Category Archives: entertainment

John Cena, Joy and a Heel Turn

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“We tend to measure success in things, “grind,” or status, among other ideas. Measure success in joy instead; it’s a much better gauge.” – John Cena, Be a Work in Progress. (This post contains affiliate links. If you get to Amazon after clicking a link and buy something, we will get a commission and it won’t cost you anything extra.)

Cena is an actor and retired professional wrestler. He’s best known for his roles in Peacemaker, as the voice of Honda commercials, and for his catch phrase: “You can’t see me.” He has appeared in over 35 films.

During Cena’s retirement tour for the WWE, he made a hilariously cartoonish heel turn. He laughs and hugs Cody Rhodes. His chin comes over Rhodes’ shoulder and Cena looks at the Rock in the corner of the ring. His grin turns upside down as the Rock makes a knife across the throat motion with his hand. Cena glares at life, mean-mugging for the camera, steps back with a smile, and kicks Rhodes in the privates. During the run, Cena insulted the fans and removed the joy from his last time wrestling in many places.

The heel turn didn’t work for me. We all knew Cena wouldn’t go out a heel, so there was no real tension. There wasn’t enough time to set it up, and every site out there talked about how Cena wanted to be a heel for a little bit. Cena’s turn also affected Ron “The Truth” Killings wrestling arc.

Truth became angry with Cena, like a sibling would. He said he would knock Cena back to the right side of the ring. Truth brought joy, tinged with care and concern, to the ring.

I’ll admit that I’m less than a casual fan of wrestling. I loved it in the ‘80s when it was still “real.” Somewhen along the way I stopped watching it, probably when I got to college. Still there were some things that I caught, that WWE did exceptionally well. They were great at parodying the NFL’s commercials and the NBA, at least once. They’ve had good characters and good storytelling. More importantly, the WWE is still laden with good guys and bad guys. The good guys bring joy to the world. The bad guys are the foils.

There are far too few people and things that bring joy to the world and to life. You can choose whether you want to bring people joy and make this world a happier place to live. Or you can choose to turn heel. I hope that we choose to bring joy more often than we choose to sabotage it.

What brings you joy?

Top 31 Ghosts at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion on Patreon

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I have posted the top 31 ghost at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion on Patreon. It’s all in one place if you want to see the list on one web page (but, like, seven real pages). That particular post is for paid members only, but you can still scroll through our October posts on penguinate.com to see how everything shook out.

Thanks for being here for our countdown. Let us know what you thought with a comment below and tell us who your top ghost is at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.

If you want more Haunted Mansion and creativity, get my book “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.” If you want a different kind of Haunting fun, check out “When Hauntings Collide,” the story where you are the star.

Top 31 Ghosts at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: #1 The Ghost Host

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The Ghost Host spirits guests through their Haunted Mansion experience. From beginning to end, he makes the haunted Mansion come to unlife. Voiced by the imitable Paul Frees, without the ghost host to carry the story thread, guests would be lost in a series of tableaux.

Happy Halloween!

If you want more Haunted Mansion and creativity, get my book “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.” If you want a different kind of Haunting fun, check out “When Hauntings Collide,” the story where you are the star.

Top 31 Ghosts at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: #2 Madame Leota

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Madame Leota holds a séance to “call in the spirits wherever they’re at.” She helps send guests’ sympathetic vibrations to the other side and calls in the swinging wake. Even before her crystal ball floated, she was a marvel to behold. The imagineer and perfectly named Leota Toombs gave a face to the medium. Eleanor Audley provided the voice. Later updates would use Kim Irvine’s face; Irvine is Leota’s daughter and an imagineer.

If you want more Haunted Mansion and creativity, get my book “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.” If you want a different kind of Haunting fun, check out “When Hauntings Collide,” the story where you are the star.

Top 31 Ghosts at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: #3 Hitchhiking Ghosts

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Exiting the Graveyard, the Ghost Host returns to warn us of hitchhiking ghosts. It seems he forgot to mention them earlier. These ghosts will follow guests home and haunt them until the guests return to the Haunted Mansion.

The Doom Buggy floats by the ghosts and into a corridor with mirrors. The mirrors reflect the guests image and the ghost, who will follow them home, sits beside them.

Disney has updated the effect, which is fun, but nothing beats the experience of going through the Haunted Mansion as a child and having a ghost sit next to you, or on your lap. With three ghosts to follow you, the Haunted Mansion had built in reasons to go back.

If you want more Haunted Mansion and creativity, get my book “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.” If you want a different kind of Haunting fun, check out “When Hauntings Collide,” the story where you are the star.

Top 31 Ghosts at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: #4 Hatbox Ghost

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For a long time, the Hatbox Ghost was more legend than real. There was a whisper about a ghost that carried his head in a box. The effect didn’t work, and the Hatbox ghost dematerialized. Its legend, however, couldn’t be killed. Imagineers worked with the ghost on and off, and he rematerialized in 2015. Fans celebrated the ghost’s return.

If you want more Haunted Mansion and creativity, get my book “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.” If you want a different kind of Haunting fun, check out “When Hauntings Collide,” the story where you are the star.

Top 31 Ghosts at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: #5 Constance Hatchaway

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The Bride became Constance Hatchaway in 2006. This black widow beheaded her husbands and married into a higher tax bracket after every kill. In an attraction that features an executioner and his victim, a ghost that carries his head in a hatbox, and a body swinging from the rafters (which may be removed in the future), the Hatchaway storyline was seen as too violent. Constance was removed, and a technologically superior bride with a less violent background was installed.

Whether or not the change was warranted, Constance added bite to a relative tame Mansion about the dead. When she debuted, she was the killer the Mansion needed. “We said ‘I do’ and I did.” Hatchaway’s ghost still resonates with Haunted Mansion fans.

If you want more Haunted Mansion and creativity, get my book “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.” If you want a different kind of Haunting fun, check out “When Hauntings Collide,” the story where you are the star.

Top 31 Ghosts at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: #6 Little Leota

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Little Leota is the penultimate ghost (there is another ghost after her that many guests miss; that ghost didn’t make it on the list) at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. She stands on a mantle to the left as guests exit the attraction on the moving walkaway. “Hurry Back! Hurry Back! Be sure to bring your death certificate if you decide to join us.” She’s one last wonder before guests return to the land of the living.

If you want more Haunted Mansion and creativity, get my book “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.” If you want a different kind of Haunting fun, check out “When Hauntings Collide,” the story where you are the star.

Top 31 Ghosts at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: #7 Singing Busts

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Another set of busts head up the celebration in the graveyard. Thurl Ravenscroft is among the busts that sing Grim, Grinning Ghosts. The other busts are thought to be the Mellomen, a barbershop quartet that Thurl was a member of. This appears to be untrue.

The four men filmed as Haunted Mansion busts are Verne Rowe, Chuck Schroeder, Jay Meyer, and Bob Ebright; the Mellomen are Bill Lee, Max Smith, and Bob Stevens.

If you want more Haunted Mansion and creativity, get my book “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.” If you want a different kind of Haunting fun, check out “When Hauntings Collide,” the story where you are the star.

Top 31 Ghosts at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: #8 The Organist

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Providing the music for the swinging wake, Viktor the organist plays in the ballroom. The organ’s notes conjure spirits from the pipes, and the mood is set for a fun and spooky time. The organ is from Disney’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.

If you want more Haunted Mansion and creativity, get my book “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.” If you want a different kind of Haunting fun, check out “When Hauntings Collide,” the story where you are the star.