Major production outside the house all day today and as I type this. Road is closed. They have all doors and windows open and have lighting, cranes and a ton of crew. Cast is doing staged shots also. Obviously broll and promo materials being shot.
Until I found out the show was taping where I lived last week (Ya I don't read the local papers or watch much TV to begin with) i wouldn't have thought I'd have interest in a show like this. All the excitement i sense from the people on this forum over getting spoilers and info about this upcoming season makes me want to be interested to watch the DC season.
I went by the house yesterday after work for the first time to see what its like. I watched the crew at work for a bit. I was in uniform since I had just come from work if any of the regular visitors from the forum happened to be there and saw me. I got the sense that upscale neighborhood doesn't see many people from the military walking around since i was getting staired at.
Some of the crew was kind enough to explain what they were doing and the different types of shots they were taping with the crane. That was cool of them. I do have to say I was more disappointed that I didn't see Bethany there then the fact I didn't see any cast out and about outside lol. I thought she was all over that place after seeing her on youtube. She was probably busy "following" the cast wherever they happened to be lol.
I was working in a restaurant a few doors down from the Real World DC house (City Lights of China). During break I walked by and they were filming. The cast members were barbequeing outside. I felt special for a minute. Haha
FYI Johanna is hosting a party at Shadow Room here in DC tonight where you know our friends will be.... Interesting point: Shadow Room is currently in negotiations to tape a reality show of their own, or so the word on the street has it.
[FONT=Arial Black]This Sunday in the Washington Post[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial Black][/FONT]
[FONT=Garamond][SIZE=4]It's no secret that the Washington Post is my favorite newspaper. Well, available online now, but in this Sunday's Arts & Style Section, reporter Dan Zak takes readers on a great behind-the-scenes look of what's [I]really going on[/I]. A really well written and in my (biased since I'm in it) opinion, super entertaining report.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Garamond][SIZE=4][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Garamond][SIZE=4]He calls us the real world cast of characters of "The Real World".[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Garamond][SIZE=4][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Garamond][SIZE=4]Also on the website, a tongue-in-cheek video of how Washington's newest monument is being frequented.[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Garamond][SIZE=4][/SIZE][/FONT]
[URL="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/08/14/ST2009081403688.html"][url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/08/14/ST2009081403688.html[/url][/URL]
[B][SIZE=5]Neighborhood Watch
[/SIZE][/B]MTV Is in the House, and Everyone Else Just Wants to Be
[SIZE=-1]By Dan Zak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 16, 2009
[/SIZE]
The mansion on the corner is Washington's newest monument. It's even lit like one. Accent lamps splash gold light up and down the facade, four stories of red brick and brownstone at 20th and S streets NW. People stop by, look up, **** their heads, think to themselves: There, I've seen it, and maybe, What's it mean?
Inside is MTV's "The Real World," which -- after 17 years, 22 locations and lots of cultural baggage -- finally moved in last month. The District throbs with a newfound youthful exuberance and in comes MTV, with its past-its-prime, ratings-challenged reality series.
The Washington reaction was, of course, overreaction. Dupont residents scrambled to calculate the cost to their livelihood (the noise! the lights! the street parking!). The media played whack-a-rumor (the cast is here; no, it's not; yes, it is). City officials licked their chops at the exposure (Mayor Fenty was pleased that MTV would "utilize the immense opportunities that the District's backdrop will undoubtedly provide"). The cast mates arrived the first week of July and Twitterers began to track every move ("ladies walking south on 14th" then, from another feed, "shopping at 14 and q now").
It's been a summer of hostility, curiosity and zealous indifference. What else do you expect from Washington when a mysterious neighbor moves in, when a strange monument goes up, when a moldy, superficial TV concept imposes itself where Purpose and Importance are paramount, where people specialize in gate-crashing, espionage and meddling?
Even though "Real World D.C." doesn't air until 2010, it's already revealing something real about D.C. Whether drawn to the house or stuck living next to it, people see the opportunity to define reality before MTV does.
This summer, locals have become the tourists they loathe. They amble by "The Real World" at a slower place than the regular cast at 20th and S: the UPS guy, the FedEx gal, the beat cops, the dog-walkers, the errand-runners, the [URL="http://dcist.com/2004/09/03/grocery_politic.php"][COLOR=#0066cc]Secret Safeway[/COLOR][/URL] employees on smoke breaks.
Harry Tolson and J.R. have been sitting across the street for decades, they say, watching the intersection from its northwest corner on a low concrete wall by the Secret Safeway.
"It's exciting, watching the people go by," says Tolson, who used to live a couple of blocks away but now lives in Congress Heights in Southeast. He wears white pants smudged with soot. His fellow loiterer, J.R., who won't give his last name, is in denim cutoffs and navy socks (sneakers act as a pillow on his cardboard bed).
Stick around one place long enough, they say, and eventually you see everything. Eventually you see people jump -- like the time years ago when some guy vaulted off the 11-story [URL="http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=building&id=193988"][COLOR=#0066cc]Universal North Building[/COLOR][/URL] at Florida Avenue and 20th -- and eventually you see "The Real World."
The cast mates "creep in and out of the alley, try to get away from the cameras," J.R. says, as a pair of frappuccino-clutching 20-somethings do a look/don't-look stroll-by. But there's no hiding here. Even the watchers are being watched, he notes, pointing to a security camera above him.
"Everything comes [I]to[/I] them," says J.R., about the cast. "They live free. They eat free. [I]Free[/I]. That is not the real world. C'mon out and see some homeless people out here. It's called survival."
The men crack open cans of Busch. Across the way, their new neighbor, a shaggy-haired "Real World" cast member reportedly named Andrew, sits on the mansion's streetside patio, in full view, almost close enough to touch. He tosses bread crumbs to pigeons from behind the wrought iron fence.
[B]'Serenity' Now![/B]
In July, a week since the block got "real," a young couple stoop-sits on the northeast corner of 20th and S streets. The turret windows of Adam Rosenberg and Tracy Sherman's two-story apartment face the turret windows of the "Real World" mansion.
Here's the thing, says Rosenberg, 28, a new-media manager at a nonprofit. The cast and crew haven't been a problem, per se. It's the people who gawk. There's been five times as much activity at the intersection, he says, and his dog is very sensitive to noise.
"I've not talked to a single neighbor who likes it," says Sherman, sitting on the same step, eating dinner and watching the intersection as though it were a television.
A cast member wearing sunglasses and a bandana exits the mansion. This is Josh, who is of Puerto Rican and Italian descent, according to phantom Internet sources (the Anti-"Real World" contingent refers to him as either "Rico Suave" or "Gerardo"). Josh walks across S Street toward the Safeway, sans cameras. He is soon followed by Andrew, his shaggy-haired cast mate, who's wearing what can only be described as a panda hat. In 30 seconds, six girls materialize and wait outside the Safeway, then watch the guys return home.
"They're interns," Rosenberg grumbles, snapping the tableau on his iPhone, which he posts to the Anti-Real World DC [URL="http://www.antirealworld.com/"][COLOR=#0066cc]blog.[/COLOR][/URL] "You guys are being pretty obvious," he calls to the gawkers.
Rosenberg launched the blog with friends in June, after word got out about 2000 S St. NW. At a ward meeting that month, it was "there goes the neighborhood." People worried about a loss of "serenity." They complained about being notified only weeks before shooting began, about MTV's lack of outreach.
In one of the first posts in June, Rosenberg wrote: "This is the most powerful city in the Western World and we don't need MTV's exposure. Our city is better than that."
The blog, at its July peak, attracted a remarkable 8,000-10,000 visitors per day, ribbed MTV (the production was referred to as a "plague" and the "apocalypse"), kept an eye on the intersection and the cast's whereabouts, and started a photo contest to solicit images that depict the [I]real[/I] D.C. (submissions included shots of cherry blossoms, a homeless man sitting on a milk crate and a family of tourists wearing "I {heart} D.C." shirts staring up the Washington Monument).
Rosenberg made the local news, recycling a sound bite about not wanting to clean up the puke of drunk "Real World" stalkers. His explanation for the blog's notoriety: A partisan town has a polar nature. It likes conflict or, at least, the appearance of conflict.
"A lot of people say we're trying to stir the pot," Rosenberg says. "We don't encourage anybody to do surveillance. We do encourage people to be informed and engaged citizens."
Neighborhood Commissioner Mike Feldstein, who lives on the southeast corner of the intersection and whose windows overlook the mansion, says he has fielded no complaints from residents since MTV moved in.
[B]A Foot in the Door?[/B]
"Waaaiiit! There it is!"
A Hyundai SUV, apparently full of gawkers, screeches to a halt at the intersection. Cameras flash. The vehicle zooms off. The month of August is 45 minutes old.
A trio of beefy security guards take their positions at the street corners. A camera crew comes into view, walking backward in front of cast mates Josh and Erika, neither of whom is drunk or trailing Fellini-esque mayhem. It's eerily silent as they vanish into the house.
At 1 a.m., a green dinged-up Toyota Camry idles into a space on 20th Street. Daniel Foster, 23, emerges and faces the house. Two women in the car turn to follow his gaze, as if they're at a drive-in theater waiting for a movie.
"We came down hoping to see a fight," says Foster, who lives in Silver Spring and runs a pizzeria in Lanham. They'd also like to get in the house. Because . . .
"I guess you'd feel like a celebrity," he says. "I just like reality shows about young people, seeing what they go through."
After 15 minutes of waiting and watching, some luck: two cast members exit the house and sit on the stoop. It's Josh and Andrew again. Foster and his friends Taylor Long and Noelle Owens, both 20, scurry across S Street to the front gate.
They say hey. Josh and Andrew say hey.
The cast mates say they like D.C., despite blowback from "a lot of haters." Then, an awkward pause. There are no cameras around. Just five people momentarily out of pleasantries. Foster asks if they ever make it up to Lanham. Josh says no, they can't really go anywhere. Foster offers to deliver some pizzas.
"Yeah, sure," Josh says. "Same time tomorrow."
The friends say goodbye and head to the car. Foster thinks maybe the pizzas are the ticket into the house.
[B]Watchington, D.C.[/B]
They work out at Washington Sports Club on Connecticut Avenue. They eat at Lauriol Plaza. [URL="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2009/06/rs-realworld24.html"][COLOR=#0066cc]They drink[/COLOR][/URL] at Third Edition in Georgetown and Nellie's on U Street. They swim at the Capitol Skyline. One cast member works at the Human Rights Campaign, another at the Washington Blade. They go for jogs. They go for cigarettes. They volunteer. (All this seems consistent, oddly enough, with the real life of a 20-something in D.C.)
The city has pieced together these details from Twitter, which is ablaze with sightings. When someone tweeted about the cast mates being at National Night Out last week, people went to Dupont Circle to watch them charm police officers and coo at the cute dogs of smiling residents, who happily signed release forms as a camera circled. Their world is already on record, half a year before the show airs.
Freelance writer Chris Wiggins, who lives in Northern Virginia, has 4,600 followers on his Twitter [URL="http://twitter.com/Realworlddcnewz"][COLOR=#0066cc]feed[/COLOR][/URL] RealWorldDCNewz, which relies on tips provided by those inside the production and within the local community. In the absence of actual drama and cast access, Wiggins became the story. As did the Anti-Real World DC bloggers. As did Beth Ploger, a 22-year-old Woodbridge resident who makes online videos of herself [URL="http://loveelizabethany.blogspot.com/search/label/finding%20the%20real%20world%20cast"][COLOR=#0066cc]stalking the cast[/COLOR][/URL].
The watchers became a cast of their own, sharing tips, arguing over proper sourcing, defending their actions to critics (and each other). They dealt with the strain of a hobby that turned into something more: a weird duty to inform people about an entity that hasn't done anything remotely interesting. Some might call this quintessential Washington -- to try to influence something out of one's control, to grandstand in the name of public good, to assign meaning to something that's essentially meaningless.
"People seem to be more in need of having information here, and the fact this has picked up so greatly in the District says a lot about people wanting to be in the know about things," says Wiggins, 29. "They don't have to be interested, but people see the value in knowing what's going on."
It's more than busybodiness, though. Voyeurism and exhibitionism have merged.
During the first 10 years of "The Real World," "a nation of voyeurs found a hard-core group of exhibitionists to satisfy them, but now they're two sides of the same coin," says Mark Andrejevic, a professor of communication at the University of Iowa and author of several books on reality TV. "The target generation for reality TV is also the generation that's engaged in ongoing forms of public self-disclosure at an unprecedented level." It's "self-disclosure as a form of empowerment. It's self-disclosure as self-expression."
[B]Summer Assignments[/B]
Shortly after 10 p.m. on a Thursday, RealWorldDCNewz issues the tweet that Beth Ploger has been waiting for.
[I]RWDC once again at Nellies at 9th and U NW.[/I]
Ploger, a waitress who recently graduated from West Virginia University with a broadcast journalism degree, drives into the city from Virginia with three friends and a tiny video camera that looks like a cellphone. She's shooting another webisode for her tart, bubble-gummy, pop-culture blog, [URL="http://loveelizabethany.blogspot.com/"][COLOR=#0066cc]loveelizabethany.blogspot.com[/COLOR][/URL]. She gets 1,500 hits a day, has a guest spot on "The Kane Show" on Hot 99.5 FM, also blogs for Metromix D.C. (a [URL="http://dc.metromix.com/"][COLOR=#800080]nightlife site[/COLOR][/URL] that pays $25 for photos of the cast "doing something interesting") and has both fans and haters (online comments range from "beth you're amazing!!" to "Get a life/job").
She aspires to host her own radio or TV show, and this summer's goal is personal but couched in a public-service mission: To get to know the cast, to get into the house and to give people access to the show before it's ruthlessly edited into fiction.
"I think that if she wants to get into entertainment news, this is a good way to go about that," says one of Ploger's friends, who asks to remain nameless because she is embarrassed to be along for the stalking.
They find a cast member named Mike on Nellie's rooftop, camera hovering nearby. Ploger, in a royal blue dress cinched with a polka-dot belt, approaches. He says he's not supposed to talk to her. Ploger retreats. "My heart is broken," she says plainly.
Plan B arrives via Twitter. [I]Real world dc is at third edition right now . . .[/I]
The group hops back in the car and heads to Georgetown, as Ploger holds the camera on herself, monologuing her woe while driving through a haze of brake lights.
"I'm determined now," says Ploger's friend Tonya Peter, 23, from the back seat. "We have to talk to them. We have to get into that house. We have to show them what real life is about in D.C."
At 12:30 a.m., they're inside Third Edition, where cast member Andrew is rubbing up against a young woman to "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" in the orange glow of an MTV camera light. Ploger and friends get turned around in the sweaty crowd and lose track of him.
Plan C: Rhino Bar on M Street, where cast member Josh is mixing drinks around 1 a.m., just doing his job, with no cameras. The friends sidle up to the bar and chat. He gives Ploger a high-five. He bro-hugs her friend Lance Jackson, 24. Tonya Peter gets his e-mail address. The fourth friend (the embarrassed one) films the encounter by tucking the digital camcorder under her armpit. Four more castmates show up, say hello, see Ploger and cut their visit short. Jackson follows them out and returns with this news:
"The producers say they can't talk to her because she's a blogger," he confides, coming to a sobering conclusion. "So right now, my best shot to getting into the house is not to be associated with her at all."
The quartet finish their drinks and depart. On the way to pick up jumbo-slice pizza, Ploger worries.
"This is more about my adventure than spying, but I still have to get [I]something[/I]," she says. "It's turned into something bigger, and I had to find a point, but people want me to be like TMZ, and I don't want to be like that." (Her family, she says, is "very worried" about the attention.)
At 2:30 a.m. they end up outside the mansion at 20th and S. Jackson and Peter venture to the streetside patio, where there are cameras. A cast member is sitting out there, crying. They watch for a bit, then retreat back across the street.
"I feel bad," Peter says. Jackson looks like he wants to leave. Ploger talks to her camera about what a crazy night it's been.
[B]Reality Bites[/B]
Sometime in July, a sign is posted on the base of the lamppost on the northeast corner of the intersection. In simple black lettering on a plain white background, it reads, one word per line:
IN
THE
REAL
WORLD
ALL
AMERICANS
DESERVE
FULL
REPRESENTATION
IN
CONGRESS.
[B]Slice of Life[/B]
A lone bagpiper walks north on Connecticut Avenue, the pipes droning, a small procession following him, just after midnight on a weekend -- stick around one place long enough and eventually you see everything -- as three young women chat up one of the security guards for half an hour, keeping an eye on the house. They are all 18 or 19 and from Maryland. The significance of "The Real World" is not lost on them. It spills out, breathlessly:
"It's been 23 years. . . . D.C. is a treasure. . . . They've been to New York, like, five times. . . . It's the [I]capital[/I]. . . . It'll be a really good representation of the city. . . . I talked to the cast before and they're really down to earth."
It starts to rain, and the trio scampers off to the Metro.
The green dinged-up Toyota shows up around 1 a.m. Daniel Foster and his friend Noelle Owens have arrived with three large pizzas, as promised 24 hours earlier. A production staffer emerges from the alley beside the house. She says Josh is not expecting guests, but she accepts the garlic spinacini, pepperoni and cheese pies.
"We'll make sure he gets it," she says, walking back down the alley. Foster and Owens watch them go, their craving for access and interaction unsated. They stand under the awning on the northwest corner of the intersection, where Harry and J.R. usually sit, across the street from Anti-Real World DC headquarters. They watch the house. It's lit up and quiet and almost solemn.
"Right now it's not that big, but next year it will be," Foster says. "And to be able to say I was sitting on the couch inside, while so-and-so was making out with Julie, or whatever, and then she punched someone else and there was a fight, and whatever, I can say, 'I was there. I was right there. That was so last year.' "
The rain stops.
"The pizzas only cost $12 to make," Foster says. "Twelve dollars for the possibility of being on national television a year from now? Worth it."
"I'm thinking," says Owens, after a reflective moment, "maybe they stole our pizza."
IF you would like to chat with Washington Post reporter Dan Zak about Real World DC, he will be online on Monday. Here's the info:
[B]Monday, Aug. 17 at 11 a.m. ET [/B]
[B]The 'Real World' in D.C.[/B]
» [URL="http://www.sphere.com/search?q=sphereit:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/08/14/DI2009081401732.html"]Links to this discussion[/URL]
[URL="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/08/14/DI2009081401732.html"][url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/08/14/DI2009081401732.html[/url][/URL]
[SIZE=2]Dan Zak[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Washington Post Staff Writer [/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]Monday, August 17, 2009; 11:00 AM [/SIZE]
After 17 years, 22 locations and lots of cultural baggage, MTV's "The Real World" has finally moved to D.C.
Washington natives have reacted with a mix of hostility, curiosity and zealous indifference to the past-its-prime, ratings-challenged reality series. Twitter feeds catalog every move the cast members make, while neighbors of the "Real World D.C." mansion are ashamed to admit they've become the tourists they loathe.
Washington Post reporter [B]Dan Zak[/B] will be online [B]Monday, Aug. 17 at 11:00 a.m. ET[/B] to discuss the show and what it reveals about the "real" D.C.
[URL="http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/content/submit_style111.htm"][B][COLOR=#0c4790]Submit your questions and comments[/COLOR][/B][/URL] before or during the discussion.
Just wanted to reiterate that the [B]Washington Post[/B] is having this[B] online chat tomorrow about Real World DC[/B]. 11 a.m. Eastern Monday, August 17, 2009.
Vevmo administrators, moderators and forum participants/readers were specifically invited by the Posts folks that have been in touch with me over the last day or so.
There's a Facebook Event invitation which you can view here: [url=http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=147354235518]Washington Post Live Chat on Real World DC | Facebook[/url]
The direct link for the chat is here:
[url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/08/14/DI2009081401732.html]The 'Real World' in D.C. - washingtonpost.com[/url]
Enjoy!
[url=http://vevmo.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=3445][img]http://vevmo.com/imagehosting/20984a88c8b96489e.jpg[/img][/url]
[COLOR=Blue][I]Source: [url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2009/08/14/DI2009081401732.html]The 'Real World' in D.C. - washingtonpost.com[/url][/I][/COLOR][SIZE=+2][B]
The 'Real World' in D.C.[/B][/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1] Dan Zak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 17, 2009 11:00 AM
[/SIZE]
After 17 years, 22 locations and lots of cultural baggage, MTV's "The Real World" has finally moved to D.C.
Washington natives have reacted with a mix of hostility, curiosity and zealous indifference to the past-its-prime, ratings-challenged reality series. Twitter feeds catalog every move the cast members make, while neighbors of the "Real World D.C." mansion are ashamed to admit they've become the tourists they loathe.
Washington Post reporter [B]Dan Zak[/B] was online [B]Monday, Aug. 17 at 11:00 a.m. ET[/B] to discuss [URL="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/13/AR2009081304164.html"]his recent article[/URL] about the show and what it reveals about the "real" D.C.
[B]A transcript follows.[/B]
____________________
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Happy dog days, kids. After six weeks in residence, The Real World has gone from novelty to neighbor. Here's what I'm looking for this hour: weird sightings/encounters with the cast and crew, thoughts about how the city has received the show, predictions about how the city will look on the air next year, reactions to my story, and musings about any season of The Real World (from the first in 1992 to the current Cancun season). I'd like to hear from anyone who got in the house. I want to hear how much you care. I want to hear how much you DON'T care. We can also chat about anything that falls under the category of "reality," even if it has nothing to do with MTV or television. There are no rules on this August Monday morning.
_______________________
[B]McLean, Va.: [/B]Wow....reading your article made me realize how far this show is from the original, ground-breaking Real World season 1 in New York that dealt with relevant and powerful issues in our culture. It also made me realize how celebrity-obsessed (face it, reality TV stars are celebrities) our culture has become. Social media seems to enable the shallow ideology that many young people today have by providing an outlet to validate their superficial lifestyle. As someone that was about 11 when the first Real World show debuted and grew up with it, I think it's very sad what the show has become and even more sad how it may be a reflection of a misguided generation.
[B]Daniel Zak: [/B]I Netflix'd the first season a couple weeks ago and was delighted by it. How quaint it was, with its canted camera angles and early-'90s NYC aesthetic. The castmates were all artists (except the girl from Alabama)! MTV checked in with their parents! The cast sat around in one spot for more than 10 minutes sometimes, talking sincerely about, like, race and class! Yes there was skin (Eric Nies) and drama, but there was also earnestness.
And you're right about social media: It's all but invalidated The Real World. The world that the show anticipated (one of self-disclosure and voyeurism/exhibitionism) has caught up with it in the big way. And we're all mostly over it.
_______________________
[B]Claimtofa, Maine: [/B]I saw them walking down Connecticut Ave on a Sunday morning...they seemed like they were trying too hard - one of the girls was wearing shorts with cowboy boots IN JULY...I was actually surprised with how low-tech the filming is - One guy filming with a girl holding him by his shirt, leading him down the street.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]You might try hard too if you were on a TV show. And you're right about the low-tech filming: small, unobtrusive crew. Single camera. Sound guy. And of course the seeing-eye girl who pulls the camera guy backward so he knows where to go. It's so simple, so boring.
_______________________
[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B] D.C. is too "Real" for what this show has become. It belongs in Hollywood, Cancun or Miami.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Hmm, D.C. is too "real." I want to hear some thoughts on this. The thrust of my story was about how a prideful city reacts to such a crass, pedestrian series...
_______________________
[B]Alexandria, Va.: [/B]Dude, someone is going to get jacked. You're in DC. I like cops. Do you? Because if they flip out -- like in other places where people just look -- most in DC will beat them up for making that spot hot at that time.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]To my knowledge there has been no police brutality at 20th and S. Although that might've made a better story.
_______________________
[B]Silver Spring, Md.: [/B] I was amused to find that people are blogging anti-Real World protests. My opinion? They are looking for a way to indirectly show off that the Real World is somehow touching their lives. Perceiving themselves as too cool to be excited by the Real World, they grasp for reasons to be annoyed by the whole thing and then broadcast their involvement with the show to all who will listen.
In all fairness, I'm not a Real World neighbor, so maybe I'm not getting what a nuisance they apparently are, but I did encounter a gaggle at the Capitol Skyline pool yesterday. They didn't hurt anyone. They just wandered and chatted. What's the big deal, people?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]I'm not a Real World neighbor either, but I've spent several days and nights in the area and saw nothing objectionable. The crew is quiet, the cast is pleasant. The big deal is that it isn't a big deal but people are making it a big deal. Although I'd like to hear from others who feel differently.
_______________________
[B]Rosslyn, Va.: [/B] I read some of the ARWDC blog and it's hysterical. It's by some guy who wants to brag that he lives near the Real Worlders and clearly wants in on the action but doesn't want to admit it. One entry says that the cast should live in SE because that's the "real DC". Dude, you said you are neighbors with the cast, living in their neighborhood. Are you not a "real DCer?" Obviously people live all over DC. Plus, it brags about the "heckling" they plan for the cast. If that's "real" then I would hate to be this guy's neighbor in the future. Is that how this guy treats all newbies on the block? Nice. He also talks about the stalkers and gawkers and then posts pictures of the cast, and tiny details about their comings and goings, and keeps a blog about them. Who is the "real" stalker and gawker here?
[B]washingtonpost.com: [/B] [URL="http://www.antirealworld.com/"]Anti-Real World DC[/URL]
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Well, yes, that's the whole irony: Gawkers gawking at gawkers. I guess I fall into that category too.
The ARWDC people aren't braggarts. From my talks with them, it seems they want to do two things: 1. Give people a portal into the action, and 2. Have fun. I think they're succeeding at both.
_______________________
[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B]After watching her videos, is Ms. Ploger concerned that her antics will reflect negatively on the District? Also, what are her plans now that the cast has received instructions to not speak with her?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]I can't possibly see how her antics will reflect negatively on the District, which is already full of media crazies whose angles are more diabolical than Beth's. Not sure what she plans on doing now that she's a recognizable face. Maybe she has some thoughts on her most recent Webisode. It's very Shakespeare, though (or is it Greek tragedy?): She wanted to get close to the cast, but now that they know her she can't get any closer.
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[B]Forestville, Md.: [/B] Stop comparing this upcoming and current seasons to the beginning of the series. It's 10+ years later! And I am very disappointed in how people are receiving the cast and crew. All the hate blogs and stalking is embarrassing. Everyone says DC has always been a great city and MTV is late in "discovering" us as a real world city but they are here now so let's embrace them! All the overreacting by the loser stalker/blogger neighbors says more about them than it does about the cast or production.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Correct.
And, for the record: It's 17 years later. A generation, or more.
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[B]Arlington, Va.: [/B]I was surprised at how poorly both MTV (really BMP) and the mayor's office thought through how this show would come to D.C. The arrogance of the producers who thought they could model "have they have always done it," was off-putting to members of the community who would happily have advised them.
Bunim-Murray productions has now sold their company to Endemol, USA, so there probably is no point in beating this dead horse.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]From my reporting, I found that members of the community did and do, in fact, advise the production. BMP/MTV isn't pretending that the city doesn't exist. From what I can tell, they do some degree of homework.
What's your beef?
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[B]Anonymous: [/B] Where is the cast from? Are they even from DC?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]They're not from D.C., although Ty is reportedly from Baltimore. Andrew is apparently from Colorado. Josh is apparently from Philadelphia. As for Callie, Erika, Ashley and Mike (is there one more? who knows), just Google around. There are tons of reports, and few confirmations.
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[B]Northern Virginia: [/B]DC is a town where you either put up or shut up. The Real World Kids are learning this finally and now they are starting to be more accepted. I blog about them and follow them on occasion or run into them when i am out and they are normal people. I have had a lot of interaction with them and I find them very cool.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]They were perfectly charming at National Night Out. But who knows what's going on INSIDE the house. That's where all the glass gets thrown.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B]It's interesting comparing The Real World to the late WJFK... celebrity for the sake of being a celebrity. I had once brief encounter with the cast and crew since they arrived but haven't really been near the house much. What's surprising is the number of younger people who tell me they still actively enjoy the show, while most still give a blank look once they hear the show is still in production. From those I polled I'd say it's a 70/30 split (in favor of those not watching). One thing is certain, RWDC's presence has galvanised Twitter's usage among an entire group of locals who previously only used Facebook.
[B]Dan Zak: [/********** still watch The Real World. Well, teenagers and me. But only for professional reasons. Honest. (Has anyone been watching Cancun? Jeebus!)
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[B]20910: [/B]Could not care less if I were dead and in the ground. At least I moved out of my old 19th and R apartment a few years ago, so I'm not at risk for airborne herpes.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]That explains the sore on my bottom lip.
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[B]Falls Church, Va.: [/B] Have the Real World kids been dipping into any of the hot action that DC has to offer, like Congressional health-care hearings, Supreme Court arguments, or janitors' union protests?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Or ANC meetings! Or waiting for the Circulator! Or standing forever in line at Whole Foods and stewing in self-hate!
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B] For the commenter who said "DC is too real"... To expand on what he was saying. DC is a great place to make a name for yourself, but you must do so based on your accomplishments (or at least perceived accomplishments). This isn't the domain of Paris Hilton nor do we celebrate fame for its own sake. I think this is where the disconnect lies between the cast/crew and most of the locals who actually live in the neighborhood. Most of the stalker/gawkers are traveling here from outside the District.
Yes, we have bars and clubs here. People get drunk in them. So we have some attractive college-aged kids getting drunk in local bars. What separates this footage from any other city? I agree, it's not "Real" in that it has little to do with the District other than the fact that the bars happen to be here... For all practical purposes you could film this entire thing in another city and have a chroma-key backdrop with some pictures of the Washington Monument and it would be just as effective (and I use the term loosely).
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]I like what you're saying. In my story I grazed the notion of D.C. as a city of accomplishments. Deeds are its currency.
I wouldn't be surprised if "Real World D.C." tries to be very pro-active and goody-goody and change-the-world-y when it airs next year. Apparently the cast is volunteering. And some of them are working for non-profits. The series sounds like it's hopping on the Change train.
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[B]Northern Virginia: [/B] Josh-Philly / Callie-Texas / Erika-Illinois / Josh and Andrew-Colorado / Emily-Missouri / Ty-Baltimore
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]So says one source from NoVa. Look how intrepid we've all become.
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[B]Arlington, Va.: [/B]Jon Murray (CEO of Bunim Murray Productions) said he wasn't coming here until Bush was gone, so he kept that promise. He also promised to hire a number of locals to work on the production, so props to him for dropping needed $$$$ on the local economy. The house was standing empty and in need of renovation, too.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]All of this is true.
Side note: Murray declined to comment for my story. As did Tony DiSanto. As did Brian Graden. Unfortunate. Although Murray did talk to Digital Spy. Here's what he said:
"The location is very important. ... Generally, the bigger the better -- New York, L.A. are cities where we are not the biggest thing that are happening in that town. It's great; we're just like a nobody, as far as production when we're shooting. So the cast members are left alone to do their thing and meet people. Whereas when you shoot in a smaller city, often the radio station and newspapers are talking about you - it's like you're the big news in the town, which is not what we want to be."
I think he's talking about us.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B]Do you know if the Real World has anything to do with a new coffee shop that opened up right next to it, Le Pain Quotidien? It seems odd they have a host of gorgeous twenty somethings at the same time MTV moves in and they're from New York too.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]I know nothing about this. Anyone else?
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[B]Northern Virginia: [/B] I have spoke with Adam from RWDC and he is the most impersonable person ever. No one cares about Anti Real World. It is stupid. There is a blog on his site from a dogs point of view. Talk about desperation....
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]I don't think you get it. The ARWDC people don't take themselves THAT seriously. It's just something to do this summer.
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[B]Arlington, Va.: [/B] What's my beef?
Dan, you and I were at the same community meeting where the Mayor's assistant and the ill director of the Mayor's film office tried to answer questions with little or no factual information. MTV didn't even bother to show up.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]The main complaint at the meeting was about advance notice. Residents were (justifiably) pissed about being kept in the dark until a couple weeks before the move-in. And, yes, MTV should've showed, just to be polite.
But from what I hear from people, the mayor's office has been responsive since then and there have been no major issues. Correct me if I'm wrong...
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[B]Arlington, Va.: [/B]From what I hear the producers/camera people are quite arrogant. One of the cast members is apparently playing with a local amateur sports team and the cameras are right out there in the middle of the field, not caring that they are in the way and ruining the game for everyone else.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Can anyone corroborate this? Sounds ******-baggy, but I'd think everyone involved in the game must've signed off on this. If it's true.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B]re: "DC is a town where you put up or shut up" - I agree that they're finally starting to get it. In the beginning I had seen reports of the cast complaining that everyone they encountered in the bars were rude / arrogant / not sucking up to them. What they failed to realize is that unlike the venues featured in previous seasons, the people they're mingling with at the bar could very well be Congressional aides, or work at the White House, etc. Glad to see they're finally trying to fit in better.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]After six weeks, you kind of just have to start living your life. Even if you're on a TV show. And remember: They're shooting through October.
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[B]Ballston, Va.: [/B] It really would have been the Real World if the cast members (male and female) had to get jobs as strippers in local clubs!
Or even better: worked at WalMart!
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]If I could pick their assignments, they would be: cashier at Chick-fil-A, Metro bus driver, the Nationals' Teddy Roosevelt mascot and...what else? What else should they be made to do to get the full D.C. experience?
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B]I've watched all of Beth Plogger's videos, and aside from her encounter with the guy at Rhino, I just see her and her friends driving around and eating. If you're going to be a "Real World stalker" with the hopes of using that as a launchpad to work for TMZ or US or whatever, don't you actually have to come up with something good?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Well, precisely. Beth's videos are mostly about Beth. For that reason, I don't understand why the cast is so skittish.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B] In response to the person who asserted that the gawkers come in from outside the city: not entirely true.
Right now, most of the gawkers appear to be from inside the District. These are the closeted gawkers.
It's summer, so obviously tourists and local tourists have taken trips to the house. This weekend an impromptu "flash mob" of several dozen people dressed and made up as zombies stopped by the house. CLEVER - they got on the show, the cast participated, and I believe that this was indeed an event with mostly out-of-towners.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Yeah, some gawkers live next door. Some commute in from the states. Either way, the Real World house gives the locals a chance to be obnoxious tourists themselves.
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[B]Arlington, Va.: [/B]The Real World DC had some run-ins with locals the first few weeks they were here. Are they adjusting to their new lives in the city and are they making any friends? I've seen them around town (I work at the Russia House) but they don't seem to be too friendly. =(
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Something tells me they've been cautious, or are scared of Washingtonians. From what I can tell, they're adjusting to their lives. As I say in the story, they go for jogs. They have jobs. They pop over to the Safeway for cigarettes. They work out. And so on.
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[B]SE D.C.: [/B] Ignoring the comment about SE being the real DC.....Anyway, I have a friend who works for a non profit with some of the cast members. He said they canvassed with him a few weeks ago in NW (with cameras) and everything went smoothly. No biggie.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]It'd be a lot more interesting if crazy *** happens, but so far: none.
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[B]Arlington, Va.: [/B] You are correct about the Mayor's office. The director gets it.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]At the very least, the District will get a solid hour of promotion every Wednesday starting next year.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B]DC is a city of unabashed self-promotion and pursuit of fame just like LA. The difference is that in LA, the stars are beautiful people who say little; in DC, they're ugly people who talk all the time.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Right right, yes yes, Hollywood for ugly people, blah blah.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B] Having watched the show on and off (more off than on) since the 1st season, I was admittedly somewhat excited when I heard it was coming to DC... and I actually just moved into the neighborhood shortly before they did.
Does the cast have any regular hang-outs where they can be spotted or to meet any of them?
When is the DC season slated to air on MTV?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]This year's Real World Brooklyn debuted in January, so I assume Real World D.C. will debut in January 2010. Mark your calendars.
Regular hangouts: Nellie's at 9th and U, Third Edition in Gtown, the Capitol Skyline pool party, Washington Sports Club, Lauriol Plaza, Rhino Bar in Gtown. There are others too. The RealWorldDCNewz Twitter feed keeps up with them.
I'd like to hear from anyone else who's been a charter viewer of The Real World. Take us back to New York, L.A., San Francisco, Pedro Zamora territory...
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B]I spoke to JD Ordonez of Real World Brooklyn at the Halo event several weeks ago; we chatted about the impact that social media have on the arguably stuck in the 1990s way of production.
He said that in Brooklyn nobody really cared/notices since camera crews and reality shows/tv/movie sets are a dime a dozen in NYC. I think the interest for some (and push-back for others) stems from the novelty component of having a pop-culture fixture such as RW or Real Housewives, etc., in this political "serious news" town.
At this point, I have to admit that I find it silly that some folks are still so adamantly opposed to the fact that this is really happening. While obviously the obligatory hot tub and extracurricular activities that come with it -- the bar hopping, the drama -- provide the ratings (or lack thereof) for the show, I believe that Jonathan Murray and executive producer Jim Johnston are taking a different approach with this season because it is in D.C.
Most cast members are interning at NPOs, one cast member is interning at two. The social media component (though BMP won't admit it) is providing enough buzz that this season may actually be poised to be more of a return-to-the-roots, back to basic season.
As for the obtrusive nature of the cameras: it's really not so. I've attended several evens where the cast showed up and they really don't impose all that much. Though, I do admit that having a camera a few inches from my face while speaking to some of the cast members was a tad awkward.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Yeah, New York appears to have totally ignored Real World Brooklyn. There were only a handful of snotty posts on Gawker while they shot last year. Brooklyn was a weird season -- they had their first transgender castmate, plus an Iraq vet, and still the whole season was oddly unfeeling. The current season (Cancun) has reverted to debaucherous insanity, but I also have a feeling that D.C. will be a tad more buttoned-up.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B] They should also work a day as the "hand people" during rush hour traffic.
On what they are actually doing: one is a photographer for a media company, one is an intern at the Human Rights Campaign and the Energy Action Coalition. One will be working in a trendy hair salon beginning this week, another is a bartender, one was going to work with NPR, but that fell through. Also, Whitman Walker Clinic will have a "real worlder" in the house.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]The hand people! Yes! Blow that whistle til you drive us all mad.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B] Beth Plogger is an embarrassment to both herself and the city. But I'm curious how you feel as a journalist about her and her friends surreptitiously videotaping one of the cast members as they talked to him at his job. Is this in any way legitimate journalism? Is it even legal?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]I wouldn't call her an embarrassment. She's just doing what she likes and having fun. As for the surreptitious videotaping and legitimate journalism and legality...that will take a whole other hour. Suffice to say: Witnessing that scene made me think all kinds of things at once (including "This is hilarious" and "This is sad" and "What am I doing here?").
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[B]Friendship Heights, Md.: [/B]After the Metro collision this summer, I found myself walking all the way or part of the way home from Farragut North quite a few times. This is after spending quite awhile standing on the platform trying to get on a train. My walk up Connecticut would take me by the Real World house, and being the masochist that I am, I would walk by it real slow. One particularly hot evening, after a long day of work, I passed by their little hot tub tent and heard them joking and laughing in there. They should put a sign on the gate that says, "If you were pretty enough to be on MTV, you'd be home by now."
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Love it. (Except the cast is, uh, not as attractive as usual. Yes, I am shallow enough to notice this.)
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B] The real world kids have been fine. I've met most of them and they seem like good people. The camera crews have generally been okay. They've drawn out some groupies and NIMBY neighbors, but that's to be expected.
Not like we've ever had a group house in Dupont Circle - or someone filming a movie or TV show around here. I mean, it's gotten to the point you can't get a drink in this town without running into Owen Wilson or Vince Vaughan.
Maybe you should have entitled the article, "Much ado about much ado about nothing." (repetition intended)
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]One of Dupont's ANC commissioners told me this: "It's not like this is the first group house full of young people in D.C."
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B] mmmmm, self-hate stew.... Delicious.
Um, a comment about Real-World DC... I'm glad they fixed up a vacant house, and it did make me think about watching a show that I've never watched, we'll see if I remember when the episodes come out. When do they come out?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]My guess is January 2010, but MTV and Bunim-Murray Productions don't confirm even basic information. I'm sure you could Google your way to an estimated debut date.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B]What exactly does Chris Wiggins get out of this, other than attention for a few months? Is there demand for people who can re-tweet stuff? Isn't it sort of absurd for him to whine when he doesn't get attribution for such tweets?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]I asked Chris about this. He started the Twitter feed as a lark, and it grew into something more. He considers it added experience in the social media/network realm, which can be applied to future jobs.
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[B]Arlington, Va.: [/B]What I find interesting is that in past episodes the cast seems to be pretty attractive. Comparing other episodes with the RWDC cast members, couldn't MTV have picked individuals that were a little more attractive? They just seem to blend in with the frumpy girls and ******-baggy guys in Georgetown. I saw the girls at Banana Leaves on Saturday for dinner, WOW!!! I don't see what all the guys are fussing about...MTV you could have done better!
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]A fellow shallow person weighs in. The sad thing about MTV is that the only thing it offers is soft-core **** featuring attractive people. If they skimp on the hotness, there's no reason to tune in. Did I really just type this?
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[B]Arlington, Va.: [/B]You CAN compare earlier seasons to now! In earlier RW seasons, the casts actually talked about and struggled with issues of race, class - as they were Six Strangers with little in common. Pedro is a great example, as he was treated with scorn at first (gay guy with AIDS! ohmygawd) but was beloved by the house and viewers by the end. Now, it seems like the cast all have one thing in common: they are willing to do anything outrageous to get screen time. Anyway, my favorite season was Seattle. They had an awesome house on the pier, great jobs at a radio station, and had big outrageous fights about stupid stuff.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]During the early years, MTV had to look for castmates. Now, they have thousands of 20-somethings coming TO them. Everyone's in on it, and it means less.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B]Whitman Walker? I can already see the look on people's faces as the cameras are rolling when they arrive at WWC confidential testing.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]People In The Know have already assured us that we all must sign release forms to appear onscreen! Otherwise we're just blurryfaces!
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[B]Anonymous: [/B] Just thought I'd throw this out there:
The roommates don't have access to Facebook or Twitter at the house; and they are contractually embargoed (to the tune of hundreds-of-thousands of dollars) from logging in.... That having been said, rest assured (we..er...they...) are participating in this chat.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]If this is a cast member, know this: We come in peace. And there's nothing else to do in August in D.C.
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[B]Re: That will take a whole other hour: [/B] Fair enough. But at least answer this. Videotaping the guy without his knowledge: Fair or foul?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]As a human, I say foul. As a journalist writing a story, I say great! Any lawyers out there?
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[B]Anonymous: [/B] I live a few blocks away from the Real World house and my observations are quite different from some of the others.
I feel like the whole anti-Real World sentiment, especially the "go back home" commentary that I hear from people I know, in the blogs, and being shouted at the cast mates in the streets is coming from folks who are newcomers to the city themselves.
I've lived in and around the city my whole life and the Dupont neighborhood has always been in a state of evolution; this is just the latest wrinkle in the unique fabric of this community.
Lastly, the cast seems to have one black male, a Latino male, and a Latina female. I challenge anyone living in this 'gentrified' part of the city to find a household as diverse as theirs.
Being anti-Real World is just trendy right now and all of the wanna-be cool kids want in on the act, even if they have no sense of this neighborhood beyond their narrow vantage point.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Noted.
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[B]Why is the cast so skittish about her?: [/B] She's not trying to befriend the cast because of who they are as human beings. If they weren't going to be on TV, she'd have zero interest in them. She's doing so--by her own admission--to gain entrance to the house or to get on the show or to further her own career. Why would they want this parasite within a hundred yards of them?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Eh, she's a nice girl and she's not really out to get anybody. I think MTV/BMP are just nervous about Beth scooping them on drama.
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[B]Anonymous: [/B]Yes, Dan, someone else is watching Cancun. Best moment was in the first episode, when the cute tattooed guy was making out with a girl at a bar, and the doofus was making out with her MOTHER.
Who are the hand people and what do they do?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]And don't forget Ayiiia (yes, three i's). She is caaaah-ray-zy.
The hand people direct traffic in downtown D.C. because streetlights aren't obnoxious enough.
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[B]DC Connection to Real World: [/B]I was a stand up comic based in DC in the 1990s. The first member to get kicked out of The Real World was DC native David Edwards.
Edwards was a great comic who I thought would become "Chappelle" big but I heard he had difficulty getting along with folks-something he proved on the Real World.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Dang, I wish I knew this ahead of time. Where is he now? Dang.
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[B]DC: [/B] I'm happy to address what I 'get out of this'. Nothing. Yeah, there have been several print and TV interviews, but the Twitter feed wasn't meant for my exposure.
I said to Dan recently that I myself thought it was (shall we say "interesting") that reporters are reporting on people who are reporting on "stuff".
As for the demand: if there wasn't a demand/interest/obsession/avoidance factor, my RealWorldDCNEWZ feed wouldn't have going on 5,000 followers.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Wiggins weighs in!
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[B]Le Pain Quotidien: [/B] Has had at least three locations in DC pop up in the last month. The bigger question is how are they expanding so quickly in such a crap economy? Not what a coffee shop has to do with the Real World. What a weird question.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Chick-fil-A is expanding rapidly in this crap economy too. And no, I'm not a shill for Chick-fil-A. I did a story on their antics back in March or so. Google me and Chick-fil-A.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B]After watching the Post's clip I have to say that the well timed transitions of the background music made the video. Excellent work.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]I agree. The video was key to capturing the monotony.
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[B]Buffalo, N.Y.: [/B] The Real World filmed on Crescent Ave., in Buffalo, N.Y. and it livened things up a bit.
I would walk my dog past the house and as I was using the ****** scooper would glimpse into the inner workings of reality filming.
My question is: Why would anyone want to film their personal lives?? Yikes!
MC and Don G.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Ladies and gentlemen, this comment is from my aunt and my grandfather.
But I have to correct: It wasn't The Real World that filmed in Buffalo. It was another MTV show called Frat House or something. Either way, I'd love to see a "Real World Buffalo." The castmates' job could be the second-string defensive line on the Buffalo BIlls.
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[B]D.C.: [/B]Not a lawyer, just a journalist, but what I'm fairly certain of is this 1) he's in a public place and can be filmed/photographed by ANYBODY. 2) he's on a reality show which has the sole purpose of filming/taping/photographing/recording their every move. So, no... no foul at all really. Comes with stepping into the spotlight.
By the way: just because you don't see a camera crew around, do know that they always wear their microphones under their attire and those transmitters can be picked up by master control in the RWDC house for a relatively long-range.
[B]Dan Zak: [/*******.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B] Mike is from Colorado as well. [URL="http://twitter.com/RealWorldDCNEWZ"]twitter.com/RealWorldDCNEWZ[/URL] and [URL="http://vevmo.com/"]Vevmo.com[/URL] had pretty good scoops on the hometowns of all of the cast members. For example, they had posted pictures of Andrew from back home.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]There ya go.
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[B]Arlington, Va.: [/B] The Facebook group "The Real World DC" run by Chris Wiggins, has emerged as a very moderate source for RW DC news, with even the lesser paper in DC "borrowing" from him without attribution.
[B]washingtonpost.com: [/B] [URL="http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=90502800817"]Facebook group "The Real World DC"[/URL]
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]More conduits.
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[B]Washington, D.C.: [/B] Why does Dan Zak rule?
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]Because most of the important journalists have been bought out.
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[B]Alexandria, Va.: [/B] Mr Zak,
Please, folks from this area refer to Whole Foods as Whole paycheck! Wegman's rules. Better stuff at lower prices.
[B]Dan Zak: [/B]This, friends, is how it is in the REAL world.
Thanks for chatting. Get back to work. If you ever have a story idea on ANY topic, e-mail me: [email]zakd@washpost.com[/email]. TTFN.
[QUOTE=Alexa;112167]BTW, what is TTFN?[/QUOTE]
Ta Ta For Now
(you may be too young to remember the original Winnie The Pooh series, but that is what Tigger used to always say!)
So today I was really, really bored after work so I decided to head over and meet my cousin on DuPont...she left before I got there though so I wandered around and found myself at the house (I get lost pretty easy and I think I was looking for a bathroom). I don't really know the names of all the people, but the blonde guy was sitting outside on the porch smoking (he's cute! haha) and he seemed nice, he smiled at me as I walked by and I was about to work up the nerve to approach him and ask him for a cigarette (I don't smoke, sometimes I just need something to do with my hands when I'm by myself) but then I got a call--bummer! I turned the corner and they were filming a brunette girl and then when I drove by again on my way out of DC she was deep in conversation with a homeless man who had wandered over. There were so many people perched across the street taking pictures and stuff, so I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible and make it seem like I actually had somewhere to be near the house...at that point I was getting so desperate for a bathroom I was considering asking if I could use theirs...
On a side note, I live about 35 minutes from DC and I got so lost on the way home that it took me almost 2 hours to get back.
[QUOTE=wiggyndc;111562]FYI Johanna is hosting a party at Shadow Room here in DC tonight where you know our friends will be.... Interesting point: Shadow Room is currently in negotiations to tape a reality show of their own, or so the word on the street has it.[/QUOTE]
I heard about the latter. Didn't think it was legit though.
Also: Erika works at Bang Salon [url=http://www.bangsalon.com]Bang Salon and Spa - Washington DC Hair Salon featuring Hair Care and Hair Removal[/url] at the Metropole location.
Guess where I get my hair cut?
I swear they're following me to all of my bars, clubs, friends' apartments, businesses.
[QUOTE=wiggyndc;115303]Just thought I'd drop a life sign. Haven't forgotten about you guys.[/QUOTE]
It is kind of a dead period for RW DC interest. We have the full cast. We know they like going to bars. We actually (thanks to you) know a lot about their personalities.
DC will be back on the radar about half way through The Ruins. ;)
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