RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
I had a random thought this past week that instead of a Rav, maybe I should have bought a Yukon and named it Cornelius. To finish the joke, I could get custom plates that say BUMBLE.
Every once in a while a current group will release a new song that taps into a retro vibe that I really love. One such song was Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” which tapped into an 80’s vibe that was very reminiscent of A-ha’s “Take On Me.” The group MisterWives has a great song called “Reflections” that really harkens back to the 70’s disco vibe. When it came up on my player this week that was it…I couldn’t get it out of my head. Enjoy!
Tuesday the 5th – END OF SUMMER! – It was another very lazy day coming off of the three-day weekend. My friend Emily came over later to do some work, but she didn’t have time to go grab dinner. So, I did my traditional “end-of-summer” tradition; I grilled some hot dogs on the grill. Each year I commemorate the beginning of summer on Memorial Day, and the end of summer on Labor Day by grilling some traditional dogs. I was pretty lazy over the weekend and didn’t do it then, so I made up for it now. DELICIOUS! It’s sad that we didn’t really even get a “real” summer at all, as we never got that typical 10 day stretch of triple digit temps. However, this summer has been more humid than usual. I typed out Wally’s Week and did my nightly auditions.
Wednesday the 6th – SOON COMES THE FALL or SOMETHING FRIGID THIS WAY COMES! – Before a dubbing session in Sherman Oaks I hit Wendy’s for some lunch. The session was for dubbing a foreign series into English and it only took about an hour and a half. Not sure if I’ll be back anytime soon or not, but it sure was fun! I drove over to Alex in Wonderland’s studio to look at three samples of fleece she had dyed lavender for my “in-the-works” replica Muppet of The Count. One fleece had a flaw in the weave of the fabric rendering it unusable, but the color had turned out the best. The fuzzier fleece turned out too dark, and Alex had contributed a yard of her own fleece (which has always been referred to as “Muppet fleece”) and that had the texture I liked, but it was too light. I chose the third option (the Antron fleece, or “Muppet fleece”) and asked that she dye it a tad darker and richer. I headed over to Ikea to pick up 12 little plastic bins that fit nicely into the shelving units in the Chaney Room. I’m doing a total reorganization of all the stuff in the shelves, so I wanted to have these little “drawers” to help keep it looking neat and tidy. I went to my auxiliary parking and swapped out the Gray Ghost for the Mustang. There’s a rumor of a three day stretch of nice, hot weather approaching as we get closer to the weekend, so I want to get some nice “top down” time before the summer disappears for good. While I was there I hopped in my Gran Torino and started it up. I let it run for about 20 minutes to get some gas in the lines. It started up nicely (considering it will be 50 years old next year!) and I promised it I would return soon to take it out for a nice period of a few days so we could cruise around. I dropped off some dry cleaning, and then got some groceries. I got home, unloaded the groceries, worked around the house, and did my nightly auditions. Later I began work in the Chaney Room clearing out my shelving units and preparing for my big sorting and organizing project. I took a WOG (walk/jog) through the complex in the middle of the night but it was far from balmy. In fact, I saw my breath! I hope that warmer weather they promised is really on the way, because this was uncomfortable! Another traditional sign that heralds the coming fall; I saw the Orion constellation in the sky. That means winter is approaching soon. Rats. The summer that wasn’t, was over. Or was it?!
Thursday the 7th – AN OLD BAT BUDDY! – After not having seen him in person in a very, VERY long time, I finally got to meet my good friend Ruben Procopio for lunch! Ruben is a legendary animator and sculptor and has done amazing work for Disney and Warner. We chatted for quite a while and got caught up. Like me, he’s downsizing some of his collection, so he gave me some really great stuff for my collection! I got a vintage Corgi of James Bond’s Aston Martin (going promptly in the newly retooled James Bond shelf!), a mint mint mint Batman talking alarm clock from 1966 (even the BOX is in mint condition – and it still has the vintage Eveready “C” battery in the box too!), a mint condition Super Friends lunch box (with the Aladdin company tag still attached!), and lots of other great stuff! Now that I’ve removed all of the non-1966 Batman stuff from my main display case, I have some room for these newly acquired items. And Ruben was happy to know they were going to a good home “in the family.” I’ve been giving stuff away too in order to downsize a bit, including the first Mahna Mahna replica Muppet I had made, which went to my good friend Mark Evanier. After our lunch I went to see my chiropractor Dr. C, and then treated myself to a banana split at Weinerschnitzel. I took the Mustang to the car wash to get it a nice bath, and then headed to UPS to ship off some artwork to the Voices Against Cancer guys in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Back in 2020, when we were getting ready to promote that summer’s debut show, Ruben sketched out a beautiful piece that featured characters that represented each of the Voice Actors who would be attending. Unfortunately, with the scamdemic, the show was canceled. But Ruben gifted me with the original sketch, on the premise that it would still be offered up at the charity auction in the 2024 Voices Against Cancer show next July. DEAL! So I had it packed up nicely and securely and had it shipped off to be admitted into the care of Dr. Doom and company in Sioux Falls. After an exhausting (and fun) day I headed home and did my auditions for the night. Later I delved into the Chaney Room and started sorting through stuff again. A lot of the make-up potions, lotions and chemicals that I no longer need will be given to my effects pal Jim Ojala, in the event he can still use some of this stuff. Since I no longer do heavy make-ups, I have no use for them anymore. Hopefully they’re not too old to still be useful. My Microsoft Edge browser was beginning to give me problems. When I hit links on news sites it would freeze and tell me it didn’t have enough memory to complete the task. My pal Joe suggested that I clear out my cache and history and it might fix the problem. I did, but now all my passwords, etc. have all been wiped, so I can no longer get on eBay, etc. Ugh. I think from now on I’ll be using Google Chrome almost exclusively, as it appears that multiple site just doesn’t like Edge for some reason. Plus, when I check my Task Manager on my computer, it looks like Edge is bogging down my system with a lot of extraneous stuff that it runs in the background. Very odd. I dug out my passwords and tried to get back on a few sites, but they wouldn’t let me as they were thinking I was some sort of bot. I’ll try again tomorrow. After a brisk WOG on a cool night, and some brief time outside in the anti-grav chair, I came back inside and made a salad and watched another episode of “The Incredible Hulk.” To be honest, now that I’m in the third season, I’m not enjoying this series very much. It’s become very formulaic and predictable. And I really wish they would have stuck closer to the comic book source material. Not sure if I’m going to finish the final two seasons after this or not. It’s very tough to get through, honestly.
Friday the 8th – SOMETHING WARMER THIS WAY COMES! – With the top down I drove the Mustang over to Studiopolis to do a quick session for “Bleach.” The weather was hot and humid and I enjoyed every minute of it! After the session I took the Mustang over to my mechanic to have him drive it around the block. The steering seemed a bit stiff, and the brakes a bit soft. I wasn’t sure if there was really a problem, or if I had just gotten so used to the smooth steering and touchy brakes in the Rav that it “seemed” like there was an issue. Mechanic Ben drove it around the block and said the steering and brakes are fine, but the shocks and struts are shot! So I agreed to bring it in on Monday to have the repairs made. I’m thinking that those are still original equipment, so they may have NEVER been replaced in the 20 years I’ve had the car! On the way home I hit Taco Bell for lunch and enjoyed the nice, hot weather on the way home. It’s only supposed to last for a few days so I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts. I got back to Planet Wallywood and did my auditions, worked around the house, and did some more work in the Chaney Room. The organizing and categorizing project was going well, and everything was fitting very nicely into the little bins I bought at Ikea. And it looks more uniform too! Once everything is settled, I’ll print out nice labels to put on each drawer revealing its contents. I didn’t want to have another salad, so I made some lasagna. I realized that, after my diagnosis of elevated blood pressure last December, I hadn’t eaten any frozen foods (which are LOADED with salt) in about 9 months! With the exception of an occasional Tombstone pizza, I hadn’t had any frozen food at all in that period. And with the occasional exception of some soup or chili, I hadn’t eaten anything out of a can in a very long time either! It’s odd considering I used to live on those food items on a regular basis! I baked it up and got ready for bed. I didn’t want to watch another Hulk episode, so I treated myself to a rewatch of the Laurel & Hardy silent I saw last Saturday. But this time, I would watch them with the commentary tracks engaged. There was so much information imparted in the commentaries it was dizzying! Fast and furious! But very satisfying! It was almost hard to comprehend all of it. L&H author and historian Randy Skretvedt did a FANTASTIC job of disseminating all the information in a clear and concise fashion, which is great considering he had a lot of information to get through! I learned so much! This guy is a genius!
Saturday the 9th – HEAVENLY. ABSOLUTELY HEAVENLY. – Though it was a hot day, it’s fleeting. The cooler weather is approaching. I’m making the most of it. Sara came over later in the evening to trim Spook’s nails again. When he’s wiggling around it’s difficult for her to get each of them trimmed properly. She bought some new clippers and she came over to tidy up the job she did last week. We drove to Little Toni’s for dinner and waited for our friends Joe and Zandra Pendleton to show up. They were in town buying a homecoming gown for their granddaughter Audrey. They arrived and got settled at the restaurant and we had a fantastic meal! Then we all went back to Planet Wallywood so Joe could look at my computer system and why the Edge browser was freezing. I told him I fixed the issue by minimizing my usage of Edge entirely. He thought that was a good idea. I was showing them the upgrades I had recently made in the Puppet Room, and I got a great idea. I decided to send my Catwoman costume (which I had made many years ago for my friend Christine) to Christine in case she wanted it for Halloween, or just to have as a keepsake. Since I don’t plan on cosplaying as the 1966 Batman ever again I really have no reason to keep it around here. But since Joe and Zandra’s granddaughter Audrey is high school age, I asked her if she’d like to have the Batgirl costume I had in my collection. She eagerly accepted, so it’s nice to know it’s staying “in the family.” After the Pendletons took off for home I did some work around the house. Later I did a WOG in the nice, warm end-of-summer weather. Then I spent some relaxation time in the anti-grav chair enjoying a nice cigar. The weather was perfect for it. It was totally overcast and cloudy, but gorgeous; warm and humid. It’s probably the last night we’ll have like this for quite a while sadly. As I relaxed a gentle breeze came up for a while and cooled things down slightly. Just as I was about to fold up the anti-grav chair and head inside for the night, I felt something wet hit my hand. Then my face and neck. It was starting to sprinkle. Since the rain was fairly sparse, I decided to relax again and just enjoy it. It was really nice – sitting there at 4:30 in the morning, totally reclined with a slight spritzing of rain. I came back inside fully relaxed and made my traditional Saturday Night Super Saint Salad and watched an episode of “The Saint” before bed.
Sunday the 10th – FILLING MY DRAWERS! – My lazy Sunday included doing some light work around the house, and tackling the Chaney Room drawer project again. It was a lot of work sorting, sifting, organizing and labeling everything, but it was still very satisfying! And it sure looks a lot more streamlined and slick! I took a WOG and spent some more time in the anti-grav chair watching the sky. According to some of the recent blood pressure readings I’ve had, it would seem that the exercise (the WOGs) and the relaxing meditational time in the anti-grav chair are working very well. The only downside was all the mosquitoes, which seemed to be worse than usual. So I folded everything up, came inside and finished up the Chaney drawer project for the night. I’ve got one side of the stacker shelves finished, and now on to the right side of the stackers. I boxed up the Catwoman costume to mail off to my friend Christine, and got prepped for another week.
And how was YOUR week?!!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
When I got to tour the new Bob Baker Marionette Theatre facility for my birthday back in 2021, they gave me this cute little marionette as a gift. I did a little customization to make it look more like a miniature me, so now he hangs in the Puppet Room next to the bathroom.
Here are the mint condition vintage items I received from my friend Ruben Procopio this week. They look BRAND NEW! Amazing condition!
But even more stunning, is this fantastic art piece that Ruben created for Voices Against Cancer. I can’t wait to see what this baby fetches at the charity auction next summer!
During one of my WOGs this week, I saw this beautiful spider busily building its web for another night of hunting. Hey spider – catch some mosquitoes will ya!? I hate ’em!
