194. Angelicus Celtis, Barberry, Dear Evan Hansen, And Ruth Wilson!

                          

Amelia Earhart!…Your 80 Year Old Disappearance Mystery Has Been Solved!
The Video iBook Amelia Earhart, Once Again’s Facts Have Been Confirmed!
Pictures Of Amelia After 1937 Have Just Been Released!

         

            

Do you have a small story? The New York Times looks for the big story! Let’s Talk Philadelphia looks for the small story to make it bigger.

         

The Best Of Let’s Talk Philadelphia!
                       

 1. The Best Music Of The Summer!
Dear Evan Hansen Sweeps Broadway’s Musical Awards!
The Ben Platt And Laura Dreyfuss Star Combo Captivates!

        

You have two great musical theater choices on your visits to New York and Philadelphia this summer. Dear Evan Hansen swept Broadway’s coveted Tony Awards. Saturday Night Fever at The Walnut Theater in Philadelphia features students and staff from The University of the Arts where this column originated.

         

Saturday Night Fever is the 1977 John Travolta movie brought to the musical stage. It is the story of Brooklyn, friendship, dating, and using dance as an exhilarating form of expression. Tony Manero is a paint store clerk during the week, but the king of the dance floor on weekends. Dear Evan Hansen is the story of a shy teenager, a first love, a lie, and family. You can connect, first, to the Saturday Night Fever musical by watching the Travolta movie on every On Demand channel.

        

You can connect to Evan Hansen by previewing these two special song selections. A pair of great songs from Dear Evan Hansen are featured on You Tube and in the Today Show archives. They will give you a great feel for the story. Dear Evan Hansen stars Laura Dreyfuss (Glee) and Ben Platt (Pitch Perfect) sing Only Us (what came before won’t count any more) in a 3:44 studio recording session that will light up your day. This same song is featured on the Today Show with a nice lead-in interview with Laura and Ben. The song Only Us describes the perfect mindset for dating. 

A second song from Dear Evan Hansen and, also, featured on the Today Show is Ben, Laura’s and the whole cast’s presentation of You Will Be Found. You will listen to both of these songs more than once…and then run to get tickets! Check the show’s web page. Dear Evan Hansen is going on the road in the fall! Maybe near you?

                

     

2. The Best Music Of The Summer II!
The Nessun Dorma By 8th-12th Grade Choir Makes Wales Proud!
The Girls Are Crying, The Audience Is Crying, And You Are Next!

Let’s Talk Philadelphia is always scouring the European music scene to report on groups and individuals our European readers are embracing. There are three European X Factors and two European Got Talent programs that will give you are great fortnight of listening on Vimeo, YouTube, and similar free listening and viewing sites.

       

Our best choice from Europe this week is the Angelicus Celtis choir from Wales. These really likeable young girls sing opera (Nessun Dorma…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2lmk6kW-T0), musical theater (Phantom Of The Opera), and rock and roll (Jerusalem) with such an infectious joy that you will be scrambling for other songs they have recorded after viewing our three recommendations and watching their progression through Britains Got Talent.

                

3. The Best Television Of The Week!

      

Ruth Wilson: The Lips That Launched A Thousand Ships!
From Mourning Mother To Psychopathic Murderer! Wowsa!
The Affair, Revenge, And Luther!
Summer Viewing At Its Mindless Best!

           

If you were to ask a graduate class in creative writing to record the elements of a top notch summer movie, television show, or book, these elements would appear in their top five:
a. Light…not too much thinking is needed during and after the selection
b. Multiple plots…lots of things going on, hopefully tied in in the end
c. A vacation locale…the beach, mountains, river, lake, or backyard hammock
d. Kissing with sex thrown in for the non-churchgoing…lots of kissing
e. Likeable and hate generating characters…unique, unexpected character development

          

Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) calls Revenge (ABC…2011-2015) the standard for all future television shows. It has our five elements with revenge thrown in as Emily VanCamp goes after Madeleine Stowe, Henry Czerny, Josh Bowman, and the Grayson family’s henchmen for falsely imprisoning and murdering her father. Revenge makes a great warm-up watch before our next two summer viewing suggestions.

                

The Affair (Showtime…Series 1-3 free on On Demand) takes place in the beach rich Hampton communities of 118 mile long Long Island. The show is ready to start season four in the fall. The median price of a home in Southampton is 8.5 million dollars, so the locals are always butting heads with the super rich.

           

Ruth Wilson (waitress) and Joshua Jackson (the local poor and struggling) are a happily married couple until the drowning death of their four year old son. Blame flies everywhere! Dominic West (author) and Maura Tierney are a happily married New York couple (they represent the rich) until, while vacationing in the Hamptons, Ruth saves their daughter’s life from chocking and The Affair begins. Sprinkle in two divorces, two weddings, a murder, drug smuggling, children growing up in divorce, and SPF 12 sun block, and you have 32 episodes of an often riveting binge watch. Fear not! You will be, easily, pulled into the Long Island and New York City kissing and sex fest. The heat in this series is only matched by a sweltering summer sun.

        

The multiple award winning Luther books (Neil Cross) and television series (BBC England 2010-2018) stars Idris Elba and Ruth Wilson. Elba (Luther) is a London detective that takes on the most horrific of cases. Wilson (Alison) is a deranged and cunning murderer that is infatuated with Luther and willingly, but not invited, teams with him to solve cases and save his life. Partnership misunderstood is this pairing’s title. The English tabloids and TV fans love this show.

         

Ruth Wilson’s workaholic…ism while starring in two series at the same time is matched by Idris Elba’s as he stars in a series and next month’s much anticipated The Dark Tower movie. Stephen King, Idris Elba, and Matthew McConaughey team in a book series brought to the screen that every high school student in Philadelphia has read.

       

4. The Best Gardening Tip Of The Week!
The Barberry Color Blaster!
This Is The Perfect Segue From Murder To Gardening! Maybe not!

       

In our last issue we featured Dolce and Gabbana’s Light Blue fragrance for men and women to put a little more color into your life. This week’s column color comes from featuring the Barberry, a shrub for all seasons. It will add color to your home and keep away the unwanted creatures that ate your flowers, plants, and shrubs.

        

The most frequently asked Questions To Debbie in our gardening department are: (a) how do I get deer and other animals to stop eating my favorite flowers, plants and shrubs; (b) what can I plant that is colorful and deer resistant. The Internet and your local plant nursery have lists of plants that favor the sun and shade, as well as, the plants that animals like and don’t like. You can print them out at home or take the list with you when you leave your local nursery.

        

Our surround your home and garden favorite, by far, is the Barberry. It is reasonably priced plant that comes in magnificent colors, is multi-sized, is easily shaped, keeps its color all year, and animals don’t like it because of the barberry’s tiny barbs on each branch. Please send us pictures of your newly barberry…ized home if you decide to follow our monthly garden suggestion for July….with more to come! As we were writing this column, one of our office staff (Pat) said she is on a deer sanctuary and the deer don’t like her white daisies. This, of course, we don’t believe. Try both and report back!

         

If you need additional color on your property, the king and queen of color are the Japanese Maple and the Japanese Plum. They add class to any location. Stay tuned to this column for future home, fashion, beauty, essential oils, make-up, and everyday product hints and updates. You will enjoy our New Product section at the end of this column, also.

             

5. The Best Gift Of The Week!
Nametests Is Free, Easy To Initiate/Understand, And Well Received!
Nicely Framed Or As a Refrigerator Magnet, Your Family Stands Proud!

      

NameTests is a free we will find your name’s origin site. Place your last name in Nametests’ search box and the site will give you an easy to frame description of the origin and meaning of your name. The print out can be put into some great formats.

     

We framed an 8 by 11 inch printout on nice paper and then printed a number of 4 by 6 inch printouts and placed them on 4 by 6 inch refrigerator magnets for family members. After you see the site you might want to do your family description on cups, a flag, a calendar, or notepad. Sites like VistaPrint will do that and more for you.

     

6. Businesses, Businesses, Businesses!
What’s New In Your World?
Let’s Talk Is A Forum For New Business Ideas!
This Week It Is Pet Memorials By Liz Lee.

        

Pet Memorials…Ballparks, country clubs, famous streets, and buildings have instituted a fund raising gimmick called The Brick Program. Place the name of someone you want to memorialize on a brick and it will be inserted in a featured location (walkway, wall, cemetery, concourse, memorial) by the organization sponsoring the program. Prices, of course, will vary greatly!

                    

Liz Lee (lizlee@whidbey.com) came up with a unique memorial for your pet that is far more fitting and colorful than a brick. Hopefully, it will give you an idea starter for your next business or to memorialize your favorite pet? Here is what Liz shared:

       

I started painting pet portraits on stepping stones when my neighbor’s
dog died and I wanted to help ease her pain by painting a memorial for
him. She loved it and placed the stepping stone by her front door and
the word spread. Now I gleefully paint pet portraits as memorials and
living tributes. As Mark Twain said, “The secret of success is making
your vocation your vacation.”
Liz Lee

     

Pictured are: Andy, Cortez, Hairy Krishna, Joshua, Lil Shaver and Pandora.

      

7. What Creative Ideas Are Percolating In The Back Reaches Of Your Mind?
Inquiring Readers Want To Know! Ben Franklin Wants To Know!
Let’s Talk Readers Can Profit By Your Art, Book, Or Business Acumen!

       

With 40,000 WordPress reads…..being featured on Let’s Talk Philadelphia (thomasjpalumbo.wordpress.com) for free should greatly enhance your art, photography, and business message. The twenty year old, always positive, twice monthly, business and entertainment column comes out of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Your contacts will be graduates who are leaders in the world of art, photography, music, business, and technology, as well as, teachers from throughout the world. You will meet over 20,000 LinkedIn, PortaPortal, and Wikispace friends, too.

      

Our readers enjoy:
A quiet walk on the beach
Women’s wrestling featured on Netflix’s GLOW
The beauty of a mountain wood
Photography
Art
Trip suggestions
Book reviews
Health and medical news
Out of the mainstream movies and television presentations
Music that we missed
Pictures of your kids
Anecdotes that make a difference
Sofia the first

     

Please send six pictures and two descriptive paragraphs about your submission to tjpalumbo@aol.com. Past columns will show you unique write-ups by many contributors. We will column…ize your work immediately. If you are joining us, don’t do the hard sell. Show how your art or business message is different and worth exploring. Please include your product and website links.

       

Looking forward to featuring your art, photography, books, work, creative ideas, and community message!

Tom Palumbo

193. Debra Winger, Summer Books, Dolce, Arterton, And Cruise!

                            

 

      

The Best Of Let’s Talk Philadelphia!

         

A. A Happy Canada Day Shout Out To Our Canadian Readers!
Here is Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s sneak preview for the week!

    

A1. The Newest Movie…Baby Driver Turns Into Your Theaters This Week!
Youngsters Ansel Elgort And Lily James Star With Jamie Foxx, Jon Hamm, Eiza Gonzalez, Jon Berthal, And Kevin Spacey!
Some Of The Twists And Turns Are Familiar, Some Are Not!

       

The Transporter television series with Chris Vance (two seasons) and the Transporter movie series (four movies) starring Jason Statham feature two older men driving fast cars through scenic European locales while transporting all types of dangerous and beautiful people and objects. Winning all facets of the martial arts’ fight scenes sprinkled through their adventures, is another plus for these two older drivers.

           

It is not a big reach to see that this formula would attract American movie makers and American audiences. Baby Driver’s studio (Tristar Pictures/Sony) picked a star studded caste, a US locale (Atlanta), a younger driver, a pretty damsel, and well planned multiple heists by despicable characters to draw a sold out Tuesday night premiere.
Rotten Tomatoes, a critic site that hates everything gave, Baby Driver a 98% and best action flick kudos so far for the summer. That truly is scary!

      

Kevin Spacey is a master planner of every type of robbery. He never uses the same crew twice. Ansel Elgort, Baby and Spacey’s designated driver, is the only thing that stays the same. Ansel is Spacey’s good luck charm in an unmatched series of successful heists. Steve McQueen would be proud of Elgort’s choice of music and his driving skills. Baby is paying off a debt to Spacey. He thinks he has completed that task and is ready to leave town with his hearing impaired stepfather and waitress girlfriend Lily James…Not so fast!…as you would expect movie goers!

     

Critics will say Lily James (Debora) is no Cinderella in Baby Driver! Hope they didn’t expect her to be in a getaway car in a puffy blue gown and glass slippers. Baby meets Debora in the diner where his mother worked before being killed in a car crash with her abusive husband. Mom transferred her love of music to Baby. Everywhere Baby goes in the movie from his heists to the diner to the heist planning warehouse, his ear buds are in with a diverse selection of songs being played and recorded. Music is one of the movie’s themes. Driving fast and being most elusive is another theme.

     

Baby Diver, The Mummy, and Baywatch are three old time themed movies that won’t win Academy Awards, but they will win you an exciting evening of moving watching. Give them a view and let us know what you think?

                    

1. The Best Children’s Books For The Summer and All Occasions!

The two links below contain a Let’s Talk Philadelphia video book talk and a Let’s Talk Philadelphia best website’s discussion video.

Best Video Book Talk Of The Week!

http://uif.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/a479d4f65e8749cdb573d8fa0f3cd4051d?catalog=3abc4bd7-183b-472a-9e3b-b884d4cf6eec

Paste these two these to links into your computer’s address bar and they will immediately open. They contain videos of books and websites at every level that you will enjoy exploring. Please share these sites with your children, your friends, parents, and teachers you know.

       

Best Video Web Site Talk Of The Week!

http://uif.mediasite.com/mediasite/Play/a479d4f65e8749cdb573d8fa0f3cd4051d?catalog=3abc4bd7-183b-472a-9e3b-b884d4cf6eec

   

2. The Best On Demand Sitcom Of The Week…The Ranch!
Debra Winger And Elisha Cuthbert Know How To Handle Cowboys!
Sam Elliott And Ashton Kutcher Don’t Stand A Chance!

    

Netflix’s The Ranch is about to begin its third season. This means that all the On Demand television services are featuring its first two years for free. The series was just featured on Parade Magazine’s cover for their salute to Father’s Day Sunday issue.

          

Ashton Kutcher is an aging football player that returns home to save the family ranch run by Ashton’s father Sam Elliott and Ashton’s brother, Danny Masterson. Ashton and his father major at bumping heads about everything. His brother is the guide on the side with comic retorts that the canned laughter audience relishes. Debra Winger, bar owner and estranged sleepover wife of Elliot’s, gets the most laughs, though, as the audience laughter program seems to be turned up every time she makes fun of her family for their questionable work practices and constant squabbles.

     

Elisha Cuthbert is Kutcher’s love interest as a large part of the program takes place in the local bar. This relationship should steal the show. It doesn’t. Debra Winger’s does. For twenty years Winger was the Duchess of Delight in works like Urban Cowboy, An Officer and A Gentleman, and Black Widow. She is older now, but still a great screen presence. The Ranch is the only cowboy sitcom ever appearing on television. Live calf deliveries may not be for everyone. This program has something for everyone, though.

        

3. The Best In Fashion Sense And Scents!
Dolce Gabbana Should Be In Your House!
Light Blue Is A Refreshing Fireworks Ensemble!

Dolce and Gabbana’s biggest advertising campaign of the last five years has the fragrance Light Blue appearing on every website search and in every men’s and women’s magazine. Magazine fragrance test strips that you open, rate, and hopefully enjoy are a big thing in promoting new products.

If your office or car is funky smelling from the weird fragrances that permeate the air and stick to seat covers, Light Blue may solve a serious problem. LB is light, refreshing, and not over-powering. Light Blue comes in packages for men and women. Our office put it to the test and the office suddenly seems to be refreshing when you enter it in the morning. Twelve offbeat smells are no longer competing for air dominance.

     

Stay tuned to this column for future fashion, beauty, essential oils, make-up, and product updates. We have a new mission. We can improve your everything!

              
4. Gemma Arterton, Vanessa Redgrave, and Terrance Stamp

Next to Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander, Gemma Arterton has been in more movies in the last three years than any actress in Hollywood. Her filmography on her Pinterest site really captures her wide variety of roles (www.pinterest.com/explore/gemma-arterton-movies). Gemma is a staple for On Demand, Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime viewing. Our favorite is one of her earlier works: Unfinished Song: A Song For Marion.

                

At the end of the movie Song For Marion, Gemma Arterton says that songs shouldn’t be judged by the great voices that have sung them. They should be judged by the journey the music has taken. She, of course, is talking about the journeys everyone in this movie have taken___An underappreciated son reconnecting with his father, a husband understanding his wife after fifty years, a young child understanding the relationship between her dad and his dad, a curmudgeon embracing music, and a choir of old folk hip-hopping to a beat of a different drummer. Please go out of your way to find where this gem of a movie is on your television as we continue:

Gemma Arterton is the 27 year-old choir director in the English movie Unfinished Song: A Song For Marion. She is paid to teach music to unappreciative youth groups during the day. Her early evenings are taken up with a free gig directing a choir of twenty or more 60+ year-olds. She calls this evening choir group the OAP’s, The Old Age Pensioners.

          

Vanessa Redgrave is dying of cancer. She is a much-loved member of her small English community. Her four loves are her curmudgeonly husband Terence Stamp, her son, her granddaughter, and music. She lives for her choir evenings with Gemma and friends. Her husband thinks it is a drain of energy on her ever-shortening life. Terrance Stamp levels proud words at the choir in anger. Repairing this disconnect, with help from his wife, will take some doing.

             

You don’t know if music is going to change the savage soul of Terence Stamp, but Arterton has changed the way everyone in the choir and community have embraced life. She stresses that being laughed at is great as you try new things. Her music for old timers embraces hip-hop, sex, and new views. It was a treat to watch this mental, emotional, and physical reformation of everyone. You will need a handkerchief as you enjoy and experience this change through tears and laughter in everyone in the story.

        

Rediscover Gemma Arterton for the first time in movies like Their Finest, The History Of Love, Quantum of Solace, Gemma Bovery, Runner Runner, Prince of Persia, Hansel and Gretel, Voices, and Clash of the Titans. You will like the broad range of her work and how her hair color changes with each new personality she brings to life on the big screen.

          

5. The Best Of Portia Mortensen’s Art!
Abstract Art, Horse-Womanship, And The Farm!
Portia’s Art Is Perfect For Your Home Or Office!
Her Horses, However, Are Not For Sale!

        

Portia,
We missed your showing, but we hope we haven’t missed highlighting your extremely creative work and wonderful ideas about the world of an artist!

         

Portia shared this with us in the two paragraphs we ask all contributors to compose for our column:

        

I would describe my paintings as notations of balance. These paintings are inspired by  three major influences : the canopy of color suspended through the change of season in my adopted home of Pennsylvania; my relationship to the horses I train and learn from everyday; and the concept of visual pattern that is found in written language. These influences converge to determine the feel, movement and content of each piece.

     

Moving from Zimbabwe (Africa) to the East Coast has opened me up to the generosity of color offered by the seasons. This ever changing suspension of color and weather influences my painting at its core level.

      

My other passion in life, dressage, is about balance, cadence, tempo, and Rhythm. All these elements are central themes of my work. In riding, and painting, the artist has to work through a set tonal structure and trust her instincts to find her way of out a maze of infinite possibilities. A painting is a living thing, and, like a horse, must be listened to. I often consider a painting finished when I can hear it.

        

The visual pattern found in written language is a concept I am intrigued with. Be it calligraphy, sheet music, a page of Braille, or something as simple as a shopping list. In an abstract sense there is an ebb and flow of characters on the page, a balance and rhythm between positive and negative shapes. In a parallel yet more literal sense, reading between the lines there is often more importance in what is left unsaid. And so I ask the viewer, to really look, what is the subject matter, the rocks, circles, squares or the foreground? The illusion of space or dimensionality? The putting on, or the taking off of paint? That which is erased, or that which is evident.

Portia

         

6. What Creative Ideas Are Percolating In The Back Reaches Of Your Mind?
Inquiring Readers Want To Know!
Let’s Talk And Its Readers Can Use Your Art, Book, Or Business Acumen!

  

With 40,000 WordPress reads…..being featured on Let’s Talk Philadelphia (thomasjpalumbo.wordpress.com) for free should greatly enhance your art, photography, and business message. The twenty year old, always positive, twice monthly, business and entertainment column comes out of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Your contacts will be graduates who are leaders in the world of art, photography, music, business, and technology, as well as, teachers from throughout the world. You will meet over 20,000 LinkedIn, PortaPortal, and Wikispace friends.

      

Our readers enjoy:
Lasagne
Photography
Art
Trip suggestions
Book reviews
Health and medical news
Out of the mainstream movies and television presentations
Music that we missed
Pictures of your kids
Anecdotes that make a difference
Sofia the first

            

Please send six pictures and two descriptive paragraphs about your submission to tjpalumbo@aol.com. Past columns will show you write-ups by many contributors. We will column…ize your work immediately. If you are joining us, don’t do the hard sell. Show how your art or business message is different and worth exploring.

Looking forward to featuring your work, creative ideas, and community message!

192. Brad Pitt, Free Money, Eurovision Music 2017, And Cameron Diaz!

                           

The Best Of Let’s Talk Philadelphia!

       

1. The Best Questions Of The Week!
Why Did Brad Pitt’s New Movie Go Directly To Netflix?
Does Brad Pitt Do Military Satire? Well? Medium? Medium Rare?
Will Pitt’s War Machine Movie Enlighten Us On The Afghanistan Conflict?

The 1984 movie Ghostbusters put the catchphrase Who You Gonna Call on millions of lips and millions of pieces of paraphernalia from t-shirts to coffee cups to cell phone covers. The two Ghostbuster movies of 2016 have brought the phrase back into the minds of a new generation of movie viewers and catchphrase users.

         

In the 1991 movie Thelma and Louise, Susan Saradon and Geena Davis needed a hot male body to ride along with them while fleeing the police…
Who You Gonna Call…Brad Pitt.

       

In 2001, 2004, and 2007 Oceans 11-13 movies, George Clooney needed someone brilliant and suave to help him pull off a series of multi-million dollar casino and art heists…
Who You Gonna Call…Brad Pitt.

       

In the 2004 movie Troy, King Menelaus needed someone to rescue his wife Helen and lead an armada of a thousand ships to recapture her from Paris…
Who You Gonna Call…Brad Pitt.

              

In the 2014 movie Fury, General Patton needed a tank crew commander and his men to win the war (hold a strategic crossroads…we like to exaggerate)…
Who You Gonna Call…Brad Pitt.

                

In the 2017 movie War Machine (Netflix) based on the book Operators by Michael Hastings, we thought, using our Who You Gonna Call theme, Brad Pitt was the perfect choice to play General Stanley McChrystal and clean up the mess in Afghanistan. Ben Kingsley, Topher Grace, Anthony Michael Hall, Tilda Swinton, and thousands of soldiers would assist him in this endeavor. Pitt would model his fight after the War Machine character in Marvel comic books to start.
…Then director David Michod and political satire appeared with little shooting!
Who You Gonna Call…Let’s Talk Philadelphia with your opinion.

                           

     

2. The Best Music Of The Week!
Eurovision 2017 Rocks Four Continents!
Twenty Hours Of Great Listening To The Best In Music From Abroad!

Every year we talk about the International Eurovision Best of Music Song Contest as the best music on four continents…thinking it won’t get any better. …Then the next year comes along and the songwriting and performances are even more spectacular.

              

The Eurovision (1956) Song Contest in the longest running television show and music contest in history. The show’s six hundred million (2017) viewers make it the top non-sports television program of all time. Ireland leads with seven all time wins. Portugal contributed this year’s winner, (a first for the country), Salvadore Sobral. Salvadore received the highest score in the history of the show. Sobral’s scores were higher than former winners ABBA (1974, Sweden) and Celine Dion (1988, Switzerland).

            

When you go to the Eurovision 2017 Internet site, you can click on a musical vignette of the performances from all 43 countries, then pick the countries you want to explore further. You can, also, go to any country (see semi-final graphic above) and click on that country’s full performance if you are not vignette challenged.

     

Our office back and forth musical debate was intense. We chose France over Portugal with Alma’s rendition of Requiem sung in French and English. The singing was award winning! The dancing up the sides of famous monuments in Paris was breathtaking.

          

Every performance from Lys Assia’s first win in 1956 with Refrain can, also, be seen in a continuous snippet. It is a musical tour de force watching the songs and outfits change from black and white to color over the 60 years of the contest. The last place loser’s video is just as interesting historically and musically.

        

 

     

3. The Best Free Money Of The Week!
Printed Just The Way Jazz For Peace Sent It To Us!
Give Them A Try!

                

Here’s how YOUR outstanding organization, cause, or project can get a Grant NOW with just 3 easy steps!

                  

Jazz for Peace™ provides Empowerment Grants, sustainable funding and advocacy for non-profits and all outstanding causes worldwide for over a decade to enable them to be more productive and successful. This Foundations unique combination of artistry and achievements has already funded over 850 causes and projects!

 

        

FAQ: Can your Jazz for Peace Grant do the same for me as you have done for 850 others?

 

ANSWER: “Yes – Just complete the 3 easy steps below! Step 1 is to watch a recent event / Step 2 is to review additional information including Introductory Video and Grant Workshop / & Step 3, simply “Help us introduce you to our board for grant funding approval.”  

 

      

Step 1. See a recent event. Complete Step 1 now by clicking here to see their latest event at The Washington, DC Lincoln Memorial – https://vimeo.com/215577496

 

Step 2. Click here to complete Step 2 by reviewing the additional information including introductory video and grant workshop: http://jazzforpeace.org/2017.pdf

 

Step 3.  Make absolutely sure YOUR grant application gets approved in advance by contacting our grant administration dept. directly at phn: 646-709-2950 / email: info@jazzforpeace.org so you can “Help us introduce you to our board” and obtain guaranteed grant approval.

        

With over 850 grants already awarded, why not you next?
It really IS that easy!

             

4. The Best On Your On Demand Channel!
Cameron Diaz Knows How To Make Grown Men And Women Laugh And Cry!
Cameron Diaz Likes Her Money And Her Women Friends!

            

Cameron Diaz, at 100 million dollars in salaries, is one of Hollywood’s richest movie stars. She tops all movie stars over forty in earnings and a host of movie youngsters like Jennifer Lawrence and Kristin Stewart, as well.

            

Cameron’s two new On Demand movies The Other Women and Sex Tape will be adding to her monetary treasure chest. The first movie is The Other Women with Leslie Mann and supermodel Kate Upton. The women are a mismatched trio in the movie and in real life. They have appeared on every major and minor television show to promote this comedic romp. Diaz knows how to promote her movies. The movie’s theme revolves around the three of them and their elaborate campaign to give Nick Waldau, Mann’s husband, pay-back for his philandering. Their chance meetings were just as funny as their plot features. Don Johnson, from Miami Vice of old, adds to the couple-ness in a small, wish he did more, part.

           

In Sex Tape, a very R rated movie, the tape she and her husband make inadvertently goes viral. We can fill in the pieces, about parents, family, work colleagues, and friends seeing their video masterpiece. She and Jason Segel will probably be making Sex Tape II next year if the preview laughs extend throughout the whole movie.

        

5. Here Is Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Weekly Call-Out For Articles!
We Can Help To Introduce/Feature Your Next Business Project!

          

Now that you are about to formulate your summer vacation plans, do you have a summer destination we should feature in this column? Please don’t keep it a secret! How about sharing your newfound travel destination with our worldwide reading audience? Do you have a topic that can be featured on this column or can you contribute two creative paragraphs and some photos on your favorite movies, books, comics, art, music, gaming, educational news, museums, business, or more for our column? Don’t be afraid to let your creative self zoom into any area except politics and religion. We do not go there!

      

Your ideas, creative column contributions, and future column suggestions should be sent to Tom Palumbo at tjpalumbo@aol.com. Please send a photo or two with your two-paragraph contribution. We’d love to display your art and photography in a personal section, as well as, throughout the Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s discussions.

           

Thank you for adding your work and expertise to this column! Your varied ideas, experiences, products, and insights will surely bring a larger audience to the column and make the column’s content more interesting and far reaching. We hope you like the past insights and contributions of dozens of readers from throughout five continents.

        

         

191. Sex, Chocolate, Helene Fischer, Elvis Presley, And Cinderella!

       

      

The Best Of Let’s Talk Philadelphia!

         

1. The Best Sex Advice Of The Week!
Sex Is Far Better Than Chocolate!
The Battle Between The Two No Longer Rages!
Hail Sex! The Winner By Miles!

           

Our new advertising agency, Creative Pool, Inc./Europe’s best, says we can triple our readership if we make our articles more provocative. Sex and chocolate will lead every issue in the future. They are the two most hit words on the worldwide Internet and will create buzz in any column. Their words, not ours.

           

Five major publications, including Cosmo have recently touted chocolate over sex. We, University of the Arts’ staff members and alumni, had to test this premise. One hundred staffers and interns ages 12-71 participated in our survey. 61 sex/chocolate testers were women. 39 were men. Based on the national participation average, both sex and chocolate had to be consumed 3 to 5 times in the testing week. The results were eye opening. 97 votes for sex and 3 for chocolate. The three chocolate votes came from our three sixth grade interns. Maybe college folk are more active than Cosmo readers?

          

Each sex/chocolate survey member was asked to include a follow-up comment on their personal choice. Here are the three best comments of the 97 pro-sex people:

1. Make up sex is exhilarating. Make up chocolate just tastes like chocolate.
2. Chocolate can’t give you a rubdown after sex.
3. How many delightful children and adorable grandchildren can chocolate create?

          

We followed our sex research with the Sex And Movie Titles’ Project. The pick three movie titles that describe your sex life should be your next office challenge. Participant selections should be tallied and namelessly posted on your coffee room bulletin board. The laughter will follow. Here are the three most appearing choices in our office, not the best!:

1. Some Like It Hot (8)
2. Sleepless In Seattle (4)
3. The Waiting Game (2)

     

     

2. The Best Music Of The Week!
Helene Fischer Is Europe’s Reigning Music Queen!
Vegas Loves Her, Too!

                 

When your latest musical tour draws 900,000 fans and your television show is in a completely filled 10,000 seat stadium, Let’s Talk Philadelphia and the world take notice.
When you sell 15,000,000 albums, Let’s Talk Philadelphia and the world take notice.

        

When you win 20 music and entertainment awards (Echo/Bambi) before the age of 32, Let’s Talk Philadelphia and the world take notice.
When your Farbenspiel (2013) album becomes the best selling German album of all time, Let’s Talk Philadelphia and the world take notice.

We, also, take notice when Helene’s new, yet to be named, 2017 album sells 400,000 copies in a pre-release sale.

        

Helene Fischer has performed with everyone in the music business from Andrea Bocelli to after death, wonder of electronic collaborations with Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra. Listening to her Just Pretend duet with Elvis Presley will make you an instant Fischer fan. Researching Helene’s television show, English Ones’ album, and work in German and English will provide you with hours of musical enjoyment and one of a kind showmanship. Binge on music lover!

3. The Best Class Trip Of The Week
Washington, DC. Has It All!
History, Art, Science, The Capitals, The Nationals, Da Vinci!

       

And The Best Art Of The Week…Leonardo Da Vinci And Ginevra de’ Benci

Classes are ready to take their end of the year class trips to Washington, DC. The National Gallery of Art and its multiple buildings of amazing have to be the first stop on any trip to Washington, D.C. The National Gallery of Art’s newly renovated wing of art nirvana just opened last year (2016).

The National Gallery’s museum’s ten new exhibits are presently lead by The Birth Of Impressionism. Another top suggestion is to see the two sides of a one of a kind Leonardo Da Vinci painting called the Ginerva de’ Benci. This painting has to be researched before your trip and has to be seen on your trip.

        

Leonardo da Vinci was born in 1452. There isn’t much information about the first 22 years of his life on any Internet research stop. Leonardo da Vinci painted Ginevra de’ Benci, a young 16 year old Florentine noblewoman circa 1474. She was about to marry Luigi Niccolini and it is uncertain who commissioned the painting.

This seems to be one of Da Vinci’s first recorded works and it is a gem. The painting is an oil on wood panel. The work was purchased for the National Gallery of Art by the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund. Research says Genevra is missing a six-inch piece at the bottom of the painting that may have been the subject’s folded hands. Our art classes try to reproduce the six inches with Da Vinci’s possibilities and crazy ones of their own.

       

Ginevra de’ Benci is the only Da Vinci portrait painting in North America. The painting is one of only four female portraits painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. Cecilia Gallerani, the Mona Lisa, and La belle ferronnière round out the four.

Leonardo Da Vinci titled the Ginevra painting Beauty Adorns Virtue.

Karen, our local art historian, says the three Da Vinci paintings in the Louvre are better. Name dropper! She claims the Louvre has three others among many that are worthy of viewing and our research: The Mona Lisa, St. John the Baptist, and the Virgin and Child with Saint Anne.

        

       

Karen says her personal favorite the La Scapigliata is at the Galleria Nationale in Parma. How much is a class trip to Italy?

        

4. It Is Salute To Poetry A Month Later Than The World’s April Poetry Salute!
Where Were You When You Wrote Your First Poem?
Time To Bring Out And Share Your Best Work On The Office Bulletin Board!
Here Is Our Variation Of Cinderella By Sylvia Plath!

            

Cinderella Lost By Tom Palumbo

I lean to my Cinderella in precious shoes,
Tall, blonde, and temper flaring.

Of gentle as the rose garden grows; now angry,
Begins on strained guitar to tell me why…

The room and hall are spinning,

Where classmates pass out of my purgatory like phantoms:
Sun splatters on my locker door,

      

Reflecting a love no more,

Where others will dance in a frantic pace,
Follow many from the past in a similar trance,

Near twelve it punches me hard once more,
She clings to another Prince.

As amid tomorrow’s talk of the night gone by,
I hear the scornful cry of the motionless day.

               

         

5. Here Is Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Weekly Call-Out For Articles!
We Can Help To Introduce/Feature Your Next Business Project!

      

 

Now that the Cinqo De Mayo celebration is about to begin, do you have another feast, festival, or celebration we can attend or should feature in this column? How about sharing a travel destination with our worldwide reading audience? Do you have a topic that can be featured on this column or can you contribute two creative paragraphs on your favorite movies, books, comics, art, music, gaming, educational news, museums, business, or more for our column? Don’t be afraid to let your creative self zoom into any area except politics and religion. We do not go there!

          

Your ideas, creative column contributions, and future column suggestions should be sent to Tom Palumbo at tjpalumbo@aol.com. Please send a photo or two with your two-paragraph contribution. We’d love to display your art and photography in a personal section, as well as, throughout the Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s discussions. Thank you for adding your work and expertise to this column! Your varied ideas, experiences, products, and insights will surely bring a larger audience to the column and make the column’s content more interesting and far reaching. We hope you like the past insights and contributions of dozens of readers from throughout five continents.

       

190. Black Sabbath, Black History, Bathtubs, Sleep, and Great Art!

     

     

1. Best Black History Research Of The Week!
Rosa Parks…One Person Can Make A Difference!
When Will You Make A Difference? Visit Her In Washington, D.C., Please!

    

There were two great openings in Washington, D.C. last year and two must visits for you this year. The new Afro-American History Museum and The Rosa Parks’ (1913-2005) statue are the two must sees. Rosa Parks’ statue resides in Statuary Hall.  The nine-foot statue has Ms. Parks sitting on a bench. She has a determined look on her face signifying her struggles. This statue was created by Eugene Daub and Rob Fermin. The duo won out over 115 other designers and sculptors. Daub and Fermin decided on the bench representation of Rosa Parks you see in the photo above rather than one of her sitting on a bus seat. They felt the story they were memorializing should be about Rosa not the bus.

The statue should have been unveiled on December 1, they day Rosa was too tired and too resolute to give up her seat on the bus. The Montgomery Bus Strike that followed and the Supreme Court decision eleven months later changed history. It should have been commissioned and completed long before Rosa’s death in 2005.

The picture posted on this site and taken by Tom Williams has then President Obama and Terrell Anderson, Jr., a three-year old relative of Ms. Parks in it. Here are some things you can do to commemorate this historic woman and Black History Month. Rent or On Demand the film The Rosa Parks Story starring Angela Bassett.

      

Read the book Rosa by Nikki Giovanni or Rosa’s Bus by Kittinger and Walker with your daughter or donate one of the books to your local school library.

      

Visit Rosa Parks’s grave at www.findagrave.com and leave a virtual flower message or poem. Remember, all the museums in Washington are free!

      

Walk outside your house and hold your fist up, clutch the bus hold-on strap or hold-on bar in your mind and think of the years you rode this bus standing for hours, tired, and forbidden to sit down. Then, think of Rosa Parks and say: Thank You!

        

2. Best Business Of The Week! Mark Tetzner’s Animation Whiteboard Studio!
Art And Animation Will Increase Your Profits And Buying Audience!
Creative Videos For Your Business And Music Are A Great Resource!

Mark Tetzner’s animation work and videos are groundbreaking. We apologize that his videos can’t be uploaded to this column. Visit his website and video models at (http://www.pestanimation.com) for a look at a great business concept. Your business, really, could use a boost. Hey, you always wanted to be in movies. This German firm is catering to a large group of creative businesses and musicians in Europe and the United States. Here is what Mark said about his work, but his website introduction in  video form is worth a listen, too.

        

“I have been creating animation-videos for the educational field, dentists, realtors and many, many other professions for more than 2 years now. What makes our videos different is that they are “art”. Some are emotional, some are cinematic. Tom found the idea fascinating and asked me to write this short article about it and provide images. My videos can be used on social media and websites, and I provide fantastic marketing training free of charge. The question is: How do I market my video once I have it and get the “word out”? My videos are mainly advertisements for businesses, products, but just recently we even started creating music-videos. The artists would send us their lyrics and music, and we turned them into little master-pieces.”

     

We had such a blast! In essence, there is no subject that we can’t illustrate with our videos. We even promote books. I am proud to have built an audience from all over the world. Animating in real people and objects is, also, something we do. My customers, also, like to promote apps and inventions. If you would like to learn more about this work visit http://www.pestanimation.com

       

3. Best Music Of The Week!
The Black Sabbath Finale!
All England Praises Them!

    

Maria Lone Grove, one of our reporters in England, sent us this Black Sabbath update. Black Sabbath just had their last concert together in their home town of Aston Birmingham. These well known players of heavy metal may be the fathers of this rock category. Ozzy Osbourne still wearing full make up sounded great many years past his prime.

      

Tony Lommie lost his fingertips in an accident with a metal slicer. He had to wear a washing up liquid cap melded and mounted to his fingers with a leather strip to be able to play his plectrum on the guitar. This device enabled him to create a completely new heavy metal sound for the band. You Tube has two pages of their best music through the years. Black Sabbath’s lyrics can be found on http://www.elyrics.com and are a suprisingly good, inspirational read.

           

4. The Best Health News Of The Week!
The Bathtub, Meditation, And Sleep!

    

Two friends recently informed us that their new house contractor was talking them out of putting bathtubs in their new home. He said bathtubs were a thing of the past, now replaced by massive, luxurious walk-in showers. Au Contraire (that means don’t do it in French)!

The Swiss International Sleep Research Center talks endlessly about the Human Growth Hormones (HGH) in your body that benefit from sleep. It doesn’t matter if you get six hours of sleep or eight hours of sleep if you don’t reduce the cortisol in your system before sleep. If your television or iPhone games are putting you to sleep massive amounts of cortisol are being shot into your body. You’ll sleep, but never reach the delta sleep phase necessary for efficient sleep.

      

A quiet 30 minute bath soak is the best before bedtime…with meditation is even better. Keeping your bathtub is, also, best for the children you are going to bathe or when your grandchildren stop over. No bathtubs means the end to all those goofy floaties we all buy to play with in the tub. Destroying that business will greatly hurt the Gross National Product (GNP), too.

Please research the spoon of protein you should take before bedtime. Your health guides have ten different recommendations for every lifestyle. Plant based protein in liquid form is high on the recommended list, though we recommend a spoon of peanut butter.

PS…If there were an International Sleep And Medical Research Center, Switzerland would be an ideal location for the institute!

            

      

5. Here Is Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Weekly Call-Out For Articles!
We Can Help To Introduce/Feature Your Next Project!

       

Now that winter is over (fat chance), do you have a travel destination you can share to enlighten a worldwide reading audience? Do you have a topic that can be featured on this column or can you contribute two creative paragraphs on your favorite movies, books, comics, art, music, gaming, educational news, travel sites, business, or more for our column? Don’t be afraid to let your creative self fly into any area except politics and religion. We do not go there!

    

Your ideas, creative column contributions, and future column suggestions should be sent to Tom Palumbo at tjpalumbo@aol.com. Please send a photo or two with your two-paragraph contribution. We’d love to display your art and photography in a personal section, as well as, throughout the Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s discussions. Thank you for adding your work and expertise to this column! Your varied ideas, experiences, products, and insights will surely bring a larger audience to the column and make the column’s content more interesting and far reaching. We hope you like the insights and contributions of dozens of readers from throughout five continents.

                  

189. Understanding, Ice Cube, Porsche, And Staggering Music!

                  

Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Best Picks Of The Week!

Editor’s Note: See Hidden Figures the story of the Afro-American women who put our first rockets and astronauts into space. It is a story that should have been told years ago. If you teach grades 7-12, take your class to see it. Yes! Women know mathematics and science!

     

1. Best Music Of The Week!
In Four Parts!

    

January 28, 2017 is the start of the Chinese New Year celebration. This is The Year of the Rooster which will be followed by The Year Of The Dog in 2018. The days festivities in Philadelphia and around the world include parades, dancing, fireworks, cultural activities, and great eats. Please research your local festivities and join in!

      

2016 was The Year Of The Ice Cube. It started with Barbershop III and Triple XXX Part 2 before jumping to N.W.A.’s (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) induction into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Ice Cube’s year concluded with his famous tea and lemonade commercial, and the new Triple XXX Part 3 movie with Vin Diesel.

     

Ice Cube spoke for his rap music mates Arabian Prince, Dr. Dre, The D.O.C., DJ Yella, Eazy-E, MC Ren at the induction ceremony. Ice Cube’s description of rock and roll in his acceptance speech was stirring and a definitive treat for all rock and roll lovers. HBO has the 2 hour  induction ceremony and it can be seen on all the On Demand television channels, too. The night’s music was exceptional, as were the tributes to a talented array of performers, behind the scene’s workers, producers, and magic makers.

      

• Cheap Trick
• Chicago
• Deep Purple and Steve Miller were additional members of the 2016 HOF induction class.

       

La La Land with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone has tied the record (17) for most Academy Award nominations. La La Land broke The Golden Globes’ record for category wins. The award nominated song Here’s To The Fools Who Dream from Emma Stone’s movie actress audition in the movie can, finally, be found in its entirety at (www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXsqYs1l_IY). We hope Emma Stone sings the song at the Academy Awards. Two nominated songs from the movie will probably split the vote and allow another song to win best song. Ten songs were cut from the movie. We are researching the best of these ten.

       

Our third musical selection this week is the Beatles’ song While My Guitar Gently Weeps (www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJDJs9dumZI). It is featured through creative dance in the show Love now being played at the Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. While My Guitar Gently Weeps is on the Internet in twenty different versions including Eric Clapton’s/George Harrison’s version. Paste our site in your address bar. It is the best version by far. Sorry Eric and George!

      

Our fourth selection for this week is very old school. Sorry! The new office speakers are getting a great workout in eclectic song that we hope you will, also, enjoy. Lloyd Price was a great story teller in song starting in the 1950’s. Stagger Lee, a jitterbug (say what?) dance favorite, is the story in song of two gamblers, their dispute, and eventual gunfight. There are no winners in this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtmvvarZLwg). We have included the school project version of the song. The project has children taking their favorite song and filming a progressive model using props as the song is being sung. Likewise, it is a cute project for at home. Follow Stagger Lee with these Lloyd Price listening suggestions before buying his Fifteen Top Hits album:

Lawdy Miss Clawdy (Seven weeks at number one in 1952 was his best work!)
Come Into My Heart (He tells her she is the one!)
I’m Gonna Get Married (Is heart aching Johnny too young to get married?)
You’ve Got Personality (This girl has everything, including personality.)
Just Because (She left him and he doesn’t want to sit and cry).

2. Best Business Of The Week!
Holiday Best Sellers You May Have Missed!
A Porsche In Your Driveway!
A Disney Character In Your Child’s Bed!

      

The European car market is light years ahead of the United States in car marketing, advertising, and grooming future car buyers. This holiday season their big sellers were remote controlled and driven cars for the younger set, starting at age two. Look at the pictures above. The child on the right is in a plastic Chevy with a three song plastic recorder. The child on the left is zooming in her driveway in a remote controlled Porsche with stereo recordings. Should I buy the car on the left or the right. Decisions, decisions! If I buy this gift now, could I top this gift when she reaches 16?…is a good question. Who is the better marketer? Porsche or Chevrolet?

      

When you bring your Porsche inside, it doubles as a drive in theater…when placed in front of your curved wide screen television set. Popcorn please!

          
Kudos to Disney for their holiday couches for kids featuring ten different characters for boys and girls. The couch is comfortable and opens into an even more comfortable bed. The bed top is filled with more of your child’s favorite story characters. It is not hard to put your little ones to sleep with this sleeping choice concept for young children.

       

3. Best Creative Writing Of The Week!
Understanding!

Understanding by Nick Kenny is always the first share of the New Year. Mr. Kenny was a columnist for The New York Daily Mirror many, many years ago.
There are grander wishes, but the wish for understanding is a good one.

Understanding By Nick Kenny

The troubles that beset us,
Along life’s winding road,
Are sent to make us stronger,
To share another’s load.

  

We cannot share a sorrow,
Until we have grieved awhile,
Nor can we share another’s joy,
Until we have learned to smile.

    

Sweet mystery of music,
Great Masters and their art.
How well we understand them,
When we have known a broken heart.

Let tyrants lust for power,
Let sophisticates be wise.
Just let me see the world, dear God,
Through understanding eyes.

    

4. Best Poetry Contest And Educational Website Contest Of The Week!

Don’t forget to send your twelve line poem to Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s for our annual beginning of the year poetry contest. Include your contact information. The twelve line, any theme, poetry format is a challenging one. Please send your creative entries to tjpalumbo@aol.com. If you have graphics to support your theme, please send those along, too. We are looking for your best website nomination write-ups, also.

     

Check out our poetry site in the index bar in the top part of this column for inspiration.

Please, also, check out our FREE educational website at aimtjp.wikispaces.com. No www. is needed. If you have any home schooling parents, teachers, or children in the family, they will enjoy it immensely. There are tons of immediately ready to use ideas in reading, children’s literature, Internet explorations, problem solving, and poetry on the opening screen and in the item 4 Public Dropbox.

 

Teachers from throughout the Philadelphia, New York, and New Jersey area have contributed creative lessons, creative games, and book talks to the site. The ideas contained on the site have made a difference in the way ten’s of thousands of parents, teachers, and children read, write, think creatively, understand history, and embrace the arts.

               

5. Business Reach Out…New Ideas Wanted!
You Can Make New Connections Through Let’s Talk Philadelphia!

   

Your ideas, creative column contributions, and future column suggestions should be sent to Tom Palumbo at tjpalumbo@aol.com. Please send a photo or two with your two-paragraph contribution. We’d love to display your art and photography in a personal section, as well as, throughout Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s discussions. How about 6,000 viewers for your business? Someone will discover you!

     

Thank you for adding your work and expertise to this column! Your varied ideas, experiences, products, and insights will surely bring a larger audience to the column and make the column’s content more interesting and far reaching. We hope you like the insights and contributions of dozens of readers from throughout five continents.

    

188. Netflix, Liza Marklund, Sand Castles, And Great Art!

                      

     

Let’s Talk Philadelphia Wishes You The Happiest Of Holidays!

       

Happy New Year With Warm Wishes To All!     

1. Welcome…Our New Visitor’s Column Greeting!

Welcome to Let’s Talk Philadelphia, an always positive, freewheeling column on movies, theater, television, books, educational practices, current events, and the Internet. The column is, also, filled with idea submissions from readers all over the world. If you are a first time visitor to the column, we recommend that you start with the About topic in the Index Bar at the top of the page. If you teach or have children, the Creative Writing and Poetry sections in the index bar can be easily downloaded. The creative curriculum in those areas will make a difference in the way your children or students read, write, embrace the arts, understand history, and think creatively. These ideas are used by thousands of teachers and parents!

             

Follow the About section with another Let’s Talk Philadelphia column in archives on the right. These columns will introduce a plethora (a better word choice than myriad) of new ideas and old delights you may have missed from past issues. It will give you a foundation for some of the weekly issues we are introducing and then extending in newer columns.

      

2. A Quick Note For Our Reader’s In The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Area!
Meishan Pan’s Art Studio Opening Is A Must See!

        

East Falls in Philadelphia, 3510 Scott’s Lane (building 2199), is the place to be Saturday from 2-6pm. (And any other day thereafter!) International artist Meishan Pan is joining the Philadelphia art community with a great location, studio, and creative programming for children, teenagers, and adults.

     

Her new Splash Art’s center will feature programs for all ages, splash paint parties, Paint Night, individual and group lessons, wedding party fun, and birthday party art explorations. Your high school artists could use a great mentor! 215-987-6134 to schedule your event or lessons. Join Meishan and her family on Saturday December 16th for ribbon cutting, drinks, and light fare.

                  

3. Books/Television…Annika Bengtzon And Liza Marklund!

     

Twenty Books And Counting!
Every European Writing Award And Counting!
A Great Six Part Television Series And Counting!

      

Liza Marklund is a Swedish author, columnist, crime reporter, and number one international crime story writer. Her twenty books have been translated into thirty languages. She has won every European book award. One of her most notable accomplishments is being number one in Europe and the United States with the book The Postcard Killers. She wrote this book with James Patterson. Liza Marklund owns the third largest publishing house in Europe, so her ideas will be shared with a gigantic and appreciative reading audience for a large number of years to come. Amazon and a number of other book selling sites have Marklund’s books ready to order. Many companies reach everyone’s mailbox in a day.

            

      

If you subscribe to Hulu Plus, Netflix, or a similar service, look for Liza Marklund’s Annika Bengtzon: Crime Reporter. This hour and a half program from Swedish television is an enjoyable change from American programming. The production values and stories are outstanding. Malin Crepin plays the foot soldier of a Swedish newsroom. She would rather be in the field chasing stories than behind a desk. She is a better detective than the detectives she’s researching and following. The inner stories of those working around her are interesting, but the six part series doesn’t need this to fly. Annika carries the show. Annika Bengtzon is featured in eleven of Liza Marklund’s books. These books are on your library shelf and at your local bookstore.

4. Sand Castles…Can’t Wait To See If Christmas Is Better At The Beach!

     

Don’t forget to sign up for the Atlantic City Sand Castle Contest or the contest at the closest beach to your home. There is still time to for you to organize a sand castle contest for all the holidays being celebrated this month. Hey! If you are not near a beach, have a truckload of sand dumped in your school yard and let the fun begin. Don’t forget to invite the local newspapers and come up with a catchy theme. Build strong! Castle creators!

        

           

5. Poetry…Langston Hughes Two Weeks In A Row!
Readers Asked For More Things To Do With His Poems!
We Responded! These Activities And More Appear At Our Sister Site:
catapultintopoetry.wikispaces.com

     

River Writing and River Walks…

Langston Hughes said that a train trip that crossed over the Mississippi River was the inspiration for his poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers. On this trip his thoughts traveled to past African Americans who were influenced by the Mississippi River and the thought that “someone who was sold down the river as a slave had the worst fate imaginable.” He then said, he thought about the great rivers of Africa and throughout the  world. Langston Hughes (as we now do) wondered what these rivers meant to those who grew up around them, as well as, those that traveled a particular river.

           

In The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes he says:

I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when the dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

     

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusty rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

          

This week’s frigid weather will be beyond terrible, but do this anyway. Take a walk past a local river, lake, stream, pond or imagine yourself standing on the banks of one of the world’s great rivers. Record five thoughts about yourself and others who have visited or have been influenced by this river, lake, stream, or pond. Place these thoughts in a poem titled: (Your Name) Talks of Rivers. Challenge the students in your classroom to do the same, if you are a teacher.

            

6. What Creative Ideas Are Percolating In The Back Reaches Of Your Mind?
Inquiring Readers Want To Know!
Let’s Talk Philadelphia Can Use Your Pick-Me-Up!

          

With 40,000 WordPress reads…..being featured on Let’s Talk Philadelphia (thomasjpalumbo.wordpress.com) for free should greatly enhance your art, photography, and business message. The twenty year old, always positive, weekly, entertainment column comes out of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Your contacts will be graduates who are leaders in the world of art, photography, music, business, and technology, teachers from throughout the world, and over 20,000 LinkedIn, PortaPortal, and Wikispace friends.

      

Our readers enjoy:
Trip suggestions
Book reviews
Health and medical news
Out of the mainstream movies and television presentations
Music that we missed
Pictures of your kids
Anecdotes that make a difference
Sofia the first

      

Please send six pictures and two descriptive paragraphs about your submission to tjpalumbo@aol.com. We will column…ize your work immediately. If you are joining us, don’t do the hard sell. Show how your art or business message is different.

Looking forward to featuring your work, creative ideas, and message!

  

 

 

187. Allied, Fantastic Beasts, Langston Hughes, And The Rolling Stones

Let’s Talk Philadelphia Wishes You The Happiest Of Holidays!

                     

Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Best Picks For The Week!

1. Movies…Here are our top five movie picks to start your holiday season!

      

A. Allied…If your wife is a good kisser and bears you many fine sons and daughters, who cares if she may or may not be a spy for the other side!
Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard bring passionate love-making, a baby, and suspense to a classic spy tale. No! This movie coupling did not break up Brad Pitt’s marriage!

             

Allied is the perfect movie choice for a general movie audience looking for a different fare. However, if you really enjoy The Americans (Keri Russell), Homeland (Claire Danes), or Designated Survivor (Kiefer Sutherland) and haven’t reached your maximum spy quota for the month, you will smack your lips and say thank you after this tale. Allied’s story chronicles the world of espionage in World War II from 1942 to just before the invasion of Normandy in 1944. Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard make a great killing team while eliminating Germans in a picturesque Casablanca and a great parenting team in London as the war rages around them…sometimes with their help, sometimes without their help.

     

Don’t let the Brad Pitt haters stop you from seeing this movie. Robert Zemeckis does not make flack. Pitt and Cotillard shine together while making war and little car love. The pair would make a great movie team with George Clooney in a future Oceans 14!

The action in Allied is first rate, as is, the dress, locales, history, and mystery.
Add this enjoyable  first rate movie to your viewing list and bring some friends to the cinema with you. Maybe they’ll share their popcorn.

        

B. Rogue One…Star Wars brings a new movie series to their deep space battles.
Felicity Jones exudes woman power and ferociousness to expand the franchise.

     

C. La La Land…It is can’t miss love scenes, dancing, and singing to brighten the movie screen and the holidays. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone have won multiple awards at the pre-Oscar, international movie festival circuit, already, for this gem! Are you ready for them to sing and dance their way into the creative art’s side of your brain?

         

D. Loving…Bigotry and cruelty try to destroy a Virginia interracial, married couple.
Ruth Negga and Joel Edgerton tell this powerful and wrenching true story.

        

E. Sing…If you like animals and have watched American Idol, The Voice, Duets, or Britain’s Got Talent, this cartoon musical will have you entering your favorite pet in next year’s singing championship. A movie starring Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Tori Kelly, and Seth MacFarlane is a movie fanatics cup of hot chocolate.

            

This animal singing competition is two blocks short of hysterical! You will have a hard time determining who likes the movie more…the attending kids or their parents?

      

2. Movies 2…Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them!
Harry Potter Nine Scores Big!
Eddie Redmayne And A Suitcase Full Of Creatures Enchant!
The Colin Farrell Vs Eddie Redmayne Magical Wand Duel!

    

Fantastic Beasts cost 180 million dollars to make and grossed 250 million dollars in its first week in theaters here and abroad. JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series has great interactions between humans and strange creatures. JK Rowling has, almost, out done herself in this one as humans, lovable creatures, monsters, and beasts fight for New York City, its underworld, and, then, world supremacy.

     

JK Rowling wrote FBAWTFT in 2001. She used the name Newt Scamander as her pen name. Rowling indicated that, though the story takes place 70 years before Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts has all the elements of Harry Potter and more.

            

Comic Relief is an organization and charity that helps children throughout the world. 80% of the purchase price of the book Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them has been donated to this group. The book has raised over 20 million dollars for Comic Relief and their humanitarian efforts across the globe. Pick up a copy of the book before or after seeing the movie. Your help is greatly appreciated!

    

3. Music…The New…Justin Timberlake And The Tennessee Kids!

      

How We Discovered This Week’s Selections!

You have just arrived home after your favorite team’s latest loss (Packers 27-Eagles 13). You don’t drink, smoke, do drugs, or participate in a wild sex club…the bowling alley is closed! What do you do for a pick-me-up? This time, our choice was music!
Justin Timberlake’s 2020 World Tour was just released on Netflix. The tour’s 16 shows in eight cities ended in Las Vegas with Jonathan Demme directing and orchestrating the two hour video finale for Netflix. We thought Beyonce’s show in front of 75,000 people in Philadelphia this year was the best we have ever seen. Au Contraire! Timberlake and The Tennessee Kids sing his songbook and dance to precision choreography non-stop for 90 minutes. Move down one Beyonce.

       

      

Music…The Old…Robson And Jerome…British Cover Duo Revisited!

      

The Rolling Stones new album will be out on December second. The album is their 25th, but first in ten years. It is titled Blue And Lonesome. The album features covers of artists like Eric Clapton that influenced them from throughout their long music career. Rod Stewart and Tony Bennett have made millions of dollars singing old classics on their five most recent albums, too…and are a good listen after this one.

     

However, our choice this week for your listening pleasure is the greatest Cover Group of all time…Robson Green and Jerome Flynn. These two English gents were friends and actors that just decided to record a couple of songs. Immediately upon release, the duo ruled England and world record play circa 1975. They were one of Simon Cowell’s first discoveries. Their three hit singles and two smash albums were number one in six countries. Until recently, their cover of If I Can Dream held a 40 year old record for the longest time on Britain’s top ten and number one playlist. Green and Flynn’s singing career was brief, but they still are acting in major productions from Game Of Thrones to English detective series to recent war epics.

     

Your day will go ten times smoother after listing to Robson and Jerome’s renditions of these three classics on YouTube or at the ITunes store. You will forget last night’s Eagles loss like a dropped pass in The Super Bowl end zone.

If I Can Dream
Unchained Melody
I Believe

      

4. Poetry…Langston Hughes Loves Rain And Snow!
What Is Poetry For The Season?
Does The Silence Of Snow Warm Your Heart?

Every time rain wipes out a perfect weekend, we put Langston Hughes’s poem April Rain Song on our office bulletin board. Our first 5 inch snowfall of the season precipitated (get it…precipitated?) this week’s office contest. Our task is to take Langston’s format for April Rain Song and change it into a tribute to snow.

     

This short snow poem exercise is a perfect challenge for an office, a teacher’s 2-12th grade classroom, or for your family at home. Try it on your own and then share the challenge with a friend.

December Snow Song

Let the snow caress you
Let the snow cover you like your favorite coat
Let the snow’s mystical music enchant you
The snow makes foot-printed paths across your street
The snow paints a magical picture of white on your rooftops
The snow brings memories and dreams of the past
and I adore the snow.

     

5. Here Is Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Weekly Call-Out For Articles!
We Can Help To Introduce/Feature Your Next Project!

     

Now that your winter travels are about to begin, do you have a destination you can share to enlighten a worldwide reading audience? Do you have a topic that can be featured on this column or can you contribute two creative paragraphs on your favorite technologies, multi-media, movies, books, comics, art, music, games, educational news, museums, travel sites, or a personal favorite for our column? Don’t be afraid to let your creative self fly into any area except politics and religion. We do not go there!

      

Your ideas, creative column contributions, and future column suggestions should be sent to Tom Palumbo at tjpalumbo@aol.com. Please send a photo or two with your two-paragraph contribution. We’d love to display your art and photography in a personal section, as well as, throughout the Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s discussions.

Thank you for adding your work and expertise to this column, as many others have done for each issue!

    

Your varied ideas, experiences, products, and insights will surely bring a larger audience to the column and make the column’s content more interesting and far reaching. We hope you like the insights and contributions of dozens of readers from throughout five continents.
        

186. The Ramones, Goliath, Rachel Wooding, And Designated Survivor!

           

    

1. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Best Picks Of The Week!

Pay For View Television…Goliath…The Best Cable Binge Of The Week!
Billy Bob Thornton Is The Lawyer…He Seeks Redemption!
The Little Guy Against The Biggest Corporation! No Winners Here!
People Die And Things Explode Everywhere! What Else Would You Expect?

     

Goliath, the new eight part Amazon Prime legal series, premiered this week.
Billy Bob Thorton, Mario Bello, Molly Parker, and John Hurt at at war with each other. They are fighting in the home, bedroom, corporate offices, and courtroom. John Hurt’s law firm, formerly John Hurt’s and Billy Bob’s firm, represents a corporate war monger that makes munitions, bombs, and killing machines. One or more of their products is running amok. The cover up is out of control! Lives, innocent and not so innocent, will be lost.

    

Billy Bob and his rag tag, put together on the fly, legal team is filled with great minds and brilliant supporting roles. The creative aspects of the law are, also, front and center. Every new lawyer in the show is schooled by the experienced, often cruel sometimes helpful. Before entering the courtroom battles are just as compelling as the courtroom wars. These confrontations contain many a learning and teaching moment for viewers!

       

The Billy Bob group is representing a family whose father/husband may or may not have been murdered by the corporate war machine. Billy’s ex-wife (Maria Bello) works for the other team and remained at the office after Billy was let go. Their teenage daughter brings teen angst and parent separation into the story. She loves mom and dad. Britain Dalton idolized and loved his dead dad. A beginning of the show tragedy killed dad.

       

The two teenagers (Britain Dalton/Diane Hopper) are good. Nina Arianda kicks it (kicks it?) as Billy Bob’s wacky and big, always mouthy co-lawyer. Tania Raymonde, the most intelligent hooker in movieland, is Billy’s unrequited love interest. Did Billy Bob Thorton help everyone to bring their A Game to this show or was everyone’s A Game ready before it began. Goliath is A Game enjoyable and an acting treat!

    

Designated Survivor…The Best Television Show Of The New Season!
Kiefer Sutherland Might Make A Good President! Blockers Beware!
The ABC Television Series Begins Again On The Way To 22 Episodes.

      

Footnote: Designated Survivor resumes on ABC television this week. The first five episodes are on ABC Re-Watch and, of course, it is recommended you see them before seeing tomorrow’s (Wednesday’s) episode.

       

The Designated Survivor is the person or persons tucked away for safe keeping in case a cataclysmic event brings down the President of the United States and any members of Congress in the line of succession. The Designated Survivor series begins with this catastrophic event. The event happens during The State of The Union Address. Every member of the three branches of government is killed as the Congressional Building and meeting hall are completely obliterated by a number of bombs. This all happens as the State Of The Union Address is being delivered.

      

Kiefer Sutherland is tucked away in one bunker and Virginia Madsen is being protected in another. Sutherland is a minor player in the Washington political scene. He is, now, being thrust into the role of President. As the United States and world grieves these tragic loses, the new president is figuratively attacked by internal and external agendas that want to strike at the United States’ weakness and this president’s perceived weaknesses. These attacks start with a state’s secession and an escalation of world wide terrorism. Sutherland has to hit the job running and make the right decisions with every stride. No one around him thinks this is possible for such an untested underling. Time will tell doesn’t work here. Everything has to be done immediately!

     

 Natasche McElhone is the First Lady. She, too, is immediately, protectively moved to the White House with her family. Everyone’s lives are instantly changed! Maggie Q, Adam Canto, Italia Ricci, and Kal Penn join the transition team as the new president’s staff. Their transition is challenging, difficult, and filled with blockers just like the president’s. You will find the transition to this new program far easier than the demons they are confronting each week.

                       

Harvest Moon By Neil Young…The Best Song Of The Week (Male)!

        

The last full moon of the summer is called The Harvest Moon. Neil Young pays tribute to the moon with his Harvest Moon album and single of the same name. The song appears across the Internet in various forms. The best version has Neil Young singing the song in a little county bar and dance hall. In the link that follows, he sings the song on stage and dances with his girlfriend at the same time. Hey! It could happen with the magic of a creative video! (www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2MtEsrcTTs)

           

               

You Took My Life By Rachel Wooding…The Best Song Of The Week (Female)! Inspiring Plus For Us! Britains’s Got Talent Missed This One?
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQQf8yvUU7c)

     

Rachel Wooding is a thirty-seven year old singer, new mother (Emmy), and musical theater performer. She just lost in the final week on Britain’s Got Talent to a magician. You heard it here! A card tricking magician! Please write your Congressman, State Representative, or Sister Mary Superior and cry travesty, travesty! The link above will take you to three of Wooding’s song performances. It is a fabulous voice done wrong! You will love each one of her songs. You won’t be able to decide which one you like the best! After listing to Rachel’s music, look up a few card tricks and see if you like them better than her music? Millions of fools did in England!

      

2. Stimulation For The Mind…Our Name Game!
Your Text Messages Will Never Be The Same!
Your Synapses Will Be Energized!

Things to know before Our Name Game’s basics are shared.

         

Our Name Game rules are simple:
1. You may not look up any names while playing this game. You can, of course, search your mind for pairs. You will be amazed at the names that pop into your head at the oddest of times.
2. You cannot tell the person you are texting what you are doing. You are hoping they are creative enough to figure out what you are doing and respond with something even more creative.
3. You do not have to include a creative pair every time you text someone. Feel free, though, to challenge multiple people that you text with your pairs.

          

When texting friends, workmates, or paramours, you will start your message to a female with a creative female sounding first name that is not theirs, write your message body, and end it with a male sounding first name. When writing a text to a male you start with a creative male sounding first name that is not theirs, write your message body, and end with a female sounding first name. No Dear, Hi, Love, or Warm Wishes are needed to begin your introduction or ending.

Here are some male to female texting choices:
Opening…Ending
Katy…Perry
M…T
Jane…Austen
Billie…Joel
Benedicta…Arnold
Mary…Dr. Lamb
Toni…Braxton

         

Here are some female to male texting choices:
Opening…Ending

Romeo…Juliet
Tom…Thumbelina
Ivanhoe…Rebecca
Keach…Stacy
Jack…Jill
Ben…Jerri
Turner…Tina

Both groups can have reverse senders except for M…T (Empty). Try states, cities, well known phrases, and things that go together as you progress to more creative stages of the game.
Opening…Ending

San.di…Diego
Phil…Adelphi
Keri…Russel
Pumpkin…Pi
Spencer Tracy

     

The play on words is endless…as are the letter switches and variations you can use to create greetings and closings! See where your creativity takes you, and hopefully the person on the other side of the line will be just as creative.

       

3. Music…The Ramones…Punk Rock Revisited!
Ramones Their First Album Hits 500,000 Copies Sold!
The 13th Anniversary Of Johnny Ramone’s Death!
Prostrate Cancer Ended A Great Career!

The next time you walk around your neighborhood, see how many of the best selling Johnny Ramone shirts you spot…13 years after his death. Our neighborhood has 18 month-olds as well as grandparents expressing themselves in punk rock form while wearing some of the Ramones’ tribute garb. Go Johnny! Go Johnny!

     

Johnny Ramone (John William Cummings) was one of the top ten guitarists of all time and coming out of Queens, New York added to his punk rock reputation and mystique. The Ramones didn’t do giant arenas. The 2,600 small venue concerts and performances The Ramones conducted world-wide seems like a mythical number of performances. Maybe that is why their shirts are everywhere? Go Johnny! Go Johnny!

    

Three well respected music publications list Blitzkrieg Bop as the Ramones’ best song.
It isn’t even in our office’s top three. Here are the three songs we think you should investigate to get your Ramones on! We like the original versions, but, also, recommend exploring the renditions of other singers that recorded these three Ramones’ songs.

I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend…one of his most covered songs
Rockaway Beach…voted one of the best ten songs about New York City
The KKK Took My Baby Away…written after band members fought over the same girl that Johnny eventually married after stealing her from his co-lead band mate.

                               

4. Photography…Rob Tallia Catches New York City At Its Nighttime Best!
Check Out Robert’s Website And Blog!
These Images On Full Screen Are Awesome!
Can You Do Philadelphia, Chicago, Or Your Small Town At Night?
How About Snapping The Shot At The First Stroke Of Midnight?

Here is what Rob said about his work.
Thanks Rob for really enhancing our column.

        

Hi Tom–we met last month at a plant stand in Pennsylvania (if I remember correctly), and you gave me your card. I’ve been working on an architectural photography blog entitled Hundredweight New York, showcasing the city’s greatest buildings. I thought you might be interested–it’s a long term project where I plan to shoot 150-200 of New York’s best buildings, eventually putting together a book of the best shots.

       

All of the work is long-exposure, tripod-based digital photography, mostly done around 9 pm – 11 pm at night, when the streets are a bit less trafficked, but the buildings are still well-lit. I hope you enjoy it!

       

Best regards,
Rob Tallia
http://www.flickr.com/robtallia
http://www.hundredweightnewyork.com
917-902-5791
rttallia@gmail.com

         

5. Here Is Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Weekly Call-Out For Articles!
We Can Help To Introduce/Feature Your Next Project!

     

Now that your summer travels are over, do you have a destination you can share to enlighten a worldwide reading audience? Do you have a topic that can be featured on this column or can you contribute two creative paragraphs on your favorite movies, books, comics, art, music, gaming, educational news, travel sites, or more for our column? Don’t be afraid to let your creative self fly into any area except politics and religion. We do not go there!

     

Your ideas, creative column contributions, and future column suggestions should be sent to Tom Palumbo at tjpalumbo@aol.com. Please send a photo or two with your two-paragraph contribution. We’d love to display your art and photography in a personal section, as well as, throughout the Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s discussions. Thank you for adding your work and expertise to this column! Your varied ideas, experiences, products, and insights will surely bring a larger audience to the column and make the column’s content more interesting and far reaching. We hope you like the insights and contributions of dozens of readers from throughout five continents.

     

      

 

185. Sex, Money, Power, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll

       

    

1. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Best Bets Of The Week!

Best Movie Awards Of The Week

   

Venice Kicks Off The European Film Awards!
Toronto Kicks Of The North American Film Festivals!
Telluride Shouts Out La La Land, A Third Gosling/Stone Collaboration!

     

La La Land, a musical with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, kicked off September and the Venice Film Festival. Gosling is a jazz pianist who falls for Stone, an aspiring actress. There is kissing, dancing, and music…sometimes between Gosling and Stone. Creators hope La La Land is on its way to an Academy Award nomination. This week in Toronto, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), La La Land shared must see status with Moonlight, a three part coming of age movie of an African boy.

     

More award shows will follow as the front runners take on new audiences from New York to Chicago to Aspen to Los Angeles. Rolling Stone Magazine has a nice write-up of the 25 movies leading the charge at area film festivals and the 25 movies that will appear on the big screen leading into the holiday season. The lists and annotations can be found using: http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/lists/25-movies-we-cant-wait-to-see-at-toronto-film-festival-2016-w431501. Rolling Stone Magazine has a list for every occasion and every top ten search imaginable. You could spend all day reading Rolling Stone Magazine’s lists and extensive annotations. Stone’s lists are light year’s better than the end of the year New Year’s lists on books, movies, and travel.

     

Best Drug Deals Of The Week
Willie Nelson And Whoopi Goldberg Lead The Charge!

If you don’t make enough money with your music and acting careers, the drug field is the perfect stop for you…so say Willie Nelson and Whoopi Goldberg. Nelson and Goldberg are leading a host of big names in their industries into growing and lending their names to packaging and labeling promotions for prescription marijuana. The profits from the marijuana business have no down side. If it is good for the local drug dealer, it is good for your favorite music and television stars.

    

A quarter of a million medical marijuana prescriptions have been issued in the past three years and over ten thousand licenses to grow and dispense marijuana in the seven states (Colorado +) where it is approved. This makes marijuana one of the largest growing industries in the United States. Stiff legal challenges are on the horizon. The U.S. Postal System is preventing drug advertising through the mails in the latest court case. Are colleges and elementary schools the next to join the drug industry? Just think of the profits Dean Gold?

    

Best Book Of The Week
The Da Vinci Code For Young Adults!

    

GoodReads Sparkles With Books For The Very Young And Somewhat Older!
You Are A Sign-up Away From A Great Reading Experience!
A Must Share Site For All Book Lovers! (www.goodreads.com)!

      

If you are a teacher, parent, student, book lover, just a lover, or soccer player, GoodReads has ten selections that will tickle your mind and enhance your day. Their book, ebook, and audio books cover 80 categories. Their newsletter is outstanding and worth an email type. Each month GoodReads has special features for all readers from tots to teens to adults. In depth author-illustrator talks are a GoodReads’ forte.

     

This month’s multiple features for young adult readers highlighted a pared down version of The DaVinci Code…advanced themes through easier reading. Multiple copies through a grant would be great for any school’s literature or writing program. It sounds like every library should have six of the young adult DaVinci books, also.

     

Best Office Fashion Question Of The Week
Scroll Down Slowly To Answer The Question Before Seeing The Results!

                         

Please remember someone always thinks of the stupidest things to stump everyone in our office. We have time on our hands…too much time! Fashion sense is the last thing you would see or expect from our employees. This question came out of nowhere!

        

This week’s question was: Should a man’s belt color match his shirt or pants?

      

The answer is the belt should match the shoes first and then the pants…Never the shirt! Sorry, shirt voters! You are wrong, once again!

     

2. Television…Sex, Drugs, Power, Rock n’ Roll, And Money!
What’s Not To Want Or Like!

    

If you like sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, power and money or any one of the five, you will enjoy these three selections. We culled them from ten nominations this week for your viewing enjoyment. Even though, of the shows are on pay-for-view stations, they all can be found on free re-watch channels, On Demand, and the Yidio free movie site that we will feature in our next issue. All shows are in their second or their third year. Therefore, year one’s are readily available on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

         

The circumstances surrounding the selection of Empire/Power/Sex+ (nudity, language, and lots of death) for the general audience revolves around an interview with one of the writers. She said: the viewing audience is entranced by all the aspects of the criminal element and they can’t get enough of their involvement with sex, drugs, money, and power. The shows Empire (Fox), Sex, Drugs and Rock N’ Roll (FX),  and Power (Starz) certainly satisfy these needs with a few extra evil needs and deeds thrown into the mix.

     

Empire takes place in Atlantic City and New York. Terence Howard (Lucious) is the head of a entertainment and music company. His sons Hakeem (Bryshere Gray), Jamal (Jussie Smollet), Andre (Trai Beyers), and his ex-wife are vying for control of his business due to his illness (ALS). Cookie (Taraji Henson), his ex has just spent 17 years in prison and someone will pay and owe. The world of hip-hop music is featured in between family and business battles. The battles might not remind you of your family battles…or maybe they will! Family and music business wars make good watching!

     

Sex, Drugs, & Rock n’ Roll (FX) was canceled at the beginning of this week after two seasons. It is the story of an aging rock star (Denis Leary) who missed the big time after one album and truckloads of excess. Leary (Johnny) has a chance to revive his band thirty years later through his daughter (Elizabeth Gillies) who renames his band and will take his lead while Leary writes. Leary is joined by John Corbett, Elaine Hendrix, Bobby Kelly, and John Ales in various stages of their careers and love lives. Corbett excels at everything he does acting-wise. The interplay between he, Leary, and the girls is worth a sneak peek. Maybe we can get the show re-funded through Quick or Crowd Funding. If not, two years of music, kissing, and squabbles will have to do.

     

Power’s landscape is the New York drug world and the New York nightclub world.  Omari Hardwick (Ghost/James) is the seemingly the king of both worlds. His brutality and business acumen with drugs has him recruiting every aspect of the drug world into his business…the Russians, the Puerto Ricans, the Italians, and the Chinese.

        

Omar is black. His best friend and partner since high school, Joseph Sikora, is white. This gives them a double edged and two pronged attack with all the city’s drug dealing enterprises from the street to corporate building. Keeping dozens of workers in line involves weekly murders and maiming. Joseph is in charge of both with Ghost’s help. Power is produced by rapper 50 Cent Jackson who, also, stars in the show. He wants Ghost’s business after being released from a long prison term where Ghost is the blame.

              

Hardwick’s wife Naturi Naughton (Tasha) is joined by FBI agent Lela Loren (Angela), a high school girlfriend, in the usual, but very unusual love triangle. While trying to clean his drug money, Ghost creates a must be seen there nightclub (Truth) to launder his money. The club becomes so successful that Hardwick sees it as a way out of the drug business. The I got out and they pulled me back in interplay is extremely violent, sex filled, and twist and turn’s challenging. Kill or be killed is a theme throughout, so beware! Power has already been renewed for two more seasons.

Author’s note: The music in all three shows is not that bad bordering on very good in some instances. It rivals the killings, sex, and be it crazed interplay.

          

3. Music…Florence And The Machine (Florence Welch)!
How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful!
This Girl Has Pipes! Plus Red Hair! Plus Support From Isabella Summers!

              

If you have not heard of Florence and the Machine, you are missing out on music Valhalla, exceptional video stories, flowing red hair, and world-wide performances in 25 countries. In Florence + The Machine’s seven years of performing and recording, FTM has had number one hits in 20 countries and top ten songs and albums in thirty countries.

          

If she is not being nominated for eight Grammy Awards, out on tour and dressed up for the US’s Zombie Jamboree, or in the recording studio, then, she is recording soundtracks for the top movies and television series in the United States, Canada and Europe. Her soundtrack portfolio numbers fifteen and includes: Snow White And The Huntsmen, Wild Child, Eat Pray Love, The Twilight Saga, Grey’s Anatomy, and The Great Gatsby. Florence + Machine has had a very, very busy seven years.

           

The office votes are in after everyone ranked, in their opinion, Florence and the Machine’s top ten songs. One to ten points were tallied with the top five and ties below:

Rabbit Heart….Raise It Up (Love Child Scenario Brings Back Memories)
Howl (Best Dance To Song)
Breath Of Life (Best Soundtrack, Snow White And The Huntsman)
You’ve Got the Love (Most Weeks In Top 100/85 Weeks)
Ship To Wreck (Band Is Great, Great Story)
Never Let Me Go (40 Million Video Views)

These six songs are a good start for embracing the magic of Florence’s music.

         

4. Poetry…Michael Lee Boss, Multiple Award Winner For Writing/Poetry!
What Variations Will You Create From Michael’s Poems And Thoughts?

       

If you are looking for a poet, you should search the local coffee shop or your local library. We found Michael Lee Boss and his thought provoking poetry at the local library. Here is the mini-biography Michael shared with us. He has won more awards than our whole writing staff. If you are in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, his college courses sound like winners. Attend one! We will meet you there and we will bring the coffee.

            

Michael Lee Bross is a graduate of the MFA in Poetry program at Drew University. Michael is an active writer of both poetry and fiction. He is the recipient of the Martha E. Martin Awards for Poetry and Fiction, as well as the Jane Coil Cole Poetry Scholarship. His work has been published in such periodicals as Lifeboat and Mobius Poetry Magazine. His poetry chapbook, “Meditations on an Empty Stomach” also won the 2015 Arts by the People Chapbook Award. Michael currently teaches English at Montclair State University and the University of Scranton.

          

Here are two of Michael’s creative poems for your enjoyment:

A Playground Metaphor

We struggle
like a see-saw
Love
like tag
We fly
like a swing
Pinned
like a jungle-gym
We sing
like blacktop—
Then retreat
like recess

First Steps

We all teeter on the lip of tragedy
tether the balance with which we manage this world
as a broken kite spun by the mercy of the wind
shake each foot in the presence of ground and gravity
that pulls us into the dirt
or casts us out without notice
So on impact, baby
may we crack the earth
rise and cry in the face of calamity
and in the same direction
stumble towards joy.

           

Michael Lee Bross
Professor, Montclair University
Professor, University of Scranton
mleebross@gmail.com
My LinkedIn

           
5. Here Is Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Weekly Call-Out For Articles!
We Can Help To Introduce/Feature Your Next Project!

 

Now that your summer travels are over, do you have a destination you can share to enlighten a worldwide reading audience? Do you have a topic that can be featured on this column or can you contribute two creative paragraphs on your favorite movies, books, comics, art, music, gaming, educational news, travel sites, or more for our column? Don’t be afraid to let your creative self fly into any area except politics and religion. We do not go there!

Your ideas, creative column contributions, and future column suggestions should be sent to Tom Palumbo at tjpalumbo@aol.com. Please send a photo or two with your two-paragraph contribution. We’d love to display your art and photography in a personal section, as well as, throughout the Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s discussions. Thank you for adding your work and expertise to this column! Your varied ideas, experiences, products, and insights will surely bring a larger audience to the column and make the column’s content more interesting and far reaching. We hope you like the insights and contributions of dozens of readers from throughout five continents.