In an alternate universe, with better cinema, Todd Solondz gets all the credit and attention given here to Kevin Smith. Solondz continues to reign as New Jersey's best indie director.

This movie taps the same vein as Happiness and Storytelling. Not quite the sadistic beat-down of Happiness, and the sex scenes are not as "good" as Storytelling, but it will still have you feeling horrible laughing at it. Every character is unlikable in some way, and every one of them will drop at least one line that will make you groan. In the end, the messages are all positive, but you must survive through the presentation to see it.

A followup to Welcome to the Dollhouse, the movie begins with Dawn Wiener's funeral. And, you guessed it, she killed herself. This one follows Aviva (played by several different actresses) through her adventures with low self-esteme, abortion gone wrong, hardcore Kansas Christians, abortion doctor killing re-born ex-cons, and a Solondz size dose of characters that reek of New Jersey in all the wrongest of ways.

imdb: Palindromes (2004)

] Drivers in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states did
] worst. Twenty percent of test-takers failed there.
]
] The state of Rhode Island leads the nation in driver
] cluelessness, according to the survey. The average test
] score there was 77, just eight points above a failing
] grade.
]
] Those in neighboring Massachusetts were second worst and
] New Jersey, third worst.

] For instance, one out of five drivers doesn't know that a
] pedestrian in a crosswalk has the right of way, and one
] out of three drivers speeds up to make a yellow light,
] even when pedestrians are present, the study said.

All these things make the roads of the Northeast very exciting. Personally, I think the south is the most enjoyable place to drive in the US.

Lets all remember the golden rule of driving: "Get the fuck out of the way."

CNN.com - Northeastern drivers worst in country - May 27, 2005

] But when the heavy gun in the left wing of an Air
] National Guard F-16 fighter jet fired Wednesday night, it
] sent 25 rounds of 20mm ammunition smashing through the
] roof and zinging off the asphalt parking lot of the
] Little Egg Harbor Intermediate School 3 1/2 miles from
] the range.

I love my state, I really do.

CNN.com - Fighter jet strafes New Jersey school - Nov 5, 2004

] Electoral College:
]
] Bush 213 Kerry 175
]
] As part of the Bush Convention bounce, Michigan and New
] Jersey have moved to the Toss-Up column in our Electoral
] College projections. Both states had been leaning in
] Kerry's direction. The first Rasmussen Reports state
] polling data released after the Republican Convention
] showed Minnesota remaining firmly in the Toss-Up column.
]
] President Bush now leads in states with 213 Electoral
] Votes while Senator Kerry leads in states with 175.
] Neither man, however, can yet count on the 270 Electoral
] Votes needed for victory in November. States where the
] candidates are within five percentage points of each
] other are considered Toss-Ups.

Rasmussen is one of the best at poll analysis. He correctly predicted the size of the Bush convention bounce, days before recent polls showed that Time and Newsweek signifcantly overestimated it.

Rasmussen Polling Reports

] The Suns came up with the idea when their son was leaving
] for college at Princeton University. After realizing how
] difficult it would be to send what he needed with him on
] a plane and how expensive it would be to ship things to
] New Jersey, DormRoomExpress was born. The Suns began
] selling packages late this spring. "We thought, you know,
] he can't be the only one having to trudge all these
] things across the country," Susan Sun said.
]
] Lauren Schrader, an incoming freshman at the University
] of Colorado at Boulder, was an early recipient of
] DormRoomExpress' best-selling item -- the Dean's List DR
] Express Kit. This package includes a pillow, sheets,
] comforter, fan and desk lamp. It cost about $30 less than
] buying piecemeal what she needed for school, Schrader
] said. "It's just really easy and it was free shipping.
] That's always a bonus."

A cool concept, but a little thin on the details. Regardless of whether your are pulling necessities out of a uhaul or or from a fedex box at the campus post office, move-in is teh suck.

If colleges were smart, they would bundle this stuff themselves. Allow someone to pick out a swatch of carpet for the dorm, sheets for the bed, extra shelves, etc, online. Then, you charge the people for already having it in the room when the student arrives on move in! Colleges can buy in bulk that so that the price, even with the added cost of having it in the the room already, would be competitve with your local Target or Walmart.

Setting Up the Dorm Remotely

] The traditional boundaries of education are disappearing
] with the New Jersey Virtual High School. With the New
] Jersey Virtual High School, no longer do students have to
] be subject to rigid definitions of time and place. The
] New Jersey Virtual High School empowers you to become
] educated utilizing the freedom of the Internet. Earn your
] credits where you want and when you want. If you are
] still interested but have questions about the virtual
] high school, check out the FAQs. If you're completely
] convinced about the New Jersey Virtual High School and
] ready to go, follow the simple three steps below.

This is kind of funny. I had no idea there was a such thing.. I'm not sure this is such a good idea.

It is amusing.. Note the logo's, which look as if they were done in Paint. Everything is in shades of gray, with some hints of green. If their idea of a NJ education is staring at that for months, then they are close.

New Jersey Virtual High School - from MOESC

Exurbia is the New Cyberspace, the virtual has become physical, and David Brooks is a genius.

You will laugh (repeatedly), you will cry, you will be inspired, and you may even see a bit of yourself in the story. Ultimately, his purpose is to motivate your inner consumer to buy his new book.

We're living in the age of the great dispersal.

The population of Atlanta increased by 22,000 during the 90's, but the expanding suburbs grew by 2.1 million.

The geography of work has been turned upside down.

In these new, expanding suburbs, life is different in ways big and small. When the New Jersey Devils won the Stanley Cup, they had their victory parade in a parking lot.

In the age of the great dispersal, it becomes much easier to search out and congregate with people who are basically like yourself. Society becomes more segmented, and everything that was hierarchical turns granular.

Our Sprawling, Supersize Utopia

] Pork Roll is a true New Jersey sophisticated flavor trend
] that can only be described as savory, distinctive,
] extraordinary, & delicate in comparison to ham, sausage
] or bacon... there is no other taste like it! Now others
] can experience the taste sensation that we here in New
] Jersey have known about for years! For breakfast, lunch,
] dinner or even as a snack... you decide!

I am Pork Roll deprived in San Francisco!

Hmm.. Pork Roll.. Cheese.. Kaiser bun..

Once I'm past the beginning of the month lack of cash, I'm going to order one off the 3lb rolls, go into this one breakfast place by where I live, and make them aware of this wonderful meat's existence. Pork Roll MUST make it to the west coast.

I can't take it any longer!

Pork Roll - New Jersey's Best Kept Secret

Top 10 reasons why British people think poorly of American visitors:

...

8. They don't know who Guy Fawkes is. ("Who? Guy Fox? Nah, don't know him... Is he from New Jersey?")

The Gunpowder Plot: Guy Fawkes

] Slater went to his parent's house on Melville Avenue
] Tuesday night, telling them he had a hand gun, that he
] wanted to kill himself by committing "suicide by cops,"
] Gasser said.
]
] His parents asked him to leave, but he returned
] sometime overnight or the next morning. His mother called
] Kimball Medical Center, here, for advice and personnel
] there told her she should call the police, who arrived at
] 1 p.m.
]
] Several officers surrounded the house and asked Slater
] to surrender his weapon and talk to him. The man, who was
] described as agitated and dancing around, would pop in
] and out of the house, refusing to do as asked.
]
] About 45 minutes later, he stood outside the doorway
] and attempted to take a handgun out of his waist band.
] After it accidentally fired toward officers without
] hitting them, Smith decided that officers were in danger
] and fired one shot that hit Slater's inner thigh, Gasser
] said.
]
] Slater dropped his weapon and uttered an obscenity
] before he was subdued by officers who applied a
] tourniquet while waiting for EMTs, Gasser said.

"Suicide by Cops", oh, thats so rich.. That's a great band name.

This is so very New Jersey.

APP | Lakewood, New Jersey - Attempted 'suicide by cops'