Life 2.0: His heart isn’t really in this holiday

I can already feel the red hearts and jewelry commercials swooping in to fill the vacuum left by Christmas, when it finally packed up after six months. With all this sweet romance being pushed on us at every corner I have a confection — I mean confession — to make: I’m not a fan of this Hallmark holiday.

People without dates feel terribly alone and those with a special someone feel guilted into showing affection through wanton consumerism. It’s enough to give anyone a bitter taste in the mouth, although those chalky conversation hearts have a similar effect.

Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, already has the reactionary “Buy Nothing Day” (adbusters.org/metas/ eco/bnd/) sponsored by Adbusters magazine (adbusters.org) and so Life 2.0 is sponsoring a Buy Nothing V-Day.

I’ve got a few great suggestions from all corners of the Web on great romantic ideas that say, “I love you,” without saying “and I cashed in our 401(k) to buy you a diamond.”

For the foodie, I suggest, with some personal experience, that probably any recipe selected off Brownie Points blog (browniepointsblog.com) will win you some attention. This site is an old favorite of mine run by an Oregon scientist with a flair for the artistic and creative. Try making a batch of her “Spicy Aphrodite Truffles” for your sweetie.

If you’re willing to start working on next year’s present today (and I suggest you do) Meetup.com, an online database that helps locals organize around common interests, has a prolific Spokane Scrapbooking group (scrapbook. meetup.com/1566/) with a meeting scheduled for March 1.

For someone looking to get inside the science of romance I have to recommend “Radio Lab” (wnyc.org/shows/radiolab), a phenomenal blog and radio show offered by WNYC as a podcast (phobos.apple.com/ WebObjects/ MZStore.woa/ wa/viewPodcast? id=152249110).

The topics dug up by hosts Robert Krulwich and Jad Abumrad often seem obscure, like how Carl Sagan’s widow fell in love with her husband while compiling the gold record of Earth sounds sent out on the Voyager space probe, or neurologist Oliver Sacks’ story of a man who is eternally longing for his wife while constantly waking from amnesia. But you can’t miss it.

In two weeks I’ll be back talking about Feb. 29 and leap years, and because this column is an interactive experience made in part by its readers, please send me ideas and stories. Heard a great podcast, found a useful tool or read a smart blog? Got a tip for the next column? E-mail me at stevenrneuman@ gmail.com.