So yeah. I learned a lot of stuff about LeSportsac when I visited their HQ last week! For one – they are coming out with a re-designed men’s collection and a luxe collection!

WHAT. Yes. :)

So the other day when I posted an exclusive preview of the LeSportsac Disney It’s a Small World Hawaii bags I promised I would follow up with the Winter 2013 LeSportsac bags I saw in their showroom. Today, I am making good on that promise.

I even got to see the Dylan’s Candy Bar collection before the public, but I am not allowed to show you those. (HINT: They are bright and cute!)

At the time I didn’t realize that no one else had these photos. The next time I go I will bring a better camera! Anyway, here is what I CAN show you from what I saw:

LeSportsac organizer envelopes:

Jewel print:

Laptop cases:

Polka dot and various prints:

One of the things I was most impressed with was the Men’s Collection. I might live under a rock – but I wasn’t really aware of their men’s stuff before! Shame on me. They said that these just got a re-design and look better than ever. I agree. Most of them have padded space for a laptop or iPad.

Click for larger:

The women’s collection gets more of a focus on technology and mobile devices, too. Click for larger:

It seemed that a lot of their new items are going to be multi-functional. This means that many of these items also had convertible shoulder straps. I saw a lot of little travel bags that store things neatly and hang up to be ultra compact.

Diaper bags! Click for larger:

I know a lot of my readers are going to love this Mexican-inspired skull print:

Click for larger:

One other thing that really impressed me were the new luxe bags. There are some times when a durable-looking bag is just too rugged for the occasion. LeSportsac went and made a bag with the same durable materials, but luxe. The reason I stay away from shiny bags from other brands in the past is because many of them don’t last. We already know from my prior review that LeSportsac is famous for being extremely durable. I know someone who still has one from 30 years ago.

They told me that the main focus here was to make the bags just as durable as their less-sparkly offerings. It looks to me like they achieved it.

I have to confess that regardless of my practical and no-nonsense personality, I am a bit of a sparkly girl, so YES, PLEASE. :D

A shiny, patent-leather type look:

Shiny, sparkly wallets:

A luxe, sequin-covered bag:

More durable, shiny, sleekness:

Here is a larger one. Click for a larger image:

These are not up at LeSportsac yet, but they will be in the next several months!

GUYS! Finally!

Jewelry box:

Coasters:

They finally have released more Haunted Mansion merchandise! This and more is available online in the Disney Store!

I finally got around to seeing Sherlock Holmes 2 the other day and enjoyed it a lot even though it wasn’t quite as good as the first one. I have always been into action films. I wanted to be Snake Plisskin when I grew up.

Many people have reviewed this film by now so I won’t bother you with a full review. What I will talk about is what I need to say that is relevant to me. And that’s how upset I was that they immediately killed off Irene Adler in the first 10 minutes and replaced her with a gypsy woman who was so underdeveloped that I can’t remember her name. I just remember that she was played by Noomi Rapace from Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and that her only other defining characteristic was that she was looking for her brother. She was so insignificant to the plot that she actually totally disappears at the end without so much as a final scene.

Poof!

Really, as much as I enjoyed this film, I only enjoyed it because I was pretending to be a dude the entire time I was watching it. I identified with Holmes and Watson, not some random girl who had no personality. I had heard about Irene Adler when the film came out and that was the defining reason that prevented me from seeing this in the theater.

Seriously, I hear all of you guys out there obsessing over this film and that film. I get it. I really do. I used to absolutely love going to the movies…until I didn’t. It’s bad enough that this ballhockey still is a Thing, but I can’t think of even one movie that has a character that is in a lead role that is both a woman and someone who I identify with in any way, shape, or form.

I get that the “spunky sidekick” is a Thing. I don’t give a crap about being a spunky sidekick if you haven’t noticed.

I understand that people have a lot of hate for Twilight. I am, in fact, far more tired of people whining about their Twilight hate more than I am tired of actual Twilight. Even though these films are absolutely not for me they prove that women do have money and will spend it on things that they like. It was almost as if after being ignored for years and years the Twilight demographic of women gleefully enjoyed claiming this film because there finally was something for them.

Good for them, I say.

But still the hatred for this fandom was so huge that I cannot remember any stronger hatred. It’s as if whenever anything is actually for women there must be a backlash. “Oh crap, we can’t have girls here. They have cooties.”

Yet I do understand why some women would be legitimately annoyed that the “big women’s geek film” doesn’t reflect them.

Twilight hit a large demographic of women with something for them. No one has yet hit the demographic of women that I fall under. I think the closest it ever came were the first 3 books in the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book series.

Books are awesome.

I believe that there are far more of us than Hollywood understands. I mean, just look online. Look at the artist’s alley at cons. The creators and writers are overwhelmingly female and you CAN find good stories for us. Yet still the big budget movies are not aimed at us because they know we’ll still go.

This is actually why I don’t go.

Please suggest good books and movies that I might like in the comments because I also live under a rock. :)

Can anyone tell me why it’s cold enough for a scarf in the Summer?

What the…

Anyway, I have some far more important stuff to talk to you about than scarves.

I was invited by LeSportsac to come to their NYC office for an exclusive preview of their Fall and Winter 2013 bags and the Disney bag line. I’ll post more on the non-Disney full line in a second post. today we are talking about Fall 2013 Disney It’s a Small World.

THEY DID HAWAII, GUYS.

*SCREAMS*

*LIGHTS THINGS ON FIRE*

*LIGHTS SELF ON FIRE*

You might know that ANYTHING HAWAII OR AWESOME LIKE THAT is my Thing. OK, if you didn’t know that yet, you know it now. I nearly burst into tears of joy when Disney re-did Florida’s Tiki Room in the old traditional way. My husband and I may very well celebrate our 10th anniversary next year at The Polynesian Resort in Orlando, and I’m currently working on more art but with Hawaiian birds and Tikis this time.

I nearly went nuts when I saw this Disney Small World Hawaii bag.

This is in the Tropical Paradise print:

Apparently we got lucky – this was supposed to be an exclusive to Hawaii only. They changed their minds on that so we can also buy this when it comes out in the Fall! :D

This tote bag also killed me with it’s elephant charm. They really nailed it with this collection. This is Singing Stars print:

Here is a chart of the prints for the Fall 2013 Disney It’s a Small World LeSportsac bags:

Check their site out here. (Note that these images aren’t up there yet. As of this writing the Summer Collection is up.)

It seems that there is an all-new Jekyll and Hyde that has opened in NYC. I have never been to any of their locations before, so I’m interested to see what this is all about. I am especially interested in the fact that they seem to be creating a year-round haunted attraction for this new location.

Finally someone does something cool. :) I’m constantly annoyed that the haunted attractions go away after haunt season. That’s a bunch of ballhockey if you ask me.

Anyway, check this out. I don’t have any information beyond this but I’ll keep an eye out to see what’s up. The catch is to see if they do this right. I have seen many year-round haunts suffer because they are lightly staffed and don’t invite repeat trips. Branching paths and an expansive narrative are 2 ways that I would design a haunt to address this issue. I am hopeful that this will kick ass.

Their Facebook page indicates that it is being developed by Bayville Scream Park, another haunt that I have not yet had the opportunity to review. Have you been there? Was it awesome?