November 21 – November 27 (2022)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

When I saw this on-line I couldn’t help but grab it. Paul McCartney and Superman singing together? Awesome! But what songs were they jamming on? “Listen to What the Superman Said?” “Live and Let Fly?” And of course…”HELP!” My buddy Pat suggested “Magneto and Titanium Man!” Nice!

While watching the Beatles film “Get Back,” the standout song to me is “Don’t Let Me Down.” LOVE this song!

Monday the 21st – SKELETON HANDS! – After the amazing (but exhausting) weekend I had at Anime Pasadena, it sure felt good to sleep late. When I got up I noticed that a lot of photos from the con had begun getting posted on different platforms. I had some errands to do, so I hopped in the car and headed to the post office to mail off some stuff; including this week’s Christoween Capers Aspiring Voice Actor tee-shirt winner! I dropped by my mailbox to pick up my packages, got some lunch at McDonald’s, and then came home to relax and do some light work around the house. My seamstress Alex in Wonderland has some time scheduled for me next week to work on several projects, so I wanted to be sure and get some stuff prepped to take to her. One of the things I needed to complete for my new Mahna Mahna replica Muppet were the two puppet “skeleton” hands; the armature wire and foam understructure that will go inside the puppet’s arms and hands. I start by sketching out the form of the hand itself on paper, and then I trace it on to a small sheet of clear plastic; one for the right, and one for the left. Then I’ll take armature wire and start building each of the fingers. I like to use one long piece of wire for all the fingers on the hand, and bind it all together in the palm area. Then I’ll take Magic Sculpt and cover the bound area so it stays in place. Once that cures, I’ll snap the hands off of the clear plastic backing, and put Magic Sculpt on the back of the hands too, just to make sure all the wiring is sealed in nicely on both sides. Then I worked a larger piece of armature wire through pieces of foam cord, which will serve as the arms. Mahna’s arms in the classic Henson sketch aren’t on rods, like other Muppets. But instead his arms and hands are “frozen in place.” The armature wire running down the length of the foam cord can be bent into any shape needed. Because the fingers are wires too, they can be posed in any way needed. Once the hands and arms are covered with the fleece material, they’re stitched onto the puppet’s body. Later at night I made a Tombstone pizza and watched a few episodes of “The Lone Ranger.”

Tuesday the 22nd – HONDA HUNT?! – Since I’m looking to purchase a new, larger vehicle for the future (and semi-retire my soon-to-be 20 year old Mustang) I decided to stop by the Honda dealer in my area. I had already gone to the Toyota dealer the week before, and now it was time to check out Hondas. My mechanic told me that the two kinds of cars they never see are Toyotas and Hondas; because they basically never break. I also want to check out Subaru before I make my final decision. While the vehicles I’m seeing are very nice, I have to keep reminding myself that these are far from my “dream cars,” and that they’re just basic utilities for day to day life. I already have my two dream cars (the Mustang and the Torino) so I just need to resist the need to be “wowed” by a car’s design. Once I get over that, I think I’ll find the car I need. But basically, Honda, Toyota, Subaru…they all seem pretty much the same to me. I got my packages at my box, and mailed off some Christoween promo cards to Patrick Owsley, the artist who did all the artwork for my Christoween project. He’s going to be appearing at L.A. Comic Con next weekend and he offered to pass out some cards. Nice! I got back home and got ready for dinner with my friend Amanda. I hadn’t seen her in a while and since she’s been touring the world for the past several months, we had lots of catching up to do. Later I got a nap and did some work around the house.

Wednesday the 23rd – CON CRUD?! – First thing in the morning I noticed that my voice was hoarse. I knew I had talked quite a bit over the weekend at the convention, but I didn’t think I talked quite THAT much! I called my doctor and he gave me a prescription of antibiotics just in case it ended up being more severe than just vocal fatigue. It wasn’t a cold because I had no accompanying sore throat, and no nasal stuffiness. So I just decided to take it easy the rest of the day. I sure hope I didn’t catch some sort of “con crud” (as they used to call it) this past weekend. But aside from my vocal problems I felt all right.

Thursday the 24th – HOARSE-Y THANKSGIVING! – About 10 of us had a reservation in the evening for Thanksgiving dinner at the Smoke House, and I felt well enough to attend. I just wouldn’t be very talkative (which kinda takes the fun out of it all). It was fun gathering for some good food, and my pal Jim Ojala and his group just happened to be seated right next to our table! What are the chances?! I got home and dug out my steamer to see if that would help the situation. I continued to lay around and not do much of anything.

Friday the 25th – BRONCHIAL BLECH! – My situation had gotten a bit worse (good thing I got on that antibiotic!) as a very painful cough developed by Friday morning. The phlegm factory that set up in my lungs was working double overtime, which caused every muscle in my body to strain every time I coughed! I felt like I had gone 6 rounds with Clubber Lange! But still, while I had a hoarse voice and was coughing up all sorts of craziness, I still had no sore throat or nasal stuffiness. Something just decided to settle in my lungs and make the next week of my life a living hell. Lucky me. Getting good, solid rest was near impossible, because the noise of the fluid in my lungs kept waking me up as I breathed. VERY annoying!

Saturday the 26th – NECESSARY ERRANDS! – I hadn’t gone shopping for groceries in a while and there were things I definitely needed. So I got up and went out to get some more supplies at CVS, and get a few grocery items. My appetite hadn’t been affected at all, as I enjoyed getting three delicious enchiritos at Taco Bell for lunch. I laid around the rest of the day as much as possible, took some cough medicine and tried to recuperate. Later I got up to update the Christoweek page on Christoween.net, and I made a salad and started watching “Get Back” on Blu Ray. The film is in 3 parts, and I believe each part is 3 hours long. To be honest, the first part is pretty depressing. You can tell that each of the Beatles would rather be somewhere else, and that their hearts just weren’t in it any longer. They seemed directionless and really wanting for a “daddy figure” like the late Brian Epstein. And it all just falls apart from there. It’s tough to watch “the mighty Beatles” lacking a lot of the magic that had made them so special.

Sunday the 27th – BEATLE BINGEING! – With my bronchial situation only getting moderately better, I stayed inside and continued resting and watching the Beatles “Get Back” film. Doing auditions is out of the question because I don’t have my full vocal capacity back yet. So, I’ll just continue to lie low and recuperate. I really hate being sick!

And how was YOUR week?!

PIX FROM THE WEEK