In The News

IndyHall: We Cared About Philadelphia

Gadling Tuesday, July 12, 2011

AOL's travel blog Gadling makes a stop in Philly and is instantly enamored with Old City co-working space Independents Hall.

Sitting in a kitchen in a loft on Third Street in Old City, talking to one of the most enthusiastic and driven people I've met in years, I began to wonder what would happen if I quit my job, moved to Philadelphia and started my own business. Alex Hillman, wearing a t-shirt that read "I <3 my internet friends," was selling me on the cheekily named co-working space Independents Hall, of which he's a co-founder. His friend Parker Whitney was helping, telling me the story of his two years in Philadelphia.

The IndyHall guys certainly have the attention of the city, or at least some of its politicians. City councilman Bill Green is a big supporter, and government staffers are taking notice of the way things get done when fueled by passionate people-and Victory beer happy hours.

Original source: Gadling
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'Jazzy everywoman' Jill Scott releases fourth studio album

The New York Times Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Three time Grammy winning Philadelphia native Jill Scott's new album The Light of The Sun carries a powerful feminine message, according to the New York Times.

"Womanifesto," the title of a song-poem on Jill Scott's fourth studio album, "The Light of the Sun," could apply to her entire catalog. Ms. Scott's songs are proudly and forthrightly feminine, and they set out to persuade and motivate. "Grown woman, making decisions and choices," she calls herself, "Utilizing everything inside of me -- my soul, my heart, my mind, my voices."

The intimate and the instructive are never far apart for Ms. Scott; neither are lyrics and prose, melody and recitation. Although she started her career as a spoken-word performer, she's a flexible, blithely swinging singer. With her 2000 debut album, "Who is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1," she settled into neo-soul that harked back to the early-1970s sound of glimmering electric piano chords and trickling electric-guitar lines, steeped in Marvin Gaye and Al Green.

Source: The New York Times

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Comcast takes Skype's call to bring VoIP to HDTV

ZDNet Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Comcast and Skype partner to bring VoiP to HDTV, according to ZDNet.

Comcast and Skype announced that the two have struck up a deal to bring the VoIP service to Comcast HDTVs. This could prove to be a lot more useful than just a video chat with relatives.

Skype users will be able to utilize most of the familiar functions of the desktop app. That consists of being able to make and receive Skype video and audio calls, as well as send messages - all through an HDTV connected to a Comcast adapter box. (Naturally, that TV is going to need a webcam installed somewhere.)

Source: ZDNet
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Temple librarian calls for more strategic social media use in academia

Library Journal Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Temple University Associate University Librarian Steven Bell writes about academic libraries' strategic use of social media in Library Journal.

In more recent years our social media behavior is changing. Rather than simply establishing a presence and hoping students will notice, we're developing strategies for making the best use of our time in social networks. I've taken note of some academic libraries that have social media teams that plan out approaches for different media, recognizing they have unique qualities and that one strategy for all of them may not work.

At my library, a group has worked this spring to establish a more concrete social media plan, and they just recently issued guidelines for coordinating our strategies and establishing a core of social media journalists within the library.

Original source: Library Journal
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Philly filmmaker's debut opens wide thanks to AMC distribution deal

The Huffington Post Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Philly native Sean Kirkpatrick wins a movie contest for his low budget debut Cost of a Soul and gets a 50-theater distribution deal, according to the Huffington Post.

Sean Kirkpatrick's debut film Cost of a Soul is a heavy, dark drama about how crime and drugs make life difficult for two veterans (Chris Kerson, Will Blagrove) returning to north Philadelphia from Iraq. For the 28-year-old rookie director, however, fortune appears to smiling.

The micro-budgeted film opens May 20 on 50 AMC Theatre screens around the United States because Cost of a Soul won Rogue/Relativity Media's Big Break Movie Contest.

Source: The Huffington Post
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A rare find: 1860s Philly baseball tickets

The Berkshire Eagle/Boston.com Tuesday, May 17, 2011

A pair of rare baseball tickets from The Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia turn up at a Massachusetts auction, according to Boston.com.

At a local auction, Colin Twing bid $60 on what he thought were two 19th century railroad tickets, figuring each might be worth that much apiece.

As it turns out, the Pittsfield man acquired a pair of baseball tickets that two researchers are calling rare finds for the national pastime.

Source: Boston.com
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Goodbye to Center City's video Beaux

The Millions Tuesday, May 10, 2011

When Center City's Beaux Arts Video closes its doors for good, a former customer says a long goodbye, according to The Millions.

At first glance, Beaux Arts Video didn't look like much. A cramped storefront on Tenth and Spruce Streets in Philadelphia, it was a few hundred square feet of worn carpet, handmade shelves, and ceilings that dripped when it rained. The front of the shop, bright and neatly kept, was devoted to new releases; a larger, scruffier section, down a short flight of steps, held the rest of its aging stock, VHS to DVD, classics to pure dreck.

Despite its shortcomings, Beaux Arts managed a modest greatness. Its overstuffed racks spoke like an ardent fan who loved Tootsie, Marty, and Zardoz pretty much equally. When my wife and I moved to Philadelphia in the summer of 2001, we found ourselves there most nights, our eyes aglaze with choice. Kirsten browsed upstairs, moving slowly from row to row; I poked around downstairs, searching for something weird: Delicatessen, Logan's Run, maybe A Boy and His Dog.

Source: The Millions
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Philly insider trip tips from a new resident and CNN journo

CNN Tuesday, May 03, 2011

A Philly newcomer and CNN correspondent writes about where to go and what to see here, including a shout out to Philly Beer Week.

Philly is one of the nation's oldest cities, which means you can walk a lot of places. The majority of the time, walking is the best bet, considering parking can be a nightmare. Pay your meter, otherwise get a ticket or towed. (There's even a reality show about the Parking Authority, and they mean business.) Check out the art on the walls with a walking tour of the Mural Mile to get a distinctive look at the city's charm.

Source: CNN
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LaSalle student pub goes below the fold, above the censors

Village Voice Tuesday, April 19, 2011

The Village Voice is smitten with the editors at LaSalle University's student newspaper, who published a controversial story, and the entire front page, below the fold and a large swath of white space.

Here's a creative way to get around a gag order from your school's administration, college journos: run the story you want to run, just publish it below the fold. In fact, send a big fuck-you to your censors by publishing the entire front page below the fold. This is what the school paper at LaSalle University in Philadelphia did, and it's pretty good.

Source: Village Voice
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Baltimore thinks PIFA's April in Paris feeling is daytrip worthy

The Baltimore Sun Tuesday, April 12, 2011

The Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts is worth a trip to experience the French Arts connection, according to the Baltimore Sun.

If you want to spend April in Paris but can't afford it, a short hop to Philadelphia may at least give you that French feeling.

After nearly three years of planning, the city kicks off the first Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts this weekend, featuring 1,500 artists and 135 exhibits, performances, lectures and films, all paying homage to Paris.

Source: The Baltimore Sun
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One Philly rapper's 'Freeway' to Islam, art

CNN Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Philly rapper Freeway talks about how Islam shaped his life and career, according to CNN.

It's noon on a Friday, and the parking lot at Al-Aqsa Islamic Society in North Philadelphia is quickly filling up.

One of Philadelphia's best-known rap artists, Freeway, jumps out of a black sport utility vehicle and dashes through the pouring rain to the prayer hall inside.

Islam has been a part of his life since he was a teenager. Yet it wasn't until adulthood that his faith changed who he was an artist.

Source: CNN

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Creator of Philly idols Frankie Avalon and Fabian remembered by NYT

The New York Times Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Rock music idol maker Bob Marcucci, who created the careers of Frankie Avalon and Fabian, has died at age 81, according to the New York Times.

Bob Marcucci, who discovered Frankie Avalon and Fabian and helped make them two of the biggest rock 'n' roll stars of the late 1950s and early 1960s and whose career inspired the 1980 film "The Idolmaker," died on March 9 in Ontario, Calif. He was 81 and lived in Los Angeles.

Mr. Marcucci was a lyricist and co-owner of Chancellor Records, a Philadelphia label hungry for a hit, when he first laid eyes on Frankie Avalon in 1957.

Source: The New York Times
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If you love the 80s, you'll love this Philly bred author's take on the decadent decade

USA Today Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Philadelphia born author David Sirota returns home to talk about his new book, Back to Our Future: How the 1980s Explain the World We Live in Now, according to USA Today.

PHILADELPHIA � David Sirota is tooling around his hometown, giving what he calls "his '80s tour." He points out a billboard for the Philadelphia 76ers that boasts the basketball team's logo. One recycled from the 1980s.

He then swings by the steps in front of the city's famed art institute.

"There's '80s synergy right there," he says, nodding to the 1980 statue of boxer Rocky Balboa of Rocky fame.

Source: USA Today
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Trust us: NCC's 'Spies, Traitors and Saboteurs' spreads to LA

Los Angeles Times Tuesday, March 08, 2011

A new exhibit about bad guys in history at The National Constitution Center is worth flying east for, according to the Los Angeles Times.

If your knowledge of spies and terrorists is limited to the names of Benedict Arnold, Timothy McVeigh and Osama bin Laden, visit Philadelphia this spring and learn about anarchists and traitors that have haunted America since its birth.

On March 4, "Spies, Traitors & Saboteurs: Fear and Freedom in America" opens in the National Constitution Center's new exhibition space in the Center's lower level. Created by the International Spy Museum in Washington, the exhibition combines artifacts, multimedia elements and interactive exhibits to reveal tales of espionage, treason and deception in the U.S. from 1776 to today.

Source: Los Angeles Times
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Tek Lado Magazine goes all digital

Technically Philly Tuesday, March 01, 2011

After just two paper issues, the bilingual tech and culture magazine Tek Lado is going to an online only format, according to Technically Philly.

Editor Liz Spikol, with whom we spoke last fall about the new gig, and former publisher Mel Gomez have struck out on their own, aiming to build Tek Lado as an online-only brand, grabbing the naming rights and the tek-lado.com domain.

The Tek Lado blog will still feature English and Spanish writing on geek culture, gaming, gadgets, social media and the like, the same as the magazine, but won't have to remain tied to this region exclusively.

Source: Technically Philly
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