Westport tech writer's wedding proposal goes viral

David Pogue, the New York Times tech columnist who lives in Westport, proposed marriage to his girlfriend last week in true tech guru fashion: He persuaded a theater at a summer resort to play a mini-movie he commissioned that tells the story of how he and his now-fiancee fell in love.

He captured the emotional reaction of his bride-to-be on a spy camera concealed in a ficus plant.

The proposal video has since gone viral, an appropriate nod to the tech writer who has 1.4 million Twitter followers. The seven-minute skit has been viewed online more than 170,000 times in six days.

The movie is sappy if not geeky, showing the actress playing Pogue's future wife elated, hugging her cellphone to her chest, after receiving a message from Pogue, who was texting her from the shower.

In another scene, Pogue's girlfriend is shown wearing a paper gown in an examination room. A doctor walks in and delivers her diagnosis: It's love, but they live 3,000 miles apart. As she begins to sob, the doctor suggests a modern treatment: video "chat therapy."

At the film's end, Pogue enters the screen and looks down at his real-life self sitting in the theater.

"Alright, buddy," he tells himself. "It's all you. Let's see you do this thing."

The real Pogue then stands up and takes the hands of his girlfriend, Silicon Valley press agent Nicki Dugan, in a movie house packed with both their families at Basin Harbor Club on Lake Champlain in Vermont.

"I've never met a soul as selfless, beautiful, wise and funny as you," he tells her. "And I'm not going to let you slip from my fingers. My dream is to be with you every day for the rest of my life."

He gets down on one knee and pops the question.

"Nicki," he asks, his arms trembling a bit, "Will you marry me?"

Dugan throws her arms over her head and howls, `Yes!' The Pogue on the silver screen starts to celebrate.

Since 2000, Pogue has been the personal-technology columnist for The New York Times. The "State of the Art" column appears every Thursday on the front page of the business section. He also writes a daily Times blog, "Pogue's Posts," authoring a weekly email Times newsletter, "From the Desk of David Pogue," and shoots humorous web videos for the newspaper.

Pogue, who is 49, ended his previous marriage last year after his then-wife Jennifer told police he struck her in the head with her iPhone during a dispute over child visitation rights at their Westport home. Police initially charged Pogue with disorderly conduct. The charges were later dropped and the couple divorced.

blyte@ctpost.com; 203-330-6426; http://twitter.com/blyte

Source: http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Westport-tech-writer-s-wedding-proposal-goes-viral-3810229.php

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