More About the Shore

I was looking at the map of New Jersey and was surprised at just how many shore towns there are in Jersey and how many I had never even heard of. I spent a lot of time in Seaside Heights and some in Ocean City and Wildwood. 

As I mentioned, I really liked Seaside Park; I felt comfortable there. It's low-key and small--only .81 square miles--and narrow. Our condo was three blocks from the ocean on one side and one block from the bay on another. It made our walks so nice, especially in the mornings. 

One thing I noticed was that a number of houses have names. As I've mentioned before, I hate named houses. In my walks, I saw Shore Thing, Beach Baby, Heavenly Afterglow, Shore Edition, Bay Angel, and  Valente Villa. Valente Villa isn't too bad. I like the alliteration, but it had two signs--one right above the other and was a bit much. Sea-Renity was the house name that bugged me the most--too cutesy. It was not in Seaside Park, but somewhere on the road between Point Pleasant and Lavallette. I also saw Sunshine Daydream in either Avalon or Stone Harbor; I liked the homage to the Grateful Dead song Sugar Magnolia. 

Sea Isle City is over three times the size of Seaside Park at 2.75 square miles and much busier. While I didn't see all its neighborhoods, I didn't notice any of the small bungalows that predominated in Seaside Heights before Hurricane Sandy and can still be found in Seaside Park. I saw a few modest houses, but primarily duplexes and McMansions. 

Sea Isle did not have a similar number of named houses. Many had signs with family names. The home where we were staying had a sign, Happy Chappy's. I also saw Cead Mile Failte or a hundred thousand welcomes.

However, Sea Isle City is big on flags as are some other Jersey Shore towns. In Sea Isle, the American, Phillies, and college flags, especially Penn State, flags predominate. I was happy to see one or two University of Delaware flags. 

I'll have to visit more of the shore to see what the other towns feature.

Down the Shore Part Two

Note: I continue in my general writing malaise. I actually started this post on Sunday. Each day, I planned to finish, but I never seemed to get around to it. I realize I've been procrastinating about writing about our Sea Isle City visit. Everything was overshadowed by Jace's massive case of diarrhea across the hallway and two bedrooms. This happened sometime late night Thursday or early morning Friday. I spent hours cleaning up literal shit. This was in addition to be feeling generally lousy all day Thursday. We were afraid to leave Jace alone in the house after that.

Things started out well on Wednesday. We left Seaside Park and drove about an hour-and-a-quarter to Sea Isle City and the home of my cousin Elena and her husband Tom. They were there when we arrived, which was a surprise. Tom and a friend left after lunch; Elena stayed overnight, and she, Jeff, and I went out to dinner. 

I did get to the beach Friday afternoon. One day, we went for a drive, and I did a little shopping. I did a lot of reading and relaxed as best I could with the dark diarrhea cloud over me. 

More to follow.

Down the Shore Part One

I grew up in Audubon, New Jersey, a town close to the Delaware River. My aunt and uncle had a bungalow in Ortley Beach, New Jersey, where we spent many vacations. My cousin Barb lives there now. The bungalow had been totally destroyed in Hurricane Sandy and remodeled. It's strange to see how drastically the street has changed. Of course, it's stranger for my cousins who spent so many summers there.  

Barb's sister, brother, and other family members arrived Saturday. Jeff and I, on Sunday. We had been told a 4 PM check-in, but I missed the owner's email that we could arrive early--I was driving and didn't check my phone.

We didn't see much of one branch of the family. They didn't want Jace at their rental--even though we agreed to keep him outside. Then my cousin's wife fell on the boardwalk. She suffered a black eye and a swollen, bruised cheekbone, and needed six stitches. Luckily, she didn't have a concussion. She was talking it easy the last two days we were in the area.

We did have great visit with my cousin Cindy and husband Brian--the dog people who joined us for lunch outside despite a strong wind (that knocked over my iced tea as well as many other things.) Cindy was my closest cousin growing up. We laughed over old stories and memories. 

We found some dog-friendly places. First, we stopped at Last Wave Brewing Company in Point Pleasant on our drive down. We each enjoyed two half-pours (they didn't offer flights.). Then we drove down Route 35 South instead of going back to the Garden State Parkway. We went to two dog-friendly restaurants in town: Bum Rogers Crabhouse and Island Beach Fish Company.

We stayed at a condo in Seaside Park, just south of Seaside Heights and its famous boardwalk. Our condo was in a great location, right off the main drag, but in a quiet area. We had an off-street parking spot, and it was only three steps to enter the condo.

I loved the neighborhood. We were close to the bay, and Jace and enjoyed exploring. One day, a duck was walking ahead of us. The next day we trailed a pair of ducks. A new experience for us. 

I really liked Seaside Park. While it has its share of beach McMansions, it retains some of the old-style bungalows that were the norm when I was growing up. I'd like to return.

What I'm Watching

We're ending fall 2012 with some classic film and television. (Sarcasm Alert.)

Up now: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
One of the toughest things in watching vampire movies is figuring out the mythology. How do you kill vampires? Stake in the heart is the traditional way. Sometimes exposing a vampire to sunlight burns him gradually, sometimes the sun explodes her. What's the status of silver? That's the traditional way to kill werewolves. Sometimes it kills or at least incapacitates vampires. Sometimes vampires turn into bats, sometimes other animals. Sometimes, it varies.

How can you tell for sure when you start a movie?

Abe shot his first vampire in the eye and then threw his gun into the river. I started to comment on vampire rules to Jeff and then learned that this film follows the traditional rule that bullets can't kill vamps (i.e. Abe was attacked by said vampire.)  Abe learned to use a silver-coated ax (hey, he's the rail-splitter, remember.)

I love the idea that southern slave-owners are the vampires/and vampire allies--a simple way to discredit the romantic idea of the old south--cavaliers and their fair ladies if I recall the beginning of Gone With The Wind correctly. Nothing romantic about the Old South. Enslavement of any group is equivalent to the enslavement of all humans. I didn't expect a meaningful parallel for such a silly idea of a movie.

Onto the action-filled finale, I said to Jeff, "I hate to say this in a movie about Abraham Lincoln as a vampire hunter, but this is getting silly."

At least Mary Todd Lincoln got a cool and appropriate revenge on the vampire who killed her son.

Next up: The series finale for Jersey Shore--yes, I'm watching to the bitter end. It starts with a bonfire/picnic on the beach. First commercial break: Damn, apparently there's a new movie--Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. That's one I hadn't heard of.

Back to Jersey Shore: A mystery frosting on a cake from a dumped girlfriend? Classy.

What is it that I originally liked about this show? (Is that a trick question?) It's hard to remember now. I started watching because I'm familiar with Seaside Heights ( at least the pre-Sandy Seaside.) There were a few funny lines such as "Party's here," and "I do great things--I'm a bartender."

I can't explain why I kept watching, but here I am. Goodbye Jersey Shore (although daily re-runs may continue for some time.)

Jersey Shore: Revisited

Earlier tonight, I watched the latest Jersey Shore episode. This is the final season--I think it's the fifth. I don't know why I continue to watch; I guess it's just habit. I haven't really enjoyed the show since the second season.

Like cast members of many reality shows, the people featured on Jersey Shore are not nice nor intelligent. It'd be hell to be friends with any of them. But obviously, something or someone was appealing--the show became a big hit.

Reality TV fame made the cast members more obnoxious, but the show never addressed their fame. It tried to ignore the crowds of people following the cast around. It tried to pretend that the management of The Shore Store would tolerate such bad employees.

Another strange thing about this season is that the cast now includes fresh-out-of-rehab and pregnant cast members. This is a challenge in a show that celebrates crazy, drunken behavior.

One reason I continue to watch is Superstorm Sandy. I look at the shots of the boardwalk and know it is no more. The roller coaster landed in the ocean. Who knows how much sand remains on the beaches. I wonder if the topography of the shoreline has changed--will Seaside still attract surfers? 

I may be bored by cast antics, but I enjoy glimpses of what used to be.

Wordplay

Last Sunday's New York Times Magazine had an article in the series, "Who Made That?" about spray tan. At the end of the article appeared the line"...the bottle tan...tends to brassier and Snookier than the real thing."

Snookier? Well as a lover of words and a SAT tutor, I love thinking and talking about words--what they mean--how they evolved.  As a Jersey Shore viewer, I know about Snooki. One of my favorite Snooki lines is,"I like being tan, bitch." That was Snooki's response to Angelina who said she was too tan in Season Two, Episode One.

Snookier. Snooki now joins an elite group whose name has evolved into a word. Time will tell if it lasts.

Season Finales

This week I watched two season finales of reality TV shows. My responses are vastly different.

Let's start with the good.

Face Off
Face Off opens a door to the make-up and special effects industry. It's fun and fascinating to watch how the artists create their persons/creatures. This year contestants created/recreated characters from the Wizard of Oz, Tim Burton films, animal/plant hybrids among others.

The second season ended on Wednesday. It was my first experience watching reality TV when I loved the three finalists. Rayce, Ian and RJ  were talented, nice and appreciative of the others' talents.

In the finale, each contestant (with assistance from previously eliminated contestants) created three figures in these genres: sci fi for Rayce, horror for Ian and fantasy for RJ.
Rayce won.

I'm psyched that the show has been renewed for season three and that season three will begin in June.

Now the bad: Jersey Shore.

I started watching Jersey Shore because it takes place in Seaside Heights, within walking distance of my cousin's home in Ortley Beach where I spent many a summer vacation. I got sucked in; it's hard to describe why. There was just something about the roommates that was fun to watch. Based on the show's ratings, many agreed with me.

Now in its fifth season, the show is just played out: people getting drunk, behaving badly, trashing houses. Enough is enough. The roommates have reached their expiration dates.

Birthday Getaway Part Two

We were gone only a day and a half, but it felt much longer--a relaxing and mellow getaway.

We left around 10:15, much later than our soft goal of 9 am. But by leaving later, we could go to White Silo Farm & Winery http://www.whitesilowinery.com/ on our way to Interlaken. White Silo specializes in both dry and sweet fruit wines. We tasted a few and checked out the current art show with furniture. We were especially impressed with a piece that looked like a wardrobe but opened into a workstation/desk. It was beautiful but cost $3700.

Our next stop was the Merwinsville Hotel. I suggested we drive down the South Kent Road to see if the old White Peach restaurant had reopened. Apparently a burger place will replace the Peach. We continued down to the hotel http://www.merwinsvillehotel.org/. I checked the calendar on the bulletin board but there wasn't any information that I hadn't seen before (I'm on the Merwinsville Hotel email list.)

On to Kent, where we had brunch and shopped at my favorite store, Foreign Cargo http://www.foreigncargogallery.com/.  Next stop: Kent Falls http://www.stateparks.com/kent_falls.html where we hiked the short but steep trail.

We had been listening to the Mets in the car. By the time we checked in, they had blown their lead against the Yankees. But we didn't let that drag us down. We walked down to the lake and threw the ball for Spike, had wine and cheese and watched the third season finale of Jersey Shore. (To be accurate, I watched Jersey Shore while Jeff took a nap.) Dinner at Morgans was excellent as always http://www.interlakeninn.com/morgans.html.

Monday morning we headed over to Millerton, New York. We did a little antiquing but spent most of our time in the tea tasting room at Harney's http://www.harney.com/visitus.asp

A great mini getaway--I got to go to my favorite restaurant and store and combine many of the things I love to do.

The F Word

I mean fat.

There were a series of posts on Shakesville last week about fat shaming--being fat shamed, doing fat shaming, etc. that started here http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/10/today-in-fat-hatred.html.

The infamous Marie Clare piece, Should "Fatties" Get A Room (Even on TV) also appeared last week. That article included the gem that the author has a problem with fat people walking across a room.

Check out Jersey Shore and you'll hear the fat insults flying. When Angelina says she's hot, the Situation tells her to lose five or ten pounds and then they'll talk. In Miami, Pauly mentions two beached whales on the beach; oh wait it's Angelina and her friend. By the way, these girls are not fat. But it doesn't seem to matter.

When did fat become the ultimate insult and the ultimate sin?

Jersey Shore Season Two

Four episodes into the second season--it's not quite the same. I prefer my guidos and guidettes in their natural habitat of Seaside Heights--the boardwalk and the t-shirt shop.

The Miami season is not without its charms. I liked watching the road trips of Pauly and Situation and Snooki and Jenni, Snooki the munchkin at the gelato shop, and the ridiculous farce of Snooki and Jenny writing an "anonymous" letter to Sammi and hiding it in her bureau drawer. Sammi may be dumb, but can she possibly be that dumb?

There's much too much of Sammi and Ronnie and their repetitive arguments. And then there's Angelina. I hate her. I can't help it--she has no redeeming qualities.

I'd like to see more family meals, GTL and non-Ronnie and Sammi relationship discussions. I'm still watching--the cast mates beat the Kardashians anyday.

Guilty Pleasures

After I woke up Sunday and brewed some coffee, I checked out what was on TV. I wanted to see what time the Mets were playing and check out what movies were on TCM. I love old movies, especially Warner Brothers films and most especially Bette Davis movies.

I found a Jersey Shore marathon. Last year, I was intrigued by a promo for the first episode when I realized that the action takes place in Seaside Heights, NJ. My cousin owns a house in Ortley Beach, within walking distance of the Seaside boardwalk. I spent many summer days in that house. I had to check the show out. But I didn't just watch the first episode; I was sucked in. I watched every show, multiple times.

I don't know what kept me glued to the screen. I'd be lying if I said I was studying the show to learn about the guido subculture. I was just fascinated. And I was obviously not alone as Jersey Shore mania swept the country.

What is it that makes something a guilty pleasure? Is it just the idea that if I didn't watch Jersey Shore, I'd be doing something worthwhile? Would I be volunteering with the homeless, reading Proust or writing the next great American novel? Who decides what is a worthwhile use of time? (Full disclosure here: I'm the woman who won Nanowrimo, writing a mystery novel using VH1 reality stars as my characters.)

I don't have any answers. But I will be watching Season 2 in July.