anime for the anime n00b?

Absolutely nothing to do for the next 3 weeks, so I've decided for the first time ever to delve into the world of anime.
What's really popular out there?
What are your favorites?
How would I go about watching these animes?
P.S. erotic content is fine (appreciated =D) but only as long as it doesnt take precedence over the plot, so dont give me hentai please.

Naruto= My favorite. (THE FUCKING FILLERS NEED TO END) The dubbed version is horrible, but the real subbed anime is great. There are about 60 episodes of fillers, but about the first 110 or so episodes are filler-free except for 1 or 2 in between. (for those of you who dont know, fillers are really shitty episodes that jump off the storyline for purposes that you dont speed up to the manga too fast.) I recommend this anime. You can watch this, and other animes, on youtube, just by searching "naruto episode #", or you can torrent.