Cool Story
Part 1 of a monthlong series on the history and future of cool.Last month the electro-psychedelic band MGMT released a video for its “Cool Song No. 2.” It features Michael K. Williams of The Wireas a...
View ArticleThe Birth of Cool
Being cool is hard. Staying cool is harder. It’s an elusive quality, in part because it’s an elusive word with layers of nuanced meaning that peel off as we travel back through the centuries.At its...
View ArticleDon’t Be Afraid to Be Uncool
“I was never cool in school,” Darren Jessee sang on Ben Folds Five’s “Underground,” a 1995 song that satirized prep years and mohawked scenesters with double-edged glee. Two years later, the band had a...
View ArticleCool Moves
The swivel of Elvis’ hips, Audrey’s zany bohemian dance in a Parisian café, Travolta’s uber-confident stroll through ’70s Brooklyn. Film has long played a part in shaping our definition of cool, and...
View ArticleThe Cool Kids
Hi, guys. I was totally cool in school. Haha. Um, house party. That song about the milkshake? Ten fingers!No, no, I was of course not a rock star as a child. To be cool at my sheltered private school...
View ArticleWhen Did Two-Strapping Get Cooler Than One-Strapping?
Toward the beginning of the 2012 comedy 21 Jump Street, Officer Jenko (Channing Tatum), a onetime cool kid, gives his partner some advice as they prepare to infiltrate the ranks of the cool kids at...
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