Hw 33-Cool Paper Outline

Thesis: The idea of cool varies in many different ways. Everywhere you go you witness it. Its what we live off of. We seems to try and make this idea of "cool" but what is it really? I feel like we push ourselves to be this "cool" person but what happens when its over. There nothing much there but just pure emptiness.

Body Paragraph 1: Meaning of Cool.

Body Paragraph 2: Apperance of Cool.

Body Paragraph 3: Emptiness

Body Paragraph 4: Cultural Maps

Conclusion: Sum up everything

**Might switch a few things.

Hw 32- Tattoos and The Presentation of the Self

After listening to Mr.Fanning story about his tattoos i thought that it was interesting how when he said that after his band broke up he decide to go more farther than this elbow more to his wrist. When he talked about his tattoos being armor i thought that was kind of significance, they were kind apart of him and like it was like his outer shell. When he said that America does not have the "formal right of passage" like in jewish reilgion when they reach thirteen they become a man or woman i agree. Maybe when people or young teens get tattoos, dye their hair, wear make-up or get piercing thats their own way of "formal right of passage" to grow or maybe not.

In my opinion, tattoos signify just you expressing yourself in art just as you do with hobbies or things you have passions for such as a sport, music, etc. Tattoos branch off to so many things. Depending who gets a tattoos it means different things such as age and race. If a minority got an tattoo they are considered hardcore and "hard life". On the other hand if a non-minority got an tattoo it means totally different.

Lots of time when people get tattoos they feel special and "cool". Its just very symbolic. When it comes to gendering tattoos, i think men get them on the triceps because it shows a sense of "i am a macho man! I am strong" etc as for the women getting them on their ankles and their cleavage its a sign of sensual and sexy. It crazy how we catergoizes us so that we are portrayed as this particular male or female.

I feel like back then tattoos were more like if you had one you were considered a rebel or like "oh my god you really got that?" to that degree. Nowadays when people get tattoos its common and its a not a "wow" factor but it also considered "cool". To me i like tattoos and think they are "cool". I actually want one myself. Seeing other people with tattoos makes me want to get one even more.

Hw#31

Francesca

Part:1

Q: What is the reason that you have many piercing on your ears?

A: I like them.

Q:What is signficance about them?

A:It was just the spur of the moment everbody had them. It was like "lets just go get it!".

After hearing her responses i found it that it was typical because lots a time people get piercings/tattoos because they like them or just living in the moment instead of looking in the future.

Part 2:

Looking at myself i think i present myself that people remeber me even without piercings or tattoos even though i got my ears pierced when i was a baby. When it comes to myself i just like to dress nice and just act myself though it sounds cliche and that is what gets me notice. Not by what i have on my body even though that is how people remeber others. Do not get me wrong i like to get the latest things and trends that are out so i do stand out a little more but not to an extreme.

Hw#30-Psychological and Philosophical Theorizing of Cool

I decided to look up the sense of emptiness and i came up with this:

It seems as if we look at ourselves we are empty and just use things to distract us in life to full up this emptiness. There's nothing really there. "Sometimes we feel an inner sense of emptiness. When we look within, it seems like nothing is there, so we distract ourselves with something on the outside, like food or television; and yet, these outer distractions only temporarily take care of the emptiness, or more accurately, they only temporarily keep our attention. When the distraction is over, the emptiness returns." I agree that we feel up with objects around us to have no kind of emptiness but at the same time do we really know what it is? No we do not. I feel like everybody once in a while has had an empty part of themselves patched it up to hide it but then it slowly seem to uncover itself. I do not think we can find the emptiness because we always seem to hide it with things such as being"cool". Everybody always wants to accepted and feel like their somebody but at the same time that somebody is not them is that considered being empty?

http://www.endless-satsang.com/emptiness.htm

Adding more later.....

Merchants of Cool

Before watching the "Merchants of Cool" i did not really understand the concept of cool and how it impacted and manipulated so many people. After watching the video it really opened up my mind and understand how "cool" is interpret in different ways and how companies like MTV and advertising manipulate young teenagers such as myself and just basically use them for their profit. The part of the video that i thought was interesting and what we discussed was how the MTV company pay other kids in the video like for the promoting Sprite so the kids watching the television can seem cool which i find is kind of ridiculous. It so true because i know i do it sometimes and is like "I wish i was in their position right now". Its like a trap that they put for us and we fall for it every single time.

One part of the video that i was surprised at was how the one of the woman who was talking about how the teenagers these days are the reason for all the sex appeal but in reality in the media is giving off that sex is okay because celebrities are doing it and publicizing it. Personally i think the lady is dumb for her to saying that because its the media that puts all this stuff out and grabs the teens attention. If the media was not presenting sex on t.v and showing that it is okay and "cool" of course kids are going to start doing it. Most of the blame is the media not the children which should be responsible for. Just like some video games provide aggression and violence kids take that to real life and do it.

When they started to talk about Britney Spears and how she showed a lot of sex appeal, it really popped a light bulb in my head on how it affected the little girls watching her. All these girls want to be just like her and be "cool".  The media just chewed her up and spit her back out the world just to make their money which selfish of them.  When the guy talks about girls flaunting their own sexuality even though they do not understand it yet i find that to be so true because the girls just do what ever the media tell them to do so they can seem "cool". I feel like its a job for the girl to do these things to remain on top or be cool so other people approve of  them.

Informal Research

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_(aesthetic)


In this text, it talks about the different elements of being cool such as paintings and historical figures. It has the behavioral characteristic, the state of being, the aesthetic appeal, and artistic and "fight for your right" appeal. "There is no single concept of cool. "One of the essential characteristics of cool is its mutability—what is considered cool changes over time and varies among cultures and generations."

After reading this, i thought it was very interesting how the word "cool" branches off into different things. In the quote above i thought that it was true because over time the word "cool" changes all the time epecially in today's society, it changes everyday. They use Malcolm as a "cool" who showed cool qualities because he fought for what he thought was right with anger and agression which is "cool".


http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetailsKids.aspx?p=335&np=287&id=1478



This text is basically talking about what other people think and it has the typical reasons and thoughts on what people think is "cool". It shows what kids nowadays consider cool.


I thought that it was actually kind of funny. The way the kids describe what "cool" is. I agree with most of the stuff that they said. It said a lot about "being you" and being a great person overall.


http://www.wholefamily.com/aboutteensnow/relationships_peers/friends/wyatt_history.html


In this article he talks about making his own theory on the word "cool". His story i find is kind of ridiculous. He thinks that the term cool origned from the Paleolithic Era. Most of his points where mainly about when you come across the word and who people use it. He thinks they use it in a opposite way then they are suppose to use it.

Strangers and Family Member Interviews

Stranger #1: Casey

What do you think is cool?

"I think spirituality is cool."

Who's cooler, the pope or the president?

"Obama. He's real, he's honest, and he doesn't make empty promises."

What do you think is cool about yourself?

"I'm 58 years old, and I can still play ball. I am a Surrogate Father. I lived with seven sisters, and my mom, and I was the only boy. Also, I have lived through two occasions where I was supposed to be dead. I got stabbed in September, 1973, when I was seventeen. And I survived a gun shot. I was saved because of the luck of a priest."

Stranger #2:Arista
What do you think of as cool?

Like clothes, cell phones, style, materialistic things?

"Clothes are pretty cool I guess."

What do you think is cool about yourself, if you think of yourself as cool?

"I'm all over the place, and crazy. I like myself. I'm weird cool."

Do you spend a lot of time thinking about popularity, and coolness?

"I have a whole bunch of magazines I'm always looking at to see what's in."

Who, -on television or celebrators- do you think of as cool?

"I watch a lot of Nickelodeon things. I think Sam from I-Carly is cool. She has her own style, she's girly but she's not really girly. She's different."

Do you spend more time now trying to be cool, or did you spend more time trying to be cool in high school?

"In high school I didn't really care what was cool. I guess I spend more time trying to be cool now."

Stranger #3:Nia

Who do you think is cool?

"I think anyone who is original, with their own sense of style is cool. "

Who is cooler, the pope or the president?

"The pope is cooler." Really? Why? "The pope is cooler because he just chills and gets money. He could be at a strip club right now, and no one would know it."

Do people consider you to be cool? Do your friends consider you cool?

"I think my friends think I'm cool."

Do you think your friends are cool?

"No, not really. Not a lot of them."

What about your friends do you think is cool?

"We have our own inside jokes, and we understand each other.

Family Member:

Do you think your cool?

"Yes because im down to earth and in tune with today's society."

What people do you consider cool?

"Not according to my daughter.

Besides me Ma?

"Because im open."

When you think of the word "cool" what pops in your head?

"A cool climate. I think of air conditioning. Refreshing and a margarita."