The Underground — Issue #104
Everything you need to know about in this weekly series: Footage from the trailer of Rogue One that was cut out of the movie, how SNL breaks down a set so fast after a skit, why we live in a post-fact world, what science has given us in 2016, and Bryan Cranston and James Franco eat some of the hottest wings on the planet to promote their new movies Why Him?
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. Rogue One cut a surprising amount of scenes from the trailer out of the film. I went to see Rogue One a few days ago and really enjoyed it (Check out my review), but as I progressed in watching it, I kept noticing parts in the trailer where I expected to see the scenes that hyped me up were constantly missing. Do you know the scene where they’re running on the beach and the AT-AT’s were shooting at them? Gone. And that was the scene that got all the people in the reaction videos freaking out. What’s even weirder is that the scene in question was from the alternate ending, but they kept it in the trailer because it supposedly kept the feel of the film.
Many other scenes were absent to the point that the trailers could be seen as false advertisement. If the movies wasn’t good, I’d probably write a bad review because I was promised all of these things that weren’t there. A video was compiled that shows the scenes and dialogue from the trailer that didn’t make the final film. I swear, the entire trailer was cut from deleted scenes. It’s so weird. Hell, even that image on the YouTube video before you hit play isn’t in the film.
2. Watch the behind the scenes of how SNL breaks down a set in super fast fashion. I assume most people reading this have seen at least one episode of SNL. The show always begins with a cold opening before cutting to the opening credits, but since most of us don’t know what goes on while those go on, we would assume that the stage is bigger than we think of it, and then the cameras just pans to the main stage where the host comes out and gives their monologue. That is not the case. In the most recent episode of SNL, Alec Baldwin did his brilliant Donald Trump impression again, but then we get a look into what happens after it’s over.
A gang of crew members runs out and disassemble the entire set in 2 minutes. The set they break down is right on the main stage. It’s a race against the clock to get the set down so the host can come down the famous steps to the main stage. I had no clue that was how it was done. Sometimes during commercial breaks you’d see them start setting up for the next skit, but the amount of time they have to break down the set before the opening monologue is quite impressive.
Watch it all unfold below. Makes me feel lazy when it takes me 30 minutes just to get the energy to unload the dishwasher.
3. Why facts don’t matter anymore in a world full of facts. If you’ve turned on the television, read things on the internet, read a paper, read a magazine, watch online videos… you probably think you have everything figured out, right? Nope. Facts have become opinions, and opinions have become facts. 97% of scientists agree that climate change is happening. That is a fact, but when you have a pundit in the middle of the TV moderating a discussion between a climate scientist and an oil lobbyist, it makes it looks like that 97% is 50% since that lobbyist gets a forum.
One spouts facts, and other has talking points talking about how it was hot when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Sadly, people ignore the facts and look at the opinions they think are facts. They do so blindly enough that a false story about the Pizzagate conspiracy caused someone to walk into a pizza place and shoot it up. All of this based on fake news presented as fact.
Fake news is being spread on a constant basis on the internet. Just the other day an internet prankster posted a video of himself being kicked off a Delta flight for speaking Arabic on the phone. It spread like wildfire and had people on Twitter boycotting Delta. This was clearly a hoax, but at this very moment it’s still doing the rounds. There are daily articles where the writer posts whatever the content is before doing the due diligence, then had to update at the bottom that it was complete BS.
This teacher explains how people tweak facts and opinions to get their point across whether they’re true or not. Just remember to know what you’re talking about before you start claiming facts without having holes punched in your facts. If they have holes, they aren’t facts, they’re opinions.
4. Futurism presents this year in SCIENCE! We here at Social Underground love to be on the look out for groundbreaking happenings in science and tech. Despite all of the horrifying things that have happened this year in the world, science keeps on rolling with the best minds in the world trying to better humanity with technological and medical breakthroughs.
We laid out plans to Mars, we look to further robotics so people who lost a limb could have a new hand in which to feel and touch things, we are getting close to having self-driving cars on the road, curing diseases we thought impossible, land a space ship on a small platform in the middle of the ocean, and even more. Humans have the capability to push past a generation of hectic political nonsense and look to the future.
The future is something we need to think about and why we must work to ensure there is one. News cycles end, but science is always there to open us up to new possibilities that go beyond nations and bring people together.
Enjoy all the good things science has provided in 2016:
5. Bryan Cranston and James Franco eat some hot wings and answer hot questions on Hot Ones. The two are promoting their comedy Why Him?, so why not eat some of the hottest wings on the planet during an interview and try to answer questions? This is probably the biggest interview First We Feast: Hot Ones has had, and I’m pretty happy for them since the concept is so brilliant. Watching singers, actors and athletes talk trash about how the wings aren’t hot until they start eating more is such a joy when they start sweating and chugging milk. It’s rewarding to see big names get put in their place. Never disrespect hot wings, kids.
Watch Cranston and Franco turn red as they succumb to the hotness. Also, head to their channel and check out other great wing challenges and food info.
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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