The Palms Resort in Las Vegas has created a new Fantasy Tower suite devoted to a childhood favorite. The Barbie Suite was unveiled this week as part of the continuing celebration of the doll's 50th birthday. The 2,350 square foot suite has pink decor, Barbie pictures, a two-way fireplace and a Jacuzzi tub. It was designed by Jonathan Adler and rents for $4,000 a night.

Other Palms suites include the Real World suite which hosted the cast of the MTV show for a season, the basketball-themed Hardwood suite, the Hugh Hefner sky villa, and the g-Suite designed to resemble the hotel's Ghostbar. The suites have been used in many reality TV shows and for awards show after parties.

Barbie's 50th year celebrations have taken the popular doll everywhere from the fashion scene in New York to the streets of Milan with brands from Goyard to Fiat creating pink pieces to honor the doll. Forbes also gathered a collection of Barbie memories that had everyone from Jamie Lee Curtis to Donna Karan and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius opining on the impact of Mattel's iconic toy.

[via WDSU]

Annie Leibovitz is shooting Disney's new ads for the company's Year of a Million Dreams campaign. The ads are far more like high fashion than mass market, despite the use of well known Disney characters. Instead of opting for cartoons, Annie has turned her famous lens onto celebrities that are dressed in character - as Disney stars. Scarlett Johanssen, accessorized with a $325,000 Harry Winston Tiara and Steuben custom glass slippers, stars as Cinderella and David Beckham plays Sleeping Beauty's dragon-slaying Prince Charming. Only a few shots have been done so far, but 10 or 12 (including Peter Pan and the Little Mermaid) are in development. The photos will run as a series in magazines including Vogue, Vanity Fair, W, GQ, Conde Nast Traveller, Cookie and The New Yorker. And, with luck, they'll be available as prints, too.

In the 1930's, Dr. Seuss Geisel, most often known simply as Dr. Seuss, set about to turn some of his sketched animals into 3D artworks and used parts from real animals to make his fantastic ones. The collection was known as the Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy and acquired most of the parts it used from the Forest Park Zoo. The inventive animals include: a Kangaroo Bird, a Semi-Normal Green-Lidded Fawn, a Blue Green Abelard and an Andulovian Grackler, along with many others. Limited reproductions of these original works are now available. While they're not really recommended as a decoration for a child's room, they certainly make good conversation pieces elsewhere in the house.

Unfortunately, some of the pieces are already sold out, so if you want one to add to your collection, you should probably act quickly. A set of four creatures is $8,380, but others are sold individually.

[via boing boing]

The Hollywood Fantasy Experience allows you to live and feel like a celebrity for a few days, without actually having to work to get there. While you ponder how much some "celebrities" actually "work," let's take a look at what is offered in the package. The experience takes place over one long weekend in mid-October. You will be picked up and chauffeured in a fully-stocked limousine and stay in a superior room at the Beverly Hills Hotel, rooms which normally start at $410 per night.  After a cocktail party and an exclusive dinner at a Hollywood mansion, there will be a special, private screening of a movie. And that's only the first night!

The second day, Friday, will provide a Rodeo Drive shopping spree, meetings with star stylists/trainers/aestheticians and a Celebrity Charity Poker Tournament. If you're not too tired out from living it up, Saturday morning gives you a chance to work by taking a screen test at Paramount Studios, where you'll get a DVD of your performance. At night, you'll not only walk the red carpet to the Lili Claire Foundation Charity Gala, hosted by Matthew Perry, but you will be seated at a table with real celebrities. Sunday morning will bring brunch and a chauffeured departure.

The cost? $20,000. The memories? Priceless.