Remember when Christian Slater doing his best to channel Jack Nicholson for some strange reason actually seemed to conjur some morsel of being "cool"? Cool enough, even, to bag the still-too-cool-for-now It Girl played by none other than Winona Ryder? You know, that beautiful, moody, intelligent, underachieving, cynical, bored yet vaguely romantic girl?

Okay, IF you remember when Veronica burning her palm, and his lighting his cigarette on it ... and her later lighting hers in the explosion that kills him ... seemed actually rather romantic? Or how about Alabama carrying Clarence out of the shootout when he has a bullet in his eye? If you truly thought True Romance was romantic ... you might know what I'm talking about.

Listen to "Homies and Thugs" by Scarface.

"You can test me if you want to ..."

Hah. Well, if you were a student during the period I'm talking about -- you'll know what I mean when I say that in the last few days, I've been behaving like a perfect stereotype of your Gen-Xer slacker. You know, your over-educated, under-employed, over-worked perpetual student ... one of the many who are smart enough that they could do quite a lot, but whose sheer jadedness about the world in general tends to motivate them to do only as little as they really need to? Because -- by doing your minimum, you can still do about average for what most people can do at their best?

To be totally honest, I'm a bit too old to behave this way these days. Sure, it's fun, in a self-indulgent arrested-development sort of way. For instance, I've always loved die-hard true hippies. I mean, the sort of people who actually spend every moment of their life as part of a counter-culture. If you are living your values, it actually kind of is cool.

So I suppose the question becomes, exactly what is it that I value?

Also recommended: "Wanna Be A Gangster" by Scarface. I believe that one's on the Office Space soundtrack.

Ah -- how about when the Singles Soundtrack was just all good?