Basically, there are two ways to be cool, one difficult, the other easy.

The easy way to be cool...

... is to be yourself. Love yourself. Do what you love. Love others. Do what they love once in a while, even if you don't love it. Love the planet, even the mosquitos because they serve some purpose in the grand scheme of things which is so beautiful. Love life. Love whatever you love. Love, love, love 'til it hurts, then just keep on lovin' until it feels better. If people don't like you (and many won't), fuck 'em. You don't have energy for them anyway since you're so busy being a love machine.

Being cool in this way is its own reward. Grok that or don't. I don't care.

The difficult way to be cool...

... is to be what you think everybody else wants you to be. If they watch stupid TV shows and obsess about banalities like celebrity gossip at the water cooler, you do the same. If they spend ridiculous amounts of money on trinkets, accessories, gadgets, or whatever, you do the same. Just mirror the people you think are cool or that other people think are cool for whatever reason. This is difficult because you have to be a darn good actor or everybody will see right through you. This is why so many people are just plain not cool no matter how hard they try: They don't have the acting skills to pull it off.

If you do have the acting skills to go through life as a cool phony, I say shoot for the moon. What do you think celebrities are? They're people who make themselves appear bigger than they really are. Let me tell you something about celebrities: They get up in the morning, pop a PopTart, sip a cup of Joe, and take a dump just like you and me. In reality, the only difference is that their PopTarts are gold-plated and their toilets are solid gold. (I know -- I've seen it with mine own eyes on M-TV Cribs.) Celebrities are celebrities because they have so thoroughly sold the notion that they are these really bigshots that they become these bigshots (who eat PopTarts and take dumps of gold).

Now that you have this knowledge, what will you do with it?

Will you let your inner dumbass control you? You think you're hot stuff and that you too can attain the M-TV Crib and the Skybox at the Super Bowl? You think they're going to roll out the red carpet for you at Cannes someday? You're gonna' lunch with Spielberg and Elvis? (Oh hell yeah, the King lives! You find that out when you enter the rarefied air surrounding the golden commodes.) Hey, go for it. Just don't blame me when you end up like every other dumbshit fake with a $900 handbag, a VW Bug and insurmountable debt obligations.

Only you can decide how to be cool.