Double Oscars for Matthew McConaughey

Last night, Matthew McConaughey deservedly won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club.”  He also deserves a second award for his acceptance speechand not just because it stood head and shoulders above the usual rambling and self- or film industry-referential nature that such remarks are heir to.

Simply put, he told us what he was going to tell us, told us, and then told us what he told us. Furthermore, he defined the structure of his speech as numerical—three people to thank: God, his family, and his hero—following the well-known “Rule of Threes,” i.e., that three is an easy number to remember.

On another level, his revelation that his hero is actually himself—but always ten years forward—rose high above self-referential to become aspirational.

And he did all of this in three minutes and four seconds.