I Am Not Snookie

Ok, I had big hair in high school.
And then, again, in the 80s.
And, I love The Shore. The photos above are Ocean Grove. 
But, they could well be Asbury Park -- which is where the party pix was taken. 
The Shore is an essential part of summer. Every summer.
It is The Shore. Not The Beach. Some states may have beaches. I don't care about they.
And, it's Down the Shore. Not Down TO the Shore. Other states may need prepositions. We don't need no lousy prepositions.
Same with Up the Lake, which is the subject of the other 2 photos: Brady Cove on Lake Hopatcong and the dam at the Hopatcong State Park where the lake enters the Musconetcong River.
Ok, ok, I love having a tan and I don't think much about melanoma. I mean, seriously, this is a state where Ford Motor Company poured paint waste into a mine, where Ciba-Geigy snuck a pipe into the Delaware Bay in the middle of the night, where the mob deposited any number of bodies and who knows what else. We're gonna worry about the SUN? Be serious. 
I may have, in my younger days, worn tight jeans and low cut tops. But, normal Jersey Girls know when it becomes too late to wear a Raceway Park halter top -- except maybe to weed the garden. It's been a long time since I sat on Big John Cassidy's lap in a dive bar in Keyport. 
I have been known to wear oversize hoop earrings. Even now.
But, for the post part, I grew up. Mostly. 
I probably didn't grow up as early as most people. That's why they call us Jersey Girls.
And, by the way, don't mess with us.
And don't call us Snookie.

Sherlockian

Sherlock Holmes is an ico.
For most of us of my generation, Sherlock IS Basil Rathbone and Dr. Watson IS Nigel Bruce.
There are too few of those movies because of Bruce's early death. Rathbone knew Holmes and Watson are more than a team. They are a unit. To be the perfect Holmes, he must have his perfect Watson. 
Perhaps the most perfect Holmes/Watson duo was Jeremy Brett/Edward Hardwicke.Also cut short by an early death, that partnership ended far too soon.
Some people are Sherlock purists. Good for them.
I figure Conan Doyle would be ok with a little license. 
It's arguable Guy Ritchie's version is not Sherlock Holmes at all. They are action-adverture movies set in the 1890s. 
I happen to like the two Guy Ritchie moves. Not as Sherlock Homes movies, but as fun movies. Robert Downey Jr.. is a fine actor in any role. He and Jude Law play off each other very well. 
Sherlock Holmes has always been a buddy story. The play of the two characters against each other is an integral part of each Sherlock Holmes story. In that respect Downey/Law pulls it off. 
And Jared Harris is the best Moriarity EVER.As bright as Holmes and subtle in his evil. 
I was skeptical of a modern day Sherlock when my friend Cece pointed it out to me. 
"You'll like it," she said.
When lots of people say than, you know you'll hate it, but Cece and I have known each other since 9th grade. We bonded over being the offspring of teachers in our high school. Math teachers. Lot of bonding there. So she knows me. Really KNOWS me. 
I love it. Benedict Cumberbatch (don't you love British names?) is Sherlock for the modern era. A new version couldn't be done without a few modification. Watson has a blog. Sherlock has a cigarette habit, not cocaine, although he makes 7% references occasionally. 
But Sherlock is still ignorant of things like basic astronomy. He's still awkward with women. And in love with Irene Adler. 
It can be said there was already a modern Holmes in the American TV show, House, but that was just an homage, a reference. Holmes is ignorant of social graces. House was mean. Watson was married and far less neurotic than Wilson (although I'd watch Robert Sean Leonard read the phone book -- remember him in Dead Poet's Society? I mean he was a CHILD and was incredible.) 
As for the present American show, Elementary, I can't watch it. Bringing Holmes/Watson to America is just too far. Even my son who adores Lucy Liu says it's too ridiculous to be watchable. 
But, there will always be a Holmes. And, there will be successful and disastrous versions. Perhaps the originals would be a great choice for summer reading. 

A Family Affair

Years ago, when I covered Roxbury Township in Morris County, the municipal building was a sprawling structure on Horseshoe Lake.
Recently,  I covered a meeting at the "new" Roxbury Township Municipal Building. Which, to me, was the old telephone company building. You know, when it was THE TELEPHONE COMPANY. When AT&T ruled the world. What was that movie from the 60s, "In Like Flint?" Where the phone company did rule the world? Somewhere is the phone I got from that building when I moved into an apartment in Hackettstown. There was a phone there and I asked them to turn it on. They said they couldn't. They said I had to get a phone. When I got to THE TELEPHONE COMPANY, they said I had to take a phone and plug it in. I said the building was built in about 1880 and you couldn't plug it it. The gal said, "It's an apartment?" "Right." "So you plug it in." 
Ok. So, I went home and called the service people and made an appointment for someone to hard wire the phone. Except he didn't show up. Then he called. I told him the situation and he had the phone company turn on the phone. Did I return the phone they gave me? No. It was a gift.
But, I digress.
I went back to Horseshoe Lake with my friend Sheila last week. The municipal building now has a gym and, more significantly, a little theater.
We were there because a friend, Wayne Thorp, wrote a play and invited us, well, Sheila really, to see it. 
It was a one-act play, featuring four women.
Sheila and I discussed how difficult it must be for a man to write dialogue for four women. Especially four women of a different generation. But Wayne pulled it off. These were educated women and he didn't make the mistake of making them sound less so the more they drank.
The plot of The Price of Illusion revolves around relationships.
In the beginning, I kept thinking the gals sounded amazingly like my cousins and I last fall discussing the dynamics of our lives and our moms over quite a bit of wine on the anniversary of their father's death. 
Then things turned.
The friend of on sister, Helen, reveals a secret that changes the girls' idea of "family."
Helen, you see, who is from the other side of the tracks, is the illegitimate daughter of the girls' father. They don't believe her when she tells them, but another friend in on the action, Nicole, tells them their father routinely hit on their friends. 
Ok, the plot was a bit contrived. What are the chances Helen would find out who her father was, would get a job at the same place as her half-sister, Cassie, and befriend her? But, if you could suspend your disbelief on that and just listen to the women, you see a more universal story underneath. A story about illusions shattered. How many of us have discovered a secret we had trouble believing about someone in our family. Maybe not a secret so terrible, but still.
There is also a class-warfare dynamic int he story since the sisters, Cassie and Tina, grew up affluent and Helen grew up in the projects. To a New Jersey audience, all Wayne needed was the word "Camden," and that said it all. 
Common wisdom says you need two things to travel to Camden, Rosary beads and a Smith & Wesson.
Helen is also Latina, bringing a racial note to the story.
While most of us don't have family secrets that devolve into class and race stories, we can related to many of the issues discussed.
The production was Cabaret-style and wine and soft drinks and goodies provided by the Roxbury Arts Alliance, a venerable group that has done many events in the sprawling township for many years.
I believe that is the best setting for this play because the comfortable tables and chairs ambiance brought home the domesticity of the story.
Matt McCarthy directed. He kept Helen standing for the entire hour and a half -- or most of it. Sheila noted her shoes look uncomfortable, but I've worn shoes like that for hours, it's possible. The trick of making her sort of off-balance was well played. 
The acting was superb. 
Claire Bochenek as the prodigal sister, Cassie, expertly dissolved into drunkenness. Gianna Esposito as the "perfect" sister, Tina, deftly allowed her facade to crumble. Janine Lee Papio as Helen was tough and vulnerable. Jillian Petrie as Nicole, carried off a character that could be peripheral but was really pivotal. 
I really hope The Price of Illusion gets another shot, especially in dinner-theater (or munchie-theater) format.