kube computers
A new Cambie-area store is answering the demand for style-conscious electronics.
Seems like everyone’s noticing the beauty in form after a winter of soggy semi-hibernation.
We’re no longer cowering under dark umbrellas but looking up at those bloomin’ crazy cup-and-saucer magnolia trees along side streets and the riot of cherry blossoms at the Burrard SkyTrain station that almost make up for the overloaded transit system. (I said almost.)
With all that colour and texture exploding outdoors, my indoors feels dull and congested in comparison. The place hangs heavy with newspapers and computer cables and all the other beige bits that make up my nest.
That ol’ urge for a purge is coming on strong, beginning with that mess behind the tired, hulking pine armoire that I seemed doomed to live with.
The bulk of TV is starting to get to me, and for the first time in my life I find myself jonesing for the latest high-end electronic innovation: the wall-mounted flat panel TV. (No surprise — stats show this is the one area of electronics consumption led by women.)
The “mini” stereo, purchased about five minutes after cassette tapes became obsolete, is jammed in there with the DVD player and the ugly printer/scanner/copier.
Naturally the armoire doors are always open, which defeats the whole purpose of having doors in the first place, so the major focal point in my living room is messy electronic entrails of wire and cables, piles of DVDs and paper.
An archeological dig through the debris could unearth my old Cure and New Order tapes, although I’m not curious enough to bother, so I spend a lot of time closing the doors, then opening the doors to play a CD, then closing the doors, then opening the doors to watch House, then closing, then opening… .
I curse this era in history, when an affordable 1,800-square-foot Vancouver condo is sheer fantasy but the electronics are space hogs.
The future holds the sleek, wireless promise of a tidy command-centre keyboard and a picture-frame screen that serves both as monitor and TV, all music and video downloaded on demand.
Until that uncluttered future becomes reality, the best I can do is find that comfy compromise between form and function. New stores like Kube at Cambie and West 13th, www.kubecomputers.com, are answering that need, with functional electronics pretty enough to have out in the open.
At least that would take care of the need for the massive, double-fridge-sized “entertainment unit” armoire.
