent of single women believe there are “no acceptable excuses” for adultery on the part of a political candidate.

5:00 am January 27, 2012, by Wise Diva

As much as I hear single people proclaim their love of being free, those same people will completely trade it all in to be with someone great. Single life has its moments, but how awesome is it to meet someone and be caught up in the haze of “love”..be honest!

That butterfly feeling you get when you see them calling. the naughty thoughts you have about them during the day. Waking up next to a person who literally makes you feel like you can conquer the world…all that gushy stuff is FUN.

What do you think are the perks of dating a great match? do you enjoy the getting to know you part the most? do you relish slipping into a comfortable routine with one another and merging lives the best?

Sometimes, it’s the little things that you get those gushy feelings over! What’s your favorite?

Guys – we know you get that gushy feelings too – no judgment, though! what is your favorite thing about a new romance?