After the brouhaha that surrounded the New Yorker's cover of Barack and Michelle Obama, pundits and journalists alike said that Barack Obama, perhaps unfairly, was nearly impossibly to turn into a caricature or a political cartoon without negative consequences. A quick google image search of "Obama caricatures" and "Obama cartoons" proves otherwise.

They have names like "Jungle Jitters," "Coal Black and the Sebben Dwarves," and "All This and Rabbit Stew (see left)," and feature cartoon images of blacks that would get an animator at the Disney Channel fired before you could say "Sambo" if he or she tried to produce them now. But these Warner Bros. shorts were made in the 30s and 40s and a part of a group of cartoons dubbed the Censored 11. None of us are supposed to be able to see them (hence, the Censored 11). Yet, many of them can be found on YouTube. What gives?

According to the New York Times, reps from Warner Bros. are sending out cease and desists as fast as they can, but it's really hard to keep a video off of the internet once it's already gone up. Does it matter, though? How harmful are these old, racist images in a modern world?

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At work yesterday, the coworkers and I were debating the merits of the recently debuted Macbook Air. As bloggers, we were pretty damned excited about it, despite its drawbacks. Speaking for myself — I'm highly susceptible to Apple's marketing. Knowing is half the battle. Anyway, Inspector Gadget came up in the course of the conversation, and I haven't been able to get the damn theme song out of my head since. And, well, I wanted to share the pain with my lovely readers. Go gadget go!

A few months ago, I gave you a clip of Kid 'N Play and a miniature Raven Symone introducing Gravedale High on Saturday morning cartoons. Today, I give you the opening of Kid 'N Play's infamous (and, in hindsight, poorly animated) show. In a few more months, I will likely bring you the dance-off from House Party. See how this works?

As for this clip, there is something about the fashion of the early '90s translated into animation form that makes it look even more ridiculous than it actually was. And it actually was very ridiculous.

Watching all of those Soulja Boy cartoon mash-ups on YouTube yesterday — great procrastination fodder, but I think I'll die if I hear that song again — had me feening for some animation that wasn't set to music that hurts my ears after the fourth consecutive listen. Hence Fat Alber, brought to you by a young, fit, and not-grumpy Bill Cosby.

In this 1990(-ish) promo that aired during Saturday morning cartoons, Kid 'N Play, who had their own animated series based on their classic House Party, tried their hardest to keep up with the acting skills of a miniature Raven Symone. They failed miserably.

Also, remember Gravedale High? And who out there had a crush on Play? I'm willing to admit it.