The Azeri Fleshmob obsession
Hey, alright now
Alright now fellows, Yeah!
Now what's cooler than bein' cool? Ice Cold!
I can't hear ya'
I say what's cooler than bein' cool? Ice Cold!
Alright now fellows, Yeah!
Now what's cooler than bein' cool? Ice Cold!
I can't hear ya'
I say what's cooler than bein' cool? Ice Cold!
OutKast, Hey ya!
I really don’t want to be offensive with this posting. Because, as some of you are too aware, Azeris are super-sensitive when it comes to any slightest form of criticism.
But sometimes, you just have to say what you really think. With me, it is almost all the time.
A couple of years ago, an Azeri friend of mine told me to look up a wedding in Baku he and his wife attended. He was very proud of her preparation for the event.
‘She had been rehearsing almost every night for weeks!’ He said. I thought his wife was probably having an affair, but it turned out he was talking about their surprise wedding dance.
In case you have not noticed, it has been quite fashionable in the past few years at weddings across the world to break away from the traditional structure; and surprise the guests with something unusual and funny. I don’t have a problem with the idea. But this time, watching the video, I thought it was....well, I can’t even find a word for it. Maybe the word is pathetic. I made some joke to that friend about it and he of course, did not like it. I could not explain to him what I felt watching this video. The dance was to Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
A year or so ago, I saw a notice on Facebook. A bunch of young Azeris broke into an unexpected Fleshmob dance show on the Fountain Square. Correct me if I am wrong, but I have a strong feeling that I remember a lot of people doing the zombie dance. To the Thriller song. Again.
Watching the video, I had that same feeling again. I can only compare it to the feeling I had while watching Azeri entry in the Eurovision. Embarrassment, perhaps?
Finally, today I saw another proud notice on Facebook. Azeri Fleshmob dance announcement! A group of young azeries converted the Park Bulvar shopping centre into a coven of vampires doing a....you might have guessed it. The Thriller dance routine!
I made myself watch it again. The familiar scenario, the ad nauseam zombie hand movements, the signs of being very pleased with themselves made me realize what it was that kept bugging me every time I saw a yet another fleshmob act of my younger countrymen.
The truth hit me. It was not the fact that all those videos I watched were practically the same. It is not the fact that the Thriller song is (for some reason?) considered so special in the souls and minds of the Azeri youth. Forget all that. What I realized, and probably knew all along, is why all those attempts made me cringe. Because all of them were attempts at being cool.
And unfortunately, my friends, here is something you might have realized (or might be blissfully unaware of):
Azeries do not do cool.
It is OK, really. The nation has a lot of other wonderful attributes. Hmm...Let me think for a minute here. OK, like the food? Or our famous generosity and hospitality? (based on the desire to show off, but so what?)
So really, we just have to admit to it, and live with it. We, as a nation, are simply not cool.
Coolness is not something that can be faked, my friends. It can not be rehearsed for, however many times you repeat the sad zombie dance. Unfortunately for Azeris, neither can it be bought or exchanged for something else. Oh, and you cant bribe anyone for a secret coolness recipe. You are either naturally cool or not. And the best-the only!- thing to do when you are not is stop trying.
And this is where the problem lies. All those young girls and boys, lying on the floors of the flashy new shopping mall, acting dead, surrounded by chushkas with gaping mouths, most probably think they are being incredibly original. Incredibly free. Incredibly western. Incredibly....cool.
But, but, but...I am so, so sorry, guys. You are just not. And that is what makes me cringe every single time.
and you are a cool god that can judge if someone is cool or not.
ReplyDelete@Orikzzz: You must surely understand that one does not have to be a God of coolness to see when someone is trying to be cool but is, sadly, failing? Azeris are just not good at being cool. Never have been and probably never will be. I have barely met a naturally cool Azeri in my entire life.It is simply not what we do best. IMHO.
ReplyDeleteInitiative is awarded
ReplyDelete@Ali: In what way? :) I am actually curious what is the point of fleshmob, can anyone enlighten me? Unless you are protesting against something...Like fur or some environmental issues...why bother? what is the point anyway?
ReplyDeleteWordNet defines cool as "fashionable and attractive at the time; often skilled or socially adept". So, if fleshmob is fashionable, then whoever does it got to be cool, right? Of course, if they dance well.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I would rather see young azeri people set new trends rather than follow someone else's fashion (be it western, turkish, russian, whatever, but creativity seems to be one area where our folks are really challenged. Yes, I know I'm generalizing, but if you disagree - prove your point.
Answering your question... maybe the point is originality.
ReplyDeleteO.O
Just guessing...
u.u
"Cool" is so overused that different people probably attach different meaning to it. If by "cool" you personally mean original, unorthodox, then I applaud these guys. In Baku (let alone, the countryside in Azerbaijan), people always used to stare at, and openly discuss, every passer-by who did not look like the majority. (I suspect, this is still happening.) So it was considered culturally appropriate to look and behave like everyone else around you, not to stand out. In that sense, these guys are breaking away from the tradition, and I think (or hope) that this is a sign of greater tolerance for the dissent among the educated and/or urban youth. I don't see any particular social "reason" behind flashmob, I think it's just a fad of the time, just like long hair was for men in the 1960s or the break dance in the 1980s.
ReplyDeleteCool is in the eye of the beholder, it's incredibly subjective. I think the Thriller flashmob is funny. I know I've done lamer things in my life, for sure :) You go Baku kids :)
ReplyDeleteDo you really care whether azeris are cool or not?An example of why british guys are not cool-At least coz they will be ok if u bang their mom:)And you just cant say every azeri is not cool.It's just as jack Black said-Remeber there's awesomness inside each of you:)
ReplyDeleteP.S. here's the video:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksICirgze7k
i see your point, dear Scary and i do agree with it. One thing, however, that brings some contentment, is that the youth is at least doing something, i.e. uniting for "some thing". That that "some thing" is pathetic, is true, but we can hope that someday the pathetic will "mutate" into something Substantial. How that will happen is still a big question, if at all, but drops of water split the stone, some say...
ReplyDeletebest, jah t
agree with ur points. flashmobs can be handy when protesting or voicing ur concerns. as to those videos u posted, i felt the same way as u did when watching them. and it is not only flashmobs of this sort which became trendy and "cool" among azeris. add here halloween too. some of our youth dont understand that being cool is just being urself, but not copycatting or imitating the westerners or anyone "cool".
ReplyDeletelimerent
too subjective opinion and too general terms.
ReplyDeleteDon't judge the book by it's cover. They are enjoying it and it is pretty entertaining for me to watch at the video.I don't consider it failing. btw dance on the fountain square is not thriller, it is another dance "beat it". and you can check and see that dance in Azerbaijan was in pretty good rankings in global MJ dances.
I agree, it is not cool. But it is fun, in a tongue-in-cheek kind of way. And azeri people need to have a whole lot more fun in their life, in my opinion. And don't forget that azeri people are fantastically musical and great movers, so don't be too hard!!
ReplyDeleteoh come on, give them a break. just because it doesn't look cool, they shouldn't be trying to have some fun? and dance flash mobs are fun!
ReplyDeleteI dont understand why the hell you insist on telling 'Azeris' instead of 'we'? Who do you think you are? A british horse?
ReplyDeleteHow dare you define the people as chushka? In my opinion chushka is the person who calls others chushka. A little bit contradiction but...
I will have to disagree. I liked both the wedding thriller and the flash mob dance. I think they are just having fun. The young have changed a lot, they are more raskreposhenniy these days. Some may try hard to appear to be cool, but I don't think it applies to all of the nation.
ReplyDelete@Riyad, Nata & Marianna: I don't think, personally, that 'coolness' can be easily measured/identified. I believe it is a very natural thing... like,say, a personal charm. Someone is charming and someone is just not.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to even explain why someone appears uncool. I can feel it when I watch those videos, which of course, does not mean others can. I also think your perspective of what is cool changes when you live somewhere else for 10 years. Perhaps, my understanding of natural coolness is just very different these days.
@Alishka: You try to come here and bang someone's mum and let's see if you manage to get your sad arse back to Baku in one piece, my dear. :)))) Believe me, your typical Azeri outlook on westerners needs a refreshing course.
@Jah T: Interesting point. Uniting for something. Hmm...I guess I could see what you mean.
@Limerent: Halloween is a nightmare. Stupid, pointless, shamelessly commercialized game that I dont want to play but get forced to as I have a child.
@Orikzzz: The whole point of a personal blog is to be sharing your subjective opinion. every personal opinion will be subjective, dont you find? Blogs give us this chance to say stuff that might upset some people.
Wow, a good ranking in global MJ dances? That truly deserves a respect. I take it all back.:)
@Anonymous: I agree. More fun and not taking themselves too seriously would be a good start at becoming naturally cooler.
@Shahin: If you bothered to read this properly, you would have noticed I did use "we" a couple of times. I appreciate you are hurting. Nobody wants to think they are uncool. Do I think I am a "British horse"? Hmmm...no. Not really? :)))Why a horse, I wonder? Interesting. Is this some chushka slang I am not familiar with?
@Farida: We all view things differently, otherwise it would be a pretty boring world.
ReplyDeleteOf course, when I say Azeris don't do cool, I generalize. It is hard not to. However, there are exceptions to the rule- me, for instance! :)
Fleshmob is cool if it makes them happy. And trying to be cool is innocent and silly. It's a good intention. Why does it irritate you? Children do it all the time and we adore them for that. But when grownups do it they look dorky. So what? No nation is cool. But some individuals around the globe can really pull it off, with intelligence, creativity, charisma and personal style. I have a friend who is a 60 year old, fat and lascivious painter, swears all the time. Damn she is cool! If flesh mob gets these guys out of their black suits and square hairstyles, then hurray - somebody is trying to be different. Otherwise, burberry seems to be our national uniform.
ReplyDelete@Rena: You just said fleshmob was cool; but then straight away you are just being patronizing, by saying they are being innocent and silly trying to appear cool, poor little innocent kids, how dare I speak what I thought! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd no, it does not irritate me, that is not quite the word. I just felt sorry for them for having such a bad taste, but then again a lot of people think Eurovision is cool. That is kind of sad, too. Your old and fat painter woman is probably naturally cool and does not have to pretend to be different, she probably just is. Agree on the black suits and Burberry though.
I don't patronize. Everyone has their own dorky moments, adults and children alike. I don't cringe when i see it, because it's a form of self expression. And I am not criticizing you for expressing your opinion, god forbid! I just don't see it the way you do. Kids had fun zombying around the mall. Why feel sorry? Just remember our school graduation dance, watch that tape again ;) I certainly don't feel sorry watching myself in a pink dress convulsing on the dance floor... With my girlfriends! :) I turned out all right in the end, so will the zombies :) don't judge by appearances, is all I'm getting at, especially when somebody is wearing a costume. :) But thanks for the post, cool vs non-cool a great platform for debate, honestly ;) I'm a fan!
ReplyDelete@ Riyad: I think you're correct about creativity. Innovation (specifically, the number of patents per population per year) and Nobel Prizes per population are both strongly correlated with national levels of Cosmopolitanism. Azerbaijan, like Russia, Pakistan, and Iran, is much more provincial than cosmopolitan - in these societies, respect, tradition, familial roles, and duty are stressed over self expression and individual choice from the moment a baby is born to the day he dies.
ReplyDeleteI think you'll find that, as (or if) the economy of Azerbaijan catches up with the West, and as the Western media continues to influence culture worldwide, Azeri creativity will improve. Just compare China and Japan - two very similar people and cultures, but economic success and western influence on Japan has pushed it towards individualist and egalitarian cultural norms. And now, Japan has over 20 times the Nobel Prizes per person that China does! (0.09 prizes per million Japanese vs 0.004 prizes per million Chinese).
You are being judgemental and opinionated in this post. The kids are having a good time, and they do not look pathetic to me. Absolutely! They are just young. There is NO money involved! The pathetic ones are hanging out in very special expensive night clubs and their pictures are taken by a special photographer who is expensive and awfully trendy. You are sometimes wrong about Azerbaijani realities, Scary:)
ReplyDeleteYou always will attract everything what shld be critisized......Because of you so critical. That's not my problem of course
ReplyDelete@Sofisticos: My dear friend, when was i ever NOT (at least a bit) opinionated and NOT (at least slightly) judgemental? :) Oh, and don't forget intolerant.
ReplyDeleteNot cool is just not cool, however hard you might want to believe otherwise.
@Rena: You are clearly more tolerant than me, but maybe it is because you still live in Baku. Maybe it helps to be more tolerant from the inside? No idea, but hey...I love a debate, so not a problem. Thank you for visiting and commenting!
@Mark: There is some % of the population that caught up and took over by miles by now. There is a lot of corrupt money pouring in and out of azerbaijan. whether that would make the nation any cooler I have some serious doubts.
I think it is ironic that you think you are the cool one (again, a term overused and vague, in my view). Because this post presents you as someone who is set in her ways to the point of being rigid. Certainly you broke a few societal norms growing up in Azerbaijan (smoking, night clubs, hanging out with rich foreigners), and you probably felt 'cool' doing it, but others (more traditional girls who did not smoke and had a 9pm curfew) just thought you were fake and pretentious.
ReplyDeleteSee the parallel between that and your reaction to this post? Bottom line is (as other said here), cut these young folks some slack, they are just goofing around! You have a small kid, don't you ever behave silly with her?
I hope you will appreciate what I said since you say you value honesty.
@Marianna: Let me just go get you a plate of milk. Meawww!
ReplyDeleteI was hanging out with "rich foreigners and smoking" so I think I therefore, was cool? Ouch.
It has absolutely nothing to do with what you do, how you dress, what you say or how many night clubs you go to.
I expressed my honest opinion. Some people hated it, some agreed. This is a personal blog, that's what blogs normally do.
Also, come on. I was not really saying I am THE COOL one. I just know what cool is when I see it. And I DEFINITELY can tell when it is not.
Love how you are dealing with the public reaction! wine cheers for you from nyc! jah t
ReplyDelete@jah T: It would be so much easier to ignore everyone, but I respect my readership and enjoy a bit of a heated discussion! Thanks for your cheer. :)
ReplyDeleteHuh? Plate of milk... meeaw? Was that intended as funny or rude?
ReplyDeleteI watched the wedding video again, and I liked it even more than the first time. Cool or not cool, it was pretty funny and well-rehearsed, too. So much better than the stupid tradition of throwing money at the dancers (forgot what it's called).
ReplyDelete@Marianna: It was just to say your "hanging out with rich foreigners" remark sounded pretty catty. And personal.
ReplyDelete@Riyad: Et tu Brute!
Amicus Scary, sed magis amica veritas!
ReplyDeleteThat's funny that you took it personally, because you wrote about these things in this very blog as part of your life in Baku. To set the record straight: I don't see anything wrong in smoking, night-clubbing, or attending parties/hanging out with foreigners or locals, rich or otherwise.
ReplyDeleteScary, you are right. I wouldn't probably be your loyal reader if you weren't opinionated, judgemental and intolerant. But tell me which nations are cool? Japanese, Estonians, Chinese, Indians? Let's put aside Americans and Britons - of course they are cool, apriory. What do you mean by the notion of “coolness”? I once witnessed a scene, which still makes me smile. A woman whose mouth was full of gold teeth (apparently Asian, Vietnamese, I think) was sitting in the lobby of the hospital. There were also two youngsters sitting next to me and they became incredibly excited when they saw her smiling. They couldn’t believe their eyes! Their vocabulary at that moment was reduced to a few emotional unintelligible exclamations and the word “COOL” that they kept repeating. She was cool in their eyes, believe me:)
ReplyDelete@Marianna,Shahin:seems u have a lack of humour & culture,sorry,but it looks not nice poking Scary and this is really what azeries do.Western people try to avoid personal insulting
ReplyDelete@Zarifa: I am sorry I can't publish comments that use my real name here, so I could not publish yours. However, I will answer your comment.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever watched Ali G? To me, those guys dancing to Thriller are so old-dashioned and uncool because it has been done so many times before for many, many years. (10 times out of that- in Baku itself!)
As someone here pointed out (I think it was Riyad) originality is what often makes an act itself cool. I agree. In a way, if those guys did a cool version of some Azeri dance, it would probably have been 10 times cooler. That is just one, very obvious, aspect, I guess.
Also, and this part is hard to explain. The reason they reminded me of Ali G is because SBC created this fantastic character of a skinny, shy Asian boy who tries really hard to appear black. To appear cool and tough. He can't be himself, he does not like himself. So, he has to be someone else. And to everyone else, it is obvious that he is not what he works so hard to be.
That's probably what I think of when I see those attempts.
@sofisticos: I appreciate what you are saying. I just know this: Azeris don't do cool. :))) Honestly, it is true. To me. So I know it might not be something you like hearing, but honestly it is not such a huge insult to get so wound up about. I think a lot of us are not cool. Even more importantly, as we can see from all these comments, people have their own, personal definition of what cool actually is.
Zarifa here told me cool was being tolerant. :) So really, this is a pointless arguement. I simply said something that I feel and believe is true. I know you would love to think azeris are totally uber-cool. But hey....that would be lying.
LOL :) I don’t think that kids in the video or any other kids really care what some thirty-something year olds think of being cool. My child’s dance team did the Thriller just last week for Halloween & they thought it was “way cool”. I don’t think the teenage standard of “cool” is up to us anymore, that ship has (thankfully) sailed. To Rena’s point, our choices at their age were just as misguided, but we didn’t know about it and enjoyed it a great deal. Cheers to that :)
ReplyDelete@Nata: Very true! Even though I am not sure why we all keep calling them kids, some of them are my age (at the wedding video anyway) and some are old enough to have kids themselves anyway.:))) But true, they don't care! So really, nobody got scarred for life by this one opinion of an older british/azeri horse!
ReplyDeleteScary, it is clear you made this post to ignite some debate. But the overall impression from what you write is that, you are the one who is trying hard to look cool all the time.
ReplyDeleteAfraid to look, sound, act like chuska all the time. Why don't you just chill and be yourself?
This is a coarse example but most of the time abusers are those who have been abused themselves. Why does this video make you cringe? May be you see in them your own desperate attempts to look "cool" ?
Being an Azeri is hundred times better than being "russian speaking-azeri", "naturalized british" so on. What is your core???
What is the "the coolest" thing you have done so far?
I think it is absolutely COOL to practice "for weeks" a dance routine for the wedding. You connect with your partner on a completely diffeerent level and the skill remains with you forever. To learn tango together, how cool is that?
ReplyDeleteFleshmob, brake dance, salsa - whatever works for you.
@Anonymous: As I said...Super-sensitive.
ReplyDeleteJust had to comment on this. Rena said "I don't cringe when i see it, because it's a form of self expression." Herein lies (at least part of) the answer to cool. To be cool, the trick is to know when and to what degree to self express. Self expression in and of itself is not innately cool. When the process of self expression is valued over the content of the same, what we have is....Modern Art!!!
ReplyDeleteAs for the content of the specific self expression in question, Michael Jackson after the Jackson Five is never to be looked upon as cool and not even camp. Much better would have been some sort of psychedelic version of the airplane dance with part of the flash mob playing Lezginka. But vive et alteros vivere permitte!
If you are not open for a debate why to open one? Your approach to criticizm is so azeri. Brush off any criticizm as sensitivity, or even worse ridicule grammatical mistakes which are absolutely irrelevant to the discussed matter.
ReplyDeleteOh, and this: (I think you use this when u completely run out of bullets) This is my personal blog and I write what I please, so ...off.
Please do not take it personally. I enjoy reading your blog. But black humour can backfire.
Hey Scary,
ReplyDeleteI discovered your post while searching the phrase "azeri sex" :)). No, I wasn't lonely neither I was trying to fulfill my fantasies; I was just looking for the footage of a sex-tape that recently hit Azeri media about an opposition leader.
Now that I am here I feel like I have to find your home and steal your laptop otherwise I can't see how am I going to get my life back! I am hooked to your blog as much as your mom is addicted to farmville.
KK
@Anonymous: I did not think your comment needed any serious response. It was not an intelligent critisism like some of the others here. Nothing I could say would change your mind about me, just like nothing you say can influence me or my opinions. So what did you want me to say to you? That I am not a chushka? That I really am what I am without pretending to be anyone else? If you already have an image of me in your head, nothing can change that. And honestly, I don't care. If I cared about every mean remark, I would have never started a blog. I appreciate some people would not like me; you can't be understood or liked by everyone. Just like the Thriller dance will be liked by some, and not me.
ReplyDelete@Another anonymous: Who said they practiced together? I never said that. But I get the point. Very sweet. You must be a romantic.
@FabCook: Oh, hello there. Long time no hear. Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately, my basic understanding of Latin has run out by now. :) You know what I also thought was funny, I forgot to mention this to Nata earlier...Everyone here keeps saying they are being silly, innocent kids...That is not an excuse for dancing to Thriller endlessly, is it? There are singers who write songs and form amazing bands at the age of these "kids". It has nothing to with with age.
@KK: You know, sometimes I wonder why I bother. and then I get something like this and it makes it all worthwhile. Thanks for your comment today. Now, if you excuse me... I need to go search for that opposition leader sex tape.
I suspect the anonymous commenter who chided me was Scary's mom. If so, she is right, I lack good manners by any standards, Azeri or Western. I have a big mouth and tend to speak my mind more often than not. But then again, so does Scary, by her own admission. Perhaps you should tell her off, too :)) Scary, please don't take it as a personal affront, and don't publish this post if you don't want to. :)
ReplyDeleteVive et alteros vivere permitte ≈ Live and let live
ReplyDelete@Nata: Neigh.....Or Eee-go-go! Even horses speak different languages across the borders, eh.Your other comment came through just fine, btw. cheers.
ReplyDeletepathetic...is the word that comes to mind when reading your post..or you are just trying to provoke a discussion by writing something like that...
ReplyDeletehow can yo judge the level of coolness when you are soooo far away living in your own confort away from all the realities people face here and im not trying to be sad or criticial of Azerbaijan by saying this. All i want to say is that you dont have the right to judge someting as "uncool" only because it doenst fit your own mind..anyways..i guess we all can be disappointing even the very cool scary :)) Akbar
@Akbar: Sorry I disappointed you. Nothing more to add really, I have said it above 10 times...And I am bored of this topic by now.
ReplyDeleteok, peace...noone is an angel..including me, you and others...so keep on writing whatever you feel like...but i will do the same if thats ok.. :) take care :) akbar
ReplyDeleteP.S. i guess it was rather unexpected to hear something like that from such a "balanced" writer like yourself :)
It is crazy how many defenders of Azeri coolness we have among us! We have many other qualities that can distinguish us from other nations, at least we used to have them when I was a kid, but coolness in western standards was never among them. I agree with Crazy that we do not do cool, but I have to stress that we do not do cool in WESTERN STANDARDS. What people consider to be cool there is different than what people see as cool here. To give you an example I was always respected in Azerbaijan because I was not talkative; I was "agirbashli". This quality of mine was considered to be "cool" back there. After I moved abroad I, all of a sudden, became "shy" or "not social".
ReplyDeleteThis lack of "coolness" in Azerbaijan is a result of limited penetration of western media to a wider public. So we can't really blame those kids. The fact that those videos shiver me timbers remains a fact nonetheless.
Whether we should be happy with our zombie compatriots or we are obliged to force-migrate them to Siberia and replace them with a new generation who will listen to Lady-Gaga, play COD 3, smoke pot in the school bathrooms and travel to Africa to save children because they couldn’t find a better job, is question that we can all discuss. One thing I am sure about is that if we choose the Siberia alternative we should start by acknowledging the hairy elephant in the room.
KK
This lack of "coolness" in Azerbaijan is a result of limited penetration of western media to a wider public. So we can't really blame those kids. The fact that those videos shiver mit timbers remains a fact nontheless.
@KK: You might have a good point here. But don't you think that trying to imitate some western coolness is part of the problem of appearing so un-cool? Maybe that is why it is not working. I did not like Marianna's comment earlier because I did not think that was true. However! There were things I used to consider un-cool that now I realize were super cool. Let me give you an example. I lived my life in Baku and helped my expat friends buy local rugs, get good deals, etc. But I never understood why they liked them so much. I never saw their timeless beauty, because to me, they were just local rugs. Bor-ring! Now, give me some of those traditional Azeri rugs anytime! I would love to have bought more of them for my English home. :) Do you see what I am saying? I think that Azeris could be much cooler if they stopped trying to be someone else, and developed their own coolness- from within. Easier said than done, I guess.
ReplyDeletePS I am convinced Lady Gaga is a man.
If you think Lady Gaga is a man, then please save my mind from exploding and tell me what kind of abomination this Lady GAGO from Kazakhstan is? (around 1:32)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMr52I8-FKg
And trust me, compared to this, we are waaay cooler:))
KK
I completely understand. To strengthen your point, here is an example of coolnes, Azeri style:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrSRHTWpEOA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
KK
@KK : Oh, Sari Gelin...One of my favourite Azeri songs. I used to dance the solo part to it at the university. :) It was in my uber cool youth. :)))
ReplyDeleteYou are saying Azeris are cooler than Kazakhs? That is not entirely difficult, is it. :) Crap, now I AM being rude.
There are plenty of cool people of all nationalities right here on this blog. Cool has nothing to do with what country you’re from, it’s about your intelligence, warmth, depth, humor, charisma, etc. You can be a strong silent type or life of a party or whatever you want, as long as you’re being your own cool (or uncool) self.
ReplyDeleteSeriously scary? We are not cool?! Im pulling my hair out!! Wait, stop, I got a bold spot..damn! Shit. Listen, I mean KVN parni is Baku are the coolest of KVN regime. Sitting in my Long Island, NY living room, having spent numerous NYC nights - it was corny, yes!! Well, Azerbaijan is in a transitional stage (I know, it has been kind of stagnant as of lately), and courage of these kids should be rewarded! They imitated, copied, whatever you call it...they dared to be different! In Azerbaijan, being different is a tough act. I remember myself being a follower and not a leader as I was growing up. Wore same cloth, acted similar to others...we like to blend in you can say...AND that is changing I assure you. WE lack unity. You actually spoke about "chushka"... I mean that could be perceived as hateful speach here in USA. You can lose your job for speaking about your own people like that. All i can say that, we do have a long way to go.
ReplyDelete@coachozzie:
ReplyDeleteI think it would be great if being cool in those guys' eyes would mean something else. Like creating their own style. Like doing something entirely different, not a poor copy of something that is so yesterday. These days, when everyone has access to the internet, modern culture, music and art...wtf? Thriller?
Never been a big fan of our KVN, even though can proudly claim my father was one of the first in the soviet time. :) As for my favourite chushka word, I don't care. We all know how to be PC, my dear. But we all know a chushka when we see one. Because, sadly, chushkas are fast-growing, multi-cultural and indestructible bunch of people all over the world! I actually think, if you look at chushkas from "equality and diversity" point of view, they are a great proof that people have something in common in all colours, races and cultures! There are chushkas everywhere! What a lovely world we live in, right?