gasp! (rich guys & hot girls, part II)

This is Gilda and she'll be one of the women going to the natural selection speed date on Feb. 7 in Manhattan, according to a recent e-mail I received.

By far, the most popular post on this blog has been about my e-mail invitation to the natural selection speed date. Thanks to Reddit the post got roughly 7,000 hits.

I'm shocked. OMG, people are interested in sex and money! I can't believe it. Gasp! What's next?

Well, apparently what is next is an unclothed (as in nekked) Harry Potter. Harry Potter....is like an actor (who knew?) I thought it was real. He's now in a play in which he appears sans clothes. Read all about it here. (Thanks to Gawker for the link.)

Also Potter, (aka Daniel Radcliffe) did a pretty funny turn on the HBO/BBC comedy Extras, which airs this week. Harry is trying hard to grow up.

I digress. I know you're waiting to hear about the rich and the beautiful.

To recap, this speed date is for men who make at least $200,000 or more (if you're 30 or over you have to make $500,000) a year with assets in the millions to meet women who are judged entirely on their looks.

The Web site philosophically muses —

"Guys know that money buys them the car, the house and the trophy wife. This genetic cleansing is how the wealthy stay beautiful."

I'm so foolish, I always thought that genetic cleansing wasn't a good topic for a first date. Well, I'll never make that mistake again.

It's getting down to the wire, so sign up now by clicking here.

But I have a few things to tell you.

First, this event may not be as exclusive as you might think. According to the fine print (damn you lawyers, damn you) if you are poor and ugly, you can participate too. All you need to do is pay $10,000.

I'm excited. I'm thinking about where my checkbook is as I type. (I didn't quite qualify because I only make $499,999 a year.)

The second thing I have to tell you is that if you're a woman, the promoters of the event will use your picture.

And guys — as long as you're rich, keep on stuffing those twinkies into your mouth because nobody wants to see your picture.

Look at Gilda, above. Imagine how hard things have been for her ogoing through life looking like that. Now, in desperation, she is driven to natural selection speed dating.

The third thing I have to tell you is — while I can discern that the event will take place (I think) — it is something of a publicity stunt, according to this post on Gawker.

The whole thing was supposed to lure us (bloggers, media types et al.) into faux-indignation. (Imagine, crude, greedy, crass, shallow people in Manhattan!) Thus, getting publicity for an e-mail newsletter called Pocket Change, which is linking the wealthy to some of the most expensive indulgences that New York City has to offer.

Well, it worked.

Here is how the publisher describes Pocket Change —

"Featuring dry-cleaning that costs more than the actual clothes, to a drink that costs more than a flight to the country of its origin, it's everything you love to hate and hate that you love."

And here, I thought that Gilda really loved me. I was used! I feel so cheap.

Furthermore, Western Civilization is in imminent decline because of this. I'd give it, or what's left of it, about a month or so. The only question is if we'll notice. My money's on not, if I had any money that is — I have to come up with $10,000 by Feb. 7.

This is not the first such marketing scheme, click here for more. Gawker is urging people to ignore this and hopefully it will go away.

Too late. I'll see y'all there on Feb. 7th. I wouldn't miss it for...well, a million dollars.