RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
While sitting at Paty’s one day having lunch, this “skater dog” came by. I couldn’t resist getting a pic! He just sat on the skateboard while his human pulled him along. CUTE!
Since I’ve been rehearsing this song for church, and since Thanksgiving is almost upon us again, I figured I’d let you enjoy Olivia Newton-John’s “Grace and Gratitude.”
Monday the 6th – SPOOK SPOOKED! – It was that time of year again; time for my cat Spooky’s annual check-up at the vet. He has a tendency toward urinary crystals so he has to be on a special diet. In order to get the prescription food required to mitigate his condition, he has to have a yearly physical. He was NOT happy about it this year any more than previous years. The good news is, the vet said he’s at a very good weight, and for being 12 years old, was remarkably strong and viable! I took him back home and gave him a nice treat before his dinner. I fed the pets and did some work. I recorded a bit for my pal Troy who works on the “Ellen” show and e-mailed it over to him. I grabbed a short nap on the couch, and then got up later to record a bunch of auditions. There were all sorts of things in there; promos, commercials, and a few animation pieces. I also recorded some new materials for American Airlines’ in-flight announcements. I fed and walked Roxy, then made hot dogs on the grill and watched ‘The Outer Limits.”
Tuesday the 7th – TUESDAY IS BEEF BARLEY DAY! – Now that the weather has turned decidedly cooler, I was craving some beef barley soup at Lancers; a delightful family-owned restaurant in Burbank. So after I got up at 2 I did some work around the house, recorded a few last-minute auditions, and then hopped in the Gran Torino and drove to Hobby Lobby to pick up a blank baseball tee and some adhesive-backed foam core. I stopped over to Toys ‘R’ Us to pick up some bubble gum refills for my dispenser, stopped by the auto parts store to pick up a car mop to dust the Gran Torino, and then met my assistant Sara at Lancers for some hot beef barley soup; their special soup on Tuesdays. I have two criteria for knowing that eating places are worthwhile… 1) Do old people eat there? Old people have limited time on the planet so I don’t believe they’re going to waste it eating crummy food. 2) Do fat people eat there? Fat people didn’t get that way eating food they don’t like, so if they’re there…it must be good! Needless to say Lancers fits all of the aforementioned criteria and is a wonderful place to dine. I drove the Gran Torino over to Bed, Bath and Beyond to get a curtain rod for my revitalized Andy Kaufman display. They had more of those aqua-colored backrest pillows in stock (the ones I used to make Chairry Jr.’s) but I didn’t buy any more. I figured I had made four, and that was enough. But I WAS tempted! I got home and napped for a bit, and then got up to do a ton of auditions. I took the foam core that I purchased earlier in the day and mounted a poster to it that I had bought on eBay. The artwork on the poster was a conglomeration of 1966 Batman bubble gum cards done by the artist Norman Saunders. While I love his artwork, this poster was not grabbing me. They purposely made it look wrinkled and vintage-y. It wasn’t very vibrant in color and looked rather sad once I got it mounted. So I decided to make my own. I sat down on the computer, scanned several of the Saunders Batman cards I had in my collection, and created my own homage to those wonderful collector cards of yesteryear. And it looked darn good (if I do say so myself!) I’m going to send the artwork to my buddy Joe at Studio Copy and have him make it into a big poster which will be on display during the 1966 Batman exhibit at the Hollywood Museum this January through April. More on that later! I made some buffalo mac and watched another “Outer Limits” episode before bed.
Wednesday the 8th – A “W” KINDA WEDNESDAY! – Around 2:30 I woke up and put the Torino to bed. I hopped in the Mustang and headed to Wizard Printing. A buddy of mine sent me a vinyl heat transfer of a black bat; known in the 1966 Batman circles as “the screen test bat.” This was the bat design that was on the tunic worn by both Adam West and Lyle Waggoner when they screen tested for the “Batman” TV series back in 1965. It’s quite a bit different than the one used in the series, so it’s a fairly “inside” joke. But I love it. I wanted Debbie at Wizard to use her heat press to put it on my new black baseball tee I just bought at Hobby Lobby. She did it and didn’t charge me for it. HOW NICE! I headed over to Walmart to pick up a few items you could only find there. One of them was a new Batman t-shirt and wool cap combo that my pal Scott Sebring told me about. I got a few other things I needed and headed over to Wendy’s to get some dinner. (The day was taking on a decidedly “W” theme!) I stopped by my mailbox to mail off the Chairry Jr. that I had made for Paul Reubens, and then went home to feed the pets. I typed up Wally’s Week (which was late again this week!) and then grabbed a short nap. I got up and did my auditions, made a pizza, and watched the final episode of “The Outer Limits.” I’m sad to see this show end.
Thursday the 9th – PRODUCTIVE THURSDAY! – Since Roxy had a cyst break open last week, I wanted to wait until it healed well before I took her to the groomer’s. It was pretty well healed, so it was time to get her a much-needed bath! I took her over to Rusty’s for a good soaking, and then returned home to do some work and record a few auditions. I picked her up later in the evening and we walked home. It’s starting to get dark earlier now, and I kinda like it! I fed both Roxy and Spook, and then took a looooong nap. This “dark earlier” thing seems to make me crave naps on the couch by the fire. I got up later to do some work around the house. I steamed out the new curtain that will go up behind my Andy Kaufman display. It’s a deep red velvet curtain, similar to the one behind Andy when he performed “Mighty Mouse” on the very first episode of “Saturday Night Live” in 1975. The curtain was folded in the package, so I’m letting it hang for a while to get those wrinkles out. A little bit of steam helps as well; but not too much since it’s made from 100% polyester. While I was digging through my storage cabinet in the Chaney Room for my steamer, I came across a sack of lights my pal Chuck McCann gave me several years ago. I had forgotten about them! I dug them out and sat down with them to figure out how they worked. They’re battery operated spot-lights with a remote. Unfortunately the batteries in one of the fixtures and the remote had exploded. So I had some acid clean-up to do first. But after they were fixed I put fresh batteries in them and they worked perfectly! And boy are they bright! When I get my Muppet cases back from Plastic Depot I think I’m going to mount them in the Tranquility Zone to highlight the 1:1 Muppet replicas I have of Kermit, Animal and Gonzo. There were 3 lights in the package, and I have 3 Muppet replicas. So I did the math. I decided to finally sit down and start working on my new photo album project. Earlier in the year I had my assistant Sara scan every paper photograph I own. Many of the old photos from my South Dakota days were in photo albums that were rotting and decaying. My goal is to put them all in brand new acid-free photo album pages. But I can’t find an adhesive I like. I want something that’s not permanent and will damage the photo if I ever need to remove it. So I bought these little things called “glue dots” at Hobby Lobby. But they’re basically…ahem…rubber boogers. They’re little lumps of sticky rubber that attach the photos to the pages. But they’re so blobby they put a bubble in the photo when you apply it. I want a non-permanent adhesive that will adhere the photos satisfactorily until I want to remove them, one that doesn’t leave a bubble in the picture, one that lays flat, and one that’s easy to apply. I’d have to do some more searching at the craft store to find something suitable. The Sunday before Thanksgiving, I convinced the band at my church to do Olivia Newton-John’s “Grace and Gratitude.” It’s a perfect song for “the season of gratitude.” I was hoping one of the lady singers in the band would sing it, but the leader of the group wanted me to sing it. So I eventually relented and agreed. I did a few sing-throughs of the song, and it sounds rather nice sung an octave below Olivia’s voice. I think it’ll work out great! I drove over to Denny’s to get some food to go, drove back home and did some more work, and then at my dinner while starting the “Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” DVD set I bought several years back. Boy do these bring back some great memories! And FUNNY stuff! It’s nice to see a late-night comedy show format like this with absolutely NO political humor!
Friday the 10th – FURRY FRIDAY! – I headed over to my mailbox to pick up some faux Alpaca fur for a project I was working on. As soon as I opened the package I knew they had sent me the wrong stuff. It wasn’t the “Alpaca” style I ordered from eBay…it was just basic, cheap-o craft fur. Ugh. I stopped by McDonalds to get some dinner, and then I went over to Michaels Crafts to find some suitable adhesive for my photo album project. Those glue dots just weren’t going to cut it. I found some double-stick, temporary tape…so I hope that will work. It’s made for photos and documents explicitly, so I think I’m on the right track. I went over to CVS to get a prescription, got some groceries, and then headed home to put everything away. I got a quick nap on the couch by the fireplace, and then got up to prep for an important meeting at the Hollywood Museum on Saturday. I had lots of documents to print, but my Brother laser printer is having trouble pulling the paper in. It keeps telling me “NO PAPER” when there’s a lot of paper in the tray. So, I pull some out, put the tray back in, and sometimes the machine will be fooled and print. After having just spent $200 on this thing to fix a problem that was causing my paper to come out wrinkled, I’m wondering about the logic of spending another $200 to fix the rollers. These printers new are about the same cost! Arrrgh…technology! Needless to say, my printing project required lots of patience.
Saturday the 11th – MEAL, MUSEUM & MR. MOM! – My good pal Ruben Procopio (animator, sculptor, artist) picked me up at 12:30 and we drove to the Hollywood Museum for a lunch meeting. We had assembled the majority of the group who would be loaning items to the museum for the big 1966 Batman exhibit starting in January. We went upstairs to have a look at the space they were reserving for the exhibit, and we started to get some great ideas! This thing is going to be amazing! I came home and got prepped for movie night. It sure was fun seeing “Mr. Mom” again after all these years. When my guests left I grabbed a quick nap, and then got up to work all night on compiling the inventory list for the exhibit. We’ll have close to a hundred items when all is said and done! Then I made my traditional Saturday Night Super Salad and watched “Saturday Night Live” episode 5. With the exception of the sketch by The Muppets, I didn’t even so much as crack a smile. Very strange. I always remembered this as being much funnier.
Sunday the 12th – SUNDAY SLACKER! – As is usual for me on a Sunday, I slept late into the afternoon. Then I walked Roxy over to evening church and enjoyed the service. We walked back home, lit the fire and relaxed. I did some photoshop work on a mannequin concept I had been working on for the museum exhibit, and then I enjoyed a quick nap. I got up later for a few auditions, and then fed the pets, walked Roxy on our late night stroll through the complex, made some lasagna and watched a few more episodes of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.” These aren’t full episodes of the show on this DVD set, but rather “telescoped” versions of the episodes. They’ve cut out all of the fluff and go right to the meat. There’s usually the monologue (always my dad’s favorite part), and two or three guests. But watching these sure brings back a lot of great memories! I got to bed much earlier than usual so I could be up a bit early for a Voice-Over session Monday morning in Santa Monica.
And how was YOUR week??!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
