The Cascade Vol. 24 No. 18

JULY 27 TO SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

UFV Pride Centre & Women’s Centre pg. 3 & 5

VOLUME 24 ISSUE 18

#vanlife

Western Jaguar’s basement show

pg. 6

pg. 10

WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY. JULY 27, 2016

CONTENTS

News I’ll give that pitch a baseball - pitchers love baseball

Opinion

Culture & Events

Arts in Review

The Brexit Club

LANslide crashes through the SUB

Netflix has never seen stranger things

The UFV Cascades baseball team prepares for their first season.

Panku Sharma opinionates you on the whole Brexit thing.

E-Sports Valley hosts gaming marathon LANslide.

Mitch Huttema gives you the run down on Netfix’s newest mystery-thriller.

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STAFF Editor-in-Chief Vanessa Broadbent vanessa@ufvcascade.ca Managing Editor Mitch Huttema mitch@ufvcascade.ca Business Manager Jennifer Trithardt-Tufts jennifer@ufvcascade.ca Copy Editor Kat Marusiak kat@ufvcascade.ca News Editor Joel Robertson-Taylor joel@ufvcascade.ca Opinion Editor Panku Sharma panku@ufvcascade.ca

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CONTRIBUTORS Culture & Events Editor (interim) Vanessa Broadbent vanessa@ufvcascade.ca Arts in Review Editor Martin Castro martin@ufvcascade.ca Production Manager Brittany Cardinal brittany@ufvcascade.ca Illustrators Sultan Jum sultan@ufvcascade.ca Amara Gelaude amara@ufvcascade.ca Danielle Collins danielle@ufvcascade.ca

Online Editor Tanya Vanpraseuth tanya@ufvcascade.ca

Cameron Stephen Alex Rake

Multimedia Editor Mitch Huttema mitch@ufvcascade.ca Advertising Rep Kayla Schuurmans kayla@ufvcascade.ca

WWW.UFVCASCADE.CA @UFVCASCADE FACEBOOK.COM/UFVCASCADE INSTAGRAM.COM/THE.CASCADE

Volume 24 · Issue 18 Room S2111 33844 King Road Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8 604.854.4529 Cover design: Sultan Jum Back cover ad: Brittany Cardinal

The Cascade is UFV’s autonomous student newspaper. It originated under its current name in 1993, and achieved autonomy from the university and the Student Union Society in 2002. This means that The Cascade is a forum for UFV students to have their journalism published in an entirely student-run setting. It also acts as an alternative press for the Fraser Valley. The Cascade is funded with UFV student funds, and is overseen by the Cascade Journalism Society Board, a body run by a student majority. The Cascade is published every Wednesday with a print circulation of 1,250 and is distributed at Abbotsford, Chilliwack (CEP), Clearbrook, and Mission UFV campuses and throughout the surrounding communities.

The Cascade is open to written, photo, and design work from all students; these can come in the form of a pitch to an editor, or an assignment from an editor. Writers meetings are held each Monday at 2:00 p.m. in The Cascade’s office on the Abbotsford campus.

In order to be published in the newspaper, all work must first be approved by The Cascade’s editor-in-chief, copy editor, and corresponding section editor. The Cascade reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity and length.

The Cascade will not print any articles that contain racist, sexist, homophobic or libellous content. Letters to the editor, while held to the same standard, are unedited, and should be under 400 words. As The Cascade is an autonomous student publication, opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect that of UFV, The Cascade’s staff and collective, or associated members.

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016

EDITORIAL

NEWS BRIEFS UFV rower headed to 2016 Summer Olympics Former UFV rower Lisa Roman has been selected to compete in the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Roman was one of 26 athletes selected, and will be part of the Canadian women’s eight. She competed with UFV’s rowing team for two years from 2007 to 2009.

SUS plans to hold by-elections In order to fill empty spaces on their board, the Student Union Society (SUS) will hold a by-election in September.

Vacant

positions

include

aboriginal

representative, faculty of access and continuing

education

representative, Photo: Mitch Huttema

faculty of applied and technical studies representative, and school of graduate studies

representative.

Students

have until September 30 to submit a nomination package to SUS.

SUS president releases goal plan SUS president Sukhi Brar presented her goal plan for the 2016 / 2017 year at the July board meeting on Monday. The plan includes increasing engagement with students by improving voter turnout and creating more communication avenues for students. Brar also plans to open a pride centre, a women’s centre, and the SUS health centre during her term.

SUS addresses food services deficit At Monday’s SUS meeting, SUS president

Illustration: Sultan Jum

Pride and Women’s Centres: is SUS alone in their quest to create?

Sukhi Brar announced her intentions to restructure the Society’s food service operations to be more cost effective.

Brar noted that one of the main causes

VANESSA BROADBENT THE CASCADE

of the food services deficit is the amount of student employees needed to staff the Canoe, the campus restaurant. As a result, Brar plans to change the restaurant to be “cafeteria style,” rather than full service.

Building D Study Space The old café space on the top floor of D building is currently undergoing renovations. “They are removing the old coffee kiosk to make way for more student study space,” explained Craig Toews, executive director of campus planning

and

resource

development.

The kiosk has been vacant for a number of years but will shorty serve as a quiet location for students to work.

Both UFV and the Student Union Society (SUS) have had their setbacks when it comes to supporting the LGBTQ+ community on campus, and for the first time in a long time, it looks as if things are moving forward.

UFV is creating a pride crosswalk (which will be covered in future issues of The Cascade) near the entrance to A building, and SUS decided at their monthly board meeting on Monday, July 25 to dedicate two rooms on the second floor of the Student Union Building (SUB) for a pride centre and a women’s centre. The former food services office space across from the Canoe, which is now being used as storage space, will become the UFV Pride Centre, while one of the two clubs and associations rooms will be the new UFV Women’s Centre.

Kyle Stamm, a member of UFV’s Pride Collective, explained to the SUS board at the meeting that he had been told by UFV admin that, since the centres are not considered academic, they would need to be implemented by SUS rather than the university.

While UFV isn’t completely wrong with this statement, it doesn’t align with their other initia-

tives, such as the newly implemented experiential learning and wellness fee. Although a large portion of the fee will be supporting learning initiatives, such as increasing co-op opportunities for students and expanding the Coast Capital Peer Resource Centre, the wellness portion of the fee does not.

Instead, this portion of the fee, which is intended to “recognize the whole student,” as explained by UFV’s vice president students Jody Gordon, will expand campus recreation and possibly even workshops or events surrounding health and nutrition.

If UFV is going to stick by its statement that the centres are not academic and therefore cannot be a university initiative, it needs to rethink the direction that it is taking with the new fee. While the pride or women’s centres may not be directly linked to students’ academic performance, they benefit them in the same way that workshops on health and nutrition would, arguably much more so. It may not necessarily be the responsibility of the university to make sure that its students are healthy, but it is its responsibility to ensure students are safe and supported on campus.

Ultimately, everyone within the UFV community wants students to feel comfortable and accepted on campus. From UFV’s work on a new sexual assault and violence policy (see page 4), to the Peer Resource Centre’s training, which includes mate-

rial surrounding sexual consent and assault, there’s discussion all around campus on how to make the university a safe space. But rather than leaving SUS to be the ones creating the centre, the UFV community should come together in support of this initiative.

While I don’t doubt that SUS will follow through with the creation of the centres, former

“If UFV is going to stick by its statement that the centres are not academic and therefore cannot be a university initiative, it needs to rethink the direction that it is taking with the new fee.” projects, such as the Equalities Resource Centre, which was a similar initiative that never came to fruition, show that creating and maintaining these spaces can be easier said than done.

At the end of the day, both the pride and women’s centres are not only necessary, but long overdue, and kudos to SUS for being the ones to step up to the plate and finally make it happen.

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WEDNESDAY. JULY 27, 2016

NEWS Committee formed to create sexual violence and misconduct policy VANESSA BROADBENT THE CASCADE

Following the recent passing of Bill 23, the provincial government’s Sexual Violence and Misconduct Policy Act, all post-secondary institutions in B.C., including UFV, are required to create an official sexual violence and misconduct policy.

As stated in the bill, the policy needs to include procedures for making, and responding to, complaints or reports of sexual violence.

While the bill is already in place, institutions have one year to create and implement a policy.

In order to create the policy for UFV, a committee will be formed, which will be co-chaired by UFV’s vice-president students Jody Gordon and Student Union Society (SUS) president Sukhi Brar.

“We’re just in the phase of putting that team together, but in preparation for that, Sukhi and I have sat down and looked at a number of best practices,” Gordon said. “There’s some good work that’s been done throughout Canada that we have been reviewing.”

While the committee will not be in place until the fall, Gordon noted that it will include faculty and staff with related research backgrounds or work experience.

The bill does not specify how the policy should be formed and Gordon saw this as an opportunity to include student feedback by involving SUS. “Just from the conversations I’m having [with other student unions], we’re definitely helping a lot more and have a lot more student

involvement and input,” Brar said. “Having us involved from the start in shaping this policy helps students understand how this serves our student population best.”

While Gordon also noted that including student feedback helps students learn outside of the classroom, she saw student input as a way for the university to be open with their intentions on the issue.

“It needs to be very transparent,” she said.

“This is not work that’s done at all in secrecy; it needs to be work that is out there for people to see what stages we’re at, and when various consultations will occur.”

While the writing of the policy won’t be starting until the committee is formed, Brar noted that there are already challenges that she is anticipating.

“It’s a very complex topic and there’s a lot of opinions and a lot of different approaches that people have taken in approaching how this policy might look,” she said. “It’s going to be challenging to identify what works for our campus.”

“At the end of the day policy is just paper, but it’s really what it will mean to us in terms of how we approach it, how we talk about it, how we engage with these very difficult issues.”

After the committee has drafted the policy it will be sent to Senate for consultation and the Board of Governors for approval, with a tentative implementation date of April 2017.

SUS installs international flag display in SUB

VANESSA BROADBENT THE CASCADE

Anyone walking through the Student Union Building recently may have noticed the addition of over 50 flags belonging to various countries hanging from the ceiling of the building.

The flags are the result of an initiative between former Student Union Society (SUS) president Thomas Davies and UFV International.

“The idea behind this display is to represent the UFV international students that are attending UFV this current semester,” explained current SUS president Sukhi Brar at SUS’ July board meeting on Monday.

The flags will be changed every semester as new international students arrive at UFV. “It’s supposed to switch over every semester to represent students from different countries,” Brar said. “It’s not a permanent installation.”

While Brar noted that the display has come with positive response, she also said that it has caused confusion among students that don’t understand exactly what the display is

Photo: Mitch Huttema

representing and why only certain flags are displayed at times.

Currently, SUS is exploring avenues to make the intentions of the display known and accessible to students.

“Eventually there’s going to be a plaque on the wall there that explains ‘this is what this is and this is why it’s changing a lot,’” Brar said.

Although it has not yet been officially decided, Brar noted that UFV International will take responsibility for changing the flags every semester.

Brar also has plans to expand the current display to make room for six more flags at a projected cost of $1,500.

Although SUS has not yet verified with the involved parties, the additional flags are intended to represent SUS, The Cascade, CiVL Radio, the Sto:lo Nation, and the UFV Pride Collective. Brar commented that the decision to include these flags is a way of moving forward from previous contention between SUS and the groups.

“We need to show support there,” she said.

“I think there’s importance in having those up as a statement that this is our student membership broadly.”

UFV signs new campus security provider JOEL ROBERTSON-TAYLOR THE CASCADE

As the current security service provider’s contract comes to an end, preparations made

by UFV’s security and emergency management will be underway in order to transition into a contract with a new provider.

With the contract expiration date being August 31, the next few weeks will see the

introduction of the new security service company.

Mike Twolan, UFV’s manager of security, explained that the change won’t affect the performance of the security provider or create any kind of noticeable interruptions.

“The safety and security of students, faculty, and staff at UFV is our number one priority,” he said. “The security services, and our response levels at UFV, will remain consistent during this transition period.”

Although the new provider, Securiguard, is just being introduced to UFV, they will temporarily work alongside the current contracted company, GardaWorld, in order to be brought up to speed. During this time, security guards from two different companies will be on duty at UFV. After the procurement process, changes are expected to be minimal.

“Really, the only changes you may see will be a change in the colour and style of uniform, and in some cases you may see new faces in

uniform on campus,” said Twolan, stressing that the service and response levels will remain at their current levels. “Our response numbers are not changing.”

Twolan noted that the transition will be complete by the start of the fall semester.

“This is a straightforward transition that will be complete in a few weeks,” he said.

“We really appreciate the cooperation and consideration we have already received from the UFV community over this time.”

Correction: In the July 13 issue of The Cascade, an article stated that Pokemon GO had initially launched in the U.S., Australia, N.Z., and Japan. However, the game was in fact not officially released in Japan until July 22.

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016

NEWS SUS designates spaces for pride centre and women’s centre VANESSA BROADBENT THE CASCADE

At their July board meeting on Monday, the Student Union Society (SUS) unanimously voted to designate two rooms in the Student Union Building (SUB) as a pride centre and a women’s centre.

SUS president Sukhi Brar noted that most universities across Canada already have similar spaces, and the fact that UFV doesn’t is strange.

“Our campus doesn’t have a pride centre or a women’s centre, and if you’ve been on other campuses, you might notice that it’s rather unusual,” she said. “The services exist on just about any campus that I’ve been to.”

The board voted to allocate the food services office space on the second floor of the SUB as the pride centre, while the room directly beside it, which is currently used as space for clubs and associations, will become the women’s centre.

Brar noted that reallocating these spaces is possible, since the demand for them is not as

high as SUS had originally anticipated.

“What we found last year was that approximately half of the clubs and associations that got office space didn’t use it and we had to re-designate it,” she said. “From all the information we have right now, one room would still serve that function for the amount of demand we have for clubs and associations, but I can’t really justify keeping both spaces when we have a need for a women’s centre.”

While exactly how these spaces will operate is still unclear, Brar hopes to hold a referendum asking students to approve a fee for the centres so that SUS can hire staff to help create and operate the spaces.

“What I’m wanting to see during my term, is to have this go to referendum and have a small fee attached to the space so that we can have a hiring committee struck to be able to hire someone to run the space,” she said.

Both UFV and SUS have had their own histories with similar spaces on campus. Kyle Stamm, a member of UFV’s Pride Collective,

explained at the meeting that a women’s centre was open on campus at one point, but was closed when there was not enough funding to continue maintaining the space.

Stamm was also one of the original motivators behind the Equalities Resource Centre (ERC), a space that SUS had designated to support marginalized students on campus, but never came into fruition.

Brar commented that the process of implementing the pride and women’s centres needs to be transparent to avoid a situation similar to the ERC from happening again.

“I could come here with a really rigid [plan] of what this looks like, how it’ll function, but having learned from past things, that’s maybe not the best idea,” she said. “It would be developed with mass collaboration and mass consultation with students.”

The SUS board also unanimously voted to make the centres an essential student service so that any changes to the space would need to be approved by the student body.

“A lot of students are concerned that we’ll dedicate ourselves to this for a bit or part of a term, and it’ll fall to the wayside,” Brar said.

“It’s really important that we designate the space as an essential student service. What that means, as per bylaws, is that if the space were to change, it would require going to our membership to declare a referendum to alter the space designation.”

Stamm shared that, despite the outcome of the ERC, he trusts that Brar will follow through with her plans to open the centres.

“I have absolute confidence in Sukhi’s ability to pull this off,” he said. “I think her heart is in the right place [and] her head’s in the right place. She’s going to be able to do this and I’m really excited to see what happens.”

SUS plans to host meetings throughout the fall semester for students to share what they would like the spaces to look like, followed by a referendum to include a fee for the spaces early next year.

UFV athletics adds baseball team to program VANESSA BROADBENT THE CASCADE

Come September, UFV’s athletic department will be introducing baseball as a new university club sport, making them the sixth team to join the Canadian College Baseball Conference.

While the idea for the team surfaced over three years ago, it didn’t come together until last year when the University Baseball Academy was founded in Chilliwack.

The Academy approached the Canadian College Baseball Conference (CCBC) and joined the league where they’ll compete against the University of Calgary, University of Lethbridge, Thompson Rivers University, the Vancouver Island Baseball Institute, and Okanagan College.

“Last year when we got accepted in May, we had to have a team together by September,” Shawn Corness, the team’s head coach said.

“My biggest fear was that we weren’t going to recruit enough kids in the short period of time to put a team on the field, but as soon as word got out that we were doing this, recruiting went through the roof and we got 26 kids in about a month.”

After having one season of probation, the team is officially joining the league for their upcoming 2016 / 17 season, but they’ll be representing UFV this time.

For Steve Tuckwood, UFV’s athletic director, the decision to include the team into the athletic program wasn’t a hard one.

“The group was really organized,” he

UFV Cascades athletic director Steve Tuckwood, CCBC commissioner Ted Hotzak, Cascades baseball general manager Lee Rogers, team founder Brian Finnie and head coach Shawn Corness came together in July 2016 to celebrate the launch of the UFV Cascades Baseball Club.

Photo: UFV Cascades

said. “They had their franchise in place, they had their funding in place, they had a board of directors, they had everything that made it much easier for us to decide that this was going to be an easy addition for the university.”

With only a handful of university baseball teams in the province, and none in the Fraser Valley, Tuckwood also saw the team as an opportunity to attract more student athletes to UFV. “I think we fill a void of where we are geographically with a lot of players and a lot of people who would choose to stay and get their education here at UFV, as opposed to go elsewhere to play quality baseball,” he said.

While building the team, Corness noticed that this was the case for most of the teammates.

“Once they found out that we were a college baseball team and that they could go to UFV and play and get their education there, it was a “It’s a pride thing — you’re actually part of a university and playing for a university instead of being an independent college baseball team.” big thing,” he said.

For the members of the baseball team, including Emilio Foden, joining UFV’s athletic

family comes with its own benefits.

“It’s a big weight off our shoulders,” he said.

“Before, nobody really knew who we were and we were just on our own, but now, being a part of the university, I feel that we have something to prove.”

Corness noted that being able to identify as the Cascades serves as motivation for the team.

“We’re just all ready to compete and now that we have this opportunity to compete for UFV, it’s made it a lot better,” Foden added. “It puts us closer to winning a championship — we have someone to win a championship for.”

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016

OPINION

S Curtailed commentary on current conditions

Too cool for Pokemon GO? Nobody cares.

Kat Marusiak

Do the Dew, Don’t Declare Bella Paradis

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It’s amazing how many people seem to think you can’t be an adult who “has a life” and plays games.

Assholes who thought they were better than me bullied me for playing the original Pokemon games when I was 12. Didn’t give a fuck what they said then, and don’t now.

If it’s not someone’s cup o’ tea, fine, that’s cool, we all have our own interests. But it sure as hell doesn’t make them special or superior. So haters: go fertilize the lawn or watch a sports game and have fun being so “mature.” As for me, I’ll keep going to school, so that someday I’ll hopefully be able to use my knowledge to help people.

I’ll also continue to be married, spend time with family and friends, enjoy my job, and keep doing what my poor ass can to help make this world a better place. (I even have an app called Charity Miles to get more than just Pokemon GO rewards for walking so much.) And as well as all that, I’ll also still enjoy some lighthearted fun from time to time — these things aren’t mutually exclusive, GO figure.

Writing journalistic pieces usually requires an opinion. The problem is, I don’t have one and I don’t want one. Why? I’m aware enough to know that I’m too young and inexperienced for one. Opinions would get in the way of me hearing everyone else’s world view and after I’ve heard it all (if I have enough time on this earth), I might consider nailing myself down to any opinion of my own. Opinions you cling to, or adorn like a cloak of identity, are pretty detrimental to peace of mind. There’s no opinion worth your peace. When you need to be the change you want to see in the world, there’s no time to battle your opinion against another. Anyone who would listen to you has already agreed with you, and anyone who would waste their time in an argument was looking for the argument anyway, not a change of opinion.

Live it — don’t speak it, don’t hashtag it, don’t bother. Live your own peace and if it rings true to another they will follow you and not a word needs to be said. After all, as they say, everything is easier said than done. Irony noted.

#vanlife Mitch Huttema

Mystic? Mistake!

Panku Sharma

So this past weekend I bought a camper van that I plan to live and road trip in until October. This decision was met with mixed reactions from my various friends, family, and acquaintances. My girlfriend was cautious, my parents face palmed but were excited, and my friends were immediately on board for any road trips, but a few people gave me weird looks and seemed concerned for my sanity. I don’t hold that against them, but in all honesty, this doubtful reaction isn’t unprecedented. I didn’t make the decision lightly, and it wasn’t an escapist strategy from a controlling and rigid society like some would assume.

No, I am not a hippie, I just prefer to try something different and see where it takes me. It’s not a permanent dwelling, it’s a way to roam and still feel at home. To stay confined to traditional ideas of home and success is lame and tiring. People need to wake up and realize that life is what you make it, and if you keep trying to measure and find success by the American dream then yo just gonna run up empty.

I finally hit level five in Pokemon GO. It was a long time coming; I didn’t have much data left in my cycle this month to make a serious effort in catching anything, and to a lesser extent, I’ve always preferred Digimon.

Slow but steady, there I was, finally in the big leagues. Instead of letting me linger in the moment, however, the professor immediately made me pledge my allegiance to one of his lackeys’ fraternities. Team Valor is lead by a weight lifting jock that didn’t even spell her team’s name correctly.

I think the blonde from Team Instinct vapes. However the most horrifying leader heads Team Mystic. I can forgive the other two, they almost acknowledge the fact that pokemon are wild animals. However, Mystic tries to rein you in with talk about “wisdom of pokemon” and “calm analysis.”

Don’t get it twisted people, you can’t delude yourself into thinking that battling pokemon is anything more than a blood sport. At least the other teams don’t try and hide behind academia or spirituality, they are upfront with how useless and immoral they are. For the record, I don’t vape but I bleed yellow.

Illustrations: Amara Gelaude

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016

OPINION Let us Bre-Exist together a little better PANKU SHARMA THE CASCADE

I’ve never worn a jersey for a political movement or party. I do not own a NASCAR style jumpsuit with my core beliefs and principles plastered all over, the size and placement corresponding to how highly I value them. I understand that to get stuff done in politics, we must work in groups, negotiate on common goals, and every now and then lines are drawn. However, through university and life in general, I’ve been forced to reassess many views and beliefs as I’ve been exposed to new ideas, experiences, and the undeniable truth that we should be paying closer attention not only to the information itself but who is communicating it, why, and how.

This isn’t a condemnation of people who bothered to at least read a few articles, have background knowledge, or some sort of stakes in the game itself such as family or friends who live there. What has me a bit rattled about the sudden influx of commentary post-Brexit is the insidious glee and joy some of us find in throwing stones (and in 2016, memes) at people and events that we know next to nothing about.

I say “us” because none of us are perfect, and sometimes I am stricken with physical pain when I think about the “insights” I had into American elections and politics in the past. No one I know was talking about it leading up to the vote, but the moment the results came in it seemed like quite a few people saw it as a call to arms to get another stamp on their progressive left membership card. I’m not saying it’s bad to have a take or opinion on what leaving the E.U. means for Britain, but it is a bit troubling to

come to a conclusion based on whatever your friends happen to be sharing or tweeting and to paint half a population as nothing more than racists who are dumb enough to vote against their self-interests. It’s the same rhetoric and flippant attitude we have towards republican supporters and especially the new voting bloc that Trump has raised south of the border.

We can laugh at their shortsightedness, and deride their reactionary voting and activism — however, to belittle without at least trying to understand the other side doesn’t make for progress, it just creates a more polarized and useless political discourse. Yeah sure, some (or many) Brexiters or Trump supporters have ugly and dangerous views on race and immigration.

But most people who espouse those sentiments didn’t just wake up one day deciding they were going to have ugly worldviews, they develop based on their own background, communities, and lived experience. Research into voting demographics shows that the Leave campaign was particularly effective among older, poorer, and less educated groups. In other words, among the underprivileged groups that we “the left / liberals / progressives / pro-safety net people” claim we should stand up for.

Maybe the E.U. does not benefit the working class of the U.K. as much as it does the middle class or corporate interests, or maybe old people are just stubborn. Or perhaps when shadow home secretary Andy Burnham or London mayor Sadiq Khan bemoan the failure of the Remain side to connect to working class communities and Leave voters, it has something to do with a discourse that talks down to them instead of talking to them.

Illustration: Danielle Collins

I don’t dance and because I don’t dance I am no friend of yours PANKU SHARMA THE CASCADE

Illustration: Danielle Collins

I wish I was someone who brings the party with them, who can pull a “Footloose” anywhere and everywhere and be remembered in song for generations to come. I’m too naturally irritable and uncoordinated to be that person, but the other weekend I met someone who I believe considered themselves the paragon of party-dom. It wasn’t until this experience that I realized that this stuff is only really cool and endearing in the movies or when you’re plastered.

I don’t want to call out anyone specific who might be discernible through context and clues, so instead of my specific personal encounter I’ve devised a handy dandy general scenario that I believe most readers could identify with.

It’s a dimly lit cafe, with tables and chairs facing a kneehigh stage.

You came to perform some open mic poetry and enjoy the music of a very talented and wellregarded musical troupe. You did not come to try and embarrass or offend anyone, and you definitely did not come to dance. You are laden in inhibition and self-consciousness, but if given the right amount of drinks and crowd of people, you’ll jive, pop, saute, raise the roof, robot, and worm with the best of them. This just isn’t one of those nights. It’s late, you worked all day, and sometimes being a passive audience member without the distraction of staying in rhythm lets you enjoy the music more. The music is amazing, for the record; you’re bobbing your head and even getting the shoulders into it. The drummer gave you a nod, acknowledging how dope he is.

There’s a group of friends who’ve come up to the front of the room by the stage and are having a great time dancing along with the music. They are about 30 years older than you, but it warms your heart to see people having a good time.

One of them, an older woman in a shawl, starts gesturing for you and your partner to join in.

You smile, genuinely happy for her having such a good time, but gesture back with a polite “no thank you.”

This is where most of these encounters should

stop, unless you know the person or everyone is drunk. It is fine to ask someone to dance in a situation like that, often shyer folk like myself need some prodding and encouragement to participate. However, if a stranger says no once, for the sake of everyone’s night, please leave it there. She is trying to contribute to the party in her own way, and to include people who might feel left out. Great. But you said no.

She approaches thrice more during the night, each time a little less friendly and a lot more demanding.

“Please. Come on. Do you not like the music?”

After the second attempt, you are no longer smiling, but rather avoiding eye contact in fear that meeting her gaze would encourage her in thinking that we actually really wanted to dance but just needed someone to throw us out there. At one point the woman goes so far as to grab your friend’s arms, and in a hushed voice urges her to dance “because it is her people’s music.” Oh yeah — plot twist — you’re a minority and the music being played has roots in your background.

The performance, poetry, and music were still great. However, you leave on a sour note. The lesson here is, of all things, “no means no” and don’t harass strangers.

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016

www.ufvcascade.ca

Fraser Valley Music Awards

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www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27 2016

recognize local talent

VANESSA BROADBENT

THE CASCADE PHOTO: MITCH HUTTEMA

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fter a year of planning and preparation, the first ever Fraser Valley Music Awards (FVMAs) took place on Saturday, July 16.

“I thought it went well,” said event organizer Jamer Kasper, who was hired for a one-year contract by CiVL Radio to plan the event.

While the event lasted nearly three hours, the amount of live music acts included in the program, as well as the comedic commentary by hosts Aaron Levy, CiVL Radio’s station manager, and local entertainer and musician Seth Bell, kept audience members entertained at all times.

Saint Soldier, winner of the hip-hop award, impressed the audience with his spontaneous poetry reading, while Harpdog Brown, the blues award winner, took the audience back a few decades. Other performers included Kin, The Kwerks, a folk performance by Matt Lowen and Rick Genge, and a tribute to David Bowie and Prince by the nominees of the “For & By Youth” category.

The top three finalists from CiVL Radio’s annual Battle of the Bands performed as well, and the winner was decided by an audience vote. Local group Mollys Reach took home the $750 cash prize, defeating the Sylvia Platters and Paravel.

The group was also named the first ever “Dakota Leslie Memorial Live Act” in memory of former CiVL Radio volunteer and program host Dakota Leslie who passed away last year.

The event saw an attendance of nearly 300 people, and Kasper noted that the low amount is a result of the event only being in its first year.

“The struggle, especially at the beginning of a first year event, is to try and get the word out to the general public,” he said. “Unfortunately, events like this are perceived as exclusively industry events and it takes a lot of convincing and branding a certain way to let the general public know that it’s a public event that’s open to everyone.”

The awards were held in the Abbotsford Arts Centre, a decision made by Kasper to attract a maximum amount of audience numbers. While the venue seemed slightly more upscale than simply hosting the event in a bar or hall, given the nature of the centre, it was much more appealing to the general public.

“This was a bit more of an intimate setting, a highend venue,” Kasper said. “Maybe that adds a bit of prestige that draws in more of the general public; you’re not going to get as many people out to Brothers [Bowling].”

However, Kasper also noted that given the nature

“The focus will always be on the indie and the emerging artists, but more high-profile people will want to get on board with this as it develops.” of the event, attracting the general public is easier said than done, especially during the inaugural year.

Although the event was well attended, it was clear that this was an issue. Most of the audience members were either nominated for an award, or there supporting someone they knew who was.

“I would hope that moving forward, more people would get on board and realize this is for everyone, not just industry members,” Kasper said. “It’s just a matter of rinse and repeat until you raise a profile in the community.”

While Kasper won’t be around to help plan the FVMAs next year, he can see the event expanding in the future as it gains more attention.

“The focus will always be on the indie and the emerging artists, but more high-profile people will want to get on board with this as it develops,” he said.

“Those people might not otherwise be heard or seen.

This way we get the word out about these musicians and it provides local culture that people may not have known about.”

2016 FVMA Winners HIP HOP Saint Soldier

FOLK/ROOTS Brennan Sinclair

LOUD We Hunt Buffalo

ALT Doja

ROCK Little Wild FOR AND BY YOUTH Quinn Sojonky

JAZZ Eli Bennett

BLUES Harpdog Brown

POP John Welsh

`

RHYTHM & DANCE

YOU SAY PARTY

EXPERIMENTAL Cheap High

MUSICIANSHIP Rick Genge

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016

www.ufvcascade.ca

CULTURE & EVENTS

Western Jaguar shakes the chuch at its foundations

UPCOMING EVENTS JULY 29 31

AUG 4

Abbotsford Agrifair @ Abbotsford Exhibition Park Tickets: $15 for a 3 day wristband $12 for one day Adult admission $10 for one day Student & Senior admission 10 years & under are free

Jam in Jubilee @Jubilee Park 6:00 - 11:00 p.m.

Raspberry Launch Party Jubilee Park Aug 4

JULY 28 AUG 6

HUB International Theatre @ Chilliwack Cultural Centre!

7:30pm Tickets: Adults $25 Students $20 (with student ID) Seniors $20 (65+)

Photo: Mitch Huttema

VANESSA BROADBENT

THE CASCADE

You wouldn’t think that the basement of the Trinity United Church on George Ferguson Way in Abbotsford would be the place to be on a Friday night, but it was last weekend.

Fraser Valley bands Comfort, No Boy, Hurricane Jones, and Western Jaguar played a show in the church’s basement on July 15, hosted by Red Tape Productions.

Jeffrey Trainor, lead vocalist and guitarist for Western Jaguar, found that the show was one of the more successful ones the band has played lately.

“It was one of the better shows that I’ve been to recently,” he said. “There were five shows happening on Friday night in the Fraser Valley, and that shows how much work is going into the scene. I think the crowd was really good; people were into it. It was really fun.”

While the basement of the church provided an intimate setting that was perfect for the audience size — nearly 30 people — it also comes with a few challenges, including the quality of sound in the space, and while all of the bands played their best, it was obvious that this was an issue.

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“It just provides a challenge sometimes,” Trainor said. “It’s fun playing wherever, but it does make it hard. For example, [our drummer] couldn’t hear us because there were no monitors.”

Despite the lack of “real” music venues in the Fraser Valley, musicians make the best with what they have, and with shows happening regularly in the church’s basement, as well as O’Neills, Brothers Bowling, Captain’s Cabin, and various other venues, there’s no lack of places for bands to perform.

While it was obvious that the basement of the church was not designed with sound quality in mind, this didn’t seem to bother the crowd, and although these types of venues present issues for the performers, they come with some benefits as well. While most bands, like Western Jaguar, still strive to perform in larger, more professional venues, there’s something about the small shows that doesn’t compare.

“We played at the Media Club in Vancouver and there’s all these people down below — you’re detached,” Trainor explained. “All these shows, you’re on the floor, you have people in your face. It’s more human and easier to connect and less stressful. I can see people and I know if they’re enjoying it.”

Venues like the Media Club are dedicated solely to hosting performances, and in smaller cities like Abbotsford and Chilliwack, the idea just isn’t feasible.

“I think any band prefers to play somewhere where there’s professional sound,” Trainor said.

“There’s a need for a music venue of some sort, but I don’t know how viable that would be from a business standpoint. Out in the Valley, I don’t see that ever being an actual possibility. There’s not enough people to sustain a legitimate venue.”

“They’re just a bunch of kids putting on shows.

It’s cool; I didn’t have the initiative to do that when I was their age. Everyone is just doing what they can.

They’re finding space and putting on shows.”

Although the Fraser Valley may not have the most ideal venues for local musicians, everyone, including the people behind Red Tape Productions, is making the best of what’s available.

AUG 9

AUG 11

AUG 1214 AUG 18 AUG 25

Blessed, Tuni and Loans Carport Manor Aug 9

Jam in Jubilee @Jubilee Park 6:00 - 11:00 p.m.

Abbotsford International Airshow Abbotsford Airport Aug 12-14

Jam in Jubilee @Jubilee Park 6:00 - 11:00 p.m.

Jam in Jubilee @Jubilee Park 6:00 - 11:00 p.m.

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016

CULTURE & EVENTS

E-sports Valley club gets the high score LANslide event raises $450 for charity

MITCH HUTTEMA

THE CASCADE/PHOTOS

Last weekend UFV’s E-Sports Valley club held the LANslide gaming marathon in the Student Union Building (SUB), in support of the Starfish Program at the Abbotsford Food Bank and the Fraser Valley Youth Society.

There were around 15 different games being played throughout the Great Hall by 30 or so participants from 7 p.m. on Friday night until 9 a.m. on Saturday.

By holding a raffle and concession sale the

E-Sports Valley club raised approximately $450, with 75 per cent of the money going to the Starfish Program — which gives kids six meals as well as snacks to take home for the weekend — and the remaining 25 per cent going to the Fraser Valley Youth Society, which does outreach throughout the Valley with LGBTQ teens.

“I bet you if you were to ask pretty much any gamer, ‘Is there a cause worthy of donating to and playing games for?’ they would find something to be interested in,” said Jaleen Mackay, the public relations manager of the E-Sports Valley club.

The E-Sports team has had several charity events in its past and holds an annual tournament in cooperation with Childs Play which raises money to bring board games to hospitalized children.

Games at the event ranged from League of Legends, Overwatch, and Mortal Kombat X, to Guitar Hero, Mario Kart, and Halo. But the club often has challenges in setting up tournaments at the event.

“What we have found to be extremely difficult is to find what games to host because no one will tell us in advance,” said Mackay. “Two days

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Contact: mitch@ufvcascade.ca

before the event someone will tell us, ‘Oh, I heard there’s going to be Counterstrike Global Offensive,’ and I’m like, well there probably would have been, but nobody filled an RSVP, so we have no idea who’s showing up, we have no idea who wants to play what.”

Regardless of tournament organization the event was a hit according to Mackay.

“For me, the highlight is always the people,” she said, “I would say just getting to see my friends, getting people to talk to each other and try new things is the highlight!”

! mucho bueno ¡

contact mitch@ufv.ca for more info

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016

www.ufvcascade.ca

CULTURE & EVENTS

Visual arts students bring art into the community

Photos: Chris Friesen

VANESSA BROADBENT THE CASCADE

Student in Chris Friesen’s community arts practice course are spending their summer creating four different community art displays around the Fraser Valley.

“We’ve had community groups approach the visual arts department for a fairly long time now, but also in a consistent manner, wanting students to be involved in projects that they’re wanting to see happen in the community,” Friesen said.

The course is unique to UFV as it engages with the professional aspect of art in a tangible way. While students are responsible for painting the displays, they also learn how to create and present proposals for community art dispays.

“Students that go through this

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course know what a public art process is; they know what they have to do to put a proposal together,” Friesen explained. “It prepares them for the real world as much as anything can, and they have something for a resume; they have something that exists in the world that they can refer back to and that they get feedback constantly from.”

Although Friesen has been teaching the course for years, he explained that the variety from year to year is what always keeps it interesting.

“It’s always new to me – this is why I love this course,” he said. “It’s the dynamic of the students that I’m working with that dictates the outcome of the project, and it’s their energies and their enthusiasm for the project that gets them into that space a couple days a week, where it’s not an expectation, it’s a passion.”

www.ufvcascade.ca

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016

vvv

ARTS IN REVIEW GAME REVIEW

Evolving to new heights

Shuffle AARON LEVY STATION MANAGER

Jam in Jubilee is here in Abbotsford at 5 corners Thursdays from 6-11 all August, and here's a "CIVL Station Manager Aaron Levy's Guide" to this summer's stacked lineup.

Julie Doiron Spill Yer Lungs After achieving notoriety with Halifax psych rockers Eric's Trip back in a time I lovingly refer to as the 1990's, Doiron used the aughts to establish herself as one of the standout singer slash songwriters on Canada's Eastern Coastal region, and beyond.

Seeing her in Abbotsford is a serious treat.

Herokah Naked A Surrey based 'chanteuse', as it were, Herokah was also a nominee and presenter at this summer's Fraser Valley Music Awards. Much of the time, we'll find her rocking a powerful, dark electro vibe. In the interest of analogies; think Katy Perry guesting on a Crystal Castles sampling NIN tune.

The Sylvia Platters Note To Self Born of the very offices (historically, not properly/geographically, i.e. C building, but still belonging to) that publish this paper, the FVMA nominated Ubels brothers have crafted their particular brand of (obligatory Replacements reference) artistic-garage rock over the better part of a decade, in front of our very eyes.

The Parish of Little Clifton Cultus Vibes Playing, like Herokah will, at the Townhall After Dark portion of Jam in Jubilee, DJ Simon Bridgefoot, FKA The Parish of Little Clifton, is Abbotsford's resident boutique banger dance floor beat breaker, having teamed up at one point with Jordan Klassen to play After Dark's inaugural week as Rare Vos.

CHARTS 1

Blessed Blessed

2

Eleanore Eleanore

3

Loans Bell Tower

4

Adrian Teacher and The Subs Terminal City

5 6

Kenny Wayne Jumpin' and Boppin'

7

Har Mar Superstar Best Summer Ever

8

Wolf Parade EP 4

9

Preoccupations Preoccupations

10

Holy Fuck Congrats

11

BADBADNOTGOOD IV

12

L.T.Leif Shadow On The Brim / Rough Beasts

13

Black Mountain IV

14 15

Painted Fruits Shake Fest 3

16

Saint Soldier A Stray (Single)

17

Alex Calder Bend

18

Mugg Shot & RZ Replay

19

Teen Daze Palo Santo (Single)

20

Snak The Ripper From The Dirt

Weird Lines Weird Lines

Ria Jade Ms. Volcano

CAM STEPHEN CONTRIBUTOR

About a year ago everyone was excited and hyped for the release of Evolve, a boss battle style game featuring four “Hunter” classes facing off against a giant monster that would slowly evolve and get stronger over time. The twist of the game though, was that the “Monster” was also a playable class. Referred to as a “4v1” game, everyone eagerly awaited its release. But that excitement did not last once the game actually came out. Many fans criticized the game for its large amount of expensive downloadable content, a large portion of this being released shortly after the game’s launch, leading fans to believe that content had been removed simply to add on as additional purchases later. Due to all this negativity, many of the fans left and the game fell into obscurity with a low player base.

But that all looks to be changing now as the game has been revamped and rereleased as Evolve Stage 2. One of the biggest changes comes to the price being reduced to a very appealing free. With the new release and new price tag, the game is seeing brighter days. A new in-game currency has been introduced called “silver keys,” which are earned by just playing the game. With these keys players can unlock new characters that previously would have cost them a few dollars to get. In addition to that, the keys can be used on perks to increase Monster and Hunter strength in matches or change up the aesthetics of your character or their weapons with skins.

The maps in the game previously were very dark and

grungy with heavy weather effects and lots of vegetation obscuring vision. They have since been cleaned up, increasing the brightness of the maps, tidying up the plant life, and tuning the weather to be less of a hindrance to both sides.

The four Hunter classes (Assault, Trapper, Medic, and Support) have also been given some updates to help players enjoy the game. An old ability unique to the Trapper called the “mobile arena,” a large dome of energy designed to keep the Monster enclosed in a small area for the Hunters to more easily kill, was clunky and more often than not would trap the Hunters inside of it while the Monster was left free on the outside. Now the mobile arena is open to all characters to use and it has been revamped to ensure when it's used the Monster is trapped inside.

And for those players who previously owned the game, they are being given quite a large bonus for returning. For starters, those who are only downloading now start with four Hunters out of a current 24, and one Monster out of a current seven. These change weekly as a rotation of free ones so that players can try them all. But if you owned the game previously you start with all Hunters and Monsters unlocked with many of their skins already unlocked as well.

In addition to that, they are also given 30,000 silver keys to unlock any additional content they might wish to own.

Overall, Evolve Stage 2 looks promising — I enjoyed the game a lot before, and am enjoying it even more now as many of my friends are now playing it along with. It’s definitely worth trying out for a little bit. And hey, it’s free, so what’s the harm?

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WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016

www.ufvcascade.ca

ARTS IN REVIEW

S undBites

case/lang/viers

Blink 182

case/lang/viers

Supergroups suck. Even when you get a pile of visionaries together, the act falls flat. The Travelling Wilburys, for example: you’ve got Bob Dylan and a Beatle, which should have been enough to create magic without all the other guys, but they combine their mastery of the art to make what boils down to a bunch of b-sides. Why is this? Is it impossible for separate geniuses to come together and blow each other’s work into something absolutely transcendent?

Of course it’s possible; case/lang/viers exists. Neko Case, kd lang, and Laura Viers come together like macaroni, cheese, and

Mini album reviews

California ketchup, their different voices and styles mixing up into one unified, delicious, satisfying vision.

How do case/lang/viers succeed where other supergroups fail? It has everything to do with their songs. Rather than compiling a bunch of throwaways, these songwriters present some of their absolute best stuff.

Listen just to the first three tracks and you will understand; “Atomic Number,” “Honey and Smoke,” and “Song for Judee” are all going to rip your face off, tunnel down your face-hole, fill your heart, and make it explode.

Alex Rake

Blink-182’s latest album, California is very reminiscent of 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. Hoppus and the others have still got it, Matt Skiba seems a fitting new addition, and the band has done well regardless of DeLonges’ absence. Though there are plenty of catchy hooks and familiar, punchy beats in songs such as “Kings Of The Weekend” and “She’s Out Of Her Mind” (which felt quite akin to “Rock Show”), there is also, unsurprisingly, a certain level of the nostalgic angst that comes with being an aging pop-punk rock band. “Bored To Death” laments in the chorus, “Lost and cold, and fading fast, life’s too short to last long,” and “No Future” includes lines such as “Yeah, you can run but life won't wait.” Even the more

resolved “Rabbit Hole” expresses the feeling of being “a cardboard cutout, old and faded.”

However, there are plenty of more upbeat songs as well, like “The Only Thing That Matters,” some of Blink’s infamously absurd humour — notably the track “Built this Pool” — and no lack of “na-na-na’s” here and there. Several tracks, as you may have guessed, reference the band’s home state: “California,” “Los Angeles,” “San Diego” — enough to make even the Red Hot ewChilli Peppers proud.

There may not be anything overly new or remarkable about California, but it's definitely a fun listen and worth checking out, especially for any older Blink fans.

Kat Marusiak

Everybody Looking

JPNSGRLS

Gucci Mane

Divorce

Divorce is the summer album I’ve been waiting for. If anything, the record is a testament to the Vancouver-based foursome’s songwriting abilities. The record starts off with “Oh My God,” which in essence sets the tone for most of the record: self-aware, earnestly emotional, and unrelentingly energetic.

Songs like “Circus” encapsulate everything that’s on the money about JPNSGRLS. You’ve got a funky bass line keeping up the tempo, the guitars are adequately distorted and fuzzy, and at the breakdown, Charlie Kerr’s overly emphatic voice spills over the tight rock jam underneath, all suaveness and heartbreak.

If anything, this kind of indie rock is

the best kind of indie rock: the kind that’s unapologetically emotional and sentimental in its lyrical content, while retaining its instrumental brashness. “Trojan Horse” for example is a great synthesis of the emotionality apparent in the lyricism on Divorce and the energy that infects just about every track on the record.

One of the most interesting things on Divorce is that, although full of rad indie jams like its predecessor Circulation, the tracks on Divorce more often than not stray from straightforward tempos, and change rhythmically between chorus and verse.

JPNSGRLS revel in the emotionality of Divorce and what we get as a result is, perhaps not surprisingly, fun as hell.

Martin Castro

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Gucci Mane’s first release after having been released from prison turned out to be one of my favourite records this summer so far.

The majority of the thematic content on the record revolves around Gucci’s release from prison and his attempt to live a more low-key life (legally speaking), while at the same time keeping up the image he’s been cultivating since his first release.

Although there are only three features on the entire project, the album feels complete as it stands, the best track probably being “All My Children” or “Out Do Ya.” This said, most of the tracks on the record are all thematically bland. It’s all bravado and

glorification of crime; there’s nothing innovative here. But more than that, Davis’ ear for catchy hooks and hypnotic rhyme schemes tie the record up with a trapflavoured bow that’s just too hard to resist.

The production on the record is overall pretty straightforward trap beats with piano riffs or synth riffs over them. “Multi Millionare LaFlare” is a great example of how Gucci’s lazy, messy delivery works in his favour when it comes to the type of production he chooses. It’s all basementparty rap, but as far as basement-party rap goes, this is pretty great.

Martin Castro

www.ufvcascade.ca

WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016

ARTS IN REVIEW TV REVIEW

Stranger Things makes you feel weird

The Duffer Brothers get strange with their sophomore release

MITCH HUTTEMA THE CASCADE

The Duffer Brothers (twins Matt and Ross) have worked their way out of obscurity and onto the payroll of Netflix with their new suspense series Stranger Things. Like most Netflix shows, the Brothers suddenly popped up overnight on the radar of all of the Western world without much pre-emptive fanfare. Their show is an eight-episode thriller-drama with a penchant for suspense that would make Alfred Hitchcock proud.

In reality, what this show feels like is a couple of boys doing their best to pull together every film that they loved as children and mash them all up into their own personalized mega reel. But isn’t that what all of us are doing, simply finding what we love most and attempting to make it our own? Whether or not you think that the Duffer Brothers were successful in creating a unique work, they glued together enough hat tips, homages, and thrills to create eight episodes of TV. The show is a tale of kidnapping in an ‘80s world where the government has tapped into a supernatural dimension as a result of Project MKUltra: a controversial, real-world program wherein the CIA dabbled in torture and drug use in an attempt to, among other things, control the minds of unwitting human subjects. The grotesque details of MKUltra were largely unimportant to Stranger Trails, but a narrative of criticism was

created towards the program and by extension towards small “g” government. Due to the twisted experimentation of the department a breach was made between the “Upside Down” and the real world which released a proverbial kraken.

The vilification and mystery of the government agency in Stranger Things comes straight out of Steven Spielberg’s E.T., with stoic men in hazmat suits carrying out clinical, yet evil-looking procedures. However, the bastardization of the powers that be does not feel like an expressly political or libertarian statement, but instead like a reflection of the way that a child is afraid of the government and law enforcement, only because it is an unknown entity that has the power to get them into trouble.

This take on the government makes sense in line with the fact that the cast is largely made up of child actors. In an article they penned for Entertainment Weekly, the Duffer Brothers specify that they interviewed 906 boys and 307 girls in order to avoid the repercussions of bad child actors. It seems that their efforts paid off as the children they casted were exceptional at creating a gateway in which an adult audience can access the nostalgia and whimsy of their childhood years without getting hung up on the sometimes cute but often annoying attitudes and behaviours that come along with young children. Rather than have the establishment take care of the interdimensional monster, the mother and father figures of the film become responsible for the eradication of the

monster, the exact way a child would imagine it to happen.

The homage to classic films doesn’t end with E.T.’s childlike viewpoint. The Brothers also call back to Spielberg’s signature steady, one-shot masters: the lighting and cinematography of Alien, and the energy of Super 8. Some characters feel like they are from True Detective and even Twin Peaks.

In addition to recalling the past, the series also stays relevant to contemporary cultural values.

Women, and especially mothers, are allowed to overpower the males in the film, and even hold more important roles than their male counterparts.

One of the more important female characters in the story has visible acne but, contrary to traditional narratives, is presented as a valued and beautiful character nonetheless. Even in regards to mental health and stereotypical high school social roles, the show manages to sidestep cliché and create a casual yet inclusive story.

The show has its fair share of issues as well, though. Sometimes characters fall flat, other times parents don’t realize an unfamiliar small child is living in their basement for days at a time. The way the plot is resolved at times feels like a giant metaphorical crane is stationed nearby which can lower in the solution like a god in the sky. But each of these mistakes are also found in previous sci-fi films, raising the question of whether or not the Duffer Brothers are using these devices to further emulate the classics that influenced them.

Though the series is nearly eight hours long, it

plays exactly like a film. If you plan to watch it, prepare one solid block of time to finish it all in one sitting. The Duffer Brothers created the series to progress like a novel, one chapter at a time.

However, they created the type of novel that’s impossible to put down. The show is not scary per say, but the suspense of the story is palpable. You can literally pick up the gooey, slimy suspense of the story with your hands and watch it ooze through your fingers unnervingly. Watch it at night; to view a suspense film in broad daylight is a shame.

Stranger Things doesn’t have too much in the way of outright laughter or comedy, but be patient for gems like “Honey, we have to trust them, okay?

This is our government” that come from dopey dads doing their best to stay in line.

Don’t expect total satisfaction at the end of the series though, as a second season does seem to be in the works. Most of the important questions and issues are resolved, but in an almost Marvel-esque manner a pre-credits scene rolls, raising a whole new set of questions. In an interview with Variety Magazine, the Duffer Brothers spoke about how they created a 30-page document that fully outlines the rules and characters of the “Upside Down” (their alternate underworld dimension) and plan to further explain the dimension in coming seasons.

But if you are a fan of bokeh-blurred Jaws posters in the background, perfectly executed nostalgia, and suspense that will bring you to your feet without realizing it, don’t wait for a second season.

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JAM IN JUBILEE Free Concert Series & Art Market

6pm Thursday Evenings August 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th

Jubilee Park, Abbotsford

food

CLOTHES n stuff

BEER!

Julie Doiron | Teen Daze

Adrian Teacher & the Subs

Sylvia Platters | Jenny Banai | Kin | Western Jaguar

Poison Corn | Lonesome Town Painters Chicken-Like Birds | Atodaso | FVMA nominee Alex Rake & the Leaves | Herokah & DJ RAV3N Kristen Witko Dove | MC Seth Bell

DJ sets by: Joel Sojonky | Johnny K | Simon Bridgefoot | Sonja What’s On! TM

www.whatsonabbotsford.ca www.whatsonmission.ca

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