April 14 – April 20 (2014) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

Mark Hamill on a thigh. Need I say more?

While we dined poolside at the Hilton they had great music piped in. I hadn’t heard this song by Genesis in a long time and it sounded really good! In fact, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since! Here’s “Hold On My Heart.”

Monday the 14th – HEY! WHO TURNED OUT THE MOON!? – At 9am sharp I was up with Bunny and Roxy (I was dogsitting Bunny for my friend Edi). They were getting restless so I walked them then did some work on the computer. Edi came over to get Bunny and I got ready to go record voice tracks for a new Nickelodeon pilot. It was a lot of fun! It was one of those instances in the field of Voice-Over where you have to be prepared for anything. The voice I did in the audition that got me the job wasn’t the one they wanted me to do. So you have to be ready to punt and improvise in the spot. It’s always good to have an arsenal of character voices on hand to throw at a director or producer in situations like these. It ended up being a ton of fun, and the producer let me improve several lines. It was a fairly short session (about an hour) so I headed back home. My assistant Sara had picked up my new Batcaps from Mr. Stitch and they turned out great. Now to take them to my seamstress Karyn to have the ears put on and the detachable cape! The store was closing early for Passover and I didn’t want to miss picking up the caps. Wondercon was coming up this weekend and I wanted to wear mine at the convention. I got home and walked Roxy over to the groomer’s for a much needed bath. Then I went home to write Wally’s Week and wait for my contractor Terry to arrive with some new cabinetry he made. He built me a new gun case, and a few new shelves for the Puppet Room. I’m planning on space for my upcoming “Wizard of Oz” bust collection. I got Roxy from the groomer’s and Terry and I headed to Pizza Rev for dinner. Pizza Rev is like Subway for pizza. Then we dropped by Auto Zone and picked up a new car batter for the Torino. I couldn’t get it to start with just a simple jump from a jumpstarter, so I’m getting a whole new battery and having Terry put it in. That should work! We put it in, and it fired right up! I went back inside the house to do some work and continue writing Wally’s Week. Around 11pm I got my videocamera and tripod out and videotaped some of the lunar eclipse. It was fun lounging in the grass with my camera and the binoculars watching this interstellar phenomenon. It was beautiful. I’ll be putting together some of the video clips I shot and posting it here soon! I love stuff like this and it doesn’t happen that often. I sat out in a chair in the grass, drinking a Pepsi One, alternating between looking at the camera display, and through my binoculars. What an amazing sight! I came back in to do auditions and finish Wally’s Week, then I fed and walked Roxy. I hit the hay to watch another “Saint” episode and enjoy some dinner.

Tuesday the 15th – IF VOTING DAY AND TAX DAY WERE BOTH ON THE SAME DAY…??? – My crazy dog Roxy woke me up at 10, so I got out of bed and walked her. I talked to my neighbor Susan who has a cute little dog named Scout. Scout used to bark a lot but she’s done great work with her and she’s much better behaved. I drove to Karyn’s studio to attach the ears and cape to the Batcap and then I headed to Hollywood to do an audition for Quirky.com at a casting facility. I got home, hopped in the Torino and went to JoAnn’s fabrics to look for a stiffening fabric called Craft-Tex. I thought maybe that it might be good for ear forms inside the blue satin ear covers. The ears on the prototype hat Karyn made were made from cardboard. So I really can’t get the hat wet! I got home to relax for a bit, then went to Paty’s to have dinner with my friend Edi and her daughter Ems. Around 7pm I couldn’t make or receive any calls or texts. Neither could Edi. Verizon apparently had a huge outage that lasted well after midnight! Not sure what happened there. I went home after dinner and enjoyed a dip in the Jacuzzi. Then I did some auditions. I worked around the house a bit but hit the hay early to be up the next morning for a session.

Wednesday the 16th – THE FINAL SEARCH! – It was another early morning, as I sprang from bed at 9 and headed to Voice Trax West for a 10am session for Hyundai. I got home and switched cars back to the Mustang, and headed back to my seamstress Karyn’s studio to pick up my Batcap. It turned out great! I’m sure I’ll get a lot of comments at the convention! I also took a look at the fabric she got in for the Oz Scarecrow tunic and it’ll be perfect! I took Sara over to the Round Table Pizza in Burbank for their lunch buffet. I used to go all the time when I was working regularly in the area, but it wasn’t the same. They had gotten chincy with the eats. I probably won’t be going back again, even though I really love their pizza. We picked up some grocery items then I headed home. I did some work, but I got tired so I settled down for a short nap. When I got up I did a bunch of auditions in my home studio and e-mailed them to my agents. I made some chili dogs on the grill and watched the final episode on the “Search” DVD set. Every episode was a winner. I was sad to see this series end.

Thursday the 17th – WONDERCON A-COMIN’! – I slept until noon and it felt great. I had really been on the move! My old pal Kevin Castro, former editor at “The Tonight Show” came by to pick up some tapes and chat. I scanned some checks to make a deposit and hopped in the car and headed to Regenix for a follow-up visit. On the way home I stopped at the bank to make a deposit, then made my way back home to relax and work on the computer. I took a Jacuzzi, grabbed a nap, did auditions, and started packing for Wondercon. Since I hadn’t really unpacked much from my trip the previous week, it was easy. I was already half-packed! I made some soup and a sandwich and watched another “Saint” episode.

Friday the 18th – WONDERFUL WONDERCON! – I got up around 10am and packed some final things for my trip to Anaheim and Wondercon 2014. I’d be doing the Cartoon Voice panel on Saturday, so I wanted to pack some fun things for the con. Sara came over at 11 to start house/pet sitting. The carpet cleaners were due at noon, so I shuffled down the road to let her handle everything. The drive down to Anaheim was beautiful! There were some pockets of slowing but mostly it was top speeds all the way! I got to the Marriott around noon and checked in. My room was ready early! What luck! My pal Officer Mark met up with me in the lobby and we went upstairs to check out my room. Because my new Batcap was so special, I put it in a box so it wouldn’t get crushed under all the other luggage. The only box I could find on short notice, was the box my new jumpstarter came in. So when the Bellman loaded it into the room from the luggage cart he looked at Mark and I and said, “A jumpstarter is probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever delivered to a room. What do you do with it?” I realized with a laugh that it probably did look weird for two dudes to check into a room with a jumpstarter. But I opened the box and showed the Bellman the Batcap, and explained that I didn’t want it to be crushed. We got a good laugh out of that! Mark said he should have shouted, “Did you lube up the nipple clamps?” But then the Bellman may have thrown down the remaining luggage and ran off. Downstairs later, we spotted a sexy gal in the lobby was wearing leggings with Yoda on one thigh, and my pal Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker on the other thigh. I asked if I could take a picture of them. I said, “Marks’ a pal of mine and he’d be tickled to know he’s on your thigh!” I snapped the picture and texted it to him. Another guy came up to her and said, ‘Yeah…um…I’m a friend of Mark’s too. Can I get a picture?” Somehow I thought he actually WASN’T a friend of Mark’s, but just wanted to get a close-up of her thigh. Mark informed me later that the lady was none other than adult film star Tera Patrick! Too funny! I popped on my custom-made Ant Man cap and we headed over to get my badges. Check in was smooth. It was kind of nice being able to travel to one of these cons on a weekday. Up until a few months ago that wouldn’t have been possible with my work schedule. Mark and I walked the floor for a few hours, and at 4 my pal Brittney texted me that she had arrived. So we spent the next 3 hours of the con looking around. By the time the convention had closed at 7 Mark and I had seen the entire floor. I got back to my room and grabbed a quick nap, then Brittney, Mark and his girlfriend Connie and I walked over to Overland Barbecue for dinner. Delicious! I went back to my room, made some popcorn in the microwave and sat out on the balcony making notes for the Voice Actor panel the next day. Then it was time for some precious sleep!

Saturday the 19th – GEEKTASTIC! – Breakfast arrived at my room at 10:15am, right on the nose! I showered and put on my Batcap and a cool Batman t-shirt I bought on the Warner website. The shirt is an actual full body photo print of Adam West’s Batman costume! I don’t know how they made that. Amazing! Brittney and I walked over to the convention and it was packed! I met in the lobby with fellow VO actor Gregg Berger (Odie, my dog in “The Garfield Show!”) and we also saw the great Mark Evanier, panel moderator and “Garfield” writer, producer and voice director. Soon we were joined by Greg Berg and Fred Tatasciore, two more of the panelists. We all had a blast just hanging in the lobby. We were spotted and many came up to us asking for autographs and pictures. I saw Amy Ant Girl and her amazing Ant Man costume! My pal Pete and his nephew Matt came by to say his as well. We went up to the panel room around noon and got settled in. The panel before us ran long, so that cut into our time considerably. That was the only downside. But we had lots of laughs. Mark had us perform the “Snow White” radio play again (we had done it a few years ago at San Diego Comic Con) and this time instead of playing two of the Dwarves as Beavis and Butt-Head, I played them as Adam West and “Dwarf” Vader. After the panel I posed for more photos and signed more autographs. I saw a great Wasp in the hallway and asked for a photo. The Batcap was a big hit, and I think a lot of people just figured I bought it there at the con. We walked over to the Hilton and had a poolside lunch of grilled burgers and fries. Good food, good friends, good fun! Jerrell our server was fabulous! Then we went back down to the convention floor to buy more stuff! I bought a knit hat that looks like the Muppet Animal. I commissioned a drawing of Ant Man from “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes” from artist Steven Gordon, who not only worked on the show with me, but is also working on the new Captain Action pilot that I’m involved with. When the convention closed at 7 we had enjoyed a full day and was ready to go get some dinner. I headed back to the room and cleaned up, changed and walked back down to meet Brittney, Mark and Connie so we could go to Carolina’s Italian restaurant. We were joined there by my new friends Tony Mei and his girlfriend Crystal, and Pete and his nephew Matt. Dinner was LOTS of fun, where we compared the treasures we had purchased during the day. My plan was to go back to the room, sleep for a few hours, then get up around 2am and drive back…thus avoiding the rush of traffic on Sunday back to L.A. Not only would it be packed with Wondercon traffic, but it was Easter to boot! I napped until 12:30am, sprang from the bed, called the Bellman, Brittney, the valet, got my car and by 1am we were on the road back to L.A.! We breezed up the 5 freeway at top speed! Nothing stood in our way! Brittney was back to her house by 1:45, and I was home by 2, after stopping to get a few grocery items. I came home to see the pets and unpack. Since I’m leaving for Palm Springs in a few days I didn’t unpack that much stuff. Like last time, I’m keeping my bags partially packed for my next trip! I did some work around the house, got settled and made a huge salad and watched another “Saint” episode before bed! It was a fun convention, but it was good to be home!

Sunday the 20th – HAPPY EASTER! – Around 3 I woke up and did some stuff around the house. It was nice getting settled back in after a trip. I walked Roxy to evening church and we enjoyed the service. What a stunningly beautiful evening! When we came home I was feeling mellow and thankful. I ordered up some food from Domino’s and did some work on the computer. But my tooth started hurting again, and I could tell my sinuses weren’t completely back to normal. I’d better call my doctor the next day again to see if he can further reduce the recurring inflammation. I grabbed an ice pack and took a nap on the couch. When I woke up I felt much better. I had a TON of auditions in my inbox, so I recorded them all and e-mailed them in. I fed and walked Roxy, then prepared for my parents’ arrival on Monday and our upcoming respite in Palm Springs…my happy place!

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

The Batcap from different angles.