This Book of Essays Was A Bad Purchase

I regret buying this set of essays by Herbert Kohl called "Should We Burn Babar."  Kohl has, in his introduction, reached the following conclusions:

1. Taking a bunch of books and burying them in a dump because he thought they were offensive was a reasonable, laudable act.

2. That, unless under the wise and careful care of an elder, wise progressive like himself, certain books (like Babar!) just should not be available in libraries because they are Dangerous.

That's possibly the most paternalistic thing I've read, and Kohl is an alleged progressive!

The worst part is that he probably doesn't even REALIZE how patronizing it is. Near the end of his introduction, he goes on about how noble and right it was to bury books about Columbus. Yet, despite deciding "Some books are so offensive to me, I should bury them," he feels, despite a South African teacher discussing how offensive Babar is to him and his students, Kohl's belief in his ability to "properly" teach the book trumps the teacher's dislike of the book.

And I'm only on the introduction! I don't know how I'll make it through this sneering mess of a book. I was ready for an imperialist reading of children's stories, and how the Rich Lady is really a colonial take over of indigenous elephants. I was PREPARED FOR THAT SILLINESS. I was mentally prepared for something like "Power Dynamics and Gender Politics in the Boxcar Children," which is not a real essay, but I bet some one could get a PhD writing it. I was not ready for "Some books are dangerous without Smart People to Talk to You About What They Really Mean."

I plan to see the rest of the book through, but it did not have an auspicious start.

Final Fantasy 1: Complete

 Between down time in Delaware and the train up, I've completed reading Redshirts and finished FF1. Tomorrow/later today, I'll be starting up on FF2. This is one I don't even think I started. But first, let's reflect on what we've learned from FF1. Why the delay? NaNoWriMo has done a number on my pushing through Final Fantasy.

First, the game did not age well, even with a graphics update. The dungeons start off incredibly harsh, but by late game, you can trivialize them all with usable equipment. The only resets I was forced to make were in the ice caves in random encounters against multiple dark wizards who spammed Fire 2. The actual figuring things out part was fun, but I wonder if anyone who didn't have the where-with-all to talk to everyone would be able to do it. I finished the game, on Normal, at average party level 31. A bit high, but there were too many encounters that, even with a thief, attempting to flee ended up costing too many resources if we failed.

For when it came out, the game was innovative, fun, and it gave people a chance to dabble in party creation and minor customization. The amount of character customization is going to go up (then ratchet back down later in the series), but for an NES-era game, the initial four-man choice gives it some potential. There was a time when the purist in me would want to suggest people start with FF1 for learning the series; that part of me died when I realized that, while I liked the novel challenge of managing resources and juggling potions and antidote supplies, most players will not.

Oh well, let's see what FF2 brings. Oh? Red Shirts? I approve (even if at some points it is written in present tense.)



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P.S.,

Hopefully everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! Now that the festivities are over, if you plan on going out into the wild during Black Friday, have fun. If you can. It just seems unnecessarily hectic and crowded. Two things I do not like.

Literature to Movie Comparison

Here is an important lesson for movies.