Ballom Nom Nom

But I've seen a purple giraffe with horns! It's right here!

~B~

Stop Poutine

Stop Poutine

Tales of the Abyss is on the 3DS. Admittedly, it's a little hard to track down a copy of it, but it's a great JRPG. Tales of Symphonia and its sequel are also for the Ganecube and Wii respectively, if I recall correctly.

~B~

And Then Depression Set In

I vote for And Then Depression Set In.

~B~

Hey, what happened to my suggestion?

~B~
 

hated it

tossed it

forget about it

(haha jk i just missed it somehow. it's up there now) -E

And Then Depression Set In

~B~

 

 

Yes, but if the world is meaningless and you are meaningless, your actions are as meaningless as everything else is. Meaninglessness sucks. That means you are worthless and have no hope.

No. No it doesn't. The idea is that the world, as it stands, is meaningless. That does not prevent anyone from making meaning.

 

You can't make meaning out of meaninglessness, Ballom. You can't make something out of something that is opposite of it, without introducing something else. You can't make truth out of lies.

 

Also, if there is no meaning, there is no truth. Now is that sentence true? Is any of this true?

 

For the record, I reject that premise outright anyway. It basically goes back to the "only the spiritual world exists and has meaning/universe is a projection" premise, thereby the physical world does not, and you can make meaning out of it because it's your projection. Unfortunately for everyone, the physical world does have relevance - no amount of projection will make you well enough to go to school if you're sick, and if I hit you with a sledgehammer to the back of the head, you will still be very dead. The physical world DOES have meaning - if only the physical operations of your fingers on those keys that allow you to type this.

 

 

 

In conclusion, I find it annoying that schools, through these books, are teaching students that their life is worthless and not worth living, pretty much.

I somehow missed this on my first scan of the blog entry. Just because a work is taught doesn't mean the views reflected in it are endorsed. As part of an education is introducing varying viewpoints, there is no tacit endorsement of themes of a work just because it's taught.

 

~B~

 

A work, sure, but when multiple Works of Great Literature endorse such themes, that counts as an endorsement of negative and depressing points of view in a work.

 

Also, I would argue that varying viewpoints are not served. If positive and uplifting works were presented alongside such dour and depressing ones, a variety of viewpoints would be served. But there is no variety among these when the only thing to get out of them is this: "Life sucks and then you die."

 

And then, if the true point of literature is some philosophical point, the only thing that should matter is having the correct viewpoint, as opposed to all the wrong ones, and getting everyone to agree (nobody does). Instead, literature class throws looking for truth and real answers out the window under the "we have to 'expand your horizons with varying perspectives'" excuse. And then they contradict themselves by expecting you to exposit the real truth in your essay. Except for the real truth that the work is wrong, boring, meaningless, and depressing.

 

The point of works of fiction is to entertain anyway and escape from real life. Anyone who is looking for meaning ought to do themselves a favor and look at real life instead of turning to fiction in order to find truth. (While authors can choose to take themes from real life and put in their fiction, this is not the case here because the authors paint real life as worse than it actually is.)

 

Interesting points, though, Ballom. Do you actually think this argument is valid, or are you just going along to defend the educational system?

 

~B~

You dislike the free aiming? O.o But that's a major part of why the trilogy compilation is amazing!

~B~

 

But another person could decide that in a meaningless and uncaring universe a person can give meaning to their life through their actions, and then they can have a great life, which has been made worth living, with that mindset! That's what Camus was about. See: The Plague, The Myth of Sisyphus.

 

~B~

Yes, but if the world is meaningless and you are meaningless, your actions are as meaningless as everything else is. Meaninglessness sucks. That means you are worthless and have no hope.

 

Don't categorically reject ideas with oversimplified arguments. You just said you like characters who use logic, and oversimplification isn't.

In conclusion, I find it annoying that schools, through these books, are teaching students that their life is worthless and not worth living, pretty much.

~B~

For reference, existentialism is "Life sucks and then you die."

~B~

I actually wondered if this would happen when I saw you listed as the source for that news item. Congrats!

Now you just need to use that old banner in your sig about being a OBZPC newb.

~B~

People have done pretty thorough testing from what I've heard, and she's been found to be exactly as fast as him. She's a complete clone other than the tip mechanic. And it's not always hitting with tippers, but being able to do them frequently adds up. When I had been playing Brawl daily I could consistently get fair tippers, which is one of his best moves.

Not only the damage matters too, as more knockback lets Marth kill earlier. One lucky tipper for an early KO means a lot.

~B~

Well, Marth is better in every way if you can consistently get tipper hits.

~B~

Also the ability to do quick name changes. That's a nice perk, as you aren't stuck with something for 90 days.

But yeah, I find that I don't use the Premier perks all that often either. Although I like the pretty rank images!

~B~

I actually read the rest of your stories I hadn't yet read recently, including Fractures, so I'd be interested in taking the time to read the sequel.

The Shadow and the Sea was absolutely phenomenal, by the way. I loved that story.

~B~

Lati@s... I see what you did there...

~B~

Maybe this hypothetical robot got an eye gouged out in the explosion after Makuta got his mask knocked off.

~B~

Ugh. Not everything you mentioned was terrible in the original (a good deal though), but I dearly hope those things are not brought back in any way, shape, or form.

~B~

I've not played the new game (waiting for Wii U), but even in Brawl Falco and Fox were very different (and Falco was way better ). Even though some folks aren't a fan of them, I would much rather have extra characters with similar overall movesets with slight tweaks than fewer characters. Marth and Lucina would be a bit less excusable, but as Marth is my favorite character I'm baised toward ignoring that. As for Ganon and Falcon, I overall like the moves much better on Ganon, with the shadow element and all, and think of they're decloned Falcon should get the new moveset. He can keep his awesome KNEE OF JUSTICE though.

~B~

This opinion makes you wrong and a terrible person and I will now prove this in a thousand word monologue.

Also the new designs are lazy and uninspired and living ice cream cones are terrible.

~B~

And there was much rejoicing.

~B~

Yeah, who'd have thought we'd get Hero Factory spinnies?

Amazing times these are.

~B~

Heeey, you're back! I saw you posting in the forums yesterday, and was wondering if you'd make a blog entry about it. Good to have you back.

~B~