Oh Say, Canada You See

Me, driving to school on a winter's morn.

Back in high school, I used to stay up into the wee hours of the night in order to watch some of the dumbest programming available on television. One local Miami affiliate, WBZL Channel 33, used to show Perfect Strangers and Head of the Class at 4 in the morning -- and high school began at 7:30. My schedule went something like this: Wake up at 6 am to make the bus, get home at around 3:30, sleep until 9:00 or 10:00, stay up to watch Balki, fall asleep at 4:30, wake up again at 6. I found that I was much more productive during those nighttime hours -- the streets empty, parents asleep, I was able to watch nighttime television uninterrupted. Was it worth it? Why don't you ask me to recount the episode where Balki overbid on a bottle of wine at some sort of wacky wine auction to find out for yourself. (The answer is yes.)

One show that I was certainly addicted to was on the old school Cartoon Network (I think...), and it was called "O Cananda". This half-hour show would feature two or three short animated movies straight outta our friendly neighbor to the North. Some of them were terry, the types of cartoons you would watch in 3rd grade when your teacher had her period and couldn't mosey about the room.

But some were amazing. And now many of them are online! Check them out on the National Film Board of Canada's website. My personal faves are Bead Game (mesmerizing), George and Rosemary (from the same animators who brought you Bob and Margaret), Notes on a Triangle (make sure you're high beforehand), and the following two videos, so good in fact, I'm posting them here directly: The Big Snit (love this one!!) and The Cat Came Back (which will no doubt be in your head for the next millenium or so.) Enjoy, it brought back a lot of memories for me.