Although the Real Worlders swear it's just fiction, you have to note a lot of similarities. Only note a few parallels? That's part of the problem that we're here to solve: A lot of jokes are so inside, only the most attentive fans ever "get" them. Here we are going to discuss in full detail the ways and means of a literary masterpiece, Reg's World.
****Disclaimer**** any and all connections to Reg World
and Real World is pure speculation. Note these are just theories,
not facts.
It would be too time-consuming to make note of *all* the characters but here we briefly talk about the key people of Reg's World.
Reg Wold--although he doesn't stand out as being based on anybody, it does seem that RRW devotes a lot of time talking about the architects and designers who built the actual studios. The guy who is the current Real World general manager is Mike Large. It says on one RRW page, "Peter wanted to build the ultimate recording and video complex in the hills outside the city of Bath. Mike Large thought he was crazy but took the challenge.". Sounds just like the dialogue between our friends Reg and Pogle in the introduction.
Pogle--Duh. Obvious PG connection, even though in many ways, it's a loose connection. For instance, the author deliberately distances Pogle from PG by saying that Pogle occasionally releases an album. "Occasionally" is far too liberal a term to apply to PG's actual album releases. But still, notice the fact that Pogle, like this guy, wears socks with sandals.
Also note that Pogle's foibles depict that of rock stars *in general*. The real Peter Gabriel is never *that* flaky or New Agey (thank God.)
Carmine Fiorucci--Well, Daniel Lanois is from Canada. And he too sometimes dresses like he was raised by gypsies. And Danny has been reported to give PG a hard time about his work pace. (see our section on Episode 1.)
Millie Sweet--Some say there's a connection to Tina here, but there's also the possibility of a link to PG's personal assistant, Anne Parsons. Both ladies have been known to sound extremely kind and polite in snail-mail correspondences.
Brenda Roules--we don't know who she's supposed to represent, but we've all met her before. Look at her picture: she's either that evil math teacher we've all had in elementary school or the scary lunchroom lady in high school.
Bodge Faraday--it sounds like someone who works at Real World, but we're not entirely sure who. All we can say is his hair is the same as Richard Evans.
Introduction
Not too much going on here except the set-up to the series. The reference to Real World "The Building" is pretty obvious. Real World Studios is built over a duck pond, it's in a small rural town, trains do go past the building.
Episode 1
The story gets rolling and we meet a whole bunch of characters. One line of special interest is "Only Pogle could dither on the Internet." We thought, "Hm. Does Peter Gabriel dither on the Internet?" The answer can be found here.
Also we have that Lyric Writing Booth concept. In a Peter Gabriel biography by Steven Bright (aka "The Bright Bio") there lies within a story about a certain Canadian producer who locked a certain English rock star in a studio and said he couldn't come out unless he wrote the lyrics to two songs. (The story goes the rock star threw a major fit, some engineers let him out, and the producer lived to tell the tale.)
Episode 2, 3, and 4
Reg decides to run for mayor, and we get to meet the Gustos. It's nice to see that World Music is finally accepted enough to be parodied. Other than that, it's mostly a tirade amongst lesser characters who's working on the isobungy project.
Episode 5
We get to meet the chef, an obvious reference to Tony Shivers and the Real Worldian aversion to any food that smacks of normality.
Episode 6 and 7--Okay, now things are starting to rock again...we find that Reg is building a studio out of peat moss. Now, just prior to this episode, PG web-head Laura Moss created Web World as a parody of Reg's World (!), with her main character called Peat Moss. Coincidence? Hm.
Speaking of Hm, we find that this Pogle character has a series of two-letter album titles called Um! and Er? Just before this episode saw light, there had been a fierce discussion on the PG mailing list, the PG Forum, and alt.music.peter-gabriel concerning ideas for a new album title. One idea that kept coming up repeatedly was "Um", as that seems to be PG's favorite word to use in interviews, TV appearances, and radio call-in shows.
Episode 8, 9 and 10
First we learn what the isobunjy is all about, then comes the time when Pogle goes to jump down into a ventilation shaft into a train tunnel. It's noted that Pogle shows up wearing an XL jumpsuit from the Um tour. Anyone who's ever won a Tina's Test knows that if you get a t-shirt, jacket, or sweater as a part of the prize, by Real World law it must be an XL.
Here we also have Eric Chuff jamming to a Pogle album whilst on the job. Most people can identify with Chuff, as most of us at some time as PG fans has tried to sneak a PG tape to work and listened to it on the clock. Chuff sings along to the most abstract version of "Sledgehammer" in existence.
One problem we have with this scene: although none of the characters come off sounding like rocket scientists, one would think that after months of planning a stunt of sending a pop star down into a train tunnel, someone would have checked to see *if any trains were scheduled to come down the tunnel at that time.* If a life was on the line, wouldn't it be worth the money to buy a train schedule? Oh well, call it literary license. We just hope that isn't indicative of Real World planning competency.
Episode 11
Now this is interesting. Here we learn about a diminutive Tasmanian singer named Minnie Roque going to record at the studio known as the Bomb Shelter. Now several months ago, there was a page on RRW that talked about diminutive Australian singer Kylie Minogue recording in a Real World studio called The Bunker. Approximately *a year ago* on August 23, 1996, we got this letter from Laura Moss. It goes as thus:
There is a consumer warning on this post **** the following is PURE speculation and is not intended to maim, harm or incite a riot **** The other day (Monday or Tuesday maybe?), Indigo, Snowflake and I were discussing things like dreams and psychic connectivity in the chat room. We basically swapped stories. Anyway, that night I had a very VIVID dream (maybe more like a "deja vu" experience). In my dream I was listening to Peter's new album. It was a cool day so I'm assuming it was late winter here on the west coast. I'm reading the liner notes to the CD but I can't see the title or anything good like that. What I do remember is listening to a really beautiful lyric song and I'm checking the notes to see who the guest vocalist is. The CD says Kylie Minogue. Next thing I know, I'm watching some crappy tv show like Entertainment Tonight, and they are talking about the album and how PG and Kylie are rumored to be an item! The beautiful song I heard is background music during this segment. Interesting n'est pas? I certainly thought so, because (I don't mean to sound sappy) I experience deja vu all the time, and this dream had that "feeling" to it. I felt like I would be in "this scene" again! Now, I've never heard this woman sing before and I had no idea who she is. I did some online research and apparently Kylie Minogue is an Australian singer/actress. Then this morning I thought I would check out the "artists" section of RRW (since I'd never explored these particular pages before) and lo and behold, Kylie Minogue has been recording her latest album at RRW Studios! I was quite surprised! Do you think that I could be right? I just wanted to share this with you so that if and when PG's album comes out and Kylie *is* on it, you can scream in fear and amazement as I whistle the theme from the Twilight Zone! Of course, if I'm wrong, then you can laugh at me for all eternity!
She wrote that a year ago, and here we have Reg's World characters Pogle and Minnie, which we have pointed out could very well parallel real people, doing lunch together.
So, what does this all mean? Nothing. Not a damn thing. But if Kylie is actually guesting on the upcoming album, we should see to it that Laura gets her own psychic hotline.
If you have any more Reg's World/Real World theories, please write and tell us!
