May 13 – May 19 (2024) – Wally On The Web

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

This past week was Yvonne Craig’s birthday, and I happened to see this photo of her and Adam West on somebody’s Twitter feed. Geez…I really miss these kids.

One of the great songs I heard at Barone’s this past week was from the band The War On Drugs, whom I had seen in concert last November at the Vet’s Aid extravaganza in San Diego. Here’s a slightly shortened version of their song “Thinking Of A Place.”

Monday the 13th – MANIC MONDAY! – It’s a good thing I got some good rest over the weekend, because this was going to be a VERY busy day. I started with a salad on the patio at Paty’s, and then I picked up my packages at my box. I headed over to Studiopolis Burbank for a session for a video game. They originally booked me for two hours, but since it was a character I’ve been doing for close to a decade, I finished up in about a half hour. I spent a little while talking to the Studiopolis staff. Then I headed over to the studios of Alex In Wonderland with my Count Von Count replica Muppet. If you’ve been reading these entries the past few weeks, you know that in my constant strive for perfection I’m going to redo his nose, eyebrows and monocle. They just never looked right to me. This new nose is sharper and looks more similar to the Count’s nose from the first few seasons of “Sesame Street.” Also, I needed a larger monocle. Since the only monocles commercially available are made for a human’s eye, not a puppet’s eye, the majority of them are too small. But Alex’s husband Mike has worked with silver for decades, so he’s going to take a lens from a 50mm round pair of glasses that I bought on Amazon and create one from scratch. This one will be in the proper scale for my replica. Alex is also going to tighten up the center seam on the Count’s face, and then stitch some black wire to the front of the face, along with the monocle. When all that is finished, and the new nose is sewn to the face, I’m going to get to work on remaking his eyebrows. He should look pretty much perfect by the time I’m all done. When I got to the shop she removed the old nose and we placed the new nose on the puppet’s head just to see how it would look. WOW! What a difference. This is going to look terrific! I’m planning on taking “Count 2.5” to Monsterpalooza in a few weeks. I’m also going to dress Kermit up as Frogenstein, and Alex has agreed to make the pattern and costume for him. Fantastic! Now I just need to get my new Kermit replica in so we can get started. Over the past few months, Alex has also been working on a Dr. Doom bust for me. She and Mike used to work for the company who provided the old restaurant called Marvel Mania with all of the costumes and props. She still has all the original fabrics left, as well as the molds. I wanted to have her make up a Dr. Doom bust for my pal Dr. George in Sioux Falls; whom we affectionately call Dr. Doom (and he LOVES it!). After all, he DOES live in a castle on the prairie! Once I picked up the finished bust from Alex I headed to the UPS store to get it boxed up and shipped. As I was getting in my car to go home a young guy stopped me and asked about my Mustang. He loved it. We chatted for quite a while about cars and it was great chatting with another car enthusiast. When I got home I heated up the final batch of sloppy joe mix my pal Sara made for me a few days earlier, and enjoyed a meal. I did some work around the house, relaxed for a bit, and later I did my nightly WOG (walk/jog) and spent some decompression time outside in my anti-grav chair, just looking at the sky and relaxing. I came back inside and typed out Wally’s Week. What a day!

Tuesday the 14th – OH SHOOT! – My neighbor Bob and I decided to hit the range and do some target shooting. We got in the Mustang, but it wouldn’t go into gear. I pumped the brake a few times and it finally went into gear. I called my mechanic immediately to ask if there was some sort of sensor that might be going south. He said there IS a sensor that tells the gear shift that the brake is on, and it’s safe to go into gear. If that sensor is bad, then it doesn’t go into gear. I’m going to get that replaced sooner rather than later, because that could be nasty. Even though as I remember, my mechanic told me a long time ago there is a work-around in case that happens again. We hit the range and I ran some rounds through my .357 Colt Python and my Glock 19. I was shooting OK, but I found out that shooting with one hand is far better for my accuracy for some reason. After we shot we headed to the local Round Table Pizza for dinner. As always, it was delicious! I got home and did some work, and then later took my nightly WOG and spent some time in the anti-grav chair. I came inside to record my nightly auditions, and then wrote up a little piece for the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre. They sent me an email earlier in the day stating that they wanted to do a feature on me and my involvement with their amazing theatre. I love participating in their activities any way I can, so I wrote up a little article and organized some photos for them. As it was getting close to dawn, I got a call from my old pal Jeremy, whom I hadn’t talked to in a very long time. Jeremy used to be on the road with Tony Clifton about 10 years ago. Has HE got stories! He brought me up to date on everything going on in Clifton world. It was fascinating stuff!

Wednesday the 15th – G1 KERMIT! – As a late birthday gift to myself, I recently bought what I call a “G1 Kermit” on eBay. This replica was built by a builder on the east coast, and it was meant to resemble how Kermit looked when Jim Henson first created him back in 1955. The replica had all the “unrefined” aspects of early Kermit, and I LOVED the builder’s attention to detail! The visible stitching, the floppy arms, the big, thick legs…everything! It was something I just had to have for my collection. The puppet arrived at my box and he’s beautiful…in all of his “G1-ness.” I met my pals Edi and Elliot Lurie at Paty’s to hear all about a recent vacation they took. It’s always fun catching up with them. I drove the Mustang back to my auxiliary parking and put her to bed. I got the Rav out again and drove it over to Hobby Lobby to pick up a few items. I needed to get some vinyl press-on lettering and a frame for a Sons of the Desert certificate I bought a while back at one of the meetings. It was one of only 250 made, and it features the original signatures of SOTD founders John McCabe, Orson Bean, and my old pal Chuck McCann. What a great piece! I also got a frame for the Kermit Mona Lisa print my gal Angi got me for my birthday. The rest of the day I was busy working around the house lettering the SOTD certificate, framing the new art pieces, and building the display stand for G1 Kermit. I rearranged a few things in the Puppet Room to make room for everything, and did some major cleaning while I was at it. It looks fantastic! I also recorded my nightly auditions, and then I hit the hay totally exhausted!

Thursday the 16th – RIP THE MOVIE-GOING EXPERIENCE! – For the most part it was a pretty lazy day. I just did some miscellaneous stuff around the house. But later Angi came over so we could head to the local movie theatre and check out the new movie “The Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes.” I hadn’t been to a new movie in the theater in quite a while and I was looking forward to getting a hot dog, nachos, Red Vines, popcorn and a soda. Luckily the 10pm show was in a smaller theater with reclining seats. We were two of only 10 people in the theater, so it was kind of like a private screening. But sure enough, a couple sat behind us and talked all the way through the trailers. I said to Angi, “I hope they’re not going to do that all through the movie.” Sure enough, they did. Or least through a good portion of the movie. Civility is dead. People think they’re in their freakin’ living rooms, and they don’t care at all about other people’s enjoyment of the film. To be honest it’s why I don’t go to theaters any longer, and why I think the movie-going experience is dying off quite terribly. To have such little regard for other people in the theatre shows a blatant lack of respect, civility, and intelligence. It will be quite a while before I go to another movie in a public setting. The new “apes” film was a good popcorn movie and I enjoyed it quite a bit. When I got home I had to do a complicated 6 page audition for an animated series. Then I reconciled all of my receipts for my personal account against the bank statement I just received. I took my nightly WOG and spent some quality time outside afterward in my anti-grav chair. I made a salad and watched another episode of “The High Chaparral.” I wasn’t very tired, since I had been relaxing all day, so I decided to dial around on the TV to see what was on. One channel was running “The Never Ending Story;” one of my favorites. I told myself I would just “tune away” when the dreaded “Artax” scene came up. (If you know the scene I’m talking about…then you know) Sure enough, I landed on the channel just as that scene was starting. RATS! I tuned away quickly. Then I said to myself, “C’mon, Wally. You can make it.” I tuned back to the movie and watched the scene. Nope. I didn’t make it. That scene STILL gets me to this day. It’s funny that earlier in the evening at the movie theater, I noticed that “The Never Ending Story” would be playing on the big screen for a few days in June. But I told Angi I wasn’t going to see it in public because it would be…ahem…embarrassing. She’s never seen the film so she didn’t really know what I was talking about. But happily, I literally cheered out loud when Falcor flew into rescue Atreyu from the mud and the wolf Gmork. Watching Atreyu on the back of Falcor as they fly above Fantasia is a very satisfying scene. The music, the visuals, everything in that scene gives me chills. What a great film. But yeah…the Artax scene. It will probably ALWAYS get me.

Friday the 17th – PINING FOR PANDORA! – Once again I had a very nice “chill day,” just hanging around the house and relaxing. Later Angi came over so we could head to dinner at Barone’s. I’m so happy to see one of my favorite restaurants crowded and busy again. But as the crowd began to thin out, as it got later and later, I was able to hear more of the overhead music system. The first song was really great! It was just the kind of “chill” music I love. Angi used her phone to identify the title, and I made a note of it. Then another song came on which was also great. Then a third, and then a fourth! What was this channel we were listening to?! I asked the bartender and he said it was a Pandora channel called Future Islands Radio. I MUST get that for my home! Another great song came up called “Thinking Of A Place,” and it sounded very familiar. Come to find out, it’s a tune by the group The War On Drugs, whom I saw in concert back in November in San Diego! When I got back home I made a point to buy all of the great songs I had just heard. I took my nightly WOG and spent some quality time once again in the anti-grav chair. I’m loving the fact that I’m being so good about getting out for my one-mile walk every night, and that it has affected my blood pressure in such a wildly positive way. I hope I’m always able to get out on a nightly basis.

Saturday the 18th – MONSTER MARKET! – When Angi and I were on the Universal Citywalk a few nights ago I noticed a store there called Production Central. It was a small store comprised completely of Universal Monster items! We were too late to do any shopping though. Since we had come for a late movie the store was already closed. But I made a mental note to get back to Citywalk and do some quality shopping. After getting some groceries, I picked up my pal Sara and we headed over to Citywalk to shop and get lunch. I found a great Frankenstein hoodie that glows in the dark! I also bought a great Dracula cap that says “Creature of the Night!” Very appropriate for a guy like me! We walked down the Citywalk to Hot Topic and I bought a new Invader Zim sports jersey. We got lunch at KFC and topped it off with a delicious pineapple Dole Whip at the fro-yo place. I got back and put the groceries away, and then grabbed a short nap. Later I got up to do a ton of things I needed to do. I edited some music, cleaned the guns that I fired earlier in the week, cleaned out some storage bins that I would be repurposing in my bedroom closet, added some music to all my players, and then made a big salad and watched a few episodes of “Honey West” before bed.

Sunday the 19th – SUNDAY SOLACE! – As is usual, Sunday was my “crash day.” It sure felt good just lounging around, not doing much of anything at all. I did some prep for the forthcoming week and took my nightly WOG and spent some time in the anti-grav chair. Unfortunately we’re into a season in L.A. called “May Gray.” It’s usually followed up by “June Gloom.” It’s when the springtime weather gets very overcast and the marine layer is very prevalent. It stays cloudy most of the night and into the early day, but by mid-afternoon it usually burns off. However, it hasn’t really been burning off very well, leaving us with completely cloudy days and nights. I look forward to spending time in the anti-grav chair under a clear, starry sky again.

And how was YOUR week??!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

THE OLD AND THE NEW! Here’s the commercially available Kermit replica photo puppet from Master Replicas, along with my new G1 Kermit replica puppet that I just received this past week. Hey G1 Kermit…those are quite the “thunder thighs” you have there!