Eventually, this will link to some film & musical projects. Right now, it's kind of intriguing enough. Because over there on the left you've got these nice blues & greens & some greys and then...ooohh...black.

Cool Pillows comes from one of those days in college when we sat around, not really working, but saying witty things to make us feel, despite our lack of academic discipline, our brains were challenged by funny retorts and obscure pop culture references.

We were guessing what people's names mean. Y'know when you look up someone's name in one of those baby name books and it says:

"Ethel: dark and unpleasant; Ethel comes from the Greek words 'eth' and 'el' which means horrid & agonizing."

You get the picture.

So my friend Maureen O'Brien, a fabulous writer, who had perfected the art of funny retorts and pop culture references was in residence. We each tossed out attempts at what our names meant and Maureen says:

"Lee, yeah, it means, like, windy meadow. Or cool pillows."

Or something like that. And it stuck. FYI, Lee actually does mean something like windy meadow, or a shelter in a storm, but cool pillows stuck and, here it is.

Of course, people make references to cool pillows and think they know what it means. Actually, I get a lot of winks & nods, as if there's something suggestive about the nickname.

I get other people who say, "Cool Pillows. Oh yeah, I get it!" As if they know Maureen, and they've heard the whole story. I figured these were people who were in on a joke that they couldn't possibly be in on. Like people who laugh at a joke they don't get for all the wrong reasons and then say something like, "Oh, I get it. The chicken crossed the road because he had to GET to the other side. He had to GET there! I totally get it!!"

But someone patiently explained that sleeping on a hot night, sometimes you wake up and flip the pillow over to the cooler side. A cool pillow. Whoa, I think. I've done that. I've never done it and thought, I am acting out a nickname from college. But clearly, there was a connection. And, maybe I didn't so quickly discount those who thought they were in on the joke. Maureen swears it had nothing to do with pillows. It was just an odd combination of words that could mean something. Like ruddy cardboard, nervous luggage or empty opening.

With such a complex history, I've provided other examples of references to other cool pillow-like instances in the world.