Hipsters, It's a Way of Thinking

In an effort to take a refreshed look at the business side of things when it comes to my ventures, I have been taking careful attention to the world of the Hipster; according to the internet, which as we know is far better and easier to use than a library, a Hipster means

1.    a person who follows the latest trends and fashions, especially those regarded as being outside the cultural mainstream.

Far be it for me to argue with Google, which is a font of all knowledge and you don’t have to pay for parking in order to use its services. I like the idea of hipster being outside the cultural mainstream, as that is where I picture myself being.

Now I don’t have a Hipster Beard, which probably should have the little letters ‘TM’ following it as surely by now it must be a trademark, or copyrighted by the Hipster community, if there is such a thing. I wonder about these communities that exist in the world, are they all gated and do you need to join a club in order to gain entrance?

But, I don’t have the beard and I don’t wear lumberjack shirts, which seems to be some sort of uniform for the hipsters. I do however own a pipe, and have a monocle which I wear at numerous occasions such as going out for a meal so that I can read the menu, glasses are so last year.

In my humble and obedient mind, Splintered Cinema is for the hipster generation, again if there is such a thing, it has upcycled material and chooses to screen classic movies rather than the latest blockbusters; locations have been diverse and thankfully have suited the movie that has been playing. The most recent screening, City Lights, was in a museum library which was wonderful. I was also glad that the screening appealed to young and old, meaning that Splintered Cinema can cater for all ages and I can’t be labelled as ageist, not that I ever have been but  you never know what is around the corner.

I like the hipster thing, the whole thing, apart from the braces which make my stomach look fat; but I do like this idea of going back to basics and feeling as if you are behaving in an anti-establishment/corporate way. There is no finer feeling in the world than going against the tide, and sometimes the tide is the system that we get caught up in, like a fisherman’s net that binds us tight and refuses to allow us room to breathe. We as a population are blindfolded by corporations and those that serve them, namely our governments, and there is something cosy about hipsters being the one of the trends that refuses to accept that situation.  Much like vigilantes and activists, hipsters have a role to play and now is the time to play it.

Is it time to wake up and smell the coffee? As long as that coffee does not come from Starbucks then yes, and it needs to be ground coffee, fair trade and not set at an enormous price for the privilege of it.

NB. I have no idea how this went from hipsters to anti-establishment to coffee. Isn’t the world a strange and beautiful place.