Books: The Witchcraft of Salem Village

Salem, Massachusetts has really leaned into its historical association with the witch trials, so much so that almost every business in the downtown area caters to tourists looking for kitschy, witchy souvenirs (my understanding is that the place is absolutely bustling during the Halloween season).

After my friends and I digested about a dozen witch and goth-related shops, though, I felt it was time to learn some of the real history behind the tragic trials that led to the execution of 19 people (with more dying in prison or rendered paupers in the end). There are a lot of accounts of the trials, some scholarly and some less so, but a good middle ground is The Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson, author of The Haunting of Hill House.

The book is written for kids, so Jackson relates the events like a sad fable.  In her telling, the hysteria was caused by the lies of children, the pride and paranoia of adults, and the rigid doctrines of the Puritan faith.  There was also an absence of the basic tenets of the American justice system, such as the presumption of innocence and the confrontation of witnesses. My hope is that as long as we follow those procedural safeguards, nothing like the Salem witch trials could ever happen again.

Miscellany: Buying Pepper Spray in Massachusetts

As a lifelong Floridian, I am sometimes taken aback by the strange weapon restrictions that other parts of the country live under. When my friends and I traveled to Massachusetts, for instance, I knew that carrying a gun was out of the question, but I also learned that even pepper spray is hard to come by.  

You see, under Massachusetts law, you need a permit to buy pepper spray if you're under 18, and only an FFL can sell it.  The practical upshot is that unlike Palm Beach County, where pepper spray is available at retailers like Walmart and Target, I had to travel a solid half hour out of Boston to buy it.  Thankfully, the folks at J&J Arms had a whole rack full of POM canisters, so I was all set:

Tech: Star Fox (2026 remake)

I've written before about how the original Star Fox was one of my favorite SNES games, but the N64 installment (unimaginatively titled Star Fox 64) was great, too.  While it largely retold/rebooted the story of the first game, it introduced both the "Rumble Pak" force-feedback accessory and a surprisingly fun 4-player split-screen competitive multiplayer mode.  Since Star Fox 64, though, the series has been in a bit of a rut, bouncing between so-so sequels, spinoffs (anyone remember Star Fox Adventures?), and re-releases/remakes of the N64 game. 

Well, buckle up, Star Fox fans - they've remade Star Fox 64 again for the Nintendo Switch 2:

As far as remakes go, developer Velan Studios did a fantastic job, faithfully preserving the gameplay and level layouts of the 1997 classic, but totally re-doing the graphics and sound to the levels of a modern game. While you lose some of the now-classic cheesy voice-acting that the original had, you gain an amazing graphical overhaul that sometimes drastically changes the look and feel of a level, almost always for the better (the first level, for instance, depicts a war-torn city much better than the antiseptic, LEGO-like polygons of the N64 version).

Disappointingly, however, with the exception of the multiplayer maps, this is the exact same game you played almost 30 years ago, and it would've been nice to have some new levels and enemies to go along with the fresh coat of paint.  There's a very small amount of replay value in the form of special challenges that unlock entries for the in-game encyclopedia (in addition to the original game's medals and Expert Mode difficulty), but here's hoping Nintendo gives Velan Studios a crack at a true sequel.

Rating: 84/100

Sports: The Forever World Cup

A once-in-a-lifetime confluence of events has conspired to make this World Cup feel both ever-present and endless.  Of course, the U.S. is hosting this edition along with Mexico and Canada, but this summer is also America's 250th birthday and also the first time the qualifying field has been enlarged from 32 teams to 48 teams.

Practically speaking, that means there has been daily, wall-to-wall World Cup soccer for almost a month, with at least three matches televised a day.  If you have even a passing interest in association football, there have already been moments of high drama (underdog Cape Verde moving on to the knockout stages), shocking upsets (Germany bowed out after the group stage on penalties), and, in perhaps an effort to appease American tastes, a whole lot of goal scoring. The U.S. is scheduled to take on Bosnia and Herzegovina tonight in prime time, and time will tell whether this is the start of a generational run for the USMNT, or simply another disappointing early exit.