One of the most important archaeological finds of last century has arrived at The Franklin Institute. The Dead Sea Scrolls, are extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. For the first time, these 2,000-year-old documents (ranging from 250 BCE to 68 CE) are on exhibit in North America. The scrolls in the exhibition contain passages from Genesis, Exodus, Isaiah and other books from the Old Testament, as well as non-biblical writings.

Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Ancient Times will be complete with over 600 archaeological artifacts from the same time period. This was a time when ancient Israel emerged, various sects of Judaism began to consolidate, Roman forces ruled the Holy Land, and the birth of Jesus was at hand. Visitors will experience the traditions, beliefs and iconic objects from everyday life over two millennia ago.

Unfortunately, we won’t have two millennia to admire these treasures. They’ll be at The Franklin Institute through October 14 and while that’s plenty of time, you’ll want to reserve your tickets to see these artifacts.

For hours, information or to purchase tickets, check out The Franklin Institute website.

On a quiet block in a neighborhood nestled between Rittenhouse Square and the Avenue of the Arts is a curious little shop. Omoi (meaning “thoughts and ideas” in Japanese) is one of Philly’s finest little retail stores. Elizabeth Seiber opened the shop in 2006 as a way to introduce Philadelphia to different cultures through products and as a way to break new brands in the U.S. “I’ve always been fascinated with other cultures – my family has some wonderful and unsual collections from around the world, and I guess I just naturally did the same thing.”

After studying in Japan for the second time, Liz decided to come back to Philly bringing some of east along with her. For over half a decade now, customers have been drawn to her heavily-curated “zakka” shop–a small type of store in Japanese retail culture intended to be packed with brilliantly alluring little treasures.

“I discovered that Japan was the holy grail for collecting. Not only do Japanese artists and companies make some incredible pieces to covert, but they also dominate in the wide world of curating.”

Omoi’s selection of accessories, apparel, home goods and stationery has earned its reputation of being an excellent gift shop, especially amongst the geeky and eccentric crowd. Liz tells us that zakka shops are a mainstay in Japan, with emphasis on every items that may be small in size but have a good quality, feeling and design. “… the idea isn’t to be a shop about Japan, but more like the kind of shop you would actually see in Omotesando or Umeda.” Liz states.

Frequent patrons may notice some recent arrivals in the realm of designer stationery, which has been a popular sell on the website. New to the shop this season are “DAYS Collection” pens, pencils and notebooks, along with tons of new masking tape colors. For the non-stationery geeks, Liz has made mention that the Omoi folks are currently obssessed with playing cards from IDEA, a Japanese home and design company. For lovers of t-shirts from SEIBEI, Omoi is also happy to share that they’ve recently restocked.

All in all, Omoi continues to grow both in-store and online. So be sure to visit the shop on Pine Street, OmoiOnline.com or check out their Tumblr for their thoughts and musings.

Welcome to this week’s Geek of the Week, where we highlight the fun and creative people of our city. This week, we’ve interviewed the amazing Hawk Krall – a very talented illustrator, food lover and writer.

So, Hawk. What’s your backstory, are you a native Philadelphian?

I grew up outside the city in Jenkintown and came to the city pretty often. Went to college in Brooklyn (Pratt) and lived there for a few years before moving back to Philly in 2001.

What’s your favorite part about the food scene in Philly?

When I first moved here, whether it was running good comics in the alt weeklies or putting sweetbreads on a restaurant menu, there was this idea with everything that “Philly’s not ready for that.. this isn’t New York..” but now it’s like the land of golden opportunity. So many of the people I’ve worked with over the last 10 years both art and food wise are opening their own restaurants and businesses and it’s just amazing to watch.

You’re a great illustrator. Do you have a background in art? How long have you been drawing food?

My parents are both artists so I was trained from birth, went to art school and have been illustrating for over ten years, at first mostly comics and humorous editorial illustration. I was working as a line cook and doing illustrations at night, and realized that combining the two would probably give me a better chance at making a real career out of it. (more…)

I paused for a second the first time I ever heard the word “Paleoartist”, even in context, I had to stop and think about it. But considering the nature of what Bob Walters and Tess Kissinger, what would you call it? Bob and Tess are as knowledgeable of dinosaurs as they are skilled in their renderings.

When you meet them, they speak with a passion so strong that if harnessed for evil, it could darken the sky and bring about another ice age. When I swung by Bob and Tess’ studio, I thought that few people would ever know two of the world’s most brilliant and talented dinosaur artists reside in the heart of Fairmount. Behind some unassuming rowhomes, they’ve got their studio where they’ve fashioned together everything from the world’s largest dinosaur mural to the illustration that would later be the Spinosaurus in 2001′s Jurassic Park III.

The path to dinosaur art was one Bob started down at the age of four, when he saw the foldout cover of LIFE magazine. It featured Rudolph Zallinger’s mural of dinosaurs from the Peabody Museum. From then on, there was no turning back. For Tess, she took her love of art and science, and gravitated toward paleontology when she met Bob. Along the way, she even became good friends with the paleo guys at the Smithsonian.

Seasoned veterans in traditional fine art, they’ve since gravitated to doing their work entirely digital. As they stated themselves, the pair work at the intersection of art, science and technology — and I’m hard-pressed to think of a finer example than their stunning work depicting plants and animals long since departed from our world. (more…)

Welcome to this week’s Geek of the Week, where we highlight the fun and creative people of our city. This week, we talk to both sides of the power-couple behind the Talkadelphia podcast. For their work, Kishwer and Gino were winners in our first-ever Philadelphia Geek Awards for Best New Podcast last year.

It’s been over 50 episodes/a year and a half now. How did this all begin, why did you want to start a local podcast?

Kishwer: I was listening to an acquaintance, the talented jazz composer and pianist, Vijay Iyer, talk to Terry Gross over on NPR’s podcast, Fresh Air and it struck me that writing really sucks. At the time, I was doing a number of Q&As for MTV Desi and I found it especially challenging to encapsulate people’s words in neat, 500-word blog posts. I wanted people to be able to tell their stories in their own words and using their own voices. Words can sometimes strip people of their personalities.

Plus, I missed the connection I felt to Philadelphia when I used to blog regularly from my own site. So on October 14, 2010, I tweeted: “I want to do a podcast. How do I do this and who wants to be interviewed.” And 10 seconds later, Gino, my then-boyfriend, called me. He was on board with the idea from day one. He really made it all happen.

Gino: It was all her idea. I just do what I’m told.

Listeners of the podcast will know that you guys are law school students. What else would you like to say about yourselves?

Kishwer: I have an unnatural affection for bacon.

Gino: I’m a comic book geek, a sports nerd and a movie nut. If they made a movie where the Avengers played football, I would self-combust.

Who’s been the most interest, favorite or notable guest you’ve had on thus far?

Kishwer: I really enjoyed talking to author Lorene Cary. She was someone I’d read since I was in high school and it was such a treat to find out she was as animated in person as she is on paper. And of course, it was a thrill to interview Philadelphia Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan. And let’s not forget Mayor Nutter. He has quite a sense of humor.

Gino: Obviously, no one can top our second ever guest, noted novelist Eric Smith. What’s that you say? He has something to do with this outfit? I had no idea!

What future plans do you have for the podcast?

Kishwer: As long as people still engage in our content, we know they’re listening and want to hear from us. As for future plans, well, we’ve recently become members of PhillyCAM and I think it may be neat to someday include a few video clips of our interviews.

Gino: What we try to do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world!

Who are some people you’d like to interview in the future?

Kishwer: Bill Cosby. Nothing more Philly than Bill Cosby. I actually did interview him for my high school paper when he came to visit. But he just dodged all my “serious” questions with jokes. Somebody hook us up!

Gino: I’ve always said my dream interview would be Will Smith. I would make him sing the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song on the podcast with me. I might settle for Tina Fey, though.

Have any upcoming events that we should be keeping an eye for?

Kishwer: On Thursday, April 26, we’ll be at PhillyCAM from 1PM-2PM for Philly Tech Week, taping a live, streaming episode of Talkadelphia called “The Future of iOS Games,” featuring Yis Goodwin and Jeff Hsu of the iOS game Catball Eats It All and William Stallwood and Andrei Marks of Cipher Prime, a Philadelphia-based game studio as they talk about the next phase in iOS gaming. Come join us!

Gino: What she said.

—For folks reading this, you must check out their podcast immediately. Visit TalkadelphiaRadio.com or look for them on iTunes.

Our frienemies over at Technically Media (publishers of Technically Philly) have just launched a Philly-specific URL shortener: ph.ly and along with it, a weekly email newsletter.

Brownstoner.com, Brooklyn’s leading site for real estate and neighborhood news, started a Philadelphia edition back in early 2010. Along with it, they launched ph.ly which was a URL-shortener that could be used for anything (it mirrored the now-defunct bk.ly which they launched the year prior for Brooklynites).

Unfortunately by the end of 2010, Brownstoner’s presence in Philly was no more. And without philly.brownstoner.com, they took down ph.ly. “They had launched a Philly URL shortener, to their credit, before we did, and so when they took theirs down, rather than reinvent the wheel, we figured we’d just use that domain in a bigger way.” says Christopher Wink of Technically Media.

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Sure they might’ve removed fighting in NHL ’94, but it’s still celebrated as one of the greatest sports video games of all time. It supported four players at once and introduced first-timers to hockey video games. Nearly twenty years later, this gem of the 16-bit era lives on.

Flyers Faithful and Orange and Black Breakdown have teamed up together to do a fundraiser for the Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation. Later this month, at the interactive sports bar PLAY² Parx Casino, 26 registrants will be playing each of the 26 teams on pixelated ice for bragging rights and for charity.

Attendees will get a free retro hockey-themed t-shirt from DavesGeekyHockey.com but the winner will be receiving a $100 prize and a trophy. For those at the intersection of being a geek and hockey fan, you’ll definitely want to see Dave’s Game of Thrones, Futurama and Doctor Who-themed jerseys for sale on his site.

Other stuff to know: this is a 21+ event, there will be a 50/50 raffle, they’ll be giving away three copies of NHL ’12 courtesy of EA and it’s also rumored that there’ll be some Versus/NBC swag as well.

NHL ’94 Tournament
PLAY² Parx Casino
Sunday, April 22 @ 8-11pm*

To register/learn more, visit Flyers Faithful as they’ve got all the details.

*Time subject to change depending on the Flyers’ playoff schedule

St. Joe’s Prep grads often go on to create great things. Take Michael Nutter’s countless endeavors as Mayor of Philadelphia, Rob McElhenney’s much-rejoiced It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia or perhaps the blog post you’re currently reading, also written by a Prep grad.

For Aaron Horton, Web Producer at GPTMC (or as he calls it, “the greatest city in the world’s tourism marketing bureau”) it was “making fun of Michael Jordan on the internet.”

When not busy helping bring visitors to our fair city, Horton has admitted to dreaming of new, ridiculous websites and often not following through. In the case of this one, he did; much to the celebration of Jordan fans everywhere. The topic of Jordan’s wardrobe spawned as many things do, from conversations with friends. The oddity of Jordan’s apparel can often be seen at Charlotte Bobcats games, which he co-owns, says Horton. It was from this oddity that wtfismikewearing.tumblr.com was born.
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Our pals at Visit Bucks County are once again leading the example by pioneering into new social media territory. Last week, they became one of the first tourism organizations to launch a Pinterest contest. Considering the fact that the online scrapbook continues to only gain momentum (close to 12 million unique monthly U.S. visitors), it seems only natural to launch this type of contest.

They’ve created a pinboard called “Visit Bucks County Repin It To Win It Contest.” Pinned items include experiences and prizes such as tickets to Sesame Place, a private barrel tasting and food pairing at Sand Castle Winery, and a food tour from Bucks County Food Tours. On May 1st, Visit Bucks will randomly select winners from each repinned photo.

To view Visit Bucks County’s Pinterest account and their contest pinboard, visit http://pinterest.com/visitbuckspa

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Beyond its luxury steakhouse offerings, Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House encompasses some of the most marvelous architecture in the city. The building exhibits a “Classical Revival” style, an architectural trend popular around the time of its completion in 1924. Design and construction was led by the firm Ritter & Shay.

The Packard Building, as it’s known, won a gold medal award from the American Institute of Architecture (AIA) the following year. Today, the Packard building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Ritter & Shay was also responsible for the U.S. Customs House located in Old City and The Drake Hotel building in Center City.

The entire building is a 407,000 square-foot, mixed-use tower rising 26 stories. The space that Del Frisco’s occupies on the ground floor was once the First Pennsylvania Bank. Many of the bank’s key traits are still intact. The ornately-carved ceiling soars high above the marble floor, being held by tall stone columns.

Near the entrance, steps lead down to the vault, once the home to bank customers’ safe deposit boxes but today it contains a large private dining room. In the rear of the restaurant on the main level, a grande staircase leads to the mezzanine where an delicately designed clock face can view almost every inch of the 23,000 square foot space.

Additions to the space include a 34-foot-tall (two stories) glass wine tower, capable of holding nearly 2,500 bottles. Along the mezzanine wall, a large sound-deadening piece of art stretches from floor to ceiling. My favorite installation would have to be the “memorial pole” — rumored to have been installed to ironically honor a certain restaurant critic in Philadelphia when he had stated that “the only thing missing is a stripper pole.”

In regards to Del Frisco’s, the thing I hold near and dear to my heart would be its mention in 2009′s Law Abiding Citizen. Sous Chef Orin told us that some of the movie’s producers came in for dinner one evening and loved it so much that they returned on another visit with others working on the movie, including actors Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx. The food that appeared in the movie was actually prepared at the restaurant.

In the month of April, you can sample some of their food yourself. They’re running a filet mignon and lobster tail (surf ‘n turf) special for $79. On April 5th they’re also the exclusive after-party location for Brews & Bowties, a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

For this week’s Geek of the Week, we sit down and chat with Katrina Weidman, Bucks County native and Penn State grad. She’s currently a cast member on A&E’s Paranormal State investigating all the spooky stuff.

So Katrina, how did you get involved in all the paranormal stuff?

I’ve always been interested in the supernatural. I grew up in Bucks County and lived in haunted houses. When you’re constantly having experiences you have this need to find out “What was that?” It’s human nature to want answers for something you don’t quite understand. My mother’s side of the family was always very interested in the supernatural as well.

That side of the family also had experiences so it was never taboo to talk about ghosts in my family, it was normal and fascinating. I was always reading books on ghosts or watching scary movies. At sleep overs I was the one who broke out the Ouija board, which usually left my friends in tears and calling their parents for a ride home.

For those who are completely clueless about what you do, what does being a paranormal investigator mean?

In layman’s terms: I investigate, study and research anything science can’t explain. This includes UFOs, ghosts, demons, cryptos — anything in that realm.

What’s been the most challenging part of working on Paranormal State?

The schedule. The first season I was still a student at Penn State. Juggling two majors, a minor, three clubs and filming a TV show on top of it, I’m honestly surprised I somehow managed to graduate. After graduation, you’d think it were easier, but it wasn’t. We were working all the time on finding cases and clients. If we weren’t doing that we were traveling or filming for the show. I loved it, but you really do lose track of days and there were definitely times I would forget what town we were even in.

The downside to all of it is sometimes you have to miss out on other events, like weddings, baby showers, birthday parties, etc. That part was really hard for me because my friends mean the world to me.

What else are you up to aside from A&E and the spooky stuff?

Career-wise, I have a few projects that I’m working on. My next project was a two-hour special on Chiller. It’s called “Real Fear: The Truth Behind the Movies.” I am huge horror movie fan and whenever the previews say, “based on true events” I’m usually researching those “true events” for weeks! I’ll read every book, article and watch every documentary or interview. This project was a perfect fit!

Tell me about your other hobbies.

I’ve got tons! Snowboarding, cooking, knitting, dancing, playing piano, etc. I guess my “odd” hobby would be my weird obsession with The Golden Girls, I own every DVD, t-shirts, trivia books and more. I watch this show just about every day and will normally talk someone’s ear off about how awesome it is. This is usually met with a weird look.

—Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Katrina. We admire your real-life X-Files investigations. Readers, be sure to follow @KatrinaWeidman on Twitter or check out her official Facebook fan page.

Chris White Gallery, located at Shipley Lofts in downtown Wilmington, DE, is a place designed to cater to the needs of local artists and art professionals. Originally constructed as a furniture factory, the structure was abandoned until it was transformed in 2010 to be the first live/work space for artists in Delaware.

For their June exhibit, curators John and Lorraine are seeking comic artists and illustrators. The show will run for a month, opening on Friday, June 1st. They’re anticipating this to be a lively, fun, creative exhibit.

Interested parties should contact the gallery via email (chriswhitegallery@gmail.com) with “ATTN: Lorraine” in the subject.

CHRIS WHITE GALLERY GROUP
701 N. Shipley Street
Wilmington, DE 19801