Jersey Devil Statue
The Pinelands Preservation Alliance is a group who are committed to protecting New Jersey’s vast Pineland region. The Jersey Devil and The Pine Barrens have become synonymous. Check out the Alliance’s website for a page dedicated to The Jersey Devil. If you dare, you can also join them on one of their Jersey Devil Hunts. *Unfortunately there was no credit as to who made the awesome statue of the creature that’s pictured above. You can make a tax deductible donation to the Pinelands Preservation Alliance at this link.
Kurt Loder in Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
Mainly thanks to his MTV exposure, Kurt Loder has appeared in a bunch of TV shows and films. One of those films is 2000’s Blair Witch sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2. It’s a movie I’m fanatical about, and thought it deserved a better reception, but that’s another story. It’s now time for MTV NEWS.
To the Gideon Yagos and the Sways of the world: You will never be Kurt Loder. Ocean City, New Jersey’s own Kurt Loder might have had a bland, straight down the middle delivery when breaking in between commercials with his MTV News brief, but he’s still the most authoritative news anchor MTV has had. If there was an important event going on in the music industry, I used to feel comfort in hearing it from the droll Kurt Loder.
The guys and girls who came after the likes of Kurt Loder, John Norris, Chris Connelly, and Tabitha Soren, totally missed the point. To be a cool broadcast journalist on MTV you shouldn’t try to be cool, and you shouldn’t try to be uncool. Loder didn’t try, he just seemed like he was always on a mission to bring us all accurate, unbiased music news. With U.S Army experience and a serious journalism career under his belt, Kurt Loder has become one of the most reputable music authorities in the world. And he was in the first scene of Blair Witch 2 which is pretty badass in my book.
New Jersey’s Great Pop Culture Moments Vol.47: Friday the 13th Part 3
What do sexual escapades, skinny dipping, smoking pot, and getting murdered all have in common? They are all things that those punk ass teenagers from New Jersey like to take part in, hence, the state was the natural choice for the home of Camp Crystal Lake in the Friday the 13th franchise. Some of the films in the series don’t harp on it’s setting, while others are proud and throw in many references, some blatant, some subtle. Friday the 13th Part 3, was not only presented in 3-D, but it also featured overt references to New Jersey.
Friday the 13 Part 3 is one of my favorite installments of the series along with 1, 2, 4, 6, and Freddy vs. Jason. How could it not be on my list? There’s hot women, a Tommy Chong wannabe, and 3-D yo-yo-ing! And I also can’t forget the villainous biker gang led by Ali, who look like they were ripped out of Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video. In the scene pictured above, one of the gang members is about to siphon the gas from the kids van. Their van has a New Jersey license plate as well as a Bruce Springsteen “The Boss” bumper sticker. I think it’s cool that the filmmakers paid attention to the details and kept the film set in Jersey no matter how unpopular the state used to be. Nowadays the chances of seeing a film set in Jersey are much greater.
The Spookhouse in Keansburg, NJ
On a whim I recently took a ride to The Keansburg Amusement Park merely to go on a dark ride. After the extremely short ride was over, Miss Sexy Armpit wondered why I wanted to take the drive just for this ride. She also commented that it was “so old,” and for a girl who is usually scared of haunted houses, she thought this was remarkably unscary. She didn’t quite understand the history that this ride holds. This isn’t any old dark ride, this is THE SPOOKHOUSE, one of the first dark rides that ever existed, and even more incredibly…it still operates today!
Sure, it might seem like a hokey old ride to some young kids who are conditioned to see scarier stuff in video games, but The Spookhouse (originally called The Mystery Ride) is truly a landmark in New Jersey. The cars you ride in and other parts of the ride itself date back to the late 1920s! Since I live fairly close, haunted house aficionados, dark ride lovers, and fun house freaks consider me extremely lucky to have the opportunity to hop on this Preztel Ride at my leisure.
I can remember going to Keansburg every summer when I was a kid. My Dad always took me on the rides since he was a good sport. I don’t think he was ever particularly a fan of amusement park rides, (i.e the Tilt-a-Whirl) but he rode them with me anyway! If my mom went on rides she definitely would’ve lost her lunch!
Keansburg hasn’t changed one bit. Many of the same rides that I rode as a child are still there. As for the Spookhouse, yes, it’s been updated and blacklit, but it’s still the same classic ride. It’s truly a piece of American history. If you live in Jersey and have never been to Keansburg, it’s nothing like Six Flags or even Seaside, but it’s a lot of fun for children, it’s very reasonable, and it will bring back tons of memories from when you were a kid!
For the BEST coverage and information ANYWHERE on The Spookhouse, check out Laff In The Dark. They have a complete history of the ride as well as exclusive photos.
Also be sure to visit our friends at The Onezumiverse for more great pictures!
| Keansburg Amusement Park: 107 years of Jersey charm |
Welcome to The Sexy Armpit’s 2010 Halloween Countdown!
The Sexy Armpit has a lot of awesome posts in store for the Halloween season and I’m looking forward to sharing them with you! I consider October to be the best time of year and it must be the supernatural atmosphere that possesses all of us bloggers to write spooky posts all month long. Make sure to follow all those cool blogs participating in The Countdown to Halloween, many of which are friends of The Sexy Armpit so pay them a visit! If you’d like to be a part of the crew, head over to the site and let them know!
Creating countdowns on a blog can become more hard work than fun. In the summer, Shark Month here at the Armpit became quite tedious, but Halloween is always a blast. In the spirit of making it even MORE fun, look at the top of this page and you’ll notice this year’s Halloween header. It’s The Sexy Armpit’s homage to the ’80s vampire classic, The Lost Boys! There’s really nothing “Jersey” about The Lost Boys other than the fact that I used to watch it incessantly as a kid growing up in NJ.
As you prepare yourself for the coming onslaught of the most ghoulish month of the year, remember to come back and visit The Sexy Armpit often throughout October to see all kinds of haunted, nostalgic, and Jersey related Halloween stuff. I’ll have posts about my costume this year, events I’ll be attending, crap I picked up at stores, and the typical Sexy Armpit content.
Also, please check out some of the BEST Halloween related posts from previous years here at The Sexy Armpit if you haven’t read them yet.
STAR KILLER Strikes With Intense New EP
All of a sudden I had an ominous feeling overcome me while listening to Star Killer‘s debut EP. Much like in the TV series V or the film Independence Day, there’s a foreboding sense that these New York rockers are warning us that their approach is imminent. Of course there’s not actually a UFO looming over my town, but listening to Star Killer’s music feels just as monumental.
Packing a futuristic tone in freight, Star Killer’s sound soars into the outer rim. Star Killer’s approach to rock and metal creatively infuses aspects of Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Korn, P.O.D, and industrial bands like KMFDM. Allow me to go more in-depth with each song, meanwhile, download your very own EP for your iPod here for free.
“As The Sky is Falling” is the powerful, mind probing opener. The song rises with a blaring scream followed by driving guitars mixed with ethereal sounds. The beautifully layered vocals and background vocals recall Depeche Mode. There’s a cinematic quality to Star Killers’ tracks and it’s no coincedence that lead singer and Edison NJ-born, Jasin Cadic, also co-wrote the screenplay to the film The Perfect Age of Rock n Roll. So, if Mad Max 4 is looking for a soundtrack, Star Killer is the band for the job.
Similarly, the chugging bass and guitars evoke revenge and desperation on “Out of Range.” The track features a mesmerizing chorus that is like an amped up, modern day “Another Brick in the Wall” by Pink Floyd. My favorite track, “Too Wrong,” is soaked in an up tempo alien plasma surrounded by industrial sounds, grinding guitars, earth shattering drums, and a danceable beat. The guitars are like a runaway locomotive in the tanked up mosher “Picture Perfect.” With it’s tremendous bassline and Cadic’s venomous vocals, this track is highly combustible.
For the last track I found myself marching around my room to the intro of “The Hunt.” If you weren’t planning on trying to kill a T-1000, you will be after you hear this song. It’s pulsating beat will have you running toward the nearest inter dimensional portal. Stick around for the whispering conclusion, it’s really creepy.
The explosive element of the songs on the Star Killer EP might very well be the product of caffeine. We had the chance to speak with Cadic and he stressed to us the importance of coffee in the studio while recording: “…some nights the coffee intake was definitely on the unhealthy side,” he joked.
We also asked Cadic what he was listening to on his iPod during their time in the studio and he was more than happy to oblige. If you’re curious to know how Star Killer managed to slide in some infectious beats in the songs, they may have been under the influence of Kanye’s 808’s and Heartbreak. Cadic balanced it out by citing Black Light Burns’ Cruel Melody, and one of his favorites of all time, Killing Joke’s 2003 self titled album with Dave Grohl on drums.
Star Killer is very much a collaborative effort between it’s 4 members, all of whom are close friends and have previously worked together. They recorded this adamantium assembly of tracks at their own studio as well as Jupiter 4 Studios in Rockaway, New York. All songs were written, produced, and mixed by Star Killer, with engineer Steve Schalk. Much like how KISS created the band they dreamed of seeing, Cadic is proud of Star Killer and considers them the band he would “…be at every show for and buy every album they release.”
Download their FREE EP and stay tuned to their official site http://www.starkillerband.com/
Follow them on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/starkillernyc
Reverb Nation Profile: http://www.reverbnation.com/starkillernyc
Joan Jett in Jersey
In honor of Joan Jett’s birthday, here are a couple of classic, pro-shot performances of hers that took place in New Jersey. The first is from 1983 in the now defunct Capitol Theatre in Passaic, NJ, a venue that featured concerts of so many now legendary acts. The second is from 1982 at Convention Hall in Asbury Park NJ. Thanks to the YouTube channel of karinarudzinska, we are able to see these vintage clips!
New Jersey’s Great Pop Culture Moments Vol.45: Man vs. Food
In the past few years New Jersey has been shoved down TV viewers throats to the extent that I’m sure it makes them want to regurgitate. I doubt the fine folks in North Dakota want to constantly see New Jersey pop up in every show they’re watching. Aside from contrived reality shows, food shows have also been wrapped up in a love affair with the Garden State. I’m not sure why though, since much of our native cuisine consists of deep fried, artery clogging crap just like what Adam Richman encountered in Season 2 of his show (because naturally we weren’t good enough for Season 1), Man vs. Food on The Travel Channel.
Adam Richman responds to food challenges all over the country and this time around he visited The Grease Trucks in New Brunswick NJ, a legendary spot serving the perfect selections to cap off those nights of binge drinking. If you’re not familiar with the local food phenom, it not only serves Rutgers students, but even out-of-staters come to chow down on some deliciously unhealthy food.
In this episode, Richman answered the “Fat Sandwich Challenge” at RU Hungry “The Original Grease Truck,” in which he must eat 5 overstuffed sandwiches in 45 minutes. Some of the renowned sandwich amalgamations pile on chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, pork roll, cheesesteak, french fries, and other heavenly items into a sub roll. To psych Richman out, the owner informed him that only around 16 people out of approximately 250 have risen to the challenge and successfully downed the big 5 before the clock stopped. If Richman wins, he gets to create his own sandwich which will be named after him.
SPOILER ALERT!!! Richman didn’t win, but he went down swinging. I could have done without the little side interviews with the onlookers that the production crew shot and intercut between the tense scenes of him wolfing down the sandwiches. It was obvious that they were fed some terribly cheesy lines.
Richman also stopped at Harold’s New York Deli in Edison, NJ, which serves only monsterous, supersized meals. I’ve been going there since it opened in 1997 and my first reaction upon seeing the waitress bringing me my food is always “No human being could finish this.” In the above picture, Richman is seen with one of Harold’s Deli’s signature sandwiches, a foot tall, 10 pound corned beef and pastrami sandwich!
I couldn’t believe that Richman had more room in his stomach to cram even MORE food into it! There’s not a more appropriately named restaurant to accomplish that than Stuff Yer Face, also in New Brunwick, NJ. Open since 1977, Stuff Yer Face is known for their stromboli or just “bolis.” They have 30 different ones to choose from and the option to make your own. Richman customized his own boli, and after it was finished baking, he sat down to eat it. Let me say that damn thing looked so delicious that The Sexy Armpit is now looking to stuff his face there very soon!
New Jersey’s Great Pop Culture Moments Vol.44: Lois & Clark
GRANT GENDELL: “Forgive me but we have a few routine security questions to ask you…have you visited a foreign country in the last 7 months?”
LOIS LANE: “Does New Jersey count?”
This line comes from the Season 4 episode of Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman titled “Bob and Carol and Lois and Clark.” The episode originally aired on November 17th, 1996 and features Antonio Sabato Jr. as Deathstroke, a character loosely based on the DC comics assassin, although here, Sabato’s alter ego is Bob Stanford instead of Slade Wilson.
Lois and Clark was merely a stepping stone for Teri Hatcher, but unfortunately it was a career pinnacle for Princeton graduate Dean Cain. The show never matched up to my high expectations and I stopped watching the series after it became an average soap opera which also just so happened to star a major superhero. As crazy as it sounds I enjoyed the often shat upon Superboy TV series much more.