Look up to the silver screen

With a plethora of athletes to look up to, and political heroes to strive to be like, too many kids choose their role models poorly. Do we really want our nation's children picking role models just because they can dunk a basketball, or because they are trying to solve world hunger? I think that the best role models can be found in one place, the movie screen. There are so many characters that have been created for kids to look up to, and they should try to act like these characters. True, most of the ones I'll be talking about are simply great because they are really, really cool, but don't we all strive to be cool? Here are some that I think are pretty cool. Bono, eat your heart out.\nEric "Otter" Stratton -- "Animal House"\nNow this guy is probably the coolest guy ever put up on screen for one reason, the ladies love him. Anyone who can convince a dead girl's roommate that he was the deceased's fiancé, but didn't know about the death, just to get a date with the roommate is pretty damn cool in my book. The ultimate in cool is his grocery-shopping run-in with the Dean's wife, and eventual seducing of her at a Toga Party. \nTyler Durden -- "Fight Club"\nOkay, he's not real, just a figment of Edward Norton's imagination, but that's what makes him so great. He's everything that we all want to be. He has outstanding philosophies about material possessions ("The things you own end up owning you"), depression ("It could be worse. A woman could cut off your penis while you're sleeping and toss it out the window of a moving car") and etiquette ("Now as I pass, do I give you the ass or the crotch?"). Simply one of the greatest minds of our time. \nRandall "Pink" Floyd -- "Dazed and Confused"\nHow great is that name? Anyway, this guy makes the list because of his clique-hopping nature, and that he does what he wants to do. The real star of this film, he has friends in every clique. He's the star quarterback, but he's no jock. Throughout the film, "Pink" is shown befriending a freshman, smoking pot with stoner "Slater," getting Aerosmith tickets with local elder Wooderson who graduated ages ago, making out with two hot girls, breaking up his nerdy friend's fight and hanging out with his black football buddy. He's a friend to all, but he's not into football for the popularity, as shown when he crumples up his drug-free form and throws it in the coach's face.\nTrent Walker -- "Swingers"\nVince Vaughn grabs a spot on this list because he is indeed such a cool L.A. guy. He's an amazing friend to his best buddy Mikey, giving him hundreds of pep talks with lingo that if used by anyone else would just sound stupid. "You're money, and you know what else? You're a big winner. I'm gonna ask you a simple question: Who's the big winner tonight in the casino? Mikey, that's who. Mikey's the big winner." And when he's not talking up his friend, he's trying to pull a "Fredo" with some Las Vegas cocktail waitresses while ripping up "business class" chick's phone number, and doing this because "I stare at their mouths and wrinkle my nose, and I turn out to be a sweetheart."\nPriest -- "Superfly"\nPriest is superfly, and super cool. "He's got a plan to stick it to the man," and that plan involves getting out of the coke business. He has a chance to make millions with his new white bosses, but he's already decided to get out of the game, even if that means he might be killed. How many people wouldn't stick around to make millions, instead of running for their life for sticking it to Whitey? He does what he wants and no one owns him. Whether it's his partner, a woman or "the man," he does whatever the hell he wants to do, when he wants to do it. He truly is superfly.\nNow that you've seen my opinion on this, you probably think that I am a womanizing, individualistic drug-user with a plan to stick it to Whitey. No, I'm not that cool.