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Movies for June

OCEAN’S THIRTEEN
Opening June 8, 2007
Comedy

oceans13What would Sinatra, Sammy and Dean think about the Ocean series? In this next installment Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his ever expanding band of merry men plot their latest heist. Also starring, of course, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle and Carl Reiner. But joining the cast are Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin, one of whom will play Danny’s love interest.

Cast George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Casey Affleck, Bernie Mac, Ellen Barkin plus others.

A MIGHTY HEART
Opens June 22, 2007
Drama

A Mighty HeartOff the front pages this story is Based on the horrific true story of Danny Pearl (Dan Futterman), the Wall Street Journal reporter who was abducted by terrorists in Karachi, Pakistan. When his wife Marianne (Angelina Jolie) hears the dire news, she rushes overseas to find Danny before he is executed. Alas, she never did …
Cast Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Will Patton, Sajid Hasan plus others

SICKO
Opening June 29, 2007
Documentary

SickoHe’s back and once again controversial filmmaker Michael Moore aims his camera and this time he looks at the diseased American health care industry for his latest documentary.

Looking for Fun & Quirky Events:Visit the Florida Keys

(NewsUSA) – Visitors to the Florida Keys always find something unique and exciting to do, especially in the summer. The choices range from watching championship offshore powerboat races to enjoying culinary, musical, historical and cultural celebrations.

And for those in search of quirky, off-the-wall fun, the Keys certainly don’t disappoint. Key West even hosts an annual event celebrating chickens. Yes, chickens!

Fun-seekers should visit the Keys for these and other not-to-be-missed events.

* ChickenFest Key West: This celebration, which occurs each June, honors the vivacious, squawking Key West chicken with a variety of lighthearted events culminating in the “Poultry in Motion” parade.

* Underwater Music Festival: This unique annual concert in July is broadcast underwater for divers and snorkelers. It is held at Looe Key Reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

Hemingway Days* Hemingway Days: Fans of Ernest Hemingway’s literature and lifestyle commemorate the author’s July birthday each year in Key West, the island where the author lived and wrote throughout the 1930s. Events include a “Papa” Hemingway Look-Alike contest at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, the catch-and-release Drambuie Key West Marlin Tournament, the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition and an offbeat “Running of the Bulls.”
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Book Helps Navigate the World of Wine- Wine for Dummies

(NewsUSA) – Serious wine connoisseurs can make wine seem intimidating, but Ed McCarthy and Mary Ewing-Mulligan, the authors of “Wine For Dummies” (Wiley, $21.99), say wine can be appreciated by everyone.

The fourth edition of the guide, which is part of the popular “For Dummies” series, provides updates on wineries both new and old and where they stand in quality today. The book also contains up-to-date pricing information on the authors’ favorite wines.

“Wine For Dummies” helps readers conquer the numerous grape varieties and wine regions of the world and shows them how to select the best wines for the best price. The book also exposes 10 “wine myths” (for example, just because a wine is expensive or old doesn’t mean that it is good) and shares the secrets to understanding lists and labels; wine tasting and storing; and pairing wine with food.

“Wine For Dummies” is available in bookstores nationwide and through www.dummies.com.

Royal Caribbean Cruises & Bayonne – 4th Year and Going Strong!

By Tom Dwyer

River View Observer Royal CaribbeanAnthony Caputo, the port director for Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, could not be more proud of the success of the partnership of the city of Bayonne and Royal Caribbean Cruises.  In just three short years, Cape Liberty Cruise Port has become one of the busiest cruise ports in the country. The port is ranked second among Northeast and mid-Atlantic coast ports in passenger volume. In 2006 it hosted 71 cruise ship calls, with 321,000 passengers during the 2006 season which ran from May to November. The port was also recognized as one of the top three-rated ports, worldwide, for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises, which merged in 1997.  “When you take into consideration that we only have one berth and we are home-porting passengers which means that the passengers sail from here and return here unlike port–of-calls, our growth is really incredible,” Caputo said. The 2007 season, which begins in May, will commence year-round trips to its destinations.

Cruise passengers are arriving by trains, planes and automobiles to get to Cape Liberty Cruise Port. Even Caputo is surprised by the distances guests are traveling to set sail from Bayonne. “They are coming as far away as Texas, and as far north as Canada, and as far south as Florida. If you just look at the license plates that come here it’s incredible. We have many guests who drive here and we have international guests who fly into Kennedy and Newark airports. And we have many domestic flights where we try to target Newark as our primary airport,” Caputo explained.

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St. Joseph’s School for the Blind – A New Home — A New Era

On March 19th of last month, a ribbon cutting ceremony was held for the new home of St. Joseph’s School for the Blind—a state-of-the-art facility, located at 761 Summit Avenue in Jersey City. Hundreds of elated guests showed up for the official opening. With a current population of 130 blind and visually impaired students and those with multiple disabilities from infancy to age 21, St. Joseph’s School for the Blind has always been known as one of the most caring facilities for the blind. St. Joseph’s is the only school of its kind in New Jersey.

The former St. Joseph’s School for the Blind, located on Baldwin Avenue in Jersey City, was a worn down relic of another era with an elevator that barely worked. The new, two-story facility, offers 20 classrooms as well as an Enrichment Media Center, a heated therapeutic swimming pool, a therapy suite; used for occupational therapy, physical therapy, and orientation and mobility training, plus a large gymnasium and an art and music room. At the ribbon cutting event, a group of St. Joseph’s students sang an uplifting song called “St. Joseph’s Family” to the cheering audience; it captured the joyful feeling of the day.
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NEA Honors Jersey City resident — Dan Morgenstern

Dan Morgenstern Receives Prestigious Jazz Masters Fellowship Award 

Dan MorgensternI first met Dan Morgenstern more than five years ago when I picked him up one Saturday morning outside his Journal Square apartment in Jersey City. Our destination was the Catskill Mountains home of the late George Handy, a genius experimental jazz composer/arranger from the 1940s’ and 50s’ with whom I had studied piano after getting out of the Army in 1970. Dan and I had never met until Handy’s widow, Elaine, asked us to drive up together that day to discuss archiving his scores, albums, and memorabilia with the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University in Newark. Dan Morgenstern is the director of the Institute, where he oversees the world’s largest collection of jazz-related material. Our two-hour drive to the mountains, that included a few wrong turns, was like my own personal history of jazz, in fast time. During the duration of our trip, as I asked Dan about some of the jazz greats and not-so-well-known players he had met over the years, he recalled stories and memories about the many musicians he was “lucky enough to meet.” We returned home to Jersey City that night; Dan had secured George Handy’s collection for the Institute, preserving his legacy for future generations of music lovers. And it was a ride that opened my eyes to a man whose life is jazz; and who loves every moment of it.

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Rebuilding Together Jersey City

Last April, Bill and Nancy Barry of Jersey City, welcomed three dozen volunteer workers into their home. The workers were there to do much needed repairs on the Barry’s home as part of a program called Rebuilding Together Jersey City. Bill Barry is retired and his wife Nancy is disabled. By the time the day was over the volunteer workers had built a small bathroom for Nancy, painted, installed new windows and cabinets and accomplished a dozen other repairs. “When we first applied for the program they asked us what our wish list would be when it came to work on our house. They surpassed our wildest dreams when it came to the amount of work they did for us,” Mr. Barry said. Both Nancy and Bill Barry are deeply grateful for the work done on their home and think that Rebuilding Together Jersey City is a wonderful program. “They were just so friendly and courteous to us and they never treated us like we were a charity case or anything like that, we even tried to give them a donation but they wouldn’t hear of it,” Mr. Barry explained. “These are really wonderful people, which make it a wonderful program.” A few weeks after the work was completed on their home the Barry’s sent a letter thanking Rebuilding Together Jersey City and said, “You made our golden years platinum.”
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Porto Leggero Restaurant in Jersey City

A Wonderful Addition to the Jersey City Waterfront

Beyond the glass facade of Porto Leggero, the bright newcomer to the waterfront-dining scene in Jersey City, there are two restaurants.

One has the undercurrent of an electric charge that moves through the restaurant when the power lunch crowd fills the place with finance types on weekdays. The other is the relaxed hum of families and friends enjoying an evening out in the neighborhood.

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Winter Getaways—It’s Not Too Late!

You want to get away and shake out the winter blues but where to go and what to do? There are the adventure vacations where you get to scuba dive with the sharks before breakfast and climb a mountain before dinner; and then those healthy getaways where you get pampered with the latest spa treatments and come back ten pounds lighter to the envy of all of your friends; the cozy lover getaway where passions are reignited; the cultural/historical vacation –“if it’s Tuesday it must be Bora Bora”–and of course the “don’t bother me I’m not moving from this beach chair” vacation. The good news is that the travel industry knows that each traveler is different, and they are continually trying to give the client what they want. So with a bit of homework on your part, dear Hudson County traveler, you can experience everything you want on your next getaway, and not break the bank.
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Happy Birthday Liberty State Park!

“The People’s Park” Turns 30

By Tom Dwyer

Liberty State ParkLiberty State Park will celebrate its 30th birthday on June 10th, and considering that last year alone 5 million people visited the park — this could turn out to be one heck of a birthday party. If you’re one of the lucky people who have already discovered Liberty State Park, then you might want to take a moment to honor Morris Pesin, the driving force behind turning a once-desolate Jersey City dumpsite into one of the greatest parks in America. Mr. Pesin, who passed away in 1992, was honored by President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1985 with a Volunteer Action Award for creating Liberty State Park, the Gateway to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

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