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Youâre here because you breathe better at elevation. You believe that sandwiches taste progressively better the farther you get from the trailhead. You sleep best with your head in the open air and the sound of a backcountry stream singing you to sleep. You discover both solace and adventure in the Great Outdoors.Since 1995, CoolWorks has been a leader in connecting people seeking meaningful and exciting work with the employers who are looking for their enthusiasm, energy, and knowledge. We believe that you can and should love your job, and we want to help make that happen! We post job opportunities in great placesâ everything from national parks to ski resorts to retreat centers, and everything in between. Our journal profiles the exciting stories from CoolWorkers to inspire you to take that next step.Whether you are still discovering your passion, need a seasonal career, or just feel the call to change paths, weâve got everything you need to help you find your next great adventure.
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It was from my desk in South Korea that I discovered CoolWorks. Iâd gone there to teach English and save money, but the isolation proved to be too much. For three months, I longed for a sense of community. It was through your site that I discovered the opportunity in Denali. I had a phone interview with the Lodge, and the next day I left. After volunteering abroad through the fall, I returned to Keystone for another season. The seasonal life has become a part of me, and itâs a part I wish to share through writing. Thank you so much for introducing me to that life changing opportunity.
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Adventure is out there. Let us help you chart your course! bgbg
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moderately cold; neither warm nor cold: a rather cool evening.
feeling comfortably or moderately cold: I'm perfectly cool, but open the window if you feel hot.
imparting a sensation of moderate coldness or comfortable freedom from heat: a cool breeze.
not excited; calm; composed; under control: to remain cool in the face of disaster.
not hasty; deliberate: a cool and calculated action.
lacking in interest or enthusiasm: a cool reply to an invitation.
lacking in warmth or cordiality: a cool reception.
aloof or unresponsive; indifferent: He was cool to her passionate advances.
unaffected by emotions; disinterested; dispassionate: She made a cool appraisal of all the issues in the dispute.
Informal. (of a number or sum) without exaggeration or qualification: a cool million dollars.
(of colors) with green, blue, or violet predominating.
Slang.
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I hope you have found this site to be useful. If you have any corrections, additions, or comments, please contact me. Please note that I am not able to respond to all requests. Please consult a major dictionary before e-mailing your query. All material on this page © 1996-2014 Stephen Chrisomalis. Links to this page may be made without permission.
Dungeons & Dragons has been around in one form or another for more than 40 years, which is a lot of time for people to come up with powerful monsters people can fight. Thanks to intrepid Dungeon Masters and game designers, the game's 1977 edition of the Monster Manual has grown from a meager combination of weak and powerful creatures into a gigantic plethora of insignificant minions to ridiculously powerful Elder Gods. Over the years, as the game developed, new methods were introduced to help streamline the process by which a band of merry adventurers might stumble upon some of these monsters. Instead of succumbing to the wills of the DM, a Challenge System was introduced in the game's third edition to help balance out the various encounters.
This new system ensured a group of level one adventurers wouldn't stumble upon a monster they couldn't handle while continuing to throw the various chaff their way, which helped to build up levels in the early stages of gameplay. Similar methods were developed for Dungeons & Dragons' other systems such as video games. No longer would an annoying player have to face off against a Red Dragon if the DM became annoyed, and that was a good thing.. from the player's perspective. Over the decades the game has been around, the changes to the Challenge System have led to more and more monsters being introduced. Instead of simply sticking to familiar characters from mythology, many different types have discovered adventurers lurking about their dungeons. We dug through the rulebooks, video games, and monster manuals to find the most powerful and the weakest monsters in all of D&D!
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25 POWERFUL: LICH
When a powerful spellcaster decides to avoid death, they employ necromancy to become immortal. To become a Lich, a spellcaster places their soul into a Phylactery by performing the Ritual of Becoming. Essentially, they end themselves, but keep their soul nearby, which turns them into an incredibly powerful skeletal creature.
A Lich retains all of their memories from their life as well as their abilities. They are immortal spellcasters who are almost impossible to kill seeing as you need to locate their Phylactery and destroy it. That's not something the Lich will just let a party do without some trouble, which makes a Lich one of the deadliest monsters in the game.
![]() 24 WEAK: GOBLIN
Goblins are some of the most prolific buggers in D&D, which is why they often show up right at the beginning of a campaign. There's a reason Goblins will likely be the first monsters a party stumbles upon as they are often used in the game as a tutorial. Because they are physically weak, they offer an opportunity for players to engage in a battle early on.
That isn't to say goblins can't be problematic. One Goblin is nothing, but they know that, which is why they attack in packs. Their threat increases if there are a great number of them, which is why you should still take them seriously..especially at the beginning of the game.
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23 POWERFUL: MIND FLAYER
The Illithid are a race of monsters in D&D commonly referred to as Mind Flayers. They get that name thanks to their intense psionic powers, which they use to consume the brains of sentient prey. They are relatively common around the caverns and cities of the Underdark and consider themselves to be the dominant species of the D&D Multiverse.
Mind Flayers attack via a number of psionic abilities including the Mind Blast, which fires a cone-shaped shock wave at its victims. This attack can disable an adventurer and leave their tasty brains open for consumption by the Mind Flayer. Attack only with an ability to repel psionic attacks or your character might lose their mind.
22 WEAK: KOBOLD
Kobolds were introduced in the first edition of the game as a parallel to goblins. No DM wanted to create a campaign with just goblins as their only spam enemy, which is why Kobolds were thrown into the mix. They are weak, operate in large numbers and really are nothing more than a low-level mob used to shake things up a bit.
By the time the Third Edition hit the shelves, they were tweaked a bit to make them more powerful. In recognition of their draconic origins, they were given an affinity to magic. Kobold sorcerers became a thing and the monsters became more popular and a little more powerful than their goblin buddies.
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21 POWERFUL: BEHOLDER
Beholders are some of the most iconic monsters in D&D, which is why they often find themselves on the covers of Monster Manuals. These large, floating heads possess an enlarged mouth, central eye and numerous smaller eyes atop prehensile eyestalks all over its body. They have appeared in every edition of the game since its inception and are considered to be a classic monster.
A Beholder's eyes each possess a different magical ability while its central eye can project an anti-magical cone. There are various types of Beholders spread throughout the game, but most are very dangerous and should be avoided by low-level non-magical adventurers.
20 WEAK: GIBBERLING
Gibberlings are the annoying kid at a Goblin or Kobold party. They are mindless monsters who gather in large hordes in an attempt to sew destruction on villages and parties of adventurers. Unfortunately for them, Gibberlings are so low in stats (as well as stature), that they are far more of a nuisance than a threat.
That isn't to say some bad rolls won't send the hardiest of warriors out looking for some healing, but they are generally easy to kill and some of the weakest monsters found in the game. Peasants regularly dispatch them without bothering adventurers, which tells you something about their abilities.
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19 POWERFUL: DRACOLICH
Dragons are easily some of the most powerful monsters in the game. Throughout all of fiction, dragons are dangerous creatures, but in D&D, they are definitely on a whole new level of fierce. They not only are huge, have insanely high stats & hit points and can shoot off a breath weapon, but they also have the ability to cast spells just like a sorcerer.
That last part comes in handy should a dragon ever decide to become a Dracolich. They dump their souls, become undead and retain all of their original attacks. What's more, they can control the undead, which means every adventurer who ever died at their feet comes back to life to fight for the Dracolich.
18 WEAK: LEMURE
D&D has some of the most interesting and deadly demonic creatures in all of fantasy and role-playing. They have named demons and all sorts of creatures in the demonic food chain for adventurers to fear and run away from. At the very bottom of the totem pole, you have the Lemure.
These beasts are piles of rotting flesh borne into a bipedal grotesque monster when a soul is damned to the underworld for crimes committed in life. They are slow, deal 1D4 damage and have only 13 hit points. In terms of demonic monsters, these are certainly the weakest of them all.
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17 POWERFUL: ELDER BRAIN
Most parties hate Mind Flayers due to their ability to psionically paralyze an entire party, but they're a walk in the park compared to their leader. The Elder Brain is the ruler of a community of Mind Flayers and while it amounts to little more than a gigantic brain in a jar, it's so powerful, you can't get near the thing without it knowing.
When Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was released, the Elder Brain was akin to a 20th level psionicist, which made it more powerful than mages of the same level. It was eventually toned down in subsequent editions, but not by much. These need to be engaged with a seriously powerful party of adventurers.
16 WEAK: CRAWLING CLAW
The Crawling Claw is exactly what you think it is: the animated hand of a corpse. These are often enchanted through a ritual on anything from a human to an orc's hand or any number of animals, which offers some variety to the creature. Evil magicians often enchant them to act as servants used to accomplish menial tasks.
They don't represent much of a threat to anyone seeing as their 2 hit points and 1D4+1 damage won't harm most players. They may poke someone in the eyes, but you can slaughter these things by the dozen without too much trouble. They are low-level for use early in the game and not much more.
15 POWERFUL: DEMILICH
Occasionally, a Lich can grow weary of being a skeleton version of their former self. Their powers grow over time, which leads them to transfer all of their power into their skull, which then becomes a new monster called a Demilich. It's basically a Lich boosted in strength and power to become some of the deadliest spellcasters in the game.
Instead of sitting on a mantle somewhere, a Demilich floats about with more immunities than you can shake a stick at. It's almost impossible to damage without some serious firepower, can swallow the souls of anyone it looks at and has ended more games of D&D than many of the monsters on this list.
14 WEAK: SKELETONS
Skeletons are the undead equivalent of Goblins and Kobolds in the game. They tend to pop up early in an adventure or are thrown about in dungeons as mobs that a party has to fight through to keep the campaign going. They are resistant to a number of attacks due to their undead nature, and stabbing weapons often go right through them.
Their power is dependent upon their size, which leads a human skeleton to be more powerful than the animated skeletal remains of a rat. That being said, a Giant Skeleton presents a challenge, but overall, they are not the deadliest monsters an adventurer might face in the game.
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13 POWERFUL: LESHAY
The leShay were once a race of immortal beings who hailed from the universe before the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse came into being. After an intense conflict, their numbers dwindled to a paltry few who clawed their way into the realms of D&D where they established themselves.
A single leShay is an intensely powerful Monster possessing more than 800 hit points and an armor class of 52. They carry weapons far superior to any an adventurer that might stumble upon in a dungeon somewhere, and they can cast high-level spells which make them some of the deadliest spellcasters in the game.
12 WEAK: MUDMAN
Players know many rules in order to play D&D, but one of the best-known rules nobody talks about is how to avoid a puddle and avoid a very annoying fight. In a game where everything can be deadly, it makes sense that a puddle would be something dangerous. Mudmen are pretty much what they sound like: large, bipedal creatures made of mud.
They can't attack directly, but they are able to reduce a player's movement speed by hurling mudballs. If they make contact, they throw themselves on a player and reduce their movement speed to zero. The player then begins to suffocate, which is about the most embarrassing way to lose a character in all of D&D.
11 POWERFUL: ATROPAL
While we aren't throwing in any gods on this list, we do have to pay some respect to the Atropal. These horrific monsters are stillborn gods who became undead creatures of immense power. They should be avoided by most adventurers thanks to their range of damaging abilities including one, which allows them to permanently drain five Constitution points with a touch.
They have many more abilities including shooting negative energy, which drains levels from combatants. Hitting them with spells and ranged weapons is the best way to handle them if running in the opposite direction while leaving a puddle of urine behind isn't a valid option.
10 WEAK: CRANIUM RAT
Not all monsters in D&D are huge, horrible creatures pulled from the darkest depths of mythology. Some creatures are little more than enhanced versions of your everyday, run-of-the-mill vermin. Rats are common in D&D campaigns, though most of the time, they are larger versions called Dire Rats. For Cranium Rats, they aren't enlarged, but they are modified.
A Cranium Rat is a rat that was experimented upon by Mind Flayers. Their brain pulses with an intense glowing light, which makes them easy to see from a distance. They don't represent a challenge to anyone unless they are sleeping, but you could always roll over on them if they get too close.
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9 POWERFUL: ELDER TITAN
Any player will tell you that a giant is no easy monster to take on. They are huge and tough, but they are nothing when compared to the Titans who are some of the deadliest monsters in all of D&D. When it comes to Titans, the most powerful version of these is the Elder Titan, which is a giant's giant that wields a hammer bigger than a house.
Not only are they immense in size and stats, but they are also powerful spellcasters who are more than capable of taking on a party in ranged combat. That's important seeing as melee attacks aren't wise when attacking something as large and powerful as an Elder Titan.
8 WEAK: MYCONID
Believe it or not, there is a fungus-based monster in D&D. Actually, that's not very surprising given the nature of monsters in the game. The man-sized mushrooms are a race called the Myconoid, who spit poisons at players causing serious damage. While some Myconids are tough, not all mushrooms are created equally.
The weakest of the race are called Shriekers, and they got that name for a good reason. These critters don't have any ability to attack, but they can scream at the top of their lungs whenever an adventurer stumbles past. This makes them effective alarm systems, but other than an early warning system, they don't offer much in terms of power.
7 POWERFUL: HECATONCHEIRES
Just about every monster in D&D came from various world mythologies in the earliest days of the game. Some were kept at bay until the Epic Level Handbook hit the shelves, which introduced the Hecatoncheires, a giant monster from Greek Mythology, which featured 100 arms. For D&D, the creature was switched to become a monster made from 100 different people merged into one.
They are able to attack 100 times per turn, but that depends on the size of its target. When engaging a party, an adventurer will get hit 15 times each turn, but that can double as the Hecatoncheires has the ability to summon another one of itself once per day.
6 WEAK: SEA CAT
Throughout D&D, there are plenty of marine monsters people are familiar with. Mermaids, Krakens and many others roam the watery environs threatening players, but there are some less-familiar creatures spread about including the dreaded Sea Cat! Sea Cats, also called Sea Lions, are half-fish, half-feline creatures who prefer to mind their own business.
Normally, they won't attack an adventurer, but will defend its territory as all cats are wont to do. They typically live in small prides of between five and 12 individuals. Adobe premiere pro cc 2017 crack dll download. They are considered animalistic, and not intelligent. They can be a threat, but remain neutral in alignment.
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5 POWERFUL: AVANGION
In the world of Athas, there are no dragons, but it's possible for someone to become one. The process is painful and difficult, which is why it is only attempted by evil sorcerers. When they complete the process, they become some of the most powerful magical beings in the game, but there is another creature who can challenge them.
When a good being decides to transform themselves into a creature similar to a dragon, they begin the process of becoming an Avangion. These beings are ridiculously OP and start out with the power of a level 40 character. They have an impenetrable shield, which defends against magical attacks and are significantly more powerful than dragons.
4 WEAK: FLUMPH
The Flumph is a Lawful Good creature who debuted in the Fiend Folio. It looks like a large, airborne jellyfish, which is a pretty accurate description of what it is. It can spray a skunk-like attack at a player, which stinks and makes your party want to leave you behind.
It also has an acid attack when it drops down on a player, but its attacks aren't much of an issue. To defeat them, you just need to turn it over. Like a turtle, a Flumph cannot right itself once it is turned on its back, which makes it one of the easiest monsters to defeat in all of D&D.
3 POWERFUL: PRISMATIC DRAGON
A list of powerful D&D Monsters could easily be nothing more than dragons, but we wanted to limit our dragon selection to a single living and undead version to keep things interesting. In terms of power, the strongest dragon of them all is the Prismatic Dragon introduced in the Epic Level Handbook.
These great wyrms have more than 2,000 hit points, a strength stat that's off the charts and the ability to breathe a prismatic spray spell from their mouths. They cast spells equal to a level 38 spellcaster, and are so powerful, it would take hours to even damage one to any level of significance.
2 WEAK: DUCKBUNNY
Not many people fear a duck, and few people outside of the Monty Python fandom fear bunnies. Put them together and you have something sort of cute and sort of dangerous: the Duckbunny! These creatures are exactly what you think they are, a combination between a duck and a bunny. They are the result of magical crossbreeding by junior wizards.
While they may have the goal of creating something like an Owlbear, you have to start somewhere. Duckbunnies are small pack animals with 1-3 hit points. They aren't really worth a player's time, but will net seven XP for each one you take out.
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1 POWERFUL: TARRASQUE
A Tarrasque is what you get when you combine the biggest dinosaur with Godzilla, King Kong, and an atomic bomb. They are colossal monsters capable of destroying whole cities by just walking through them. In the current edition of D&D, the Tarrasque is the most powerful monster there is, though it was even more powerful in previous editions.
Originally, you needed to cast a wish or miracle spell to keep them from regenerating after killing them, but that has been retconned. They are insanely durable, can perform multiple attacks each turn and are basically impossible to kill for pretty much anyone, anywhere and anytime.
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(Redirected from Coolest)
Coolness is an aesthetic of attitude, behavior, comportment, appearance and style which is generally admired. Because of the varied and changing connotations of cool, as well as its subjective nature, the word has no single meaning. It has associations of composure and self-control (cf. the OED definition) and often is used as an expression of admiration or approval. Although commonly regarded as slang, it is widely used among disparate social groups and has endured in usage for generations.
Overview
A timeline of cool, adapted from Dick Pountain and David Robins, Cool Rules: Anatomy of an Attitude
There is no single concept of cool. One consistent aspect however, is that cool is widely seen as desirable.[1][2][3] Although there is no single concept of cool, its definitions fall into a few broad categories.
As a behavioral characteristic
The sum and substance of cool is a self-conscious aplomb in overall behavior, which entails a set of specific behavioral characteristics that is firmly anchored in symbology, a set of discernible bodily movements, postures, facial expressions and voice modulations that are acquired and take on strategic social value within the peer context.[3]
Cool was once an attitude fostered by rebels and underdogs, such as slaves, prisoners, bikers and political dissidents, etc., for whom open rebellion invited punishment, so it hid defiance behind a wall of ironic detachment, distancing itself from the source of authority rather than directly confronting it.[4]
In general, coolness is a positive trait based on the inference that a cultural object (e.g., a person or brand) is autonomous in an appropriate way; that is, the person or brand is not constrained by the norms, expectation of beliefs of others.[5]
As a state of being
Cool has been used to describe a general state of well-being, a transcendent, internal state of peace and serenity.[6] It can also refer to an absence of conflict, a state of harmony and balance as in, 'The land is cool,' or as in a 'cool [spiritual] heart.' Such meanings, according to Thompson, are African in origin. Cool is related in this sense to both social control and transcendental balance.[6]
Cool can similarly be used to describe composure and absence of excitement in a personâespecially in times of stressâas expressed in the idiomto keep your cool.
In a related way, the word can be used to express agreement or assent, as in the phrase 'I'm cool with that'.
As aesthetic appeal
Cool is also an attitude widely adopted by artists and intellectuals, who thereby aided its infiltration into popular culture. Sought by product marketing firms, idealized by teenagers, a shield against racial oppression or political persecution and source of constant cultural innovation, cool has become a global phenomenon that has spread to every corner of the earth.[7] Concepts of cool have existed for centuries in several cultures.[8]
As fashion
In terms of fashion, the concept of 'cool' has transformed from the 1960s to the 1990s by becoming integrated in the dominant fabric of culture. Americaâs mass-production of 'ready-to-wear' fashion in the 1940s and â50s, established specific conventional outfits as markers of ones fixed social role in society. Subcultures such as the Hippies, felt repressed by the dominating conservative ideology of the 1940s and â50s towards conformity and rebelled. According to Dick Pountainâs definition of 'cool,' Hippie's fashionable dress can be seen as 'cool' because of its prominent deviation away from the standard uniformity of dress and mass-production of dress, created by the totalitarian system of fashion was seen as 'cool.'[9] They had various different styles that features bold colors such as the 'Trippy Hippie,' the 'Fantasy Hippie,' the 'Retro Hippie,' the 'Ethnic Hippie,' and the 'Craft Hippie.'[10] Additionally, according to the strain theory, Hippieâs hand production of their clothing makes them 'cool.' By naturally hand-making their clothing they rebelled against consumerism in a passive manner because it allowed them to simply not participate in that lifestyle, which makes them 'cool.' As a result of their disengagement, the scope of self-critique was limited because their mask filtered negative thoughts of worthlessness, fostering the opportunity for self-worth.[11]
Starting in the 1990s and continuing into the 21st century, the concept of dressing cool went out of the minority and into the mainstream culture, making dressing 'cool' a dominant ideology. Cool entered the mainstream because those Hippie 'rebels' of the late 1960s were now senior executives of business sectors and of the fashion industry. Since they grew up with 'cool' and maintained the same values, they knew its rules and thus knew how to accurately market and produce such clothing.[12] However, once 'cool' became the dominant ideology in the 21st century its definition changed to not one of rebellion but of one attempting to hide their insecurities in a confident manner.
The 'fashion-grunge' style of the 1990s and 21st century allowed people who felt financially insecure about their lifestyle to pretend to 'fit in' by wearing a unique piece of clothing, but one that was polished beautiful. For example, unlike the Hippie style that clearly diverges from the norm, through Marc Jacobs' combined 'fashion-grunge' style of 'a little preppie, a little grunge and a little couture,' he produces not a bold statement one that is mysterious and awkward creating an ambiguous perception of what the wearerâs internal feelings are.[13]
As an epithet
While slang terms are usually short-lived coinages and figures of speech, cool is an especially ubiquitous slang word, most notably among young people. As well as being understood throughout the English-speaking world, the word has even entered the vocabulary of several languages other than English.
In this sense, cool is used as a general positive epithet or interjection, which can have a range of related adjectival meanings.
Regions
One of the essential characteristics of cool is its mutabilityâwhat is considered cool changes over time and varies among cultures and generations. [8]
Africa and the African diaspora
Yoruba bronze head sculpture from the city of Ife, Nigeria c. 12th century A.D
Author Robert Farris Thompson, professor of art history at Yale University, suggests that Itutu, which he translates as 'mystic coolness,'[14] is one of three pillars of a religious philosophy created in the 15th century[15] by Yoruba and Igbo civilizations of West Africa. Cool, or Itutu, contained meanings of conciliation and gentleness of character, of generosity and grace, and the ability to defuse fights and disputes. It also was associated with physical beauty. In Yoruba culture, Itutu is connected to water, because to the Yoruba the concept of coolness retained its physical connotation of temperature.[16] He cites a definition of cool from the Gola people of Liberia, who define it as the ability to be mentally calm or detached, in an other-worldly fashion, from one's circumstances, to be nonchalant in situations where emotionalism or eagerness would be natural and expected.[6] Joseph M. Murphy writes that 'cool' is also closely associated with the deity Ãsun of the Yoruba religion.[17]
Although Thompson acknowledges similarities between African and European cool in shared notions of self-control and imperturbability,[16] he finds the cultural value of cool in Africa which influenced the African diaspora to be different from that held by Europeans, who use the term primarily as the ability to remain calm under stress. According to Thompson, there is significant weight, meaning and spirituality attached to cool in traditional African cultures, something which, Thompson argues, is absent from the idea in a Western context.
The telling point is that the 'mask' of coolness is worn not only in time of stress, but also of pleasure, in fields of expressive performance and the dance. Struck by the re-occurrence of this vital notion elsewhere in tropical Africa and in the Pan-AmericanAfrican Diaspora, I have come to term the attitude 'an aesthetic of the cool' in the sense of a deeply and completely motivated, consciously artistic, interweaving of elements serious and pleasurable, of responsibility and play.[18]
African Americans
Ronald Perry writes that many words and expressions have passed from African-American Vernacular English into Standard English slang including the contemporary meaning of the word 'cool.'[19] The definition, as something fashionable, is said to have been popularized in jazz circles by tenor saxophonist Lester Young.[20] This predominantly black jazz scene in the U.S. and among expatriate musicians in Paris helped popularize notions of cool in the U.S. in the 1940s, giving birth to 'Bohemian', or beatnik, culture.[7] Shortly thereafter, a style of jazz called cool jazz appeared on the music scene, emphasizing a restrained, laid-back solo style.[21] Notions of cool as an expression of centeredness in a Taoist sense, equilibrium and self-possession, of an absence of conflict are commonly understood in both African and African-American contexts well. Expressions such as, 'Don't let it blow your cool,' later, chill out, and the use of chill as a characterization of inner contentment or restful repose all have their origins in African-American Vernacular English.[22]
When the air in the smoke-filled nightclubs of that era became unbreathable, windows and doors were opened to allow some 'cool air' in from the outside to help clear away the suffocating air. By analogy, the slow and smooth jazz style that was typical for that late-night scene came to be called 'cool'.[23]
The purpose of the cool jazz as Giogia stated, 'The goal was always the same: to lower the temperature of the music and bring out different qualities in jazz.' [24]
Coolest D And D Artwork
Marlene Kim Connor connects cool and the post-war African-American experience in her book What is Cool?: Understanding Black Manhood in America. Connor writes that cool is the silent and knowing rejection of racist oppression, a self-dignified expression of masculinity developed by black men denied mainstream expressions of manhood. She writes that mainstream perception of cool is narrow and distorted, with cool often perceived merely as style or arrogance, rather than a way to achieve respect.[25]
Designer Christian Lacroix has said that '..the history of cool in America is the history of African-American culture'.[26]
Among black men in America, coolness, which may have its roots in slavery as an ironic submission and concealed subversion (see article by Botz-Bornstein),[27] at times is enacted in order to create a powerful appearance, a type of performance frequently maintained for the sake of a social audience.[28]
Cool pose
Malcolm X 'embodied essential elements of cool'.[29]
'Cool', though an amorphous qualityâmore mystique than materialâis a pervasive element in urban black male culture.[29] Majors and Billson address what they term 'cool pose' in their study and argue that it helps black men counter stress caused by social oppression, rejection and racism. They also contend that it furnishes the black male with a sense of control, strength, confidence and stability and helps him deal with the closed doors and negative messages of the 'generalized other.' They also believe that attaining black manhood is filled with pitfalls of discrimination, negative self-image, guilt, shame and fear.[30]
'Cool pose' may be a factor in discrimination in education contributing to the achievement gaps in test scores. In a 2004 study, researchers found that teachers perceived students with African-American culture-related movement styles, referred to as the 'cool pose,' as lower in achievement, higher in aggression, and more likely to need special education services than students with standard movement styles, irrespective of race or other academic indicators.[31] The issue of stereotyping and discrimination with respect to 'cool pose' raises complex questions of assimilation and accommodation of different cultural values. Jason W. Osborne identifies 'cool pose' as one of the factors in black underachievement.[32]Robin D. G. Kelley criticizes calls for assimilation and sublimation of black culture, including 'cool pose.' He argues that media and academics have unfairly demonized these aspects of black culture while, at the same time, through their sustained fascination with blacks as exotic others, appropriated aspects of 'cool pose' into the broader popular culture.[33]
George Elliott Clarke writes that Malcolm X, like Miles Davis, embodies essential elements of cool. As an icon, Malcolm X inspires a complex mixture of both fear and fascination in broader American culture, much like 'cool pose' itself.[29]
East Asia
In Japan, synonyms of 'cool' could be iki and sui. These are traditional commoners' aesthetic ideals that developed in Edo. Some tend to immediately connect the aesthetics of Japan to samurai, but this is historically inaccurate. In fact, samurais from the countryside have often been the target of ridicule by the commoner in the civilized Edo in many art forms including rakugo, a form of comical storytelling.
Some argue that the ethic of the Samurai caste in Japan, warrior castes in India and East Asia all resemble cool.[8] The samurai-themed works of film director Akira Kurosawa are among the most praised of the genre, influencing many filmmakers across the world with his techniques and storytelling. Notable works of his include The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and The Hidden Fortress. The latter was one of the primary inspirations for George Lucas's Star Wars, which also borrows a number of aspects from the samurai, for example the Jedi Knights of the series. Samurai have been presented as cool in many modern Japanese movies such as Samurai Fiction, Kagemusha,[34] and Yojimbo,[35] which was appropriated in American movies such as Ghost Dog[36] and The Last Samurai[37]
In The Art of War, a Chinese military treatise written during the 6th century BC, general Sun Tzu, a member of the landless Chinese aristocracy, wrote in Chapter XII:
Profiting by their panic, we shall exterminate them completely; this will cool the King's courage and cover us with glory, besides ensuring the success of our mission. Windows 10 rs5 all in one jan 2019 + office 2019 download.
Prof. Paul Waley considers Tokyo one of the world's 'capitals of cool.'
Asian countries have developed a tradition on their own to explore types of modern 'cool' or 'ambiguous' aesthetics.
In a Time Asia article 'The Birth of Cool' author Hannah Beech describes Asian cool as 'a revolution in taste led by style gurus who are redefining Chinese craftsmanship in everything from architecture and film to clothing and cuisine' and as a modern aesthetic inspired both by a Ming-era minimalism and a strenuous attention to detail.[38]
Paul Waley, professor of Human Geography at the University of Leeds, considers Tokyo along with New York, London and Paris to be one of the world's 'capitals of cool'[39] and the Washington Post called Tokyo 'Japan's Empire of Cool' and Japan 'the coolest nation on Earth'.
Analysts are marveling at the breadth of a recent explosion in cultural exports, and many argue that the international embrace of Japan's pop culture, film, food, style and arts is second only to that of the United States. Business leaders and government officials are now referring to Japan's 'gross national cool' as a new engine for economic growth and societal buoyancy.[40]
The term 'gross national cool' was coined by Journalist Douglas McGray. In a June/July 2002 article in Foreign Policy magazine,[41] he argued that as Japan's economic juggernaut took a wrong turn into a 10-year slump, and with military power made impossible by a pacifist constitution, the nation had quietly emerged as a cultural powerhouse: 'From pop music to consumer electronics, architecture to fashion, and food to art, Japan has far greater cultural influence now than it did in the 1980s, when it was an economic superpower.'[42] The notion of Asian 'cool' applied to Asian consumer electronics is borrowed from the cultural media theorist Eric McLuhan who described 'cool' or 'cold' media as stimulating participants to complete auditive or visual media content, in sharp contrast to 'hot' media that degrades the viewer to a merely passive or non-interactive receiver.
EuropeAristocratic and artistic cool
Mona Lisa, or La Gioconda (La Joconde), by Leonardo da Vinci expresses sprezzatura, an 'aristocratic cool'.[43]
'Aristocratic cool', known as sprezzatura, has existed in Europe for centuries, particularly when relating to frank amorality and love or illicit pleasures behind closed doors;[8] Raphael's 'Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione' and Leonardo da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' are classic examples of sprezzatura.[43] The sprezzatura of the Mona Lisa is seen in both her smile and the positioning of her hands. Both the smile and hands are intended to convey her grandeur, self-confidence and societal position.[44] Sprezzatura means, literally, disdain and detachment. It is the art of refraining from the appearance of trying to present oneself in a particular way. In reality, of course, tremendous exertion went into pretending not to bother or care.
English poet and playwright William Shakespeare used cool in several of his works to describe composure and absence of emotion.[8] In A Midsummer Night's Dream, written sometime in the late-16th century, he contrasts the shaping fantasies of lovers and madmen with 'cool reason,'[45] in Hamlet he wrote 'O gentle son, upon the heat and flame of thy distemper, sprinkle cool patience,'[46] and the antagonist Iago in Othello is musing about 'reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts.'[8][47]
The cool 'Anatolian smile' of Turkey is used to mask emotions. A similar 'mask' of coolness is worn in both times of stress and pleasure in American and African communities.[8]
In Diary of a Nobody, coolness is used as a criticism: 'Upon my word, Gowingâs coolness surpasses all belief.'
European inter-war cool
The key themes of modern European cool were forged by avant-garde artists who achieved prominence in the aftermath of the First World War, most notably Dadaists, such as key Dada figures Arthur Cravan and Marcel Duchamp, and the left-wing milieu of the Weimar Republic. The program of such groups was often self-consciously revolutionary, a determination to scandalize the bourgeoisie by mocking their culture, sexuality and political moderation.[8]
Berthold Brecht, both a committed Communist and a philandering cynic, stands as the archetype of this inter-war cool. Brecht projected his cool attitude to life onto his most famous character Macheath or 'Mackie Messer' (Mack the knife), in The Threepenny Opera. Mackie, the nonchalant, smooth-talking gangster, expert with the switchblade, personifies the bitter-sweet strain of cool; Puritanism and sentimentality are both anathema to the cool character.[8]
During the turbulent inter-war years, cool was a privilege reserved for bohemian milieus like Brecht's. Cool irony and hedonism remained the province of cabaret artistes, ostentatious gangsters and rich socialites, those decadents depicted in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited and Christopher Isherwood's Goodbye to Berlin, tracing the outlines of a new cool. Peter Stearns, professor of history at George Mason University, suggests that in effect the seeds of a cool outlook had been sown among this inter-war generation.[48]
Post-World War II cool
The Second World War brought the populations of Britain, Germany and France into intimate contact with Americans and American culture. The war brought hundreds of thousands of GIs whose relaxed, easy-going manner was seen by young people of the time as the very embodiment of liberation; and with them came Lucky Strikes, nylons, swing and jazzâthe American Cool.
To be cool or hip meant hanging out, pursuing sexual liaisons, displaying the appropriate attitude of narcissistic self-absorption, and expressing a desire to escape the mental straitjacket of all ideological causes. From the late 1940s onward, this popular culture influenced young people all over the world, to the great dismay of the paternalistic elites who still ruled the official culture. The French intelligentsia were outraged, while the British educated classes displayed a haughty indifference that smacked of an older aristocratic cool.[49]
The Polish cool
The new attitude found a special resonance behind the Iron Curtain, where it offered relief from the earnestness of socialist propaganda and socialist realism in art. In the Polish industrial city Åódź, jazz, 'the forbidden music', served Polish youth of the 1950s much as it had served its African-American creators, both as personal diversion and subterranean resistance to what they saw as a stultifying official culture. Some clubs featured live jazz performances, and their smoky, sexually charged atmosphere carried a message for which the puritanical values and monumental art of Marxist officialdom were an ideal foil.[50]
Arriving in Poland via France, America and England, Polish cool stimulated the film talents of a generation of artists, including Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polanski, and other graduates of the National Film School in Åódź, as well as the novelist Jerzy Kosinski, in whose clinical prose cool tends towards the sadistic.[8]
Czech cool
In Prague, the capital of Bohemia, cool flourished in the faded Art Deco splendor of the Cafe Slavia. Significantly, following the crushing of the Prague Spring by Soviet tanks in 1968, part of the dissident underground called itself the 'Jazz Section'.[8]
TheoriesAs a positive trait
According to this theory, coolness is a subjective, dynamic, socially-constructed trait, such that coolness is in the eye of the beholder. People perceive things (e.g., other people, products or brands) to be cool based on an inference of âautonomyâ. That is, something is perceived to be cool when it follows its own motivations. However, this theory proposes that the level of autonomy that leads to coolness is constrained - inappropriate levels of autonomy, such that the autonomy is too high or opposes a legitimate norm, do not lead to perceptions of coolness. The level of autonomy considered appropriate is influenced by individual difference variables. For example, people who think of societal institutions and authority as unjust or repressive perceive coolness at higher levels of autonomy than those who are less critical of social norms and authority.[51]
As social distinction
According to this theory, coolness is a relative concept. In other words, cool exists only in comparison with things considered less cool; for example, in the book The Rebel Sell, cool is created out of a need for status and distinction. This creates a situation analogous to an arms race, in which cool is perpetuated by a collective action problem in society.[52]
As an elusive essence
According to this theory, cool is a real, but unknowable property. Cool, like 'Good', is a property that exists, but can only be sought after. In the New Yorker article, 'The Coolhunt',[53] cool is given three characteristics:
As a marketing device
According to this theory, cool can be exploited as a manufactured and empty idea imposed on the culture at large through a top-down process by the 'Merchants of Cool'[54]. The 'Merchants of Cool' are sellers of popular culture who capitalize off of trends and subcultures, most often created by youths. Some modern examples of the 'Merchants of Cool' are record company executives, sneaker and fashion company branders and merchandisers. Furthermore, 'cool has become the central ideology of consumer capitalism'[55], the selling of cool thus drives young people and adults attempting to 'fit in' to the mainstream and adhere to trends to purchase products and/or brands that make them appear cool.
The concept of cool was used in this way to market menthol cigarettes to African Americans in the 1960s. In 2004 over 70% of African American smokers preferred menthol cigarettes, compared with 30% of white smokers. This unique social phenomenon was principally occasioned by the tobacco industry's manipulation of the burgeoning black, urban, segregated, consumer market in cities at that time. According to Fast Company some large companies have started 'outsourcing cool.' They are paying other 'smaller, more-limber, closer-to-the-ground outsider' companies to help them keep up with customers' rapidly changing tastes and demands.
Definitions
See alsoReferences
Further reading
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