Saki is somehow the busiest hard to find restaurant I’ve come across. It’s in Clearwater Mall but hidden away. A gem deep in the rock.

And I’ve had a lot of Americanized Asian cuisine in my life, and I’d like to think I am a decent judge of it. So when I say that Saki was quite enjoyable, I mean it. I mean it with experience.

Here’s the idea, the premise. Saki is a buffet...without the buffet. You sit down, pay a reasonable flat rate, and then you can order off their menu as many times as you want—with the only rule being you have to finish your plate or receive a fee. They can be a tad slow to bring you things, but it’s well worth it.

The menu is large and full of the usual things you’d expect, and some more interesting others. They are not just the standard orange chicken, Mongolian beef arrangement. They also do things like Hibachi and sushi and all the standard soups. And, at a quality miles ahead of a random takeout place.

During the extent of my meal there, I got to have a wide variety of choices and could switch gears on how I wanted the meal to go.

It’s a unique experience, a fun alternative for those of you who may not be interested in going to P.F. Chang’s again for the fiftieth time. For those of you that want a more relaxed dining experience.

Plus...they have seaweed salad. Which is a food I adore.

So, you know, I might be a tad biased.

---
If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com

Let me say, up front, I do support efforts towards body positivity. It is a real and observable fact that the way you are in the weight department has an effect on the humans around you. People really are biased on this. Some won’t admit it, but if you are heavier set, people judge you for it.

And that sucks.

But it’s also not the main point I will broach today. No. Because I am not here necessarily to point fingers at the restaurants, or the drug companies, or even the parents, and blame them for the problems of weight. But not just weight--health in general. Being overweight is just a more visible symptom of a much bigger problem.

And I think it’s a combination of things that got us the way we are. I think it’s everyone’s fault. Mine, yours, everyone’s. Sure, the restaurants and stores advertise food that’s bad for you. Sure, we worked out the exact ways to build an addiction to certain products. Sure, the economy is so messed up it costs me more to get a fresh vegetable in a decent amount than it takes to get a McDonald’s burger.

But it’s also us. We talk about how we could go to these places. We talk about cheating on diets. And if everyone knows stores like Checkers is bad for them, then why are there so many?

Someone is buying. And that is us. A free market means we decide who gets to stay in business.

And then we turn around and chastise the people who grew unhealthy off this. Belittling for lack of “willpower”.

But let me tell you something interesting. The things almost no one is advertising. The things we all should be advertising. Because I started living healthier a while back, and when you cut out most bread, sugar, dairy, corn, fruit, soy, black beans, and white rice: you learn that the way we eat is flawed.

I am not a fad diet person. This is not a fad diet. This is a lifestyle. And let me tell you what happens when you pair it with exercise. Sugar feels like acid in your stomach.

Bread feels like a sleeping pill. Just sucks the energy out of you.

You become frighteningly aware of just how much the world pushes its food on you. How much the world wants you to eat the line-up of junk food places like on Gulf to Bay.

Because they know they can’t survive without you.

But you don’t need them.

I don’t think it could ever be easy. But if you want to make people healthier, it’s got to start with you. With us.

We all, together, have to take responsibility for this. We need to make advertising that promotes health and isn’t judgmental about it.  And, we need to make a planet where they have the right choices readily—and cheaply--available.

And then maybe we can get somewhere.

---
If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com

The Gatekeepers. Revered and hated, they decide what books you find at Barnes and Noble near Sunset Point.

And some people do not like this one bit.

Because not all books and creations released through the gates are a good idea. Not even close. Twilight came through a publisher while The Martian had to start on its own.

Is this fair? No. And what did people do about it? They got rid of the wall. Amazon just lets anyone publish a novel. So do Lulu and other self-publishing platforms.

But, but, did the quality suffer? Yes. It did in a way. Everyone can get their work out now, which means all the people who did not earn it also get a spot.

The downsides of free are also the benefits of free. Everybody gets in, and Google+ and Twitter both fill with advertisements promoting various self-published author’s books.

We overflowed it, is what I’m saying.

I don’t want to stifle anyone’s creativity—and I don’t believe something as subjective as art should have only a few people allowed to do it for money.

But what it boils down to is we need to be smarter consumers as well as supportive of the arts. The pieces you feel are good you should give something—if only attention. And if they are bad, then we need simply to ignore--but not put down, or insult.

It’s the only way this is going to work. We need to advertise the walls disappearing as not a bad thing. That the gates cracking did not flood the world.

Because otherwise the Gatekeepers will hold the gate again, and so many new artistic explorations will fall and die. And even though I like authors such as James Paterson and Stephen King, I’d like to see advertisements for more than just their books.

---
If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com  

There’s more media being produced than you could ever consume, even if you spent every waking hour listening or viewing it. You could walk to Nature’s Food Patch, and around the Pierce Street Market, and all your errands, and spend every second listening, viewing or experiencing media at a fervent rate, with no breaks, and you will still not make a dent.

Not even a tiny little sliver.

And is that okay? We can’t change it. But is it okay?

It’s gotten to be such a pit, a hole, that advertisements are not only going for getting you to like their products but showing you the endless options they have.

All media offering companies want you to fall into their hole and stay there. Because they can keep you entertained.

We can all be entertained.

And how did this happen? Well, demand grew and grew, until no interest remained un-satiated. A supply glut. And I think it was the same mindset that wants all the media that gave us all the media.

People tend to find inspiration with what they experience, and when media is leaking out of the pores of society, then people want to make their own.

And companies supplied the want. The advertisements for the ways to do art for yourself bore new businesses and still do at a frankly ridiculous rate.

SoundCloud for sound. YouTube for video. Amazon and Wattpad for the written word. Podcasts for radio. All free. All endless.

All hail.

But is the quality suffering? Were there always only a few good things at the top of the sewage? I think so. But just in case it comes to an explosion eventually, we best enjoy it.

This is a golden era, so let’s use it to the best we can. Let’s preserve it to the best we can. So it doesn’t turn to fool’s gold.

---
If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com  

Let’s do an experiment, shall we? Turn on your radio, Clearwater citizen. Any radio near you. Now tune into a standard Top 40 music station.

Now tell me, how long can you listen to that station before you want to shut it off, or bang your head into a wall? How long can you actually enjoy it, even when driving along the causeway, or aside the beach?

Maybe like an hour, right? That’s about how long it will take for the songs to repeat themselves, or for the advertisement-to-music ratio to drive you up the wall. Ever had that experience where you just wanted to listen to a song, any song, it didn’t matter what it was, so you flipped from station to station in a mad dash? And there were only ads? Or the news?

Yeah, is it any wonder the podcasts are upon us? That cars now come rigged to play your phone?

Cable is dying to Netflix, and radio might soon be dying to the same sort of product. People want what they want, when they want it, and will not wait, and will not deal with too many interruptions.

Is this a healthy mindset? Maybe not? Is it the present and future of products? Definitely.

Let’s compare the two, shall we? Let’s look at the difference in kind when it comes to radio, versus the humble podcast.

Radio has a long history, but plays few new songs; has a lot of ads, and does not have much in the way of creative experimentation. It’s free, and readily available, and always on for the consumer—but that same consumer has no control over it beyond what station they listen to. They are at the whim of the owners.

Now, to podcasts.

Podcasts are also free, have usually one to two advertisements, and are allowed to be any kind of creative endeavor they want. From open discussions to answering questions, to telling stories. Nothing is off the table. Not much music, but you have ITunes for that. They are also more personal since a lot of podcasts only have one host.

And then the all-important bonus of the podcast: you can fast-forward, and you get a nigh endless option of choice. I don’t care what you like, podcasts have something for you.

And if you think news radio has anything on podcasts, in terms of presenting the world as it is, and discussing the topics at hand, then you haven’t listened to “This American Life”, “Us and Them”, or “Stuff You Should Know”.

Despite my title, it’s not really a war. Because podcasts secretly won a long time ago. And the world is catching up to the win.

---
If you liked this article, you can read more of Brandon Scott’s work over at The Hive, or on his website: www.coolerbs.com