OT: David Brooks/NYTimes essay on being "Cool"

[colker]

Originally Posted by Elefantino

I talked (or, rather typed) about cool.

Therefore, according to the rules, no, I am not cool.

hehehe

[54ny77]

The vast majority of us, riding around on bicycles in skin tight lycra with crotch padding and a goofy looking styrofoam thing on our heads, are not cool.

Mario Cippolini, however, is cool.

[fiamme red]

One more comment about this article. Brooks writes: "Jazz influenced the film noir directors, and then carried cool over to France, where it was embraced by existentialists like Camus."

Not having read Dinerstein's book, I don't if Brooks is here giving an accurate abstract of his argument. But I don't agree with this at all. I've seen more than a few Hollywood "noirs" from the 40's and '50's, and I can't think of one that had a jazz soundtrack (unless perhaps you count The Man With the Golden Arm as noir, and Elmer Bernstein's score as jazz). The first true "noir" that I can think of with a jazz soundtrack was not from Hollywood but France, Malle's Elevator to the Gallows from 1958. The idea of "cool" did influence the French New Wave directors like Godard (e.g., Belmondo imitating Bogart in Breathless or Michel Piccoli imitating Dean Martin in Contempt), who were much more self-conscious than the Hollywood noir directors were.

I'm not sure how Camus embraced "cool." His work is not influenced by jazz or Hollywood film noir.

To quote Goonster, my reaction to the column is that "this guy is wrong, and kind of lazy."

[colker]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

One more comment about this article. Brooks writes: "Jazz influenced the film noir directors, and then carried cool over to France, where it was embraced by existentialists like Camus."

Not having read Dinerstein's book, I don't if Brooks is here giving an accurate abstract of his argument. But I don't agree with this at all. I've seen more than a few Hollywood "noirs" from the 40's and '50's, and I can't think of one that had a jazz soundtrack (unless perhaps you count The Man With the Golden Arm as noir, and Elmer Bernstein's score as jazz). The first true "noir" that I can think of with a jazz soundtrack was not from Hollywood but France, Malle's Elevator to the Gallows from 1958. The idea of "cool" did influence the French New Wave directors like Godard (e.g., Belmondo imitating Bogart in Breathless or Michel Piccoli imitating Dean Martin in Contempt), who were much more self-conscious than the Hollywood noir directors were.

I'm not sure how Camus embraced "cool." His work is not influenced by jazz or Hollywood film noir.

To quote Goonster, my reaction to the column is that "this guy is wrong, and kind of lazy."

Agree on the imprecision of his facts.

[pdmtong]

Only Chili Palmer is "cool"

...the rest of us? poseurs....

[fuzzalow]

Debating the minutiae of cool. Antithetical. Doing that kinda misses the point of what it is, doesn't it?

[akelman]

Originally Posted by fuzzalow

Debating the minutiae of cool. Antithetical. Doing that kinda misses the point of what it is, doesn't it?

You posted a link to an op-ed that does exactly that!

(A friend of mine once said that David Brooks is a stupid man pretending to be a smart man pretending to be a stupid man, and I think that's just about as accurate a description as you can possibly find, though it doesn't touch on the fact that he's also become a monument to empty moralizing.)

[akelman]

Originally Posted by goonster

Wrong NYT columnist. That's Thomas Friedman.

Actually, Tom Friedman is the taxi cabs. David Brooks is the (nonexistent) Applebee's salad bar. They're both ridiculous in their own special ways!

[fuzzalow]

Originally Posted by akelman

You posted a link to an op-ed that does exactly that!

HaHa! I wasn't referring to Mr. Brooks' essay, I was referring to the responses that disagreed and debunked his essay in focusing on minutiae.

I understood the essay as an OpEd and not a product towards academia. It presented a point of view with some degree of backing suitable to his argument and permissible in the context of word limits imposed to a newspaper column. It started a conversation. That is all.

(A friend of mine once said that David Brooks is a stupid man pretending to be a smart man pretending to be a stupid man, and I think that's just about as accurate a description as you can possibly find, though it doesn't touch on the fact that he's also become a monument to empty moralizing.)

Hey, what are ya gonna do? His job is to write but your job doesn't involve reading him.

As far as judgements on stupid or not: There's always somebody smarter and you'll only get into trouble when you think that somebody is you.

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by akelman

Actually, Tom Friedman is the taxi cabs. David Brooks is the (nonexistent) Applebee's salad bar. They're both ridiculous in their own special ways!

well, Mr. Brooks is probably upset that he didn't think of the taxi cab shtick first. He really has one job, propaganda, and he does it reasonably well. It's not being right about anything, unfortunately. Just the opposite.

[guido]

Given that his normal gig of making republicans look reasonable is rather untenable in the current climate, he has moved on to other topics he know nothing about. A crank without portfolio is a rather sad thing...

[OtayBW]

^ I've never been a D. Brooks fan, but his recent editorials have been much more clear - or, let's just say 'reasonable in the current climate' - than some of his earlier work.

[Cloozoe]

David Brooks on cool is like Eddie Arcaro on tall, G W Bush on eloquence or Dan Martin on biceps.

[Repack Rider]

Originally Posted by Cloozoe

David Brooks on cool is like Eddie Arcaro on tall, G W Bush on eloquence or Dan Martin on biceps.

This.

[unterhausen]

the role Brooks plays requires him to be right occasionally. "Reasonable Republican"