Interview: Filmmaker Ry Russo-Young

The NYC-based independent writer/director details the creative process behind her series of short films for Cotton

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NYC-based independent filmmaker Ry Russo-Young has three feature films under her screenwriter/directorial belt, which have earned nods like a 2009 Gotham Independent Film Award and 2012 Special Jury Prize at Sundance. Her 2012 film “Nobody Walks,” co-written with Lena Dunham and directed by Russo-Young, features John Krasinski, Olivia Thirlby and Rosemarie DeWitt (along with some scorpions) in a chilling too-real tale of repression giving into …

Tom Robbins Lost Interview

In PBS’ latest episode of Blank on Blank, which sets lost interview recordings to colorful animation, renowned serio-comedy author Tom Robbins takes us through the mind of a writer. Through a previously unheard interview with Tod Mesirow from 1994, Robbins discusses one of his first stories involving a stranded pilot and brown cow, why he destroyed his typewriter with a two-by-four, and his dreams of …

Biochemist to Barista: The New Scoops

Jack Benchakul's journey from science to specialty coffee, which he now serves up in LA's Chinatown

by Chérmelle D. Edwards Nearly three years ago, biochemist Jack Benchakul switched professions and became a barista. Applying science to the craft of specialty coffee, he’s popped up in in at least 10 Los Angeles locations since then. Under the helm of Cognoscenti Coffee, a Culver City coffee shop whose newest outpost is at Scoops in Chinatown, he’s now moonlighting in its 500-square-foot space, on …