The World of Next Tuesday

I have been blessed with a pretty warped sense of humor. And though the lion's share of the blame for that can probably be set at the feet of my of my crazy parents. I'd be remiss if I didn't give a little credit to a classic 90's cartoon called "Ren & Stimpy," which ran on Nickelodeon from 1991-96 and follows the adventures of hyper-violent chihuahua and his sweet-natured (but poorly hygiened) feline side-kick.

Although possibly tame by today's standards (though I doubt it), I'm not sure how "Ren & Stimpy" made it to the air and stayed there, obsessed as it was with nipples on horses and the secretion of fluids. Somehow this amazingly effed up cartoon survived and thrived rubbing shoulders with the likes of "Doug" and "Rugrats."

And when I think back on this crude and savagely violent piece of children's entertainment the episode which always  immediately springs to mind is called "The House of Next Tuesday," which I decided to re-watch today, to see if it held up to my memory. And it does! It is a fantastic homage to the Tex Avery "House of Tomorrow" cartoons from the 50's (which are also super effed-up, but with less violence and fart jokes, and way more sexism), but with a classic "Ren & Stimpy" take. And I realized as I hunted down clips on the youtubes, this show didn't just warp my sense of humor, but it also reinforced the idea that humans are capable of anything.

There is no problem we can't figure a way around (world dominate by giant ants? build giant magnifying glasses!), and even if our solutions cause more problems, well... that just gives us more problems to solve.