The Underground — Issue #68
Everything you need to know about in this weekly series: The darkest Batman graphic novel is being adapted into an animated feature, a history of elections in the United States since the beginning, the importance of sleep, a drone with a chainsaw attached to it (because why not put a chainsaw on a drone?!), and Peter Dinklage straight-up killing it on SNL
At Social Underground we go beyond the mainstream stuff and see what’s underneath the surface. What should we get into, listen to, read, eat or watch? If there is something in our culture that needs attention that’s our job: Show you the underground things that you need to know about: Books, music, television, movies, comedians, art, and whatever else we can find to get you into something you never knew about. That’s The Underground.
1. An extensive preview of Batman: The Killing Joke. After the colossal failure of Batman v Superman, Batman fans were looking for some relief after such a massively terrible film that featured two of DC’s biggest heroes. What they’re getting is probably one of the darkest adaptations of a Batman graphic novel of all time. The Killing Joke features some of the darkest we’ve seen in any Batman medium. It heavily influenced Nolan’s The Dark Knight, and it really shows just how insane the Joker really is.
As you can see in the featurette below, you’ll notice that they’re making a few slight changes for the better in the adaptation: adding on a new prologue, and they’re doing more with Barbara Gordon. If you don’t know the part where she’s featured… brace yourself. This bad boy is going to be R-Rated (maybe?), as well as it should be.
Check out the extensive preview below.
2. A history of elections for President over the years. If you haven’t notice, it’s been election season for, oh, I don’t know, the past 3 years? It’s impossible to get any news from television because it’s non-stop coverage. When it isn’t on the news, it’s all over the ads in-between. When it isn’t there, it’s all over internet forums. You can’t watch a video of cats on the internet without seeing someone in the comics saying something completely unrelated about a candidate.
The interesting thing about the elections is looking back at the history of it all. You can look online about how the Republican party transitioned into the Democratic party and vice versa around the time of FDR, because that is way too long for my to write about. Watch that transitions below in this nifty infographic that shows you everything from way back into the 1700’s:
3. Are you getting enough sleep? Having just had a conversation about how I definitely don’t get enough sleep, this video goes into the specifics of what happens when actually get enough sleep. It explains the many stages of sleep that you brain goes through. It also says that adults should get 7-9 hours of sleep. This I find impossible to do. I personally dislike sleep. It feels like an incredible waste of time, but sadly, my opinion is completely stupid and you shouldn’t listen to me at all.
The obvious stuff in this video that you shouldn’t be staring at your phone or laptop before bed. The blue light in these devices suppresses your brain from producing Melatonin AKA the stuff that makes you sleepy. So it’s recommended that you should probably put that stuff away 1-2 hours before you go to be… or you’ll end up scrolling down Reddit for 6 hours until you hear birds chirping outside.
Check out the video below that will tell you all you need to know about the importance of sleep and the best ways to get a full night sleep so you don’t feel like crap all day.
4. This flying chainsaw drone proves we may be going overboard. As mentioned multiple times on Social Underground, we love drones. However, we’ve also showcased the potential downsides to drones, which may be a cause of alarm. This brings me to the completely unnecessary drone that has a chainsaw attached to it. I’m not entirely sure what the creators of this thing were thinking, but it kinda gets me excited. It takes that drone with a gun on it from last year to a whole new level. The creators must have went to the store, bought a drone, went to drive home, and then saw a “For Sale” sign for huge chainsaws at a Home Depot.
Watch it in action below as it saws through tree limbs, icicles, and one thing you’d think would be harmless to the drone… until you remember that you’re not stupid.
5. Peter Dinklage doing the robot, singing 80s music in a wing, and killing it on SNL. I generally never tune into SNL because spending your time watching TV on a Saturday night seems like a pretty boring thing to do. The other problem is SNL hasn’t been really funny in a long time. I basically pick one of 2 skits to watch the next day, and sometimes they’re funny, but mostly just garbage where the actors are staring off at cue cards reading lines. No fun.
This past SNL had me tuned in. Why? PETER DINKLAGE. He is oneof the best actors out there on the best television show currently on: Game of Thrones. Since that show is coming back this month, he was invited to host the show. How was it? Amazing. There was one skit that featured a mob boss threatening to kill people who owed him money while sitting at a restaurant. It was pretty basic… until Dinklage came out to sing about his space pants. I won’t tell you anything more. Just watch.
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Jeff Sorensen is an author, writer and occasional comedian living in Detroit, Michigan. You can look for more of his work on The Huffington Post,UPROXX,BGR and by just looking up his name.
Contact: jeff@socialunderground.com