ABQrising

One day only! Albuquerque illustrator Jesse Philips is the featured designer at online retailer Woot! For a lowly $10 you can snap up his snazzy T4 shirt. Everybody is doing it.

Philips who? Perhaps you’ve seen one or two of his concert promo posters slapped on the window of your favorite record store or music venue. So yeah, “Keep it Querque!” and support this local designer.

Local blogger and businessman Mario Burgos is feeling this Holiday Spirit. His company, Mudhouse Advertising, has pledged $10,000 to the Art Street project at Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless. In addition to Mudhouse’s generous gift, they’ve pledged to contribute an additional dollar each time their promotional video for Art Street is viewed.

Not a bad angle to work; not a bad cause to get behind. So what do you say? Better yet, what do you do? Simple. Press play.

Mario Burgos:

Myself and my business partner have pledged to give up to $10,000 to the Art Street project at Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless. The way this works is that we (pro-bono with some of our vendors) put together an informational video on this great program, and our company, Mudhouse Advertising, will give $1 for every unique visitor that views the 4 minute video between now and the end of the year. In the first 72 hours, we have had over 1,400 views.

The cool part is that as of this morning, the video had achieved the following “honors” on YouTube:

#33 - Most Linked (This Week) - Nonprofits & Activism
#66 - Most Viewed (This Week) - Nonprofits & Activism

Yesterday, we had gotten as high the #3 most viewed video in this category for the day. Even better, is that matching donations have been coming in through our website from not only New Mexico, but from all over the U.S. (so far: Colorado, California, Maine, New York and Hawaii). We had also heard from Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless that they’ve had a big spike in online giving on their website.

Merry Christmas, my friends.

Patricia R. Lawson of El Paso Times has a few thoughts on her daughter’s hometown:

My middle daughter thinks of Albuquerque as home, as that’s where she enjoyed her elementary- and middle-school years and all her close church friends. She remembers walking to the nearby Winrock Mall with her friends. That was when it was safe to let them do so. I think she has finally forgiven us for uprooting her from the only life she knew at the time when we moved to Abilene.

That’s right. Winrock Center. That desolate, barren wasteland. Don’t let your kids roam those hollows alone.

The Chicago Tribune via the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune (what a mouth full) wants to know, “How well do you know the world?”

4. The city of Albuquerque, N.M., is located on which river?

A. Colorado

B. Snake

C. Rio Grande

D. Yellowstone

Dammit! I know this one. Where’s our Rhodes Scholar when you need him?

Frank Miller’s “The Spirit” is in currently in production over at that large group of warehouses in Mesa del Sol. Despite its relative remoteness from civilization (read: a five minute drive), outsiders from far and near have managed to penetrate the set. Comics2Films and MTVAsia are ready to give you the low down on one of the more anticipated film adaptations of yet another comic book. So, go ahead and let that inner fanboy out to gorge on some fantasy goodness. Beats reading about the real world. What a bummer.

UPDATE: Psst! Not to be out done by their Asian counterparts, MTV America, fuck yeah!, wants you to know about that movie currently occupying half of Downtown.

We’re all edumacated up in here Burque. Well, at least one us didn’t ditch class; we call him Rhodes Scholar, Pravin Rajan. Rajan, of Irvine, CA Albuquerque, was named a 2008 Rhodes Scholar. Although Rajan isn’t from Albuquerque per se, his father works for Sandia National Labs, his sister attends our flagship university, and his brother studies at Albuquerque Academy. Eh, if his Albuquerque roots are good enough for the Tribune, then aren’t they good enough for us all?

Seriously, though. The guy is impressive. He just graduated from Georgetown, he is a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve, and has an opportunity to study at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Not too shabby.

Congratulations, Pravin. Your adopted home the home that adopted you is proud.

Forget that. Why not catch some free flicks on a giant screen in the heart of Downtown?

Wear your ‘Vote for Pedro’ shirt proudly and be on the lookout for ROUS because the Independent Film Channel is setting up a small tenement theatre in Civic Plaza next Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Luis Vasquez, Manager, Promotions & Events, IFC Television:

I work for the Independent Film Channel in NYC and we have put together a traveling film tour this summer. Our last stop is Albuquerque and we are coming to Civic Plaza on September 12th and 13th. I thought that your web community [You here that! You and me --- we're a community!] might enjoy receiving an invite to this free event and I’m looking for some help getting the word out to them.

Here are the details:
Wednesday, September 12: The Princess Bride
Thursday, September 13: Napoleon Dynamite

*Gates open for picnicking at 6pm. The movie starts at sunset.

CIVIC PLAZA
3rd St and Marquete Ave NW
We are trying to celebrate the film community of Albuquerque by featuring the short films New Mexico film makers in our media lab lounge, giving away an HD Camera, collecting DVDs to be donated to a local children’s hospital and of course… offering 2 hit titles FOR FREE outside and under the stars!

Attached is the evite to our event. Any ideas on spreading the word about our free event would be greatly appreciated. IFC would like to give this as a gift to Albuquerque for supporting Indie Film and film makers in such a huge way… I just want to make sure people know about it. For more info, check us out at www.ifc.com/freefilmfest.

If you have any other ideas that would help get the word out, please let me know and thanks in advance for your help!

No problem, Louie! Can I call you Louie? Anyway, for my taste, I find both films family friendly and hilarious. Hey, you get a chance to feed support your local film makers, too! Bonus: the killer heat we’ve had the last few weeks is on a Summer vacation, so we’re in the middle of some primo evenings.

Free movies. Giant screen. Outdoors. How can you not be sold?