Jersey Joe’s Year Two Round Up [Kicking Back with Jersey Joe] May25

Jersey Joe’s Year Two Round Up [Kicking Back with Jersey Joe]

It’s Memorial Day weekend and not only does this mark the unofficial start of summer, it also marks my third SEASON PREMIERE! This blogumn officially kicks off my third year on F & N. Since we’re 93 blogumns in (plus 5 filling in for Ryan Dixon’s Fierce Anticipation), it’s time to update some of the great things we’ve talked about over the past two years. MOUNTAIN DEWMOCRACY May 7, 2010 [FIERCE ANTICIPATION: THE JERSEY JOE EDITION III] In my third blogumn filling in for Ryan, PepsiCo, the bottlers of Mountain Dew released three test flavors for the summer of 2010, allowing fans to vote on which they liked best to join the line permanently. They had tried this experiment in 2008 and it was a huge success. Mountain Dew White Out was the winner and went on sale on October 4th and is still on sale now.  For a brief time, Wal-Mart Supercenters also sold 2 liter bottles of Mountain Dew: Typhoon, one of the losing flavors.  In addition Mountain Dew: Game Fuel Cherry Citrus and Mountain Dew: Game Fuel Tropical were also on sale last summer to tie into the video game release of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.  They were discontinued in December. PepsiCo has hinted that it has no plans to test more flavors, but a few new releases have gone on sale.  Mountain Dew Xtreme (grape flavored) in available in Saudi Arabia and Mountain Dew Grape is currently on sale in Japan. For summer 2012, a new flavor will appear in stores: Mountain Dew: Dark Berry as a promotion for the movie The Dark Night Rises.  It will have a mixed berry flavor and the cans will change color when chilled.  It goes on sale June 18th. THE SMURFS MOVIE May...

How Giant Ferris Wheels Will Change The World [Kicking Back with Jersey Joe...

Who doesn’t love a spin on a Ferris wheel? How about taking a ride high above the skylines of two popular American cities? A small Ferris wheel building boom is underway and the skylines of New York and Las Vegas could be in for a major change. While both projects have been on the table for years; our lagging economy has pushed back their opening dates. Recent developments have given them both a major step forward, reigniting hopes of taking tourists high in the air. I must admit, I get a little nervous about riding the super high wheels. I feel much safer on the ones with enclosed carriages. The one at Six Flags Great Adventure, and another on the amusement pier at Wildwood (both in New Jersey), are a little bigger than I can handle. When I was a kid, you couldn’t get me on one. I still shudder at the thought of riding one at some of the shady carnivals, but I’m more than happy to climb aboard the greatest of them all – The Wonder Wheel on Coney Island. Since the London Eye became a major tourist draw after opening in 2000, some US developers have added the wheels as a perk to some high profile construction jobs. Just a short train ride outside of Manhattan, is the new Meadowlands Sports complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, currently home to the New York Giants and New York Jets. As part of the redevelopment of the area, along with the new stadium, came construction of the IZOD Center (a concert venue and arena) and the Xanadu Meadowlands (a giant shopping mall.) The stadium and the arena opened to much fanfare in both 2010 and 2009 respectively. But, the mall that is a...