I hate to admit it, but I used to love watching the
Real World, especially the first one, filmed in
New York. Because it was the first attempt, it was, in my mind, the
purest form of the concept it was made to create, and so I like it the best. That show used to be more real and less about marketing and melodrama, but that's what happens when you take an
offbeat idea and overgeneralize it. It happens to everything at some point. I even sent in a video for the show when I heard it was coming to
New Orleans, but I was rejected. When I told people this, they all thought I would have been perfect for the show. They usually cast at least one religious person, and in that capacity, I would have been at the very least, amusing. Imagine a
nondenominational Christian who
chain smokes and doesn't take the Bible to be literally true in all cases crashing that party. But we'll never know. I guess I also liked
Reality Bites and the series
My So-Called Life for much the same reason. They were both, at one point trying to say something, and were succeeding. But there's always a limit when you actually have something to say outside of reinforcing ideas already being churned in
mainstream media.
But I had an idea, one I would seriously undertake if I thought it was possible and if I had other people as curious as I am to see if it would work. The idea came from hearing about many dot coms going bankrupt and the supposed rift of anxiety it may have blown in. The idea came from all the temporary feelings some of us may have felt about our own jobs, whether internet based or not. In addition to this, the idea collected the fact that so many of us noders are willing to gather and meet one another IRL for the first time, and the courage and desire for adventure that often requires.
The housing in New Orleans is cheap, dirt cheap. I pay $350 for an apartment bigger than yossarian's for which he pays at least three times my amount. Imagine how cheap it would be to rent an entire house for a year lease, a house with at least 5 bedrooms. Think about it. Would it seem like such a horrible idea to say, grab five or more willing noders who know each other fairly well given the circumstances, and move them into a house in New Orleans for a year? And say we filmed any of it, unedited. We wouldn't be followed around at all hours since in this scenario we would all need jobs. I think the weekend and evenings would be more than worthy to capture the experience.
It would never get on TV, or even MTV, but damn I would love to see that shit even if I was the only one to own a tape. It would require people to upheave their lives and take a year off from whatever job or circumstances keep them where they are. There are no dot coms here. There are few jobs here that I've heard about that even involve a desk, cubicle and internet ready computer. Imagine 5 pasty noders getting service industry jobs to pay the rent, coming home to five internet connections messaging their upstairs roommates that the pizzas are here. Imagine what the 3am conversations in the kitchen over a cloud of cigarette smoke or incense would be like, whether on film or not. Christ, imagine Mardi Gras with noders.
It may sound silly or cheesy or old news. And I may sound crazy. But I've also flown to a city I've never been to so that I could meet people I've never laid eyes on, to sleep in an apartment whose owner I had only met earlier that day. I went to Boston and went with another gang of noders to a club and danced until 3am, staying at another noder's place I had never met. And I'm going to do it again next weekend and as many times as I can within reason. I do this because when it comes to meeting new people, I'm willing to put my money where my mouth is and take a risk. Maybe I am crazy enough to put the idea out there and see if anyone bites. I wrote this simply because I thought the idea was at least worth having a laugh over while I sit at home, reflecting on my day, part of which was spend with a noder friend I met here in town, a guy I was told lived here by yet another noder I had met weeks before.
If anyone was interested, there would be a lot of planning. But damn, it would sure be a hoot.