Word Play

I think this is how movie ideas are generated now.

Epic Penile Picnic Panic
There’s a hot dog joke in there somewhere.

Each morning I do a series of New York Times puzzles including Wordle, the Mini crossword, Connections, and Strands but I start with the Spelling Bee. That's how this gem of a sequence of words appeared as I puzzled away on the possible anagrams (where you try to create as many words as possible with the seven assigned letters).

It even included the word “Alien”. I only wished I hadn’t thought of it out of sequence. Can you imagine being confronted with “Epic Alien Penile Picnic Panic” first thing in the morning? Even separately there's fun to be had: "Epic Penile-anything" could be fun or terrifying. Who hasn't had a "Picnic Panic"? Or, if I may say so, who amongst us hasn't suffered a "Penile Panic"? The less said of "Penile Picnic" the better.

I immediately began to imagine what an Epic Penile Picnic Panic could be. A new indie rock band? Maybe they would fly under the radar by shortening it to E3P like a Star Wars droid. Does anyone know what C-3PO really stands for? Apparently, not much more than a serial number. That's not to say it couldn't stand for "C-Penile Picnic Panic-O". Could "Epic Penile Picnic Panic" be a sci-fi horror film? It certainly sounds like one. Maybe directed by Michael Bay. Perhaps giant alien naked mole rats emerge from their subterranean tunnels to attack unsuspecting picnickers. Let’s face it, no one suspects giant alien naked mole rats.

The universe presents itself in funny ways.

These are little gifts the universe gives us, like the way the planets align, or how we make pictures from arrangements of stars or how junk falling through the atmosphere give us something to wish upon. Rarities for our amusement. Why can’t the universe do that more often? Maybe it does and we aren’t aware of it. Perhaps it’s a matter of opening our minds to the possibility that an unusual collection of letters or words will give us the inspiration we need to get through a mundane world of indifference. I recall my brother telling me of a friend who found a small bar of soap, the kind usually reserved for motel sinks, wrapped in the typical waxy paper, with the words, printed in red Helvetica, "Spurious Hard-on". I'm not sure I ever knew how it came to be, or if it was the name of a band, printed on a tiny soap wrapper as a promotional item. At auction, I imagine the catalogue listing would be, "providence unknown". Humans can't help ourselves from seeing patterns. We evolved that way. Pareidolia, is the name for our ability or tendency to find patterns even where none are intended. It makes sense that we could spot a face in the forest, tracks in the dirt, or something moving on the savannah. It helped us survive from predators or identify prey hiding in the grass. It seems like an over correction then, that we also make patterns or prognosticate meaning where none exists. It may not always help us survive, but sometimes, just sometimes, it helps us laugh and I think being able to laugh is the best way to survive.