HW#29 Merchants of Cool

When it comes to advertising, i don't banning it to a certain age would help because another age group would be manipulated, and banning it all together i don't think is really possible because everybody advertises in their own different way, like they might not even work there but people tell each other the awesome store that sell all the best things for cheap, or that tattoo parlor with the coolest tattoo artist and how its not that expensive, and even though its not an ad, people still are finding out what's cool, more slowly since its not being shown to them immediately but they'll still find out. People will just follow what they see around them, or on TV like MTV and how the video said that it's practically just commercials since all the artists that go there are advertising their music, so banning probably wouldn't really have much of an effect and if you ban advertising you'd practically have to put everybody in jail.

"Girls are taught to flaunt their sexuality even though they don't understand it yet"

Teenagers usually go along with that trend because they hear all the people around them saying "oh thats sexy" "thats hot", and they want that type of acknowledgment as well, we all seek attention. I believe both the people who advertise and the people who choose to follow this trend are to blame, because the people who advertise it are influencing kids to be more sluty, which can lead to STD's and teen pregnancy. Also the people who dress that way and act sluty are also to blame, because they let themselves be talk into this madness, to wear really short skirts and show as much cleavage as allowed, and seem like they don't have any respect for themselves. I know it might never really go away since its so "hot" but hopefully people will start thinking and dress a bit less revealing, and learn to not always do what they see others do.

HW#30 theorizing of cool

Being cool is another way to just make ourselves seem more important in the world, to fill the emptiness we feel inside. The emptiness we feel is believe to come from the fact that we're going to die, and because we're going to die, we want to leave an impression to the world, we want to be remembered, missed, and valued. Which is weird because usually when people think of how we're going to die, they think then what's the point of doing anything, yet we're taking on a bunch of roles to make people look at us and like us. Like how the class joker does all that they can to make people laugh, and pay attention to him, and when no one laughs they feel embarrassed and sad because no one acknowledged them.

We use many roles in our life, and those roles just mess with how we use to be, coolness trick us into being different, we lose our moral sense (andy), like how people are so rude to other by teasing them, and messing with them, just to seem cool to people, the coolness is just brainwashing even more then what we were at the beginning. People use up their money to buy more things that are in style or that they think will make them look cool, and fit in with everyone else, which is does, but just because we're all using each other to make our life meaningful.

We also use sex to fill up the emptiness, because that means the person is attractive, and being attractive and knowing how to do "things" is part of being cool. Then these things lead to pregnancy, which is another thing we do to feel our live, that most of us wants to do, because having a miniature you is cool apparently, and people everyones doing.

I think the only way to even remotely be near filling up that hole, is just to accept the fact you're going to die, and that you're just like everyone else, nothing special nothing new. Like in Tuesdays with Morrie, he was upset at first, but then he just accepted it, and seem to be at peace. If we can learn to just accept the truth, than i feel we wouldn't be as brainwashed as we are now. But accepting the truth is harder than living in a lie, it seems.

hw#28 informal research

1)In the television show Jersey Shore from what i've seen, they show being cool, as someone who parties nearly every night, is good at conversing with people, as shown when they started to work at the store and being attractive enough to get people or get laid. Also for girls being kind of sluttie is good because in the show two girls had boyfriends and regardless of that fact they still hooked up with other people and made out with other people. Being a sweetheart and comforting yet kind of bitchy is "Cool" because Sami is nice and talks to other when they need to talk, but at the same time she does fucked up things, like hooking up with someone and then hooking up with their friend afterwards, and not caring.

2)http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Cool

This shows steps/rules to be cool, and here are a few steps that interested me:

a)don't care so much about what other people think of you

b)to be aware of how people recognize you/see you

c) learn how to laugh at yourself

d) use appropriate language

the first two step contradict each other because how can you not care what other think yet at the same time depend on people to see what type of person you are, i don't think you'll ever be able to just not care what others think, there's always someone you look at, to know if you've improved or not, people influence us, and we cant not be affect by the system.

learning how to laugh at yourself is something i wouldn't think would help you be cool,because people who want to be cool, wouldn't want to be humiliated because then they'd look like each body else,like someone they dont want to be.

Also using appropriate language seems not right to me, because so far from what i've seen in school, TV, outside, the cool people usually talk in slang and curse a lot, tell sick or perverted jokes, which everybody laughs at, and yes they do talk appropriately when they need to but usually they talk in slang and cruse.

3)In Twilight by Stephenie Meyer the cool people in the book were the group of vampire in school, who are beautiful, dark, mysterious and forbidden, everything that drives a woman crazy. The idea of people being able to get taste of the forbidden "fruit" is awesome and cool, and people just love it, they're always wanting to know more, and just keeping reading and watching the, movies. This idea has influenced the culture so much that people just keep writing stories about vampire and human relationship or human and paranormal relationships, and create a lot of art of it. So being able to have a thing going on with the forbidden is cool, and also being beautiful and mysterious is cool.

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

In the site it says that the way you look is important, more important in a non-uniform school then one that has uniform, because everyone wears the same thing and they have to worry about picking an outfit thats different then others. I dont think thats true because based on movies and books, people in a uniformed school try their hardest to look cool, by shortening their skirts, bagging up their jeans, wearing accessories, and making the sure their appearance looks good. I think the way you look is more important to them because when you're cool, you're trying to look different then others, but in a uniformed school everybody is basically wearing the same thing, so they'd probably be trying harder then non-uniformed school kids, to look different than one another. Also "being yourself" is something that'll make you cool, which i disagree with because you're always being influenced by someone you can never really be yourself, and what if when you're "being yourself" you actually kind of awkward, thats not cool, things/people that aren't awkward are cool.

5)Kimya Dawson "being cool"

lyrics:

Is new york city really like a graveyard they all ask me
and i say well it was last week but man that was in the past
see i stopped going to the places where the people act so nasty
and pretentious 'cause i'm happy sitting with my friends in sidewalk singing songs

and some people are still standing in the way of where i'm going
so i say please excuse me, step aside, or keep on moving
and i guess they sensed that my momentum meant that i was winning
but i'm only just beginning and i'd rather go with friends than go alone

and some people grab my hands and some people grab my shirt
some people race ahead to see if they can get there first
some people stay behind 'cause they've got something else in mind
whatever you decide if you are true to you you're gonna be alright

like akida he's a father now he is in love with amber
their baby's name is skyler he's a baby of the summer
i wonder as i wander if i'll ever settle down
or if every day i'll take my roots uprooted en route to another town

i was sitting on a couch somewhere watching vh-1
when i found out that bruce springsteen is his mother's only son
i'm my mother's only daughter and we were both born to run
even he says it's amazing raising babies in the place where you come from

but i am a rock tumbler i've got rocks inside my head
and just because they come out shining doesn't mean that they are diamonds
and i guess that my worst nightmare is your very favorite bar
when i'm worth my weight in shale and slate i'll know that i'm a super duper star

i'll be a great big ball of burning gas and i'll be sitting on my big fat ass
sipping cristal light beside a plastic wading pool
and the next day i'll be somewhere else part of me will hate myself
part of me will know deep down that i am pretty cool
the part of me that knows i never cared for being cool
the part of me that knows i never cared for being cool
the part of me that knows i never cared for being cool

In the lyrics its says "I'd rather go with friends than go alone" and that reminds me of those shows/movies that show the popular good looking girls going to the bathroom together, instead of alone, i guess its because they depend on others to be popular so to look cooler, they want it to seem like they're always being surround with people no matter where they go, to show that they're not a loner, that they're cool.

Also the "some people race ahead to see if they can get there first" makes me think of how people compete to be number one, to be cooler than others, to be more fashionable. People always go against each other to see who can make more people laugh, who has more friends, i remember a time where my friend and her friend had this bet going on, about who can get the most myspace friends, because the person has bragging rights then the end and they'll seem like a better person to chill with.

hw#26/27 surveys

<~ alex

Alexandra Moy, 17 years old - friend

Whats your definition of being cool?

like being well like by ALOT of people, you know, like fitting in well

Are you well liked?

well by my friends, i mean I'm cool with some other people but not that close and not with like the whole

Do you consider yourself cool?

um well i dont think im like the coolest person ever, but im not the lamest person either, im probably like in between ya know?

Why do you dye your hair so many times?

Well because i like having different styles, and you know originally i want to have cotton blue and pink hair, and i finally have it, after having it orangey for a while.

You know who you looked like when you had that orangey hair, That girl from Paramore, the lead singer.

eh, well i guess i can see why but i wasnt thinking of her when i did it, i just wanted something new you know? my old hair was blahh

Blahh?

you know what i mean :laugh: like oldish!

From where/who is your style inspired from?

Well my friends i guess, and i like the mismatch style you usually see asians rock

And you're partially asian

yup

And where do your friends get their styles from?

celebrities i guess, from the media, and other people

Sara Dhiri, 17 years old - stranger

So, whats your definition of being cool?

Fitting in

Do you think you're cool?

no

why?

I dont feel like I'm cool

Who DO you think is cool?

Chin, a friend from school

what makes her cool?

She's always so bubbly and friendly to everyone, and i think thats awesome

Selemny, 16 years old - cousin

What's your definition of being cool?

being liked by everyone but also have some haters, and having a bunch of friends, and having a crazy personality

Why crazy personality?

because then that means they're fun to be around with and to party with

So if i throw this chair right at you...I'd be cool?

what the hell :laugh: no stupid! i mean crazy by like wildish you know, like those people from those reality tv on MTV like real world, to not be afraid of being loud and wild

I've seen those people throw tables, even worse

oh my god :laugh: shut up

Ok anyways do you think you're cool yourself?

Well i think i am, i mean alot of people like me, and boys are always crushing on me, and i have alot of friends and people ARE jealous of me

I never knew i had such a conceited cousin, does this make you cool too?

well being conceited is good too, it shows you dont care about what other people think, but at the same time too much isnt cute, and just blame sluttish

Sluttish? how?

like when someones too conceited you usually see that person all up on someone, and date so many people and sex them up just to brag, ya know?

I guess...

So whats cool now

well i notice ALOT of people, girls mostly are turning Bi, i really dont understand why, or when it started, but like its so weird

why is it weird?

because back then the only bi people i knew were my friend and you, and your friend Alex. Like back then people wouldnt dare admit outloud that they were bi, because people would look at then weirdly, and their parents would be so like upset about it, and now everybodies all open about it, its just so random.

ya i know, do you think thats cool?

I think its ok for people to be gay, bi, straight, but to make it a trend its just wrong, i feel its wrong to the real gay, bisexual people, dont you?

ya i guess but it'll pass right?

yah things always pass and go, people will get over that phase :laugh: