Todd Matthy

What excites me most about what's happening in today's Absolute Batman is that I've never seen that story for Bruce or Selina (or Bruce & Selina) before. It's a very big swing and I'm deeply excited for Scott and Nick and their incredible team to give it to us.

I think the brawl before the bell at the start of Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels Survivor Series 1997 is out of this world. The roles are perfect, the setting is perfect, and everything that happens here is exactly as it should go. Michaels is persona non grata. He’s reviled and the Montreal crowd is here to see their badass hero kick the shit out of this little rat. Shawn gives them what they want, selling the way a heel should given the dynamics, bumping off most of the initial punches and crawling around pathetically. Bret headbutts Shawn and sells it himself before clotheslining him to the outside. He’s willing to sacrifice himself to give his enemy what he deserves. Shawn’s in the eye of the storm, and when the guys go into the crowd, they get ENGULFED by it and it means trouble for HBK, who’s in a world of pain and anytime he tries to mount some kind of comeback or counter, it gets thwarted. Piledriver attempts become back body drop bumps, he’s eating total shit at every turn. Crowd brawling isn’t the same anymore because there’s security creating so much separation between the talent and fans. The appeal here is the feeling that the wrestlers are in no man’s land, with so much humanity surrounding them and popcorn and drinks flying everywhere. Because it isn’t neutral ground, there’s the sense that Shawn Michaels is facing potential danger the longer he stays in the water. Bret Hart gets Shawn Michaels to land, only to punish him some more. There’s a sick vertical suplex on to concrete, and only after minutes of ass-kicking, and only after Bret Hart feels satisfied with his pound of flesh does he decide to bring HBK back to the ring to have a match within the bounds of the rules, and he does so dragging Shawn Michaels BY THE HEAD back to the ring, showing him to the audience like a gladiator holding a scalp that he claimed. It’s SO perfect and I truly believe that this match was on its way to being a classic before What Happened Happened™️. Even as is, it’s a great match that gets overshadowed by the screwjob.

The West Texas Rednecks were an underrated gem in 99’ WCW. I wish the group had a longer run!

LOTR is arguably the single greatest example of moral realism in all of literature. Injecting moral relativism into Middle Earth fundamentally misunderstands Tolkien and flies in the face of everything he stood for. And don't come at me with 'moral complexity.' Relativism isn't complexity. It's confusion. It's a collapse of distinctions that has nothing to offer but meaninglessness and despair. In order to have meaningful 'moral complexity,' you have to establish a distiction between light and dark, right and wrong, good and evil. The complexity arises among characters that must navigate a world where both forces act around, upon, and within them. What modern Hollywood calls 'moral complexity' is actually just the erasing the distinction between good and evil. If a story can't show you light and dark, it can't say anything meaningful about them. Classic storytellers understood this. Modern Hollywood has completely memory holed it.

Lmfao TikTok is trying to cancel Freddy Krueger and it’s trending. I knew this day would come.

Gun control nut spray paints 9/11 Memorial with 'Just Stop Killing Kids' in broad daylight stunt trib.al/NKMznJs

He looked calm until he said the parents are the ones slowly dying. Graham was going on about the hospital visits, how much the kids love Captain Jack, all the pictures. Depp sat there, then flipped it. He said the visits aren’t a gift he gives them. They’re the gift. He started talking about Great Ormond Street, how he’d already been there as a parent when his daughter was ill. Called it the darkest time of his life, right around Sweeney Todd. Then he drew the line: the kids are strong. It’s the parents you watch break. He paused after that, like he didn’t mean to say it out loud, before adding that bringing even a small smile is everything now. Most celebrities treat those visits like nice press. He talked about them like the only part of the character that still feels real.

Liv Tyler se negó a besar al doble de Viggo Mortensen en el final de El Retorno del Rey. Era el último día de rodaje. Todo el mundo estaba agotado y la producción quería terminar cuanto antes. Viggo ya había grabado sus planos de la coronación de Aragorn y, cuando terminó, se marchó del set. A Liv todavía le quedaba el primer plano del beso entre Arwen y Aragorn. Para no retrasar más el día, la producción tenía preparado al doble de acción de Viggo. Pero Liv se plantó. «Querían que grabara mi beso con el doble de Viggo. Casi me da un infarto. No podía. Pensé: ¿qué quieres decir? Es mi último momento en la película. Es importantísimo. No puedo besar a su doble». Para ella no era un plano más. Era el cierre de la historia de Arwen, el reencuentro con Aragorn después de tres películas llenas de sacrificios y una espera interminable. No quería que ese momento se rodara con un desconocido. Insistió en que llamaran a Viggo para que volviera al set. Y lo hizo. Al final rodaron el beso juntos. Y eso es lo que más me gusta de esta historia, que después de tres películas, batallas, pérdidas y despedidas, el último gran momento entre Aragorn y Arwen terminó siendo exactamente el que Liv Tyler quería, el de verdad. Porque para ella no era un beso cualquiera. Era el final de su historia.

CNN guest panelist makes excuses for French rioters, Scott Jennings drops the mic on her. "French have always rioted, that's what they do. It's largely started by students who aren't getting supplies." "I saw a video today of what I guess was a 45-year-old bearded 7th grader."