RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
This explains better than I could, why I like to WOG every night. Hopefully it may inspire you to do it too!
While I was out in the anti-grav chair after my WOG last Saturday night/Sunday morning, enjoying a nice cigar, I started humming “Easy” by the Commodores. I WAS easy like a Sunday morning, and it actually WAS a Sunday morning!
Monday the 21st – LUNA-CY! – Since I’ve listed my life-size Mike and Sulley Monsters, Inc. figures for sale, I’ve gotten a few nibbles but nothing serious. My pal Scott Sebring met a toy dealer named Robert Luna who was interested in them, so he came by Planet Wallywood to have a look at them and take a tour. Then we went to grab lunch at Paty’s on the patio to relax and chat. He’s a great guy, and once he saw my Rowlf Muppet replica he went nuts. Rowlf is his “spirit Muppet.” So I got Rowlf off of his stand and we made a little video. Fun stuff! I love doing that! Later my friend Jenalyn came over and we headed to Little Toni’s to get dinner. I hadn’t seen her in quite a while and she wanted to hear the whole story about my wonderful two-week trip recently to South Dakota. I came back home and relaxed, and then took my nightly WOG (walk/jog), recorded my daily auditions, edited some videos on my computer, and then hit the hay.
Tuesday the 22nd – OLD YELLOW EYE! – The day started with some phone calls, texts and emails. I got a call from Robert Luna asking for some close-up pictures of my Mike Wazowski figure. Apparently over time (I’ve had these figures 25 years) there’s an oxidation problem with the plastic lens on Mike’s eye, which starts to turn it yellowish. He said it’s a common problem with these figures. I’ve never really noticed it myself, as they’ve been here a long time, but sure enough – there’s a slight yellow tinge to the lens. I called my pal and prop genius Mike McGee at Alex In Wonderland and he thinks it may be able to be cleaned. But unless it’s guaranteed to work I‘d hate to make it worse than it already is. I’m not looking to sell them for a high price, I just want them out of my living room so I can make room for two new displays – Roger Moore as James Bond, and Darth Vader! I was reminded by my webmaster Scott Sebring that my weekly Wally’s Week was late. I had completely forgotten about it with everything going on! So I sat down and typed out Wally’s Week to get it over to Scott. When I finished I picked up my assistant Emily and we headed to Coral Café to get dinner. She was in a car accident a few days ago and her car was totaled (thank God she’s OK!) so we were discussing her options going forward. I came home and did my auditions, relaxed for a bit, and then took my nightly WOG. In the package of stuff my folks gave me when I was in South Dakota recently there were old photos (some of which I had never seen before!), various ephemera, and copies of newspapers they kept that had articles about me. I decided to keep the newspapers in my storage in the garage, but I really only needed to keep the pages that had the articles I wanted. So I went through every one of the old newspapers, extracted the pertinent pages, and discarded the rest of the papers. However, my pal Chris Malmin (who also used to live in South Dakota) gets quite nostalgic about that era, so I’m going to give the remaining sets of newspapers to him to look over. Looking through the old papers, it was odd how my lucky numbers 13 and 26 were so prevalent. It was almost like a recurring theme! Amazing! There was always something going in my life with those numbers, if you’re into the whole numerology thing. I did some more video editing before bed.
Wednesday the 23rd – OFFICIALLY FREE OF REGIONS AGAIN! – My pal Tanner from Iron Lion A/V came over to install my new region-free Blu-ray player and program my Universal remote to accommodate the new player. A few weeks ago my old region-free player finally bit the dust. But I got a good 9 years out of it, and when I was doing movie nights at my house every Saturday night (before the Scamdemic shut it down) it got a ton of use. I did some work on the computer for a while, recorded my auditions, reconciled my bank statements and my bank accounts, paid some bills, and then prepped for a session on Thursday. I took my nightly WOG and was shocked that I saw my breath! It’s been a rather cool summer so far, and it’s hard to believe I’m actually seeing my breath at 2am in July. Crazy! I came back inside to eat and do some more work on the computer.
Thursday the 24th – FLYING…IN TURKEY! – Today’s Voice Over booking was in a studio in Glendale for a flying ride in a theme park. (I can’t say the park or the name of the ride yet). But I’ll be the voice of the captain of the flying device that comes on the loudspeaker during the ride and tells the riders interesting facts. It involves jumps through time portals, etc. – so it’s pretty clever! They call this field of theme rides “experience entertainment.” The ride will last for 4 minutes and it’s a flying ride similar to Soaring Over California in Disney’s California Adventure. I found out that the ride is for an American theme park in Turkey. TOO COOL! Even though it will be in Turkey, the narration will be in English (probably with Turkish subtitles). They got everything they needed from me in a half hour, so off I went to run some errands. I stopped at McDonald’s for lunch, Walgreens to pick up a certain brand of soap I like, and then off to my auxiliary garage to grab my Mustang to take it to the mechanic’s shop. It’s running pretty well, considering it’s a 22 year old car, but little by little certain parts stop working. It’s totally expected after 22 years of life on a car. Though it only has 82,000 miles on it – it’s really more about the age than the mileage (I believe Indiana Jones once said that?). The part that’s giving me a headache these days is something called the Brake Actuator. It’s a little device by the brake pedal that lets the gear shift know that the brake has been pressed and it’s now safe to go into gear. Without receiving that signal from the Brake Actuator, the thumb button on the center gear shift won’t engage. I started the Mustang up and it sounded good. But it wouldn’t go into gear. Rats. I pumped the brake, but nothing. Finally I said, “C’mooooon!” and floored the brake. Obviously the extreme pressure worked and it went into gear. I made sure not to put it into Park again for the entire ride to the mechanic’s shop. If I needed to stop and leave the car, I put the gear shift into neutral and put the emergency brake on. I got it to the shop with no problem (it sure was nice to have the top down on such a gorgeous day!) and gave them the replacement part that I found on eBay. They said they would install the part, test it out, and give my car a full detail and wash to boot! Bonus! Then they mentioned that some guy who does voice work for the “Star Wars” games is one of their regular customers. Suspiciously, (I kinda already knew who it was) I asked his name. “Daniel Roebuck,” she said. I told him he was like my brother-from-another-mother, and he’s one of my best friends. Small world! The head of the shop gave me a ride back to my auxiliary garage so I could get the Gray Ghost, and we chatted all the way about the problem. I told him if this part didn’t work the Mustang was basically junk. If it won’t go into gear, what good is it? On the way home I stopped at my box and picked up some packages. I got an external hard drive that I’ll load up with old family photos and videos and send to my daughter Lacey, and I also got a really cool power strip for the Tranquility Zone. After a stop to pick up a prescription at CVS, I got some groceries and then headed home to do some organizing work in the garage. One particular section of my garage was getting a little cluttered, so I focused on that section to tidy things up a bit. I went back inside to record an audition, and then put the new power “cube” in the Tranquility Zone. I was having a problem in one particular part of my room getting everything plugged into the power strip that was there. Since the strip was oblong, the inputs were all tightlypacked together. But I had a few plugs that were wider than normal, and it wasn’t working out the way I had hoped. This new “square-shaped” unit worked wonderfully. It had the power inputs spaced apart for the wider plugs, and it even came with a few USB inputs – which helped free up space for other plugs. Plus, since it was square, there were inputs on the edge of the piece as well. On side one there was the main power cord, on side two there was the on/off switch, on side three there are three USB inputs, and on side four there are two electrical inputs. Also, on the face of it, there are six electrical inputs as well. Brilliant! However, the actual power cord for this strip has to be run through a hole in the side of a bookcase. The outlets in that area of my room were right where a huge bookcase stands. So when everything was initially installed my contractor Terry cut a hole in the backboard in the bottom shelf to allow access to the outlets. Then he cut a corresponding hole in the side of the bookcase (down at the bottom) so the cord to a power strip could be fed through. What I hadn’t counted on was, the hole Terry cut was fine to accommodate a regular plug. But the plug on this new power source was wider. EEK! It’s always something. As I always exclaim in instances such as these, “Nothing is ever easy!” So I got my chisel and hammer and started working on expanding the hole to allow the plug to be fed through. Unfortunately, about 3 inches from the backboard, there is a long metal piece that runs vertically throughout the entire bookshelf. This metal piece has notches in it so that the shelves can be adjusted to various heights. So I was virtually between a backboard and a metal shaft! I wasn’t sure that, no matter how wide I chiseled open the hole, there would be enough room to fit the plug in. I couldn’t chisel through the metal (nor would I want to) and I definitely couldn’t chisel into the backboard. I attempted to feed the plug through several times, but no luck. It would stick in the hole, but I couldn’t get it through. Finally I just said, “What the heck,” and hit the plug a few times with the hammer. BINGO! It went through! Even though it went through and I could plug it in, I was thinking to myself that that baby is never coming back out again! Oh well, I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. But after I got everything plugged in I was VERY satisfied with the purchase! I got cleaned up and headed to the Smoke House to have steaks with my pal George, owner of Baby Tattoo publishing, and my Christoween partner Joe Garner. They both have a background in magic and I knew they’d have a lot to talk about. It was an amazing evening, and Joe and George ended up having a TON in common. There are no accidents in life, I guess. I got back home to relax, and then took my nightly WOG. Once again it was fairly chilly out, considering it’s almost August! I came back inside and did some work on the computer.
Friday the 25th – “THINKING DAY!” – During our conversation at the Smoke House, my pal Joe Garner said that Mondays are usually a waste, as people are coming off of the weekend. And Fridays are usually a waste because people already have their minds set on the weekend. So really the most productive days are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. So he has deemed his Fridays to be “thinking days.” These will be days where he just thinks about things, as opposed to hustling around and doing arduous tasks. I liked that quite a bit. So today was my thinking day. I stayed inside all day, relaxed, did a few things around the house, and did some thinking. Later I took my WOG and actually spent some time afterwards in my anti-gravity chair enjoying the night. The weather was a “little” bit warmer, and it was pleasant enough to sit out in my chair and continue my “thinking day.”
Saturday the 26th – PACKAGE, PAL, PERKY & PATY’S! – One of my traditional things I like to do every Saturday night when I watch some TV before bed, is to make a specific salad that I’ve always enjoyed. This salad contains the usual stuff, but is embellished with diced up Oscar Mayer Cracked Black Pepper turkey meat. I top the whole thing off with Kraft Tangy Bacon Catalina dressing. However, that dressing is getting harder and harder to find. I just barely had enough for last Saturday’s salad, so I ordered some more on Amazon. I can’t find it locally at any stores, so I have to get it on-line. But the order was canceled without explanation. I immediately ordered it from another vendor. I even paid a little extra for postage so it would get here by Saturday. Though they promised delivery by Friday, it showed up on Saturday. A day later than promised, but still in time for my Saturday Night Super Salad. Then I met my buddy James Braddock for lunch on the patio at Paty’s. I hadn’t seen him in quite a while, so it was great catching up. When I got home I had some time to kill before I was due at my stylist Andie’s for my hair appointment. I recorded the auditions that were due on Monday and sent them to my agents. Then I walked over to Andie’s to get a touch up on my color, and get a trim. I felt my hair needed to be “perkier” and have some body, so she cut in some layers to achieve that. Perfect! I walked back home and did some work around the house and relaxed. Later I did some various work around the house, and took my nightly WOG. Once again it was a gorgeous night, so I spent some ‘post-WOG’ time in my anti-gravity chair staring at the clear, starry sky and enjoying a nice cigar. One of the guards in the complex walked over to say hi and chat. I suppose when you’re on guard duty at 3am you need a little conversation every once in a while. I told him I like to relax and stare at the sky and look for owls, spacecraft and shooting stars. I said, “When you’re out here do YOU ever see shooting stars?” At that VERY moment, a meteorite lit up the western sky. “You mean like that one?” he said. What are the chances!? Wild! When I got back inside I set up my scanner and set about scanning the remainder of the photos from the box of vintage pictures I received from my folks when I was in South Dakota recently. I already scanned all the photos that were relevant to my daughter Lacey, so I could include them on her hard drive. But I hadn’t scanned the photos that were relevant to my life as of yet. Though it took a few hours, it was a blast looking through all these photos – some of which I don’t think I had ever seen before! It’s good to finally have them in my possession for my photo albums, and it’ll be good to get scans of them all for posterity. Unfortunately, I believe all of the original negatives for these photos are long gone. I was always a stickler for keeping negatives of anything I shot, but I don’t think my dad was. Plus, a lot of these prints were from various photo sessions we did at the local JC Penny photo area. I believe their photo business was called “Pixie Pin-Ups” and catered to families who wanted photos of their child’s growth and evolution. Honestly, this was a total blast! When I finished I made my Saturday Night Super Salad and watched another episode of “Thriller with Boris Karloff.” The past few Saturday night viewings of this series (I’m deep into season 2) had left me quite cold, but the episode called “The Incredible Dr. Markesean” was absolutely wonderful! It featured Boris Karloff as a doctor who had raised himself from the dead to exact revenge on three of his colleagues! The presence of Boris Karloff in this episode raised it to higher standards than most of the other episodes – and it was wonderful! He was a master!
Sunday the 27th – “GRANDPA’S GARAGE!” – Though it was mostly another one of my ‘comatose Sundays,’ where I rest and relax all day, I did get into the garage for a little bit to search through my storage. After doing a little work on the computer, I went on the search for a specific t-shirt I thought my grandson Elliot might enjoy. In the package I’m sending to my daughter Lacey (that will contain all of the photos and videos I have from my family archive) I also want to include gifts for the grandkids. For Natalie, my little aspiring puppeteer, I’m going to include a puppet from the Henson studios that are routinely sold during their Puppet Up shows. For Devin, my aspiring Voice Actor, I’m sending him a copy of James Alburger’s book “The Art of Voice Acting.” And I thought Elliot might love this vintage t-shirt I had in mind, but after found it I realized it was an XL. Probably too big for a 14 year old at this point. I may need to find a suitable alternative that he can wear right now. I took my WOG and spent some time in the anti-grav chair, watching the clouds move in off the ocean and gradually completely cover the star-filled sky.
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
October 1988 – I got to host my pal and icon Adam West in my hometown of Sioux Falls, South Dakota for an in-store appearance as Batman. My buddy and fellow founding Bat Pack Member Dave Baumeister is also pictured here.
I’m getting made up as Tony Clifton for the “E! True Hollywood Story” on Andy Kaufman.
Are you old enough to remember Charles Kuralt on CBS TV doing his “On The Road” reports? Well, look what he found on the road!
In 1987, as I prepared to go out for Halloween with my pals, my Grandma Hazel decided to clown around with my Freddy Krueger glove!
I created a character named Professor I.Q. Paradyme and I appeared at a live event with the great Maury Povich.
A starving actor in South Dakota could occasionally pick up a few spare bucks doing a character for an event at the local mall. Here’s Patches the Scarecrow.
In the winter of ’78/’79, here I am with my high school sweetie Sondee.
For a brief time in my life (VERY brief!) I experimented with Mr. Spock bangs. I quickly went back to my old style.
I don’t have my pics from my wedding in 1982, so it was GOLD finding this one. My paternal grandparents, my maternal grandparents, and my wife Jamie. Sadly, of the people pictured here, I’m the only one still around. 🙁
My cat Spooky must not be a “Star Wars” fan. He didn’t get the joke.
