But with every test, comes a lesson, and on Saturday, there were many.

• I learned that the ‘Arctic Enema‘ is in fact, as awful as it sounds.  Ice cold water stole my breath and my voluntary muscle control.  I learned to ask for help.
• I learned that ‘Walk the Plank‘, a 15+ft jump into water, left me paralyzed with terror.  The sound of dozens of people chanting my name, and the side-by-side support of my husband finally give me the courage to jump.  I learned to rely on the support and togetherness of my team. They would not let me quit.
• I learned that the anticipation of the electric shocks from the ‘Electric Eel‘ obstacle are worse than the shocks themselves.  I learned that putting your head down and just going for it often beats over-analysis.
• I learned that the ‘Berlin Walls‘ require strength and balance to conquer.  I learned that my teammates will boost me up and will not let me fall.  I learned to trust blindly.

But you know what the best part was?  There was no clock.  I loved that there was no clock.  I loved that there were no timing mats.  I loved that there were no chip times.  I loved that we had to recite ‘this is not a race’ before we began.  I loved that there were no finish times posted on the Tough Mudder website.

In our results-driven society, we often miss out on opportunities to learn the hidden lessons.  And it was the hidden lessons at Tough Mudder that taught me the most.

There was camaraderie.  There was teamwork.  There was friendship.  There was accomplishment.  There was effort.  There was sheer will.  But most of all, there was fun.

I am a Tough Mudder.

Hoo-rah.

Team ‘Ashley and the Old People’
before the muddiness began…

Release Date: May 3, 2013

Watched: May 7, 2013

Review: May 13, 2013

Director: Jeff Nichols

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Tye Sheridan

The Filmster Rating:

Synopsis: Two teenage boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trail and to reunite him with his true love. – IMDb

Review: Mud tells a great story about a boy and how he learns and experience love through his parents marriage and from a fugitive who he befriends. The film is stellar throughout until it fumbles a bit towards the end. Matthew McConaughey showcases his acting skills and gives a great performance. The two boys in the film were great in their roles especially the lead boy Tye Sheridan. Reese Witherspoon wasn’t in the film for too much but it was great seeing her in a more serious role. It is a film that anyone can relate too and its definitely deserving of its high praise.

Recommend? Absolutely!

Worth The Ticket Price? Yes. Its not always you find a good film like this.

Would You Watch It Again? I definitely would.

Blogger’s Thoughts

“That said, it’s clear to me that “Mud” once again verifies that Jeff Nichols is a master craftsman who uses his southern roots and appreciation for classic filmmaking to tell stories rich with vigor and authenticity. “Mud” is an atmospheric and evocative film that takes a southern fried look at adolescence.” – Keith & The Movies

“Mud takes a slight-detour into convention by the end, but it’s a trip that’s worth taking regardless because of the amazing performances, the heartfelt script, and characters that are worth watching because you care for them and feel as if you know them.” – Dan The Man’s Movie Reviews

“Mud is delightful, a great family film with maturity, heart, and top-drawer craftsmanship.” -  the password is swordfish

Comments are much appreciated. Thanks for reading.

]]> http://jildysauce.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/mud/ Tue, 14 May 2013 09:00:26 +0000 P.P.O. Kane http://jildysauce.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/mud/ Mud

Directed by Jeff Nichols

USA, 2012

Cornerhouse, 12 May 2013

This is a terrific film, an intelligent, rite-of-passage drama with a magnificently choreographed gunfight at the close.

There are echoes of Stand by Me and the opening scene of Great Expectations but its best described (scrabbling for a comparison) as a down-home, Americana version of The Go-Between, if you can imagine such a beast.

Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), two teenage boys, come upon Mud, a mysterious stranger (Matthew McConaughey).  He is a man of the river the like of whom they’ve never seen before, and Ellis in particular is smitten.  They decide to help Mud by bringing him food and equipment and taking messages to his girl (Reese Witherspoon), and in time the two boys find themselves embroiled in his troubles.

It is a film about boys and men, fathers and sons, and as such it is wholly satisfying, but what s especially fine – well, there are two things, the second being the luminous presence of Sam Shepard, legend – is that there is nary a hint of misogyny to be found.  You never give up on women or on love as a possibility, that’s the bottom line.

Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) and Ellis (Tye Sheridan) walk in the wake of Mud (Matthew McConaughey)

“One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.” So wrote Chekhov to Aleksandr Semenovich Lazarev. This simple metaphor has endured as a dependable rule about foreshadowing events in fiction, be it in a stage play, a book or a movie. In cinema – especially American cinema – it seems to have been taken literally. There is so often a gun.

In Mud, the third film from Jeff Nichols, we are shown a pistol in the first act. We know instinctively it promises bloodshed to come. I’m going to spoil something for you now, okay? Are you okay with that? Tough, here it comes. That pistol never gets fired. A whole lot of other guns do though.

Mud tells the tale of two boys living in Arkansas alongside the great Mississippi river. Chiefly the focus is on Ellis (Tye Sheridan), 14 years-old. He’s a good kid, if a little rambunctious, prone to reacting with his fists. Yet he is a thoughtful, sensitive lad. His home life is imploding with a kind of quiet, sad inevitability. His father (the oft-under-appreciated Ray McKinnon) is losing his river trade to the bank, his mother (Sarah Paulson) has instigated a divorce. Ellis’ best friend is Neckbone (what a great name) played with terrific seriousness by newcomer Jacob Lofland.

The two boys take a trip out to a small nearby island in the hopes of finding a boat stuck in a tree that they’ve heard tell of. They find the boat, sure enough. But they are found by its new resident; an enigmatic drifter going by the name of Mud (Matthew McConaughey).

McConaughey’s about-turn in the last couple of years from rom-com dilettante to heavyweight acting presence has been joyous (I always knew he had it in him) and it continues here. The man is in a roll. And whilst his Mud may not be as big and theatrical as his striking Killer Joe, it may be his most measured and quietly impressive work yet. Keeping in mind he was the best thing about The Paperboy by quite some distance, McConaughey appears to be making all the right choices right now.

That aforementioned subtlety is hardly surprising considering this is Jeff Nichols’ new flick. Only three features into his career, and Nichols has forged a justly earned reputation for high-quality cinema. His movies are slow, thoughtful and immaculately crafted, centred by beautifully naturalistic performances. Nichols resists melodrama as often as he can, preferring to look for truth in difficult situations. His work is without big thrills or confetti because he doesn’t need them. In keeping, Mud is understated and all-the-more captivating because of that.

As good as McConaughey is, he has met his match in young Tye Sheridan. His Ellis is a revelation, and can be added to the very best pained young heroes American cinema has to offer. Like Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me, Nichols’ movie takes children seriously and the results are superb. When Ellis learns that Mud is waiting on that island for his long-time sweetheart Juniper (Reese Witherspoon) he immediately becomes a kindred spirit to Mud. He might not be able to save his own parents’ marriage, but he’ll do whatever he can to reunite these larger-than-life romantic figures that have happened into his world.

Nichols sets this all up with a beautifully rendered sense of the supernatural playing in his characters’ lives. Mud himself may be more spirit than man, seemingly appearing and disappearing at will. He first speaks of Juniper and of her hands which are tattooed with nightingales after seeing a flock of birds. He might almost have conjured her into existence at that very moment of inspiration. This underplayed sense of wonder and Southern spirituality makes Mud feel like the kind of film Terrence Malick might make if he weren’t preoccupied building monumental collages instead. Mud is as beautiful to look at as this year’s To The Wonder, but far more engaging.

For its first hour Mud truly sails. It feels magical. But Nichols does come a little unstuck as his movie rolls onward. The sedate pacing – though commendable in this age of instant gratification – is perhaps a little too tepid, and as Ellis and Neckbone’s trips back and forth between the island and ‘civilisation’ stack-up, Mud veers dangerously close to humdrum repetition and listlessness. And then there’s that loaded rifle on the stage. When it does go off, it goes off with one hell of a bang. It’s a little too loud for the movie that preceded it, and feels almost comically out-of-place. Imagine McCabe & Mrs Miller with the shoot-out from The Wild Bunch.

Nichols also infuriatingly avoids what would’ve been some delicious ambiguity – the kind that made Take Shelter work so well – by tying up loose ends that would’ve been more fittingly left unknotted.

But never mind. These are small-if-significant niggles in what is, largely, a hugely impressive American film. Nichols tells stories that feel rich like novels, his characters are full and complex and they’re photographed with a lyrical quality that recalls William Faulkner or early Cormac McCarthy. What these great writers did with words, Nichols is doing with a movie camera, and it’s a continuing pleasure seeing them unfurl. He may not have quite got the balance perfected in Mud, but I for one will certainly be back to see what he shows us next. Nichols’ promise is, itself, a loaded rifle. I can’t wait for it to truly ignite. When it does, we’ll have an absolute masterpiece.

Score: 4/5

Drain pipe, backfill, and compacting (day one), May 8th, 2013

Perforated Drain Pipe along the footer

Covering drain pipe and footer with gravel and landscape fabric

John and Paul Fruth compacting with Jumping Jacks in the garage

It’s getting really wet and muddy

The garage is finished

Giving up this Ponderosa was painful for me

On Saturday morning the same crew came together for round two.  The weather was warmer, dryer (except for a midday shower), and we put in a long, full, and productive day.  The guys filled and compacted along the front of the house and the north side of the garage.  We also filled and compacted the lower workshop space and cleaned up the crawlspace.  The upper driveway approaching the garage was cut to final grade and a drainage ditch was added to channel the water flowing from the driveway cut away from the house.  I gotta say that these guys are so fun to work with and it was great to see so much progress too!  Next up, concrete slabs in the garage, lower workshop, and front porch.

Drain pipe, backfill, and compacting (day two), May 11th, 2013

A beautiful morning to get started

Boy is it wet and muddy!

Getting started filling around entry

Eirwen playing “Cat and Mouse” in a foundation bridge

Filling around entry

Filling and compacting to final grade around entry

I love that Jeff clears out the crawl space of rocks and concrete, and rakes it clean

Mark backfilling lower workshop

Who let this guy in here?

Father and son leveling lower workshop final grade

Kiernan on top of south wall

Drainage ditch and water flowing from new cut

Lower Driveway has been cut and leveled for concrete delivery to lower workshop

Completed garage and entry grade

a lovely, sad, sweet little film from jeff nichols, who gave us my fave film of 2011, ‘take shelter’. it’s a coming of age flick set in a very unique place: a hard scrabble little arkansas boat village on the mississippi. two boys find discover a boat in a tree…’a hell of a thing to see’…so says the man they find living in it. he’s mud, played by matthew mcconaughey, all southern gothic charm with a hint of menace, full of tall tales and wit and romance and pathos, who is one hell of a mess. the boys become inveigled in his life, especially
esp. ellis, played beautifully by tye sheridan, who yearns for his stories of love and redemption and justice to be true. there are elements of huck finn and tom sawyer, of ‘sling blade’, of ‘stand by me’ and even ‘beasts of the southern wild’ here, but it still feels fresh and honest. and the cast is amazing. besides mcconaughey and the wonderful sheridan, there’s sarah paulson and ray mckinnon as ellis’ parents, struggling with a failing marriage, sam shepherd as an enigmatic neighbor, micheal shannon as neckbone’s uncle, scary joe don baker being scary, and reese witherspoon as the white trash princess who is the heart of mud’s troubles. it’s not quite as stirring and resonant, overall, as ‘take shelter’ was, but it’s graceful and intriguing and kind of beautiful.

Mud is the third film from writer and director Jeff Nichols, following 2007’s Shotgun Stories and 2011’s magnificent Take Shelter. For the first time not looking to Michael Shannon for a leading role, Nichols casts Matthew McConaughey as the eponymous protagonist.

Whilst he may take on the role of the title character, McConaughey has to share the limelight with Tye Sheridan, adopting the role of 14-year-old Ellis. The story begins in Arkansas when Ellis and his friend Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) head out on a boat to an island where they know of a boat that has ended up lodged high in the tree tops, apparently finding it’s way there after some floods.

Whilst looking around the boat, Ellis discovers that somebody else is living there. Shortly after, we meet Mud. We learn early that he is currently homeless and, initially wary of the stranger, the two teenagers come to do him favours. We learn that Mud has a secret (one that is revealed early on in the film but that I won’t ruin for you here in case you’ve managed to avoid it so far). Suffice it to say, he wants to get away from his island quickly and there’s a special somebody he wants to take with him.

That ‘somebody’ is the love of his life, Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). He’s been obsessed with her since she saved him from snakebite when he was 10 years old. Things haven’t gone so smoothly for them, and he needs the help of the two boys to get her back and to get away.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story. At its heart, it’s a coming-of-age tale focused more around Ellis than it’s title character. Mud’s problems become those of Ellis. He assumes Mud’s love-life woes as his own, desperate to re-unite him and Juniper. At the same time, Ellis has fallen for a girl and things seem to be going well, but this is a 14-year-old boy; do you think things are going to run smoothly for him in this regard? (Answer, no). He believes in love though. It is, at times, incredibly simple and idealistic, but it’s all the better for it.

If the story is good, and it really is, then it’s the characterisation and the performances of the cast that really ground this story and give it heart. Here, McConaughey has continued his recent run of picking his roles well. Mud suits him down to the ground. He carries at all times an air of intrigue. Whilst he is spinning various interesting tales aimed both at telling his story and educating his new young friends in the ways of life, those that know him are convincing us he’s a liar and not the loved up nice guy he’d have us believe he is. It is to McConaughey’s credit that we never truly find out what kind of man Mud is until the end. His performance is stripped back and he gives his anecdotes in a Southern drawl that instantly transports you to Arkansas with him. I’d say Mud is the most intriguing character I’ve seen portrayed on screen this year.

As I suggested earlier though, the film doesn’t belong solely to McConaughey. Tye Sheridan produces a wonderfully assured and mature performance as Ellis. Ellis meets Mud at a difficult time in his own life. His parents are breaking up, he’s falling for a girl and, y’know, he’s 14 – he’s in his formative years. Sheridan fills Ellis with so much heart and love that by the time his inevitable meltdown arrives, it’s gut wrenching. This film is wonderful exposure for the young man and if he can continue to get roles as good as this one, then there we are possibly watching a real star of the future. I’ll look forward to seeing how his career progresses – this is true stand-out stuff. His chemistry with McConaughey is magnificent, so much so that it’s not impossible to imagine them being cast together again in future films.

There are also fine supporting roles from Jacob Lofland, Sam Shepard, Reese Witherspoon and Ray McKinnon. Nobody here puts a foot wrong.

Credit must go to Nichols for his direction here too. The setting is often dark and moody – plenty of the film takes place at night with the sound of the waves lapping at Mud’s island. His characters, even the minor ones, are given a sense of depth and realism that is to be applauded. There’s much more camera movement here than we saw in Take Shelter and it works well for this movie. There are some beautiful shots of the scenery, using fantastic framing to convey the environment.

There is also intelligence and elegance in the way the environment reflects the characters’ general moods and emotions. Mud, for example, is a man isolated in more ways than one. He is quite literally alone on his island, but one senses a deeper loneliness that he is not keen to admit to anybody. The use of the literal and figurative plays well. Also adding to the minimalistic feel is the sparse use of music. It’s rarely in play, but when we are treated to any music at all it works well and enhances the film.

Overall, Mud is a fine movie and a continuation of some great early work from Jeff Nichols. Filled with heart-warming and heart-breaking scenes, it’s a coming-of-age tale bursting with real emotions and a very human story. Nichols has a talent for creating characters perfect for his cast, giving them a depth that makes them feel real. It is those characters that flesh out this story to make it a thoroughly engaging and engrossing film.

9/10

Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, “Mud” takes place on the Arkansas waterfront—the banks of the Mississippi—in DeWitt, Arkansas. Two young teens and best friends, Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland ) have discovered a boat washed ashore…it’s actually hung up on a tree. While trying to dislodge the boat and take it for themselves, they encounter Mud (McConaughey), a disheveled mess of a man. Of the two boys, Ellis is the more romantic, and is intrigued by Mud, while Neckbone is more wary. However, both of them eventually agree to let Mud keep the boat and provide him with provisions on the sly. Over time, their help becomes less about food and more about friendship and thus increasingly dangerous…to them and Mud.

“Mud” is highly entertaining on so many levels. The story takes place in an area  we don’t often see and many viewers, including myself, don’t know much about. I had no idea that so many people lived in ramshackle houseboats as Ellis’. That aspect of the film is fascinating. One sidenote—these two boys might actually be the only boys in the United States who don’t use cell phones or computers. Never once do they make an appearance and it’s refreshing.

Absolutely fantastic acting is displayed throughout “Mud.” McConaughey seamlessly infuses his character with smarts, eloquence, fragility and sympathy. He is simply amazing. Matching him step for step is Tye Sheridan. Watching him become a man is performance to behold. Not far behind is Jacob Lofland. It will be fun to see what the future holds for these two young actors.

If ever a movie screams best ensemble cast, it is” Mud.” The supporting cast is second to none–Sam Shepard as Mud’s long-time friend; Reese Witherspoon as Mud’s girlfriend on the run; Sarah Paulson and Ray McKinnon as Ellis’ parents—all are just brilliant. After a long absence from the screen, Joe Don Baker makes a great return as a man from Mud’s past who wants him dead.

At first blush, Mud seems like a coming of age story…for Ellis and Neckbone. But it is more than that. It’s also the story of Mud’s coming of age and with it is Mathew McConaughey’s coming of age as an actor, too.

4 nuggets out of 4

What summer looks like

Oh, were it possible for God’s Own Country to experience a moment of summer bliss such as that illustrated in the picture above.  Oh were it possible for ME to experience a moment such as that and not have to fly four hours to a foreign country where no one speaks my language and every meal is served with spicy sausages and orange hued sauces.  It is but a dream……

Here in God’s Own Country where all is wet, green, and covered in slippery clay, we yearn for more than 3 hours of sunshine in a row.  We yearn for a day when we can have our 99s outside in the warm daylight rather than inside our cars as it buckets down outside.  We yearn for the day when we don’t toss our wellies in the car ‘just in case’, and the day when a fair portion of our wardrobes don’t include waterproof pull-over trousers and the infamous mac-in-a-sac.  This is what summer looks like in God’s Own Country:

What Summer looks like….

Yesterday, the summer gods came out to play a cruel summer god joke on us all.  They made summer do this:

What the Summer gods find amusing….

I have taken to watching the weather in exotic places on the telly and sitting close to the screen just to see if I can will the heat and sunny weather into my sitting room.  Thus far, my experiment has produced only unsatisfactory results.  I will continue on in the name of science and pale-skinnned culchies everywhere.

on the other slide

descending into mudbaths

bat wing wraths

but we always come out unscathed

and return home,

back to where the grass

looked greener

from the other side.

Mud:

Few young filmmakers excite me like Jeff Nichols. His newest feature, Mud, is an earnest and immensely likable coming-of-age tale set in the South. Two young teenagers (Tye Sheridan from Tree of Life as the lead) find a boat in a tree on an abandoned island… only to find out the island isn’t so abandoned. A mysterious man named Mud (Matthew McConaughey) is squatting in their boat, biding his time until he can be reunited with his love (Reese Witherspoon). Nichols is an outstanding world-builder: much like how Take Shelter expertly crafted the rural Midwest, here you can smell the catfish in the air. Nichols is taking on the basic human instinct to idealize love, its joys and downfalls. At first the depiction of the female characters felt too fickle, but then it becomes clear that the women aren’t poorly drawn– they’re merely human, with emotions that wax and wane, and if a man expects perfection out of love, he’s the fool for clinging to unrealistic expectations. McConaughey has absolutely never been better, Sam Shepard is a welcome presence, and Sheridan anchors the lead nicely. The ending feels a bit too tidy, but perhaps the letdown I feel at the end was inevitable after the first 110 minutes were so masterfully handled. Mud is delightful, a great family film with maturity, heart, and top-drawer craftsmanship.

To The Wonder:

I never would have guessed that my first near-walkout of the year would’ve been a Terrence Malick film, but here we are. As lovely as Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography is, To The Wonder is a pretty dreadful mess of a film. Its characters are stripped of all complexity, tangential plotlines take up baffling amounts of screen time while culminating in a total absence of meaning, female characters are insultingly pathetic, and Ben Affleck is woefully miscast as the silent leading man. While Malick’s free-form approach to cinema is certainly different than most auteurs approach their projects, they have always been meticulously crafted in the editing room to create an obvious through-line and characters with complexity and real human emotion. With To The Wonder, it looks like a Malick and it sounds like a Malick… but it never once achieves the feeling that a Malick film usually inspires within me. As a result, its run time feels utterly endless, as I watch actors listlessly stare off into the middle distance and long for anything resembling a flesh-and-blood character with something to do. As a Malick fan, this film is absolutely everything that any Malick hater has accused his previous films of being. All pretty pictures, zero substance, zero forethought, and pretty damn close to zero storytelling. The occasional image strikes a chord, but such moments are far too rare. To The Wonder made me want to head To The Exit.

Like Someone in Love:

As someone who swooned over Certified Copy, I confess I found Like Someone in Love, Abbas Kiarostami’s latest film, underwhelming in comparison. We follow Akiko (Rin Takanashi), a young Japanese prostitute forced to tag along with an elderly widower (Tadashi Okuno), as the two learn from each other and eventually connect, despite the looming threat that her boyfriend (Ryo Kase) will eventually discover the widower is not, as he is told, her grandfather. Despite feeling a lack of connection to our main characters– I found the boyfriend to be the most charismatic screen presence– Kiarostami has some absolutely killer visual sequences, in particular when Akiko is driving in circles trying to spot her grandmother at a train station. His framing and camera movement had a larger impact on me than anything spoken by the characters. Thematically, there’s plenty to chew on regarding gender roles and the looming threat a male-dominated society poses towards women. Everything is treated with subtlety and intelligence, as one would expect in a Kiarostami film. However, the deliberate pacing feels slower than normal if you aren’t deeply invested in our main couple– it’s more engaging after the fact to try to work through your frustrations than during its runtime to experience said frustrations. Those interested in Kiarostami or intelligent foreign cinema will find enough reward here to merit giving it a spin, although Like Someone in Love left me closer to being like someone in cool respectful admiration.

I couldn’t possibly have gone the wrong way could I? So I compared the two maps and clearly I had gone the wrong way. Now, for arguments sake, I followed the exact signs for the Ridgeway and missed the signs set up for the detour, so technically I actually covered more of the actual Ridgeway than anyone else. In fact, I actually ran further than everyone else! 42 miles to be precise!

It all makes sense now. I remember reaching checkpoint seven and asking the marshal how far I had to go. In my head in was six miles however I actually yelped in pain when I was told I still had eight to go. By this point, I had run 34 miles and not 32.

The results have not been posted yet, so I’m just going to play the waiting game to see if I’m disqualified for failing to check in at checkpoint two. If they do try and disqualify me, I’ll send them the map of the route that I covered. Ultimately though, if I’m disqualified, the consolation is that I covered a greater distance than anyone else on Saturday.

See the following two maps. On the left, you’ll see the course route, and check point, marked in yellow and on the right, you’ll see my GPS download of the route I took in purple. As you can see, I took a significant detour:

Oh, and to Mr yellow jersey cheater. I owe you a big apology!

So here here are my tips:

1. Do not wear a playsuit unless it’s something like dungarees which you can VERY easily unbutton and pull down when going to the bathroom. You are always in a rush, you’re either missing your favourite band playing or your friends are waiting on you, probably drunk and likely to wander off without you – speed is of the essence.

2. I would even go as far as to warn you off skirts of any kind, the last thing you want is to flash a whole crowd your knickers as you’re tipsily bopping (raving) to the music or perhaps slip in a huge mud puddle.

3. You can never have too many socks.

4. Even if its a sunny festival wellies are a good idea in my books. if you’re wear sandals your toes will be crippled from jumping crowds and wobbily drunks, bring an alternative in case your feet get to hot and sweaty in wellies but they can be a real life saver.

5. Layers are the key, although it’s summer in Ireland and England the nights can be ferEEZING. I’ve learnt this the hard way, bring one cuddly hoody for sleeping in or for general night-time antics. Other than that, layer with vest tops and t-shirts. Keeping a vest top on as abase layer is always good if you don’t fancy getting naked when changing in a tent full of people.

6. Sunglasses, cool as they may be are also essential. Make sure they are proper UV protected, cheap ones will not have this.

- – -

Here are a few of my slightly practical and cool-as-fuck looks that i’ll be channeling come June:

This year i’ll be heading to toasty Croatia for my festival adventures this summer to see foremost of all Arctic Monkeys. Maybe i’ll be able to leave the waterproofs at home (?).

siraan at batuhan ang dating magkakaibigan at magkakamag-anak pag dating sa eleksyon,,,, walang kakilala….

Many actors are afraid of being pigeon-holed into one character type, and focussing solely on McConaughey’s most high-profile films may cause him to be perceived in this way. It’s true that he has played a string of arrogant handsome men, often appearing as the lead in lame rom-coms such as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Fool’s Gold and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

So prominent are McConaughey’s pecs in such films that Empire magazine once ran an ‘investigation’ into the amount of screentime McConaughey has spent shirtless since he began to gain recognition in the early ‘90s. In Surfer, Dude (2008) he racked up a whopping 30 minutes of bare-shirtedness. But then again, this was a surf movie.

More interesting, and perhaps more surprising, is the number of more ‘serious’ films which include chest cameos. Among this number are 1997’s Contact, John Grisham adaptation A Time to Kill, and legal drama The Lincoln Lawyer. It seems that if an actor is considered attractive, their skin will be bared whether or not it’s necessary to the plot.

But it’s unfair, objectifying and incredibly reductive to suggest this is all McConaughey is good for. Although he can be rather wooden, works with a lot of sub-standard material and frequently plays unlikeable characters, McConaughey can draw a laugh shirted or unshirted.

As Tripp in Failure to Launch

For example, in 2006’s Failure to Launch (in which ab-flashing is kept to a minimum) McConaughey appeared as Tripp, an unfathomably arrogant rich and successful man, who despite being in his thirties, is still living with his parents. Really, Tripp is horrible; his mother still does his laundry and he wouldn’t know a mop from an iron. But McConaughey’s easy confidence makes him into the man you love to hate. And despite the formulaic boy-meets-girl plot just barely dressed as something else, Failure to Launch is an enjoyable and witty film.

McConaughey may not be starring in films which will live on to be hailed as classics, or racking up notable awards, but I feel poor and unimaginative material is often at least partially to blame.

In last year’s Magic Mike, directed by Steven Soderbergh, McConaughey had top billing as Dallas, the owner of an all-male strip club.  But sadly, Dallas is a half-hearted character who is constantly sidelined by the focus on protagonist Mike (Channing Tatum) and strip newcomer ‘the Kid’ (Alex Pettyfer). Even when he does appear he’s never quite threatening or crazed enough (for proof of McConaughey’s capability in this department we must look to Killer Joe). But when Dallas finally climbs on stage it’s difficult not to respect the bravery of this particular scantily-clad performance.

Soderbergh’s film marks a sort of mid-way point between the extremes of McConaughey’s career; it is more than just a predictable romp, but not much more. It aims for high-stakes drama but never really convinces.

The Guardian have proclaimed McConaughey’s work in Mud the finest of his career, and it’s already been much lauded at Cannes film festival, so perhaps he has finally found a role which combines sporadic toplessness with writing less shallow than some of his admirers.