DRIVE SAFELY

WARNING: THIS PROGRAM IS RATED T (TOXIC) FOR:

• HS (Horrible Spoofs)

• UD (Urban Decay)

• GCS (Gratuitous Container Scenes)

• LT (Large Trucks) and

• TE (Traffic scenes of an Explicit nature)

What it is:

• A video of interesting bits from the New Jersey Turnpike (and vicinity) set to A3's Woke Up This Morning, more commonly known in the USA as the theme from the HBO television program The Sopranos.

• The video focuses on the industrial area mainly located between Exit 12 in Carteret and Exit 15E in Jersey City, but has clips from as far south as Exit 6 (PA Turnpike), as far north as the George Washington bridge entrance in Fort Lee, and even some scenes from the Pulaski Skyway as it goes over the Turnpike.

Who was involved in this:

• Mike Pepe gathered the video footage and did the editing.

• Rachel Pepe drove and performed quality control.

Who would find it interesting:

• People who like the NJ Turnpike.

• People who hate the NJ Turnpike.

• People who hear people talking about the NJ Turnpike and would like to see it.

• People who like the theme song and/or opening credits from The Sopranos but want to see more.

• People who think all the toxic waste jokes about NJ are true.

• People who think all the toxic waste jokes about NJ are funny.

• People who think all the toxic waste jokes about NJ are true and funny.

Why I bothered to make this:

• It's fun! Plus I got to finally make use of all that video editing stuff I bought!

• I always found the industrial area of northern NJ fascinating, and even more fascinating than that is the reaction other people (in NJ and beyond) have to this amazing area.

• I think http://www.nycroads.com/ is one of the coolest websites around, despite the pop-up ads.

• If the Turnpike ever had a theme song, A3's Woke Up This Morning is it.

• Since everyone is Sopranos crazy these days, it seemed timely.

What it took to do this:

• Panasonic PV-DV601D and PV-DV800D camcorders.

• Sharp 8MM ViewCam (long since departed).

• One crappy $30 pinhole video camera I got off eBay and suction cupped to my car windows.

• One The Sopranos: Music from the HBO Original Series CD.

• One The Sopranos DVD (Rented: I don't have HBO) to see what the opening credits look like.

• Various Turnpike trips between February 2000 and December 2002.

• Adobe Premiere and other pieces of software.

• Lots and lots of disk space.

What it looks like- sample images from the original DV:

How to download it:

• Note: I recently redid these mpeg files. These were generated with tmpgenc which makes a more portable file than the mpeg encoder in Premiere. These files are mpeg1 videos, so they should play on just about anything.
  • Low quality, 320x240, 29MB (750kb/sec video rate) not recommended, but its better than nothing if your bandwidth is limited
  • Medium quality, 320x240, 54MB (1500kb/sec video rate)
  • Recommended: High quality, 640x480, 86MB (2500kb/sec video rate)
  • Really Freaking Huge(tm), 640x480, 168MB (5000kb/sec video rate)
• Other formats may be available on request. The original DV is 1Gb!
• VHS and DVD, with 5.1 surround sound and multiple angles will be available in a parallel universe.

If you liked it:

• Drop me an email, lamune@doki-doki.net and let me know.
• Buy a copy of The Sopranos: Music from the HBO Original Series, catalog # CK 63911 from Sony Records.

For further investigation:

• I have some NY/NJ bridge wallpapers for Windows here.
• This website lists all the various places in The Sopranos opening credits- some of which appear in this video.
• Visit the official web pages of the New Jersey Turnpike, NJ Transit, and The Sopranos.
• My homepage lives here, in case you got here through some other means.

Esoterica:

• The video itself consists of 112 scenes from the NJ Turnpike, Interstate 95, the Garden State Parkway, US 9, and NJ 33. The bulk was taken on the Turnpike/I-95. By my quick count, it contains:
  • Six bridge crossings
  • Five old pictures
  • Four big airplanes
  • Three locomotives
  • Two oil refineries
  • One cargo ship
  • ...and a partridge in a pear tree

In Retrospect:

• If after seeing this video you don't want to visit New Jersey- MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!