Gap’s concept stores for female baby boomers are being shuttered after 18 months of lackluster sales. Forth & Towne opened 19 stores to attract older women with personal service, chic but comfy fashions, matching accessories, large dressing rooms, and bottled water. But the stores didn’t catch on and after the removal of Gap’s CEO last month the company needs to refocus its established, but suffering, Gap and Old Navy brands.

The Department of Homeland Security is proposing to relax the upcoming passport requirement for children entering the U.S. from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda via sea and land. The original requirements specified that everyone would need a passport, but if the proposal holds, children 15 and under can use a certified copy of a birth certificate instead. Older folks and those who arrive by air will still need a passport.

The secret is out. Academy Awards presenters and performers did not go home empty handed on Sunday, despite the removal of the lavish Oscar gift baskets. TerraPass has announced that the Academy presented each presenter with 100,000 lbs of CO2 reductions from TerraPass to offset a year of carbon emissions. The gift was physically represented by a glass sculpture from Simon Pearce and TerraPass added a conservation handbook to the box. There’s a website set up for purchasing the same sculpture and a year of emissions reductions (30 metric tons in this calculation) for $650, or you can get a 5 year version (including a tour of the glass factory and a meal) for $2,100. (big thanks to Erik!)

I haven’t read many graphic novels, not because I have anything against the medium but mainly because of a lack of exposure and lack of interest in the typical subject matter. At the library on Saturday I picked up “To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel” by Siena Cherson Siegel and Mark Siegel. I was captivated by how much depth and breadth the images added to the story. This book demonstrates that graphic novels don’t need to be consigned to the realm of superheroes, dark plots, and science fiction. It’s a story telling medium suitable for any subject. And, of course, let’s get more girls involved! (references: NY Times: For Graphic Novels, a New Frontier: Teenage Girls, Brodart Books: Graphic Novels are for Girls Too, Amazon Listmania: A Girl’s Guide to Graphic Novels)

Behind a simple storefront on San Pablo Ave in El Cerrito, CA you’ll find a treasure trove of buttons. Those in the know visit Exclusive Buttons to pick out little gems of buttons in all sort of colors, shapes, sizes and materials (except for plastic). Store owners Vincent & Mary Sortile took great pride in their wide selection. Vincent, known as the Button Man, passed away on February 16. Mary is keeping the store open as much as she can, since she knows that is what her husband of 65 years would want her to do. LucasFilm and the Seattle Opera have come calling in the past to embellish their costumes. Word of mouth among crafters and button collectors have kept the store and Vincent Sortile’s fascination alive.

Lighthouses are wonderful icons on our shores; it’s a shame to see them go to disrepair. Five lighthouses in the San Francisco area are being taken over by the National Park Service as the Coast Guard no longer has a need for their reassuring beacons. Four are in the Golden Gate Bridge vicinity (including the one on Alcatraz) and one is near Half Moon Bay. The Park Service is assessing the restoration and maintenance needs and hopes to eventually open most of them to the public.

Having been deprived of my big research project of the year (and all the attention and hits that came with it), I do feel a little out of sorts. After four years of compiling the contents of the official, but not publicized, Academy Awards gift basket the task is no longer necessary as the basket no longer exists thanks to IRS concerns. I didn’t have to spend the week sifting through press release sites and Google’s news search trying to pluck out the official gift bag contents from amongst all the publicity hungry celebrity giveaways. I didn’t have to use a spreadsheet to track the finds and eliminate duplicates. No reporters emailed me asking how obtain the official list (um, ever heard of good old-fashioned research?). No eager publicists emailed me their clients’ good news. It’s the end of the line for my official Oscar bag gig. And it was fun while it lasted so I’m sad to see it go. The NY Times has an article on the “branded retreats” set up for Oscar week. These gifting suites on steroids take over Hollywood mansions where celebs can go to relax, eat, get a spa treatment or two, and perhaps take home a few lavish free gifts if they sign the waiver acknowledging their tax liability. Here’s to keeping celebrity tax accountants busy and well paid. Enjoy the Oscars!

Here’s more Academy Awards gift suite water (picking out all those free goodies can make a movie star so very thirsty). Aquamantra is bottled water that “contains more than just water.” Each bottle has a mantra printed on the label. “By saying or thinking the positive affirmations and then drinking from the bottle the consumer exudes positive energy, creating an attraction for love, luck or health into their life.” This special bottled water is based on the work of Masaru Emoto who claims that the ice crystals of frozen water are more beautiful when positive thoughts are directed at the water or positive written words are attached to the container. Not surprisingly, skeptic James Randi has offered his usual $1 million award if these results can be demonstrated in a double-blind study.

In “The Physics of the Buffyverse” science writer Jennifer Ouellette takes phenomenon from the Buffy and Angel series and describes how they might be possible in the real world. It’s meant to be educational, though some hardcore physicists take issue with her simplification of complex subjects like quantum physics. Oullette feels she’s also fighting the stereotype of women in science by upholding the example of a blonde, (ex)cheerleader who fights vampires.

Water in a box. This is the type of thing I find cruising around the lesser Oscar gift bag sites now that the official Academy presenters’ gift bag has gone the way of the dodo. Yes, AQUA2GO water in a box, available at an exclusive gifting suite where celebrities can also get their hair styled with a diamond-encrusted flat iron and sprinkled with diamond dust. And they can use a Celebrity Sharpie Pen encrusted with Swarovski Crystals to sign a board that will be auctioned off for charity. Don’t worry, you’re probably not invited. (more Sharpie bling here)