RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK
13:13. Weird.
While I was doing some graphics work for the final Christoween YouTube video, this song came up on my iTunes. It’s from the movie “Music and Lyrics” with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, and it’s “Way Back Into Love.” I’ve listed the singers as the character’s names from the movie, Alex Fletcher and Cora. But it’s actually Hugh Grant and Haley Bennett. If you haven’t seen this film, it’s definitely worth a watch!
Because of tandem vacations, taken by me and then my webmaster, posting Wally’s Week in a timely manner wasn’t entirely possible. But here, for your enjoyment, are THREE full weeks of Wally’s Week installments – and BOY are they action-packed! Enjoy!
Monday the 13th – L200 LOVE! – Foam Mart is a great store in Burbank for buying all sorts of materials to make puppets, but today I went there for a different reason. A sad one. Now that my dog Roxy is 13.5 years old, there are certain bladder issues that need to be addressed. And in order to protect the carpet in my Home Theater area, where she likes to lay most of the time, I decided to put down a piece of L200 on the floor. L200 is similar to foam rubber, but is “closed cell” padding, meaning it has no pores. It’s rubbery and soft, but if there’s a doggie accident it’s easy to just wipe up. I bought two lengths of this padding; one for home and one for travel. With an upcoming trip to Palm Springs in the offing, I wanted to take one with us to lay down in the hotel room. I got my Mustang washed, and then went home to lay down the runner to see how she liked it. I have to block her into a certain area downstairs, so after I put the mat down I lined it with a stack of bean bag chairs. This will keep her isolated to the specific area where the padding is. While I’m asleep I always make sure she’s in a diaper, but occasionally her diaper overflows and there’s an accident on the floor. This should be a great failsafe measure. (Sigh – elderly dogs) I remember going through this with my other dog Sassie, but I had found a nice rubber-backed rug to use at the time. I feel this L200 mat will work much better and be more easily cleanable. I attached some Velcro fasteners to the mat and to the baseboards on my wall. That will keep the mat from moving around as Roxy walks around on it. Later I had to record a ton of auditions, and then I typed out Wally’s Week. I did some prep work for a session on Tuesday.
Tuesday the 14th – C IS FOR CARLOS! – It was a nice, brisk walk over to Voice Trax West for my 3 hour session. After I finished I walked back home and hopped in my car to head to my mailbox. I had bought a plain black baseball-type cap on amazon and it had arrived. Carlos is a little boy who has been bravely battling a horrible cancer, and I follow him on Instagram at carlosvscancer. You should follow him too. This young lad has been putting up quite a fight. He loves Sesame Street, and most importantly Elmo and Cookie Monster. A while back I made a parody video for him where I sang “C is for Carlos” instead of the famous “C is for Cookie” song from “Sesame Street.” Since I recently made my Cookie Monster cap (with real wiggly eyes) I thought it would be a nice gesture to make one for Carlos, but in a smaller size. Since this latest round of treatment has caused him to lose his hair again, he could probably use a nice cap anyway to shade his young head. I’ve also contacted my pal Eli who owns Yes! Embroidery in Studio City and he’s going to embroider “C Is For Carlos” on the back of the cap for free. Once I get that done, then I can start in on making the Cookie Monster face on the front. I headed home, fed the kids, and then went to Panera to pick up some food to go for my friend Emily and I. I went over to where she was house sitting, and after we ate I hired her to give me a massage. I had been experiencing some lower back/pinched nerve issues for quite a while and I was hoping she could massage those away, at least temporarily. It was a great massage and I was very relaxed, so I went home to rest for a while. Later I did some more work on my Christoween project, which launches on October 2nd. I made some buffalo mac and watched a few more episodes of “I Dream of Jeannie.” Unfortunately the episodes were pretty bad. Since I had an early morning session scheduled for 9am in my home studio, I figured it was best just to stay up until then (as opposed to going to sleep and having to get up again) and go to bed afterwards. The 9am session went very well and very quickly. While I was on-line, another client e-mailed to request another quick session that was ‘self-directed.’ I recorded several takes and sent that in as well. Then, I hit the hay.
Wednesday the 15th – 2013?! – With my Palm Springs excursion rapidly approaching, I walked over to Enterprise to reserve my SUV for the trip. I also strolled over to Yes! Embroidery and dropped off the Carlos’ cap for the stitch work. When I got home my pal Michelle dropped by to clean out my refrigerator. She had offered to do it a long time ago, but the time had come. And just in time, too! She dug stuff out that horrified us! She found some items that had expiration dates of 2013 and 2014! I was glad to be rid of all that stuff, and she cleaned out the fridge so well it almost looked brand new (and a little bare, to be honest)! We drove over to a restaurant in Sherman Oaks to have dinner with our friends Seig and Denise (Denise is the cousin to “Bazooka Joe,” my 102 year old WWII vet friend). After dinner I came back home and did my nightly auditions.
Thursday the 16th – A WEDDING! – The mailman arrived at my house just as I had finished packaging up some Christoween promotional items to be mailed off. Talk about perfect timing! Then I drove to Chin Chin to get some lunch, and I went next door to Voice Trax West to do another 3 hour session. When the session was over I took the producer of the session to dinner before he had to catch his flight back up north. I got back home and got caught up on the day’s activities. I was exhausted as the session was a tough one. Lots of tongue-twisting lines! I did my auditions later, cleaned up a little around Planet Wallywood in anticipation of the maids arriving the next day, made a pot pie and watched a few more episodes of “I Dream of Jeannie.”
Friday the 17th – EDITED AND RE-EDITED! – My maids arrived later on in the afternoon and cleaned up Planet Wallywood very nicely. When I release my Christoween stories on Christoween.net I’m going to release them as audibles. But since I’m also releasing them simultaneously on my YouTube channel, I need to put some kind of graphics with them. So I spent a few hours assembling a video of the very first story called “Frankie-fied!”. My pal Alex Zsolt let me know he was in town, so we arranged to meet for a late dinner over at Bob’s Big Boy. We chatted for a while and got all caught up, and then I headed home to do a little packing for my Sunday night journey to Palm Springs. It will be nice getting out of town for a bit. I realized that I had made an error in the Christoween YouTube video, so I spent a little more time shoring all those up.
Saturday the 18th – THE DESERT IS IMMINENT! – Throughout most of my life getting up early on a Saturday morning was unthinkable. But over the past month it’s become routine, for some reason. Today was no exception. I had to be at Enterprise by 10am to pick up my rental SUV for my Palm Springs trip. Then I drove to Studio Café to meet with my pal Joe Garner for an early lunch. I got back home just in time to meet up with Roxy’s mobile groomer so she could get a bath before our vacation to the desert. While she got bathed I did some packing. Later in the afternoon I walked over to my stylist’s place to get a touch up on my color. And later my pals Mark and James stopped by so we could hit Galco’s Old World Market to pick up some hard-to-find sodas, and then have dinner at Morton’s Steakhouse. YUM! Later I made my Saturday Night Super Saint Salad and watched an episode of “The Saint.” I was pretty much all packed up and ready to go!
Sunday the 19th – BORIS THE SPIDER R.I.P.! – Late in the afternoon I headed to the grocery store to pick up some last-minute supplies for my trip to Palm Springs. I got home and did some last-minute packing, and my house sitter Brittney came over around 7. As I was loading the SUV behind my garage, I spotted my “pet” spider Boris in his web up by the drain pipe. I called Brittney out to show her his web and I shined my light up so she could see him. But walking upside down over his web was a long winged bug I couldn’t recognize. Brittney said, “I hope he doesn’t get in the web.” I assured her that he was twice the size of Boris, and he could most likely easily get out of the web. Just then, the bug lost its footing and fell directly into Boris’ web! Like a flash Boris ran down to his prey and a violent struggle ensued. The winged bug spread its wings and tried to escape but to no avail. Boris had already bitten him. I immediately felt guilty, as if my bright light may have caused the winged bug to lose his footing and fall into the web. What should I do? The struggle was horrible to watch. The web was vibrating as the two continued to battle. Brittney said not to mess with nature, and it was most likely too late anyway. Boris’ paralyzing bite had already been delivered. But it didn’t look like Boris was having an easy time of it. I couldn’t watch anymore. I saw that Boris had begun wrapping the winged bug’s head, but I had to load up Roxy and get on the road. As I drove through the night I couldn’t help but think that I somehow caused that bug to fall into the web. I called Brittney, who had been busy researching which type of insect the winged bug was. She found out it was a male mantis, who have wings so they can seek out the females. I realized that the male mantis probably wasn’t long for this world anyway, considering that when he found a female, he would most likely be dead and headless within a few days. But it still didn’t make me feel much better. Brittney phoned me back with periodic web updates, and said that the web was now completely destroyed, the male mantis was still hanging there with only his head wrapped, and Boris was nowhere to be found. I’m thinking that Boris might have suffered some pretty serious injuries in the tussle, and will most likely die as well. I made it to Palm Springs in an hour and a half and picked up my usual order at Denny’s. When I checked into the Hyatt a nice young man named Ocean at the front desk commented that he was a big fan of my voice work. He said, “My friends won’t believe that I got to check you in!” At that point I looked around for a hidden camera, figuring it to be a set-up and said, “Alright! Where’s the camera!” We laughed and took a selfie. That made my night, as Voice Actors very VERY seldom get recognized. Traveling with an elderly dog is very tough. Roxy used to prance through the hotel at a quick pace, but now it’s very difficult to get her to walk the considerable distance from our room to the dog run area. This could possibly be her last trip to Palm Springs; or any distant destination, for that matter. When I got my stuff organized in my room I realized that it was missing a few things. The usual luggage bench and ottoman were both gone. It’s too bad because the luggage bench was where I normally set up my microwave and popcorn, and the ottoman gets put on the balcony so Roxy can sit with me while we watch stars. I mentioned it to Ocean and he said he would let the managers know. He did say that they had replaced the mattress in my room, since I was last here. He remembered from my trip last May that I had endured a difficult time with the bed in my room. It had what I call a “W” mattress. It’s shaped like a letter W. Couples sleep on either side of the bed, and over time their weight causes depressions in the mattress. So the mattress ends up being shaped like a W, with a ridge on the edge, then a dip, then a center ridge, a dip, and another ridge on the other side. Hopefully this replacement mattress won’t cause the backaches I’ve experienced in previous trips. Sitting up all night was beautiful! Not only was it nice and warm most of the night, but it was the start of a gorgeous full moon!
Monday the 20th – SHIRLEY’S SURPRISE! – Good thing I brought the L200 mat along, because when I awoke Roxy had peed her diaper, and there was a little bit of overflow on the mat. It was an easy clean-up, luckily. Given this, I may decide not to stay all four days. It’s a tough decision, and this is most likely Roxy’s final road trip. Traveling with a senior dog is difficult. When I opened the door to my room I saw an ottoman and a luggage bench on a cart outside my door. They had delivered the items, but didn’t want to disturb me to deliver them. Fantastic! So after I walked Roxy I brought the items in and placed them where I wanted them. That’s service! I hadn’t told my 94 year old “adopted grandma” Shirley that I was going to be in town. I wanted to surprise her. In fact, I had been concocting this particular surprise for months! But first, a bit of history. Shirley had often complained about the quality of spaghetti at the various places she’s lived. So when I was in Palm Springs a while back, I took her to a place called Papa Dan’s, which is a few blocks away from her current residence, and she marveled at how good the spaghetti was. I then contacted the manager and cut a deal where I would call him from L.A., order spaghetti to be delivered to Shirley’s room, and pay for it with my credit card. That way anytime Shirley was craving spaghetti, she would call me, I’d call Papa Dan’s, and order it to be delivered over to her residence. Originally I thought it would be fun to sneak into town, order her some spaghetti under the guise that I was still in L.A., and deliver it to her IN PERSON! But I had a better idea. So I called her on the phone and told her not to eat dinner that night, that I had a plan. I was going to make spaghetti at my house in L.A., and then I’d order her some spaghetti from Papa Dan’s. Then once it arrived, I’d call her and we could eat spaghetti together over the phone. I told her to expect my call around 6. I hopped in the SUV and drove to Palm Desert and pulled up in front of her residence. I knocked on the door but nobody was at the front desk. Then I called the number posted on the front door, but nobody answered. So I called Shirley and said, “I just got a call from Papa Dan’s. They’re trying to deliver your spaghetti but nobody’s at the front to let them in. They asked if you could come down and let them in.” She said she’d be right down. I stepped around a side pillar and waited for the sound of the front door opening. When I heard her open the door I stepped around and said, “Did you order some spaghetti?” At first she looked at me with a puzzled look. Then once she realized it was me she came over for a hug and started crying. It was very sweet, and the staff at her residence was laughing. I told her to climb in the SUV, and that we were going to Papa Dan’s to get spaghetti TOGETHER! It was a great surprise! The food was terrific, and we talked at length about what’s been going on. I got back to the hotel, took a short nap, and then got up to enjoy my time on the balcony all night watching the stars, and watching and waiting for a gorgeous full moon! All was quiet (I REALLY love the weeknights in Palm Springs) except for a brief moment when a lone coyote in the mountains howled his displeasure (or was it approval) at the full moon. Everything was still and quiet until the lawnmower man started cutting the grass at the golf course across the street.
Tuesday the 21st – MARILYN MOONROE! – Mid-afternoon, as I was getting ready to take Roxy outside for a potty break, I looked down from the sixth floor and saw the lobby filled with attractive young ladies. So I decided to slide by the group and see what was going on. Naturally, when Roxy bounded from the ground floor elevator, all eyes were on her. As I expected the young ladies were all over her, petting her and scratching her. I was envious! I found out that they were dancers with a musical artist called Maluma, and that the whole band and the crew were staying at the Hyatt on a layover. They were heading to Phoenix the next day for a concert. Though I had never heard of him, the dancer told me he was akin to Justin Bieber or Ricky Martin. Then the conversation turned to my face mask, and where I had it made. Roxy was making her way around to every member of the crew and band to say hi. It was fun to see her taking a final turn as the Hyatt’s ambassador. Later Roxy and I headed to Palm Desert to take Shirley to dinner at Sherman’s Deli. It was still fairly warm out and I was worried that Roxy would be uncomfortable. But once she saw that a grilled chicken breast had been delivered to the table with her name on it, she became solely focused on that! We drove back to Palm Springs, I got Roxy settled in the room, and I walked down to Lapper’s Ice Cream to get my obligatory Dole Whip. Though the restaurants were busily serving their customers who were dining al fresco, the rest of the downtown area had already closed for the day. Wow! Palm Springs is TOTALLY different during the weekdays! My cigar store wasn’t even open so I could get a nice cigar to enjoy. Luckily, Lappert’s was still open and I got my “Wally-ized” Dole Whip with pineapple chunks and coconut shavings. After a quick nap, I spent all night on the balcony taking some fun photos and videos of the gorgeous full moon, as I enjoyed bathing in its silvery light. As the sun began to rise, the full moon hadn’t completely set yet. This made for a very picturesque walk with Roxy before we turned in for good. I walked Roxy several blocks from the hotel to try and tire her out, and I realized that the giant Marilyn Monroe statue was back in town, and had taken up its permanent residence just in front of the art museum. The sky had taken on an early morning blue-ish hue, and the full moon was still bright as it approached the mountains behind which it would soon set. I rushed back to the room to grab my camera, as this moment wouldn’t last long. I got back down by myself and snapped several great shots of the Marilyn statue with the full moon in the early morning sky right over her shoulder! It was an amazing sight! I went back upstairs to my room pondering my exit strategy. Knowing that I had two sessions in my home studio scheduled for Friday, and that my plan was to leave for home late Thursday night, I made an executive decision. I would leave Wednesday night/Thursday morning instead. That way I’d have some time to get things set up right and do some prep for the sessions.
Wednesday the 22nd – SHIRLEY’S SUPPLIES! – When I got up at 3pm I started packing stuff up to get ready for my trip home. As I bent over to pick up a box, I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. Perhaps that mattress on the bed wasn’t as fantastic as I had thought. This was going to complicate things considerably as I packed up for my trip home. Had I slept wrong? Had I slept too long? Not sure, but it was darn painful! I drove over to take Shirley to dinner again and say my goodbyes. After dinner I told her I’d take her shopping so she could pick up a few items she needed. I made sure to get some lidocaine back patches at the pharmacy for my trip home. Though she was sad I was leaving a day earlier than originally planned, she totally understood. But we got her all stocked up on supplies, so she’ll be good until my next trip back. After a nap I got up, packed up the SUV and hit the road around midnight. All went well on the 10 freeway and I was making great time. But as soon as I hit the 210 freeway I saw the construction cones. First the transition was down to single-lanes, and then…THE FREEWAY WAS CLOSED ALTOGETHER! I was in unknown territory and I had no idea how to get back on the freeway after the construction. Cal-trans, in their ultimate stupidity, hadn’t put up any detour signs in the right areas. So as soon as you came down the off-ramp, you were on your own! I drove around totally lost for about 15 minutes, and before I got too far out I decided to backtrack back to the freeway to see if I had missed any signage that would help me find my way back on the 210. Nope. Cal-trans had failed. So I decided to follow a car that seemed like they knew where they were going. I took a right turn and drove for about 10 blocks. FINALLY I spotted some detour signs! I followed them and found my way back on the freeway, but with a half hour of lost time. By the time I got home it was about 2am. I unpacked only what I needed, took some pain meds because my back was still hurting badly, and hit the hay!
Thursday the 23rd – VOCAL FRY?! WHY?! – At 10 I woke up and knocked on the Puppet Room door. My house sitter Brittney was in there sleeping, and I let her know all was well. I got her paid and she took off to enjoy her day. I unpacked a little more, and then took the SUV back to Enterprise. Now remember, I’ve rented the same class of SUV with the same insurance coverage for my Palm Springs trip for years and years. And the cost had always been roughly the same since I never changed anything. But this time the final charge was easily a full $200 over the usual charge! WHAT?! In addition, I woke up with some hoarseness in my voice, which was NOT a good sign, given the fact that I had two sessions to do the following day. I’m not exactly sure why I had that. Was it some sort of allergic reaction to something in Palm Springs? I walked home, got in the Mustang and drove to my mailbox to get my packages, and then on to Paty’s to enjoy a salad on the patio. When I got back I prepped the home studio for the sessions on Friday. I got some more rest since I had a ton of auditions to do later in the evening, and my voice was still rough. I had no higher register at all. In addition to my back pain, my vocal issues, and the chaos of returning from vacation…I needed another vacation!
Friday the 24th – A-HA! – The first session of the day was at 10am, so I had to be up bright and early. It lasted less than an hour, so I hung out the rest of the day until the next session at 2. I got some more unpacking done, and did a few other random things around the house. The second session was for a video game and went very well, though there were a few technical snafus in the beginning. Again, this session was just under an hour. I took off to do some grocery shopping, and then came back home to relax. I napped, but my back and vocal issues were still hanging on. What could have possibly caused this impromptu vocal fry? I can do my work with a back ache, but not with vocal limitations. Then it hit me! Acid reflux had scorched my cords! The head of my bed at home is tilted upwards. This is a way to use gravity against acid reflux while you sleep, and almost every Voice Actor I know does this. But not only had I forgotten to take Nexxium while I was in Palm Springs, the bed in the hotel room was totally horizontal. I’m betting my vocal fry was due to that! RATS! I hadn’t even considered that. A hard lesson learned. From now on, whenever I travel and sleep in horizontal beds, I bring along plenty of Nexxium! I have three 3-hour sessions next week at Voice Trax West, so I’m hoping some rest over the weekend will help considerably. But unfortunately, in my experience, it usually takes a week to a week and a half for this to fully clear up, and to regain my full vocal capabilities.
Saturday the 25th – CROW PATROL OUT OF CONTROL! – My pal Edi and I met at Art’s Deli for lunch, and I enjoyed a big grilled chicken salad that was delicious! Then I went to Staples to buy a new SD card for my camera, since I had filled up the card while I was in Palm Springs. I ran a few other errands and pulled into my garage. As I was getting ready to shut my garage door I heard a ton of crows outside squawking like crazy. I had heard a few crows squawking before, but this sounded like a madhouse! I went outside and looked up and saw about 40 crows all circling wildly around the big trees behind my house. It looked like something from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds!” I got my camera out, put the new SD card in, and started shooting. Then I spotted it. On one of the branches of the big tree sat a huge owl. He was just minding his own business, watching the soon-to-be-setting sun in the western horizon. But like with any bird of prey, the neighborhood Crow Patrol was NOT happy! The owl wasn’t fazed by their protestations one bit, and continued sitting there. I got some great photos of the owl, which was stunningly beautiful. My neighbors brought their kids out to see the owl, as some of them had never seen one in the wild before! I went back inside to do some work, and then came out later to see if the owl was still there. Sure enough the owl was, but the crows had moved on. Later I packed up some Christoween items that I had sold and got them ready to mail. The YouTube Christoween video that I had assembled last week had been weighing on my mind. The portions of the video that show my fireplace were a little dark for my liking. So I set up the whole area again and reshot everything. It was no easy task, but I’m glad I did. With the new footage I re-edited the video for story 1, and while I was at it I also edited story 2. I’m trying to work ahead as much as possible so I can post these over the next 13 weeks for what I’m calling, “The 13 Weeks of Christoween.” I have 13 stories in total, and I’ll be releasing one each week from October 2nd through Christmas Day. I knew that Saturday night was my traditional Saturday Night Super Saint Salad night, but I was really tired of salads, as I had eaten a lot of them over the past few days. What I was REALLY craving was hot dogs. So I made a few on the grill and enjoyed those while watching another episode of “The Saint” before bed. Just before I turned in, I got a text from my puppet fabricator Alex in Wonderland postponing our meeting that we were supposed to have Sunday afternoon. She was busy with a deadline for a film shoot, so we’d have to meet later in the week to pick up the puppet stuff she was working on.
Sunday the 26th – VACATION VISIONS! – Late in the afternoon when I woke up I was craving Mexican food. So I texted my old pal Chris Malmin and had him meet me at Ernie’s Mexican Restaurant for dinner. It was good catching up. To be honest, I was already thinking about my next trip to Palm Springs. But next time I’d leave Roxy at home with the house sitter, and I’d bring Nexxium! In addition to learning those two important things, I also learned that I like Palm Springs much more during the weekdays. It’s so quiet and serene! Maybe I’ll head back in October. When I got back home I edited a few more Christoween YouTube videos, recorded my auditions, reconciled all my receipts, and paid some bills. I had a very busy week, but I have another one coming up!
Monday the 27th – WALLY WALK TO START THE WEEK! – Fall has fallen! It was a gorgeous cool, overcast day so I decided to walk to my session at Voice Trax West. But first I dropped off some Christoween merchandise at the post office to fulfill orders that had come in. Then I went to Chin Chin to get some fried rice to go. I did the 3 hour session, but I was still having a few voice issues. I hope they clear up soon, but I fear that since I have two more three-hour sessions my vocal cords won’t get the rest they need. I walked back home and enjoyed the cool weather. I’ve got to get the Gran Torino out this week! I got home and worked around the house, and later I recorded my nightly auditions. I made some spaghetti and watched a few more episodes of “I Dream of Jeannie.” The episode that was co-written by Bill “Major Healey” Daily was hilarious!
Tuesday the 28th – CHRISTOWEEN FOOTWORK! – After picking up my mail at my mailbox, and dropping off some dry cleaning at the cleaners, I headed to a store in Burbank called Dark Delicacies to speak with Del, the owner. He said he would be glad to let me leave a stack of Christoween promotional postcards at the front of the store. Then I headed to Blast From The Past and chatted with Larry the owner, and he said he would slip a promotional card into the bags of his customers when they purchase items! I also went over to a store called Halloween Town, but the owner Jackie wasn’t in. I stopped at Burger King to get some lunch, and then I went over to swap cars at my auxiliary parking lot. It was great having the Torino out again, and the weather was perfect! Then I went home and got on my computer to design a suitable promotional card to highlight The 13 Weeks of Christoween. Earlier in the day I had spoken with my friends at Prints Charm’n and they are ready to start the printing machines up and crank these out soon! In the evening I met with my pal Olivia D’Abo, a very funny actress with whom I worked on “Invader Zim.” We discussed some comedy ideas and characters. We spent well over 2 hours discussing things, and we had a lot of laughs. I got back home and did some work, recorded all my nightly auditions, and prepped for my session on Wednesday.
Wednesday the 29th – MICHAEL MYERS NEEDS BOSLEY? – It was time to do the second three-hour session of the week for a specific client, and I was hoping I wouldn’t have any of the annoying vocal problems that had followed me home from Palm Springs. I walked over to Voice Trax West, and the session went pretty well, but there were still some residual voice problems. Luckily the client was very understanding and accommodating. I walked back home vowing not to talk for a while. Last week I received a brand new 12 inch figure of Michael Myers from the original “Halloween” movie that I was very pleased with. The sculpt of the face was perfect, and the costume and accessories were terrific. The only problem I noticed was, the hairline was way off. I’ve been a fan of this character ever since the first movie was released in 1978, and I’ve studied every nuance of his mask and costume. Here’s a brief history: The mask they used in the film was a repainted William Shatner Captain Kirk mask that was released in 1974. Many of those who sculpt Michael Myers’ face, sculpt what they think they’re seeing in the movie; with all of the different lighting, etc. But most of them end up failing pretty badly. But those who go back to the original Shatner mask for reference usually have the best luck. The hair on the original Kirk masks were put on in layers; a layer on top, a layer down the back, and layers on either side of the face for the sideburns. But in “Halloween” the effects people tore off the sideburns because they were too identifiable with “Star Trek.” Without those layers the hair configuration looked very strange, so little patches of hair were added in the corners of the hairline to smooth out transition between the top layer of hair, and the back layer of hair. You can clearly see that hair was added when you compare pictures of the original Kirk mask to the final mask from the film. It’s obvious that the sculptors of this figure went back to the original Kirk mask for reference, because all of the same contours and nuances are there in the sculpt. But unfortunately, they also copied the hairline of the original Kirk mask, and not the altered hairline from the finished “Halloween” mask. So the top corners of the hairline on the figure are too high, and it looks like he’s receding terribly. This single issue has been getting a lot of criticism in the on-line forums about this figure. However, there’s a molding compound I have been using for 20 years called Magic Sculpt that’s nothing short of a miracle for sculptors and fabricators. It’s a two-part compound (a resin and a hardener) that’s very user-friendly. It’s easy to sculpt with, can be smoothed with water, and once it’s cured, can be sanded. I’ve used it to make pendants, puppet eyes, puppet noses, and I’ve done all sorts of customization on various figures and pieces. So I decided to give a shot at fixing this figure’s hairline. It only took a few small pieces of Magic Sculpt, and I was very satisfied with the job I did. I used an Exacto knife to sculpt in the texture of hair, and to help blend the putty into the hair strands that already existed in the manufacturer’s sculpture. But since the putty cures white, Michael Myers was looking a bit like Doctor Strange. I had intended to seek out the help of my effects guy Jim Ojala to help me match the paint, but after I did a little experimentation with some black and brown acrylic paint I had in my supply drawer, I found a pretty good mixture. I painted over the “Doctor Strange” hair pieces, and did a little blending in. I feel it turned out very nice, and now the hairline doesn’t look so wonky. I edited another Christoween video for YouTube, made a big salad and watched a few more really funny episodes of “I Dream of Jeannie” before bed.
Thursday the 30th – SUMMER’S BACK! – While the few days of cool overcast conditions were enjoyable, I was really glad to see that summer had returned in the form of a gorgeous 90 degree day. I drove to my mailbox to get my packages, and then had a great salad on the patio at Paty’s. I got home and did some work, and edited more Christoween videos for YouTube. I’m still trying to rest my voice as much as possible in hopes that the vocal cord inflammation will subside sooner rather than later. I had a ton of auditions to do and my voice had improved a bit. But I have one more three hour session to do before the weekend, and a full week off!
Friday the 1st – TOO HOT TO TROT! – Though I had really wanted to walk to my session at Voice Trax West, it was pretty hot out for that. Besides I have some plans for after the session, so I needed to hop into the Torino. The three hour session went fairly well, even though I still had voice issues. After the session I hit CVS to get a prescription, and the grocery store to pick up a few supplies. As a treat to myself for making it through the week, I phoned in a pizza to go at Barone’s. Driving down the street with my 70’s CD blaring, with the windows open to enjoy the warm end-of-summer air, and loving all of the appreciative glances I was getting for the gorgeous automobile I was driving, really put me in a glorious mood. I’m really going to miss summer quite a bit. I got my pizza and headed home to relax. I did a little work around the house to prepare for the maids’ arrival on Saturday. Then I got a few social media posts ready for the start of The 13 Weeks of Christoween on Saturday! I’m very excited! I walked Roxy on our late-night stroll through the neighborhood and noticed that it had gotten very chilly. I got a great idea for some tomato soup and a sandwich to eat while watching a few episodes of “I Dream of Jeannie” before bed.
Saturday the 2nd – THE 13 WEEKS OF CHRISTOWEEN! – My 13 story series about an odd boy who combines Halloween and Christmas were going to drop one a week from now until Christmas Day. I had them all timed out over the weeks, and I plan on trying to support and promote them as best as I can. The goal is to get interest in the stories among the monster-loving public, and in turn obtain some kind of deal with publishers, toy manufacturers and animation studios. Fingers crossed. But, as the old saying goes, if you don’t gamble big, you can’t win big. When I woke up I was happy to see that the first story “Frankie-fied!” was up on the Christoween.net website, and that I had received a few Tweets and messages that people had already listened. The maids arrived as I continued editing another YouTube video of Christoween Caper #11. I only have two more to edit and then I’m all set. Later I drove out to Taco Bell to get some food to go, and then came back to relax and rest the ol’ pipes.
Sunday the 3rd – SO LONG SUMMER! I SHALL MISS THEE! – There were some really nice Tweets awaiting me about how people have been enjoying the first Christoween story “Frankie-fied!” That was nice to see, and I hope they enjoy the rest of the 13 stories over the next 13 weeks. I took Roxy outside and chatted with some neighbors. It felt amazing out and it’s the last 95 degree day we’re going to have for a while. Fall is sneaking in little by little. As summers in L.A. go, this one was quite pleasant. Considering that last year we hit 120 degrees one day! But then again, most all of 2020 was a horror show. I worked around the house a little, and my voice had improved a little bit. I’m going to keep quiet as much as possible in hopes that the vocal cord inflammation continues to abate. I ordered a Domino’s pizza and worked on Wally’s Week(s). Since my webmaster Scott Sebring had been out of town, and I had been out of town, they haven’t been getting posted on a weekly basis of late. So I hope you’ve enjoyed THREE giant weeks of Wally’s Weeks this time. I edited the YouTube video to the final Christoween story, and it actually made me tear up a bit. I love these stories so much, and it’s my sincere hope that they find an audience. The music that we put behind the story is simply gorgeous, and the final story deals with what Christmas (and Christoween) is truly all about. But the strangest thing of all was the final running time of the file. 13:13. Throughout all of the stories the number 13 (which has always been my lucky number) appears in various places. Once we start doing artwork to the stories it’ll be fun finding places to hide the number 13 in various situations. In the “Frankie-fied” animatic I did a while ago with artist Luke Ski, we had fun putting 13 things in everywhere. 13 stars in the sky, 13 books, etc. etc. But when I finished editing the video file to story 13, and when I discovered that the final run time was 13 minutes and 13 seconds, I knew that someone was looking over my shoulder blessing the project. Amazing. I made a pot pie and watched a few Laurel and Hardy films before bed, “Beau Hunks” and “Any Old Port.” I had intended to do my usual first-weekend-of-the-month Laurel and Hardy Theater on Saturday night, but my voice problems and some stomach issues forced me to bed without movies.
And how were YOUR past three weeks???!!
PIX FROM THE WEEK
I’m gonna miss summer.
RIP Boris the Spider, who most likely died from injuries he sustained in a fight with a male mantis, when the mantis inadvertently fell into Boris’ web.
My friend Christine LOVES her Christoween beanie! (Christine-oween?)
My “wine cellar” is once again fully stocked…
…thanks to a trip to Galco’s Old World Market!
To the keen-eyed “Halloween” fan, the hairline on this Michael Myers figure is inaccurate.
So I pencilled on where the extra hair should be sculpted into the hairline…
…and with an Exacto knife, some Magic Sculpt and some patience, I sculpted in some new hair
Then I sculpted in both sides…
…and painted. VOILA!
Now he’s ACCURATE 1978 Michael Myers!
And now, the before and after shots
The neighborhood Crow Patrol was NOT digging the fact that an owl had taken up space in their tree! I love watching the lone crow clicking at the owl to get him to leave.
An owl is spotted in the tree behind my house
And he gives me a wink!
His feathers are gorgeous!
During my stay in Palm Springs I shared my room with a desert moth I named Sandy. Isn’t it amazing how his markings look like the desert sand?
Roxy and I are ready for some quality time on the balcony waiting for the full moon.
And here it comes. And it’s GORGEOUS!
Watching the full moon set behind the mountains in Palm Springs was a stunning thing to behold!
Anybody up for a little “moontanning” on the balcony?
Not many things in my life are more enjoyable that putting my feet up on the balcony in room 627 at the Palm Springs Hyatt and just chilling with some Cokes, popcorn and nice tunes.
Just imagine all the fun you can have when you’re alone with a camera and a full moon…
…and an empty Coke bottle
In addition to having my Tranquility Zone in my house, I set up a “mobile” Tranquility Zone whenever I travel to Palm Springs. Ultimate relaxation is good for the mind, body and soul, and everyone needs to do it periodically. Here’s my philosophy on how to fully relax and how it involves your five senses.
The amazing Marilyn Monroe sculpture and the full moon setting in the morning sky was just all too good to resist! I call these pics…Marilyn Monroe in the Morn.
Marijke loves her Christoween book and Stalking set, all the way over in Germany!
