6-17-15

Vol. 106 Issue 7

Pittnews.com

@thepittnews

Wednesday, June 17, 2015 Ticket to ride

How much does each Port Authority bus ride cost Pitt?

Coffee drinkers rejoice

Ignore the stigma — coffee’s critics are unfounded.

page 2

And we’ll never be Royals...

...or at least an All-Star unless you are one.

page 12

page 7

Pitt professor killed in car crash

Hey brother Nick Jonas plays his — and others’ — hits at Pride Week concert.

Exit, stage right

page 9

Lauren Rosenblatt Assistant News Editor

A fatal car crash took the life of a 13-year Pitt professor.

At 12:10 a.m. on June 8, George Jucha Jr.’s car collided with another vehicle on Route 22 in Washington County. According to Pitt spokesman John Fedele, Jucha had been a part-time instructor in the computer science department since 2001.

According to the police report, the front bumper of another car struck Jucha’s Subaru Forester. The impact caused Jucha’s car to spin 90 degrees, and then collide with the fender of the other vehicle.

State Police have not yet determined who is responsible for the crash or the speed of the vehicles at impact. The poSee Crash on page 5

Theo Schwarz VISUAL EDITOR

Pittsburghʼs Classic Theater on the move Mark Pesto Staff Writer

Pitt’s Theatre Arts department is expanding, forcing a Pittsburgh theatre company to leave its longtime home on Pitt’s cam-

pus.

The Stephen Foster Memorial, which Pitt owns and is located on Forbes Avenue across from Schenley Plaza, has hosted Pittsburgh’s Classic Theatre for the past decade, but Pitt has recently informed the

company that it will not renew the company’s lease, which expires in December, according to PICT’s artistic and executive director, Alan Stanford.

See PICT on page 4

2

June 17, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

FYI ( For Your Information )

All That jazz

Port Authority considers flat fare for buses

Lauren Rosenblatt, Elizabeth Erroll Garner, Pittsburgh native and Lepro and Chidi Nwakpuda legendary jazz pianist, had to use a phone book to reach the piano keys.

At five-foot-two, Garner had to prop himself up to play. Now, Garner’s former assistant, Martha Glaser, has donated his papers, including the

The Pitt News Staff

Each day she began her commute to her high school job, Roxana Evans lost a portion of her paycheck to Pittsburgh’s bus system.

The chunk was larger than she would have liked, since her commute put her outside of Zone 1, which extends to the edge of Homestead and Edgewood — which meant she had to pay more than a single-zone commute. Traveling beyond Zone 1 into Zone 2, as Evans did to get to her job in Monroeville, • cost her $3.75 each way, rather than $2.50, the fare for traveling • within a zone.

• “It was like half my paycheck,” Evans, now a junior • media and professional communications major, said. “The more I worked, the more I had to take the bus.”

If it were up to her, she said, every rider would pay the same fare, regardless of their destination. But now, with its “Where to Next” campaign, Port Authority may establish a flat fare. On June 9, Port Authority announced the campaign, which aims to take feedback from the community to improve the fare system for its public buses.

The campaign is based on an open community forum, according to Port Authority spokesperson Jim Ritchie. Port Authority is using the campaign to gather feedback to change two main things — the two-zone fare system and the timing of payment.

For Pitt students like Evans, their experience with Port Authority buses will not change. Ritchie said the current agreement between Port Authority and Pitt that allows Pitt students to ride the buses by swiping their IDs will remain intact.

“Pitt and CMU students have their own method of paying,” Ritchie said.

“The terms of that contract are already established.”

Pitt made its most recent five-year agreement with Port Authority in 2012 and has had an arrangement with Port

over the last two years plus the current year is just over $6 million, according to Fedele.

Changes to the fare system, Port Authority CEO Ellen McLean said, have been long coming.

“We’ve talked about improving fare products and our fare policy for years but now we’re doing it,” McLean said in a release.

Ritchie said many have expressed interest in switching to a single-zone system, which would institute a base fare regardless of how far riders are travelling.

Tanya Baker, a Homewood resident who rides the bus evMost recent agreement between Pi! ery day, said any changes Port and Port Authority reached in 2012.

Authority makes will be inconseFirst agreement made in 1998. quential. Each day, Baker rides a Rides cost Pi! $1.25 each, 50 perbus to either Downtown or McKcent of published rate. eesport, through two separate Most recent agreement has cost Pi! zones. Despite the discrepancy $6 million since its signing. in fare, Baker doesn’t seem to mind.

“I’ve lived here my whole life, and I’m used to it,” Baker said.

ELLEN MCLEAN, “It’s fine the way it is.”

Port Authority CEO Jason Pickel, a frequent rider and graduate student at Pitt, said that a flat rate is more fair.

“You shouldn’t penalize someone just because they’re going to be on the bus for a little longer,” Pickel said.

The timing of payment is another point of contention among bus riders. Currently, riders traveling toward Downtown must pay upon boarding Authority since 1998, according to Uni- the bus and riders traveling outbound versity spokesperson John Fedele. must pay getting off. But Ritchie said Pitt is currently paying 50 percent many people argue that paying only of the standard rate for bus fare, which when boarding the vehicle would elimimeans Pitt faculty, students and staff nate confusion. pay $1.25 per bus ride. The other 50 “There are always people who do percent comes from the transportation not want to try to use the transit sysfee Pitt charges students. For a full aca- tem because they are intimidated,” demic year, Pitt’s security, safety and Ritchie said. “‘Why can’t Port Authortransportation fee is $180. ity switch to pay-enter?’ We’ve heard The average cost to the University that for years.”

Port Authority

Fast Facts

phone book he used to sit on, to Pitt’s University Library System, according to a release. After Garner passed away in 1977, Glaser assembled a collection of his professional materials — including performance contracts, correspondence, photographs, sheet music, awards, sound and video recordings and memorabilia. Students can now view that book and other memorabilia from Garner’s life in the University’s archives.

Garner died in 1977 at age 55 and is buried at the Homewood Cemetery.

June 15 would have been Garner’s 94th birthday.

Find more coverage at

pittnews.com

We’ve talked about improving fare products and our fare policy for years, but now we’re doing it.

June 17, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

3

For free promotion, Oakland restaurants to offer cheap lunch Chidi Nwakpuda For the Pitt News

The Pitt News Crossword, 6/17/2015

This summer, Fuel and Fuddle owner Brandon Smith looks forward to one week more than any other — Restaurant Week.

From June 22-27, the Oakland Business Improvement District (OBID), an economic development agency representing local businesses and other Oakland organizations, will host Restaurant Week for the second time this year. The first Restaurant Week this year was in January.

For the six days, 18 participating Oakland restaurants, including Fuel and Fuddle and Sorrento’s Pizza Roma, will offer a limited $6 menu in the hopes of reaching new customers. In exchange for offering discounted meals, OBID gives the restaurants free promotion for the week.

Throughout this week, Smith said, his restaurant sees a rise in business and gets a chance to promote a different menu.

“I think our offerings are creative and decent,” he said. “We try to have an eclecACROSS 1 Hockey stat 7 Hill-building insect 10 Decorate, as a Christmas tree 14 Post office patron 15 Podded plant 16 Sharpen 17 Ancient region ruled by Athens 18 *Military bigwigs 20 Section of town, for short 21 Not well 23 Notifies 24 Indefinite number 25 Be overly sweet 26 “Glee” cheerleading coach 27 Marching band member 28 Black, in poesy 31 Triteness 35 Earthquake aftershock 37 Chief Norse god 38 Dull uniform color 40 Top-shelf 41 __ the Pooh 43 Roll call setting, for most teens 45 Frau’s refusal 46 Basic lessons 47 Slap the cuffs on 49 Electrical outlet insert 50 UV-blocker rating syst.

53 Cheap cigar 56 Blade that makes a wake 57 Slip-on, e.g.

58 *Home mortgage payer’s benefit 60 Diagnostic skin injection, and, based on the initials of their answers, what the starred clues represent 62 Olympian’s blade 63 Revolutionary Guevara 64 Threat-ending words 65 __ one’s way: proceed 66 Squirreled away 67 Port in southwestern Italy

tic menu just to give people a cool thing to try.”

Fuel and Fuddle, located at 212 Oakland Ave., has participated in Restaurant Week for the past three years. The restaurant is

Sorrento’s Pizza Roma has also participated in Restaurant Week before, and has seen similar success. This year, Aaron Tripe, owner of Sorrento’s, has big goals for the week.

“We hope to get four to 10 [new customers] per day,” Tripe said. “If we get 30, 40, As fellow afficiandos of cheap food, TPN suggests these meals during 50 [people] coming into our Oakland Restaurant Week... restaurant and five new ones Prince of India: $6 buffet that come more often, that If you don’t like buffets, you’re wrong. And with Prince of India’s buffet, you can dig would be beneficial.” into a heaping dish of basmati rice without pinching pennies.

Tripe, 35, said he has been trying for years to reel in more Fuel & Fuddle: BBQ Pulled Pork Wrap with Coleslaw, Bacon, & Ched- customers that are native to dar Cheese. Served with Fries.

Oakland. The restaurant, loFrom the drinks to the fries, you can’t go wrong with Fuel & Fuddle’s upscale pub cated at 23 Atwood St., caters fare. And you can’t go wrong with the price, either. — just remember to order extra mostly to students. napkins.

Tripe acknowledged that Red Oak Cafe: Friday special - Fish Tacos, Mango Slaw & Avocado although students contribute a great deal of sales to his Sauce, Corn, Rice & Bean Salad. business, they are transient.

Dig into a plate of Red Oak’s fish tacos and bask in the mango-avocado glory as After the fall and spring terms, you commend yourself on your awesome financial choices. The dish normally costs a majority of students go home $8.25, so your wallet and your taste buds will thank you.

See Resturant on page 6

Editor’s choice

7/6/15

By Gareth Bain

DOWN 1 GE competitor 2 The devil 3 Show indifference 4 “Would __ to you?”

5 Part of a min.

6 *Off-road twowheeler 7 In a fitting way 8 Prefix with natal 9 Spanish bar snacks 10 *Fairy tale porridge eaters 11 Sound of the surf 12 The “I” in VMI: Abbr.

13 Sloppy situation 19 More deeply colored, as a clear sky 22 Reluctant 25 __-de-sac 27 *Salon device for one who wants color but not sun 29 1847 Melville novel 30 Taboo 31 Gift decoration 32 Game point, in tennis 33 Yellow-striped pool ball

Saturday’s Puzzle Solved

©2015 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

34 Slangy agreement 35 *“Beetlejuice” director 36 Sleep stage letters 39 Cuddly-looking Australian marsupial 42 “ ... bombs bursting __” 44 Heart exam: Abbr.

48 Tree that sounds like a sandy shore

7/6/15

49 Elbowed 50 Snail’s protection 51 Old West search party 52 Big celebrations 53 Hearty meal 54 Scotch __ 55 Plow-pulling team 57 Staircase part 59 Yellowfin tuna 61 Maidenform garment

participating again this year to gain further exposure and more regular customers.

For Smith, 34, Restaurant Week has historically been a chance to reel in a higher volume of sales.

4

PICT, pg. 1 Annmarie Duggan, chair of Pitt’s Theatre Arts department, said the department simply needs more space. To accommodate the expanding department, Pitt must remove the building’s current tenants.

“We’re just doing more shows,” Duggan said. “This year, we’re doing five shows.

We’ve always done four…Our classes are expanding, and we use the theatres as classrooms.”

Stanford, however, said PICT saw Pitt’s decision coming.

“We’ve expected for some time that there would be a move. We were hoping it would be a little later,” Stanford said.

Still, Stanford said PICT and the University are parting on good terms.

“I have great respect for what the [Theatre Arts] department is trying to do. We always knew we were a tenant, and we knew our lease was coming up,” Stanford said.

Duggan agreed that the transition was amicable.

“It’s a positive parting, and I hope it will continue to be a positive relationship, as we are art partners in the city of Pittsburgh,”

June 17, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com pany [on campus] was sort of an in.”

Meyers starred as Pip in PICT’s recent production of Great Expectations. Other recent PICT productions in which he appeared include “Macbeth” and Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme.”

Despite the upcoming move, PICT’s schedule of plays won’t change much. Stanford said that PICT will finish out its current Nick Jonas performed in Pittsburgh to replaced Iggy Azalea at Pride in the Street on June 13. season at the Stephen Theo Schwarz VISUAL EDITOR Foster Memorial, then shift from its current MayDuggan said. ated in 2014.

December schedule to a more traditional Despite the upcoming move, Stanford According to Meyers, PICT’s presence fall-spring season. hopes to maintain PICT’s professional re- on Pitt’s campus helped him get started as PICT has also postponed its planned lationship with Pitt’s Theatre Arts depart- a professional actor. production of George Bernard Shaw’s ment. He said that the list of PICT’s top “I think that partnership really opened “Saint Joan” until 2016, replacing its Sept. actors and actresses includes Pitt alumni that avenue for me,” Meyers said. “KnowSee PICT on page 5 such as Dylan Marquis Meyers, who gradu- ing there was a professional theatre com-

T P N S U D O K U

Today s difficulty level: Very Hard Puzzles by Dailysudoku.com

June 17, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

PICT, pg. 4 2015 spot in the schedule with the smallerscale “Educating Rita.” The other shows in PICT’s last season at Pitt will go on as planned.

“As a kind of recognition or celebration of our time at the University, I’m putting on ‘Educating Rita.’ It’s all about the importance of education,” Stanford said. “It’s a wonderfully funny play, but its message is that, no matter who you are or what your background is, you’re not only entitled to an education, but you’ll also benefit from an education.”

PICT has two or three options for a future venue, but Stanford couldn’t share specifics because negotiations are still in progress.

The Stephen Foster Memorial houses two performance spaces: the 478-seat Charity Randall Theatre and the 153-seat Henry Heymann Theatre.

“We’ve done some of our best work there,” Stanford said, praising both the Randall Theatre’s huge stage and the Heymann Theatre’s more intimate stu-

dio setting.”

According to Meyers, although the Stephen Foster Memorial is a great venue, the upcoming move is necessary for both PICT and Pitt because both groups are growing and expanding.

“The relationship was valuable and it helped people like me, but when Pitt Theatre is stepping up its game, doing more productions and bigger productions… for Pitt to have that space can only help,” Meyers said.

Crash, pg. 1 lice could not say when the records will be released.

Daniel Mosse, chair of the computer science department, said Jucha would be greatly missed in the department.

Each year he taught, the department awarded Jucha with a teaching award based off his student evaluations. Mosse said Jucha was at the top of the part-time faculty in his department.

5 “He was so humble in getting the award every year,” Mosse said. “He was obviously happy with the recognition, but he always thought, ‘How can I improve?’”

The department plans to name the part-time teaching award in Jucha’s honor.

“He should be most remembered for his services to the students, his dedication and his positive attitude,” Mosse said. “That’s his legacy.”

6

June 17, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the students, faculty or University administration. Opinions expressed in columns,- car toons and letters are not necessarily those of The Pitt News. Any letter - in tended for publication must be addressed to the editor, be no more than 250 words and include the writer’s name, phone number and University affiliation, if any. Letters may be sent via e-mail to letters@pittnews.com. The Pitt News reserves the right to edit any and all letters. In the event of multiple replies to an issue, The Pitt News may print one letter that represents the majority of responses. Unsigned editorials are a majority opinion of the Editorial Board, listed to the left.

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Complaints concerning coverage by The Pitt News, after first being brought to the editors, may be referred to the Community Relations -Com mittee, Pitt News Advisory Board, c/o student media adviser, 435 William Pitt Union, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15260.

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Resturant, pg. 3 or graduate. Tripe hopes to attract more Oakland natives, who will provide him with year-round business.

OBID solely covers the costs for promotion, marketing and event coordination.

Tripe said he is grateful that the organization is dedicated to helping local businesses. “[Restaurant Week] does a good job for small guys like us in Oakland,” Tripe said.

Jonathan Winkler, OBID spokesman, said that in past years, Restaurant Week has been a success for both the consumer and the producer.

“Oakland Restaurant Week only scratches the surface of what Oakland has to offer,” Winkler said.

June 17, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

EDITORIAL

OPINIONS

7

COLUMN

Astros database Coffee connoisseur confessional: Drink hack exhibits your cup of Joe, guilt-free diets. Separating the effects of personal oped tying coffee drinking to bone-density domestic Bethel Habte lifestyle from those of coffee, alone, proved loss and calcium absorption impairment very difficult. with claims of stunted growth and osteoespionage I like my coffee like I like my coffee — black, A National Institute of Health (NIH) porosis. Coffee has also often been lumped Columnist

What happens when you mix a sprinkle of America’s favorite pastime with a heaping teaspoon of corporate espionage?

You create a recipe for domestic disaster.

On Monday, The New York Times broke news that FBI and Justice Department prosecutors are investigating whether the St. Louis Cardinals officials hacked the Houston Astros’ database. Cardinals officials could have used the stolen data to learn different scouting methods or to know how the franchise values certain players in trade situations. According to The Times’ report, the Cardinals likely hacked the Astros in response to Jeff Luhnow’s departure from the Cardinals to become the Astros’ general manager.

Cardinals officials might have pried into Astros’ database to determine if Luhnow had been using the Cardinals’ proprietary baseball information to aid his new organization, according to the report. However, Luhnow’s switch in jobs is no excuse for alleged spying.

The issue is much more extensive than a squabble between two baseball teams — this act of corporate espionage is a peek into what we can expect from other large domestic corporations. Cybercriminals generally operated from foreign countries in the past, but now it seems just as likely that companies are spying on one another from American soil.

If baseball teams have the audacity to poke into one another’s classified databases, then it’s equally likely that tech start-ups and other large corporate entities in the U.S. have been and will continue to hack each other’s servers.

If a baseball team can do it, there’s no doubt that a larger company can.

This brand of corporate espionage is unacceptable and a breach of confidentiality. We need to actively question this type of privacy abuse and work toward creating more secure spaces online — we cannot tolerate any domestic cybercrime, even in areas as seemingly harmless as sports.

After all, not all criminals wear orange getups — some of them don suits and relax behind expensive computers.

about five times a day and accompanying most of my meals.

There are no euphemisms to decode here. I just really like coffee.

Coffee is as synonymous with college students as Netflix is with procrastination — both of which students indulge in to an ample extent, myself included.

And while I’m both an avid coffee drinker and Netflix watcher, I often bear more shame for my love of coffee than I do for my love of Netflix.

There’s no denying that there are negative perceptions of coffee drinkers like myself — we are a subset of addicts, grouped in the same unhealthy camp as the alcoholics and the smokers.

But that skewed perception is rooted in a great deal of false information. In light of recent findings, we should finally accept coffee for what it truly is — a vastly versatile and heavily misunderstood beverage.

As researchers are beginning to acknowledge, past studies conducted on coffee were distorted by a key factor — coffee drinkers, themselves. Coffee consumption has long gone hand-in-hand with an unhealthy lifestyle.

Often times, coffee drinkers doubled as smokers, neglected exercise and were less health-minded when it came to their

study followed about 350,000 members of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) from 1995-2008, analyzing their diet and health patterns.

Over the course of the study, researchers discovered that coffee drinking was correlated with other lifestyle traits. Coffee drinkers were likely to be smokers, eat more

red meat, eat fewer fruits and vegetables, exercise less and drink more alcohol. But once the lifestyle risks were controlled, researchers discovered that the overall risk of death for those who drank about two to six or more cups of coffee a day was 10 percent lower for men and 15 percent lower for women.

However, findings in past studies frequently cast coffee as a beverage that posed entirely negative health effects. Previous research claimed that coffee increased the risk of developing certain cancers and heart disease. Other ill-supported myths devel-

into the same category as addictive drugs of abuse, a classification scientists refute for the comparably minor risk of addiction and lack of severe side-effects.

Recently, better conducted studies have found the health risks usually associated with coffee drinking to be not only unfounded, but also countering reality. In early May, Aaron E. Carroll, a Professor of Pediatrics and Assistant Dean for Research Mentoring at Indiana University School of Medicine, wrote an article for The New York Times’ “The Upshot” blog, detailing the new consensus on health outcomes of drinking coffee.

In the article, he included an aggregate of recent studies and findings.

Coffee has been shown, through several systematic reviews (in which researchers rigorously review all relevant studies on the subject matter) and meta-analysis studies (in which data from separate and comparable studies are statistically reviewed), to decrease the risk of developing cardiovascular disease, stroke, heart failure, liver cancer, liver disease, cirrhosis, hepatitis C, Parkinson’s disease and Type 2 diabetes.

For cancers of the prostate, breast and See Habte on page 8

8

Habte, pg. 7 lung — which researchers have long assumed coffee negatively impacted — no significant association with coffee drinking was found.

If anything, coffee appeared to have a somewhat protective quality against developing the cancers. In fact, in a study looking at all cancers, coffee was shown to be associated with reduced cancer development and a protective attribute.

Coffee was even shown to significantly reduce the risk of death, in two separate and expansive studies published in the Cambridge University Press.

But its effects and applications go beyond preventing life-threatening diseases. Coffee can also be an integral part of a healthy lifestyle.

Researchers at the University of Scranton discovered that coffee is the ultimate source of antioxidants in the U.S. The study’s lead author, Joe Vinson, said of the findings: “Americans get more of their antioxidants from coffee than any other dietary source.

Nothing else comes close.”

And with a calorie count of around two per eight ounce cup — the typical serving

June 17, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com size — coffee is a virtually cost-free addition to an otherwise heavily caloric diet.

However, there are unhealthy ways of drinking coffee, too. With the rise of Starbucks, and its slew of sugary, milky and obscenely fatty concoctions, coffee has been branded with a new image. While the drinks serve as a fun dessert (yes, dessert), they hardly constitute coffee. In reality, what little coffee is flowing beneath their whipped cream mountains does nothing for you health-wise.

The majority of studies conducted on coffee defined a cup as an eight ounce serving.

A tall at Starbucks, the company’s “small,” is about 12 ounces. All of the research was conducted on pure, plain coffee — black, with none of the bells-and-whistles. Most studies didn’t begin to identify negative associations with coffee drinking until about 10 cups were reached.

In late February, a government advisory committee published a set of recommendations for the Agriculture and Health and Human Services Departments for consideration when writing its 2015 dietary guidelines. Along with recommendations about our intake of eggs, sugar, salt and meat, the committee also listed a set dealing with our

intake of coffee. The committee determined that three to five cups of coffee over the course of a day — a moderate level of intake — is a good addition to a healthy diet.

If the recommendations make it into the final set of guidelines, the U.S. would be one step closer to being one of the “cool” countries. That’s not to say that coffee isn’t a part of American culture. It’s simply treated like every other cultural element in America — taken to the extreme.

Coffee drinking in the U.S. is not fun — it’s functional. The image of an American coffee drinker might as well accompany the dictionary definitions of stress and anxiety.

This simply isn’t the case in other countries.

Eritrea is not only my birthplace, but also that of coffee. Eritrea was once part of Ethiopia, where coffee originated, and has a vastly different relationship with coffee.

From a young age, my parents included me in the “coffee ceremonies” they conducted regularly. Sure, the process of roasting the beans, having the scent taken in by others, grinding the beans and boiling the coffee in the jebena before it could be served was a long one, but it was definitely worth it. Once the coffee was ready, we would sit and talk as we

drank the coffee and ate small pastries. Coffee prepared the Eritrean way will always taste better than anything I’ve consumed that has been prepared differently.

There was no haste to conduct work, no likening coffee to a cheap drug and no styrofoam cups. Perhaps if regular coffee drinking became less taboo in the U.S., it would become similarly enjoyed — not simply needed.

Of course, coffee does have its string of effects — some of which can be considered negative.

Fundamentally, people typically cite one main reason for the consumption of coffee — caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulator. It can make you jittery. It can make it harder for you to fall asleep. It will make you pee more. But these are all personal effects. Caffeine affects everyone to a different extent, and you alone are the judge of whether those effects are too uncomfortable to bear.

But personal discomfort is no reason to paint coffee as a villainous beverage. If coffee isn’t your cup of tea, so be it. But if it is, then drink away — guilt-free.

Bethel primarily writes about social issues and current events for The Pitt News.

Write to Bethel at beh56@pitt.edu.

June 17, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

9

ARTS and ENTERTAINMENT

CINEMA

Remembering Christopher Lee: The monster and the man

CONCERTS

Walter Howard For The Pitt News

On screen, he was Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, Rasputin, Saruman and Count Dooku. In life, he was husband, author, singer and World War II hero as a former intelligence officer and Nazi hunter.

Christopher Lee spent much of his life a living legend. Lee passed last Sunday, June 7, at age 93, a giant of the silver screen.

Lee is survived by his wife of 54 years and daughter.

In 1957, after more than a decade of toiling with stock action roles — henchman in “The Crimson Pirate” — and uncredited appearances — spear-carrier in Laurence Olivier’s “Hamlet” — 38-yearold Lee met with the filmmakers of Hammer Films. This British-based production company specialized in schlock horror films, B-films that relied on shock-value and gimmicks. They offered him the role of Frankenstein’s Monster in their forthcoming “The Curse of Frankenstein,” based on his height.

In an interview with The Borehamwood and Elstree Times in 2006, Lee later recalled, “They asked me if I wanted the part, I said yes and that was that.”

The film was a success and marked the first time he worked alongside Peter Cushing, a fellow British actor who would become Lee’s closest friend and most frequent co-star. Over the next 15 years, the two became fixtures in Hammer Films, helping to revitalize what many thought was a dying genre. The early horror icons were gone — Bela Lugosi (Dracula), Lon

NICK JONAS COLORS PRIDE IN THE STREET

Nick Jonas performed in Pittsburgh to replace Iggy Azalea at Pride in the Street on June 13. Theo Schwarz VISUAL EDITOR

Kelechi Urama Staff Writer

Halfway through his Pittsburgh Pride in the Street performance on Saturday, Nick Jonas took a break from his own music and turned to his piano player, Chase Foster.

“Chase, what you got for me?” Jonas asked, as Foster began a slowed down, jazzier version of Outkast’s classic “Roses.” The crowd screamed so loudly they probably didn’t hear Jonas forget the words (“And the other half got you ... short?”), but the charming pop singer still gave a satisfying, hourlong performance, just hours after a 7:30 p.m. show at the WBLI Summer Jam in Long Island, N.Y. Jonas swooped into the headliner spot just three days before Pride in See Lee on page 10 the Street, a concert and block party

hosted by the Delta Foundation, an organization which supports the LGBTQ community in western Pennsylvania.

Pride in the Street began at 7 p.m. and ended at 1:30 a.m. The Delta Foundation originally booked Australian rapper Iggy Azalea as the headliner, but she dropped out days before the concert because of controversy over offensive tweets she sent over the past few years.

Members of Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ community found the tweets to be racially insensitive and homophobic, and complained to the Delta Foundation that Azalea was not fit to headline the event.

Jonas is the former guitarist of the Jonas Brothers, a pop rock group consisting of Jonas and his two brothers, which dissolved in 2013. His self-titled album, released in 2014, furthering his solo career.

Jonas has a long history of support-

ing LGBTQ causes — from endorsing the Trevor Project, an organization created to prevent LGBTQ suicides, to performing at popular gay night clubs like New York City’s Up & Down. Jonas also stars on DirecTV’s drama Kingdom as a gay MMA fighter, a role he told the audience he was “honored” to play.

Concert-goers enjoyed food and drinks from more than 150 vendors at Pride in the Street. The event also featured opening performances from TransPride Pittsburgh, a trans and genderqueer community organization, as well as appearances by actress/singer Michelle “Mish” Johnson and drag performer Anna-Steezia Ramon. DJ Strobe also provided techno beats to keep the crowd moving between performances.

Jonas was supposed to perform at See Jonas on page 10

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June 17, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

CINEMA

Docter embraces metaphor with emotional, whimsical ‘Inside Out’ Kelechi Urama Staff Writer

Stock up on Kleenex, because “Inside Out” will leave you sniffling — or outright bawling — in your seat.

Pete Docter, known for classics like “Toy Story” and “Up,” and his animation team masterfully bring a high-concept idea to life with “Inside Out.” In the film, there is a “headquarters” in everyone’s head controlled by five anthropomorphic emotions: Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Anger and Fear. In “Inside Out,” we spend most of our time in the mind of Riley (Kaitlyn Dias), an 11-year-old girl who lives an idyllic life in Minnesota, where she’s well-liked and plays ice hockey.

Her emotions are primarily controlled by the relentlessly upbeat Joy (Amy Poehler), who keeps Riley a happy, goofy kid with a great relationship with her parents (Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan). But when Riley is forced to move with her family to San Francisco, Riley has fewer reasons to be joyful. Joy wrestles with Sadness (Phyllis Smith), and they are both plunged out of headquarters and into the outer, Candylandlike world of Riley’s mind. With Joy and Sadness gone, Riley’s emotions are left in the hands of Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Fear (Bill Hader) and Anger (Lewis Black), resulting in one very moody

Inside Out Grade

A-

“Inside Out” is a colorful, kid-friendly movie with mature themes. TNS

preteen.

The world inside Riley’s head is colorful with characters from her past, like Bing Bong (Richard Kind), Riley’s forgotten imaginary friend and a comical dolphin-elephant-cat-cotton-candy hybrid. The animation of the film isn’t as detailed as it is in its Pixar predecessors, like the breathtaking, realistic-looking ocean in “Finding Nemo,” and the plot is fairly predictable. There’s never any doubt that Joy and Sadness will return to headquarters, or that Joy will realize she can no longer be the only emotion in charge.

However, the true strength of the film lies in metaphor. When Bing Bong

Lee, pg. 9 Chaney (The Phantom) and Boris Karloff (Frankenstein’s monster). Hollywood studios had moved on, and it was the Hollywood B-movies, and actors like Lee, that kept the genre going.

Lee gave his characters an effortless gravitas, whether he was playing an English gentleman of dubious nature or a monster created by a mad scientist. Lee is best known for his Dracula, a stoic, well-mannered monster. Tortured and feral, Dracula was Lee’s best work. He would return to the character for six more Hammer horror films.

One of his more underrated pictures from Hammer is its adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” in which he plays Sir Henry

Christopher Lee will be remembered for his villianous roles. TNS

Baskerville, the tragic victim of a family

mourns his long-gone relationship with Riley, Joy tries to force him to grin and bear it to make him “happy.” This doesn’t work, and it isn’t until Sadness allows him to express his pain and then validates it that he truly feels better.

This foreshadows a scene where Riley acknowledges her feelings of loss and is open with her parents about how hard the move has been for her. The scene feels almost like a slow exhale, a satisfying release of an emotion that’s been pent up for so long. It’s a sophisticated metaphor for real life and how often we bottle up our own emotions, hiding behind a façade of happiness instead of allowing ourselves simply to feel. It’s

not a lesson we see very often in films, especially those geared toward children, but it’s absolutely an important one.

It will be interesting to see whether Pixar decides to make a sequel. Though the film ends with a humorous nod to Riley’s impending puberty (Disgust notices a new button on their control pad and asks, “What’s puh-bert-tee?”), it’s doubtful Pixar will make that film — but that’s OK. “Inside Out” is fine as a standalone movie, and it’s a refreshing change of pace for the studio that’s recently struggled with the critical dud, “Cars 2.” If “Inside Out” is any indication of the direction Pixar is taking its future films, then we have nothing to worry about.

curse. Centuries after his forefather murders a woman he intended to rape, Lee’s character finds himself in danger at every step by some unseen force. Marking the first time a Sherlock Holmes picture was done in color, Hammer’s “The Hound of the Baskervilles” is filled with a chilling atmosphere, mystery and violence. Lee would return to the world of Sherlock Holmes twice more in his career, first as the famous detective himself in “Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace,” and later as Mycroft in Billy Wilder’s “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.”

In the 1970s, as his collaborations with Hammer waned, Lee scored his biggest financial success yet in “The Man with the Golden Gun” as Francisco Scaramanga alongside Roger Moore as James Bond.

Scaramanga is the assassin with a golden

gun and a superfluous nipple, who Bond wishes to hunt down before becoming another of his victims.

In a career spanning more than 60 years and 240 movies, Lee appeared on screen more than any other actor in history. More than 40 years following his breakthrough role in “The Curse of Frankenstein,” a new generation of filmgoers watched Lee in his roles of Saruman, the evil white wizard who seeks the one ring for himself in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and as Count Dooku, the Sith Lord and main antagonist in the second trilogy of “Star Wars.”

Lee managed to take a career of these kind of roles and turn it into a life culminating in a knighthood. Unlike the demise of many of his villainous characters, Lee will be missed.

June 17, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

Jonas, pg. 9 11 p.m., but he wasn’t onstage by then. Concertgoers got antsy and began chanting, “We want Nick!” with waning enthusiasm for about 10 minutes. He arrived backstage in a sleek, all-black ensemble just a few minutes later, causing a panic among the hundreds of people waiting for him outside the concert gates. With little fanfare or prep as roadies hooked up his mics, Jonas waited backstage for the emcee to call his name.

As the excited, and perhaps impatient, audience continued to chant, Jonas got into gamemode.

“I’m very excited,” he said before running onstage to the sound of massive applause.

Jonas, backed by two female singers, opened with a bassheavy rendition of “Chains,” complete with club-like red and yellow strobe lights that had the

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audience dancing on its feet.

If Jonas was tired from his performance in New York just hours earlier, he didn’t let it show. His voice was strong throughout the show, and the audience’s screams reached a fever pitch with every high note.

He stayed behind the mic stand for the first half of the show and limited his choreography to pointing toward the audience with his hands, but he did venture away from the mic stand as the performance went on. He also limited the conversation between songs to short, rhetorical questions that excited the audience, like “Can we get our grown and sexy on?”

Jonas ended the show with his crowd-pleasing hit, “Jealous,” a pop-funk dance song about a possessive lover. As thousands of LGBTQ people hugged and kissed their partners without fear, it truly was a “sexy, beautiful” sight.

Fans waited for hours on a hot June night to see Jonas perform. Stephen Caruso CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

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June 17, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

SPORTS

ICYMI(In case you missed it) Royal pain COLUMN

Boyd Charged

The Jefferson Hills District Court officially charged Pitt wide receiver Tyler Boyd with driving under the influence and other summary offenses following a Friday morning incident. According to a court representative, the preliminary hearing is “temporarily” set for Aug. 5. Pitt head football coach Pat Narduzzi called the situation “both serious and disappointing” in an email statement on June 13.

In All-Star Game, Kansas City fans will learn the problems with favoritism

BASKETBALL SURGERIES Senior guard James Robinson and graduate transfer guard Sterling Smith both successfully underwent offseason surgeries, the University announced Tuesday morning. Robinson’s surgery was on his right foot, while Smith’s surgery was on his right ankle. Both are expected to be ready in time for the beginning of practice in October.

NELSON-ODODA SIGNS Weeks after announcing via Twitter that he would be transferring to Pitt, former Richmond big man Alonzo Nelson-Ododa officially signed his transfer papers, according to a University announcement. As a graduate transfer, Nelson-Ododa will be eligible immediately for his final season of college basketball. He averaged 6.6 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.7 blocked shots per game last year for the Spiders.

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pittnews.com

Omar Infante’s lead in the AL All-Star voting may offend baseball fans not from Kansas City, but it will only hurt the Royals faithful in the long run. TNS

Stephen Caruso Contributing Editor

America has always styled itself as a nation of equality — if you have the skills, you will be rewarded.

Of course, this has always been counterbalanced by people’s love of rewarding those they know, that great enemy of democracy and equality — nepotism.

Yes, from Tammany Hall to getting that internship at your parent’s work, nothing is more American than rewarding the undeserving — because, hey, you know a guy.

There is no better example of this than the 2015 MLB All-Star Game, which will be held

in Cincinnati on July 14 this year.

Since 1970, fan voting has decided what players will start the All-Star Game. The league implemented the system to allow for more fan participation and interest, and for good reason. I’ve always loved the balloting. I am a diehard Yankees fan, but overall I appreciate the sport just as much as my team. To have a chance to honor the players with a very real accomplishment — being named an All-Star — is exciting.

But sometimes, the system goes awry.

Since their surprise World Series run last year, the Kansas City Royals have gone from a team of nobodies to a team of heroes. And after missing the playoffs for 28 straight years,

the team’s fans have every reason to be excited.

However, that doesn’t justify the disrespect to the game the way that home team voting displays.

As of June 15, Royals players are leading in American League All-Star voting in eight of the nine total positions. This includes those who arguably deserve it (Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain), those who are having fine seasons, but relative to competition, not typically All-Star-worthy seasons (Eric Hosmer, Kendrys Morales, Mike Moustakas and Alex Gordon) and those who have been plain awful (Alcides Escobar and Omar Infante). The only See Royals on page 13

June 17, 2015 | The Pitt News | www.pittnews.com

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BASEBALL

Royals, pg. 12 non-Royal in a starting position is Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels, whose complete mastery of the five tools of baseball has luckily defeated even the worst hometown instincts in Royals fan voters. Yet Alex Rios, the Royals’ third listed outfielder in the ballot — even though he has played a grand total of 18 games this year from injury — is sitting comfortably in fourth place at the position.

Infante’s case is the most maddening.

While an All-Star at one point in his career, he is now at best a serviceable utility player.

This hasn’t stopped the Royals hive mind from giving him unwavering support, with his zero home runs, zero stolen bases and -0.1 WAR. Meaning Wins Above Replacement, WAR is an attempt to put a numerical value on everything a player does for a team in terms of wins. The formulas vary, but the negative sign means that the player starting the AllStar Game for the American League at second base, where the likes of Hall of Famers Rod Carew, Paul Molitor and Roberto Alomar have started, will be a player who has hurt his team more than helped.

The All-Star Game should be a chance for

baseball fans to see the best play the best.

As a sport that relies a lot on chemistry, real life All-Star teams rarely work. Big names don’t always work together — just look at the San Diego Padres. The team added former All-Stars Justin Upton, James Shields, Craig Kimbrel and Derek Norris to the roster this winter, hoping the injection of talent could push the team to the playoffs. Almost halfway through the year, the Padres are sitting at 32-33, third in their division, having just run their manager out of town.

But the Midsummer Classic is a one-off event where all that matters is the thrill of seeing an all-time great like Derek Jeter, in his last year, hitting with Trout, baseball’s brightest youngster, behind him. It’s about Pedro Martinez striking out three of the biggest power hitters in baseball — Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Jeff Bagwell — in a row.

And fan voting adds a special element to the moment. Fans selected Sosa, McGwire and Bagwell. The lineup Martinez so elegantly handled — a moment that will live on in baseball history forever — was in part created by fans. And it should be that way.

But, since 2003, the MLB All-Star game has meant something more than the thrill

of stardom. That year, then-MLB commissioner Bud Selig, after a disappointing tie to end the 2002 All-Star Game, declared that the game would decide home field advantage for the World Series. The league that wins the game — which previously was an exhibition game meant simply for the fans’ enjoyment — now gets a home game seven in the World Series. Historically, the home team is 11-8 overall when playing a game seven in the World Series.

There is precedent for the Commissioner’s office to intervene in the voting process. The MLB first used fan voting from 1947 until 1957. But that year, the Cincinnati Enquirer published already filled out ballots in its Sunday edition, allowing fans to literally stuff the ballot box for the Reds. This resulted in Reds players filling seven of eight starting spots. Enraged, then-Commissioner Ford

Frick removed two of the Reds starters for two pretty good players — Willie Mays and Hank Aaron — and got rid of fan voting for the time being. Instead, managers and players would vote for starters.

Current commissioner Rob Manfred should be in no rush to act, though. Royals fans have made their beds — let’s let them sleep in them. I’m rooting for the NL in the All-Star game and the Royals for the rest of the year — until game seven.

Then, once karma’s done its job, let’s fix the game. It can’t have both real value and be at the whim of every casual fan’s fancy. So, get rid of the attachment of home field advantage to the game. It hasn’t added drama, only head scratching and many what-ifs by fans.

However, if Manfred does decide to take action right now, he couldn’t be blamed. But first, may I suggest Mark Teixeira at first base?