Category Archives: entertainment

Top 31 Ghosts at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: #28 Medusa

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Among the portraits in the Portrait Corridor, a young woman turns into a gorgon as lightning flashes. Can Medusa’s ghost turn you to stone? With the number of people, who walk by, and the decided lack of statuary in front of the picture, we can at least confirm that the picture cannot. It’s best not to tempt fate and lag behind, however.

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: #29 The Mummy

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What’s an Egyptian mummy doing in a New Orleans graveyard? If the numerous other Old World ghosts hadn’t clued you in, the mummy will remind you that Walt recruited ghosts from all over the world to unlive at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. And if you must know, the mummy is drinking tea and listening to the questions of the ghost next to him.

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: #30 Great Caesar’s Ghost!

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The laurel crown in this case goes to Great Caesar’s Ghost in the ballroom at the birthday party table! The exclamation is obligatory, since Great Caesar’s Ghost! Is named after an old expression of surprise. The phrase has fallen into disuse, so it’s likely, you’ve never heard anyone use it in actual conversation (unless you’re an old film fan). It’s a good bit of history and a slightly funny joke that’s entertaining for Disneyphiles. It’s just not relevant in today’s world where Great Caesar’s Ghost! has disappeared from the popular lexicon.

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: #31 Hatchaway’s Husbands

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Heading the list at the 31 spot are Constance Hatchaway’s husbands. Each one of them has a section of the attic dedicated to them. The have names and back stories, but these inhabitants of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion are little more than props for one of the attractions more prominent ghosts. They’re also among the newer ghosts.

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 of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: Halloween Countdown, Sep. 30

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(This article contains affiliate links. If you click on a link and it takes you to Amazon and you buy something, we will get a small amount of that purchase to support our future writings. It won’t cost you anything extra.) Perhaps the greatest injustice of Haunted Mansion Holiday and “the Nightmare before Christmas” takeover of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion is that guests don’t get to experience the original attraction in all its glory. People, who can only afford one trip to the Magic Kingdom every year, may find themselves never experiencing the OG Haunted Mansion.

Don’t get me wrong. “The Nightmare before Christmas” is iconic, fun, and an impressive use of intellectual property (IP) in an overlay. However, it’s almost as if Disney forgot the Haunted Mansion itself is full of original IP for Disneyland and the Disney Company.

Of course, that last statement is utter bunk. Disney knows the Haunted Mansion is filled with stories that, properly executed, it can exploit. The company has released two theatrical movies – the unintentional horror starring Eddie Murphy and the relatively better and newer movie with an ensemble cast. It has combined the Muppets with the Haunted Mansion in a Disney+ release that is fabulous. It has also released several books with background stories of the ghosts that inhabit the Haunted Mansion, and at least one book that has the Haunted Mansion star as its own character.

Still, in honor of the classic version that you can’t visit from late August to mid-January, we’re doing a countdown of the Top 31 ghosts residing at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. Join our Patreon for free and tell us if you agree… with our rankings. Stay Tuned for the Ghost #31 tomorrow! 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.

Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion: Countdown to Halloween 2025 Introduction

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We’re going to countdown to Halloween this year with a list of 31 of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion happiest haunts. The Haunted Mansion has 999 ghosts from all over the world, but there’s always room for one more.

Most of the posts will be here on penguinate.com. A few will be on our Patreon page, and they will all be linked to our Facebook page. If you love Halloween and Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, this is a countdown, you’ll want to be part of.

Sign up today and don’t miss the spirit of the countdown. Which of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ghosts is your favorite? And will they make the list? Leave a comment below, and Happy Halloween!

Need more haunted mansion and hauntings? Check out “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity” and “When Hauntings Collide.” (Affiliate links to my books.)

Wants Vs Needs: Financial Education for Children

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This Wants Vs. Needs article began as an assignment for a job I applied to. I wrote this first part, reread the requirements and decided that it didn’t work. So, I wrote a second article, which I really thought of as an extension of the first article. To really make this type of post successful in a banking situation, you would want to start with a core document and build post that link to and from that core document.

Wants Vs. Needs: A Parent’s Primer for Teaching Kids

As a parent, you likely hear “I want…” from your child 10 to 12 times a day. With the amount of media children are exposed to every day, they are sure to see things that advertisers and influencers have put out there to entice them to buy. Now, is the time to start teaching your children about needs vs. wants.

What Are Needs?

To teach your children about needs vs. wants, you need to be able to define them for yourself, especially if you were never taught the difference. It’s not as easy as it might seem. Your conceptions of needs and wants is going to be based on your values. However, there are a few categories you can use to help define “needs.”

Food, clothing, and shelter are the three traditional needs. Many people would add physical, emotional, and mental health to the list. For others, education and spiritual well-being are also on the list of needs. You might even find yourself adding transportation to your list, especially if you have to commute to work. If you are unsure of what your needs are, make a short list of broad topics.

Once you have your list of needs, you’ll likely see that many needs require money. Even if you own your shelter, you probably need to pay property taxes or utilities.

What Are Wants?

Wants are everything that is not a need. Again, that’s easy to say, but the reality is more difficult. Is a banana a need or a want? You need food, but you don’t have to eat bananas. Are a pair of $75 dress shoes a need or a want? You could buy $30 dress shoes, but they won’t be as comfortable or durable. You need transportation to and from work, but you want a convertible to arrive in style.

Wants Vs. Needs

Fortunately, when you’re dealing with children, you don’t have to get into the nuances of needs vs. wants. Many times, it is better to start with a simple explanation, and as they grow, look at the nuances between the two.

The Real Wants Vs. Needs Article

As a parent, you know it’s important to start teaching your children the difference between wants and needs early. You won’t be able to avoid all the “I wants” a child has, but with some easy activities, you can give your child critical thinking tools to help decide whether something is a need or a want.

Define “needs”

First, you’ll want to define needs for the child in an age-appropriate fashion. Generally, people start with the three basic physical needs: food (what you eat), clothing (what you wear), and shelter (where you live). This offers easy, tangible items the child can see and touch. As they get older, you can have more difficult conversations about needs and wants.

Show Me the Needs Game

After you have explained the basic needs, you can test your child’s knowledge with some easy games. One easy game to play is to have the child show you the needs in the house. Start in any room and ask the child to find what items you need. This works for children who may be non-verbal because they can point to the items.

Wants and Needs Flash Cards

Flash cards are a good way to test knowledge, and you don’t have to buy them. You can cut pictures out of a magazine and paste them on to 3×5 cards. Or if you’re feeling adventurous, you and your child can draw them together. You’ll need pictures of needs and wants. Hold up two cards and ask which is a need. If the child picks the card you think is a want, ask them why they chose that card.

Color the Needs

A wants and needs coloring page can also be a helpful tool. Again, you’ll want to understand why the child chose to color certain items as needs if you think they are wants. Once children know what they need, they can make wiser decisions with their money. They can also recognize that saving their money for a want is a good idea.

Bring out the Facebook Troll or Be Kind

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Almost every session of me scrolling through Facebook ends with some sort of negative experience. Sure, politics are a big part of that, even when comedians are the ones joking about it. (I mean, I guess you can either laugh or cry, maybe both.) However, what really bothers me is the need for people to rip on others for their appearance, and let’s face it, it’s usually men ripping on women. It’s disgusting and sad. Most often, it’s not true. These men are just trying to say something they think is funny and criticizing someone’s appearance is one of the easiest ways to do that.

Sometimes, it makes me wonder if I should harness the child I was in middle school. That kid put everyone down. He made adults cry. As he got older, he learned how to insult people in such a way that he didn’t need profanity. A subtle barb would fester in the room waiting for the wounded person to realize what had just happened, leaving others in stitches. Release that kid on the Internet, and man, Facebook would be responsible for a lot more emotional issues than it has already caused (sometimes on purpose). But that attitude and those words were a part of growing up Gen X. You had to be tough on the street, and if you weren’t big, you better make sure your words were cutting enough to earn the respect of the bullies. Sticks and stones could break your bones, but words would leave you crushed, despite the saying to the contrary.

At some point, my freshman year of college, I decided I didn’t want to be that person anymore. I had just verbally destroyed someone at lunch. Everyone was laughing, but I didn’t feel good about it. I didn’t want to hurt people anymore. It didn’t seem right.

Yet, now it seems that Facebook is full of those type of people – trolls trying to cause anguish to garner views and likes. Someone might even say, “it takes a troll to hunt a troll,” and part of me thinks I could do some good by doing some bad.

But I look at the other Gen Xers that are posting about their childhoods and what they loved about growing up Gen X. They all say pretty much the same things: in before the streetlights come on, forced to be outside during the day, drinking from the garden hose… rarely do they mention the war of words that was a part of childhood then. Sure, they’ll talk about “You’re mama,” but that’s as far as they go. When confronted with a troll, they don’t call on their inner 12 year old and load that troll down with harsh words. Instead, they’re reliving their fondest memories. They’re reliving the best parts of a life that is so far gone, and they’re reliving parts of that life they didn’t get to live when it was happening.

And then there are the people who are trying to make Facebook better: a song, “It’s to be kind,” the aforementioned Gen Xers, the folks at Mr. Rogers, Levar Burton… These are the people that are trying to create a healthier social media ecosystem, and there are hundreds more.

So, let’s try to aspire to their level of kindness, joy and wonder, and not sink to place of trolls. It may not be easy to be kind, it may not garner as many views or comments, but it’s better for you.

Author’s Note: I have not included any links to Facebook because it’s probably better for us to not be on it. However, as long as it’s the easiest platform to use to reach my friends, family and new readers, I’m still going to be posting. Please like, comment, and share. Also, feel free to leave a comment on my blog post, maybe we can build a better social media without the trolls…

False Wisdom: Teach Man to Fish

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One of the items that was damaged in the move was our toaster. If we want to toast anything, we have to hold the toaster handle down until the item is the right degree of toasted. It’s not convenient, but it works.

One Saturday, a little while ago, I told Jenya we could go get donuts from Cal’s, we could try Black Rock Coffee Bar, or we could get a toaster. We opted for Black Rock Coffee Bar and spent the last of our credit reserves. The coffee was good, but the total for drinks, breakfast sandwiches, and tip was close to $30. A toaster would’ve been $35 at Bi-Mart.

When we got home, Jenya said, “Rather than buying a fishing pole, we bought fish. Well, we don’t have any frozen waffles anyway.”

Wisdom of Our Ancestors

That got me to thinking about the wisdom of our ancestors, and I’m beginning to believe they were deliberately dense and obtuse or they preferred pithy sayings over the truth. In this case, “Give a man a fish and eats for a day; teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime” is demonstrably false.

First, you need to understand when the saying is generally employed. There’s some theoretical discussion about what to do with the hungry, as if they were a group made up of the same-type of individuals, and someone will say the best way to deal with them is to give them the means to feed themselves, which sounds great because “teach a man to fish and he eats for e lifetime.” Unfortunately, what sounds good and what works in reality are two different things.

It isn’t enough to learn to fish, the person must also learn to clean and prepare the fish. When people are hungry, they don’t learn as well. That’s why school food programs exist. Depending on the amount of time it takes for someone to learn how to fish before they actually catch a fish, they could starve to death.

Catching a fish requires resources. You must have a rod, reel, fishing line, hook, bait, bobbers, a fishing license, and a place to fish, often in the form of a boat, or waders to get into a river. These things aren’t free. Even if you reduce it to the bare minimum, you’ll still need a hook, line, and sinker (which inspired another pithy saying about gullibility). You can dig your own bait, find used dental floss left by some scofflaw camper, but you still need a hook.

There are other ways to catch fish, but they all involve getting wet: weave a Native American fish trap, tickle a fish into biting your hand, or just being fast enough to grab the fish and throw it on shore. These will still require proper clothing.

However, education isn’t enough. Even the most experienced fishers come up empty on their fishing trips. A man might eat for a lifetime after learning to fish, but he has to be in the right area – a place where there are fish all year round.  And he won’t eat reliably every day.

Compassion of Today

If you want people to not be hungry you have to do both: feed them when they are hungry and teach them the skills they need to feed themselves. Unfortunately, those skills are no longer the skills of our ancestors. Some people have had the skills to feed themselves, but circumstances have conspired against them. They were laid off, so their company could be more profitable. They had medical bills that bankrupted them. They went through a rough patch and were never able to recover. The list for hunger is infinite, but the cure is easy. After all, there’s a story about loaves and fishes that many people believe, and for those that do, that story should serve as the example of what to do with the hungry.

The Holiday Fix Up Movie

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On the Holiday Fix Up (affiliate link), Sam is the host of her own renovation television show, but a new face at her studio is taking the limelight of the yearly Christmas show. Sam’s producer tells her she needs to show her more personal side, and she can do so this Christmas while she has time off from her normal hosting duties. Sam doesn’t know what she should do, but news from her hometown brings her back to where the show started and where her heart was broken before she left for the big time. The news? The Inn where Sam grew up had a tree fall on it, and it won’t be able to hold the Harbor Fest this year. Unless Sam saves the day… and works with her ex.

Sam arrives in town with 10 days to complete the renovation. She goes to her friend’s bakery. She alienates the only other person working on the renovation (her ex). They participate in a snowball fight and a pie judging contest. I was concerned and a little stressed. When are they going to get the renovations done. Then they had an argument about whether they should use the “okay” builder’s material or whether they should use better materials that would take more time.

I’m no builder. I have no idea how long a job like that should have taken, and then they added on an arbor and a special made mantel piece while also talking about their past relationship I very emotional, walk away terms. Seriously, the only way this renovation could’ve been finished was with some Christmas magic and maybe some elves who worked while the humans were off doing human things.

Of course, the movie has some of its own ideas about what makes Christmas great – the connections that people when they put down their phones, but this gets undermined when they also make connections through their phones. Still, in spite of the stress, it was a fine Christmas romance as far as those types of movies are concerned.

Now, you’ve probably already judged me, and that’s okay. I can watch whatever movies I feel like whenever I want. If I want to watch “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on Easter, it’s well within my rights. But if it makes you feel better, Orthodox Christmas is on Jan. 7. We chose the Holiday Fix Up because it has Maria Menounos of Noovie fame, she plays the friend with the bakery.