I can’t speak for anyone else, obviously, but I have to go with no.

VH1 has decided to give Erik Von Markovik — aka Mystery, supposedly the world’s best pick-up artist — his own reality show in which he coaches hapless, lonely men to seduce attractive women, thus boosting the men’s self-confidence and ability to interact socially with women.

Or something like that. Frankly, it seems to me like Mystery — a former magician who now travels the globe giving expensive seminars on how to get beautiful women into bed — just gets away with being a giant, insulting jerk while babbling on and on about spirituality and psychology from beneath his enormous furry hat. It seems silly and not worth much contemplation.

And yet, Mystery has created a career out of helping “average frustrated chumps” use his techniques to land “hot babes.” He even played a major role in the creation of super-stud “Style,” the alter-ego of author Neil Strauss, who wrote The Game about his pick-up experiences. It seems that more and more men are relying on Mystery’s techniques — including the “neg,” which amounts more or less to a backhanded compliment — to try and seduce women.

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(click map to enlarge)

Just a month or two ago, a friend and I — both of us relative Memphis noobs; she’s been here about a year and I’m coming up on two and a half years — were having lunch and the conversation inevitably turned (okay, I steered it there) to how to meet dateable people in this city. We kicked around the obvious places — bars, music shows, school, etc. — and then pondered the online dating scene in the Mid-South and if it’s even worth diving into. She moved here from San Francisco, where dating via Craigslist is somewhat popular, but as Memphis isn’t quite the tech-y city that San Francisco is, I can’t imagine that online dating would be nearly as rewarding.

Now that I’ve seen this map (which many people are comparing to a high-school dance, with boys on one side of the room and girls on the other), though, it looks like an uphill battle for straight women in this city no matter what the strategy. Memphis seems to have upwards of 20,000 more single women than men. That helps explain why a lot of guys I know date a lot more women than you’d think (I’m kidding … sort of). It’s sheer demographic hooey.

So, how to overcome such numeric inequality? How do you meet people in Memphis? And am I wrong about writing off online dating? Or should I just move to the west coast?

Hat tip: Pharyngula

Please don’t tell anyone you read this. I’m trying to keep one of Memphis’ true treasures a secret. But since it’s just you…
The Blues Music Awards is one of those only-in-Memphis events and even though it gets bigger every year, it’s still one of the coolest, up-close-and-personal evenings to experience. Where else can you see Janiva Magness going to town on a waffle board or Bobby Rush backed up by three big-butt dancers following Slick Ballinger praising the Lord?
So we’re sitting at Table G8…
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Every time a major holiday rolls around, someone does a “survey” about sex and that particular holiday. It’s nearing Mother’s Day, so this time it’s from OkCupid.com and focuses on dating and single moms. The earthshattering results …

– 69 percent of single men said they would be okay with dating a single mom. (Hey, thanks, guys. Ever think SHE’s the one who chooses YOU?)
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In my column today, I have another look at the trend of couples sleeping separately — sometimes, in separate wings of the house. Maybe it’s progress, especially if your mate is a snoring machine, but it seems profoundly depressing to me.

What do you think? Has sleeping apart actually helped your relationship?