Pocket Universe

Sad news for Disney fans: Thurl Ravenscroft has died over the weekend. Among other things, he was the voice of Tony the Tiger, the singing voice in How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and performed numerous voices in Disney movies and at Disneyland, including the lead vocals (and the bass part) for Grim Grinning Ghosts in the Haunted Mansion, various pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean, the narration on the train and Mark Twain Riverboat, one of the parrots in the Enchanted Tiki Room (as well as one of the tiki gods outside), and numerous other miscellaneous voices around the park. Once you have heard him, you will be able to recognize him by his deep bass voice. He was also a strong Christian, and recorded various gospel albums.

Thanks to Mike for the story.

Do you like Disneyland? What am I saying…of course you do! Well then, you’ll be interested in reading about these secrets of the Haunted Mansion (if you didn’t already know them).

I know that I throw around the qualifier �best anything ever” a little too often, but this time, it really fits. As reported by Boing Boing, Disney is holding a charity auction to benefit The Boys and Girls Clubs of America. The prize? A personalized tombstone…in the Haunted Mansion! The tombstone will contain a personalized, humorous epitaph, and the winner will also receive a miniature replica of the tombstone, a certificate recognizing me…uh, I mean, him…as an honorary resident of the Haunted Mansion, and a trip for two to Disneyland for a midnight �burial” ceremony on October 28, when the tombstone will be placed in the graveyard.

The use of quotes around �burial” leads me to believe that the person won�t actually be buried in the graveyard, but one can always hope! The bidding started at $750, and at the time of this writing, it�s up to $25,900, so get your bids in while you still can!