The Underscore: Recent Episodes

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Will tuition at elite colleges eventually hit $100,000 a year? And will driverless vehicle technology coupled with the ride-sharing economy eventually knock car ownership below 50 percent in America?

In a departure from our normal format, The Underscore hosts Eric Brandner and Davin Coburn debate where college costs are going (way up, but how high?) and where car ownership is going (way down, but how low?).

MUSIC

The Underscore's theme music is a mashup by Gunnbladez and Stereo Surgeon.

PREVIOUS EPISODES

Episode 1: Ruckus and how slang spreads Episode 2: An invisible girlfriend Episode 3: Marrying off your friends Episode 4: Sounds of the subway Episode 5: 500 presidential candidates and counting

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There's Jeb Bush, Limberbutt McCubbins and Michael Castillejos. It's not the beginning of a walks-into-a-bar joke, though it surely could be. They're three of the more than 500 candidates who've filed FEC Form No. 2, which is the first official step to run for president. You likely know about Bush, McCubbins isn't exactly eligible and Castillejos has big plans.

Hosted by Eric Brandner and Davin Coburn, The Underscore is a podcast exploring and explaining the quirky side of American culture. On this week's episode, we talk to three of the hundreds of candidates — an actor, a retiree and a libertarian/marijuana reformer — and ask them why they're running. Which got us thinking ...

POD EXTRAS

Also on theunderscore.net

-Josue LaRose? Sydney's Voluptuous Buttocks? We profile seven long shot presidential candidates you should know (but probably don't) http://wp.me/p5MkK7-4Y

-So what's one more candidate? Here's our own Davin Coburn's campaign website. http://bit.ly/1VVNy18

GUESTS

Thanks to candidates Thomas Keister, Peter Breyfogle and Michael Castillejos along with Scripps Howard News Wire's Quentin Misiag.

CLARIFICATION

In this episode, we mention Thomas Keister's run for the Clarksville, Indiana, Town Council. That run ended after we finalized the episode. Also, Keister has not actually filed a FEC Form 2 for 2016, though he intends to do so.

MUSIC

The Underscore's theme music is a mashup by Gunnbladez and Stereo Surgeon.

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Lawsuits, spare change and a No. 1 hit featuring a New York subway singer: Join us as we go inside the world of street performers in two major American cities, and ask what role public art should have in modern urban planning.

Hosted by Eric Brandner and Davin Coburn, The Underscore is a podcast exploring and explaining the quirky side of American culture. On this week's episode, we look at the life of a busker in the era of Spotify, the lawsuit one Washington, D.C., performer brought against the transit system to be able to play in the Metro, and the New York City program overseen by the MTA to bring music to the masses there.

POD EXTRAS

Want to know where you can hear some of those MTA musicians perform? We link to a map, as well as a list of acts added to the roster this year: http://wp.me/p5MkK7-3L

Here are a few of our favorite recent street performances. Got one of your own?: http://wp.me/p5MkK7-3Z

GUESTS

Thanks to D.C.-area performer Alex Young, Busking Project founder Nick Broad, Sandra Bloodworth and Lydia Bradshaw of the MTA (which recently published a new book, "New York's Underground Art Museum"), and to entertainer Damon C. Scott.

MUSIC

The Underscore's theme music is a mashup by Gunnbladez and Stereo Surgeon.

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An open-door philosophy, an SEO battle and a guerrilla wedding at a New York City landmark: Welcome to the crazy world of online ordination, where you can start a church, then profit off enabling people to officiate their friends' weddings. And at a time in American life when the role of religion is becoming more malleable and individualized by the day, it's (almost) all legal.

Hosted by Eric Brandner and Davin Coburn, The Underscore is a podcast exploring and explaining the quirky side of American culture.

On this week's podcast, we look at where these online ministries originated, how Google search results became a major battle ground in modern-day religion, and the way one Brooklyn-based entrepreneur has carved out a unique spot in his friends' lives—by performing their weddings.

POD EXTRA

--Want to legally officiate a friend's wedding? Here's how: http://bit.ly/1LMVgX1

GUESTS

Thanks to Narratively CEO Noah Rosenberg, The Daily Dot staff writer Aaron Sankin (whose story on the Universal Life Church in The Kernel magazine was an inspiration for this episode) and filmmaker Joe Greenberg for joining the podcast.

MUSIC

The Underscore's theme music is a mashup by Gunnbladez and Stereo Surgeon.

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Could it be true that in this fast-paced technological era, the best way to forge a real connection is by creating a fake girlfriend? We're not entirely sure — but it turns out, there's an app for that.

Hosted by Eric Brandner and Davin Coburn, the Underscore is a podcast exploring and explaining the quirky side of American culture. On this episode, we go behind the curtain of the Invisible Girlfriend phenomenon, speaking to the people who actually power a text-based imaginary-partner service — and looking at what keeps its users coming back.

POD EXTRAS

Visit theunderscore.net for a slew of podcast extras, including:

--Creating a girlfriend from scratch is a lot harder than it looks. Here's what we came up with for our invisible girlfriend Trudy Elizabeth Beckensale:

--How does a conversation with an invisible girlfriend flow? Here are examples of the good, the bad and the bizarrely bacon-based.

--Sadly, Meatball is not a real bulldog. The pooch's inspiration, however, is real.

GUESTS

Thanks again to Digg editor Steve Rousseau, Crowdsource COO Erin Steinbruegge and freelance writer and editor — and sometimes invisible girlfriend — Laura Harper for joining the podcast.

MUSIC

The Underscore's theme music is a mashup by Gunnbladez and Stereo Surgeon.

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How does slang spread? And can the average person set out to make a term go viral? Oh, and we have a word in mind ...

Hosted by Eric Brandner and Davin Coburn, the Underscore is a podcast exploring and explaining what makes American culture interesting. On this episode, we talk to a quartet of word experts and dig through the history of how exactly language moves from the street to Twitter and a lot of unexpected places in between (including the dictionary).

And if you could all start punctuating your happy tweets with #ruckus, that'd be really great. (Listen and we'll explain.)

POD EXTRAS

Visit theunderscore.net for a slew of podcast extras, including:

--So how do you get a word in the dictionary? An editor from Merriam-Webster explains.

--Five times American court cases hinged on slang. (A teaser that promises -- and delivers -- dumb criminal stories.)

--What slang terms are college students using today? (Our favorite? Hangry. We're probably hangry somewhere right now.)

GUESTS

Thanks to lexicographers/authors Tom Dalzell, Connie Eble, Jonathon Green and Kory Stamper for joining the podcast.

MUSIC

The Underscore's theme music is a mashup by Gunnbladez and Stereo Surgeon. A special thanks to Chad Stewart for additional episode mixing.