Allan Duffin - Writer/Producer

Paper periodicals take another hit

Time, Inc.  — publisher of Entertainment Weekly, Fortune, and of course the venerable Time magazine  — will be announcing $100 million in cuts. This means that even more magazine staffers will be pink-slipped in large numbers. From the New York Times:

At Time Inc., cuts have already been heavy. A year ago, it announced it was dismissing about 600 people, or 6 percent of its staff. Since 2007, it has shut magazines including Business 2.0, Cottage Living, Southern Accents and Life, which it had revived as a newspaper supplement. A stricter expense-account policy has been in place for some time, and some magazines have decreased the weight of the paper they use.

Though I write for a variety of media, it's particularly heartbreaking to watch the painful demise of the newspaper and magazine industries. I don't think that paper periodicals will ever disappear completely, but online access to the hottest and latest news has made obsolete one of the biggest selling points of magazines and newspapers. It's been a slow process over the last decade or so, but the poor state of the economy isn't helping.

Best wishes to the staff and writers who fall to the latest swing of the sword. Hopefully they'll find new homes and continue to do what they love.

"Tanker Down!" In Towing and Recovery Footnotes

My new article in the April 2009 issue of Towing & Recovery Footnotes talks about recovery techniques for tanker trucks that have been involved in an accident. The photo at the left shows towers practicing with air cushions to right an overturned tanker. Towing expert Wes Wilburn explains:

Wilburn notes that air cushions were placed starting at the rear and working forward. And once the job is done, towers should take extra care with their air cushions. “Having the air cushions stored away properly after the last job really dictates how the next job will go,” says Wilburn. “I am not only talking about having them cleaned up, which should be obvious to most. What I believe is critical is how they have the air removed and how they are ‘tucked,’ so to speak.” Wilburn recommends that towers tuck three sides of each cushion and let the side with the hose stay untucked. “From my experience, this works much better,” he says.

"Staging the Perfect Performance" in DramaBiz Magazine

The July/August issue of DramaBiz Magazine features my article about staging equipment for the theatre. I'm always curious about the hardware that makes the magic, and wow is there a lot of available hardware:

A variety of choices are available depending on your theatre’s requirements and available budget. Vendors like StageRight, Inc., in Clare, Mich., create portable staging equipment like choral, band, and seating risers; pit fillers; orchestra enclosures; acoustical shells; and trap floor covers. According to Kathleen Meadowcroft, sales research specialist and trade show manager for the company, the firm benefits from having its manufacturing and distributing operations located under one roof. Similarly, Serapid, Inc., builds equipment like its LinkLift series of theatrical lifts at its facility in Sterling Heights, Mich., a suburb of Detroit.

Read the entire article here.

The World's Worst Airports

A friend noticed that Foreign Policy Magazine posted an article that featured information from a piece I wrote for Smithsonian/Air&Space Magazine about Baghdad International Airport. The Foreign Policy article, titled "The World's Worst Airports,"  spotlights five aerodromes where you can get shot, killed, injured, exhausted, jostled and/or robbed:

Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport (Dakar, Senegal): “There is only squalor, an unnerving sense of confinement, and to some extent danger.” —Patrick Smith, Salon.com, May 25, 2007

Indira Gandhi International Airport (New Delhi, India): “Of all the regional capital airports this one takes the cake … a piece of crap ... bring the bug spray.” —Anonymous commenter, The Budget Traveller’s Guide to Sleeping in Airports, Dec 11, 2005

Mineralnye Vody Airport (Mineralnye Vody, Russia): “Mineralnye Vody airport is a lower circle of hell.” —The Economist, Dec. 19, 2006

Baghdad International Airport (Baghdad, Iraq): “Before jumping out of your seat to complain to the pilot, consider the good news: You’ve just avoided being shot down by a missile.” —Allan T. Duffin, Air & Space magazine, Oct./Nov. 2006

Charles de Gaulle International Airport (Paris, France): “Charles de Gaulle is a disgrace… it’s like a third-world airport.” —Michel-Yves Labbé, president of French travel company Directours, Aug. 14, 2007

It's always nice to be quoted — even if it's an unpleasant subject — so many thanks to Foreign Policy Magazine. The article also appeared in the Nepali Times, where the editors added a sixth entry: Tribhuban International Airport in Kathmandu:

Immigration is a minefield for Nepali passengers, mainly women, who are harassed until they pay up. The airport was designed for traffic 20 years ago and is hopelessly overcrowded. There is a parking problem and planes have to circle for hours waiting for a slot. X-ray machines and baggage carousels are often out of order and if you land at night it's dark and dingy because half the lights in the terminal don't work. And don't get us going about the dilapidated airport taxis and the touts outside. NTB (Nepal Tourism Board) should forget about promoting Nepal abroad and clean up the airport first.

Click to see the Foreign Policy article, and a reprinting on NowPublic.com.

"Rebirth of a C-17" in Aviation Maintenance Magazine — and an "Army Wives" coincidence

It's always fun to revisit my time as an aircraft maintenance supervisor in the Air Force. So I really enjoyed writing about the rescue and rebuilding of a C-17 cargo plane that was damaged in Afghanistan. Boeing, the manufacturer, brought the aircraft home to Long Beach, Calif., and painstakingly reassembled it over a 10-month period. Today the airplane — which, due to the extent of the damage, was almost scrapped — flies out of its home at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina.

At the airplane’s home station of Charleston Air Force Base (AFB), S.C., Ken Crumpler received a phone call on Aug. 6, 2005 in the middle of the night. Crumpler, an engineering manager, was responsible for Boeing’s field service engineers. "We’ve had a C-17 incident at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan," he was told. Crumpler immediately got to work...

Together the military and civilian teams carefully maneuvered the crippled C-17 off the runway using a crane and a flatbed trailer, which served as a wheelchair for the broken landing gear. Because the aft door was unusable due to the tilt of the aircraft, 55,000 lbs. of cargo were removed, piece by piece, through the crew door. Engineers clicked together metal airfield matting over the ground to keep their makeshift system from slipping, then nudged the C-17 back onto the runway and over to a parking spot.

Incidentally, Charleston AFB currently hosts location filming for the Lifetime TV series "Army Wives." The Reserve Wing on the base — which happens to fly the C-17 aircraft — was one of the units where scenes were filmed. Better yet, the Wing is run by Colonel Tim Wrighton, who's my former commander from when I was in the Reserves.

"The Detail is in the Props," in the new issue of DramaBiz Magazine

The May 2008 issue of DramaBiz Magazine features my article about props in the theatre. One of the things that interested me while researching the piece was how theatres store all of the props that they design and/or collect over the years:

In Chicago, the Steppenwolf Theatre Company has an area for furniture, a separate area for smaller items or hand props, and another area for fabric, bedding and pillows. “We have lots of shelving units full of large clear plastic bins (so you can see what’s inside) with lids (to keep the dust out),” says DiLuciano. Like items are kept in each bin. There’s also a furniture area where items like dining room tables, sofas, and beds are grouped together. While not everything is listed in a computer database yet, DiLuciano notes that it would take an additional full-time staffer to photograph, catalog and inventory everything in the rapidly-changing collection. “As it is now, we have to take advantage of pockets of time when we’re not working on a show to maintain order in these areas,” she says.

The photo above is from the play “Southern Comforts,
” with actors Karen Grassle and Edward Sarafian. The production was staged by TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, California. According to Properties Master Adriane Roberts, “The big project was completely reupholstering the couch and chair. Many of the props in the scene were collected but other things we worked on were lamp repairs, false books on the shelves so the crew could move them in and out easily, and appropriate family pictures on the walls.”

"Broken Down Blues": A video response to interview questions

This is a first for me: during research for a recent article on truckers' relationship with tow truck drivers for Towing & Recovery Footnotes, trucker Aaron responded to my interview questions by preparing a short film. He blogs about his adventures on the road. Some truckers, like Tom Wiles and Jeff Forester, create audio and video podcasts during their long-haul trips. If you've ever wondered what a truck driver's life is like, these programs provide great information.

Groovy pop culture phenomena

Sometimes I just like to post random stuff about toys and TV shows. Maybe you recognize or have enjoyed some of these items. If you have, please let me know.

First up we have the Fonzie action figure from the "Happy Days" TV series. This was a 1970s issue by the classic Mego toy company. Fonzie has hinged thumbs that you can flip up and down (I'm not kidding). If you press a lever in his back, you can make him go "Aaaaaay!" Check out the Mego Museum for lots more of those great toys from the past. (Yes, I still have my Fonzie doll.)

Back in 1983 I visited the Charlton Publishing Group, a family-run business in Derby, Connecticut. The staff was warm and friendly, and I got to see the entire operation. Charlton Comics launched in the 1940s and was always an underdog operation in the comics industry, but had a lot of variety, from ghosts to war to westerns and TV tie-ins. The comics started as an afterthought: the company published magazines, and it was cheaper to keep the printing presses running constantly, so they turned to comics to fill the gap. It's true that the presses were converted from printing cereal boxes to magazines and comics. The company folded in the 1980s, but Ramon Schenck keeps the history alive through his Charlton Spotlight magazine. One of my favorites from Charlton: Vengeance Squad, about an elite team of enforcers.

And of course there's one of my favorite TV shows, USA Network's Burn Notice, with a terrific cast headlined by Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar and Bruce Campbell. You can read an interview with series creator Matt Nix here. Below is a commercial for the show that aired on Australian television. Interesting to see how their approach differs slightly from the U.S. promos.

New magazine, Internet and newspaper articles

Time to catch up on new articles that have my byline:

Flight Journal Magazine: "Restoring a Restaurant B-17" (June 2008). Aviation expert Bruce Orriss rescues a World War II B-17 bomber fuselage from a theme bar in Greeley, Colorado, and brings it back to his warehouse in Los Angeles, where it awaits restoration to a flyable aircraft. The fuselage section was used by Twentieth Century Fox as a soundstage mock-up for the "Twelve O'Clock High" movie and TV series. Editor for Flight Journal is Roger Post.

Towing & Recovery Footnotes: A trio of new stories — "Cars Under Cover" (February 2008), which tells you where your vehicle gets stored after it's towed; "Towing Troopers" (March 2008), honoring the unsung tow truck drivers of the U.S. military; and "Truckers on Towers," where we investigate what long-haul truck drivers really think of tow truck drivers. Editor of Towing Footnotes is Bill Candler.

DramaBiz Magazine: "Special Effects: Size Doesn't Matter" (April 2008). Whether it’s fire, fog, smoke, or water, crafting eye-popping special effects is a challenge for any production, large or small. And fitting SFX into tight or unconventional spaces takes an expert designer who knows where and how to install tools like fans, strobe lights, and even snow machines. Editor for DramaBiz is Joel Dorr.

If you're curious, the Flight Journal article was bought based on a pitch, while the Towing Footnotes and DramaBiz articles were assignments (I'm a regular contributor to the latter two publications).

"The Ups and Downs of Dimmers" in DramaBiz Magazine

Hot off the presses in the new issue of DramaBiz Magazine, which just hit the newsstands and the Web: "The Ups and Downs of Dimmers: How to get the best lighting control for your theatre." Here's the lede:

A gorgeous mix of light, color and shadow creates the kaleidoscope that brings a stage performance to life. “Besides the obvious need to provide visibility,” says Jeffrey E. Salzberg, a lighting designer whose productions include dance, theatre, opera and puppetry, “lighting can direct focus, reinforce mood and theme, and furnish punctuation. It can create a universe—realistic or not—for the characters to inhabit.”

Careful choices make all the difference, says James David Smith, president of the Canadian company RC4 Wireless in Etobicoke, Ontario. “Just as music is not turning on all the notes at the beginning of the show and turning them all off at the end,” he says, “the fluid and dynamic art of lighting design demands control of the available lighting instruments. The lighting designer is the conductor, and the lights are his orchestra.”

For articles like this one, I typically interview at least one expert along with a variety of manufacturers and vendors. That way the reader gets information about the equipment available and how it's installed, along with a "from-the-trenches" viewpoint of a consultant who has to make it all work for specific productions.

Read the entire article here.