Like many in the US, filmmaker Craig Atkinson was glued to the news coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013. But Atkinson was unsettled by what he saw during the manhunt for the bombers.

"I was shocked by the way that the police were approaching the community," Atkinson told Business Insider, recalling SWAT teams searching homes without warrants. "It was like fear had got the best of us."

Atkinson's father was a police officer in Oak Park, Michigan, a northern suburb of Detroit, for 29 years and became a member of its SWAT team when it was formed in 1989. His memories as a child are filled with playing the hostage as his dad's SWAT team conducted training drills and, when he got to his teens, playing an armed assailant.

With a unique eye to the evolution of SWAT over his life, Atkinson saw in the Boston Marathon bombing a disturbing reality in the militarization of the police in the US.

"It was such a departure from the way that I felt my dad's SWAT team approached the community," he said.

So Atkinson decided to investigate it in his directorial feature debut, "Do Not Resist."

Atkinson teamed with producer Laura Hartrick to make a gripping documentary (which won the best documentary grand jury award at this year's Tribeca Film Festival) that examines how police departments across the US are using government grants to beef up with military equipment to fight terrorism. But for small towns that do not face the same kind of threats as Boston or New York, the equipment is used mostly by SWAT teams to serve search warrants and assist in crowd control.

Starting in 2013, Atkinson traveled the country to investigate the militarization phenomenon. He visited a SWAT competition in Florida; got a ride-along on a new MRAP, a vehicle designed to withstand IEDs, that the police department of Wisconsin's Juneau County (murders in 2014, zero) just received; and sat in on a city-council meeting in Concord, New Hampshire, (murders since 2004: two) for the approval of a BearCat, or ballistic engineered armored response counter attack truck, for its police department.

But the movie changed when 18-year-old Michael Brown was fatally shot by the police in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014.

"Before Ferguson, we had 80 hours of footage to educate people," Atkinson said. "That was no longer needed because the Ferguson story showed it."

Atkinson and Hartrick raced to Ferguson and captured incredible footage of the protests that occurred there following Brown's death (Atkinson is best known for his cinematography work on films by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady like "Detropia" and "Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You," for which he had an additional cinematographer/camera operator credit). With officers seen in riot gear, some shooting tear gas from atop BearCats, Atkinson believes the movie paints a clearer picture of the Ferguson police department's actions than cable-news coverage did at the time.

"Most news outlets there had to go file stories at 10 or 11 o'clock at night," Atkinson said. "But we had the luxury to just wait it out until the end, and there were a lot of exchanges between the police and the community in those hours when no one was looking that changes the entire dynamic of what was being reported."

Atkinson shows SWAT teams following crowds back into their neighborhoods and deploying tear gas after the city-imposed curfew. Officers can be seen facing off with citizens who are standing on their own front lawns.

But with his general knowledge of SWAT procedure, Atkinson also noticed what seemed like a lack of training by the Ferguson police.

"They would shoot the tear gas towards the crowds but also on the sides of them, so they had nowhere to go but towards the police," Atkinson said.

In the haze of tear gas, Atkinson captured on film one female protester saying to anyone who would listen: "They need to stop giving these boys these toys because they don't know how to handle them."

"Do Not Resist" also explores the future of policing, featuring conversations with people behind aerial surveillance and face recognition, both of which are being used in some US police departments. Then there's the work of Richard Berk, a professor who is developing an algorithm that seems taken out of "Minority Report," as it predicts at a person's birth whether the person will become a criminal.

But the section of the movie that is likely to remain with most viewers long after watching are the words of the top trainer of military law enforcement in the country, Dave Grossman.

Atkinson was allowed to film Grossman's class, which was full of SWAT commanders from across the country, and what is revealed is a chilling presentation in which Grossman tells the men such things as "we are at war and you're the frontline troops in this war" and "the best sex you've had in your life" is when you come back home alive from the job.

"I just wanted to show the American people who their officers are being trained by," Atkinson said, "and I want Dave Grossman to have to explain himself to why this is the most effective way to police our streets in this era. I think we have outgrown that philosophy and we need to evolve it to accommodate what our society is actually asking us. Let's go back to a protect-and-serve model."

Business Insider contacted Grossman, and though he said he had not seen the movie, he had seen the trailer, which he is in, and thought it to be "horrendously irresponsible."

"It's got a quote of me saying, 'We are at war and you're the frontline troops in this war,' but in the context of Ferguson. That was the context they created," Grossman said. "I was talking about this land and 9/11 attacks and what's coming down the road as far as terrorist attacks. In time of war, law enforcement is essentially troops on American soil. I think that there's 9/11-scale attacks coming. What they may do is attack schools, day cares, and school buses, and what I was telling my cops is when that happens there is no elite delta force that's going to show up to save your kids — you're it."

When asked whether he was worried that his teachings might get misconstrued and that SWAT members might bring his thinking to situations like that in Ferguson in 2014 or in Charlotte this month instead of a terrorist act, Grossman said: "I don't teach tactical — I teach the mental side of the game."

Grossman also dislikes the term "militarization of police." He describes things like MRAPs and BearCats as "tools" that the police "are using to stay alive."

"My presentation is always evolving, always talking about the latest science, the latest physiology, the latest case studies," Grossman said. "It is truly the most successful military law-enforcement training. Are all of these police chiefs that come to my training, are they all insane? These [filmmakers] set out to do something horrendously irresponsible. It's part of the whole war-on-cops left-wing mantra, and it is enormously harmful to business."

In a response to the above remarks by Grossman, Atkinson sent an email saying: "The righteous violence that Dave Grossman instructs officers to deploy may be effective when fighting ISIS, but while the police are preparing for the next 9/11 attack, they are engaged in 63 million police-citizen interactions a year. It is irresponsible to think that you can teach the 'mental side of the game' while not considering the broad application in which this mentality is deployed. I think it's important to note that Jeronimo Yanez, the officer who reflexively shot and killed Philando Castile as he reached for his wallet during a routine traffic stop, had previously undergone Grossman's Bulletproof Warrior training."

Atkinson also noted that Sheriff Laurie Smith of California's Santa Clara County canceled a Grossman training session out of concern that the class made officers more likely to use deadly force when it's not necessary.

"Do Not Resist" opens at the New York theater Film Forum on Friday and will be available for streaming later in the year. Here is the complete list of screening locations.

SEE ALSO: Justin Theroux on his intense role in "The Girl on the Train" and his thoughts on Brangelina

Join the conversation about this story »

The original "Super Mario Bros." is more than just the 32 or so levels you've played. The original "Super Mario Bros." actually has hundreds more levels. Hundreds!

Those levels, however, are messed up.

They're broken, contain enemies that have no place within them (a Goomba underwater?!), and look completely bananas. They're the bastard children of Nintendo's most revered game, hidden away in the annals of each cartridge's aging chips. These are levels Nintendo never intended anyone to see, and the company has never really spoken about them as a result.

But intrepid Nintendo enthusiasts have cracked the crazy secret process for unlocking them.

Here's how to do it.

SEE ALSO: RANKED: The 20 best Nintendo 64 games of all time

There's one well-known secret world in the original 'Super Mario Bros.' called the 'Negative World.'

It's just one of many of the hidden levels contained in "Super Mario Bros." and it's perhaps the most widely known. You can reach it by performing an awkward backwards jump in the game's second level, 1-2, like so:RAW Embed

It's so-named because of the '-1' seen in the 'World' area of the screen:

The level itself is just a standard underwater level, though it's impossible to progress beyond it. Exiting the level results in a loop.

RAW Embed

It's been a while since Tim Burton flexed his box-office muscles, but the release of his latest "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children," showed that his unique stories can still draw audiences.

The movie, release by Fox, won the weekend with an estimated $28.5 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

This marks the first opening-weekend win for a Burton movie since the 2010 hit "Alice in Wonderland," which went on to make over $1 billion at the worldwide box office. 

Despite the strong start, it's unlikely "Peculiar Children," which is based on the best-selling young-adult novel of the same name written by Ranson Riggs, will do that kind of business but for Burton and Fox, who haven't had many big winners this year outside of "Deadpool."

Another strong performer over the weekend was "Deepwater Horizon," which proved to be a bigger earner than Lionsgate anticipated, as it came in second place with $20.6 million.

Based on the 2010 offshore-drilling-rig explosion that led to the worst oil spill in US history, the Peter Berg-directed/Mark Wahlberg-starring socially conscious drama was fueled by an 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

SEE ALSO: The biggest Hollywood salaries in 2016 — from movie stars to personal assistants

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Golf legend Greg Norman reveals the truth behind President Bill Clinton's late-night 1997 injury

Everyone remembers their first paying job.

Typically, it isn't the ideal situation, but that paycheck sure made everything a lot better.

Business Insider spoke to several television stars to find out what their first paying gig was. While a few of them were lucky enough to land a showbiz job at a young age, the majority of the stars we spoke to had pretty humble beginnings.

Some stuck close to home, while others found their bounty in restaurants, snack shops, sports arenas, and even a junkyard!

Find out how your favorite TV stars first began earning a living below:

SEE ALSO: The 20 best new TV shows this fall you need to watch

DON'T MISS: Here's what the young breakout stars of Netflix's 'Stranger Things' look like in real life

Donald Glover, "Atlanta" (FX)

"I guess other than babysitting, like my brother and sister, I broke down boxes at a teacher’s school supply store."

Ming Na Wen, "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (ABC)

"My first job was working in my parents’ frickin' restaurant. Those slave-drivers! I was working there at like 12, 13 years old. They'll deny it, of course, because you know! I was waitressing, and then I was a cashier. Yeah, that was how I earned my keep in my family."

Ben Feldman, "Superstore" (NBC)

"Baskin Robbins was my first real job. I was like 14, and I got hired at Baskin Robbins and fired for giving away ice cream. Because I was a 14-year-old who worked at an ice cream store. So yeah, I naturally did what any 14-year-old would do, which is give all of his friends giant, bathtub-sized ice cream scoops. And then, I got fired. That was my first job, and probably the closest I’ll ever have gotten in the real world to ‘Superstore,’ because after that, it was waiting tables constantly."

Without auditioning, Thandie Newton was given the choice between two roles on HBO's highly anticipated new series, "Westworld."

"I picked Maeve," Newton, 43, told Business Insider earlier this week.

At face value, the choice to play a brothel madam would seem an odd choice for an outspoken women's right activist and victim of Hollywood sexual abuse.

"Maeve was bit more challenging to me, personally, with the nudity and so on," she said. "It was also very important, because ironically, the use of my body has not been my choice in a number of situations."

In an interview in W magazine in June, Newton revealed that one particular hurtful situation.

Earlier in her career, a director instructed her to fondle herself while he shot up her skirt for an audition. Years later, Newton discovered that the filmmaker was sharing the tape with friends after poker games at his house.

Produced by new "Star Wars" movie franchise director J.J. Abrams and based on the 1973 Michael Crichton movie of the same name, "Westworld" revolves around an amusement park where wealthy people pay admission to live out their fantasies with robot humans called "hosts."

Those fantasies can run the gamut of playing out a Western movie storyline where it's guaranteed they'll come out unharmed to sexual fantasies of all kinds. But a slight glitch in some hosts has the park's scientists anxious as they try to keep its customers' engaged in their fantasies.

Newton decided to take the "Westworld" role precisely because it mirrored what she and other women have experienced with sexual abuse and maintaining control over their bodies and at the same time asked the hard questions.

"My decision to play this role was a result of conversations we had about what they wanted to create with the show, the provocative material, which was going to be a conversation about what it means to be humane, what defines life, and do you value that life," she said.

"Those are all questions that I’ve been asking myself for a very, very long time. My social activism, my activism for women’s rights, which takes up a huge proportion of my time, but wasn’t my day job. So suddenly my day job was going to be turned into telling those stories and potentially go on for a number of years, I was like, ‘Count me the f--- in."

As for the role Newton turned down in order to play Maeve, the actress isn't talking.

"It’s a role beautifully played by somebody," she told us. "I don’t want to pop an idea in someone’s head that’s going to mess with what’s actually there, because what’s there is what’s real."

The ensemble cast of "Westworld," which premieres Sunday at 9 p.m., stars Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Jeffrey Wright, and Jimmi Simpson, among others.

Watch a trailer for "Westworld" below:

SEE ALSO: This sexually explicit casting contract reveals just how kinky HBO's 'Westworld' could be

DON'T MISS: 'Game of Thrones' videos are huge on Pornhub, and HBO is trying to take them down

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what real NFL agents think about HBO's 'Ballers'

NBC's "Saturday Night Live" opened its 42nd season to its biggest premiere ratings in eight years.

Hosted by "Suicide Squad" star Margot Robbie with musical guest The Weeknd, the sketch show's overnight live- and same-day-viewership rating showed a 29% increase over last year's season premiere, according to early Nielsen measurements of households in 56 local markets.

That also means Saturday's episode ranks as its highest-rated season premiere since 2008, an election year when Michael Phelps hosted with musical guest Lil Wayne and alum Tina Fey appeared as then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

More ratings information will be released later this week, which will include total viewership.

This weekend's "SNL" return included several big draws, including the debut of Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump, Larry David's reprisal of his Bernie Sanders impression, and some curiosity after three cast members were fired earlier this year and then replaced by three newcomers this season.

An earlier version of this article reported that James Brolin, not Michael Phelps, hosted in 2008 with Lil Wayne.

SEE ALSO: Alec Baldwin debuts his spot-on Donald Trump impression on 'SNL'

DON'T MISS: 'Shark Tank' investor Barbara Corcoran weighs in on fellow real estate mogul Donald Trump

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Watch Alec Baldwin mock Trump's mic issues on 'Saturday Night Live'

Kanye West abruptly ended his headlining performance at the Meadows Music & Arts Festival in New York City Sunday night after learning that his wife, Kim Kardashian West, had been robbed at gunpoint in Paris, Pitchfork reports.

West was reportedly in the middle of performing "Heartless" when he was pulled aside and then put an end to the show. 

"I'm sorry, there's a family emergency, I have to stop the show," West told the crowd before leaving the stage.

Kardshian West was held at gunpoint in her Paris "private apartment" by two armed robbers dressed as police officers, according to a CNN report. 

A spokeswoman for Kardashian West told CNN that the reality TV star was "badly shaken but physically unharmed" following the robbery. 

The robbers reportedly tied up Kardashian West in the apartment bathroom and stole "several million euros" in "mostly jewelry," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

SEE ALSO: Kim Kardashian was robbed at gunpoint in Paris, and the thieves stole millions in jewels

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's everything we know about 'Westworld' — HBO's mysterious new sci-fi series

Sunday's "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" looked at police accountability following the wake of countless police-related shootings. As Oliver noted, "I literally can't mention them all."

But Oliver points out that this is more than just a matter of police departments having a "few bad apples."

"There are nearly 18,000 different police departments in America, and they are not great at reporting or sharing data,” Oliver said.

In the segment, there's video of FBI Director James Comey stating that there are no records kept in the country of how many people have been shot by police.  

Because of that, Oliver points to one researcher who gathered information on police shootings via Google alerts. His research found that out of 1,000 police shootings since 2005, only 77 officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter and to date only 26 have been convicted.

Only 26 convictions seems extremely low. Oliver shows how that's possible with less than objective investigations by internal affairs and even some officers deleting past incidents from their official police files. Or if an officer has an incident at a department that will hurt them in the future, they may simply resign and move to another police department. This is done so much that the practice has a name in law enforcement: "gypsy cops."

The segment is an incredible deep dive into the complexities of the topic.

Watch it below:

SEE ALSO: This award-winning documentary on the militarization of police will leave you speechless

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Here's what 'Game of Thrones' stars look like in real life

Disney has released a teaser trailer for "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales," the newest film in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series since "On Stranger Tides" was released in 2011.

Although the Jack Sparrow character is referenced, Johnny Depp himself never appears in the trailer. The clip instead showcases a terrifying-looking new villain played by Javier Bardem, who delivers a forboding message to the swashbuckling hero.

"Dead Men Tell No Tales" is scheduled to sail into theaters on May 26, 2017.

Follow BI Video: On Twitter

Join the conversation about this story »

John Oliver took a look at Donald Trump's recent rants about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado and decided that the real-estate mogul has brought this election to a whole new low.

It all started when Hillary Clinton brought up Machado during the recent first presidential debate as an example of Trump's abusive comments toward women. The former Miss Universe claims Trump called her "Miss Piggy," because he believed she had gained a lot of weight. It certainly got some media coverage, but the story also sent Trump into overdrive on the beauty queen.

On Sunday's episode of HBO's "Last Week Tonight," Oliver showed a clip of Trump on Fox News'
"Fox & Friends" the morning after the debate. Without even being asked about Machado, Trump recalled that she was "impossible" and the "absolute" worst during her reign.

Oliver joked, "You can see [the hosts] thinking, 'What are you doing? Why are you doing this? Don't you know it's wrong to degrade former beauty pageant winners? We at Fox recently learned that due to the circumstances of Roger Ailes' departure from this very company!'"

Later in the week, Trump then went on an extensive early-morning Twitter rant in which he referred to Machado as "disgusting" and wondered if Clinton helped her get her citizenship in order to use her against Trump.

That wasn't all he said in the tweet, as Oliver pointed out.

"That is a candidate for President of the United States urging America to check out a sex tape," Oliver said. "Just do me a favor. Look up into the sky right now. Higher. No, higher still. Do you see that? Way up there? Way up above the clouds? That's rock bottom. And we are currently way down here."

Watch the John Oliver segment below:

SEE ALSO: Alec Baldwin debuts his spot-on Donald Trump impression on 'SNL'

DON'T MISS: 'Shark Tank' investor Barbara Corcoran weighs in on fellow real estate mogul Donald Trump

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 'CHECK OUT SEX TAPE': Trump goes on raging tweetstorm ripping Miss Universe contestant

John Oliver has ripped Donald Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity over their insistence on citing unscientific polls to measure Trump's success in the first presidential debate.

On Sunday night's episode of "Last Week Tonight," Oliver laid into the Republican presidential nominee's claim that he won last week's debate based on online participation polls in which anyone could vote repeatedly and anonymously.

"The clear problem with online polls is you can vote anonymously as many times as you want," Oliver said. "That is how when a British government agency held a name-our-ship poll, the people's overwhelming choice was 'Boaty McBoatface.'"

He added: "And yet, Trump kept citing these bogus polls as did his media boosters like Sean Hannity."

Oliver singled out Hannity, whom the host mocked for saying he "hear[s] what you're saying" about the unreliability of unscientific polls.

"I'm not sure you do," Oliver said. "In fact, I'm not sure you hear what your own company is saying."

The late night host then cited an internal Fox News memo obtained by Business Insider requesting that Fox News reporters abstain from citing unscientific online polls, as the polls "are really just for fun."

Unscientific online polls have become a headache for some real pollsters.

Many real pollsters say Trump's insistence on the legitimacy of online polls has made pollsters themselves a target for some angry Trump supporters.

"People are calling and emailing us saying it's unfair we had this poll and they didn't get to vote," Tom Jensen, the president of Public Policy Polling, told Business Insider. "It's blurring the line between real polling and fake polling. We've never had this happen until this election cycle."

SEE ALSO: Memo: Fox News VP reminds staff that online debate polls 'do not meet our editorial standards'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: INSTANT POLL/FOCUS GROUPS: Clinton won the debate by a wide margin

Kim Kardashian West was robbed at gunpoint in a rented luxury mansion in Paris early Monday morning, and according to a CNN report, the robbery was an elaborate operation. 

The French Interior Ministry told the outlet that Kardashian West's rented mansion was seized by five men dressed as police officers.

The men reportedly handcuffed the mansion's concierge after threatening him with a gun and then forced him to open Kardashian West's private apartment.

At that point, two of the men held a gun to Kardashian West's head and tied up and locked the reality-TV star in a bathroom. The robbers then took "two cell phones and jewelry worth millions of dollars," and no shots were fired. 

In total, the ring and box of assorted jewelry that the robbers stole were worth up to $11 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

The Hollywood Reporter also said the security guard was left tied up in a stairwell.

Kardashian West immediately left Paris following the incident, and a spokeswoman said that she was "badly shaken but physically unharmed."

SEE ALSO: Kanye West abruptly ended a concert after Kim Kardashian was tied up and robbed at gunpoint in Paris

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: People miss the real reason O.J. Simpson got acquitted, says his lawyer Alan Dershowitz

Ben Affleck has given us a critical detail about his upcoming standalone Batman movie: the title.

"The movie I think is going to be called ‘The Batman,’" Affleck told the Associated Press during the press junket for "The Accountant" (opening October 13). "At least that’s what we’re going with right now. I might change it… That’s about all I got right now. We’re working on the script, the script is going well, I’m really excited about it.”

Not much is known about "The Batman" project, for which Affleck will return as The Dark Knight after playing the character in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" (and providing a cameo for "Suicide Squad"). He is also directing the Batman movie and writing the screenplay.

The only other piece of info that's been revealed about the movie from Warner Bros., which currently has no release date, is that Joe Manganiello ("Magic Mike," "True Blood") will be playing the villain Deathstroke in the movie.

A source told Business Insider that "The Batman" is the working title for the project.

Watch the AP video in which Affleck reveals the title here:

SEE ALSO: 2 hidden details you probably missed in the first episode of "Westworld"

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why violence in jail is 'something of a necessity,' according to an undercover inmate

Over 30 years ago, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System. In 2016, it's releasing a miniaturized, digital version of the same console: The NES Classic Edition.

The adorable little box is reminiscent of the original NES from 1985, but it's far smaller — as seen above, it fits in the palm of your hand. Though there are still a few weeks until the NES Classic Edition arrives, we know an awful lot about it already:

SEE ALSO: These are the 30 games you'll be able to play on Nintendo's new $60 console

DON'T MISS: The miniature Nintendo that Japan's getting is way cooler than the US one

First things first: the NES Classic Edition is SMALL.

Despite the looks, you can't use classic NES cartridges with it.

Instead, it comes with a selection of 30 games, built right into the hardware itself.

The #OscarsSoWhite movement hit Hollywood after a lack of diversity among the major categories at the Academy Awards the last two years. And director Tate Taylor is an interesting footnote to that history.

A white director who in 2011 made “The Help” — the Oscar-winning adaptation of a novel about the hardships of a group of African-American maids during the civil rights movement — he said he dealt with the ridicule of being “a white guy” telling “black stories” (he followed “The Help” with the James Brown biopic “Get on Up” in 2014).

Though he admits he hasn’t spoken publicly about the movement, Taylor said what’s going on is warranted.

“I mean, you can’t help but see it’s so obvious,” Taylor recently told Business Insider while promoting his new movie “The Girl on The Train” (opening Friday) about the lack of diversity in the industry.

Taylor recalls that when he was pitching "The Help," the biggest concern for studios was that the subject matter would not be profitable. But with a cast that included Octavia Spencer (who won an Oscar for the role), Emma Stone, Viola Davis, and Jessica Chastain (the latter two got Oscar nominations), the $25 million-budgeted period drama went on to earn over $216 million at the worldwide box office. 

Taylor believes the success of “The Help” aided movies like “12 Years a Slave” (which won best picture in 2014) and “Selma” in making it to theaters.

“What excited me is when I was going around with ‘The Help,’ the fear was it’s black-themed material, does it do well? Look what came out after ‘The Help,’” Taylor said.

But when asked if the industry has changed to a point where it would be more difficult for a white director to make “The Help” today, Taylor says he thinks it still comes down to who you know.

“Here's my answer, and it's not the answer you want to hear,” Taylor said. “The reason ‘The Help’ got made was because Steven Spielberg read my script and he said, ‘If this guy wrote that, he's already directed the movie — let's do it.’ Hopefully I would like to think that's still in play today. I think it is. I think despite the circumstances, instincts tell you to just do this. It has happened to me on projects I've acquired. I think that will always be around.”

SEE ALSO: Ben Affleck just revealed the title for his highly anticipated Batman movie

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why violence in jail is 'something of a necessity,' according to an undercover inmate

What's the most terrifyingly safe entertainment around? Roller coasters, of course.

For just a few minutes, your lizard brain thinks the world is ending while your more rational side can see that, even at 100 miles per hour, you're in no real danger.

Over the last 200 years, these mammoth machines have risen to incredible heights and come to pack a wallop in G-forces. Today, the tallest coaster is 456 feet tall and can get shut down if the fog is too low.

But it wasn't always this way.

Here's how roller coasters have evolved over the past two centuries.

SEE ALSO: The evolution of surgery over the last 100 years is horrifying and astounding

The first complete roller coaster broke onto the scene in 1817, in Paris. It was known as the The Promenades-Aériennes, or The Aerial Walk. Passengers walked up a set of stairs to ride a bench down the 600-foot track at 40 mph.

Paris' coaster remained the gold-standard (really, the only standard) until 1884, when Coney Island unveiled the switchback coaster — that's an out-and-back-style ride — imagined by LaMarcus Thompson in homage to rail systems. It reached a top speed of 6 mph.

By the turn of the 20th century, Coney Island had already made a name for itself with Loop the Loop, a coaster that featured two small loops side by side. Many visitors preferred to watch, however, to avoid the aches of inversion.

Join the conversation about this story »

Nate Parker's highly anticipated directorial debut "The Birth of a Nation" opens in theaters on Friday, and while doing press for the film, Parker has been addressing the 17-year-old rape accusations against him. 

On Sunday, "60 Minutes" featured Parker and his film (in which he also stars) in a segment. Anderson Cooper was the correspondent for the story and delved into the accusations that Parker and his friend Jean MGianni Celestin (who has a writing credit on the film) raped a woman while attending Penn State University.

Parker was acquitted of the rape charge in a 2001 trial. It was revealed in August that the woman killed herself in 2012. 

Parker said that he had been unaware that the woman was dead. When Cooper asked if Parker felt he owed her family an apology, the actor said:

"I do think it's tragic, so much that has happened, and the fact that this family has had to endure with respect of this woman not being here. But I also think that, and I don't want to harp on this and I don't want to be disrespectful of them at all, but at some point I have to say it, I was falsely accused. I went to court and I sat in trial. I was vindicated, I was proven innocent, I was vindicated. And I feel terrible that this woman isn't here and I feel terrible that her family had to deal with that but as I sit here, an apology — no."

Parker also went on "Good Morning America" on Monday and though Robin Roberts pressed Parker on the rape allegations and if he was sorry, Parker referred to what he said on "60 Minutes" and repeated that he was falsely accused.

With "The Birth of a Nation" opening on over 2,000 screens on Friday, there's now a question of whether the film's distributor Fox Searchlight has gotten in front of the story enough to help box-office and Oscar chances. The Wrap reported in August that the film would need to earn around $50 million in its theatrical run to break even.

Meanwhile, talk about a potential best picture nomination has been floating since the film won the grand prize and audience awards at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

SEE ALSO: The director of the Oscar-winning 'The Help' comments on #OscarsSoWhite: 'It's so obvious'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Why violence in jail is 'something of a necessity,' according to an undercover inmate

As one of the world's most popular, most widely played games, "Minecraft" attracts a large swath of players. Many of these folks are just like you and me — casual, into playing fun games, but maybe not ready to dig in and spend, like, years handcrafting a massive world.

And then there's a small section of that massive playerbase that takes the game's creation aspect to stunning heights. Such is the case with the "Kingdom of Galekin," an enormous, incredibly ambitious world that one "Minecraft" player has been building for nearly five years.

In both size and detail, the Kingdom of Galekin is insanely impressive. Check it:

SEE ALSO: Microsoft bought Minecraft for $2.5 billion to make sure it's around for the next 100 years

Rather than a single impressive building, or a city, or a re-creation of something famous, the Kingdom of Galekin is an entire unique world.

With distinct regions:

Time travel is big on TV this year. There are at least four series set to hit our screens in the coming months that include the classic sci-fi trope.

But the first show to get in on the action this season is NBC's "Timeless," which premieres Monday at 10 p.m. EST.

From showrunners Eric Kripke ("Supernatural," "Revolution") and Shawn Ryan ("The Shield" and briefly "The Get Down"), "Timeless" follows a trio of heroes — Wyatt (Matt Lanter), a soldier; Lucy  (Abigail Spencer), an anthropologist; and Rufus (Malcolm Barrett), a scientist and pilot — tasked with tracking down and stopping time-traveling villains who are intent on changing history.

Business Insider talked to Kripke and Ryan about time-travel shows, the challenges of their black character, and how another failed show helped to strengthen "Timeless."

Jethro Nededog: There are several time-travel shows this season. What brought you guys to that?

Eric Kripke: Long before we knew of other pitches, we really explored the idea and were excited by the idea of just making a time-travel show that had a story engine that every week you went to a different historical period. It really lends itself to a network show, because every single week there’s a fascinating, exciting, visceral story somewhere in history and I think we can sort of understand where you can get 22 really great episodes out of that. It really came from not watching any trends or seeing what else is out there, but what would be a really exciting show with a lot of variety.

One thing I’d like to add is, we get this  question a lot about all the time-travel shows that are out there and it reminds me of in 2005, that was the same year there was “Invasion” and “Surface” and “Nightstalker,” all of these very similar shows and I used to get this exact question, which is, "But there’s so many monster shows out there?" And my answer now is really my answer then, which is, "Yeah, but I’m gonna focus on our show and I’m going to make our show the most kicka--, amazing version of it possible and have it just be the best one and then the rest is out of my control."

Shawn Ryan: Nobody gets too worked up if there are three medical shows on TV or three cop shows on TV. It all comes down to the individual execution. That’s what we can control and we premiere October 3 on NBC after “The Voice” and people are either going to embrace us or reject us before it ever becomes a question about these other shows.

Nededog: Did you always plan to include a black main character?

Ryan: It was written that way. You’re always looking for something new, even if it’s like a time-travel thing. And we were certainly fans of earlier time-travel things, whether it’s "Back to the Future," "Quantum Leap." You’re always looking for some new thing to approach it and so you talk about the idea of sending an African-American character back in time and what obstacles that creates. And when you’re a show creator, you’re looking for obstacles because that’s drama — that’s what gets you excited. Okay, here’s the obstacle, how is our character going to overcome this? So that was one of the earliest things. It also seemed disingenuous in this day and age to tell a story that would lack that diversity in some way. So it seemed like a modern take on the idea of time travel.

Nededog: The premiere episode takes place in the late 1930s and Rufus is forced to explain himself to the other characters on the episode. How will each episode deal with this?

Ryan: I don’t know about that. Each historical situation will be different. Episode two, and this is something where all our research came in to help, on the specific day we go back in time, the Civil War has just ended. It’s a celebration and there was actually incredibly optimistic talk for African-American people right up until Lincoln was assassinated. So he comes back to a time that he’s expecting to be awful and finds it to actually be a little more progressive and inclusive than he anticipated. That’s true history right there. So the situations are always going to be different. He doesn’t need to give a big speech every episode about it, but there will be different ways we tackle the subject each week.

Nededog: Part of the characters' goal is to make sure nothing in the past is altered, because that will alter something in the future. One of the characters learns that the hard way. It's pretty heartbreaking.

Ryan: I was so frustrated, because I worked for a year for Joss Whedon but he was the one who told me a Joss Whedon quote that I had never heard. Joss always found on “Buffy” that the most successful episodes were the ones where they put their characters in pain rather than peril and that’s been a great touchstone for me. You want to really dig into the emotional life of these characters more than it is about putting them in the middle of shootouts. We will have the occasional shootout.

Kripke: Sure, lots of shootouts

Ryan: But those aren’t the emotional center of the episodes.

Kripke: The reality is it’s about stakes, right? At the end of the day, you know that your three leads are most likely not going to die. So in the back of their heads, every time the audience is watching a shootout or a death-defying situation, they deep down know that it’s going to be okay. But what you can do is have emotional stakes and you can screw a character up emotionally, so that they are going to carry that wound forever and that's something real. And your audience can really hope that that’s not going to happen or be emotionally horrified that it does. When you’re living in the world of emotion, it really allows you to have things happen on the show that frankly are a lot more dangerous to the lives of your characters than just a shootout.

Nededog: Eric, the last time we talked was between the first and second seasons of "Revolution" [it was canceled after the second season]. Any takeaways from that experience?

Kripke: Oh yeah, in a very specific way. In certain ways for me, “Timeless” is a reaction to “Revolution.”

“Revolution” was, by a mile, the hardest show I ever worked on. One of the reasons it was so hard is because it was straight, serialized genre drama over 22 episodes of network television, which was really damn hard to maintain. So when I was toying with the idea of doing a network show again, I said to myself, "If I’m going to do this, it needs to have a humming story engine that I know I can sit in the writers’ room and get 22 episodes out of."

And so then as Shawn and I were talking, we landed on this idea of you have a different historical period every week, with a different mystery in that historical period and meeting fascinating characters within that time, in a very genre way.

One of the reasons I think “Supernatural” is in its 12th year is because it has a humming story engine. If there’s a ghost story out in America, then “Supernatural” can make a story out of it. So there can literally be and there are hundreds of episodes. At some point during the creation of “Revolution,” I forgot that good lesson. You can do that in cable, for 10 episodes, but I think if you’re going to do a network show, it was good to re-learn that lesson and come up with a very efficient story engine, which I think “Timeless” has.

"Revolution" was such a weird, beautiful show. I have great affection for that show. But f---, man, that was a hard show to make.

SEE ALSO: 'Superstore' star Ben Feldman isn't surprised his show has become NBC's big hope

DON'T MISS: The 20 best new TV shows this fall you need to watch

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: A Hispanic advocacy group offered $5,000 to anyone that called Trump a racist during 'SNL' — and Larry David did it