If you’re not watching this show, you’re missing out. The idea is that 5 ultra hip gay men (all with different personalities and specialties) take pity on some poor straight schlub and transform him from zero to hero. They give the guy and his apartment a physical, cultural, and sometimes emotional makeover then send them out into the world to their families, friends, and girlfriends.

With the exception of one cop from Staten Island, there haven’t been any homophobic panic attacks from the straight guys, which is nice. I’m always happy to see straight guys make friends with gay guys. There’s something special about that kind of relationship.

Anyway, as always, I’ve developed a massive crush on one of the gay guys. His name is Thom. he’s the dark haired god that does the interior design magic. Why do I always crush on the gay guys? Ugh. Anyway here’s a picture of the sweetie. He’s delish.

It seems like every time I turn on the t00b there’s a new damned reality TV show. Survivor… The Mole… Fear… MOTHER OF CHRIST WHEN WILL THIS BOMBARDMENT OF UN-REALITY TV END?! Back in the day it was cool to chill and watch Real World on MTV. I know that this was not the first reality show but it was the first one to make a profound impact on us in the U.S. I remember when no one knew about this stuff. I remember when I got called a freak for watching Real World and people told me it was scripted and it was just a damned soap opera. I remember when I knew all of 5 people in my HS that watched this stuff. Now you can’t escape it… there is NO WHERE YOU CAN RUN AND NO WHERE YOU CAN HIDE! I mean.. I’m not saying that this is bad television but the concept has been so overworked and twisted that it’s impossible to continue to enjoy this stuff. Reality TV is to film what N’Sync is to music. It’s **POP** Don’t get me wrong… I am not completely anti-reality-TV but what ever happened to the simplicity of the first three Real World seasons. The concept was stick 7 people who wouldn’t have normally met in a house for 6 months and see who gets killed first. I liked that. I wasn’t obsessed with the individual people so much as I was profoundly interested in their interpersonal relations and their impacts on each other. Now they have people forming tribes in the Outback and people trying to make a business or run a radio station. Their interpersonal relationships and their personal development are riding side-saddle to their internet start-up companies and tribal wars. IT MAKES MY FUCKING HEAD HURT! Even though reality-TV is getting played out some good things have come of it. Let me try to hilight some of the moments and elements that have had a profound impact on me: First Real World season - Julie and Kevin have a big.. big.. BIG fight on the street in front of their loft. Racial tensions come into SERIOUS play here. For the record I want to say that I don’t fully agree with either side of their argument but it was nice to see a show that didn’t shut off the cameras when the question of racial tension came into play. Keep in mind this was around 1991(ish). The Rodney King trial/verdict was BIG news and racial tension was huge… EVERYWHERE. Kevin had the balls to say some things that needed to be said. Things that weren’t in the media. Till this day I can still see the two of them screaming in each other’s faces on the street in Manhattan. - Norm was gay and open about it. One of the first openly gay characters in the media. In some ways I think he opened the door for people like Ellen to come out on their sitcoms. Didn’t we also find out that Melissa Etheridge was gay around the same time? I think Norm paved the way for a lot of people in the Gay and Lesbian community. At the tender age of 14, Norm helped me see that Gay men were just like everyone else. Thank you, Norm. - Heather B had a profound impact on me as a black woman. Heather didn’t take shit from ANYONE and we knew it after the first episode. Here was this young talented black rapper who was sweet and compassionate and not above befriending the young country girl Julie on the show. Heather B showed me that not all black women had to have a stank attitude and be bitchy and gold-diggin (note these observations are coming from a black women about almost all of the black women she’d met at that point in her life). This woman showed me that it was cool to be who I am. Fuck what other people think and just chill. Second Real World season - Tammy had an abortion. This was my first quasi-real look into the situation of a woman who was having an abortion. I am still pro-choice and that will never change, but this situation helped me realize that having an abortion is not like makin Jell-O(tm) pudding. Third Real World season - Puck.. the UNDISPUTED King of Reality TV. Puck.. I doubt you’ll ever read this but if you do here’s an ego stroke for you. Puck is the single most individual character I’ve ever been exposed to in the media. The one thing I learned from him is this… be yourself and chances are someone’s not gonna like you.. and if they don’t.. fuck em.. - Pedro Zamora. Pedro had a profound impact on me. He was the first person I’d been exposed to in the media who had AIDS and was open about it. He devoted his life to AIDS awareness and after he passed in 1994 some of his cast mates “picked up his torch” and carried on his struggle to make the public aware and informed. Pedro touched the hearts and the lives of more people than any other Real World cast member. I grew up in the shadow of reality TV. I think that the Real World in particular brought up some issues that I would not have been directly exposed to even growing up in NYC. I am just saddened that something that had the potential to be so profound and thought provoking has been commercialized and trivialized by corporate America. Welcome to MSUSA brought to you by Pepsi and Nike. *Cut to teaser commercial-trailer for the next season of Survivor*