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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

US Flag from Rebel Without A Cause 1955


Rebel Without a Cause 1955 stars James Dean as a new kid on the block who has familial and social issues.

The US flag appears in the movie, most notably on Jim's first day of school.  Since this film was made in 1955 only 48 stars are visible on the flag, as Hawaii and Alaska were not yet official states.

The neat synchronicity about this film is that James Dean plays as James in the movie, thus when acting and responding to his own name, it is as real as it gets.





The film opens up the door about the trials and tribulations of growing up in suburbia, fitting in, and how teenagers in their Suburban-Eden have a tendency to test their limits and challenge each other in stupidity, in the name of ego/reputation. Since this film was made in 1955 only 48 stars are visible on the flag.



Evey kid who has gone through a school district transfer in high school can relate to this film and appreciate the outsider, insider, duality.






The school day starts with the rising of the US flag, here the other star of the film Plato is seen  riding his scooter. 


 The emblem of the school is here Jim accidentally steps on it and disrespects it.



Colorado and US Flag from the Shining 1980

  
 In 1980 The Shining broke new barriers of fear under the talents of Jack Nicholson and Stanley Kubrick. 

A small family is chosen to watch over a hotel all alone during a six month winter recess.  Remote, isolated and a bit a ways from society the echo of yesterdays bad vibes play upon the mercy of their imaginations.

The Colorado flag is best visible when Danny is playing darts in the game room.  The US flag is also visible during the interview, on the hotel managers desk.  The US flag is also visible in the grand entrance hall where Jack does most of his writing. 

This film has a strange element of synchronicity because the Jack Nicholson plays as Jack the cabin-fever dad, and Danny Lloyd plays as Danny as boy with the gift of telepathy. 

Note that Stanley Kubrick is the complete polar opposite of modern films that use visual charms and edits to keep the viewer engaged.  The long uncut edits force the actors to give nearly theater like performances and force the audience to pay attention and use their brain, unlike a Michael Bay film whose edits per second are like a coma inducing strobe light. 




Monday, July 1, 2013

The Prison Emblem from Ricardo Arjona video Minutos


Coming in from Guatemala is the song "Minutos" by Ricardo Arjona.  The seal of a prison is shown.  It features a heraldic castle with the year of its establishment in 1898, celebrating its centennial in 1998. 

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Harvey Birdman Lawyer Flags

 Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is comedic reboot of a 1960s cartoon superhero - Birdman.  In this adult oriented cartoon Birdman is a lawyer whose court cases deal with certain social issues cast with wild off the wall humor.

The show often takes modern hot button political and legal issues and sugar coats them with humorous outtakes without the extreme vulgarity of modern cartoon or being too upfront.  It is often the case that hot button topics not directly talked about, rather many of the jokes are to be read in between the lines. Also the tempo of jokes flies at the viewer at light speed.

In the original courtroom the flag of the United States is clearly visible but there is another flag whose identity is not clearly identifiable.

The mystery flag is most likely the state flag, but no state in the union uses such colors in such a pattern of yellow and blue. 

 The yellow and blue striped Harvey Birdman State colours can be seen in the background.  The unknown state flag seems to vary in the number of stripes? 
Here Harvey Birdman is holding the American Flag.  He is trying to find an outlet of where a certain robotic device is plugged into. 













Saturday, June 29, 2013

DS9ers Baseball Pennant - Star Trek Deep Space 9


The baseball pennant of the Deep Space Niners appears during one of the episodes of Deep Space Nine.  The commanding officer of the space station Deep Space Nine is Benjamin Sisko, played by Avery Brooks.  In an old college-colleague rivalry Sisko takes up the challenge of playing the logical Vulcans on the virtual Holi-deck, which is basically like a walk in 3D holographic video game.

The pennant of the Niners has a blue blackground with the logo of the team - which is a baseball with a red outline of the space station.  Although the space station is not of human design it has been adopted by Captain Sisko.  The Niners team is made up of mostly humans but the team also includes a Klingon, Ferengi, Trill and two Bejorans. 
Sisko is able to recruit ball players from Deep Space Nine to play baseball against the ruthlessly logical Vulcans.

 Score board of the Deep Space Niners home filed.  It looks like the Niners will not win this one, nonetheless they are are able to celebrate the small victories against the Vulcan Logicians team.
 When Jake is on the pitching mound the flag of the Federation can be seen in the background.  The flag of the United Federation of Planets consists of a blue background with the logo of the Federation.  By current vexillological standards it is a 'bad flag' or 'S.O.B.'  But since I go against the grain of most vexillologists, in my estimation it is fine and fantastic flag.







Thursday, June 27, 2013

State Flag Proposals of Bart and Lisa Simpson


In the 294th episode of The Simpsons, Lisa and Bart propose a new flag for their state.  Lisa's proposal uses the motto "To Fraternal Love."  However Bart decides to alter the flag to spite Lisa for bad mouthing his name to mom.

Bart's altered proposal brings it down a notch and uses a less than elegant motto "Learn To Fart."  Bart has corrupted the happy sun rise/set flag into a derriere, and the two people are no longer holding hands but jumping in joy or agony to escape the noxious fumes from the thundering sun-but.


When Bart and Lisa get lost in the woods, Bart covers Lisa with his "Bart-Mangled Banner."  But here, the flag has been edited back to the original more classy standard as originally designed by Lisa Simpson.

All by mere accident, Lisa Simpsons's flag echos upon my 'Fraternal Flag Partner Idea.'




Flags in the Governor's office from the Simpsons - 2002 Season 14, Episode 294


Did you know the state where the Simpson's live has its own unique flag?  In one episode when Bart and Lisa visit the State Capitol not only do we see the state flag of the Simpson's State, but there are two others flags in the Governor's room.  It looks like the other flags are reserved for persons of high office.  The flags have the same design as the state flag but differ by colour.

This is actually how it really is as for many states.  The governor's flag for Pennsylvania and Michigan use the same design as the official state flag but with differing colours.  Thus the same thing seems to be happening in the imaginary Simpsons' state.

It makes sense to assume one is for the Governor and the other might be for the Attorney State General or Governor General.