A Septic Spiel of Spooky Scares, Super Heroes, and Strange Stories from Miles Beneath the Crud of New Jersey!
If you aren’t familiar with this, there is quite a lot of evidence to prove that Batman actually operates out of New Jersey rather than New York. The trend seemed to start in the mid to late ’80s and early ’90s. As I detailed in the original post there were several occasions that dropped clues and even blatant facts that Gotham was indeed meant to be in NJ. Now, with the release of The Dark Knight Rises upon us, there’s even more of a reason to finally let go of the past and embrace change.
New York City is the greatest city in the world, there’s no doubt about it. It’s sickening amount of notoriety and fame will last eons. Let us, The Garden State, be proud of our connection with Batman – whether it’s a theory of an underground blogger or not. We in Jersey didn’t ask for MTV’s Jersey Shore. How much do you like guidos? That’s exactly how much New Jersey likes them. No silly MTV show being filmed here can ever compare to the fact that The Dark Knight Rises was filmed literally right down the highway in Newark, NJ.
Onto the further evidence that has been collected. I initially discovered this information back in December 2011, but I kept this one under wraps until we arrived at July 2012, in time for the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises. The excellent horror blogger and movie reviewer Chuck Conry over at Zombies Don’t Run posted several pictures he found of a package containing promotional materials from The Dark Knight Rises marketing campaign. The package included a Bane T-Shirt as well as a map of Gotham. Posted above is a shot of this map that depicts a very familiar HOOK.
I’m not referring to Captain Hook or the memorable part of a song…I’m talking about my favorite barrier island: Sandy Hook. Sandy Hook is clearly labeled on the promo Gotham map. While this is simply Batman’s movie continuity, there’s still lots of clues in the comics as well. Take for instance Nightwing’s ‘hood, Bludhaven. The crime infested city has been pinpointed by DC Comics as southern New Jersey, possibly Little Egg Harbor, Brigantine, or Atlantic City. There we have hints in the movies and the comics, but what about the ’60s Batman TV show? Yep, we have that covered as well!
In New Jersey’s Great Pop Culture Moments 27 you can read how BATMAN AND NEW GUERNSEY are PURRRFECT TOGETHER!!!
I don’t think you can argue with the piece of evidence posted above. If I convinced my man Eric and his young daughter from all the way across the country in Cali into believers, then that means it’s the real deal! Follow him on Twitter Twitter.com/BubbaShelby ! And if all of my research has proven true, then The Dark Knight Rises is truly a homecoming for Batman. Please feel free to weigh in with your opinion on the actual location of Gotham City!
Plenty of sights brag about their amazing accomplishments. It’s pretty damn easy to kiss your own ass. Almost weekly I come across a post that states something to the effect of “We are celebrating a bajillion hits! YAY FOR US!” The Sexy Armpit does indeed celebrate it’s yearly birthday, but other than that we try to keep the boasting to a minimum because it gets annoying. On the other hand though, I do toot my own horn because blogging doesn’t yield many benefits. Aside from a degree of personal satisfaction, and the occasional media review copy, blogging is simply a lot of work. With that said, allow me to repay myself for all that hard work as I steal a few minutes of your time exploiting the BEST Sexy Armpit moments of 2011! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
10. Showered With Deb and Hilly! – OK So I didn’t actually take a shower with them, it was more like I showered them…with my adoration. The Chiller Theatre Convention in Spring 2011 featured Judie Aronson and Suzanne Snyder (the girls from Weird Science) and as I stood sandwiched in between these ladies, for the first time in my life I didn’t feel like a total dick.
9. My Kick Buttowski Halloween Costume! – Every year for Halloween I have to feel some sort of inspiration or else I won’t dress up. This year I became my favorite child daredevil from the Disney XD cartoon Kick Buttowski.
8. The Sexy Armpit Turns 8 Years Old! – It sounds like a really long time to be blogging but I’ve actually been running websites since the year 2000 which at one time would sound futuristic, but now just makes me a relic! Can you say Geocities?
7. Appeared On The Nerd Lunch Podcast! – It was definitely cool to be a guest on Nerd Lunch. Being on their podcast was a lot different than my former career in rock radio and then doing some podcasting of my own, but it was still a blast!
6. Interviewed By Geof At The Man Cave! – I was able to hang with my friends Geof and Dan at Monster Mania this year and they filmed an interview with me for The Man Cave. I had a lot of fun and it was very cool that they asked me to be on!
5. Oh Yeah, I Wrote Some More Articles – If you liked The Wrestler you should read this. If you were a fan of Macho Man Randy Savage you should read this. If you bought tickets to see Sammi Curr back in the day, read this. Fans of Transformers should read this while fans of G.I Joe might want to read this and this. Finally, if you’re going to take part in the All-Valley Karate tournament, then you might be interested in this.
4. New and Improved Sexy Armpit T-Shirts! – I bought a few for myself! They are available now on Red Bubble right HERE!
3. Interviewed on Star Ledger Live on NJ.com! – Brian Donohue’s online video show is part of The Star Ledger and NJ.com and he invited me on to talk about my article Gotham City, NJ? to coincide with the filming of The Dark Knight Rises in Newark.
2. Premiered Two Sexy Armpit Shorts For Our YouTube Channel! Watch Get Sludgey to The Starland and The Sexy Armpit Halloween Special 2011.
1. The Sexy Armpit Got Its Own Theme Song! – Our friends, NJ’s retro inspired rockers Lipstick and Cigarettes whipped up the perfect theme song for our upcoming YouTube series! This list has a lot of cool entries, but like my friend Lori said, “…there’s nothing cooler than having your own theme song!” Click the link to watch the band perform it live!
*In other Bat-news: New Jersey’s Ledger Live on NJ.com interviewed The Sexy Armpit about our theory that Batman’s Gotham City is actually New Jersey, not New York City!
11/12 and 11/13
Teaneck Armory
1799 Teaneck Road
Teaneck NJ 07666
Although I don’t wear a cape (well…not on a daily basis, but probably bi-monthly), I AM on a crusade so I guess that would make me a sort of occasional caped crusader. If you are a frequent visitor to The Sexy Armpit you already know that my goal is not to rid the Jersey streets of crime and supervillains, but to bring to light New Jersey pop culture.
Previously on the site, I’ve written about my stance that Batman’s Gotham City is actually in New Jersey. After seeing my article and realizing that The Dark Knight rises would be filming in Newark, Brian Donohue, the host and reporter of Star Ledger/NJ.com’s Ledger Live online show, asked me if I’d be interested in being a guest on the show to defend my case.
Brian and his Ledger Live show along with other members of The Star Ledger and NJ.com have put together an incredible barrage of coverage on this awesome pop culture moment in NJ history. I never thought we’d be lucky enough to have the Batman franchise film mere miles away from Sexy Armpit Headquarters! And to think that my best friend Frank and I used to pretend our basements were our batcaves and we fought imaginary villains all over the neighborhood! 20 some odd years later, it’s official! After the Dark Knight Rises in summer 2012, Newark will forever be connected with Batman and Gotham City.
Being on The Ledger Live show was a lot of fun and I was able to take a little tour of The Star Ledger which is a New Jersey media institution. A big thanks to Brian and Bumper from Ledger Live for having me on! I am very appreciative that after 8 years of working on this site that The Sexy Armpit has been recognized as the best NJ Pop Culture blog!
Photos from the filming in Newark courtesy of NJ.com:
http://photos.nj.com/4504/gallery/the_dark_knight_rises_in_newark/index.html
Gotham City Subway map:
http://www.nj.com/ledgerlive/index.ssf/2011/11/gotham_city_subway_map.html
Further video from The Dark Knight film shoot:
http://videos.nj.com/star-ledger/2011/11/newark_becomes_gotham_city_dur.html
News broke last week that Formula 1 will be holding their 2013 Grand Prix race in Weehawken, NJ. This tidbit definitely deserved a post, but with Halloween and all the events going on at The Sexy Armpit in the last week, I haven’t had much of a chance to sit and write posts about car racing. My Halloween observance is serious business so I was glad to see that our friend from NJ.com, Brian Donohue, compiled an excellent installment of his show Ledger Live about the auto race. Let’s turn it over to Brian who will take you for a scenic skyline tour of the race route.