Allan Duffin - Writer/Producer

Thanks for the downloads! History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police hits nearly 6,000

Thanks to everyone who downloaded an eBook copy of History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers during Kaplan Publishing's free eBook offer last month. Almost 6,000 people downloaded the book for their personal libraries! This includes the readers produced by Amazon.com, iTunes, Sony, and Barnes & Noble.

If you haven't checked out GoodReads.com yet, head on over and take a look. Lots of book lovers talking to each other and recommending titles. You can see the page for History in Blue at this link.

Get a FREE eBook version of History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police

If you have an eReader, take advantage of this limited offer from the publisher: a FREE eBook version of History in Blue: 160 Years of Women Police, Sheriffs, Detectives, and State Troopers!

The promotion runs through 10 January (update: just extended to 17 January!). Just click on the link below to go to the publisher's website:

http://www.freekaplanebooks.com/

Versions are available for the Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple iPad, and Sony eReader. A version for the Kindle will be released shortly. Happy reading, and Happy New Year!

Binky the Donut quits his job

Hot on the heels of the "Girl Quits Her Job on Dry Erase Board, Emails Entire Office" hoax, here are the compromising photos of Binky the Donut telling his boss at Dunkin Donuts that he no longer wants to work there:

We received the following photos last night from a bear claw who works with this donut, Binky. We don't know Binky's last name. Today, Binky quit his job with a (flash) bang by emailing her entire staff at Dunkin Donuts, about 20 employees were told. Awesome didn't begin to describe this office hero. Check back as we will be updating if we get more details.

Today I became a Kindle Warrior: TheatreBook and Tow Truck Kings

I enjoy writing about a variety of topics, and over the last several years I've been fortunate to work as a regular contributor to two terrific industry publications: DramaBiz Magazine (the business of theatre) and Towing & Recovery Footnotes (the towing & recovery industry).

I've collected a number of those pieces into two eBooks — TheatreBook and Tow Truck Kings — available exclusively for the Amazon Kindle reader.

There's a lot of entertaining and useful information in each eBook. Theatre managers looking for tips on how to light a production or repair a costume, vehicle owners curious about how first responders clear a traffic accident, towing company owners who want to boost business — there's a little something for everyone in these two eBooks, in a portable and easy-to-read format.

You can download a free preview to your Kindle. That way you can check out the table of contents for each eBook, plus the first chapter or so. I hope you enjoy reading about the people in these two worlds as much as I did writing about them. You can click on the links below to go to Amazon's Kindle store:

TheatreBook: A Compact Guide to Running Your Theatre

Tow Truck Kings: Stories of the Towing Industry's Best & Brightest

One of my favorite Dunkin' Donuts commercials

I went to college in Boston. There's a Dunkin' Donuts on Boylston Street. It was (and still is, according to a good friend) an awesome place. The classic "Time to Make the Donuts" commercials are part of our popular culture, but this one -- from a few years ago -- is also hilarious and memorable.

Comic books, Charlton Comics, and how the job gets done

If you're a fan of comic books, head on over to Diversions of the Groovy Kind for lots of info and even scanned artwork to enjoy. I've always loved comic books, and it's nice to be able to look at issues online, appreciating the stories and art that provided fun diversions when I was a kid -- and still do today. Two of my favorite artists, Russ Heath and Pete Morisi , are featured in Diversions. (Morisi, by the way, was an officer with the NYPD who moonlighted as a comic book artist. How's that for variety?)

Diversions of the Groovy Kind includes material from the big companies like Marvel and DC, but also takes the time to feature smaller publishers (many of them defunct) like Charlton Comics, one of my favorites. Charlton was never known for quality printing, but they published a lot of fun books with material by big names in the comics industry, including John Byrne, Mike Zeck, Dick Giordano, Sam Glanzman, Tom Sutton, Steve Ditko, Joe Staton, and others. Many of these luminaries were new to comics and had their early work published by Charlton.

As a kid I visited the Charlton plant in Derby, Connecticut. It was my first real exposure to how the publishing world worked, and it was fascinating -- especially since Charlton was vertically integrated. All functions, from layout to printing to distribution, were under one roof. My visit was a crash course in the publishing process. Later on I worked in a printing plant for awhile. All of this occurred before I became a writer, but I'm grateful that I learned about -- and learned to appreciate -- the industry at such an early age.

(Graphic: A gorgeous Mike Zeck cover for Charlton Comics' Scary Tales. Click here for a closer look.)

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.

Farewell, Rocco

It's been such a strange and tragic month. While Michele and I were out of town for the funeral of one of our family members, I received word that I'd lost a friend who was serving a combat tour in Afghanistan. Rocco Barnes was one hell of a guy. In addition to working on film and television projects, he was also a U.S. Army Reservist. Excerpting from his obituary in the Los Angeles Times:

Maj. Rocco M. Barnes was supposed to be back home in Los Angeles this summer at the end of his fourth overseas tour with the California Army National Guard. But the 51-year-old entertainment company executive was killed June 4 in Afghanistan, the victim of what officials described as a vehicle rollover.

An Ohio native selected for the elite Special Forces, he served two tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. Friends say he was driven by his passion for both the military and the movie business.

As a young man, Barnes worked as a coal miner before getting into the security field. He  provided security for [Arnold] Schwarzenegger on the sets of "True Lies" and "Collateral Damage," and was head of West Coast operations for the security company Vance International before beginning his career in entertainment.

Although he was quiet about his military activities, friends said, Barnes was in the thick of combat. About two weeks before his death, he was part of a team that cleared the way for the landing of a helicopter that airlifted a severely burned, 22-month-old Afghan boy to emergency care.

I had the privilege of working with Rocco on several TV projects and always appreciated his quiet confidence, warmth and camaraderie. He was modest about all he had done and all he was doing, and my heart breaks to know that he's gone.

(Obituary in the Los Angeles Times, written by Steve Chawkins)
(Details on Rocco's last mission, from AfghanistanMyLastTour.com)

Handmade for Baby

If you're looking for new clothes for your munchkin, I'd like to introduce you to a friend's business, Handmade for Baby.

"Handmade for Baby" designs begin with the practical needs expressed by my friends and colleagues who are mothers to infants and toddlers. Add concepts based on images from my childhood, observations from nature and studies in childhood development. Then, using ecologically responsible and ethically produced materials, I produce the various pieces you see in this shop.

Custom orders can also be placed via this site.  So, if there's a piece with the right idea but you need it tweaked to suit the little one in your life, get in touch with me through Etsy and let's create something beautiful to welcome and nurture baby.

Anak takes a lot of care in everything she does, so give her online store a look. Thanks! Expanding her line, she'll be introducing doggie clothes in the near future.

Patrick Duffy and the Crab discuss Facebook

Random strangeness, starring actor Patrick Duffy and a puppet crab. Courtesy Adam Donshik.