My mother said that she had a fake interest in jazz. It never did what it was supposed to for her. I sympathise. For awhile I had a fake interest in Nick Cave. He's very moody, very trendy (in a slightly obscure way). I have listened to a lot of his albums, even a best of. I pretended it was cool, but now I have given up.
It's a funny old thing peer pressure, and you never get entirely free of it. Of course it's much worse when you're young. It's always the kids who are cool who are the biggest pains in the arse at school. If I thought a student would listen to me when I handed out unasked for advice I would say:
Don't ever try to be cool. Find out who are you are and be true to yourself.
Sounds straight forward, but it's worth remembering;
Very few people will give up trying to be cool before they're thirty, and
- Finding out who you are is pretty much impossible.
Aside from those two problems, it's a real pearl of advice.
The Armstrong record was my Dad's. It is a pearl. I once saw quite a famous movie (maybe High Society) in which I think it was Bing Crosby who explained to Louis Armstrong what jazz was while Louis aped goofy grins. It's all very well to say things like "to thine own self be true" but there are a lot of things against it. Society for one.
6 comments:
Bing was a bit strange. He'd sooner play golf than be with his family.
Being cool can work if I need to hide something and am very lonely.
Schinichi just dropped in.
I told him about your blog and he said you're a very smart man.
I, of course, refuted this observation because I am generaly considered to be cool and I don't really know if you are. Well, I'm sure that Murray (the computer guy at work) thinks I'm cool! Kade once told me that I rock... considering that I've never really understood the reasoning behind this form of music, I took it as an insult and put in a 'workplace abuse' complaint.
Nay, but seriously folks...
This is a wonderful post!
It is difficult for me to comment on the golf vs. Crosby family thing because I've never met the Crosbys although they stand a decent chance with me because I dislike golf.
It could be a language thing. Maybe he means I'm a snappy dresser (which I am. Now that Shamla has gone I've moved up the rankings).
I went to return the video Dekalog at Aro Street Video Store yesterday and there were two uber-cool ("cool") cats ("cats" - they weren't actually cats) sitting outside their gallery, drinking beer, and listening to... NICK CAVE.
F***ers.
Snappy dresser? Maybe, just lose the red track top.
Many people have commented on my red top. If Fflur were reading this, which I reckon she ain't, she would know that I bought it in Feb, last year when I was told I was in Rata house and had to wear something red for Athletics Day. Red? Only chicks own red clothes. So Fflur and I went shopping and she bought something blue and I bought something red. Since then it has been my "I'm not at work" uniform. It was actually a big moment for me because when I was at primary school my mother bought me a pair of red pants (it was the 70's) and whenever I wore them my complexion turned bright red and I looked like a raspberry lollipop. After that I never wore red again. Until I was put in Rata house....
Did you know there is a law against "unlawful sexual connection"? Is this just code for necrophilia? Radio New Zealand news is SO interesting. Maybe lots of Japanese women inadvertantly sexually stimulated by bidets should be going to court.
Nay? Neigh?
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