RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
It’s back! Or maybe it never left! I’m not a cologne guy, exactly. But when I spotted Elvis’ favorite cologne in the store I just had to buy a bottle to see what all the rage was about. Look out, ladies! I’m coming with Brut!
One of the ways I get exposed to new music is through Instagram or Twitter. But occasionally the posters aren’t very good at listing the artists who provide the music they use in their posts. If something catches my ear I’ll have to do a little detective work and find the song through other means. My new favorite tune is by Empire Of The Sun and it’s called “Walking On a Dream.” Catchy!
Monday the 18th – CLONING IS COOL! – Since the original glasses that my pal Isaiah Ferguson made for the Donnie Druthers puppet broke, I had to make a new set. We’re releasing a really cool 90 second stop-motion Christoween sizzle reel in early December, and all of the animation work has been done. I now have the Donnie and Frankie puppets on display in my house. But Donnie fell over and his glasses snapped in two. I made a new set by bonding two small, round, vinyl bushings together with Magic Sculpt. Then I put on two temple arms that I fashioned out of flexible plastic. Before I painted them blue, I took a scrap piece of the plastic I used to do a paint test. First, I primed the plastic. I wanted to make sure that even after it was painted the plastic would remain flexible. I have two types of blue paint that I bought for the glasses. One color was a nice dark blue that was pretty ordinary. I also bought a “foil” blue paint that looked really sharp! The dark blue was nice, but the foil blue really spoke to me! I came inside to build my audio studio for a 2 hour video game session. It was a continuation of a session I had done last week. I’ll have about two more sessions after this one to complete the role. I can’t wait to tell you more about it! When I finished the session I did some organizing on my computer. After going through the madness a few months ago of having my main data drive cease to function, I’ve decided to hedge my bets. I’m going to clone the main internal drive in my computer that holds all my programs and apps. That way, when the inevitable day comes and that drive gives out, all I have to do is pop in the clone and get back to business! Whatever it costs to do that, it’ll be worth it! Not having to put in registration numbers and passwords for every program I want to reload onto a new drive will be nice! (At least, I’m hoping it works that way!) I did some auditions and then relaxed a bit. Later I worked on editing the Christoween stop-motion video. I need to put a timeline together so the audio mixer knows how the whole thing progresses. I put in some temporary visuals that will explain what’s happening, and what we still need to edit in. Add to this the fact that my pal Scott Sebring will be coming over Tuesday to shoot some live-action footage that goes at the top and the end of the piece. So the temp visuals I edited in will give us an idea of the timing to shoot for when we start filming the new segments. I took my nightly WOG (walk/jog) and then came back inside to put a few finishing touches on the rough edit for the Christoween sizzle reel. I typed out Wally’s Week and then hit the hay so I could be up in time to start filming with Scott.
Tuesday the 19th – PUPPETEERING THE SUN! – At noon my buddy Scott Sebring arrived and we set up the main wall of the living room that we used in the miniature set for our Christoween stop-motion video. We had to rebuild a section of it to match what Isaiah had shot for continuity purposes. The shot we needed involved seeing the rising sun through a window in Donnie’s living room. After trying a few things we settled on the right way to do it – and it looks great! We also set up the wall for Donnie’s bedroom so you can get a quick glance at some of the monster posters he draws. We got everything lit, and shot a few takes of what we needed. I’m going to have Scott edit everything together because some of the stuff needed for this is above my skill level. Scott also worked on a few other things while he was here, and then he took off to go pick up his wife Vickie from work. Since I had the evening free I contacted my pal Sam Freiberger to meet me for dinner. He was in town to do some writing sessions and meetings, so we met at one of his favorite places – Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank! He thinks he may have some people he can talk to about funding a Christoween project! VERY exciting! Then he and I met at a cigar store across from Ernie’s Taco House to have a few cigars and enjoy the evening. I got home and did some auditions, relaxed a bit, took my WOG later, and spent some time in the anti-gravity chair. It was a bit chilly, but not too bad. I got back inside to do some work on the computer.
Wednesday the 20th – SPOOK’S “PISSED” OFF! – After doing a little work around the house, I rebuilt my audio studio and did another 2 hour video game session. We didn’t finish all of the material we needed to, so we’ll have to do one more session next week to finish it up. Later my gal Angi came over with her doggie Khloe. My pals Mike and Alex from Alex In Wonderland came by to look at the display case I purchased to exhibit my Stan Laurel cane. But as I was about ready to leave to meet them all for dinner, we caught Spook peeing in the corner of my living room. I was furious, as he knows better. I chastised him severely, and put him in the bathroom and shut the door. He needed a little solitary confinement for a while. I quickly cleaned up the mess and sprayed it with carpet cleaner. He’s normally really good about not peeing around the house, but I think he was overwhelmed with “dog stuff.” First off, Khloe was running around, and he may have been upset about that. Secondly, Mike & Alex have a dog and Spook may have smelled their dog on them. Suffice to say, I think Spook has now learned his lesson and won’t be “marking his territory” around here again anytime soon. At least I hope not. I can honestly say, after Spook is gone, I will never, EVER get another cat. A dog? Yes, most likely. But I think I’ve had my last cat. Despite what people say about the differences between dogs and cats – I don’t feel cats are any easier than dogs whatsoever. In fact, quite the opposite! Oh well. Lesson learned. After I cooled off Angi and I headed to Little Toni’s to meet with Alex and Mike. The pizza was delicious, but I was preoccupied with thoughts of Spook. Did this mean he was nearing the end of his life? Is he suffering from some sort of dementia? Lots of questions. I got back home and tried to relax. Later I recorded a few auditions, took my nightly WOG, and ate some leftover pizza while I worked on a few things. I put the magenta lenses in Donnie’s new glasses, and they look great!
Thursday the 21st – MOORE! ROGER MOORE! – Before I took off for a session I recorded a last-minute audition. Then I was on the road to Studiopolis to record a heavy episode of “Bleach.” There was lots for Renji to do in that episode as he’s engaged in a really intense fight. It’ll be a few days before my voice returns, as I spent most of it doing the episode! It was THAT intense! I walked over to the Christmas House, a wonderful house in Burbank that’s owned by a professional lighting technician named Alan. Each year he features a remarkable Christmas light display on his house and in his yard, and each year it gets better and better. I saw him outside working on a few things so I chatted with him for a few minutes. ‘Tis the season! I stopped by my box to pick up a package, and I finally got my Roger Moore life mask in. This is the piece that my pal Rubber Larry will be using as a reference when he sculpts Roger Moore’s head for my new life-size James Bond figure I’m adding to Planet Wallywood! It will be based on the James Bond figure that you see in Scaramanga’s Fun House in the movie “The Man With The Golden Gun.” I mailed off a few things and then sat down on the patio at Paty’s and had a salad. But it’s getting pretty cold this time of year for patio dining, so I had them turn on the heaters a bit. I got home to do some work and settle in, and I noticed that Spook hasn’t been eating. He might still be humiliated after the punishment he got for peeing on my carpet, or it might be a symptom of end-of-life issues. Either way, it’s sad. I stitched Donnie’s glasses onto his head so they would never fall off and break. I put tiny holes in the ends of the temple arms on his glasses, looped some thread through them and anchored them into the fake fur that comprises his wild hairstyle. Given that his hair is wild and black, the black thread was disguised quite nicely. I put both puppets and some of the prop presents from the sizzle reel into one of the main display cases in my Puppet Room. I did some more work and relaxed. Later I recorded my auditions and noticed that Spook had been eating a little bit. In addition to all of his other “old-age” problems, he sometimes gets constipated, so I have to keep an eye on that too. Ugh. I took my WOG and then worked on the computer for a bit. The maids are coming tomorrow to clean, and then I have the whole weekend open to relax. It’s been a VERY busy week so far!
Friday the 22nd – AND THAT’S A WRAP! – Right after noon the maids came over to clean, and when they were done I picked up my pal Sara to head to Coral Café for lunch. Not wanting to wait another week for Thanksgiving, I was craving turkey and mashed potatoes. And that’s exactly what I had. And pumpkin pie! In fact, I actually ate too much and was REALLY full! On the way home I picked up a package at my box. It was a really nice blanket from some friends of mine whom I sent a few autographed pictures to. When I got home I edited together a teaser for the Christoween sizzle reel. This is going to be fun! I relaxed for a bit, and then checked on Spook. He’s been eating well, and he peed in his litter box a few times. So all seems back to normal. For now. I drove to Denny’s to get some food, and then came home and did my nightly WOG. But it was pretty chilly. I came back inside to do some editing, and then I ate my Denny’s food and watched an episode of “The Incredible Hulk.” In the episode David Banner loses the use of his legs after an accident. It was quite a good episode!
Saturday the 23rd – WHEW! I NEEDED THAT! – It ended up being a sleepy Saturday, as I slept quite a bit! But I needed it. Later I got up and headed to CVS to get a photo printed before they closed. I also spotted a few “mini” Christmas stockings that I purchased. I had been talking to my attorney recently about doing mini Christoween Stalkings, and she thought it was a great idea. Apparently the idea of mini-stockings was also thought of by others. I grabbed a few of them to use for reference. I got some groceries at the store and then headed to Jack In The Box to get some food to go. I got back home and put everything away, ate, and relaxed. I looked at the photo print I had made, which was the info card for my Stan Laurel cane display. But everything was much too small, so I’m going to lay it out again in a slightly bigger format. I looked at the display case again and came up with a few new ideas about its utilization. I’m going to confer with Mike at Alex In Wonderland to make it all a reality. I always love working on new displays for Planet Wallywood. This case will fit perfectly in my upstairs hallway. I already have a spot all picked out for its new home! When I spoke to Alan at The Christmas House the other day, I put in another pitch for Paul McCartney’s “Wonderful Christmastime,” one of my favorite Christmas songs. Given its bouncy, electronic nature, I felt this song would lend itself well to Alan’s display. But at 3 and a half minutes in length it may be a bit long for his purposes. So I sat down and edited the song to a runtime of under 2 minutes. I emailed it to him to see what he thought. I took my WOG and spent some time in the anti-grav chair afterwards. It was very humid out, as we’re expecting some rain soon. It was actually quite a nice, warm-ish night. I came back inside, did some work on the computer, made a salad and watched another episode of “Boris Karloff’s Thriller.” This was the third episode in the second season called “Premature Burial.” Not only was it loosely based on an Edgar Allen Poe story, but Boris was actually IN the episode. Really great!
Sunday the 24th – THIS STUFF REALLY WORKS! – It was another “sleepaway Sunday,” as I spent the majority of the day catching up on rest and relaxing. I did notice later in the afternoon that the laxative that I had been giving Spook with his food had worked VERY well. REALLY well, actually! WOW! I did some work around the house, recorded some auditions that were due on Monday, and relaxed some more. I wasn’t really feeling a WOG, so I took the night off. I’m allowed to do that from time to time if I’m not feeling it. I prepped for the new week ahead and hit the hay.
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
The Christoween puppets look pretty great in their new place in the Puppet Room display case!
Here are a few of those small Christmas stockings I found. I put the iPod and the Splenda packets in the shot for scale. I think we’ll do this with Christoween Stalkings next year! GREAT idea!
Here’s the teaser for our Christoween sizzle reel. Stay tuned for the official release in early December!
