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Father's Day, 2008: Into the CoolI have the usual grievances about a “day” for me: Am I retiring? Dying? Will there be a postage stamp? This year I have a new gripe. Money. It's not that we're on the verge of losing the doublewide. It just that caution is in the air. Less, kids. This year, less is so much more. What a bore. About the last thing that Dad needs is a reminder that times are tight. What might he welcome? A self-esteem booster. Red Bull for the soul. Something that says he's...cool. “Cool” is a bogus concept, a marketing scam of a word. As an aesthetic concept, it is, at best, in the eye of the beholder. For Father's Day purposes, let's define it this way: stuff the other dads won't get, stuff he can brag on. I like to think that everything on HeadButler.com has some cool factor. Still, I've scanned the site to cull what might be considered the coolest of the cool. No politics, no economics, no deep and dark commentary. And no 600-page books, no esoteric music, no art movies. Just great popular entertainment that either never reached a mass audience or reached it so long ago that you need a wayback machine --- or HeadButler.com --- to find it. BOOKS The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin The “gentleman burglar” is a French hero. No wonder --- for him, stealing from the rich is... sports. The Garden of Eden Brawny Ernest Hemingway wrote a mess of a novel about a writer on his honeymoon whose wife turns gay. Editors pasted together a short, hot, surprising book that even Hemingway fans don't know about. The Book of General Ignorance Few know weird facts. Dad can. Girls Like Us The boomer-chick beach book of the summer (but fascinating to guys, too): Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon, mostly off-stage. Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond His saxophone, it's said, sounded like a great martini. His life was less smooth. Life is Meals: A Food Lover's Book of Days Evenings of wine and laughter, recounted by James Salter, the writer's writer, and his wife Kay. Quiet Corners of Paris For the armchair dreamer: a baguette, some Saint Marcellin cheese, a glass of St. Emilion --- and this. Dictator Style: Lifestyles of the World's Most Colorful Despots If Dad were all-powerful and totally out of his mind, whose palace would he choose? MUSIC R.L. Burnside Down and dirty. A blues brother to Bo Diddley and Muddy Waters. Jim White Spooky and Southern. Spanish moss as music. Matthew Ryan Because giving Springsteen is kind of a cliche. Ryan Shaw The musical heir to Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett. Miles Davis: Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud Early work: the soundtrack to Louis Malle's first movie. This gets ten extra points. Paolo Conte The voice is whiskey and cigarettes. MOVIES Local Hero The road not taken. A charming comedy, with a Mark Knopfler soundtrack. Forbidden Hollywood You can't give Dad porn, but these three “racy” movies from the early '30s --- call them important “film history”. Love Me Tonight She's not society and he's not noble, and boy, is this fun. McCabe & Mrs. Miller Young Warren Beatty and Julie Christie --- or is it the other way around? Directed by Robert Altman. Songs by Leonard Cohen. The Conformist The Bertolucci masterpiece, with a dance hall scene in Paris --- if you've seen it, you know why he'll want this.... STUFF Shure E3c Headphones for iPods The only place Apple really fails the consumer is in the earphones. Here's the cure. SIGG Bottles Because cool Dads don't pollute. ART Discovery Editions Copies of important maps and Audubon birds that could pass for the unaffordable originals. And then there's always charity... -- Jesse Kornbluth, for HeadButler.com Copyright 2008 by Head Butler Inc.
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