Why Do We Care What You Think? Part III: You Give Love, a Bad (Icky Icky Groddy) Name
A 35 year-old man who goes by the name "Mystery"(aka Erik Von Markovik) is going to be hosting a show on VH1 called "The Pick-up Artist," in which he and some cohorts try to get a couple of guys laid (trailer via youtube).
When I first saw this photo and trailer, I thought that his method must involve dressing up like a goth version of "The Arftul Dodger" from the musical "Oliver!" so that the other men look relatively less douchebag-esq in comparison.
Not so.
Apparently this ex magician has a whole pick-up artist system worked out, has written a book, and travels the country giving seminars to sad sad men in search of companionship; which reminds me of Tom Cruise's character from the movie "Magnolia." Except of course, in that movie, the pick-up artist is deliberately shown as a charismatic misogynist. This non-fiction version of the charismatic misogynist has a system that involves something called "negs" which are when men are supposed to say or do something that briefly disqualifies them from being considered a potential suitor; such as blowing one's nose and then saying "What, are you going to watch?" He says these things disarm the woman and her friends.
I don't understand this logic, and I think these "negs" are close to being "disempowering" rather than "disarming." In the Salon.com article I stole most of this content from that was the inspiration for this post, he actually starts trying to hit on the girl interviewing him. When she says she's all out of questions, he comes up with this stunner:
"You're funny. Have you ever been to a club?"Gee, I don't know. Have you ever shaved your hat?
He then proceeds to call San Francisco "San Fran." Not a way to get in good with a local
For a much more helpful and insightful commentary, check this out
Photo: Jason Merritt/FilmMagic/Vh1 available at Salon.com
9 comments:
Everytime I see the commercials for this show, I wonder "is this guy for real?" hahah I might watch it just for shits and giggles, to see how bad it truly is.
He reminds me of that "Mindfreak" guy. Maybe it's just the guyliner.
Yeah, who am I kidding, I'll probably watch at least 10 minutes of it myself.
I watched it and thought it was pretty bad. That Mystery guy makes me think Cirque de Soleil so I don't understand how/where he's getting all these chicks. Maybe I'm just weird.
While I've never met you angela, I feel confident when I say:
You are not the weird one in that equation.
Hahaha, thanks. I figured I couldn't be the only female out there who doesn't find the Cirque de Soleil thing hot and sexy. :)
I was expecting the "master pickup artist" to be a little less silly looking. Maybe to have a less squeaky voice. And if a guy I didn't know tried to get me to buy him a drink at a bar, I'd probably laugh at him.
Then again, I think I'm not exactly the type he's likely to run into much.
Wow apparently you haven't seen the sheer volume of ditsy girls that go for either the jocks or the pickup artists. It works-it's in the numbers. Don't hate.
Either way, the entire method is based off of legit evolutionary psychology.
I did go to high school. I'm very familiar with the phenomenon.
I'm just wary of this show being like the Mutual of Omaha, treating women as trainable objects. I was also hoping our fascination with bad tv would have "evolved" somewhat.
Post a Comment