Concept

Debra Kapnek uses acrylic paint to capture images of people the world might forget: children in Darfur, Holocaust survivors. Michelle Angela Ortiz creates murals that depict a community's heartbreaks and its hopes. Ellie Seif's photographs chronicle the transformation of decrepit houses into rehabbed homes. For these artists, their work means more than making a pretty picture; it's a tool to change the world. Their collective vision - along with that of 13 other painters, photographers, sculptors, printmakers, and a musician - is on display at the Temple Judea Museum at Keneseth Israel, a Reform synagogue in Elkins Park.

When the pop history of Philadelphia is written, Grady and Hurst should get a very long chapter. It seems like they've been around since Marconi invented the radio. Their longevity, popularity and recognizability in Philadelphia is unmatched. Joe Grady, 76, who began a radio career in 1935 and Ed Hurst, 67, who was on the air as a teen-ager, are genuine pioneers. They invented the teen dance show format when Dick Clark was in knickers. In fact, the duo got first crack at hosting "Bandstand," but had to turn down the opportunity because they were tied to radio contracts.

Building a symphonic pops program around James Bond film music is fraught with danger, though not in ways thrill-seeking Bond fans might like. Though the John Barry scores to the earlier Bond films could not be more iconic, they also have the dimension of a Hollywood-studio set: Aside from the theme songs, the music introduces the action with a quick, arresting impression and stands back while the film takes care of the rest. So Michael Krajewski, music director-designate of Peter Nero and the Philly Pops, was right to stray from the central concept in his "Bond and Beyond" concert Saturday afternoon at the Kimmel Center.

No one could accuse Marty Seligman of thinking small. The University of Pennsylvania psychology professor earned the respect of his peers studying the equivalent of depression in dogs, but it is his more recent fascination with the flip side of sadness - how to get life right - that has made this serious man a pop-psych power hitter. At 67, he is using his academic reputation and his formidable sales skills to reform, well, just about everything. His premise: that we've spent too much time trying to fix what's wrong and not nearly enough figuring out how to make more things right.

Could a concept as enlightened as seasonal, healthful cooking possibly exist at the Cherry Hill Mall? Yes, I know we're talking about the hallowed ground where the first climate-controlled indoor mall east of the Mississippi was born nearly half a century ago. I know we're talking about a town so thoroughly infested with big-box commercialism that any hopeful sprout of independently owned-restaurant spirit is often squashed by the cheesecake weight...

Can you imagine a diner's life in Philadelphia without our taquerias? I shudder at the thought. Of course, the notion that we have mole now so genuine that it's fresh off the FedEx truck from Puebla may be odd for a town that not long ago considered the Speedy Gonzales platter at Tex-Mex El Azteca to be the piñata pinnacle of authentic. But in the span of less than a decade, we've seen Philly evolve a seriously sizzling salsa scene, from its high-end nuevo tequila palaces to a growing collection of humble taquerias that answer virtually every craving for genuine Mexican home cooking.

It's more expensive than setting up Hollywood pitch meetings, but it can be more effective, too: Make your movie in French, cast it with appealing French stars, and then screen the finished product for the studios. Somebody's bound to think an English-language remake is a good idea. And, yes, Universal has announced that that's exactly what they'll be doing with Heartbreaker, director Pascal Chaumeil's larky exercise in rom-com cynicism. With Romain Duris and Vanessa Paradis (Mrs.

It's no walk in the park, this Captain Kirk business. Beaming down from the Enterprise to 23d-century Earth - just think what that does to your molecules. Jet-packing through deepest space, with only a thin metal suit and a helmet protecting you from imploding into the nothingness - try that sometime. But for Chris Pine , who returns as James Tiberius Kirk, the maverick skipper of Star Fleet's storied ship in the sequel to J.J. Abrams' 2009 mega-successful reboot, the toughest task on Star Trek Into Darkness was just running.

Had you told me a few months ago that I'd be raving about fish and chips and warm pints of bitter, I would have said you were a bloody lunatic. Then again, a few a months ago the Dandelion was still just an odd name for the latest Stephen Starr construction site - a convenient weed metaphor for our irrepressible gardener of concept dining, then hard at work on seedling number 22 at 18th and Sansom Streets. (By April 1, numbers 23 and 24 will have poked their heads through the soils of Florida's South Beach and Washington Square, respectively.)

S TEPHEN GILL AND Zachary Robbins, both 26 and of Center City, cofounded Leadnomics in 2007 while classmates at Rowan University in Glassboro, N.J. The company, now based in the Cira Centre next to 30th Street Station, generates leads for banks and insurance companies with online advertising campaigns. The fast-growing company employs 35. I spoke with Gill. Q: How's the business model work? A: We own a portal, a micro-content website for auto insurance. Cheapquotesdirect.com is one such site.