Staff
Robert Patrick
Editor, CEO, Executive Brat | Twitter
The program director of the Olympia Film Society, Rob is also a former San Diego Film Critics Society member. He has written for The East County Californian, The Alpine Sun, The East County Herald, The San Diego Entertainer, and the San Diego Reader. When he isn’t curating a film festival, he is drinking rosé out of a plastic cup in Seattle or getting tattoos from Jenn Champion.
Andy Ferguson
Junior Editor, Project Manager | Twitter
Much of who Andy Ferguson has become can be directly attributed to the summer of 1997, when he stumbled upon VHS copies of Swingers and Bottle Rocket while almost simultaneously becoming introduced to the Dr. Octagon album, ‘Dr. Octagonecologyst’. Worshiping artists like Kool Keith and Pavement, while living in a small country town in Indiana as a 13 year-old, instantly made him into more than an outcast. Instead of becoming a cliched, friendless and depressed shut-in, he embraced the otherworldly culture that these records and films were presenting to him. He’s spent the last 15+ years expanding his knowledge of the arts while stockpiling useless tidbits (such as the 114 minute runtime of High Fidelity) with hopes of unloading on some poor victims at bar trivia. He’s also a lifetime advocate of high pulp in O.J., and forever falls victim to his #1 vice, tacos carne asada.
Barry Benintende
Film Contributor
Barry has spent his entire adult life watching movies, listening to music and finding people gullible enough to pay him to do so. As the former Executive Editor of the La Jolla Light, Editor of the South County Mail, Managing Editor of D-Town, Founder and Editor of sQ Magazine, Managing Editor of Kulture Deluxe, and Music Critic for San Diego Newsline, you would figure his writing would not be so epically dull. He has also written for the San Diego Reader, the Daily Californian, the Marshfield Mail, Cinemanian and too many other papers and magazines that have been consigned to the dustbin of history. A happily-married father of two sons and a daughter, Barry has an unhealthy addiction to his hometown San Diego Padres and the devotion of his feisty Westie, Adie. Buy him a cup of coffee and he can spend an evening regaling you with worthless music or baseball trivia. Buy him two and you’ll never get rid of him.
Nathan Kowalski
Music Editor
Nathan grew up in East County San Diego playing pop punk and indie music with the rascally neighborhood children of Ryder Road. While big, energetic sounds and catchy hooks remain a priority, he keeps a close ear on the broader musical spectrum and attempts to listen to 25-30 new albums each month. He’s not on the vinyl bandwagon and will be buried with the same iPod classic he’s had since college. He still writes and records solo tracks which he hopes will successfully transform into his own children’s definition of dad rock. You can currently find him searching for some semblance of a decent taco shop in Orange County.
Laura Pendergraft
Fashion Columnist | Twitter
Laura is an Ogle Graduate, Trendvision 2015 Semi Finalist, Licensed Hairstylist, and Cat Mom, born and raised in the DFW area. When she’s not doing hair, she’s either scaling walls, petting her cats, harassing men on Tinder, or tweeting. Laura has a passion for anything related to hair or fashion. Her crowning achievement was the watermelon seed spitting contest she won in the third grade.
Savannah Oakes
Film Contributor | Twitter
A sarcastic, fairness-loving middle child, Savannah grew up in a suburb of Chicago. She currently lives in the city and attends Columbia College in Chicago where she studies film. She is a writer/director/editor who is passionate about sharing female stories. Her work tends to include topics like female sexuality, mental illness and LGBTQ issues. She is an avid Shakespeare lover and an even bigger lover of Improvised Shakespeare. The Art Institute is her second home so if she’s not there catch her trancing through cemeteries, lighting her Tina Fey and Amy Poehler vigil candles or being everybody’s surrogate mother.
Kimberly Sass
Music Contributor, Tendy | Twitter
Kimberly grew up in East Amherst, NY, a suburb of the snowiest city in the universe (Buffalo), and now is a city dweller. She is a former professional ice hockey goaltender for the Buffalo Beauts, practicing architectural designer by day and artist/photographer by night. Kimberly gets sassy when she hasn’t painted or explored with her Rebel in over a week. While crushing a workout, drafting the next Libeskind-esque perfection, editing photo shoots, or painting her next masterpiece, Kimberly loves to search for her new favorite tracks on YouTube. She has earned default car and locker room DJ positions over the years. She suffered a near fatal heart attack when Majestic Casual’s YouTube Channel got removed for 24 hours. Her favorite tracks are usually pick-me-ups, strut-your-stuff down main street jams, that allow her to #staysassy.
Christine J. Schmidt
Contributor | Twitter
Christine is co-artistic director and founding member of Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA’s New West Playwrights in Los Angeles, a group of writers under the age of 30 who write their hearts out and tell crazy good stories. She graduated from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in Dramatic Writing, a major that doesn’t even exist at that school anymore. Pretty cool, right? She can play 8+ chords on the mandolin and is a huge fan of horror movies and sad music. To relieve stress, she yells at people in traffic and does yoga.