Beck and I once again found ourselves in the rundown factory chic of Lux this morning, this time with no desert storm outside nor a ill-begotten silimic soundtrack to accompany it. The door remained, however, and though there were many confounding variables (time of day, clientele, etc.), we figured that this would serve as a reasonable control for the aforementioned door hinge experiment. So we did our best to ignore the guy with the GIGANTIC HAIR next to it and paid close attention to the goings-on of the door.
Surprisingly, in the absence of cold, wind and rain, more people made an effort to close the door, latch and all. But the majority still left it hanging open in the breeze, rendering the sign on the door's back that said "Closed" - as viewed from our vantage inside the establishment - somewhat ironic. This time, though, there were people who repeatedly stood up and shut the door! Amazing! One guy in particular, in full-on hipster gear / haircut / vibe, let's call him "A. Camus," sat on a bench outside the cafe next to the door and stopped reading his book no fewer than five times to close the door that others had left open. Truly admirable; Beck and I were tempted to get him a coffee but then figured that the pursuit was enough to fill this man's soul. So maybe the lesson is that while the majority are apathetic wankers, the few, the heroic, will bring us ironic hipster world-caring salvation.
More interesting: we have effectively shouted "Don't think of a dancing penguin!" w/r/t Lux. I promise if you go there now, you will be unable to NOT think of the door hinge. Just try it!
Also, lacking obvious context for the same kind of "deserts miss the rain" joke that the Lux DJ played last week, we were treated to some loud music of the genre that Mike NTPB recently dubbed "plaintive chick rock." I reiterate the inappropriateness of such tripe for coffeehouse settings. If you insist on blaring something, it's gotta be wordless techno / ambient stuff. Those words are just too distracting. But if female vocals are somehow vital to the Lux experience, please dust off your quiet folk guitar music set and let us hear some Joan.
Beck and I both thought that next time she is in town, we need to bring the iPMM to Lux as this sort of hip, artsy atmosphere is right up her alley, music selection and raised-in-a-barn considerations notwithstanding. I then said we should bring the iPJ, too, if for no other reason than to see all the Mac users grind their work to a halt and bow before his Appleness. And thus shall the prophecy be fulfilled: "And LO, the Man with Many Holsters, the Messiah of MP3s, shall come to 'The Light.'"
Oh, and btw, the coffees were super yummy.
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