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Have you not seen any of the other Cracked lists? They're always multipage and they're not just lists, they're mini-essays. They vary in quality but are sometimes fun and often surprisingly well expressed.
Of course, no one is suggesting you read anything you don't want to read. If the clicking burden is too great, there are many other blogs to check out.
Double flashback... just seeing the "Highlights" logo took me back to my childhood, circa 1972. Seeing a first comment complaining about web formatting took me back to Metafilter, circa 1997.
The word-search one also made me laugh very very hard, which I *never* would have done when I was 12 -- those kind of jokes just made me upset and nervous. Could it be that when I was 12 I was only about 6, and now, at 47, I'm finally 12??
Highlights makes me shiver. The only time I ever read it as a kid was at the doctor or dentist's office. All it means to me is "trying to ignore fear".
Highlights taught me that fiction that was well-written could still be sterile. In fourth grade I deconstructed a half dozen of their stories to see why they didn't work. Weekly Reader was a little better.
Goofus and Gallant really taught kids that, try as they might to be like Gallant, there was a part of them that was like Goofus lurking beneath that they must disown/project on others. In the end they fail at this and hate themselves.
Weekly Reader was pretty cool. But nothing topped National Geographic World. I loved that shit. Every now and then I search the web hoping someone has made an online archive of it so I can post to MeFi...so far, no such luck.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
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