The Observer's Summer '08 'cool' list

[JoanSmith]

To quote the Doctor "and I was having such a nice day".

There I was, innocently lounging around in my pj's having coffee, wondering whether to re-watch last night's Doctor Who or wait until after Shipwrecked, browsing the Observer on-line .. and then I made the mistake of reading this - lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,,2288531,00.html

Presumably done by work experience kids while all the real journalists are on holiday, the 'cool' list features non-other than Lowculture favourite Alexa Chung at number one. She is apparently "universally acknowledged to be properly cool". Um, not round here, matey.

The rest of the list is mostly made up of models, designers, DJs, etc. There are a few people on there I would agree with (if they must insist on making these ridiculous lists in the first place), including Chris Lilley (Summer Heights High) and Noel Clarke.

The most depressing aspect of this is that the list appears in the the Observer Women magazine. Because this kind of juvenile crap is all we can be bothered filling our pretty little heads with. And we all aspire to be as pretty and cool as Alexa, obviously.

[Rad]

I am actually somewhat relieved that I haven't heard of at least 40% of those people.

Oh, and Joan Smith, I am so glad you started posting, I love your contributions (and your Hiro/Donna avatar).

[somethingbiblical]

I've only heard of 10 of them (Chung, Isobel Campbell, Laura Marling, Feist, Lykke Li, Annie, Noel Clarke, Santogold, Lovefoxx, Chris Cain). They're so cool no one knows who they are.

[Chris]

She's the Kate Moss of teen TV - effortless, elegantly edgy, and one of the few female presenters who hasn't got naked for a men's magazine

Ah yes, I remember when June Sarpong got her tits out for FHM. Nice to see the Guardian's female section establishing its feminist credentials with that nice"...and she's not a slag" line running through that piece.

Noel Clarke is 32?!

(I have heard of 15. I am officially 30% hipster twat)

[jetsetwilly]

I'd heard of Alexa Chung, Annie and Noel Clarke and none of the others. I can't decide if this means I am an old fart or not a cunt. This made me dry heave:

41. Ladyhawke, musician

26-year-old New Zealander Pip Brown is Ladyhawke. She's been remixed by Peaches and compared to a punk Stevie Nicks. Cool with a capital K.

[treacle]

I've heard of 16, I'm not sure if that is meant to make me cool or out of touch.

(Alexa Chung, Miranda July, Fafi, Isobel Campbell, Laura Marling, Florence Welch, Feist, Annie, Lykke Li, Noel Clarke, Santogold, Ladyhawke, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lovefoxx, Blaine Harrison, Chris Cain)

[JoanSmith]

Jul 6, 2008 12:37:54 GMT Rad said:

Oh, and Joan Smith, I am so glad you started posting, I love your contributions (and your Hiro/Donna avatar).

Thanks, Rad. It's very nice of you to say so.

Having subsequently gone out for a nice relaxing walk and a nice relaxing pint, I was worried that I'd been a overly harsh and vitriolic in my original post (I may have been a little hungover and over-caffeinated).

Having re-read the article, however, I find it just as annoying. I don't think it's so much the individuals featured as the whole premise and the way it's written. There are too many choice quotes to choose from but "He's mates with Aggy Deyn, obviously, and has candids of Lindsay Lohan on his MySpace" pretty much sums it up. Set Charlie Brooker on them, pronto, I say.

Or maybe I'm just bitter because I've only heard of 7 of the people on the list and am thus very uncool.

Also, apologies for the link not working - I've fixed it now.

[Feral]

Ugh, that is horrible. It makes even the people I actually like seem like cunts.

[fused]

I quite like some of the people on that list, the ones I've heard of anyway (which is about 10 of them), but I really hate the pretentious tone of that article.

Actually, I hate all these kind of 'lists'. I don't see the point in them.

*Edit- I'm not including Alexa as someone I ''quite like''. She's so ubiquitous now I just ignore her.

[charliepops]

I'm painfully uncool. I recognised four of them.

What I find fairly hilarious about this list is that everyone on it instantly becomes 50% less cool just by appearing on the list in the first place.

[Steven]

Alexa Chung was "unexpectedly great" on Popworld? In which Bizarro universe precisely did that happen?

[Bridgey]

Agree with some of the inhabitants of the 'cool list' but the fact that they're all deemed less cool than Ms Chung puts me right off. And why does the boy from 'Kitty, Daisy and Lewis' get to be cooler than his sisters? Ferfucksake.

The writers should be ashamed of themselves and their sub-Gogarty writing style. HAAAAATE.

Bridgey xxx

[Feral]

Jul 7, 2008 21:41:02 GMT Bridgey said:

The writers should be ashamed of themselves and their sub-Gogarty writing style. HAAAAATE.

Speaking of which, I hear a printing error sadly caused them to miss out the following entry...

Maximilian Gogarty, adventurer & wordsmith

Unmistakable in his skinny jeans, Max, 19, rose to fame as creator, producer and writer of Channel 4's Skins - widely acclaimed as Peaches Geldof's favourite TV series. The natural heir to Hemmingway, his extraordinary chronicles of his adventures in India and Thailand were an overnight sensation; so wildly popular they had to be stopped for fear the internet might otherwise be unable to cope. Already a global icon, he may be 'shitting himself' - but we think he's shitting turds of gold.

[Steven]

Jul 7, 2008 21:41:02 GMT Bridgey said:

And why does the boy from 'Kitty, Daisy and Lewis' get to be cooler than his sisters? Ferfucksake.

I wondered that as well. Institutionalised misogyny? I don't know.

I love that "sub-Gogarty" is now a writing style in its own right.

[thelovelykate]

I know 17 of them. I am clearly super cool. I should be on the list.

[JoanSmith]

Jul 7, 2008 22:35:01 GMT Feral said:

Speaking of which, I hear a printing error sadly caused them to miss out the following entry...

Maximilian Gogarty, adventurer & wordsmith

Unmistakable in his skinny jeans, Max, 19, rose to fame as creator, producer and writer of Channel 4's Skins - widely acclaimed as Peaches Geldof's favourite TV series. The natural heir to Hemmingway, his extraordinary chronicles of his adventures in India and Thailand were an overnight sensation; so wildly popular they had to be stopped for fear the internet might otherwise be unable to cope. Already a global icon, he may be 'shitting himself' - but we think he's shitting turds of gold.

Brilliant!

[Becky]

I've heard of 3 of them. If they had an uncool list, I'd probably know them all!

[al]

Jul 7, 2008 21:01:37 GMT Steven said:

Alexa Chung was "unexpectedly great" on Popworld? In which Bizarro universe precisely did that happen?

This is going to be a monumentally unpopular opinion, but I loved Alex and Alexa on Popworld. I thought the show was far better during their spell than when Curly 'n' Cuntflaps were at the helm.

I found Simon and Miquita to be vile, hateful, pretentious, insecure bullies. If they had that many chips on their collective shoulder, one of the last few music shows on telly wasn't the place to demonstrate that. They killed the show with their smug, bitter cuntishness. In contrast, the latter days of Popworld switched the focus back to the music, with a natural humour that didn't detract from it.

That said, Chung has since devolved into a vapid, braindead moron with no substance. Mind you, I'd rather she made the list than Grimshaw or Zezi, who are exactly the type of Hoxton scumwhores you'd have expected to find on there.

Getting back to the topic at hand, I knew 14 of the list. I'm especially chuffed Chris Lilley was on there.

[raspberry]

I knew a few names but I knew the work of some of the others. I've long since realised I'm not as cool as I once was but I'm fairly sure I'm not any more of a moron so I'm not fussed.

I quite like the little I saw of Alexa on Popworld. The little I've seen her on other shows I've enjoyed much less. Being sarcastic to Presenton from the Ordinary Boys is one thing, being sarcastic on a voice over about swimsuits is another.

[Nurse Dunkley]

Compiling a 'cool list' just makes the observer look like a load of desperate old women, sat round a boardroom table trying to cling onto their youth and credibility. Utterly dreadful.

Who even says 'cool'?! It is surely the least 'cool' thing ever.

[Lisa]

I recognise 2 people on the list. I trust this somehow makes me the super of all the cool kids by being too self involved to care about anyone else!