C-O-O-L

What is Cool?

So is it a word you use, when you don’t know what else to say? Or is it the "know-it-all" phrase that is about the best filler that the English language could have contributed to conversation. Let’s try and find out by dissecting what popular culture contributes as cool.

What makes cool C-O-O-L?

Pondering over a few things that are cool makes me think, what's cool? I have no clue. Tons of research and studies and no one can answer this. Maybe, that’s what is so cool. There have been more than few attempts to map it. Wired said, "It's everything and nothing all rolled into one." The Rolling Stones are constantly grappling with what's cool. Explains why James Dean was cool in Rebel Without a Cause but so is Sanjaya Malakar of American Idol fame.

Coolness Personified

Media is one of the places where cool tag is attached or stripped within nano-seconds. No one can fathom the going-ons of an industry controlled by advertising, consumed by readers and fuelled by eccentrics. So, on one hand you have Ms. Shetty, who is the flavor of the season in UK and many parts of the world for her cool reaction to racism. On the other you have Robbie Williams and Salman Khan as cool even though they go out of their way to avoid, reject and abdicate niceness. Go figure!

Rock Stars Cool?

By definition they are society's barometer of what is hot right now. A true rockstar will rock on regardless if he is 80 and 18, that’s cool. George Harrison, John Lennon, Elvis, Jerry Garcia, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Layne Staley (Alice in Chains frontman), Kurt Cobain, “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott (Pantera guitarist), Freddie Mercury, Ray Charles, Barry White, Marvin Gaye, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Johnny Cash, Darby Crash (Singer of L.A. punk act the Germs), John Peel (pioneering BBC DJ)…

Can you see anything common factor to make them cool…? (Apart from the fact that they are all dead, of course) Well baffles me too.

Today, among a million bands and amongst all the orgasmic urgency of youth stands out a relic called U2. Yet U2 is uber cool. Maybe because they want to change the world or maybe because their music is edgy. Or maybe coz from rock, post-punk and alternative, this band is hard to peg in a slot and would just rather make music …music with soul and voice or probably because their lyrics actually mean something. Whatever it is, all we can say to U2 – “(stay) stuck in that moment”

The song: Where the Streets Have No Names

The Album: The Joshua Tree

'An interesting story that someone told me once is that in Belfast, by what street someone lives on you can tell not only their religion but tell how much money they're making - literally by which side of the road they live on, because the further up the hill the more expensive the houses become. You can almost tell what the people are earning by the name of the street they live on and what side of that street they live on. That said something to me, and so I started writing about a place where the streets have no name....' - Bono, speaking to Propaganda 5, 1987

The Funny Bone Chronicles

Cool is also mirrored in society’s dispassionate reflection of itself. The Funny Pages. It’s a place where we actually put ourselves away from our peanut sized sensibilities of right and wrong and take a minute to laugh at life. Calvin & Hobbes. Garfield. Dilbert. Yeah, I agree that in the toon world, nothing can be more controversial than stating that the coolest cartoon is this or that. But, Switch can. Arguments notwithstanding. So there… it’s Doonesbury! Not because it’s the funniest or most brilliant, but because somewhere we demonstrate we are a balanced society with balls, maybe…Or it’s just funny in a wicked sort of way.

This cartoon strip was the first to win a Pulitzer and it generates so much publicity because of its controversial nature that the creator, Gary Trudeau has to lie low to stay alive. Doonesbury's commentary on the Bush administration is reminiscent of its Nixon assaults back in the day.

Status: Presently syndicated in approximately 1,400 newspapers worldwide.

The Sting: When The Guardian (UK) dropped Doonesbury, it was forced to reverse its decision 24 hours later by readers.

Everybody loves Comics

Comic books are perceived as geeky cool. And, it's become a Sunday ritual to go see what's hot off the presses. Stunning detail, larger than life stories… an impossible world. Another skill which distinguishes us from chicken meat is that we can draw. Comics combine skills that make us human, language and art to create magic. Why even Sachin is going to be in his own world of comics, ' 'Sachin the Master Blaster'. It's almost like the world needs another world to escape to from the reality of the World Cup.

The “it” comic: I am not talking Kryptonite. It’s the Hulk! The reluctant creature with a dissonance between body and mind that battles his demons and evolves as a part of a group of heroes called The Defenders.

Switch Uber-cool Pick: Watchmen, a series set in 1985, an alternative United States where the country is on the verge of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The brilliance of Watchmen is that it shows superheroes as real people with real issues. They aren’t perfect and struggle like average humans. I like that.

Traveling through…

Among all the cities that man has habited it is an indelible expression of the citizens of earth. That we shape and carve character, culture, oddness and all this is showcased by a city. Paris. No not Hilton. It will always be the coolest city in the world. The fashion capital of the world. A veritable moveable feast to eyes, mind and stomach. It satiates all the senses. Living in Paris is on the wish list of every international soul in the world. But the 'City of Lights' is not an easy place to fit in. You'll have to learn French, they are snooty about that. But it's changing. More and more young Parisians, realize that it's not cool to be exclusive based on language alone.

Don’t like …

Tokyo.

New York.

Cool Wheels

Check out Page 22
The BMW K1200 R Sport

Extreme Madness

Check out Page 23 (Parkour)

Is that cool? I don’t know. But I’m told it is!

Clothes Horse

To much tamer grounds now of textiles, models, cut and color. It’s a maddening world where each person is cooler and coooler and coooooler. It just doesn’t stop. But Sabyasachi, the designer with unmatchable style and original thought wins hands down. Essentially western clothes with Indian sensibilities or is it the other way round. Whatever it is, it works!

So, cool is subjective but everyone agrees most of the time on what is cool. Beats me…the odds on figuring this one out are hundred to one. Right now, it would probably just be - Know what is cool and uncool. And if your neighbor's in on it, it's definitely not cool. The trick is to stop trying to be cool. The cliché – Be Yourself.

Anyways you guys get the drift. And I betcha you could tell me a thing or two about what’s cool. So why don’t you. So, if any cool phenomenon does escape the notice of Switch, mail us. It would be cool to hear from you.

Until then, happy eye candy time with our cool list for the hot, hot summer.

The New King of Pop - Justin Timberlake

Bad Boy - Robbie Williams

Pushing the Envelope - Gwen Stefanie

Funky Chick - Avril Lavigne

Cool Gadget - iPod

Cool SUV - Porsche Cayenne

Cool TV – Heroes