RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
Yeah, Mr. Rogers. I feel ya.
I’ve loved the music of William Orbit since I worked at 94.7 The Wave in Los Angeles. He produced some material for Madonna several years back, and I’ve always loved his sound and genius. Recently he released a new album with this gem on it. It’s beautiful and it’s one of the many songs I play in the Tranquility Zone when I’m relaxing. It’s called “Planet Sunrise.”
Monday the 29th – LOUIE THE LOVER! – The week started off with a gorgeous, warm sunny day. I drove to my box to pick up my packages, then I spent some time on the patio at Paty’s with a delicious salad and the sun on my face. I finished my salad just as the sun was setting beautifully. As I was leaving I saw this gorgeous white Golden Retriever. I went over to meet him and found out that the white Goldens are called English Cream. He was not quite 4 years old and his name was Louie. I called him Louie the Lover, because when I extended my hand to him to sniff, he gave it a big lick! He was a fantastic doggie. If I ever get another dog, I’m going to strongly consider a Golden Retriever, as they have such great personalities and spirits. I walked over to a local chain of markets called Trader Joe’s and picked up some veggies for my salads. I stopped at Baskin-Robbins for a little ice cream treat, and then went home to do some work. Angi stopped over for a bit to say hi. And later I did my nightly auditions, and typed out Wally’s Week, but I ran out of time and missed my opportunity for a nightly WOG (walk/jog). Since the Pasadena Comic Con had just happened I had a lot of ground to cover in last week’s Wally’s Week, and time just slipped away. I made a salad and watched another episode of “Boris Karloff’s Thriller” before bed.
Tuesday the 30th – C DRIVE, DRIVING ME MAD! – It wasn’t until later in the day that I arose from bed. Since I was busy last Sunday, on my usual “crash day,” I made up for it today. I got on my computer and started to address the storage issue I was having with my C drive on my computer. It was almost full and I couldn’t figure out why. I don’t know enough about it to investigate why on my own, so I called around to various pals who are more “in the know” on stuff like this. Upon their advice I ordered some new gear that may help. Last Sunday I was having quite a difficult time with my signing pens at the Pasadena Comic Con. So I decided to go through all of them and give them a test. I weeded out a lot of pens that were running low on ink, and ones I just plain didn’t like. My dad is donating a lot of the photos he took around the Aberdeen, South Dakota area when we were living there in the 70’s, and his alma mater contacted me to see if he would be willing to donate them to the university’s photo archives. We got all the paperwork signed and finalized, so I spent a few hours organizing a nice, big folder of photos for Northern State University. I made a late-night trip to get some groceries, and then when I got back home I took a WOG. But my relaxation time outside after the WOG in my anti-grav chair was spoiled by a lot of police helicopters and sirens. Something was going down in the big city! I dug out my interior wall paint and touched up the area on the wall around my new Popeye cutout and it looks pretty clean now. I opened up my DVD set of “The High Chaparral” that I just ordered (I’ll start in on that show after I’m finished with “Thriller”) and then I made my nightly salad. In the episode of “Boris Karloff’s Thriller” that I watched tonight, one of the actors was Reggie Nalder…best known as Mr. Barlow from the 1979 film “Salem’s Lot!” Scary guy, and a GREAT actor!
Wednesday the 31st – COMES THE RAIN! – Since yesterday’s “crash day” was so enjoyable, I decided to take another. Later I got up to do some work and feed Spook. Rain was on the way so I decided to take my WOG earlier than usual to beat the onslaught. I came back inside to prepare for a data transfer to some other hard drives I had lying around. I’m trying to get the C drive back down to manageable levels! When the rain finally arrived I went out to my garage and sat in my anti-grav chair to watch it and relax and meditate. But even with a blanket it was getting too cold, so I came back inside!
Thursday the 1st – BEST BUY, “BARBIE,” AND BACK-UPS! – My pal from Harry’s Camera called to let me know my latest order of scanned negatives and prints were in. I walked over to the shop and picked them up. They were negatives from very monumental moments in my life; the first time I met Adam West in March of 1980, the first time I appeared as Darth Vader, and the first time I wore my 1966 Batman costume in March of 1981 to appear with the Batmobile. Wonderful memories! Though I had two 18TB external drives on order from Amazon, they weren’t going to arrive until next week. I had to do something quickly. I found them in stock at the local Best Buy, so I drove over and picked up two of them. Then I stopped by Little Toni’s to get some pizzas for Angi and I, as we were going to watch “Barbie” and have dinner later that night. It started to rain and I knew Angi was bringing over her little doggie Khloe. So I made a point of meeting them where they parked so I could drive them up to my house. I promptly canceled the order on Amazon for my 18TB drives, and got prepared to eat pizza and watch “Barbie.” Later I configured one of the drives into my computer system and started the back-up process in order to try and alleviate some of the overload in my C drive.
Friday the 2nd – CRISIS AVERTED! HAPPY DAYS! – The maids came over to clean Planet Wallywood, and I spent the afternoon doing some more clean-up on my computer (deleting and transferring). I needed to do this clean-up anyway, so this storage issue was the perfect motivation to do it. Later my pal Joe Pendleton (computer expert) got on my computer via remote and looked at the issues I was having. VOILA! Come to find out I had been transferring things from my DOWNLOAD folder incorrectly for many years. When I would download a video, photo, song, file, etc. – I would simply copy it over to the folder in which I wanted it to live. But I never removed it from the download file. That was what was clogging up my C drive! Since I had copied everything on there before, Joe could now delete everything in my download folder. Some of the files in there dated back to 2016! YIKES! Once we did that, my C drive was back to manageable levels. And now I know enough to keep that download folder clean! So all of the deleting and transferring, and 18TB drives didn’t end up being necessary at all! But it’ll be good to have them here anyway for future use, and I’m going to make a manual back-up of everything on my computer that’s important to keep anyway. I took a WOG but it was pretty cold out. After a rain it gets pretty chilly. As I was setting up the Tranquility Zone to watch another “Boris Karloff’s Thriller” episode and eat dinner, I noticed that the light above the case containing my Rowlf the Dog replica Muppet was going on and off. I determined that it was a faulty power cable, which had been stretched out after years of hanging down the back of the case. The power supply it was plugged into was pretty heavy, so I’m thinking it just stretched and fatigued the cable over time. I ended up having to throw the entire thing out. I tried a few other cables and power supplies with the light, but I believe the voltage of those things were too much for the light. I started to smell a burning smell and I unplugged them quickly. I think battery operated puck lights will work better for this situation anyway. I made a salad and watched another episode of “Boris Karloff’s Thriller” and was blown away by something that happened in the show. Please see the video clip I’ve posted this week for a full explanation!
Saturday the 3rd – IT. HAS. ARRIVED! – My friend Edi’s little doggie Lala turned one today, so Lala, Edi, and her husband Elliot met me at Paty’s for a celebratory dinner. But it was getting pretty chilly outside, so the outdoor dining was getting to be a drag. Luckily they moved us closer to some heaters and it was all good. But Lala seemed upset, distracted, and restless. She kept making squeaking noises and we were puzzled as to what was wrong with her. Then Edi hit on it. Since Lala’s now one year old, she might be going into heat. (Sure enough, she did a few days later…so Edi called it perfectly) It was unfortunate because I could tell that Edi was getting frustrated with the situation. But it’s always fun seeing Edi and Elliot (and Lala!). I got my packages at my box and headed home. I put up some new battery operated puck lights up around the Tranquility Zone. Luckily I had an extra one, so I put it above the Rowlf cabinet and it looked perfect! And best of all… no power cable! Later in the afternoon my new best friend Tyler St. Mark came over to tour Planet Wallywood. He’s the gentleman who sold me the original screen-used “Sons of the Desert” fez from the Laurel and Hardy film of the same name. (See Wally’s Week January 16 -January 21 (2024)) When I bought it on eBay I told Tyler I didn’t want to trust such a valuable item to the post office, and he agreed to drive it down the next time he was in L.A. for business. My pal Rob Richards arrived as well, as I wanted Rob to witness the unveiling of this prized item, as he too is a hardcore Laurel and Hardy fan. This fez is GORGEOUS! Hard to believe it’s 90 years old, but it’s been taken very good care of! I’m happy to have it in my collection! Tyler and I have a great deal in common, and I enjoyed showing him around Planet Wallywood! I can’t wait to get up his way and see HIS amazing collection! He’s very knowledgeable about a lot of things, and has a book about Laurel and Hardy coming out soon called “After the Laughter.” Later I gave a call to Burt and Tracy Ward to let them know I was sending them some of my new negative scans via the web. I had taken several shots of Burt and Tracy in Las Vegas at a convention, and it was the first time Adam West met Burt’s fiancé Tracy. They’ve been married ever since and have a dog rescue called Gentle Giants Rescue. I knew they’d love to see fresh scans of those photos from 1992. There was a break in the rain later, so I took the opportunity to take a WOG. Since it was the first Saturday of the month, it’s time for my monthly “Laurel & Hardy Theatre” commemoration. Normally I would have watched two of the silent films that were next in line on the new Blu Ray set “Laurel & Hardy: Year One,” but under the ‘celebratory’ circumstances of getting the “new” fez I decided to watch “Sons of the Desert.” It was amazing, and as I watched the scenes featuring the conventioneers I kept thinking to myself, “That baby is in there somewhere!” It’s so fun knowing I have a piece of that amazing film’s history in my collection!
Sunday the 4th – DENNY’S AND DOWNPOUR! – As Sundays are my usual “crash days,” I got up very late. I had fully intended to get something to eat and go back to bed, until I realized that I had an 8pm appointment with my pal Bob to record some Voice Over bits for his upcoming sketch comedy show. Every year his comedy troupe performs for a Dr. Who convention, and he likes to have me record some intros for some of the bits. Plus it gives us a chance to catch up and chat, especially since I no longer do movie nights at Planet Wallywood. We chatted for about 3 hours, and then got to work. When we were finished we headed to Denny’s to get some food, and then it started pouring again! WOW! We’re getting drenched. No WOG tonight for sure! And since it’s expected to continue for the next few days, I may have to take a break for several days. I napped on the couch for a little bit while Spook was on his beanbag in front of the fire. I got up later and ate the salad from Denny’s I took to-go and watched another “Boris Karloff Thriller” episode.
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
That smile is not put-on…it’s genuine!
I just had to put the film on to celebrate my new acquisition!
Listen to this week’s “What’s Wally Humming” and look at the pictures I took of the beautiful sunrise I saw this past week. The photos don’t even START to do it justice! STUNNING!
Angi and I have our pizzas and popcorn ready to watch “Barbie” on Blu ray!
In this shot from Sid Krofft’s weekly Instagram show, I loved seeing the Sleestak head that Mike McGee and I gave him at last week’s Pasadena Comic Con. It’s got a GREAT home!
I just love watching how fate works, how sometimes it gives you little glimpses into your future without you knowing it. Take for example this toast in an episode of “Boris Karloff’s Thriller” that I saw this past week. Marion Ross, who became most well-known for her role as Mrs. C in the 1970s sitcom “Happy Days,” plays a young fiance who is toasted by her husband-to-be. Listen to his toast. Unbelievable!
