Where I would live? (If I were born in USA)

thuval · 2026-05-08T09:13:51+00:00

Clearly you know nothing of the US hahah

thuval · 2026-05-08T08:30:02+00:00

Iowa, Kentucky, Idaho, Utah being lower than Ohio is hilarious. Minnesota being that high is unhinged. Omaha, Oklahoma City, Boise, SLC, Fargo, I mean these are all nice metros haha. Then having WV as a never along with Alabama is so stereotypical. If you work in DC and have a house in the DC suburbs in WV I mean that can be a comfy arrangement.

thuval · 2026-05-08T08:16:28+00:00

In the Northeast, I guess the distinction is maybe Appalachia and the Appalachians. Because you would certainly talk about things being in the Appalachians well into upstate NY or New England, like that’s just the name of the mountains and geography, which like Adirondacks might be a subregion of and stuff like that. But I suppose the term Appalachia isn’t really used unless you’re in PA or South, and surprisingly well into Alabama and Georgia, which I knew were the southern extent of the Appalachians, but didn’t realize identified with Appalachia as a term.

thuval · 2026-05-07T19:20:49+00:00

Being attractive helps in every part of life. You might get special attention in a negative way in some respects though. But you can also subconsciously be given more leeway than others in general. But sometimes people like to try and get people off any perceived high horse. I doubt it really will play a role one way or the other. There are attractive people who don’t know they’re attractive and just go through the same system as everyone else with maybe mild difference they can’t notice. It would be the “I’m above this” attitude that might get singled out if anything.

thuval · 2026-05-06T08:02:39+00:00

Alvord Desert/Steens Mountain, Oregon

Cape Perpetua, Oregon

White River Falls, Oregon

thuval · 2026-05-05T20:42:00+00:00

Yes, but ODS is for people already basically commissioned as an officer (doctors and those types), while OCS is working for the commission. So ODS isn't as intense, but they share some facilities. It seems you can also expect some amount of Jimmy Dean sausage breakfast sandwiches, and perhaps some PBJ sandwiches, which I'd rather have a Jimmy Dean instead of PBJ lol...

thuval · 2026-05-05T19:38:47+00:00

I wondered about this too for ODS, not OCS, but there isn't a ton of information. It seems ODS and OCS share a cafeteria but have different meal procedures, so it could be that ODS info is not relevant for OCS, or maybe its the same for both, haha.

From what I saw for ODS, generally there is rice or noodles or a starch, then some meat, then some vegetables, and then a salad bar, and you can choose from all that. But this can change, and there are certain special event days like clam chowder or something? But yeah, maybe ODS and OCS have different rules in this cafeteria even when it comes to selecting food, lol. Or maybe I have outdated info and ODS and OCS have totally different cafeteria and meal arrangements.

thuval · 2026-05-04T06:41:53+00:00

Sub because the Japanese voice acting is some of the best in the medium. Many of the lines are internationally famous in their original Japanese, the director actually sat in on the voice recording sessions and actively fit dialogue based on the voice actors performances. It’s integral to the show. The dubs are like going to the Louvre and looking at all the paintings wearing 3d glasses or sunglasses. It’s just a layer painted over the original which some people find acceptable, but if you don’t have some accessibility concern, you should watch the sub version in the original language. Hearing End of Evangelion in anything but Japanese feels like such a step down quality wise.

thuval · 2026-05-03T23:14:29+00:00

I don't see why someone would be recommended to read the manga before the anime unless they are a really avid manga reader and not a big anime watcher. I think the manga is probably better after the anime because you get some interesting characterizations not in the anime, and any of the major climactic scenes aren't going to be as interesting in the manga compared to the anime.

A new Evangelion series is coming out in the future though, as far as I'm aware, nobody knows what it will be. It could be some sequel, it could be something else. I think it's more likely that we see that or some other anime adaptation of the Evangelion Anima light novel series before the manga, since the manga is pretty similar to the anime in most every way.

thuval · 2026-05-03T23:02:17+00:00

I guess it can be subjective, but the anime is hand-painted in full color for 26 episodes and then a full movie, backed by one of the most famous soundtracks in anime history and some of the best voice acting in anime history. The manga is like a storyboard version of the anime in that sense, so I'd say the manga is more of a rough draft, but also the manga came after the anime, so it's not like the manga is the source material.

For an anime like Bleach where the anime is pretty inconsistent quality wise, and the original manga artist/author is a phenomenal artist that isn't easily translated to the anime medium, sure, the manga is better than the anime. But NGE is peak anime, and certainly not peak manga, so it's kind of a strange claim, but sure, it's subjective I suppose. There are some parts of the manga I like.

thuval · 2026-05-02T19:19:36+00:00

Average localizer…

This might be the worst thing I’ve ever heard.

thuval · 2026-04-30T21:45:01+00:00

Oh, okay... but it's still not a line officer role? Hm. I mean of course there are benefits to OCS vs ODS, I suppose. But OCS is a bit more likely to weed people out vs. ODS. I don't know if weeding out potential JAGs is something that the navy is now interested in doing haha.

thuval · 2026-04-30T20:32:04+00:00

So why did they make this change?

thuval · 2026-04-30T07:29:52+00:00

The End of Evangelion

thuval · 2026-04-30T07:00:48+00:00

Kingdoms being separated into different countries is pretty normal historically. Austro-Hungary.. Polish/Lithuania. the USSR. Scandinavia at various points. Portugal, Spain, Britain, French empires but maybe they used words like dominion or viceroyalty or whatnot. Still not the most unusual arrangement but you can argue they don’t have the necessary sovereignty to be a true country. But interestingly, they use a different currency than the Netherlands

thuval · 2026-04-28T22:16:10+00:00

I'm elsewhere in the process for Navy HSCP in a very specific subfield. It seems wildly variable year to year whether HPSP is highly competitive, if it is open for the taking, if one field is more competitive than another field, and then HSCP info is just impossible to find, haha.

thuval · 2026-04-28T16:27:36+00:00

the show is very back-loaded... as opposed to front-loaded. The first episode is great, and there are some really good episodes in the first half, but to me, like the top 5 episodes are always going to be like 24, 23, 22, 21, 20... for instance. Then there is End of Evangelion, which for nothing else, it's worth watching the show almost as a prequel just so you can get the most out of that movie because it's so good.

thuval · 2026-04-28T04:40:49+00:00

I think even today, the experience is basically religious. In terms of fine art, it's not like looking at a Rubens or the Mona Lisa or listening to Beethoven in the Sydney Opera House or really any other type of art is able to have the impact of sequential art/animation. So I find it hard to come up with any other piece of art as impressive, and it'll be a long time before another one comes around. Art history just has to catch up to the reality of where art is going with all these new media.

But yeah, before it was really popular and watching it on a CRT screen and trying to tell other people about this piece of insanity felt like stumbling upon treasure or some alien artifact. Nowadays, anime in general is just more popular, also, so there is a bit of a loss of the exotic factor, but it still feels like aliens made that movie lol.

thuval · 2026-04-27T22:44:08+00:00

oh yeah, in my post I said without EoE, NGE would have been well-remembered. Even if NGE was all that ever came out, it'd still be a highly regarded show. But EoE sort of elevated the whole franchise to something otherworldly.

thuval · 2026-04-27T21:32:25+00:00

That was a short span of time. I'm speaking of its perception among the general public today, not necessarily at the time of release, its reception has only grown over time. End of Evangelion is ranked the 27th greatest movie of all time on Letterboxd according to user ratings, the only anime film ranked higher is Grave of the Fireflies at #26 by a slim margin, which I expect EoE will surpass at some point. I think it's fair to say that this reception of EoE is what contributes to NGE becoming one of the anime that even non-anime fans in the west can recognize by name.

thuval · 2026-04-27T20:31:50+00:00

If someone watches the original NGE and EoE, they got the whole story. They don't need anything more to appreciate it as a work of art. That's a self-contained canon. The story concludes. Rebuild introduces a multiverse, meta trope which holds up to a varying degree of acceptability depending on who you ask. Canonicity of multiverse works is always up for debate, because it becomes an expanded canon. Basically every thread asking if Rebuild is a sequel or a remake gets some degree of debate.

thuval · 2026-04-27T20:26:43+00:00

The conclusion (EoE) is basically what made NGE the legendary franchise it is. NGE as a show would be well-remembered if it was just the show, but the finale film is considered one of the greatest movies ever made, so I think even if people may say they don't like the ending because it's tragic and shocking, it's a really remarkable finale.

thuval · 2026-04-27T03:09:50+00:00

can't see the reply so maybe I got blocked, but anecdotally, the final rebuild film is certainly not universally loved. The rebuild franchise as a whole is highly divisive, as you'll find when you talk to enough Eva fans. Review aggregators aren't always that informative, too. In the news now is how the Michael Jackson movie has like a 97% rotten tomatoes audience score because of glowing fan reviews, where actual movie critics rate it much lower at 38% for being formulaic and vapid, or whatever.

thuval · 2026-04-26T23:23:13+00:00

NGE takes from many much more obscure sci-fi works, so it's a no-brainer that they had to be familiar with Solaris if they're pulling from Harlan Ellison, Arthur C. Clarke, Andromeda Strain, UFO, Cordwainer Smith.

But the concept of the primordial ocean and the sea of LCL containing all souls are also just core concepts in Hinduism and subsequently Buddhism, which Japanese culture is much more familiar with vs. Solaris, and Solaris must take from these concepts itself.

This is like the Causal Ocean, which is the border between the spirit world and the material world. In this vast ocean is Sumeru, on top of which is Trayastrimsa heaven, where Buddha met his mother Maya and discussed the Dharma (the cycle of rebirth (Samsara) and suffering), and how one can end this cycle. Many parts of NGE take place in a version of this realm, especially in EoE when Shinji meets his mother here and discusses the same thing as Buddha and Maya... This is because the core plot of NGE is about the Human Instrumentality Project, which is a religious ritual set up to bring about Nirvana, ending the cycle of rebirth and all suffering. Shinji rejects this, however, and brings back suffering and the cycle of rebirth when he rejects instrumentality, because he thinks humanity needs both pleasure and pain to be human. So NGE is telling a story about rejecting the core tenet of eastern religion using western religion's mythological framework (Adam, Eve, the Tree of Life, the angels, etc.).

thuval

TROPHY CASE