The Underground — Issue #93
Everything you need to know about in this weekly series: The next great Marvel TV series is here, Conan and Kevin Hart go to the gym, a new gaming invention that drains your blood when you die in a game, and David Blaine shows off one of his most famous magic tricks to Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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. Luke Cage is now available on Netflix. Uh, if you haven’t noticed, Netflix is killing it with original Marvel content. DareDevil, Jessica Jones, and now Luke Cage have been getting stellar reviews. Why? Because they don’t follow the prissy stuff you see on the big screen. There’s blood, sex, violence, swearing, and scary villains. Seriously, the bad guy in Jessica Jones was one bad guy I would leave town for if I heard on the news that he was there. The worst part is that the show made you feel bad for him. That’s how you do it! With Luke Cage, you get one an entire show based around an indestructible black superhero.
Premise: When a sabotaged experiment gives him super strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage becomes a fugitive attempting to rebuild his life in Harlem and must soon confront his past and fight a battle for the heart of his city.
I have not yet seen the first episode (I know it will eat my entire day, so I am trying to be productive before I dive in), but he was introduced in Jessica Jones. He was a stand-out because he could easily whoop the ass of most of the Avengers. Pretty sure Hawkeye and his bow would get thrown into a volcano is he tried anything.
Check out the trailer below, and then start your weekend off right with the first season on Luke Cage on Netflix.
2. Kevin Hart and Conan work out together with hilarious results. When you turn on late night television lately, you have probably been overwhelmed with election coverage and talk. If you have been tuning in to Jimmy Fallon, you’re probably stupid. Okay, that was harsh, but it’s true. He’s terrible. Conan is the true king of late night since he actually does what people tune in for: comedy.
What Conan is best at is doing remote segments. When he goes out of the studio and shows off his off-the-cuff comedic talents, it’s hard not to laugh. When he brings Kevin Hart with him, they play off each other so well that you have to watch it twice because you may have been laughing so hard that you couldn’t hear. Conan is so good of a host that he can take someone that I don’t really care much for, and then show them off to where I love them. That is what a host is supposed to do: they showcase their guest for the audience.
Below is Conan and Hart working out at the gym, but then a flawless female personal trailer comes in and I get lost in her… everything. I forgot what I was talking about when I thought about her. Oh, right, the video. Go and watch it ASAP. It’s only a few hours old and I’m sure it’s going viral.
3. Blood donating system sucks your blood when you die in a game.
Whenever you play a video game that involves guns — which are most games — you never really care about getting killed in the game because it isn’t real. What if you were to play a game where every time you are killed, you donate a little blood? If you are terrible at gaming, you probably won’t be playing for long. If you last for a while, you will keep your blood, which means you are a bad person and don’t want to donate blood to people who need it. Either way, if you lose, other people win because you’re willing to do something like this.
Donating blood is scary to many people. You walk into this sterile, cold environment where they vampire the blood out of you, give you a cookie and orange juice, and set you loose. With this at least you get to have some fun while getting drained.
4. David Blaine shows Neil deGrasse Tyson and Pharrell the ice pick trick. As much crap as David Blaine gets for doing his stunts, he is a fantastic magician. When he comes out with a special that is played on network television, I will tune in live to see the new magic tricks he does. It takes real training to do something so well to the point where it looks like you’re barely trying.
In this video, Tyson explains how illusions and magic that tricks people are essentially brain failures, which is true. When I see a magic do a trick that stumps me, I feel like an idiot. However, I like feeling like that when I watch a magic trick. That’s the entire fun of it! How did they do it? Is it so simple that I’m trying too hard to figure it out? Is it so difficult that I can’t figure it out? Who cares?
I actually do know how Blaine does the ice pick trick, but I won’t tell you how he does it. That’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own, but I will give you a hint: earrings. Watch all the fun below. And watch how Pharrell looks at NDT like a student listening to a great professor. Great stuff.
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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