A former chemistry teacher turned freelance photographer, Barry Lewis has produced an incredible body of photographic work. In 1981, along with seven others, he founded Network Photographers which acted as an agency for their work, an archive of over 1 million images and a critical forum for image making. In the process, he won several awards, the most important being the World Press Oscar Barnak Award for a photo-essay on Romania after the revolution.

Barry’s work has become more diverse In recent years, exploring different styles of portraiture and working extensively for corporate clients using reportage for work in the field as well as social projects for clients such as BG and Unilever. In addition, he has become involved in more controlled work, involving models, to promote brand images for clients such as Guinness.

For the past three years he’s been working on a personal project called Visual Noise, photographing  the streets of London (primarily), France, Italy and the U.S. with an aim towards producing a coherent body of work for a series of exhibitions and a book. A Featured Photographer on this site, his work is powerful and diverse. Enjoy this sampling of 16 images and, for more information about Barry, visit his website.

If you haven’t been watching NBC’s 30 Rock (Thursdays at 9:30PM), you’re missing some great TV. Well known stars Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey and Tracy Morgan are all at their top of the game, but Broadway’s own Jane Krakowski is quietly starting a comedy revolution as the star of the show-within-a-show, Jenna Maroney. She’s also featured in the April Esquire, writing the monthly “10 Things You Don’t Know About Women” column (which is where I nabbed this photo by Eric McNatt Saturday while having my car washed.) Here’s Jane’s list::

1. When you break up with us, that means it’s over, and we will only sleep with you two or three more times.

2. When you’re talking dirty to us, call us a whore and not a prostitute.

3. Straight men should take a thirteen-week course from a gay man to fully appreciate what’s fabulous about women.

4. Though we’re happiest in the company of gay men, we’re embarrassed when we marry one.

5. No, we didn’t see last week’s Battlestar Galactica.

6. We find dark-colored sheets creepy. And they don’t conceal stains.

7. You shouldn’t pass up a three-way because you “love us too much.”

8. When a hot woman walks by and we ask if she’s your type, refrain from saying things like “Nah, I like a woman with a little meat on her bones” as you give us a squeeze.

9. You look way sexier when you come home all unkempt from Survivor than you do all cleaned up at the reunion show.

10. It’s sexy when you cook for us. Unless you’re wearing an apron. Then it’s just weird.

While I’m not a regular reader of Esquire, there are some pretty interesting articles in this issue. Pick up a copy!

This is good news for those of us that download music and have pined for removal of the dreaded DRM (digital rights management) encoding that restricts our use of the music we buy and, at the same time, degrades sound quality. Steve Jobs has been campaigning for the availability of DRM-free music for some time and it looks like the dream is coming true, albeit at a price.  

EMI Music announced yesterday that it is launching new premium downloads for retail on a global basis, making all of its digital repertoire available at a much higher sound quality than existing downloads and free of DRM restrictions. The new higher quality DRM-free music will complement EMI’s existing range of standard DRM-protected downloads already available. The new DRM-free products will enable full interoperability of digital music across all devices and platforms.

Apple’s iTunes Store (www.itunes.com) is the first online music store to receive EMI’s new premium downloads. Apple has announced that iTunes will make individual AAC format tracks available from EMI artists at twice the sound quality of existing downloads, with their DRM removed, at a price of $1.29 while continuing to offer $0.99 standard sound quality tracks with DRM still applied. Complete albums from EMI Music artists purchased on the iTunes Store will automatically be sold at the higher sound quality and DRM-free, with no change in the price. Consumers who have already purchased standard tracks or albums with DRM will be able to upgrade their digital music for $0.30 per track. All EMI music videos will also be available on the iTunes Store DRM-free with no change in price.

“Apple has been a true pioneer in digital music and we are delighted that they share our vision of an interoperable market that provides consumers with greater choice, quality, convenience and value for money,” said Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group.

Expect higher quality DRM-free downloads from a variety of digital music stores within the coming weeks, with each retailer choosing whether to sell downloads in AAC, WMA, MP3 or other unprotected formats of their choice. Hopefully, other labels will soon follow. Keep your fingers crossed.

“The idea was to make something simple and a bit brutal, but beautiful… like life in Finland.” — Stepan Sarpaneva (QP magazine interview). 

Originally inspired by a Harley Davidson kickstart pinion, Sarpaneva’s Loiste II made from Stavax ESR steel is actually a cog itself. The first variation was built as a pocket watch, followed by the Loiste and now the Loiste II. Customizing functions like the foreboding looking double black moonphase complication, it measures both northern and southern hemispheres … and the display can be used to represent the physical moon on top (12 o’clock) or by its shadow on the bottom (6 o’clock).

The other ingenious feature is his own ‘Turbini’ winding mass, a turbine style rotor that spins with guillotine efficiency while revealing the movement. The metallic icing of this ticking cake is the intricately machined three-dimensional dial in brass or aluminum. Overall, very interesting and dangerous looking elements to this watch.

Via Watchismo. Michael & Sisko, you really don’t have to bring one of these back for me (heh).

It seems my post about my father’s Nash Healey reached some other Healey enthusiasts. I’m glad to see that this wonderful piece of our automotive history, the forerunner of both the ‘53 Corvette and the ‘55 Thunderbird, is still alive and well in Nash clubs around the country. Here are a couple images I received from fellow Healey fans…

                          Dave Rutherford’s beautifully restored ‘51

A magnificently restored ‘52 at a 2004 Sacramento Nash car show  (Owner unknown)

A very nicely restored ‘53 (Owner unknown)

If you can provide additional information about any of these fine automobiles, please let me know and I’ll be glad to update.

Presiding over a company with a market value of $143 billion apparently gives Silicon Valley’s most famous billionaires a good sense of humor - and a case of corporate potty mouth. Senior executives at Google Inc. launched their annual April Fools’ Day prank yesterday, posting a link on the company’s home page to a site offering consumers free high-speed wireless Internet through their home plumbing systems.

Code-named “Dark Porcelain,” Google said its “Toilet Internet Service Provider” (TiSP) works with Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Vista operating system. But sorry - septic tanks are incompatible with the system’s requirements. The gag included a mock press release quoting Google co-founder and President Larry Page, a very detailed installation manual and a scatological selection of  frequently asked questions. On some Google sites, the company’s official logo substituted a commode for the second “g.”

Via The Sacramento Bee

A funny send-up of phone companies from Shannan…

Another of Randall Munroe’s cartoons. As I’ve mentioned before, he’s a CNU graduate with a degree in physics who cartoons on the side. His is obviously a unique sense of humor he can’t help and I really enjoy.

Michael D sends this bit o’ folklore…

Although the origin of playing practical jokes and pranks on this day is hazy, many folklorists believe that it may date back to 16th century France. At that time, New Year’s Day was March 25, with a full week of partying and exchanging gifts lasting until April 1. In 1582, the Gregorian calendar moved New Year’s Day back to January 1. Those who forgot or refused to honor the new calendar were the butts of jokes and ridicule.

And according to weather folklore, “If it thunders on All Fools’ Day, it brings good crops of corn and hay.”

It’s also my daughter-in-law’s birthday (No fooling!) Happy birthday, Kim!