Hamilton

Taiso

Remembers The North,
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It's really gotten me into U.S. history and the founding fathers.

It was a good springboard to start reading more exhaustive material about Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Franklin, Madison and all the rest.

I've decided to scale Gen Con back to a weekend affair because the wife and I want to go see some American historical sites next year:

New York
Boston
Philadelphia
Washington D.C.
Virginia (especially Mount Vernon and Monticello)

I also want to go to Cross Plains, TX because that is where Robert E. Howard's house is, and it's been converted into a museum commemorating his works. He is my favorite author of all time, so it's kind of a pilgrimage for me.

And maybe in the near future, England, France and Japan (because Japan.)

Anybody else ever give this a listen or independently find themselves fascinated by U.S. History?

Weird post, I know. I find it odd that at these politically hypersensitive times in the U.S. sociopolitical spheree, I'm looking back at where it all started and what it was like when these people were, literally, risking everything to forge a nation.
 
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ggallegos1

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Hamilton was a spectacular surprise, I heard it in a friend's car and was intrigued. I'd love to go see the show but tickets are holding at around $450 each for decent seats
 

LoneSage

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Odd coincidence, I was reading about Aaron Burr yesterday for no particular reason, I think I got caught in a wiki hole. I've never seen Hamilton.

D.C. is compact and you can walk to just about everywhere (it'll take a whole day but it can be done), and the subway (which is more confusing than it has any right to be - really need to update their ticket machines) takes care of everything else (everything else being Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon). But Arlington National Cemetery is the highlight, imo. The changing of the guard ceremony that happens every half hour is world-class, S-CLASS professionalism even. It's incredible that they do that 24/7, 365 days a year. Just one thing that caught me off-guard was the heat and humidity, it's on par with southeast Asia. No idea how dudes in suits don't melt in summer.

Boston and that whole area in Massachusetts (shout out to the massholes) is really great. I highly recommend the the Minute Man National Park, which has knowledgeable guides that take you for a short walk from where the British were marching. There are also some homes from the late 1700s still up you can walk around in. The best part though is the spot where Revere's midnight ride ended when he was arrested. A simple "Dawes - Revere - Prescott, 1:30AM, April 19, 1775". Chills! I never cared much about the northeast when I was younger but I had a really, really good time there. And if you want to take trips to Walden Pond and Salem (which is kind of a tourist trap), they're not far from Boston. So much history all around that area.

I really enjoy historical buildings and architecture, and Virginia has so much of it. I feel like a heel for having never taken the time to visit Mount Vernon.

Whenever I travel somewhere, I always check out UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. Here's America's: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_the_United_States

wikitravel and wikivoyage are also great sites to use when you want to get an idea of what to see and do in a city.

edit:

Weird post, I know. I find it odd that at these politically hypersensitive times in the U.S. sociopolitical spheree, I'm looking back at where it all started and what it was like when these people were, literally, risking everything to forge a nation.

Not weird. I also sometimes think what it must have been like in those days, especially settlers on the western frontier.

What makes Washington god-tier is he stepped down. He could have seized power and ruled for life, god knows what would've happened but he could have and didn't. (yeah I know he died two years later but still)

Democracy isn't the most efficient type of government but I still believe it's the best.
 
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NeoSneth

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spend a week in DC. No need to do Boston and Philly.
Save 2-3 days for the Smithsonian. The rest you can do various monuments and museums.
 

NeoCverA

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My daughter (12) knows all of the songs by heart.
 

LoneSage

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Bumping this because Tokyo came up on a travel forum I post at and I wanted to share my .2 here, this post isn't directed at Taiso or anyone in particular

And maybe in the near future, England, France and Japan (because Japan.)
.

I'm going to insert a controversial opinion here, but as a tourist, Tokyo is pretty boring. I think if someone lived there as an expat they might like it, but to visit, there really isn't much to see or do.

The emperor's palace is a letdown and there are no good viewpoints of it (and since it's not a museum i.e. people still live there I can get why tourism is restricted).

The Meiji shrine is nice for a walk and there are some places where you can get a good view of the city but I dunno. Shopping is the number 1 thing to do in Tokyo and I don't care about buying stuff. The arcades weren't this great big thing filled with every game from the 80s and 90s either - lots of new games, of course, but not as much old games as I had hoped.

When people talk about Tokyo as a travel destination they gush on about the Japanese being very cultured and everything being clean and then I ask them, 'OK, but what can you do there?' and they blank out for a bit. Call me crazy but I think Tokyo is just overrated and a bit boring.

Nara and Kyoto are far more interesting imo.

Come at me weebs
 
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gusmoney

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spend a week in DC. No need to do Boston and Philly.
Save 2-3 days for the Smithsonian. The rest you can do various monuments and museums.

No need to come to Philly, this is only the first Capital of the U.S., the city in which the Declaration was signed, and the city that has the building in which the document's articles were debated by the Founders. (A building one can tour.)

Watch the John Adams series that HBO did with Giamatti and see Washington and Adams exit Independence Hall at Fifth and Chestnut Streets and cross those cobblestone streets and then come here and do the same thing. It is amazing.
 

sr20det510

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Saw Hamilton in Los Angeles and it was alright.
Not as spectacular as it was made out to be.

I'd follow NeoSneth's advice and do D.C.
Buy a bike pass, and ride a bike across D.C. and visit all the museums and monuments.

Oh, and don't forget that there is a Leonardo Da Vinci painting in D.C.
 

Taiso

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Japan:

I'm not sure I'd spend much time in Tokyo, TBH. I would like to go to Akihabara just to be there, even though I know it's nothing but inflated prices and sensory overload. I'd like to say I went there once

The places I'd probably go would be, as 'sage said, Nara and Kyoto. Maybe look for some other historical places of note. And definitely Gundam Base in Odaiba. Wish I would have gone when the RX-78-2 was still there. They've replaced it with the shitty Unicorn Gundam, which is absolutely the worst part about Gundam Unicorn. I'd still like to go see the RX-0, but it's still shitty compared to the majesty of the original.

Philadelphia:

I'm definitely going to go. Even if it's just to see a handful of things, I'm the kind of person that loves traversing the roads, going into the buildings and standing in the places where history happened. My mind starts firing when I think about being where important things happened or where important people once walked.
 

Mac91

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I'm going to Japan next year, so thank you Sage I will research those places. Although I'm fine with wandering about all day.
 

evil wasabi

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Japan:

I'm not sure I'd spend much time in Tokyo, TBH. I would like to go to Akihabara just to be there, even though I know it's nothing but inflated prices and sensory overload. I'd like to say I went there once

The places I'd probably go would be, as 'sage said, Nara and Kyoto. Maybe look for some other historical places of note. And definitely Gundam Base in Odaiba. Wish I would have gone when the RX-78-2 was still there. They've replaced it with the shitty Unicorn Gundam, which is absolutely the worst part about Gundam Unicorn. I'd still like to go see the RX-0, but it's still shitty compared to the majesty of the original.

Philadelphia:

I'm definitely going to go. Even if it's just to see a handful of things, I'm the kind of person that loves traversing the roads, going into the buildings and standing in the places where history happened. My mind starts firing when I think about being where important things happened or where important people once walked.


If you just like video games stay home or go to California for E3. Akihabara will not be heaven. It’s more or less just purgatory. If you like culture, curated gardens, and consider yourself a xenophile then Japan is a must visit.
 

LoneSage

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It makes my day when wasabi doesn't directly acknowledge me but lowkey agrees with me.
 

Evan

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Mount Vernon was great when I went there. Also Philly has plenty of places to go. Independence Hall was one of the best places I've visited.
 

Taiso

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If you just like video games stay home or go to California for E3. Akihabara will not be heaven. It’s more or less just purgatory. If you like culture, curated gardens, and consider yourself a xenophile then Japan is a must visit.

I wouldn't say I'm a xenophile because I'm not compelled to visit other places in the world just because they're there to experience.

Japan has been the source of so many things I've liked in my life, so much that has defined me, that I almost consider it a pilgrimage to go just one time.

TBH, I'm far more excited to visit Cross Plains, Texas. There is absolutely nothing there EXCEPT the home of Robert E. Howard, my favorite author of all time. His house is still standing, and has been converted into a museum. I'd love to go on a tour and stand in the room where he wrote all those stories about Conan, Solomon Kane and Kull (among many others). That has far more personal meaning to me than Japan.

But still, anime, video games, manga...a lot of what I've loved over the years comes from Japan. I need to go once, even if it's just to be ultimately disappointed. But I'm sure Gundam Base won't be a letdown at all, since Gunpla has become my zen, my meditation, my state of mu, if you will. Everything that frustrates me in life, or makes me feel bitter, just vanishes and I lose track of time. How could Gundam Base possibly be a letdown, since it's filled with nothing but Gunpla and a lot of exclusives for me to buy and bring home?
 

LoneSage

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Taiso what do you think of 0083 STARDUST MEMORY? As far as Gundam goes, how is it in your mind?
 

Taiso

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Mobile Suit Gundam: 0083 Stardust Memory is fucking brilliant because it was made to last.

When I first watched it, I was frustrated by Kou's many weaknesses. He yelled too much, cried too much, never stood up for himself and, in the end, I wasn't really sure why I should like him when there were so many cooler characters in the very same series. South Burning, Kelly Layzner, Anavel Gato...shit, even Eiphar Synapse and John Kowen were more interesting than Kou. So were Bernard Monsha and Chuck Kieth, Mora Bashit and even Neuen Bitter, who appeared in only one episode (episode 4, when Gato escaped to space from Kinbaraid Base in Africa). He was, in my opinion, the least interesting character in the show and he was also the protagonist.

But then, something weird happened. Every time I showed the series to a friend, I saw something I hadn't seen before, understood something I didn't perceive the previous time and as a result, I kept re-evaluating my opinion of the series.

Nowadays, i think it's a remarkable Gundam series and a wonderful bridge to Zeta. It contextualizes the Titans' fascist politics, serves as the coda for the Zabi era Zeon (the Zeons that followed were all something different. with different purpose and different attitudes, while sharing some of the basic principles) and the three Von Braun episodes are some of the best Gundam has to offer when it comes to the very complex social attitudes between earthnoids, spacenoids and lunarians. With an economy of time, the characters of 0083 are all well crafted, vivid and endearing characters that really compliment each other very well and, together, they tell an extremely compelling story about the nature of conflict and the specter of war that simply refuses to let go of humanity's heart.

There is this great scene at the end of the 12th episode where Cima has stormed Delaz' ship and taken control of the bridge. Cima has betrayed the Delaz Fleet and intends to turn Delaz over to the Federation because she's bitter at Zeon over her dissident status and of how she feels like an outsider. She's a pirate playing at Zeon loyalist and biding her time until a better offer comes along, which eventually happens courtesy of Federation high command. They have money and she can be bought.

Gato arrives at the Gwadan (Delaz' ship) and discovers Cima's treachery. Delaz, looking out through the viewports of the bridge and seeing how three years of long planning, suffering and hardship to achieve a specific end are about to be undone by this one betrayal. He knows that the Federation is prepared and he can't do anything to change the situation since Cima is literally holding a gun to his head. Gato, in the Neue Ziel mobile armor, floats helplessly before the ship because he has so deified Delaz that he sees him as the leader Zeon needs to survive.

Delaz tells Gato to go and ensure the success of Operation: Stardust. He knows that his life is over, one way or another, and he knows that if Zeon is meekly shepherded into submission, then the way of life they want to live and the change they want to bring about is doomed. In the first episode, he prevented Gato from going back out into the Battle of A Baoa Qu because, at that time, they needed to survive to keep the flame alive. He knew Gato would die a pointless death so he demanded that he suffer and endure the shame of defeat so that they could rise again. But three years later, Delaz now realizes that the only way for Zeon to remain alive as an idea that can find residence in human consciousness is for those loyal to him to sacrifice themselves showing their quality and to prove to the Federation that not even death will kill the ideal of spacenoid freedom. Gato is still unsure, so Delaz begins to say 'Seig Zeon' as a means of inspiring him, but he's shot by a furious and unhinged Cima, who knows that if Gato somehow succeeds, she'll get nothing from the Federation.

I really love that narrative juxtaposition, and it shows just how carefully constructed this series was. It is as precise a distillation of the complex humanity of Gundam as influenced by the politics of the Earth sphere as I have ever seen.

On a technical level, 0083 wasn't just a passion project by its storytellers and animators. The animation, character and mecha designs and the soundtrack still absolutely hold up. In terms of aesthetics, they were building something to last, and it's clear they crafted it as though they were making an opus. To this day, OP 2, Men of Destiny sung with powerful vocal conviction by MIO, remains my favorite OP in anime history. Nothing has even come close for me.

Ironically, despite my glowing praise, it's still not my favorite Gundam. That will always be the original TV series, which I believe is the superior version of those events over the movie trilogy, which I dismiss as a truncated and unsatisfying experience. Followed by Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt, which may be the most mature interpretation of Gundam that has ever been made on a number of levels. 0080 is still great, but oddly enough it doesn't hold up as well as 0083. I really feel Sunrise reached a turning point as an animation studio with 0083.

An interesting note about 0083's soundtrack. When they went back to remaster it for BD, they brought the cast back to re-read all their lines and they added all new sound effects. As good as the remaster is, I still think the original voice track is the superior version. The Gundam movie trilogy also had a second read for the voices and they also significantly changed toe OST from the first release of the movie trilogy, too. I consider the original movie trilogy frustrating but the remaster sounds so different and unappealing to me because of how strongly married I feel some of the OST is to specific scenes that I find it unwatchable.

Also, Akio Otsuka as Anavel Gato is not only perfect casting, it's an immortal performance.

The manga Gundam 0083: Rebellion is a Gundam: The Origin style reinterpretation of Stardust Memory. It's a really neat revision to the original story, adding in all kinds of characters from other Gundam series, such as Oliver May and Monique Cadillac from MS Igloo, Karen Miller from 08th MS Team: Miller's Report and a few other notables. It's also noteworthy for the variations and liberties it takes with the original story, such as expanding Cima's back story, Nina's social circle and position at Anaheim and even having Kelly survive to become Kou's co-pilot in the GP-03. When he meets up with Gato again on the battlefield, they have a very cool interaction that was well worth the buildup.

Sorry to word vomit on you. I just...really love Gundam and understand it on a vastly different level these days. My blog is mostly a Gundam blog now. I'm writing a really in-depth analysis of Char Aznable as portrayed through the lens of Origin that I have a couple of small press publishers looking at (can't really talk about that). They want to see how it all turns out and how long it is before they get serious but it could see a print release as a series of essays if all goes well. And if they don't want to publish it, I might just do it myself.
 
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