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OCT. 27 - NOV. 2, 2020
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Hitbox First Impressions — Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War multiplayer beta
Movie Analysis: ‘The Evil Dead’
An irate news anchor and abrupt resignation usher in a new mayor of Anchorage By Christina Swayney features1@thenorthernlight.org
Anchorage Assembly member, Austin QuinnDavidson, has become the first woman and openly gay acting mayor of Anchorage after the abrupt resignation of current mayor, Ethan Berkowitz. Quin-Davidson was voted in on Oct. 16. She will start serving on Oct. 23, when Berkowitz’s resignation goes into full effect. Quin-Davidson joined the assembly in 2018 and has lived in Alaska since 2011, coming from a small logging community in Northern California. Although she is breaking a glass ceiling in the Anchorage political arena during a contentious time, she says focus should be on the community and the challenges we face right now in an Alaska News Source article from Oct. 19. “To me, this is less
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about whether I’m a woman or whether I have a wife or a husband and more about solving the problems in Anchorage,” Davidson said. Berkowitz’s resignation comes after unsubstantiated allegations were made against him on social media by Maria Athens, a local news anchor for KTBY and KTUR. Athens claimed that Berkowitz had inappropriate contact and communications with underage girls using an unnamed website. Athens promised an exclusive story set to air on her news networks, but it was not approved by either station. Berkowitz responded to the allegations and called them “slanderous” and “false” in an official press release on Oct. 9, as reported by Alaska Public Media. Athens then posted a nude
photo of a man’s backside that she claims is Berkowitz. Before Athens released her social media post, she left a voice message for Berkowitz and his wife, threatening to kill them, expose Berkowitz for the allegations made and used anti-Semetic verbiage, according to the mayor’s office. The Anchorage Police worked with the FBI to investigate the allegations made by Athens and have found no criminal activity in connection with Berkowitz. He has also admitted to a “consensual, inappropriate messaging relationship,” in an official statement posted to the Municipality of Anchorage. “It is with profound sadness and humility that I resign as Mayor of the Municipality of Anchor-
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PHOTO BY CHRISTINA SWAYNEY
Anchorage’s new mayor comes in during a pandemic and a former mayor’s abrupt resignation.
age. My resignation results from unacceptable personal conduct that has compromised my ability to perform my duties with the focus and trust that is required,” Berkowitz said in his resignation statement. Athens was later arrested for fourth-degree criminal assault, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct on the same day that she posted the allegations on social media. The arrest was made due to an altercation with her station manager, Scott Centers. Athens tried to air the sto-
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ry about the allegations at her news station, KYUR, but was denied by Centers, resulting in Athens becoming violent. She has since been banned from the news station by the court during her arraignment on Oct. 10 and is currently out on bail. Quin-Davidson will assume her position until a new mayor is elected during the regular electoral process in April of 2021. She plans to make public health and the economy her top priorities and get to work on them immediately.
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“I think the most important role of a mayor right now is to inspire trust in government and to make people feel at ease during a time that is pretty tumultuous,” she said. “I think revitalizing the economy and ensuring that small businesses can survive, and that people can get back to work is key. Of course, that interlays with public health and safety, and those two are so aligned, we need to work together on both,” Davidson said in an interview with ADN.
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UAA ranked No. 6 for best online bachelor’s programs By Daisy Carter news2@thenorthernlight.org
The University of Alaska Anchorage is currently ranked No.6 on OnlineU’s top 10 best colleges for bachelor degrees rankings. OnlineU is a free guide offered to students to compare all online colleges in the US. They help students reach their education goal in a responsible manner. These rankings are the first to be based on the median salary and median debt numbers found in the US Department of Education’s college scorecard. OnlineU determined the rankings by using a system they created called the ROI system. ROI stands for return on investment, in other words, how much you get back for how much you put in. The ROI score reflects how the salary and debt of each school’s programs compared to similar ones. OnlineU uses the median salary and mean debt data from the US Department of Education to calculate the
ROI. The University of Alaska Anchorage has an ROI score of 94.3%, according to OnlineU. Since online education is so prevalent nowadays, OnlineU took this into consideration when reviewing the numbers. By being ranked No. 6 for the Best Online Bachelor’s programs list, the University of Alaska Anchorage can now be looked at for any future college students when they are looking for how good of a return on investment UAA has. OnlineU provides a number of tools beyond best online bachelor’s degree rankings. They also offer rankings by degree level and program title, student reviews and supplemental resources with information that pertains to online education. You can find more information about OnlineU and their tools at onlineu.com.
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UAA recently got ranked number six on the Online U list for Best Bachelors degrees based on a return on investment percentage.
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Movie Analysis: ‘The Evil Dead’ By Daisy Carter news2@thenorthernlight.org
“The Evil Dead” was released in the United States on October 15, 1981. It was directed and written by Sam Raimi. This film is rated R and is not suitable for some audiences because of its gore and obscene scenes. “The Evil Dead” follows the story of five college students as they go to a cabin in the woods, only to realize there is some horrors hidden in the basements. The film starred Bruce Campbell as Ashley, Ellen Sandweiss as Cheryl, Rhichard DeMainicor as Scott, Betsy Baker as Linda and Theresa Tilly as Shelly. The budget for “The Evil Dead” was only $350,000, but it grossed $2.4 million in the US and $29.4 million world-wide. In its initial release, “The Evil Dead” was given an X rating because the ranking system wasn’t as thorough as it is now. It now has a TV-MA rating because of violence, nudity and gore. With the film having such a small budget, there were some complications with the set. The first problem was that the filmmakers decided to film in an actual cabin in the woods. The cabin was in Morristown, Tennessee. The cabin that is featured in the film is also where 13 crew members stayed. In interviews, everyone on set described this arrangement as being especially brutal because everyone had to sleep on the floor and in the same room.. Because the cabin was abandoned, it didn’t have proper plumbing, so most of the crew didn’t shower for days. Due to how awful the conditions were, most of the cast left halfway through filming. Ten other actors had to stand in for the main actors. A replacement couldn’t be found for Bruce Campbell, so he had to stay throughout the entire production. Campbell also severely sprained his ankle during filming and director Sam
Raimi poked the injury several times to make him have more of a dramatic limp. At the end of filming, each member of the crew put something sentimental in a box and placed it in the fireplace of the cabin. Years later, it was discovered that the cabin had actually burned down and the only thing that was remaining was the fireplace with the box safely inside. All of the difficulties seem worth it in the end because “The Evil Dead”is now known as one of the most iconic horror films. It made a pathway for a whole new way to make a horror film. “The Evil Dead” received an award for Best Low Budget Film in 1983 by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. It also won an award for the Best Special Effect in the Catalonian International Film Festival. “The Evil Dead” has become a cult classic with an array of sequels such as “The Evil Dead 2” and “Army of Darkness.” Both of those films are directed and written by Sam Raimi. There is also a TV series called “Ash vs Evil Dead” which is in the same cannon. The 2013 reboot, “Evil Dead” was my first scary movie, so I was curious about what it was based on. After watching the original “The Evil Dead” I understood why it is considered a cult classic. Even though it has a basic plot, “The Evil Dead” still manages to scare and keep you watching. The movie is so gorey and has truly terrifying practical effects. I don’t really think that this movie really relies on suspense like most horror movies do. “The Evil Dead” relies more on being scared about the actual witchcraft attached to the house rather than the suspenseful jumpscares. You would expect that it would be a cheesy ‘80s horror movie, which it is, but it still manages to achieve and scare like a modern horror movie.
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Evil Dead is a great gore movie with great twists and turns
If you would like to watch that will leave you never wanting to go into the woods again. “The Evil Dead,” it is available on Netflix and Hulu Premium. Do you have any recommendations on All of the fun facts in this article come from IMDB’s fun fact’s page. what films I should look into next? Send your suggestions to news2@thenorthernhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083907/ light.org. trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv
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Hitbox First Impressions — Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War multiplayer beta By John Novotny arts@thenorthernlight.org
Modern Warfare may have raised the bar too high for what is considered a good Call of Duty game. In many ways, Black Ops Cold War feels like a regression for the series. Developers: Treyarch and Raven Software. Additional support by High Moon Studios, Beenox, Activision Shanghai and Sledgehammer Games Release date: Nov. 13, 2020 Platforms: PC [played], PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S Price: $59.99 I recently had an opportunity to play a few hours of the multiplayer public beta for the next Call of Duty game — Black Ops Cold War, but it didn’t do much to dissuade my worries about the follow-up to last year’s entry. Modern Warfare’s gunsmith system, allowing players to radically customize their guns was an outstanding addition. Likewise, the new game engine it used revitalized Call of Duty’s core runningand-gunning gameplay. Without either of those two features, Black Ops Cold War feels very lackluster. My biggest surprise playing the beta was that shotguns have been moved from the primary weapon slot to the secondary slot, which is usually only reserved for pistols, launchers and knives. It was possible to accomplish this same thing in Modern Warfare, but it required you to use a certain perk over some of the most useful perks in the game. There was an important trade-off to consider before, not so much in Black Ops Cold War. A shotgun is going to be inherently more effective as a close-range secondary
GRAPHIC BY MICHAELINE COLLINS
SCREENSHOT COURTESY OF JOHN NOVOTNY
than a pistol. They’re easier to use and do more damage. Any time a player hears someone else getting close, they’re just going to pull out their shotgun. That’s exactly what I did during the beta. I never really had to consider the range at which my enemy was either. Both the pumpaction shotgun and semi-automatic could kill at ridiculous ranges. I can’t see any reason for this change. Maybe from a pure weapon usage statistics perspective it makes sense — shotguns never seem to be the most popular guns — but making shotguns a secondary is just going to lead to boring closequarters fights. My other big criticism of Black Ops Cold War is really just a bunch of tiny things rolled into one. Black Ops Cold War doesn’t feel as good to play as Modern Warfare. Just saying the game doesn’t feel as good isn’t useful to anyone, so let me try and break it down a little bit. Black Ops Cold War is not using the same game engine as Modern Warfare. The promise of a new engine for Modern Warfare was that it would allow developers at Infinity Ward to do a bunch of cool new things with the guns, such as make them sound different depending on the type of environment the player was in. For example, a gun would sound louder in a small room or hallway compared to
The neon signs of the Miami map help remind you Black Ops Cold War is set during the ‘80s.
a large open field. While guns do sound different depending on where the player is on the maps, they never sound as intense and the differences are never as noticeable as in Modern Warfare. The best way I can put it is that the guns almost sound artificial. They sound flatter and less dynamic than any gun in Modern Warfare. I think an important, but often overlooked aspect of making any first-person game feel good are the animations. In other words, how the character moves their body when playing in first person. Overwatch, the first-person team shooter, does an excellent job at making each character feel unique in how their arms and weapons jostle while moving. Modern Warfare’s first-person animations felt very fluid, like the characters were moving how an actual person would. Black Ops Cold War’s animations feel stilted and unnatural. This could be an artistic decision, but if it is, I don’t think it’s the right one. Perhaps the biggest regression from Modern Warfare is the lack of super sprint and weapon mounting. Super sprinting allowed players to hold their gun up and sprint even faster than normal, but at the cost of taking longer to ready their gun. Weapon mounting was incredibly situ-
ational and as such, rarely used, but it’s still a feature that is not being carried forward. The only new feature being introduced in the multiplayer of Black Ops Cold War is being able to ping locations like in Call of Duty Warzone or Apex Legends. After pressing the appropriate button, an icon will show up where the player was aiming that may indicate danger or that an enemy is there to teammates without having to verbally communicate. While the ability to ping locations is a welcome one, it still doesn’t make up for the lack of other features. On the bright side, I like every map available in the beta. Moscow in particular was very fun. It uses a traditional three-lane structure, but all the lanes converge to the center of a metro station. There are a mix of long to short range sightlines as well, which makes almost any weapon category a viable option. This Black Ops Cold War multiplayer beta took place about a month before the full release on Nov. 13. There’s still hope, some small changes, like weapon balancing are still possible. However, I don’t think that anything short of a true followup to Modern Warfare is going to meet the high expectations it set.
SCREENSHOT COURTESY OF JOHN NOVOTNY
The yellow ping marker also shows how far away the object of interest is.
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Get off the couch: Oct. 27 By Christina Swayney features1@thenorthernlight.org
Get off the couch and do something fun this week. There are options for events in person and virtually. UAA also has new wellness options found on the Master Calendar on the UAA Website. On-Campus and Virtual Events:
Chief Diversity Officer Book Club What: Join UAA Chief Diversity Officer Jennifer Booz as she reads socially conscious literature. This month’s selection is “How to Not Be a Racist” by Ibram X. Kendi.
Sleep Hygiene Wellness Workshop
When: Oct. 29, 6-7:30 p.m.
What: Health, physical education and recreation students will be conducting a wellness program. This part of the program will focus on sleep and how to get the best rest possible.
Where: This is a virtual event using Zoom. Registration is required and can be found at the Zoom link.
When: Oct. 27, 2-3 p.m. Where: This is a virtual event using Zoom, where registration is also available. Cost: Free Level Up Leadership Series What: The Office of Student Life & Leadership will release a new video on their Instagram account that includes strategies of how to succeed and lead from college and beyond. When: Oct. 28, 12-4 p.m. Where: This is a virtual event and the video can be found on the Office of Student Life & Leadership’s Instagram page. Cost: Free
Cost: The discussion is free and the book can be found at most book retailers and your local library or UAA/APU Consortium Library. Northern Lights Viewing What: Hunt for the aurora borealis in Anchorage and beyond. The aurora forecast is projected to be moderate activity by the UAF Geophysical Institute and the weather conditions are predicted to be clear. Where: Some great places to check out the northern lights are Skyline Drive in Anchorage, Flattop Mountain parking lot and Point Woronzof. Hatcher Pass is also a popular place as there is little light pollution in addition to a view of the mountains. When: The lights may be visible on Oct. 28, as long as it’s sufficiently dark. Cost: Free
GRAPHIC BY MICHAELINE COLLINS
The Not So Dearly Departed What: This is a comedy show featuring Alaskan comedians who will be hilariously reading their own hypothetical eulogies. When: Oct. 29, 7-8 p.m. Where: This is a virtual Facebook event on comedian, Matt Jardin’s Facebook page. Cost: Free Dracula Ballet
What: “The show must go on,” according to the Anchorage Classical Ballet Academy. They will feature a virtual spooky ballet based on the classic Bram Stoker novel. When: Oct. 30, 6 p.m. Where: This virtual event will be made available on the Anchorage Ballet Academy website. Cost: Tickets are $30 per viewing of performance and can be purchased on Anchorage Ballet Academy’s website.
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“Online ads provide an alternative way of advertising and the ability to reach virtual readers. The Northern Light provides an opportunity to reach students, faculty and members of the community. With roughly 4 digital issues per month, over 5,000 Facebook followers and over 3,300 Twitter followers you can connect your business to a variety of media users.�
ONLINE PACKAGES There are three parts to an online ad package where ad images are featured: The Northern Light website (both the digital paper and the website itself), The Northern Light Facebook page, and The Northern Light Twitter page. Facebook and Twitter shoutouts will consist of three posts a week on each platform.This ensures that advertisers reach an optimal amount of viewers every week. Media ad content is especially useful during this time and a more affordable price compared to print advertisements.
ONLINE PACKAGE BREAKDOWN (OFF CAMPUS): Online ads (digital paper & website): $150 per week/ $550 per month Facebook shoutout: $75 per week/ $275 per month Instagram shoutout: $75 per week/ $275 per month Total:
$300 per week/ $1100 per month
For more information, please reach out to admanager@thenorthernlight.org.
REPORTS
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UPD report October 12 - 19 Total calls for service: 323 Unlock calls: 6 •
October 13: Theft, criminal mischief, and trespass notice at East Central Parking Lot.
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October 13: Theft at University Center.
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October 13: Trespass notice at kenai Peninsula College.
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October 14: Trespass at Seawolf Sports Center.
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October 14: Trespass at University Center.
All information is provided by the University of Alaska Anchorage Police Department.
STAFF CONTACTS
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3211 Providence Drive Student Union 113 Anchorage, AK 99508
Managing Editor John Novotny content@thenorthernlight.org
Executive Editor Gabby Vance (806) 437-8805 editor@thenorthernlight.org
News Reporter Daisy Carter news2@thenorthernlight.org
Layout Editor / Graphic Designer Michaeline Collins media@thenorthernlight.org
Multimedia Editor Lillie Younkins multimedia@thenorthernlight.org
Features Reporter Christina Swayney features1@thenorthernlight.org
Media Adviser Paola Banchero Administrative Adviser Zac Clark
The Northern Light is hiring! See our job listings at careers.alaska.edu.
The Northern Light is a proud member of the Associated Collegiate Press. The Northern Light is a weekly UAA publication funded by student fees and advertising sales. The editors and writers of The Northern Light are solely responsible for its contents. Circulation is 1,750. The University of Alaska Anchorage provides equal education and employment opportunities for all, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, Vietnam-era or disabled-veteran status, physical or mental disability, changes in marital status, pregnancy or parenthood. The views expressed in the opinion section do not necessarily reflect the views of UAA or the Northern Light.
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