Posts Tagged ‘Real World DC’
Top Blog Posts of the Past Week
After a week of Real World DC madness, the blog has transitioned back to its usual housing and development-related content. This week, we welcomed both “Proud Satanist” and “Proud Catholic” as commenters to the blog. Both of them were, of course, posting about Catholic Charities’ recent threat to stop running city-contracted social service programs if forced to extend employee benefits to married gay couples. Look for more on the same-sex marriage legislation from my colleague The Sexist Amanda Hess this week. As for me, well Ask Housing Complex! is launching in the next few days—should be fun, and by “fun” I mean “full of misery, which will hopefully lessened with sound advice.”
(1) Councilmembers Dig in Heels on Catholic Threat
(2) Catholic Church Threatens to Withhold Social Services if City Passes Same-Sex Marriage Law
(3) Second Chance for First-Time Buyers
(4) Worst Cities for Pedestrians
(5) Meet Real World DC Cast Member Ashley
(6) Second Chance for First-Time Buyers, Part 2
(7) An Explanation for the Boutique Hotel Boom
(8) Here They Are D.C., Your Seven (Eight, Actually) Strangers!
Image by TheChristianAlert.org, Flickr Creative Commons Attribution License.
Top Blog Posts of the Past Week
Okay, in truth, the following list should read Real World, Real World, Affordable Condos, Real World, Real World, First-time Homebuyer Tax Credit, Real World, Real World, Real World, Real World. It’s an unstoppable force! as I predicted.
But in the name of variety and, well, a “housing complex,” I’ll leave most of the Real World posts to be discovered by Googlers and those that click on the top link. All the bios I wrote about the various roommates are collected there.
(1) Here They Are D.C., Your Seven (Eight, Actually) Strangers!
(2) D.C.’s Designated Affordable Condos Are Great—Just Don’t Move Any Time Soon
Meet Real World DC Cast Member Erika
Or don’t, actually. I never saw her.
There were rampant rumors that Erika Wasilewski left the show before the season wrapped. She was around earlier during the press day, held last month, as evidenced by the Washington Post’s video. But when I stopped by later, Erika was nowhere to be seen.
MTV publicists said that she was in the city, but she was sick. And by “sick,” do you think they meant “sick and tired of all the lies?”
Meet Real World DC Cast Member Josh
Josh Colon, 23, from Philadelphia is described as a “Puerto Rican/Italian glam rocker/rapper” by MTV. While touring me through the house, he went on and on about his band, and showed off his large sneaker collection—a wide variety of multi-colored Converse Kicks, if I’m remembering correctly.
His last Philly-based band broke up roughly a year ago. “There was a lot of inner turmoil. I had a lead guitarist that had a drug problem. One kid went into the Marines. I was actually thinking of going, but this came through first. It was career decision time for me. I had to make a move!”
Meet Real World DC Cast Member Andrew
Andrew Woods is the goofy blond guy spotted in D.C. wearing weird blue goggles and a panda hat. Originally from the Denver area, he decided to audition after a little prodding from his younger brother. “He thought I’d have a better chance of getting on the show, because I’m more of a prick,” he says.
According his MTV bio, he came to Washington after his latest girlfriend cheated on him and dumped him, and he “heads to D.C. a single man, looking to get with any girl who will say yes.”
I must admit, the best anecdote I ever heard about Andrew, I picked up in the Washington Post’s recent video of the Real World house. Andrew tells the story himself, standing in front of a basement couch:
Meet Real World DC Cast Member Ty
Ty Ruff, 22, came to D.C. as a recent graduate of Trinity College, and a recently single man (”fresh out of a three year relationship,” according to MTV press docs.)
We soon saw him taking off his shirt at Cobalt, interning with the Caps, and doing other dramatic things like eating Subway sandwiches.
Meet Real World DC Cast Member Emily
Emily Schromm, 21, seemed pretty happy-go-lucky when I met her. She certainly didn’t hint at the fact that she “was raised in a fundamentalist Christian cult,” according to MTV press materials. (Don’t worry: She broke free, and as “an athletic tomboy, Emily used sports as a way to ease her entry into a more secular existence.”)
Meet Real World DC Cast Member Mike
Meet Mike Manning, 22, from Thornton Colorado. He got on the show after his friend invited him to lunch, plus a Real World audition on some random Saturday. “He said, ‘Do you want to audition for Real World with me?’ And I said ‘uh, yeah, okay.’ I hadn’t planned this out, I hadn’t picked the show…”
Mike felt like he clicked with the producers, to the displeasure of his buddy. “He was staring me down as he was walking out.”
MTV describes Mike as “the typical jock,” “a star athlete, prom king, popular with all the girls” and an “all around golden child from a Christian family.” So, naturally, you can see where this is going.
Meet Real World DC Cast Member Ashley
Ashley Lindley at a concert in late September.
So, as previously mentioned, MTV invited a group of journalists into the Real World DC house back in early October. We met the cast members and saw the presidentially-themed bedrooms, love sacks, and the confessional. One cast member even toured me over to the awning-covered jacuzzi area, right next to the sidewalk, and pointed out the little spaces in the covering where Real World obsessives had apparently jammed in cameras trying to shoot the cast members—a figurative “fishbowl” turned almost literal.
Over the next few days, I’ll do brief little write -ups of the cast members. If you hate me for it, don’t visit this blog for two days, and I’ll guarantee no contact with Real Worldiness. I have a feeling you’ll be visiting.
First up: Ashley Lindley, 22, is described as a “Portugese beauty, with a hot temper and a blunt demeanor” and the roommate that “might be the most politically aware,” according to her MTV bio. On her twitter account, she calls herself an “Actor, Philanthropist, Drama Queen, Liberal, Firecracker, Portuguese Princess, Nomad, Diva, Lover, Ladybug, Bestie.”
Top Blog Posts of the Past Week
On Wednesday morning, I took off for a little fall break trip to New Haven and New York City. Since that time, I’ve learned two crucial things. First and foremost: Amtrak still has NOT widely installed wireless capabilities on its trains. Not the Northeast Regional train. Not the Acela. If you google “Amtrak” and “Wireless” and this page about T-Mobile Hotspots pops up, and you decide not to closely read it because you figure Ohhhh, of course the trains have wireless–I mean the $25 NYC buses have it!, well you’re in for a surprise my friend. The hotspots are only at select train stations. Another vote of confidence for government-run businesses delivered!
Oh, and the second bit of knowledge is simply that two-plus hours is too long to wait for a pizza—even if it is a slice (or five) of the famous Sally’s Apizza.
I’ll be back on Wednesday!
