May 14, 2008 2:14

MTV Is Invading My Hood

Still time to stock up before the drunk hipsters attack! / Photo by s o d a p o p reprinted under Creative Commons license.

So it turns out that I live in the 21st coolest place in the world. At least by one measure: Season 21[!] of The Real World will be taping this summer in my home borough of Brooklyn.

This is part of a larger wave of media gentrification of Brooklyn, which goes back to Miranda's decamping for an outer-borough brownstone on Sex and the City, and continues with its status as the home of cute outsiders with artist parents on Gossip Girl. [Update: And let's not forget The Huxtables!] "My 'hood" is probably an exaggeration, though the network says it hasn't picked a neighborhood yet. I live in lovely but way-not-cool Park Slope, the sedate home of bespectacled publishing types, breeders with two kids, or, in my case, both. My guess is the show lands in hipster paradise Williamsburg. But if they want my house, they can have it for a mere $50,000 a month. (Hey, we have TiVo! And it's convenient to Brooklyn Superhero Supply!)

But seriously—season freaking 21? I was going to make a joke about the first Real World cast members starting to collect Social Security, but then came across an actual fact that somehow made me feel even older. Kevin Powell, 42—the writer/activist from TRW's first season—is currently running for Congress. In Brooklyn. Where it all happens.