Dead or Living in New Jersey
MTV’s first foray into programming other than music videos was a game show called “Remote Control.” Ken Ober played the host, and he asked contestants ridiculous questions about television culture.
In one segment, Ken would name a celebrity and ask the contestants to identify whether the person was “Dead or Living in New Jersey.”
Dead or Living in New Jersey. Beautiful. The phrase just cracks me up. It has stuck with me all these years, and I’ve used it in one of my short stories as well as various conversations throughout the years.
But no one catches the reference, and I find myself contemplating the cultural reference/conversation base that is unique to me. Another example… I’d be hard pressed to find someone who would understand if I said, “I’M FED UP, ARNOLD, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!” This, of course, was uttered by Arnold Horshack in a famous “Welcome Back, Kotter” episode called Sweatwork. Arnold fights to revive a radio station and gets a little out of control.
These are but two of the phrases that pass through my mind as I go about my life. Both from bad television, but that’s just a coincidence. I have some from bad movies as well. These concepts, these mantras, these slogans stick with me and come to mind, and I’ve created my only little cultural history that no one else has.
If I’ve created this cultural identity that is unique to me, that means you have, too. You have stories that no one else knows, phrases you use to punctuate moments in your life, perhaps your own theme song (I frequently hear the overature from “West Side Story” as I type). As I learn to write fiction, I’m excited about hearing my characters’ stories, almost as much as I am about hearing yours.
Global Patriot on 17 Apr 2009 at 6:05 pm #
Character stories are amazing, especially when they’re telling it while you type. I never knew the hero in my novel was Irish, or that he grew up in New Orleans instead of the more typical Boson or New York locales.
Writing will take you to some interesting places, I’m looking forward to reading your masterpiece!
Lesli Lord on 18 Apr 2009 at 10:58 am #
“You have a lot of ’splainin’ to do, Lucy!”
I use it on my kids or colleagues when they have screwed up. The colleagues know what it means but my boys look at me like I’m weird.
Papa on 18 Apr 2009 at 11:39 am #
So what is wrong with living in New Jersey?
APR on 20 Apr 2009 at 12:51 pm #
My mom and I say “Damn, Gina!” all the time. It suffices on both good and bad occasions when real words can’t be found. (It’s from the 90s tv show, Martin.)
Anne on 29 Apr 2009 at 9:50 am #
When things are going bad on a project, I love to say, “I’m cold, I’m wet and I’m just plain scared!”
It’s a line of Janet’s from Rocky Horror Picture Show. It worked really well when I lived in Seattle.
» John Travolta Lotus 79 on 04 May 2009 at 3:23 pm #
[...] Dead or Living in New Jersey | Life on Avenue Z [...]
Ray at Sheepshead Bites.com on 22 May 2009 at 5:32 pm #
“Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip, that started as a …, aboard a tiny ship”. I think these are some of the words to the Gilligan’s Island theme song. Shipwrecked in the blogosphere.