Rage against the reads

You've probably read books that made you wonder what compelled the publishers to invest their time and money on such obviously horrible reads. Heck, you probably wished you could give the author a good solid piece of your mind. The RS team gets together to discuss their least favourite authors, and offer alternatives in the same genre.

Glitter puke
How did the Twilight series ever became a bestseller? It's not like Stephanie Meyer can actually write. Her ideas aren't even original, she managed to take something as dark and dangerous as vampires and make them into sparkly pansies, borrowing heavily from great romantic works of literature and entertainment, and calling it 'vampire literature'.

Literature? Seriously?
Her story is about the chagrined yet perfect Bella, her constantly PMS-ing stalker/boyfriend Edward and a werewolf who's into children. As for it making sense, can someone please explain to me how dead people can have babies? Or how humans magically get an extra chromosome upon becoming a shape-shifter or an extra two if transformed into a vampire? I suppose their fans are too immature or too stupid to care.

But if you read Twilight just to see what the fuss was about and want to sink your teeth into a real vampire series, be sure to check out Charlaine Harris's 'Southern Vampire Mysteries/Sookie Stackhouse Series'. It's the books that the hit series True Blood is based on. It focuses on the fictional town of Bon Temps and a telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse along her vampire love interests Bill Compton & Eric Northman (who both burn, not sparkle, in the sun).
By Musarrat Rahman

Schreiber Schmoozes
Another childish piece of literature about the other world of faerie-folk and vampires pretty much sums up what I can say about Ellen Schreiber's 'Vampire Kisses'. The vaguely interesting plot completely loses every last shred of intrigue when its fantastic mythical creatures are transformed into love-struck teenagers with no higher purpose than incurring the affections of a mortal in the face of great peril. If the author must keep repeating the same old theme, the least she could do was add a touch of grit or reality. If mythical creatures, commonly considered to be dangerous are to be included the element of the actual danger they pose should be indicated in the story. Consider reading, instead 'Tithe', 'Valiant', and 'Ironside' by Holly Brock, or for more realism in fiction, 'The Dresden Files' by Jim Butcher.
Tanzia Amreen Haq

Royal Pain
This writer is a huge fan of crime fiction and thrillers. This writer also understands that Sidney Sheldon is a huge name in this genre. But, WHY? Sidney Sheldon's recipe for every book is the same: add one ambitious woman in a competitive environment, season her with passion, and add in a man who just seems PERFECT for her but is simultaneously connected to a colossal crime empire. Let this mixture boil until the plot thickens to include more passion, crime and a horrible climax. Late Mr. Sheldon; most sincere apologies, but you never really could cook.

Avid reading friends of this writer comment, "Sidney Sheldon knows a woman more than she knows herself". This writer is forced to acknowledge that and also wants to point out that if he wishes for such content, then he does have a pretty zippy Internet connection to his rescue.
RS recommendations: Jeffrey Archer, Mary Stewart
By Wahid T Khan

Segal Sequels
Boy falls in love with girl. Boy's rich daddy refuses to accept the relationship. Boy marries the girl and moves out. Boy rises to fame and becomes rich. Girl dies in a tragic disease. Boy and boy's daddy make up on Girl's deathbed. The End.

Think this is a Bangla cinema plot? Or maybe one of those ultra-sappy old Kolkata movies minus the dhishoom-dhishoom? Wait a minute, is your third guess Hindi serials? Although it fits all three criteria perfectly, the answer is no. This here is the story of Erich Segal's 'in'famous book 'Love Story'.

Now reviewing this particular book is probably the easiest task on Earth. This'll take only one Bangla word: 'Khat' (pronounced brutally, rhyming with 'bat'). Romantic novels can do many things to a person. Making one laugh one's butt off is hardly one of them.

A healthy alternative to this writer would be Jeffrey Archer. One can even give Mario Puzo a try. Emily Bronte's books can be checked out for a touch of romance. Segal's works are overall passable in a larger scale, but 'Love Story' is a definite waste of money and time.
By Raisa Rafique

Jackie just doesn't cut it
You can't deny that we enjoy our share of celebrity gossip; it's fun to giggle and gasp over the deep, dark, scandalous 'secrets' of the rich, famous, successful and self-centred. Which is why we have tabloid magazines and the ever-faithful Internet. However, when someone finds it worthwhile to actually write fiction about the goings-on of the Hollywood lot, it's just a waste of good bookshelf space.

And it's not like Jackie Collins is even particularly readable. With oh-so-riveting titles such as 'Rock Star', 'The Stud', and 'Loves and Gamblers' she attempts - and fails - to transplant a Puzo-esque plot into a Hollywood setting. Leaving aside a few shallow resemblances with actual celebrities, her characters are your typical sex/drugs/alcohol obsessed blokes and sultry sirens with a 'past', who are as intriguing as a bedside table. Her expressions make angst-ridden adolescents sound mature...until they set their hands on her books, of course. If there is any way to come up with worthwhile reading out of this genre, Jackie Collins' insipid style is not one of them.
RS Recommendations: Judith Mcnaught, Jude Devereaux
By Risana Nahreen Malik

Alienated by Eliot
Eliot's poetry sends the reader across a tumultuous journey across history and literature, simply to connect a saturation of references in an attempt to understand the man. Way to build a barrier, man.
The RS aren't convinced that the writer is serious, and therefore have no recommendations.
By Anarchist Kitten

Bardcore torture
There are too many reasons to pick from when it comes to pointing out why someone should forever despise the Bard. First of all, he is the sole reason millions have always failed literature. Secondly, he is responsible for the most mind-bogglingly boring theatre performances. Rumour has it that 1 in every 2 people who have read all of Shakespeare's works will die. That's how much he wrote.

Not only did Shakespeare apply his own language, he also redefined existing words such as 'comedy'. He had some good plots, but his dialogues ruined it. And if he was such a great poet, why couldn't he rhyme? Othello would've been great if Eminem or even the talentless Curtis Jackson had written it. A Comedy of Errors had as much laughter in it as a Jewish funeral. Shakespeare ruined literature and theatre for the world. And since he didn't use any particular language, people came up with their own endings and assumed he had planned it that way. Shakespeare sucks. Period.
By Osama Rahman

Puzo Poisoning
One word: overrated. Now, because RS won't let me out of its meeting without writing at least sixty-five words (half of which I wasted giving this redundant explanation) I have to add more weight to my reason for disliking Puzo.

With my guy friends having overhyped, I was excited as I plunged into this obviously entertaining endeavour. As it turns out, not so obvious. It seemed nothing more than a flurry of testosterone-overdosed pistol-wielding pseudo-gangsters while they talk really, really, really slow. The story too, never seemed to capture my interest and as I finished it, I was cursing myself for having listened to my acquaintances (notice how they're not friends anymore). I probably come off as harsh; I do not hate The Godfather. It was merely a promise of brilliance that wasn't kept.
By SN Rasul

Recommendation: Frederick Forsythe

Brown Bites
When The Lost Symbol came out, I faced previously-brain-dead-recently-found-out-how-to-read-on-a-prolonged-basis-finally-found-the-patience-to-actually-finish-a-book bipeds who were raving about how Dan Brown proved the existence of quadruped twin ingrown toe-nailed aliens posing as Masons. Or something along those lines. Also, apparently, ingrown toe-nailed aliens are for real. Dan Brown's ability to take obscure science and blow it out of proportion never ceases to amaze me. And how he portrays bald people. That was genius.

If you want good page-turning thrillers, turn to Ken Follet. So much better, and he's actually a writer, not someone who puts random ideas to science and hates on albinos. Yeah.
Tareq Adnan

Bad reading Hobb-it
Okay, so you have a pretty interesting premise, gritty, realistically-flawed minor characters with great back stories, and the formula for a story that just doesn't quit. What could possibly go wrong?

Plenty, as it appears. From the story's beginning in Assassin's Apprentice to its end in Fool's Fate, the protagonist, Fitz just goes from merely bumbling and incompetent to petty and arrogant and a complete waste of text, and he manages to drag the entire story down with him. Such a shame.

Possible alternatives? Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series, David Eddings' Elenium, Tamora Pierce's Immortals, and I can hear my colleagues shouting Patrick Rothfuss and George RR Martin.
By Sabrina F Ahmad

Potter Rage
JK Rowling's Harry Potter series is undoubtedly one of the most popular series. Adapted to movies and games, it has skyrocketed to fame in no time. It received more intense media attention than any other writer I know of (aside from Twilight series). How deserving is this hype? Should ANY writers receive that much attention over others? One word from her- Scar- and hysterics ensues. The series finishes, and she suddenly states that Dumbledore doesn't drive the right side of the road. Rowling is obviously starved for attention, and the media always loved to oblige her. Unfair, to the max, to other great writers. If you want to read good British Authors who don't smile at cameras and tabloids, read Ian Rankin or Eoin Colfer.
By Emil

Awesome Disasters

It was the day the sky rained fire. - Warcraft III trailer

WE humans are some tough characters. Theoretically we are supposed to be nowhere near the top of the food chain. We should be crawling on the same level as hyenas, considering our body strength and eating habits. Even if you consider brain size to body weight ratios, we are stupider than Dolphins. But surprise! We are at the peak and multiplying faster than Orcs on questionable steroids, all the while making Dolphins jump through literal hoops when they could be out saving lone whales from sharks. But the one thing that has kept our numbers somewhat in check is Nature. Recently She practically brought a continent on its knees with very little effort with the Volcano Who Must Not Be Named, mainly because we can't pronounce it's name. Anyway, let's take a look at Nature's greatest achievements over the years. For your convenience we have divided them up into mostly fictional and scarily real.
Mostly Fictional

The Great Flood
On a scale of fame from 1 to 10, The Great Flood scores 11. Even little kids know about how God got mad at the world and decided to drown it for a while and let it stew. He did let Noah [Nooh (A.s.) to Muslims] in on the secret, so that all his hard work of creating the universe didn't go totally to waste. So Noah built an Ark and God sent a pair of all the animals in the world to seek refuge there. We'd really rather not imagine the state of affairs on board. For those who are curious, there are over a million different insect species. Yes, multiply that by two, boys and girls. Entomophobia, anyone? Anyway, once the ark was stuffed full of animals, birds and insects, God apparently melted all the glaciers and sent down heavy rain for 40 days, which managed to sink everything. Considering the after effects of a half day's quite light rain on the streets of Dhaka, this seems totally plausible. After roaming the high seas for around a year, Noah sent out one of the doves and it brought back an olive branch, which meant that land had surfaced and trees existed once again. Eventually the ark struck the top of a mountain and everybody disembarked and the human race wreaked havoc once again. There's the rainbow after the rain. Speaking of floods, both Hindus and the Aztecs speak of flood apocalypses where the world is destroyed. And renewed.

Scorched heap
The people of Sodom and Gomorrah had been very bad people indeed. They were inhospitable to strangers and devoid of kindness, robbing and killing at will. Their cruelty rose to such heights that God reportedly said, "Because the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah has become great, and because their sin has been very grave, I will descend and see...." When God utters a threat like that, you better not be around to see it happen. So he ordered his good man Lot [Lut (A.s.)] to get the hell away from Sodom and Gomorrah and to not look back. Unfortunately, his wife did and she promptly turned into a statue of salt. What she apparently saw has later been said in the Holy Books: there was a rain of fire and brimstone on the cities and the hand of God reached out and turned them upside down. The destruction was so violent that very little of the cities survived. Some linguists suggest that Sodom is derived from the Hebrew word for scorched and Gomorrah from "ruined heap". We are left wondering whether the names came from the words or the words came from the names. What came first, the chicken or the egg?

The Lost Continent
One of the most famous philosophers of Greece is Plato. His teacher, Socrates, is famous for being a modest man despite his genius and for being sentenced to death on a false charge. His student Aristotle is well known for being an ass and for coming up with abysmally wrong scientific laws [also, for being Alexander The Great's teacher. Go figure.]. But Plato is famous for Atlantis. Atlantis was supposed to be the greatest civilization of the ancient world, centred around a huge island somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. These guys were so far ahead in wisdom and technology that no other country stood a remote chance against them. They conquered much of Europe and Asia Minor and spread some of their knowledge before, "in one fateful day and night's misery", the entire island sank beneath the sea. The rumours include a story of violent volcanoes and earthquakes and vengeful Gods. Ever since then, the Lost Continent of Atlantis has been immortalized in the imaginative minds of sci-fi fans and archaeologists. From Jules Verne's 20000 Leagues Under The Sea to Steven Spielberg's Abyss, Atlantis is all over the literary and motion picture world.
Scarily real

In a crooked little town, they were lost and never found.
Pompeii was a small but quite busy port city in Southern Rome near Mount Vesuvius. A popular vacation spot, Pompeii was a lively place, with ocean view estates and what have you not. It was plagued by minor earthquakes just like today's California. But on August 24, 79AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted in a fury never before seen. Ironically, it was the day after a celebration of the Roman God of fire, Vulcan. For two days the angry mountain piled on the ash and the pumice stones, burying Pompeii and her sister city Herculaneum completely. When the dust settled, Pompeii was under 20m of ash and dust and the city was forgotten until it was rediscovered 1600 years later. It turned into a major discovery for archaeologists and historians since many of the objects inside the houses were preserved as they were. This included tables laid out for dinner, decorations, furniture and even people, providing us with a glimpse into life 2 millenia ago. There was even graffiti in street Latin.

This Hurricane's chasing us all underground
Most of you will remember Sidr; the 2007 Category 5 260km/h super cyclone was one of the most badass storms ever to hit the Bay of Bengal. But since we were well prepared, despite the loss in property, the number of deaths was considerably less than what it could have been. That was not the case with the 1970 Bhola cyclone.

Born from the loins of another storm coming from the South China Sea, this unnamed cyclone intensified from November 8 to November 11 finally making landfall on the evening of November 12 alongside the high tide. The anemometer [device to measure wind speed] at Chittagong registered 144km/h before it was blown off. A ship at port recorded 222km/h wind speed. The storm surge near the coast was 10m high. That's roughly the equivalent of a two storey building. The coastline was left in utter destruction with thirteen islands wiped out with no survivors. The airports at Chittagong and Cox's Bazaar were under 1m of water. Nearly half a million people are estimated to have died, making it the deadliest cyclone, in fact, one of the deadliest natural disaster ever on record.

When Krakatoa blew its top
Krakatoa is a small volcanic island in the Sunda strait which is in between Java and Sumatra. It is the site of the most explosive volcanic eruption in recorded history which took place in August 1883. Preceded by earthquakes and minor eruptions, the volcano reached paroxysmal stage [that's one step above cataclysmic for those who are curious] on August 26th. With a 27km high ash plume, the volcano rained ash and hot pumice upon nearby ships and islands. The explosions caused small tsunamis to the mainland. But the real fireworks started early on August 27th.

In four mighty explosions within 5 hours, two thirds of the island was blown out of the water. People 5000 kms away thought they heard cannon fire, while the eardrums of sailors in the Sunda straits were shot to hell. The shockwave travelled the globe 7 times before dying down. The plume rose to a height of 80kms. If you require a reference, the boundary between Earth's atmosphere and space is at 100kms above sea level. Rain of hot ash killed a 1000 people in Sumatra while the population of Sebesi, the nearest large island, was completely wiped out. Tsunamis up to 46m in length were reported, with ships as distant as South Africa facing the waves. Even a year after the eruption, skeletons on beds of pumice washed up on the shores of East Africa. Over 36000 people were officially declared dead.
Special Mentions

Santorini
With the most studied mega-colossal eruption [that's an actual term far above and beyond cataclysmic, used to signify the death star of volcanoes] 77000 years ago attributed to it's name, Lake Toba volcano certainly made good competition for this spot. With the record of spewing 2800 cubic kilometres of ash [as opposed to the 0.11 cubic kilometres coughed by the recent Icelandic volcano] which covered the subcontinent by an average 15cm of dusting and resulted in a 10 year volcanic winter and a millenial ice-age, not to mention the severe acid rain fallout and reduction of the, then semi-human, population to a mere 15000 people, Lake Toba makes all other disasters seem wussy. But in the end, Santorini won out, because of its near mythical effect on human civilization.

Santorini is a small circular ring of volcanic islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Much like Krakatoa, Santorini is also famed for being a caldera: a volcano where the surface landmass keeps collapsing underground and then refilled by the volcanic lava. But the eruption 3600 years ago is particularly special. You can imagine the “kabaam” from the description of Krakatoa above. In real life terms, Santorini is thought to be the cause of the destruction of the Minoan civilization of Crete. Apart from the rumoured 35-150m tsunami that hit Northern Crete, the ash cloud choked off the plant life in the region causing starvation of the Minoans. The Egyptians have no records of the eruption, giving some indication of the scale of the turmoil caused by this event. The Chinese, however, have a record of what seems to be a volcanic winter with “yellow fog, a dim sun, then three suns, frost in July, famine, and the withering of all five cereals”.

But what's really interesting is the fact that Santorini is thought to be the site of...*deep breath*...Atlantis. There was a Minoan settlement on the island going by the name Akrotiri. The Minoans were an awesomely clever race for their time, with engineering masterpieces such as 3-4 story earthquake resistant palaces, intricate air inflow and outflow systems and, best of all, flushable toilets [yes, you read that correctly]. And if the story of Theseus and the Minotaur is correct, they possessed genetic engineering as well. If that wasn't badass enough, their favourite sport was to run at a charging bull, grab it by the horns and vault over it. How cool is that?! Thought that's it? No-oh. The eruptions at Santorini are thought by some historians to have occurred around the same time as Moses led his Exodus. Remember the Ten Plagues of Egypt? Yeah, God may have acted through the volcano. And last, but definitely not the least, remember Moses parting the Red Sea? There is a lake/marsh north of Egypt called the “Reed Sea” and is supposed to have been mentioned in the Bible a few times. The collapse of the caldera at Santorini would've cause a series of tsunamis which may have alternately drained and flooded the region. We leave the rest of the deduction up to you.

Planet Killer
While we are at it, we thought we would just mention the asteroid that hit Earth in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and resulted in a worldwide cooling period that killed off the world's dinosaur population. Haha, T-rex, you loser! The rats inherited the Earth! Makes you wonder what the cockroaches would do if we snuffed it the same way.

By Dr Who and Kazim Ibn Sadique
Reference: Internet and personal fascination

'Ani' miscellaneous

By Kokoro-chan

CELEBRATING our nineteenth anniversary, this week we have a crazy package of mixed delights for you readers. Here's a list of anime capable of stirring multiple emotions inside the viewer. Because life itself is a mix of joy and sorrow, as has been our eighteen years side by side with you people.

Nostalgia
Chica Umino's 'Honey and Clover' has a very strange feeling about it. It has a lovely everyday storyline concerning friendship, beautiful music, characters you can easily relate to, comic moments that make you bend over with laughter and yet at the end of the day when the anime is over and you're staring at closing credits on the screen, you just can't help but feel a little… sad.

Love and War
This writer personally knows quite a few numbers of die-hard practical people, and 'Saikano: The Last Love Song On This Little Planet' made them cry like children. In this age of 'Commercialised Valentine's Day Mania', that is pretty much unique. See, love is actually beautiful, now just add a little tragedy of 'warfare' coupled with some really touchy music and you get a blast of emotional roller-coaster rides.

Of Conspiracy Theories and Life
The light novel version of 'Welcome to the N.H.K.' has been compared to J. D. Salinger's 'The Catcher in the Rye'- now that's enough reason for shuffling in your seats attentively. The anime has one of the most brilliant and realistic plots ever. An unemployed university dropout vents his frustrations on paranoid conspiracy theories and an introvert teenager helps him just because she wants to convince herself that someone needs her. The story that follows is insane, pointless, humorous, but most importantly, it's human. Kind of makes you wonder at the brilliance of its special 'black comedy' genre.

Enter Violence
When talking about emotions, you can't just leave out the most intriguing one since the beginning of mankind. 'Gantz' revolves around a freaky storyline involving a bunch of dead-yet-not-dead (no, they're not vampires) young people who are trapped in a deadly 'game' of hunting aliens. As psychotic and ridiculous as that sounds, any basic search about the 18+ anime title will land you with adjectives like 'rude', 'obnoxious', 'inappropriate', 'gory', 'violent', 'sadistic' and yet 'ADDICTIVE'.

How's that for creepy?
The Dark 'Arts' of Horror
Those of you think about bloody corpses and zombies brandishing kitchen-knives followed by blood-curdling screams at the very mention of the word 'horror'- 'Pet Shop of Horrors' is nothing of that sort, sorry to disappoint you. And yet it's creepy, in a very different sense. The anime has only 4 OVA episodes and must I mention, 4 really interesting episodes. The Pet-shop in question belongs to the enigmatic Count D and deals in selling of exotic species of um, 'unusual' animals. The animals come with specific contract terms, breaching of which leads to fatal consequences. The 4 episodes are taken from various chapters of the elaborate manga and cover mystical elements like paper tigers, crazy man-eating rabbits, wicked mermaids, 'Medusa' lizards and the mythical creature 'Kirin'. The story-telling is twisted (as is the Count's appearance) and is bound to give you the creeps, in a subtle way.

Blissful Vengeance
'Jigoku Shoujo: Girl from Hell' episodes are brilliant because each tells a different story, although they have more or less the same ending. A suffering person's plights are portrayed which eventually lead to grudge and raging vengeance, to the point it becomes almost intolerable even for the viewer. Finally, the sufferer calls upon the 'Hell-girl' and requests for the offender/s to be sent to hell for eternal punishment. There is a weird sense of enjoyment in watching the sufferers struggle with the dilemma of whether they should contact the 'Hell-girl' or not (because the client also goes to hell as a price of hatred), and a greater and even weirder sense of enjoyment in watching the offender/s finally get what they deserve. Yes vengeance can be like that, maddening and all consuming yet sweet upon fulfilment, with occasional bitter twinges of self-sacrifice here and there.

(Factual source: Wikipedia, ANN)

Back then

THERE's always a score of things to remind one of childhood in Dhaka- it could be comics, video games, toys, that little cramped store in elephant road that sold G.I. Joes, movies, the familiar man outside the school gates with his secret jhal muri recipe. But I think the biggest memory that can truly represent any given aspect of a person's childhood are of the cartoons that person grew up with.

I still distinctly remember the first day I discovered Cartoon Network- before that cartoons were only a Saturday morning affair. But now, whenever I cared to switch the channel over to it, I could watch cartoons! Back then Cartoon Network 'ended' for the day at evening time: it was pretty much like the sun. But during this span of time lay some of the best memories of any of our childhoods.

It's only natural that those cartoons no longer exist; we don't understand the cartoons that exist today like our parents didn't understand the cartoons that existed then. So this article, which incidentally is NOT a review, is dedicated to all the nostalgic old-timers out there. Take a moment, and then let us plunge head on to the five most culturally relevant cartoons of the previous decade (not most popular; not the best; the ones that made the strongest impacts).

The Huckleberry Hound Show: with faint memories of a sky-blue dog singing “Oh my darling Clementine”, one wouldn't imagine how big a cultural icon the Huckleberry Hound really is. The Huckleberry Hound was one of the first cartoons on TV, and a big reason why several other cartoons were made solely for TV. The show included three segments: one featuring Huckleberry Hound, another featuring Yogi Bear and his sidekick Boo Boo and the last featuring Pixie and Dixie, two mice who tried to find a new way to outwit the cat Mr. Jinks. Eventually, the success of Yogi Bear prompted him having his own show. Yogi Bear was a staple of Hanna-Barbera innovationthe addition of his collar meant that for a 7 minute segment, instead of 12,000 drawings, they could only make 2,000 as they wouldn't have to re-draw the neck-below.

The Herculoids: the Herculoids, often helped by interstellar cop Space Ghost, battled to defend their planet Quasar from villains both from home and from Outer Space. All of the Herculoids displayed Human-level intelligence, while Zandor and Tarra displayed a working knowledge of complex alien technologies as well as the ability to pilot interstellar spacecraft. It never mattered to anyone back then that these futuristic heroes flying spacecrafts and battling against high-tech weapons were in fact wearing pre-historic garments, and wielding pre-historic weapons; but that's just how awesome they were.

Johnny Quest: Johnny Quest, about a boy who accompanies his father on extraordinary adventures, was undoubtedly one of the darkest, grimiest shows to ever feature on Cartoon Network. For the first time ever a cartoon show featured realistic violence, adding suspense and impact to the show; it wasn't a cat getting squished by a falling anvil or a mouse leaving mouse shaped dents on a golf club after being repeatedly hit by it. The series was said to have been inspired by the James Bond film Dr. No, and its visual style was new for its time, combining a realistic depiction of human figures and objects. The series made heavy use of rich music scores, cinematic off-screen impacts with sound effects, reaction shots, cutaways and scene to scene dissolves. In whatever way we won't know unless we study into it, Johnny Quest changed what cartoons could do for good.

The Smurfs: for a show like The Smurfs, with its more than obvious positive reinforcements of communist ideals, to be such a success exemplifies the power of cartoons. Or maybe it just shows how awesome communism is. Either way, The Smurfs is one cartoon that kids from today like too. It is based on the Belgian comic series The Smurfs, created by Peyo; the show aired for 256 episodes, with a total of 421 stories. The Smurfs, clearly one of the most successful cartoon series of all time was nominated multiple times for Daytime Emmy awards, and won Outstanding Children's Entertainment Series in 19821983. The Smurfs television show enjoyed a decade of success after which it got cancelled, to many people's dismay.

Space Ghost: Space Ghost is a badass interstellar cop, with a home base on the Ghost Planet. He is equipped with a badass inviso-button on his belt, which renders him invisible while also protecting him from harm with an invisible energy field. He sports badass power bands on his wrists capable of emitting a variety of rays which can freeze, fry, shock, or just plain blast the fools who thought they could take Space Ghost on. Space Ghost can both fly and (with some effort) teleport, but his usual method of getting around is in his badass space ship, The Phantom Cruiser. His companions in adventure include Jan and Jace, and Blip the Monkey. Space Ghost saves the universe before breakfast, helps his friends the Herculoids, makes regular appearances on comic books and still has time to host a talk show- Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. On his show he can be found with his enemies, chatting with newsmakers, celebrities, and other fascinating beings.*

There will of course be some outrage about the exclusion of legends such as The Flintstones and Jetsons and Scooby Doo. But they have no place in a nostalgic article, they've been celebrated and remembered so often through various remakes, adaptations, and anything else one can think of. This article, even though it is based on personal preferences and prejudices, is about cartoon shows that didn't make the new millennium in any visible way. You can email your thoughts to RS, or leave comments on the facebook page.

*This part of the article is in the present tense completely due to the writer's personal reasons.

By Ahsan Sajid