{"id":17939,"date":"2026-04-27T06:37:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T13:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/?p=17939"},"modified":"2026-05-05T06:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T13:49:09","slug":"april-27-may-03-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/april-27-may-03-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"April 27 – May 03 (2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

I generally don’t care much for ai conglomerations. But this one is actually pretty cool. Sometimes I like these “what if” scenarios.<\/p>\n

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I generally don’t care much for ai conglomerations. But this one is actually pretty cool. Sometimes I like these “what if” scenarios.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Rick Springfield had some pretty great hits in the 80’s. But when “Love Is Alright Tonight”<\/span> came up on my device this past week as I was driving around, I was reminded of what a great song it was. And I’ve been singing it ever since!<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Love-Is-Alright-Tonight.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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Monday the 27th \u2013 ONE MONTH AWAY! \u2013<\/span> As I continue to work away preparing the exhibit we\u2019re doing for the upcoming Monsterpalooza convention, today I decided to start assembling the platforms my pal Joe Pendleton made to give it all a dry run. Having the platforms assembled in my living room will give me some time to mount the puppets, pose them, and experiment with how they\u2019ll eventually look in the exhibit. I went to the hardware store to buy some appropriately-sized bolts, nuts and washers. These will attach the supports to the platforms, which have metal brackets on the bottom. I picked up a few packages at my box, and then met my assistant Emily at Paty\u2019s for lunch. Then I went back home and started assembling everything. FUN! The front platform had been completed. It all required a mix of wood dowels, flanges, armature wire, brackets, and screws. It looked amazing! I did my auditions for the day, and then relaxed a bit. Later I took my nightly WOG (walk\/jog), and did a second draft of the history of how monsters heavily influenced the early days of the Jim Henson Company. This article will be posted on-line and you can link to it through a special QR code that will be on display at the exhibit. I typed out Wally\u2019s Week and then hit the hay. Wow! What a day!<\/p>\n

Tuesday the 28th \u2013 EYES, BOLTS, AND BIRTHDAYS TO BOOT! \u2013<\/span> Toward the end of the afternoon I sped over to my pal Jim Ojala\u2019s effects studio to pick up the eye pieces he worked on for my Herry Monster replica Muppet that I\u2019ll be including in the Monsterpalooza exhibit. He also did some customization on two little plastic pieces that I\u2019ll be using for neck bolts for Frogenstein\u2026a customization of my Kermit the Frog replica. Then I sped over to the Smoke House in Burbank to join my friends Amy and Aliza for their combined birthday celebration. Our friends James and Cynthia arrived too. FUN EVENING! Though I\u2019m trying to limit my carb intake, I couldn\u2019t resist that amazing garlic bread, and I kinda went off my diet for a little bit. After dinner I went to Alex In Wonderland to pick up my Rizzo replica, as Alex had removed the arm rods that came with the puppet (there were much too big and bulky for a puppet of Rizzo\u2019s size) and replaced them with thinner rods more in scale with Rizzo\u2019s diminutive size. I gave her the head of Guy Smiley that we\u2019ve been working on for over a year, as she needs to change his lower jaw a little bit to be more \u201cscreen accurate.\u201d I came back home and did a few auditions, took my nightly WOG, and worked on more puppet stuff.<\/p>\n

Wednesday the 29th \u2013 \u201cHEAVEN ON EARTH INSIDE MY PUPPET WALLS\u201d (WITH APOLOGIES TO PRINCE AND SHEENA EASTON)! \u2013<\/span> My pals Edi Lurie and Emily Danyel were meeting for lunch at Paty\u2019s, and they asked me to join them. Emily and I had an errand to run after lunch, so this was going to work out perfectly. After lunch we three headed to Hobby Lobby to do some shopping. I was able to pick up two more of those cool Spider-Man lamps (see last week\u2019s Wally\u2019s Week) and a few more miscellaneous items. Then we went across the street to Foam Mart to do some shopping and pick up the amazing barrier walls that they had fabricated for the Monsterpalooza exhibit. Leland Li did a fantastic job. They were GORGEOUS! But Emily had to come along to haul the big one, as my RAV wasn\u2019t quite long enough to accommodate the size. We got back to my house and unloaded everything, and then I did some work around the house. I recorded a few auditions and then relaxed for a bit. Later I got busy on assembling the middle puppet platform for the Monsterpalooza exhibit. It turned out great, but I had to make some changes to the original design. My Animal figure turned out to be much too heavy for the support system I originally designed, so I had to get clever and come up with something more robust. But it was a blast! I worked all night, but it was very, very fruitful. In fact, I had such great momentum going, I didn\u2019t even take time to go on my WOG. I figured one night off wouldn\u2019t hurt me. The next step is to finish my Herry Monster replica and then I can get working on the back platform, and finish everything up. I made a salad and watched an episode of \u201cThe High Chaparral.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thursday the 30th \u2013 MAY GRAY MAYDAY! –<\/span> It\u2019s truly mind boggling to think that the first four months of 2026 are over. Where DOES the time go?! I relaxed most of the day, recorded my auditions, and did a little work around the house. I met my assistant Emily for dinner at Little Toni\u2019s as I was craving one of their pizzas. I was also in need of more of their delicious salad dressing! When I got back home I did some work on fabricating a few things for the middle puppet platform. I took all the puppets off the front and middle platforms and put them all back in their rightful places. I took my nightly WOG and came inside to do some video editing. I did a little more puppet work and by the time I got to bed it was early morning. But for the first day of May it was very, very overcast and gray. You\u2019ve heard of June gloom? Well May gray is very real too! It looks like we\u2019re in for some sunless days ahead. Such is the way the seasons go in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Friday the 1st \u2013 IT\u2019S BACK! AGAIN! FOR NOW, ANYWAY! \u2013<\/span> Though it\u2019s been off and on over the past few months, apparently my landline is back in business. I hadn\u2019t had a dial tone in a few months because of equipment issues with the phone company. Criminals will cut the phone company\u2019s wires so they can extract the copper and sell it. This means if you have internet or landline service through this company, you\u2019re out of luck until they can get around to repairing it. But my dial tone is back, but I\u2019m not sure for how long. I stayed inside all day working on more puppet stuff and working around the house. Later I took my WOG, and then did more work around the house.<\/p>\n

Saturday the 2nd \u2013 STILL LEARNING! \u2013<\/span> What a busy day! I hit the hardware store for more supplies for my puppet platforms, and then I went to CVS to pick up a prescription and get some photos printed. Then I went over to the grocery store to get some food items that I\u2019ll need. I came home and put everything away, did some video editing, and relaxed. Later I did some more work on the puppet exhibit and took my nightly WOG. Since it\u2019s the first Saturday of the month, it\u2019s time for my traditional monthly commemoration I call \u201cLaurel & Hardy Theatre.\u201d I made my traditional Chef Boyardee pizza-in-a-box, popped some popcorn, and got some ice cold Diet Pepsi. I was down to the very last elements on the new \u201cLaurel & Hardy: Year Three\u201d Blu ray. And it was fantastic! I saw the silent version of \u201cBerth Marks,\u201d which I had never seen before. \u201cBerth Marks\u201d was one of their first sound pictures, but back in 1929 not every theatre had been equipped for sound quite yet. So they produced two versions \u2013 one with sound, and one that was silent. But the sound version is MUCH better. As The Boys are waiting for a train, a conductor walks by and says, \u201cAll aboaaaard!\u201d Then he proceeds to list all of the cities the train will be stopping at. But he does it so fast it sounds like absolute unintelligible gibberish. Hilarious! But this gag doesn\u2019t play as well in the silent version. You\u2019ve really got to hear how the actor does it. It was brilliantly performed. When I was a kid reading everything I could about Laurel & Hardy, I read something about a bit they did in a film called \u201cHollywood Revue Of 1929.\u201d But it wasn\u2019t available anywhere at the time, and was never shown on TV. Well, collectors have located a print (albeit a fuzzy one) and they included it on the Blu ray set. Jack Benny was the host, and it had The Boys doing a bad magic act. I\u2019m glad I was able to FINALLY see it! But for some reason Stan didn\u2019t utter a single word! I wonder if he was under the weather when they filmed this, and maybe had a case of laryngitis or something. I also watched a small bit they did for an MGM promo reel that was produced for France. I had never EVER seen that before either! It\u2019s odd that, after having been a fan of Laurel & Hardy for 52 years, I\u2019m still learning new stuff about them. Utterly astounding!<\/p>\n

Sunday the 3rd \u2013 STRANDED! \u2013<\/span> In the mid-afternoon I woke up to check on emails and see what was new in the world. I got a text from my gal Angi telling me that there were equipment problems on her flight home, and she wasn\u2019t able to make it back on the 2nd like she had hoped. The flights are booked up pretty solidly now, especially with Spirit Airlines going out of business, so not only are the other airlines raising their prices, but seats are hard to come by. So now it looks like she won\u2019t be home for another week! EEK! That means she\u2019ll miss my birthday this coming Wednesday, which frankly\u2026makes me a bit sad. But, it is what it is\u2026and we\u2019ll just have to celebrate it once she returns home. Modern problems, doncha know?! I did my auditions and got ready for a new week. I took my nightly WOG and enjoyed seeing the local wildlife. There\u2019s a mommy Mourning Dove who has a nest in a hedge near where I walk. The only reason I know this, is because somebody put a sign up by the hedge letting people know that there was a nest there. I always walk by as quietly as possible (they\u2019re very skittish little birdies) but I always like to glance over as I\u2019m walking by so I can see mommy\u2019s little head as she sits on the nest. My headlamp caught four little reflective beads up ahead, and I realized that it was the eyes of two raccoons that were scurrying about in the middle of the night. I said, \u201cHi guys.\u201d And they scampered off. I got back inside and did some more video editing, and then headed for the shower. But I noticed that the showerhead was sounding strange\u2026very loud, in fact. Then I noticed that there was a good amount of water leaking out of the bottom of it. Right under the little handle that allows you to change from setting to setting, it was leaking pretty good. I guess since that area is moved so much, it eventually wears out. I got on Amazon and ordered two more showerheads just like it, and delivery should be on Monday afternoon. Luckily, I had another back-up showerhead underneath my bathroom sink. I installed that and I was good to go temporarily. I made a pot pie and watched another episode of \u201cThe High Chaparral.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

PIX FROM THE WEEK<\/p>\n

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Much of the time, ai is WAY off! When I saw this picture posted this past week I just had to grab it. First off, ai doesn’t know the difference between Ant Man and Batman. Secondly, Catwoman looks as if Julie Newmar and Lee Meriwether had a baby. And Batgirl? That’s not Yvonne Craig. That’s my pal Sara Raftery. ai found a picture of Sara on-line somewhere cosplaying Batgirl and cobbled that together with the rest of the image. Sorry, but ai has a looooong way to go.<\/p><\/div>\n

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I dressed the recently refurbished Gonzo photo replica puppet in some summer clothes and sat him atop the prop stool I recently acquired at the Jim Henson Company auction. He looks right at home!<\/p><\/div>\n

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I dressed the recently refurbished Gonzo photo replica puppet in some summer clothes and sat him atop the prop stool I recently acquired at the Jim Henson Company auction. He looks right at home!<\/p><\/div>\n

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On the front platform, I started with The Count and his Bat Pack….<\/p><\/div>\n

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…then added Cookie Monster…<\/p><\/div>\n

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…and Beautiful Day completed the first row!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Now it’s onto the second row…<\/p><\/div>\n

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Because I don’t have the depth I need in my living room, the platforms are a little more compressed than what they’ll eventually be at the convention. But these are the two rows together, and I think the Creatures, Monsters and Misfits exhibit will be amazing!<\/p><\/div>\n

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But I did find away to raise Gleep aka Green Grover up a little, and to shrink Animal down a little bit so he’s more in line with the rest of the characaters.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RANDOM PIC OF THE WEEK I generally don’t care much for ai conglomerations. But this one is actually pretty cool. Sometimes I like these “what if” scenarios. Rick Springfield had some pretty great hits in the 80’s. But when “Love Is Alright Tonight” came up […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wallysweek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17939","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=17939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17951,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17939\/revisions\/17951"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}