Published in Issue 149, May 2026
“Cramped leg room on major international flights unlikely to change course of famous river.”
The line above is a nonsensical riddle, kind of like a Zen koan. Zen koans, being the ultimate nonsensical riddle, are not meant to be solved rationally. Instead, they are meant to bewilder and confuse the intellect with the goal of pushing it out of its analytical way of thinking so it can drop into a more intuitive level.
“I have fond memories of events that have never happened.”
“Neil, I’ve mailed you a void. You won’t know when it arrives, but please call me when you receive it.”
Nonsensical riddles have the ability to twist the analytical mind into knots, the part of our mind that is desperate to make sense of things. This twisting can create more opportunities for non-linear and intuitive ways of operating.
“I recently joined a knife club. Once a month one of the members agrees to a group stabbing and then we eat cupcakes.”
In 1984, I was in North San Diego County attending a meeting with seven others. We were there to discuss the creation of a new skateboard magazine. As with most meetings, this one dragged on to the point where I became very bored. I looked across the table at Neil Blender, one of skateboarding’s most celebrated non-conformists and artists. I could see that he was as bored as I was. I picked up a scrap piece of paper, scribbled a nonsensical line on it and passed it across the table to him. He looked at it and laughed out loud. He then wrote his own nonsensical line and passed it back to me and I laughed out loud. Thus began a writing practice that has endured over 42 years.
“Very early this morning a foreign adversary hacked into my oatmeal.”
“I’m crowd-funding my next cup of coffee.”
What began as writing actual physical letters to each other filled with absurd lines and riddles morphed into emails and is now done through texts. I haven’t physically seen or spoken to Neil in over 10 years. Prior to that, I hadn’t seen him for 15 years. So I’ve seen him once in 25 years. Though we don’t verbally speak to each other and don’t physically visit each other, we communicate frequently through the texting of these mutually appreciated nonsensical absurdities.
Stacy Peralta: “This is official confirmation that you’ve been selected for nothing.”
Neil Blender: “You’ve been pre-approved to eat lasagna.”
The exercise we developed was not intentional, it happened as a result of attending a boring meeting. But as we began to develop our practice, we knew we were onto something. We began to recognize how the practice of writing these lines loosened up our minds, helping to propel us out of our own literal way of thinking, and dropping us into a more free form and intuitive way of operating. Sometimes the things we write to each other arrive as questions:
NB: “I told a friend I was starting a new job on Friday. He said, ‘Do you have all your ducks in a row?’” I said, ‘No, they’re staggered, will that change the outcome?’”
SP: “You have any interest in selling your soul? If not, how bout trading it for scrap?”
Other times we write lines that come off as statements:
NB: “They’re passing a bill this week that outlaws ‘going out on a limb.’”
SP: “Between the first results and the new data, uncertainty and grave concern has increased among parents over their children’s use of the term, ‘a fly in the ointment.’”
And other times we write the completely absurd:
NB: “Man falls asleep while waking up!”
SP: “I’m getting rid of some old grudges, let me know if you want one?”
NB: “Today I discovered that seagulls love us unconditionally.”
SP: “Hey, by chance have you made lunch plans for Saturday, March 2083?”
Strangely enough, these lines full of nonsense are actually very hard to craft. Sometimes months go by without either of us writing anything at all. Writing them well requires our minds to be pliable and very loose. No matter how hard we try, there are times we still get stuck in the literal parts of our brains and we cannot find a way out.
SP: “Today critics sounded alarm over alarm that failed to sound.”
NB: “The price of helium just went up.”
SP: “I’ve decided to take a crash course in how to slow down.”
Though there is irony in the three lines above, they don’t possess the absurdity of some of the others. But then sometimes our goal is to come up with lines that could be literal but aren’t:
NB: “For Sale: Ceiling Fan, yellow and gray, blades come off at high speed, otherwise in good shape.”
SP: “For Sale: Imaginary Chair, LIKE NEW! Send check or money order and within weeks chair will appear in your mind. Send one dollar for certificate of authenticity.”
Sometimes what we write is theme-oriented. A few years ago we began writing about imaginary rock bands:
SP: “I heard the rock bands Claude Damnit and Type 2 Diabetes just signed with Capricorn Records.”
NB: “Supposedly Voltage Drift is opening for Drove Pattern, and Steel Kludge and Rope Toner are playing at a bus stop in Downtown LA.”
SP: “I thought they were touring with Box Turtle and Waking Forest?”
And then sometimes we just write quick one-liners:
SP: “I brake for wax moths.”
NB: “Let me know if you’ve ever recalled standing?”
SP: “Oak Trees are planning to rebrand themselves.”
NB: “I finally found a place that rents decisions.”
SP: “Today I finished a sandwich I started eating in Grade 5.”
NB: “I named my dog Janus Venture Capital Fund.”
SP: “Last night I picked up my guitar and figured out the entire chord progression for German potato salad.”
NB: “I just noticed a truck down the street unloading voices.”
SP: “I figured out how to print the Starbucks logo on car exhaust.”
To this day, Neil and I continue to craft these nonsensical one-liners in the hopes that our minds can remain loose and fit and allow us to drop into the more soothing, intuitive areas of our consciousness. And maybe to let ourselves laugh out loud at the absurdity of it all.
SP: “I read in the paper today that all people named Don are being recalled.”
NB: “This Friday night I’m going to a tree fight.”
SP: “Today goldfish were declared irrelevant.”
NB: “I’m getting ready to start a gambling addiction.”
Stacy Peralta is a film director, artist and legendary skateboarder and surfer with the Zephyr Competition Team, also known as the Z-Boys, from Venice, California. Follow him on Instagram for more work.
Neil Blender is a legendary skateboarder and artist known for his non-conformist and pioneering style and originality. See more of his work on Instagram.
Keep your eyes peeled for more absurdity by Stacy and Neil. Check out April’s index art in Issue 148 for an oil painting by Stacy in case you missed it.