FOT Forum
The Best Show on WFMU => Show Discussion => Topic started by: JRSly on July 09, 2014, 04:28:42 PM
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Hello all, first post...little nervous..deep breaths, deep breaths before I get into full Pudge mode and chicken out.
Okay, so I've always been a map nut and so whenever a situation arises where I enjoy something and this something can allow for it, I want it in some form of map. So soon after I became a Best Show devotee I thought about the idea of a map of Newbridge. I'd waffle back and forth, arguing if it was a worthwhile project or not...it's just a city map and not quite as attractive as a regional map of Middle Earth or Westeros something like that, likewise it doesn't have as strong of a canon basis to start from and I'd be making most of it up so it's not as authentically informative as those maps...does that devalue it? It's a comedy show, could a straight-laced municipal-style map still be funny? Ultimately I decided "yes it could be funny" and I just really wanted to see it realized and what finally got me started was the WFMU run coming to an end and the thought that I'd finally have a (temporarily?) complete, finite well of information to work with.
So in the last few months I've been acquiring shows and making mp3s of all the Wurster calls, big thanks to buffcoat as his site was invaluable in tracking down the necessary shows and finding each call, and relistening from the beginning to note all the mentions of Newbridge. It's been quite an undertaking, but there's definitely worse forms of research. Since I only became a fan in the last three years or so, there were plenty of calls that I'd never heard so it was a lot of fun. Once I finished, I had a big ol' Evernote note of dozens of businesses and people and the neighborhoods and streets they could be found at. The next step was hopping into Photoshop and trying to put all that info in a blender and try to force it to make sense.
The image I'm linking to is a few weeks of work, it's been a slow start as I had the desire to make it feel as realistic as I could and so during those weeks I'd been taking a self-guided crash course in city planning and municipal growth. More than twice the time "working" is spent in my head trying to plan and visualize streets and districts before actually committing to the illustration.
I've been hesitant to post anything here before it was finished for a couple reasons, first I selfishly liked it being "my project" and being the ultimate god but I also don't very often work collaboratively because of past projects that completely stagnate because of too many hands pushing and pulling in different directions and I really want to see this project completed. But I came to the realization that it would be silly to ignore such a great potential helping hand in this community. I'd be dumb to not see the benefit in showing it at this stage and getting criticism and advice now rather than having to make significant changes after it's done. I think the pros outweigh the cons.
Okay, that's probably long enough, I can get into more specifics of why I did what later on. Right now, I'm really interested in what folks' first impressions are and if there's anything I chose to do that just seems completely stupid and wrong.
http://imgur.com/FJHGpKO (http://imgur.com/FJHGpKO)
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Let me just quickly reply with my initial impression: Amazing!!!
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Hello, new desktop background
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Dios Mio, Man!! way cool!
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Thanks for the encouraging words! Thought I'd talk a little bit more about how I got to this point. First thing I did was try to layout all the geography-the water features and the mountains, since they'd be the immovable elements that the city would have to develop around. It took a little while to try to sort out how to fit in a harbor, inlet, sea, and strait but I'm happy with this configuration. Who the hell knows what a mini ocean is, all I had to go off of was that it once "flooded half the town" so I figure it should be pretty centrally located..and to make more deserving of being called an ocean, it's got a sandy beach. Eventually I'm going to create a topographic layer so the mountains and cliffs will be seen in relief.
Then came roughly figuring out where the major routes and neighborhoods would be. It's kind of amazing that with maybe ~500 Newbridge related calls, the roads on the map now are almost all that are specifically named on the show. And all the call outs on the map now are all of the places that are mentioned with any kind of context on where they are located. So like I said, there's a lot of room for making stuff up. Once I got the main arterial road network drawn out, time to start putting all the stuff in between the roads...homes and shorter streets and businesses and other points of interest. Before I got very for a long, like with the geographic features, I thought it best to draw out the larger places-the colleges, the commons, airport, zoo..now I'm moving on to the schools and sports venues. That seemed the smartest way to go, start with the biggest things that are hard to plop down just anywhere and then work your way towards the smaller buildings that are easy to find a place for.
A couple of "head canon" type things that helped dictate some of my choices. I thought the early settlement would have a strong Quaker influence, Quakers are mentioned more than a few times on the show and the time period works nicely with maybe a group of Quakers setting out to start their own town. So the Quaker Museum is a central piece in the botanical gardens and prominently positioned in relation to the mayor's house and along the long line of sight going down Gorntner Street, the way cities like Paris or Washington DC would design streets that guide your eye and travel towards monuments or important sites. In the gardens, the 8-pointed star made by the walking paths is a Quaker symbol, again inspired by the Freemason symbology in Washington DC. Speaking of Gorntner Street, that name is mentioned a couple times and I like to think it might be the name of one of the early settlers, so there's Mount Gorntner, Gorntner Creek, Gorntner Circle and Street. Monster Island where the penitentiary is was created as an homage to a Simpsons joke where people are punished by being sent to Monster Island but someone reassures those sentenced that, "It's just a name". Upon arriving and being chased by monsters they learn that "it's just a name" because it's actually a peninsula. So there was that, and a peninsula made more sense for easy access and to explain how so many prisoners were able to escape.
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That map is unbelievable. I tweeted out a link to it. Hope you don't mind.
:)
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Amazing!
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This is great!
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Wow. First thing I looked for to see if this was The Real Deal: Dame Lola's Erotic White Chocolates. It was there.
Very nice to see this: The Devil's Breakfast Nook, a weird rock formation just east of a weird mud sculpture called Satan's Jukebox.
Glorious work.
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nec13: Sure, the more people that check it out and can catch any problems or help add more locations the better.
Omar: I heard about Dame Lola's from the guy in the ski mask. I know I've missed things, in the last few weeks I've gone back to relisten to some of my favorites or to get a little more detail on locations I know were described in some detail and frustratingly stumbled across locations I missed in my first go through. It can be tough to catch every quick little name drop, but I think I'm like over 90% there and I think I always caught the most Newbridgian things, such as the Devil's Breakfast Nook.
Wow, a nod of approval from Omar...I'll sleep good tonight. I consider that a serious feather in my cap.
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very cool!
huge respect for the amount of work that appears to have gone into this.
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I had a question about 26. Heliocentric Records. Do you know the call in which that was referenced?
I may have missed it, but I did not see the Newbridge Jazz Academy! There's another late-night erotic place called Panty Boys on Old Muffler Row. Circa 2006 Tom's bully Troy Dershman was in a rough patch and dancing there.
nec13: Sure, the more people that check it out and can catch any problems or help add more locations the better.
Omar: I heard about Dame Lola's from the guy in the ski mask. I know I've missed things, in the last few weeks I've gone back to relisten to some of my favorites or to get a little more detail on locations I know were described in some detail and frustratingly stumbled across locations I missed in my first go through. It can be tough to catch every quick little name drop, but I think I'm like over 90% there and I think I always caught the most Newbridgian things, such as the Devil's Breakfast Nook.
Wow, a nod of approval from Omar...I'll sleep good tonight. I consider that a serious feather in my cap.
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Awesome, thanks! Missed both of those, any idea when the Jazz Academy shows up? I'll listen to Troy's calls tonight at least and get the Panty Boys details.
And Heliocentric Records was the shop started by the snobby Music Scholar. Just listened to that one today actually to confirm if the Music Scholar was a resident of Newbridge or not.
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Awesome, thanks! Missed both of those, any idea when the Jazz Academy shows up? I'll listen to Troy's calls tonight at least and get the Panty Boys details.
And Heliocentric Records was the shop started by the snobby Music Scholar. Just listened to that one today actually to confirm if the Music Scholar was a resident of Newbridge or not.
The Newbridge Jazz Academy is mentioned a few times over the years (I think) but the key reference is the original Hammerhead call -- Sonny Rollins barely escaped his 1983 gig at that venue. 7/17/07.
Dershman discussed Panty Boys on 10/10/06.
“People think it’s condemned, but Panty Boys is still happening.” - Troy Dershman
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Amazing.
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The Newbridge Jazz Academy is mentioned a few times over the years (I think) but the key reference is the original Hammerhead call -- Sonny Rollins barely escaped his 1983 gig at that venue. 7/17/07.
Dershman discussed Panty Boys on 10/10/06.
“People think it’s condemned, but Panty Boys is still happening.” - Troy Dershman
Ahh, yes, when you mentioned Sonny Rollins it came back to me. And that was a good, sad, quick call from Troy, ha, listened to that last night. I've got some ideas for a couple more places that would probably fit right in on Old Muffler Row.
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This is amazing and it's something I'd never have the patience to put together and if I could have a poster of this, I would.
Where would the Newbridge Debate Pavilion be?
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Incredible!
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This is amazing and it's something I'd never have the patience to put together and if I could have a poster of this, I would.
Where would the Newbridge Debate Pavilion be?
It was definitely a bit daunting when I finally decided to go for it, but I feel like the toughest part is behind me. As enjoyable as listening to the calls is, it took a lot of time. It's one of those things that has to happen in real time you can't hurry up or find a more clever way of going about it. That and getting the initial street layout, it was almost like a logic puzzle...you have clues to where things should be and the occasional direct description of a location or intersection, trying to make everything work and make sense was kind of a challenge. Now it feels like a lot of grunt work to get the hundreds of buildings in, but it's not as brain burning to figure out.
I'm not sure about the Debate Center, it's quite a newer building having only been built in 2008, so it wouldn't be in downtown or necessarily very central...maybe near University State or on route 1362.
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I guess this is good a place as any to ask, since I want to find it to see if there's more info to gleam for it's place in the map. I'm trying to find the call where the Newbridge Ten were discussed, I've been racking my brain and listening to callers that seem like the type, but haven't tracked it down. It was in regards to an infamous crime where people were kidnapped and held at a house by the caller's family and the caller ratted out everyone else to save himself.
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Oh my god!! This is amazing.
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Whoa that's awesome. Great job!
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My God... it's full of stars...
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My God... it's full of stars...
2014: The Year We Get Hoagies from the WAWA's Hoagie-puter
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I guess this is good a place as any to ask, since I want to find it to see if there's more info to gleam for it's place in the map. I'm trying to find the call where the Newbridge Ten were discussed, I've been racking my brain and listening to callers that seem like the type, but haven't tracked it down. It was in regards to an infamous crime where people were kidnapped and held at a house by the caller's family and the caller ratted out everyone else to save himself.
Was this the same guy who also ratted out the cult of Satanists, who I believe were actually Unitarians or liberals? And it turned out that he was the only one who was actually a Satanist?
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Wow, this is great.
How did I miss What's Sub, Dude? That is incredible. Anyone know what show/call that is from?
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I guess this is good a place as any to ask, since I want to find it to see if there's more info to gleam for it's place in the map. I'm trying to find the call where the Newbridge Ten were discussed, I've been racking my brain and listening to callers that seem like the type, but haven't tracked it down. It was in regards to an infamous crime where people were kidnapped and held at a house by the caller's family and the caller ratted out everyone else to save himself.
Was this the same guy who also ratted out the cult of Satanists, who I believe were actually Unitarians or liberals? And it turned out that he was the only one who was actually a Satanist?
Hmm, I'm not positive, it doesn't sound immediately right, but clearly I'm fuzzy on the call in general. About halfway through I was really regretting not citing all the locations for easy access later. I remember a lot pretty well, but not everything.
ndmvhc: See previous statement...I could probably come up with it if I looked through the playlist for a few minutes...it was mentioned as a sister/rival to the sub shop InSUBordinates which are both in the Shops of Newbridge Sulfur Mines..I think they were mentioned as being a place where a caller's associate (band member I believe) would frequent as a record breaking sub eater.
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ndmvhc: See previous statement...I could probably come up with it if I looked through the playlist for a few minutes...it was mentioned as a sister/rival to the sub shop InSUBordinates which are both in the Shops of Newbridge Sulfur Mines..I think they were mentioned as being a place where a caller's associate (band member I believe) would frequent as a record breaking sub eater.
I believe that was Gordo Hansen of Black Tyger. He had a sub-eating rivalry with Rick from Tesla. Rick is a multi-state sub-eating champion and represents Blimpie's, while Gordo is pretty in with Subway. It was harmless at first but drove a wedge between the bands. He's not proud of it, but Gordo tried to poison one of Rick's subs.
I don't think that call was the source of the aforementioned establishments, unfortunately. Maybe a later Black/White Tyger call?
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Ahh, dammit, you're right, just listened to the pertinent part of that call. Man, often I'd have the luck of my memory being jogged if I went back and looked at my Evernote list cause I'd recognize some other business on there and remember the show it came from so I'd have a rough range of when the show I'm looking for would be...but in this case I separated these sub shops in their own list under "Stores of Newbridge Sulfur Mines".
Well, in the mean time, while I try to track those sub shops down in the name of closure, here's a smallish map update (http://i.imgur.com/S8VdKff.jpg). Some exciting additions (Kern Pharmaceuticals, the double C!) as I get all the factories and other large footprint structures on there. These are some pretty big landmarks, so any opinions on my placement is very welcomed and would be considered significantly. I toyed with the idea of Kern Pharm. being a towering skyscraper-esque building in downtown but settled on the idea of a compund being more interesting and sinister. And in my head, I always imagined Consolidated Cardboard and Consolidated Ball Bearings being in the same industrial park-type area..but others might not have pictured them like this. The legend is a bit out of date as I make it in another program that's easier to work with numbered text like this and then I drop it into Photoshop later, besides the additions mentioned in this thread I listened to the Don Klaumenzer call this morning and so added the Newbridge Diner at the Commons and the dump up in Potter's Woods.
Also after listening to that call I've considered modifying Muffler Row as Don and Tom describe it as being "pretty rough" and a place Tom tries to avoid having to head down. Which seems kinda counter to a lot of the assumed knowledge about Muffler Row where it sounds very much like a major thoroughfare and is nice enough for the Commons...it'll stay mostly as is, but I might shorten it so it's not such a major artery, maybe cut it off between Route 4 on the west and around the point where Main Street hits it on the east.
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Was this the same guy who also ratted out the cult of Satanists, who I believe were actually Unitarians or liberals? And it turned out that he was the only one who was actually a Satanist?
Just came across this one today, Garrett Wilson's One on One News...different story about the Newbridge Twelve, a group of "Satanists" he went undercover with and got arrested because of their satanic behavior...bikram yoga. Still on the hunt for the Newbridge Ten.
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Was this the same guy who also ratted out the cult of Satanists, who I believe were actually Unitarians or liberals? And it turned out that he was the only one who was actually a Satanist?
Just came across this one today, Garrett Wilson's One on One News...different story about the Newbridge Twelve, a group of "Satanists" he went undercover with and got arrested because of their satanic behavior...bikram yoga. Still on the hunt for the Newbridge Ten.
That One on One News call is great! The Colonel Jessup's Salad Plantation spot with the voice that would later be used for Zeph.
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Was this the same guy who also ratted out the cult of Satanists, who I believe were actually Unitarians or liberals? And it turned out that he was the only one who was actually a Satanist?
Just came across this one today, Garrett Wilson's One on One News...different story about the Newbridge Twelve, a group of "Satanists" he went undercover with and got arrested because of their satanic behavior...bikram yoga. Still on the hunt for the Newbridge Ten.
That One on One News call is great! The Colonel Jessup's Salad Plantation spot with the voice that would later be used for Zeph.
That is hands down my favorite JW voice. I guess it's "on account of" where I'm from.
Challenge to all: can you name the other one-shot character who used that voice? Hint: Tom called HIM.
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Indeed, fantastic voice. It's unexpected usage in the one-on-one call is just fantastic, kills me every time.
buffcoat, it's not cheating if I went back to get the name right? I remembered that spurt of short calls for opinions on the VP debate at least. Richard Rutherford.
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First thing I did was try to layout all the geography-the water features and the mountains, since they'd be the immovable elements that the city would have to develop around.
Kudos, my friend. Arthur H. Robinson could learn a lot from you.
One minor critique- I'm almost certain physical features like mountains and water features can indeed move in and around Newbridge. The mountain doth indeed go to Mohammed.
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Ha, fair point. I'm still deciding how the roving sinkhole is going to be depicted.
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Indeed, fantastic voice. It's unexpected usage in the one-on-one call is just fantastic, kills me every time.
buffcoat, it's not cheating if I went back to get the name right? I remembered that spurt of short calls for opinions on the VP debate at least. Richard Rutherford.
Not cheating at all!
Richard Rutherford is one of my favorite characters ever, for all that he only existed for six minutes and 36 seconds.
"I got a bus pass on Greyhound that'll take me anywhere."
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On that show, I've always loved the call to the guy in Vernton, Iowa where they have a serious stray cat problem. The man describes the severity of the issue for a few minutes but Tom still not quite having full grasp on the scope asks, "So what is it like when you walk down the street in this town?..." and the response is a defeated, gravelly, "Caaats." Those five seconds is ranked very highly among the entire length of other very funny calls.
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Excellent map.
I'm listening to the Sully call on 2/10/2009 and right around 1 hour 28-29 minutes Sully mentions knowing Bruce Springsteen and Miami Steve from being stationed at "Four Davies" (sp?) in Newbridge in the early 70s. I wasn't able to find it on the map, thought I'd mention it. :)
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Ha, fair point. I'm still deciding how the roving sinkhole is going to be depicted.
I suggest an inset map displaying each location.
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Excellent map.
I'm listening to the Sully call on 2/10/2009 and right around 1 hour 28-29 minutes Sully mentions knowing Bruce Springsteen and Miami Steve from being stationed at "Four Davies" (sp?) in Newbridge in the early 70s. I wasn't able to find it on the map, thought I'd mention it. :)
Ahh, Fort Davies, yes, just listened to it...thanks! I'll admit, on my relisten to look out for Newbridge locations I skipped over this one as I assumed there wouldn't be any references from Sully. In my defense, adding up eeeevery single call, it's 9 solid days worth of material, I thought it'd be safe to skip a couple like this one to get through them all as quickly as possible. Just goes to show, you never know who spent time in Newbridge at some point in their lives.
That's not a bad idea, Trap, Neuter, Release, if there's room for an inset. The map is going to be pretty dense from border to border once it's done, I fear. I'll go back to where it was mentioned and see if it might make sense to rearrange and redistribute the locations affected by the sinkhole, currently all of those locations are clustered fairly close together near Lake Newbridge. And I was thinking I'd make the roving sinkhole look a bit comet-shaped and more trench-like. Like it moves around and gets filled in behind itself after a certain distance.
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JRSly, do you have MP3s of every S&W appearance? How do you keep track of everything?
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I don't like it.
I LOVE IT.
Great work.
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JRSly, do you have MP3s of every S&W appearance? How do you keep track of everything?
I do. When I first became a fan a few years ago, I just thought it would be cool to have all the appearances, so I made a playlist in iTunes and would order the Best Show Gems chronologically as they were released. And make mp3s from the full Best Show releases every week if Jon made an appearance. The full shows, and especially those only in the archive, were too unwieldy and inconvenient for my purposes. And then through the albums, through the WFMU archives, and a big help to someone on Soulseek who had a pretty good collection of Wurster calls already edited and named, that saved me a good amount of work making my own...I accumulated the whole set. Big thanks to you and the Newbridgctionary again, likely never would've caught those ten second-one minute calls if I didn't know they were there. Eventually, to soothe my anal retentiveness I renamed all the titles to match the format that the Best Show Gems had laid out and once I had acquired everything, I added disc (by years, eg. 1997 is disc 1, 1998 is disc 2, etc) and track numbers so they'd be ordered everywhere outside of iTunes. Phew. by my count, 607 files.
Like I mentioned with my woes tracking down the Newbridge Ten, I wish I'd made better notes tying the locations and people to each mp3. Either through remembering or being able to narrow it down reasonably well with the order of their appearances on my Evernote list, I know where probably..70% of the locations are referenced. Recently as I relisten or from input from you folks I've been adding notes about which specific call each point of interest is from. It'll help in the future.
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This is extraordinary. Thank you so much. I'd def buy a poster of this, as I'm sure tons of others would as well.
Two thoughts on possible additions:
1) Allin Towers, just outside Newbridge city limits (did this ever get built?) -- mentioned by Trip Whiting on Jan 2, 2007 (Best Show Gem here: http://wfmu.org/listen.m3u?show=31271&archive=51865 (http://wfmu.org/listen.m3u?show=31271&archive=51865))
2) The Panty Pantry -- mentioned by Tom's Ex-Godfather Butch Daffodil on Jun 9, 2009 (Link to Best Show Gem here: http://wfmu.org/listen.m3u?show=52882&archive=91647 (http://wfmu.org/listen.m3u?show=52882&archive=91647))
Bless you, you are amazing. Have you got a name or website? I want to share the map and want to give all due credit to the creator.
Thanks,
David
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Thanks a lot, David.
On Allin Towers, yeah, I decided not to include it because it wasn't built yet. And because its location might even be considered beyond the boundaries of this map. I don't really like to be subjective, I'd like to include absolutely everything mentioned and not cheat or try to make my own creative choices..but sometimes I can't help it. Like if I argue against Allin Towers because it's outside of Newbridge, it's harder to justify Mellow Grove and Potter's Woods. But Mellow Grove felt like a more essential facet of the universe and warranted cheating a bit to get it on there. And if I argue against Allin Towers because it's not built yet, I probably shouldn't include any other future sites like Marky Ramone's Amusement Park. And in fact, I've thought about getting rid of that and the '76 Olympics site, since they'll end up just being empty fields, and not very funny empty fields. But I think I'll break my rules again and keep the note about the future location of Newbridgecatraz, cause it's funny.
I've had the same struggles with residents. It's a nebulous set of rules...at first I threw in every single speaking character, but some are too generic and short of a call to deem worthy of inclusion. When I thought of who else to include, I couldn't just drop in every single name mentioned by a caller, again for the same reasons..it just wouldn't be funny and most would be too obscure to even be interesting. But I couldn't not include people like Sheila Larson or Merv Reynolds or the Germans, those who had some infamy despite never appearing on the show. So I was a bit flexible and inconsistent with this section and included those who were callers, or were infamous or if they had funny names...like Will Cope.
Thanks for the Panty Pantry, I'd missed that one. I bet that place and the Panty Pagoda have a long standing rivalry.
And I appreciate you spreading the map around. I love the idea of as many people as possible being able to enjoy the map, just as I would want to be exposed to it if I was on the other side of things. I'm kinda between sites right now, I need to retool my old one and update it some and I've been thinking about joining the 21st century and maybe incorporating a Tumblr or blog more prominently...but anyway, if you'd like to just drop in a link to my DeviantArt profile (http://jrsly.deviantart.com/) or blog (http://destined-for-mediocrity.blogspot.com/), that'd be cool and if anyone feels like communicating with me, they can through those channels.
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This is so amazing. Well done JRSly.
I didn't see Kern Pharmaceuticals actually on the map, there was an earlier post that alluded to it being on the map. Is it there and I'm just not seeing it?
According to the 2011 (maybe?) FMU premium sticker, Kern Pharma should be on the shores of either Newbridge Sea or Newbridge Bay. You can see the sticker via the link below (sorry for just posting it on my FB feed, it was the easiest/laziest way)
Assuming that the sticker comes from the Newbridge visitor's center or chamber of commerce, and assuming that those industrial buildings are on Newbridge Cliffs, Kern Pharmaceuticals and possible CC and CBB are all in the same complex. You can kinda see how the Kern industrial park is on the right side and on the opposite bank there's an unnamed industrial park that could be CC or just another part of the Kern industrial park. You can't really tell if its all one shoreline or its where the Newbridge Inlet begins.
I'm not sure if this contradicts any info gained from a call and I'm assuming that the sticker is "official". Anybody have any thoughts to the sticker being "canon"? Hope this helps.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202208943134781&set=a.1038407010182.2006115.1525730428&type=1&relevant_count=1 (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202208943134781&set=a.1038407010182.2006115.1525730428&type=1&relevant_count=1)
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Oh wow, thanks Noah. I wasn't aware of any type of canon locational items being out there, your link isn't working, could you try again? I'd love to see this.
I'd love to even though it sounds like it'll be in conflict with my map and may necessitate some shuffling of buildings. :o Right now, Kern Pharmaceutical is in north Newbridge, near the botanical gardens.
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Sorry, I'm terrible at the internet. Maybe Instagram will work out better?
http://instagram.com/p/rEAKZmwDlo/ (http://instagram.com/p/rEAKZmwDlo/)
If not, then type "Instagram 5unday5essions" in your search engine of choice. Its a black & white sticker, should be the first pic on the feed. That should sort it.
And again I'm not sure that you could consider the sticker "canon". I don't really recall hearing anything in a call about where its located. Maybe some other FOT will have input.
Amazing job so far. I had always pictured someone doing this, but in my mind it was going to look like the Springsteen map of Jersey. Just black & white. This is way better. If I can make a suggestion, once its done crowd-fund relief maps. That would be amazing. Cheers
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Great, thanks Noah, that worked. Very cool, I'll have to ponder this. I'd consider basically anything that came down from on high canon. Even if a more peripheral item like this, unless it contradicts some other piece of information, it's more "official" than anything else and unless there's some really specific reason not to, I'd like to honor any official-ish items that there are. My positioning was based on nothing from the show, I've never caught any specific clues as to where Kern or either of the Consolidated's would be. There is some room on the coasts where I could put all of those factories...might be best to do that now before progressing much further and having to do major demolition and remodeling.
And just to bring everyone up to speed. Here is the latest iteration (http://i.imgur.com/JUGniyH.jpg), for the last week or so I've been working a lot on the downtown area. It's been pretty intimidating to me, so once I finish it, it'll feel like a big weight off my shoulders.
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Great, thanks Noah, that worked. Very cool, I'll have to ponder this. I'd consider basically anything that came down from on high canon. Even if a more peripheral item like this, unless it contradicts some other piece of information, it's more "official" than anything else and unless there's some really specific reason not to, I'd like to honor any official-ish items that there are. My positioning was based on nothing from the show, I've never caught any specific clues as to where Kern or either of the Consolidated's would be. There is some room on the coasts where I could put all of those factories...might be best to do that now before progressing much further and having to do major demolition and remodeling.
And just to bring everyone up to speed. Here is the latest iteration (http://i.imgur.com/JUGniyH.jpg), for the last week or so I've been working a lot on the downtown area. It's been pretty intimidating to me, so once I finish it, it'll feel like a big weight off my shoulders.
Speaking of information coming down from "on high"- I am curious as to whether you are aware if Tom or Jon have seen the map yet or have offered any observations, opinions or feedback about it...
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Great, thanks Noah, that worked. Very cool, I'll have to ponder this. I'd consider basically anything that came down from on high canon. Even if a more peripheral item like this, unless it contradicts some other piece of information, it's more "official" than anything else and unless there's some really specific reason not to, I'd like to honor any official-ish items that there are. My positioning was based on nothing from the show, I've never caught any specific clues as to where Kern or either of the Consolidated's would be. There is some room on the coasts where I could put all of those factories...might be best to do that now before progressing much further and having to do major demolition and remodeling.
And just to bring everyone up to speed. Here is the latest iteration (http://i.imgur.com/JUGniyH.jpg), for the last week or so I've been working a lot on the downtown area. It's been pretty intimidating to me, so once I finish it, it'll feel like a big weight off my shoulders.
Speaking of information coming down from "on high"- I am curious as to whether you are aware if Tom or Jon have seen the map yet or have offered any observations, opinions or feedback about it...
I heard that they have retained counsel (Craig Craigler) to pursue a potential lawsuit for “unauthorized cartography.” In an unrelated matter, they are suing JRSly for “unauthorized ownership of a pet store,” a misdeed he must have learned from Norm of West Hoover Barbershop Sparrows fame.
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Great, thanks Noah, that worked. Very cool, I'll have to ponder this. I'd consider basically anything that came down from on high canon. Even if a more peripheral item like this, unless it contradicts some other piece of information, it's more "official" than anything else and unless there's some really specific reason not to, I'd like to honor any official-ish items that there are. My positioning was based on nothing from the show, I've never caught any specific clues as to where Kern or either of the Consolidated's would be. There is some room on the coasts where I could put all of those factories...might be best to do that now before progressing much further and having to do major demolition and remodeling.
And just to bring everyone up to speed. Here is the latest iteration (http://i.imgur.com/JUGniyH.jpg), for the last week or so I've been working a lot on the downtown area. It's been pretty intimidating to me, so once I finish it, it'll feel like a big weight off my shoulders.
Speaking of information coming down from "on high"- I am curious as to whether you are aware if Tom or Jon have seen the map yet or have offered any observations, opinions or feedback about it...
I heard that they have retained counsel (Craig Craigler) to pursue a potential lawsuit for “unauthorized cartography.” In an unrelated matter, they are suing JRSly for “unauthorized ownership of a pet store,” a misdeed he must have learned from Norm of West Hoover Barbershop Sparrows fame.
HA!
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Speaking of information coming down from "on high"- I am curious as to whether you are aware if Tom or Jon have seen the map yet or have offered any observations, opinions or feedback about it...
I like to think somewhere this conversation took place...
Tom: You know the nonsensical world we created with insane geography and a never-ending list of ridiculous places without concern for adhering to reality?
Jon: Sure.
Tom: Some loon's spent months trying to piece it into an actual map.
Jon: Wait, whuuuuuuuut?
I've avoided Officer Harrups thus far though, thankfully.
Another update (http://i.imgur.com/le42KFW.jpg). I decided to move everything over near the coast as shown in that sticker image, thanks again for that reference! It makes more sense to have the larger factories on the outskirts more and to have them with very convenient access to the port for shipping, so that all worked out for the best. Since the last update, I've been moving south through downtown and have added a couple more neighborhoods. Besides that, today I've been working on filling out Muffler Row. Still kinda slow going, about 90% of the buildings are drawn from actual map images so I maintain a good sense for scale and I've also been, probably overly, motivated to try to have an idea of what nearly every building is. Even though I'm adding dozens of buildings that won't be identified, in my mind I've drawn them to be office buildings, restaurants, hotels, gas stations, etc. I guess it's this idea that the more I am aware of that, the more realistic the map will feel when it's done as opposed to if I just drew rectangles without thinking at all of how a real city would function. It'll all add into the sense of verisimilitude.
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Speaking of information coming down from "on high"- I am curious as to whether you are aware if Tom or Jon have seen the map yet or have offered any observations, opinions or feedback about it...
It makes more sense....
You know this is Newbridge we're talking about, right?
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Speaking of information coming down from "on high"- I am curious as to whether you are aware if Tom or Jon have seen the map yet or have offered any observations, opinions or feedback about it...
It makes more sense....
You know this is Newbridge we're talking about, right?
Insanity can only go so far. At least for my tastes. I fully admit by the end, with my design philosophies, the whole thing could end up feeling very dry. All my real world sensibilities diluting the humorous aspect...but it's how my brain wants to work. I keep falling back on the reassuring idea that Newbridge is bonkers when I look at the spaghetti plate of road infrastructure, and how there are 6 hospitals, several sports arenas and three colleges in a "small town". In a lot of ways, I can't ever be "too wrong" with any choices. The level of amenities is bonkers, the geology is pretty bonkers...but that doesn't mean it should be totally untethered from reality. In fact, nesting the insanity in a straight-laced, realistic fashion, I think, only serves to heighten and accentuate the bizarre qualities. Like seeing the three stooges at a black tie dinner.
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Like with the factories, things could always change, but as of now, Muffler Row...complete (http://i.imgur.com/chhs39f.jpg). At least as far as populated. The exact locations of the mentioned muffler shops isn't final and I'll be adding some unspecified locations on there. But that's the rather easy part, getting all the buildings in is the chore. After the commons, this seems like THE landmark in Newbridge (I mean, even the visiting pope was going to be brought here to watch Officer Harrups catch criminals..it's a must see), so it was fun to see it come together.
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I thought I'd wait a little bit until I made more substantial progress (http://i.imgur.com/SYxdRb8.jpg). Our hero now has a home! Veldenum Way....oh, and I wanted to ask, did I hear that right? (it's from the call with Tom's satanist neighbor), that's what I heard after listening to that moment about a dozen times and I don't believe I'm mishearing a real word...and the rest of Natas Acres is on the map. Reynold's Pond, some more of downtown, and the lake's town layout. The lake was something different and a lot of fun to put together, as I look at the smaller image posted here, the labels are a little hard to read, but on the full size image they're fine.
So still moving along. As I work, I keep bouncing back and forth feeling like the there's too much and too little space. It's strange. I think it's going to end up being very developed and tightly packed not a lot of long stretches of road where you won't be passing houses or businesses, but I don't think that's not really a bad or inaccurate representation. And I was foreseeing a lot of blank, unlabeled businesses once it was all done, but I don't know if that will be the case, I think the map will be much more covered with colored dots than I envisioned. Which is nice, I want it to be very dense and not have too much dead space. Oh, and I managed to add even more items in the last week, a few more residents and shops...including the delightful Stores of Newbridge Swamplands.
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I thought I'd wait a little bit until I made more substantial progress (http://i.imgur.com/SYxdRb8.jpg). Our hero now has a home! Veldenum Way....oh, and I wanted to ask, did I hear that right? (it's from the call with Tom's satanist neighbor), ....
I have always spelled it Velndonom Way. I definitely hear an "n" before the d.
Great updates!
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This map makes me think there should be a Newbridge-themed table top RPG!
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I've been super busy with a writing gig all summer, but I just want to chime in and say this map is incredible and I admire the detail and the commitment to re-doing it until it is done right. Resident Newbridge hardasses Mike Sajak and Roger Scharpling would be proud.
My favorite part is finally seeing the NBC and Muffler Row all laid out. Amazing.
Semi-related! I thought I'd written the Velde....nums on the http://www.friendsoftom.com/forum/index.php?topic=7679.0 (http://www.friendsoftom.com/forum/index.php?topic=7679.0) Unofficial Thread of Family Trees, as I'm certain there are two. E. Paul (he plays on the version of KISS that Gene trots out for the Gene Simmons Toyota Opening) and an older relative for whom the street is named. Alas, I never did and my iPhone notes with the Velde-whatevers got lost in a crash.
So, I can say, though, that if you want my unsolicited, non-binding opinion, I always thought it was spelled "E. Paul Velndenum."
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The DeMartinis are also active musicians and Chub is one of Tom's neighbors, too, on Velndenum Way. This is mentioned in the Newbridge Neighborhood Watch call. Tom was given the silent-treatment at Chub DeMartini's cookout, if I remember correctly. Or was it that he tried to ram Chub with a shopping cart? I can't remember.
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I have always spelled it Velndonom Way. I definitely hear an "n" before the d.
Great updates!
Yeah, I like that first N in there, the more awkward and clunky it is to pronounce it, the better. And good further info Mr. Spacely, just listened to that call and you and Omar were spot on, I didn't recall ever hearing the street name before the Keith Kincaid call. Awesome, love it when I can get solid confirmation on things like that. On Chub, I had him marked down as in the neighborhood, but hadn't decided if that meant he was on Velndonom Way exactly or just in the vicinity. I'll relisten to the Neighborhood Watch call and see if it's more concrete than I remember. Interesting that there's Dr. Charles DeMartini that works at Kern Nuclear Systems and Charles "Chub" Demartini, despite the odds in favor of it, they don't really sound like the same person. And it was Merv Reynolds who Tom rammed with his shopping cart.
This map makes me think there should be a Newbridge-themed table top RPG!
Oh, my mind has gone to all kinds of additional weird tangential avenues that could be fun to explore once the map is done. Using it as a base for an isometric video game map, or yeah, a board game could be cool. I'd also toyed with the idea of creating Newbridge in SimCity 4 as well as I could and adding all the residents to watch them drive around and make up little narratives...along with my love of maps, I've also always been fascinated by model railroading and being able to create a little fully realized world.
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Since I've never actually seen it written in any official document, Spacely's alternate spelling of "E. Paul Velndenum" is certainly a viable option. Does Gene spell that out during the call in which he references E. Paul?
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I remembered the source of my "Velndonom" spelling.
https://web.archive.org/web/20070223123613/http://www.stereolaffs.com/vault.php (https://web.archive.org/web/20070223123613/http://www.stereolaffs.com/vault.php)
Click on "Claude" -- Claude Y. Velndonom, CEO Velndoco Entertainment Inc.
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I thought I'd wait a little bit until I made more substantial progress (http://i.imgur.com/SYxdRb8.jpg). Our hero now has a home! Veldenum Way....oh, and I wanted to ask, did I hear that right? (it's from the call with Tom's satanist neighbor), ....
I have always spelled it Velndonom Way. I definitely hear an "n" before the d.
Great updates!
Omar is right. "Velndonom" is one of the rare holdovers from the Rave On! days, which is where TS and JW honed their comedic talents before and right after the start of the Best Show.
http://fotpediadotgeocities.com/index.php/E._Paul_Velndonom (http://fotpediadotgeocities.com/index.php/E._Paul_Velndonom)
You can probably find "Rave On!" using the Internet Archive. It's a very funny but murky look into two guys - who happen to be world-class comedy writers - posting on a fake alt-zine website to make each other and themselves laugh.
There are references to HRR and PBR, but most of the site is about Claude Velndonom and his complete control of Western Maine. Rivalries with Eastern Maine and town government scandals get a lot of press. In many ways, Western Maine was the precursor to Newbridge.
If some enterprising FOTchaeologist finds online copies of Rave On!, please post the links here.
Oops, I found them. That FOTchaeologist in question turns out to be me: http://stereolaffs.friendsoftom.com/old_site/ (http://stereolaffs.friendsoftom.com/old_site/)
This is the too-complete glossary of Western Maine: http://stereolaffs.friendsoftom.com/old_site/glossary.htm (http://stereolaffs.friendsoftom.com/old_site/glossary.htm)
The FOTPedia had some references to Rave On!, especially this page: http://fotpediadotgeocities.com/index.php/Toilet_rock. (http://fotpediadotgeocities.com/index.php/Toilet_rock.) These are hilarious.
'King of Toilet Radio' Dies in Spectacular Pay-Per-View Death: Rory Blake 1969-2000
Self-proclaimed "King of Toilet Radio" Rory Blake passed away August 26th due to injuries incurred while performing on his pay-per-view TV special. "It seems that Mr. Blake was attempting do perform a stunt in which he....orally pleasured himself... while seated in a glass enclosure filled with with several thousand bees," said Searidge County coroner Walter Mertz.
Assistant beekeeper Marvin Bloom attempts to corral some of the deadly bees
Mertz continued: "On reviewing the tape of the incident, it appears that Mr. Blake was in trouble just moments after entering the case. He was, how do I put this tactfully, having trouble achieving the necessary state of 'excitedness' and appeared to have gone into a panic. At about this time, a local music group by the name of...do I have to say this...Turd Burglar... began performing one of its numbers. The low bass frequencies apparently agitated the insects and caused them to attack the now fully-panicked Blake. Rescue was rendered impossible when the entire crew, head beekeeper included, fled the scene."
Blake's ashes will be given to the woman attending his funeral with the largest breasts as per his last will and testament.
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Since I've never actually seen it written in any official document, Spacely's alternate spelling of "E. Paul Velndenum" is certainly a viable option. Does Gene spell that out during the call in which he references E. Paul?
He does indeed spell it out with two Os. So that's Newbridgian-canon for me. Oddly though, listening last night I noticed that in that call about Gene Simmons Toyota Tom says he "lives outside of Newbridge now", where I had thought he was a resident by 2003.
Thanks for all this Rave On goodness! This will be fun to read through and enjoy. I wanted to acknowledge "Western Maine" in some capacity on the map, it's frequency of appearance and vagueness always cracks me up. I was thinking of making a note like "To Western Maine" at the point in the north when Route 869 goes off the map. Likewise I was planning on doing something similar for Philadelphia in the southwest somewhere.
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The final piece of the Rave On! era is the stereolaffs messageboard, which now seems to exist only on Archive.org. However, that means it still exists, at least in part!
Here it is:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070814183254/http://stereolaffs.com/old_site/wwwboard/messages/ (http://web.archive.org/web/20070814183254/http://stereolaffs.com/old_site/wwwboard/messages/)
For example, someone posts about "Pudge," as a name, all the way back in 2000. And here's a post from Roy: http://web.archive.org/web/20061215050149/http://www.stereolaffs.com/old_site/wwwboard/messages/24.shtml (http://web.archive.org/web/20061215050149/http://www.stereolaffs.com/old_site/wwwboard/messages/24.shtml)
Man, you have no idea how deep this thing goes.
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The final piece of the Rave On! era is the stereolaffs messageboard, which now seems to exist only on Archive.org. However, that means it still exists, at least in part!
Here it is:
http://web.archive.org/web/20070814183254/http://stereolaffs.com/old_site/wwwboard/messages/ (http://web.archive.org/web/20070814183254/http://stereolaffs.com/old_site/wwwboard/messages/)
For example, someone posts about "Pudge," as a name, all the way back in 2000. And here's a post from Roy: http://web.archive.org/web/20061215050149/http://www.stereolaffs.com/old_site/wwwboard/messages/24.shtml (http://web.archive.org/web/20061215050149/http://www.stereolaffs.com/old_site/wwwboard/messages/24.shtml)
Man, you have no idea how deep this thing goes.
Wow wow. Was the message board actually thriving or is it mostly Tom and Jon just goofing around for each other? Man, this will be a great place to mine a lot of funny street names from and pay homage to the early days.
And now, another request for help, can anyone remember where the Panty Pagoda was mentioned. I've been trying to track it down today and haven't come across it yet. It was mentioned in a call where someone(I reaaaaallly wanna say Philly Boy Roy, but I might just be thinking of him because of the incident at Kern Park with the WWII helicopter) stole the memorial WWII plane in Newbridge Park and crashed it into the Panty Pagoda. Looking at my original list of locations I thought I had this one really narrowed down since I remembered where the locations around it appeared on the show. I believed it would've been mentioned near the Banksy of Human Interaction and Kyle Rove calls, but no luck yet. But there's always the possibility, looking likely now, it was from a show I listened to completely out of order for some reason.
To flesh out the map some more, I've started to add little historical or informative notes when it seemed appropriate and funny and when space allows. Like this...
(http://i.imgur.com/PDbKD89.jpg)
So I want to get all the details on the Panty Pagoda crash and add it too.
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Stuff like this:
Western Maine's premier art rock combo "Horshach Test"
And some of this predates the Best Show or came about as they were ramping up.
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Didn't realize it had been so long since the last update... http://i.imgur.com/zDJfbwk.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/zDJfbwk.jpg)
So let's see...reworked some of the roads in West Newbridge as I added Newbridge Estates, Newbridge Downs and Newbridge Mews. Route 0 is now going to be a more rural road running westward by the farms and Mount Bridgemore. I think Appliance Boulevard is going to be a bit of a hard border on how far west the town has developed. As much as it pained me to lose Blanchard Dunleavy, I excised Willowbridge and all associated entities. On a relisten, I realized I was mistaken in jotting down Willowbridge as a neighborhood. As a fan of all things spooky, I was excited to get Whiting Manor fully drawn. Continuing in the north...got "North Newbridge" pretty much finished just need to add a store or two or a few houses to fill in the gaps. Fleshed out Pancake Avenue as another significant commercial vein. I've been working on the Harbor today, that area is basically done. Moving southward, some retail blobs, added the Pizza Promenade and Newbridge Park south of the Mini Ocean. I also remembered to finally implement an earlier idea to have a stream running into the Mini Ocean, since there's no outlet stream this creates a salt lake, which adds to the idea of it being a "mini ocean" and not just a lake. Oh, and in the southwest, added the Stores of Newbridge Swamplands, where Charles Schwabb and Jacqueline Cassette are located.
That's just about it for major additions. You can see some of the notes I've been adding to give the map a little more personality and elevate it to being more of an encapsulation of the Best Show. In that vein, I also got the idea to call out the sports arenas with team logos. Three so far, the Ratmen, Green Rockets and Mallets. I'm planning on making the Newbridge Knights for the high school, one of the hockey teams for the Ice Barn(probably the Newbridge Hockey Players), the Red Faces in the Triskaidecagon and any others as I find a place..I'm not sure yet if I'll call out Kern Dome for any team specifically. These little side projects are nice distractions that keep me motivated when filling in the map gets a bit tedious and grueling.
Happy Labor Day!
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TBSOWFMUWTS has the best fans. I love maps and now I can reference this when I dig into old shows.
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The Map continues to amaze and delight.
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Thought of this thread immediately upon hearing a MAP will be included in the Box Set...
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Well, I suppose now that the cat's out of the bag I can reveal that by making this map I had the amazing chance to talk with Tom and Jon a few months ago, where I got a little sneak peek(listen?) of the boxset and the map Scott Teplin was working on. It was surreal that just a few days after posting my map, barely really started at that point, to the forum, where I did it solely out of just sharing something I thought other fans would get a kick out of, that I would get a chance to talk to the men themselves and hear them praising it. Just wow. We talked for a few minutes about what Mr. Teplin's map would be like and I very happily and humbly agreed to lend the research and info I'd gathered for my map toward the project. What exactly that amounted to, I don't know, a small drop in the bucket I'm sure, but it was no question to be able to possibly help the project out a bit.
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Well, I suppose now that the cat's out of the bag I can reveal that by making this map I had the amazing chance to talk with Tom and Jon a few months ago, where I got a little sneak peek(listen?) of the boxset and the map Scott Teplin was working on. It was surreal that just a few days after posting my map, barely really started at that point, to the forum, where I did it solely out of just sharing something I thought other fans would get a kick out of, that I would get a chance to talk to the men themselves and hear them praising it. Just wow. We talked for a few minutes about what Mr. Teplin's map would be like and I very happily and humbly agreed to lend the research and info I'd gathered for my map toward the project. What exactly that amounted to, I don't know, a small drop in the bucket I'm sure, but it was no question to be able to possibly help the project out a bit.
Pretty cool of them to let you know of the project as well.
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I was just assuming that the map in the box set was the one you had made. Hm.
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Nah, that would've really blown my mind if that was a possibility. It was funny talking with Tom and how after all these years, no one had made a map of Newbridge and both of these projects were started almost simultaneously. I suppose it makes sense though, with the WFMU run coming to an end and having a "complete" set of info to work from. I really appreciated being able to continue working on and posting about my map freely. The map Scott Teplin is making will be colorful and engaging and fanciful and much more humorous and I think feel much more Newbridgian than my straightforward, clinical approach. Here's a small image from the pre-order page.
(http://s21.postimg.org/l8riyhkh3/scharpling_wurster_the_best_of_the_best_show_5.jpg)
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Whew. Long time, no updates, cartophiles. Slight growing feelings of tedium and apathy, other projects cropping up and various incidents from the real world(don't you hate that place?) kept me from working as ferociously on the map in the last few weeks. But even if it was slower, work was still plodding along. And with the recent exciting developments, my enthusiasm has returned in a big way.
So here we are today... http://i.imgur.com/vtTpHE5.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/vtTpHE5.jpg)
Leeeet's see what to talk about since the last update. Start with the big, added Port Newbridge, always exciting to have these big landmarks figured out and in place. Reworked a lot of the roads over in East Newbridge as I did that and filled out the industrial area with the Consolidated's and Kern Pharm. Got some more residential zones, including South South Newbridge, home to Linus. I think I have most of the roadwork between Muffler Row and the coast of the Sea sorted out and just need to plop down a few more filler commercial buildings. It may not look it, but I think East Newbridge is close to completion, get some more buildings and add some trees and it should be there. Today I've been working on adding the houses and shops up at Newbridge Cliffs. Never mentioned on the show, but I added a lighthouse at the point, seemed like a logical and very New Englandy addition.
Less obvious things-moved/dropped/rethought some of the retail locations. Most small to mid-size towns will only have a couple retail corridors where the chain restaurants and strip malls live, but with Newbridge, many calls mention a store and specify it's location on a unique street that never comes up again. Sure, the "Newbridge is insane" law is always nice to being able to fall back on, but either 1)designating a ton of criss-crossing streets as retail corridors and lining them with a bunch of filler stores or 2)making those mentioned streets be largely residential and plopping their one store in the middle of houses just wouldn't sit right with me. 1) No, I've played too many hours of SimCity and have too much reverence for a somewhat realistic RCI balance, this map is going to be way off in the RCI ratio, but it will at least have the illusion of being heavily weighted towards residential. 2) Just wouldn't be realistic, certain types of businesses will be sprinkled through residential areas, sure, but in most cases, they look better kept with other stores. So I'm trying to squeeze as many of those roads that I know have stores close together and, if I can't have simple continuous retail roads, I'll have "retail zones". And I'm also treating some of the far flung neighborhoods like Upper, Lower Left Hand Corner, and West sort of as if they were suburbs with their own little micro-ecosystem of residential zones and retail roads or quasi-downtown areas.
I added several places and people first appearing in the recent "Newbridge: We're Coming to Get You" video. I've been relistening to calls in the last couple weeks and have stumbled across new places, including one of my all-time favorites that I can't believe I didn't have in before now...Staff Sergeant Randolph Mertz's All You're Required to Eat Buffet. Through relistening, I've also dropped some things-Dettweiller Funeral Home mentioned by Philly Boy Roy is likely the real one in Philadelphia, and not in Newbridge..so it's gone. Short Hills Mall is probably the real mall in Short Hills, and so, deleted.
I've added a handful of the fun little narrative notes. I'm hoping to have at least around 50 when I'm done.
And finally, just for some closure, I found some resolutions to questions brought up in the thread for those who have had suffered from sleepless nights like myself. InSUBOrdinates and What's Sub, Dude? are from the RB/Gathering of the Juggalos call on July 28, 2009. And the "Newbridge Ten", the group who allegedly kidnapped and tortured teens were turned in by author Rick Higgins. Still trying to find the source that mentioned Panty Pagoda, I'll come across it eventually.
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GLORIOUS.
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JRSly, this is fantastic!
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WOW!
New wallpaper incoming
This is insane, seriously.
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SO GREAT!
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A quick, less funny update today...
(http://i.imgur.com/Hh5Zjap.jpg)
Sporadically, I'd attempt to address the natural features like the cliffs and mountains and try to find a way to quickly and effectively draw them up, in a style that felt right with the rest of the map's look. It's been tricky and frustrating and so it's an aspect I've been dreading and always waiting to get to later. But I think I may have found a method that I like. It's more realistic than if I tried sketching or painting by hand, but not hyper-realistic to the point of making the roads and buildings and trees look "wrong". And it's pretty darn quick and easy to do, that makes me really happy. I'm not planning on making a full relief map for the whole town, that'd be arduous and a waste of time I think, but I had to do something with the mountain range and the cliffs. And where there are empty plots of land and being able to read the terrain seems important, I'll add some topography.
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Hey gang.
http://i.imgur.com/ygcMgCW.jpg (http://i.imgur.com/ygcMgCW.jpg)
Oooookay, since last time, by far the biggest thing is getting the mountains in there. They are comically small, but they work well enough, it just was never gonna happen where there'd be big mountains for miles. Mountains, fields, parking lots, acres of residential area..these are all necessary, realistic but unfunny blobs that get in the way of cramming in the silliness. So where I can trim them down a bit, I always try. Just the base terrain layer is done on the mountains, still needs to be colored and add trees and roads and some buildings, which will make them blend in and just look better, so I'm excited to get to that soon. Oh, and for those curious, sulfur mines are built around volcanic craters so I worked one of those into tail end of the Newbridge Range. I've learned many things doing research for elements like that I was not familiar with. And what better place to find Stink Pits than an area farting out spumes of sulfur? I love when regions tend to build themselves.
Filled in a ton of empty lots sprinkled around from the industrial region to North Newbridge, between route 1276 and Main Street. Added in the region south of the port. I always enjoy when I get to the point where I can zoom in 100% and actually "drive" down some roads and navigate around an area that's completely finished, and now pretty much the triangle between North Newbridge, the airport and Newbridge Cliffs is complete! In terms of drawing, still need to label streets and idenitify the various points of interest.
Another big change was moving the Garden State Parkway. I've never really liked the way it cut through the middle of town, and how close it was to the richy rich neighborhoods. Early on, it got placed where it was because Tom at first mistakenly thought the Banksy of Human Interaction lived under an overpass on Mutton Chops Pike, but he actually lived at Newbridge Downs a short distance away. So the Parkway was going to be that overpass. But, providence shined upon me and I heard a call mention a train station, and I always wanted to add a rail system because with everything else, of course there should be a railroad going through town, and that made me think that maybe it could be the source of the overpass instead. It was a happy surprise that made everything work out all the better. Get to move the highway, add the railroad I always wanted, and it makes the map look better and still not violate any established narrative.
Today, I've been working on Fort Davies. An army camp is another tricky kinda thing, size wise. In a lot of cases a camp would practically be a town itself, but I made it a fairly tiny camp that can only house maybe a hundred soldiers. And I thought it seemed to make sense to make this a little military area, threw in the military academy and the proving grounds nearby. And at the Fort, you can see the finished Lady Foot Locker Blimp, I'm happy with how it came out.
I think that's about it for major changes...hmm. Oh, I tweaked the legend some and added nifty lines so everything doesn't run together so much and it's a bit easier to read.
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GLORIOUS.
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this really is incredible. When it's finished and settled, i can't wait to print it up and put it on my wall.
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This is absolutely amazing! I've spent an inordinate amount of time staring at this. Can't wait to see more!
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You need to contact the Google Maps team. Somehow, they sidetracked inclusion of Newbrdge all these years.
I'm truly in awe.
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So great
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You need to contact the Google Maps team. Somehow, they sidetracked inclusion of Newbrdge all these years.
I'm truly in awe.
I've heard Muffler Row was just too darn rough a place to drive the street view cars down.
Sorry for another big delay. I got a new drawing monitor with some Christmas money and have been playing with it a lot and doing more painterly work. Forgive my tiny spammage, but if anyone's interested in seeing any of that, you can see my Instagram posts (http://instagram.com/jrsly/). I'll be diving back into Newbridge soon.
On to the map (http://i.imgur.com/MeK3zIy.jpg), I think there was still enough work since my last update to warrant a new post. Working my way through South Newbridge and fleshing it out. Built up Route 7 and the area around Fort Davies. Fort Davies, by the way, has street names honoring those that historians might consider the worst generals of all time. I try to add in these little jokes that will probably never be caught, for my own amusement. Developed Mount Newbridge, it kinda hurt to spend so much time making the topographic layer for the mountains and cover it up with trees, but that's how it would be and I think the underlying heights can still be read enough to sell it as a mountain. Mount Gornter won't be as covered so hopefully it will look a bit more craggy and taller and mroe appropriate for skiing. Added the proving grounds and the fairgrounds and the polo grounds...all kinds of grounds. Besides those big things, as always, lots of tweaeking. I shrank a ton of houses that I placed early on and now seem too big and out of scale. Relocated some businesses to other routes to try to keep things more consistent and focused filled in those holes with residential areas. Added or adjusted narrative notes.
That's about all in that iteration, like I said, I'll be back to cartographizing soon, I'm really missing the map now after looking over these pics.
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This should be a giant poster on really nice paper. Would make a great addition to any house that hasn't yet been turned into a carwash.
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This is just
AMAZING