RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
During my photo album work, I came across the photo that was taken at the Westwood One Radio Network circa 1988. Former President and First Lady Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter were visiting the studios, and since my folks, sister Bonnie and grandma were visiting at that time, I decided to stop into the studio to see if we could get a glance at a real President! We stood there with our mouths agape, and soon Rosalynn motioned for us to come over. The photographer captured this wonderful photo of us all, that will remain as one of my favorites for all-time. My grandma was so moved by meeting a former President, that she was moved to tears; as is evident in this amazing picture.
The album “The Long Run” by the Eagles came out in 1979 and I immediately fell in love with it. Virtually every song on it is gold! It spawned several hits, including the title track,
“I Can’t Tell You Why, ” “In The City,” and “Heartache Tonight.” But the album took on a much darker tone than previous albums. “The King of Hollywood” is about a sleazy Hollywood type preying upon young actresses, years before the Harvey Weinstein story broke! “The Disco Strangler” was another gritty tale. “The Greeks Don’t Want No Freaks” was a terrific song about college fraternity life, and “The Sad Cafe” is one of my all-time favorite songs. In fact, when “Those Shoes” came on my device this past week, it got me interested in revisiting this album again in its entirety. But I’ve been singing “Those Shoes” all week. Enjoy!
Monday the 24th – DAY 1…AGAIN! – Unfortunately I woke up way earlier than I needed to and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I went downstairs, paid some bills, wrote some letters, and did some work around the house until it was time for my session at 2. I prepped the drinks and snacks I may need for my upcoming four hour session. Back in 2022 I dubbed the main character on a foreign show for Netflix. It ended up being about 6 weeks of solid work; four hours a day, five days a week. It was great fun and they let us improvise quite a bit. I managed to get my pal Dan Roebuck and Tuesday Knight involved in the show as well, and the final product was terrific. Now, two years later, most of us are back to dub the second season of the show. I met with the new Voice Director last week and we both see eye-to-eye on how to approach this new season. I watched the five shows in the original language with subtitles to get an idea of what we were in for. It looks like we’re going to have a lot of fun again! But it seems like this season is less verbally “dense” than the first season, so I’m thinking it may only be a 3-4 week job this time. We’ll see how it all works out. I headed over to Plastic Depot to pick up a custom piece of plastic I had cut for the Tranquility Zone. I mailed some bills and headed to KFC to get some lunch before my session. But the drive-thru line was REAAAALLLLYYY SLOOOOOOWWW, so I hopped out of line and went elsewhere so I wouldn’t be late to the session on the first day. I don’t ever like being late, but on the first day it’s especially inappropriate. When I got to the studios of Igloo in Burbank it was great seeing some familiar faces from 2022, and I got to meet a few new members of the crew. There were also some changes in the building itself. Vernon, the Voice Director, was ready to attack it, so we hit it. It was a fun four hour session, and we got the first half of the first episode dubbed. I’m wondering if it will take us two days to dub each episode now. Back in 2022 it took us about three days to dub one episode. If that’s the case, I should be done dubbing all 8 episodes in about 16 days; possibly a little more if things get difficult. But we made amazing progress. And it was just like riding a bike – we easily slipped back into the groove we established back in 2022. But having missed lunch, I stopped at Chick Fil-A for some lunch to go. I drove over to see my pal Alex at Alex In Wonderland so I could drop off the materials and patterns for my “Travel Cookie” – a second Cookie Monster puppet that I can take on the road with me when I travel to shows. I stopped at CVS to get an enlargement made for my photo album project. I found a chronological timing error in the first book, so I had to move some pages around. In the process I had an open page, so I made an enlargement to fill the space. I stopped at the cleaners to pick up an outfit my gal Angi left there to have an alteration done on it. But the cleaners had nothing. Angi must’ve picked it up already! When I got home I put the enlargement in the first L.A. photo album, and now it’s locked —- again. I’m sure there will be more changes here and there, but hopefully it’s locked for the foreseeable future. I took a short nap, and then got up later to write Wally’s Week, and take my nightly WOG (walk/jog). As usual, after I finished exercising, I sat outside in the anti-gravity chair, enjoying the warm weather, having an iced tea, and looking at the sky. I saw a light traversing the sky at a pretty good rate of speed. I thought to myself, “Wow. That plane is really moving!” But then it took a rather sharp left turn, very uncharacteristic of a regular plane, and headed out of sight. Weird! I came back inside and did some work around the house, and prepped for the next day’s work.
Tuesday the 25th – HOW IT ALL WORKS! – Before I left for the second day of the dubbing session, I recorded some last-minute auditions. I hit Wienerschnitzel to get some lunch. It tasted good, and I hadn’t been there in a while. They have new mac ‘n’ cheese that’s really great! We had another great day of dubbing on the foreign show, and we got the first episode completed, and even got a small chunk of the second one done. For those of you who are interested, here’s how a foreign show is dubbed for Netflix. They use a dubbing system called the VQ system. Think of it like the news headline crawls that you see at the bottom of the screen when you’re watching TV. The words crawl from right to left across the screen. The lines for my character are in a specifically colored band. The other colored bands hold the other characters’ lines, so I can see what words my character is responding to. A lot of the other lines haven’t been dubbed yet, so I’m hearing them in the original language and reading the lines to myself in English. On my dialogue band, about a quarter of the way in, there’s a vertical line called a trigger. So when my line crawls across the screen and hits that trigger, that’s my cue to start talking. When my lines have cleared the band, that’s when I stop talking. The writers who adapt the script to English have timed these lines out to match the lip movements of the on-screen characters that we’re dubbing. When we approach a new scene (each scene is a couple minutes in length, on average) we watch it down once. During this preview I read the lines to myself and occasionally glance up at the actor on-screen to ascertain their facial expressions. This will give me an idea of how much emotional intensity to give the line when I’m dubbing it to English. Then we do one pass on the scene. The Voice Director and the engineer will look at it, and they’ll make a few line changes that they think will line up with the lip movements better. Then we take a second pass with the new dialogue. The engineer and Voice Director look at it again and move some things around to match the lip-sync. Occasionally (and more often than not) there will be some lines in the scene that we hone in on specifically. This could be for a number of reasons. First, we do it in order to better sharpen the synchronization with the character’s lip movements. Unlike dubbing anime, where the animated characters have limited mouth articulation, these live-action characters have all of the “plosives” and consonants inherent in your average human conversation. Secondly, we want to make sure that if there’s a joke or gag that’s being played, we want to insert a line that works best for the comedy, and really lands the joke. Thirdly, we want to make sure that it’s not underplayed or overplayed, based on what’s going on in the scene, and what’s happening on the face of the on-screen actor. Then we play it all back, and if it works, we move onto the next scene and repeat the process. It’s really very fascinating and effective! Amazing, really. After the session I headed home to do my nightly auditions, and then my pal Sara came over to trim my cat Spooky’s nails. He was starting to stick to things, and I have a new comforter on the bed that I don’t want ruined by his claws. He hates getting his nails trimmed, but Sara does a great job with him. I grabbed a quick nap (I’m not used to working quite this much!), and then I got up later to do some work around the house and take my nightly WOG. I spent some wonderful time after my workout outside in the anti-grav chair gazing at the stars and the gorgeous half-moon.
Wednesday the 26th – IT’S A MIRACLE! I CAN’T SEE! I CAN’T SEE! – This was the day I’d be getting my new custom blinds installed in the Tranquility Zone, so I got up at the appointed time and waited for the crew to show up. Until then, I did some auditions in the morning to pass the time. The installation crew arrived and in just a few minutes my new pull-down blackout blinds were installed in the Tranquility Zone. They also took measurements for a new area rug I’m having made for the Zone. Then I cleaned up and headed to McDonalds to get some lunch before my dubbing session. It was another fun day dubbing the foreign show, with plenty of laughs and creative delights. These four hour sessions actually go pretty fast, considering. I found out from Vernon the Voice Director, that the goal is to get 1,000 words recorded from each character every day. Sometimes we’re a little ahead, and some days we’re a little behind. It depends on how much time we spend working on refining the lines and bits in the show. I got back home and relaxed, did an audition, and later took my nightly WOG. After some time outside decompressing in the anti-grav chair, I went inside and did some prep on the computer for a signing in Carlsbad, California that I’d be attending this coming Saturday.
Thursday the 27th – SATURDAY SIGNING! – Since I was up nice and early, I decided to go get some gas and get the Gray Ghost washed. It had been a while. While they worked away I walked across the street to Dino’s Pizza and got a couple of slices for lunch. They finished up so fast with my Rav, that I had about an hour to kill before my session. I did a little grocery shopping that needed to be done. Then I headed to the studios of Igloo in Burbank. After another fun four hour session, I headed home and put away the groceries. I did a little work around the house, and grabbed a short nap. Later I did my nightly WOG, spent some time in the anti-grav chair outside, and then dug out my photo case to make sure I had all the photos I’d need for this Saturday’s signing at Ninja Exchange in Carlsbad (which is down by San Diego). Then I hopped on the computer and mapped out all the routes I’d need to take to get to the hotel from L.A., from the hotel to the event, and then from the event back to L.A.
Friday the 28th – OUTTA TOWN! – It was great being back at Paty’s, sitting on the patio in the warm sun and enjoying a salad. I stopped by It’s a Wrap to check out their selection, but didn’t find anything I needed. Then it was over to Igloo studios to finish up the first week of dubbing the foreign show. I got back home after the session, did some final packing, and around 8, I hit the road for Oceanside. It took me two hours to get to the hotel. I checked in, dumped my stuff in the room, and headed back down the street to hit the Denny’s I had spied on the way in for a late-night meal. But once I got there I noticed the sign on the front door that said they were closed for maintenance. What? On a Friday night? Bizarre. The only nearby option for food that late at night was a Del Taco drive-thru. Normally they have amazing burgers, but this one was just terrible. However, it was food. I got back to the room, unpacked, and hit the hay.
Saturday the 29th – NINJA EXCHANGE “BLEACH” SIGNING! – When I got up in the morning I told myself that I’d grab a quick breakfast before the signing, as I’m sure Denny’s was open by now. But nope. Still closed for maintenance. Weird. So once again, I got some food at the local Del Taco. I drove to a mall called The Shoppes at Carlsbad, where Ninja Exchange was located. I parked and lugged my photo box inside to find the set-up for the signing. There would be another 5 actors from the “Bleach” anime in attendance as well. Since I drove in the night before and got a hotel, I was the first to arrive. All the other actors drove up from L.A. that morning, which I was glad I didn’t have to do. Ninja Exchange is a great establishment. Think of it like a “nerd flea market.” It’s set up in the space formerly occupied by Sears, so it’s very vast! Hundreds of different vendors all set up in their little sections. But when I asked where the bathrooms were, everybody looked at me with an odd look. Once they described where they were, I realized why I got the odd looks. The bathrooms were in another zip code, seemingly. After traversing the mall and getting about halfway into the complex, I finally found them. They were disgusting, small little bathrooms – quite unbefitting of a mall that size. Really strange arrangement! But despite no air conditioning in the event (they just had some large fans running) it was a blast. At one point it had gotten quite warm (with all the warm bodies inside) even though the weather outside was typical cool San Diego-type weather. Angi was in town doing some work with her regular business clients, so she was able to stop into the event for the last hour. She brought her little dog Khloe, who was a bit overwhelmed by all the attention and activity. Since she’s originally from that area, she knew of an ice cream place that she wanted to take me to. So I got packed up and followed her into Oceanside to hit Handel’s Ice Cream. By the time it was 5:30 I hit the road for home. I got back by 8 and was exhausted. The previous busy week, plus the activity at the day’s event had left me quite spent. I cleaned up and hit the hay for a while. I got up later to enjoy my nightly WOG, spent some time in the anti-grav chair, and did some work around the house. I’ll get to enjoy a whole day-and-a-half off before it’s back to work. I fixed a few things in the Tranquility Zone, made a salad, and headed to bed to watch the sixth episode of the foreign show we’re dubbing. I like to watch them in their original language before we dub them so I can gauge what’s going on in the show, and maybe prepare a few ideas to polish up the comedy a bit. I also watched an episode of “Collector’s Call” from last week. It sure felt good to relax!
Sunday the 30th – HALF OVER! – It truly is beyond belief that the year is half over. The time is really flying! Since it was my usual Crash Day, I took great delight in resting up. I got up for a little bit to get on-line and check the happenings, and then I headed back to bed for a few more hours of sleep. Later I took my WOG, spent some time relaxing in the anti-grav chair, and then went back inside to prep for the upcoming week. My buddy Dave will be coming in for a few days this coming Wednesday. And since Thursday is the 4th of July, we won’t be working on the foreign show Thursday or Friday. So I’ll have a really nice four days off in a row. I spent some time listening to a podcast and working on the third L.A. photo album. I still have a lot of work to do on them, but I’m making tremendous headway. I’ve gotten through the years 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990, and I’m about to start on the year 1991. It’s really fun to look back on my life back then and chronicle everything in pictures and some printed narration.
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
It was a great time at Ninja Exchange this past Saturday, where I got to hang out with some of my fellow “Bleach” cast members. In the back (L to R) is David Vincent, me, Steve Kramer, and Dan Woren, In the front row (L to R) is Michelle Ruff, Stephanie Sheh, and Wendee Lee. For some reason Jamieson Price didn’t make it to this group photo. (Thanks to Wendee Lee for the photos!)
