This past Sunday, me and a homegirl decided to head down to the Skyline Hotel down in SW. There was a synchronized swimming event being held and an art installation in one of the lounges.We figured it would be a good way to come down after a rather hectic and intense weekend.

We arrived around 6pm to find the pool area packed swimming enthusiasts, hipsters, tourists and their surprisingly well behaved children. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the Real World cast hanging out in a corner area by the bar. Throughout the competition*, the tall smooth brutha kept yelling out to his castmate (bro-dude w/tattoos and long hair) who was a judge. Sure, these guys had been drinking all day, but for some reason this rubbed me the wrong way. I didn’t expect anyone to be standing in silence, but it seemed so corny, so contrived and a tad unnecessary. The rest of the cast were actually pretty chill. You couldn’t help but notice them, thanks to the film crew. But after a while, it got a little strange. Me and my friend decided to go watch our friend’s short film and enjoy our drinks in privacy.
 
*The actual swimming? I thought it was shit, really. Only one team delivered that real-deal holyfield synchronized swimming. The other three routines weren’t very interesting and rather poorly organized.

A quick flickr search led to maxedaperture who documented the whole of the synchronized event, including these two (one, two) pictures which include Real World DC cast members. (If I can figure out how to post them on the blog, I’ll be sure to update this post.)

Saw the Real worlders at the DC United game yesterday- they were in the barra brava section, kind of on the outskirts, but with full camera coverage. Tons of people kept talking to them (myself included, I’m a sucker for ‘famous’ people)…they couldn’t say they were on the real world, they kept saying it was a documentary on soccer, but it was definitely the real world. Anyway, they were really young (and surprisingly short). The one guy (bandana-man) was approached by a fellow bandana-wearer from the crowd and was like “Hey man, what’s your background?”, to which Bandana Man responded, “Puerto Rican and Italian” and pulls out some symbolic tattoo. Bandana-man 2.0 was like, “I’m Puerto Rican and Sicilian actually” and Bandana Man FREAKED and was like ME TOOOOO and they both started comparing tattoos and talking excitedly. When I saw them at the end of the game, nearly an hour later, the Bandana Men were still hanging out and man-bonding… but anyway in total they seemed like really friendly but reeeeally lame.

I love it. Two BFFs in the making, brought together by their bandanas and bad-ass tats. Excellent.

@RealWorldDCNEWZ and others reported they were at the game as well, and below are some of the pictures that people tweeted, in case you’d like a look:

Photo courtesy of @jim_malone

Photo courtesy of @jenfraiz

I just got a text with the pictures below from a friend who wrote:

Just walked by real worlders outside Cali[fornia] Tortilla in Chinatown. Guess they have bad taste in burritos.

I wonder if Subway© is jealous?

Perhaps they’re going to see a movie… maybe Brüno? I sure do hope they know about California Tortilla’s mexcellent (their word, not mine) dinner-and-a-movie deal: Get a buritto, soda and movie ticket for $12.99 after 4pm Monday through Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday. Regal Cinema directly across the street.

(BTW: You’re welcome, California Tortilla, for sorta pimpin’ your goods.)

Which cast member of the Real World DC was just hired at Tony & Joe’s along the Georgetown waterfront? Can’t reveal our sources…

The rest of the post is useless, but it makes me think two things: 1) Thank The God of Screeching-College Co-Eds that Tony & Joe’s is on the Georgetown waterfront and not in Dupont (or any other place I frequent), and 2) Does this mean that public-service jobs are a no-go for RW cast members?

I dunno – Perhaps it’s just for some supplemental income. I mean, remember when Real World: Brooklyn’s Katelynn almost had to leave the show (the horror!) due to a shortage of funds, so she became a go-go dancer? You don’t? Well… she did. And the moral of that tale? Things could be worse for us DCites.

So I wonder if it’s true and if so – which castmember do you think it is? I’m really hoping it’s the Panda.

This past weekend, ARWDC’s own Berg did an interview with Randy Gyllenhaal, reporter for Palestra.net, a FOX News company… and no relation (that we know of) to Jake Gyllenhaal.

While we would have preferred not to be followed up by the RWDC equivalent of “Spencer” – a self-proclaimed “stalkerazzi” who has also tweeted that she told Hot 99.5’s @kaneshow that she’d “… get nekked in the hot tub!!” – it’s a solid piece that might help explain a little more about what neighbors are dealing with, and also why we’re here.

“I’m not a curmudgeony 28-year-old,” he told us. “I just don’t really feel like living next to a dorm.”

Word.

Like the Reliable Source, the steady stream of gawkers outside the house last night really seem to want the new cast to DOSOMETHINGALREADY. The contributors of this blog, however, were busy getting our drink on in a bar far away from Real World cast members.

You kids! You wide eyed innocents! HA! You think you know how to harass Real Worlders? Well pull up a seat on the porch and let Great Granny Banshee tell you about how we did it back in the day.

Great Granny was a junior in college when the Boston season was in production, way back in 1997, and the house was one block from the performing arts building, where I spent most of my time. Now. We, like you youngsters, wanted to get these tools OUT OUT OUT of our neighborhood, out of our WAY, out of our SIGHT. And since we couldn’t shut down production, we decided we’d make life as difficult as possible for those dipwads.

This is before cell/camera phones, so there isn’t any documentation that I can locate, but the best way to REALLY REALLY piss off all and sundry involved is, when you see a “scene” being filmed, to start BELLOWING the opening of the show. Bonus points if you get a harmony going of “This is the true story (TRUE STORY!!!) Of seven strangers…etc” Do the whole thing. Do it loudly. Do it often. Yell it at the building. Create an interpretive dance. Shriek it if you’re lucky enough to catch a drunken fight, or a sobby breakup on the sidewalk. The sound guys and the editors will want to DESTROY you, but there’s nothing they can do.

This way, they can’t use the footage, or if they do, the mocking will be heard in the background. Be childish. You’ll still be eons more mature than the chumps they get for this show. And their pain will be like unicorns and rainbows for your soul.

Tell ‘em Miss Banshee sent ya.

miss banshee isn’t really an angry person, she just plays one on the internet. You can find her blog o’ tricks at http://missbanshee.typepad.com. She also delights in mocking pop culture at www.mamapop.com