Walt Disney Family Museum to open in San Francisco this fall

I am a big Disney freak, so I am more than thrilled that the Walt Disney Family Museum will be opening up near where I live this fall. I really like that the focus will be on Walt rather than the company.

From: OC Register

Disney Family Museum to open this fall… in San Francisco
April 2nd, 2009, 5:47 am · posted by Adam Townsend, Staff Writer

The Walt Disney Family Foundation, headed up by Walt Disney’s sole surviving daughter, has announced it’s going to open the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.

The museum will be dedicated to Disney’s life and work, featuring drawings he did as a child, storyboards from classic Disney movies and the original Oscar he received for “Snow White,” the first feature-length animation in history.

Other pieces from the Disney family archives and stuff on loan from the company will appear in the museum as well when it opens in the fall of this year.

Why is the museum, which opens this fall, in San Francisco?

Elaine Mellis, a spokeswoman for the Disney Family Museum, said that the family had considered putting the museum in a number of different cities — Kansas City where Disney started his early career, Chicago where he went to art school and, of course, greater Los Angeles where he met with his greatest success as an artist, animator, producer, studio mogul and developer.

The family finally settled on San Francisco for a couple reasons, Mellis said.

First, the Disney family moved north to Napa Valley after Walt’s death, where they still remain. The family has rented space to store their archives for the last 10 years in the Presidio, a huge decommissioned military base now involved in extensive revitalization efforts.

The museum will be in historical barracks painstakingly renovated in cooperation with The Presidio Trust, the federal agency charged with preserving the thousands of buildings on the historic base.

Clay Harrell, a spokesman for the trust, said the deal to locate the musem in the Presidio has been in the works for several years.

Furthermore, Mellis said the family wanted the museum to stand on its own — though the Walt Disney Corporation has been cooperative with the foundation, the aim is for the museum to focus on Walt himself.

“Walt’s is kind of a California story,” Mellis said. ”They wanted to get it away from the company.”

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R.I.P. Virgin Megastores

First Tower Records. Now this! I'm bummed. I spent many a dollar at the SF Virgin Megastore (pictured above). It was a destination for me every time I went to the city to shop. It's sad to see it go!

From: TheWrap:

Wrap Exclusive: Virgin Megastores to Close in U.S., CEO Simon Wright Confirms
BY LAUREN HORWITCH

Virgin Megastores’ six remaining retail stores will close by this summer, individuals inside the company told TheWrap on Monday, signaling the end to a once-dominant consumer retail behemoth.

Virgin Entertainment Group CEO Simon Wright confirmed the news to TheWrap by the afternoon. "It's sad news, but it has nothing to do with the stores. In this economy, we can't justify the other stores to replace the Times Square store."

The Times Square store made the bulk of Virgin's profit, and VEG decided to close that flagship in April, they recently announced.

Brick-and-mortar music retailers across the country have been fighting a losing battle with Internet sales. Tower Records declared bankruptcy last year. Apple iTunes surpassed Wal-Mart as the biggest music retailer in the United States in April.

But for three decades the Virgin Megastores founded by Richard Branson were a particularly splashy symbol of pop culture.

Branson opened his first record shop on London's Oxford Street in the early 1970s, and the first megastore at the end of Oxford Street in 1979. Branson now owns around 200 companies in over 30 countries. He could not be reached for comment.

Wright announced the mass closures to employees at Virgin’s corporate offices in Los Angeles late Friday. Roughly 100 corporate employees will be laid off and hundreds of Megastore retail workers will be out of a job by the summer.

The megastores in New York’s Union Square and San Francisco will also close in April. No date has been set to close the remaining stores in Hollywood, Denver and Orlando. Virgin Entertainment Group North America will most likely be liquidated by the summer.

Virgin Megastores’ music sales had been in decline for several years. In August 2007 two real estate companies – the Related Cos. and Vornado Realty Trust -- bought the company from Richard Branson. The chain, once a looming presence on the American pop culture scene, boasted 11 stores when it was acquired but now operates only six.

The company is privately held and does not release revenue figures.

Wright said VEG’s new owners were more interested in real estate rather than the retail business. “Their attraction was about real estate. In an ideal world it would have been possible to both have that real estate and develop the business along a different strand. But the economy has cut off that option,” he said.

The rent for Virgin’s Times Square store was $54/sq foot, while market prices put prime space in that area at closer to $700/sq foot. The 60,000 sq/foot space will be converted into a Forever 21 store.

VEG had been combating slow music sales by adding more “lifestyle” products such as apparel and books. Wright said apparel sales were up 20% over the holiday season, but music sales were “disastrous,” and DVDs and games were not far behind.

Jerry Suarez, former music merchandise manager for VEG and now regional sales director for Island Def Jam Music Group, said the closure of the Megastores is a huge loss for consumers and the music industry.

“Virgin Times Square had become an icon. All of the big high-profile events would launch at Virgin. If you wanted to launch something big, Virgin Times Square was the location.”

“It’s bad for all labels. But like everything else, we’ll find other avenues to sell product.”

But Suarez is optimistic about the fate of physical record stores. “I think there’s still a large business to be had in the physical space. Everybody is very quick to end it, especially in the press. For years, everybody has predicted the date of the end of the physical CD, and yet today we’re still selling CDs,” he noted.

“It’s just a real shame that there will no longer be a Virgin Megastore.”

21st Century Breakdown

There's a new Green Day record coming out in May, entitled 21st Century Breakdown. Yay!!!!!!!!! I cannot wait for this record to come out. It's been over 4 years since American Idiot's release. Much much MUCH too long for this GD superfan!

Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream Cupcakes

These look insanely delicious. I need to try one ASAP!

From BusinessWire.com:

Cold Stone Creamery Offers New Ice Cream Cupcakes as Limited Time Offer

Ice Cream Cupcakes Now Offered Nationwide for $9.99 for a Pack of Six

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cold Stone Creamery is adding a twist to the latest popular dessert, creating premium ice cream cupcakes, sold for a limited time nationwide for just $9.99 a pack. Known as an ice cream innovator, Cold Stone is breaking into another category for sweet indulgences with three signature cupcake Creations. Offered from Feb. 4 – March 31, 2009, these cupcakes are the sweetest gift for any sweetheart during Valentine’s Day.

In recent years the cupcake trend has been sweeping the country with more and more cupcake specialty shops sprouting in every city. This trend, inspired by popular television, such as Sex and the City, has made its way out of children's parties and into the adult world as a delectable treat for most any occasion, from birthdays to promotions to celebrating a Friday.

“These ice cream cupcakes are a perfect new addition to Cold Stone’s offerings of indulgent desserts,” said Suzanne Schutz, vice president of Cold Stone marketing. “We’ve enhanced our menu of deliciously affordable luxuries, while creating a new setting for cupcake lovers to experience this sweet trend.”

Made in a rich Belgian chocolate shell, the Cold Stone ice cream cupcakes are layered with moist cake, fudge and premium ice cream. Topped with fluffy frosting and an edible decoration, these cupcakes are true to the Cold Stone brand as an innovative and quality indulgence. The three Cold Stone signature cupcakes are Cake Batter Delux, Sweet Cream and Double Chocolate Devotion™. Descriptions of these three cupcakes are below.

• Cake Batter Delux: Moist red velvet cake layered with fudge [and] Cake Batter ice cream in a rich Belgian chocolate shell and topped with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles.

• Sweet Cream: Moist yellow cake layered with fudge and Sweet Cream ice cream in a rich Belgian chocolate shell, finished with Bettercreme frosting and Duo Mistrals topping.

• Double Chocolate Devotion: Moist Devil’s Food cake layered with fudge and chocolate ice cream in a rich Belgian chocolate shell and topped with Bettercreme frosting and an OREO® cookie.

For a limited time only, these cupcakes can be purchased at any Cold Stone Creamery location nationwide at $9.99 for a pack of a half dozen cupcakes. The cupcakes can come in a single flavor or a variety pack, and since it is Cold Stone, guests also have the ability to create their own ice cream cupcake at select locations.

Another sweet treat in Cold Stone stores, just in time for Valentine’s Day, is the Sweet Strawberry Romance ice cream cake. Sweet Strawberry Romance puts a new twist on the traditional Cold Stone Signature Cake. Instead of just one ice cream flavor, Cold Stone is swirling Sweet Cream and Strawberry ice cream together in addition to adding strawberry mix-ins. This ice cream creation is then layered between sheets of moist yellow cake and finished with pink frosting, crumbled graham cracker pie crust and chocolate heart toppers. Sweet Strawberry Romance is available from February 4–14, 2009, at Cold Stone Creamery locations throughout the country.

Sanrio Flip Camcorders

Yay! I'm very glad Sanrio & Flip teamed up. The camcorder designs are just too cute!

From Sanrio.com:

We're excited to announce the release of the Hello Kitty® Flip Mino™ and Flip MinoHD™ camcorders! These compact camcorders weigh just over 3 ounces and come with a built-in USB port, an internal rechargeable battery and 60 minutes of high-quality video. Check out the eleven Hello Kitty designs mixing contemporary and retro styles along with additional SANRIO character designs for My Melody®, Badtz-Maru®, Keroppi®, Kuromi™, Little Twin Stars®, Deery-Lou™, and Tuxedosam™. The Flip Mino™ camcorders are $179.99 and the Flip MinoHD™ camcorders are $229.99. Visit Flip's website to see the entire Sanrio collection and pick one up today!

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Cornify.com

Who hasn't ripped off Journey?

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Disneyland's "It's A Small World" new lighting!

I love what Disneyland has done with the lighting for "It's A Small World"!! Every time a train passes by the attraction, the lighting on the facade changes into a rainbow of colors. Ahh so beautiful! This video reminds me that I am long overdue for a trip there...

Wrist Candy Charm Bracelet

This charm bracelet is yummilicious!

$16.50 @ LuLu*s