Love stinks-- yeah, yeah-- love stinks

Feb 10

Break-up blues: Talking makes the pain worse

February is the month of Valentine's wishes and red roses by the dozens. All across the country, Hallmark cards clog the postal system, arrows fly from Cupid's bow, and starry-eyed sweethearts of every persuasion express their mutual devotion by eating way too much chocolate.

Dot-com dumped: Website makes it easy
They say you can't buy love or happiness, but now you can buy your way out of a bad relationship. With online matchmakers flourishing, countless e-friendships are headed nowhere and begging for a merciful conclusion.
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Literary therapy: Poems have power to soothe
Okay, she was the woman of your dreams, the paragon you envisioned rocking the cradle of your son and heir, the glorious creature you imagined by your side through life's good times and bad... the helpmate you cherished to dodder with you into the sunset. Uh-oh. Turns out she's really the faithless hussy who just decamped with the milkman. Who you gonna call?
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Love hurts: Breaking up is hard to do
Patricia and John Kluge These days Patricia Kluge is happily married to retired IBM exec Bill Moses, but 15 years ago her split from billionaire John Kluge was the talk of the town. Married in 1981, the Kluges seemed an unlikely pair. She, a Baghdad-born one-time belly dancer nearly 35 years her husband's junior, had previously been married to Russell Gay, a publisher of skin magazines.

Six local ways... to leave your lover

To call or not to call. Is email okay? Do you even have to tell them? Locals weigh in on the etiquette of the break-up. "Just don't call them anymore– dodge 'em. No, seriously, say, 'I don't feel things are happening.'"– Wendell Burton Wendell BurtonPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO "Honesty is the best policy."–Matt Boisvert

Star-crossed lovers? Tales from the trenches of treachery
Oh, the perils of love. From restraining orders to betrayals to acts of violence, these locals have burned in the hellfire of love gone awry. Fortunately, they've lived to tell their tales– and there are even some happy endings. Kirk Bryant

4Better Or Worse

The week in review
Best job security: UVA President John Casteen will keep his job through 2011, and CEO Leonard Sandridge will remain top administrator until June 2009, Bob Gibson reports in...

The Dish

'Berry' cordial: Cassis opens on Water Street
Bizou veteran chef Sean Lawford unveiled Cassis, his much-awaited new restaurant in the old Metro space, Tuesday, February 8. After an impressively short two-month renovati...

Essays

Know-nothing party: First Amendment a mystery to students
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the r...

Question of the Week

Whatcha doin' for Valentine's Day?
Tony LaBua: "While it's kind of special, of course, Valentine's Day is rookie day." Jessie Hagadon: "I don't celebrate Valentine's Day." Mike Blakely: "I'm a sing...

Real Estate - Off the Block

SOLD
APPEARED IN THE HOOK : September 16, 2004 in issue 0337 ADDRESS: 2610 Dick Woods Road DAYS TO CONTRACT: 71 ASKING: $499,900, reduced to $470,000 SOLD FOR: $468,000 LIS...

Real Estate - On the Block

Not half-baked: Old mill has huge potential
ADDRESS: 215 Avon Street ASKING: $2,650,000 BUILDING: 15,667 sq. ft. LAND: 0.43 acres YEAR BUILT: 1885 NEIGHBORHOOD: Belmont Bridge CURB APPEAL: 9 out of 10 LISTED BY: Stua...

DR. HooK

Dryers: To clean or itch, that's the question
"How dry I am..." Is that song about alcohol, hair, or skin? When I was a medical resident, a fun dermatologist (who cussed like a sailor) gave us a lecture. He said that i...

Movie Reviews

Happy Willentine's Day! Hitch worth hooking up with
For more than half its length, Hitch makes two points that surprised me: Despite considerable evidence to the contrary, Hollywood can still turn out a good, commercial roma...

Music Reviews

Non-native soul: Plainly audience favorites
The Allison Fletcher 5at Dürty Nelly'sFebruary 4 Though shows at Dürty Nelly's are usually well attended, I have never had any trouble getting a choice seat a little whi...
Sounds familiar: Blue Merle's not hiding influences
Blue MerleThe Fires EP (Island/Def Jam) In case you're not in the know about Blue Merle, let me catch you up on the current buzz. The Tennessee band members are Red Light ...

News

Bichon freeze: One sick puppy
Stasha Amra got an early Valentine's Day present from her boyfriend: a bichon frise puppy. But instead of coming home with her, the purebred pup spent his first few days in...
Chinn up: SNL president touts Apple deal
The Charlottesville-based company whose typical news anesthetizes all but the most fervent bank industry analysts has just announced a strategic alliance with one of the wo...
Fili-Bustered: Stations skip two-mommy show
After PBS pulled an episode of the new cartoon Postcards from Buster, citing the show's inclusion of lesbian parents, several PBS affiliates in liberal cities bucked the tr...
Mourned: 4th year snowboarder dies
Brian Love seemed the quintessential California guy: He surfed, he hiked, he snowboarded. And he wore sandals year round, even in the snow. "Free extreme": That was the scr...
Orchard fall-out: Fears of arsenic and old lead surface
Crozet once led the state in the production of Albemarle pippins and winesap apples, and in the 1930s, it was known as the "peach capital" of Virginia. However, decades of ...
Richmond shut-out: Budgets shred local rail plan
On the eve of the biggest recent boost for state passenger train service – creation of a multi-million-dollar dedicated fund– Charlottesville's hopes for new tr...

The Brazen Careerist

My deal: Trumpet success everywhere
I got a book deal. So this is, undoubtedly, the first of at least a hundred columns that will plug the book, even though it's not coming out until spring 2006. Far away, y...

Strange But True

Number nuts: 'Arithmomaniacs' live to count
DRAWING BY DEBORAH DERR McCLINTOCK BY BILL SONES AND RICH SONES, PH.D. Q. People who can't stop checking to see if doors are locked, or wash their hands repeatedly, or won...

Facetime

Larry's largesse: Should we call him $abato?
It seems that even a talking head can have a heart. Superstar UVA politics professor and ubiquitous media "expert consultant," Larry Sabato delivered news of his own in the...

Hotseat

Wake up! Rick Moore: He's waiting for your call!
Rick Moore is ready to rumble. Well, he won't get violent, but he makes no bones about his taste for conflict. But get this: He's not conservative, even though he's a talk ...

Letters

Add TV listings to Hook
I was interested in the January 27 article on the Daily Progress TV listings ["Unlisted: New TV stations off the grid"], particularly the curt response from the publisher, ...
Don't forget Sal's
When my husband and I moved to the area 10 years ago, we took everyone's advice and tried Duner's, then Crozet Pizza– both wonderful restaurants. We quickly moved on,...
Thanks for psychic scrutiny
I read your article on alleged psychic Noreen Renier [February 3: "Medium rare: Psychic offers help in rapist hunt"]. I really appreciate your taking the effort to check ou...

Cultural preview

Cultural Calendar, February 10-17, 2005
THURSDAY, February 10 ART Double Parking: Landscape designer Michael Van Valkenburgh speaks on "Two Parks in New York City and the Wellesley Co...

Full Stories List for February 10th, 2005 issue #0406

4Better Or Worse