An editor for Buzzfeed ironically named Scott Lucas has taken the bold stance of agreeing with Anakin Skywalker on the subject of sand. In a post on Twitter Thursday, Lucas lashed out at beaches, saying, "Beaches are bad, actually. They mean nothing, produce nothing, have no history, no language, no thought, no purpose. If you like the beach, you are the exhausted subject of late capitalism, literally the Last Man (or Woman)." We double-checked and confirmed that Lucas was indeed talking about beaches and not the website he works for.

Beaches are bad, actually. They mean nothing, produce nothing, have no history, no language, no thought, no purpose. If you like the beach, you are the exhausted subject of late capitalism, literally the Last Man (or Woman).

— Scott Lucas (@scottlucas) April 30, 2020

While Lucas's reasoning differs slightly, it's hard not to notice that his name is Lucas and that he echoes the opinions of Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels. In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Skywalker, in a misguided and brooding attempt to woo the older Padme Amidala, tells her, "I don't like sand. It's coarse, rough, and irritating. And it gets everywhere."

Failing to sense the irony, or perhaps reveling in it as only a true next-level hipster can, Lucas doubled down on his statement on beaches in response to well-warranted mockery, saying, "I'm seeing some disagreements with my brave stance against beaches, but in their contemporary form, the endlessness of their pointlessness, beaches are the bad infinity. Literally the help of the Same."

I'm seeing some disagreements with my brave stance against beaches, but in their contemporary form, the endlessness of their pointlessness, beaches are the bad infinity. Literally the hell of the Same.

— Scott Lucas (@scottlucas) April 30, 2020

Unlike Skywalker, Lucas doesn't even have the excuse of trying to impress Natalie Portman. He just really hates beaches, apparently. To be fair, Lucas's diatribe appears to be made in response to reports that people continue to party on beaches in California's Orange County despite shut-down orders by California Governor Gavin Newsom, but it's pretty clear that was just an opportunity to pursue a staunch anti-beach agenda. At press time, Bleeding Cool could not confirm that Lucas's mother was killed by Tusken Raiders.

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Though Lacey Evans was not one of dozens of wrestlers and backstage talent laid off or furloughed by WWE in April, she does feel that WWE is "very supportive" of the wrestlers it left jobless in the middle of a pandemic. WWE announced the layoffs the same day company boasted of having $500 million in reserves, the day before they announced dividends for shareholders totaling $9.3 million, enough to keep everyone employed into 2021, and the week before a first-quarter financial report revealed WWE is on track for massive profits even if live events don't return for the rest of the year. Nevertheless, Evans says WWE has made sure that all of her former co-workers "has what they need and is taken care of." Well, except for a job and a steady source of income during one of the biggest economic downturns in a hundred years.

"It's terrible," said Evans on the Walkaway Fight Club podcast, as transcribed by 411 Wrestling. "I take it hard because I know what it's like to come from no money and come from a rough childhood upbringing. I know what rock bottom feels like. I know what that sick feeling in your stomach feels like when you don't know what you're going to do. That's all that I could think about is 'Man, what are they going to do?'"

"This hits them last minute," Evans continued. "But I also do know that WWE is very supportive. They do what they have to do, but they make sure that everybody has what they need and is taken care of, and to the point of going forward. But it's just a crappy feeling. I just can't imagine being in that position."

However, Evans does compare the firings to her own life experience of being in the military and being a mom. "I also know of going back to the military, of being able to adapt and overcome. You just got to keep pushing. You can't let life no matter what it is, no matter what cards you're dealt with, you keep playing, you got to play your hand, and you got to play to the best of your ability. I mean, it's hard. Like I said, me being a mother, I've got to get up the next day. I've got to pour my cup of coffee and I got to keep on pushing. It reminds me to be prepared and not only to be prepared myself but to prepare my child because you never know."

Evans had even more advice for struggling former WWE employees. "You can't count your chickens before they hatch," she said. "You got to save for a rainy day. A lot of emotions and thoughts come through. I just keep them all in my prayers and wish them the best and then do the best that I can to continue to keep pushing and be good at my job and continue to learn and do the best that I can in there."

It's certainly not Evans' fault that WWE made the coldhearted decision to let go of so many workers at the absolute worst time when they definitely didn't have to. We're sure her sympathy for her former co-workers is 100% genuine, so this isn't a dig at her, but we have a hard time believing WWE has "taken care of them" when the very easy way to have done that would have been to not fire them right now in the first place.

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Thor v6 #1 - “The Black Winter” (2020) interior inks by Nic Klein

On last night's episode of Total Bellas, Daniel Bryan provided insight into what caused him to re-sign with WWE. Bryan and his wife, Brie Bella, have been arguing about their relationship this season, as Bryan's road schedule and Bella's business schedule have been causing friction between the couple as they try to care for their young daughter, Birdie. Additionally, Brie has told Bryan she doesn't want to have a second child, further distressing the WWE superstar.

Things came to a head in the latest episode when Bella asked Bryan to fly home with Birdie so Brie could concentrate on her business in L.A. even though Bryan was staying in town because the couple rarely has time to spend together. An argument ensued, as captured by the show's documentary video.

"When we first started seeing each other, we agreed on we want a simple life," Bryan said.

"We evolve as humans," Bella replied. "Okay? WHo I was back then, which, I do like a simple life–"

"No, there's nothing about our life that is simple right now," said Bryan. "When are we just supposed to have a normal relationship?

"Our relationship was never normal," said Bella. "Not from the beginning. You and I were always on the road from the beginning."

"Okay, maybe normal is the wrong word," Bryan admitted. "When are we supposed to have time together, without cameras?"

"What am I supposed to plan that?" asked Bella. "Like, plan some things."

"I've tried to plan stuff," Bryan said. "I've tried. But you don't even give me the schedule a day in advance. You're the one who's frustrated like "you don't show enough PDA" all this kinds of stuff. How am I supposed to show PDA when we don't even see each other?"

"I don't complain that you're on the road as much as you are," Bella said.

"You're the one who wanted me to sign the contract!" Bryan shouted. "I wanted to be not as busy. And then when you wanted me to sign the contract, I fought to have less dates so I could be home more with you and Birdie."

Interestingly, the next part of the argument was cut from the YouTube video above, though it's still available on the Hulu version of the show.

"The contract was the only promising thing going for you at the time," Bella said.

"I had other options," Bryan replied.

It's interesting that Bryan would mention other options and that WWE could cut it from their YouTube video. Was Bryan talking about signing with a different wrestling organization, like NJPW, Ring of Honor, or even AEW? Hopefully, we'll learn more about this as the Total Bellas documentary continues, though I'm not sure if WWE will allow much more revealing footage like that to make the cut.

The post Daniel Bryan Had Other Options But Brie Bella Made Him Sign With WWE appeared first on Bleeding Cool News And Rumors.

This week, both the ESL and DreamHack announced they have entered into a new streaming agreement with Twitch. Both companies have entered into a three-year deal to bring esports events to the social-streaming platform, which will see some of the biggest esports tournaments organized by both organizations through at least 2022. That's a pretty major deal right now considering how Youtube has become more aggressive toward getting more esports-related events to stream exclusively on their platform. The one thing missing from the info is just how much they're getting to be exclusive to the platform. But if history has taught us anything, we'll probably find out the details within the next month or so. We have more details on the deal below, along with a quote from the announcement from MTG, owner of both organizations.

"This both strategically and financially important deal between Twitch, ESL and DreamHack further establishes esports as a highly relevant global media product. We're convinced that it is the first of many major leaps that esports as a media product is bound to take in the coming years," says Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, President and CEO of MTG.

As part of the partnership, Twitch will become a centralized hub for streaming ESL and DreamHack competitions. The company will work directly with ESL and DreamHack to coordinate broadcast integrations and maximize sponsorships of some of the biggest esports tournaments going forward.

The deal announcement confirms Twitch as the global digital media partner of major ESL and DreamHack competitions on a non-exclusive basis in 2020, before acquiring exclusivity of English language digital live streaming of major events in 2021 and 2022. As part of the deal, all tournaments streamed in English within ESL Pro Tour for CS:GO and StarCraft II & Warcraft III, including the ESL Pro League, ESL One, Intel Extreme Masters, DreamHack Masters, DreamHack Open, ESL National Championships, will be exclusively on Twitch in 2021 and 2022.

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Absolute Carnage: Lethal Protectors #3 (2019)
pencil & ink by Flaviano Armentaro
color by Federico Blee

We will readily admit that we've let our obsession with Netflix's The Umbrella Academy get the best of us and mess with our senses. We were fairly certain that we would've gotten at least a teaser by now, if not a teaser with some preview images. Dare we ask for which month will be the premiere window? To be fair, a global pandemic does tend to put a damper on things a bit; and it's not like Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Justin Min, series creator/EP Steve Blackman , and EP Jeff King haven't been burning the midnight oil (more on that below). But to put your mind at ease (and hopefully serve as the prelude to a wave of really cool stuff still to come), Min has taken to social media to share a Zoom image of the team back together and (we're assuming) talking all things The Umbrella Academy. Our two biggest takeaways? It's great seeing the "band" back together, and Blackman gets bonus points for the Tiger King backdrop.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

we only see each other at weddings, funerals, and global pandemics. 🖤

A post shared by Justin H. Min (@justinmin) on May 1, 2020 at 3:04pm PDT

In March, Blackman took to Instagram to show the team working hard on post-production on the live-action adaptation of Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba's comic book series. Then last month, Min offered us a personal glimpse into how ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement) recording was going (otherwise known as "looping"). Now, it's a look at what appears to be the season's episode titles and writers, thanks to the WGA site. We're avoiding assigning them specific episode numbers until they're confirmed, but the running order for the season could be as follows (with writers included): "743" (Bronwyn Garrity and Roberto Askins), "A Light Supper" (Aeryn Michelle Williams), "OGA for OGA" (Nikki Schiefelbein), "Right Back Where We Started" (Blackman), "The End of Something" (Blackman), "The Frankel Footage" (Mark Goffman), "The Majestic 12" (Garrity), "The Seven Stages" (Goffman and Jesse McKeown), "The Swedish Job" (McKeown), and "Valhalla" (Robert Askins). Just a quick reminder that all of this is unofficial until it's official, but they do have us curious.

The post The Umbrella Academy Star Justin Min Posts Hargreeves Family Reunion appeared first on Bleeding Cool News And Rumors.