Baruch Shemtov '09: Our Favorite Pokemon

Sometimes here at GossipGeek, we like to think of Harvard celebrities as pokémon- and we're Ash Ketchum. You know, we're here to catch 'em all! Some of these celebs have been with us from the beginning and, when trained, make really good fighters in battles, and what's more, everyone knows this and tries to have them on them at all times (we're looking at you, Derek Flanzraich '10). Think of these as our Squirtles. Others are a little more difficult to catch and are worth the effort (Randall Sarafa '09, Brian Barnhill '08)- our Growlithes or Abras. We like to think of Baruch Shemtov '09 as our Articuno of sorts- an elusive avian beauty that, if we could only have on us during gossip battles, would destroy everything in our paths. Here is Baruch using his fabled "whipping ties" attack:

We've been on the lookout for Baruch since day one, but he's a hard one to catch. Of course, the two of you who haven't spammed our inboxes demanding updates on the guy must be asking yourself what the hype could possibly be about. Who is this dude, and why is he more important than Andrea Flores '10?? To those of you living under a rock, we highly recommend is super-hot website, where you can preview all the awesome ties Baruch has designed over the years and see some pretty amazing press attention to the fact that he started designing ties- of all things- when he was 15.

15. You know what I was doing when I was 15? Well, I was writing sappy poetry to a guy I had never met that I was stalking at the time. Some things never change.

Anyway, we've been trying to find Baruch for a while, and the best we had gotten was this wondering sighting in New York City, where he is mingling with the rough-and-tumble locals along an individual who may or may not be Drew Faust.

While we thought this was a pretty interesting development, we thought we could do better for you guys. And, of course, when GossipGeek makes a promise, we deliver. Last night, in our regular traipsing around the River Houses looking for the hottest gossip we could muster, we ran into none other than the prodigy himself, on a walk with his security guard (left) and an unidentified lady.

This picture could not be any clearer: Shemtov was strolling around the River (near Kirkland) selling his tie propaganda! While many believe that Shemtov is merely an innocent tie designer, we have it on good word that the designs within the ties have subliminal messages especially designed to convince the wearer that Shemtov is the ultimate ruler of the universe. This definitely throws a wrench into our Andrea Flores '10-Jon T. Staff V '10- Tyler G. Hall '11 global domination theory, and we're on the lookout to see if Baruch is in any way involved with the latter triumvirate. We don't believe so at the moment, and in fact there is an alternate theory that Shemtov's subliminal messages are actually designed to give the wearer a strong desire to listen to '70s singer-songwriter icon Dan Fogelberg.

Keep us posted, and make sure to check GG regularly for more updates on this highly salient matter!

~Mozambique