Here are some kids' cartoon shows my adult brain likes. Because I think all these shows are worthwhile, I'm not going to assign rankings.
SpongeBob is, naturally, a classic that doesn't need my support. It's rather heavy on the sensory stimuli, what with all saturated colors, frenetic movement and yelling, but I can tolerate it. It's a great premise with funny gags. I deem it very worthy of being a classic.
Camp Lazlo is a great concept that's well executed. The setting is a boys' summer camp. The creators purposely omitted electrical devices from the scenes and storylines. Camp Lazlo is just... kids doing stuff. The world could use more of that. Anytime kids aren't free to be kids, whatever the cause, it never bodes well for the society in general.
Flapjack is endearingly strange. I like it and I hope it is doing well. I love the watercolor backgrounds. The theme song is cool in that it actually expresses a theme: the safety of being sheltered versus the risks and rewards of being out in the world. The woman who voices Bubby the whale is wonderful. Parents may be slightly annoyed when their kids imitate Flapjack's cackle.
Chowder is confusingly strange. It's about a young aspiring chef and his mentor. I must say, the overall thematic purpose of all the food references isn't quite clear to me. Maybe there is none: Why would I expect Chowder to contain meta-observations about cuisine when I don't expect Spongebob to do the same regarding the ocean? Interesting art feature: Textures and pattens don't move with the object on which they're overlaid. This show, like Flapjack, uses watercolor textures, but I think the watercolor is more prominent and more at home in Flapjack.
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi rocks! In all respects, it's a high-quality production. The voice work is top-notch. I love the dry-brushed watercolor textures in the art. This is the only show on this list I would watch even if the kids weren't home, which isn't surprising given that it's aimed at older kids and it's the only drama on the list.
Pokémon, a phenomenon I've become aware of only in the past year or so, is terrific. If you have no idea what it's about, read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokeman#Concept. The art is wonderful, as are the English names of the characters. I love that the translations preserve the references to striving, training and excellence even when they sound a little odd to American ears (example: the place name "Lake Acuity"!) The ongoing portrayal of Paul as grouchy, cruel and therefore ineffective trainer is a really great lesson for kids, too. But the kids don't taste the lessons... they just love the cereal! As characters, Pokémon are a perfect unisex blend of strength and cuteness, something no American cartoon I can think of at this moment has ever achieved. It's tragic that so many little girls (where I live, anyway) think Pokémon is for boys.
We got a butterfly kit recently from www.insectlore.com and sent away for our five larvae. They ate their food, then formed chrysalides. The first two butterflies hatched while we weren't looking. I was determined to capture the emergence of butterfly number three.
Photo 1: Two have hatched, one is almost ready to hatch, and two are still percolating. Check out the wing colors clearly visible through the chrysalis!
Photo 2: Love the iridescent colors on this one.
Photo 3: The one we're going to focus on is shown here lying on its left side with its belly toward us. Note the color-coded diagram showing the locations of the wing, eye, legs, and antennae. (I'm no authority, so if this is critical information for you, I recommend you verify it elsewhere.)
As best I can tell, the antennae originate on top of the head and then wrap around the butterfly's body to the underside. You can see both antennae, but I only outlined the top one.
Photos 4, 5 and 6: At this point, I could tell something was going to happen pretty soon.
- Photo 4 (left), 10:56 AM: Despite the blurry photo, you can see the distinct black color inside each segment of the abdomen.
- Photo 5 (middle), 11:49 AM: Suddenly I realized the black color in the segments was gradually disappearing. The butterfly was pulling its abdomen away from the inside of the shell, one segment at a time.
- Photo 6 (right), 12:04 PM: Fifteen minutes later, the black in the last segment is almost gone.
I did some paperwork while keeping an eye on the little guy/girl. Then I got up for a minute to get some more coffee.
Photos 7, 8 and 9:
I return to the table with my coffee. Oh no--the shell has busted open! Gotta run and tell the kids!
I grabbed the camera in time to capture the new arrival unfurling its wings.
From left to right: 12:25:14 PM, 12:25:36 PM, and 12:27:48 PM.
Photo 10:
Two of the butterflies together on some clover. Depth of field is quite shallow, but the photo isn't too bad, considering I don't have a macro lens.
Here is a short story I've always liked, by Mark Twain.
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/559/
...trying to watch The Daily Show, while responding to knock-knock jokes, against an aural backdrop of hula music.
From CNN.com's sports section:
Weeks After His Death, Steve Larsen's Legend Lives On
Well, jeez... I would hope so. Otherwise it wouldn't be much of a legend.
Buddy Guy performed Saturday night at Elk Creek Vineyards, Owenton, KY. He roamed the audience mid-song. That's phantomxii in the gray shirt, being sung to!
I'm at a concert and just saw a lady who looked sorta like homebody wearing a hat sorta like the one homebody wore to the Cincy Vox meetup last summer. Homebody wore hers better. This lady's hat was too big in proportion to her head.
MEDIUM: Television
REFERENCE: "Coke, Pepsi, Royal Crown."
Who said it?
Ears of yellow sweet corn.
A person swimming.
A spoonful of pink bismuth subsalicylate.
***
(Found at an NIH website. This was a series of image alt tags which I was able to read as the page dribbled slowly into my mobile browser.)
Recent Comments
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Hennypenny51 said:
[this is good]I had no idea one could buy butterfly larvae kits. This, I will do next summer! My step-granddaughter (age 3)... read more
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Purplesque said:
[this is good]Wow..this is the coolest post ever. Thank you for sharing this wonderful thing.So much prettier than a human birth. read more
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on Review: Kids' Cartoon Shows