It is said that when we are born we have to sense of self. There is only the world and unity of everything in it. As we grow older we begin to realize self. We realize that we are individuals just as everyone else are indiviudals. This is the source of our emptiness. Since we are diffrent from everything we need to establish who we are. We do this by seeing what causes people to react postively. "He is simply aware of the mother and what she thinks about him. If she smiles, if she appreciates the child, if she says, "You are beautiful," if she hugs and kisses him, the child feels good about himself. Now an ego is born. Through appreciation, love, care, he feels he is good, he feels he is valuable, he feels he has some significance." (Beyond the Frontier of the Mind, Osho). We learn to get the responce we want from people. By getting responces from people it shows us that we matter. If i realize that when i say hi to a person they ignore me, but when i say good morning sir i get a responce, i am more likely to start saying good morning sir because it gets me the responce i want. Becuase of this coolness is hand in hand with our ego. We need to show people what kind person we are. We are the smooth chill guy, so we do what ever we need to to project that image. The basis of cool is getting the responce you want. If you want people to look at you and think you are chill, you will wear untied nikes with a hoodie and a tilted fitted. while if you wanted people to think you were classy you would wear suits. You get rid of the emptiness inside by feeling significant. To feel significant you need people to see you, act as though you matter. Cool is just a way to get people to get the responce you want from people.

While watching Merchants of cool all i could thing was "thats smart". The fact is that these guys are just doing what they are being paid to do. There is nothing evil about it. They arent conspiring to destroy the world, they are just trying to sell some cloths. I think anyone who gets angry at them is just mad that they are being played. I know if i had their job i would be doing the exact same thing. There is a saying, if you are stupid enough to be scammed you deserve to be scammed.

Another reason that these people arent evil is because in reality the buisness they are in isnt really that important. The fact is that they are selling cloths and music. in our consumer culture we find that important but the truth is it isnt. If they were selling drugs or something that would damage the youth that would be a little more problematic. They even say in the documentary that trends come and go. To get mad at these people because they are good at selling trends would be a waste of time and energy, there are a lot more important things to worry about.

The most successful marketing technique from the movie was when they talked about how sprite got into the peoples lifes. I was able to connect to this with Gatorade. Gatorade recently launched a new approach to marketting. On the side of Gatorade bottles they put words like "no excuses", on top of that they launched a website with a mini series about atheletes trainning hard to be the best. Gatorade went from being just a drink you picked up at the store, to be your own little modivation coach. Suddenly Gatorade has new meaning. Its fuelling you and inspiring you.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/cleveland-is-the-reason-lyrics-kid-cudi.html
This is cleveland by kid cudi. In this song he talks about how living in cleveland made him cool and all the ways he is cool. In this song he takes on the persona of the smooth player guy.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cool

The main theme in this link is indiffrence. It mostly talks about how someone whos cool he relaxed or doesnt care much. the word can also be used when you dont care about something but you need to respond.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff44/coolestcouple/boondocks.jpg

A common way to look cooler is to put your image to copy that of the famouse scarface image. Scarface is seen as a unholy gangster who does what he wants and get money. By putting ourselves in the image instead of him we are saying that we are gangster too and shouldnt be messed with.

http://www.wearyourbeer.com/images/Notorious_Where_Brooklyn_White_Shirt.jpg
Another way to be cool is to be proud of where your from, especially if where your from is considered tough. we go along with the idea that you are a product of your enviroment, there fore someone who is from the bronx is tougher and cooler then some one from upstate new york.

http://dressingroom.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/kanye-glasses.jpg
Sometimes the way to be cool is to dress uncool. By dressing in a way that seems against the norm it makes it look like you dont care what you wear and that you are expressing your self. creavity is considered cool, the more creative you dress the more cool you seem.

Me: On a scale of one to 10 how cool are you
Girl: 8

Me: In highschool who is considered popular
guy: who ever goes with the flow of the popular kids.

Q: How did you pick your style this morning.
A: Well i started off with the girl then i based the rest of my outfit around it.
Q: How do you feel wearing this outfit.
a: I feel diffrent, i feel like im my own person.




Q:How much did you pay for the whole outfit?
A:Well i bought parts seperate from one and other so im guessing around 120.
Q:Was it worth it?
A: yea i guess, they arent the fancyest clothes i wish i could afford better (laughs) but i like what i have