Barney vs. Clifford

My friend Mike at Clanlally has set me off. I think he does this for his own amusement, but why should he be the only one to benefit? There is at least one other person out there who enjoys watching me get crazy (DH) and there may be others.

As an intitial matter, Mike keeps referring to me as Sparky, even though I've started using my name in an effort to gain a peaceful, spiritual equilibrium. Apparently, he thinks I'm fronting and that he can just poke, poke, poke and get old Sparky back.

He has suggested to me that Clifford is on par with Barney. He finds Barney too cutesy, but thinks Clifford is cute but not cutesy. Hmmmm....I wrote to him:

Barney is somehow more real to me -- perhaps because they make it clear that he is a product of the children's imagination and he always returns to being a doll at the end. Clifford is totally unreal and is far more sacchrin than Barney. Clifford is ever-patient with his annoying, snobby friends (okay, Christ-like, even). I actually don't like Clifford. And this whole terrifying notion that your dog could make you leave your home and friends and force you to move to an island where he is dangerous to the environment (ground shaking when he walks, indigenous plants destroyed beneath his feet). No, Mike, everything it NOT all right on Birdwell Island.
I think I may post this rant, its more amusing than most of the stuff on my blog.

By the way, Clifford is dead (rest in peace John Ritter).

Oh no, am I back to the same fundy stance I took with Christianity a year ago? I can only see the virtues of Barney while closing myself to the possibilities of Clifford? Perhaps Barney and Clifford are brothers.