Does the political divide between Republicans and Democrats extend to television shows? A new poll suggests that it does.

E-Score Programs– a monthly tracking survey that measures awareness, viewing, and perceptions of American television shows – analyzed more than 750 primetime broadcast, cable, and streaming programs among American adults whose political affiliation is either Republican or Democrat. It then ranked the results for shows described as "one of my favorites" by each group.

What the survey found was that Republicans and Democrats are definitely attracted to different things when it comes to their TV viewing. 

There are shows that cross the aisle, though. They include The CW's "Supernatural," CBS comedy "The Big Bang Theory," and AMC's "The Walking Dead." 

Here are the 10 shows most beloved by the Republicans and Democrats:

SEE ALSO: Here's when all your favorite TV shows are returning

DON'T MISS: These are the best shows on TV, according to critics

Republicans' favorite TV shows

According to E-Score, "Republicans prefer programs that are family-friendly, funny, plot-driven or have storylines that involve 'good versus evil.' These shows may be more appealing to supporters of Trump."

1. "Supernatural" (The CW)

"Two brothers follow their father's footsteps as 'hunters' fighting evil supernatural beings of many kinds including monsters, demons, and gods that roam the earth." – IMDb

2. "The Walking Dead" (AMC)

"Sheriff Deputy Rick Grimes leads a group of survivors in a world overrun by the walking dead. Fighting the dead, fearing the living." – IMDb

Facebook is betting big on Live, the new video broadcasting tool that it introduced about eight months ago. 

Live lets any Facebook user instantly became a star, a newscaster or a witness by streaming their phone's video feed for the world to watch in real time.  It's already been used for serious events like the attempted military coup in Turkey and the shooting death of Philando Castile, as well as for lighter fare like the famous Chewbacca Mom video. 

But how popular is Live among Facebook's ordinary users? 

Business Insider conducted an informal, unscientific survey of roughly 45 typical Facebook users from all over the United States, ranging between ages 19 and 62, to get a sense of how often they used Live and what they think of it.

The results show that Live has already made important headway establishing itself as part of the entertainment mix that people enjoy on Facebook. But the survey also highlights a big problem Facebook may face as it tries to fill the internet airwaves with a steady stream of interesting content. 

Nearly half of the people we spoke to said they have already tuned into as many as ten Live videos when the videos were actually streaming in real time.

Facebook users can also watch replays of the Live videos in their Newsfeeds, and the majority of Facebook users say they've watched such clips, with roughly 7 out of 10 people saying they had watched replays of the Live videos.

It's worth noting that this survey was conducted slightly before the Diamond Reynolds video of the Castile shooting went viral, meaning that some of the "no" respondents may have since watched a replay of that that particular Live clip on Facebook.

Although watching videos already is becoming more common among Facebook users, creating a Live video is decidedly not. Almost no one who took our survey had ever made their own Live video. The cut off answers below are "No, but I've been in a friend's video," and "Yes, but through a work account." 

This lack of user generated Live videos may explain Facebook's efforts to enlist professionals. 

Facebook is paying celebrities and news outlets to create Live Videos, divvying out more than $50 million to publications like BuzzFeed and The New York Times (as well as Business Insider) and public figures like swimmer Michael Phelps and "Star Trek" actor George Takei, according to the Wall Street Journal.

To Citron Research's Andrew Left, the strategy of paying for videos makes Facebook like more like a content business and highlights why he thinks Live is such a big priority for Facebook: It needs to keep engagement. 

Left has been shorting Facebook's stock since its first quarter earnings report, citing competition from Snapchat as a major reason. 

"I don’t need to check my Instagram every half hour — there’s a difference between keeping up with my friends and stalking my friends. And [Facebook] knows that!" Left tells Business Insider. "And that’s why they need to produce this content. Why would they spend these millions of dollars on this if all you wanted to see was, ‘What did Andrew eat for dinner last night?'" 

"They understand the fact that they have to expand beyond social media," says Left. 

Competition

There's plenty of competition in the battle to replace TV as the go-to destination for live video.

Facebook is the most popular live-streaming outlet for the people surveyed, closely followed by Snapchat:

People most often find Live Videos through their friends, or after getting a notification from a person or Page that they follow.

Similarly, Facebook tells Business Insider that its official numbers show that 48% of all video watch time comes from shares:

Most people don't know that Facebook is paying certain publications to make Live videos. 

In an open format follow-up question we asked whether that changed people's opinions of Live, and the response was a resounding "nope." 

"It doesn't change my opinion necessarily," one 23-year-old wrote, "But it does make me wonder why FB is trying so hard to force something that no one is asking for."

Wall Street will likely grill Facebook on how it plans to make money from Live when the company reports its Q2 earnings on July 27.

SEE ALSO: Facebook on graphic violence in Live videos: 'Context and degree are everything'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This scientist thinks Elon Musk is wrong about the threat of artificial intelligence

Cosplaying — the art of creating costumes and role playing— has always been popular among fantasy communities.

But HBO's "Game of Thrones" adaptation has been an increasingly popular choice for crafty fans. 

From sewing elaborate dresses to assembling custom armor, "Game of Thrones" cosplayers often spend months getting their costumes just right. Bearing a physical resemblance to the character is also key. 

We've searched high and low to find cosplayers who have not only recreated the "Game of Thrones" costumes, but also look like they truly belong in the world of Westeros.

Let's take a look.

Norweigan cosplayer Santatory made an intricate gown to transform into Margaery Tyrell. It helps that she looks super similar to Natalie Dormer, the actress who plays the young queen.

Source: Facebook
Photographer: Starbit Cosplay

Here's Dormer on the show, wearing the Tyrell colors of blue and gold.

Ginny DiGuiseppi looks exactly like season four's Arya Stark. The leather jerkin, delicate sword, and short wig are almost identical to Arya's costume.

Source: Facebook
Photographer: WeNeals

Two weeks after launch, the question isn't "is Pokémon Go a phenomenon," but rather "how long can this possibly last?" 

Research firms like CB Insights are wondering whether or not Pokémon Go is a one-hit wonder, while Deutsche Bank has declared that the rally the game inspired in Nintendo's stock price is over. 

With Justin Bieber spotted playing in Central Park, and scattered reports of people uninstalling the game amid continuing technical issues and server overloads, the world wonders when this fad will run its course.

But there's good reason to imagine that Pokémon Go will stick around for the long haul.

Consider this your reminder that this is actually the second time we've hit peak Pokémon. Back in 1996, Pokémon took over the world. Eventually, the hype died down. But Pokémon didn't disappear. 

For a lot of people, the first and only Pokémon game they played was "Pokémon Red and Blue," the original titles for the Nintendo Game Boy, which shipped in 1996. Maybe they watched the cartoon, too. The national Pokémon craze may have died out after that, but the franchise lived on.

Here's the extent of the Pokémon empire, circa 2016:

• The Pokémon Company, the spinoff company that manages the Pokémon trademark, says that by the end of May 2016, the Pokémon franchise — video games, toys, movies, TV, the whole shebang — was a ¥4.8 trillion (approximately $45 billion) enterprise.
• In 2015 alone, The Pokémon Company did $2.1 billion in retail revenue from Pokémon merchandise.
• The video games have sold over 280 million units total. It's Nintendo's second-best-selling franchise, behind only the Super Mario games.
• The original games had 151 unique Pokémon. The next pair in the series, "Pokémon Sun and Moon," comes out this November and will bring the count to 722. 
• The Pokémon cartoon is still on the air, with its 19th season wrapping up in August. Including the current season, there are 930 episodes of Pokémon.

The point is, Pokémon Go wasn't generated in a vacuum. If anything, there's been sustained and steady demand for new Pokémon games, even years after the first games introduced a generation to these battlin' monsters. 

And when it comes to Pokémon Go specifically, it has a pedigree. Niantic, the developer of Pokémon Go, was previously best known as the team responsible for "Ingress" — a game with a very similar focus on teaming up and exploring the map.

That game kept a dedicated audience happy for many years by adding new content, new features, and carefully cultivating its community and adding story elements. You can read a friend's highly compelling account of her experience with "Ingress" addiction here, circa 2014, two years after it first came out. It includes a very funny story of buying a scooter from a 12-year-old kid on Craigslist so she could keep playing after she sprained her leg.

The point here being that while the fad is doomed, as are all mortal things on this earth given a long enough time horizon, I think you would be surprised at people's long-term dedication to both Pokémon as a brand and Pokémon Go as a game.

A Pokémon Go pub crawl in San Francisco on Wednesday evening has over 9,000 Facebook RSVPs, with 29,000 interested. To me, that indicates that players aren't bored yet. And Niantic promises lots of new features coming down the pipeline, including Pokémon trading, largely intended to facilitate more collaboration and competition between players. Those features will reward those who stick around with high scores and positions in the community.

And with The Pokémon Company and Nintendo both investors in Niantic, it's a clear signal that they're in this for the long haul. So long as dedicated players are willing to keep plugging away at it (and spending money on microtransactions), Niantic has every incentive to keep improving it and cultivating their audience.

After all, games like "World of Warcraft" keep marching on, even after losing many millions of players, because the ones who stay also tend to spend.

Then again, I said the same thing about "Disney Infinity," and Disney pulled the plug on that game.

SEE ALSO: The CEO behind 'Pokémon Go' explains why it's become such a phenomenon

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We found where Justin Bieber goes to play 'Pokémon GO'

Harvard law professor and author Cass R. Sunstein took a break from his typically complex, footnote-filled texts to write a book analyzing one of the biggest pop culture phenomena of all time: "Star Wars."

In "The World According to Star Wars", Sunstein breaks down the origins of the "Star Wars" mythology, the reasons it became (and is still) so successful and also finds myriad parallels between the events chronicled in the science fiction saga and those happening in today's geopolitical landscape.

We asked Sunstein if he sees any parallels between "Star Wars" and the rise of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Follow BI Video:On Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

After the agenda changed for Bill O'Reilly's interview with Montel Williams on Wednesday, Williams walked off, refusing to appear on "The O'Reilly Factor."

Follow BI Video: On Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

After being one of the most outspoken opponents of Donald Trump's presidential run, Michael Moore conceded that he was likely to win during Wednesday's special Republican National Convention episode of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher."

"I'm sorry I have to be the buzzkill here so early on," Moore began, "but I think Trump is going to win. I'm sorry."

As the audience booed the filmmaker, Maher interjected. "Boo if you want. I'm glad you're saying it," he said. "The enemy is complacency. Say it everyday. He certainly could win."

Before Moore's admission, the panel members discussed what they believe are hateful messages at the RNC, which Moore said were playing well with a large number of Americans.

"It might have sounded crazy to us," the "Bowling for Columbine" director said, "but to millions and millions of Americans, this was music to their ears. One of the things I've been concerned about this week is that ... we've been sitting in our bubble, having a good laugh at this total, as you said, s---show, but the truth is this plays to a lot of people that [Trump] has to win to become the next president."

Moore's concession follows months of campaigning against the real-estate mogul, including standing outside Trump Tower in New York City with a sign that read "We are all Muslim" in response to Trump's suggested ban on Muslim immigration to the US. Moore made a pledge in May to team up with Maher to stop Trump's run.

Moore also told Business Insider in May that Trump could win if he won Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — the "upper kind of Midwestern-type states." But he also expressed some optimism then.

"I know the statistics," Moore said. "I know that 81% of the country is either female, people of color, or young adults from 18 to 35, and [Trump] has significantly offended all three of those groups, and they aren't going to vote for him."

Watch Moore's statements on Trump below (at around 10 minutes in):

SEE ALSO: Trevor Noah blasts the RNC for fear-mongering: They're ‘acting like America is Westeros and winter is coming’

DON'T MISS: Stephen Colbert gives 'Melania Trump' a chance to address plagiarism accusations

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch the RNC audience boo Ted Cruz for not endorsing Trump

Today is National Junk Food Day — a day meant to celebrate the greasy, sweet, and satisfying treats that we can't ever seem to resist. 

In honor of this auspicious event, let's take a look at 14 very successful individuals who got their start making the highly caloric meals that we all love: 

SEE ALSO: 12 famous people who started their careers as interns

DON'T MISS: 26 weird jobs famous people had before making it big

Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO

As Business Insider previously reported, Bezos used to work at McDonald's.

In Cody Teets's "Golden Opportunity: Remarkable Careers That Began at McDonald's," Bezos revealed that he worked the grill and that the job taught him responsibility.

"My first week on the job, a five-gallon, wall-mounted ketchup dispenser got stuck open in the kitchen and dumped a prodigious quantity of ketchup into every hard-to-reach kitchen crevice. Since I was the new guy, they handed me the cleaning solution and said, 'Get going!'"

Rachel McAdams, actress

When she was just starting out, McAdams also worked at McDonald's.

By her own words, the now-actress wasn't a very good employee at the fast food giant, as Business Insider previously reported.

According to US Magazine, the "Spotlight" star once broke an orange juice machine.

Barack Obama, President of the United States

You heard that right. The current president of the United States worked at Baskin-Robbins in high school, as Business Insider previously reported.

He wrote about the experience on LinkedIn: "Scooping ice cream is tougher than it looks. Rows and rows of rock-hard ice cream can be brutal on the wrists."

Tech billionaire and "Shark Tank" host Mark Cuban used to support Donald Trump's presidential run, but he has since changed his mind.

On Wednesday's "Late Show," host Stephen Colbert asked Cuban why he flip-flopped from saying the real-estate mogul was the "best thing to happen to politics" last year to changing his stance in May, and then announcing he has become a "Never Trump" supporter on Twitter earlier this week.

"At the beginning, he was a businessperson," Cuban explained. "I wanted to see a change from the traditional politician, but then he went and opened his mouth."

Cuban then added, "He had a really good chance to be different and really have a chance to change things, but he doesn’t do the work. He’s lazy."

Colbert then wondered what the Billionaire Boys Club thinks of Trump. After joking that they've stopped inviting Trump to the meetings and changed the secret handshake, Cuban explained that the real proof is in who's donating to the Trump campaign.

In its search for an alternative to Trump, it was reported that they did tests on Mark Cuban for a possible third-party candidacy. But as for Cuban's own aspirations for presidential run, the billionaire said it's not going to happen.

"I just don't want to put my family through it," he said. "My 6-year-old, Jake, loves the idea, but it's just a lot of scrutiny and my kids are young and I want to spend time with them. And typically, I just dislike politics."

If Cuban's opposition to Trump wasn't clear enough, he also took part in a special edition of Colbert's "Take the Gloves Off." In it, he takes shots at Trump's bankruptcy record, his business acumen, and his orange tan, among other things.

Watch the interview and "Take the Gloves Off" segment below:

SEE ALSO: Michael Moore: 'I think Trump is going to win'

DON'T MISS: Stephen Colbert gives 'Melania Trump' a chance to address plagiarism accusations

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch the RNC audience boo Ted Cruz for not endorsing Trump

“The Divergent Series: Ascendant” was slated to come out next year and be the final movie in the adaptation of the popular young-adult novel series about a futuristic world broken into factions. But in an unprecedented movie the studio behind the movies, Lionsgate, has decided to cancel the theatrical release of "Ascendant" and move the franchise over to TV.

According to Variety, Lionsgate is in the early stages of negotiations to make “Ascendant” a TV movie and also create a spinoff series for the small screen.

The franchise, led by actress Shailene Woodley as its star, came out of the gates hot when the first movie, 2014’s “Divergent,” earned over $288 million worldwide on an $85 million budget. A year later, “The Divergent Series: Insurgent” did even better with $297.2 million worldwide. 

But with the YA craze sputtering out around the same time the end of the popular “Hunger Games” franchise concluded late last year, the third “Divergent” movie, “Allegiant,” crashed with $179.2 million worldwide, with the film only earning $66.1 million domestically.

It seems Lionsgate hopes to save face and get as much as they can out of their investment of the franchise by turning to TV. However, according to Variety, there’s no word yet that Woodley or any of the other cast members from the movies will return for the “Ascendant” TV movie.

SEE ALSO: The 10 favorite TV shows of Democrats and Republicans

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Kit Harington explains why he showed up to his 'Game of Thrones' audition with a black eye

Pandora rejected an offer to sell itself for $15 dollars a share, a deal that would have valued the company at over $3.4 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal's Hannah Karp, Shalini Ramachandran, and David Benoit.

The offer came from Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei, whose company controls Sirius XM, but was more of a "fishing expedition" than a formal offer, sources told the Journal. Pandora's board "rebuffed the advance," primarily because it believes the company's value is closer to $20 per share.

The sources also said Pandora had courted other buyers like Apple and Amazon.

Pandora is a company in transition. In March, Pandora brought back founder Tim Westergren to be its CEO and help usher in an on-demand product to compete with the likes of Spotify and Apple Music. The company has indicated that it will be a big part of its future, but the public, and Wall Street, is waiting to see whether it will be a hit or a flop.

Some don't want to wait. In May, activist investor Corvex pushed for Pandora to sell itself. 

"We have become increasingly concerned that the company may be pursuing a costly and uncertain business plan, without a thorough evaluation of all shareholder value-maximizing alternatives," Corvex's Keith Meister wrote in a letter to Pandora's board at the time.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: If You're Going To Pay For Music — Pay For This

It isn't over until Pablo Escobar says it's over on the second season of Netflix series, "Narcos."

The first trailer for the show's sophomore season finds the 1980s drug kingpin, played by Golden Globe-nominated actor Wagner Moura, cornered from all sides legally, politically, and by police, military, and civilian forces. All of them are looking to stop Escobar's rule of the international cocaine trade.

It would seem to everyone else that Escobar's rule was at an end, but someone had to tell him that.

"Pablo was never more dangerous than when you almost had him," says Boyd Holbrook, who plays DEA agent Steve Murphy and the show's narrator, in a voiceover.

The 10-episode second season of "Narcos" launches Friday, September 2 on Netflix.

Watch the trailer below: 

SEE ALSO: Netflix's 'Orange Is the New Black' is more explosive than ever in season 4

DON'T MISS: Tony Robbins is a self-help rock star in the revealing trailer for this Netflix movie

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The 7 best TV shows on Netflix you've probably never heard of

There's no denying eight-time Golden Globe winner Meryl Streep is a living legend. 

Now, she's the star of tasteofstreep, an Instagram account dedicated to melding photographs of the actress with images of food.

In 2015, now-graphic designer Samantha Raye uploaded her first post to tasteofstreep and soon after, People magazine took note. "They tweeted a link to my Instagram when I only had about 300 followers," Raye told Business Insider. That led to reposts from fashion blogs and "that’s when it truly blew up overnight," says Raye.

Now, the account has 112,000 followers and an impressive body of images.

See some of Raye's creations and learn about her experiences below—just try not to get too hungry or star struck.

SEE ALSO: Starbucks across America are running out of a key ingredient — and customers are freaking out

Samantha Raye, the woman behind tasteofstreep, created her first food-meets-Meryl image while on a family vacation. 'I remember sitting in the living room at some odd hour of the night with my computer, googling complete nonsense when I came across a picture of Meryl Streep in Mamma Mia.' Soon after, the actress was floating atop a pizza slice, with lightening bolts shooting out of her hands.

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BF7FbbyBhPb/embed/
Width: 658px

Raye's first tasteofstreep post was of Meryl Streep in the movie "She-Devil" melded with a pink frosted doughnut. Now, Raye's account boasts 112,000 followers.

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BCYKBZfhhO4/embed/
Width: 658px

To create each post, Raye constantly scours the internet for photos of Streep. Once she finds one she likes, she pays special attention to Streep's body positioning and the clothing she's wearing.

Instagram Embed:
http://instagram.com/p/BHaB5pDhxh6/embed/
Width: 658px

"Indentured" author and New York Times writer Joe Nocera spoke to us earlier this year about the short lived United States Football League (USFL) and Donald Trump's involvement in its demise.

Produced by Joe Avella

Follow BI Video: On Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

Brooklyn-based Nick Johnson, who happens to be a friend of mine, has publicly declared himself to be the first Pokémon Go player to catch all of the 142 Pokémon that we know are available in the US.

According to the original video games that Pokémon Go is based on, there are 151 total monsters. We know that there are 142 you can catch in the US, plus three more exclusive to certain international regions, but nobody can account for the whereabouts of the other six.

Johnson's journey to Pokémon mastery took a lot of doing and some long nights, he tells Business Insider, but it was worth it to fulfill his childhood dream of catching 'em all.

On Reddit, Johnson's announcement that he completed his collection as much as possible raised eyebrows: Commenters accused him of cheating or otherwise faking his accomplishment.

But, speaking personally, I've gotten enough late-night Facebook messages boasting of a new Pokémon capture to vouch for his dedication and thoroughness.

Johnson, head of platform with startup Applico and a recently published author, doesn't have a lot of time to play during the day. So, right after leaving work around 6 or 6:30, Johnson tells Business Insider, he would start walking around Manhattan and Brooklyn in search of Pokémon.

Those treks could last for eight hours at a time, Johnson says, walking until he had to come home and pass out. His iPhone's Health app tells him that he's walked an average of 8 miles a day in the two weeks since the game came out.

Some other highlights from his Pokémon Go adventure:

• He chose water-type Squirtle as his first Pokémon because he didn't realize that he had a choice. He would have gone with the fire-type Charmander, in reflection of his choice of Team Valor, the game's red team.
• The very last Pokémon he needed for his collection was Omastar, which he evolved himself. He says that he would have caught it a day earlier when two appeared in his vicinity — but then Verizon cell service cut out for 15 minutes, denying him of his prize. "Shout out to Verizon, you the real MVP," Johnson jokes.
• The second-to-last Pokémon that Johnson needed, Porygon, was also the hardest, and required a trip to Jersey City. "I may or may not have seen it on the radar and then ordered an Uber to drive me around until I found it," Johnson says.
• The best spots in New York City for catching Pokémon are Battery Park and Grand Army Plaza in Central Park. The latter is where Justin Bieber was spotted playing, and on any given night, there are 300 or so people gathered there for Pokémon hunting purposes, staying "well until the morning."
• His best tip for would-be Pokémon masters: "Buy some good walking shoes." He also recommends that if you're going to spend real money for in-game items, then the egg incubators are the best bang for your buck.

Johnson shares his tips and strategies for completing your Pokémon Go collection here.

Even with his Pokémon collection complete, Johnson says that he'll keep on playing, though he hopes that Pokémon Go developer Niantic improves Gyms and the game's battle systems to "make them more fun." Plus, his girlfriend still has to complete her collection, so he has to help her out.

"But I will probably sleep more," Johnson says.

And on a final note, Johnson notes that there are three Pokémon — Mr. Mime, Kangaskhan, and Farfetch'd — who are available only in Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and Asia respectively. He says that he's actually writing to travel sites and startups looking for someone to sponsor his world tour to complete his Pokémon collection.

SEE ALSO: 12 clever tips and tricks for 'Pokémon Go' from the first guy to catch all 142 Pokémon in the U.S.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: We found where Justin Bieber goes to play 'Pokémon GO'

The man who has played Batman, Birdman, Beetlejuice, and so many more characters in between is finally landing on the Walk of Fame.

Michael Keaton will be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on July 28th. Producer of Walk of Fame ceremonies Ana Martinez confirmed the announcement Thursday on Twitter.

Keaton was nominated last year to be inducted.

The acknowledgement seems long overdue, however the Walk of Fame also just honored Steve Carell with a star in January, and still plans to give one to Allison Janney this year.

Keaton was nominated for an Oscar for his starring role in "Birdman," which he won the Golden Globe. The following year, he starred in the Oscar-winning film "Spotlight." In addition to his more recent credits, Keaton is a notable figure in the Tim Burton universe, starring as the title character in "Beetlejuice," and the caped-crusader Batman in two blockbuster films.

He can be seen next in "The Founder," a film about the origins of McDonald’s, on August 5th. Keaton has also recently been tapped to play The Vulture — a different sort of Birdman — in "Spider-Man: Homecoming." 

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch 'Harry Potter’s' Daniel Radcliffe infiltrate a white supremacy group in the trailer for ‘Imperium'

After beating a tough video game, you probably feel pretty good about yourself, right?

Well, get ready for a hit to your self-esteem, because there's a whole subculture of people who train themselves to complete entire video games from start to finish as quickly as possible. 

The most extreme among them do this blindfolded.

What is "speedrunning?"

When we talk about "speedrunning" a video game, it refers to a video game subculture that devotes their time to completing games as quickly as possible using a combination of raw skill and exploiting various level glitches.

Twice a year, Games Done Quick hosts speedrunning marathons where viewers watching the livestreams of these speedruns online are invited to donate money to a particular organization. Most recently, speedrunners showed off for the Summer Games Done Quick charity event in early July, which raised $1.3 million for Doctors Without Borders.

You may have seen Mitch "MitchFlowerPower" Fowler on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert promoting Summer Games Done Quick, where he attempted to beat "Super Mario Bros. 3" faster than Colbert could cook and eat a Hot Pocket.

Though Fowler was bested by Colbert's eating prowess, Fowler still holds the record for the fastest completion time of "Super Mario Bros. 3" at a blistering three minutes and eight seconds.

There's a whole community surrounding this hobby for just about every game you can think of, from "Super Mario 64" (World record: Six minutes and 44 seconds), to "LEGO Harry Potter" (49 minutes and 32 seconds), to "Portal" (Eight minutes and 28 seconds).

Drew "Romscout" Schroeder is another one of these seemingly superhuman speedrunners, who completed the entirety of "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" in just over an hour during the Summer Games Done Quick event.

The kicker? He does so without ever looking at the screen.

Watching the footage of this is absolutely mindblowing, but we wanted to ask Schroeder himself exactly how he does it.

Backdashes, wingsmashes, and jumping

So, how does someone even begin to learn how to play a game without even looking at the screen?

Luckily, Schroeder wasn't starting from scratch. Before deciding to play "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" blindfolded, he had already been speedrunning the game for about seven years, so to say that he was familiar with the game is an understatement.

But Schroeder said watching speedrunners "Sinister1" and "Zallard1" play "Mike Tyson's Punch-Out" in a blindfolded race at Awesome Games Done Quick in January 2016 was the main inspiration for Schroeder to take his "Castlevania" playing to the next level.

Immediately after getting home from watching the blindfolded race, Schroeder got to work planning out a consistent, repeatable route through "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" that he knew he could stick to.

"It only took 3 days actually," Schroeder told Tech Insider. "I was putting in heavy hours, maybe eight to 12 hours a day, but to come up with something consistent only took three days. And, from there, it was just trying to be able to come up with backup strategies if I messed up and being able to get consistency so I could do it for a live performance."

The meat-and-potatoes of his playthrough boils down to three basic movements — Backdashes, Wingdashes, and Jumping — all of which have set distances attached to them, helping Schroeder know exactly where he is at any given time.

He also uses audio cues to help him navigate the castle's labrynthine passages. Depending on how far your character falls, for example, a different sound will play — this kind of audio feedback helps Schroeder know whether or not he's made a crucial jump or slayed a particularly nasty enemy.

The first time he completed "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" without ever looking at the screen was in January, just a few short weeks after starting the endeavor.

The results of Schroeder's training are mind-blowing to behold. You can watch the entirety of his run online, but we've taken the liberty of breaking down his recent playthrough into a few key moments that show just how precise his playing is.

The highlights

From the beginning, Schroeder carefully orchestrates his playthrough. He starts the game in "Luck Mode," which lowers his max health to 25 from its default state at 100. He does this to carry out a very crafty exploit that allows him to bypass a part of the game where normally, he'd lose all of his equipment.

Here's how it works: 

When your character loses more than half of his health in a single hit, he'll go flying through the air. Schroeder purposely takes a huge hit at one very specific part of the game that makes him perfectly arc through the air, bypassing the area entirely in which you lose your equipment. It's something that has to be seen to be believed, which you can do so here, or watch part of it in GIF form below.

Honestly, doing this little trick while playing the game normally would be impressive enough, but the fact that Schroeder does so through muscle memory and audio cues alone is mind-boggling.

Here, you can see Schroeder moving through a level and stopping to attack enemies, doing so only from memory. He knows he's defeated the enemies by the sound they make when they die.

And here, you can see Schroeder flawlessly jumping up a network of platforms. You'll notice he's ducking as he turns from side to side, so as not to move back and forth by accident. Every movement he makes must be predictable and precise.

The entire playthrough took Schroeder just over an hour — a bit longer than his previous time of 54 minutes, but still impressive considering some broken buttons on his controller gave him a bit of trouble navigating through some menus.

So, the next time you feel really good about beating your friends at "Mario Kart" or for getting the Play of the Game in "Overwatch," just ask yourself: Next time, could you do it blindfolded?

SEE ALSO: Here are the crazy things this guy did to become the first person to catch all the Pokémon in the US

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: New film takes you inside the cut-throat world of professional eSports

Terry Crews has spent his career destroying stereotypes.

After his pro football career ended in the 1990s, all 240-pounds of him went into acting. Although he was initially pegged as being the big tough guy in many of his early movies, he has since been able to establish himself as a unique funnyman, which includes being a regular on the TV show “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and playing the now iconic role (thanks to the presidential election) of Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho in the cult comedy “Idiocracy.”

In his latest venture, Crews decided to strip the stereotypes pegged to the city of Detroit for the Travel Channel’s series “Celebrity Adventure Club.”

The show is simple: the network asks where a famous person wants to travel to and they make it happen. Crews passed on exotic locations and returned to the region where he was born and raised to show its resurgence. The episode, premiering Saturday, looks at Detroit and his childhood home in Flint, Michigan to show the ways the community is thriving after years of economic and, in the case of Flint’s water issue, ecological hardship.

Business Insider chatted with Crews about his spotlight on Detroit as well as why he keeps his political views to himself, the reason the anti-Trump fake ads he was supposed to make with the "Idiocracy" creators won't happen, and how the police shootings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling inspired him to tell his experience of having a police officer point a gun at him.

Business Insider: How did Travel Channel pitch you being part of “Celebrity Adventure Club?”

Terry Crews: They were picking certain celebrities and I was very honored. They had a really nice list and the fact that they came to me was a big honor. So they basically said I could do a doc on any place I wanted. 

BI: Anywhere in the world?

Crews: Anywhere in the world. But then it hit me there's one place in the United States that everyone has heard of but no one really knows, and it's Detroit. Unless you're from there you don't really know Detroit. It has never been a travel destination. People are hyper-alert to the negative things that have happened there, but if you go there you see people riding bikes and birds chirping, it's a beautiful place. So I wanted to give another view and show the good things that are happening.

BI: You showcase so many things in the city, was there one that stood out for you?

Crews: The farming. That was crazy. You can't get more inner-city than Detroit, and the fact that these areas were being repurposed [as farms], and there were amazing people who knew all about farming and how it went. And they produce so much food they have to volunteer people to take the food!

BI: You also highlight your hometown of Flint, which has gone through a lot recently with the water problems. How is Flint now and how is your family?

Crews: The water situation was going on the whole time we filmed there. But while we filmed it turned out that was the last time I saw my mom in person alive. She died four months after we filmed there. So I decided this is not about the water crisis, this is about my mom. There was enough news on the water crisis, so this was about my mom and my family. I never knew this would be the last time I would see her alive so it was a very personal thing for me to edit. We thought about bringing up the whole water thing but we decided it has already been handled.

BI: But outside of the show, how is the situation in Flint now?

Crews: My father is still there. And people ask, ‘Where is Terry Crews on the issue of the water crisis?’ and the way I felt was I saw so many people using the situation for their own agenda so I made contributions anonymously. I didn't want "Terry Crews shows up with a truck full of water," because that doesn't solve the problem. I lived in Flint. You give the whole city a truck full of water they will just need it again next week. It's not just the pipes, the whole system is bad. I stayed out of it [publicly] because I didn't want to be a political football. Listen, Flint has been going through this for 30 years, man. When I was in high school there were problems. That's what made Michael Moore's career. Flint has had bad stories for 30 years.

BI: So you wanted to bring some positivity to the region with the show. 

Crews: Exactly. I'm an incurable optimist. You have to see the good. You have to find what your thankful for to get energy. If you concentrate on what's wrong all the time you will run out.

BI: Is it still hard to believe that Donald Trump, a real presidential nominee, is being compared to your "Idiocracy" character, president Camacho?

Crews: Wow, it went non-stop. Believe me I've been hearing it every day and even at the convention I was like "This is a Camacho opening!" [Laughs] It blew my mind. No on knew how prophetic it was when we were doing [“Idiocracy”]. Again, on an optimistic note, I really really think America needs to see what’s happening. I think now everybody sees the game. When you saw the whole plagiarized speech it was so "whoa, that really, happened!" And I think now it forces people to really make decisions. To me, this stuff only makes you better. And you have to put it out there. But I am shocked it was so quick, that's all. I thought it would take 400 more years. [Laughs]

BI: Is it true Mike Judge, the director of “Idiocracy,” is doing anti-Trump fake ads? Is Camacho coming back?

Crews: You know what happened, it was killed because Etan Cohen, who wrote [“Idiocracy”], went out and said that we're making anti-Trump ads, but we weren't. This is not what we were doing. I'm not anti-Trump, I'm not anti-Hillary [Clinton]. I'm not pro anybody. What happened was we were going to do a whole thing about everyone. We were literally going to show a cage match between Camacho, Hillary, Trump, [Ted] Cruz, all those people. It was going to be funny. But when you make it an anti-Trump ad what's funny about that? Now you killed the comedy. When you have totally picked a side, there's no funny anymore. So I thought he killed it. Even Mike said it, he was like, 'Dude, I don't know what possessed him to call them anti-Trump ads because that's not what they were.' And I said, 'I know.'

But it's funny because the media made Trump. When it was good for ratings you pumped it up. Now you complain. It's too late. And let me say again, I'm not anti-Trump or anti-Hillary, but what the media has to understand is if you live by the sword you die by the sword. Etan Cohen got happy and was like now we're going to knock him down and I was like "I'm not doing that." I never built him up in the first place. 

BI: So at one time you guys were going to do something but since the debates have ended you've squashed it. 

Crews: Squashed. It's killed. And everyone was coming to me saying "Can't wait for you to do the ad," and I was like, “I’m not doing any of that.” Everyone wanted me to go against Trump, and I'm like, I’m not your gun. You're not going to use me to knock him down. I’m on no side at all and that's the clear message I'm trying to say.

BI: And it doesn't sound like you want to make public who you’d vote for.

Crews: That's my private decision. And people are angry. I'm just like I'm not getting into that. I'm not that dude. I will never stand for any agenda. Because what if the side you're on is wrong? Then you're stuck. I can't do it. 

BI: You gave a very moving Facebook video post following the Philando Castile and Alton Sterling shootings. What motivated you to post your thoughts?

Crews: My heart broke watching those videos of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling. And I just felt, you can't tell me there's another way. That's all I wanted to say. And with the media, and the coverage, when are you hyping it up to a point where now subconsciously it makes people who are not black feel safer that this is happening? And that's just a theory. I didn't accuse anyone, people were coming at me on Facebook about it. But then on the other side, as a black man, subconsciously, it makes me hyper-vigilant. If I get pulled over tomorrow I'm thinking about the videos, I'm thinking I'm going to get shot. And the day I posted that video that night the Dallas shootings happened, I couldn't believe it. And that's the hyper-vigilance I spoke about. 

BI: And some people will be reading this and think, what's celebrity Terry Crews know? But you state in your video that you were pulled over once in LA and the officer walked up to your car with a gun drawn.

Crews: Yeah. This was my first time in LA and the cop had his gun pointed at me. And I remember I had my hands at ten and two [on the steering wheel]. And I said I'm not going to move my hands because I knew he could kill me. And I was just like why does this police officer have his gun out? But it was after the LA riots, so maybe it was police being hyper-vigilant. But I knew to be calm. I didn't speak until I was spoken to. I wasn't going to give him a reason. I mean, just as a Caucasian male walks through an alley that's full of gang members and he feels very intimidated, I used to feel that way walking through a bank. A black man walking into a bank and you have all of these older white gentleman looking at me, I felt very intimidated. These are the realities of how you think and you don't even know why. The hyper-vigilance. One by one I've gone through the things in my own life in my own head that take me out. And that's what I was trying to tell people with the Facebook video. To think things out. And another thing we need are good police officers, and there are a lot of them, to stand up and say this is not me. That would heal so much. But a lot of times these people don't say anything. And it gets people more ramped up. 

SEE ALSO: No one wants to buy 50 Cent's incredible $6 million mansion that he's been forced to sell due to bankruptcy

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Nobody wants to buy 50 Cent's massive $6 million mansion

Rapper 50 Cent was forced to lower the price of his mansion once again, this time to $6 million. He will pay $23.4 million to creditors over the next five years.

Follow BI Video:On Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

More than 80 panels are dedicated to as many television shows at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. But which ones are really the place to be?

Anyone who has been to the annual four-day event knows there's a frightening amount of things to do and see.

Plus, you'll have to maneuver the halls of the San Diego Convention Center (and its surrounding hotels) through the more than 135,000 expected attendees in order to get to those attractions.

Luckily, here's a little help figuring out your schedule. Amobee Brand Intelligence— a company that provides marketing insight and measures real-time content consumption across the internet, video, social, and mobile — analyzed the discussions around this year's con between June 20 and July 20. It then came up with a list of the most talked-about shows of the event.

Here are the 10 most buzzed-about TV shows of this year's San Diego Comic-Con, and where to find their panels:

SEE ALSO: The 10 favorite TV shows of Democrats and Republicans

DON'T MISS: These are the best shows on TV, according to critics

10. Marvel's 'Luke Cage' (Netflix)

Thursday, July 21, 5:45 p.m., Ballroom 20

9. DC's 'Legends of Tomorrow' (The CW)

Saturday, July 23, 4:15 p.m., Ballroom 20

8. 'Supergirl' (The CW)

Saturday, July 23, 3:30 p.m., Ballroom 20