(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...Jersey Joe meets up with two of his awesome Twitter followers Joel and Nick for a conversation with the Jesus preaching guys on Las Vegas Boulevard.
What: Las Vegas Blvd.
Where: casino strip in Las Vegas, Nevada
Is this the place or the way to push the Word of God? You decide…
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Loading...Jersey Joe chats with his twitter followers and explores the view above the Las Vegas Strip in this special rebroadcast or a live Periscope episode!
What: Las Vegas, Nevada
Gambling legalized: 1931
Location: tourist destination
City Population: 583,756 (as of 2010)
Thanks for everyone who joined for my live chat and keep your eyes peeled for more!
In a few weeks, get ready to take a look back at my live ride on the Circus Circus Reno Tram!
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Loading...Jersey Joe checks out more funny sights from Las Vegas, Nevada.
Since gambling was first legalized in Vegas, back in 1931… the city has been a non-stop show with millions of tourists flocking to the casinos, shows, and attractions yearly. Vegas has taken a different turn recently by adding more non-gambling attractions. Along with the glitz and glamour of the casinos, the city has evolved into a restaurant and entertainment mecca.
What: Las Vegas, Nevada
Gambling legalized: 1931
Location: tourist destination
City Population: 583,756 (as of 2010)
Still one of my favorite places to visit.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Loading...Jersey Joe celebrates 50 episodes of KICKING BACK WITH JERSEY JOE and 250 editions of his online blog!
What: Kicking Back with Jersey Joe
Type: blog and video blog
Number of episodes: 50 video – 250 blog
Premiere: September 19, 2014 (web show) May 31, 2010 (blog)
Website: you’re on it!
Thanks for watching the show and reading my words, each and every week! Please keep your thoughts and comments coming. I love sharing and making them part of the fun! See you next week!
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Loading...Jersey Joe takes a ride on The High Roller, the world’s highest observation wheel located in Las Vegas, Nevada. But, being in Vegas – this isn’t just a ride on your typical Ferris Wheel. Climb aboard with Jersey Joe and see what it’s all about.
Name: The High Roller
What: World’s Tallest Observation Wheel
Location: The Linq, Las Vegas, Nevada
Opened: 2014
Purchase tickets: http://www.caesars.com/linq/high-roller.html#.VFhbDslG3To
This is definitely a ride for everyone… well, except those that have a fear of heights! Honestly, this wasn’t scary at all. Being enclosed inside the climate controlled pods, you actually lose all sense that you are on a Ferris Wheel. This is one of a handful of family friendly attractions Vegas has to offer. Give it time, I’m sure someone will get married on this thing at some point.
The views really are impressive and something that should be seen in person. Next time, I’ll definitely have to check this out at night. The price goes up, but Vegas at night is something to be seen. Just make sure to put this on your list the next time you make a visit to Sin City.
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Loading...Ready for a good laugh? Jersey Joe takes you to Las Vegas and checks out some of the crazy people and attractions!
THE 411
Where: Las Vegas, Nevada
What: gambling mecca of the United States
Time Zone: Pacific
Established: 5/15/1905
JERSEY JOE RECOMMENDS:
Las Vegas is definitely an adult’s playground. Whether you like to gamble or not, or you are a high roller or not, there is plenty to do in the area. Besides casinos, Vegas offers amazing shows, a diverse selection of dining, the mountains and desert attractions, and much more. Those that are regular readers of this blog, will know that I don’t recommend taking kids under 21 to Vegas. There’s some things for them to do, but it’s not Disneyland.
If you’re looking to do Vegas on the cheap, definitely consider a night or two downtown on Fremont Street, plus that’s where you’ll find some of the best gambling odds.
(No Ratings Yet)Loading...Here it is! We’ve made it to the top 50! All summer long, I’ve been counting down my top 100 favorite TV show themes. We’ve had everything from current hits, to kid’s shows, to obscure classics. Let’s keep the list going and see what’s in store for the next set of 10!
I can’t tell you how bad I’ve always wanted to drive this car! I recently re-watched the pilot on DVD and was shocked at how graphic it was for the 80’s. The pilot shows our hero, Michael Knight, getting shot in the head as a cop and then is nursed back to health with no family, no identity, and goes to work for the Foundation for Law and Government. Basically, they go after the bad guys, when the cops can’t!
Michael’s talking car, KITT (perfectly voiced by actor William Daniels) was a super computer on wheels. This car is far more advanced than anything we have on the road today. This car could drive 150 MPH on auto-pilot through city streets, had an early form of GPS, a computer database that could look up just about anything, and a TURBO BOOST button that caused the car to jump high in the air. Why hasn’t our military developed this?
I don’t know who voiced over the original intro (there was no voice over for the first few episodes), but he sounded like he really needed to stop smoking. It was all he could do to get the show’s title out of his mouth before being winded. Listen to him gasp for air!
Want to hear a scarier version of the intro? Listen to this guy from the Danish version:
http://youtu.be/6xCTDkkcPg0
I still say the show’s greatest episode was when KITT was challenged by his evil twin KARR. Kind of reminds me of Data and Lore from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
While the show was awesome in the 80’s (and including several made for TV movies), it has been brought back twice since. One ran for two seasons in syndication as Team Knight Rider and in 2008 for NBC starring Val Kilmer. The 2008 version was a disaster all around. They changed the car into a Transformer and even recycled some of the original series plots.
http://youtu.be/8jk8dhYQqoA
http://youtu.be/4C3N6LgU0lI
The only way to follow Knight Rider in my count down is to go with another of TV’s greatest car show ever, The Dukes of Hazzard. You can’t tell me that there’s ever been a funnier cop to watch on TV than Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane!
A bunch of country hicks that run around in a car with the doors welded shut, getting arrested over and over. That was the plot for the series that skyrocketed in the ratings week after week.
As the show grew with fans, so did the cast’s egos. First, James Best as Roscoe walked off the show and was replaced for three episodes, followed by Tom Wopat and John Schneider (Luke & Bo Duke) who walked off for most of season 5 and were replaced by their nearly identical and yet somehow related counterparts Coy & Vance Duke, until everything was settled.
Take a look at the opening credits and teaser with the Coy and Vance replacements. Remember them?
This was back at the time when pay cable channel, HBO aired kid’s shows.
Created by Jim Henson and is part of his Muppets franchise, the Fraggles lived underground and ate candy scaffolding created by ant like creatures known as the Doozers. Fraggles played, while the Doozers just worked and worked. They were constantly trying to avoid the Gorgs, who are farmers that live at another tunnel exit and consider the Fraggles pests.
Sound crazy? This would probably never hit the air today, but back in the 80’s, it was great for both kids and adults and still has a loyal following.
So, what’s missing from the season 1 credits? Steve Urkel! The nerdy neighbor would be the show’s star after the first season, but here Jaleel White was only an occasional guest star until everyone loved his character.
Another of ABC’s family sit-coms, the show dealt with the problems of work, school and growing up in a Chicago suburb. Somehow, this show was a loose spinoff of Perfect Strangers.
The show moved to CBS for the final season, when they tried to create a family friendly Friday night of programming to take some of the thunder from ABC’s similar programming strategy. It failed and this show along with a few others that moved to the network were gone in less than a year.
Here’s a look at a syndicated set of opening credits that have been cut down for time:
http://youtu.be/fL0SaAkEJ9s
A bunch of interns at a teaching hospital learning the ropes of working in a medical center. These guys knew how to make medicine, funny. Some of the show’s greatest moments would be the classic daydream cutaways!
Just like many other shows, the opening credits got shorter and shorter as the series went on.
This show probably would have been on the air for several more years, but star Zach Braff, decided he wanted to leave and many of the original cast followed. The show was rebranded Scrubs: Med School for the ninth season. A new set of credits were created, but without most of the stars everyone knew (some of the cast did hang around for a few episodes), the experiment was a flop.
The theme song and opening credits have basically been the same for this classic sci-fi series for more than half a century!
Mostly aired on PBS in the United States, Dr. Who tells the story of a time traveling humanoid alien who helps to right wrongs, fight for the human civilization, and help ordinary people.
The series currently holds the Guinness Record for the Longest Science Fiction Show.
Dr. Who has become a part of pop culture in the United Kingdom and numerous attempts have been made to bring it across the pond to the United States. In 1996, FOX aired a movie pilot that was not picked up to series. Most recently, new episodes have been airing on BBC America.
The Doctor has changed numerous times over the years, but the premise of the show has not. When the Doctor is near death, he re-energizes himself into a new host. A changing sign of the times, the Doctor’s ship is actually a vintage police call box. They were plentiful on London streets in the 60’s, but are all but gone now.
I’ve seen this show off and on over the years and I’m fascinated at how they’ve kept the character fresh and relevant through all these decades. I’d like to see some of the original black and white episodes, but nearly 100 of the early shows were erased and the tapes were recycled.
If you really want to see some TV history, check out what this fan did. They’ve edited together every opening credit sequence since 1963!
Another great 80’s action show, The Fall Guy was the story of Colt Seavers (played by Lee Majors) who was a Hollywood stuntman by day and private investigator at night. It was ABC’s answer to The A Team! The show featured amazing stunts, great plot lines, and a pre Night Court Markie Post!
I have no idea what country this other intro is from, but take a look at Ein Colt fur alle Falle. The Fall Guy – aired overseas.
It’s the show that brought us such phrases as “sit on it” and “jump the shark,” Happy Days was TV gold in the 70’s and early 80’s. Set in the 1950’s, the series focused on Richie Cunningham (Ron Howard) and his misadventures with friends and family as they made their way through the decade. He often sought the advice of his bad boy, leather jacket wearing friend Fonzie (Henry Winkler,) who would become the main focus of the show after Richie joins the army and leaves.
The famous Happy Days theme song, was the not the series first. For the first two seasons, Bill Haley’s famous Rock Around the Clock opened the show.
http://youtu.be/B87SJz_T-sM
The series featured many cast and format changes over the years. The first happened in season 3, when the sit-com went with a multi-camera setup and was taped in front of a live studio audience. The set was changed to allow for the modifications, so the Cunningham’s house seemed to undergo a little renovation over the summer hiatus.
The Chuck Cunningham syndrome, as it came to be known, was the sudden and mysterious departure of the older brother Chuck. He appeared off and on during the first two seasons as the older, athletic brother, but never returned after season 2. Later scripts make no mention of him and even refer to the main character Richie as the only son.
Later, Richie would leave the series and the plot lines would focus on Fonzie and his new role as auto shop teacher at the local high school. While still popular, the series was on the air for far too long and the writers were running out of things to do with the cast. New characters were being constantly introduced, while many of the main cast ended up with spin-offs of their own.
The result was a very different looking show by the time they got to their last season. The cast didn’t even look like they belonged in the 60’s, anymore.
http://youtu.be/rbBX6aEzEz8
As soon as the dark whistle theme kicked in, you know you were about to battle aliens and government conspiracies.
The X Files was one of the last powerhouse shows on FOX’s Friday night, before moving to it’s final home on Sundays, where it aired for several more years.
Agent Mulder (David Duchovny) and his partner Agent Scully (Gillian Anderson) initially started off with a rough relationship, as Scully was always the skeptic when it came to investigating the paranormal. 11 seasons and several movies will change that; as the two finally hooked up, got married, and had a kid! The whole romance thing never worked for me as it took away from the mystery that was the core of this show.
It spawned one spin-off, The Lone Gunman, based on a trio of nerdy informants the FOX burned off after 13 less than exciting episodes.
I’ve been to Las Vegas a zillion times and I’m grateful that I’ve never needed the services of CSI! All kidding aside, it’s one of TV’s most popular shows and with The Who’s rocking theme, you get one awesome show open. Although for the first couple of seasons the credits were a lot less flashy.
14 seasons later, only a few of the original cast is still part of the show, but current star Ted Danson is absolutely perfect in his role as team leader. Sure, the series gets gory at times as they try to solve murders, but they’ve been able to keep most of the scripts fresh and the plots are constantly taking crazy turns!
What: TV Theme Songs
Use: themes used to open a TV series or cartoon
Purpose: introduce main cast and introduce audience to the theme of the series
Numbers reviewed: 41 – 50
We’re now past the halfway point in my countdown and the best is still to come! I wanted to add Unsolved Mysteries and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego at number 41, but I couldn’t find any good show intros online. Most of what I found was either remixes or parodies.
Check back next week when we take a look at numbers 31-40. We’ve got America’s favorite game show, the cruise ship everybody wants to be on, and the show about nothing!
I don’t own any of the rights to these, nor did I upload them to YouTube. This blog is presented for educational and informational purposes.
Image credit – chrisinplymouth
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)Loading...
Real online casino games are now legal in New Jersey and two other states.
Last week, after days of beta testing, anyone inside the borders of New Jersey can lawfully sign on to one of the state’s 13 online casinos and place a bet. While online gambling is seen as a boon to the state’s casino and tax wallets, the launch has not gone without technical difficulties.
Commercials advertising the online casinos have saturated TV stations, radio stations, mailboxes, and the internet. Every time I sign onto Facebook, I see at least a couple of ads for the new casinos.
On November 26th at 12:01, 13 online casinos were allowed to start taking real money wagers inside New Jersey’s borders. All 13 online casinos are connected to six real brick and mortar casinos in Atlantic City. AC has been losing gamblers for years, since neighboring states began opening casinos of their own a few years ago. Now, each is legally allowed to open multiple online casinos and take a share of the profits. Most have already affiliated with existing online casinos that were mostly barred from the US, after a silly law was passed and their domains seized by the feds in 2006. While these operators couldn’t run sites in the US, they ran at full force overseas.
The Atlantic City skyline as seen in a recent episode of American Dad on FOX.
So far, three states in the US permit online gambling: Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey. This is the first major expansion of gambling in the Garden State, since it was legalized in 1978. Over 52,000 online accounts have been created since the beta test started and 5,000 being opened on Thanksgiving Day, alone.
The six casinos offering online gambling sites are:
Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort
Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino
Tropicana Casino & Resort
Bally’s Atlantic City
Caesar’s Atlantic City
The Golden Nugget Atlantic City is working out some technical issues (rumored to involve social security numbers) that kept its license on ice. They should be back online soon.
A game of online roulette in progress.
New Jersey governor Chris Christie expects online gambling to bring more than $1 billion to the state by July 1. $160 million of that would directly go to the state in taxes.
The casino software uses geo-tracking to make sure the computer or mobile device is within the states borders. If the software cannot verify the location, it will not permit any real wagers to be made. Unfortunately a little known hiccup of this limits all wagering to be done on Wi-Fi networks. No hard wire computers are able to make bets, since the location cannot be verified according to state law.
A typical error message players will see if they try to play from outside New Jersey’s state borders.
When opening an account, the player is required to enter their name, address, social security number, and wireless phone number. The wireless number is used to send verification texts to the account holder. Another red flag happens to players who have multiple addresses which can cause the software to be unable to verify their location via a background check.
Since I live in the Garden State and have for years, I tried three different sites. But, even I had a great deal of trouble signing on.
Star Trek online slot as featured in the Borgata online casino.
The casino that made Atlantic City hip has opened two online casinos, borgatacasino.com and borgatapoker.com. While both use the same account, two different software downloads are required to play. Borgata does offer a few games to play directly on their web sites, downloading the software gives access to more games and richer graphics.
Borgata has partnered with IGT Gaming (a legend in the business and their games are all over casino floors.) This allows the Borg to offer authentic casino video poker machines, but also big name slots that you would find on a real casino floors such as Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Kitty Glitter, Wolf Run, Cleopatra, and more.
Star Trek online slot bonus round from the Borgata online casino. Most of the online slots feature bonus rounds.
Once you open an online account, the Borgata offers you $20 in free play. During signup, you will be required to download a small plug-in that will verify your New Jersey location. It’s safe and you have no choice but to activate the plug in or you can’t play by law.
I also deposited an additional $20 via electronic check from my checking account, which was very easy. All they require is your bank account and routing number. Borgata, along with other sites, also offers credit card deposits.
They also have an online player card loyalty system that offers comps similar to what you will find in the MyBorgata slot card program. They offer the same tiers, such as Red, Black, and Titanium level that rewards comps and free play the more you wager, but on a monthly basis. Unfortunately, it is NOT connected to the physical Atlantic City account. Hopefully, that will change immediately. I would like to use my comps across both platforms, online and in the real casino in Atlantic City. I might be inclined to play more, if I know there is a chance I might be offered a free room at the hotel.
In fact, I just noticed while signing onto their site to write this blog, they just added a new Monopoly online slot. Applause to them for already upgrading!
Borgata online casino error message.
Unfortunately, many of the games have the tendency to crash and completely lock up the software. They offer a rich, graphic environment, complete with bonus rounds – but the slots constantly crash. Sometimes, you only get in a spin or two before the game peters out.
That gets even more frustrating when you are in a bonus round and the software loses connection to the server and causes a major crash. You don’t lose any money and the game usually will re-launch and continue your bonus. But, many times, I was only offered a blue screen and had to CONTROL+ALT+DELETE to hard crash and relaunch the entire application.
If the software crashes in the middle of a bonus round, it’s OK — it will start off where you stopped once the game is reopened.
Last Saturday, most of the games were offline and offered weird errors as “the game could not be played with the current currency selected.” Even though, I was playing in American dollars. I called the 800 number for help and was on hold more than 20 minutes both times before I gave up.
When the games do work, I’ve had quite a bit of fun, and have gotten a ton of play for my $20 investment, plus the $20 bonus. In fact, I’m up!
Sadly, all of their technical glitches may permanently turn off some players, who can easily sign on to more trustworthy sites. I would suggest waiting a bit and letting the Borgata completely overhaul their software before giving their site a try.
Rating: Average (Excellent once glitches are fixed)
Borgata also operates borgatapoker.com
Partnered with the Tropicana Atlantic City, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin empire has moved into the online gambling business. Virgin Casino offers up to a $50 reimbursement of your initial loss within the first seven days.
Virgin’s site does not require any software downloading. While they offer all of the same IGT games as the Borgata, playing inside a web browser can make the games appear small on the screen. A recent software fix seems to have addressed this as the games are now appearing in a larger size.
The Ghostbusters slot machine at the Virgin online casino. Virgin makes it easy to understand your total balance by constantly displaying it near the top of the screen.
Virgin offers Virgin points for the money you wager. These can be cashed in for free money to play the games. I opened my account with $50 (which I was able to deposit via electronic check from my checking account) and went through that in a couple of days. They instantly added the $50 bonus.
I somehow earned 6 points for my $75 in play. It seems to take thousands of points to get any online cash back. They have the exact offers posted on their site.
The Virgin online casino withdraw screen. This was a fairly easy process.
I played for some time longer and cashed out with $25 remaining. The cash out was fairly easy and they sent an email the following day noting the withdrawal had been processed and would be in my checking account in 3-5 business days. Why is withdrawing so easy, but depositing taking several days?
Rating: Average
They have the flashiest commercials for online gambling airing on TV.
Their site offers a large selection, but not all, of the IGT games from Borgata and Virgin casinos.
Sadly, I was unable to play.
What happens if an online casino can’t verify your location… you get this.
I was successfully able to open an account in which they offer $5 in free cash and $20 in poker table play (only said in the fine print, their splashy ads offer a flat $25.)
According to their site, the games can be played online in a web browser or by downloading their app. Unfortunately, their app is online for Android devices, so sorry IPhone users.
The Loki plugin installing over and over again, with no luck.
Like Borgata, in order to play you are required to download a browser plug-in known as Loki to sign up and play. However, the plug-in would not work to locate me, even though I’m inside the Garden State and installed it again and again. I tried for over and hour rebooting the computer, checking their help FAQ, installing Mozilla Firefox as they suggest… but nothing.
Another option on their FAQ was to change the Windows registry to allow the games to play. Sorry, I am not a computer programmer and the registry file they offered for download won’t launch, either. There’s no reason to ask any player to alter their Windows registry. That’s just asking for trouble and its way more time than the $25 in free play is worth.
After two hours and two different days of attempts – I gave up on them.
They need to redesign the software, so installation is not this complicated. There are easier sites to sign onto out there.
Rating: Fail
I’ve also briefly checked out caesarscasino.com and harrahscasino.com, both operated by parent company Caesars Entertainment. These sites offer their own non-copyrighted slots and a few games found on the other sites. Many of the bigger slot games seemed to be missing here, however.
There are several more sites that I plan on checking out in the future and will report back here. My early findings seem to be that most operate with the same IGT games.
Sure, not everyone is ready for online gambling and it can be very easy to get in trouble. Some of the slots offer wagers as high as thousands of dollars on a single spin.
One night, in research for this blog, I was lying in bed playing the slots. While it is fun, it isn’t a substitute for a night out at a real casino. However, it does make it easy for those with a gambling problem to play at any time. You definitely will need self control, especially now that you can basically turn any dorm room, hotel room, service plaza, kitchen, and library into a casino.
New Jersey state law has online account deposits capped at $2,500. The online casino is required to contact the player at this point and verify if the player wishes to deposit more. Once the total reaches $15,000 in accounts across all state casinos, another warning check will be issued. The player also has the ability to control how much they can deposit at once as well.
As inside a real casino, a gambling hotline is available for anyone who needs help at 1-800-GAMBLER. While that’s a creative number, spelling out your troubles on a touch tone keypad seems to be the last kick in the teeth.
Playing Star Trek while watching Star Trek… only in New Jersey!
What: online gambling
Where legal: Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware – other states coming soon
Wagers start at: 1 cent
New Jersey is by far not the only state that is looking to ante up to online gambling. Eight other states are working on similar laws: California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Texas. New York representative Peter King is also working on making it a federal law.
It looks like this technology is here to stay. Just as I’ve told you before – it’s up to you to bet with your head and not over it. If gambling is against your nature or religion, then you will most likely not be happy with this latest online offering.
And in full disclosure, I have shared with you my experiences signing up with these three particular online casinos. As with any form of wagering, your experience may differ. I’d love to hear how it goes for you!