I've been watching a lot of cartoons lately. (It comes from watching the kids during the day in between looking for work.)

If you haven't seen any in years you must watch, they aren't the Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, bonk people on the head, Marx Brothers stuff that we grew up with. These things are far more complex than that. They make you think.

Now don't get me wrong, they are not a substitute for reading and writing. Nothing can replace that. And they aren't The Wild Kingdom or PBS, but holy cow, they make you think.

Instead of mindlessly watching cartoon characters bonk each other on the head and shoot shotguns, always missing by the way, there are lessons in them if you look. You can actually tell which character is good, which character is evil, who is attracted to whom and why. There are lessons in them, safety first and people aren't always what they seem. People that appear brainless often have an intelligence that you have to look for to realize, or mindless chimps aren't always mindless chimps, or death isn't necessarily something to fear, it is just another step that everyone inevitably takes.

When did this happen, how did this happen, at what point did the kids of today get bored with the brainless drivel that we used to watch?

I have to admit I find some of them amazingly entertaining. I followed Angry Beavers until it went off the air, and now the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy have me looking over my shoulder from the computer every time it is on. And the new look of the superheros in Teen Titans is fascinating. Don't pass this off as that crazy guy who can't speel properly and doesn't know what he is talking about. Give them a chance. Change the channel over to Nickelodeon at some point and take the time to watch an entire program. It is far better then reading an entire novel just to find out that the author doesn't develope the characters properly, or leaves the plot hanging or doesn't develop it enough to make it believable. And you won't waste more than thirty minutes of your time and miss the drivel of the daytime talk shows, your soap opera or some useless evening program that is just as much a fantasy as the average cartoon. (You see I got the rant in after all.)

Perhaps the children are on to something. And while you're at it, don't disregard all of the school kids that are wearing Jack and Sally buttons, how they look or how you think they act, and rent Nightmare Before Christmas and perhaps you'll learn another lesson, nothing about Christmas mind you, but that the kids that dress that way and wear those clothes are some of the brighter minds out there. (It only stands to reason, they also spend days behind their computer hacking code (writing programs) and hours reading books.

Trust me on this one. You'll enjoy yourself and learn something in the process.