An Expansion of Royal Suits for the Cards

The time has come to expand the playing card universe.  Imagine playing poker, gin rummy or solitaire with these new face cards.  It'll make it more exciting!

The Emperor is now the highest ranking card of the deck in the Nobility Pack, next to an Ace.  Here the Emperor of Spades is wearing the Imperial Crown.  The Emperor is represented by the letter E.  There is also an Emperor of Hearts, Emperor of Diamonds, and Emperor of Clubs. 















 The King of Spades ranks below the Emperor and above the Duke.  Here the King is wearing the Royal British Crowns.















The Duke is a new suit just below the King and above the Marquess.  The Duke is represented by the letter D.  Note there is a Duke of Hearts, Duke of Diamonds, and Duke of Clubs.















 The Marquess is a new playing card rank.  The Marquess is below a Duke but above an Earl.  The Marquess is represented by the letter M.   Here the Marquess of Spades is wearing the heraldic crown reserved for the English Marquess.   New Marquesses include the Marquess of Hearts, Marquess of Diamonds, and Marquess of Clubs.














 The Earl is ranked below a Marquess yet above a Viscount.  The Earl is represented by the letter L since E is already taken by the Emperor.  Here the Earl of Spades is wearing the crown that belongs to the Earls of England.  So there is now an Earl of Hearts, and Earl of Diamonds, and an Earl of Clubs.

Ranks of Nobility in other nations usually call this position the Count, which is above the 'Vice-Count' and below the Marquess.  Thus the matching English Equivalent to Count Dracula would be Earl Dracula.

And if you grew up in America it'd be Earl Chocula instead of Count Chocula.  Likewise the purple puppet Count would be the 'Counting Earl' on Sesame Street.  








 The Viscount is represented by the letter V.  Viscounts rank above the Barons yet below the Earls/Counts.  The Viscount of Spades is wearing the heraldic English Viscount crown. New cards include the Viscount of Hearts, Viscount of Diamonds, and Viscount of Clubs.














 

 The lowest normal rank of nobility is the Baron.  The Baron is below all the royal suits yet above the Jack.  Here the letter B represents the Baron.  We now have a Baron of Hearts, Baron of Diamonds, and Baron of Clubs. 

Due to the popularity of the Red Baron and Baron in fiction or Red Baron Pizza.  The Baron is basically the lowest level of nobility.  In America people often confuse a Baron with a high royal rank.   Yet it's better to be a Baron than a Knight or regular peasant folk.





 



These new playing cards with added ranks of Nobility are crowned with the standard English Heraldic Crowns.  But the Spades only use English items.  The Hearts expanded family shall be crowned with French Crowns.  The Diamonds expanded family will be crowned with Spanish Crowns, while the Clubs expanded family will be crowned with Austrian Crowns.  Thus you can learn a little something about the Crowns and titles of Nobility when playing cards.  And the next time you read about some Duke or see someone mention the Count and Baron in a movie you'll know where they are in the order of Nobility.

And when playing cards you really can 'Put up your Dukes.'

A Royal Banner for King Charles III

Will the UK ever welcome a King Charles III?    With the longevity of the Royal Family as it is now, certainly by 2033.  Although it may seem like a distant future, it'll be here sooner than that funky flash forward decade of the 1970s and most recently, Old Head Harry Potter films.  More than likely by then at current trends the US President in 2033 will probably be a 1980s Reagan Baby Love Child.  


In any case here is a proposed Royal Standard for King Charles the III that, finally, includes the heraldic essence of Wales.  Usually the three golden lions go for a double play.  This flag includes the kingdoms of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. It'd be need'in a dragon on the flag.  Aye, dragons are the wee coolest thing!

Oprah Winfrey next to the Stanford University Flag - 2008

In 2008 Oprah was given the honor to address the graduates of Stanford University.  In it she relays some of her best advice and experiences.  Behind Oprah Winfrey you can see the flag of the United States and Stanford waving in the background. 

Stanford University has several official flags.  The flag behind Oprah is the University Wide triple redwood frond flag.  It is composed of three branches coloured red on a white disc surrounded by a black circle on a field of red.  The redwood frond is a common element to other Stanford Flags as found in the Stanford School of: Medicine, Law, Humanities and Sciences, Engineering, Earth and Sciences, Graduate School of Business, and Education.


Oprah is a rare voice of reason, inspiration, and education amongst a jungle of powerful obnoxious egos.  Originally from Mississippi, she is the proverbial rags to riches story.  But riches earned from a dedicated and unquenchable thirst for life and wish to serve others.  Oprah is willing to stretch her mind and push on the comfort zone, to boldly think and ask where no woman, or man for that matter, has thought before. Yet with all her success and fame, Oprah has kept her head on Earth.   Oprah paradoxically shines both as a superstar and in a humble warm friendly folksy light as Auntie O.





Photo Credits: https://commencement.stanford.edu/traditions/heraldry/university-flag

Oprah's Website: http://www.oprah.com/index.html

Eye of the Tiger - Vexilloids from the Video 1982

The Eye of the Tiger hit the airwaves in 1982 and was created by the band Survivor with a push from Silvester Stallone.  Vexilloid like items appear at the end of the video as a golden wavy background while the band plays.

Another hard to spot vexilloid is a banner advertising Tiffany's hind-quarters.  Tiffany's banner just happens to be the colour of a tiger which is yellow and black.
 
Note the song Eye of the Tiger came into existence due to selfish hoarding attitudes.  Silvester Stallone originally wanted another song to be played in Rocky III, but he was denied.  Mr. Stallone then requested a similarly themed song be made... and walla' we have Eye of the Tiger. Suffice it to say thanks to that rejection!  In the aftermath of that push back we got an even cooler more memorable song that has survived the decades.

Can you spot the Tiger in the background?

It proves the ancient adage that sometimes it's better to let go and work around a problem, and a better solution with extra benefits is just around the corner.  The path of rejection can lead to unexpected hidden treasures. 

Flags in the Film - Last of the Mohicans 1992

 July 4, 1757 the fates of the American Colonies were being dealt by the Empires that be, or so as the dominant narrative goes.  As if the colonists had no part in the destiny of North America, except for the lading at Jamestown and 'first' celebration of Thanksgiving Day.

 If the French won or at least maintained a smaller portion of North America?  Would the colonies ever have rebelled with the threat of a French Empire? 

In 1992 the best pre-Revolutionary Colonial American movie was made - Last of the Mochians starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Madelyn Stowe.  This film illustrates the lives, struggles, conflicts of the pre-Revolutionary ancestors of Canada and the US.

This war set up the historical fireworks for July 4, 1776.  During this war the colonies were allied with Prussia for world dominance.  Prussian-British victory after this nearly last of "Native American and French-Canadian Wars" put the English on a path for total world domination.

Usually the war depicted in the film is called the 'last' French and Indian War, but it was not.  For the French would fight the United Kingdom one last time on the continent from 1778 until peace was resolved and the 13 colonies made independent.  Although France was expelled from the mainland of North America she retained a few tiny isles in coastal areas of North America notably - St. Pierre and Miquelon.


Thus France gained a modicum of justice when the British lost their first born in 1776.  The American Revolution was also the proverbial final act or grand finale of the "French and Indian Wars" as the battles of the American Revolution involved "France" and "Indians."


 British and regimental flags with markings can be seen in the film.  The film maker, Michael Mann, did his homework and it paid off. 




This film also showed in brilliant color and depth the role that aboriginal-Americans played.  Previously before the 1960s Native Americas were portrayed in tacky one dimensional cartoonish like fashion who needed to be taught good western values with great insult to their religion and way of life.

In this film the negative and positive ways of aboriginal Native and Old World Newcomer Americans are dealt with, in an more honest light.

Flags in Eternal Sunshine, of the spotless mind 2004

Imagine if you could erase unwanted memories?   Would you undergo the procedure?  Certainly such a kind of technology is on the horizon.  Many already pop happy pills to alter their mood and can not function normally without the aid of intoxicants due to social anxiety.

In 2004 Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet starred in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and erasing unwanted memories is the premise of the movie.  Carrey and Winslet star as star crossed lovers whose painful relationship, causes them to undergo the procedure.



Of key importance to this blog are several vexilloids that appear in the movie.  The most unique flag appears in the drawing of Clementine that Joel had did.  In it Clementine is a skeleton except for her head and she is holding a tattered sun flag of yellow and pink that has come to symbolize the radically intense love of Joel and Clementine.

More conventional flags also appear in the movie.  During the flea market scene a person is wearing a hat with a US flag on it and colourful sales pennants can be seen fluttering in the background.  Also notice that this is a shot of memory being erased so the people in the background are loosing their faces. Another vexilloid antenna can be seen on the remote control airplane controller - it has a long blue streamer along the end.

 This movie is more than just a love story.  It has the capacity to stir the mind and stimulate discussion of dreams, mind, body, love, anguish and purpose in the most subtle of ways.  It is a subdued science fiction movie, without the sci-fi feeling.  Persons who never experienced a broken romantic heart may have difficulty understanding this work of art as will people who do not examine their dreams or refuse to trespass against the norms of modern society.





PS,
And a Sappy Summer Solstice to all my Northern Hemispherians, enjoy all the free sunshine while it's still free.

Flags in the Film 12 Monkeys - 1995

 The US flag makes a brief cameo in the seminal 1990s time travel movie 12 Monkeys. The film is a layered upon layered time drama that gets better with each viewing since it is designed with details that can only be noticed after secondary views.

 Red flags also appear at the 'airport-convention' center.  A group of tourists from East Asia are passing by when our hero and heroine meet each other.  Unlike most time travel movies, this one is where the traveler comes from the future to the present moment of 1995, Philadelphia.




 A story of love, fate, science and control it makes new connections that time travel has its hazards on the mind and shows the nature of man to seize freedom when given a chance to break free rather than return to doldrums of tyrannical corporate control.