When the songbird sings

Bedimpled illustrator Patrick Moberg fell in love while riding in a train from Union Square to Bowling Green in New York so he came up with this sweet illustration and set up the site, NY Girl of My Dreams, to find her.

Click the image for the larger version. Help Patrick Moberg find the rosy-cheeked brunette who caught his fancy.

This is too saccharine to miss. I am not into this kind of mush, but the world just might learn a lesson or two from the L-train story of this (hopefully not) emo dude…well, he almost is emo…such as taking chances, not letting your nerves get the best of you or being brave enough to approach her and if she thinks you’re a freak, then at least you tried. I hope he finds her and that this story doesn’t launch a thousand copycats. Whether blue gym shorts over blue tights will be the fashion staple for the next season is too early to say, but some people believe that this is a stuff worthy of a romantic comedy movie script or a contemporary dude lit.

Mr. Moberg works for Vimeo, so his boss asked him to be in this video to discuss the NY chick of his fantasies. This is so very Finding Love 2.0.

UPDATE:

He has found her.

Social network site, Facebook.com, unveiled its ad platform yesterday called “Facebook Ads” (what else?). The advertising initiative of the fast-growing company valued by Microsoft last month at $15 billion focuses on “trusted referrals”. I might sign up to a product that I believe in, but the problem lies with the fact that the advert program does not have an opt-out feature in place…yet(?). I think that this might cause a problem eventually, unless Facebook allows members to opt out of an advertiser’s fan base.

This calls to mind what James Surowiecki mentioned in his book, The Wisdom of Crowds. It isn’t so much that people will only do things that they are being “forced” to do. It is that they will do anything more willingly–and effectively–when it is up to them. This happens when they have several options, and that includes not performing a task or opting out.

Leveraging its open platform for various web apps, the program’s targeted ads allow advertisers to customize their own pages:

“‘Through the branded pages program, advertisers can design custom pages with information, content, and custom applications–”any application that was written for users on the Facebook Platform,” Zuckerberg explained.” (via News.com)

Here, Forrester Research’s Jeremiah Owyang analyzes the recently launched ad platforms of MySpace and Facebook with Robert Scoble:

• The Feminine Critique: Women Can’t Win(?!?!)
  This is almost sad. In a survey of more than 1,000 women executives in America and Europe, women who act according to gender stereotypes (”caring”, “concerned for others”) are perceived as less competent. Yet if they display ambition or assertiveness, they are “unfeminine”.
  (tags: gender women culture career)