HW 23 - 1st constructive exploration of cool

For this first post of the Cool unit please explore the definition, feeling, concept, experience, pursuit of cool.

What questions do you have about being cool? About being uncool?

What insights have flashed into your mind about cool? Who is cool? What defines cool? What are different types of cool? Are you cool?

"Cool is an aesthetic of attitude, behavior, comportment, appearance and style, influenced by and a product of the Zeitgeist. Because of the varied and changing connotations of cool, as well its subjective nature, the word has no single meaning...."

When looking up the word cool, the results was just as i expected. No single meaning. To be cool is a word that is thrown around that doesn't have a meaning but represents one's stature. To describe literally anything you would want, you can include the word "cool" in your sentence. Cool is usually representing an entire thought, such as "Thats cool!", or "How cool!", such as cool representing the entire phrase nice to see or thats new or interesting. Things we see that we find new and entertaining is instantly referred to as cool.

The movie "Half-Baked" with Dave Chappelle, shows a scene where his friend Scarface is quitting his minimum wage job, where he confronts everyone before he acts. "Fuck you... Fuck you... your cool... and Fuck you, I'm out."- Scarface. This is where he points around the room with a microphone exposing whoever he felt was "cool" as a person that he wouldn't express vulgar words to. Only one person was worthy of that, which was ironically funny because it happened to be this old white guy with white hair who seemed anything but cool. This represents the average American mind, where all we seem to do is wrap our minds and words around "cool". We will get anything that seems cool or associate ourselves with anything or anyone cool.

I do these things myself, I'm not afraid to admit it, although i don't see any reason to be 'afraid' either. I constantly get rid of cellphones or ipods that arent the latest thing, and i myself, used to the lifestyle of switching around, can never seem satisfied with what i have anymore. The newest features always seem cool to us and anything else isnt worth buying. Things we see celebrities with, whether it be fashion or technology, the things they promote to the public has to always be seen as cool, otherwise things we find odd that we catch them doing are often placed in magazine articles or caught on video. i think this cool unit will connect to the digital unit.