Friday, August 08, 2008
The Cool Friend. My housemate Marty is moving out to go and live with his friend Ash. I don't especially blame him, because I think of Ash as Marty's Cool Friend. He's charming, self-assured, faintly hip without being a hipster, and very good-looking. When I first met him, I was struck by how much he looks like Arj Barker, which is amusing because Arj Barker plays Dave, the Cool Friend in Flight of the Conchords ("ohhhh, you're a legend Dave!").
(Artist's impression of Marty's new household.)
Of course, the joke in FOTC is that Dave is actually really lame, but the Cool Friend isn't necessarily cool; they're just someone you look up to and take your own cool cues from. You can also have different Cool Friends for different facets of your life. For instance, Shane was my Cool Friend for all things music and fashion-related for years - come back to blogging, dude!
It is kind of sad that we should honour such alpha/beta friendship dichotomies. I have always worried that I am the beta partner in many of my friendships. I also wonder if there'll ever be a point at which I no longer care about being cool. Perhaps my idea of what cool is will change, but not the importance of the quality itself.
(Artist's impression of Marty's new household.)
Of course, the joke in FOTC is that Dave is actually really lame, but the Cool Friend isn't necessarily cool; they're just someone you look up to and take your own cool cues from. You can also have different Cool Friends for different facets of your life. For instance, Shane was my Cool Friend for all things music and fashion-related for years - come back to blogging, dude!
It is kind of sad that we should honour such alpha/beta friendship dichotomies. I have always worried that I am the beta partner in many of my friendships. I also wonder if there'll ever be a point at which I no longer care about being cool. Perhaps my idea of what cool is will change, but not the importance of the quality itself.
