Veritable Plethora

I went for a bike ride this weekend in Venice Beach. There’s a paved serpentine bike path that hugs the beach from Venice to Santa Monica. A couple of friends and I rented bikes and rode for a few hours, enjoying the sunny California-winter day. We rode our bikes to the Santa Monica pier and ate lunch.

On the way back, I noticed a restaurant with a large red awning in front of it. In bold white letters, it read: Sidewalk Café and Full Bar. Then I noticed the words printed again on a similar awning that started on the other side of the front entrance.

In the cluttered environment of messages and spin and bells and whistles, this clear message cut right through it all. All the information you need is right there. The establishment is on the sidewalk along the beach walk and evidently it’s a cafe with a full bar. Talk about a clear message.

Sure, there’s no branding, nothing telling me how it’s going to make me feel or how I’m supposed to categorize it in my mind. You can’t surmise anything from the name because it’s not deep–it’s on the surface. It says to you that you can eat and drink at this place in clear white letters visible from the beach. What else do you need to know?

Clarity of message is often lost in the fog of creativity. Not in this case. And I would have stopped at this Sidewalk Cafe and full bar, but I already ate lunch at Hot Dog on a Stick. I’m a sucker for a clear message.

Has there ever been a better time to be poor?

I mean…two dollar hot pockets?

That’s one hell of a deal.

I got home from the store and voraciously ripped open the package, to find not two hot pockets, but four. Four pockets for two bucks.

That’s a veritable–nay–an actual plethora of high-caloric pocket hotness.

Everyone runs into creative walls sometimes. Whether you’re a writer, a vice president of sales, or a politician, you’re going to be confronted with ideas and notions that will block your ability to reach the level of creativity that as task or project may desperately need.

These ideas and notions can also be called our accepted reality and what we see as “normal” and “real.”

I’ve been running into the creative problem of trying to figure out what I want this blog’s focus to be. I’ve been searching for a theme, a narrative thread to weave through every post on Veritable Plethora. Well, I haven’t found one yet. But I think I’m on to something with a focus on “interesting things.” Everyone likes interesting things. It worked for BoingBoing.

In an eye-opening, idea-rich post at Copyblogger (the site whose theme I am using here), Brian Clark writes about Ten Mental Blocks to Creative Thinking. He writes that instead of trying to inspire creativity, we should be cognizant of the reality that any blocks to creative thinking are in our heads–a space that we have quite a bit of control over.

At the risk of getting too Matrix on you, it’s important to question what is “real” and what is “normal” because these are societal constructs. Constructs that work well to create civilized societies of shared values and conformity, but constructs that can nonetheless be examined and even deconstructed.

If you don’t accept the “box” as real, then thinking outside of the box isn’t necessary.

Interesting, eh?

Since VP is dedicated to thing of high interest (check the manifesto), for this post I wanted to compile a list of the best “interesting stuff” websites. These are the sites that you go to and find things that make you go, “What the…?” or “I didn’t know that was possible.”

These are the kinds of sites that you get forwarded by your friends or that you (literally) stumble across on stumbleupon and share with your bored work friends.

Never be bored again.

DeputyDog.com is a “frequently updated website dedicated to showcasing incredible examples of the world’s most fascinating architecture, inspirational design, phenomenal natural oddities.” Check out this post titled “Nine artists who will blow your mind.”

Dark Roasted Blend is a collection of weird and wonderful things updated daily. Check out this post with pictures of the world’s most dangerous roads.

WebUrbanist is all about urban design, culture, architecture, and alternative art. See this post with pictures of interesting street art.

UniqueDaily is exactly what it sounds like. Everyday there are a bunch of links posted that go to interesting videos and articles about a veritable plethora of topics.

VideoSift is a site with thousands of interesting, funny, and downright weird videos you might not otherwise see. These are the kinds of videos that launch a thousand forwarded emails.

Judging by the cultural climate and this country’s collective and supposed desire for “change,” I think it’s fitting that my first real post be about something going on in the political realm. Before you go, let me tell you that this post is about Barack Obama.

Hilary Clinton secured a win in the New Hampshire Democratic primary last night, edging out the winner of the Iowa caucuses, Barack Obama.

The two senators were neck and neck in the state until Clinton, buoyed by a resurgence of female voters and winning decisively in the biggest hamlets in New Hampshire, soared ahead and clinched victory.

This is a big deal for the Clinton campaign, which wouldn’t have been officially over if she had lost, but would have been setback immensely. After all, America loves winners because they, well, win. There is no other country in which winning is more ingrained than in the USA. Winning is a part of our cultural makeup, in fact, winning, specifically in the context of the Revolutionary war, is responsible for the birth of this winning nation.

Momentum is important in these political races, but it’s not everything. Because the only thing America loves more than a winner is a comeback. In other words, a loser who starts to win.

Barack Obama, the junior senator from I forget which state, left New Hampshire last night, his tail between his legs (perhaps, but not likely, and if so, only slightly), with another rousing, uplifting speech. The funny thing is that the speech is the same speech he would have given had he won the New Hampshire primary, just with a last minute addition of congratulations for Hilary Clinton. He dispensed with that quickly and moved on to his “yes we can’s.”

It’s clear that Barack Obama and crew thought they were going to win New Hampshire, and in fact that’s what the numbers, the pollsters, and the pundits indicated. Obama had the momentum of the Iowa caucus win going into NH and appeared to be the leader in the polls, so that thinking was not without warrant.

Perhaps the most telling indication that Obama and his campaign thought they had the proverbial thing in the bag is the song that played after Barack’s last speech in New Hampshire: Signed Sealed Delivered by Stevie Wonder.

Nothing’s signed yet and the victory is definitely not sealed.

What can we learn from this story? Never trust anyone who calls themselves a word like pundit.

The race continues. We at VP are not prepared to endorse any candidate yet, but we’ll let you know if we ever get around to it.

Welcome to Veritable Plethora, my new website–okay, blog. Veritable Plethora, at least how I envision it, and this is very subject to change and evolution, will be a website with a different voice, a different take on things.

With an eye toward entertainment and humor, VP will provide you nothing but interesting articles about things you’re interested in.

How about that for a promise?

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