The Lewis Show

It was decided months, probably years ago that Janine and I would catch the last Harry Potter flick with the devoted on the Thursday evening of its release. Without disappointment  we were treated with a grand finale. My strongest feeling centers around this being the close for another chapter with new and exciting chapters beginning now. I'm sure there will be other flicks that inspire people to wear robes and carry carved sticks, but the feeling for me isn't around the pomp, it's about the two lifetimes that I have lived since I started following the series. In 2005 I started to reluctantly watch the series after heaps of mocking by accidentally watching the third movie on DVD. I was quickly able to pick up on the hype and quickly became a part of it myself. I'm left with many great memories in Lynchburg and here in Richmond of meeting with friends and watching this movie. It's not the movie, it's the events wrapped around it that stick out to me. ...

Innovation is a great thing. It helps us move from our comfort zones and it helps us to learn new things. The web is a great example of seeing good ideas put to work. I recently discovered one of the biggest innovations I think I have ever seen on the net. Turntable.fm is a music discovery site remixed and remastered. The premise comes from Pandora's internet radio stations. Instead of having an algorithm play songs that align with your preferences, there are endless rooms ready to take on anyone's genre and tastes. The twist is the ability for five people to spin records, if you will, DJ'ing to their audience. The audience then has the power to vote each song up or down by clicking on Lame or Awesome. Over time the DJ's amass points that allow them to unlock new avatars or characters. This is why the internet was made. This is a site dedicated to maintaining the strong winds of social networking, mixing in great music, and allowing people to discover new artists a...

The view of New Orleans from the sky. The city is rich in history be it French, Spanish, Creole, American. New Orleans is probably one of the more photogenic towns I've seen. The culture and vivid colors came as advertised. A city where tragedy is ingrained in its DNA. They know and celebrate life and even death. This is truly a unique place!

I would be lying if I said I wasn't a tiny bit choked up watching this evening's local news. Anchor Gene Cox had his last broadcast tonight before heading to retirement. Of course reporters got to leave short messages for him and poke some fun at him one more time before going off the air. Thinking back and growing up in Warsaw, I remember watching Gene do the evening and I think at one point the morning broadcasts. I used to have a tiny portable TV that I kept by my bed growing up and it would work as my alarm in the morning. I can remember the TV would come on every morning with this God awful Tuffy (repair shop) commercial. On the commercial a mechanic turned into the devil and laugh maniacally at overcharging some poor woman to fix her car. It used to scare me every morning. But despite the terrible local commercials, I spent the first part of every weekday keeping up with local and world events thanks to Gene's professionalism and tact. I think in this new digita...

Many of us have stopped carrying cameras with us anymore. With pretty decent cameras on our smart phones, the need just isn't there anymore, not for basic point and shoot photography. While I am no major enthusiast, I do suggest that everyone have a basic photo app with filters and a decent photo editor. Blackberry has Photo Editor and others, Windows Phone 7 has Thumba and others, and of course iPhone has Instagram which has achieved unimaginable hype. There are many good apps out there for every platform. I did a post before actually that highlights some great apps  here . Being an avid Android user, here's what I use: Picplz and Posterous for social networks, PicSay Pro for photo editing and Retro Camera + for on the spot filtered photography.  What does that mean you ask? Here are a few shots I took in the back yard using different camera types with the Retro Camera app. You can see the differences in colors, borders, etc. This comes in handy on the go when ...

Most of my readers may know this about me, but at one point I did take religious studies. My knack for teaching lead me to take these studies to help others. I've long since shelved that part of my life, but this week has seen a lifetime's shared in religious discussion locally and on the social networks. I thought I'd put in a quick word from The Word. I always say before doing any study in religion or philosophy with anyone, do not go by the words of any man or teacher, study and learn life and meaning for yourself. I never attempt to impose my beliefs on anyone, so take anything said with a grain of salt, so to speak. For those that do believe, we only have ourselves to answer for one day. For those that don't, that's the beauty of free will. With that said, recently, false prophet Harold Camping made an educated guess as to when the clock would begin for the end of the world. Using calendars and tomfoolery, he predicted that the rapture of Christians would...

Last night, Janine and I took advantage of a rare chance to catch some prolific artwork. The Picasso exhibit came to Richmond earlier this year and this weekend it is concluding to sold out crowds. I'm glad we went. Picasso's art is thought provoking, it makes statements towards the time the works were done, and we get to see his perspective on humanity and the world. We in fact were so thrilled with the work that the Va Museum of Fine Arts is bringing to Richmond, that we became members. Between this exhibit, the Tiffany exhibit last year, and Faberge coming up later on this year, it made sense to become a part of this, and we think it's important to support local venues that work hard to bring the world to our town. There's a lot of change and growth in the city and I'm becoming more and more proud to call Richmond home. It was announced this morning that there will be a cultural exchange with China. Two hundred items from the Beijing Palace will be sent here ...