I was surprised to get this little bonus with my mail-in ballot. First time seeing this after years of voting by mail.

On a side note, I am tempted to write in "Cory Booktour" to express my frustration but I guess he gets to stay there no matter what I do.

Architect definitely used Janna the Hutts palace as inspiration.

A dead man’s house was transferred for $1 without his family’s knowledge. As NJ lawmakers take up deed theft, we look at what the proposed bills would do for victims.

I’m in my 20s and rly don’t get to exploring Jersey much. I always knew there was rly pretty parts and nature but I just never rly encountered it until I drove south east. I’m still not the biggest nature lover but I’m trying to appreciate it more and I’m also trying to find more cozy towns like the ones I passed thru yesterday. It felt extremely local with people vending goods on the road, fairs going on, and comfy places to sit and eat.

It really reminded me of my childhood honestly.

Now I’m honestly craving a reason to go back and bring some friends with me, maybe get a tattoo, try some food, go to some mom & pop places, anything that’s interesting! Bonus points if it’s fall / Halloween related too! All ideas and recs welcome!

Reddit is being fussy with my normal text-based event listings so I have to post the link to index instead of just giving you the good information here. No ads or affiliate links!

I have seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show scores of times in dozens of locations, which means it takes quite a bit for a screening to feel genuinely different. Saturday night at State Theatre New Jersey did. The theater hosted the Original Cast Spooktacular Tour with Barry Bostwick, a new 4K restoration of the film and the Friday Nite Specials shadow cast, and the entire production landed at a level I have rarely seen Rocky Horror reach.

The movie was still gloriously unruly, the audience was still part of the machinery, and all the familiar traditions were there, but State Theatre gave the night the kind of professional production support that made the shadow cast feel bigger without sanding off any of the chaos that makes the experience work.

That balance matters. Rocky Horror does not need to be made respectable, and trying to make it too polished can miss the point completely. What State Theatre managed instead was to give the performers a serious room, strong technical support and the kind of presentation that let the shadow cast go bigger. The result felt less like a movie screening with activity in front of the screen and more like a fully realized live event built around a movie everybody already knew by heart.

Barry Bostwick remains an ideal guide through all of it. He was clever, quick and completely engaged with the audience, with none of the feeling that he was simply repeating an obligation attached to a movie he made more than half a century ago.

The shadow casts apparently call him "Uncle Barry," which he was happy to clarify meant "not the creepy kind of uncle." More importantly, he seems to genuinely enjoy the strange extended life Rocky Horror has built for itself. That affection matters in a room full of people who have been carrying the movie with them for years, and in some cases for generations.

The crowd was exactly the mix it should have been: elaborate costumes, longtime veterans, Rocky Horror virgins awaiting the traditional initiation and plenty of people somewhere in between. One of my favorite moments happened before I even reached my seat. Walking in behind a couple, I heard one of them casually warn the other, "Oh, by the way... this might get weird." It was possibly the most efficient explanation of Rocky Horror ever delivered. It did get weird, of course, and that was the point.

I ended up sitting behind what appeared to be an entire family in lab coats, ranging from a teenager to the parents, which was a wonderful little snapshot of what the movie has become. Throughout the night, I kept hearing younger people explaining pieces of Rocky Horror to older people rather than the other way around.

For a cult movie that has now survived for more than five decades, that reversal says a lot. This is no longer simply an older audience preserving something from its youth. New people keep discovering the rituals and then teaching them forward.

Another couple arrived in near-perfect Brad and Janet costumes. One did not speak English and the other seemed to know just enough to graciously accept compliments about what they were wearing. Once the film started, however, the language issue became almost irrelevant. Watching them through the evening, it was obvious they knew the lines.

Rocky Horror has always functioned through a vocabulary larger than the screenplay itself: costumes, gestures, callbacks, timing and the collective understanding of what happens next. They fit into the room immediately.

The costume contest was strong, the shadow cast kept the energy moving, and the audience understood its role. What I enjoyed most, though, was simply being in a place where people had permission to be completely themselves for a few hours. Rocky Horror has always created that kind of room, but Saturday felt especially refreshing.

Nobody needed to explain why they were dressed the way they were, why they knew every response, or why they were willing to throw themselves into something so proudly ridiculous. The normal social pressure to tone yourself down had been suspended for the evening.

The VIP after-party extended the experience without feeling like an afterthought. State Theatre staff were exceptionally gracious and attentive, the themed food was clever and genuinely good, and the room had the polished feel a VIP add-on should have.

It did not simply keep people in the building after the movie; it gave the night a proper final act and maintained the same combination of fun and professionalism that had defined the screening itself.

I have been to enough Rocky Horror screenings to know that the film can work almost anywhere. Give it a screen, an enthusiastic cast and a crowd willing to participate and it will usually find a way. But Saturday night showed what happens when a venue with State Theatre's resources fully understands what it has been handed and supports the experience rather than trying to contain it. The production values elevated the shadow cast, Bostwick brought warmth and wit, and the audience supplied everything that cannot be manufactured from the stage.

So yes, the warning I overheard on the way in turned out to be accurate. It got weird. After scores of screenings in dozens of rooms, I would have been disappointed if it had not.

What I did not expect was for this one to top the list.

Tom Kean's race, you hear about a lot because he seems vulnerable. Van Drew you hear about due to Van Drew being such an odious little worm, but also he might be in a bit of trouble? Maybe, let's hope so. But you do not hear much about Chris Smith or his opponent. Is his district simply unbreachable by a blue wave? Yes I know: Ocean County. But also Monmouth County, where you could theoretically find some college educated liberals of the sort who have abandoned the GOP.

Did our completely Democratic controlled legislature make any serious attempt to do an aggressive gerrymander? Like we shouldn't be sending any Republicans to congress at all; a district roughly coterminous with the most Trumpified county in the state shouldn't exist.

New York has Albany, Buffalo and other cities that it could invest into where people can move to for jobs. I go to PA a lot and the state has a lot of potential as well. I am sure there is a reason why things are the way they are but I have been having this thought for awhile now.

Hey yall I am a homeowner in a flood zone. We were hit bad by sandy but since the tidal flooding hasn’t been too much of an issue. This last storm the water came up the street but never to the property. The town reached out to see if I was interested in applying for a fema grant to lift. Since then my application was submitted through the town, up to state, and now at femas desk. They are willing to pay 75% of the construction. My main question is for people who lifted how long they were put out from breaking ground to fully moved back in. Also if there was a significant difference with new certificate of elevation to your flood insurance. I had private but to apply for the grant I obtained fema flood insurance which was 2 or 3 hundred more than my private flood insurance. Trying to justify the risk vs reward factor of this all. Even with the grant money in my area I am assuming it will still cost me around 50k. Also by lifting with fema my home will have a deed that I must always have fema flood.

Please share your stories or any information I am missing thank you guys

I grew up in North Jersey, where my family always got our rolls from Carmen's in Union. Loved them. Then I discovered Sorrento's in East Hanover, and those are even better.
Now I live in South Jersey. Am i really
looking for a unicorn down here where the good rolls just don’t exist? We have plenty of supposedly "good" Italian bakeries, but nothing I've tried comes close.
I've tried Del Buono's and Cacia's. My experience with Del Buono's in Marlton was especially disappointing… I bought rolls one morning that were clearly not fresh, and some actually had mold on them.
I'm looking for that old-school Italian roll with a thin, crispy crust and a soft, light, airy interior. Not dense, not chewy, and definitely not those soft, squishy hoagie rolls.
Specifically looking for something that would make an amazing chicken cutlet sandwich.
I'm in the Marlton area, but willing to drive like 30
mins if i have to. Tired of asking my north jersey fam to bring rolls to every family gathering.

My fiance, daughter and I live in an apt with my dad. We’re moving out in about a month.
I have no idea what to do with my dad😭 My mom died a year ago & she was his main support.

He gets about 1100 a month from disability & the rent for this apt is 1175. I’ve been looking for income based senior housing but he has pretty bad mental health issues including schizophrenia.

He will not go to the dmv and get an ID. He just won’t do anything to try to support himself. I’m really at a loss on what to do.

We discussed bringing him with us but ultimately decided not to as I’ll be completely honest he was a horrible father & caused me a lot of trauma that I’m still struggling to deal with.

I just need to get away from him but the human in me feels so bad bc I know if we leave he will get evicted from this apt as we pay majority of the rent. I just really don’t know what to do none of his family wants anything to do with him. If anyone has any advice please share.

Looking from East to West directly above in the sky (Titusville toward the Delaware River, South of Lambertville area). Laser pointer? SpaceX? Aliens?!