June 30, 2015

JUNE 30, 2015

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UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE

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UAA alumni wins Mayor’s Marathon

Personal stories of the Sockeye Fire

Anchorage Mayor-elect hosts community forum

PHOTO BY NATHAN BURNS

Joelle Hall, Andrew Halcro, Anchorage Mayor-elect Ethan Berkowitz and Ethan Schutte engaged the community in an open forum June 23 at the Spenard Recreation Center to better understand the perspectives of Berkowitz’s future constituents.

By Nathan Burns

nburns@thenorthernlight.org

Mayor-elect Ethan Berkowitz met with his future constituents June 23 at the Spenard Recreation Center to hear concerns and suggestions. Berkowitz, along with the three chairs of his transition team, Joelle Hall, Andrew Halcro and Ethan Schutt, sat at a head table armed with pens and notepads. For the next hour they diligently recorded all of the comments made by anyone present who wished to speak about the city. For citizens less comfortable with speaking in front of a crowd, cards and pens were handed out and their anonymous suggestions and comments were collected at the end.

A cross section of the Anchorage population attended the event, as the room filled with real estate developers, mothers and their children, college students, small business owners, food truck owners, trail enthusiasts and business professionals of all stripes.

The topics at hand were no less diverse than the people who wished to discuss them: biking safety, property taxes, the trail system, business permitting, the homeless, expansion of the library, global warming, People Mover, keeping Anchorage green and wild and crime prevention were discussed. Berkowitz and his team sometimes asked clarifying questions or addressed the issue directly rather than simply recording the comments.

Many residents brought up the central issue of safety.

Anchorage boasts a world-class trail system and citizens repeatedly expressed their love for the trail system as a unique part of what makes Anchorage a great city.

“We think that parks and trails are an economic engine for this city that help to attract quality talent,” said Hall, who has diligently worked with parks and recreation in the past to bring the trails and parks to where they are today. “A lot of people use the trails. When we poll, trail safety is a top concern, and we need to figure out as a city how to insure public safety on the trails.”

Some citizens feel homeless camps have filled alongside these trails and they expressed feeling unsafe using these trails alone, at night or, in certain places, at all.

Many expressed anger regarding what they perceive is the city shuffling the homeless around, as opposed to a concerted effort to solve the problem of homelessness.

A passionate speech from one resident about how she doesn’t feel the trails are safe for her or her daughter to

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go jogging prompted a response from the mayor-elect.

“I don’t know what the current plan is right now, but I will tell you that beginning next week that we are going to make sure we a doing a serious effort to make sure that our streets are safer, which is important for people who have property, for people who live here and for people who use our trail system,” Berkowitz said. “It’s also important because amongst the homeless community there are different segments. There are people that are preyed upon and there are people that are predators and we want to make sure that this city is as safe as possible for as many people as possible. We are going to take a course that is safe, a course that is sensible and a course that is compassionate.”

The burden of emergency care for homeless inebriates on Anchorage healthcare was a concern shared by both residents and the homelessness subcommittee of the mayoral transition team. Many feel that preventative care would heavily reduce both cost and crowding in Anchorage emergency rooms. Halcro responded with a progress update to assuage citizens that these concerns are being addressed.

“What we realized around the transition process is that a lot of these nonprofits have to talk to each other,” Halcro said. “There are several organizations out there that want to do preventative services, that aren’t being allowed to simply because no one is communicating with each other. We’re going to have to start to communicate, to collaborate and nonprofits are going to have to get back to their core services.”

Several residents said Anchorage was starting to get more stratified despite its diversity. These residents felt that some of Anchorage’s cultures were becoming segregated, leading to a deal of insularity and xenophobia. Several others expressed concern that efforts to prevent this might lead to Anchorage becoming homogenized and cited the difficulty of maintaining an identity in a cosmopolitan city.

“I think a lot of the separation occurs when people are afraid of one another, and the more that we can encourage people to believe that this city belongs to all us, the more we’re going to have people maintain the identities they want to maintain while still mixing together. ... I think it makes us a stronger city because it expands our individual horizons, but it also expands our opportunities,” Berkowitz said.

Anchorage’s library system received much praise from the audience, which included both employees of the system and the library users. Many felt that the may-

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or’s administration should focus on expanding library coverage in Anchorage, as there are parts of the city that do not have access to a library for miles.

Similarly, transportation was a large issue for most present. Car owners expressed dissatisfaction with traffic in the Spenard area, bicyclists expressed concerns about safety and trails and bus riders expressed dissatisfaction with the safety and perception of the People Mover service in Anchorage. The rather worn-down Downtown Transit Center was cited as home to a host of unsavory and criminal activities and several residents have complained about the system’s bus coverage not expanding in decades.

“In regards to these concerns about public transportation, there are so many factors in it,” Berkowitz said.

“We live in a time where budgets are incredibly tight ...

Quality public transportation is important, so not everyone has to drive, not everyone wants to drive and there are parts of town that would be better served by not being so congested with cars. This is something we’re going to pay close attention to.”

The town hall meeting went slightly over the planned time and at the end, anyone with additional questions and comments was advised to head to the Berkowitz’s website. After the official adjournment, it took an additional 30 minutes for the room to clear as people formed groups to discuss the meeting with the chairs, mayorelect and each other.

“I think it’s fantastic. I love how open and transparent the process is,” said Lance Ahern, who spoke enthusiastically with Halcro after the meeting.

The mayor-elect’s team uses the town hall meetings not just a way to hear feedback, but as a way to gauge what the community is most concerned with on a community level.

“The questions were very thematic from what we heard before. Everyone in the community shares the same three or four big issues,” Halcro said.

When asked after the meeting, Chair Ethan Schutt expressed a great deal of satisfaction with the community’s involvement in the meeting.

“These town halls have been very enjoyable,” Schutt said. “People have been engaged and respectful and patient. They’ve expressed their views, they’ve come up with good ideas, they’ve addressed legitimate concerns and I’ve really enjoyed it.”

This meeting was the third of four town hall meetings Berkowitz is scheduled to hold before assuming office.

The final meeting was June 25.

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THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015

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MEET THE SEAWOLF

Comedy helps illuminate tougher facts of history In the year 2013, an alien brain slug from one of the galaxy’s most feared empires crash-landed on Earth and assumed control of a lowly reporter at this newspaper.

These are his stories.

By Klax Zlubzecon

Translated by George Hyde You know, many of my recent articles have been pretty grounded in reality.

They haven’t been that funny. They’ve tackled issues that many consider to be too niche or too boring for their tastes.

Part of me wanted to write something about the disastrous launch of “Batman: Arkham Knight” on PC, but nobody really cares about that. I was out of ideas.

But after taking a look at The Northern Light’s long collection of past articles, George and I came home with an idea that literally guarantees humor and laughter.

Nazis.

Okay, maybe I’m living in a bit of a glass house here. I can’t joke about the Nazi party — they were responsible for the deaths of more than 6 million Jewish

people across Europe, and man, the Slug Empire is guilty of way more innocent life loss than that. We’re ruthless and efficient at what we do. And we do it really, really well.

So Nazis aren’t inherently funny. It’s the ways that people today react to their actions that are funny.

See, in TNL’s long back catalogue, the word “Nazi” has come up uncomfortably often. One headline boasted the words “Nazi” and “parking” in the same headline, which I’m sure is getting a few conspiracy theorist heads turning on UAA’s campus.

And it doesn’t stop with TNL. George recently reviewed a game that featured Nazi zombies. This was preceded a year

ago with a game about shooting space Nazis on the moon.

George pops in a movie like “Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark” or “The Blues Brothers,” only to find the Nazis portrayed in those films to be either bumbling fools, or so cartoonishly evil that they end up being hilarious — often both.

The Third Reich was a real, serious and heart-wrenching tragedy in humanity’s history. It proved just how compliant humans can be when someone with enough charisma decides to do something monstrous, like invading nearby countries and committing genocide on multiple fronts. Under any logical circumstance, Nazis should be the least funny thing to talk about on planet Earth.

But for some reason, whenever they’re brought up in a humorous context, nobody really bats an eye nowadays.

There’s a great quote from Mel Brooks: “Rhetoric does not get you anywhere because Hitler and Mussolini are just as good at rhetoric. But if you can bring these people down with comedy, they stand no chance.”

It helps that Adolf Hitler is an undeniably evil person, which makes him much easier to make fun of.

But it’s when people bring Nazis up in conversations that they’re the funniest. The Internet even made up a physical law about it: Godwin’s Law, which states that as any online conversation goes on longer and longer, the chance of Hitler and/or the Nazi party being brought up approaches one.

I’m sure you’ve heard someone say this in a discussion: “Well, Hitler supported smoking bans, so smoking bans

must be the worst thing to happen to UAA ever!” This is the point at which, of course, we all stop listening to that person because they’ve resorted to a fallacy that only idiots can resort to. And it’s hilarious, in an endearing way, like a dog sitting in its own feces.

This is something that’s popping up all over the place now, after the horrific massacre in Charleston, South Carolina.

I’m desperately trying not to joke about this, because part of me says that to make a joke about the tragic deaths of nine people and the serious threat of homegrown terrorism in America, would make me a monster — even more of a monster than my evil alien predispositions let on.

But there’s truth in Mel Brooks’ quote up there. It’s the reason we can’t take Nazis seriously anymore, because people like Brooks and John Landis helped relieve that pressure. They showed people that something as monstrous and evil as the Nazi party needs to be ridiculed, because that’s how we brought them down. In those cases, the humor helped get the nature of those events off everyone’s chest, which allowed for more discussion and thoughtful, interesting points made about the era. And while I believe that it would be in poor taste to make jokes at the expense of those who died that day in Charleston, I do believe that, with a little pressure off the chest and a little humor here and there, we can really assess and understand what happened.

Because, well, Hitler was made fun of, and look what happened to him.

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.

EMBRACE THE SEAWOLF SLUG.

Valdez: A welcome break from the heat A well-meaning column rife with clunky metaphors and horrible advice, Orange Rhymes With is the goto place to break the monotony of classes and laugh at someone else’s misfortune.

By Evan Dodd Contributor

I get bored easily. This explains my patchwork quilt of a resume, my many hobbies that tend to be abruptly abandoned in favor of something new and shiny, as well as my predilection for inventing new and creative ways to avoid the mundane routine of the work week in lieu of the remote possibility of exploring something new.

So when my girlfriend mentioned her upcoming annual pilgrimage to Valdez for an international theater conference, my brain quickly began rationalizing how I could easily leave work and drive through the night to spend a long weekend away from the smoke-filled Anchorage bowl.

What I planned to do during the conference was unclear, as was the rationale behind bringing my entire crate of hiking gear, but I had a sneaking suspicion that the two weren’t unrelated. Thankfully, due in part to the brutal heat, work became a half-day and I was able to depart before all hope of alert and safe driving had been crushed altogether. Anticipating a spectacular solo road trip, I was instead treated to a six-hour stay inside a blast furnace because my car could handle AC and elevation, but never both at the same time.

The conference itself was surprisingly engaging, something that I had not anticipated as a non-participant. Though I’m more than happy to watch an evening of

theater, the height of my participation in the art is when I skillfully pretend to have forgotten my wallet when my mooch of a friend asks me to “spot him 20 for gas” for the third time in the span of a month. So while I was looking forward to attending the readings and performances of those I knew directly, I hadn’t expected to enjoy the event as much as I did.

I stayed with my girlfriend and two other friends that were house-sitting for a family that was hospitable enough to take us all in. As this was my second summer to use Valdez as a weekend escape, I had now stayed a week total in the house, sleeping in every bed along the way, despite having never met what must have been the kindest family imaginable.

The few days I was able to attend consisted of a variety of performances spread throughout the day, separated by a frequent and frenzied exodus for a local restaurant that had concocted several varieties of potatoes and meat served in a pile. Needless to say it was a popular attraction and may have permanently sealed off several of my arteries. To its credit, the town of Valdez seems very good-natured toward the hundreds of actors, playwrights and guests that swarm its few bars and restaurants each summer. While the added revenue is undoubtedly beneficial, I saw the same haggard bartender every night, and each time his determination seemed to have cracked a bit more under the pressure of the crowds.

Everyone was incredibly welcoming at the conference, which I suppose was to be expected at an international gathering of professional extroverts, and there seemed to be a nightly pilgrimage to one of the three available bars once the day had ended.

As for that, the most I’ll say is that I’m thankful that Valdez doesn’t span a large distance and that the way home was clearly marked.

While in town, I managed to climb a large waterfall before being yelled at by someone I can only assume was the rightful property owner and wound up on a glacial tour boat that served overpriced beer and priceless views. While neither venture was entirely intentional or particularly well planned, they made some great pictures and stories that those unlucky enough to follow my Instagram will soon grow weary of.

Finally it came time to leave my mini-vacation, and we all packed up to caravan back to smokier pastures and crowded work schedules. Four days seems to be just enough to grow attached to a vacation without tiring of it, and I wasn’t remotely ready to leave the coast and return to the Mad Max-style heat of Anchorage.

As one last hurrah, I turned the return into an eight-hour trip and managed to find towering waterfalls, explore an abandoned tunnel rife with years of graffiti and hike a glacier I had somehow neglected to notice for years. With once last wistful glance at the Tok Thai Truck I departed from Glenallen, takeout tray between my knees, reminiscing on the hysterically entertaining weekend behind me and the horrifically painful food poisoning that was surely lurking just around the corner.

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THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015

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The Northern Light’s summer to-do list

GRAPHICS BY JIAN BAUTISTA

MORE EVENTS FOREST FAIR | July 3-5 in Girdwood SALMONFEST | July 31-Aug. 2 in Ninilchik Something missing? Send additional summer activities to editor@thenorthernlight.org.

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THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015

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Unexpected turn: Accounts of the Sockeye Fire

By Samantha Davenport arts@thenorthernlight.org

My mom came inside from mowing the lawn at around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday because she thought she smelled smoke. I ignored her remark and continued to watch “Orange is the New Black” on Netflix because she’s the type of lady who sweats the small stuff. My dad was in Ninilchik enjoying his free time being off from work as an elementary school teacher.

I had just gotten back from hanging with my best friend in Talkeetna. My plans for the day were to completely veg out and binge watch anything and everything.

As my show continued, sounds from dozens of cop cars, fire trucks and medics zipped past our house. Helicopters and airplanes flew above us. The phone began to ring endlessly. I started to realize that this was bigger than mom’s overreaction.

The people who called had a myriad of questions.

“It started up Sockeye. They have it contained, though, right?”

“Some kids were up until 4 a.m. shooting off fireworks — who was it?”

“They started evacuating Sharon Drive. Don’t you live close to there?”

“Is the Red Cross at the community center?”

How am I supposed to know these things?

I could start to smell the smoke in the house. Mom and I went outside where the sky was colored grey and red. Everything in the yard had a bright orange tint.

Well, that’s not good.

We decided it was better to be safe than sorry and pack up a few memorable belongings. All of the pictures and photo albums were the first to be packed.

“Put everything that you want in a bag and throw it in the car,” my mom said.

It was weird. I walked into my room and stood there for a minute. I looked around

“I could start to smell the smoke in my house.”

- SAMANTHA DAVENPORT

to see what I wanted. I wasn’t emotionally attached to anything except the house.

Everything in my room was just material items that could be replaced. I grabbed a heap of clothes and some from my hamper. That’s what I wear the most, right?

By this point, the dogs were freaking out. Ever since I saw “Paranormal Activity,” I was convinced that babies and dogs had a sixth sense for bad auras.

After around 30 minutes of packing up valuables and memories, we had both Subarus packed with all our stuff.

So far: Two dogs Three guns One mammoth tusk and several mammoth bones (my dad’s babies, don’t ask) Heaps of clothes A hard drive for a 20-year-old computer Boxes of pictures Grandpa’s guitar A 1950s Betty Crocker cookbook One paddleboard Grandma’s ashes One Jack White concert ticket When the cars were packed up and ready to go, we headed out to Uncle Bruce’s house near Crystal Lake. Driving down our neighborhood, Gratiot, we felt the heat of the fire. We could see the fire and we could hear it crackling and taking down trees as it went. Apparently, it was right across the highway.

The plan was to stay the night at my uncle Bruce’s and after the fire blew over we’d go home.

Ha. As if.

After letting the dogs run around at Bruce’s for a bit, we decided that we could zip over to the community center and see who was there. We took one car and left the pups at the house. The community center had billowing, black clouds surrounding the building. It didn’t look good.

We were there for around 10 minutes and decided we should head back to Bruce’s.

PHOTO BY SAMANTHA DAVENPORT

Hoses surround houses in the area from the Hot Shot crews in Willow.

Nope.

The police had closed the road.

So we booked it over to Willow Creek Parkway, the other entrance to Bruce’s house, to see if they had barricaded it, which they had.

Apparently, they were evacuating all of the Crystal Lake area because they expected the fire to head that way. Unfortunately, we only had one of our cars, which had half of our belongings in it, and were short two dogs.

This was chaos.

The entire sky was a dark orange, and it was extremely hot. Everyone was driving like maniacs and confused about where they could go. At this time, we were informed that our neighbor Dee Dee Jonrowe’s house had burned to the ground and that our house was gone as well.

We called Bruce who had already packed the dogs and his belongings up and it was decided that all of us would meet at Newman’s Hilltop, the gas station where my mom and I work.

We pulled up in my Subaru where the station was in a manic state. The power had shut off and people were trying to get gas so they could make it into town without breaking down. I began crying. I just wanted to go home and the worst of it was I had no home to go to.

Mom and I were coming up with a game plan to get her car back when I saw a yellow Volkswagen Bug pull into the station. My ex-boyfriend of two years drives a yellow Beetle and as far as I know, it’s the only one in Willow.

Well, lo and behold, out steps my ex, who I have not seen in months. We stare at each other for a moment and he hugs me. He asks what we know about the fire.

“My car is down at Bruce’s, and they won’t let me in,” my mom said.

All he said was, “Come on, get in.”

My mom looks at me with a “Is this really happening?” face and jumps in the car anyway. I watched them speed away into smoke.

I waited at the station for 20 minutes and they finally got back. I told him thank you and he left. Apparently, he convinced two cops to let him pass through and sped like crazy to get to my mom’s car.

As if this day couldn’t get weirder.

We had the cars, we had the stuff and we had the dogs. Bruce pulled into the station with his truck and little trailer. His plan was to go to Houston and camp there for the night until he could get home. Mom and I were heading to Anchorage to a family friend’s house, where we could crash for a few nights.

After getting comfortable for a second time, just this time in Anchorage and not at Bruce’s, we finally passed out at around 2 a.m.

“There’s someone at the door,” I awoke to my mom saying at 2:45 a.m.

It was my dad. My dad had drove like crazy to get home. He stopped at Judy’s (the family friend) to check in on us and try to sleep for a few hours. We all dozed in and out of sleep until about 6 a.m. when I got a text from my neighbor.

“Your house is OK. Call me.”

PHOTO BY WENDY MORGAN

Photo sent to Samantha Davenport by neighbor Wendy Morgan Monday morning showing that Sam’s house still stood.

We had been mourning the loss of the house all evening. Mom called our neighbor.

Many of the houses in the neighborhood burned, but ours didn’t somehow.

My dad talked to one of the firemen that he knew personally and he told us why we lucked out.

In our yard, there is a tree house around 25 feet away from the house. The tree house sits between three trees, one of which is a gigantic spruce. The fire caught onto the spruce and exploded. The firefighters assumed that the house was inevitably doomed. Suddenly, two planes dropped water and fire retardant right onto the tree house and made the fire turn paths.

Talk about a blessing.

So, we had a house. Some of our neighbors had lost their houses and we lost a lot of trees, but we had a house.

My dad decided to head home and see if he could help the house at all. As soon as he got there, a handful of hot spots were noticeable in the yard, which he hosed down.

For several hours, he ran around the neighborhood, putting out hot spots and patches of smolder, even extinguishing a sizzling garage.

Mom and I were still in Anchorage. There wasn’t a whole lot we could do, since we had the dogs and they wouldn’t be able to breathe through the smoke we decided to stay put. We waited around all day, constantly checking the news, dispatches and fire reports.

Later that afternoon we caught word that the fire had rolled around Willow, going up near Hatcher Pass and back again. Unfortunately, the fire made its way back to Gratiot, our neighborhood. They had evacuated my dad to Houston because they expected the fire to rip its way through.

All we could do was wait. Again.

And we did.

The worst thing about any situation like this is waiting. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot anyone can do. You can pray and cross your fingers, but you can’t do much more

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THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 than that for the good of your house.

We kept getting speculation on if our house had survived round two of the fire.

Around 10 p.m. Tuesday, a neighbor notified us that another neighbor’s house had exploded.

When I got word of this, the tears started up again. The uncertainty of whether your house is still a house and not a heap of ashes is absolutely and utterly miserable.

“We had been mourning the loss of the house all evening. Mom called our neighbor. Many of the houses in the neighborhood burned, but ours didn’t somehow.”

- SAMANTHA DAVENPORT

I was heartbroken. The house that had exploded wasn’t even 50 feet away from my neighbor and one of my oldest childhood friends’ house. Again, all I could do was to hope and wait on the outcome of our homes.

Mom and I dozed off for a couple hours, hoping to get some much-needed sleep. At around 2:30 a.m., I got a text from Brittney, that childhood friend. Her house was gone.

This can’t be real.

I went to the bathroom and washed my face, I sat on side of the bath and cried.

There are so many memories in our houses.

When we were 10 or 11, we got hooked on this stupid movie called “Be Kind Rewind,” with Jack Black in it. For some reason, we were obsessed. Basically, Jack Black owns a video store where he accidentally erases all of the movies. Instead of buying new ones, he recreates each one.

That’s what Britt and I did. We made Jurassic Park, James Bond, Harry Potter and plenty of others.

I remembered then that I didn’t grab any home videos. I had left all of those movies we made in my parents’ bedroom on the bottom shelf. If our house was still there, I knew that was the first thing I would grab. I knew Brittney would want to hold onto those memories as much as I did.

Then dad called at around 5:30 a.m. The cops and traffic had finally allowed him to get to our house.

It was, by a second miracle, still standing.

The second round had taken Brittney’s house along with a handful of others. This fire has ripped dozens of homes apart, many of which I know. It is so difficult to sit in Anchorage, unable to do anything. All we can do is keep praying and crossing our fingers.

Mom decided that Grandma Barb was grateful we grabbed her ashes before we left.

I couldn’t agree more.

PHOTO BY SAMANTHA DAVENPORT

Hundreds of burnt trees stand barren in the Gratiot neighborhood of Willow.

PHOTO BY SAMANTHA DAVENPORT

Skip Davenport puts out a hot spot near his house.

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THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, JUNE 16, 2015

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GAME REVIEW

‘Arkham Knight’ is spectacular when it works

By George Hyde

gchyde@thenorthernlight.org

Note: This review is for the PC version of Arkham Knight. For the reasons cited in this review, the PC version has since been pulled from Steam while the game’s development house makes critical repairs. If you’re playing on a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, assume that the technical issues don’t exist — even though they might.

“Batman: Arkham Knight” is a fantastic game. You wouldn’t be able to believe it from the PC porting job, but it is.

It’s a fantastic open world that brings back the personality and charm of the “Arkham City” open world without feeling as phoned-in as 2013’s “Arkham Origins.” The characters are well written, the combat is as tight and solid as ever, and the new mechanics are well polished. After “Arkham Origins” disappointed fans of the series, this feels like a true return to form.

Unfortunately, the PC port is such a spectacular failure that Warner Brothers actually pulled the game from digital storefronts. In the face of constant pressure straight from the main menus to buy more downloadable content and the Season Pass, this makes the game feel like a ticking corporate time bomb waiting to blow up in consumers’ faces — and for PC players, it did. But I shouldn’t let that ruin the console players’ fun.

The game takes place right after “Batman: Arkham City.” After a few moments of peace after that game’s ending, Scarecrow returns from a long “Arkham” series hiatus to unleash his fear gas on Gotham City. The citizens evacuate, leaving only criminals and police behind to clean up the mess. It’s up to Batman to restore Gotham to its former glory, while other iconic villains plot his demise.

I haven’t finished the game yet, due to the game’s aforementioned horrific shape on PC, but so far, the plot is solid. The writing is top-notch, as is the voice acting, which should be expected considering the “Arkham” series’ pedigree in writing and acting. Kevin Conroy makes a glorious return to the Batman role, and a certain actor makes a very special appearance — but this review won’t spoil whom.

While the general structure of the game remains the same as “Arkham City,”

“Knight” adds the Batmobile to the mix, which works surprisingly well from a game play standpoint. It gives players a new vector through which to explore Gotham (even though gliding and grappling around still remains as fun as ever), and when a challenge is built around the car, it feels just as tight and satisfying as the rest of the game.

Unfortunately, the PC version is absolutely busted. This is a nitpick, because people who want to buy the PC version can no longer do so because it was so broken. The game stutters, freeze and crashes, and players hoping to make any meaningful graphical changes need to go digging into the game’s internal files to do so. It feels like an evil scheme the Riddler would concoct: “You can’t play this game until you solve the game engine’s riddles, players!”

Thankfully, Rocksteady is taking notice and working on a fix, while ensuring that people who bought the game can get refunds. So that’s some consolation.

If you’re not playing on PC, though, “Arkham Knight” is a landmark actionadventure title. It continues the “Arkham” legacy with grace and panache, bringing back elements that made the older “Arkham” games great while giving the few great moments from “Origins” a chance to glimmer. When it works, it’s the definitive “Batman” experience and it’s a new benchmark for action-adventure gaming as a whole. Just be sure to get (or wait for) a working version.

TITLE DEVELOPER “Batman: Arkham Rocksteady Studios Knight” PLATFORMS PS4, XBO, PC

GENRE: Action-adventure RELEASE DATE June 23, 2015

ALBUM REVIEW

Sister Girlfriend debuts ‘Knock EP’

By Taylor Hodges

KRUA 88.1 FM Music Manager

Have you ever messed with a drum machine from the ‘80s? Or any keyboard made in the last 30 years? Many have, and those who have will easily be able to understand the genesis of this album.

Sister Girlfriend’s “Knock EP” is like a sequined sport coat-style peep show that represents Seattle’s synth pop scene. Dreamy keyboards lightly lay over drums and bass, with an occasional alto saxophone peeking through. Most tracks on “Knock EP” make listeners want to get out of their seat and move their feet to the beat no matter the heat.

Chromeo-like lyrics accompany the instruments appropriately, covering subject like love, lust and the loosening of inhibitions. Comparing it to the lascivious lyrics of R. Kelly may be going too far, but that modern R&B style has heavily influenced this album.

This album is perfect for a summer playlist with its carefree melodies and head-bobbing rhythms. Even the drum fills are impressively simple and catchy. While it may be a relatively rough-cut album (I mean come on, Sister Girlfriend is barely more than a group of friends in a garage at this point), it’s super catchy and enjoyable. This will definitely be getting airtime over the next few months. It is not a challenging album, but at least it doesn’t contribute to the mass of overly pretentious artists these days.

ARTIST Sister Girlfriend ALBUM “Knock EP” RELEASE DATE Aug. 3, 2015 GENRE Electronic pop LABEL Self-released

Find Sister Girlfriend on Twitter @xxsistergfxx and give it a listen.

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THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015

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First Hand experiences at the Road to Warped Tour

By Samantha Davenport arts@thenorthernlight.org

The Vans Road to Warped Tour seemed to be an event that could perfectly describe my eighth grade year of middle school. There was a lot of black clothing, angst and screaming music. It was a super weird flashback of nostalgia, and I loved it.

When I got there, the line had already begun to wrap

around the Sullivan. Fortunately, we had press passes that gave us the opportunity to surpass the line.

Out of the bands playing I had only heard of a few.

Memphis May Fire, 36 Crazyfists, New Found Glory and Pvris. Kelly just wanted to hear Helmet because she knew one of their songs.

We rolled through the gates at 2, right when Pvris took the stage. I remember several months ago I saw her music video for her song “My House,” which was visually odd yet pleasing with lots of floating inanimate objects, hairbrushes, radios, etc. I wasn’t sure walking in if she would be any good live. I stood right by a large set of speakers that made my glasses shake and my chest buzz they were so loud. Pvris was good. Like, really good. Her opening for Vans definitely pumped me up for more bands to play.

The cool thing about having a press pass is the accessibility at the venues. During a band’s performance, I could walk right up to the stage, close enough to touch it. It was nice to not be in the pit of hormonal and aggressive teens and have some sort of distance from the crowd surfing delinquents.

Security decided later that press passes could only be used during the first three songs in a band’s set. After that, one could stand on the sides of the stage but not right in the front. After my stage time was over, I would go sift through the crowd to find my group of friends.

Unfortunately, to get to them I had to bypass a circle of moshing teens. Like, punching, running and pushing teens. It was a literal tornado of testosterone.

When Memphis May Fire performed, I turned around to take a picture of the audience, who had managed to hoist a girl in a full leg cast up over their heads and throw her into the arms of security.

Memphis May Fire was another favorite of mine.

Their sound didn’t differ from their records, and it doesn’t hurt that the lead singer Matty Mullins is a babe.

Several hours into the event, my head was pounding with adrenaline and loud music, but mainly the music.

Their energy radiated through the crowd, the mosh pits and the screaming teens. Taking pictures of them made it an even more enjoyable experience. I stood in arm’s reach of Memphis May Fire and started grinning big when they looked at me. Talk about a fan girl.

New Found Glory was excited to tell the crowd that Alaska was the 50th state they have performed in. Their drummer had a small version of Animal from the Muppets sitting on top of his bass drum that seemed to jump every time the hard rock component kicked in.

All and all, the Road to Warped was an event I wouldn’t hesitate on going back to. My legs were dead from eight hours of jumping and dodging mosh pits, but it was an oddly sentimental day overall.

Big Spawn Concert Series returns

PHOTO BY JONATHAN MARLOW

PHOTO COURTESY OF AMERICAN SONGWRITER

By Kelly Ireland

editor@thenorthernlight.org

July 11 the band famous for the song “Best Day of My Life,” American Authors, is coming to Anchorage. South African band of brothers KONGOS — famous for the songs “Come With Me Now” and “I’m Only Joking” — will join American Authors onstage downtown. The concert is the first of the Humpy’s Big Spawn Concert Series this summer. The series was started last year in celebration of Humpy’s

20th summer in business.

American Author’s song “Best Day of My Life” rose to 11th place on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April 2014. The song has been featured in trailers for films such as “Delivery Man,” “Earth to Echo,” “St. Vincent” and “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” as well as the film “Humpback Whales” and the show “The Vampire Diaries.”

KONGOS topped the Hot 100 chart at No. 31 for “Come With Me Now” in July 2014. The song was used as the WWE’s “Extreme Rules” theme song and was

played in the film “The Expendables 3.”

Both bands are familiar with the festival scene and have high live review ratings. American Authors have played at Lollapalooza and South by Southwest Music Festival, just to name a few. KONGOS have also played at Lollapalooza.

With 38 reviews on Ticketmaster, American Authors have an average 4.8 star rating out of 5 stars. KONGOS have a 4.6 star rating on Ticketmaster with 108 reviews submitted. Both bands were recommended for their energy and stage presence.

American Authors and KONGOS will play July 11 outside of Humpy’s on F Street. Doors open at 5 p.m., and the concert begins at 6 p.m. Tickets are on sale on Humpy’s website for $50 in advance and $60 day-of. A full bar is available for those over the age of 21 with valid I.D.

A&E

THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015

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MOVIE REVIEW

‘Inside Out’ is a return to form from Pixar

By Jacob Holley-Kline

By George Hyde

Contributor

gchyde@thenorthernlight.org

For what feels like a drawn out episode of “All in the Family,” “2 Days in New York” cranks out some big laughs and some even bigger missteps. Like its predecessor, “2 Days in Paris,” the cast has an easy chemistry, but the narrative is too slapdash to let them shine as individuals.

Pulling overtime as star and director, Julie Delpy (“Avengers: Age of Ultron”) plays Marion, a 30-something-year-old artist and mother living with her boyfriend, Mingus (Chris Rock, “Top Five”), and his daughter, Willow (Talen Ruth Riley, “Four”). They live comfortably until Marion’s dad, Jeannot (Delpy’s real-life father, Albert Delpy, “Anton Tchekhov 1890”), sister, Rose (Alexia Landeau, “Kiss of the Damned”), and her boyfriend, Manu (Alexandre Nahon, “2 Days in Paris”) come to visit.

In a tired rehash of the crazy-in-laws-do-crazy-things story, Marion’s family nearly ruins her and her boyfriend’s lives. The problem is they have no real reason for doing so. In a passing conversation, Rose hints at why she loathes her sister, and Jeannot’s state of mind is explained in a voiceover, but little is explained beyond that.

Essentially, “2 Days in New York” comes down to Jeannot acting like a kid, Rose flirting with every man she meets and Manu being racist. Not one of them gets a moment of clarity. All of those go to Marion and Mingus.

What little focus the movie has is devoted to their relationship, and Rock and Delpy have indelible chemistry. Mingus afraid to commit because any slip-up could lead to losing his daughter, and Marion is afraid that her golden years have passed her by. Unlike the depthless side characters, the couple manages to transcend their sitcom archetypes.

By the time the third long-winded and poorly written voiceover rolls through, viewers will know that the movie is nothing more than a drawn-out sitcom. Delpy tries valiantly to make something worthwhile, but “2 Days in New York” comes off as generic, too sanitary in a lot of ways and too dirty in others. Burdened by an unfocused narrative and murky characters, “2 Days in New York” fails to balance its mistakes with its successes.

TITLE “2 Days in New York”

RELEASE DATE March 28, 2012

DIRECTORS Julie Delpy

GENRE Romantic comedy

COUNTRY Australia

Until now, Pixar has been in a bit of a funk. Stuck on sequels to old franchises for the last three years, it seemed like they were on the way out — especially as Disney’s own animation studios cranked out hits like “Frozen” and “Big Hero 6.”

But “Inside Out” gives the studio hope again.

It’s a simple, easily understood story with heart and emotional soul, which should come as no surprise, as Pete Docter returns to the director’s seat for the first time since “Up.” He and Pixar’s work with “Inside Out,” as a result, is up there among Pixar’s finest.

The film personifies five basic human emotions: Joy (Amy Poehler, “Parks and Recreation”), Sadness (Phyllis Smith, “The Middle”), Fear (Bill Hader, “Inside Amy Schumer”), Anger (Lewis Black, “Introducing Parker Dowd”) and Disgust (Mindy Kaling, “This Is the End”).

These emotions essentially run the human they inhabit — in this case, a young girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias, “The Shifting”). In the film, Riley’s family is moving to a new city, and her emotions find themselves in a whole mess of problems when Riley is forced to grow up in a situation where she doesn’t exactly want to.

While the setup leads itself to a lot of puns and sight gags, it’s actually used really effectively to deliver hard emotional punches. Old, beloved memories are TITLE “Inside Out” DIRECTORS Pete Docter

inevitably forgotten. Riley runs through the five stages of grief after leaving her hometown and her actions are actions that everyone’s done as a kid, for better or worse. While it’s often a funny movie, it knows when to hit the viewer hard with a sad, solemn scene.

That, and it actually nails a lot of complex psychological concepts. While it does take some liberties, the film does try its best to stay true to real science. That’s admirable, considering how well done and paced the storytelling is.

On top of that, the film is a visual treat.

The anthropomorphic emotions have a unique, interesting texture that lends them a sense of individuality — this was apparently a new, expensive animation technique, proving that animation might still have a few new technological leaps ahead of it. Colors pop off the screen, and a lot of the clever, psychological ideas are well represented in terms of design.

“Inside Out” is a wonderful, smart, clever, funny and heart-wrenching tale about family, growing up, emotions, grief and hope, all with a spunky kid-friendly demeanor and great acting and technical talent to boot. It’s proof that Pixar isn’t done creating classics yet and that they can still swing with the great stuff their contemporaries at Disney and Dreamworks are releasing. It’s one of the best films of the year so far, and it doesn’t take much brainpower to realize that.

RELEASE DATE June 19, 2015

STARRING Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Bill Hader

A&E

THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015

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MOVIE REVIEW

‘Jurassic World’ is brain-dead fun

By George Hyde

gchyde@thenorthernlight.org

The first “Jurassic Park” film was a landmark in cinema. While it didn’t have the most captivating story, the special effects were groundbreaking, combining traditional puppetry and animatronics with then-mind-blowing computer-generated effects to create a believable, dinosaur-filled world. With memorable characters and quotes, it made for a movie that some argue still stand up today.

That sentiment rings true of “Jurassic World” as well. While the plot has many, many holes, the characters are likable, and the dinosaurs are still amazing to watch.

Having not learned the important lesson from the other three “Jurassic Park” films, that making genetic monsters for people’s amusement is bad, the higher-ups at the new “Jurassic World” theme park have decided to create a brand new dinosaur. This new creature inevitably breaks loose, and it’s up to famed Velociraptor trainer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt, “Guardians of the Galaxy”) to track down this new dinosaur and make sure nobody gets hurt.

Naturally, a plot like this opens a lot of holes. What nation on Earth would let a gigantic corporation build a death monster on a secretive island? Is this corporation really so profit-hungry that it would build a death monster in the first place, after the disasters that they acknowledge happened in the previous movies? There’s a man (admittedly played quite well by Vincent D’Onofrio) who wants to weaponize the dinosaurs at the park, failing to realize that trained men with guns seem to do the job well already.

The custom dinosaur, creatively named the Indominus rex, is able to adapt to whatever the humans or the plot demands, making it feel like a contrived effort to

make a consistently scary villain. While the movie doesn’t fully reveal the dinosaur until a ways in, its reveal is ultimately underwhelming, as aside from a color change, it doesn’t look that different from the other dinos in the film.

Plus, the product placement is off the hook. There doesn’t seem to be a single spot on the island where there isn’t some big logo. It gets to the point where a character brings the product placement up, but it doesn’t change the feeling that “Jurassic World” feels like a corporate shill.

That being said, though, it is a very entertaining corporate shill. As mentioned before, the characters are likable and the effects are believable. That, and the finale is the most fun finale of any summer movie since maybe the first “Avengers.” Chris Pratt is as entertaining as always, and he has great chemistry with the other characters. While the film’s dinosaurs aren’t as convincing as the first film (the first film used a combination of practical and digital effects, which helped fool the eyes, while “World” uses digital entirely), they still look really cool.

“Jurassic World” is a mixed bag. The corporate influence is obvious, the plot is filled with more holes than an average mile of Alaskan highway, and the dinosaurs, while cool, don’t look as cool as they used to, but it’s still an incredibly fun ride.

Just remember to check your brain in at the door.

FILM “Jurassic World” DIRECTORS Colin Trevorrow

RELEASE DATE Dallas Howard, June 12, 2015 Vincent D’Onofrio STARRING Chris Pratt, Bryce

SPORTS

THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015

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UAA hosts 42nd annual Mayor’s Marathon to a great response

PHOTOS BY ADAM EBERHARDT

Participants in the youth cup leave the starting line during the 42nd annual Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon on June 20.

By Nolin Ainsworth

sports@thenorthernlight.org

The University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves hosted Alaska’s most popular marathon and half-marathon event June 20. Several thousand runners competed in the race. It seemed as if the only one who forgot to show up to the Mayor’s Marathon was the sun, which shines for a boastful 20 hours during summer solstice. Instead, overcast skies, a slight breeze, and 58-degree temperatures gave runners a cooler, and arguably more favorable, climate to run in.

One of UAA’s past cross-country and track athlete, Paul Rottich, won the men’s marathon with a time of 2:32:39, beating out Sam Tilly of Indian, Alaska, by less than 10 seconds.

It was redemptive performance for Rottich, who was in Tilly’s shoes the last time he ran the marathon in 2014, when he finished a close second to David Kiplagat.

UAA cross-country and track and field coach Matt Friese, who coached Rottich from 2006-2010, was proud of his former student-athlete.

“He came close to winning last year and he came close to losing this year,” said the longtime Seawolf coach. “I’m glad to see him win and hey, it’s tough to win a marathon. For him to do that is impressive.”

On the women’s side, Colleen Bolling was the fastest in the field, covering the 26.2mile course in 3:14:37 and approximately two minutes ahead of second place finisher Alison Huppert.

Unlike the top 10 male finishers in the marathon, which was dominated by Alaskans, seven of the top 10 women’s finishers were from out-of-state, coming from locales as far out as Albuquerque and Toronto.

A couple from southern Utah stole the show in the half marathon of Saturday’s even. Hayden and Ashley Hawks, who registered as residents of Cedar City, Utah, both won their respective races. Ashley proved she is as good of training partner as anyone for her husband, after she finished the race in 1:20:25, only 13 minutes behind

UAA Track and Field Head Coach Michael Friess gives a pep talk to the participants of the youth cup before the start of their race during the 42nd annual Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon on June 20.

her husband.

Seawolves Henry Cheseto, Edwin Kangogo, Victor Samoei all looked in competitive form, finishing in the top 10 in the half marathon.

Another UAA cross-country and track and field alumna Christi Schmitz proved she still is an elite runner, finishing the half-marathon in 1:30:32.

There were many other great athletes in attendance in addition to those who placed or were UAA athletes, including international marathon enthusiast Doug Beagle.

Beagle arrived in Anchorage around midnight on race day, a couple of hours before sunrise, and less than nine hours before he would be staged at the starting line for the marathon in the parking lot of East Anchorage High School.

“It was a little tough today,” said the 65-year-old runner from Houston, Texas.

Beagle travels all over the world with his wife and never forgets to pack his running shoes.

When asked if this was his first marathon, Beagle replied nonchalantly he’s run in over 200 marathons, which includes some ultra marathons, which are races longer than 26.2 miles.

“We do a marathon every two weeks,” Beagle said. “We enjoy the travel.”

Beagle’s passion for exploration and exercise has led him to all over North America and the world. Beagle says he’s run in all but two continents: South America and Antarctica.

The 5’10” Texan doesn’t allow age to get in the way of his running.

“That’s the thing about getting older — you train just as hard, you put just as much effort into it, and you go slower,” Beagle said. “Every day, every race is different.”

That was certainly the case for Oregonian Theresa Crawford.

Crawford’s father, Larry, was chief-of-staff under several past Anchorage mayors, including Tom Fink, Rick Mystrom and most recently, Dan Sullivan. Crawford passed away two years in Sullivan’s term. The younger Crawford was glad to be close to her dad on Father’s Day weekend.

“I did this for him,” she said.

Former UAA Cross Country runner Paul Rottich is interviewed by the media after winning the 42nd annual Mayor’s Midnight Sun Marathon on June 20.

OPINION

THENORTHERNLIGHT TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015

| 11

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Dear Editor,

I read in the news that Mayor Sullivan is reminding us how wonderful it is for Alaska and Anchorage that the state gave all of these millions of dollars to the oil companies in tax credits to drill in Cook Inlet.

However, what he did not remind us of was that the state could have drilled in the Cook Inlet using the Norwegian oil field model, which is very successful for the Norwegians and Norwegian oil field management to run the Alaskan oil field company that the state could have developed for us.

The state could have used the profits made from the oil and gas that the state would have developed to pay for the state budget. As it is now, the oil field companies will be taking these profits and distributing them to the rich and powerful in the lower 48 who own these oil field companies. As a result of this failure, it is only a matter of time until the state will be taking away the dividend check, instate income taxes, increase sale taxes and continue deep cutbacks in the state budget to pay for the state’s operating budget.

He did not remind us that the state is removing one of the state troopers rescue helicopters from service because the state no longer has the funds to support its operations in rescuing people.

We all know that next year the state will continue to cutback funds for fire, police, roads, schools and so on. The state could have kept those things if it would have made the choice to develop its own oil and gas. But instead Mayor Sullivan was in favor of bringing in private oil field companies to take all of the profits for themselves, leaving the state with up in coming taxes and deep cuts in the state budget.

Which one would you rather have? Is Mayor Sullivan’s choice the best one of the two?

John Suter

suter@gci.net

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THE NORTHERN LIGHT CONTACTS 3211 Providence Drive Student Union 113 Anchorage, AK 99508 EXECUTIVE EDITOR 786-1434 editor@thenorthernlight.org Kelly Ireland

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CORRECTIONS In the article “USUAA lends hand to depressed Green and Gold bicycles” in the June 16th edition of The Northern Light, we misreported USUAA’s need for volunteers. While USUAA welcomes volunteers for projects, student government cannot allow volunteers to help fix the bikes for liability reasons. USUAA members have inspected the bikes and an independent contractor will perform repairs on bikes that have not passed inspection. The program is running successfully now and those bikes in disrepair are being held from use until they are fixed.

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