I was thinking while watching Teen Titans just earlier, why do I like this so much? I mean, I like cartoons, but I like this one a lot. Then it hits me: it's a lot like Gen13 used to be (for those who remember the crazy, quite popular but no longer running comic...which I can think of exactly two people who might). They both have gorgeous art, with drawers who know how to put together great action, and best of all both of the art styles are unique (with little flares of emotion and character) and clean (ie, one can actually tell what's going on without having to interpret). Of course, Teen Titans doesn't have the gratuitous violence, sexual references and images, and and massive vocabulary of the writers (if any English major reads this, you probably would have gotten a kick out of that comic) of Gen13, but it's as damn close as any 'kids' cartoon will get, anyway. And it's kind of nice that way, too. Also, Teen Titans has a really catchy theme song. What worries me is that what made the connection between the two for me was the similarity of the current Teen Titans story arc, which seems to be heading towards something like the way they ended Gen13, which was amazing, but also horribly sad, it actually kind of got me going a little if I remember correctly.
      And I think cartoons in general are nice for several reasons, but here's one in particular: they're almost always devoted towards something positive. One would be hard pressed to find a cartoon that doesn't have some humor, some cuteness, or at least some uplifting thing going for it; mind, I'm not talking about anime or what, but just general cartoon shows, which one can tune into when everything else on is just depressing (ie, the news). I mean, fitting the entirety of Return of the King into a half-hour's worth of Kids Next Door, with an epic guinea pig army versus housecat army battle? Hilarious.
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Blue Ball Machine - no, not what it sounds like