Adam Blatner
Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner
Table of Contents:
Foolin Around
One of Adam Blatner’s Brain Cells
Zordak visited recently and I asked him about those, "you know, probes?" and he said, oh, yeah, so? I said, "well, did you ever, you know, ‘probe’ me?’ and he goes, "Not necessary. You sort of let it hang out.” ‘n I said, "what’s it feel like?" n he said, “Depends on who’s doing it. […]
Optimal Mental Flexibility
That’s a nice way of saying “just a few screws loose,” which, it turns out, is optimal. A little tiny bit wacko or playful or silly or goofy—the terminology differs with different locales in the multiverse— is what’s needed to be creative and enjoyable to others. Too serious and you’re well, “too”—even though you may […]
Other Dimensions
I sorta-kinda believe in other dimensions, and the famous cartoonist who draws “Dilbert” (i.e., Scott Adams) apparently had the same idea. “Great minds run in the same gutter,” I’ve heard it said. I dare to play with this literary trope of other dimensions, and so does he. Yes! There are portals all around. Dreams do […]
Out-of-Control Panel and Adjust-ometer
I was just playing around, but the theme that I’ll be talking about in February on “Mind-Spectrums” really takes off on this idea: So many things operate on a spectrum, and the weird part is that “all the needles” are moving, waving, shifting. The mind is a profoundly dynamic process that is often operating more […]
Para-Nomasia
"Lexophile" is a word used to describe someone with a love for words as words, such as a paranomasiast—a punster. Some puns include: "You can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish." "To write with a broken pencil is pointless." A competition to see who can come up with the best “lexophillies” […]
Peace and Quiet
Ahh. In another dimension I’m a sort of hermit. (My wife Allee is too.) In this cartoon, if we were to put on an international hermit’s conference and not tell anyone where and when it was, that’s okay with us. Ha ha!
Peeking Out
The picture above on my new blog post. Cartoon characters I did as fillers for the University of California newspaper, the Daily Cal, starting in my late Freshman year, around 1956. Looking back, this was a continuation of sketches, and the beginnings of a repertoire of characters who gradually accumulated backstories, qualities of who their […]
Peter Rabbit: A Critical Analysis
[Explanation: In October, 2009, played the role of “Linus” in a community production of the late 1960s Broadway Musical “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” based on Charles Schulz’ comic strip, “Peanuts.” I played the part of a rather precocious intellectual child who at the same time was caught up in an infatuation with my […]
Philosophy (Linus-Style)
I played Linus in a community theatre production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” and so I find his character appealing. Here he philosophizes. Parts of me are childlike and other parts grown-up and other parts….well, I don’t know.
Phonemic Expansion
A phoneme is a unit of spoken language, such as vowels and consonants. But there are consonants in English that don’t exist in other languages, such as the mixed sound of th as in “think”—which tends to be difficult for some folks in other countries. It tends to be pronounced as a soft d, “t’ink.” […]
Play With Son
A snippet of correspondence between my son David and myself, to illustrate the quality of our interchange: A few days ago, he quoted a limerick told to him by his friend Kris Coppieters.: A doctor in Gastroenterology In charades drew the word entomology But no-one could guess And his act was […]
Play: “Vitamin P” for Optimal Vitality
I went into psychiatry because (1) I truly loved medicine, both the learning what we presently know about the astonishing complexities of the workings of our mind-body; and (2) more specifically, as I got into it, I found the workings of the mind-part even more of a challenge, as well as the channel through which […]
Playfulness Included
I realized after reading that previous post that supported the spirit of intellectual rigor and critical thinking that readers might perceive my wife and me as being serious thinkers. We are, indeed, and that is part of our spirituality as well as our lives. We talk about all manner of things with great seriousness—but that’s […]
Playing in the Flow
Some would call it doodling, because they can’t open to the idea that the Beyond is channeling inspirations to us every moment. It is built into our neural matrix to inhibit this inflow, lest it overwhelm us. That process of inflow, if not modulated, results—according to degrees of open-ness— in hypomania, mild mania, or total […]
Pondering the Cosmos
So the Cosmos says to me, Hey, Adam, thanks for pondering me. Says I, “Well, ol’ Cosmos, sir, your cosmos-ness—by the way, what is the proper term of respectful address?— I have not yet come to many conclusions. Cosmos: Don’t worry about it, just call me Cosmos. First name basis, kid, that’s us. So what […]
Popular Songs (1940-1980 plus or minus)
I realize that I have not kept up with modern music, with a few exceptions. I’ve found the lyrics before that period a bit insipid and after that interval bewildering. That means I’m dated, I fear. I’m reconciled to that, though I am always open to being invited to reconsider a piece. I was looking […]
Post-Post-Modernism
My friend Anthony asked me today, “What will be the philosophical trend after postmodernism?” I answered, a mischievous smile breaking out, “I dunno, maybe post-post-modernism?” “What’ll that be?” he asked, playing right into the flow of exploration. I warmed up to the idea: Indubitably, as knowledge and technology advance, there may be several waves of […]
Pretending
I pretend a lot! Part of me is a bit like the little bird, Woodstock. Part of me is a little like the dog, Snoopy. He’s not really a dog, please not. He pretends he is, and Charlie Brown pretends he is. I love Snoopy—love, love, love. He’s so many things. He’s a vulture and […]
Prolific Thinker of All Thoughts
That’s how my pal Russ Williams addressed me. Yes, I replied, “Ptat”, an acronym that’s sort of spat out, related phonemically to the Al Capp (cartoonist of Li’l Abner) p’tooey. So this essayette focused on the object of the sentence: All Thoughts. Now here we have a category that is not only vast, but fuzzy […]
Pronoia-2
A friend asked, “ Won’t “they” be mad?” I replied: Great question. Actually, “they” hardly know I exist any more. Alas, “they” haven’t been persecuting me at all since the FBI-CIA have looked at their budget and reassigned priorities. (Just kidding! Not really paranoid!) My contact—you know? The one who used to beam threatening messages […]
Proto-Mayanoid Higher Math Problem
My friend Zordak, the inter-dimensional flying-saucer lil’ green alien, showed me this: His explanation is that the Proto-Mayans do indeed do a complex equivalent of higher mathematics, with equations-like problems. The Proto-Mayans were a group of higher dimensional beings, sort of a star-trek gang, who visited the emerging cultures of Central America about 3000 years […]
Protozoal Elves
I imagine that all life is suffused with alternative reality levels that give it energy. People aren’t the only beings with “auras,” and auras are the extensions into other dimensions of existence. It might be better to say that what we take to be “us” or “stuff” is actually also an extension into 3-Dimensional space […]
Putting On a Show
Hey, humans aren’t the only species that organizes a show. So do beings in other dimensions, as revealed to me by Zordak. He explains, “This is the Zig-Zag Club.” ) Of course that’s not what they call it, but their modes of communication are soooo different… You must recall that Zordak has taken classes in […]
Rain! Ahhhh!
Being in a time of drought is intriguing. Today it is raining. Don’t know how long it will go, but Allee and I are savoring looking at it. There’s a singing group named “Ladysmith Black Mombaso” who in the 1970s (?) had a record (back in the olden days when there were vinyl 33.33 rotations/per/minute […]
Re-Incarnation Extended
Not that this is true, you understand, but it seems to me less weird than most other theories of how it works. The concept of aggregate soul in each new incarnation has a number of advantages and fewer flagrant disadvantages: The center of consciousness is multiple, shifting, and a composite of some fifty or so […]