The Underground — Issue #122
Everything you need to know about in this weekly series: Neill Blomkamp’s first short film in the Oats series, Nick Kroll succumbs to the Hot Wings challenge, a documentary about the genius of Stephen Hawking, and the best games to come out of E3 2017.
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. The First film in Neill Blomkamp’s Oats series: Rakka. As talked about in our last issue of The Underground, Blomkamp delivered with a visually stunning short film. He never got to make his Alien film with Sigourney Weaver, but she shows up in this film.
What you come to expect from this director is the gritty feeling of the environment, the dystopian scenes, the weird explosions, and of course some kind of alien and human relationship. This time, it’s the humans who are oppressed by the aliens. After seeing how awful humans are in District 9, I think it’s about time that the aliens dished it back to the humans in Blomkamp’s universe.
Don’t forget about guns shooting in slow motion. Blomkamp loves film that stuff, and I love watching it, as should you. Check out the new short film below. It’s a nice way to kill some time this weekend.
2. Nick Kroll succumbs to the Hot Ones challenge and eats some spicy wings. Nick Kroll has been killing it lately with his broadway show and new Netflix special Oh, Hello On Broadway with the just as hilarious John Mulaney. In this episode, Kroll tries his hardest to eat through the pain, while also delivering some of the funniest lines that has ever been spoken on the show.
What I’ve noticed about this show is that the viewer also gets a bit cocky thinking that they could do the challenge with no problem, but as you see Kroll start tearing up as he goes down the line of wings, you remember that spicy food kinda sucks when it’s overwhelming. What makes the episode funnier is that Kroll is lactose intolerant. So, not only do the wings burn his mouth, the milk will make his trip to the bathroom later that much more helliish.
Check out Nick Kroll eat some nasty wings on Hot Ones, then head over to Netflix to check out his brand new special Oh, Hello On Broadway.
3. Check out this fascinating Stephen Hawking documentary called Master of the Universe. If you know anything about Social Underground, you’ll know that we are fascinated by scientists, and generally anyone who wants to explain the universe or build things to investigate it. Stephen Hawking has been working his entire life to explain the universe, but has been limited by the debilitating Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS. Yeah, it’s the disease that had everyone dumping buckets of water on their heads.
Originally, Hawking was only given a couple years to live, so we soon could’ve lost one of the greatest minds of our age. Luckily, Hawking wasn’t going out like that, and he continues to live decades after getting that diagnosis. Since then, we’ve gotten books and discoveries we may not have gotten for hundreds of years, given that he’s a genius. He also likes to do guest spots on TV shows like The Simpsons and Futurama. He did one for another show, but I refuse to give that show a mention since it makes nerds pull their hair out.
This documentary shows you how Hawking lives his day-to-day life with the disease as he still goes to work everyday, but with a little more effort than most of us getting out of bed and microwaving old coffee.
If you want to see the great Stephen Hawking in all his glory, and not that terrible Hollywood movie, check out the documentary below. Hell, show it to friends and encourage them to donate some money to fight ALS. It truly is a terrifying disease that robs you of movement.
4. Strap in, and check out the best games presented at this year’s E3 2017. I happen to own a PS4 and an Xbox One, which means that every amazing looking video game that was presented, I could feel my wallet tremble at the thought of buying all these games. I just started playing Horizon Zero Dawn, so the thought of more games like that makes me squeal with joy.
What we’re starting to see is the real potential of what this generation of gaming systems can offer. Some of the car games look like someone just went out on to a race track and filmed a race. It looks that real.
Here’s a list of the games played in the video below so you know what games to look forward to:
0:00 Metro Exodus
3:13 Anthem
5:49 State of Decay 2
8:38 Kingdom Come Deliverance
10:34 God of War
13:33 Ashen
15:01 Shadow of The Colossus
16:16 The Last Night
17:26 The Evil Within 2
19:02 Spider Man PS4
22:20 Sea of Thieves
23:52 Shadow of War
26:25 Deep Rock Galactic
27:23 Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord
29:26 Detroit Become Human
32:35 Star Wars Battlefront 2
34:17 Extinction
36:14 Days Gone
39:15 Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
41:17 Hellblade: Senua’s Story
Spider-Man looks especially AMAZING to me. Get it? The Amazing Spi….yeah, you get it. Just watch the video and treat yourself.
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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