Oliver Franklin Anderson Presents The Night Country: Stories of Sleep Paralysis

Oliver Franklin Anderson is a local Los Angeles filmmaker and purveyor of digitized motion. Oliver's last film, Hollow, earned himself entry into notable film festivals, such as the Slamdance Film Festival, and additional accolades.

Oliver's latest project consists of a web based collective of horror shorts titled The Night Country: Stories of Sleep Paralysis. The series as a whole is inspired by hallucinations experienced during sleep paralysis. In Oliver's words: "While The Night Country is a series as a whole, the individual episodes are designed to stand alone as highly unique, short horror films". Additionally, he describes sleep paralysis as, "a glitch in the natural flow between sleep stages, causing dreams to blur into reality. Sleep paralysis is never a pleasant experience, causing terror in those experiencing it and vividly unsettling, if not terrifying hallucinations."

The first film in the series is named A Study In Blue and debuts Shelby Slayton as the actress. Shelby Slayton happens to be one of the "Slay" elements in Slayzinger Creative.  Along with Oliver Franklin Anderson directing, the creative team consists of Robert Allaire composing music and Frank L. Anderson as sound designer. The film consists of the creative nature inspired eeriness and dark, high contrast filtering that is synonymous with Oliver's film styling.  Below is A Study In Blue.

In order to create and produce the subsequent episodes of the The Night Country series, Oliver has put together a Kickstarter campaign for funding assistance. Consider donating to the production of a visually stunning and truly unique web series.

The 1933 Group Presents a Repeal Day Celebration

December 5th, 1933 was a great day in American history. This juncture, happily signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, marked the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment to the US Constitution. The result was the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment and the end of the failed political experiment of American Prohibition.

To celebrate this historical moment, the 1933 Group of bars (the name makes a little more sense now) is offering libations for fifty cents on December 5th, 2012 to symbolize the death of Prohibition. From the log cabin habitat of the Bigfoot Lodge to the old-timey southern milieu of Sassafras, the watering holes in the 1933 Group offer unique themes and cocktail selections. The saloons are scattered all across Los Angeles from Highland Park to Silverlake to Culver City and all are offering the promotion.

The Academy LB Featured in American Express Commercial

The Academy, local apparel artisans and friends of the site, has been featured in the latest American Express small business commercial.  

I recently spent some time with The Academy at the Unique LA show in downtown Los Angeles. The motif of the show was locally manufactured, one of a kind product, art, food, and drink. The Academy's forward thinking garment stylings coupled with in-booth manufacturing embodied the essence of the show and stood out from the rest. The company's frontman, Vizal Samreth, could be found hammering rivets to construct one-off belts for customers on the spot.

Witnessing the show gives one hope for the return of artfully crafted, high quality, designer manufactured products. With all that in mind, please enjoy the American Express small business commercial featuring The Academy and Vizal Samreth himself (the commercial ends with a shot of him):

Visit The Academy store in Long Beach at 429 E 1st Street and visit their website for updates and their product selection.

-Benjamin Denzinger

Yellow Alex Presents: Lisa Lisa Lisa Video

Yellow Alex, the Los Angeles based musical experience, recently released a video for the song Lisa Lisa Lisa. Previously, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alex of Yellow Alex at a local Silverlake coffee shop. The group possess a high energy passion for their craft, and this shows immensely during their live performance.

The Lisa Lisa Lisa video gives viewers a taste of their choreographed dance moves coupled with musical styling inspired by classic funk and soul. I highly recommend seeing them live. Yellow Alex will be performing every Monday night at the Silverlake venue the Satellite during the entire month of January. Visit their website for additional dates and information.

The Academy World Citizen Series

 

My friends at The Academy in Long Beach always aim to defy the norm of apparel design and manufacturing. With locally sourcing materials, manufacturing in Los Angeles, and always working on unique, culturally significant projects; The Academy stands out.

Staying consistant with this philosophy, below are the details on their latest release:

World Peace Day Shirt by The Academy

Celebrating the September 21st observance of World Peace Day, The Academy is releasing our tropical prints inspired World Citizen Shirt series.

The indigo blue floral prints celebrates humanity's unity by incorporating the world's flowers into an updated version of the classic 'Hawaiian Shirt'.

The camouflage floral iteration turns the notion of disguise on its head. Originally designed for clothing of war, this camouflage design blends the world's flowers together in an ironic acknowledgment of Peace.

World Citizen, made in Los Angeles by The Academy. $68. More information on the shirts and purchasing information can be viewed on  The Academy website.

Capital Eyewear Follow Up

 

A while ago, I conducted an interview with the eyewear brand Capital. Capital aims to go against the grain of the current mass manufacturing practices of today by locally sourcing their materials and handmaking their glasses in the United States. The fascination with this type of business practice has led me to connect with others that use similar honest methods of manufacturing their products. Examples include The Academy and Killspencer here in Los Angeles.

Recently, I checked back in with Capital to discover their evolution as a brand. They have grown to occupying their current manufacturing space and pop up shop in San Francisco. They have also expanded into working with bioplastic acetate frames to compliment the wood frames. These plant based plastic spectacles are 100% renewable, biodegradable, and hypoallergenic.

Capital also released a video outlining a good bit of their production process:

 

Handmade in the USA from Capital on Vimeo.

 

In addition to their growth on the manufacturing and retail front, they released a few new frame designs: