A Vice.. I guess...

I don’t watch a lot of TV. It’s not a snob thing. I just LOVE to read. I’ll read anything. If I’m at breakfast and the newspaper isn’t here, I’ll read the cereal box. I read constantly. All the time. It may be a curse, but I think it is more of an escape.

My kids, they read, but since they are young, not as much. They play outside, on the computer, game boys, and the such, but also they have a thing about cartoons, two of which I have grown to really like. I have to admit it, but I love to watch Samurai Jack and Sponge Bob Squarepants comes in 2nd. This is the closest I can come to Pop Culture. I am a person who had NO clue who Dr. Phil was until 18 months ago and I have never seen one episode of American Idol. But Samurai Jack? I’ll stop what I’m doing to watch him. Sponge Bob? I will watch and fold laundry. I cannot wait to own Samurai Jack’s first season on DVD and just this morning I was watching my favorite episode of Sponge Bob, the one where he sets up a Bubble Stand and gives ‘bubble blowing lessons’. “Take it AROUNNNDD TOWWWWN!” It cracks me up.

A couple months ago I was riding with a friend and her Mom to some woman’s function. I made some stupid reference about Sponge Bob and my friend started to laugh. Her Mom, who is in her late 70's was clueless. If you watch Sponge Bob, have you ever tried to describe it to someone? We were trying to describe this silly cartoon and it went something like this:

It’s about a sponge… who lives under the sea… he is square and his pants are square… he is naïve and perpetually optimistic… like a three year old. His best friend is a pink star fish… named Patrick… who wears Hawaiian pants… and he’s not very bright… actually he’s stupid…. A stupid pink starfish… that talks. And they live next door to a Squid… names Squidward… who plays the clarinet… and did we say that Sponge Bob lives in a Pineapple?... and Sponge Bob loves Squidward, but Squidward hates Sponge Bob. And they work at a restaurant called the Krusty Krab… run by a lobster looking crab man… named Mr. Krabbs… and they make sandwiches called… Krabby patties… and Mr. Krabbs is a cheap Scotsman with a Scottish broque… And Sponge Bob has another friend… a squirrel named Sandy, who has to wear deep sea diving equipment because... she’s a squirrel and can’t live under water… and she’s really smart… and from Texas… and his arch nemesis is Plankton... who owns the Chum Bucket...and he wants to rule the world...

It just got more and more ridiculous. I have to say, I felt so stupid, but it made the entire car laugh as we talked about the absurdity. Who woulda thunk it? A stupid cartoon about a sponge living in a pineapple under the sea would become so popular? And me, "Mrs. I don’t do Pop Culture", knows every episode…

So today we took the kids to see Sponge Bob. I thought it funny and lived up to the silly and ridiculous of the show. My husband did not laugh, thinking it pretty inane, as I’m sure the average adult feels the same. I’m not sure why I like the show… I think it is the naïve optimism of that stupid little sponge.