Internet dating has its virtues, but there’s no replicating the awkward thrill of a booze-fueled, face-to-face first encounter. As a social experiment, we approached ten (seemingly) unattached strangers at two pheromonal bars. We sat them down in pairs, recorded their chats, and then called each of them a week later for the lowdown.

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(Photo: Danny Kim)

Brett Taylor, project manager, and Sophia Wiedeman, comic artist

9:15 p.m. on Saturday, May 7, at Hot Bird

Brett: Where you from?
Sophia: I was born in New York, but I grew up overseas.
Brett: Where overseas?
Sophia: Um, do you want the list?
Brett: Sure, yeah.
Sophia: Germany, Greece, Venezuela, Jamaica, Honduras.
Brett: Wow. How did that work?
Sophia: My parents worked for the State Department.
Brett: Because I really want to, like, do that.
Sophia: You want to raise a shitload of kids overseas?
Brett: Not particularly, I just want to travel a lot.
Sophia: Oh, God. This is going to sound really silly, but, what’s your sign? Are you a Libra, by any chance?
Brett: I think I’m a Pisces. I don’t quite follow astrology.
Sophia: Because it’s bullshit! But I match up very well to my sign. Like, a little too well.

A week later …

Sophia on Brett: He was good-looking but a little babyish. My type is, like, larger guys.
Brett on Sophia: She’s nice, kind of artsy, interesting. But I think I saw her making out later with the tall guy [Robert, page three]. He was strange.