Extra Ordinary.

I was thinking about that phrase yesterday as I cruised through the In N Out Drive thru.

I wasn’t thinking about their approach to being extra ordinary.

I was actually thinking about the word ExtraTerrestrial - and if we could do the same word play with that term?

Because with the term Extraterrertrial we use the extra like outside/beyond.

An extra terrestrial being is some thing from outside this planet.

But with our compount word “extradordinary” we don’t use it to imply something outside of ordinary. Well, we do. But then we bring it back. We double down on the word - and exhalt a noun/verb?

This is taking longer than I hoped, I will use an example.

If you are good at surfing, it may be said that you are “extraordinary at surfing.”

Or “extradorniary craftsmanship”

Or “extradordinary performance”

Rather than saying, “It was really really really really good x 10 amazing,” we say “extraordinary!”

I mean, I don’t think people use the term often, it’s just more about the term, and how we talk about:

ORDINARY THINGS.

That’s what I want to talk about.

Just ordinary stuff.

Just very regular.

Just very middle of the bell curve normal stuff.

Just the things and stuff that we don’t think twice about.

The stuff that means less.

The less than full meaning objects.

This year I was asked by Ravenhill Studio to share an Everyday Object for their yearly roundup of everyday objects.

HERE.

I love stuff (content) like this, because I love thinkinng about things like this.

Here is what I wrote in the email:

Given the prompt - it's the first thing that popped in my mind.

"We’re interested in the everyday objects that occupy our daily lives and last for years or even decades because they’re best in class at doing their simple daily tasks."

And my first thought was "like a quarter sheet pan."

I didn't give it a second thought.

That is precisely the point, I believe, in a good everyday object - you don't think twice about it.

It’s an extra ordinary thing.

But is it an extraordinary thing?

LET US NOW EXAMINE THESE TWO PHOTOS DEEPER.

Here is the information.

Photo 1 contains, 1 Quarter Sheet Pan purchased at Smart N Final, which is where I get all my kitchen stuff because it’s local. A fancy cutting board by Fredericks and Mae. Which I didn’t buy. A remnant piece of orange HDPE from a project in 2019. A Hay cutting board that I got at the DWR outlet for $8.

Photo 2 contains, the same quarter sheet pan, A cotton towel from All Roads, a silicone trivet by Molly Baz for crate and barrel, and tile by Fireclay Tile, oh, and take and bake cookie dough cookies from Lazy Acres.

Does all that information add up to something?

Did the objects acquire meaning somehow?

They are the effects of my choices, and we may infer a set of values or means that may encourage a person to select these objects over and above others. But without much more context and information, it’s just 2 photos of stuff - and we know where that stuff came from.

How about the objects themselves?

Are these extraordinary objects?

If we gave an extraordinary object a sign, would it be “Extra+”???

Over, or above, or beyond ordinary = E+

But what about super super super ordinary?

The extraordinary object that is just a magnified ordinariness = O+ = Ordinary+.

There was a great exhibition and book called ‘Super Normal’ that tackled this idea.

However, that project was from the 90s, and really needs an update after the DTC revolution.

Back to the PAN!

The pan, the pan, this is why we began!

Here’s the thing about things - is that they all do mostly the same thing (in each category).

This quarter sheet pan that I use, and cost a few dollars, does EXACTLY the same thing as a cobalt blue sheet pan from Great Jones.

This object above is not extraordinary nor is it extra ordinary, it is ORDINARY + EXTRA!

Which, we will have to denote in our symbology differently.

Perhaps O>E+ ?

The extra is eating the ordinariness of the object?

Because the extra in this case, is only on the surface.

It’s not a super object - it’s not an extraordinary object.

It’s a surface object - an ordinary plus extra.

Most of the time I write a title for my blog post then I just start writing and see what comes out. And more often than not, I go back and change the title.

Today, I’m going to leave it.

Because, I’m not that interested in talking about meaningful objects, or if objects can have meaning. I think I’m much more interested in the things themselves.

I will leave on this note - which is about interpretation.

I saw a video on Instagram where a guy was talking about an old man’s things, and he used the word “patina,” to describe the stuff.

Patina is an interesting word, because in today’s marketing parlance, something that has patina connotes higher value to certain people.

Patina is just a word to describe something that happens on the surface of a thing.

Patina is charming. Crust is not.

Outside the world of pastries, crust is not a well-regarded trait.

What is the difference between a “crusty old pair of leather boots” and “these boots have an amazing patina?”

The words.

The words are different.

The object is the same.

Lastly.

I remember having a meeting with a very famous interior design team at our studio in Long Beach. Very very famous. Like, big missed opportunity on my part, but we really weren’t aligned, so probably for the best.

Anyway, during the course of the meeting they kept referring to different materials having a “living finish,” which was something I needed to clarify with them twice BECAUSE:

When they said “Living Finish,” what they meant was that they wanted the material to be actually UNFINISHED so that the material could wear-in and patina, on it’s own.

So I said, wait, so you want this with “no finish, correct?”

“Yes, we call it a Living Finish.”

That’s Ordinary Extra with Sprinkles on Top.

Do you remember in Fight Club how they make their very expensive soap by rendering fat from the liposuction clinic? The line is, “We were essentially selling rich ladies their own asses back to them.”

A living finish reminds me of that.

I love extra ordinary things.

This has been an episode of Thinking About Things.

Good morning.

Peace, Love, Cactus.

Less Than Full Meaning Objects