Having a Beer, Watching the Disney Channel

I am far enough into my “late twenties” that I’ve reached “almost thirty.” That puts me pretty firmly into the “adult” category. In theory.

What does that really mean? One of my friends thinks she is supposed to have all of her crazy stuff out of the way by the time she gets to thirty and recently expressed concern about how much crazy she has left to do in such a short span. I think she’s nuts. Thirty is the sort of number that scared the hippies. I’m not too concerned about it. It seems a bit young to be having a midlife crisis.

Yet there is that whole expectation of “adult” behavior. There are things that adults appreciate that children do not. I’m cool with that. But there’s also the flip side, things children enjoy that adults are not supposed to. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say there are things children, teenagers, and even young adults can get away with that adults are not supposed to do. Fie on that.

I read a number of webcomics on a regular basis (I don’t get a newspaper so I start my day with webcomics, blogs, and news sites instead). One strip from the comic xkcd captured my sentiment on this subject pretty much perfectly. You can find it here, but for those of you uninterested in pursuing the link, the relevant line is this: “I’m happy to grow up. But I won’t pretend fun things aren’t still fun out of a fear of looking silly.” They also suggest that as adults we can also add our own twist to those same childhood activities (I’m paraphrasing because I don’t want to blow the punch line for those of you who do check it out).

I enjoy this outlook. It means I can do things like have a beer while watching the Disney Channel. Specifically, Kim Possible.

Kim Possible meshes perfectly with my sense of humor. I cannot describe just how entertaining this show is for me. It’s glorious, just the right mix of subtlety and slapstick that I appreciate.

Consider the following:

1. There is a father/son villain team named Senor Senior Sr. and Senor Senior Jr.
2. There is an episode called “Monkey Ninjas in Space.”
3. Kim’s sidekick is named “Ron Stoppable” and the villains can never remember his name.
4. The villains have a time-share set up for their evil lairs.

Now do you see why I (with my particular brand of humor) might find this show so funny?

Also the art style is fascinating – I even went as far recently as to look up the artists’ thoughts on the way they assembled the look (I can’t tell whether that makes me a design dork, or a Kim Possible dork).

I get crap from people for watching cartoons (Penrock thinks it’s because I was never allowed to do so as a child) but I think they’re missing out. Actually, I’m pretty sure that I appreciate this show more as an adult than I would have as a teenager or a tween or whoever their real audience is supposed to be. The creators do claim that it is supposed to be enjoyable for parents and kids to watch together, so maybe I’m not so far out of the target demographic. After all, the episode where Senor Senior Sr. and Senor Senior Jr. steal animatronic animals to use as cage dancers in an evil night club does involve dialogue that consists of lyrics by the Talking Heads. I laughed pretty hard to hear Senor Senior Sr. yell at his son “This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco, this ain’t no fooling around!” Who under twenty would catch that?

Kim Possible is done, no new episodes are forthcoming. Fortunately, I still have a lot of reruns to catch up on. If they ever put the seasons on DVD I will buy them and I will share them with all of you, consider yourselves forewarned. Until then, though, there’s always Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends on the Cartoon Network…

Yeah, I’ll still be watching cartoons well past thirty.