Valentine's Day Dating Movies

(image from the IMDb)

This year's Valentine's Day show - which you can totally still listen to at the Self Help Radio website - was about dating - & naturally our resident cinephile Chuck showed up to talk about some movies which had at the very least one date in each of them.

Here is his YouTube playlist of films tagged with 'dating.'
Here is (in his words) a "bonus YouTube playlist of films tagged with 'cult-film' and at least partly in the Romance genre (some just barely)."

Here are a pair of links from the IMDb which show films you can stream elsewhere for free:
films tagged dating
films tagged cult-film + romance

You can read Chuck's Letterboxd reviews of the films he watched here.

Chuck uses the IMDb for keyword searches:
here are the ones tagged dating
here are the ones tagged cult-film + romance

& of course you can find out what he's watching at all times on his Twitter feed.

Maybe there's something here to watch with a date on Valentine's Day!

National Dickenbock Report Caught Without An Umbrella Day

(image from here.)

The Dickenbock Report didn't air this week either.  You'll recall, the show wasn't on the air last week - or else it was, but it was the wrong episode - & it sort of aired this week - well, it started very late - 47 minutes of dead air preceded the show - but of course that meant a good deal of the show wasn't heard.

Like last week, this happened through no fault of my own.  In both cases, I had shows prepared.  In both cases, Freeform Portland volunteers made the mistakes that caused the shows I had prepared to not air.  Oh, & of course I received no apologies from either of them - or even station management!

If I seem a bit angry, it's because I am.  My radio shows are quite shabby, & it's probably a shock to most listeners that I spend a great deal of time on them.  If I had done something as thoughtless & careless as these two volunteers, I would be so very apologetic & I would do something to make it up to them.  Because I imagine that everyone devotes the same if not more time than I do on their shows.  & had I somehow completely disrespected their work - even by accident! - I not only would attempt to make amends, I would also expect to be reprimanded, & I would deserve it.

But from the way things have happened, that does not appear to be the Freeform Portland way.

In any event, you weren't ever going to listen to the show, but in the very small chance you want to hear it, to prove to yourself that I couldn't possibly have spent hours working on it, & maybe even mock me for my outrage, I have put it on the Self Help Radio website.  Yesterday was National Umbrella Day, & so I played lots of songs & talked a lot about umbrellas.  Here is a direct link to the show.  Remember you'll need a username - SHR - & a password - selfhelp - to listen.

Heavy sigh.

Self Help Radio 020822: Dating (Valentine's Day 2022 Show)

(original image here.*)

It's true, Valentine's Day is almost a week away, but this is the closest Self Help Radio can get to the day without missing the day.  & anyway, it's on a Monday, & all the Valentine's Day dates are happening this weekend.  If anything, we're just a tad bit early - anticipating the love fest from Friday to Sunday, as it were.

You can see the playlist below to note that we covered all aspects of dating: first dates, blind dates, double dates, even speed dating & online dating.  & that's just in the songs - we had five different interviews too!

It actually felt a bit like a speed date.  But unlike a date, as I was driving home alone afterwards, I felt all right.  But then I had a wife & five cats & dogs to come home to.  Hey!  That was what I was missing in my dating days!  A romantic partner & pets to return to when the date went bad!

You can listen to the show now at both the KBOO website & at the Self Help Radio website.  You know at the Self Help Radio website you'll need the username SHR & the password selfhelp don't you?  All right.  Have a listen, & see all that happens on the show below.

& happy Valentine's Day!

Self Help Radio 220208: Valentine's Day 2022 - Dating

"First Date" Mark Wynter _The Very Best Of Mark Wynter_

"First Date" Nella Dodds _This Is A Girl's Life: The Complete Wand Recordings 1964-1965_

"First Date" Tijuana Panthers _Carpet Denim_

introduction & definitions

"Gotta Getta Date" Jan & Dean _The Complete Early Years_

"Let's Go On A Date" Andrew W.K. _Close Calls With Brick Walls_

"The Dating Handbook" David Cross _HBO Special_

"Date Night Pt. 2" Bad Idea _I Just Want To Go Home_

"Fear Of Dating" The Nonpareils _Little Darla Has A Treat For You, Volume 4 Summer 1996_

interview with online dating expert Derek Slater

"Date With Destiny" Mental As Anything _Fundamental As Anything_

"Computer Dating" Theoretical Girls _Theoretical Girls_

"Online Dating Material" Aziz Ansari _Buried Alive_

"Blind Date" Chia Pet _Hey Baby_

"Why Do You Have To Go Out With Him When You Could Go Out With Me" The Brilliant Corners _Creamy Stuff (The Singles 84-90)_

interview with Hollywood game show producer Denver Smith

"Got A Date With An Angel" Pat O'Malley _They Called It Crooning: The Smooth Singers Of The 20s & 30s!_

"I've Got A Date With A Dream" Billie Holiday _The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Volume 6 (1938)_

"My Blind Date" Woody Allen _The Night Club Years 1964-1968_

"I Took My Head On A Date" Po! _Horse Blanket Weather_

"I've Got A Date With Jesus" The Magnetic Fields _Quickies_

interview with dating researcher Dr. Phil Nicklin

"Real Date" Insignificant Other _I'm So Glad I Feel This Way About You_

"Blind Date" The Boomtown Rats _Tonic For The Troops_

"Horny Priests (Dating Service)" Jim Florentine _Terrorizing Telemarketers Vol. 3_

"Girl I've Got A Date" Alton Ellis _The Story Of Jamaican Music: Forward March 1958-1967_

"Expiration Dating" Future Teens _Hard Feelings_

interview with Steve Roper, who hasn't had a date in twenty years

"Too Young To Date" D-Day _Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits Of The '80s, Vol. 1_

"The Lighter Side Of Dating" The Monochrome Set _Strange Boutique_

"The Top 10 Things To Never Say On A First Date" MC Lars _The Zombie Dinosaur LP_

"Crazy Date" The Crazy Teens _Rockabilly Red Hot & Rare - Volume Three_

"Dream Date" Ida _Ten Small Paces_

cinephile Chuck stops by to talk about films featuring dating

"Date Bait" Blue Smitty _The Chess Story 1947-1975_

"Everybody's Got A Date But Me" Gene Vincent _The Best Of Gene Vincent_

"My First Big Date" Terri Robbins _They Sang In Pittsburgh - Vol. 1_

"Blind Date" Lancelot Link & The Evolution Revolution _Lancelot Link & The Evolution Revolution_

"I Have A Date" Simpletones _I Have A Date_

"Guitar Date" The 5.6.7.8.s _Bomb The Twist_

at this late date, a definition of terms

"We Got A Date" Hasil Adkins _Out To Hunch_

"Secret Date" The Bobbyteens _Young & Dumb_

"Dating Batman" Cars Can Be Blue _All The Stuff We Do_

"Worst Date Ever" The Charles Edward Cheese Band _Let's Eat Pizza!_

"Order For Date" Dan Mintz _The Stranger_

"Speed-Date" Arab Strap _The Last Romance_

conclusion & goodbye

"Is She Really Going Out With Him?" Joe Jackson _DIY: Starry Eyes - UK Pop II (1978-79)_

"Date With An Angel" Game Theory _Blaze Of Glory_

"I Hate Dates" The Side Eyes _So Sick_

"San Francisco Dating Life" Hot Flash Heat Wave _Soaked_

* "Dates?" by .::RMT::. is licensed under

Whither Dating (Valentine's 2022 Show)?

(image from here.)

Valentine's Day is one of those days that I like to make radio shows about but which I like to find different themes for - so far on Valentine's Days past, I've explored love, hate, crushes, jealousy, boyfriends, girlfriends, love songs, lovesick, "love is...", valentines, famous lovers, heartbreak, sweethearts, roses, flirting, the heart, & the phrase "make you mine." (Those links will go to show playlists, not actual shows - although perhaps the last couple are still available.)

In any event, just like with Halloween, I like to come up with a different theme for the Day each year, & this year I've settled on "dating."  It came to me like a lot of the ideas I get for these shows - I was thinking too hard about it, & fretting about it - I left the theme off the front page for two weeks - it just said "Valentine's Day 2022" - until I was not thinking about it, & it came to me.  Dating.  Why the hell not?

Myself, I haven't been on a real date ever - but certainly not since I've been married - I don't really count going out with one's spouse a date - so I am no expert, but there will be guests & songs that may inform the theme.  Will the show get you a date?  It will not.

Listen! Tonight! Almost a week away from Valentine's Day! Midnight to 3am on 90.7 fm KBOO Portland, online at kboo.fm.  At the very least it will be romantic.

Preface To Valentine's Day 2022: Online Dating

(image from here.)

Dating is hard & I was terrible at it.  I didn't date at all in high school, when I had a car, & I didn't have a car most of the time I lived in Austin, when I would have had most opportunities for dating.  The truth is, I'm not sure that I ever had a proper date, opting instead to "hang out" with someone in the hopes that there might be romance.  Almost certainly anything that might have been construed as a date in my past was advertised & presumed to be just two friends spending time together.  If it ended with something romantical, it was always a surprise to me.

One thing is true: I never went on a blind date.  I met potential partners through work, or the radio, or in class.  I met two of the women I've had long-term relationships with - including the one I married, with whom I've been in a relationship for two decades - at a bus stop.

In the mid-90s though a few of my friends, unlucky in love, began meeting prospective matches in chat rooms online.  These seemed less expensive & slightly less weird than arranging a date through what were called "personal ads" in the back of alternative weekly periodicals.  I did myself do some online chatting, & wrote emails to strangers I met online, but although I was somewhat awkwardly flirty, I never encouraged anything romantic because of the same reason I never had a blind date - I did not want to have any expectations shattered, as they almost certainly would be.

Listen: a few times girls called me on my radio shows & asked me out.  I would tell them to come by the show.  More often than not, meeting me in person was a huge disappointment for them.  They could easily leave because I had a show to do; sitting across from me at a restaurant would have been torture for them.

But I was paired up & on my way to marriage when dating apps started being a thing.  I probably would have avoided them, too.  Not because I have some weird judgment about them - I don't!  If I thought I had the slightest physical attractiveness, I would've done everything the way the people I knew did them: invited people to visit me from chat rooms across the country; went on blind dates; even made a dating profile for the personals.  I just knew that I make terrible first impressions.  What might be interesting about my musical choices is not reflected in my ugly mug.

Whether online dating is a good or bad thing depends on the user - I have no opinion.  It's such a big part of so many people's lives now, though!  I am impressed.  & also glad I don't have to use it.  Because like I said, I wouldn't.  & people would think I felt too good for it or something.

Maybe if there were an app for meeting people at bus stops...