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Previously on The Real World: Lori revealed that she wants to be a singer. Devin and Adam, their bosses at Arista, told the roommates that they have to assemble focus groups, and would be split into two teams. One team is Nicole, Malik, Kevin, and Rachel. The other team is Mike, Quarrel, and Lori. They will need to find twenty people interested in rock music to listen and give feedback on up-and-coming Arista artists.
Lori sits at the computer desk, wearing headphones, and singing loudly. Like, really loudly. Like, "Please get me a tissue to wipe the blood coming from my eardrums" volume. Quarrel is on the phone, and she rolls her eyes. She actually out-eyerolls Kameelah, performing the supremely difficult "roll around one way, then halfway back, then completely around again" maneuver. Don't try this one at home, kids. Only professionals can do that. Mike and Rachel giggle over how loud Lori is. Rachel tells Lori that she loves her, "but please don't sing." Lori gets all offended and says that's like telling her not to breathe. Well, if she were breathing as loudly as she was singing, I'd probably ask her to cut that out too. There's nothing worse than a heavy breather. Lori tells them that she needs to practice singing or she will lose her abilities, and if that happens, she's going to blame her roommates. Mike says that she won't lose her abilities, because it's like riding a bike. I can't really take a side in that debate, because I don't know. I guess she probably does have to practice, but it seems really rude to do it so loudly when everyone is home. Lori bitches some more, but Mike and Rachel don't want to hear about it. Should Rachel really be accusing other people of having an annoying voice? In an interview, Lori says that everyone is unsympathetic to her music, which is the biggest passion in her life. I don't think they are unsympathetic to her music; they're just unsympathetic to her screeching in their ears. Lori makes a big production about going to the roof to sing. In an interview, Mike says that Lori is a drama queen about her singing. Lori sings on the roof, as loud as ever, and now with the added bonus of hitting every note on the scale in a Mariah Carey-esque fashion, which would drive me up a tree.
Mike bitches to the men about Lori's singing, relaying the story of Lori stomping through the house to go sing on the balcony. Malik giggles like a little girl. Mike is so thrilled that someone is actually laughing with him and not at him that he keeps going. What he doesn't realize is that Malik is probably just stoned. What we didn't see after the cameras left the room: Mike asking, "Is this thing on?" Mike says that he could still hear Lori singing from the roof. I'm surprised that the neighbors don't complain. In an interview, Kevin says that Lori has a beautiful voice, but it's "like a seal in labor." So, he bought some earplugs for the guys. The guys put in earplugs.
Mike, Malik, and Kevin arrive at work. In an interview, Mike says that the guys and the girls don't really get along. The women enter the office. In an interview, Nicole says that she doesn't care about the boys, and the tension carries over into their workplace. In an interview, Malik explains that he and Nicole only speak at work, because they are in the same group. However, Malik recruits people at night, and Nicole goes out during the day.
Nicole and Rachel head out to recruit participants for their focus group. Nicole says that they're on a mission to find people who will eat pizza and listen to music. Rachel adds that they have to care about music, but Nicole says that it's too late for that. They just need ten people. In an interview, Rachel suddenly has much shorter hair. She says that Nicole is yelling out to anyone on the street, asking people to come to the focus group. Nicole approaches a foreign family, and Rachel is all embarrassed because they don't even speak English. Finally, they sign two people up and feel that they are doing well.
In an interview, Mike says that he's having trouble finding people. Mike talks to some punks on the street corner. In an interview, Mike says that he targets "grungy" people, with tattoos and earrings: "People that look like me." Mike is about the furthest from a grungy-looking person ever. Mike can't find any people for the focus group, so he takes the subway home.
Lori calls her friend Dave to bitch about her roommates and the fact that they don't appreciate her. Hey, this "Dave" fellow sounds familiar. It's Mr. Stupidhead! He just officially became the first MBTV recapper to be in a position to be recapped. Lori excitedly relates the story of being asked to stop singing, and she gets kind of loud about it. Kevin, who is sitting there doing something on the computer, and wearing headphones, tells her that she's really loud. Lori thinks that Kevin doesn't know what happened the other night, clearly unaware that Mike used the incident for his own comedy routine. Mr. Stupidhead tells Lori that people don't understand their passion for music. I'll just let him defend that one in the forums, if he so desires. ["I have no opinion on Lori, but Mr. Stupidhead made us a CD of his music once, and it was really great. Also, Mr. Stupidhead rules The Real World!" -- Wing Chun] In an interview, Lori says that her singing career is a little stagnant right now, because she's not sure what to do to get it going, so she hasn't been doing anything. In a confessional, Lori explains that they don't have enough people for their focus group. Lori goes to CBGBs to recruit people, and ends up talking to a bunch of different people. In an interview, Lori explains that she also met a guy looking for a female voice for his band, so she's going to go to a rehearsal and possible audition for his band.
Soft Focus
“ Devin holds up the poster for From Zero, and people laugh. Nicole wonders why people are laughing. Is she blind? Can she not see the singer's hair? ”
Statue of Liberty Shot #3. In an interview, Mike says that it's the night before the focus-group meetings. Mike explains that he went to a lot of places looking for people for the focus group. Mike talks to women in bars and tries to get them to promise to show up. I don't know why they don't target college students. They have a lot of time, and will do just about anything for free pizza. In an interview, Mike says that he doesn't want to fail. I wonder if they were allowed to reveal that they are on The Real World while they are recruiting. It seems like it would attract more people.
Focus Group time. The first group (Nicole, Rachel, Malik, and Kevin) meets. A bunch of people gather around a conference table. Adam gets up and explains that they want to pick their brains about music. Devin holds up the poster for From Zero, and people laugh. Nicole wonders why people are laughing. Is she blind? Can she not see the singer's hair? They play a song while Malik miserably walks around the room with the poster. After the song ends, Devin and Adam ask for reactions. Some guy says that he heard the words "cold as ice," and asks if that was "an '80s tune." Quarrel and Nicole giggle. Wow, that guy is like a stand-up comedian. In a confessional, Kevin says that people are just there to make silly comments. Some guy tells the bigwigs that he is not a listener of From Zero's genre. In an interview, Rachel says that their focus group basically sucks. Some guy offers that the sound is too produced, and that they should include some wrong notes. In a confessional, Malik says that Adam and Devin were uneasy because of the negative feedback. Kevin cleans up the conference room and comments that their group was pretty useless. In an interview, Mike says that people who don't like that type of music will give a bad response. Outside, Rachel tells Nicole that she doesn't want to sit there and listen to the bands get torn apart. In an interview, Rachel says that she can't take responsibility, since she didn't recruit anyone.
Lori's people show up. And there's Mr. Stupidhead, but he doesn't get the Hip, Squiggly Font this time. If you're wondering, he's the one in the black t-shirt who hugs Lori. In a confessional, Mike says that his people aren't showing up. Mike anxiously waits for them at the front desk. The elevator opens, but it's empty. In an interview, Quarrel says that their focus group is running late because of Mike's friends. So, Mike's people. Are they late or what? In an interview, Mike says that he thought he was going to be fired, and that he looks bad. Whatever. It's not like he didn't try. Devin sighs a lot. His people are twenty-two minutes late.
Bunim: What is this focus group crap?
Murray: It's part of our arrangement with Arista. We give them 25% of our screen time, and they entertain these kids for a few hours a week.
Bunim: Well, can't you arrange for a bomb in the building or something? Anything to liven things up. Maybe the people that the stupid one is waiting for were killed by international terrorists, or a drunk driver. Do I have to think of everything?
Murray: I'll see what I can do. [mumbles] Stupid bitch.
Adam decides to start things, even though the room is half-empty. Devin holds up the poster of From Zero, and gets some reactions -- mostly positive, or at least constructive. Mike's group finally shows up, and he is happy. I notice that Mike's group members are all women, and that Lori's group members are all men. I'm just saying. Devin plays a song. People rock out a little bit. You know what was Lori's best move? Getting musicians to do this, because they will be most likely able to talk objectively about the music, even if they aren't into that particular style. The song ends, and people give their reactions -- again, mostly positive and all constructive. Devin leans over and tells Malik and Kevin that this is what they are looking for in a focus group. In an interview, Mike says that their focus group is "the bomb." Adam thanks them, and Quarrel hands out goodie bags. Devin and Adam are happy about the group's feedback, and congratulate Lori and Mike. In interview, Mike says that what they did differently from the other group is that they went for people who like the music.
Lori goes to rehearse with the band. She chit-chats to Tony outside the studio. In an interview, Lori says that she is nervous, and she's afraid that if they don't like her, her career is over. Again, she needs to work on the getting-over-rejection thing if she wants to be a professional musician. The band starts playing a slow jazzy tune, and Lori sings over it. The drummer is kind of cross-eyed. Lori sounds a lot better singing over music, but I still think she needs to dial it down a notch. Lori voice-overs that she was singing about being on the show. She does a call-and-response thing with the male singer, to the effect that the people in her house all yell and scream, and that she needs to get away sometimes. The band likes her singing, and they all shake her hand.
Lori comes home and tells everyone that she's in the band. In a confessional, Lori says that she's never been in a band before. To Rachel, Nicole, and Mike, Lori explains what happened. Only Rachel appears to be remotely interested. In a confessional, Lori breathily says that singing in the band was really fun and felt really good. I do have to testify to the de-stressing power of singing. When I was in college, and I got really stressed out, I would go visit my friend Terry and he would play guitar while I sang. It always made me feel so much more relaxed. So, I feel her on that one. Lori is all fired up about "gigs and stuff." Rachel wants to be Lori's roadie. Mike congratulates her very unenthusiastically. Rachel congratulates her too, saying that Lori now has new friends, and Rachel will mooch on them. Is Rachel incapable of making her own friends? I didn't get that last bit.
week: all of the roommates except for Nicole and Quarrel get tickets to Outkast. I guess Quarrel and Nicole were out shopping or something that day. When Nicole finds out, she's all pissed off. If Nicole had been given tickets, I'm sure that she would have bitched that she doesn't like that kind of music anyway. Rachel gets all upset and starts crying for some reason. Oh, good Lord.