The Rushmore Academy now has over 100 followers on Twitter. Follow us!

Because of a recent onslaught of spamming, automatic activation of new accounts on the Yankee Racers forum has been temporarily suspended. In order to activate your account, send an e-mail to edwardappleby @ yankeeracers.org (no spaces).  We encourage you to drop by the forum.

If you are in the Dayton (Ohio) area, be sure to stop by the Dayton Dirt Collective for a screening of Rushmore on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. (details).

BONUS DISC: a Wes-inspired design project.

We started tweeting a month ago and have nearly 100 followers.

FOLLOW US!

The Rushmore Academy makes no money. It is a labor of love, and we have always avoided commercializing the site. Up until now, we have only advertised through the Amazon affiliates program, which helps pay for the site.

We are trying something new. Through Project Wonderful, an innovative new ad service, we are offering the 300 x 250 advertising space you see on the right. For now, it is charged at a daily rate starting at $1.00 (subject to competitive outbidding). We don’t expect to get rich from this scheme. But, by advertising with us, you can support the site and reach an audience of thousands of cinéastes. And, we support you and avoid “Work at Home and Make $43,000/day” ads from Google AdSense!

So, please consider advertising with us. To do so, simply click on the Project Wonderful link beneath the current ad. All you need is a Paypal account. Bravo, Max!

We received many worthy entries, nearly fifty in all, and adored all of them (see them all here).

View the nine finalists and vote for your favorite after the break! Voting closes on Thursday, April 9, 2009 at midnight ET.

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The webicon contest ends tonight at midnight! We will post the finalists and open the voting on Thursday!

E-mail edwardappleby @ yankeeracers.org or tweet @rushmoreacademy!

Oh, and new entries have been posted. You can win a copy of Derek Hill’s fantastic Charlie Kaufman and Hollywood’s Merry Band of Pranksters, Fabulists and Dreamers: An Excursion Into the American New Wave (available for purchase on Amazon.com).

Make Wes Anderson-inspired art at Paste Magazine’s Webicon.me! Then, Tweet (@rushmoreacademy) or e-mail (edwardappleby @ yankeeracers.org) us your image. We will post your entries here at the Rushmore Academy, and the best one will win of copy of Derek Hill’s fantastic Charlie Kaufman and Hollywood’s Merry Band of Pranksters, Fabulists and Dreamers: An Excursion Into the American New Wave (available for purchase on Amazon.com).

Contest is on-going. We will add new prizes if we extend it beyond April 1, 2009.

Check out the entries so far after the break! Please digg our contest!

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For our readers in the U.K., we now have an Amazon.co.uk Academy Books storefront. It is available through the regular Academy Books link above.

Remember that purchases though our Amazon sites support the crucial maintenance of this website.

We are looking for authors to compose  several biographies for the Rushmore Academy. We cannot pay you, but you will be credited (and you can add your work to your writing credits, if you care about that kind of thing). The biographies must be well researched and properly referenced. If you are interested, e-mail edwardappleby @ yankeeracers.org.

Wes Anderson
Mark Mothersbaugh
Bill Murray
Kumar Pallana
Jason Schwartzman
Luke Wilson
Owen Wilson

First, great news: our Facebook group has reached 1,000 members! Show your school spirit and join!

You can now follow us on Twitter @rushmoreacademy.com.

We are organizing a Wes Anderson Film Festival. A few years back, a group of Yankee Racers met online and watched the films of Wes Anderson together. We are doing it again and need your feedback!

More news:

• The gallery is back up and working. Send your images and scans to edwardappleby @ yankeeracers.org!
• The film scripts, press kits, and credits are now available in the library.
• In addition to the normal radio station powered by last.fm, we have added a second channel of music from our Academy Books Music Room (sponsored by Amazon).

And, don’t forget that the Wes Webicon contest is still on!  I will post some new entries later today.

The renowned jazz label Fantasy Records released a digital soundtrack for Wes Anderson’s short film Bottle Rocket (1994) back on December 9. Read on for the press release. Click below to buy it on Amazon and support the site!

1. The Chant / Artie Shaw
2. Old Devil Moon / Sonny Rollins
3. The Route / Chet Baker
4. Skating / Vince Guaraldi Trio
5. Stevie / John Coltrane
6. Nothing But The Soul / Horace Silver
7. Happiness Is / Vince Guaraldi Trio
8. Jane-O / Zoot Sims Quartet

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