How to pick up a celebrity, even especially if you’re a journalist

In the new Esquire, former NYT rock critic / current Angeleno-about-town Neil Strauss, who’s about to publish a book (A ReganBook, no less) about his experiences in those how-to-pick-up-women seminars one gets lots of spam about, describes how he almost picked up Britney Spears in the course of interviewing her. Strauss uses the various tricks he’s learned from these dating gurus– reading her eye movements, using a conversational construct called a ‘yes ladder’ (“capturing her attention by asking questions that require an obvious answer”), and so forth. By the end of the interview, she’s putty in his hands:

“You know,” Britney said. “Everything happens for a reason.”
“I truly believe that,” I told her.
“I do, too.” She touched my shoulder and a broad smile spread across her face. “I’d like to exchange numbers.”

Strauss never calls her because he feels it would be a violation of journalistic ethics. I think he should use those digits. I’m sure the Great Ombudsman In The Sky would understand.