The 1776 Retreat to Victory reenactment of George Washington & his Troops through NJ.
November 23rd, 2025 by Mr. C
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In November 20, 1776 George Washington led his troops through NJ headed towards PA in retreat from the British Army. The Historic Bridge landing, a bridge that crosses over the Hackensack River was one of the first bridges used by GW and his troops to flee from the Brits which provided time until they could launch an attack of their own when given the right opportunity. That opportunity came when they landed in PA when they crossed the Delaware back into Trenton for a surprise attack of their own against the Hessian forces! Every year we try to attend this new bridge Hackensack River crossing of the American troops reenactment or the one at Fort Lee Historic Park. tactical firepower with the Bridge crossing the Hackensack River were the focal point of each battle. There was various demonstrations, tours of the historic buildings, and exhibits were on display to see. This was the 249th anniversary of this Retreat to Victory! Next year will be the 250th celebration!
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Ultraman live stage show at American Dream Mall New Jersey
November 22nd, 2025 by Mr. C
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After seeing a twitch streamer from San Francisco, shoutout to Daveezz – stream the Ultraman live stage show at American Dream last Saturday, I was absolutely blown away by the choreography and costume play that I knew I had to see it live myself. Hell, it’s practically in my backyard and it’s free! Holy moly! The stage play was amazing and the story with the barbarians was pretty dark as well! The Kaiju battles were so dope and the samurai warlords were vicious! The LED widescreen in the background served up some really wicked graphics & effects to help compliment the show! The original Ultraman teamed up with Ultraman Omega and Ultraman Zero to try to save the earth from a big boss Kaiju! Christopher Sean, the voice of Ken Sato and Ultraman in Netflix’s Ultraman: Rising was the guest & Emcee at the opening weekend of the American Dream live show last week but unfortunately he wasn’t there at Thursday night’s performance. Super thanks to Bandai and Tsuburaya Productions for bringing the ultra talented players in this live show to American Dream & to the NJ/NYC area. Thanks & curses to Bandai Toys for creating such cool kaiju & Ultraman vinyl toy collectibles! My OCD has been activated and now I need to collect them all!
Ultraman fans lookout for the upcoming English dub streaming debut of Ultraman Omega! Go Ultra heroes!
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2025 WFMU record fair at the Metropolitan Pavillion
November 22nd, 2025 by Mr. C
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It was great to get out to support our favorite listener funded, non profit, & independent freeform radio station WFMU based in Jersey City, NJ – loved by many located all over the world! This year was especially important to lend support to this record fair because much of the government funding that helps with non profit radio stations were eliminated so WFMU needed an extra hand with making sure the funding would be there to keep the station rolling! I’ve lost track on when I last went to this fair but all looks to be back to normal with Toddaphonic Todd broadcasting live from the event on Saturday and movies being screened! I think I last attended the record show when it as at the convention center in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I missed the pivot of venues when it was at the Queens Knockdown Center, post pandemic. Plenty of vendors and shoppers converged at the show this year and bodies crammed those aisles like there was a fire sale going on! I missed the Ghostface Killah appearance at the show (I think he was promoting and signing at the table) and Large Professor spinning 45s after the Toddaphonic Todd show.
Cacio y Pepe – thinner crust Roman style square.
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2024 Tour De Bronx – 30th Anniversary edition
October 9th, 2024 by Mr. C
This Planet Chocko online journal is seemingly turning into a bike blog of sorts! It’s just because it seems to be the only major event I’ve been attending lately. Hopefully, we’ll come back ‘atcha with some more diverse content like we’re really known for. We have to wake up the other kaiju half of this zine blog! Let’s go Chocko!!!
In the meantime, last Sunday I joined in on the free annual NYC bike ride that tours the streets of the Bronx. It was the 30th anniversary of the Tour De Bronx and it was a gorgeous day for bicycling! As usual, riders can choose between the 10 mile, 25 mile, or 40 mile ride. I clocked in with my usual suspect of 25 and the rest was history! the 25 mile route this year seemed to be just a little bit different in a good way from what I remember from years past. Areas that we rode through included the South Bronx, Crotona Park East perimeter, Starlight Park, Bronx River Park & the Greenway, Castle Hill, Pelham Bay, Morris Park, & the finale at the NY Botanical Garden. The major rest stops remained the same at the Castle Hill YMCA and at Pelham Bay Park. Now that I think of it, the Crotona Park stop was 86’d out. As far as the ride, I noticed more green way path usage along the route which was great. I’m telling you folks, don’t sleep on the Bronx! It really is a beautiful borough. The Bx is insanely underrated and underappreciated. Rolling around the city streets, the quieter residential neighborhoods, the waterfront, & the park space gives me a different perspective of the Bronx. I would guesstimate that the rider count was about 3-4 thousand. Not as much as in years past from the looks of it. I’m not sure if it was capped off by the City to a max rider count or what. I pretty much still agree that it’s a family friendly ride but let it be known that the vehicular traffic in the streets remain open like a normal day unlike a ride like the 5 Boro Bike Tour in which car traffic is blocked off. Note that the 5 Boro bike tour is a paid event and the Tour de Bronx is free. I also noticed that there were less volunteers and NYPD on the streets to direct traffic unlike in years past of the Tour De Bronx. All in All, the ride was amazing! What wasn’t amazing was when I got back home, the NY Jets lost another game and the very next day the coach got fired! Better Sundays to come I hope! See ya all later! I included a 10 min YouTube video below that I compiled to give you a glimpse of the ride!
Tags: 2024 tour de bronx, bicycling, nyc, nyc bicycling, tour de bronx
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Fort Lee Historic Park – 4th of July – shots fired at NYC!
July 4th, 2024 by Mr. C
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Today we celebrated our country’s Independence Day with musket demonstrations and a cannon firing in Fort Lee, NJ – a significant location of America’s past and where George Washington’s troops once were stationed and eventually had to retreat. Today’s events weren’t as stacked as the annual reenactment of the retreat of George Washington’s troops as the British army closed in on Fort Washington in NY & Fort Lee in NJ. The reenactment is usually held on the weekend before Thanksgiving. But still, the musket demo and the cannon firing was a great way to celebrate America’s birthday!
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2024 NYC 5 Boro Bike Tour
May 10th, 2024 by Mr. C
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It’s been a hot decade+ since I last rode the NYC 5 Boro bike tour but that changed last Sunday! The ride was exactly how I remembered it, same route, most of the same rest areas plus a few new ones and a few challenging spots in the ride! The scattered start times of the assigned 6 waves seemed to have eliminated a lot of the bottleneck in the tour especially in the beginning leading up to Central Park.
The ride was pretty smooth despite it being a little chilly, windy, and rainy especially during the 2nd half of our ride. It started raining pretty steady just before we hit the Queensboro bridge which was about 15 miles into the tour and lasted to the end all the way to the Staten Island Ferry. If you rode in waves 3-6, there was no way to avoid the rains. If you rode the first two waves, you may have stayed dry if you were a quick rider.
It’s always surreal to be riding on the slab highways in the city where only cars roam. It was nice riding with a large group on the FDR drive, Queensboro bridge, BQE, & Verrazanno Bridge. It was totally a bicyclist takeover! The areas that had some steady incline included the 59th street Bridge, several stretches on the BQE leading up to the Verrazanno, and the Verrazanno bridge itself! Boy it felt good blasting down the bridge at the end to the finish line!
A nice touch of this 5 Boro tour was the addition of handing out a commemorative medal at the finish line! Not sure when the Tour started giving out souvenir medallions at the end to the riders but they never had that prior to 2010. A little web searching brings up finishing medals first appearing in 2016. In total, the mileage of the tour was a little over 40 miles with the ride back to the Staten Island Ferry. There was a 30-45 minute wait to catch the ferry back to Manhattan which wasn’t bad compared to past years IMO.
One main reason why I stopped riding the 5 Boro Tour was because of the cost. Over the years, the registration fees started to creep close to triple digits and now in 2024 it’s basically $150. I won’t ride the NYC 5 boro bike tour consistently anymore but I do think it’s a great experience and a must do at least once. It’s just a great way to see NYC. That being said I’ll definitely make an appearance again on this ride especially when introducing & accompanying friends & family on the ride! This year I rode with my nephew on his first time on the tour and he loved the experience so much so he will get his daughter on the 5 Boro bike tour next year! I hope you enjoy some of the photos and video that I captured on the ride! Salute, I’m out!
Tags: 5 boro bike tour, bike ny, bikeny, biking nyc, new york city, nyc
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2023 PorchFest in Rutherford
November 5th, 2023 by Mr. C
It was a fun day of free outdoor live music in Rutherford, NJ at Porch Fest! It would be a day of 13 bands playing at 7 homes using the porch as their stage! PorchFest was originally started in Ithaca, NY in 2007 and now this gathering of the arts & community has spread across the US in towns of all sizes! Thanks to the Rutherford Arts Committee as well as to the homeowners who generously lent their porches & lawns to the wonderful local musicians who shared their time to showcase their music!
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Getting spooky in Hackensack!
October 30th, 2023 by Mr. C
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2023 Tour De Bronx
October 27th, 2023 by Mr. C
The artwork looks like a Toofly production but I’m not 100% positive. Anyone knows, let us know!
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First thing that came to mind while riding on the Grand Concourse while pedaling towards Yankee Stadium was the Tony! Toni! Toné! Song – “It feels Good”….it certainly felt good last Sunday to be riding in the 29th annual Tour de Bronx bike ride again this year! It’s been quite a few years since I rode this open street tour of The Bronx. I would guesstimate about 4000 riders came out that morning. The bike ride would start on 161st street & the Grand Concourse and end at the Bronx Botanical Garden. I parked my car at Fordham University which is directly across the street from the Botanical Garden. I then biked to the start line which was about 4 miles away close to Yankee Stadium. The ride started at about 11:15 am. The 40 mile folks started a little earlier. Overall, it was a fun ride and of course the tour is always free! This is one big reason why I continue to ride the Tour de Bronx! Besides riding in a very underrated and under appreciated borough of NYC, it’s just a hop, skip, & bridge away from NJ! I’m already looking forward to the 30th anniversary of the Tour de Bronx in 2024!
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Tags: bike, nyc, tour de bronx
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disc golf at FDR State Park in Westchester County, NY
August 4th, 2022 by Mr. C
We enjoyed the layout of the 18 hole disc golf course at FDR State Park in Westchester County, NY . The majority of the holes were in wooded areas but a few did open up the baskets to the skies! There were a handful of tee offs that sketched us out a bit in that if you were off a little to the right or the left, that disc would get lost in the outgrown bush. We did end up losing a disc in the marshes.
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Tappanzee Bridge ~> Tarrytown ~> Sleepy Hollow
August 2nd, 2022 by Mr. C
We rode over the Tappanzee Bridge pathway once again and explored the waterfront area in Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow. After riding over the bridge and into the local streets of Tarrytown, I do have to say riding on Broadway was pretty sketchy. There’s a lot of cars on a pretty high speed road and not enough real estate for bike riders. I just stayed on the sidewalk and cruised down broadway and made a left to dive through to the waterfront. I’ll have to come up with a better way or routine next time. The views of the Tappanzee were amazing once by the waterfront and the lighthouse at Sleepy Hollow was uber cool especially with the little pedestrian bridge to the lighthouse. Of course the lighthouse was closed and it looked like some renovations are being done so maybe in the near future there will be access to this historic lighthouse! We ended the day with a nice Greek hefty lunch at Lefteris Gyro!
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frisbee golf in Warwick, NY
July 31st, 2022 by Mr. C
We made a little frisbee golf excursion the other day to check out the 18 hole course at Warwick Town park. I believe this park & disc golf course has been around for at least 15 years maybe even longer. Any regulars at Warwick please chime in!
This course goes through woods and back onto a beautiful open field. This disc park is maintained really well and the lawn is manicured very meticulously. There are two disc tee off pads for each hole, one silver (beginner) and one blue (advanced) to their matching two baskets options, one silver (shorter distance for beginner) and one blue basket (longer for advanced). There was one tee off pad that we had a hard time finding, I think it was #5 which was around the corner from the woods and into the open field. It was mainly a 3 par course per hole for the silver tee to silver basket. We didn’t really keep score but we estimate we were about +20 each at the end of the 18th. We’ll have to work on that for the next time! All in all, great time and a great well kept park!
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Tags: disc golf, frisbee golf, sports, warwick park
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