RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

A friend of mine texted me this pic from a hardware store. FUNNY!

Last week on “The Tonight Show,” my Gran Torino was used in a Starsky & Hutch parody. It was a great segment, but the final segment in the bit was great too. It parodied the opening of “Pee Wee’s Playhouse.” It got me remembering how amazing that opening song was. Catchy! Here’s the original opening in all its glory!

Monday the 20th – A MASTERFUL GUEST! – I got a hotline call to be up early for a bit for “The Tonight Show.” I got to NBC and recorded the bit, and also found out more about the layoffs from last Friday. Apparently after the taping, a few more employees were laid off. Very sad. I drove by the electronics repair shop to pick up my camcorder. It was creating fuzzy images, so I think it needed a good cleaning. I grabbed some food at Taco Bell and headed home. I was happy to have legendary actor and icon Mark Hamill as my guest in Planet Wallywood. Like me, he’s a fan of several different genres. We had fun chatting about a lot of different stuff, he inspected some of my displays, and signed some Star Wars and Batman stuff for my collection. I got a call to record another bit for “TTS” at home. So I did (quickly) and then headed on in to NBC to tape the show. When we finished I got home and walked Roxy, fed Spook my cat, and took a knap. Then I got up to do my auditions in my home studio and watched another episode of “Hawaii Five-O” from the season 10 DVD set.

Tuesday the 21st – PIZZA AND PODCAST! – I slept late, then got up for US Airways at Voice Trax West. When I finished the brief session, I met up with my assistant Sara for lunch at Panera. I picked up a refill of my nose spray at the CVS pharmacy, and went home for a bit before heading to “TTS” to tape the show. I got a DVD of the Jaywalk Opens bit from the previous Friday, which featured my Gran Torino in the “Starsky & Hutch” parody.
I took Roxy out for a walk and we had a lot of fun playing in the courtyard. Some other dogs were out there so it was like a dog circus. It was a nice, cooler evening. Very enjoyable. My pal Bob Mitsch came over to interview me for his costuming podcast, so I bought pizza and we chatted for about 3 hours. Then I did my auditions and headed off to bed for an early morning.

Wednesday the 22nd – WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY! – I got up early and headed to Studiopolis for a videogame session. This will mark the third time I’ve played Dr. Hank Pym for Marvel. The first time was for “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2,” and then “Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes,” and now for this new videogame. Plus, I also got to voice Reed Richards (“Mr. Fantastic”)!! I kept thinking about this article on-line I saw somewhere that said something to the effect of…”Wally Wingert seems to play a lot of brainiacs.” I guess they’re right…Riddler, Pym, Modok, and now Reed Richards. But it was a definite thrill! When the session was over I went to the target range to try out the Walther PPK-S and Walther P1 I just bought. They shot very nicely! I stopped by Wendy’s for lunch, then I went home for a quick nap. But my cat Spook kept bothering me so I didn’t get much sleep. I got a hotline call to be into “TTS” early for a bit, so I got up and headed out. We taped the show and then I went to my mailbox to pick up the mail. I got home to feed Spook and walk Roxy, and then I napped on the couch. Bad idea! My back problems from a few weeks ago still haven’t been completely resolved, so when I woke up I had fire down my right thigh again. I walked it off, did some stretches and called Edi and Sara to see if they wanted to come over to watch “Hawaii Five-O.” I made some of my world in-famous summer sausage spaghetti for them.

Thursday the 23rd – MELLOW THURSDAY! – I got to sleep in, and it felt wonderful! No hotline calls from “TTS,” so I leisurely got up and walked Roxy for awhile. Then I headed into NBC to tape the show. I’m sure enjoying the cooler weather. Hopefully summer will be over soon. I’m looking forward to getting back into jeans and long-sleeved t-shirts. When the show was over I came home and met with a rep for a photographer who had some rare photographs I was interested in. I inspected the photos, we chatted for awhile and then she left while I pondered an offer. The photos would be a nice addition to my collection. I grabbed a nap, then got up to do a ton of auditions in my home studio. I made some of my world in-famous buffalo mac and watched another episode of “Hawaii Five-O.”

Friday the 24th – FAST FRIDAY! – I got a hotline call to be into NBC for a comedy bit for “TTS” at 1:15. At noon the carpet cleaners came by to do some spot cleaning, Sara came by to get a few of my beanbag chairs to take them in to get refilled, and I headed off to the studio. Once there I did 3 bits, then went to Voicecasters to do a quick audition. I got some Taco Bell and then headed back to NBC to tape the show. After the taping, a bunch of gathered at a bar in Burbank to bid farewell to some of those employees of “TTS” who were laid off a week ago. It was nice to see them there, shake their hands, tell them it was nice working with them, and wish them well. I got home and took a dip in the jacuzzi, relax and see my pal Brittney Powell who came by to do some work. I took a short nap, then got up to work all night around the house, doing dishes, laundry, etc.

Saturday the 25th – FALL IN THE AIR! – Since I didn’t get to bed until the sun was coming up, I slept into the early afternoon. Again, a much cooler day! I walked Roxy and waited for my friend Edi to drop by. We packed Roxy up in the car, hit the KFC drive-thru to get some food, and went to my friend Fred’s to hang out by the pool. With the temps being in the triple digits, I avoided being outside as much as possible, but this was a perfect day to visit by poolside. Roxy had a lot of fun being outside and running free. But it got later and I had to run home to prepare for movie night. We watched “Near Dark” and the original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” on Blu Ray. My old pal Chris Malmin (he and I both used to live in South Dakota) came by with a VHS tape of an old 1984 newscast from KELO-TV in Sioux Falls. It was a blast from the past seeing all the old sights from back in “the day.” It was hilarious, and we had a lot of fun! When he left I did some more work and then watched another “Hawaii Five-O” episode.

Sunday the 26th – LESSON LEARNED! – I got up shortly after noon to get ready for a camera crew who were coming to my house to shoot some video of my collection in Planet Wallywood. It’s for a demo to pitch a show about collectors. Everything went well until the very end. I spent about 2 hours of my time showing them around and telling stories about the exhibits, but when they wanted me to go outside to do an interview, I felt something was odd. Why go outside when all the great visual stuff is inside? That was the first red flag. The crew went outside and I locked up behind us. During the interview they decided to “prank” me. The hosts pulled out a Planet of the Apes lunch box that closely resembled mine, and started destroying it in front of me. But when they brought it out of the bag they tried to make me believe it was mine. So many things were going through my mind at that time. I knew it wasn’t mine for a couple of reasons. First, I always take a quick mental inventory of my house before I lock up. I look around to see if anything’s out of order, and make sure the dog and cat are safe and sound. So it couldn’t have been mine, since I would have noticed the hole in my lunchbox row when I locked up. Secondly, even though the autographs on the lunchbox were similar to those on mine, I could tell they were different somehow. I sensed I was being pranked. I guess they thought I would lose my cool and start yelling and screaming at them, but they didn’t count on the fact that I don’t do that. It’s not in my character. Thirdly, I knew that they wouldn’t do something like that to someone who just let them into their house and hosted them for two hours. Call it my unfailing faith in mankind. So I didn’t give them quite the reaction they were looking for. I was horrified when one of the hosts stomped on the vintage lunchbox, squashing it completely flat. Though I knew it wasn’t mine, I did feel a pang of agony just watching a beautiful vintage collectible being destroyed for no reason. I felt very uncomfortable and a little bit miffed. Had I known I was being asked to participate in a prank show, I never would have had them over, as I don’t like to participate in shows like that. Then I started thinking that the two hour tour of Planet Wallywood was nothing more than just wasted time. Was it just a device to get to the payoff of the prank? I guess I’m going to need to be a little more careful who I invite into my house to enjoy my hospitality. Sad. Once they realized that I wasn’t biting, they admitted that they meticulously tried to recreate my Planet of the Apes lunchbox in hopes of getting a fiery reaction from me. I told them that really wasn’t my style, but I would be happy to give them an “acted” reaction for the sake of their demo. They packed up their stuff and took off and I headed to evening church with Roxy. As the evening went on, I kept thinking about the afternoon’s antics. I got more and more upset, and felt used. But I took my friends Amanda and Sara to dinner at Paty’s for dinner on the patio, and I tried to reconcile it. It was the first time I had the Torino out for a spin in a couple weeks, and it was a beautiful night! As the day ended I started to feel better, but I was regretting my involvement in the afternoon’s activities and wished I had just gotten a few extra hours of sleep instead. Oh well…lesson learned. We stopped for ice cream on the way home, which made things better. I got home, did my auditions and turned in so I could be up early for a Monday morning Garfield session.

And how was YOUR week??!!!