{"id":15713,"date":"2023-11-20T05:57:45","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T13:57:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/?p=15713"},"modified":"2023-11-28T09:55:56","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T17:55:56","slug":"november-20-november-26-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/november-20-november-26-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"November 20 – November 26 (2023)"},"content":{"rendered":"

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK<\/h3>\n

When I saw this cartoon, I got a very “Christoween” vibe from it. Hilarious!<\/p>\n

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At the risk of seeming redundant, here’s another Jeff Lynne’s ELO song for this week’s “What’s Wally Humming.” While his original work with the Electric Light Orchestra is legendary, I also enjoy his most recent two albums, “Alone in the Universe” and “From Out of Nowhere.” I love this song called “Ain’t It a Drag,”<\/span> and I’m thinking what a great song it would have been for The Traveling Wilburys!<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Aint-It-a-Drag.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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Monday the 20th \u2013 CREATIVE START! \u2013<\/span> My pal and pro puppet builder Steve Troop dropped by to hand off the new foam head for The Count he had constructed. I hadn\u2019t been happy with the one I built, so I called in the pros. Through a lot of trial and error he was able to come up with the perfect \u201ctrapezoid\u201d shape I needed for the head. This was his last chance to meet before he headed out of town for the Thanksgiving weekend. And I also got to meet his dog Tilly! I worked around the house the rest of the day, and painted the Count\u2019s eyepieces white. Later that evening I got busy finishing the eyepieces by punching out two pupils, and cutting the fleece pieces for his eyelids. Then I glued everything together and let them set overnight to cure. I took my WOG (walk\/jog) and spent some time relaxing outside in the anti-grav chair.<\/p>\n

Tuesday the 21st \u2013 NO SUCH THING AS A COINCIDENCE! \u2013<\/span> My friend Tuesday was in town and we were supposed to have lunch, but she had to cancel at the last minute. I still had a ton of things to get done, so I started about the day. I stopped by the sign place to pick up my custom Planet Wallywood logo sign. Then I swung by my box to pick up my packages. I stopped by Paty\u2019s for lunch, as I\u2019m trying really hard to keep up with my \u201csalad a day\u201d regimen in preparation for the upcoming TV shot for ME-TV\u2019s \u201cCollector\u2019s Call\u201d show. But since I was such a good boy and had a salad, I couldn\u2019t resist stopping by Baskin-Robbins for a little ice cream. I stopped at the grocery store to dump two jars of coins in the Coinstar machine. It was almost $200 worth! I went to CVS to get a prescription, and the line at the pharmacy counter was pretty long. While I waited I looked over and noticed a guy who walked in that looked very familiar. I instantly recognized him as the lead singer of the band The War On Drugs; a band whom we had just seen two weeks earlier in Chula Vista, CA at the Vets\u2019 Aid concert. I told him we really enjoyed their show and we chatted for a while. I told him it was ironic that I would meet the lead singer of The War On Drugs\u2026at a drugstore! I texted my friend Scott in South Dakota to tell him who I had met and where, and his response was, \u201cIs he there to start a war?\u201d By the time I finished at the counter and turned around, he had left already. I guess he didn\u2019t want to wait in that long line. Either that or he didn\u2019t like my joke. When I went into the grocery store to pick up a few food items I ran into my old pal Tony O, who used to manage Frank Sinatra and Don Rickles! My pal Officer Mark and I were just talking about him on the way back from San Diego last week! Mark said he\u2019d love to meet that guy and hear stories. I originally met Tony O during my time at \u201cThe Tonight Show\u201d and for some strange reason I no longer had his number in my phone. So Tony and I agreed to get lunch someday and I could hear a bunch of his fabulous stories! I\u2019m hoping it\u2019ll happen on a day when Officer Mark can join us. What a wild day! I got home to unload the groceries and relax. I noticed that the Planet Wallywood sign had been mounted on something called \u201ccoroplast.\u201d It\u2019s a rigid piece of plastic that\u2019s mostly hollow, and made up of tiny little \u201cchannels\u201d running down the length of the board. This gave me an idea. I wanted to hang the sign in a certain place, and the channels would provide the perfect infrastructure to do that. I made little \u201cT\u2019s\u201d out of armature wire, tied monofilament into the base of each \u201cT,\u201d and then snaked the monofilament up through two of the channels of the board. The sign is 2 feet high and 2 feet wide, so I found two channels that were equidistant so the sign would hang level. Then I screwed two metal eyes into the underside of the wood overhang which is at the top of my CD rack. I measured everything out perfectly so the sign would \u201cfloat\u201d a few inches in front of the rack. Then I tied the monofilament to the metal eyes, made sure the sign was level with a contractor\u2019s level, and got off the ladder to have a look. The little upside down \u201cT\u2019s\u201d supported the bottom of the sign nicely, and it looked pretty sweet! I\u2019m not sure why I hadn\u2019t done this sooner. A lot of the changes I\u2019m making to my living room for the ME-TV shoot will most likely become permanent additions to my display, as I\u2019m liking them quite a bit. I took my nightly WOG and spent a little bit of time cooling off and meditating in the anti-grav chair outside.<\/p>\n

Wednesday the 22nd \u2013 ROYALTY VISITS! \u2013<\/span> When I got up I did a few last-minute things around the house, and about mid-afternoon I welcomed the legendary Sid Krofft and his assistant Kelly to Planet Wallywood. This coming Sunday I\u2019m going to be the guest on Sid\u2019s Instagram Live show, and he wanted to come by and check out the collection before the show. I had originally met Sid at October\u2019s Son of Monsterpalooza when I moderated his panel. We became instant friends, as I\u2019ve been an admirer of his work for a long time. As I was giving them the tour Sid said, \u201cYour house is like living in a dream!\u201d That was probably one of the nicest things anyone\u2019s ever said about my setup in Planet Wallywood. We couldn\u2019t believe we had been hanging out for two hours, but time flies when you\u2019re having fun with a television legend! We sat and chatted for a while and discussed this Sunday\u2019s show. After Sid and Kelly left I headed over to KFC to get some food, and then over to Alex In Wonderland\u2019s shop to check out the cartoon standees I\u2019m having her make. These have been almost two years in the making, and they\u2019re turning out great. I asked Alex to \u201cfront burner\u201d them so I\u2019d have them in time for the ME-TV show. She still has some painting and sanding to do, but they are looking marvelous. When I was a kid, a local live TV show called \u201cCaptain 11\u201d showed cartoons after school. He always had a live audience of kids, and if it was your birthday he would let you flick one of the switches on his monstrous control panel full of lights, buttons, dials, knobs and switches. He also had enormous cutouts hanging on his studio wall of some of the cartoon stars he featured on his show. Being a lifelong Popeye fan, I was amazed at the giant Popeye cutout on his wall. He also had Yogi Bear, Augie Doggie and Doggy Daddy, Huckleberry Hound, and Mr. Magoo! I asked Alex to create replicas of two of those pieces for my house \u2013 Popeye and Magoo. Even though the color of Mr. Magoo\u2019s coat is olive green, the cutout on the \u201cCaptain 11\u201d set had a yellow coat. I\u2019m betting the graphics guy at the TV station did this to make it \u201cpop\u201d on camera, as the dark green may have been too dull for the old TV cameras and TV sets of the day. Earlier in the day, Sid looked around at my collection, and then looked at me and said, \u201cYou\u2019re from another planet, aren\u2019t you?\u201d I patted him on the shoulder and told him this story. When I was 4 years old I was on the \u201cCaptain 11\u201d show for my birthday. The Captain asked us to raise our hands if we were visiting from out of town. I raised my hand – which was odd since I lived right in the same town where the TV station was located. I could feel mom bristling. When the Captain brought his microphone around he asked me, \u201cWhere are you from?\u201d I replied, \u201cOuter space.\u201d According to my mom some of the other moms in the audience chuckled, but the Captain didn\u2019t seem fazed at all. He just moved on. But I\u2019m sure my own mom did a face palm at my awkward television debut. I was too young to remember this story, but my mom takes great delight in retelling it from time to time. So I told Sid, \u201cYes. As a matter of fact, I most likely AM from outer space.\u201d The foam rubber head for The Count that I received from Steve Troop needed a few minor tweaks before he was ready for covering. Alex masterfully added a few wedges of foam here and there to plump them up to perfect symmetry. (I can be picky, sometimes \u2013 so I hear) Later I took my nightly WOG and spent some time in the anti-grav chair. This night I spent extra time in my meditation time being very thankful and grateful for everything in my life \u2013 considering it was Thanksgiving Eve. When I came inside I sat down at my table and made an armature hand for my Cookie Monster replica Muppet. Some puppets have hands that are manipulated with rods, while others have \u201cglove\u201d hands where the puppeteer puts his own hands inside the puppet\u2019s hands. The \u201clive hands\u201d Muppets include Ernie, Oscar, Cookie Monster, Fozzie Bear, Beaker, etc. When one puppeteer works a \u201clive hands\u201d puppet, their right hand works the mouth, while their left hand works the puppet\u2019s left hand. This leaves the puppet\u2019s right hand empty and limp. Sometimes I\u2019ll fill them with Poly-fil, a pillow-stuffing material. But Steve suggested I make armature hands for them. This is done by taking some armature wire, making a \u201cskeleton hand\u201d by bending the wire to shape, and gluing the wire mechanism between two pieces of \u00bd\u201d foam rubber. After that sets, the edges of the foam rubber are glued and \u201cpinched\u201d together to make a nice, smooth, tapered edge. Since I have five \u201clive hands\u201d puppets in my collection (Cookie Monster, Oscar, Beautiful Day, Rowlf and The Count) I need to make 5 armature hands. I made my first one tonight and it turned out great. I put it inside Cookie Monster\u2019s right hand, and now he can hold a cookie!<\/p>\n

Thursday the 23rd \u2013 THANKSGIVING! \u2013<\/span> Every year, when we gather our \u201cfamily of friends\u201d together for a Thanksgiving feast, I bring along some index cards and pens. It\u2019s a tradition I\u2019ve been doing for about 20 years. At the end of the Thanksgiving dinner, I ask each person to write down one thing they\u2019re thankful for. It doesn\u2019t have to be the most important thing, or even the least important thing. Just some random thing they\u2019re thankful for. So I packed up my pens and index cards, along with Cookie Monster and some Big Bird slippers I had bought for my friend Scott Sebring\u2019s wife Vickie when I was at \u201cSesame Place\u201d in San Diego. I hopped in the Gray Ghost and headed to the Smoke House. Most of our group was already there, and Vickie got her Big Bird feet. She loved them and, come to find out, they will most likely figure into a specific costume she\u2019s been working on for a while! It took quite a while to get our table, but it was worth the wait. It was an amazing experience as always! At the end of the meal, for our group photo, I took out that furry food connoisseur himself Cookie Monster! Anytime I bring out a Muppet replica I can feel a lot of eyes drawing their attention to it. Those puppets are so iconic that people can\u2019t help but stare. I forgot that I was wearing my Sesame Street hoodie too! A guy at a nearby table asked if I could shoot a quick video with his wife, and I gladly accommodated them. Then I did a little improvised video at the front desk with one of the girls on the staff who does a great impression of Elmo. I told her she needed to get an Elmo puppet and start puppeteering! Another great Thanksgiving evening was in the history books! When I got home I made another armature hand, this time for Oscar. Now he can grip the edge of his trash can firmly while he sits on display in my living room. But unlike Cookie Monster, who has five fingers, Oscar only has four fingers. These are working out great, and I love making them! I did my nightly WOG and spent some time in the anti-grav chair. Despite the cooler weather, it\u2019s not bad out at all!<\/p>\n

Friday the 24th \u2013 SLACK FRIDAY! \u2013<\/span> When I got up I waited for the maids to arrive and did a little work. When the maids finished I started on my errands. First I stopped by the vet\u2019s office to get some more cat fud, and then I went to the hardware store to pick up a few items I needed for repairs around the house. I hit my box to get my packages, and one of them was my new levitating moon lamp! A 3D printed plastic moon lights up and levitates over the base using reverse magnetism. It\u2019s really cool! I got another salad at Paty\u2019s and enjoyed some patio time. Then I got back home and worked around the house. Later I took my nightly WOG and spent a little time in the anti-grav chair. It was gorgeous, because a mostly-full moon was just beginning to set in the western horizon. I came inside and took my weekly blood pressure reading and it was astonishingly wonderful! The exercising and improved diet is really making a difference! I made another four-finger armature hand; this time for Beautiful Day. As I worked in my kitchen, I always have to have the window open because of the strong smell from the Barge glue. It requires very good ventilation when using that glue. I noticed that the moon was getting very low on the horizon, and I got to watch it set. Goodnight, moon. I\u2019ll see you tomorrow. It was a stunning sight! I made a salad and watched an episode of \u201cBoris Karloff\u2019s Thriller\u201d before bed. Boris was actually IN this episode as a character, in addition to hosting it! He was quite the treasure!<\/p>\n

Saturday the 25th \u2013 SAD FOR SID! \u2013<\/span> It was time once again to get a touch-up on my color, so I walked to my stylist\u2019s for my appointment. When I got home I got a voicemail from Mark Evanier that Marty Krofft had passed away. Marty was half of the Sid & Marty Krofft production empire that spawned a lot of great shows from my childhood. Sid and I were just talking about Marty when Sid was at my house on Wednesday. I was lucky enough to have met Marty several months ago at his production office. Under these circumstances, both I and Sid\u2019s assistant Kelly felt it best to postpone my appearance on Sid\u2019s Sunday show. How very, very sad. My heart was breaking for Sid, as Marty was Sid\u2019s kid brother. I worked around the house and relaxed. Later I took my WOG and spent some time in the anti-grav chair. I spent hours and hours at my kitchen table creating the pattern for my new Count\u2019s nose and ears. I also made another armature hand; this time for Rowlf the Dog. I cut the Count\u2019s ears out of foam and glued and pinched their edges. Then I cut the pieces for the Count\u2019s nose out of a material called L200, and glued it all together. The nose for the first Count I made was much too wide, but this second try was much better. I spent so much time working in my kitchen, it was NOON on Sunday before I made my Saturday Night Super Saint Salad and slipped off to bed to watch an episode of \u201cThe Saint\u201d and eat my dinner. Since I now had no reason to be up on Sunday, I figured I\u2019d just get some rest.<\/p>\n

Sunday the 26th \u2013 SLEEPATHON! \u2013<\/span> It sure felt good to sleep all day! I woke up around 8:30 and fed Spook. I saw that I had a text from Alex in Wonderland that the cartoon cutouts of Popeye and Magoo were all finished, and the backing stands had been attached! Wonderful! I headed back to bed to sleep some more. Spook woke me up at 3am, my usual WOG time, but I figured I could take a night off, and went back to sleep. When I woke up Monday morning at 7am I figured I had slept enough and got busy starting a brand new week!<\/p>\n

And how was YOUR week?!?!<\/p>\n

PIX FROM THE WEEK<\/p>\n

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Everything’s coming together nicely for Count 2.0.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The ears are added…<\/p><\/div>\n

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…the nose is added…<\/p><\/div>\n

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…and let’s add the eyes just to get the entire picture!<\/p><\/div>\n

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The new fleece is in and we’re ready to go!<\/p><\/div>\n

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This new sign is…ahem…very well hung.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Popeye and Magoo are ready to visit Planet Wallywood!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Vickie gets her Big Bird slippers and loves them!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Cookie Monster had a great Thanksgiving too, though there were no pumpkin cookies.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Here’s the whole gang from this year’s Thanksgiving feast, from left to right, Bob, Cookie, Aliza, me, Emily, Scott, Sara, Vickie, Blake and Kevin. FUN!<\/p><\/div>\n

https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Moon-spinning.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

The levitating moon lamp is really cool, once you master placement with the reverse magnetism thing.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Tranquility-Zone-2023.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

When I talk about the Tranquility Zone, I occasionally get messages from people asking more about it. So here it is – all set up with things that make me joyous, relaxed and happy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK When I saw this cartoon, I got a very “Christoween” vibe from it. Hilarious! At the risk of seeming redundant, here’s another Jeff Lynne’s ELO song for this week’s “What’s Wally Humming.” While his original work with the Electric Light […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-wallysweek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15713"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15731,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15713\/revisions\/15731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}