December 2011
1 post
Most Creative Misspelling of "Diagonal" of the Day
THICK EBOBY FEM ON 5 TRAIN .. - m4w - 23 (BRONX)
THICK EBONY FEM ON 5 TRAIN READING OR STYDYING EARLY LIKE 545 YOU GOT OFF IN 42 ND ST GRAND CENTRAL WITH ME ..I’M LATINO WITH AND GRAY JACKET SITTING DOAGNOL FROM YOU
All I can say is you are sexy and don’t turn around cause that pretty round thing was good to me …. Hit me up
November 2011
3 posts
Some Highlights of Missed Connections Grammar Fail
One of the things that really shapes the Missed Connections world is style. Posts are written in a range of tones, length, and apparently, grasp of the English language and spelling and grammar conventions. Sometimes this is entertaining and creates a bizarre accidental poetry, as seen in this post:
August/September 2005 corner of 59th and lex - m4w (Midtown)
Our eyes met as you crossed the...
Getting That Kate Bush Song Stuck In My Head of...
Cathie Eagle is… - m4w - 43 (Prospect Heights)
My Catherine Earnshaw. He never treat you right. Let me take you to Yorkshire moors. Where we belong. I am your Heathcliff. He always break you’re heart. Old printing press is no Wuthering Heights. Instead of ghosts love haunts our home.
There are a few literary romances that I’m pretty sure no one actually wants to...
Barely An Actual Sentence of the Day
last night at the watch the throne concert - m4w - 18 (manhatten)
i really think the two ladys next to me and my homeboys at the watch the throne concert last night is so beautiful yall two can parties yall ass off we was in section 331 row J
PostingID: 2693999723
October 2011
3 posts
Shower Before or After, I Will Never Be Clean...
Listen, I know it’s a bad economy (oh believe me, I know), but honestly, would anyone be into this? “Yes, this sounds like the gig for me. I love having people eat raw fish off my naked body for $150 and some food.”
Private Sushi Event… - m4w - 99 (Battery Park)
Looking for 1-2 girls for Sunday night, 7pm…. small house warming where the four guests would...
In an attempt to understand the young people and... →
Please Imagine This Being Read Out Loud by...
Venus in Oliva - m4w - 52 (Lower East Side)
You took my breath away. Brunette at the bar with your hair pulled up and blue top, out with the nice bald and bearded guy, you really flipped me out. I never saw a more beautiful and expressive face as yours. Thank you goddess for lifting my heart and sharing your smile. Here’s to you. A one in a million lady.
(At the end, he raises his...
September 2011
12 posts
First thought while at NY Art Book Fair Preview
“Man, there will be so many Missed Connections this weekend because of this event.”
Second thought: “Hey, I made that piece at that table over there!”
It was really awesome to finally get to meet Eleanor and Oliver from The Present Group, who were super instrumental in developing the CMC. If you’re wandering the tent in the front courtyard check them out—my...
Because I'd Be Looking on Missed Connections for a...
Couple need a place to play? - m4mw - 44 (Chelsea)
It’s Saturday night! Do you need a place to stop by for some quick sex? I’ve got a room at a nice hotel in Chelsea, near Broadway and 25th. I would just love to watch you play. No participation necessary. Generous white male. Stop by for a couple minutes or play longer. Let me know!
“Oh man, I would really love to...
Again With The Emphasis on Intellectual Casual Sex...
Oh, where to begin. I don’t really understand the idea that a “massage” might be better with someone from an Ivy, but also there’s a terrible economy joke in it, like, that Ivy League education got you here, soliciting on Missed Connections essentially to be a gigolo.
Also, “Please send email if you are interested in continuing this conversation” when...
Pretty Sure No One Is Debating This of the Day
Ah yes, the “let’s have an argument about a movie from the 1980s” pickup line. Also, I am shocked to read that this woman doesn’t know anyone really familiar with Dirty Dancing. What’s wrong with her friends?
I Have This Great Debate Point About the ‘Dirty Dancing’ Remake! - w4m - 29 (Greenpoint)
The other day, I came up with this amazing insight...
I am so tired this post seems hilarious of the day
In anticipation of presenting some of my research this weekend at the LMCC’s Open Studios I haven’t really been sleeping much, and most of the food I’ve been eating has been beige. This has sort of fried my brain. Is this funny? Because I think it is but I might also just be losing it. I think it’s the sincere use of the word “cutie” and the fact it’s an...
Excerpt from a report I'm writing about subway...
The L train covers a range of commercial and residential zones by running across town in Manhattan and being the most direct route to Williamsburg, an extremely lonely area of Brooklyn, and more particularly to Bedford Avenue, a street lined with bars, boutiques, and sorrow.
I am having a lot of fun with this.
How Is This Remotely Charming of the Day
Sometimes when I’m entering data I write notes in my “Notes” section that are not actually helpful, just a way to vent. Often, I end up writing “This is why I am going to die alone.” If this is what constitutes a magical memory I am pretty sure I need no magic.
doggystyle dry hump - w4m - 30 (Maracuja, Williamsburg)
we met in the backyard of Maracuja on saturday...
In Defense of Futile Gestures
So it may be inappropriate to admit this, but: I post Missed Connections sometimes. Because I have them. I don’t think of it as necessarily problematizing the data because well, they are actually valid and I count them. So I posted one a few days ago with no response from the person in question (which I expected), but I did get this email:
Not having any luck finding that person that you...
1 tag
And Now, Some Charts
I’ve been neglecting data analysis and visualizations for the last week or so because I wanted to accumulate more data. As of now I’ve processed one week’s worth of Missed Connections posts (8/11/2011-8/18/2011), which is a little over 1,000 posts and a more reasonable number from which to draw conjecture. Also (more Google plugs!) it is easy to make charts like these super quick...
OK, I Think This One is Actually Kind of Sweet of...
Tanya + Strand … You, Me and Patti Smith - m4w (STRAND)
tanya,
who really knows if you’re going to end up seeing this post of not, but i felt compelled to write so here goes.
on monday afternoon around 4pm, i stopped by strand to pick up a copy of ‘patti smith: dream of life’.
as i approached the next register available, you greeted me again with a pretty spectacular...
Bitching About Missed Connections, On Missed...
I’ll NEVER get a missed connection - m4w - 25 (Brooklyn, NY)
I go out all the time. I’m really active and all around town and the neighborhood. I’m fit and social. Yet I never get a missed connection. Why are girls so nitpicky and analytical? Do I have to look like Ryan Phillipe or Leonardo DiCaprio to get a missed connection? I guess since I look like Jeff Goldblum I’m...
August 2011
9 posts
Shenanigans Subject Line of the Day
I am pretty sure a nude housecleaner is something you want, not something you need, dude.
Winning Self-Description of the Day
The couple looking for another couple for “same room sex” (what it sounds like) who describe themselves as “slim, relaxed, shaved, and very well educated.” Because God knows I wouldn’t dare have sex with someone while being watched by a couple if that couple hadn’t at least finished their master’s coursework towards a Ph.D.
Most Literal Example of Missed Connections as Form...
The fact that the person posting this describes the person she miss-connected with as just looking the same as her either is a really good joke about how all hipsters pretty much look alike or a telling fact about the author’s desire to basically date herself.
Watch The Throne - w4m - 23 (L train)
you got on at the Lorimer stop and you were listening to the new Kanye + Jay-Z album....
Contextually Baffling Missed Connection of the Day
I feel like the subject of this post and the setting in which that subject was seen are really confusing. Like this guy ran into Jessica Rabbit at a strip mall or something. He’s right, she shouldn’t be sitting alone in a Dunkin Donuts on Staten Island. No one should be doing that, but especially not Jessica Rabbit.
Stunning Red head in leopard dress at Dunkin donuts - m4w - 34...
Data Notes: Basically A Giant Plug for Google
So initially when I started planning this project I was like, “Yeah, I’m going to hard code my entire data entry system and host it on my own website.” Mainly because I think I wanted to prove that I had the skills to do it. But, aside from the fact I’m only semi-literate in programming (I can do it, it just usually doesn’t work), the moment I started delving into the...
Ladies, He's a Keeper Missed Connection of the Day
lunch at hundred acres - m4w - 28 (SoHo)
You were with two girlfriends sitting a table away from me at Hundred Acres on MacDougal St today, around 1pm. I was having lunch with a batty old book editor. You’re blond, lithe, were wearing a turquoise dress, and we made eye contact so many times it was ridiculous. You are crazy, crazy hot. And I’m married. But that eye contact was so...
Topical Joke Missed Connection of the Day
Hats off to the author of this post. It really broke up the monotony of my data entry. Happy Friday, people.
Sofitel Suites - m4w - 64 (Midtown West)
Date: 2011-08-11, 9:22AM EDT
When I came out of the shower, nude and dripping, you offered to have sex with me, in exchange for money. Tell me the right amount and we can tango. I am the heavy set one that runs an international bank.
Data: It's Complicated, Part 1
Whenever I’m explaining the CMC to people, they ask “How are you organizing this stuff?” One of the things I’m trying to do during this residency is find a better way to do that. Missed Connections offer a complex cross-section of New York City, and that means there are a lot of variables and a lot of ways to think about them. I don’t think this will be especially...
Introductory Notes
The Center for Missed Connections (CMC) is a project I started in 2009 to study loneliness in American cities. Basically, I gather content from Missed Connections posts and map them out, identify demographics, and observe behavior patterns to learn about the people writing missed connections, who they’re trying to find, and what people do all day in a given city.
The project is based in...
