Yesterday, I finally had time to get a shot of Colin Farrell. He's here filming the movie Dead Man Down. For the past week, I've been tweeting up a storm about sightings all over town and how he’s just blending into the fabric of Philadelphia, going to the gym, walking around town, bike shopping, and eating out, but I never had any time to get a shot of him. On Wednesday, my two photographer friends (photos you’ve seen of the actor in national media this week are their work) and I caught up with him and his trainer as they walked on Chestnut Street toward the gym. Earlier in the day, I tried to get a shot of him leaving the movie production office, but it was rush hour, the sidewalk was packed, a rain cloud passed by and threw off my camera readings, and it was a tough angle (because when you photograph a celebrity you don’t want to interrupt their walk or draw attention to them from others). Then I caught up with him at his temporary Philly residence as he arrived in his SUV (that means even though I’m a tad out of shape, walking briskly I can beat an SUV driving six blocks in rush hour traffic!). There, the doorman of the building created a whole lot of drama. Well, dear Mr. Doorman, Mr. Farrell lives in NYC and L.A., where there are dozens of paparazzi photographing him daily. I know, because I photographed celebrities in NYC for five years. We’re not shooting him through his bedroom window, we’re just shooting him walking in the door. We strive to be as professional as we can to get our job done. Calling the police on us is not a deterrent. We have press passes, and you do not own the sidewalk as much as you stated you did. I don’t know if you saw when the police came by on their bikes, but they waved to us and we exchanged pleasantries; as photographers, we often get to know the police officers, as we sometimes wait for hours to get the photographs that the public consumes daily online and in the celebrity mags. The only person you are going to scare away with your tactics will be Colin Farrell. He'll go somewhere else to live, and we'll go with him. After that drama of the doorman, I started packing my gear, thinking Farrell was in for the night, but my friend told me to wait, that Farrell would come back out, and we would get the shots we needed for the day. Sure enough, 10 minutes later, he calmly walked out, heading toward Chestnut Street. We got our shots there—one of us even got a shot of him smiling with eye contact (that’s the brass ring). We then called it a night and went home.

Bam Margera (second from left), with James Oliver (second from right), and parents Phil Margera (left) and April Margera (right), spent the last year channeling his pain onto canvas, while traveling around the world. All of which resulted in his first exhibition at the James Oliver Gallery in Center City. On Saturday night, the gallery hosted the opening party for the show "Bam Margera and Friends"—the friends being Geoff "Red Mohawk" Blake, Ryan Gee, Justin Muir and Bam's girlfriend, Nikki B. It was a packed house with many friends, as well as fans and family. April told me that most of the paintings were done while Bam was visiting other countries with Nikki, or on tour with CKY (an American alternative metal rock band he has with his brother Jess). She went on to say it was an expensive project, as the canvases had to be shipped back home from various locations like Paris, Helsinki and Moscow. Then there were the hotel rooms … sometimes Bam didn't put a sheet down to catch all the paint droppings, and Nikki tells me that there are more than a dozen hotel room phones painted by Bam. But everyone agrees that it was a cathartic experience for him after the rough couple years he's had. I found the paintings to be autobiographical, with a lot of heavy brush strokes representing his pain. Sometimes the paintings would have quotes, one being "If the Phone Doesn't Ring, That's Me Calling," the reason he would give his mom for not calling on her birthday or holidays. She did say he would call a day later and express his well wishes. His friends' photographs are also very good, and Nikki's include shots of the two of them in Las Vegas. which could be titled "this is what happens in Vegas." The show runs through April 21st (723 Chestnut Street).

Last night, airline Virgin America celebrated its first flight to Philadelphia with a star-studded red carpet launch party hosted by Sir Richard Branson at Hotel Palomar in Center City. The inaugural flight touched down at PHL yesterday afternoon, and on board were a few Philadelphia-affiliated celebrities like actor Seth Green, who was born here. Virgin will have three nonstop flights to California, two to L.A., and one to San Francisco daily.

Betty White made an appearance Saturday at the closing session of the Public Library Association Convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Speaking to well over 3,000 people, White had the audience in stitches with her quick wit, telling tales about her career, as well as some of the wonderful actors she's worked with, including Mary Tyler Moore. Regarding her days on the Golden Girls, she said: "Rose wasn't stupid, just wonderfully naive." Currently she co-stars on Hot in Cleveland; her role was only supposed to be for the pilot, but when they asked if she'd like to be a regular on the show she "failed to say no," she told the crowd with a laugh. Betty also talked about her favorite subject, animals and zoos. She said these days, zoos are the best conservations in the world … where else can young children see animals and learn about their importance in the world? Many natural habitats have been encroached on by man and destroyed. She also gave a shout out to the Philadelphia Zoo, and regretted she didn't have enough time to go see the new baby snow leopards.