September 08 – September 13 (2026)

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

Since the 60th anniversary of the first airing of “Star Trek” happened this past week, I figured I’d post this wonderful shot of the Enterprise model just sitting in the street outside of Paramount studios. Amazing!

On the drive out to my pal Doctor Cowen’s place last Sunday, I enjoyed disc 1 from the two-CD set “The Very Best of Steely Dan.” One of my favorite has always been “Any Major Dude Will Tell You,” as I first discovered that when I was in my early 20s. It was so great hearing it again. It’s a great song, and the sentiments of the lyrics are something I wholeheartedly agree with. Basically – things will ALWAYS get better! (SIDEBAR: If you’re wondering what a “Squonk” is, as it’s mentioned in the lyrics, it’s a small, mythical pig-like creature covered with warts. These Steely Dan guys were quite literate!)

Tuesday the 8th – BACK AT “BLEACH!” – On a rainy, humid Monday I headed to the Studiopolis studio in Burbank to record a few voice tracks for Renji in the new season of “Bleach: The Thousand Year Blood War.” It was great to be back in action, although the real action hasn’t started for Renji quite yet. But it will, so I hear. When the session ended I drove over to a local store that caters to model train enthusiasts to pick up some lengths of brass rod for my upcoming “Sesame Street” Yip Yip Martian replica puppet builds. I had an appointment at 2pm at Toyota to take the Gray Ghost in for regular maintenance. But I was running early, so I took it over anyway on the off-chance they could still accommodate me. They took the car right and I was on my way; walking down to Ernie’s Taco House for lunch. I listened to some music on my phone while I ate, did some random clean-up work on my phone after I finished, and waited for the call to come in from Toyota that my vehicle was ready for pick-up. But as I sat at the table, with a full tummy, I started to get a little sleepy. I got up, took off, and visited the local cigar store to pick up a few cigars for the coming hot days. Since it was very warm, I considered getting an ice cream cone at McDonald’s on my walk back to Toyota. But I stopped the majority of sugar in my diet several months ago, so I thought twice about it. But then I thought three times about it and said, “What the heck. In all things moderation.” I got an ice cream cone, got my car, and headed home. I was still a little tired so I napped on the couch for a bit. This muggy, hot weather has everyone a little foggy, as we’re not used to such weather conditions in Los Angeles. I got a call from Alex at Alex In Wonderland and I headed over to look over the Guy Smiley head she finished for my upcoming replica puppet. It looked amazing. She also sewed a lot of tentacles for the Yip Yips, and now my seamstress Maggie needs to cut them out, turn them inside out, and hand-stitch them up to look like the tentacles on the “Sesame Street” Martian puppets. Later I took my nightly WOG (walk/jog) and spent some relaxation time afterwards in the anti-gravity chair admiring the clear, night sky. It was absolutely gorgeous out, and I took the opportunity to have one of the nice cigars I just purchased. Off in the eastern part of the sky I spotted the Orion constellation; a certain personal harbinger of the rapidly approaching change of season. Winter’s coming. Being outside relaxing like this was wonderful, quiet and pleasant. I went inside to do some work, and then I made a “Paladin Saladin” and watched a few episodes of “Have Gun – Will Travel” on DVD before bed. The next few days were going to be BEASTLY!

Wednesday the 9th – HOTBERNATION! – Hot, sticky, muggy and yucky was the order of the day. Hurricane Marie off the west coast was making our weather in Los Angeles uncharacteristically unbearable. So I took the opportunity to stay inside all day and “hotbernate,” – and nap with the air conditioning on. Later I did a little work, recorded some auditions, and in the middle of the night I went out for my usual WOG. The critters were out in full force! I saw Baxter the skunk, tons of spiders and their webs, and I heard several hoot owls in the distance. What a gorgeous (but muggy) night! I spent some time in the anti-grav chair relaxing, and since it was so warm I enjoyed another nice cigar. Despite the odd weather, it was a beautiful, warm and quiet night. I’m actually going to miss summer quite badly. It’s been a WONDERFUL summer; probably one of the best I’ve ever had in my entire life! I finished up my cigar and iced tea and headed back inside to do some work.

Thursday the 10th – HOTBERNATION: DAY 2! – As the predicted cooling trend was still a day away, I took my cue from the weather report and stayed inside again. I slept most of the day away, which felt wonderful! You know…those “lazy, crazy, hazy days of summer,” as the song says. Later I did some work around the house, and took my nightly WOG. Again, it was gorgeous. Tonight there was no sign of Baxter (thankfully!), and as I sat in my anti-grav chair enjoying yet another nice cigar with my iced tea, I enjoyed a noticeable shift in the weather – the humidity had broken and the weather was warm and pleasant. The night was quiet and there was a slight cool breeze. Absolute paradise! When I got inside I did some planning work for the new Muppet replicas I’m making.

Friday the 11th – TENNESSEE TALENT IN TOWN! – My long-time pal Alex Zsolt, a concert pianist, was in town from Tennessee doing some local concerts. He had a free night so we met at Little Toni’s to grab some dinner. Afterwards we came back to Planet Wallywood and chatted for several hours to catch up on all the happenings. After he left I did my nightly WOG and spent some time in the anti-grav chair. A wonderful ending to a warm, weird week!

Saturday the 12th – 60 YEARS?!! – Before they closed, I wanted to speed over to my box to pick up some packages. One of the items I received was the amazing new “Star Trek 60th Anniversary Blu Ray Box Set!” I can’t WAIT to dive into this! And while I’ve seen all those episodes countless times, I can never get enough. I came back home and had some lunch and relaxed. Later I drove back to Alex In Wonderland to check out the upgrades she did to the Guy Smiley puppet head, and give her the fabric for his nose so we could start working on that. When I was in San Jose a few weeks ago at Galaxy Con I picked up a beautiful Stormtrooper helmet from a vendor. While it was beautifully made, the paint job left something to be desired. As I’m always looking for that “hero” paint job, I took it to Alex to see if she could improve it. And improve it she did! It looks amazing now! She started working on the Guy Smiley nose, and while it seems simple in concept, there are a couple of tricky hidden seams on the edges that she needs to do. By the time I left her shop it was midnight, and I headed over to the 24 hour grocery store to pick up some items for later. I got home and threw on my workout clothes, took my nightly WOG, spent some time outside in the anti-grav chair, and came back inside. I made a wonderful, fresh salad and watched an episode of “The Outer Limits” called “The Man Who Was Never Born.” Fabulous!

Sunday the 13th – DOC ‘N’ DOLLY! – My pal and “Sons Of The Desert” brother Dr. Cowen invited Angi and I out to his area of town so he and his wife could take us to dinner. However, Angi’s currently out on tour for a couple of weeks performing, so I drove out by myself. I took great delight in popping my newly acquired “The Very Best Of Steely Dan” CD into my Bluetooth CD player, and listened to disc one on the drive out. I’ve decided I need to go down the Steely Dan rabbit hole and rediscover some of their music. Delightful! I got to their house at 3 and went inside to see Doc’s amazing Laurel & Hardy collection. I also met his wonderful doggie Honey…who took an immediate liking to me. (It must’ve been those wonderful scratchies on her neck and chest that I gave her!) We chatted for a bit, and he showed me his Kermit the Frog puppet he owned. I brought my travel Kermit so we could do some puppet-training. He wants to learn to be a good puppeteer, so we’re working on honing his skills. I told him, “Doc, if you can deliver a baby, you can work a puppet.” But he nervously disagreed and said, “Delivering babies is EASY!” But he started to get the principle of manipulating the mouth of the puppet on every syllable, and he was doing well taking it slowly. Then he broke out his autoharp for me and played a few tunes. I noticed his right hand as he was playing. He was chording with his left hand and strumming with his right. His thumb and finger movements as he strummed were very similar to the rhythm involved with operating a puppet. I told him that I KNOW he has the aptitude for puppeteering based on how I saw his hand move on the strings. So keeping that in mind, he’s going to do some practicing in a mirror in the future. We got to a restaurant called Holdren’s and when we pulled up I recognized the place. I had been there a few years ago at my pal Mark and Connie’s wedding party. I texted a picture of the place to Mark and said, “Guess where I am?!” We had a great dinner and I even got to bring my travel Kermit out of the bag and interact with some people. Great fun! Mark and Connie got my message and came over to “crash” our party. But we’re glad they did. Both Mark and Doc are former law enforcement officers. And both Dolly and Connie are teachers, though Dolly eventually left teaching to become a psychologist. I said, “What is it with cops marrying teachers?!” We had a lot of fun at a table outside on a gorgeous night laughing and playing with Kermit. Some of the staff came up and asked for pictures with the frog, so we had enormous fun doing that! I drove home and rested up for a bit. Then I recorded some auditions, took my WOG, spent some time in the anti-grav chair, worked around the house, made a “Paladin Saladin,” and watched “Have Gun – Will Travel” before bed. What an amazing show, with a continuous cast of amazing actors!

And how was YOUR week??!

PIX FROM THE WEEK