Jun 2010
McKinley Whitehall, Inc. - David Simkins Writes for Television | Jul 2010 | May 2010

Kubrick. Scorsese. Bliss.

06/28/10 09:27 AM Filed in: Play

Kubrick vs Scorsese from Leandro Copperfield on Vimeo.

[Via kottke.org]

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Ian Fleming has some advice

06/23/10 10:19 PM Filed in: Work
Okay. Go.

[Via Coudal Partners]

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The Sci-Fi Airshow

06/22/10 09:06 PM Filed in: Play
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If I was eleven years old (and most days I am) the slimmest thought of this being even close to a real thing would have made my Irwin Allen-loving head explode. The joy here is the exquisite “reality” the site employs. These ships are real! Full-size and built to fly. If only. Man. If only.






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Handwritten emails

06/22/10 08:50 PM Filed in: Play
Pilot has a nifty web-based app that turns your handwritten text into a font. This has been done before but this implementation is kinda brilliant.
 [Via Lifehacker]

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Ada

06/19/10 02:52 PM Filed in: Play
After the pilot for The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. was ordered to series by Fox back in the mid-‘90s I found myself attached to the show as a co-producer. Exec producers Carlton Cuse and Jeffrey Boam asked me to come up with an episode pronto and I landed on Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine as the basis for story. Brisco was continually interested in what the future held so having him run up against a villain using a computer to accomplish his crimes made sense. The script was rejected and something else was tried... something I can’t recall. But Babbage, and Ada Lovelace remain fondly in my memory alongside Brisco’s adventure with their machine.


Information Pioneers: Ada Lovelace from Information Pioneers on Vimeo.



[Via kottke.org]

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Yes, I invented the latest iPhone

06/12/10 11:51 PM Filed in: Work
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See this? It’s a fictional video telephone I created for Syfy’s WAREHOUSE 13. When I tackled the rewrite that resulted in the show’s pilot and subsequent series I knew that the characters, flung far to the four corners on their pilot mission, would need to stay in visual contact with each other (in series, too). The ubiquitous cell phone was too boring a device. So, since the show dealt with unknown and mysterious tech (occasionally), I chose to gift the characters with a Philo T. Farnsworth (he invented TV) creation called a “Vaudio Device.” Or, “Farnsworth” for short. The show’s art department came up with a fantastic design (including technical blueprints that look so real it’s freaky) and the prop department built it.

(check out this fan-built prop replica)

Each week Pete, Myka, Artie and Claudia video-gab back and forth about the latest mystery. Oh, okay, so maybe I was inspired a little bit by iChat.

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But I’m still gonna say Steve Jobs ripped off my Farnsworth idea. Of course, I’m kidding. But I feel obliged to take a little credit here.

Click on the (Apple site image) to see their Farnsworth in action.

You’re welcome, Steve. ;-)

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In the background

06/06/10 10:45 AM Filed in: Play
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After watching The Jungle Book for the millionth time with my kids, there’s only so much entertainment left that can be squeezed out of Baloo and King Louie’s jive. So, not surprisingly, my eye has been drawn to the backgrounds meant to serve as stage settings to the foreground hijinks. More than once I’ve been struck by how gorgeous those backgrounds are. The backgrounds to Lady and the Tramp and 101 Dalmatians are spectacular.

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Wouldn’t it be nice, I thought, if only one could get those backgrounds scrubbed of all those offending major and minor characters? Leave it to the web. More specifically, to Bob Richards. His site, Animation Backgrounds is something to see. Go see it.





[Via Urlesque]


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The Secret Powers of Time

06/06/10 12:51 AM Filed in: Play
Kottke says: A fascinating 10-minute animated talk by Philip Zimbardo about the different "time zones" or "time perspectives" that people can have and how the different zones affect people's world views.



[Via kottke.org]

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TED: Touch your data

06/03/10 04:54 AM Filed in: Work | Play
Via Engadget:

In February 2010, the man who built the technology of Minority Report twice -- once for the movie, and once in real life -- spoke at TED about the future of user interface design. Yesterday, TED posted John Underkoffler's entire fifteen-minute video presentation -- a copy of which you'll find right after the break. Get a curated glimpse into his company's tech in the following demo, and hear from the man himself when the gloves might come off.



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