The Real Deal

You can't watch The Real World: Denverwithout a drink, and you shouldn't watch it without a drinking game. This one is based on the X-Files version and is guaranteed to get players a mile high. (If any player misses a turn -- and the others call him on it -- he must drink double the required amount.) Recommended booze: Coors and Jäger!

Take one sip:
:Every time the Real World logo appears on screen (this includes the credits).
:Every time a shot of the mountains is used as a segue.
:Every time a Denver landmark is shown: the Capitol, City Park, Union Station, etc.
:Every time one of the roommates says something mean about another roommate behind his or her back.

And in the hard-core version:
:Every time one of the roommates uses the word "like."

Take two sips:
:Every time a roommate kisses someone of the opposite sex (cheek kisses count).
:Every time a roommate uses an expletive.
:Every time a roommate is clearly drunk on screen.
:Every time a roommate cries while not on the phone.
:Every time one roommate yells at another roommate (must demonstrably raise his or her voice).

And in the hard-core version:
:Every time one of the roommates' names is spoken.

Take three sips:
:Every time a roommate kisses someone of the same sex (cheek kisses don't count).
:Every time a roommate kisses more than one person in a night.
:Every time one of the roommates says something mean about another roommate to his or her face.
:Every time one of the roommates cries while on the phone.

And in the hard-core version:
:Every time the group of roommates splits up -- at all. For example, if you only see six out of the seven roommates, drink.

Bonus points -- drink your entire drink or do a shot:
:Every time one of the roommates gets in a fistfight. If it's a girl, drink twice as much.
:Every time one of the roommates gets so drunk that he or she throws up.
:Every time a roommate with a long-term boyfriend/girlfriend breaks up with his/her significant other.
:Every time a roommate says he/she wants to go home.

That's it! You should recover from your hangover -- and whatever hookup the alcohol inspired -- in time for next week's round.

Still life: It looks like the Clyfford Still Museum could be a pretty good investment for Denver. Sure, the 30,000-square-foot facility planned for the Golden Triangle will cost somewhere between $12 million and $20 million to build, but it's all private money -- and what's a few very large bills between friends? When Mayor John Hickenlooper announced in 2004 that he'd sweet-talked Still's widow into giving Denver her late husband's estate -- some 2,150 works -- few in the city had any idea of the abstract-expressionist's importance, or even who he was. This despite the fact that Jackson Pollock (a name almost everyone recognizes) said of his contemporary that "Still makes the rest of us look academic." All most Denverites knew was that the mayor had promised a museum dedicated to the collection, at a time when the Museum of Contemporary Art was already fundraising for its new facility.

But if money talks, then the people in charge of the Still deal should be shouting a very loud "I told you so" from the top of the Frederic C. Hamilton Building. Because on November 15, Christie'ssold Still's "1947-R-No. 1" for $21.3 million. The famed auction house had estimated the 69-by-65-inch oil on canvas -- part of the 15 Americans exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in 1952 -- would bring a mere $5 million to $7 million. But the piece wound up going for more than Roy Lichtenstein's "Yellow and White Brushstrokes" ($9.5 million), Pollock's "Red and Blue" (unsold) or Andy Warhol's "Mao" ($17.4 million). That should help the Still's promoters pick some big national pockets.