Wow, I've been hit by a wave of nostalgia lately.

I by chance found a clip of "The Brave Little Toaster" on Youtube a couple weeks ago, and since then have been watching a bunch of old 90's animated movies. And I realized how much I loved them as a kid.

No, I'm not going to go on a rant about how all modern movies suck, or how 2-D is better than 3-D, or anything like that, but it just struck me how much I loved those old cartoons when I was young. Since my parents never let me get a game console (not even a Gameboy) and I was limited to broadcast TV, I watched a lot of movies as a kid. "The Brave Little Toaster," Disney's "Robin Hood," "The Lion King," "Cats Don't Dance," Disney's "Hercules," "All Dogs Go to Heaven," "An American Tale," (Tail?) "The Land Before Time," I can't count the number of times I watched them growing up.

It also reminded me how much I miss being a kid. Don't get me wrong, being in college and 20 years old is great, but there's that innocence that came with being 12 and under that I miss. I grew up in the ninties, and in my mind, it felt...better than now. There just didn't seem to be as much evil in the world when I was young. But then I look back and see how much I was sheltered. I never heard about Monica Lewinsky or the '93 bombing or even the Persian Gulf War until I was at least ten.

But back to the movies, looking back at them, I really see how much they, among other things, helped define who I am. Most of the cartoons and animated movies from the ninties featured talking animals. My favorite book series' were "Redwall" and "The Chronicles of Narnia." I grew up on a farm, with lots of animals around. Notice a pattern? I believe that the reason I call myself a furry today is because I've been around them all my life. I even remember when my brother and I would play pretend, we were always these genetically altered animal hybrids on an uncharted island where the landscape was made of food (I'm dead serious).

Anyway, if you haven't watched a good animated movie lately, I suggest you do so. There's something refreshing about the simple style and storytelling, in contrast to all the havoc in out world.