Jisu Sheen Photos
Milk, then cereal; Flores Zaldívar disagrees with the kids these days.
At the “Bad Cereal & Cartoons” event at Best Video Saturday morning, the Looney Tunes characters getting into television mischief might have seemed to be for the kids’ benefit. There were certainly many sets of young eyes up front enchanted by Tweety Bird, Tom, and Jerry, while adults hung back and chatted over iced lattes at their tables.
A closer look revealed that several of the older attendees were enjoying the on-screen high-jinks, too, perhaps just as much as the children. Some even had bowls of Lucky Charms and milk next to their grown-up drinks.
“It’s always a struggle to find something to do on a rainy Saturday morning,” attendee William Oxford said. Parks get soggy, and family-friendly activities don’t always offer a chance to get out of the house. Best Video came to the rescue, giving Oxford, in his words, a “warm, safe place to eat unhealthy cereal” with his family.
Perfect serving-size packets of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Corn Pops, and Lucky Charms nestled up among Pop-Tarts and a large glass pitcher of milk by the TV screen. “When they said ‘bad cereal,’ I thought they were going to have off-brand shit,” said Bessie Flores Zaldívar, one of the grown-ups in attendance. “This is … good cereal.”
Best Video's extensive cereal selection.
The cereal might have been advertised as “bad,” but Best Video regulars knew the cartoon selection would hit nostalgic gold.
“We had the best cartoons in the ‘90s,” Valerie Cardona said, holding her small child as Scooby Doo played in the background. In Cardona’s telling, older cartoons had a higher standard of originality, with more plot and fewer rules. There were even wrinkles and stubble on a few favorites from the Mystery Machine gang.
“You don’t see that anymore,” Cardona said.
Tweety Bird and Sylvester the Cat, in a gentleman's disagreement.
Cardona is navigating a more polished, regulated, stubble-free television landscape for her child. “I was raised on TV. He’s capped at 30 minutes,” Cardona noted. Storylines are smoother these days, putting more on parents’ plates when it comes to harsh realities. Cardona tried to introduce her kid to Disney’s 1950 classic Cinderella, but he “freaked out” at Lucifer, Cinderella’s stepmom’s conniving cat. “He’s just not ready for the concept of evil yet,” Cardona said. She looked toward the ‘90s cartoon violence on screen at Best Video, concluding that this was her gentle way of introducing the concept.
Selma, 2, preparing her review of the morning's event.
Kara Menta, one of Saturday morning’s attendees, noted coffee as a compelling reason to come to Best Video with her children. She could get her morning brew while the kids let out their energy, ran around, and made friends. Even her little baby liked coming along to Best Video, the perfect spot for a tiny person to chill and people-watch.
The kids in the room had their own opinions on what attendee Heidi Torsen called the “hip place for toddlers to hang out,” and they were eager to share their two cents with the New Haven Independent’s readership. Here are some shouts from those bright young minds:
Best cereal?
“Cheerios.” — Selma, age 2
“Cinnamon Toast Crunch.” — Peri, age 4
“I have three. Lucky Charms, Golden Grahams, and Trix.” — Gia, age 5
Funniest cartoon character?
“Bugs Bunny.” — Selma
“Sheriff Callie [from Sheriff Callie’s Wild West].” — Peri
“The new one in Powerpuff Girls.” — Gia, referring to Blisstina, the surprise teenage Powerpuff Girl introduced in 2017
Milk, then cereal? Or cereal, then milk?
“Cereal first.” — Peri
“No milk.” — Gia, who likes her cereal dry, milk on the side. But “would do milk first,” if she were a different kind of person
Should adults watch more cartoons?
“Yes.” — Peri
“Yes.” — Gia
Any important takeaways from the morning’s event?
“I have shoes!” — Selma. “They’re brown.”
“Can everyone be quiet so I can listen?” — Anonymous kid from the front seats.
The audience half-complied, though the TV volume was set so low it wasn’t audible anyway. The lack of sound was fine; for these kinds of cartoons, the stories could all be told in visuals alone. In place of slapstick bangs and crashes, the soundscape at Best Video held lively chatter, banter, and mechanical whirs from drink orders.
Rai Bruton, Best Video’s executive director, said she was grateful to see so many people in attendance. She said Best Video is “definitely going to do more of these,” aiming to hold family events like this one once a month. Space to run around and scream a little, entertainment from a bygone era, and sugary slurps of the cereal world’s heavy hitters — all in all, not a bad way to start the weekend.
Low milk level = successful event.
