my real guilty pleasure

sure, gossip is somewhere high up on my personal list of social sins, but then again, it doesn't take up first place. i was watching my FAVORITE sin one time, fully engrossed in it actually that i didn't notice my dad walk in. in a sudden surge of panic, i quickly pressed on the clicker and hope and pray that i had switched to a mundane channel like CNN. hope and prayed he didn't see. but alas, stupid clicker was too slow to read the urgency of my violent pressing on the buttons. i was caught, and i could not look at my dad straight in the eye while he talked with me. yes people, ashamed as it is for me to say, i was busted, by my dad of all people. i was caught watching.... cartoons.

surely there really isn't anything to be embarrassed about watching cartoons. but at the age of (ekk! AKK! choke, choke... stupid frog in my throat), being mesmerized over animation isn't really something my family considers NORMAL. but what can i do, i have never really grown out of my cartoon fascination. i remember being glued to the TV every friday night and the entire day saturday when i was young and getting angry at my brother when he would switch the channel to watch his BORING shows like KNOTS LANDING or THE PRICE IS RIGHT! my cartoons were sacred and to disrupt my worship was sacrilegious! but that was before, now those time slots no longer carry the shows i grew up watching but instead have these other programs that i never bothered to get interested in. i needed my cartoon fix... thank goodness for cable! CN, nickelodeon, the disney channel and animax saved my life by keeping me sane!!! 24/7 cartoons to my heart's delight, cartoons to my NOSTRILS!!!!!

in my heightened state of cartoon nirvana, allow me to share a few of my favorites...

1. the angry beavers. norb and dagget, the two psychotic protagonists of the series. this show is just pure madness!! the antics and the things they get into is just way too funny for me. i often find myself grinning like a crazy person whenever i chance upon this show. the series got canceled by nickelodeon already but they still show re-runs at late night.

2. jimmy neutron. the boy with a big head, like me. despite his IQ of 210, he still keeps getting himself into trouble due to his inventions always going awry. of course his best friends carl and shane don't really help in making things better. think of dexter's lab but crazier! the humor in the series is also a rib tickler!

3. my fairly odd-parents. by far, one of my favorites for its humor. sheer stupid, slapstick humor that would make mr. bean's antics look prim and proper. cozmo and wanda are timmy turner's bumbling fairy godparents, granting the large incisored-pink cap wearing boy his wishes due to having a rather neglected and traumatic childhood (courtesy of timmy's malevolent baby sitter, vicky). this show is pure joy due to the great story line and intense comedic moments.

4. danny phantom. from the makers of my fairly odd parents comes this more mature toon of a half-ghost, half boy ghost fighter struggling with his supernatural duties while juggling issues that comes with being a teenager. same humor though a bit restrained due to probably a more discerning audience, the comedy usually offered by the villians of the show. lot's of wise-ass comments from the characters thereby offering another aspect of bringing in laughs.


5. spongebob squarepants. people find him absolutely irritating, but that's really what makes him so likable. warning though, keeping yourself watching him for 30 straight minutes can drive you utterly mental! it's insanity and stupidity all rolled into one.

6. cardcaptor sakura. one of a few of my favorite manga series. the story revolves around sakura, a girl who accidentally releases magic cards that, if not retrieved, will destroy the world. the story has a lot of homosexual undertones which i found rather intriguing since the cartoon deals with lives of children. the issues however never take center stage except in a few episodes on the second season where more of the secret lives of the characters are revealed. the story has a lot of twists and turns which gives this toon more dimension that their american counterparts. proves the point that toons in japan are art forms to be taken seriously like film.


7. Chronicle of the wings. what got me intrigued with this series is that the characters are the same as that in card captor sakura. their roles almost similar as well, despite the story and everything about the toon being totally different. princess sakura looses her memory and shao-ron, along with her and three other allies travel from dimension to dimension seeking out sakura's memory fragments (in the form of magical feathers) hoping to finally make her whole. the animation, story and sound track is amazing! fight scenes are almost reminiscent of that in the matrix. same drama, same suspense, with chorus chanting to boot! i just find it rather unsettling since animax has changed the voices of the characters. i liked the first season voices better.

8. ghost in the shell. said to be one of the inspirations of the matrix movies, i really wouldn't be surprised. the graphics, the premise of cyborgs and technology controlling our lives, and the theatrics of this cartoon is beyond anything i have ever seen. the japs have definitely outdone themselves with this art piece! here is a clip of the latest season, ghost in the shell: innocence.