RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
Seen outside my local McDonald’s. Sigh. The American public school system is a failure.
“Open the Eyes of My Heart” by Michael W. Smith has been in my head lately. We used to sing this all the time at evening church, but the scamdemic brought all of that to an end, and it never came back. I miss evening church. And I still love this song.
Monday the 2nd – VOICE REST! – Given the fact that the previous weekend at Monsterpalooza was so overwhelmingly amazing, I decided to rest and relax all day. I also needed the voice rest, as my voice was inflamed and fatigued from all the use over the past 4 days. By the end of the day it had started coming back somewhat. I have some sessions later in the week, so I hope it’s fully back by then. My pal Sara came over to pick up a check for the assistant work she provided over the weekend. I drove over to the store to get some groceries, and later I did some auditions. I was elated that the vocal rest had indeed helped my poor, old inflamed vocal cords considerably. When I opened my front door to go take my nightly WOG (walk/jog) two frightened Mourning Doves flittered away into the night. Apparently they chose the top of my door frame as a resting place for the night. I felt bad I had to disturb them, but I had no idea they were there. Had I known, I would have gone out my garage instead. The night was beautiful, so after my WOG I spent some time outside in the anti-grav chair just resting, recalibrating and reflecting. When I came back inside I began the arduous task of writing up Wally’s Week and organizing all of the great photos Mark Fullerton took over the weekend. I even edited together a quick video of my experience over the weekend cosplaying again as Darth Vader, which I considered to be the highlight of the weekend.
Tuesday the 3rd – GENTLY DOWN THE STREAM! – Shortly after noon I woke up and did some work on the computer. My A/V guy Brandon phoned to let me know two of his guys were coming over to hook up my Roku so I could have streaming video in the Tranquility Zone. I wasn’t able to access the shows “Ersan Kuneri” (the Turkish sitcom that I worked on, dubbing the lead character to English), and “Tiger & Bunny” (the anime show I dubbed) any other way, so I broke down and added a streaming service so I could see them. I may or may not keep it after I’m done viewing the shows. Personally, I’m not much of a streaming fan. As the guys worked away upstairs I came downstairs to work on the computer. It was thundering out, with occasional short bursts of lightning. Cool! A pre-summer storm! Soon after, the sky opened up and it rained for a bit. When the A/V guys left I did some auditions, and then rested some more. Later I did more auditions. I didn’t want to tax my voice by doing them all in one sitting, so I spread them out over time. I worked on the computer organizing photo files, and then took off on my nightly WOG. I hadn’t been able to go out for my nightly exercise Friday and Saturday night, and it sure felt great to be back out! Afterwards, I sat in the anti-grav chair enjoying the quiet night with a hot cup of Throat Coat tea. My voice had improved, but it still wasn’t totally back yet. I have a short session on Wednesday for a new animated series, and a HUGE gig on Thursday for one of the summer blockbusters. Fingers crossed my pipes return to full capacity!
Wednesday the 4th – SONOBUS! SUPERB! – The day started with my filling out a TON of paperwork for the job I’d be doing on the summer blockbuster film on Thursday. My pal Scott Sebring was in the area, so he came by to download and install the Sonobus program (a program that was totally new to me) that we’d be using for our Voice Over session on Thursday for the session. Once we got it installed and set up, it looked like it was pretty easy. But new technology always makes me a bit nervous at first, until I get the hang of it. He also went up to the Tranquility Zone and helped set up my streaming capabilities with my new Roku. He helped me register the device, and get set up with a new streaming account so I can start watching shows. Scott and I drove over to Paty’s to get some lunch, and then I headed back home to record some auditions. Around 5 I went over to Studiopolis to do a few hours’ worth of work on a new animated series that will be streamed. It’s super-secret, so I can’t say anything about it – other than it looks like it will be pretty cool! The reason for the session being scheduled later in the day is that the main production team is in Australia. So 5pm L.A. time is the first part of the day “down under.” The session was a blast! On the way home I stopped at Subway and got a sandwich, and then I headed inside to relax for a bit and rest my voice. Luckily the voice I did for the character was in the area of my vocal cords that didn’t seem to be too badly affected by the vocal inflammation I had endured. Later I did some more auditions, did some video editing, and took my nightly WOG. There was a cool mist in the night air, and it was delightful! When I came back inside I prepped for the big Thursday blockbuster session in my home studio. I was hoping everything would go well, as it’s a HUGE session! It’s exciting, but a bit nerve wracking at the same time, given the fact that I was relatively unfamiliar with this new audio interface.
Thursday the 5th – EASY PEASY! – Thinking about the upcoming session, and using the new application, prevented me from sleeping very well overnight. I ended up waking up early, and I fed Spook and got him settled so he wouldn’t bother me during the expected 7 hour session in my home studio. I made some tea, organized my home studio for maximum efficiency, and downloaded the scripts we’d need for the day’s session. The session was an ADR and walla session for one of the summer’s big blockbusters. (ADR stands for additional dialogue recording, and walla is basically a group who adds voices and vocal effects to fill out the audio landscape of a scene) I haven’t done much walla in the past, because the sessions are generally pretty long – and I usually don’t have the available time in my schedule to devote to sessions that long. But it just so happened that I was free for the day and available, so I happily took the opportunity. The Sonobus program can accommodate a large group of actors who are all signed on-line at the same time, and it’s all controlled by a singular audio producer at a specific location. From there the director has a job that’s tantamount to “herding cats,” as he keeps everyone focused and in-line. Our director was doing an amazing job of explaining the new interface, as well as keeping the session moving along at a brisk pace! We had a lot of cues and incidental material to cover, and it was all handled masterfully! If this session had been performed with this many actors on a soundstage, we would have gotten less than half of the work done that we ended up getting accomplished. It’s an amazing technology, and I’m an official Sonobus convert! I can’t wait to tell you more about the session and the film we worked on. But by the end of summer, hopefully I can fill you in with more details. We finished up around 5:30 (a little earlier than expected) and it was an amazing day. My assistant Emily came over for a bit to bring some items for my cat Spook, and then I recorded my daily auditions. I relaxed for a bit, thankful for the two great days of incredible sessions. Perhaps the work lull that we’ve been experiencing in this town over the last several months is finally coming to an end! Nothing gets me higher than working fun jobs! Later I did some video editing, took my WOG, and spent some “cool down” time in the anti-grav chair being reflecting and thankful. I had received news earlier in the day that my soon-to-be 85 year old mom had been admitted to the hospital. They’re doing some tests to find out why she’s tired all the time, so I’ve been holding her in my thoughts and prayers. She’s definitely going to be on my mind for the foreseeable future. I came back inside to eat some dinner and wind down.
Friday the 6th – BUSY, BUSY, BUSY! – The maids arrived just after noon to clean Planet Wallywood. When they left I headed over to see Alex in Wonderland to have her replace some buttons on a few cool new shirts I just bought. I hit McDonald’s for lunch, and then headed home to set up for an audio test with a local studio. They wanted to do a signal check in anticipation for a session next week. Once they gave me the all-clear, I sped off to my box to pick up some packages. That was my last official act before the weekend starts! I relaxed, did some video editing, took my WOG and relaxed!
Saturday the 7th – OLD FRIENDS! – My computer guy Thor dropped by to pick up the components for the new computer system I’m having built. The meltdowns of the hard drives I experienced late last year awakened me to the fact that my current system is pretty old, so a new system is in order! He’s going to take all the components home and get everything set up and loaded, so all we have to do is load the data and we’re good. Then I’ll have to learn how some of the new interfaces work. I also gave him my entire binder filled with all of my program discs. I worked around the house until I heard from my pal Joey Torino, who was in town with his 1976 Gran Torino on a trailer. He wanted to meet up locally so I could bring my Gran Torino over for some photos. We’ve been trying to get this together for a while now, but today it was finally going to happen! I met Joey and his friend Jesse at Paty’s for a wonderful lunch, and then I had them follow me to my auxiliary garage. Conveniently enough, there’s a big empty parking lot across from my garage’s location, so we took the Torinos over there to get some great shots! Since I had the Torino out and fired up, I decided to keep it for a few days and drive it around. It really needs a good wash, but if I put it back to bed in a few days it really doesn’t make much sense to wash it, just to put it away again. I drove back home and relaxed. Later I did some more video editing, recorded an audition that was due on Monday, and then prepped for this month’s “Laurel & Hardy Theatre.” Since I finished the “Year Two” Blu-ray last May, it was time to get back into the “Forty Shorties.” Stan & Ollie made 40 short talkie films after they emerged from the silent era, and before they started doing features. I have all of the titles of their shorts on individual slips of paper, and I randomly draw a title out of a Sons of the Desert fez that I call “The 40 Shorties Fez.” Over the past year I’ve already watched 20 of the shorts, so I only have 20 left. Then I move on to the feature films. After I made and baked my traditional Chef Boyardee pizza-in-a-box, filled my Stan Laurel ceramic mug with ice and Diet Pepsi, popped my popcorn and grabbed a banana Twinkie, I was ready to go! I donned my custom Laurel & Hardy pjs, my Sons of the Desert fez, and got ready to draw out the first title. The first one is a hilarious film called “Scram!” that’s always fun to watch. Even when you know what’s going to happen, it’s still fun to watch these two geniuses at work…and at their peak. The second one was “Men O’ War,” which was one of the first talkie shorts they did; in 1929 to be exact. This film was done at the beginning of the advent of sound in movies. FUN NIGHT! I fully enjoyed the laughs and relaxation!
Sunday the 8th – HERE WE GO AGAIN! – As is usual with a Sunday, I slept quite late in the day. When I got up late in the afternoon and checked the news, the stories I was seeing coming out of downtown L.A. were not good! In fact, it’s downright disgusting. My friend Amanda was in the area, and she said some of the freeways were shut down entirely. When she’s in the area she always likes to go eat at Bob’s Big Boy, so we hopped in the Gran Torino and headed out for dinner, trying to forget the darkness going on around us. Though I don’t live anywhere near the problem areas, it’s just sad to know that it’s going on in this city that I love so much. After dinner I came home to relax. Luckily, while we were having dinner, the freeways had opened up a bit, so Amanda would have no trouble getting back home. Later I took my nightly WOG, and then came inside to scan checks for a deposit I’d be making on Monday. What a week! But the nicest thing of all is…my voice is almost entirely back! Whew!
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
I think a Mourning Dove couple are eyeing my patio as a good place to build a nest. This little baby was hanging around so closely, that I was able to snap a few great shots of her. Beautiful!
The “Torino Brothers” and their babies!
