Inqlings: Glitterati, meet the Twitterati
Star sightings have gone viral. Paparazzi, fans, and bloggers tailing such actors as Reese Witherspoon (and her flame, Jake Gyllenhaal), Owen Wilson, and Paul Rudd are monitoring the social-networking site Twitter, much as tow-truck operations plug into their scanners.
Star sightings have gone viral.
Paparazzi, fans, and bloggers tailing such actors as Reese Witherspoon (and her flame, Jake Gyllenhaal), Owen Wilson, and Paul Rudd are monitoring the social-networking site Twitter, much as tow-truck operations plug into their scanners.
Take Thursday night, after the actors had finished their day's work at Drexel University on the untitled James L. Brooks comedy in which Witherspoon plays a softball star torn between the attentions of Rudd and Wilson.
Steven Cranford, a writer from Atlanta who blogs as the fashionado Traveler, tweeted just after 11 p.m.: "Philadelphia: Alma de Cuba restaurant: Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd dining together!" Moments later, Cranford's terse memo was being retweeted and started showing up on blogs.
"It was amazing to see how fast that tweet spread," Cranford said later, though bemused at the lack of credit he received after Google picked it up.
Witherspoon and Rudd were not bothered, he said.
Until they left, anyway.
Alma and Parc, also a Stephen Starr eatery on Rittenhouse Square, have been ground zero. Rudd was spotted three nights in a row last week at Parc: Tuesday for a solo visit; Wednesday over a cheeseburger medium, as he dined with Wilson (omelet) and two producers; and Thursday for a stop-over with Wilson after his Alma dinner with Witherspoon.
An Alma rep says their meal included a black cherry caipirinha for her, a bottle of Negra Modelo beer for him, salads, and the signature vaca frita. And no sign of Gyllenhaal.
Friday night saw Wilson at Alma with five buddies.
Another spotting sent Twitterers a-twitter: Michelle Obama and daughters stopping yesterday afternoon for Italian-style gelato at Capogiro at 13th and Sansom Streets. An hour before, Secret Service tipped manager Dawne Ballard to the arrival and swore her to secrecy. The first lady ordered chocolate banana and cioccolato scuro; Malia had dulce de leche and fior di latte; and Sasha kept it simple with dulce de leche. An aide paid.
Moving up - or out?
Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels and wife Heidi Strobel make a big deal over their high-rise apartment in Two Liberty Place, but they're thinking seriously about a newly constructed four-bedroom, two-story Colonial in Newtown Square listed at $2.2 million.
Strobel, due at the end of the summer with their first child, a boy, said she was not sure if they'd keep both places. "We're figuring out if it's the right decision," she told me about buying - given that they also own land near her hometown of Springfield, Mo.
"We do love it here [in Liberty Place], but it's something that Cole and I have to talk about." The Hamelses previously lived in a West Chester townhouse while she got a master's at West Chester University.
Kitchen caper
Less than two weeks before the season premiere of Bravo's Top Chef, Philly contestant Jennifer Zavala has quit her post at El Camino Real, the Tex-Mex border bar in Northern Liberties.
Does that mean . . . ?
"It has nothing to do with the series," Zavala said Friday, her last day at El Camino Real, which opened in December. Zavala says she was weighing other opportunities and describes the departure as amicable, which owner Owen Kamihira confirmed: " 'No drama' is my mantra."
Top Chef premieres Aug. 19. Also appearing this season will be Jennifer Carroll, chef de cuisine of Eric Ripert's 10 Arts at the Ritz-Carlton.
Media activity
A team of radio personalities beat a team of TV/print types, 5-3, Wednesday at Citizens Bank Park in the annual Police Athletic League celebrity softball game before the Phils-Rockies game.
It was only the radio squad's second win in nine years. WIP's Brian Startare went 2 for 2 with the only extra-base hit (a double), and Paul Kurtz from KYW Newsradio had an RBI and a run scored.
The TVers had a few highlights. Sixers voice Marc Zumoff (playing for Comcast SportsNet) went 2 for 3 with an RBI. CW Philly's Kharisma McIlwaine nailed radio runner Carl Jablonski, a sponsor, with a great throw from right field to first baseman Harry Hairston of NBC10. Hairston went 2 for 2. Matt O'Donnell of 6ABC went 2 for 3 with a run scored, but was the losing pitcher. Retired (but not retiring) Newsradio general manager Roy Shapiro was winning pitcher, sharing the MVP honor with sponsor Dan Hahn of Furness Electric, who had two hits.
Winds of change
CBS3 meteorologists Kathy Orr, Doug Kammerer, Maria LaRosa, and Carol Erickson will voice weather forecasts for CBS-owned talk station WPHT-AM (1210), starting tomorrow. This is a win-win for CBS: WPHT saves the cost of carrying the Weather Channel - bought last year by NBC/Universal - while Eyewitness News gets additional exposure. Because of its joint radio and TV holdings in Philly, CBS is exploring partnerships. It uses Bob Kelly for traffic on WOGL-FM (98.1) and Channel 3. It also exploits the position of WYSP-FM (94.1) as the Eagles flagship station by having Merrill Reese call in frequently to its other radio stations. One idea broached but dropped a few months ago was having WIP-AM (610) feed weekend sports reports to KYW-AM (1060).
Tangerine squeezed out
Last night was the finale for Tangerine at 232 Market St. after nearly 10 years. Owner Stephen Starr said the economy had battered business but, more important, "the concept has run its course." He said he would retool it into something "more fitting with Old City - people aren't paying $65, $70 a person" - and would reopen it next June.
