229. The Underground Railroad, Maria Popova, Carey Furze On Education, Queen Of The South, And Reader’s Digest

         

    

 

   

A. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Monthly Welcome And Call Out For Contributors!

   

This Let’s Talk Philadelphia international business and entertainment Internet column is in its 28th year of publication. It goes out to 27,000 LinkedIn followers and 350 re-listers. It features articles from its staff and from contributors all over the globe on fashion, music, health, food, travel, education, business, movies, television, and the arts.

   

Let’s Talk Philadelphia naturally highlights articles about Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the northeastern United States‘ best history, art, music, and visit locations, but our touch stretches to Europe, Australia, Asia and beyond.

           

Our column started long before the word blog existed and is the perfect spot for your art, photography, business acumen, book, theater, travel suggestions, home design ideas, and movie reviews. Your creative ideas, of course, make the column so much better and universal. As you read past columns, you will see the creative ideas of the experienced and the soon to be experienced. Everything is easy and FREE to initiate.

    

Just send two paragraphs about your work or share and six pictures to, editor, Tom Palumbo’s email (tjpalumbo@aol.com) and up you go on the column. Don’t forget your contact information for your readers. We do not change anything you have written. You can look at reader’s contributions on past columns or call Tom for assistance or advice at 215-262-9986. Just think what a universal audience might like to hear!! No politics or religion, please! You should see the spam we get for always being positive. Imagine what we would get in spam, if we entered the worlds of politics and religion.

          

1. Let’s Talk Philadelphia And Amazon Prime’s The Underground Railroad!
Did Georgia Actually Have A Hidden Railroad That Ran Underground!
They Certainly Had Unimaginable Cruelty As This Show Immediately Depicts!
Please Read Amazon’s Warnings Before Starting This New Series!

     

The Underground Railroad (Amazon Prime 2021) was crafted by Academy Award winner Barry Jenkins (Director…Moonlight). The story is from the book of the same name and Pulitzer Prize winner (2016) by Colson Whitehead.

    

The Underground Railroad Stars Thuso Mbedu (Cora), Aaron Pierre (Caesar), Joel Edgerton (Ridgeway), and Chase Dillon (Homer). The story begins on a Georgia plantation where brutality now reigns after the owner’s heart attack death and his brother’s takeover of the plantation.

Cora, A fifteen year old slave girl, is left behind after her mother flees the plantation by way of the Underground Railroad. Cora is distraught and alone. Caesar, a slave hand, takes a fancy to her and wants her to escape with him. She says no to him and to the escape as brutality increases all around her. Cora is brutally whipped after trying to save a little boy from being whipped. She, then, witnesses in a public plantation ceremony, which all are forced to see, a fellow slave being whipped and burned alive.

   

Cora and Caesar take off for a house in the underground chain. While making their way through the Georgia swamps, they are set upon and attacked by hunters. Cora kills the hunter that attacks her and she and Caesar both escape and find the red roofed house on their first stop to freedom. They meet the first of many of the abolitionists who through pain of death orchestrate slave escapes. Under the house is an actual underground railroad tunnel and train fictionalized by Whitehead.

   

The train takes them close to Griffin, South Carolina an idyllic and progressive town of seemingly interracial harmony…seemingly the writer says! The story goes from nice jobs, to dances, to the hidden secrets of Griffin. Arnold Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton), a bounty hunter and a young boy guide, Homer, are after Cora for the hunter killing and for Ridgeway’s loss/escape of Cora’s mother. The back and forth chases across the South highlight its history and depict gruesome slavery with a bright abolitionist light few and far between. The show is recommended everywhere in spite of the unprecedented violence. Be concerned!

   

This is a perfect time to read Ann Petry’s story of Harriet Tubman and compare it to your viewing or reading of The Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman worked for the Quakers in Philadelphia and the Union Army bringing 17 family members and friends to freedom and freeing somewhere between 700 and 1,000 others on her trips back south.
Melissa Gouty has a nice article about Whitehead‘s book titled On Reading Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad In The Aftermath of George Floyd’s Death (medium.com/literature-lust/on-reading-colson-whiteheads-underground-railroad-in-the-aftermath-of-george-floyd-s-death-ad2094774a86). Her articles prepares you for the story and gives additional background for the new show.

    

2. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Asks A Simple Question!
Have You Seen Alice Braga’s And Kelly Burnett’s Queen Of The South?!
Five Episodes Remain, But Five Years Of Viewing Are A TV Click Away!
60 Fast Moving Globe Trotting Episodes In All!
Year Five’s Conclusion Is Featured Wednesday’s On The USA Network!
Year 1-4 Can Be Found On Netflix Or On Your On Demand TV Function!

Queen of the South, previously reviewed in season one, is one of the most watched programs on the USA Network, Netflix, and On Demand. It is being cancelled in spite of being the Number 1 Drama on the USA network. It has 250,000 more viewers the the second place drama Dirty John. The network says they are moving away from drama and all three dramas will be cancelled. So much for being good storytelling!

      

Season five of Queen of the South has more surprises and switches than the Pennsylvania AmTrak train yard (this analogy beat out more switches than the Westinghouse light bulb factory…switch analogies are hard to come by).

       

Teresa Mendoza (Alice Braga) comes from Sinaloa, Mexico. Her boyfriend is in a drug cartel. She is poor and has every menial job there is. When her boyfriend is killed, she is forced to flee to the United States. She is forced into mule carrying work and there she seeks her revenge against his killers and begins a slow rise in the drug business. Her reach and battles will soon travel across the globe. Everyone protects their territory, but at the same time wants the best product and best deals.

   

Teresa’s inner circle and trustworthy companions are:
James Valdez (Peter Gadiot) her trusted first lieutenant…
Pote Galvez (Hemky Madera) a trusted advisor, trouble shooter (literally), and bodyguard…
Kelly Anne Van Awken (Molly Burnett) the financial guru and business manager…

Her adversaries are:
Don Epifano Vargas (Joaquim de Almeida) and his whole family…Vargas runs Vargas Cartel the largest cartel in Mexico and is quickly expanding it out of Mexico to throughout the United States. His high quality drugs are in demand everywhere…
Boaz Jimenez (Joseph T. Campos) the most ruthless killer and side switcher in carteldom…He will eventually run Theresa’s business in Sinaloa and Miami before trying to take over both operations and destroy her empire…
Judge Cecil Lafayette (David Andrews) He runs New Orleans and is doing everything possible to stop Teresa from going legitimate and getting out of the drug business…

    

As Teresa’s drug business expands, so do the luxury accommodations, locations, travel, and dress. Paris, London, Monaco, Dallas, and New York are just a few of the new venues for her drugs. Each of the partnerships in these areas show Teresa’s budding business intelligence. Her business ownership includes banks, bars, restaurants, office buildings, and waterfronts. Every one of these expansions and new dealings bring trouble and make each episode a very interesting watch. Once again, we recommend Queen of the South! Start with season one on Netflix and you will be amazed with Alice Braga’s change throughout the sixty shows! Cry to USA Network for more!

          

         

       

3. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Asks A Simple Question!
What Are You Reading On Your Computer/Phone This Summer?!
Is it Shareable, Important, Worthwhile, Meaningful, Or Just Interesting?!

     

Let’s talk Philadelphia’s two recommendations for your new favorite’s file are Reader’s Digest Canada, Asia, or Australia and Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings.

Brain Pickings and its spin-offs have 3 million readers. It is the brain child of Maria Popova who has (solely) been writing two issues (Wednesday, Sunday) for 15 years. Maria’s curating ability is unmatched in the fields of writing, books, art, philosophy, history, poetry, self help, and feelings.

   

After her new issue and this quote from Emily Dickinson (Grief is the shadow cast in the light of loss…The grander the loss, the vaster the shadows), we are now researching the eight types of love…join us! Signing up for Brain Pickings will send it to your inbox and you can access it and read it at your leisure.

   

Meet the 8 Different Types of Love

1. Philia — Affectionate Love. Philia is love without romantic attraction and occurs between friends or family members. …
2. Pragma — Enduring Love. …
3. Storge — Familiar Love. …
4. Eros — Romantic Love. …
5. Ludus — Playful Love. …
6. Mania — Obsessive Love. …
7. Philautia — Self Love. …
8. Agape — Selfless Love.

    

Reader’s Digest has been an institution for over 100 years. It has the largest circulation of all the world’s periodicals. It was first printed in 1920 with 25 articles taken from other publications. The founders DeWitt Wallace and Lila Acheson Wallace believed too much information was crushing the American public. They thought that sorting out the best ideas would be a universal help…so right they were! We recommend subscribing to a foreign Reader’s Digest to increase your world view.

       

   

4. Let’s Talk Philadelphia And Education With Carey Furze
Family Book Form Has Some Unique And Creative Ideas!
After Viewing These Ideas Below Check Out Carey’s Work With Immigrant Children (https://youtu.be/gvGhrIeRe3g)!

   

Her are some unique and creative ideas from Carey Furze to better engage students in the classroom and with their home studies. Her website offers even more…

   

Gamify Literacy, Engagement And Well Being

The Family Bookform dashboard scaffolds students in inquiry learning; they interview themselves or others, using templates and question prompts, speech-to-text (any language), and collect original content into published books, developing 21st century skills, empathy and knowledge.

    

Collaborative Class Book – Grade 6-12
Mother’s Day Book – Students contributed a poem and picture of their hero or special person.
Student’s Favorite Food Book – Grade 7-12
My Family’s Favorite Recipes Book – Students collect their favorite recipes and cultural stories into books.
Student’s Family Book – Grade 8-12
My Granddad’s Memoir – Students interview family or community to create personalized memoirs.
Book-creating competition
Monthly competition & prizes – Students speak, write, interview & collect content into original books.

   

Social Emotional Intelligence
Students have agency & emotional connection to content, generating oxytocin and an interest in learning, their content enriches lessons and books can be graded, included in portfolios, gifted or sold to families.

Examples:
COVID-19 And Me – Students collect family & community experiences as primary source historical records.
My Favorite Recipes Book – Students collect their family’s dispersed cultural food stories and photos.
My Granddad’s Memoir – Students collect precious family stories, experiences and ancestry information.
My Town’s History – Students collect oral histories from their community, developing empathy and EQ.

    

Fun Activities:
Students use technology-as-a-tool to scaffold STEAM/PBL pedagogy and interview themselves or others to collect original content into published digital books of value.
Template questions guide and speech-to-text captures oral information in any language.
Invited others contribute text and photos directly into the book.
Students edit, critically analyze & reflect on the content, for imaginative essays, research reports or major writing projects.

   

Engage & Motivate:
Students have agency to achieve personalized and differentiated learning and present their collected audio files and text in classrooms for fun story-sharing and collaborative editing activities.
Develops 21st century skills, communication, empathy and well being. Strengthening peer, family & community relationships.
Students are engaged & their content enriches lessons.

Present & Share:
Students are proud to present their published books to family and community at celebration ceremonies. Books can be graded, included in portfolios and higher education
applications, gifted or printed and sold for fundraising.

     

Assessment:
Teachers easily assign through Google Classroom to a whole class or year group or send the unique link via email. Available on Chromebooks and any device.

Resources: Lesson plans, explainer videos, case studies and testimonials: https://familybookform.com/

5. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Reviews Its Memorial Day Book Suggestions!
The Reluctant Dragon, The Wall, The Big Book For Peace Are Great Gifts!

Books That Salute Memorial Day…The Reluctant Dragon

    

The Reluctant Dragon was written in the year 1898 by Kenneth Grahame (Wind In The Willows). Michael Hague’s new and vibrant illustrations bring the story to life once again. The book makes a great present. It was originally a chapter in a larger book. Reluctant is the story of the last dragon left on earth and St. George, the last dragon fighter left on earth. The dragon is the last one left of his kind because he enjoys discussion, good food, poetry, reading, and art, not fighting.

The townsfolk want them to battle until only one is left. The two friends do not want this fight. A young shepherd boy designs a fake fight to appeal to the townsfolk. The make believe killing of the dragon is cheered by the townsfolk.

The last illustration in Michael Hague’s book of the boy, dragon, and knight skipping down the road holding hands is precious.

Books That Salute Memorial Day…The Wall

    

Eve Bunting is the author of a library of books everyone should own. Her themes are universal. This is her finely illustrated story of a family’s trip to The Wall in Washington that commemorates those that died in the Vietnam War. The name of oldest child in this family’s appears on The Wall. Mom is crying in the car before they even get to The Wall. When the younger daughter asks why mom is crying the father tells her it is a woman’s thing. Dad is shortly overcome by the woman’s thing, when they get to the wall.

    

Books That Salute Memorial Day…The Big Book For Peace

Greenpeace the world’s largest support peace organization receives the money from the sale of this book. It is twenty authors and illustrators talking about peace in stories and illustrations. It has been featured in this column before. This is a timely reminder of a great gift whose proceeds go to a worthy cause.

228. Queen Latifah, The Equalizer, Foo Foo Fighters, Name Change, And Joan Miro!

         

        

Don’t Miss The May Flowers Issue Of Let’s Talk Philadelphia Next Month!

    

     

1. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Has A Problem!
Reader Help Has Been Suggested!
Should It Be Put To A Vote Or Remain The Same?
Inquiring Minds Want To Know!

     

For 27 years starting in The University of the Arts’ classrooms as a discussion topic in 1994 and then to the corner of Broad and Walnut Streets as a one page handout, we have prided ourselves that, in spite of our name, Let’s Talk Philadelphia is an international business and entertainment column with a far reaching audience and extensive array of diverse and worldwide topics…many sent in by readers from the far reaches like Australia and England.

   

     

Readers have consistently suggested we change our name to something not as misleading appearing as the word Philadelphia…meaning it seems like we only talk about Philadelphia. The office name change winner was Let’s Talk Philadelphia And Beyond. We need some suggestions from readers away from Philadelphia. Do we need a name change and what would you suggest? After you vote on our name change problem, vote on whether you like Billie Eilish’s new hair. Go Billie!

        

Don’t forget to check out our previous column. It starts with:

     

FOR MEN ONLY! Good in the kitchen, good in the bedroom is an old Italian saying. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s (thomasjpalumbo.wordpress.com) 227^th column will get you out of the kitchen faster (she will be impressed) and provide you with some can’t miss sultry music recommendations for the bedroom. You will thank us big time! We are trying to find some way to accept your kind payment of appreciation for helping you.

    

LinkedIn banned this notice (they didn’t see the joke), thinking we were actually a sex column which is against their policy.

    

Take It Away Queen Latifah!

     

2. Let’s Talk Philadelphia And All Hail The Queen!
CBS Television Has A Sunday Night 8 PM Winner!
The New Equalizer Is Popcorn Perfect!

        

Queen Latifah was born Dana Elaine Evans in 1970 Newark, New Jersey. Her artistic  successes in music, she was called the Queen of Hip-Hop, are now being surpassed by her acting prowess. Long before this new version of the Equalizer, Queen Latifah had starred in 26 different movies and television shows. Our favorite is the 2014 comedy Bringing Down The House with Steve Martin, Eugene Levy and Betty White. You can find this funny, dating romp on all your On Demand and regular channels.

      

Her Equalizer, following the Super Bowl, was a great jump start was for this new, but, third in the series of the Equalizers. Edward Woodward as Robert McCall started the series over thirty years ago. His television version of the Equalizer was followed by Denzel Washington’s interpretation in 2014 and 2018 at your local theater. Part three for Denzel Washington is in the works for 2022.

      

The Equalizer is a fixer of cases that no one can solve or wants to undertake. As half policewomen, half bounty hunter, half villain, and half mother, you will enjoy all the queen’s roles. Queen Latifah is perfect for the part. Her father and cousin were policeman. This has to bring in some previous pointers on how to balance family (teenage daughter) and out of the norm criminal pursuits.

           

The police are after her. They are lead by Captain Tory Kittles, who is not happy with her law stretching problem solving and gun usage. Chris Noth (CIA type), Adam Goldberg (computers/tech), and Laya Hayes (creative thinker) help her as a formidable undercover team. The show’s themes have been very different from other police dramas.

    

3. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Knows A Foo Foo Fighter Or Two!

         

The Foo Foo Fighters were founded in 1994 after Kurt Cobain’s death and the breakup of the band Nirvana. Foo Fighters are extraterrestrial aircraft. Lead by David Grohl, the Fighters have sold over fifteen million albums. A side note: They are Prince Harry’s favorite musical group.

        

The Fighters have joined with BBC Radio to host a Live Lounge All-Stars singing event featuring their song Times Like These. The Live Lounge All-Stars are a BBC Radio 1 concept as they put together people from everywhere in entertainment to complete a musical composition. A song is selected and everyone sings their part in an audio collage. A similar concept was created by the Michael Jackson We Are The World video.

     

Times Like These has 15 million views as the Foo Foo Fighters try to raise money for Covid Relief. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GElP4YdrBE). They have an easy click on and donate at the conclusion of the song.

      

BBC Radio 2, also, has a Stay Home Live Lounge with similar music collages.

     

We enjoyed Stop Crying Your Heart Out by Oasis with an opening by Cher before being joined by twelve other singers (www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfo1pS4L2Zk). It is a nice follow-up to the Foo Foo Fighters.

     

   

4. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Joins The Surrealist World!
Step Back Dali, Picasso, And Miro!
Two Office Posts Were A Unique Catalyst!

     

When two office, cat lovers come in to work unbeknowst to each other with similar paintings for their cubby wall, brains start clicking and research began. There is a camera phone application that you point at a flower or plant and it identifies that object. There should be the same type of application for paintings to identify the artist and the year the painting was created.

           

The first painting had Miro on it. The second was different enough to not suspect it was, also, a Miro. The five dollar reward was not much of an impetus to painting research.

   

Mr. Joan Miro (1893-1983) is a Spanish painter, ceramicist, and sculptor. Seventy years of work creations make for a giant collection of his artifacts. Museums in Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca house a large collection of his creations.

    

Surrealism started in 1930 Europe. It defined an writer, artist, or sculptor that wanted to release the creative and unconscious mind of its viewer or reader. Wild fantasies were easily put to literature and art to accomplish this goal.

     

       

Miro was a very outspoken artist unlike most of his fellow surrealists and dadaists. He hated contemporary painting and freely expressed those beliefs to many a cringed ear. It doesn’t however take away from his brilliance or life of being different in the art world.

        

5. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Best Birthday Of The Week!
April 23, 1616-2021 Starts A Year Of Celebrations!
405 Years! Go Shakespeare! Go Shakespeare!

          

Shakespeare Turns Four Hundred And Five And Is Still Writing Great Works!
Don’t Miss The Shakespeare Show On PBS Or At Your Local Theater.

      

The Shakepeare Show is a two and a half hour show featuring every star from the music stage, on screen, on the dance floor, and in the theater as they talk about their connections to Shakespeare, their performances with Shakespeare’s work, and the history/background for Shakespeare’s creations. Going from Helen Mirren’s point of view to your local rappers point of view was one of the many revealing and mind expanding segments of the show. We are hoping this show will be out in theaters again and then on DVD. We want to share The Shakespeare Show with our classrooms, family, and friends.

      

^[5]

227. Michael Jackson, The Wisdom Coalition, #OnTheStacks, Good Witch, Philadelphia’s Finest, And The 4400!

    X     

    X    

Happy Passover and Happy Easter!

      

      

1. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Talks Philadelphia…Really Talks Philadelphia!
We Can Meet You Under The Love Sculpture At Broad And Market Streets!
Limited Seating Phillies’ Baseball Tickets Are Too Hard To Get!

    

Sweet mystery of Music,
Great masters and their art…

…are two lines from Nick Kenny’s poem Understanding.

The poem’s lines are a great lead-ins to Michael Jackson’s music (Item 3)  and a visit to Philadelphia’s Museum Row (Item 1), especially The Barnes Museum, The Rodin Museum, and The Philadelphia Art Museum.

     

For 27 years we have prided ourselves that, in spite of our name, Let’s Talk Philadelphia is an international business and entertainment column with a far reaching audience and extensive tome of diverse topics…many sent in by readers from throughout the world.

       

                

We do, however, have to tout Philadelphia as a great visit for the Easter, Passover, and Spring visitor season. We recommend that you start at the Philadelphia Visitor’s Center 5th and Market Streets. It is directly across the street from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Underground parking is available. If you don’t want to venture inside the center and see their presentations, gift shops, and movies, their walking historic tour (meet outside on the eastern courtyard) is a very well thought out excursion throughout the historic district. After a mini-talk about the tour, you will be presented with a thirteen star flag and guide.

    X    

You can follow the tour guide or venture out on your own. At each historical site (Betsy Ross’s House to Ben Franklin’s Courtyard to The Liberty Bell to Independence Hall) you will meet an historically dressed, well versed, expert who will give you a star for your flag and a fast paced tour and sit down talk of their location. Years ago, we were able to touch the Liberty Bell in a nondescript hallway! What A Thrill! Now, though nicely displayed, the bell is protected from the touches that were actually wearing away its surface.

        

Benjamin Franklin Parkway is a twenty four block drive from the historic district. The parkway features art, science, historical, and children’s museums. All the museums are in an easy five block walking distance with card system on street parking. There is, also,  reasonably priced parking behind The Philadelphia Art Museum with an easy downhill walk to the rest of the Parkway museums.

        

The Philadelphia River Way is constantly adding extra attractions in addition to its casino, children’s museum, ferris wheel park, summer/winter skating rink, submarine, and sailing ship with restaurant. You walk through the Exotic shops on South Street and then across to the river attractions. You can, also, take the tour boat across the river from the Philadelphia side to visit the Camden Aquarium in New Jersey. Be careful on the sling rope, though, as you walk over the the man, woman, and children eating sharks!

      

Thirty miles south of Philadelphia is Longwood Gardens. What a way to salute Spring! The Gardens offer a breathtaking display of flowers both indoors and outdoors, scenic trails, and fountains.

       

         

Each of the attractions and museums mentioned have a great on line presence with free classrooms, unique presentations, resource recfommendations, and outstanding virtual tours. We voted The Barnes Museum’s tour as a great starting place for your searches. It is the same tour that you take while wearing headphones throughout your museum visit.

       

2. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Shares The Wisdom Coalition’s Positivity!
Enjoy Nancy Werteen’s Reachout For Business And Personal Positivity!
Can’t Miss Tips for Mind And Body To Make Us All Stronger!
The Wisdom Coalition’s Books, Workshops, And Social Media Shares Are A Must Attend, See, And Have!

      X       

Are you as happy as you could be? Do you have a mindset that is propelling you forward or a mindset that is holding you back and keeping you stuck? There’s one thing that can increase your joy and success every day and that’s a more positive mindset, which is especially valuable right now as many of us are struggling with the current pandemic and its ramifications. A more positive mindset is a gift you can give yourself or your employees with the guidance of The Wisdom Coalition.

     X     

Co-founders of The Wisdom Coalition, Kim Howie, Master Positivity Coach and Nancy Werteen, television news reporter for WFMZ-TV69, have designed their virtual and in-person Mindset Management workshops after five years of research into positive psychology, which focuses on what’s strong, instead of what’s wrong! Besides workshops in the corporate world, Kim and Nancy share their tips and tools in a number of ways including a weekly podcast (The Wisdom Coalition Well Of Wisdom podcast) on nine platforms, and two books, The Power Of A Pivot and the newly released The Power Of A Pause. 

     X     

Mindset is the foundation for just about everything in your life and like any other muscle, you have to make it stronger if you want it to serve you better. Follow The Wisdom Coalition on social media, or reach out through their website: https://www.thewisdomcoalition.com/

    X     

Nancy Werteen
WFMZ-TV
Co-founder
The Wisdom Coalition
610 462-1691

  X     

       X       

3. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Joins The Number Game!
How Many Movie And Show Titles With Numbers Can You Name?!
Can A Thirteen Year Old Series Be Resurrected?!
The National And Worldwide Vote Begins!

Thirteen years after The 4400’s last episode, there is a rising groundswell to bring the series back to television. Netflix has an international vote out asking viewers how much they like the series. For those of you that haven’t seen the five years of the program on Netflix or your local rewatch or On Demand channel, for 55 years 4400 people (kids, adults, doctors, teachers, scientists) all over the earth have been snatched in a flash of light and taken to who knows where. In that same flash, they were all returned to earth at the same time and at the same age they left years ago. Their family and friends have aged and many loved ones have passed away. They have not changed!

     

Each member of The 4400 has returned with some type of good and not so good power! Their powers included:
A. Mindreading
B. Disease healing
C. Teleportation
D. Uncontrolled aging
E. Making you see and be able to talk to someone in your past
F. Making you turn violent
G. Stock market success maker
H. Staying the same age
I. Brain frying…and a host of others.

     X     

The 4400 set up a help center to harness and teach the proper use of these powers and how The 4400 can blend into a society that wants to imprison them, study their powers, or throw them to the wolves after removing their body parts for study. The show was five years of conflict with three stories in each episode that stopped you from looking down at your popcorn. It ended with a giant WHAT on every viewer’s lips. Factor in seven years of aging for every character and you have a real treat in the making, if they can pull it off and make you believe the new story and the seven year back story that has to be fashioned.

     

     

The 100 is in their seventh and final season and like The 4400, they are looking for a shout out fan base yell for a revival, too. Unlike The 4400, we know from whence they came! 60 years after the earth was destroyed and made unlivable, the last remnants of civilization managed to inhabit a space station. Unbeknown to the stations thousand of inhabitants, the station’s oxygen generator and food sources are dying.

          

100 juvenile delinquents from the space station’s prison are sent to earth to see if it is inhabitable. Their crash landing on earth starts their quest for survival in a land of strange creatures, animals, water serpents, and humanoids. Praise be! The air and water are fine. The group just doesn’t get along, but will have to learn because their spacecraft was devoid of food, water, and building materials. Every high school student that we know has watched this program, even Megan!

             

          

4. Let’s Talk Philadelphia And The Michael Jackson Play List!
Did We Find A Sleeper You Might Like?!
Love Ballads Only, Please!
Jackson’s Early Ballads Are Worth A Listen And Comment!
What Songs Would You Put In Your Office’s Weekly Chart Stoppers!

     X    

Michael Jackson’s early years are a great start for this month’s listening suggestions and your research. One Day In Your Life, our first suggestion, was not known by a single person in our office…www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfktVRxye-Q (the version with lyrics)…www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6p7LNmUWno (the live 1975 version from Mexico where Jackson professes how much he loves ballads). After hearing both song versions, you will wonder why this isn’t mentioned more in his song rundowns. Play it in the office to quickly gather staff members.

   X    

Our second Michael Jackson pick is I Can’t Stop Loving You (www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3w-WCmi0g0). This version with Siedah Garrett is the best of the five different duet versions we found. 20 million downloaders can not be wrong. Quincy Jones introduces Siedah in concert and the large number of songs she has written for him and written/performed with Michael Jackson. She, too, is a great find with a great stage presence like Jackson’s (www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aEZAYSc_bs).

  X   

She’s Out Of My Life, our third heart stopper, (www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DQJPL9Yuq0), the official version with 27 million views shows that Michael Jackson doesn’t need all that flash and theatrics you see in present day song videos to bring his songs to life.

      X      

Our fourth pick of the month is Josh Groban’s Your Still You (www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xBZNSmF338). This is the beardless concert version. The Ally McBeal version is ten times more poignant, but we couldn’t find a version that wasn’t blurry. Help has to be out there somewhere! Send the link, please, to tjpalumbo@aol.com.

   X    

 

     

5. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Monthly Business Feature!
Erin Silverman, Intern, Does Her Company Proud!
Ask For A Raise Erin Or A Job, At The Very Least.!

    

We are putting Erin’s story up just as she told it to us. Too bad we don’t have a picture of Erin to assist her job search. Someone should steal her from #OnTheStacks!

Hi Tom,
My name is Erin Silverman, I am interning for Bill Corcoran at #OnTheStacks. I am reaching out about your recommendation from your LinkedIn message to Bill.

   X  

In 2019 Bill Corcoran Jr. founded OnTheStacks, a digital media company that produces content focused on business, entrepreneurship and culture. #OnTheStacks, based in Wilkes-Barre, PA started as a social media photo campaign featuring innovators in business. In 2020, #OntheStacks created a unique podcast experience, and soon after in 2021, the podcast became ranked as one of the top 5% most popular podcasts in the world.

         

#OnTheStacks Podcast just celebrated its first birthday. Over the past year local, regional, and nationally known CEO’s, entrepreneurs, and small business owners have joined founder and host, Bill Corcoran Jr., to share their experiences with a global audience. The 52nd episode featured Kris and Steve Vanesko, co-founders and partners at blu door Financial. During the episode the two companies announced a partnership.

   X   

Some notable podcast guests include: Paul Clifford, CEO, Penn State Alumni Association; Todd Carmichael, Co-Founder, La Colombe Coffee Roasters; and Rob Nelson, Founder, Big League Chew.

   X      

The podcast can be listened to on every major platform including: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and Amazon Music. If you’re interested in appearing on our show, drop us an email at hello@onthestacks.com

Kirs & Steve Vanesko: blu door Financial- Ep. 52

https://onthestacks.com/onthestacks-kris-steve-vanesko-blu-door-financial-ep-052/

Paul Clifford- Penn State Alumni Association- Ep.12

https://onthestacks.com/onthestacks-paul-clifford-penn-state-alumni-association/

Todd Carmichael- La Colombe Coffee Roasters- Ep.32

https://onthestacks.com/onthestacks-todd-carmichael-la-colombe-coffee-roasters-ep-032/

  X   

Rob Nelson- Big League Chew- Ep. 17

https://onthestacks.com/onthestacks-rob-nelson-big-league-chew/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OnTheStacksPodcast

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onthestackspodcast/

    X    

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/onthestacks/
www.OnTheStacks.com

Pictures from one year anniversary episode, Ep. 052
Photo Credits: Darren Elias Photography
Let me know if there is anything else you need,
Erin Silverman

     X     

         

6. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Research Found A Good Witch.
In A World Of Turmoil, She Has A Simple Guiding Grace!
Good Witch’s Seventh Season Is Ready To Begin!
63 Past Episodes Will Get You Ready For The New Season!
Cheesecake Up Television Binge Watchers!

         

The Good Witch (Cassie, Catherine Bell) resides in the fictional town of Middleton. In Middleton Cassie and her young teenage daughter Grace (Bailee Madison of Bridge To Terabithia) run a stately bed and breakfast called Grey House. Grey House has the best of eats, a witches magical intuition, and an accurate look on life for all that visit. It is amazing how many troubled and not so troubled road wide travelers find Cassie’s Grey House inn and her wisdom.

       

Cassie’s new neighbors, Dr. Sam Radford (James Denton), a trauma surgeon,  and his son (Nick, Rhys Mathew Bond) have just left New York. They have stepped into small town culture shock. They supply a love interest (finally in season three) for the widowed Cassie and a teenage son who drives Grace and his father crazy. The son, a troublesome lad, as they say, wants no part of Middleton and wants to return to his New York and his friends.

     

The town has its curses, folklore, countless celebrations, and off the beaten path characters lead by Catherine Disher who plays Martha Tinsdale, the mayor of Middleton.

Half way through season one Cassie’s cousin (Sarah Power playing Abigail Pershing) joins the fray with a type of twinkling magic very different from her cousins. If there is trouble to be found in Middleton, Abigail will help it along (we laugh). She starts a good deal of not too serious trouble on her own at times will vying for love interests and work.

   

The Bell, Book, And Candle curio shop, Cassie’s other business seems to be selling magic without anyone in the town knowing. Past seasons of Good Witch can be found On Demand and on Netflix. As we say in each issue, bring some muffins and warm chocolate to your neighbors if you do not have Netflix, and we are sure your neighbors will share their television for Good Witch watching.

          

7. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Would Like To Feature Your Projects And Ideas!
Give It A Try! 27,300 People And Their Friends Would Like To Discover You!

        

Let’s Talk Philadelphia is always positive and does not delve into politics or religion. Just like Nancy Werteen’s great news about her positive thinking ventures in this issue or Erin Silverman’s nice write up of #OnTheStacks, contributors from all over the world send us their business news, art, photography, points of view, travel suggestions, and critiques (tjpalumbo@aol.com) to be featured on the column.
Join past contributors and our readers by doing likewise! Get real!

  X   

Let’s Talk Philadelphia is a 27-year-old column designed to keep you, 300 re-listers, and 27,000 LinkedIn followers up to date with the latest trends and discussion topics in business, movies, theater, music, television, fashion, books, travel, health, Internet discoveries, children’s literature, poetry, and creative ideas. Let’s Talk Philadelphia is ideal for business people, community members, parents, teachers, students, and school administrators. You will enjoy browsing, at your leisure, the 100 issues listed for your enjoyment on the cover page!

     

226. Bruno Mars, Alicia Keys, The Dig, Adele, Your Music Binge, RNR Radio Vegas, The Power Wash!!

    

   

1. Black History Month Is Every Month Of The Year!

The four Heroes and Heroines of Afro-American History pictured above were selected by a staff write down. We do staff write downs for many of the things we select to feature in Let’s Talk Philadelphia. You number down a piece of paper 4, 3, 2, 1. Your first pick gets four points, your second pick gets three points, and so on. The selections are then listed and their points are added. Martin Luther King Jr. was followed by Jackie Robinson, then Harriet Tubman, and, then, the surprise of Whitney Houston in fourth for most points. 17 different individuals appeared on the scorecards. Muhammad Ali was fifth. Pick a topic and try this with friends or students in a classroom. In the classroom or at a homeschooling desk, a four character PowerPoint would accompany the activity.

         

    

2. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Monthly Music Selections!
What Are Your Music Favorites?
Do You Share Playlists With Friends And Family!
Do You Research The Backgrounds Of Your Favorite Artists And The Writers Of Their Songs?
We Think You Will Enjoy The Challenge Of Our Music Binge!

    

Everyone talks about their movie and television show binges. Our music binge ideas were inspired by a quote by R&B star Frank Ocean. Ocean wrote: When you’re happy you enjoy the music, when you’re sad you understand the lyrics.

Our music suggestions and binge activity seem to be for people that want to understand the lyrics and the emotions the lyrics create for people happy or sad.

   

Adele, Bruno Mars, Brody Brown, and Philip Lawrence wrote All I  Ask. The song is a powerful sleeper. It has been compared to Whitney Houston’s monster hit song I Will Always Love You (www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JWTaaS7LdU) from the movie Bodyguard. Dolly Parton wrote and first recorded I Will Always Love You (www.youtube.com/watch?v=jr8tffNHJno) in 1973 to crazy fanfare, then the song went to sleep before Whitney Houston recorded it 35 years later. Dolly does a great rendition of this song in the link provided as she discusses why she wrote the song for her mentor and long time singing partner Porter Wagoner.

    

All I Ask and I Will Always Love You are two great beginnings for our Trio Cover Song, Binge Challenge. After you put your three song challenge together, encourage a friend to listen to your selections and find a better fourth choice. Then your friend or family member should put a three song, cover set together of their own to share. Our three renditions of All I Ask are followed with a Bruno Mars dance video as a follow-up for people interested in putting a dance binge together. The International Rock and Roll and Swing Dance Championship make a great You Tube search and watch. Every form of dance competition is featured.

The links below can be easily pasted in your search as that suggestion is immediately displayed after commercials (not ours) in some instances. Just hit delete ads if this happens.

     

A. Adele singing All I Ask (www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqJ9HLFtE0w) live in concert in New York City.
B. Bruno Mars All I Ask version (www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCtYekG1qBc)
After looking at our three All I Ask suggestions, take a look at Bruno Mars best dance breaks (www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFLfMj6YKC0).

  

C. Samantha Harvey version (www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVXc2s5L7BU)
D. Five best All I Ask covers (www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WTzqOdBBkw). You will meet five new singers her you might like to follow.

       

Paloma Faith Smooth Radio songs will give you additional ammunition for your binge creations (www.smoothradio.com/features/top-songs/paloma-faith-songs/)

    

In passing, we think you will really like Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana) performing The Climb…one of her few ballads… (www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmUGwK_43Tk). It is a Jessi Alexander song and we included Jessi’s version (www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLea6D-UqLA).

     

We conclude this segment with Pink and her six year old daughter Willow and a can’t miss performance suggestion featuring Alicia Keys and John Mayer singing If I Ain’t Got You/Gravity in New York City’s Time Square (www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCOS1dujl0A). The whole 1 hour concert can be found on You Tube at (www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUL90MIs13Y). Six duet members of Alicia Keys 2016 record release, also, join Alicia in a great Times Square outdoor concert venue.

   

Pink and five year old daughter Willow singing A Million Dreams (www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1weVGUmNTA).

    

3. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Has To Stop The Presses For GoodRX!
We Can’t Believe We Missed This After Listening To One Hundred Of Their Commercials On Our Phone And Television! Shame On Us!

Here is the story: Stephanie, at a virtual staff meeting, shared, out of the blue, her recent drug store visit. She went to pick up her mother’s heart medicine and blood thinner and received a whooping bill of $268. Her mother had been paying this almost monthly for years. Before Stephanie fainted, the druggist asked her if she had GoodRX. After saying no, and not knowing what it was, the druggist took her phone and set the application up for her. The druggist, also, put it in her mother’s account. The bill was reduced to $46. Wow! Samantha will be bringing the druggist chocolate chip cookies…Lots of chocolate chip cookies!

   

Since that virtual Zoom meeting, and in less than two weeks, our staff and friends have saved over $1,000 (Yes, a thousand dollars) using GoodRX. GoodRX needs better commercials! They should show the price of four medicines that most people buy and what the approximate savings would be. If they did this, everyone in the world would have this application on their phone and in their local drugstore’s record. You are next!

4. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Has Never Been On A Dig!
No Staff Member Has Ever Found Anything Super Valuable In Their Back Yard Or At The Beach!
Some, Though, Have Picked Up Coins On The Sidewalk!

   

If you have a backyard, did you ever think there would be buried treasure hidden in it just waiting for you to discover.? When you go to the beach, do you dig in the sand looking for coins, teeth, fossils, and other artifacts?

The Dig, a British film, takes place in 1937 in Sutton Ho, England. It stars Oscar winner Carey Mulligan (Edith Pretty) as she is joined by Ralph Fienness (Basil Brown), Lily James, Ben Chaplin, Ken Scott, and Marcia Dolan. The true story, (the ages of the characters have been changed), is based on a book of the same name John Preston wrote in 2007. The movie started streaming on Netflix at the end of January of 2021. It is worth seeing at a friends house if you do not have Netflix.

   

A very sickly Edith (Mulligan) has burial mounds on her English countryside property. She is not sure of the ages of these mounds or what the mounds may contain. She is positive the mounds are special even though no one has thought the same for the years they have been there. She tries to recruit local excavator and self taught archaeologist Basil Brown (Fienness) to help her. He is, likewise, wanted by a local museum to work on a Roman dig from the time the Romans were in England. Edith’s scant first monetary offer is refused, then increased, and Brown takes the job. Where to start is, of course, every archaeologist problem. In the third place Brown digs, he finds a metal remnant from a ship. He knows that can’t be possible without any nearby water. He thinks it is from a Viking ship and begins researching its origin.

    

The excitement of finding out it dates back before the Vikings spreads throughout the local village and then to museum experts throughout England. These experts want to steal what will turn out to be an amazing find from Brown for their museums. There are three subplots as Kiera Knightly joins the excavation and falls in love while all is in turmoil around her, Mulligan’s illness and child, and what museum in which to leave the treasure. The sad conclusion to the story is that Brown was never credited for his find and his work until 60 years later. You will enjoy Brown’s commitment, kindness, and expertise.

   

    

5. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Visits Las Vegas And The National Radio Scene!
RnR Radio Knocks It Out Of The Park In Las Vegas!
Now Across The Country In Syndication!
(rnrradiovegas.com)

   

It is a pleasure to feature friends who we have met on our column or from our 27,000 followers on LinkedIn. We revel in their success and the hopeful greater reach out from being featured on our column. Mr. and Mrs. R. Robert and Pamela Rickenbacker are great role models for bringing the music that their parents loved to so many new listeners.

    

Here is what they shared about their new successes: After years of grinding to take our careers to the next level, we are pleased to announce that RnR Radio has entered into a syndication deal with Fishnet Syndication to syndicate The Classics With Mr & Mrs R. We will still continue to rock the house on RnR Radio but now the show will be on FM stations across the country. We’re very excited to expand our brand and are very thankful to each and everyone of you for riding with us and we hope you continue to ride as our journey isn’t over yet. Hope you have a great rest of your week and look for more exciting news from RnR Radio Let’s Go!!!
Walk Proud Rickenbacker duo!

Please click here to view their press release and see where you can listen to their programs: https://lnkd.in/gGh5yQK  (paste into your search mode please).

   

 6. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s First Foray Into The Kitchen!
Gentlemen Beware! Someone Could Get Hurt Or Soaked!
Our Office Kitchen Never Looked Better!

     

This is a very different product exploration for staff members, family, and friends. We receive no remuneration for the products we review. If you are tired of putting blobs of soap on your dishes, pots, pans, and silverwear, Dawn Platinum Powerwash is your answer. Powerwash is a spray that covers every surface you wish to wash rather than a blob in a middle of a pan that you have to push around and hope you have hit everything. The guys in the office love it! It seems to be the only spray like it on the market, but every company will soon follow with their version. We have made dish washing five times easier for you. You owe us! Now can your husband go out and play golf? OOPS! Forgot About The Drying!

     

7. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Would Like To Feature Your Projects And Ideas!
Give It A Try! 27,300 People And Their Friends Would Like To Discover You!

   

Let’s Talk Philadelphia is always positive and does not delve into politics or religion. Just like Mr. R. Robert and Pamela Rickenbacker’s great news about their radio station in this issue, contributors from all over the world send us their art, photography, points of view, travel suggestions, and critiques (tjpalumbo@aol.com) to be featured on the column.
Join past contributors and our readers by doing likewise!

   

Let’s Talk Philadelphia is a 27-year-old column designed to keep you, 300 re-listers, and 27,000 LinkedIn followers up to date with the latest trends and discussion topics in business, movies, theater, music, television, fashion, books, travel, health, Internet discoveries, children’s literature, poetry, and creative ideas. Let’s Talk Philadelphia is ideal for business people, community members, parents, teachers, students, and school administrators. You will enjoy browsing at your leisure the 100 issues on the cover page!

        

 

225. Olivia Rodrigo, One Night In Miami, Britannia, Your Love Quotient, Jackson Pollock, And Netflix!

        

     

1. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Visits A Night In Miami!
What Better Way To Know Malcolm X, Sam Cooke, Jimmy Brown, And Muhammad Ali!
And More!

         

Regina King has 12 major acting awards on her mantel, in her office, and in her showcase. Regina King’s many awards are highlighted by an Academy Award For Best Supporting Actress in 2018’s If Beale Street Could Talk, an Emmy, a Golden Globe Award, and an African American Film Critics Award.

           

Ms. King has effortlessly moved from in front of the camera to in back of the camera as director of the new Amazon Prime movie A Night In Miami. The movie is a fictional account of the meeting between four famous black Americans from very different, but, maybe the same walks of life. You will find out as the movie progresses.

    

It is the night February 25, 1964 and Cassius Clay, the 10-1 underdog, has just knocked out Sonny Liston in the seventh round when a battered Liston can’t leave his stool for the round to begin. Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), the Islamic minister, has invited singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom, Jr. from Hamilton fame), footballer Jimmy Brown (Aldia Hodge), and boxer Cassius Clay (Eli Goree) to a meeting in his very small motel room. Malcolm X is convinced that he can convince his three friends to join him in the Nation of Islam and join/support his battle against the ignored oppression all around them.

    

Vignettes of each of Brown’s, Cook’s, and Clay’s life are shown before the motel meeting, as well as, throughout the story. Jimmy Brown has just set the National Football League’s (NFL) rushing title at 1,863 yards. He is disappointed his team lost the championship game to the Green Bay Packers. Sam Cooke has just finished the best recording year of his life. He owns the rights to all his records and sales of his records and a friend’s lyrics have been sensational. Cooke, however, has just bombed at New York’s Copa Cabana Lounge in front of its all white audience.

    

Regina King has just been appointed Cadillac’s new spokesperson. This is her Cadillac of a movie presentation. She frames four men perfectly in a cramped motel room as they share stories, fight, laugh, and share their own lives. Seeing this movie is a nice way to celebrate Martin Luther King’s Week and the lives of four defining black Americans and their families. The end of the movie will show what really happened to the four!

    

2. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s February Warm-ups!
About Us And More!
What Can You Contribute To Our Next Issue?!

   

Let’s Talk Philadelphia is a 27-year-old column designed to keep you, 300 re-listers, and 27,000 LinkedIn followers up to date with the latest trends and discussion topics in business, movies, theater, music, television, fashion, books, travel, health, Internet discoveries, children’s literature, poetry, and creative ideas. LTP is ideal for business people, community members, parents, teachers, students, and school administrators.

    

Let’s Talk Philadelphia is always positive and does not delve into politics or religion. Contributors from all over the world send us their art, photography, points of view, travel suggestions, and critiques (tjpalumbo@aol.com) to be featured on the column.
Join past contributors and our readers by doing likewise!

    

Let’s Talk Philadelphia is supported by a FREE, multi-level, easy to use, educational Portaportal resource site. The portaportal can be accessed at http://www.portaportal.com by typing (TJPalumbo) in the guest box in the lower right hand corner of the opening page. The best Internet sites in 16 areas are provided. The public drop box is filled with hundreds of creative and unique worksheets, videos, and Power Points in mathematics, multi-media, children’s literature, reading, and poetry.

    

Give Let’s Talk Philadelphia a call at 215-262-9986 and we will help you find the best choices to support your teaching needs at home or in the classroom. All our staff, 3-12 grade students at home, and graduate students in our University of the Arts courses have their own portaportals. 14,000 teachers and business people use our Portaportal as an additional resource to their office’s webpage or their school’s resource site. Portaportal is, also, a librarians must have tool.

  

3. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Had To Close Their Valentine’s Day Kissing Booth!
The Fundraiser Is No More!
Love Words Will Try To Take The Booth’s Place!
And More!

    

Love Words!
The Two Minute Drill!

   

It is getting close to Valentine’s Day, so it is a good time to test to see what kind of lover you really are. Practice Makes Perfect! Each clue below will give you a word that has
L O V E in it, but the L O V E may not be in that exact order. Your Lover Scale follows!

0-5 correct is an adequate lover
6-10 correct is a good lover
11-15 correct makes you an excellent lover
16-20 correct will have them asking how soon can we do that again.
20-24 correct means there is a hall of fame for lovers and you are in it!

1. An Elvis Presley Favorite…Love Me Tender
2. The Mona Lisa’s Home
3. To Grow Into Something Slowly
4. An American Writer Of Weird Horror Stories
5. A Neil Diamond Song
6. A Fruit (Really!)

    

7. Sloppy Looking
8. Teenager Away From Girl/Boy Friend
9. A Beatles Classic
10. Can You Find Three More Song Titles With LOVE In Them?
11. A Spice
12. A Wading Bird

13. Winter Gear
14. A Type Of Sweater
15. A Window Part
16. A Type Of Gun
17. You Can Do This With An IRA
18. A Highway Intersection

    

19. A Marriage’s Foundation
20. A Robin’s Home
21. A Dearly Follower In Church
22. A Two Headed Insect
23. An American Golfer
24. One Of Two Female American Singers

The answers will appear at the end of this column. After your 2 minutes are up,  enlist a friend’s help. Hand out this sheet at an office meeting or place it on an office bulletin board. It is a nice February challenge.

    

4. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Free Movies Suggestions!
Free Quality Watching Is At Your Computer Or Television Controls!
And More!

       

Netflix has just passed 200 million subscribers. That is a 50 million subscriber increase over last year. Amazon Prime and HBO/Cinemax each have 150 million subscribers. Two Chinese services (Tencent Video…120 million watchers and iOIYI…119 million patrons fill the fourth and fifth slots for world-wide pay television.

  

Netflix just announced that Bridgerton their new 18^th century romantic drama had a record 63 million views its first week. Every article about Bridgerton calls it salacious and spicy. We do not know what salacious means! Bare breasts, bare rear ends, and other exposed body parts have made Bridgerton the number one show in nine countries. George Clooney’s new catastrophe movie, The Midnight Sky, is up to 73 million views in its third week on Netflix without any bare breasts.

   

While everyone is rushing out to buy the next new $100 service (Apple, Disney, Starz, Showtime), a wealth of free movie services are at your fingertips. You can search any of the names below on you computer by typing in free movies before the service name in your search box (example: free movies Peacock). Most five year old or newer computers and televisions have the function that will allow you to transfer anything you have on your computer screen to your television screen. This is a revelation to most and a real delight for your brain and fingertips!

   

 The best free streaming services with new ones popping up every day are:

1. Peacock…The best free streaming service overall (debatable)….
2. Crackle…The best free streaming service with classics and originals…
3. IMDBtv…The best free streaming service growing as the new kid on the block…
4. Tubi…The best free streaming service with great movies in categories…
5. You Tube…2,000 free and pay shows…   
6. Roku Channel…
7. Pluto TV…
8. Sling Free…The best live streaming service…
9. Vudu…
10. Popcornflix…You have to leave your credit card with a promise they will never use it. Sure!

     

5. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Knows A Thing Or Two About The Roman Empire!
Two Seasons On Amazon Prime, Epix, And More!
Season Three Will Premiere In 2021!
What Can You Contribute About Your Favorite History To Our Next Issue?!

         

Britannia is a good companion piece to the 2004 King Arthur starring Clive Owen as Arthur and Keira Knightly as Guinevere. In the 2004 King Arthur Rome is leaving Britain. A ruling vacuum is being created. The only thing that can save Britain’s remaining backwood’s tribes from the warring Norsemen is Arthur and the somewhat savage Guinevere. Look this one up after seeing Britannia. It is a whole different take on the Arthur legend as the movie’s research claims he was Roman.

         

It is 43 AD and the Romans have returned to Britain in the historical fantasy that is filled with come back for more drama. The Romans figure the Celtic tribes will be easy to defeat in a one by one fashion, because the six tribes ruling Britain have no cohesive forces. Half the Celtic and Druid tribes believe in demons and witchcraft. The other half just wants to be left alone…if that solves any of the problems facing those who want to take their land at all costs. Naturally there is treachery everywhere.

   

Kelly Reilly (Kerra) of Yellowstone and The Vikings fame is one of the three queens fighting the Romans. Kings keep on getting killed. At the same time, each queen is trying to gain the Druid magic and partner up with General Aulus Plautius (David Morissey) and his Roman legion. In real life Plaurius lead this invasion. The queens will first use the legion to take their rivals land and then they will vanquish the new Roman invaders. Plautius has done his homework and does not want the same fate as Julius Caesar one hundred years before him. Caesar in 55 and 54 BC ran back to Rome in defeat from Britain nomadic tribes.

 

Mackenzie Crook plays the druid mystic seen above in front of the fire. He has touched everyone with his magic and is a favorite of Antedia (Zoe Wannamaker) the old queen that is preparing her son to rule Britain. She is a hoot and has more evil in her old body than a volcano has lava. The writers are trying to show the power of women in this disjointed society. Throw in Kait (Eleanor Cox) a fourteen year old with very different mystic powers than Crook and you have women successfully mirroring then defeating men in every phase of the shows mental and physical battles.

     

If your interest is piqued in the world of empires, here is a list of the ten longest empires. The empires who have names we don’t recognize would seem to be good research projects.

1. Empire of Japan: 1703 years to date
2. Byzantine Empire: 874 years (330 to 1204)
3. Holy Roman Empire: 844 years (962-1806)
4. Zhou Empire: 790 years (1046–256 BC)
5. Ethiopian Empire: 666 years (1270-1936)    
6. Khmer Empire: 629 years (802–1431)
7. Ottoman Empire: 624 years (1299-1923)
8. Roman Empire: 503 years (27 BC-476 AD)
9. Parthian Empire: 471 years (247 BC-224 AD)
10. Han Empire: 422 years (202 BC-220 AD)

      

    

6. Let’s Talk Philadelphia And The Amazing Olivia Rodrigo!
Driver’s License Has Set A New Listening Standard!
Is 63,000,000 Downloads A Round Number? In A Week?
Move Over Ariande!
Carde B, You Move Over, also.

    

Olivia Rodrigo, the songstress from High School Musical, is 17. She knows teenage angst and first loves. She must know about the joy of her first drive, too. She named her new multiple, award winning album and single, Driver’s License. Her songs and their meaningful young lyrics have reached an unbelievable sized audience. If you have a teenager at home, it is a great reason to listen to her new recordings. You, years ago, probably went through some of these same emotions that Olivia zeroes in on in her songs.

   

Spotify just announced that Driver’s License set their all time listening record with 63,000,000 plays in its first week of release. That number passed the work of some of the greatest artists all time in the music industry. Driver’s License, also, went to the number one spot on Billboard in one of the fastest times ever. We are waiting for her album sales number. We think they will be mind bending, also. Give this newcomer a listen. You certainly will be able to talk the talk after listening to Olivia Rodrigo’s work.
To add to her music that everyone is watching, Olivia seems to be in a love triangle that tabloids all over the world are watching. Tune in to our next issue for our love triangle up-date. We might give you an update on Brad Pitt and Ben Affleck, too.

        

 7. Don’t You Just Love Jackson Pollock?!
Let’s Talk Philadelphia Had To Close Their Valentine’s Day Kissing Booth!
The Fundraiser Is No More!
Love Words Will Try To Take Its Place With The following Answers!

   

Love Words
The Two Minute Drill’s Answers!

It is getting close to Valentine’s Day, so it is a good time to test to see what kind of lover you really are. Each clue below will give you a word that has L O V E in it, but the L O V E may not be in that exact order. Your Lover Scale follows!

0-5 correct is an adequate lover
6-10 correct is a good lover
11-15 correct makes you an excellent lover
16-20 correct will have them asking how soon can we do that again.
20-24 correct. Is there a hall of fame for overs? You are in it!

     

An Elvis Presley Favorite…Love Me Tender

2. The Mona Lisa’s Home…The Louvre
3. To Grow Into Something Slowly…Evolve
4. An American Writer Of Weird Horror Stories…HP Lovecraft
5. A Neil Diamond Song…Love On The Rocks
6. A Fruit (Really!)…Olive

7. Sloppy Looking…Slovenly
8. Teenager Away From Girl/Boy Friend…Lovesick
9. A Beatles Classic…Can’t Buy Me Love
10. Can You Find Three More Song Titles With LOVE In Them?
11. A Spice…Clove
12. A Wading Bird…Plover

   

13. Winter Gear…Gloves
14. A Type Of Sweater…Pullover15. A Window Part
16. A Type Of Gun…Revolver
17. You Can Do This With An IRA…Rollover
18. A Highway Intersection…Cloverleaf

19. A Marriage’s Foundation…Truelove
20. A Bird’s Home…Lovenest
21. A Dearly Follower In Church…Beloved
22. A Two Headed Insect…Lovebug
23. An American Golfer…Davis Love
24. One Of Two Female American Singers…Darlene Love, Courtney Love

224. James Patterson, Tyler Perry, Alex Cross, Virgin River, Maroon V, And Love Poetry!

                 

                  

1. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Monthly Warm-up!
Blockers Beware…You Won’t Stop Our Creative Ideas!
Every High School and College Senior Should Carry A Copy Of This Poem!
The Poem Should Be Posted On Every Office Cafeteria And School Bulletin Board!

   

Hopefully, you are not in a workplace or situation where your creative ideas or even suggestions are continually blocked. We know how frustrating this can be! Every office should have a Today’s Creative Ideas’ Bulletin Board where any passer-bye or employee can post a new idea, an article suggestion, or recipe for something different. The following poem was sent to us by a reader who said this poem helped her to get the things completed that needed to be completed and to avoid the nay-sayers. The William J. Bennett poem that follows is a mini-eye opener. We added the she/her.

          

It Can Be Done

The man/woman who misses all the fun
Is he/she who says, “It can’t be done.”
In solemn pride he/she stands aloof
And greets each venture with reproof.

  

Had he the power he’d efface
The history of the human race.
We’d have no radio or motor cars
No streets lit by electric stars.

No telegraph nor telephone
We’d linger in the age of stone.
The world would sleep if things were run
By men who say, “It can’t be done.”

        

-William J. Bennett

2. Let’s Talk Philadelphia And James Patterson!
The Alex Cross Movie Stars Tyler Perry, Cicely Tyson, Jean Reno, And Ed Burns!
A Super Buffed Mathew Fox Is The Evil Picasso!

James Patterson has been writing books for 40 years. 5% of all books purchased in the United States are James Patterson titles. The 325 million books Patterson has sold through his 147 titles is an astronomical number. He has been number one on the New York Times’ bestseller list a record 67 times. Add five movies, a television series, a new children’s books series, and a new short reading application format for the computer and IPhone, and you go, WOW!

    

The movie Alex Cross (2012) was the third in the series featuring detective and psychologist Alex Cross. The first two starred Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd (Kiss The Girls, 1997, $60 million…Along Came A Spider, 2001, $105 million). Alex Cross cost $35 million to make, but only made 36 million in worldwide theater distribution. Patrons leaving the theater gave the movie an A rating. Critics gave it horrible scores. The second movie in the series, therefore, was cancelled.

   

The movie takes place in Detroit where Cross lives with his wife Carmen Ejogi (Maria) and their two children. Stephanie Jacobsen (Fan Yau) is an industrialist who is pursued by and killed by Matthew Fox. Billionaire, Jean Reno, has hired Fox to kill off all his competition.

       

While investigating the murder of Fan Yau, Cross and lifelong friend and partner Ed Burns discover a painting seemingly drawn by the killer. Cross takes the Picasso like painting and rearranges it to reveal the name of another businessman possibly on the hit list. A truckload of murders continue by the demented Fox with Burns and Perry a step away. It was nice to see Cecily Tyson running the Cross family as grandma supreme. The movie can be found On Demand and on Netflix. It will keep your attention as you try to figure the next moves of all the key characters and how you would outsmart the killer.

           

   

3. Let’s Talk Philadelphia And The Women’s Murder Club!
The Women’s Murder Club Should Be Your Next Read!
17 Books, A Television Series, And Counting!
You Will Visit, In Audio Or Hard Cover, San Francisco At Its Worst And Finest!

   

The setting for James Patterson’s The Women’s Club novels is San Francisco. The seventeen book series has won fifteen New York Times #1 seller awards. The books, like David Baldacci’s Camel Club series (men fighting Washington, D.C. crime and using the Library of Congress as their meeting place), follow a five member group of women crime fighters from five different professions.

  

The group consists of lead detective Lindsay Boxer, Cindy Thomas crime reporter, Claire Washburn medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt district attorney, and defense attorney Yuki Castellano. Five intuitive minds, from well versed, ladder climbing professionals meld to investigate crimes and solve murders. Their meetings at their local pub are always revealing as they toss ideas across the table and sip their favorite drinks as the strategize their investigative roles in each case.

          

The themes surrounding their jobs give an in depth look at every phase of life as a medical examiner, criminal investigator, or attorney. Throw in San Francisco’s wealthy, scenic and seedy districts, women’s issues, amazing and not so amazing hotels, pregnancy, blockers at work, the ferry, crime twists and turns, and good looking men, and you have a year of thought provoking reading. An office staff member has a book she is reading at home and a different book on CD in her car. She calls it her Patterson Two-For. It sounds like a good drink or another name for a James Patterson novel. Your local library will walk WMC books and CD’s out to your car if they are closed inside.

       

The television series on ABC lasted one year and can be viewed on ABC re-watch. It starred Angie Harmon and her four member investigative team.

     

If the books are not enough for you, there are five games based on the murder club series. Little Black Lies, Death In Scarlet, Twice In A Blue Moon, A Darker Shade of Grey have been released for the PC. Nintendo features the fifth game: Women’s Murder Club: Games Of Passion.

    

4. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Top Music Pick For The Week…Maroon Five!
Adam Levine’s Backstory Is Nice Reading! C’mon! Nice Reading?!

  

A. Maroon Five’s new song Memories has a half a billion plays since its debut in October of 2019. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlPhMPnQ58k)

   

The link above will take you to, Memories, a song that gives you a heartfelt reminder of friends who have just passed away or to happy memories of past relationships with lovers, friends, and family.

    

B. Adam Levine looks like he is having the best of times singing, dancing, and holding hands with 26 of the world’s best singers, dancers, television stars, athletes, and movie stars. The occasion is putting together the video for Maroon Five’s song Girls Like You. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJOTlE1K90k). The three billion You Tube plays is certainly a testament to a well liked song and video. Here are the 27 ladies that appear in his video and sort of vie for his affection throughout the song.

      

Thank you Wikipedia for the list of women in the order as they appeared in the video. Camila Cabello, Phoebe Robinson, Aly Raisman, Sarah Silverman, Gal Gadot, Lilly Singh, Amani al-Khatahtbeh, Trace Lysette, Tiffany Haddish, Angy Rivera, Franchesca Ramsey, Millie Bobby Brown, Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Lopez, Chloe Kim, Alex Morgan, Mary J. Blige, Beanie Feldstein, Jackie Fielder, Danica Patrick, Ilhan Omar, Elizabeth Banks, Ashley Graham, Rita Ora, Levine’s wife Behati Prinsloo, and his daughter Dusty Rose.

C. After listening to and viewing Memories and Girls Like You, here are three of Maroon Five’s best all time sellers that you, hopefully, will enjoy:

     

Sugar
Moves Like Jagger
Payphone

      

5. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Knows A Thing Or Two About Love Poems!
Two Lewis Carroll (The Alice In Wonderland Man) Critical Thinkers Get The Mind Going!
Can You Determine The Love Poem’s Secret?!

    

I often wondered when I cursed,
Often feared where I would be…
Wondered where she’d yield her love,
When I yield, so will she.
I would her will be pitied!
Cursed be love, she pitied me…

    v

Here is a nice challenge for your homeschooling children or your classroom students to try to duplicate.
See, first, if they can figure out this poem’s format.

A picture which I hope will
Be one that you would like to
See. If your Mamma should
Desire one like it, I can
Easily get her one.

The answer to the two poems will be at the end of this column.

     

6. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Visits The Virgin River And Its Same Named Town!
162 Miles Of Winding Beauty Through Utah, Nevada, And Arizona!
Small Town Medicine And A California Midwife! Will They Mix?

     

If you were a nurse practitioner and midwife from Los Angeles would you move to a backwoods town (Virgin River) in remote California (where everyone knows everyone else’s business). Incidently, Virgin River is filmed in super majestic Vancouver, British Columbia.

Melinda Monroe (Alexandra Breckenridge) wants to leave a suitcase fall of bad in Los Angeles, so she accepts Hope McCrea’s (Annette O’Toole), the mayor of Virgin River’s, invitation to work in Virgin River. Doc Mullins, (Tim Matheson), is the local doctor Melinda thinks she is coming to help. Tim Matheson does not know she is coming to help him. Old and crusty, Mullins does not want any help. It will take some convincing that she can work with him in his classic house of medicine.

   

Melinda is a by-the-book medical expert. The town of Virgin River is not by the book or an expert in anything. Melinda knows medicine, but not country people. Case in point is the abandoned baby left on Doc Mullin’s medical office’s doorstep. Melinda immediately calls Social Services. No one in town would have done that and they let her know. She is beginning to realize small town living is not what she envisioned.

One of the themes of the show is will she change or will the townsfolk change? Jack Sheridan (Martin Lawrence) is the local bar owner and Melinda’s guide. She falls for him, even though, he has a friends with benefits girlfriend Charmaine Roberts (Lauren Hammersley). John Middleton is Jack’s confidant and the chef at Jack’s bar. He, like Melinda, is straight laced. Everyone in town lands in Jack’s bar and restaurant at some time. Their problems follow them into the bar.

   

As Melinda fights her battles and demons in Virgin River, her sister Joey Barnes (Jenny Cooper) is her phone call away advisor in Los Angeles. She wants her sister home.

Each episode of Virgin River is a look at small town living and how family is the key word in everyone’s in the town’s mind. As you watch the show, you ask yourself would your solutions fit better in each character’s performance? There are a large number of lessons the viewer can relate to and just as many that will change your thinking about the scenic outdoors, religion, medical problems, small business ownership, small town politics, and caring. In a television world full of all too contagious shootings and explosions, Virgin River is a nice antidote. g Shui Teacher 1:51 PM g Shui Teacher 1:51 PM

    

7. Let’s Talk Philadelphia And Steve Kodad Know Feng Shui!
Steve Kodad Is A Great Resource In The World Of Feng Shui!
His Feng Shui Newsletter Tips Are Worth Your Reading Time!

   

Steve’s Kodad’s quarterly newsletter on human psychology, color psychology, home staging, buying homes, and Feng Shui tips and techniques has something for everyone. Here is what Steve said about his work:

As a certified Feng Shui professional, Steve Kodad is asked time and time again, “Is my space Feng Shui?” and the answer is not as simple as looking at the aesthetics. A space can be the most beautiful in the world, but ultimately what’s important is how does it make you feel on an intrinsic level? Does it support you, your lifestyle, your goals, and is it a reflection of your best self? Are you operating on all cylinders?

   

Often, we hear, “I feel stuck, lost, uninspired, a lack of focus, misunderstood” and that’s more of an indication that some Feng Shui work needs to be done than anything visual. There are however visual indications that occupants might be struggling in certain life areas: clutter, items in disrepair, unbalance and disharmony in decor to name a few.

The art is an appreciation of architecture, colors, shapes, textures, symbolism and personalization. Feng Shui helps make this world a more beautiful place for those who practice it, and it all starts at home or in the workplace.

    

Steve Kodad has been training people in Feng Shui for over 15 years and trains new consultants in the school: Intrinsic School of Feng Shui. The website is http://www.IntrinsicSchoolofFengShui.com.

    

8. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Knows Advertising!
30,000 Readers On Five Continents Are A Great Audience For Your Ideas!
Two Paragraphs About Your Occupation/Avocation And Six Pictures!
Our Connections Are Surely Worth Thirty Minutes Of Your Time!
Join Lewis Carroll And Tyler Perry As Our Next Article Writer!

     

Our Let’s Talk Philadelphia column has emerged from classroom discussions at Philadelphia’s University Of The Arts in 1994, to a one page newsletter handed out on the corner of Broad and Walnut Streets, to a column now read by 30,000 plus readers and 450 re-listers across five continents. Send your ideas to tjpalumbo@aol.com or call 215-262-9986 for additional direction.

  

9. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Answer Center!

       

The two featured poem’s are types of acrostic poetry. The ABC’s are hidden in the second poem. The first poem is a perfect acrostic with the same lines written down and across. The second poem is easy to duplicate in a wealth of formats from names to months of the year. The second starts with writing a short first sentence across and then downward. Complete each sentence with any group of words across that follow your original sentence’s theme. In this case Carroll’s format would be overwhelming. The form suggested is challenging and does somewhat follow Carroll’s poem.

The beach is a marvel and wonder,
Beach sitting at the water’s edge,
Is
A
Marvel
And
Wonder what mysteries tomorrow will bring.

    

223. Charlize Theron, Edvard Munch, Schooling Help, Shoes/Socks, and Phillip Carroll’s New Movie The Honeymoon Phase!!

      

          

1. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Knows Charlize Theron!
Charlize Is A Good Fessik And Great Action Heroine!
The Old Guard Movie Is A Very Different Theron!
Can She Be Better In The New Princess Bride, The Movie?!

Charlize Theron has an Academy Award (Monster 2004) and two Academy Award nominations (North Country 2006, Bombshell 2020). Charlize’s display shelves have 20 other awards for acting in and producing movies. Her two latest 2020 projects are The Old Guard and The Princess Bride, The Home Movie.

     

The Old Guard is a comic book written by Greg Rucka. The movie is directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. Charlize Theron (Andy), Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthias Schoenarts, Van Veronica Ngo, Harry Melling, and Luca Marinelli are a team of 1,000 year old warriors and the present day doctors who want to capture them and their secret of long life and regeneration. Wounds and death are quickly whisked away by the warrior’s powers as they help people throughout the ages. Modern scientists want to know why! Revealing historical flashbacks from The Crusades to the Revolutionary War to the Civil War to World War II to the present are joined by the team’s (Andy, Joe, Booker, and Nicky) images in old time classic art and grainy photos.

       

Looking to make a difference in the present day, the ageless team of Avengers thinks that if they work for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA, Copley) they can continue to assist the helpless worldwide. Their first CIA mission is to rescue a group of children taken hostage in the Sudan. The team’s meticulous planning goes for naught. They are ambushed, killed, and maimed, but manage to regenerate and kill their attackers. They are now after the traitor Copley and, he, after them for testing and dicing. At age 44, Theron handles the action battle sequences better than Bruce Lee and Jet Li. Six months of training and practice makes perfect.

    

The movie’s quick segue to Afghanistan introduces a new immortal. Marine, Niles Foreman, has her throat is slit in battle when taking down a military target…and then she is immediately healed. Soon after, she shares a disturbing dream with the other immortals, who are then alerted to her existence. Andy tracks down and rescues Freeman before military personnel can abduct her for testing. Charlize has her join their team and the Copley mission. Theron is superb, once again, and you wonder at movie’s end if there is a sequel in the making. Netflix and On Demand have this exciting history directed/skirting movie.

 

2. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Continues With The Princess Bride, Home Movie!
They Have Done It!  Can You Re-create Comic Perfection?!
A Remake Of The Princess Bride Thirty-three Years Later With Thirty New Actors Was An At Home Challenge And Adventure That Had To Be Taken!
Even The Guys Wanted To Be Buttercup!

        

Charlize Theron (playing Andre The Giant’s part), Jennifer Garner, Hugh Jackmn, Joe Jonas, Sophie Turner, Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka, Fred Savage, John Hamm, Patton Oswalt, Jack Black, Beanie Feldstein, Keegan Michael Key, and Andy Serkis are just a few of the cast members playing multiple male and female parts in the Princess movie from their homes, back gardens, and personal studios during the last two week’s quarantine. The new product is hysterical as the classic scenes are recreated in serious and camp form. Make-up and costumes are put together with home findings on the fly. Starting Monday, the Quibi channel is the host of this, as of now, 10 part series. They should have a voting site for recreations and jobs well done. One reader, who had not seen the original, was wondering if there were any funny lines in the original? Humor Digest has at least 25 listed. Have fun storming the castle and seeing these episodes.

      

3. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Knows Art!
The August Born Painter’s Paradise!
Edvard Munch Is A Nice Lead-in To August!

     

August and September are the months with the most birthdays with September leading by far. It seems only natural, then, that a large number of painters were born in August. In passing Emma and Liam are the number one birthday names for boys and girls for the second straight year. Edvard Munch, our August art highlight, is a Norwegian artist best known for his Scream (1893), The Madonna, and The Sick Child.

    

The Scream which was called The Scream of Nature by Munch while Norwegians in his day called it The Shriek. The painting is one of the most iconic paintings of all time. Five copies of it were made by Munch with two as pastels. One of his pastel paintings of the Scream sold for the fourth highest price ever received for a painting.

    

Munch said The Scream was brought to fruition when he saw a blood red sunset while walking near a fjord near Oslo, Norway. He thought it was nature calling out in pain. We are in the process of researching where the two versions in paint and the two in pastels, as well as his lithograph in stone, are located. You might have fun researching his multiple Madonnas and multiples of The Sick Child or another August painter listed below.

     

   August Artists           

4. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Knows New Movies!
The Honeymoon Phase Should Be Your Next Movie Watch!

         

A Psychological Thriller For Young And Old Alike!
Movie Trailer   https://www.youtube.com/embed/5swzeRJMUj0

Here Is What Director Phillip Carroll Shared About His New Movie!

      

Local Bucks County (just outside Philadelphia) native Phillip G. Carroll Jr.’s first feature film, The Honeymoon Phase, produced by their production company Aspire Motion Pictures, is being released by Dark Sky Films in limited theatrical release, as well as, on digital home video/on demand on August 21st, 2020. The Honeymoon Phase, is a sci-fi psychological thriller following Tom and Eve, two struggling young lovers who lie about their relationship in order to enter The Millenium Project, an experiment for married couples run by the mysterious Director and Handler.

     

With the promise of $50,000, Tom and Eve must survive 30-days isolated together in a futuristic smart home, while the researchers attempt to determine why couples fall out of love. Over the course of their stay, Eve begins a violent decent into madness as she questions if her lover really is the man she thinks he is. A paranoid sci-fi thriller about the nature of trust in relationships, The Honeymoon Phase, is as much classic Twilight Zone as contemporary Black Mirror, and an all-too-terrifying answer to the question, “How well can you ever really know someone?” Jim Schubin (Boardwalk Empire, Law & Order), Chloe Carroll, Tara Westwood (The Grudge) and Francois Chau (LOST, The Expanse) star. You can view the trailer here: https://youtu.be/5swzeRJMUj0

   

Writer/Director Phillip and his wife, Chloe Carroll, fell in love making short films together. When they decided it was time to create their first feature film, they wanted it to be a labor of love between the two of them, melding both of their passions into a singular story. The marriage of Phillip’s love of sci-fi/dramas and his wife’s love of horror films lead to the birth of The Honeymoon Phase. As newlyweds, Phillip and Chloe wanted to capture the ecstasy of being in their own honeymoon phase while also exploring what can lead a relationship to fall apart. What slithered out of their ruminations was the idea of facade. For Phillip and Chloe, honesty and trust are at the heart of their marriage.

    

The Honeymoon Phase, sows a lie into the fertile soil of Tom and Eve’s relationship… a thought so horrifying that once it took root, Tom and Eve’s love would deteriorate – memory by memory. Phillip and Chloe’s hope is that as you watch The Honeymoon Phase in the comfort of your homes, the film plants that same seed of doubt in your mind… “What if the person I love isn’t who they say they are?” Phillip and Chloe would like to thank the countless talented, devoted, and supportive people who helped bring their first feature film to life. From the incredible cast and crew to the local Philadelphia and Bucks County community who threw their support behind the movie – Phillip and Chloe are forever grateful to them all for helping to make their dream come true. If you’d like to help support the film, please share the trailer and consider checking out the movie on August 21st!
Follow Phillip and Chloe on Twitter @PhilCarrollJr and @CloCarroll

Phillip G. Carroll Jr.
Director
The Honeymoon Phase
Aspire Motion Pictures
(215) 378-2644
phillipgcarrolljr@aspiremotionpictures.com
www.AspireMotionPictures.com

     

5. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Knows Left Of Center!
Way Left Of Center!
The World Of Shoes And Socks Explored!

     

Melanie, our favorite, left brained, office intern, came up with an outlandish research project last year in our column for her girlfriend who was looking for a redheaded, left handed boyfriend. Ten percent (10% ) of the world’s population is left handed. Two percent (2%) of the population are redheaded. This means that less than one percent (1%) of the world’s population would be red headed and left handed. Melanie’s girlfriend, after we completed our search, then threw in good looking and intelligent. We did not research those areas!

     

Melanie’s new drive us crazy, research request involves how you put on your shoes and socks. Her questions are as follows:

1. Do right handed people put their right hand sock or stocking on first?
2. Conversely, of course, the same question is turned around for left handed people?
3. Do you put on both stockings first or one stocking and one shoe at a time?
4. When you put on your children’s shoes and socks which side is first because as you are facing them your right hand would be on their left foot side…if you are right handed?
5. Take these same questions/arguments and see how they apply to taking off your shoes and socks at night.

We are sure these questions are going to drive you crazy every morning and night at shoes’ and socks’ time!

              

6. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Knows Education, Parents, And The Internet!
10,000 Educational Websites Are Out There For Your Children/Classrooms!

     

Seventy-five percent (75%) of the world’s students will receive some type of home schooling this year. Parents and schools everywhere will be scrambling for the best resources to use at home whether they are using Google Classroom, Blackboard, Zoom, K-12, or some other educational service provided by their school system.

   

Here are six things that should happen at all schools to promote at home study.
Do not pay for any additional services. Everything is out there for free.

1. The first online workshop should be for parents as your school outlines their home study contact information, services, and resources.

2. The book company that your school uses was selected for their texts, guides, learning centers, resources, and, hopefully, for an outstanding array of on line information that is continually up-dated. Parents need an additional walk through of this information and how to use the company’s site with their child/children.

3. Mini-parent calling chains should be organized, so parents don’t seem isolated and can share ideas and helpful hints. These parents will, probably, not know each other in the beginning. Please stress the importance of these chains.

    

4. Libraries, closed inside, are now offering curb side services. Put a list together of the books you and your child would like to explore and call for a scheduled pick-up. Remember to get educational CD’s and audio books at every level from the library, also.

5. Every author that you read from K-12th grade has their own resource site easily found in a Google search or by typing in their name as a .com as we have shared in our recommendations below.

6. Explore what the local community centers, churches, city offices, and YMCA’s are offering as part of their help and educational outreach programs. This takes some doing, but with a sharing network the best resources can be located, shared, and used.

Here is a small segment of the on line resources we recommend. Sign up for their newsletters.

The American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/parents

   

National Women’s History Column
http://www.womenshistory.org

Jan Brett’s Early Childhood Resources
http://www.janbrett.com

    

Maya Angelou’s Multi-cultural Resources
http://www.mayaangelou.com

Parent Teacher Resource Compilation
http://www.atoztecherstuff.com

Disney As A Schooling Resource
http://www.disney.go.com/disney/learning

     

Awesome Historic Research
http://www.findagrave.com

     

Your Opinion Matters! Sometimes!

     

7. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Knows Advertising!
30,000 Readers On Five Continents Are A Great Audience For Your Ideas!
Two Paragraphs About Your Occupation/Avocation And Six Pictures!
Our Connections Are Surely Worth Thirty Minutes Of Your Time!
Join Phillip Carroll As Our Next Article Submitter!

       

Our Let’s Talk Philadelphia column has emerged from classroom discussions at Philadelphia’s University Of The Arts in 1994, to a one page newsletter handed out on the corner of Broad and Walnut Streets, to a column now read by 30,000 plus readers and 450 re-listers across five continents.

 

A Once Again Reminder: Every Let’s Talk Philadelphia column encourages readers to contribute their photography, art, fashion, travel, education, sports, food, book, and local business news to this column at tjpalumbo@aol.com. Everything is FREE and the column is a great connector for a contributor’s two paragraphs and six pictures to tjpalumbo@aol.com. 30,000 Connections count toward success for your business, new book, art, or photography!

   

If you read past columns, you will see 20 different contributions and writing styles like Phillip Carroll’s new movie, The Honeymoon Phase, as well as, those highlighting the above topics and more. There is definitely a place for your ideas in the Let’s Talk Philadelphia column.

     

222. Kevin Costner, My Spy, Black Girl, Yellowstone, And Lovely’s Hair Care!

   

       

    

1. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Applauds The Worldwide Sport Re-openings!
European Soccer Was First! Followed By Nascar, Golf, and Now Baseball!
Check Your Television Listings And Lean Back With Your Popcorn!

   

The golf and soccer seasons for 2020 have begun and the baseball opener between the New York Yankees and the World Series winning Washington Nationals on July 24th-27^th is not too far behind. It seems only right that we kick off the baseball season with a baseball movie selection and our annual baseball sport’s puzzle. We are featuring Kevin Costner in his series Yellowstone on the Paramount Network in another article, so we won’t be reviewing his memorable baseball movies Bill Durham, For The Love of the Game, Field of Dreams, or Fastball for your viewing pleasure.

    

We are going, instead, with Robert Redford’s The Natural (1984). The Natural can be easily found in your On Demand listings. It is an entertaining must watch pick for the sport minded and all time movie favorite watchers.

The Natural (circa 1939) was written by Bernard Malamud in 1952. Its four Academy Award nominations attest to a great story and one of the best casts of award winning actors working in 1984 (Robert Redford, Glen Close, Kim Bassinger, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey, Darren McGavin, Wilford Brimley, Richard Farnsworth, and Robert Prosky).

   

Robert Redford (Roy Hobbs) is a 19-year-old farm boy and baseball pitching star heading to Chicago for a tryout. Along the way, he meets Barbara Hershey on a train and then her hotel room. Hershey is the angel of death and has already killed three sport stars. Fast forward 17 years and Hobbs is trying to make it into the big leagues as a right fielder with 17 years of baggage. The New York Knights’ team managed by Wilford Brimley, that he is sent to, is in last place and doesn’t want to play an old relic. Can Redford transform this team into a winner when he gets his chance is the story’s big question? Glen Close, his childhood sweetheart, appears in his life and joins the battle as current girl friend Kim Bassinger wants to bring Hobbs down, so a losing team can be sold. Yes, the movie is about baseball and its inner workings, but the four non-baseball subplots add a number of interesting, watch-worthy developments as the story progresses.

  

2. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Puzzle Of The Month!
Baseball Classics Will Challenge Your Baseball Acumen!
You Might Need Help On This One!

         

Baseball Classics
Each set of clues below will generate a term found in baseball. Score a run with each correct answer. Place this sheet on the office bulletin board and invite staff members to write in an appropriate answer. Give a copy to family and friends and see have many runs they can score with each correct answer. Answers will appear at the end of this column. Don’t look right away. You can come back to this quiz at a later time and be amazed at the new answers that have jumped into your mind. Item 7 below has the quiz’s answers.

    

Clue Word                           Baseball Term

   

1. Example…Found in some women’s stockings     Runs
2. Cinderella’s ride
3. Airmen and airplanes reside here
4. Place for cattle
5. Early type of canoe
6. A twin
7. A musical composition for a movie

        

8. Factory worker’s walkout
9. IIiad maker
10. Not married
11. A horse refuses to jump
12. Ocean depth measure
13. Tar
14. A meadow

         

15. A night flyer
16. The king’s dance
17. Car tire composition
18. An IHop pancake order
19. STOP is one
20. Multiple television episodes
21. A New state

       

3. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Found My Spy But Not The I Spy Original!
Spies Big And Small Doing Their Job With Trickery And Explosions!
Amazon Prime Has A Secret No More!

   

If you were training a female spy, at what age would you start?
Is nine too young? Where could she pack her gun? Is there a gun?

JJ (Dave Bautista) is a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operator who seemingly is not very good at his job. He has just botched a Russian nuclear product’s recovery assignment and now has been assigned the lowly task of secretly watching Sophie (Chloe Coleman) a nine year old and her mother Kate (Parisa Fitz-Henley). JJ’s boss David Kim (Ken Jeong) wants JJ to take tech specialist Bobbi (Kristen Schaal) with him to set up surveillance in and around Sophie’s apartment.

  

Sophie and her mother have returned from Paris to Wicker Park, Chicago after her father’s death. Neither mother nor daughter knew dad was selling plans for mini-nuclear devices when he was killed. The CIA figures Kate’s brother-in-law is in on the dirty dealings, also. Hence, the surveillance and future clashes with arms dealers and a mini-array of bad guys.

     

Sophie finds the hidden cameras in her apartment and traces the signal down the hall to Schaal’s and Bautista’s apartment. She blackmails JJ into being her friend, companion, and spy trainer. Bobbi wants out of surveillance and into spy training, too. Not going to happen!, JJ chimes in multiple times!

       

The fight scenes, show and tell scenes, ice skating scenes, pinky swearing scenes, and scenes where Bautista falls for Sophie’s mother are good. Your rankings would be appreciated after seeing the movie?

     

My Guy quick notes:
The movie made its debut in Australia in January.
It was supposed to be part of a series.
Amazon Prime purchased it because of the theater virus shutdown.
Kristen Schaal is a multiple award winning comedian for her movie work, comedy specials, and support of other comedians. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYMbJFC33f8).

    

              

4. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Visits Montana (Yellowstone) For Three Seasons!
Paramount Television Grabbed Kevin Costner For This Action Loaded Series!
What Is More Important Than Family?!

   

Just like Ozark with Jason Bateman and Laura Linney, Yellowstone with Kevin Costner is starting its third season. The fourth year of Yellowstone has already been booked. Yellowstone has won the American Heritage Award in Drama the last two years. John Dutton (Kevin Costner) is the owner of one of the largest cattle ranches in the United States. Dutton’s ranch encompasses 5,000 acres or 8 square miles of pristine land, forests, waters, and mountains.

     

The Wrangler Award For Television Drama

Costner (Dutton) has four older children, three boys and one girl…and one eight year old grandson. Like the ranch, they are under attack from every group that the resides on the ranch’s borders. There are land developers who want to make billions building towns, resorts, and shopping malls on Dutton’s and adjacent properties. Lumber, gas, and oil developers thinking this area is a potential undiscovered goldmine want in. A bordering Indian reservation and casino have all sorts of bogus claims to this land. Even politicians and a National Parks’ consortium add to the property grab and ownership headaches. All these competing interests make running a ranch with family, ranch hand, horse, and cattle troubles even more difficult.

      

Everyone of these opposition groups have the best and worst of employees and owners.
They are all ready for and preparing for a fight and massive land grab. Yellowstone has more shootings, killings, fights, bruisings, and maimings than John Wick and Lethal Weapon put together. There is even a hanging that John Wick and Lethal Weapon haven’t added to their massive money making series, yet.

     

     

Kayce Dutton’s (Luke Grimes’) wife Monica Long Dutton (Kelsey Asbille) is an American Indian girl. They are not accepted on the reservation where they lived in season 1 or in the local community. Kayce has provided John with a grandson Tate (Brecken Merrill). John is grooming Tate to be a ranch hand or anything else he wants to be. Some of the best non-shooting scenes feature granddad and grandson.

        

Our favorite Yellowstone character is Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly). She is a super intelligent, sophisticated, wild childish, financial wiz. She manipulates everyone at the ranch and in town. She could charm the bees out of any hive in spite of being an alcoholic and drug abuser. She is great at howling at the moon, but always has her father’s back. Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) is John Dutton’s loyal to a fault ranch foreman. Rip is in love with Beth, but too often just his play thing. Their sparing is unique and adds to the mystery and romantic elements of the show. Ride over to the Paramount Network and take a look at this modern western tale. Season 1 and 2 found On Demand should be your start before delving into season three at 9PM Sundays.

   

5. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s People Of Color Resource!
Make Room In Your Favorites’ Files For Black Girl Culture!
This Site Rivals Last Month’s Thrillist Endorsement!

     

Black Girl Culture (blkgirlculture.com) is the new go to site for girls and women of color. There is something there for everyone as the topics below that their column features will attest: Music, Opinion, Pop Culture, Health and Beauty, Politics, Activism, Entertainment, Sex and Relationships, Sports, and Lifestyle.

   

When the website opens you will see the newest topics by scrolling right on their Black Culture blog bar. After looking at these selections, scroll down to blog posts section at the bottom of the page and you will see interesting posts from previous years. Singer Lauryn Hill and basketball player Dwayne Wade are two of the famous and not so famous everyday people that contribute thoughful insights to the column. Our four favorite articles were:

1. Why “Selah and