Inqlings: Nutter just wild about 'The Wire'
One crime drama, one Philadelphia? Sunday night is TV night in the Michael Nutter household, and he's a fan of HBO's The Wire, set in Baltimore.
One crime drama, one Philadelphia?
Sunday night is TV night in the Michael Nutter household, and he's a fan of HBO's The Wire, set in Baltimore.
"It's not only entertaining, but it also captures the real-life challenges that cities and governments face on a daily basis," Nutter says. Working through HBO and the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, Nutter has set up a screening of the series finale Sunday night at City Hall, and about 100 citizens will be invited for a reception and Q&A featuring actor Wendell Pierce, who plays Detective "Bunk" Moreland. Register to win tickets at http://go.philly.com/wirecontest.
'Transformers 2' here?
Philly's burgeoning film industry might be in for another big-budget transformation. Director
Michael Bay
, scouting for the sequel to
Transformers
, was spotted yesterday on the campuses of the University of Pennsylvania and Girard College.
Transformers 2
, with
Shia LaBeouf
expected to return, is due in theaters in June 2009.
The force is with him
Jon Bon Jovi
, here over the weekend for a two-night engagement at the Wachovia Center, took wife
Dorothea
and all four kids to the "Star Wars" exhibition Saturday at the Franklin Institute. The Bon Jovis got early admission to beat crowds. Bon Jovi's two youngest - sons
Jacob
, 5, and
Romeo
, 3 - had such a good time that they went back Sunday, and wore Star Wars costumes.
What was with all the cameras? Joining them Saturday and at the Wachovia shows was Barbara Kopple, the two-time Oscar-winning documentary-maker, whom Bon Jovi hired to film his band for a project.
A second crew belonged to CBS's 60 Minutes, whose Steve Kroft is working on a piece airing this spring. Since Bon Jovi is a part-owner of the Philadelphia Soul arena football team, 60 Minutes' cameras recorded a time-lapse video of the Wachovia Center changeover between Saturday's Soul-Predators football game and Sunday's Bon Jovi concert. (As backstage banners groaningly pointed out, the show was "Sould Out.")
During Sunday's show - Bon Jovi's 46th birthday - two Soul cheerleaders and several Soul players wheeled a cake on stage after "Livin' on a Prayer." After guitarist Richie Sambora led the audience in "Happy Birthday," Bon Jovi kidded: "Now get off the [bad word] stage so I can go back to work." Next song was "Just Older."
Briefly noted
The story behind local foodstuffs - from mushrooms and Jersey tomatoes to cheesesteaks and Tastykake - will be told in
The Philly Food Show
, a one-hour,
Ed Cunningham
-produced special premiering today (8 p.m.) on WHYY-12.
After her sold-out show Saturday at Caesars in Atlantic City, Martina McBride spent Sunday indulging in retail therapy at the Pier at Caesars.
Things are looking up
The city's skyline is fixed. As in, the lights are working as they should at the top of One Liberty Place after several months. A rep for Cushman & Wakefield, the building's management, says computer software was fixed yesterday, allowing new LEDs to do their thing on the city's second-tallest building.