RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK

I’ve provided the voice of Reed Richards from the Fantastic Four many times, but recently I got to provide the voice of not only Reed, but also Dr. Doom! Here’s a shot of the two characters from a new project that can be seen here! A dream come true!

 

When “It’s Over” by Electric Light Orchestra came on my player the other day it dawned on me…why isn’t Jeff Lynne’s ELO playing this tune at their farewell concerts? It seems perfect! But maybe a bit too maudlin.

 

Monday the 9th – BYE BYE SUMMER! – This will be the final really hot day for a while, so it looks like summer is well and truly over. I rested all day and chatted with my computer guy Brian about the back-up for my new computer system. He got it started, and when it finishes he’ll analyze everything and go from there. I did a few auditions and then later went for my nightly WOG (walk/jog). It was a very warm night, probably the last we’ll have this year, so I spent some time in the anti-grav chair after my WOG with a nice cigar. I decided to clip a piece of foam core board on the fence that separates my property and the studio next to me. That way it will block out the garish white lighting that shines directly into my eyes while I’m trying to relax. I got the idea from the power outage that happened last week, and how nice it was to not have those lights shooting directly at me. I came back inside and typed out Wally’s Week and then hit the hay.

Tuesday the 10th – CASTING DIRECTOR CALLING! – As usual I slept until mid-afternoon, and when I awoke I saw that I had several texts, emails and voicemails from a highly respected Casting Director friend of mine. I called her back right away. She said she had a perfect role that she wanted me to audition for in a new feature film. This character needed to sound like an old-time announcer at a train depot. Since I’ve heard several of them in old Laurel & Hardy movies I sent her an audio file with several takes. She loved them, and asked for a second take, making the character slightly older and less proficient of an announcer. I recorded that and sent it in. She loved them both and said she’s submitting them to production. She said they were waiting for her to submit them, so time was of the essence! So…we’ll see. I did some work on-line and then called my pal Chris Malmin to see if he wanted to meet me for an “end-of-summer” celebratory lunch at Paty’s. I picked up some packages at my box and then headed over to meet him. We enjoyed lunch on the patio in nice, warm summery weather, but just as we were about to leave a cold breeze started to blow in. “Summer’s over,” I sadly said. I went home and did some work, recorded some auditions later, and then took my nightly WOG. As usual I spent some “cool-down” time in my anti-gravity chair outside, staring at the sky – but it was getting quite chilly. Summer really IS over. I came back inside to make some spaghetti and work on restoring another playlist on my iTunes. I lost all that stuff when my main data drive failed a month ago, so it’s time to rebuild everything.

Wednesday the 11th – FUN TO WATCH HIM WORK! – About mid-afternoon I woke up and did a last-minute audition. But it wasn’t an urgent one like the one I had yesterday. I decided to lay down again for a while and as much as I like warm summer weather, it felt kind of nice to have a cool breeze blowing in through my window. Later I figured out a way to add the new Solex Agitator replica prop that I had received into my “Man With The Golden Gun” display. It looks pretty great with the replica prop gun, signatures from four of the actors from the film, and now the new Solex. Later I recorded a bunch of auditions, and then took my nightly WOG. I chased away one coyote, and then turned to start my WOG and saw another coyote. I guess they were a team and I split them up. The second one was hesitant to leave his friend behind, but he took off anyway. I spent some chilly and brief time in the anti-grav chair, and then came back inside to do some work. I made a salad and watched one of the best “Incredible Hulk” episodes I’ve seen so far. I’ve always loved to watch Cameron Mitchell do his thing. Whether in “High Chaparral,” or the cheesy horror movie “Nightmare in Wax,” or in the classic film “My Favorite Year,” he’s always a very fun actor to watch work. In this episode, called “Goodbye Eddie Cain,” he played a weathered private detective who was on the trail of a blackmail plot for a friend. Oddly enough, the Hulk seemed fairly superfluous to this episode. Sometimes in 70’s TV shows they would do “backdoor pilots.” The producers would dedicate one episode of a TV show that would deviate from its usual formula to feature another character or set of characters. This served as a way to test out characters they wanted to get the network interested in for a spin-off series. While Cameron Mitchell was very interesting as Eddie Cain, it never went beyond this episode. But it sure was a fun one to watch! I even loved his “detective noir” narrations as the scenes progressed. Just as I was getting ready to go to bed, we had another earthquake. I checked the internet and it said it was a 5.1 (nothing to sneeze at) that was centered in Malibu.

Thursday the 12th – THE OLD MAN AND THE PEE! – Once again I got up mid-afternoon and fed Spook and did some work around the house. I had thought about possibly going to get my Mustang out, but I got lazy and went back to bed instead. Now that it’s cooler out I need to get my Mustang and my Gran Torino out to drive them around a little bit. In the evening I did some work and recorded a few auditions. I also prepped for my upcoming trip to Sioux Falls. I continued updating my iTunes playlists, and then I took my nightly WOG. The subsequent time spent in the anti-grav chair was, once again, chilly and breezy. I came back inside to do some more miscellaneous work. I’m afraid my cat Spooky is getting really old. He’s 19 now, and he leaves little “land mines” around the house from time to time. He also will puke occasionally on my carpet. But today he peed not once, but twice in my bedroom closet! So I think his access to the upstairs floor is going to be restricted from now on. The other day I could tell he was having trouble walking up the main staircase, so it’s probably time to keep him sequestered to the bottom two floors. Poor little kitty. I feel bad for him but it’s driving me nuts!

Friday the 13th – VERY LUCKY DAY! – Not a bad luck day at all, this day turned out to be pretty special. I had a follow up with my ENT about my left ear. He said the infection is totally gone. I don’t remember what started it all, but I started doing Rodney Dangerfield lines. The doc said his favorite movie is “Caddyshack,” so we started doing lines from the film. We were laughing so hard that people outside the room must’ve thought we went nuts! I saw my pal, and fellow Voice Actor, Bill Farmer out in the waiting room, and it was good to catch up with him again. The main doctor in the ENT practice is retiring in a few weeks, and when I had seen him a few years ago we were talking about “The Boys in the Boat.” I told him back then that I had started recording voice tracks for the Olympic announcer in the film, and he said he thought the book was fantastic. In fact, the doctor told me he was on the rowing team when he was in college. So as a retirement gift I brought him a copy of the film on Blu ray and signed it to him. On the way home I stopped at Wienerschnitzel to get some lunch to go, and spoke with a 22 year old guy behind the counter who was a HUGE ELO fan! We discussed their albums, and I told them I’d be seeing several shows on their farewell tour. What a cool, knowledgeable kid! I got home to let the maids in to clean Planet Wallywood, and I heard from my Casting Director friend that I got the gig on the film as the train announcer! Great! She said she’d be sending the paperwork over, and she wanted me to fill it out and send it back right away. Jobs like that are called “Gimmes.” Where you don’t really audition for them (even though I submitted a few as a formality) the Casting Director just “gives” you the job. A “gimme” doesn’t happen often, but when they do it’s very nice. I did some paperwork and worked on the computer. I have a gate up now that prevents Spook from going upstairs to the top floor. It’s sad to think that he won’t have access to that floor anymore, but it’s all for the best. I honestly think he’ll be OK with not having to traverse the long staircase any longer. I worked on the computer some more and it’s my goal to have the entire computer debacle settled by next Friday. At least that’s the deadline I gave my computer guy Brian. Later I took my WOG and spotted a friendly neighborhood skunk sniffing around in our grass for bugs and worms. I made a beeline around him and gave him a very wide berth. I spent a little bit of time in the anti-grav chair, but I came back inside pretty quickly because it was so chilly. I did more work on my computer and worked around the house.

Saturday the 14th – SALON, SKUNK & SIOUXPERCON! – After stopping by my box to pick up a package I went over to Paty’s to grab a salad on the patio. Then I went to my stylist Andie’s salon to get a touch-up on my color. But she had already left. Apparently she forgot our phone conversation of a week ago rescheduling to today at 4. I called her and she turned around and came back to the shop. Whew! We had moved appointment dates around quite a bit to avoid out-of-town trips, concerts, and conventions so it’s no wonder why she spaced on it. But we got it all taken care of. When I was done I headed to CVS to pick up a prescription, and then I hit the grocery store to get some food items I needed. I came home and put everything away, and then I brought up some black plastic sheeting from downstairs. A few neighborhood cats roam around and sometimes they like to stand outside my door and pester Spook. So if I leave the big front door open with the screen door closed, I needed to put some sort of block up on the bottom half of the door so Spook couldn’t see the cats outside and become agitated. I cut a black plastic sheet to size and stitched it to my screen door with monofilament. Then I hung up a brand new “No Shoes Inside” sign for the front door as well. Then I relaxed for a while. Later I got up to do my WOG and I saw the skunk again. But this time he was headed into our complex from our main driveway! He saw me and skedaddled, but I clapped my hands and made some noise. As he ran away he raised his tail up, but I was too far away from him. So he didn’t spray, thankfully. I notified our on-site security to be on the alert. I sat in the anti-grav chair for a while but it was lightly sprinkling. Summer really is over. I came back inside and started working on another playlist. I also did some random work around the house. I spotted a random post on Twitter about this year’s Siouxpercon, a pop culture and comic convention in Sioux Falls. I did some more checking and found out that it’s going on the very same weekend I’ll be there! So I notified the administrator to see if I could get tickets at the door, or if I should get them in advance on-line. That sounds like a bunch of fun! In fact, I may take a puppet along now! I made a salad and headed to bed to watch a few episodes of “Honey West.” Last week I thought disc 3 was the last disc, and that they had only made 23 episodes. But I discovered that there’s actually a fourth disc and there are seven more episodes left. Unfortunately this show never really found its “mojo,” and at times just came off as pretty awkward. It was a nice idea, but the formula just wasn’t there.

Sunday the 15th – SOLACE SUNDAY! – My sister Peggy wants to get a family photo taken when I’m back in Sioux Falls in a week and a half. At first she wanted to shoot it outside, but I talked her out of it. I told her outdoor shoots were too unpredictable. The weather could turn back (especially in South Dakota), or the sun could be in our eyes, the wind could be blowing, etc. – a recipe for disaster. So I talked her into getting an indoor studio for the family photo session. I relaxed some more, as I’m prone to do on a Sunday, and I thought a lot about what I wanted to take to Siouxpercon. I got an email back from the administrator saying they’d be glad to give me a weekend pass. I was a guest there back in 2019 and had a blast! Lots of nice people! Later I did my auditions and then took my WOG. There was no sign of “Pepe LePew,” luckily. I enjoyed spending a little time outside in the anti-grav chair, but while it was very quiet, it was also fairly chilly. The rapidly-moving cloud cover kept dancing around the moon painting wonderful pictures in the sky with its varying densities. It was quite a show! I came back inside and built my last playlist for my iTunes. I was not ready to update all five of my players! I recently sent my spare unit in to a guy for repair, but he said the hard drive and the battery were toast. He sold me a beautiful 60gb unit that looked like new! I plugged that in and it wouldn’t talk to my iTunes. I emailed the guy and I heard back from him immediately. He told me what to do to clear out the music that was already on the player. That way, once it was cleared, it would accept my files. It worked perfectly! Now I just need to do it with the other four players and I’m golden! Now I’ll have a nice, like-new unit to take on my vacation.

And how was YOUR week?!!

PIX FROM THE WEEK

Though it doesn’t get much love from hardcore James Bond fans, I’ve always loved the 1974 movie “The Man With The Golden Gun.” So much so that back in 2012 I bought a beautiful 1:1 replica of the golden gun movie prop, along with the signatures of Roger Moore and Christopher Lee who played James Bond and Scaramanga respectively. But then I met “Golden Gun” Bond girls Maud Adams and Britt Ekland at an autograph show and I had them sign plaques as well that I could add to the display. And now with the recent release of the Solex Agitator prop (a prop that figures VERY prominently into the film) I was able to add that to the rest of the display!