Happy birthday to Jack in NJ!

In this episode:

• the March NAVA meeting at the Digital Press video game store in Clifton, NJ,
• The Celebrity Apprentice starring Tom Green and Andrew “Dice” Clay,
• the horrible Heroes season three,
• finally watching the 3D episode of Chuck,
• Willie Aames’s garage sale,
• Corey Haim selling his teeth on eBay,
• Jack in NJ’s 40th birthday,
• Greg’s trip to Dave & Buster’s,
• the value of paunchstevenson.com on websiteoutlook.com,
• Google Earth vs. Microsoft Live Search Maps,
• Microsoft’s WorldWide Telescope,
• Vegas Vampires (2003) starring Fred Williamson, Richard Roundtree, and Daniel Baldwin,
• Greg’s favorite vampire movies: Underworld (2003), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996), John Carpenter’s Vampires (1998), Blade (1998), My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1988), etc.,
• Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,
• the upcoming movie The Three Stooges (2010) starring Sean Penn, Benecio Del Toro, and Jim Carrey,
• gun stores and shooting ranges,
• an old recording of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg using racial slurs,
• pointless extracurricular activities in high school,
• and celebrity deaths (Natasha Richardson and Paul Harvey).

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Read all about it.

No, we’re not talking about Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1976 song, which was covered nicely by Three Doors Down a few years ago, by the way. It’s the infamous maple syrup smell that has wafted throughout Greater New York City at random times over the last 4 years. I’ve caught a whiff of it many times. Usually when I am walking into work. Sometimes, like just last week, the syrup smell was very pungent, in my house in the middle of the night, with all of the windows closed!

Well, apparently, after hundreds of complaints from city residents over the years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg finally got to the bottom of it. The city and NJ environmental departments tracked the scent (I don’t know how they do that) to a small factory in North Bergen, NJ. The factory was making something with the herb fenugreek, which are seeds that contain an aromatic compound, sotolone, that is also found in maple syrup, so they are sometimes used to produce imitation syrup flavoring.

One might think it is nice to smell maple syrup in the air, that this should mask out the foul odors which have become a punchline for New Jersey. No I say. No. If I wanted to smell maple syrup, I want to be eating a flap jack!

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Don’t forget: nominate your Lame Idiot of 2008!

In this episode:

• special guest Adam in SC,
• Greg meeting Denis Leary at Barnes & Noble in Clifton, NJ,
• knighted celebrities,
• Adam’s movie review of The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) starring Keanu Reeves,
• our review of The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) starring Matt Damon,
• our review of Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007) starring Rowan Atkinson,
• our review of I Am Legend (2007) starring Will Smith,
• Eddie Murphy as the Riddler in an upcoming Batman movie,
• Reginald VelJohnson’s cameo as Capt. Al Powell in an episode of Chuck,
• a celebrity death (Majel Barrett-Roddenberry),
• and “Christmas in Jersey City” by David W. Jacobsen.

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As we discussed in episode 106, we got to meet James Rolfe, the Angry Video Game Nerd, at the Digital Press video game store in Clifton, NJ. Here are the photos:

Flickr – Digital Press, Clifton, NJ 6/28/08

Also, while browsing the store, we discovered there’s a Desperate Housewives video game:

Why?

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In this episode:

• another trip to the Digital Press video game store in Clifton, NJ (www.digitpress.com),
• meeting James Rolfe (the Angry Video Game Nerd) and trying to get him on the show,
• the Nostalgia Critic,
• celebrity deaths (Mel Ferrer, Bo Diddley, Harvey Korman, Jim McKay, Tim Russert, and George Carlin, thanks to www.deadoraliveinfo.com),
• What Ever Happened To? (Jim J. Bullock),
• a psycho in Union Square Park claiming NASA is going to blow up Jupiter on 7/7/08,
• Project Lucifer,
• a Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling update,
• Sean Connery’s memoirs,
• Kung Fu Panda (2008) starring Jack Black,
• You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (2008) starring Adam Sandler,
• Kevin Nealon’s horrible acting,
• Dana Carvey’s new HBO comedy special Squatting Monkeys Tell No Lies,
• Mike Myers,
• the upcoming movie Disaster Movie (2008),
• Frank Darabont’s Indiana Jones and the City of Gods script,
• the new Apple iPhone 3G and disposable gadgets,
• The Kid from Brooklyn on Last Comic Standing (www.thekidfrombrooklyn.com),
• Rob’s trip to California,
• Los Angeles vs. New York City,
• celebrity sightings (Lisa Bonet, Neil Patrick Harris, and Ryan Reynolds),
• and our listener Joe from Belleville, NJ.

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Callahan’s, a northern NJ institution in the realm of hot dog joints, has closed its last location this month, on Route 46 in Little Ferry. The small chain was begun by Artie Castrianni in 1950 in Fort Lee. That site and one in Hasbrouck Heights also closed. Really stinks for me, I used to get a burger and fries there for lunch. Leaves only places like the great Rutt’s Hutt in Clifton and a few Stewart’s locations and places similar as old time NJ eateries.

Callahan’s website while it lasts…. http://www.callahanshotdogs.com/main2.htm
Also reported on the Second Helpings blog http://njmg.typepad.com/foodblog/2008/06/bad-news-along.html

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Our interview with the Screaming Orphans at Tir Na Nog in NYC!

In this episode:

• getting Juliana Hatfield on the show,
• What Ever Happened To? (Natalie Imbruglia),
• friend and filmmaker Jonald Reyes,
• That Asian Thing on Independent Features (www.independentfeatures.com),
• The Net (1995) starring Sandra Bullock,
• a librarian at the Belleville Public Library trying to send a fax,
• our interview with Joan Diver of the Screaming Orphans at Tir Na Nog in NYC,
• Dennis Haskins,
• and the Screaming Orphans live.

Photos of the Screaming Orphans at Tir Na Nog:
Flickr – Screaming Orphans, NYC 5/10/08

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We interview Ted Danson and Ed Begley, Jr. at the Global Green Expo 2008 in Jersey City, NJ!

In this episode:

• TV newscasters (Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, and Peter Jennings),
• Pat O’Brien,
• the PSEG Global Green Expo 2008,
• a summary of Ted Danson’s keynote speech,
• Oceana (www.oceana.org),
• ocean trolling,
• fish contaminated with mercury,
• fake Duracell batteries,
• the pointlessness of autographs,
• our interview with Ted Danson,
• the Paunch bad luck,
• Ed Begley Jr. (www.edbegley.com),
• a raw sewage backup in Greg’s basement,
• our interview with Ed Begley Jr.,
• Fixing the Planet (www.fixingtheplanet.com),
• The Paunch Stevenson Show All-Stars,
• a summary of Ed Begley Jr.’s keynote speech,
• recycling and simplifying our lives,
• consumerism,
• Rob’s computer mouse problem,
• gardening,
• standby power,
• reusing grocery bags,
• the lack of environmentalism in TV shows and movies,
• and Autograph magazine’s list of the best and worst Hollywood autograph signers.

Photos, video, and additional audio from the expo:
Ed Begley and Ted Danson Global Green Expo 2008 Keynote Speeches

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Ted Danson photos:
Flickr – Global Green Expo, Jersey City, NJ 4/26/08

Ed Begley, Jr. photos:
Flickr – Global Green Expo, Jersey City, NJ 4/27/08

Ted Danson video:

Ed Begley, Jr. video:

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PSEG Global Green Expo 2008
Liberty State Park
Historic Central Railroad Terminal
Jersey City, NJ
Friday 4/25/08, 10:00-3:30
Saturday 4/26/08, 10:00-5:30, keynote speaker Ted Danson
Sunday 4/27/08, 10:00-4:30, keynote speaker Ed Begley, Jr.

Go Green Expo
The Hilton New York
1335 6th Ave. (near 53rd St.)
New York, NY
Saturday 4/26/08, 10:00-6:00
Sunday 4/27/08, 10:00-3:00

Episode 101 of The Paunch Stevenson Show will feature audio from the events. It’d be great to talk with Ted Danson, Kevin Bacon, and Ed Begley, Jr.!

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Our trip to Houlihan’s in NJ with special guest Dennis in CA!

In this episode:

• dealing with ridiculous customers at former jobs,
• PSEG’s upcoming Global Green Expo 2008 featuring Ted Danson and Ed Begley Jr. (www.nj.com/globalgreen),
• a truck accident in California releasing eight million bees onto the highway,
• The Swarm (1978),
• meeting Dennis at the Digital Press video game store in Clifton, NJ (www.digitpress.com),
• Thai-style calamari at Houlihan’s in NJ,
• the North Carolina Tar Heels,
• Esteban in South Dakota (pleasesavemerobots.blogspot.com),
• a guy in Texas who accidentally received Rob’s UPS package instead of the robot he ordered,
• Bicentennial Man (1999) starring Robin Williams,
• Will Ferrell,
• Be Kind Rewind (2008) starring Jack Black,
• Definitely, Maybe (2008) starring Ryan Reynolds,
• Explorers (1985) starring Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix,
• celebrity deaths (Arthur C. Clarke),
• Patrick Swayze’s pancreatic cancer,
• After Hours (1985) starring Griffin Dunne,
• GameStop’s midnight release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Nintendo Wii,
• Guitar Hero: Aerosmith,
• moronic families on Family Feud,
• Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones,
• Epic Movie (2007),
• and Arnold Schwarzenegger prank phone calls.

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Although Fun N Games is part of the mall, the entrance is on the outside. There was a table set up with small TVs and people playing Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike for the Sega Dreamcast. There was also:

an air hockey table near the entrance

a basketball free throw game in the back corner

racing games:
Daytona USA 2: Battle on the Edge, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Indy 500, Initial D Ver. 3, Midnight: Maximum Tune 2, etc.

light gun games:
Crisis Zone, The House of the Dead III, Police Trainer 2, Silent Scope EX, Time Crisis 3, Time Crisis 4, etc.

rhythm games:
Dance Dance Revolution Extreme Plus, DrumMania 10th Mix, In the Groove 2, etc.

one-on-one fighting games:
Capcom Vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, Street Fighter Anniversary Edition, etc.

pinball machines:
The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Simpsons Pinball Party

and other games:
Beach Head 2002, Derby Owners Club: World Edition, The Grid, Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga, Virtua Tennis 2, etc.

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The ITT Research Tower was built along Washington Avenue in Nutley, NJ, in 1947. It stood 300 feet high, and was a landmark visible from miles around. I think it was even present in some of the Microsoft Flight Simulators in the mid 1990′s. ITT was a defense-related research company, which had a massive complex on the site. The company would greatly downsize and eventually demolished half of the site and sold it for redevelopment. Part is now the Clifton Commons Mall. Rob and I often road our bicycles there in the early 90′s to play volleyball on the sand court, only to be chased out by a fat security guy in a jeep. In fact the above picture is one I took back around 1994 I think, of the tower and the volleyball court.

History of ITT Research at the site: www.microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/historicalTE.cfm

And of course, the Nazi Germany/UFO Alien conspiracy information (No I am not kidding)!
Source: ORION BASED TECHNOLOGY, MIND CONTROL AND OTHER SECRET PROJECTS, by Val Valerian

NEW JERSEY, NEWARK – German [Thule Society] infiltration of the American military-industrial complex following WWII, via the NSA, I.T.T., ARCO, EXXON, etc., led to the construction of massive joint alien-fascist underground complexes [stemming from the Nazi alliance with an alien collaboration, based under the Gizeh plateau of Egypt - via the Grant Orient Lodge of Egyptian Freemasonry and the various gnostic Bavarian cults that were brought back from Egypt during the Egyptian occupation by the armies of the so-called "Holy Roman Empire" of Italy-Austria-Germany]. Tunnel systems run from the I.T.T. Corporation building in Newark to the I.T.T. facility at Nutley, to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio [mag-lev tubes], to A.I.L., to Long Island [Montauk Point].

Here is a video of the tower being demolished in 1996, as well as preceding photos and the local news videos of the destruction. What a shame they turned the large green space there into a gated Townhouse community. I hate those. Those are not communities, they are seperated from the community.

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In this episode:

• a Michael Jackson update (www.cultnews.com/?p=1787),
• our Roving Mars (2006) IMAX movie review,
• other terrible IMAX movies like T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous (1998) and Across the Sea of Time (1995),
• Underworld: Evolution (2006) starring Kate Beckinsale and Scott Speedman,
• thirteen striking again,
• Al Bundy and bad luck,
• Mario Lemieux,
• Belleville, NJ trivia (Pathmark, Video Dynasty, Pizza And, Mickey’s Music, and Tobacco King),
• and defunct department stores (Bradlees, Caldor, and McCrory’s).

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In this episode:

• Arnold Schwarzenegger’s motorcycle accident,
• the song “Thirteen,”
• Friday the 13th,
• message board posts (Joe in NJ, Madu, and Sepper in Spain),
• a listener stupid style from Joe in NJ,
• the NJ Transit bus accident in Nutley, NJ,
• a local psycho (the crazy Greylock Parkway statue guy),
• the rickety old typewriter at FedEx Kinko’s in Manhattan,
• three new Michael Jackson lawsuits,
• and a Publisher’s Clearing House update.

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