Tonight's premiere of The Real World: Sydney (10:00 p.m. on MTV) introduces us to Shauvon Torres. She's 24; she's a sex columnist; she's a student at Sacramento State; she's bisexual. She's probably going to keep things interesting.

And you've probably seen The Real World, so I'll spare you the summary. When it first hit the airwaves, I thought the show was the coolest thing ever, but I eventually came to see it as the most incontrovertible proof that growing up is the coolest thing ever. The so-called real world, as envisioned by the series, is often just a shallow, selfish display of drama and whining, with the requisite hot-tub kissing scene thrown in for good measure.

But, well, Shauvon seems kinda cool, as well as kinda hot. Apparently she just broke off an engagement to a man who asked her to choose between him and her career. Reminds me of the time my sister's boyfriend asked her to choose between him and softball. You can guess how that turned out. … continue reading

Coral Smith, best known as a cast member on The Real World: Back to New York, is "venturing toward her lesbian qualities." Or at least that's what told Outlook Magazine, in an interview that makes the mind boggle — and not just because (as she herself notes) Coral has “very big boobs."

What is your sexual orientation? You dated men on Real World.
Oh, yeah. It’s very cloudy at this point in time. I’m definitely venturing toward my lesbian qualities. It’s been a long time coming. At that time, I was really unsure. That was not the proper venue, the proper platform. To come out to your parents on a f---ing reality show, I think that’s just mean, so I didn’t.

Your girlfriend is very beautiful.
She’s not my girlfriend. I’m attracted to beautiful women. Beautiful women tend to be attracted to me. It really seems to work out for me.

Gosh. What a lucky gal. But back to the "lesbian qualities" thing. "Lesbian tendencies" I've heard, but "qualities" is a new one to me. What are those, exactly? Does she mean her ring finger is longer than her index finger? Or perhaps she has a fondness for cats. Evidence definitely points to her not having much of a sense of humor.

But we can all learn a lot from Coral about homophobia, which she attributes to the aging population: … continue reading