What do you think is cool?

[ForrestBlack]

Tell me about the icons, the symbols, the looks, and the concepts, the sounds, perhaps even the politics, of what you really think defines 'cool'. It doesn't all have to be positive, but I really want to know what you associate with cool.

[BrightStar]

Honesty, Honor, Courage, Intelligence, Principles. Countless other qualities, features, etc.

[morbid_lady]

people who know what their about, what they are for/against, have morals/values that they will stick by and not bend or twist to suit an occasion. people who wont force their views and values on others and respect the views and values of other people.

[Camby Savelle]

I realy don't know what is cool anymore. I just know it took years for me to see what I thought was cool realy wasn't.

[killerkat]

one big one is, just the right amount of charisma,baby ,super kool

(any body get the song referance here,,funny im listening to it right now )

[hewhoisagod]

........ considering that I'm uncool..... Couldn't tell you

[ForrestBlack]

I think these are all great personal attributes, and I totally appreciate that the Blue Blood community sees the deeper important personal qualities in people. I was kinda looking for a more surface analysis, but deeper things come in to play. Like the character differences between the Fonze on Happy Days and Mike Damone in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. They both came accross as 'cool' to some folks, but in my opinion, obviously, the Fonze was really cool, and the other guy lacked a certain integrity. However, that was not the defining attribute that made him appear cool.


(Edited to correct the character I meant to name, Funkatron pointed out that I probably meant Mike Damone, not Ratner.)

[BrightStar]

forgot who the other guy was, but the Fonze rocks!

[KilLAtomiK]

hank williams and jhonny cash were cool

[darki]

people who know what their about, what they are for/against, have morals/values that they will stick by and not bend or twist to suit an occasion. people who wont force their views and values on others and respect the views and values of other people.

that's a nice definition!
!RESPECT!

[ForrestBlack]

hank williams and jhonny cash were cool

True, but Johnny Cash came accross as cooler to a wider range of people. Hank may have actually been more influential, but Cash was just cool. And I don't think it was just the black clothes, but I'm sure that helped.

[bre.star]

hrmm as i was doing something uncool last night, there was a TV commercial for a CD called "hip music" and my friends and i were talking while shrooming about how sad the world is that there has to be a CD that tells people what is "hip/cool".

[ForrestBlack]

hrmm as i was doing something uncool last night, there was a TV commercial for a CD called "hip music" and my friends and i were talking while shrooming about how sad the world is that there has to be a CD that tells people what is "hip/cool".

Well, think of it more like they have to tell people it's cool because they wouldn't know otherwise. Thus, can it really be cool? Wouln't they just turn their attention to the tv and announce to their friends, wow, weird... that CD actually looks like it might be cool...

[One Eyed Cat]

Tell me about the icons, the symbols, the looks, and the concepts, the sounds, perhaps even the politics, of what you really think defines 'cool'. It doesn't all have to be positive, but I really want to know what you associate with cool.

That's an interesting question. Cool is such an intangible. I'll give it a go by listing traits then ppl that would not even all fall into the "OEC want to hang with" category but are acknowledged as having these traits.

An original aethetic - Bowie is the first who comes to mind here. It has to go beyond just dressing in a manner that is associated with "cool" or say acting in a fuck it all to hell/live for the moment decadence. David Bowie is fucking cool.

Symbols are all about the way they are used. I think it is patently uncool to just use some of the symbols (say an ankh) that are assocaited with cool without it being incorporated into your psyche and spirit. Frank Sinatra was a guy who would wear very little jewelry for this reason. Frank was fucking cool.

Politics are uncool. Don't get me wrong, I love politics but they again have to be incorporated into the "coolness" of a person. The Rat Pack for JFK was perhaps the height of coolness in politics. Movements like punk rock heavily incorporate idealist strains of politics, they are so uncool they can be cool. John Lydon signed to a major, but noone can make Johnny uncool.

Johnny Cash is one who was cool from skin to soul. I think "cool" has to have a story. In most cases, there will be a bit of sadness to the "cool" character. "Cool" rebels but ultimately they live for themselves. "Cool" gets their way in social situations, is willing to fight, and may well come off as arrogant. "Cool" does not necessarily deal with or apply to the "everyman". "Cool" may be an asshole but will get away with it without sanction. "Cool" can make faux pas. "Cool" is
aesthetic but not necessarily pretty. "Cool" is original. It cannot be followed or emulated. "Cool" is mysterious, it cannot be nailed down to a specific type or even viewpoint. "Cool" is spontaneous and surprising. Words flow out of "cool"'s mouth as an unpredictable narrative. "Cool" only has honor etc with reference to cool, it can only be detected but never defined.

Cool is negative theology, man, it can often only be defined for what it is not. I think "cool" is a really positive attitude, sometimes hidden, but always wide awake and alive.

Keep in mind I am referring only to "cool" and not necessarily in every case traits or viewpoints I would consider "right" or "wrong". Cool is definitely not religion.





OEC

[ForrestBlack]

Which reminds me. Blue Blood got a package in for review from K-Tel a while back and it had a punk compilation that actually wasn't that bad, as well as a stadium sports collection featuring like queen and Gary Glitter. Is that so uncool that it goes full spectrum and becomes cool again?

[One Eyed Cat]

Which reminds me. Blue Blood got a package in for review from K-Tel a while back and it had a punk compilation that actually wasn't that bad, as well as a stadium sports collection featuring like queen and Gary Glitter. Is that so uncool that it goes full spectrum and becomes cool again?

Precisely. Cool is intangible. Both are so uncool, they become cool again.


OEC

[Nightingale]

Cool, for me, is a person who doesn't follow fashion, is intelligent and uses his or her intelligence wisely, has time for others and is prepared to listen without prejudice, debate without argument and learn no matter how old he or she is.

Aside from that, cool is ankle socks on mini-skirted young Japanese women.

[bre.star]

ok and to answer your question, what i think is "cool"
everyone has their own deffinition of cool. like my little sister thinks that her little hoochie clothes and the song "bubbly toes" is cool...which personally i think is NOT COOL. but then of course she hates what i think is cool.
i think creativity is VERY COOL. anything creative and imaginative and artistic in my eyes= cool. i think that being yourself is cool and believing in what you believe. i think that being open-minded is cool, and being able to put yourself in someone else's shoes in order to understand the other side of an issue before making an absolute opinion. i think that well thought out lyrics to songs are cool, and i think that in essence not trying to be cool makes you cool. i think stars (the shape) are cool, and i love dark unique fashion. i think photography is cool and trippy animation is cool too. im incredibly tired, but ya thats a small list of things i think are "cool"

[The Demon Iscariot]

[QUOTE=OneEyedCat]
Symbols are all about the way they are used. I think it is patently uncool to just use some of the symbols (say an ankh) that are assocaited with cool without it being incorporated into your psyche and spirit. Frank Sinatra was a guy who would wear very little jewelry for this reason. Frank was fucking cool.

Politics are uncool. Don't get me wrong, I love politics but they again have to be incorporated into the "coolness" of a person. The Rat Pack for JFK was perhaps the height of coolness in politics. Movements like punk rock heavily incorporate idealist strains of politics, they are so uncool they can be cool. John Lydon signed to a major, but noone can make Johnny uncool.

THIS is such a pointed question that it could have been aimed directly at me. This is specifically what I study.


I would have to agree with One Eyed Cat's first point, and disagree with the second: Cases in point: John Lennon and Andrew Eldritch, both Highly political people, and BOTH highly cool

One Eye has in pretty on the nose when he/she (I did not investigate the sex there) mentions the symbols. Our culture and the Goth/deathrock/punk culturess are ALL about the manipulation of symbols.

To put it more succinctly: "Cool" is what attracts attention. Sometimes this is not exactly good attention, and sometimes the result of that attention is not "cool", but with the right symbols attached to that attention. A train wreck can be made cool. The mutilation of someone can be made cool (Piecings tatoos, bondage etc.)

I am working on a book that does more than just examine the progenitors of the whole sub-culture (And I am not talking about a "Who is coolest book, like so many of the self-promoting drivel that I have seen on the subject) that is currently thought of as Goth, and some of the places that have specifically created the culture as it stands today. Specifically an incident in 1992 that began the marketting of the look to those who really had NO idea of what it really was all about, but they bought into the image. The scene is FULL of these people today, and there are a VERY few who are really in touch with those sybols that tend to define the "Goth" today.

This is not to say that this is a bad thing. Most of these people are drawn to it because of something that they themselves are not even aware of, and those who discover that they are indeed searching for something will learn about the symbols. Those who do not recognize this will go on to either drop out of the culture, or they will continue to exploit the symbols in ignorance and cause all kinds of havok in the process (The "Drama" that seems to be so prevelant in the Goth sub-culture).

I have a theory about this. From wathcing the younger crowds come into the Goth scene now for the last 22 years (1 year before the word "goth" was even used) I have an idea of how some of the attitude cam about. They watched their elders and imitated them. Their elders were usually quite, shy and withdrawn people given to introspection, and unused to the sudden attention that they had. Many of these elder goths were still unsure of the power that was associated with the symbols they were working with (but they at least knew they were working with them, and were somtimes afraid of this - why do you think that there are so few goths over the age of 35??? Most are dead over that age.)...But ...back to the symbols...

The young would see what they thought was an aloof and arrogant person, when in fact it was just a person who was not given to making the first move towards something. The young acted this out as arrogant and flambouyance that tended to create waves in their own lives that attracted a different attention. They did not immediately see that it was the symbols and the elder person's attachment and use of those symbols and not their attitude that gave them the power to attract attention.

Now, usually, instead of people attracting attention (or being cool) through the use of those symbols, we usually have people attracting attention through dysfunctional behavior....When they really get to be cool is when they realize that it is not the behavior, but the understanding of their relationship with their appearance and the symbols that it respresents...

But it is just attheory still. A VERY well supported theory (Dr's Joseph Campbell, William James, Carl Jung, Karen Armstrong, etc. all support this theory, and were actually the first to put it forth. I have just applied it to the goth sub-culture)

[One Eyed Cat]

Demon Iscariot (From Judas Iscariot?).

Let us know when you have that book out, sounds fascinating. I read a book called "Mind of the Ninja" by Kirkland C. Peterson which applies the Jungian shadow to the Ninjas of Japan. While clearly they are a lot different from the gothic and other modern subcultures, it may well be of interest to you (if u have not already read it) in its treatment of a movement that tended to "shadow" society as a whole (samurai in particular). I would have to make a qualification for radical politics as potentially cool. I think you are on the money with the symbols.

Regards

OEC (male shadowed by a female one eyed cat

[Morning Glory]

hrmm as i was doing something uncool last night, there was a TV commercial for a CD called "hip music" and my friends and i were talking while shrooming about how sad the world is that there has to be a CD that tells people what is "hip/cool".

I think it leaves something to be said about the world where it's considered worth while to get high and sit around bitching about tv commercials. at least the makers of that cd are doing something mildly productive.

[Forestghost]

UMMM...popsicles are cool....as are ice cream cones, snowmen and windy days in October!

Ok, seriously? In my world, playing video games is cool! Owning a hottub is cool. Knowing every word to every song from Les Miserables is cool. Owning and loving a pet is cool. Knowing how to survive in the woods with only your brain and the clothes on your back is cool. Passionate sex is cool. Minty Chocolate anything is cool!

Oh, and South Park is pretty cool! Yeah, South Park while sitting in your hottub and eating Minty Chocolate Truffles is VERY COOL!

[Nightingale]

Apparently:

[Nightingale]

And another bumper sticker that strikes a cord (perhaps?):

[BrightStar]

Apparently:

That slogan is an irefutable fact!

[The Demon Iscariot]

That slogan is an irefutable fact!

Unless you just happen to be gay.....

or something along those lines...

[MistressJennifer]

Which reminds me. Blue Blood got a package in for review from K-Tel a while back and it had a punk compilation that actually wasn't that bad, as well as a stadium sports collection featuring like queen and Gary Glitter. Is that so uncool that it goes full spectrum and becomes cool again?

Queen and Gary Glitter are SO COOL!! God yes!! Vampires are cool. Expecially the truly Europian ones, from Bela to Christopher to lovely Gary...

Cool is sort of style. It's a bit elusive, mysterious. Beutiful, sexy, unobtainable. Cool has a bit of an attitude. OR cool can be genius creativity, art that transcends, that is the coolest.

I think English people are innately cool. Just the accent, and there you go... England is pretty cool. I mean, the Dracula LEFT Transylvania to come to London, so there you go....

America can very very uncool. But there are still elements of cool to be found...

[ANJ134]

COOL
well
surely the concept of cool is self created.
It is how our high streets and our media and our mainstream fat cats secretly let us know what we 'need' to fit in.

Cool, to be comfortable

cool is to love, to live, to try to exist
to have fun and live everyday like it is your last
fun is independence with community
cool is sexual confidence and indentity
cool is no religious spiritual judgements

Cool is Looc backwards

x

[Morning Glory]

I reject all that is cool.

[Morning Glory]

better to be warm.

[pelelaka]

in my slab of reality, originality is cool... but it's hard to find anything original anymore. nice people are cool. art, peircings, tattoos, cartoons, Jhonen vasquez comic books and cartoons, weird socks, painted toe nails, un-natural colored hair, people know how to take practical jokes, and people who know how to give them, people who stay away from drama... there's a few more things, but that's basically at the top of my chart. tank girl, she was cool.

[Nightingale]

I thought Gary Glitter was cool when I was a wee lad. Now I know how much he likes wee lads and why he's sitting in a prison cell, and don't find Paul Gadd cool at all.

[Nightingale]

... Cool is Looc backwards

Oh well, if we're going for backwards ...

President Mugabe is a Cool Yorkshireman. Written backwards, his name is e ba gum (you need to have a deep understanding of the English mind to appreciate the shallowness of this comment).

[macabrette]

J.D. in "Heathers" was a cool guy.

[Tequila Zaire]

J.D. in "Heathers" was a cool guy.

I wanted to be him so much as a kid and teen...never really reached it...did build up a good psychopathic streak though.

[One Eyed Cat]

J.D. in "Heathers" was a cool guy.

Greetings and Salutations!
Damn macabrette, I think you are my choice on this board for "Bonnie"
in my Bonnie and Clyde for the deserving fantasy. We'll start by killing
all the child molesters with "ole blue here"!


OEC

[DharmaLion]

COOL = Triple Black 1959 Impala
UnCOOL = David Hasselhoff


Also very UnCOOL that I cannot post URLs

[Forestghost]

COOL = Triple Black 1959 Impala
UnCOOL = David Hasselhoff


Also very UnCOOL that I cannot post URLs

Then just get up to 25 posts. The point of a message board is discussion anyway...so...

[DharmaLion]

+1

[MistressJennifer]

Blue Blood is cool...