Due to the "unusual and extraordinary" Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo -- which resulted in the mauling death of 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. and wounding of Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal -- a three-member tiger team formed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums has been called in to examine the zoo's big cat grotto. While the investigation and renovations are underway, the tigers and lions are currently kicking it indoors. What's more, according to zoo director Manuel Mollinedo, the cats have been subjected to the wonderful world of Disney: more ›

Where to begin? Well, for starters, the page's score set to The Lion King's eleventh-hour song "Circle of Life." While we tend to loathe music set to any page on the webs, this is fitting. And touching. But Tatiana's official postmortem MySpace page offers more than just Elton John-manufactured teardrops. You can find informative links to such items as the transcript to Nancy Grace's show on the tiger attacks, a makeshift memorial of sorts, and more. (Also, according to the site, Tatiana was a Cancer, the moodiest astrological sign of them all. Just saying.) more ›

That may be our favorite performance-disclaimer ever, surpassing even "the front rows WILL be splattered with watermelon." The theater department at Santa Rosa Junior College is launching an ambitious presentation of a Norwegian fairy tale that is, in their words, "Lion King-like." Ooh! Creepy masks and giant puppets are promised. (Santa Rosa's a little burg close to Calistoga and Guerneville, in case you were wondering.) more ›

A few years ago we went to the San Francisco Zoo and became entranced with the prairie dog and meerkat exhibit. We could have spent the entire day in that one section watching the prairie dogs prairie-dogging, and the meerkats doing their sit-on-hind-legs-turn head-this-way-and-that-way thing all day. ALL DAY, we tells ya! more ›

Pixar, located on Hollis Avenue in Emeryville, has been on a rather fantastic run of hits, from the first Toy Story through the current king of the box office, The Incredibles. Disney, on the other hand, hasn't had a hit animated feature since The Lion King, and in fact Disney's Orlando animation studios have been shuttered. Andrew Millstein, who headed those facilities, is now out trying to poach artists from other studios to stock the new Glendale facilities while Michael Eisner is in a court in Delaware. Pixar, on the other hand, is seeing its stock rise based on the success of their latest effort, and also won approval from Emeryville voters to expand their facilities. more ›

EssEffist saw "The Lion King" at the Orpheum this weekend, and it was exactly as we expected: magnificent and deeply disappointing at the same time. more ›