Daily Archives: April 12, 2014

Morgan Spurlock begins second season as CNN's 'Inside Man'

Posted: April 12, 2014 at 3:40 pm

PASADENA, Calif. Documentarian Morgan Spurlock has focused his cameras on everything from the fast food industry to education. The new season of his CNN series, Morgan Spurlock Inside Man, will deal with such broad topics as celebrity, futurism, pets in America, income inequality and college athletes.

Long before the public gets to see his work told through a serious investigative look accented with his dry sense of humor the process starts with an idea.

When the show got greenlit for a second season, we already had a list of things that we wanted to talk about. Its stuff we pull out of the headlines, newspapers, news reports, magazines. You name it, Spurlock says. We have a list of 10 to 12 ideas that we say to the network that they are the ones we are thinking about.

The network selects ideas they like. Then Spurlock and his team pick the ones they want to do. Once theres a general agreement, research starts to flesh out the ideas. The eight topics that show the most potential go into production.

He knows his stories will be seen around the world through the global news channel, but the one key element he keeps in mind when selecting topics is finding stories that primarily impact an American audience. Many people told him that a story on immigration in the first season of the CNN series didnt affect most Americans, but he showed how it touches the country by looking at the food a person buys.

What I wanted to do with this series is to get people to connect the dots to see how they are affected by these stories, Spurlock says.

It was 10 years ago that Spurlock made national news with his Oscar-nominated film Super Size Me, a documentary about the ill effects he suffered eating a diet of only McDonalds fast food. His first TV series was as executive producer of the FX series 30 Days, where he embedded himself with his subjects for a month. Spurlock also directed the 3-D concert film One Direction: This Is Us.

Once the ideas are in place whether it be for film or TV the final product will almost always be different than what was originally discussed.

When I was making Super Size Me years ago, a filmmaker friend of mine gave me some advice. He said if the movie that I end up with is the exact same movie you envisioned from the beginning, then you didnt listen to anybody along the way, Spurlock says. Whenever we film an idea in a perfect world if everyone had rainbows and unicorns it would work out the most perfect way possible.

Then you start shooting and everything gets thrown out the window because everything you have written down doesnt happen. Things go in a very direction so you have to go with the way the story takes you.

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Morgan Spurlock begins second season as CNN's 'Inside Man'

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Cloud Software, Big Data, Virtual Teams, Outsourcing, Future of Law Firms Keynote, Futurist Speaker – Video

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Cloud Software, Big Data, Virtual Teams, Outsourcing, Future of Law Firms Keynote, Futurist Speaker
Clip from Patrick Dixon #39;s keynote at a Netlaw conference for leading law firms. Increase in cloud computing, outsourcing and cost saving processes. Web based...

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Cloud Software, Big Data, Virtual Teams, Outsourcing, Future of Law Firms Keynote, Futurist Speaker - Video

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QnA with Futurist Anders Sorman-Nilsson – Video

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QnA with Futurist Anders Sorman-Nilsson
In this interview, keynote speaker and futurist Anders Sorman-Nilsson gets interviewed on Digital Disruption and Megatrends, adding his perspectives on chall...

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Space Station Live: Story Time From Space #Nasa #ISS – Video

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Space Station Live: Story Time From Space #Nasa #ISS
Marshall Space Flight Center #39;s Lori Meggs interviews astrophysicist and children #39;s book author Jeffrey Bennett ("Max Goes to the Moon #39;) and astronaut Alvin D...

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ScienceCasts: Separated at Launch – Video

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ScienceCasts: Separated at Launch
Visit http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2014/10apr_twins/ for more. Next year, with the assistance of the world #39;s only twin astronauts, NA...

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Hermanos Calatrava – Space Oddity (Curiosidad Del Espacio) (David Bowie Cover) – Video

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Hermanos Calatrava - Space Oddity (Curiosidad Del Espacio) (David Bowie Cover)
From #39; #39; Gigi L #39;Amoroso / Space Oddity #39; #39; Label: Belter -- 08 462 Format: Vinyl, 7", Single, 45 RPM Country: Spain Released: 1974 Tracklist A Gigi L #39;Amoroso ...

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Space Station Crew Discusses Life in Space with Students at Sandy Hook Elementary School – Video

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Space Station Crew Discusses Life in Space with Students at Sandy Hook Elementary School
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 39 Flight Engineers Rick Mastracchio and Steve Swanson of NASA fielded questions about life and work in or...

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(Minecraft) Deadly Orbit: S1EP4 – The Spruce Tree – Video

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(Minecraft) Deadly Orbit: S1EP4 - The Spruce Tree
The boys continue to survive in the space station but they need wood. The only sapling they have is spruce which refuses to grow... Enjoy. Jayson: http://www...

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NASA and the International Space Station Help Show It’s a Small World After all – Video

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NASA and the International Space Station Help Show It #39;s a Small World After all
On April 10, Disney Parks is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the iconic song "It #39;s a Small World" and its namesake attraction that opened as a tribute to...

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Space station android to get legs, says NASA

Posted: at 12:45 am

NASA has built a pair of legs for Robonaut 2, a robotic torso currently orbiting Earth aboard the International Space Station.

A robotic humanoid astronaut on the International Space Station is about to get its legs.

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NASA has crafted a pair of space legs forRobonaut 2, its robotic astronaut torso on the space station now. The legs will fly to space aboard SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule, set to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday (April 14).

Once installed, the legs will give Robonaut 2 which is currently attached to a support post on the orbiting outpost an extended leg span of 9 feet (2.7 meters), according to NASA. The legs are expected to allow Robonaut 2 (R2 for short) the flexibility to move about the station. Eventually, NASA officials hope that R2 will be able to perform repetitive tasks inside and outside the space laboratory, allowing astronauts to focus on more complex work. [See more photos of Robonaut 2 on Earth and in space]

"The new legs are designed for work both inside and outside the station, but upgrades to R2's upper body will be necessary before it can begin work outside the space station," NASA officials said in a statement released in March.

R2's legs are not like a human's lower limbs. The legs each have seven joints and in place of feet, the robot will have an "end effector" attached to the end of each leg, NASA officials said. The end effector allows R2 to use sockets and handrails inside and outside the station, and the two devices also come equipped with vision tools that controllers can use to visualize and automate the movements of the legs, NASA added.

Robonaut 2 has been onboard the space station since February 2011, and since that time, it has performed a variety of tasks to show its usefulness in microgravity. The $2.5 million humanoid robot can flip switches, press buttons and turn nobs.

"In preparation for future spacewalks, R2 has worked inside the space station with space blankets and other flexible materials, both through ground control and through teleoperation by the on-board crew," NASA officials added.

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Space station android to get legs, says NASA

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