Joisey/Trivia: Difference between revisions

m
update links
m (update links)
m (update links)
Line 15:
** '''Hoboken:''' The yuppie and hipster capital of New Jersey. Home of Stevens Institute of Technology, otherwise known as New Jersey's MIT.
* '''Bergen County:''' New Jersey's most populous county. The part that most New Yorkers see coming over the George Washington Bridge. Often stereotyped largely as a land of rich Republicans (or, as that map to the right puts it, "Christie Country"<ref>After current Republican Governor Chris Christie.</ref>), though central and southeastern Bergen are more moderate, and the county has voted Democratic during Presidential elections since 1996. It's typically ranked in the top five counties in the nation with the highest property taxes; the fact that ''two'' other New Jersey counties are in front of it for the top spot<ref>Hunterdon County is at #1, while Somerset County at #4.</ref> says something about the state. Despite being about 9% Jewish and having a sizable Muslim minority, it is the last county in New Jersey, and one of the last counties in the nation, that still has blue laws on the books closing shops on Sundays. Most people have opted to keep it not due to religion, but in order to protest commercialization and in order to have one day of peace and quiet per week.
** '''Koreatown:''' Southern Bergen County (specifically Fort Lee, Leonia and Palisades Park, just over the George Washington Bridge) is home to the largest Korean enclave in the world outside [[Los Angeles]] and Korea itself. Much of the area is thoroughly bilingual, with road signs and even ballots offered in both English and Korean. It's telling that, when [[Girls' Generation]] and other [[Korean Pop Music|K-pop]] groups [http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-10-23/entertainment/30326066_1_korean-wave-pop-jingle-ball arrived to tour in America], their first New York area stop was in Overpeck County Park, not in New York itself. It helps that the climate of the area is similar to that of [[Useful Notes/South Korea|Seoul]].
* '''The Meadowlands:''' A swampy area in northern Hudson, southern Bergen and eastern Essex Counties, at the terminus of the Hackensack and Passaic Rivers as they enter Newark Bay. Thanks to those two rivers, both of which are polluted to an ungodly level (some areas along the lower Passaic are ''still'' closed off due to dioxin pollution), as well as having been used as a landfill in the past (including rubble from [[London Town]] after [[World War II]]), the swamps of the Meadowlands are one of the main areas that gives New Jersey its reputation as a [[Literal Metaphor]] dump. It is the site of:
** Metlife Stadium (formerly New Meadowlands Stadium), home of the [[Useful Notes/American Football|New York Giants and Jets]]<ref>Even though neither team actually plays in New York. This has led to NJ's current governor pointedly and purposely referring to the Jets as the "Jersey Jets" as a bit of a [[Take That]] at the franchise owners for keeping "New York" in the name</ref>, which replaced nearby Giants Stadium in 2010. The [[Super Bowl]] will be held here in 2014, the first time the event will be held in cold weather (all past Bowls were held in warm-weather cities or in domed stadiums).
** The Izod Center, former home of the [[Useful Notes/Basketball|New Jersey Nets]] and [[Useful Notes/National Hockey League|New Jersey Devils]], who have since moved to the Prudential Center in Newark. It is also used as a major concert arena.
** The under-construction American Dream Meadowlands mega-mall, which will be by far the largest mall in North America and the largest outside of Asia... [[Development Hell|if it ever gets finished.]]
** A large number of dead Mob hits. One of the (many) locations proposed to be Jimmy Hoffa's final resting place was under the stands of the old Giants Stadium.
Line 24:
* '''Central Jersey:''' To hear it from someone from the area, Central Jersey is a distinct region of the state consisting of the area covered by the Raritan Valley, in Hunterdon, Mercer, Somerset, Middlesex, and Monmouth counties. To hear it from someone from North or South Jersey, Central Jersey is a nonexistent entity that is really an extension of North Jersey, and its residents all have an inferiority complex. The site of the state capital, Trenton, as well as suburban sprawl ballooning out from both New York and Philly. If a story requires that the characters consult a brainy professor, this scene will often either take place at [[Ivy League|Princeton]], or elsewhere with a professor who teaches there. If not Princeton, then the main campus of Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, will do in a pinch. (Never Rutgers Newark, or Montclair State University, and for good reason.)<br /><br />In addition to the above counties, many people in Central Jersey count the northernmost part of Ocean County as part of Central Jersey. This is mainly because this sliver of land includes the community of Jackson Township, home of Six Flags Great Adventure, as well as the beach town of Point Pleasant. South Jerseyans, naturally, consider it to be in South Jersey. A few people split the difference and say South Central New Jersey, but in their hearts, they know that they'll have to wait for [[Cue the Flying Pigs|the Cubs to win the Series]] before most of New Jersey accepts such a thing.
* '''The [[Jersey Shore]]:''' New Jersey's coastline, and a major summer destination for New Yorkers, Pennsylvanians, and New Jerseyans alike. It used to have [[Never Live It Down|a reputation for being dirty]] due to the infamous [[wikipedia:Syringe Tide|"syringe tide"]] in the late '80s, when used syringes and other medical waste started washing up on the shore from the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island (in short, [[Mis Blamed|it wasn't even New Jersey's fault!]]). Now, thanks to [[MTV]], it's has a reputation for being covered in [[Take That|another kind of trash, once again imported from out of state]]. Towns and destinations along the Shore include Asbury Park (the Shore's [[Gayborhood|gay mecca]] and a hub of rock music), Point Pleasant, Toms River, Seaside Heights (yes, ''[[Jersey Shore|that]]'' Seaside Heights), Long Beach Island (or LBI in local parlance), Atlantic City (which has legal gambling, and often shares tropes with [[Viva Las Vegas|Las Vegas]]), Wildwood, and Cape May.
* '''South Jersey:''' With the exception of the Shore, this area, like the Highlands, is rarely seen in the media, due to the fact that it's more closely associated with [[Useful Notes/Philadelphia (useful notes)|Philadelphia]] than [[New York City]]. Often shown as being poorer than the rest of the state, with the suburbs being more working-class. This is partially [[Truth in Television]], but not exactly -- a visit to Cherry Hill, Moorestown, or Medford would quickly discredit this assumption. Home to two towns named [[Halloween (film)|Haddonfield]] <ref>Fun fact -- the Haddonfield in ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]]'' is actually named after the one in New Jersey, which is where Debra Hill, the co-writer of the film, was born and went to high school.</ref> and [[Friday the 13th (film)|Voorhees]], which are served ([[My Friends and Zoidberg|along with Gibbsboro]]) [http://www.aaroads.com/northeast/new_jersey200/i-295_nb_exit_032_01.jpg by the same freeway exit]. If producers need a [[Gangsterland]], then Camden (in terms of crime rate, imagine a [[Fun Size]] Detroit) is often used in place of Newark.<br /><br />Residents are known to react even worse to the standard New Jersey jokes. The Turnpike has very few exits to the southern half of the state (and the Parkway has none outside of the Shore), and the near-absence of chemical and industrial plants results in little pollution. Plus, there are still many, many thriving farms in the area, as it is relatively undeveloped outside of the Shore and the Delaware Valley, lending some credence to the state nickname that so many seem to think is ironic -- "The Garden State."<br /><br />Definitions of South Jersey will vary depending on who you ask. Some will define the region as everything south of Interstate 195. Others will draw a line starting just south of Trenton and ending just north of Atlantic City, and classify South Jersey as everything south of that line. Many in Monmouth County will make the cutoff for South Jersey anything south of Toms River in Ocean County<ref>A definition that conveniently leaves out Point Pleasant and Six Flags Great Adventure, likely so that Central Jersey can count that little sliver of Ocean County as its own.</ref>, while many people in South Jersey will make the cutoff at Howell Township in Monmouth County instead, a definition that follows county lines more neatly. A few people go so far as to count everything south of Newark as South Jersey, a definition that includes New Brunswick and even Elizabeth. Needless to say, the distinction causes a lot of arguments within the state.
* '''The Pine Barrens''': Firmly straddling the blurry dividing line between Central and South Jersey is a region composed of hundreds of square miles of primeval pine forest, growing from a white sandy soil. Home to ghost towns, cranberry bogs, blueberry farms, and uncounted miles of dirt roads, the Barrens are a zone of complete wilderness that is unusual in any Eastern state, let alone the most densely populated state in America. A great majority of the state's stories of ghosts and pirates are set in or have ties to the Pine Barrens, and the Jersey Devil calls them its home, making it an out-of-[[Hollywood New England|New England]] branch of [[Lovecraft Country]]. (Mysterious [[Real Life]] phenomena such the [http://mysterybooms.blogspot.com/2010/03/mystery-booms-reported-in-2006.html unidentified booming noises] which have rattled the area on a regular basis for decades just add to the mystique.) For someone whose only exposure to New Jersey is Chemical Alley and Newark, discovering that there is a part of the state where you can drive for an hour and see virtually nothing but pine trees can be somewhat disconcerting.
 
Line 104:
* [[Meryl Streep]]
* [[The Suite Life of Zack and Cody|Ashley Tisdale]]
* [[John Travolta (Creator)]]
* James Urbaniak
* [[The Sopranos|Frank Vincent]]
Line 150:
== Other ==
* [[Bury Your Gays|Tyler]] [[Teens Are Monsters|Clementi]]
* [[Playful Hacker|George "geohot" Hotz]] (aka "the man who unlocked the iPhone and [[Play StationPlayStation 3]]")
* [[Conservapedia|Andrew Schlafly]]
* [[A Nazi by Any Other Name|Hal Turner]]