Late night pen thread

Rutgers is up to #21 in the USA Today poll. Good for them. The 4-0 Scarlet Knights deserve much credit for their start this season.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Jets and Giants football Gameday!

And if you're NOT going to Liberty State Park for the free Aretha Franklin show and DO tend to worry about your favorite football teams on Sunday let's talk gridiron.

The Jets are home for a 1pm matchup with NFC powerhouse San Francisco. The Jets are largely up against it as what the 49ers do so well are troublesome for the Jets. The Niners run and run well. They have a great TE in Vernon Davis and some solid wide receivers. The Jets who recently have built their reputation on a shut down defense are currently ranked #21 in the NFL in total defense. When it's broken down to only rush defense the Jetropolitans are a poor 27th. No doubt Jim Harbaugh who kept his team in Ohio to practice this week will find some way to make his running game effective. More bad news for the Jets whose offense has rebounded from a moribund pre-season is that the 49ers employ a very good defense. 8th against the rush and 11th in scoring defense means the Jets are gonna have to go to the air today. Mark Sanchez is going to have to keep his composure, not turn the ball over and not get rattled. Still we see the San Francisco 11 emerging victorious today, yes even on the road.

Fearless Forecast:
San Francisco 23
New Jersey Jets 16

The G-Men are down in Philly where they blew up the Chicken Man lo those many years ago. It's a huge early NFC East test and will be shown live in living color at 8:20 tonight. Interesting matchup. The Giants are dinged up pretty well and Michael Vick can't stay healthy or complete a majority of passes to players on his own team. Intrigued yet? The Giants defense will have to stand tall as will the specialty teams for the Giants. It always seems if they play poorly against Philly the special teams let them down in some capacity. While Eli might not have his top guys catching balls tonight, he has shown through the years he can work with about any receivers and make them better. That doesn't mean he's gonna throw for 350 yards and 3 scores BUT it is an outside possibility any time he plays. Johnny thinks the difference will be that Tom Coughlin will outcoach Andy Reid, outprepare him and have his team ready from the word go. The Giants will put themselves in position to be successful and the Sheagals will have trouble doing just that.

Fearless Forecast:
New Jersey Giants 28
Sheagles 20

Your thoughts?

Not a Jets or Giants fan? Get over to Liberty State Park today for a FREE concert!

Now when we say concert in Liberty State Park on a gorgeous Sunday September afternoon, we mean CONCERT. None other than Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul, will be singing from 1-2 pm today!!

From the Jersey Journal:
This Sunday afternoon, the unsinkable Aretha Franklin will take to the stage at scenic Liberty State Park in Jersey City for an hourlong concert at the 4th Annual Celebrating Life and Liberty, a concert sponsored by the Hackensack University Medical Center. Gates open at 11 a.m., and Franklin, the headliner and main attraction, will sing from 1 p.m. until 2 p.m.

Late night open thread

It's the Saturday Night Scoreboard Show!

Alabama 33
Mississippi 14
Alabama could finish third in the AFC North.

Georgia 51
Tennessee 44
Can't anyone play ANY defense in college anymore?

West Virginia 70
Baylor 63
Apparently not.

Louisville 21
Southern Mississippi 17
Sadly, several players drowned during this game.

Middle Tennessee 49
Georgia Tech 28
We're pretty sure this shouldn't happen.

Lehigh 34
Fordham 31
Lehigh's perfect season continues as Jake Peery kicked a 22-yard field goal as time expired to get power up and win for the Mountain Hawks. Jake Peery may now loot and pillage South Mountain for 24 hours.

Robert Morris 31
Lafayette 28
RMU wins on a last second field goal and the Leopards hopes of an undefeated season come crashing down.

North Carolina 66
Idaho 0
Idaho, please collect your check and go home.

Jersey City Desk Game of the Week®
Miami 44
NC State 37
The Wolfpack secondary allowed a Miami receiver to get behind them with 19 seconds left who was so open he could have toasted marshmallows over the campfire he had time to build waiting for the winning score to land in his arms.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

A classic photo of olde New York on a rainy Saturday

Samuel H. (Samuel Herman) Gottscho (1875-1971)
Midtown Through Mist from Queensboro Bridge
1932

More magnificent images can be found at the Museum of the City of New York

Late night open thread

Celebrity real name night. What name did Margarita Cansino make movies under? Answer here.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with the STRAY CATS!

You wanna be cool don't you daddy-o? Seriously, you wanna be a hep cat and slink around with a smart cocktail and exude coolness don't you? Well push play and spin this platter, put on your Leopard Lodge bowling shirt, make a 7 & Seven and get your saunter on. The Stray Cats with 'Be-Bop-A-Lula' as only Brian Setzer can bring it to you.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with NIRVANA!

A little ditty Johnny thinks often gets overlooked in Nirvana's catalog because of the popularity of the Unplugged version of this song, which became such a bullet on the charts. Nirvana with 'All Apologies'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE STANDELLS!

Gather the kids around and make in an intragenerational thing. You can teach them the words and have a right fine singalong. The Standells with 'Dirty Water'

What's that bunky? No plans for Saturday?

Our neighbors down the river in Staten Island are getting a giant ferris wheel

And by giant we mean the biggest in the world. Yes, bigger than the pretender in London. The proposed 625 foot tall ferris wheel comes with a price tag of $230 million and will sit right near the "Status Island" Yankees ballpark and not entirely too far from the Staten Island ferry docks. The project should be completed and the wheel start spinning by 2015.

The ferris wheel will offer great views of Jersey City, New Jersey's Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan. You can see the picture of the imagined view courtesy of Mayor Mike's office.

The city has not finalized the name of the project/ferris wheel but we do know one of the final choices is "The Johnny Wheel" which we support 100%.

PATH fares set to go up Monday

So if you see your Metro Card losing money faster than normal that'd be why.

The price of a one-way ride will increase 25 cents to $2.25.

PATH riders will also pay more for multi-day passes. The seven-day Smart Link pass will cost $3 more or $24. The 30-day Smart Link pass will be $73, up $8.

So go a lot of places this weekend and squeeze every cent you can before the rate hike.

Late night open thread

The very furthest galaxies are spreading away from us at more than 90% of the speed of light. This matches up with Johnny's research which shows the very furthest galaxies are spreading away from us at more than 90% of the speed of light.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

A city view Thursday

A view of the new WTC from our fair city...

Late night open thread

"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between."
 -- Oscar Wilde

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

This week's winner of the "Just put that anywhere" award

A seen on Washington St. Sunday on the way to Satis for brunch. The car is a Buick Century and if you had a passenger in there it'd take them about a century to get out of the car. Well done citizen, "Just put that anywhere!"

Cooking with Johnny

Well, actually it's a recipe for corn chowder Johnny is passing along because it sounds good and the fresh corn this time of year is just perfect for a great dish. Corn chowder, mmmmmmmmm.

Follow this link for Nora Martinez DeBenedetto's recipe and if you make it please tell us how it went.

Late night open thread

Keep it down, Bert is trying to read.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Fresh Direct®, the NFL replacement referees of the grocery delivery game

Yes football fans (and fans of groceries) Johnny DID have something else to do at 10:20, in fact he was almost out the door when Fresh Direct® arrived NINETY minutes early at least (he HAD asked that they come between 12-2pm and had confirmation of said) knocking on his door with his delivery. Guess Johnny's meeting could wait eh? That's the funny thing about frozen and refrigerated food, it's gotta be put away post-haste. So thanks for getting the game time entirely wrong Fresh Direct®, if that were all Johnny might have just let it go at a phone call.

But the replacement referees as food delivery company had more surprises in store. In a plastic container that should have been vacuum sealed and where you needed to really pull on a plastic tab to open it had somehow been opened and watermelon cubes and juice were all over the box and all over the groceries. Here is a pic after most things were pulled out:

Johnny asked one of the guys if a box seemed to be leaking. The fellow grunted and kept setting boxes down. Johnny never did get a straight or cognizant answer from the Fresh Direct® delivery guy. He never was asked to sign for his groceries like, well, always, so he can correct issues such as this. They dropped the boxes and got the hell out of Dodge. And a mea culpa, Johnny did call Fresh Direct (and was up until today a Chef's Table Member, a higher level of customer that is supposed to get better service ie an elite airlines customer). They did offer to replace the watermelon. Thanks but no thanks, Johnny would rather take the time and show you in the real world how your food arrives without taking  money for it.

So thanks Fresh Direct, Johnny sure appreciates the fact he had to move an appointment to take delivery. Now he's off to clean watermelon juice off of his wood flooring. As for the Chef's Table Membership, you can keep that Fresh Direct®. It's not working.

Late night open thread

Dear Roger Goodell, the term XFL is trending on Twitter. That should be reason enough to pay the real referees a real wage and end your stupid power play. The NFL's reputation is taking a massive self-inflicted crater. I'd just give them what they ask for and then double it.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Big TeeVee premiere tonight in Jersey City for a show Johnny didn't know anything about

The Power House Lounge at 360 Marin Blvd. (Not Marlin Blvd. as their shuttle vans used to famously say) is hosting Jersey City native Freddie Robinson Jr. and his famous friends to help debut the new reality show (Oh that's why -- Johnny knows nothing of this sort of show) Chrissy & Mr. Jones. There will be an actual red carpet from 8:30-9 pm (The red carpet itself is on load from the Jersey City Desk as Johnny makes the interns roll it out for him when he gets to work) with a cocktail reception after the show.

Johnny loved the rather awkward way the article reporting this ended. It made it sound soooo odd we think:

The premiere is an exclusive event. To RSVP, contact Love Logan at Loveloganproductions.gmail.com.

It's the .gmail that makes it extra highbrow don't you think?

So there you have it reality teevee fans, get on over to the Power House Lounge and cheer for this show to do better than the last reality show shot in Jersey City with those two Italian girls with the shitting dogs.

Late night open thread

"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."
-- Groucho Marx

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

A quick note on the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS game today

The New Jersey Jets take their talents to South Beach today for a 1pm kickoff against the swimming mammals clad in aqua. This is one of those Admiral Akbar "It's a TRAP!" games for the Jetropolitans. On the road, Miami early in the season where it'll be a cool 86º gametime degrees with intermittent rain. The Jets had a tough loss last week against a top club in the Steelers and host the 49ers next weekend. In between sits a very unsexy Miami team. Historically the Fins play the Jets well and these games tend to be offensive shootouts.

If the Jets can't run today and Miami can, around 4pm it'll be nailbiting time.

The quintessential Jersey City Sunday morning destination

Gotta get your Wonder Bagel on...

Late night open thread

Saturday night scoreboard show

Michigan State 23
Eastern Michigan 7
If any other Division 1-A school had shown up in East Lansing, Sparty was in big trouble.

Rutgers 35
Arkansas 26
The Razorbacks freefall continues. Ranked #8 just a couple weeks ago now 1-3. Isn't it time Rutgers gets ranked?

N Illinois 30
Kansas 23
The MAC cleaned up today, read on...

Western Michigan 30
Connecticut 24
The little horsies from Kalamazoo FTW.

Central Michigan 32
Iowa 31
The Mid American Conference was on a rampage today.

Ball St. 31
South Florida 27
More MAC madness

Lehigh 28
Liberty 26
Lehigh's shot at a perfect regular season continues.

Fordham 20
Columbia 13
Sheer excitement as Fordham wins on the road.

West Virginia 31
Maryland 21
The annual bad loss in Morgantown that leads to the loss of couch life is still out there but it is not this day.

South Carolina 31
Missouri 10
Mizzou's difficult welcome to the SEC continues.

Notre Dame 13
Michigan 6
This just in, Denard Robinson just threw another interception.

The Jersey City Desk Game of the Week®
Sioux Falls 21
Bemidji St. 5

Bemidji St. took a seemingly insurmountable 5-0 lead into the locker room at halftime and yet, managed to lose. You just can't blow those 5-0 leads and expect to get a bid to a BC$ bowl.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

It is as official as official can be -- NYC has chosen the cab of the future and boy is it lacking

For whatever reason Mayor Bloomberg and the NY TLC have decided that the taxi of tomorrow is the Nissan NV200 no matter that it looks like the awkward minivan of yesterday. We still do not know why NYC decided that the Nissan was the answer (Not handicap accessible) when there was a better choice available from Ford. So thanks to Mayor Mike and the TLC for turning their backs on a US automaker (The Nissan dumpmobile will be built in Cuernavaca, Mexico). The new Nissan "taxis" will be required to replace all retiring taxis as of late 2013.

So what about it Mayor Bloomberg, how is it possible that you are most likely violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by not requiring ANY of these new taxis be handicap accessible? ONE percent of NYC taxis are wheelchair accessible. ONE percent. Mayor, have you ever had to hail a wheelchair accessible cab? Try it. They don't run window A/C units out to keep them cool like you get.

The city sure blew this one, and one wonders about just how this too good to be true for Nissan deal came into being. We wonder what came of Marty Markowitz and Bill de Blasio asking Comptroller John Liu to investigate the whole bidding process. That'd be a great question for John Liu as he runs for mayor.

Late night open thread

Proverb night: "I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn't work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness."

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with LUCINDA WILLIAMS!

And the sidewinding sass of 'Can't Let Go'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE VELVET UNDERGROUND!

Yes kids, sometimes great a song can be a little bleak. The Velvet Underground with 'There She Goes Again'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with BRYAN FERRY!

If you're up late and made it past our bouncers out front to this here after-hours hangout we call The Orbit Room, you're in with 'The 'In' Crowd'.

Once again our area will be asked for restraint in the face of schoolyard bully tactics

Let's get this out of the way. This group has a right to post these billboard ads and always should have that right.

That being said.

A group calling itself the American Freedom Defense Initiative has won a court case and has decided to run an ad in ten NYC subway stations which can really only be construed as a finger in the eye to local Muslims. The ad will read:

“In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.

There you go, this is what one Pamela Geller, executive director of the AFDIEIEIO wanted posted badly enough she went to court to get it. Isn't it great? Doesn't it help advance the discussion? Even online comment trolls have a rule that once you call someone a name in the parrying, you lose the argument. Savages? Sure a smattering of Muslims commit horrific and inexcusable acts of terror. We ask you Pam Geller, would you sign off on a billboard that points out if Muslims did to generations of children what Catholic priests did with the full knowledge of the Catholic church, you'd push for Islam to be outlawed in America? Would you put one up that rightly points out Israel broke far more United Nations human rights resolutions than Iraq before the war in 2003? Every religion is guilty of savage behavior at some point. It is the nature of the beast called blind faith. Always has been.

Calling the other guy a savage really makes this American Freedom Defense Initiative look desperate.


"...and it's a beautiful day..." -- Marge Gunderson, Fargo

Late night open thread

“What you need is sustained outrage...there's far too much unthinking respect given to authority.” 

-- Molly Ivins

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Somewhere there's a toothpaste ad dying to be born from this

No smiling allowed when you get your drivers license picture taken in New Jersey. Really. Because the state says a nice big smile will throw off its face recognition software, they are banned. Look straight ahead, look glum, maybe you can crack a smile without being sent to the back of the line. No grinning.

The reason given is that it helps crack down on identity theft and what not:

"That could be someone trying to steal someone else's identity to get insurance benefits, or someone trying to get out of a DUI by getting a license under another name," said Mike Horan, spokesman for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission. "This helps us weed out fraud."

And citizens just suppose your information was breeched and later you were told of this breech, just how fast do you think law enforcement or heaven forbid the state MVC is going to give you ALL the information you need to fight back? It's why they say they need this from you now but you'll wait forever to get this info if you become a victim if you're allowed to see it at all. Yeah. it's to help you.

So when you go for your renewal eat a few Lemonheads and have at because that'll be the first picture of you to hit the news should you run afoul of the laws of this here Garden State.

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

It's talk like a pirate day you scabbard dogs

Try not to smell like a kettle of fish you bilge rats or we'll tie you to the yardarm.

Late night open thread

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk.  That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
-- Ernest Hemingway

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Fall is arriving, hold on to your butts

He have both a high wind advisory today from noon to midnight and a shot at 2 inches of rain. Winds upwards of 50 miles per hour in driving rain is possible. Johnny took a  drive around town this morning and watched someone with a wind-broken umbrella just simply drop it and keep going. This is unacceptable. If you take an umbrella out in 50 mph winds and it gets torn apart (gee, really?) YOU have the responsibility to find a trash can.

That is all...

Late night open thread

What a firecracker of a night readers -- a chance to meet and speak with Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart. Two huge idols growing up. It's funny. Johnny never ever has cared they're women. It was just cool they rocked and played great music. Ann did not remember Johnny from the first row of the Flint IMA Auditorium show in 1978 for those scoring at home.

Heart with one of Johnny's all time favorite jams, 'Heartless'


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

It would be legally, morally and ethically wrong to toss Gary Bettman off the Chrysler Building...

...but if someone decides to do it can you film it so the rest of the REAL hockey lovers can enjoy it many many times? Devils fans, your organization is complicit in this coming rant, you know Johnny loves you but, well, facts are facts.

Gary Bettman (hereafter to be known in this rant as "Commissioner Jackhole") has shut down the NHL again for a few of his owner friends. Not ALL owners mind you, no, just these captains of industry who demand to own a team in a SOCIALIST system. Set salary caps, tax the workers more every time to put money in the state's hands. When you want to extract more money just shut down the plant. Yes many of Commissioner Jackhole's "southern strategy" teams aren't doing so well. All that buy in cash in the form of franchise fees is long gone, those teams never could support themselves and it kicks off this spiral of lockout after lockout after lockout (3 on Mr. Jackhole's watch as the NHL's fearless leader).

Like we said, not all owners are with the Commissioner on this. They have successful teams built the right way. Unlike say, mmmm, The Minnesota Wild. A team that just busted the bank for two all-star players KNOWING they were in mere months going to look to Gary Bettman and say "Cut their piece of the pie, it's killing my bottom line. I just can't do business like this."

In other words it's not "don't stop me before I spend again" but "please protect me when I do."

If I were a Devils fan I'd be very worried right now. They are ready-built hockey "markets" out there like Kansas City, Portland/Seattle (because Vancouver needs a playmate) and some say they might put a professional team in Columbus one day. Honey Badger Gary doesn't give a shit as long as there might be a couple more franchise fees to gnaw on.

Something else Commissioner Jackhole won't discuss that much folks, revenue sharing. These failing franchises are being wheezed back to life yearly by the revenue sharing wherein teams like the Rangers, Red Wings, Canadiens, Flyers and a few others pay millions to prop up Nashville, Carolina, Florida, the artists formerly known as the Thrashers, Phoenix and a handful of others (Yes Devils this is where you fit in). More socialism from the lower end owners again. See if this is how business works; The Canadiens pay X millions in revenue sharing and money from that pot goes to say Nashville so Nashville has money to bid against the Canadiens for free agents and such. And as long as this kind of untoward thing goes on should these poorer market owners be able to shake down the players for more money after the players caved 7 years ago to the owners demand of a salary cap? These owners signed that deal.

Commissioner Jackhole you come off as a miserable little petty man in all this. A sniveling huckster who happens to have a trump card. You sneer from behind your office windows at hockey fans you spew platitudes at. You don't know how hockey fans feel because you're not one. You had never attended an NHL game before you became commissioner, you said it yourself.

Johnny's going to give the last words on this to Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun:

Almost every time Gary Bettman opens his mouth, I have this tendency to want to slam my fist right into it.

And I’m not, in any way, what you’d call a violent person.

It’s his way, his voice, his condescension, his verbal cadence, his don’t-you-understand-I’m-the-smartest-man-in-the-room vibe that makes him so impossible to believe or trust.

So here we are again, held hostage by the NHL boss for the third time — a distinguished record of most work stoppages by one commissioner — with an absolutely unnecessary lockout, his league with record revenues, the players with record high salaries, fighting over increments and percentages. And this time, without a need to change the game, without a philosophical argument, with Bob Goodenow long gone, there is no one to truly detest from the players’ side.

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Sure as the sun rises in the east the Jersey City Desk is back on the air!

And no a comet did not hit Europe last night creating all the psychedelic colors. That's just Photoshop horseplay and so forth. Do not panic late-rising citizens of our fair city.

Late night open thread

Well kids Johnny is off for a week of fun and frolic on the sunny shores of Martha's Vineyard. You'll simply have to look up those obscure college football scores on your own Saturday night. The interns are back to school and only part timing so we'll just close the WOPR down for the week and let Zoltron enjoy his new Sears Toughskins jeans at recess.

Be good and we'll see you all back here next week (Does anyone wonder why an Indian chief is always on these signs?).

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Get your Kodak Instamatics ready tonight and head to the river

One of those wonderful moments for photography enthusiasts. In honor of Fashion's Night Out in New York City, the Empire State Building will be lit up completely red. While not uncommon to be seen in conjunction with other colors, straight red is a rare sight indeed.

Patty Griffin with 'Flaming Red'

News roundup day

There's a lot going on but nothing that requires our full attention. News you can use:

Governor Christie says utility companies should pay up for slow responses to storms and other problems. You can read about what Christie calls "avoidable mistakes" here.

Goya Foods has broken ground on their new Jersey City HQ.

There is a pizza eating contest Sunday at the Liberty Science Center. Get in there and win one for the anchovies.

The Giants laid an egg last night against Dallas. Some fans were blaming replacement referees. Your thoughts?

The Great Satan has died. Rot in hell you sonofabitch.

Late night open thread

This Clinton feller should run for office one day.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

With all eyes on the DNC Convention in Charlotte, the Jersey City mayor's race heats up

While the Democratic Party holds their convention down in Charlotte North Carolina, Mayor Healy who is in Charlotte has launched his re-election campaign website for the 2013 mayors race. He has launched mayorhealy.com to kick off his campaign. When asked why he'd launch it from so far away a Healy campaign ally said:

“So when he runs into people at the hotel, they won’t say, ‘Are you running,’ they’ll say, ‘How can we help?’ ”

Healy endorsers include Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith, Hudson County Executive Tom DeGise, Freeholder Jeffrey Dublin and Assemblymen Sean Connors and Jason O’Donnell.

Color hat-in-the-ring City Councilman Steve Fulop less than impressed with Healy's endorsements:

“The only endorsement that counts to me is the residents of Jersey City,” Fulop said. “These career politicians that endorsed Healy today have 15 jobs between them, so of course they want the status quo, which Healy represents.”

So, Healy vs Fulop (When Mr. Fulop gets his mayoral website up and running we'll also give that a one-time link) and the gloves are officially off. But is this only going to be a two-person race? Many are speculating that state Senator Sandra Cunningham may join the race to hold the job her late husband held from 2001-2004.

Ah fall, the politics get bigger and nastier.

Late night open thread

"Forty" is the only number which has its letters in alphabetical order. "One" is the only number with its letters in reverse alphabetical order.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

The cost of a taxi in NYC is going up

17% as of today as a matter of fact. This will be the first rise in taxi fare costs in eight years. What does this mean and how will it impact you? Here are some numbers:

The new medallion taxicab rates are as follows:

For trips in New York City:
- $2.50 initial charge (first 1/5 mile);
- $0.50 MTA tax;
- $0.50 per each additional 1/5 mile;
- $0.50 per 60 seconds in stopped or slow traffic;
- $1.00 surcharge from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, excluding holidays;
- $0.50 night surcharge from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily.

Trips to/from JFK International Airport and Manhattan:
- $52.00, plus any tolls and/or tip;
- the $0.50 night surcharge shall not be added to this flat rate;
- the $1.00 peak surcharge shall not be added to this flat rate;
- the $0.50 MTA tax SHALL be added to this flat rate.

Trips to Newark Airport:
- the amount shown on the taximeter plus a surcharge of $17.50; and
- all necessary tolls to and from the destination.

According to the story on Gothamist not every cab is charging the new rates, some may still be charging the old rate until September 30th. Be advised

Late night open thread

If you loved Mystery Science Theater 3000 do enjoy Cinematic Titanic with a portion of their interpretation of the horrid movie The Alien Factor.


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Happy Labor Day Jersey City!

And of course to all our friends and readers. Labor Day is a lot of things to a lot of people. A celebration of organized labor, a backyard BBQ, a last trip of summer, or just a reflection on all you do to keep things going. To that end Johnny does have a story and a statistic to share. First the fact:

In (New Jersey) the third-wealthiest state in the nation with the seventh-largest economy, more than a third of all households — 1.1 million — are unable to provide the basic necessities of food, housing, transportation, child care and health care.

And here is the rest of this very sobering article on just how hard our friends and neighbors work and it simply isn't enough. Please think about these folks next time you feel like yelling at a service industry employee over the most banal thing. Think about them when you hear someone repeat Mitt Romney's line he likes to fire people. Think about them when someone tells you austerity is the only way forward.

Most of all think about them because they are our fellow Americans.

Late night open thread

Homer will be hanging out all evening for your enjoyment.


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Sadly Jersey City, our days are numbered

The age of men is over, the time of the Grim Lock has come.

Late night open thread

If college football is back you can rest assured Saturday night's open thread is the Saturday Scoreboard Show:

Alabama 41
Michigan 14
This game was an instant classic in Columbus and East Lansing.

Rutgers 24
Tulane 12
Jawan Jamison's strong running helps Rutgers win on the road.

Youngstown St. 31
Pitt 17
Somebody forgot to tell Youngstown St. they were only supposed to come and pick up a check.

Lehigh 27
Monmouth 17
The Mountain Hawks start strong and get their 10th regular season win in a row.

Kansas St. 51
Missouri St. 9
Don't let the score fool you, this was only 16-9 K-State entering the 4th where they scored 35 points.

Montana 35
South Dakota 24
Montana keeps the Mangy Prairie Dog trophy for another year.

LSU 41
North Texas 14
LSU don't give a shit if there's no honey badger.

Oklahoma St. 84
Savannah St. 0
Savannah St.'s players should have to fly home from this game with no pants.

Jersey City Desk Game of the Week®
Maryland 7
William & Mary 6
People paid to see this game. They paid for parking, to tailgate, the ticket, the concessions inside all to watch Maryland lay around for three and a half quarters before somehow managing just enough effort to tip William & Mary. You gotta REALLY love Maryland football to watch this.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Come on people, let's make this event a HUGE success

As a community let's help the great people at See Spot Rescued get some of these wonderful pups adopted at this Hound About Town event. Johnny knows first-hand how great this organization is and how much he himself has gotten to know more neighbors out walking his pooch.

Adopting a dog really can be a great way to get to know your neighborhood besides the obvious benefits. Just click on the image for a bigger more readable size.

Poll: 19% of Garden Staters have at least one tattoo

So, fess up readers, do you sport any artwork? Johnny will go first, he has two.

As the sign at the first place Johnny got inked over the door said. "Remember, people with tattoos are cooler than you and can kick your ass."

You can read the story here. It's a worthwhile read.

Late night open thread

Now that Sparty has started out with a hard fought victory, tomorrow evening it'll be time to pop some corn and watch Alabama grind Michigan's bones to make their bread. Ahhhh, it's the simple things that make life so darned much fun.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with DIRE STRAITS!

Labor Day weekend calls for some labor-themed music don't ya think? Well then since time is money we'll get the production line going with Dire Straits and 'Industrial Disease'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN!

Well duh.

Bruce Springsteen, 'Pay Me My Money Down'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with PATTY GRIFFIN!

We put a wrap on songs about labor with this gem from Patty Griffin, 'Making Pies'

Big gem