https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Smokin.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n <\/p>\n
Monday the 18th \u2013 A GRANDSON GIFT GAFFE! \u2013<\/span> My grandson Devin\u2019s birthday is this coming Thursday, and a few weeks ago I ordered a rolling storage cart for all his art supplies. It\u2019s what he wanted, so I got one for him on Amazon. But the expected delivery date kept getting pushed back\u2026and back\u2026and back. Finally they posted that they didn\u2019t have a definitive delivery date. So sadly, I had to cancel the order. It obviously wasn\u2019t going to be there in time for his birthday on Thursday, even though I had ordered it several weeks ago. So I sped off to Michaels to pick up a few supplies and ask about sending him a gift card. That way he can go to his local Michaels and pick out a rolling cart he likes. I bought some paint and a few other things while I was there. I hit CVS to pick up some items, and then got some groceries. I went to Taco Bell\u2019s drive-thru and got some dinner, and then headed home to get on-line and buy Devin\u2019s gift card. It will be delivered to him on his birthday. Neat! Later I recorded some auditions, took my nightly WOG (walk\/jog) and then edited some videos.<\/p>\nTuesday the 19th \u2013 THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM! \u2013<\/span> Next week is Monsterpalooza and all of the related craziness that will transpire. I can\u2019t wait! The exhibit we\u2019re doing for this year\u2019s museum is really coming together and I\u2019m excited to share it with everyone. My daughter, son-in-law and grandkids get into L.A. on the 29th and they\u2019ll be with me all weekend at Monsterpalooza! Excellent! I chatted with my gal Angi for a bit, as I hadn\u2019t seen her in a few months. She\u2019s been traveling to see family, and she just got back. I\u2019m going to let her decompress for a few days before I start bugging her about getting together. I recorded my auditions, did some more work on the Monsterpalooza exhibit, and then took my WOG. The figure I started focusing on finishing was Frogenstein; my Kermit\/Frankenstein mash-up. There was a video game in the 90s that made Muppet characters into classic monsters, but in that game they referred to him as \u201cKermonster.\u201d However, since the figure I\u2019m doing isn\u2019t an exact copy of that, I\u2019m referring to him as Frogenstein. Frog sounds a lot like Frank anyway. I stitched his eyelid pieces together, dressed him in the costume, and started working with several poses. I got my Herry Monster replica ready to be taken to Alex In Wonderland to get his nose attached. Exciting! I made a pot pie and watched an episode of \u201cThe High Chaparral,\u201d and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the episode was written by my old friend, the late D.C. (Dorothy) Fontana! Excellent episode!<\/p>\nWednesday the 20th \u2013 FORGED! \u2013<\/span> This is the kind of day that nobody wants to have. I got a call from my insurance company wondering where the payment for my home insurance was. I told them I mailed the payment in full back in March, and my bank statement shows that it had been cashed. They still maintained that they hadn\u2019t received it. I did some investigative work, went onto my account on-line, and was horrified by what I saw. The check I had sent the insurance company back in March had the same amount, but there was a different name in the \u201cpay to the order of\u201d section. I had been defrauded! We\u2019ve had a lot of problems with mail being stolen from mailboxes in L.A. (in fact, people are stealing EVERYTHING now!) so I\u2019m assuming that the mailbox in which I deposited my insurance check was broken into, my check was removed from the mail, was scanned, and then digitally altered to reflect a different payee. My signature was left intact. All this seemed to start when banks began allowing people to send in photos of the checks through an app, and not having to present the actual check at a bank branch. I remember my reaction when I first found out they were allowing that. I said something to the effect of, \u201cWell THAT\u2019S fraud waiting to happen.\u201d Sure enough. That\u2019s what\u2019s happening. And because the amount had remained unaltered, I didn\u2019t notice anything odd when I reconciled my bank account statements. A standard bank statement only tells you the check number, the amount, and the date it was cashed. It doesn\u2019t include the name of the payee. That needs to change if they\u2019re going to keep on accepting pictures of checks, instead of real checks. From now on I\u2019m going to be very sloppy when I write checks. I\u2019ll write over lines, extend lines into other columns\u2026I\u2019m going to make it as difficult as I can for the digital artist to remove the pertinent information. And oddly enough, these guys don\u2019t waste their time on checks with small amounts. They don\u2019t bother with the 8 dollar or 20 dollar checks. They wait for the ones with sizable amounts. I phoned my bank\u2019s fraud department and we both got on-line and started looking over the account. In the process we discovered ANOTHER check that was forged\u2026this time to a different person. It explains why my mortgage company said they never got my mortgage payment back around that time. I just figured my check and their \u201clate notice\u201d crossed in the mail, even though I didn\u2019t remember sending my mortgage payment late. But knowing how slow the postal service is, I just wrote it off to their lengthy delivery time. So hopefully the bank will do an investigation and determine that it was indeed fraud, and refund my money. The banks allow this to continue as they just simply file a claim with the FDIC and get the money returned by the government. Great. Your tax dollars at work. So the bank froze my account and I will need to go to my local branch and set up a new account. The guy on the phone set up an appointment for me, so I\u2019ll be going in the next morning. I\u2019ve got a LOT of work to do in order to make this situation normal again. Thanks fraudsters. Hope you get hit by a runaway ice cream truck. I recorded a bunch of auditions, took my nightly WOG, and relaxed afterwards in the anti-gravity chair outside. It was actually warm enough to enjoy some meditative time outside and a nice cigar.<\/p>\nThursday the 21st \u2013 NOSE NEWS! \u2013<\/span> I drove over to the Alex In Wonderland workshop to check out the progress on the nose for Herry Monster and it looks amazing! Alex is going to trim the fur on it a little bit shorter and then attach it to the puppet. Wow! I hit Jack in the Box for some dinner and then headed home to eat. Then I headed over to my bank and spent about 2.5 hours there getting everything set up for the new account. I have to refile paperwork for certain automatic deposits, etc. \u2013 so that will take some doing. It was a fairly miserable experience. I went home to reset for a bit, and then I headed to Warner for an audition for a video game. The director was on Zoom, as he lives in the Seattle area. He started the audition by telling me that he had met me about 20 years ago at the Detroit airport. He heard me on the phone talking to my agent about something, and he mentioned that he wanted to get into the video game industry. I chatted with him and gave him a copy of a TV pilot I had just produced. I also told him to call me when he was settled in L.A., and I even invited him to my birthday party I had at the Silent Movie Theatre. He said he never forgot how nice I was to him. That was really amazing to hear! We had a lot of fun during the audition, laughing and telling stories. As I walked back to my car I shook my head and laughed. Yup, the old saying is true. \u201cBe nice to everyone on your way up, because you\u2019re going to meet them again on your way back down again.\u201d I\u2019m so glad he had a pleasant experience back then. I went over to Paty\u2019s to relax, decompress and have dinner. It was a very, very long day. Then I went home to rest. Later I edited some videos, and I took my nightly WOG.<\/p>\nFriday the 22nd \u2013 ANGELIC ANGI! \u2013<\/span> Despite the fact that the bank told me that my debit card would still work with the new account I just set up, it wasn\u2019t true. Some purchases I tried to make with it had gotten declined. So, first thing in the morning, I headed back to the bank to order a new debit card. What a hassle. I went over to Jersey Mike\u2019s to get a sandwich, and I got a few cigars at my cigar shop. I got home in time to let the maids in to clean Planet Wallywood. Then I did some work. Angi came over later with her dog Khloe and we sat around catching up on all the news from the past few months. Then we headed to Chin Chin to get dinner. It sure was good to see her again. I had missed her quite a bit. Based on the busy, somewhat stressful week I had, I was pretty wiped out. I decided to stay inside and not WOG, but rather to hit the hay and get some rest.<\/p>\nSaturday the 23rd \u2013 GOOD DEED DO-ER! \u2013<\/span> Alex at Alex In Wonderland was only going to be in her shop until 2, so I hurried over at 1 to pick up the finished Herry Monster replica. My pal Sergio Lopez would be coming over Monday to style his hair, so had to grab the puppet today. He looks amazing with his new nose! Alex sure does stellar work. I had some time to kill so I met my pal Chris Malmin over at Paty\u2019s (aka \u201cThe Office\u201d) for lunch. I picked up a package at my box and then headed over to my stylist\u2019s shop for a trim and a touch-up on my color. Then I headed back home to start arranging stuff for the packing process for Monsterpalooza next weekend. I also cleaned up a bunch of stuff in anticipation of giving my grandkids the tour of Planet Wallywood next week! I did some video editing and then rested for a bit. I did my nightly WOG and encountered some of my neighbors \u2013 which is usually odd at that time of the night. There\u2019s an elderly man who has two dogs, and occasionally I see him walking them in the middle of the night. Since it\u2019s very dark and quiet out, I don\u2019t want to startle him or the doggies, so I usually give him a cheerful \u201cGood morning! How are the doggies?\u201d I\u2019ve seen him enough now that he\u2019s familiar with my exercise habits, and he knows I\u2019m not some guy lurking around who\u2019s up to no good. But as I walked past one of the units on my route I noticed some people loading some stuff into a U-Haul van\u2026which is a little odd at that time of night. I strolled on past to check it out, and I discovered that it was two ladies named Janet and Jane who were loading art pieces into a van for a trade show later that day. I had met Janet before when she walked her doggie past my garage, and she remembered me. A few of the things they needed to load into the van looked rather heavy; much too heavy for two ladies who topped out at about 5 foot each. I offered my \u201clifting\u201d services for the heavy stuff. They sure appreciated it. We chatted while we loaded stuff into the van, and I wished them a successful day at the trade show. So here it is, 3 in the morning, and I\u2019m loading stuff into a van. I could have never predicted THAT! But that\u2019s life\u2026fun and unexpected. So, I did my good deed for the day. I finished up my WOG and headed back inside to work on some more stuff. I made a salad and watched another episode of \u201cNight Gallery\u201d on Blu ray. I sure do love that show!<\/p>\nSunday the 24th \u2013 IN THE MIDDLE OF A THREE DAY WEEKEND! \u2013<\/span> My pal Sergio is coming over Monday afternoon to give Herry Monster a trim and style, so I prepped the work area for him to arrive. I did some more organization, wrote up a packing list, and did some other things for next weekend\u2019s convention. I did some video editing and took my nightly WOG, even though it was a bit chilly outside. Toward the morning I made a pot pie and watched another episode of \u201cThe High Chaparral.\u201d I also watched the President lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which I traditionally love to do every Memorial Day and Veterans Day. I love that ceremony.<\/p>\nMonday the 25th \u2013 A SERGIO SUPER SNIP SNIP! \u2013<\/span> One of the last things I needed to do on my Herry Monster replica Muppet was to have his fur trimmed and shaped. My friend Sergio Lopez is a genius at this sort of thing, and he\u2019s done the wigs on every figure I have in my house\u2026and many of my puppets too. But with a name like Herry Monster, he was going to need some special care. The thing about the original Herry is, his fur pattern is very chaotic. It goes all over the place, but delightfully so. Sergio was great at capturing the essence of that character. And Sergio\u2019s eye is so well-trained, he could spot areas on the original puppet where the fabricators trimmed the fur shorter for definition. Amazing. After working we headed to Paty\u2019s for dinner and we were joined by Angi. But I was getting tired, so I headed back home and slept for a while. I got up to do my nightly WOG, edited some videos, and worked on Herry Monster. While he was being worked on, I had parchment paper covers on his resin eye pieces. This kept them from being scratched or damaged during the fabrication process. Now that Herry was almost finished, I took the parchment covers off. I glued his tongue in his mouth, and on Tuesday I\u2019ll add the pupils to his eye pieces. Then\u2026he will be complete at last! Another puppet finished! I made a salad and watched an episode of \u201cThe High Chaparral.\u201d Then I turned in. Wow! What a week!<\/p>\nAnd how was YOUR week??!<\/p>\n
PIX FROM THE WEEK<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.wallyontheweb.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ww_20260518_00.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n