Monday the 23rd – HOLIDAY SLOWDOWN! – The industry is starting to shut down in anticipation of the Thanksgiving holiday. In fact, this time of the year, everything starts a gradual slowdown that will last through the first of next year. But, it’s the cycle of the biz, and it’s just the way it goes. Not much you can do about it but relax and enjoy it. Which I did. Today on the Jay Leno Show, Arnold Schwarzenegger was on, as was Lady Gaga. It was a great show! I sure love working on this show! When I finished I hit the hardware store and got some C Clamps to glue some shoes. I recently bought on eBay, some vintage NEW Adidas SL-72 shoes, EXACTLY like the ones Starsky wore in the “Starsky & Hutch” TV show. I had knockoffs in the past, but I wanted the real thing, and found them on eBay. But since they were made almost 40 years ago, the glue cracked in a few places when I put them on. So, I took them to a shoe guy here in the neighborhood and he wrinkled up his brow and said in a Russian accent, “Dis is very difficult process.” (I think he was baiting me so he could charge me more money!) So I said thanks anyway and took the shoes with me. With about $1 worth of Barge glue, 13 cents worth of Q-Tips, 25 cents worth of masking tape, and $6 worth of C Clamps (which I needed anyway) I saved myself about 25 bucks by doing it myself. I gingerly masked off the sides of the shoes so the glue wouldn’t get on the suede, nylon or rubber sole. Then I dabbed a Q-Tip in some Barge glue, ran it all over the top of the sole, and clamped it together and left it overnight. It worked GREAT! That evening I did a session for casting company Kalmenson and Kalmenson for a website adventure called “There’s Something In the Sea.”

Tuesday the 24th – COUNTDOWN TO THANKSGIVING! – Only two days till Thanksgiving, and I was at the Leno show early to do some pre-announces. Those are announcements (bits, fake commercials, intros, etc.) that need to be pre-recorded so the editors can edit picture to my voice and get them on the air in time for the 4pm taping. When I finished I went back to Foam Mart and bought another vinyl bean bag chair and matching footrest. Each year I have a Happy T-HANGsgiving hang out and open house, where a bunch of us get together to watch movies and eat food.

Wednesday the 25th – HALF DAY FOR MOST! – By 1 in the afternoon, most places shut down for the Thanksgiving holiday. I was at the Leno show early again to record some more bits. Afterwards I went to the grocery store to get supplies for the weekend’s hang out at Planet Wallywood. That evening we watched “Creepshow” from 1982 on Blu Ray! That movie still held up pretty good! But it wasn’t remastered to 5.1 surround! I couldn’t believe it! I thought the whole purpose of Blu Ray was to get a better picture and sound than on the previous DVD release. I was very disappointed that it wasn’t remixed to 5.1.

Thursday the 26th – HAPPY THANKSGIVING! – We had an early taping of the Leno show today so the cast and crew could get their Thanksgiving celebrations underway. I got there at 2:15 to do some pre-recorded bits. Today was the day we would be doing the show for an all-military audience. About 10 minutes before the taping, I went on to the soundstage and got a look at the young men and women who are defending this country. It was stunning. The Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard were all in their uniforms, and all in sections. It was quite a sight to see! It made you proud! Having Megan Fox on the show didn’t hurt either! When the show was over I headed home to get ready for Thanksgiving dinner with my friends Scott and Vickie Sebring, and my pal Sara. Normally we’d go to the Sportsman’s Lodge in Studio City for their buffet (which had become tradition for us over the past several years) but last year they were sold and they’re no longer doing it. Vickie had found a buffet at the Universal Hilton. It was nice and close to us, and had even more food than the Sportsman’s! It was heavy on the seafood, which made Scott pleased as punch. Being allergic to seafood, it made me a bit nauseous at first, but once we sat down it was all good. I found my turkey at one station, mashed potatoes at another, gravy at yet another station, bread at another station, and I had to ask the servers for butter. My only complaint was that the Hilton didn’t pay much attention to the “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner by grouping the traditional food items together. But hey, I was getting exercise, and I no doubt ran off all the calories I would soon be consuming. I didn’t see any pumpkin pie, but I had some at home that I would dig into later. I had some strawberry Haagen Dazs for dessert. Then we headed back to my house and started the open house. We watched “UP” on Blu Ray (I had never seen it and it was BRILLIANT!) as well as the original “Logan’s Run” on Blu Ray. But the food was starting to get to me, and I was getting sleepy. Time for bed!

Friday the 27th – BLACK FRIDAY! – I completely slept through Black Friday, which was OK with me. There was no Jay Leno Show taping that day (it was a rerun) so I didn’t have to really do anything all day. A bunch of friends came over for movies, and we all decided it would be fun to screen “Purple Rain” on Blu Ray. I had forgotten how bad that movie really is, but in a “craptastic” kind of way. We laughed like crazy, and everyone was making comments. It was great! When we were finished we watched some of the new “Midnight Special” DVDs I had shipped in. These babies are worth their weight in gold! What fun! As one guest put it, “a wonderful time capsule!”

Saturday the 28th – BUSY BUSY! – I got up to let the maids in just before noon, then my friend Sara and I went to Floyd’s Barbershop to get our hair dyed black. She’s doing a photo shoot on Monday so she needed to get it dyed, and since I was getting there eventually, we decided to do it together. When we finished we went back to the house and started preparations for the open house. That night we watched “Monsters, Inc.” on Blu Ray, and it looked better than when I saw it in the theatre originally! So crisp and clear! Breathtaking. It’s always been one of my favorite movies, but after seeing it on Blu Ray it’s even more so!

Sunday the 29th – NO REASON TO WAKE UP! – I stayed up the night before really late, so I slept really late. I got up in time for evening church, then Sara and I went to grab dinner at Jerry’s Famous Deli in Studio City. When I got home I prepared for the new week, answered some e-mails, and did some things around the house. Can you believe that Christmas is only a month away??!!

And how was YOUR week??!!