Story by Hubert VigillaTempo Contributor

Spike and Mike’s Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation is anannual collection of subversive and tasteless cartoons that havedelighted subversive and tasteless audiences since 1990.

The Sick and Twisted Festival was an outgrowth of Spike and Mike’sFestival of Classical Animation, the equivalent of a sophisticatedolder brother. The sick and twisted sibling has had the distinctionof debuting the original “Beavis and Butthead” shorts, the “No NeckJoe” shorts from “Powerpuff Girls” creator Craig McCracken, and twodifferent versions of Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s “South Park” short”The Spirit of Christmas.”

I have attended only two of these festivals in my life, yet bothhave been enjoyable and memorable enough to make this an annualritual from now on.

At a festival like Spike and Mike’s, I find myself surrounded bypeople with similar tastes and warped senses of humor. I equate it tobeing at a comic book convention or a meeting of the Dungeons andDragons club at high school. Here I can eat popcorn with artificialbutter topping while openly discussing the virtues of “Johnny theHomicidal Maniac” and H.G. Lewis with others. It’s the way I envisionheaven.

This year’s show was weaker in comparison to the previous one Iwent to. The film “Rick and Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple in All theWorld” lagged after a funny opening (jerky stop motion animation ofLegos can hold one’s interest for only so long.)

“Coco,the Junkie Pimp 2” suffered from the same thing that “Rick and Steve”did. The promising concept, a happy looking clown marionette as ajunkie pimp, never reaches its fullest potential, instead resortingto dull profane dialogue and a multitude of “Empire Strikes Back”references.

Some of the other shorts were just cannon fodder not worthmentioning. There were, however, some notable films that made thefestival worth attending. The following are this year’s highlights:

‘Rejected’:

Acclaimed animator Don Hertzfeldt recently received the Gold Hugoaward from the Chicago International Film Festival for this film.”Rejected” is a fictional showcase of rejected ads that Hertzfeldtanimated for different companies and networks. Each ad, which hasnothing to do with the product or network in question, depictsHertzfeldt’s trademark stick figure characters doing things that areeither comically surreal or childishly idiotic. Hertzfeldt animatedthe film before having recorded, or at times written, any of thedialogue.

‘For the Birds’:

This film was animated by the geniuses at PIXAR Studios, who arebest known for the “Toy Story” movies and “A Bug’s Life.” It is thesimple story about a bunch of pudgy blue birds jockeying for positionon a phone line. Not sick and twisted by any means, this seems morereminiscent of something that would play at the Classical Animationfestival.

‘Angry Kid’:

“Angry Kid” is a series of shorts from the good people of AardmanAnimation, who were responsible for the classic “Wallace and Grommit”films and this summer’s “Chicken Run.” “Angry Kid” displays theexploits of an obnoxious British boy with a big claymation head,bulging eyes, a massive mouth and goofy red hair.

‘Ghost of Stephen Foster’:

This animated Squirrel Nut Zippers video reminds me of the old,black-and-white Betty Boop, Buddy and Bosco cartoons that infiltratedmy youth through syndicated television. The movements of thecharacters and objects keep in time to the beat of the music as ayoung couple rushes through a haunted house.

‘Wheelchair Rebecca’:

Centered around the Barbie-like doll called Wheelchair Rebecca,this stop-motion film illustrates the graphic stories a mother tellsher daughter in order to explain how Rebecca got into her wheelchair.The best part is watching the daughter’s increasingly shocked face aseach story, more graphic than the next, is told. Seeing a Barbie dollinvolved in rough sex, junkie suicide and a probing alien abductionmake this one a guilty pleasure.

‘Sloache’s Fun House’:

This film has been shown at both festivals I’ve been to. It isutterly repulsive. Words cannot justly describe the nauseatingexperience. “Sloache’s Fun House” is a filthy claymation voyeur sexshow featuring pre-operative transsexuals, facials, feces and a nakedfat guy eating a pizza swarming with cockroaches. The best part aboutwatching it in a big group is hearing the obvious disgust of theaudience. It has been aptly dubbed by Spike as “The Sickest FilmEver.”

For big fans of bad taste, Spike and Mike’s is a fun way to killoff an evening. The festival is currently showing at the Museum ofContemporary Art in La Jolla with Friday and Saturday night showsrunning until November. For more information, call (858) 454-0267 or(858) 459-8707.