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

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Happy Passover and Happy Easter!

      

      

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

    

Sweet mystery of Music,
Great masters and their art…

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

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

     

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

       

                

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

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

        

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

        

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

      

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

       

         

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

       

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

     

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

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

     

     

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

          

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

             

          

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

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

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

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

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

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

    

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

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

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

         

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

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

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

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

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

Paul Clifford- Penn State Alumni Association- Ep.12

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

Todd Carmichael- La Colombe Coffee Roasters- Ep.32

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

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Rob Nelson- Big League Chew- Ep. 17

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

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

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

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

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

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

         

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

       

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

     

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

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

   

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

          

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

        

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

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

     

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

    

   

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

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

         

    

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

    

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

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

   

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

    

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

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

     

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

  

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

       

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

    

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

     

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

   

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

    

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

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

   

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

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

   

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

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

   

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

    

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

   

    

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

   

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

    

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

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

   

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

     

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

     

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

   

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

   

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

        

 

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

        

     

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

         

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

           

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

    

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

    

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

    

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

    

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

   

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

    

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

    

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

    

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

  

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

    

Love Words!
The Two Minute Drill!

   

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

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

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

    

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

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

    

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

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

    

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

       

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

  

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

   

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

   

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

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

     

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

         

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

         

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

   

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

 

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

     

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

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

      

    

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

    

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

   

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

        

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

   

Love Words
The Two Minute Drill’s Answers!

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

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

     

An Elvis Presley Favorite…Love Me Tender

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

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

   

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

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

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

                 

                  

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

   

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

          

It Can Be Done

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

  

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

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

        

-William J. Bennett

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

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

    

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

   

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

       

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

           

   

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

   

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

  

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

          

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

       

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

     

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

    

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

  

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

   

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

    

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

      

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

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

     

Sugar
Moves Like Jagger
Payphone

      

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

    

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

    v

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

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

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

     

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

     

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

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

   

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

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

   

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

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

    

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

   

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

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

   

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

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

    

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

    

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

     

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

  

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

       

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

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

    

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

      

          

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

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

     

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

       

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

    

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

 

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

        

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

      

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

     

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

    

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

    

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

     

   August Artists           

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

         

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

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

      

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

     

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

   

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

    

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

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

     

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

     

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

     

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

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

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

              

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

     

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

   

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

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

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

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

    

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

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

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

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

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

   

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

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

    

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

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

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

     

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

     

Your Opinion Matters! Sometimes!

     

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

       

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

 

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

   

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

     

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

   

       

    

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

   

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

    

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

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

   

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

  

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

         

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

    

Clue Word                           Baseball Term

   

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

        

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

         

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

       

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

   

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

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

  

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

     

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

       

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

     

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

    

              

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

   

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

     

The Wrangler Award For Television Drama

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

      

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

     

     

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

        

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

   

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

     

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

   

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

1. Why “Selah and The Spades” Still Isn’t The Black Coming-of-Age Film We Need

2. A Lesson in Acceptance Taught the Wade Way

3. How Lauryn Hill Redefined The Way We Look At Black Motherhood

4. Blackity Black Reads: 5 Books by Black Women to Read This Month

            

Let’s Talk Philadelphia has reached out to the writers of Black Culture for future contributions to our column. We are hoping they will, also, refer additional writers, ground breakers in all subjects, and community leaders to participate on our column as well as theirs.

    

6. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s…Help An Entrepreneur Section!
Anita Lovely Has Hair Help For Men And Women!
You Can Be Her Next Success!

    

Here is what Anita Lovely shared with Let’s Talk Philadelphia about her hair discoveries:

After a career as an economist I went back to my first love during the 2020 COVID-19 quarantine. That is developing hair care products like I used to do when I was younger. I cut my hair down to a couple of inches while grieving the death of my mother and the sudden death of my oldest sister. After the grief subsided I realized I missed my long hair, and that it wasn’t growing as quickly as it did when I was young.

     

So out of necessity, a love for dabbling in organic essential oils, and numerous hours of research, I formulated a hair serum that cleansed, nourished, and stimulated my hair follicles so that my hair started growing an inch a month. Before using my new formula my hair was growing about a quarter of an inch a month. I was so excited about the results I decided to share my formulation with others who are experiencing hair growth problems.

  

My beta testers were equally excited about the Super Hair Grow Serum results and the fact that it was all vegan and organic. They liked it so much that they convinced me to develop a deep conditioning hair mask with similar organic and vegan ingredients. As a token of my appreciation for support of my small online business I decided to gift my customers with a proprietary blend of aromatherapy organic essential oils. The Serum, Mask, and Aromatherapy make up the Super Hair Grow Kit that is available online at SuperHairGrow.com.

Thanks Tom.
I do appreciate this opportunity.

Kind regards,
Anita Lovely
SuperHairGrow.com  

After checking out Anita’s hair care products, you might want to catch a read on her book Betrayals. Here is what Anita shared about her most successful authorship.

Short bio: My novel, Betrayals, caught the attention of The Oprah Show. I was interviewed about Betrayals on ABC TV, on the radio, and by reporters for newspapers in the New Jersey/Philadelphia area. I had forty successful book signings. Two of my professional articles were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Research in Pharmaceutical Economics. I won a First Place prize from BET Books/Arabesque for a short romantic story, and I placed in other writing contests. I’m acknowledged for editing assistance in the Chicken Soup for the African American Soul book.

      

7. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Baseball Quiz Answers!

Clue Word                           Baseball Term

     

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

   

8. Factory worker’s walkout…Strike
9. IIiad maker…Homer
10. Not married…Single
11. A horse refuses to jump…Balk
12. Ocean depth measure…League
13. Tar…Pitch

      

14. A meadow…Outfield
15. A night flyer…Bat
16. The king’s dance…Ball
17. Car tire composition…Rubber
18. An IHop pancake order…Grand Slam
19. STOP is one…Sign
20. Multiple television episodes…Series
21. A New state…Jersey

        

8. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Call-Out For Column Submissions!
30,000 Readers On Five Continents Are A Great Audience For Your Ideas!
Two Paragraphs About Your Occupation/Avocation And Six Pictures!
Our Connections Are Surely Worth Thirty Minutes Of Your Time!
Join Anita Lovely As Our Next Article Submitter!

      

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

   

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

     

If you read past columns, you will see 20 different contributions and writing styles like Anita Lovely’s hair care ideas as well as those highlighting the above topics and more. There is definitely a place for your ideas.

     

221. Queen Of The South, Choir! Choir! Choir!, Thrillist, Desserts, And The New Puzzle!

    

         

1. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Binge Music Watch And Listen Suggestions!
Three Venues Are Hosting A Wealth Of Creative Music For The End Of May!
June Music Tune-ins Are Included, Too!
Golden Duets, Pub Choir, And Choir, Choir, Choir!

Since this column originated at The University Of The Arts, the Music Making Capital of Philadelphia, it is only natural that we kick off this issue with some new worldwide music favorites.

The Toronto based Choir, Choir, Choir, is a musical idea started by Nobu Adilman and Daveed Goldman in 2011. They said: Let’s invite 200 people (strangers) to Clinton’s Bar, rehearse a song with this group for an hour, sing the song, record the song, and then upload it to the Internet. Worldwide recognition soon followed as their groups increased from 200 off the street singing strangers to 2,000 strangers in an airport hangar. Then, Choir 3 was off to concert halls throughout Canada and the northeastern United States to make must watch, amazing, spur of the moment music.

             

It wasn’t long before music stars were invited to their various performing locales with Nobu and Daveed, then, being invited all over the world to perform with put together choirs. There are over twenty of their song selections and performances on You Tube, Vevo, and Spotify. Our two favorites have Patti Smith (age 73) in a powerful performance singing Power To The People (www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Wz3i_BYUc) and Rick Astley singing Never Gonna Give You Up (www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJRsWJqDjFE).
Hopefully, you will find one of your song favorites in their various cover song renditions.

        

For those meeting Patti Smith for the first time, Patti has been described as the Poet Laureate of Punk Rock. After hearing Power To The People, you will want to hear more and will eagerly explore her 50 years in music for a number of outstanding selections to add to your play list. She has duet…ed with all the rock superstars.

Rick Astley featured with the link above was number 1 in 25 countries with Never Gonna Give You Up. Astley has sold over 40 million records and was voted Best Act Ever by the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2008. His most recent album 50 debuted at number 1 in the United Kingdom. Don’t give up on him! You will enjoy his music portfolio!

       

The Pub Choir concept was put together by Astrid Jorgenson and Megan Bartholomew in Brisbane, Australia in 2017. Their thoughts on forming Pub Choir was similar to the ones that created Choir, Choir, Choir. They, too, have taken a small idea practiced in New Zealand and Australia and have grown their music into a worldwide phenomenon. Astrid, Megan, and their quickly formed three part harmony choirs have performed with over 20 of the top singers from their region. Pub Choir’s participation ticket is one of the most sought after tickets in Australian entertainment.

          

Don’t forget to visit Adele’s Take Fire From The Rain (www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjqYTpE6Qdg).
Adele sings Fire on five different stages. The song is super smooth. Very few people notice the five different outfits she is wearing from the different performances of the same song. The song has no glitches and the five locales are stitched together perfectly.

    

Golden Duets has present day music stars singing with deceased musicians from Freddy Mercury to Elvis Presley to Michael Jackson. The duets are coordination magic. We follow with the Queen duet and encourage you to explore the ten others on YouTube.
Golden Duets Queen…(www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cH5htm6T4E). It unique to see how present day performances are stitched together perfectly with past performers.

          

3. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Binge Watch Suggestions!
39 Queen Of The South Episodes To Help Pass A Rainy Day Away!
Alice Braga Leads 10 Worldwide Drugs Cartels With Guns, Doubles Crosses, Exotic Travel, Jewelry, Fashion, And Intrigue!

 

Alice Braga (age 37) and her aunt Sonya Braga (age 69) are Brazilian award winning and acting royalty. Between the Bragas, they both started performing at age eight, Alice and Sonya have appeared in over 60 television series and movies.

    

Queen of the South would have been really special if Alice and Sonya starred in the series and batted heads like Alice Braga (Teresa Mendoza) does with Veronica Falcon (Camila Vargas) Mexican cartel ruler.

Queen of the South is the story of drugs in Mexico, drugs in the United States, and drugs internationally. The Vargas cartel leadership consist of Camila and her husband Don Epifanio Vargas (Joaquim de Almeida). The Vargas husband and wife team are competing with an alliance of five other Mexican cartels and each other for control of the Mexican and and Texas drug trade.

      

Teresa’s boyfriend was a pilot and Vargas drug mule. He was murdered for skimming from the cartel. Teresa was immediately taken from a life of riches to a poor person on the run from the cartel. The cartel catches her and gives her a choice of prostitute or drug mule. Queen of the South is the story of an epic climb from drug mule to cartel head. Throw in drug carrying drones, the DEA, the FBI, Interpol, and the CIA and you have covered it all. No animals were harmed in making this show. The human toll, however, is catastrophic.

     

It, also, is the story of two strong women who know how to run a business, create alliances, overcome obstacles, out-smart competitors, and out-tough everyone that has dealings with them. New faces like Mark Consuelos (Kelly Ripa’s husband and the cartel’s money man) are added each year as session five is about to begin. Each season becomes more picturesque and brutal as the business stretches to France, Monaco, and Malta.

   

3. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Binges On Thrillist!
A Great Morning Read For Your Favorite’s List Or A Thrillist Sign-up!
Do You have Time To Read A List Of Everything You Need To Know About Everything?!

         

Thrillist is an online compendium of everything you wanted to know about food, fashion, drink, entertainment, travel, education, and the arts. It was founded in 2004 by college friends Ben Lerer and Adam Rich. Housed in New York City, it recently had a staff of 200 with a starting salary of $50,000.

     

After a sign-up, a colorful and informative issue of Thrillist arrives in your mailbox every morning. It usually contains five lists and unique stories about people, places, and products in quick list form. The lists sometimes have five suggestion on a topic or thirty. It is a fast read or an extensive read if you are looking for the best of the best or want to plan a visit to all the top bars, pizza joints, fashion salons, museums, or state parks throughout the world or in your city. Your taste palette will enjoy the food and drink selections.

    

Past issues of Thrillist are easy to access and contain an all encompassing packet of material on everything that might interest you. Try Thrillist for a couple of days before dropping your email in their sign-up box. A box for your research suggestions is on the horizon. Putting Thrillist to work for you would be a hoot.

         

     

4. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Dessert Favorites…
The Dessert Is The King Even In Our New Take-out Only World!
Chocolate Everything And Key Lime Pie Step Forward!

Our staff’s dessert top five:
1. Chocolate chip cookies
2. Ice Cream Sundae
3. Key Lime Pie
4. Fudge anything (cookies, cakes, chunks, candies)
5. Cheesecake/Cinnamon apple pie

      

As our office staff trains and prepares for our annual July 4th pie eating and hot dog eating (hope Philadelphia’s city and region-wide color changes twice by then so we can distance and get together) contests some conflicting news and research has come down the eating pipeline. One study says that 50 percent of Americans do not order dessert at a restaurant while another survey says that even in the toughest times dessert consumption does not wane. Who to believe!

       

The local Cheese Cake Factory’s restaurant manager estimates that 90 percent of their customers order dessert and most would skip the meal to get to the dessert. Should a take out business be part of the survey was a good point. Dessert doesn’t appear as a purchase on the check, but a visit to the delight counter on the way out of the restaurant shows a big time fill-up of sweets and pastries. Chocolate cake and fudge lead the at home dessert menu. Cheesecake and apple pie lead the most restaurants dessert choice’s list.

   

Hot dog statistics are even crazier. If you divide the number of hot dogs sold yearly by the population of the United States, it comes to 1,000 hot dogs being eaten every minute in the US. This can’t be true! Edith the winner of last year’s office eating contest ate three hot dogs to win: two with sauerkraut and one with some type of taco like covering. The Coney Island World Wide Championship is Edith’s next stop, if we can raise the funds for her trip to New York. Division does not lie in the world of hot dogs!

    

5. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Wonders!
Does History Repeat Itself Every Hundred Years?!
A Timeless Poem Written In 1869 Or Maybe Not!

The Pandemic
And people stayed at home
And read books
And listened
And they rested

       
And did exercises
And made art and played
And learned new ways of being
And stop and listened more deeply
Someone meditated, someone prayed

       

Someone met their shadow
And people started to think differently
And people healed
And in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways
Dangerous, meaningless, and heartless

    

The earth began to heal
And when the danger ended and the people found themselves
They grieved for the dead and made new choices
And dreamed of new visions
And created new ways of living
And completely healed the earth as they were healed.

      

6. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Will Stump You With Its Latest 2 Minute Puzzle!
You Do Not Have To Be Artistic To Solve Our Art Word Clues And Puzzle!
Set Your Timers To Two Minutes And Begin!

     

Can you use the clues below to find the word ART in the beginning, middle, or end of words. The answers are in item 8 in this column.

What art is:
Example…Intelligent…smart

1. A large group of weapons…
2. Creative…
3. A group fishing boat…
4. Means to prevent…
5. A bold color…
6. Gives you complete freedom…
7. To bargain…
8. To begin…

   

9. A woman’s undergarment…
10. A boy’s name…
11. A girl’s name…
12. A map…
13. 2 different body parts…
14. An old remnant…
15. An achy disease…
16. Money…

       
17. One who takes a role in something…
18. A skin growth…
19. A bakery item…
20. A type of store…
21. A deer…
22. A law firm goal…
23. An alcoholic drink…
24. A Phoenician city…
25. Underground snakelike creature…

    

    

7. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Call-Out For Column Submissions!
30,000 Readers On Five Continents Are A Great Audience For Your Ideas!
Two Paragraphs About Your Occupation/Avocation And Six Pictures!
Our Connections Are Surely Worth Thirty Minutes Of Your Time!

  

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

  

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

    

If you read past columns, you will see 20 different contributions and writing styles highlighting the above topics and more. How about the rarest fish in the world, Queen Elizabeth of England owning a Mac Donalds, or tree house hotels, or the musical style…ings at Daryl’s House? And you thought you have heard it all!

       

8. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Answers To Art Words Its Latest Puzzle!
What Was Your Puzzle Solving Time In Minutes And Seconds!
How Many Did You Miss! How Much Help Did You Need?!

   

Have someone read the clues to you to find the word ART in the beginning, middle, or end of words if you haven’t completed the puzzle yet.

What art is:
Example…Intelligent…smart
1. A large group of weapons…artillery
2. Creative…artistic
3. A group fishing boat…charter
4. Means to prevent…thwart
5. A bold color…chartreuse
6. Gives you complete freedom…carte blanche
7. To bargain…barter
8. To begin…start
9. A woman’s undergarment…garter
10. A boy’s name…Martin/Carter/Artemis/Bart
11. A girl’s name…Martina/Marta/Martha
12. A map…chart

   

13. 2 different body parts…arteries and heart
14. An old remnant…artifact
15. An achy disease…arthritis
16. Money…quarter
17. One who takes a role in something…participant
18. A skin growth…wart
19. A bakery item…tart
20. A type of store…department
21. A deer…hart
22. A law firm goal…partner
23. An alcoholic drink…martini
24. A Phoenician city…Carthage
25. Underground snakelike creature…earthworm

9. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Weekly Humor Share!
There Are 100’s Of These Being Shared Across The Internet!
Here Are Our Two Favorites!

          

220. Grace Potter, Jessica Chastain, Mary Shelley, Titus Welliver, Robert Frost, And The Monthly Survey!

        

        

There is but one solution to the intricate riddle of life; to improve ourselves, and contribute to the happiness of others. (Mary Shelley)

   

1. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Salutes Poetry Month (April)
Mary Shelley And Robert Frost Are Two Keepers!
Don’t Miss The Movie Mary Shelley With Elle Fanning!

    

Yow!
What person keeps her husband’s heart in a shroud and carries the heart in her purse for thirty years? Further, on her death from a brain tumor, she gives the heart to her son who then has the heart for thirty more years before it is buried with him.
You can’t make this stuff up!

Mary Shelley, wife of poet Percy Shelley, Mother of Science Fiction for her novel Frankenstein (1818), and writer of The Last Man (1826), a story of how a plague destroys the human race, is the heart keeper.

   

After losing three of her four children in childbirth and to diseases, then her husband in a boating accident, Mary Shelley goes on to make her husband famous by posthumously publishing his poems in Posthumous Poems (1824) and Poetical Works (1839).

The books History of a Six Weeks’ Tour (1817), Valperga (1823), The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck (1830), Lodore (1835), and Falkner (1837) add to her legacy. Rather then highlight these works and an amazing life story, we borrowed her poem Spring from the twice weekly publication Brain Pickings (another great sign-up) to start our April poetry salute.

       

Winter passed away;
And spring, led by the months, awakened life in all nature.
The forest was dressed in green;
The young calves frisked on the new-sprung grass;
The wind-winged shadows of light clouds sped over the green cornfields;
The hermit cuckoo repeated his monotonous all-hail to the season;
The nightingale, bird of love and minion of the evening star, filled the woods with song;
While Venus lingered in the warm sunset, and the young green of the trees lay in gentle relief along the clear horizon.

    

2. Let’s Talk Philadelphia Two Poetry Questions!
What Poet Would You Select To Highlight During Poetry Month!
What Two Poems Of Your Choice Would You Share? (A Great Family Activity)

 

Robert Frost’s 88 year history is a revealing research project.

A. The Britannica Encyclopedia (www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Frost) seems to be the on line leader in reviewing Frost’s career, works, and awards. A brief peek at this site will take you into Frost’s writing and, then, links to the lives of writing award winners like Frost in 8 different categories. Remember to sign up for Britannica’s daily newsletter when on their site.

B. Frost’s (1874-1963) first forty years depicts his struggle as a father, New England farmer, and a writing failure with just two poems in minor publications. He married his high school sweetheart (Elinor White) and had six children with her with two dying in early life.

 

C. In 1912, at age 40, and with no perceptible writing outlets in the United States wanting to publish his works, he picked up his family, a tome of his poems, and sailed to England. He was told by other writers that England would be much more receptive to his type of writing and his rural themes. His immediate success their and three year stint publishing in England lead to word of his works traveling back across the Atlantic to America. When he returned to the United States in 1915, his new acceptance and writing skyrocketed.

  

D. Four Pulitzer Prizes For Poetry and the first poet to ever present at a presidential inauguration (John F. Kennedy, 1961) are nice caps to his early struggles and to his writing history.

E. Most reviewers of Frost’s works would feature his The Road Not Taken and Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening. We chose Fire and Ice and Nothing Gold Can Stay to give readers another glimpse into his poetry. What two poems of Frost’s other than these four would have been your choices to add to your story of Robert Frost if you were writing for this column?

Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.

  

But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.

 

Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

         

3. Let’s Talk Philadelphia’s Monthly Survey!
Time Well Spent Or Something Or Other!
How Has Your Stay At Home Time Changed?!

       

In this time of stay at home that is being practiced throughout the world, we sent home an email survey to office workers, family, and friends. We asked them to rank the percentage of increase of television watching, book reading, listening to music, audio book listening, exercising, and game playing (not on a computer) at home. They were to be ranked 1-5 with 5 being the most change. We were not interested in hours participants did these things, just the estimated percentage of increase. We knew the hours watching television (not our interest in the survey) would lead by miles. Everyone wanted to put sleep in the survey, but we were looking for active activities.