Are blind dates dead? Is the matchmaking industry going the way of the American automakers?

I was doing Google girl searches for a long time before it became acceptable to admit this. Back before Google became an official verb, I would do this, but it had to be kept secret. The one time I assumed the girl was relaxed enough to hear that I found her profile on Onlysimchas.com but was disappointed to find no picture she demanded to know how I had found the profile. I told her that I Googled her and she went berserk, like I was some freak for wanting to know more than what our mutual friend had told me, because everyone who wants you to go out with their friend switches to "sales mode" when talking about their friend's attributes.

Around the same time that Facebook opened its doors to tweens and preteens it became acceptable to conduct extensive back round checks on the internet of potential dates. Facebook is basically inviting you to look for dirt and thanks to my favorite feature - tagged pictures - the girl you are researching can't just hide her true figure behind a well placed column and a thinning black skirt. You would be surprised to see how different people look in their profile pictures versus their tagged pictures.

Blind dating has its virtues. For me it was a rush of sorts, kind of like playing the lottery: you never knew what was going to happen, although I mostly assumed it be crappy until I would win once in a while. I do wonder if I will miss the joy of haggling with the neighborhood shadchan and finding subtle ways to reject the dating offerings from my Charedi cousins in Monsey?

Although Googling and Facebooking potential dates can be a lot of fun and informative, one should keep an open mind. People are too quick to judge folks based on their friends, half-naked drunken pictures taken from their spring break in Cancun and whether or not they are a Yankees fan. There is more to people than what they put on their Facebook profiles, although if you find their blog you can pretty much assume it is describing their alter ego and what they wish they were but never will be.

“What do Gali Girls got that we don’t got?” asks a vaguely BarbBFFs: Gali Girl and pal dressed as Queen Estherie-ish cartoon doll.

“Uh…clothes?” responds her sarcastic teddy bear friend.

Thus concludes the online ad for Gali Girls, a line of frum-friendly dolls for strong, independent, Jewish girls. These American Girl–esque dolls and their “looks just like me” marketability made their debut on the creepy toy scene in November 2004, but their recent mention on BuzzFeed has the whole internet wondering what the heck we’ve been missing. Did I mention the ad was created by Jewish Robot and features the music of Shlock Rock?

Each doll comes with a bio book and matching outfit, matching Magen David bracelets, a hand-painted, wooden faux Shabbat table, a fill-in birth certificate in Hebrew and English, and a suitcase filled with Shabbat candlesticks. It’s a gantseh metsieh, dahlink! Of course, there's a whole host of accessories for purchase, including a Queen Esther costume, a Shabbat kallah (Sabbath bride) dress, or for the truly progressive, a suitable pants suit.

Perhaps, like American Girl, Gali Girl will soon offer actual store locations where the female future of Judaism can enjoy kosher dining and live musicals such as Fiddler on the Roof and The Diary of a Young Girl.

Moths

Jellyfish Girl

For not always rational reasons, digital art feels like cheating to me. Your eyes ache but your hands don't dirty. There's no final object, no wrangling with coloured mud.

Where crows come from: Art by Jason Levesque Yet, Jason Levesque is one of my favorite artists, digital or otherwise. His work has appeared on the covers of computer design magazines and in international, high art glossies. Dan Savage even had to defend his Dig cover once. Jason's work is a tribute to the eroticism of biology, in all it's wierd, decaying, mucous-ey glory.

If you never thought that scarecrow guts or jellyfish were sexy, think again.