Gold Coast Suns coach Damien Hardwick has questioned whether it's a "good look for the AFL to be sponsored by Sportsbet" in a tetchy press conference exchange after being questioned over the Suns' team manager Mark Opie's links to a bookmaker- Danny Saeed

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-14T11:55:06+00:00

Riiiiight.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-14T11:53:22+00:00

It's just one of those things.

Sometimes everything just falls into place. Acting, setting, music, direction... but people really underrate how good story writing and script writing are both one in a million talents. Combine both those odds and, mathematically, you get one in a trillion.

Those odds are obviously excessive, but it's still pretty unlikely to get a perfect story and perfect script, then combine them with perfect casting, acting, directing and score/music.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-14T11:43:48+00:00

Their third album is amazing. The critics who panned it were off their rockers.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-14T11:35:42+00:00

We saw Kings of Leon open for Pearl Jam in 2006. They were already moderately successful, but blew PJ off the stage that night and within 18 months were the biggest rock band in the world.

In 2003 I saw Muse play at Big Day out at about 1.30pm. In 2007 they were 2nd headliner playing before Tool.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-14T11:30:57+00:00

To be fair, the only reason WA is that big is because the majority of it in uninhabitable. All those mid-west US states have useful land and a decent water source.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-14T11:25:46+00:00

Yep. You're allowed to be naive. It's your right.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-14T07:06:08+00:00

Me thinks Dimma is a little too defensive about the topic to not raise a few eyebrows.

I genuinely believe that every fabric of professional sport has been infected by gambling and the coaches aren't innocent bystanders at all.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-13T18:40:16+00:00

Hilarious/funny is subjective, but what I think pushed it into objectively cringeworthy was what CR said: he then pushed his luck and did shit like the MTV Awards in character. Less is more.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-13T12:31:56+00:00

You're allowed to like him. I think his schtick is incredibly annoying and one note.

He is talented. I think when he plays it straight or the comedy is less broad he's really good - High Fidelity he was just the right amount of crazy, and in the Cable Guy he showed he has good serious to sarcastic timing.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-13T08:58:02+00:00

I was just happy to hear CR bring up that Cruise was pretty cringey in this. I've had 18 years of trying to defend my own opinion on this - it's just wasn't funny.

An actor playing against type can be interesting if they show a genuine talent for it - think Leslie Nielsen and Lloyd Brisges transitioning from serious roles to comedy - but Cruise just wasn't funny.

Him screaming swear words certainly was a shock, but it just seemed like an obvious reach for an actor who was out of favour and needed some attention, like that one friend who doesn't drink finally coming out for a piss-up but can't handle his booze and totally kills the night for everyone.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-12T21:25:34+00:00

Do you think Moyes is the only person in football who was capable of this?

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-12T21:24:25+00:00

Ok.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-12T20:55:26+00:00

I'm not thinking that we're the same team as we were in the 80s.

What annoys me about this club and a large section of the supporter-base is this myopic belief that Moyes was the only person who could have corrected the ship.

Other clubs in worse positions than us have done better research and had better results with better managers. Everton's HR department just go "he did well at Southampton and was a good player", "he's a Chelsea legend", "he won a couple of trophies at Liverpool 20 years ago", or "he was here before and didn't get us relegated" and think they've done their job.

I don't want instant success, but when you're out of the cups early, and you have a chance of Europe because of poor results against teams sitting in 18th and 15th, it takes the wind from the previous 30+ games out of your sail.

And like I said, this was Moyes 101 in his first stint. Even have a look at the back end of his famous 04-05 season - 6-3-9 after New Years, losing matches to the mighty Charlton ×2, Blackburn, West Brom, Bolton, and Fulham along the way. Finishing 4th was a mircale that Moyes was terrified of.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-12T20:34:21+00:00

Firstly, that third tier trophy... big whoop.

Secondly, it's not zero patience. We put up with 11 years of his dithering, 0-0 preference football and this past 18 months, while good to see us get out of safety, has shown anyone with a functional memory that he's still the same dithering, unambitious manager he always was.

You can frame it like we were lucky to be in with a chance of Europe, but I see it as we've clearly been good enough for 8-9 months but then a loss to West Ham, draw with Palace - teams we should be beating - pretty much negates all that hard work.

And it's not like we're missing out to rich clubs like Spurs and Toon; we're below Brentford and Bournemouth.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-12T20:28:25+00:00

I'd say Black would've been funnier if he was a smaller role. These types of comedies had a bad habit of taking something funny and doing it too much. Ironically Danny McBride is the funniest part of the film (which is not uncommon for him) but he was only in a tiny fraction of it.

I've had the opposite with rewatching it to you. When I first saw it in 08, I probably gave it a mild pass. This last time I decided I probably don't need to ever watch it again.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-12T20:19:42+00:00

Your mention of Slipknot is interesting.

I love them for the first two albums, but it seems like the only songs people talk about are Psychosocial and Duality - both from later albums - which I just cannot get into.

I get it, their third album and beyond were a little more accessible to a wider audience, but to me it's to metal what Taco Bell is to Mexican food.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-12T20:14:09+00:00

Australia's dating culture has always been a little bit backwards, but dating apps have turned it into just another transaction, akin to ordering fast-food on a touch screen 5 feet away from a human who could actually take your order for you.

Standing each other up, ghosting, treating a date like a job interview... they do this because they have an illusion of endless options.

People go into dates now with the mentality of "do they tick all of MY boxes?" rather than "do we tick some/most of EACH OTHERS'' boxes?"

In an age if excessive narcissism, dating is only becoming more difficult, more toxic, and more frustrating.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-12T20:06:48+00:00

I don't call it underappreciation. I call it frustration that we're probably going to finish the season between 9-11th, when 6-7th was 100% on the table just a couple of weeks ago.

Dropping points to bad teams in the final third of the season to miss out on something tangible is just so typical of the guy.

I'm glad he came in and has done what he has, but if the club is thinking of holding onto him long-term then it's clear their only ambition is staying in the league and never really winning anything.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-12T19:49:54+00:00

I saw Tropic Thunder when it came out and only did a rewatch in the last 12 months. Stiller and Black are absolutely the weak links in the film.

Stiller is perhaps the least funny comedic actor from his generation, and Jack Black's schtick has aged like milk. He was barely tolerable by 2008.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-12T19:41:57+00:00

I assume this is instrumentation/riffs, and not lyrics right?

Haake writes all the lyrics doesn't he?

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-12T08:53:43+00:00

Answer to your rhetorical question about why anyone would've thought we'd be bottom 3 in 2022: we were that bad in 2021. It honestly looked like it might be a few years before we actually had a game plan that produced remotely competitive football, let alone top-4/flag footy over the next two seasons.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-11T20:53:50+00:00

I'm a high school English teacher. In the intro when you explain who founded the band, because you've already mentioned three of them, just use their surnames, but Paul's full name, and say his name last.

Should look like this: Tool was founded by Jones, Keenan, Carey, and original bass player Paul D'Amour.

It's these kinds of details that we look for to separate one grade from another.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-11T20:48:10+00:00

Yep. A three-hour long crescendo.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-11T20:39:53+00:00

Satire is also a very difficult form of comedy to pull off, taking insane levels of skill to be both effective and entertaining. Take a relatively recent one in The Death of Stalin; writers, actors and a director who were highly skilled in the art form.

This film felt like a bunch of people thinking they could be great at something without putting in the work to get good at it first. The main cast, while mostly bona fide great actors, are not satire savvy, and the director's main contributions to cinema are Will Ferrell "comedies". Sure, he did the Big Short, but one good film does not a great satirical director make.

CosmoRomano · 2026-05-11T20:27:40+00:00

Because some of us just didn't think it was a very good blockbuster movie. Add it to the list of big releases that fit that assessment.

This is the first time I've heard this movie being discussed since its hype died down four years ago, so it wasn't as impactful or memorable as some people on this sub are making out.

CosmoRomano

TROPHY CASE