August 11 – August 18 (2025)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

As we approach the re-release of one of the greatest movies ever made, I’m starting to see a lot of “Jaws”-related posts show up. I love all the BTS shots that are being unearthed, and this is one of them. Here’s how it may have looked had Quint conquered Bruce.

There are a few songs that take me back to a specific moment in time, and “Love Takes Time” by Orleans is one of them. I was 18 and had just gotten a dream job at 13 KELO-AM when this song came out. Though we played it virtually every hour, I’m still not sick of it. In my mind I can still hear the song’s specific sound over the station’s air signal with all of its compression and processing. Good times.

Monday the 11th – MOVIN’ OUT MONSTERS! – It’s been over a week that I’ve been dealing with an odd, painless lump in my neck under my jawline. From what I’ve read on-line it sounds exactly like an inflamed salivary gland. You can get them from having a dry mouth, or being dehydrated. I scheduled a phone appointment with my doctor to chat with him about it, and have him refill a few of my prescriptions as I’m getting ready to travel. He assured me that a problem salivary gland would eventually go down on its own, and my Ear, Nose & Throat doctor told me to use hot compresses on it, massage the area from time to time (to help it drain), and suck on sour candy which will activate the salivary glands. Hopefully all this will work without needing an office visit. After all, it’s not painful, it just looks strange from time to time. It actually gets a little bigger when I eat, which would confirm the fact that it indeed is an inflamed salivary gland. I headed out for the day and my first stop was at my box to pick up some packages. One of the things I received was a new steering wheel cover for my Mustang. Over the years, the beige dye on the leather steering wheel has started to wear off. So I bought a black steering wheel cover that just stretches to fit over the existing steering wheel. It looked gorgeous! I went to Paty’s to have lunch with my pal Robert Luna, his daughter Genevieve, and his father-in-law Pepe. They wanted to grab something to eat before they came to the house to load up my Monsters, Inc. figures. Robert facilitated the purchase through a toy dealer in Las Vegas. I had been looking to get rid of them for a while, as they were taking up a lot of space, and I had other things I wanted to put in the area in which they resided. I’ve had them for 25 years and it was time to let them go. They’ll have a really nice home in Las Vegas for sure! After lunch they pulled the van behind my garage and we started the disassembling process of Sulley. He comes apart in five pieces; head, body, tail, left arm and right arm. The directions that came with the figures originally advised against removing the tail if at all possible. The arms came off with just a tad bit of difficulty, but the head was considerably harder to remove. The problem seemed to be the PVC pipes that held the figure together. The pipe in the arm was inserted into the slightly larger pipe in the body. Over time it seemed like the PVC had fused to itself and it needed a little prodding to separate. After some laborious attempts to remove the head, we just decided to try and move it to the van with the head attached. Then we loaded up the Mike Wazowski figure, which is all one piece, and off they went! My living room seems so roomy now! I moved the Roger M00re figure into the vacant spot (right by my Andy Kaufman “Heartbeeps” figure), and it looked amazing. I’m planning to add a Darth Vader figure to the “trio” very soon, so I got on eBay and ordered the mannequin I needed. The fantastic costume I recently bought from Jazwares was fun to wear for a few hours at Monsterpalooza last June, but I’m retiring it and putting it on a figure for my living room. I did some work around the house, and then recorded my daily auditions. Later I wrote Wally’s Week, took my nightly WOG (walk/jog), and spent some time outside in the anti-gravity chair enjoying the night. In addition to listening to a restless screech owl (who was very close), I heard a chorus of coyotes in the distance making their presence known. There were a few really great meteors, including one that was very bright. It was one of those that left a trail in the sky after it had burned out. Stunning! I went back inside to finish up some work and call it a day.

Tuesday the 12th – AND THIS…IS WHY I’LL NEVER HAVE AN ELECTRIC CAR! – Shortly after 11am I awoke to the most horrible sound ever – no sound. I like to sleep with a fan on to keep the air circulating in my room (I like the white noise while I sleep as well), and when I heard the fan shut off I sprang awake. I knew what it meant. POWER OUTAGE! The hamster-in-the-wheel that powers L.A.’s power grid must’ve died. I texted my neighbor to see if he had power. He said his power went out as well, and according to the news on his phone, the entire area where we live had gone down. A system-wide outage. I don’t get it. It wasn’t particularly hot out. It wasn’t windy out at all. It’s just the failed electrical infrastructure that California is famous for. And this is why I believe the “electric car revolution” will never happen. In order to power everyone’s vehicles sufficiently this state would need a MAJOR (all caps intentional) power infrastructure overhaul. And that could take decades. But this state would rather waste money on things like a rail system that nobody will ever take. (After billions of dollars already spent, not one mile of track has been laid in the past 15 years, by the way). I blame our failed state leaders for all this. The same leaders who wanted to completely get rid of gas powered vehicles in 10 years. Never. Gonna. Happen. And today is a good example of why. My neighbor said the reports were saying that the power will be back on around 3pm. It was now noon, so I figured I’d get showered and head to a restaurant that had power to get some lunch, and then start my day. I got cleaned up and as I was dressing the power came back on at 12:30. It was off for a total of an hour and a half, but in reality, it should not have been off at all. Since I was ready to go, I headed out. I texted my friends Sara Raftery and Chris Malmin to see if they wanted to meet me at the Coral Café for lunch. I had only gotten about an hour and a half of sleep, so I was definitely going to need to catch up on sleep later on. I took the Mustang back to my auxiliary garage to put her to bed for a while, and get the Gray Ghost (my Rav4) back out again. I drove to CVS to get some prescriptions, and then picked up some items at the grocery store. When I got back home I had some auditions waiting for me. Later my friend Kelly Delcambre stopped by and we headed to Ernie’s Taco House to grab dinner. When we finished he came back to look in on the Roger M00re figure he built for me last May. When I moved him to his new spot on Monday he didn’t quite retain his proper posture, so Kelly fixed him right up. I’m going to have a wood base made for the figure to stand on, because standing on the carpet makes the figure a little too wobbly. I’m also going to get rid of the vertical blinds that are in my living room. They came with the house when I bought it originally 25 years ago, and I’ve never liked them. Now that Mike & Sulley are gone, I’m going to have a beautiful blackout curtain installed; probably burgundy or navy blue. I want to cut down on as much light intrusion in the living room as possible. Changes are afoot in Planet Wallywood. My pal Joe Pendleton said he could install the new curtain system, complete with a cornice overhang that would look really classy at the top of the curtains. Sounds fantastic! I rested up for a while, and then did my nightly WOG. Tonight was the night the Perseid meteor system was supposed to be on full display, but since it was so humid out, the sky was completely overcast! Rats!

Wednesday the 13th – GUY SMILEY INCOMING! – Alex at Alex In Wonderland let me know that the foam understructure for my new Guy Smiley replica Muppet was ready for pick-up, as were a few shirts she customized. I’ve been wanting to make a Guy Smiley replica (the game show host from “Sesame Street”) for a while, and we’re finally getting going on making him a reality. I’ve got all the materials I need to get him finished, we just have to put in the work. Alex custom-dyed the remaining yard of Antron fleece that I had in my archives, and it turned out the perfect shade of goldenrod. Guy Smiley’s covering isn’t as orange as Ernie, but not as yellow as Bert. It’s right in the middle. She showed me the fleece and it turned out great! When I got back home I did some work, recorded my daily auditions, and did some work around the house. I’m starting to make some specific decisions about changes to the living room. When Mike & Sulley were in the living room it was really hard to reach my CD rack. Now that I’m anticipating the new figures to take up a lot less space, that’s no longer going to be a problem. The Andy Kaufman “Heartbeeps” figure will stay, along with a poster of Andy posing next to the special effects robot head that I have in my collection. I also have a few accompanying photos of him in the make-up from the film that are displayed next to the figure. The Roger M00re figure will be displayed with one of the replica flats I made for the exhibit at Monsterpalooza, along with the box that contains the crow holding the Golden Gun in its mouth. Darth Vader will have a speaker inside his helmet so you can hear him speak several lines from the film when I press a button. I have a voice chip that serves as the source, but I have to figure out where the trigger buttons are going to live in the new display. Later I took my nightly WOG, but it was overcast again outside so I didn’t spend much time in the anti-grav chair. Luckily, the annoying, garish light that was shining on our complex from the movie studio across the way has been doused. So it’s nice and dark out in certain spots. Under a clear sky I can view a lot of the beautiful stars overhead, particularly now that the city has removed a lot of the trees that had been blocking my view. I miss the trees, but there are certain advantages to having them gone. I made a salad and decided to FINALLY delve into the second season of “Ersan Kuneri” on Netflix. I’ve had Netflix for three months now and haven’t watched a single thing. I really only got it to watch “Ersan Kuneri” season 2 (I provided the voice for Ersan in the English dub of the show), and the second season of “Tiger & Bunny” (in which I provided the voice of Wild Tiger in the English dub). But things were going along really well with the show, when all of a sudden there were audio drop-outs. I had to keep rewinding the show to hear the audio that had dipped out. I’m going to investigate to see what may be the problem. I think my wi-fi’s bandwidth may be tapped.

Thursday the 14th – LAAAAAID BACK! – Sometimes I give myself permission to just take the day off and relax. Today was one of those days. I had nothing of note going on, so I enjoyed resting the entire day. I did a little work around the house, but I wasn’t even feeling in the mood for a WOG. So I gave myself the night off. I did input some new CDs and DVDs into my database, but other than that I just bummed around the house all day. And it felt great!

Friday the 15th – SCARF IT UP! – Around 1pm my maids arrived to clean up Planet Wallywood. Then I headed out to pick up some packages. I found a wonderful vintage necktie on eBay for my Oliver Hardy life-size figure. The tie I had on the figure was no longer tweaking me, so I found a great navy blue-with-white-polka-dot tie that I will soon add to the figure. I also bought a lot of vintage bow ties on eBay for my Stan Laurel figure. My pal Tyler St. Mark, who’s a Stan Laurel expert, said that Stan used to wear the “batwing” style of bowtie. I think I found the perfect vintage bowtie on eBay, and I can’t wait to have it added to the figure. Since Tyler is an expert in those types of ties, I’m going to have him over soon to tie them for me properly. I also got a package from my sister Peggy that contained a few items that used to belong to my mom. I liked to send mom gifts from time to time, but now that she’s passed away my dad said I could have them back. One was a ceramic dog statue that I had custom-painted to look like a Sheltie. I also bought her a stage-worn Elvis scarf many, many years ago. She always loved Elvis and I thought this would be a great fit for her. I had purchased two of them myself; one white and one blue. The one I bought for mom was also blue, but it had been soiled pretty considerably with Elvis’ sweat and make-up. Mom always kept it in the plastic wrapper, and that’s exactly how it was returned to me. A lot of the other gifts I gave mom (talking toys, pins, nick knacks, etc.) are going to my daughter and grandkids in Sioux Falls. Speaking of my grandkids, I had a box to send to them which contained a puppet I thought they’d like to have. But the post office by Paty’s was closed due to construction, and the package HAD to be mailed off that day! I had already bought the postage on-line, and they’re very specific about the time limitations under which the package has to be sent. RATS! That meant I would have to cut my upcoming lunch appointment short to find another post office so I could drop the package off in time. My pal Joshua arrived and we had a fun lunch and got caught up. He’s a young artist and writer, and he’s been busily working on materials for his book. I headed to a local post office that I knew would still be open and dropped off the package for my grandkids. I got back home and did some work, and started thinking more about the blackout curtain for my living room. Joe Pendleton and I exchanged some ideas and I think it’s really going to be nice. Later I took my nightly WOG and spent some time outside in the anti-grav chair.

Saturday the 16th – 48 YEARS!? – It’s hard to believe that 48 years ago Elvis Presley died. Time really flies. I went to see my stylist Andie for a touch-up on my color, and then headed to Panera to have some lunch on their patio and enjoy the day. I hit CVS for some supplies, and got a few food items at the grocery store. When I got back home I was back in my living room obsessing about the new displays. One of the prosthetic pieces on my Andy Kaufman “Heartbeeps” figure had come unglued with age. I texted my effects guy Jim Ojala to ask what he recommended that I do. He told me what type of glue to use, so I stuck the piece back in place. The left shoe on the Roger M00re figure was starting to separate from its sole. That happens a lot with older, vintage shoes. The glue that holds them together dries out and the shoe comes apart. I took some glue and a Q Tip and worked it onto the top of the sole, as well as the underside of the shoe. I let the glue set for about 5 minutes so it got nice and tacky. Then I pressed the two pieces together and put a support under it to hold it into place. Since I had the figures pulled out of the corner of my living room where Mike & Sulley had previously resided, I took the opportunity to do some cleaning. The rope that suspends Super Grover ties off on the wall with a boat cleat. The excess rope was lying on the floor, but I noticed that the end of the rope had yellowed quite badly. I wasn’t exactly sure why. After further investigation I realized (in horror!) that it had been soaked with cat pee. I did a closer inspection of the carpet in that area and I realized that, at some point, Spook had gotten back there and peed. I’ve gotta be honest. I’m not a cat fan. I’m much more of a dog person, and will MAYBE have another dog someday. But I will never, ever have another cat. Spooky’s now 20 years old, and the likelihood that he’ll be around much longer isn’t very high, but when he goes that’s IT! I can’t stand their penchant for wanting to mark certain areas of the house. It’s a cat characteristic that I just can’t abide. I got out the carpet cleaner and soaked the area of carpet that was affected. I got a bucket of soapy water and soaked the end of the Super Grover rope overnight. Hopefully this will take care of it. Ugh. Cats. Never again. I relaxed for a bit, and later took my nightly WOG and spent some time in the anti-gravity chair. I came back inside to do some more work around the house, made my Saturday Night Super Salad, and watched another episode of “Boris Karloff’s Thriller.”

Sunday the 17th – THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM! – Since next weekend I’ll be at the Nostalgia Con in Houston, it’s no doubt going to be very, very busy. So I’m taking the opportunity to rest and relax as much as possible. Later in the day I recorded my auditions that were due on Monday morning. I enjoyed my nightly WOG and some subsequent time in the anti-gravity chair under a clear, starry sky. When I got back inside I removed the support from under the shoe of the Roger M00re figure, and the sole and shoe had bonded perfectly! The Super Grover rope was almost completely devoid of the cat stains, and the affected carpet had dried nicely. The mannequin that I ordered for my Darth Vader figure will be in on Monday, so I prepped the area for that. I also did some prep work for my upcoming trip to Houston. I made a salad and watched the second episode in the second season of “Ersan Kuneri.” But the audio drop-outs were even worse this time. Oddly enough, when I rewound the episode, the dropouts occurred in the exact same places! They were very annoying! For future viewings, I’m going to completely shut down my computer downstairs to make sure it’s not using any of the internet bandwidth at all, and see if that may be the problem. These dropouts really wreck the experience. But other than that, I’m totally enjoying the series so far!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

This past Saturday commemorated 48 years since Elvis Presley passed away. Oddly though, the day before, I received this in the mail from my sister Peggy. A while back, I sent my mom (a lifetime Elvis fan) an Elvis stage-worn scarf as a gift. Now that she’s passed away too, the scarf made it back into my possession. I now have 3; two blue ones and a white one. Of the 3, this particular scarf is heavily soiled with sweat and make-up. He must’ve been wearing this one for quite a while before he threw it into the audience.

My friend Robert Luna, his daughter Genevieve, and his father-in-law Pepe arrive to move the Monsters, Inc. duo out of Planet Wallywood to get ready to ship them to their new home in Las Vegas!