The Underground — Issue #135
Everything you need to know about in this weekly series: An impressive look at the portrayal of a serial killer on Netflix, a documentary on the BP oil spill, the story of how The Dana Carvey Show failed, and a sequel to one of the best games ever made.
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 real serial kill versus his portrayal on Netflix’s Mindhunter. This new show came as a surprise to me, and it also made me seem like a psycho Googling all the topics of serial killer’s in the show. One such serial killer is Ed Kemper AKA the Co-Ed Killer. He did some things that, well, seemed unlike how he seems in interviews or in the portrayal in Mindhunter. Why? He is totally likeable.
The portrayal of Ed Kemper by Cameron Britton is nothing short of deserving awards. Like I said, he is extremely likeable. He’s intelligent, funny, easy to get along with, but also murdered and sex with the severed head of his mother. SO THERE’S THAT. He also did the same to many college aged women. But his real reason for doing these things was his hatred of his mother treating him like garbage. Once he killed her, he simply turned himself in because there was no point in killing after that, and also because the police simply couldn’t catch him. It got boring, I guess. (*shivers*)
Below is a side by side comparison of the real Kemper and Britton’s portrayal. It’s uncanny. You should really watch this show. It’s fascinating because it all happened.
2. A very informative documentary about the disastrous BP Oil Spill. The desperation for fossil fuels is undeniable. Where once oil was oozing out of the ground, it’s not so limited that we have to send lines down to the ocean floor to drill. If you have ever taken a science class, you’ll know that oil and water aren’t the best of friends. Oil exploded out of a pipe in the Gulf of Mexico and devastated the coast.
In the BP Oil Spill, more than 200 million gallons of crude oil was pumped into the Gulf of Mexico for a total of 87 days, making it the biggest oil spill in U.S. history. 16,000 total miles of coastline have been affected, including the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.
87 days of oil gushing into the ocean. It was a real eye opener in how unsafe this practice is, but also a reason to look into investing more into alternative energy. The documentary below goes over what happened and warns of future disasters like this in the future.
3. The trailer for another documentary about Dana Carvey’s short-lived, but amazing TV show. Dana Carvey is hilarious. Being such a funny guy, he knows how to choose funny people to help him with his show: Steve Carell, Louis C.K., Stephen Colbert, and Robert Smigel. Those names alone should bring memories of hilarity which seems to be endless.
The shame is that the show got cancelled quickly. It was a sketch show that had to compete with the like of Saturday Night Live. The Dana Carvey Show was television that was probably before its time. But, thankfully, Hulu decided to produce a documentary about a show that should’ve given us classic sketches that were shown for decades. This is why we can’t have nice things, everyone.
4. The Last of Us Part II is coming, and it’s coming with intensity. The Last of Us wasn’t just a masterpiece of a video game, it was a masterpiece of storytelling. I played the entire game from beginning to end, and somehow I managed to tear up, get angry, be hopeful, and have fun. I then went on YouTube and watched all the cutscenes from the game which were probably around 12 hours long. It was like the best first season of any TV show I have ever seen.
After much anticipation, the sequel is to come out soon, and boy does it looks like it will be as good as the first. It’s seemingly easy to make a boring shoot game sequel with even more guns or whatever, but having a sequel game with such rich gameplay and story telling is difficult. Not to mention the visuals look gorgeous. I know for sure I will be playing this game on day one. That purchase of a PS4 seems to constantly be paying off.
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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