Philly Today

Today I am writing a post that was requested by madrigalblue on the “Suggestions” page.  I personally encourage this, because for me it means less thinking is required. She noted that there are film crews currently on Chestnut Street so she wanted to hear more about the film projects happening in the city.

From what I’ve been able to research and what I am already aware of, I only know about one movie filming in Philly, but it’s a pretty big one. It is directed by James L. Brooks and stars Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd and Jack Nicholson. The movie is untitled at the moment, but I do know that they’ve been in the city for a while. Last month they were filming inside the Armory located on the campus of Drexel University and have moved to various locations around the city. Two weeks ago they were at a house at 19th and Green Streets and Rittenhouse Square. I am not sure if that was them on Chestnut Street but it’s highly likely. So if you live or work in Philly, keep an eye out for some of these stars as filming continues. Thanks to PhillyChitChat.com and thetriangle.org for the info.

The news from the Philadelphia Eagles yesterday was a little surprising: tackle Shawn Andrews was placed on injured reserve, meaning he will not play football this season. I have a sneaking suspicion that Andrews is finished with football for good, at least with the Eagles. He has had back problems since training camp that have kept him out of action. But in addition, I am not so sure that he is passionate about playing football. His real passion seems to be his music.

Even if you aren’t an Eagles or a football fan, no doubt you will be entertained and/or amused by Shawn’s music videos which are currently on YouTube. Andrew’s stage name is E.D.I.D., which stands for Every Day I Do. The first song is called “Getting My Michael Phelps On” and the second song is “Mama Ima Rock Star”. It is clear that E.D.I.D. has a bright future ahead of him in music and he will now have plenty of time to get his Michael Phelps on. I would actually like to see some sort of collaboration between him and Michael Phelps in the future. Stay tuned for more YouTube videos and tweets from ShawnAndrews73.

Have you ever purchased something with cash and the clerk doesn’t give you back enough change? Maybe they thought you gave them a five dollar bill but it was really a ten. That’s happened to me a couple of times and I always think, “It’s my word against theirs. They’ve already put my money in the cash register so I hope they don’t try to argue with me.” In this case, it was the other way around.

In Delaware, a woman tried to buy $20 worth of gasoline. When the cashier told her she had only put down a single dollar, not a twenty, she went berserk. Vickie Gambrell, 53, was adamant that she was right, and when the situation escalated, she argued, cursed, and then… jumped over the counter and began punching and kicking the clerk, demanding her $20 back. She got a hold of some scissors and held them to his throat, threatening him. Out of fear, he gave her two tens. Gambrell left the gas station but realized her mistake a few minutes later, returned the money and tried to apologize. But by then the police were already on their way. She was arrested and charged with possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony and several other counts. Wow. This whole ugly incident could have been avoided had this woman taken a few seconds to read and/or count.

Yesterday, I ended up winning a prize for answering a trivia question. I was listening to a local Philly radio show as I usually do on my daily morning commute. I hadn’t tried to call into the show before, and the prize I won was a DVD for a television show that I have never watched and truthfully don’t ever plan on watching. So why did I call? Because in that split second, I had this impulse to do it because I was so happy that I knew the answer, without even thinking. It’s rare that I get it so quickly, if at all. So I called in, waited on hold, then made it onto the radio for the first time since my “indie” college DJ’ing days. And I won, so that was a great start to my day.

Then I remembered that there are people who do this kind of thing for fun. About 10 years ago, I worked at a place where everyday we would call in to try to win the same radio contest. You had to identify seven classic rock songs by listening to a (very) short clip of each song one after another. We had two guys who were music buffs and they would tape record the series of clips and then rewind and write down song titles as fast as they could. At one point, we must have won five different prizes in a two-week span. Well, actually it was the two guys who won the contest, but a different co-worker had to pretend to call in each day because you can only win a prize once a month. Come to think of it, now I am ineligible to win another trivia prize for the next 30 days. I hope they aren’t giving away anything that I actually want.