You'll either like this alot, or you'll feel kinda whelmed

Happy Superbowl! Or, more specifically, Happy Superbowl commercials! Here's hoping for some good ones this year, as I felt last year's were a little disappointing. And yeah, that's officially all I care about that. Moving on!

So there's this blog I was just introduced to. It's called Hyperbole and a Half, and it's pretty much one of the best things I've ever seen. I particularly suggest checking out this post about spiders and how evil they are, or the one about the Alot. And then you will understand. Or you won't, but I bet you'll be entertained! (and yeah, the title typo was on purpose, which you now realize and feel dumb for thinking I was dumb. Psh.)

[insert clever transition from blogs to DC cartoons here]

I have a bit of a confession to make. At one point in the last two years or whatever, Cartoon Network had this show, Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I didn't watch it then, but now I am...and I kinda like it. If you haven't seen or heard of it, it's pretty much Batman adventures that always involve at least one other Justice League member. I know, I know, he's supposed to be broody and work alone unless he has a Boy Wonder around, but he's still part of the League, right? It's totally campy, but like a throwback to the old school Adam West era, when punches still sounded like "BIFF," "BAM," and "POW," and all significant actions were accompanied with a trumpet blast.

Yeah! Except animated, and therefore acceptable!

Granted, I'm not very far into the series at all, so the constant inner monologue-journal Bats gives us may easily get quite old. And I already can only take the campyness in small doses, but it still makes me smile sometimes.

On the flip side, Cartoon Network currently has this new cartoon going on called Young Justice, and so far I kind of love it. Basically it's about the mini-Justice League, made up of the various sidekicks: Robin (the first one!), Kid Flash (you know, the one before Impulse? Which must be why Impulse thought of a better name?), Aqualad (but not the one you're thinking), Miss Martian, Speedy, and Superboy (yeah, not Supergirl, but this conveniently created clone...whatever, he still does Superman stuff). It's not Gardner Fox's creation, and therefore doesn't have the same kind of "you can take me seriously" tone as the Justice League animated series, but neither is it campy. Since it's about the kids, it's ok for it to be a little lighter. Don't worry, though, there are still plenty of issues to go around, like all of them struggling to get out from their mentor's shadows, Robin's inability to be a leader, Speedy's inability listen to authority, and Superman's inability to handle the weird paternal responsibility he now has for this surprise clone.

Also, it's a different kind of clever at times. Like the fact that some of the sidekick names really just suck (or make no sense) and people are aware of it. And I'm loving the running joke going on with Robin and his issues with abbreviations.

I now look for situations wherein I can describe myself as "whelmed"

By the way, Robin is Jesse McCartney. Yep. Lucky for me I only learned that after I was hooked, otherwise I may have boycotted the show on principle. But I have to give it to the kid, he doesn't do a terrible job of it. Especially not when he unleashes his creepy laugh, which is sufficiently creepy enough to almost make me reevaluate my opinion on the potential of such teenie-bopper pop stars. Almost. I'd offer a clip, but I guess it hasn't been on the air long enough (and/or Warner Bros is a mad copyright stickler) to have any yet. So you'll just have to take my word for it. Or watch it.

Otherwise, tune in next time for some more average nerdiness, and maybe a puppy if you're good!

Robin: "If 'dislike' is the opposite of 'like,' shouldn't 'disaster' be the opposite of 'aster'? So then, this mission will be a complete aster!"