The Birth of Cool and The End Game
I’ve been on something of a tear lately. It’s undoubtedly indulgent, perhaps even profligate. But I have my reasons and at least some of what I’m writing today is about what’s prompted those decisions and choices. I’m been “finishing off” a lifetime’s pursuit. I was born during the Birth of Cool. Thanks, Miles. You may be that true icon of cool but there were others and they played their parts. For me it’s still coolness, that’s my word. It’s not stuff that makes you cool. It's not the toys or the acquisitions. You can be way cool with almost no cool stuff. But I do think that the stuff helps you feel cool, it becomes another way to tell your story, it helps the picture tell the story, no matter what you say or do. What we’re seeking in coolness is our power especially when those feelings remind us as much just how vulnerable we really are. The Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca called the journey duende . Let him tell us: “The duende , then, is a power, not