I certainly hope so, because lately that's what I've been (perhaps vainly) trying to pull together with some of my more recent purchases, attempting to combine my much flaunted penchant for Native American, Nordic or ethnic-geometric style prints with the I-just-fell-out-of-bed-and-this-shirt-off-the-floor-will do zoned-out stoned surfer style the character of Johnny Spitieri sports in the criminally under-the-radar 2003 Aussie film Gettin' Square into some sort of 'look' that constitutes summer clothing without having to dig out the florals. (There's only so many times you can re-read a sentence to figure out if it actually makes sense before the English language itself begins to lose meaning so you're getting the prior abomination as is.) I hold my hands up and admit that David Wenham's stellar performance (and hick-chic mullet, and oh god I can't believe I just both coined and used that phrase) as the drugged up, earnest but rather, er, well, okay idiotic and criminally dim Spit is mostly to blame for this sudden slight obsession with trying to look as if I live in a motel in the mid-90s, and I am not ashamed to admit that if I could get away with not looking as if I'd been let out from somewhere I'd go for the mullet too, but I do digress.
IMPROMPTU FILM REVIEW: the DVD itself was hard to track down, and I eventually opted for the Czech release, which plays in English, from this rather fantastic seller on Amazon. Not your typical comedy either; it's hilarious, yes, but it's a human comedy- no stupid one-liners (okay, what Sam Worthington says when being held-up at screwdriver-point by Spit made me choke on my Sunny D) but it's black humour with solid characterisation (and yes, I bought this film primarily because I knew David Wenham was in it, but again his performance is completely outstanding- (this character is almost quite literally too stupid for his own good, a criminal, small-time drug dealer, but you know, despite his complete lack of perception and ridiculously misplaced notions of the world there is an innate likeability that comes across, or perhaps a pity for this wide-eyed, misdirected but ever optimistic crim that the film illustrates perfectly)- and worth every one of the awards he won for the role that year Down Under,) a deceptively 'simple' story of a man trying to get his life together after prison, to go straight, which is harder than it appears- it's an utterly fantastic and far too little-known gem of a movie, and I urge you to check it out!
Onto the t-shirts then (yes, there was a point to this!) Today's purchases were a rather opportunistic find; whilst walking home in the glorious weather (sleeveless, natch) I popped into Urban Outfitters and found that a t-shirt I'd had my eye on for a long time was in the sale! Nothing says early 80's metal like a day-glo leopard!? Yes, it's another cat t-shirt! Digging around in the sale section I also came across another sleeveless tee, with a Shout at the Devil-inspired pentagram in white on black, also half price! Ay carumba! Gettin' my Wicca-chic Girlschool vibes on, trailer-park style! ( I was totally going to add some photos of Iron Maiden here too because awww yeeeah but there was not a single image I could find that I didn't start laughing at so here's a photo of Def Lep looking super-stylish.)
I'm actually rather embarrassed to post this because LOOK AT IT but here's an outfit I may never, ever wear out of the house for your enjoyment:
So, what have these glorious t-shirts to do with a fictional Aussie reprobate? Well, I like a mish-mash of inspiration as much as the next person who blatantly just wanted to write about a film instead of t-shirts, and the above cut-off acid-wash jeans are already sitting in my wardrobe; all I need are a pair of flip-flops and criminal recor-, er, haircut. It's an homage, shall we say, in a small way. Inspiration can come from so many different sources, (the less said about my fixation on Russian prison tattoos after watching Eastern Promises the better) and I like to work little touches of things that I love or that inspire me even if the only person who picks up on them or enjoys them is myself. Does that make me a loser? Yes, probably (definitely, emphatically, truly, madly, deeply -oh, the Australian puns are coming to me now), but D.I.L.L.I.G.A.F? I'll let you decide!
