Make Mine Mike

Is it cool to save all your paperwork over the years?

I'm talking notebooks from college, high school midterms or old tax returns (even though the IRS doesn't need 'em, perhaps you've kept them as a sad reminder of how little your income bracket has gone up)?

You're cool with trashing those things. But how can you throw out your stacks of travel journals or folders and folders filled with story ideas and creative thoughts? Well, you gotta be discerning.

For example, if you find your list of what's cool and what isn't -- it might be interesting to see where your mind was at years ago, or how people's images held up since then -- but after reminiscing... chuck it. Also... "Cool" may be subjective, but making cool lists is definitely not cool.

COOL
Christopher Walken
Eric Clapton
Bruce Springsteen
Walter "Clyde" Frazier
Chow Yun-Fat?

People who think they're cool, but ain't
Nicholson
Warren Beatty
Mick Jagger
Madonna
Hemingway
Frank Sinatra (Rat Pack)
Dennis Hopper
John Cougar Mellencamp
Tom Jones
Dave Letterman

Dead but very cool, and you should know 'em
Yves Montand
Thaddeus Stevens
Emma Goldman
Miles Davis
*Bogie
John Garfield
*Muddy Waters
*Che Guevara
Edward R. Murrow
*James Dean
*Billie Holliday
**Robert Johnson

*Classics
**Honarary

Contenders
Jodie Foster
Denis Leary
Sara Gilbert
Winona Ryder
Jon Stewart

Uncool stuff or automatic elimator
Country musicians
Rap musicians
Body piercing & excessive tattoos
Guys with really long hair

Close but no cigar
Tom Waits
Shelly Winters
Mel Gibson
Paul Newman
Joe DiMaggio
Smokey Robinson
Robert Mitchum

Despite popular belief these people are NOT COOL
Kerouac
John Lennon

Once were cool, but not anymore
Beatles
Stones
Elvis
Woody Allen
Marlon Brando