RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

What is it about me and masked, well-dressed men who get all the sexy girls? (Think Phantom of the Opera)? After my in-depth analysis of the movie “The Oblong Box” in Wally’s Week, I decided to include a few shots of Sir Edward from the film. LOVE that mask!



They had music running at OG Collectibles during the day-long signing and I only recognized a few of the songs. But one of the standout songs was one of my favorites. It’s by Capital Cities and it’s called “Safe and Sound.” Nice groove!

 

Monday the 31st – HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM “THE BOX”! – After the wild, busy weekend I was pretty beat, so I slept late. I got up to do some work around the house, and later I tried to order a pizza from Domino’s for my solo Halloween night plans. I wanted to get a pizza and settle in to watch an old movie that had scared the crap out of me as a kid. It had just recently been released on Blu-ray and though I had seen it a few times since, I was hoping to “get that feeling back again” by seeing it on disc. In the middle of submitting my pizza order on the Domino’s website, a message popped up that said the option I chose wasn’t available. Meaning, they weren’t delivering. I guess they may have been overwhelmed by all the Halloween night orders and just didn’t have the staff to handle it. So, change of plans. Back to bed for another nap. When I got up later I recorded my auditions, and typed out Wally’s Week. I made some lasagna and headed to bed to watch “The Oblong Box,” a Vincent Price and Christopher Lee movie from 1969 that I remember seeing (part of it, anyway) in a theatre with my dad. I agreed to go see it with him, but I was a bit worried about being 8 years old and seeing a bloody horror movie. Riding my bike around the neighborhood that day, I bolstered my courage by telling myself, “I can do this.” But after a particularly bloody on-screen murder, I excused myself from the theatre and sat in the lobby on the stairs leading up to the balcony for the rest of the film. I didn’t want to ruin my dad’s movie experience, so I just chose to wait for him outside. I recall the scene that was it for me; the deformed scarlet-masked killer dragging his jagged-edged knife across the throat of a victim in late 1800’s England. As I mentioned, I had seen the film a few times since its theatrical release in 1969, but I found it to be slow and a bit boring. But this time I decided to really focus in on the film and analyze it. And Halloween was the perfect backdrop for a film that was the source of many childhood nightmares. (I was seeing the scarlet-masked killer behind every corner in my room!) My takeaways from “The Oblong Box” were many. Firstly, turns out, the killer was a sympathetic figure. He was the victim of mistaken identity and the only people he killed were bad people, exacting his retribution for his deformity and ruined life. Through a witchcraft-based revenge for a crime he didn’t commit, Sir Edward was paying for a crime (an accident) that his brother committed. So now here I was in 2022, forgetting about the scarlet-masked killer that haunted my dreams for many childhood years, and actually cheering him on in the film! Even though he wore the scarlet velvet mask he was able to consort with a few sexy ladies! At one point I considered coming out of cosplay retirement and cosplaying this character someday at a convention! And at the end, Sir Edward couldn’t even find eternal rest in death. As a witch doctor visits his grave to bring him back to life to live until the end of time as a living corpse buried alive! Hence the name, “The Oblong Box.” Poor Sir Edward. Vincent Price and Christopher Lee only had one scene together, unfortunately. And there seemed to be way too much filler in the dive bar/whorehouse scenes. They could have trimmed about 10 minutes of useless footage of drunk, horny patrons carrying on to dizzying violin music. But they must’ve been short on footage to make their desired run time, so the addition of the superfluous footage must’ve been necessary. I also realized that part of the reason I may not have embraced the movie as an 8 year old is because of all the “English-isms” in the script. I simply just didn’t understand all of the archaic speech from 1800 England. But overall, a very fun movie!

Tuesday the 1st – WHAT DO THE FONZ AND THE LONE RANGER HAVE IN COMMON? – Most of the day was spent planning for an upcoming autograph appearance this weekend at OG Collectibles in Downey, California. I’m looking forward to appearing with my fellow “Bleach” actors Johnny Yong Bosch and Michelle Ruff. I worked out a checklist to make sure I didn’t forget anything, and worked on some other details. I also did some general work around the house, recorded my auditions for the day, and met my pal Emily for dinner later at Little Toni’s. I came home with a tummy full of yummy pizza (I was still harboring my pizza craving from the night before when I was stiffed by Domino’s) and grabbed a nap. When I got up I did a bunch of work around the house, did some more organizing, and got ready to watch a few episodes of “The Lone Ranger” from the season 4 DVD set and eat some leftover pizza. I also enjoyed an ice cold A&W root beer in a glass bottle. As I watched one of the episodes, I recognized the voice of one of the young actresses. “Hey, that sounds just like…MRS. C!” Indeed it was! A very young Marion Ross (20 years before she became a household name as Mrs. C on “Happy Days”) was there supporting the Lone Ranger in his crime fighting endeavors! Marion’s son Jim Meskiman is a very talented impressionist and Voice Actor, so I snapped a few photos and Tweeted them out to Jim. I figured they’d make his day. Also, it was nice to see some rain returning to L.A.!

Wednesday the 2nd – WORKABOUT WEDNESDAY! – It was a general “takin’ care of business” day. I worked around the house, continued to run my “home for elderly pets,” sent out a bunch of e-mails, worked on some Christoween stuff, organized for the weekend, and later had dinner with a friend at Paty’s. I got home and napped a bit, and then got up to do a ton of auditions. This new agent is really keeping me hopping! I love it! I made a Tombstone pizza to eat while finishing out the day and hit the hay for good.

Thursday the 3rd – (WITH APOLOGIES TO ELTON JOHN) THE BLEACH IS BACK! – Since I hadn’t had Taco Bell in a while I decided to hit the drive-thru and get some lunch. I stopped by my mailbox to get my packages, hit the cleaners to pick up my comforter, and then drove over to Studiopolis to start back on the new “Bleach” series entitled “The Thousand Year Blood War!” Unlike the old days, when “Bleach” ran on TV, we would record the episodes sometimes six months before they ever ended up airing on TV. The TV networks needed time to review them for quality, promote them, schedule them, etc. But now in the modern age of streaming we’re literally recording the voice work for these shows two weeks before they’re posted. The new immediacy of streaming is GREAT! It was a quick session, and my character Renji has a very cool entrance. Since the studio was close to where I park my Gran Torino, and the weather had cooled off nicely, I decided to get “The Striped Tomato” out and drive it around for a while. But on the way there I realized I didn’t have my key card that I needed to gain access to the lot. The last time I was in the Torino was 9/22 when I got my Mustang back from the mechanic after a long mechanical ordeal. I pulled up to the gate, pushed the HELP button and explained to the lady that I think my key card was locked in my Torino. But when I got upstairs it was nowhere to be found anywhere in the car. I swapped out the Torino for the Mustang and I was on my way. That key card has to be SOMEWHERE! I was happy that the Torino fired right up! The iPod I was using for tunes was giving me fits. It would shuffle the songs in my TORINO TUNES playlist, until I connected it to my car’s radio. Then it would play them in alphabetical order. I tried rebooting, reconnecting, all sorts of fixes, and it just wouldn’t shuffle the songs in the playlist. EEK! On my way home I realized that I had forgotten to bring my Mustang’s car cover, so I’ll have to make a trip back on Friday. I drove home and fed the kids, did a few auditions, and settled in because it’s starting to get cold out at night when the sun goes down. I turned on the electric blanket on the bed in the Puppet Room and happily napped. I was awakened by the hooting of some owls outside my window. It was nice! I went downstairs to check the Christoween e-mail address and I downloaded a few remaining audio files for the weekly Aspiring Voice Actor submission. I made the final edit, sent it off to my webmaster for posting on Friday, made a salad, and watched a few “Lone Ranger” episodes.

Friday the 4th – STUCK IN THE ‘STANG! – The first stop of the day was the post office so I could mail off a signed photo that was ordered through my website. I stopped by my mailbox to get my packages. One of them contained the “Dude” pants that I ordered on eBay. Some industrious individual recreated the fabric used for the pajama pants Jeff Bridges wore as “The Dude” in “The Big Lebowski.” The pants that I wear with my costume are close, but not quite exact. These pants had been dye sublimated in the exact pattern. I also got in a new cap that I’m planning on customizing for the upcoming Anime Pasadena convention. I’ll be there signing all weekend and I wanted to make up a special cap just for the occasion. Stay tuned! I drove back to my auxiliary parking space to cover the Mustang with the car cover, but before I did I dug around in the car to see if the lost key card could possibly be in there somewhere hiding. Sure enough, it was stuck WAAAAAY down between the passenger seat and the center console. Mystery solved! Whew! Glad that’s over. I hopped back in the Torino and hit Burger King for lunch, and then went to Hobby Lobby to pick up a few items. There’s never any such thing as a “quick trip” to Hobby Lobby. Even if you only need a few items, there’s a good chance the checkout line is going to cost you another half hour in time. I really wish they’d work on speeding up their checkout process a bit. I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few supplies, and then went home. A VERY productive day! I napped for a bit, and then got up later to do some final prep for the Saturday signing at OG Collectibles. I got everything packed that I figured I’d need, recorded some auditions, and got ready to feed the pets. As Roxy advances in age she’s having more trouble with hard food. Since I’ve been giving her Gentle Giants hard kibble since I’ve had her, I decided to buy some Gentle Giants wet food in a can to see how she liked that. She went CRAZY for it! Every time you change a dog’s food, or introduce a new food to their diet, you have to do it gradually. So I’m starting off with just a tablespoon full, and then I’ll work her up to a larger portion gradually. Since Saturday’s going to be a very busy day I’m trying to work ahead a bit with things. I did a little customization work on my cap for Anime Pasadena, and this is going to work out VERY well!

Saturday the 5th – OG OMG! – When I got up to check e-mails I realized I had no internet. What? Not sure if there was an outage in the area, but since I was being picked up at 9:30 for the trip to Downey for the signing at OG Collectibles I didn’t have time to deal with it. I’m sure it’ll be back on when I get back. Erick and Sheri picked me up right on time and we sped down the freeway to meet our 10:30 call time. As is usual with one of these events, I like to go outside to meet people waiting in line before the doors open up. One guy had been waiting for FOUR HOURS! In order to keep from having lines wrapping around the block, OG Collectibles has a program of staggered times. You have to get a ticket to the event, but the ticket is more of a crowd control utility. The tickets allow you to attend at specific times so the crowd can be more easily managed. I got to meet a lot of great people, and some of them I’ll see again at Anime Pasadena. We broke for lunch around 2, but because of the staggered signing times I found myself with a couple hours’ worth of downtime that I didn’t want. It’s tough because when I get “up” for these appearances I stay up until they’re over. Having to get “up” for them, and then having nothing for two hours, and then getting “up” again is tough for me. I like to stay busy talking to fans and meeting people all day. The busy-ness doesn’t bother me at all; I live for it. It’s the waiting around that drives me nuts. But once we got back into the groove again it was sweet! Though we expected to be done by 6, we stayed until 7 to make sure every fan had been taken care of! Then I went next door to Del Taco where a friend of mine had set up a little signing area to have some extra stuff signed for his clients. I popped over there, signed a few things, got some food, and we were on our way back home. Erick and Sheri still had another 2 hour road trip home after they dropped me off! YIKES! By the time I got back at 8:30 beat. It takes a lot of energy to be “on” all day, but it’s important to stay engaged when meeting the “Bleach” fans. I turned on my computer and DAMN! Still no internet. So my house/pet sitter Emily found the number for my provider’s support line and I gave them a call. Come to find out, the signal had dropped and I needed to reboot both the modem and the router. But it has to be done in a certain order, which I didn’t know. I did it, and BAM! Back in business! I showered and napped for a bit, and when I got up later I put everything away from the day’s activities. I did a little work around the house, cleaned up a bit, put new sheets on the bed, worked some more on my special cap for Anime Pasadena, and then (since it was the first Saturday of the month) prepared for this month’s “Laurel and Hardy Theatre!” In the coming days I’m going to post some videos I threw together, which are my attempts to replicate the opening of the original Laurel and Hardy presentation I used to watch as a kid. Granted the memory is a bit foggy, so what I’ve put together is an idealization and glamorization of what I remember. I’ll post the page so you can view the videos soon. I made my traditional Chef Boyardee pizza, popped the popcorn, iced up my Stan Laurel mug with Diet Pepsi, got my banana Twinkie, and headed upstairs to watch their hilarious feature “Saps At Sea.” I had forgotten how many great bits there are in this film! Wonderful!

Sunday the 6th – SUNDAY SUN! – Since we’re expecting about 3 days of rain starting Monday, it is literally the last “Sun Day” we’ll see for a while. It was another lazy day, and later I had dinner with my assistant/pet/house sitter Emily. She’s doing a pet/house sitting job for my neighbor that I recommended her for, so she’ll be in the area for another week or so. It was fun getting back to Coral Café and enjoying their Chef Salad and beef barley soup. I got home and napped for a bit, and when I got up it had started to sprinkle out a bit. The majority of the rain will be coming in Monday night and continuing on a heavy basis through Wednesday morning. I spent the rest of the evening working around the house, doing touch-ups on my cap for Anime Pasadena, and writing Wally’s Week to try and work ahead.

And how was YOUR week?!?!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

My Halloween morning started off great with a bowl of Fruit Brute in a vampire bowl!

With this cap I shall be crafting an Anime Pasadena surprise!

The future “Mrs. C” from “Happy Days” (Marion Ross) assists the great Lone Ranger on the show back in 1954.

Marion Ross isn’t in this shot, but I wanted to include it because it’s so freakin’ cool!

The following shots from OG Collectibles is courtesy of Erick Reynoso. THANKS!!

Sometimes, putting these “Bleach” quotes across the tiny window of a Funko Pop is kind of like the lady at the county fair who will engrave a Bible verse onto a grain of rice. This is the record-holder for the longest quote of the day.

Apparently this one is super rare, with a super rare/special sticker!

This gentleman had flown in from San Francisco just to meet me….ME! Unbelievable!

I have the lovely distinction of being the very first Voice Actor this guy had ever met, at his first autograph signing EVER!

And the Pops they keep on pilin’!

It’s so good to be back shaking hands again in a maskless environment meeting the folks!

I lifted these (with love) from various Instagram accounts. FUN DAY!

One of the fans taught me how to draw a cool little Renji sword on the side of the package!