Hello Dear Readers! Today we’re going to talk about everything from another movie premiere to Mary Blair’s paint stand. Here are our topics:
Hop • Antique Hunting In San Diego • Eva Cooks? • Geek Gets Out • April at the Walt Disney Family Museum
Yet another movie premiere is taking place, this time, instead of Hollywood, it’s up at Universal City.
Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment will present the world premiere of Hop at Universal Studios this coming Sunday, March 27th. Among the stars scheduled to appear are; James Marsden (above), Russell Brand, Kaley Cuoco, Hank Azaria, Gary Cole, Elizabeth Perkins, David Hasselhoff, Tiffany Espensen, Django Marsh and Hugh Laurie Cody. Red carpet arrivals are scheduled to commence at 3:00 PM.
Hop, the story of one bunny’s journey on the road to the family business (otherwise known as the Easter Bunny), arrives in theaters nationwide on Friday, April 1, 2011.
Nothing gets my adrenaline going better than prowling the aisles of a good antique fair. It’s like a treasure hunt, you never know what you’re going to find and sometimes, you come up with real treasure. Those of you living in or near the San Diego area — good news! You can go on the hunt this weekend at the annual San Diego Antique Street Faire:
Step back in time ... Once a year, La Mesa Boulevard is closed and Antique dealers from far and wide set out their wares. Reminiscent of an old fashioned Midwest flea market, there's live music and entertainment. All of our restaurants, coffee houses and pubs in The Village prepare special fare!
The antique fair takes place Sunday, March 27, 2011 from 9am to 4pm.
If I tell you Eva Longoria is an author, what kind of book would you think she penned, tell-all, a romance novel? My guess is you didn’t say cookbook, right? And yet ... she has done just that, Eva’s written a cookbook and she’s scheduled to appear in a few weeks at the South Coast Plaza Williams-Sonoma store to promote said cookbook with a book signing.
Now the reason I’m bringing this up today is because Eva will only be signing 400 books and they need to be purchased from Williams-Sonoma. If it’s something you’re interested in, well then you need to pre-purchase that book now if you want to be one of the 400 who get to see Eva sign her John Hancock on her new cookbook, Eva's Kitchen: Cooking With Love for Family and Friends.
The Williams-Sonoma South Coast Plaza book signing takes place on Saturday, April 9th at noon. It's located at 3333 South Bristol St. in Costa Mesa, CA, 92626. Their phone number is (714) 751-1166.
Please note: As I said above, space is limited to the first 400-ticketed customers. Visit or call the South Coast Plaza location to purchase your books and secure a ticket. Books will be on sale starting April 5th; however, you may pre-order your books to secure a ticket now.
This week’s Disney Geek episode is not chock-full of insider news you haven’t heard before; Walt Disney World’s new Haunted Mansion queue, Cars 2 posters, On Stranger Tides posters, and so on.
I bring up this week’s Disney Geek episode though because Jeffrey does have something interesting to say (there’s a cool tilt-shift Disneyland Paris video) and he does it on location — the Disney Geek has left his office and tells all from ... well, you’ll just have to tune in to find out where Jeffrey is, won’t you?
The Walt Disney Family Museum has always got great stuff going on. Here’s the list for April so you can make plans:
• April’s Film Of The Month is Alice in Wonderland. It will screen twice daily in the museum’s theatre from April 1st to April 30th except Tuesdays and April 9th, 10th, 16th, and 17th.
• On April 9th: Exploring the Gardens of Wonderland: An Illustrated Talk by Horticulturist Robert Hornback with Disney historian Paula Sigman Lowery at 3:00 PM in the museum’s theater: Follow horticulturist Bob Hornback through the Gardens of Wonderland and learn about the Queen of Hearts, her roses and The Garden of Live Flowers. Disney historian Paula Sigman Lowery will provide little known information about the Disney classic adapted from Lewis Carroll’s book. A screening of the movie will follow the program.
• April’s Disney Discoveries are Alice-themed too and take place on Saturday, April 9th and Sunday, April 17th from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm in the Learning Center Art Studio: Use colorful paper, recycled materials, glitter and glue to make a tiny or oversized hanging wonderland garden of your own creation.
This particular event sounds especially interesting to me:
• April’s Look Closer: Would you like to know more about one of the artifacts in the galleries? The Look Closer series will give you that opportunity—staff will reveal little known facts, behind the scenes tidbits, or just additional information during the 5 to 8-minute gallery talk. On April 29th and 30th at 3:00 PM in the museum’s lower lobby, Look Closer explores The Mary Blair Paint Stand:
Mary Blair (1911-1978) was one of Walt Disney’s most brilliant conceptual designers, helping define the look of such classics as Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Peter Pan (1953). She also brought her distinctive, colorful style to children’s books, advertisements, theatrical set designs, and theme park attractions, including “It’s A Small World,” and the deceptively naive style of her commercial artwork belied great visual sophistication in everything from color choices to composition.
You’ll find the Walt Disney Family Museum at 104 Montgomery Street at The Presidio of San Francisco. To purchase tickets to any of the museum’s programs or for more information on the museum and the events you can call 415-345-6800, or visit: www.waltdisney.org
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I’ll leave you and say goodbye until next week when we meet again to discuss more...
If you'd like to submit something to be considered for the column, please send it to both Sue and Al at the following email addresses: [email protected] and [email protected] with the words "Pressing Matters" in the subject line. Due to our already extensive email loads we won't be able to acknowledge each submission, but those under consideration may get a note from us asking for more details. Representatives from the items chosen are invited to answer questions from readers at the forum linked at the end of each column.
FTC-Mandated Disclosure: As of December 2009, bloggers are required by the Federal Trade Commission to disclose payments and freebies. Sue Kruse and Al Lutz did not receive any payments, free items, or free services from any of the parties discussed in this article. They pay for their own admission to theme parks and their associated events, unless otherwise explicitly noted.
