RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
It always bugs me when an actor has to play a character without a hand, but doesn’t wrap their wrist so it doesn’t bend naturally when they have the prosthetic on. It completely ruins the illusion when you see their “forearm” bending where it shouldn’t be bending. I guess even Darth Vader isn’t immune from this problem!
I don’t remember how I originally discovered this song, but “Brian Wilson” by Barenaked Ladies is a masterpiece. The words are pure poetry. Here is the live version you may not have heard before. But if you can, Google the lyrics. Amazing.
Monday the 24th – CANCELED! HAPPY! – Though today was the day I was scheduled for an endoscopy, it got canceled last Friday because of some erroneous information my insurance company had. I’m certainly not mourning the fact that the plug got pulled on it, as I just wasn’t feeling it. Besides, the main issue that necessitated the endoscopy has been rectified, so it would have been unnecessary anyway. Besides, in two years I’m due for my regular colonoscopy anyway, so I’ll just do both procedures then. I headed to the vet to get a case of cat fud for my cat Spooky, and then I hit McDonald’s for some lunch at the drive-thru. I stopped by my box to pick up some packages, which included several 12 packs of the bubble gum I like to chew while I’m doing my WOGs (walk/jogs). I have to order them in bulk because the stores in my area sometimes have it in stock, and other times they don’t. When I got back home I did a few auditions, relaxed a bit, and then worked in the kitchen rehanging the artwork that I had to pull down for the recent patching and painting job that was done. Deeper into the kitchen, there was another section of my ceiling that needed painting. The patch was done many years ago to address a leak from my upstairs master bathroom shower. For many years a 2 foot by 4 foot section of my kitchen ceiling was white, but the walls are more of an eggshell color. Luckily, because there’s so much to look at in Planet Wallywood, nobody noticed the disparity. After all, with all the stuff I have on display, if you’re looking at the ceiling something’s wrong. But I figured since I already had the eggshell paint pulled out to paint over the other patchwork, I should probably get in gear and paint that area too while I’m at it. When my new dishwasher got installed a few weeks ago I had to pull things out from underneath my sink to give the technician room to do his work. It gave me the chance to reassess what was needed and what could be thrown away. I did a lot of tossing out, but one of the things I found was a small jar of paint marked “interior walls.” BINGO! So I decided to make good use of my recent discovery and get the kitchen walls back to their old self. I’m planning on doing that project this coming Saturday night. Hope it all goes well, but as klutzy as I am sometimes, I’m a bit concerned. I typed out Wally’s Week, did my nightly WOG, and then sat down at my computer to repopulate my iTunes playlists. Every time I lose my main data drive I have to do this, as the playlist preferences are stored there, for some reason. Luckily I still have the vintage version of iTunes that I like, which still talks to my Gen 5 iPod, but when the data drive goes, so do all my songs and customizations. Oh well. A small price to pay for the convenience I guess. I did a few new voice tracks for the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre, an organization that I’m thrilled to be a part of, and sent them over to the theatre. I made a Paladin Saladin, and watched another episode of “Have Gun – Will Travel.” The Paladin character is amazing, and I’m having a great time with this series!
Tuesday the 25th – TWO YEARS…AND STILL TEARS! – Today marks two years since I had to say goodbye to my dog Roxy. Unlike two years ago, when it was stormy, gloomy and rainy, today was gorgeous. But the commemoration of the event still made me a bit sad. I tried to stay positive about the whole thing, but still the “sads” crept up on me a few times and got me. I did some auditions and emailed them into my agents, and then I drove over to my effects guy Jim Ojala’s studio to pick up the silicone mold for my new Roger Moore figure! I had my mouth set on food at Burger King, as there is one right by his shop. But as I got closer I wasn’t seeing the big Burger King sign. Was I lost? Nope. The restaurant was closed. Out of business. Full of graffiti. Sad. When I got to Jim’s I noted that the original Roger Moore sculpt in clay was relatively still intact! Though the face had come off during the release of the finished mold, the clay likeness was placed back on fairly easily. I found out later that the clay “positives” that are created are just a vessel to get the piece that you want, and even though the sculpture of Sir Roger (done by “Rubber” Larry Toro) was masterfully done, it’s meant to only be temporary. There really is no good way to preserve them once the molding process is done. Now that I have a silicone “negative” of the sculpture I will have my pal Kelly cast a positive from the mold in translucent resin and then painted. Glass eyes will be added, and then my pal Sergio will come over to add a wig, some eyebrows, and eyelashes. We’re on our way! On the way home I got some food at Jack In The Box and headed back home to eat it. I chatted with my gal Angi on the phone for a while, but then I was getting a bit tired. I relaxed for a bit, and then later I did more auditions. I paid a few bills, worked around the house, and then suited up for my nightly WOG. Wednesday and Thursday the weather in Los Angeles will be close to 85, and I can’t wait!! It’ll be a little pre-spring taste of summer, and I’m certainly down for that!
Wednesday the 26th – EXECUTIVE DECISION…WORKING LUNCH! – The day was MUCH too nice to stay inside, so when my computer guy Thor came over for our meeting I told him I was making a last-minute executive decision and we’d have a working lunch at Paty’s! I grabbed some note paper and we headed over and got a table on the patio to get some sun. We discussed the final phases of my new computer system that he was designing, finished our lunch, and then headed back to Planet Wallywood to take some final measurements for the new unit! Thor will extrapolate the information on the available components and then send me his recommendations for purchases. I worked a bit around the house, got things orderly, relaxed a bit, and then set about the tedious project of cleaning up my work desk. This involved taking a stack of CDs and DVDs and inputting the information in my database. I made another Paladin Saladin and watched another episode of “Have Gun – Will Travel!” While I’m only starting the first season, when I was finished watching the DVD I turned on the satellite to see what was on TV. As luck would have it, an episode of “HG-WT” was on the tube! But it was an episode from the sixth and final season. The Native American girl that was in the episode looked VERY familiar! Of course! I recognized that face! It was my old pal Susan Silo! She was probably only about 19 when she did this episode, and she later went on to do TONS of TV shows, including the character of “Mousey” in a Riddler episode on the 1966 “Batman” series! I’ve known her for years, and we even worked on “The Garfield Show” together many times. I immediately wrote her an email about catching her on the show, and she wrote back with this…”(Richard) Boone was quite the flirt…and also a good actor and a very bright man. I loved doing all the TV series’ of that time…we went from guesting on one show and going on to another! It was like a repertory theatre!” Sue’s the greatest!
Thursday the 27th – SUMMER’S HERE (ALBEIT JUST FOR A WHILE)! – It was another fantastic day, and I spent most of it relaxing around the house and being lazy. I voiced a few more tracks for the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre, as well as a few tracks for my ol’ pal Jim Hulihan’s Multi-Media Assemblies. I’ve worked for Jim since I first got into Voice Acting ages ago. His projects are always great and I love his positive messaging for kids. After having not seen her for over a week, my gal Angi came over so we could drive to the Coral Café for dinner and catch up. Then I came back home to relax, do some auditions, and take my nightly WOG. It was absolutely GORGEOUS out at 3 in the morning!
Friday the 28th – WEEKEND INCOMING!!! – The maids arrived and cleaned up Planet Wallywood for their every-two-week assignment. My assistant Emily texted to see if I wanted to meet at Paty’s for lunch. I had already scheduled a lunch with Jim Hulihan for 3pm, so I told her to meet us there and join in! The day was beautiful, and it was great catching up with Jim about the things he’s been working on. Then I got home to do some work around the house. I relaxed for a bit and then got busy organizing my computer files. I did my nightly WOG and had a little something to eat, and then hit the hay.
Saturday the 1st – THAT TIME OF THE MONTH AGAIN! – Several years ago my old pal Jenalyn brought her 7 year old son Tyler over to perform a character in an episode of “Wacky Wally’s Vintage Toys,” an internet show that we were doing back then. Unfortunately the producer of the show never completed the episode and it was never posted. Fast forward to today, and Jenalyn and Tyler (now 14) came over to say hi and catch up. While digging through some old photos I had in a box for my photo album project, I came across some great headshots that Jenalyn had taken back in the late 90s. I wanted to get them to her as I figured she’d enjoy having them. She said they sure did bring back some memories. When I was first writing and narrating the Christoween stories I played them for Tyler to see what he thought. He absolutely loved them. As a monster/horror fan he really related to Donnie Druthers, the lead character. I asked him, “If you were going to write a Christoween story, what would it be about?” He said it would be a story about getting a package with a head in a box. I liked that idea, so I used it for the Zomb-E story called “Un-Rest In Pieces.” After a quick tour we headed out to Paty’s to enjoy lunch on the patio. Then I picked up a package at my box, and came back to Planet Wallywood to finish the tour. I had gotten a lot of new things since they had been over last. As we sat and chatted, Spook really LOVED having company. He enjoyed getting pets from Jenalyn, but he REALLY loved hanging out with Tyler. While Tyler was lying flat on my floor, Spook climbed right up on his chest and laid on him. It was great seeing Spook so engaged with company! When they left I relaxed for a bit, and then I started the process of painting the 2 foot by 4 foot section of my kitchen ceiling. I brought up some plastic drop cloths from the garage, put them over the toys on the nearest shelf and my Andy Kaufman figures in the kitchen. If the white paint happened to spill on any of those things, I’d be devastated. So I was VERY careful! I painted the area with a few coats, and then got dressed and took my nightly WOG. I came back inside and put on a few more coats. It’s looking good, and it was LONG overdue! Since it’s the first Saturday of the month, it’s my personal tradition to enjoy an evening of Laurel & Hardy films that I call “Laurel & Hardy Theatre.” It harkens back to the Saturday nights I used to enjoy as a 12 and 13 year old kid spending late-nights watching L&H films on channel 9 in Aberdeen, South Dakota. If you remember, last month I had my monthly “Laurel & Hardy Theatre” commemoration in Sioux Falls, because I was in town visiting my family for my dad’s 90th birthday celebration. It was good to be back home and watch two more restored films on the “Laurel & Hardy: Year Two” Blu-ray. I watched “Their Purple Moment,” and “Should Married Men Go Home?” – two great silent films! After I watch the films I go back and watch them again with the commentary on. Randy Skretvedt is an author specializing in classic films, and his commentaries on the Laurel & Hardy discs are wonderful. But they’ve been using another guy on some of the commentaries and I don’t seem to enjoy his commentaries as much. His approach is very aggressive, and he talks very fast and loud. I feel like I’m at a lecture listening to a very angry professor. I also noticed that he has the habit of making the commentaries a lot about himself and his own experiences, rather than giving useful information about the films. Oh well. I enjoyed my traditional Chef Boyardee pizza-in-a-box, some ice cold Diet Pepsi in my vintage Stan Laurel mug, a banana Twinkie, and some popcorn! What fun!
Sunday the 2nd – QUAKE-UP CALL! – My pal Kelly, who will be working on the new Roger Moore 007 figure I’m adding to my collection, sent me a text about the project. I figured it would be best just to chat on the phone, so I gave him a ring. We ended up talking for over an hour about the project. Exciting! Since Sunday is my traditional “comatose” day, I relaxed virtually all day. I got up periodically to check on Spook and give him some food. In the evening I decided to go back to bed for a bit before I had to get up and record a TON of auditions. I woke up around 9:30pm and debated whether or not to get up and get started. At 10:14pm I felt my bedroom starting to shake and shimmy. I guess that Quake-up Call was my signal to get my ass out of bed and get moving. It ended up being a 3.9 – which was certainly noticeable, but usually comes with very little actual damage, thankfully. I had over a dozen auditions and they were very time consuming and laborious. But definitely worth doing! When I finished recording I put a few more coats of paint on the kitchen ceiling, and then took my nightly WOG. Unlike the previous nights, it was CHILLY! Our brief dalliance with summer was over. Rats! I came inside to do some more work and then call it a day…and a week!
And how was YOUR week?!?!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
The Roger Moore facial sculpt made it out of the molding process with very little damage, but unfortunately there’s really no good way of preserving the clay sculpture. Once the mold is made, the clay’s work is done, and oftentimes the clay is simply recycled into a new sculpture. Sad, but true.
While going through some of her aunt’s things, my mom found a hat that my aunt crocheted many years ago! Pretty snappy!
Here’s a shot of my pal Susan Silo in her episode of “Have Gun – Will Travel!” More like have FUN will travel!
This new “Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War” shot is being printed and will be at my table at the upcoming Sacramento Comic Con! Plus, I’ll soon be featuring it in my on-line store! Stay tooned!’
