'Cinderella' Turns 59

Cinderella was Walt Disney's 12th animated feature. It featured Ilene Woods who beat out 309 other girls for the role of Cinderella.

The animated feature received three Oscar nominations for Best Sound, Best Score, and Best Original Song for "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo".

The movie was released on February 15, 1950 and was a smash hit. The Disney studio was in debt (due to World War II and poor box office returns) when they made the movie that had a nearly $3,000,000 budget. Had Cinderella not been a success, the studio would have shut down and not have had the money to move onto all of the animated features of the 1950s. Walt also got some of his money for Disneyland's early development from the release of Cinderella.

Today, we celebrate Cinderella's success, beautiful animation, and timeless story. Without all of these things, Disneyland, the Disney company, and all of the animated features following Cinderella would not exist today.

Happy 59th birthday, Cinderella!

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Bill Gates Says Goodbye to His "Baby"

Today was Bill Gates' official last day at Microsoft. Apparently, the event was open only to employees, and there were some tears experienced by Bill himself and by CEO Ballmer. Ballmer praised Gates with things like, "there's no way to say thanks to Bill. Bill's the founder. Bill's the leader, this is Bill's baby."

I also enjoyed this snippet from Engadget: "Ballmer also talked about how he had contemplated leaving Microsoft just a month after joining the company, only to have Gates persuade him to stay by saying 'You don't get it. You don't get it. We are going to put a computer on every desk and in every home.' Say what you will about some of his predictions, but he was sure on the mark with that one."

Here's the video from CES 2008 showing what Bill Gates' last day (today) was gonna be like:

And, finally, here's a link to the original Reuters article.

Well, so long, Billy boy. I don't know what Microsoft'll do without you, but I guess this is how its gotta be. So long. Have a good retirement!

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