One of my Favorite Flags

I realized during the Olympics that there is a flag that speaks to me, and I didn't even know it. You know it's got to be cool when NBC italicizes it and it still looks cool. No joke, they italicized the flags.

In any case, the more I thought about it, the shapes, color scheme, symmetry, and lone non-symmetrical elements are so well executed that it really appealed to the mathematician in me. Here we go:

Brazil, baby. While italicized you couldn't really make out the stars, which represent one for each state (and one for Brasilia, the capital) while also mapping out the night sky over Brazil, have the Southern Cross lined up on the meridian, and even have a star above the equator (representing the state of Amazonia), but, while italicized, you could make out other things. Green rectangle, yellow rhombus, and the combo of the blue circle and white band turned that into a sphere. Rectangle, rhombus, sphere. Seriously sweet.

The motto, "Ordem e Progresso", order and progress, makes sense for a country that doesn't really wage wars of choice.

This flag just speaks to me.

Rainier Caps

The Pacific Coast League started out as a Minor League in baseball. It was only minor in the sense that it wasn't stationed on the east coast. The quality of play and feeder system for players were diverse and good enough to, at it's height, qualify as a third "major" league, servicing the west coast.

This is precisely what happened, too. The PCL was granted "Open Status", which meant that it was beholden to no league and could operate in it's markets as it always had, as if it were the top tier of the sport, because, in essence, it was.

It was granted Open Status, though, in 1957, right before the Dodgers and Giants moved to California, supplanting two of the most well known teams (the SF Seals and the LA Angels) in the league, and sapping all the momentum they'd built up over the years to get to that point.

So, I commemorate the PCL here with two caps. They're from the same team, the first from 1939, and the second from 1955:

I like the contrasting color schemes. Know the team? The Seattle Rainiers  one of the natural team names for Seattle teams. Have you noticed that some city team names just come naturally, while others are forced. Look at Seattle. There's the Sounders, Seahawks, Mariners, SuperSonics, and Rainiers. How about the San Jose Sharks? The Washington Wizards? For every Hartford Whaler there's a Sacramento King.

I was watching a ballgame earlier this season, a local Angel game. The Angels played the Mariners in Seattle, and both team wore their 1955 PCL uniforms. The Mariners, normally navy and teal, wore the red caps and red lettering from this Rainier scheme, while the Angels, normally red, wore the dark navy scheme that fit that same season. It was cool; the teams dressed in each other's colors. Plus, it was King Felix pitching, which was cool.

I Sense Something Here...

These two flags I felt like needed to be put next to each other. The second I've used before. They each have the plus-sign cross, and the both have canton jazz in each canton.

This first is the flag for Quebec, both the province and the independent nation that occasionally almost come into existence. I like the blue. In each canton is the fleur-de-lis, one of the standard French symbols.

The next is the flag for Georgia, named for St. George, and sporting five St. George crosses on the banner:

These design commonalities are kinda what this blog is about.

Go Muskies!

There were two movies that historically were used by myself and Corrie over the years as "hangover" movies, silly comedies that are well paced and hit familiar beats, and that make the early hours of a hangover more bearable, while the coffee, water and aspirin do their magic. Well, them and a bowl mixed in usually helped.

Both of those movies had Allison Janney in a supporting role, which is where our appreciation for the actress stemmed.

Once you reach a certain age, the likelihood for a hangover increases precipitously.

In any case, the movies were 10 Things I Hate About You, which starred Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, and Joseph Gordon-Leavitt. It also features David Krumholz and Allison Janney, and got very poor marketing. It was played up as a teen-rom-com, when it's actually a retelling of the "Taming of the Shrew", and done pretty well, actually. Shakespeare is just good. Also, Seattle looks very nice as the backdrop city for the filming.

The other movie was called Drop Dead Gorgeous and stars Kirsten Dunst, Kirstie Alley, Ellen Barkin and Allison Janney. It's funny and paced like a lightening bolt, and filmed in a faux-documentary style that shows off how ridiculous beauty pageants are and how maniacal pageant moms can get. It's done well, and isn't bad for something light and full of filler. Allison Janney as the horny unmarried neighbor named Loretta is featured more prominently here than in the last film, and she's great, stealing most scenes in which she's featured.

All the pageant contestant girls attend the same small-town high school in rural Mt. Rose, Minnesota, and the mascot of which is a muskie, a type of fish. One of the pageanteers is also a cheerleader, and she shows off a "Go Muskies!" cheer, where she makes a ridiculous fish&gills pantomime as part of the cheer.

Then I found a small-town Minnesota minor league hockey team named the Muskies, and I cracked up.

Go Muskies!

Navy Fields and Balls of Fire

These flags are some of my favorites.

The first is the European Union flag, and I'm not saying this because I prefer some archetypal European model of government to our own American one (although I might).

The EU flag is a circle made of golden stars on that navy field. I like those star shapes, I like circles, and I like the combo of gold/yellow and navy. 12 stars represent not twelve nations, rather an idealized world, where twelve is one of the ancient perfect, magical numbers. It's just a solid design and look. If they were green stars on a red field it'd be different for me, certainly.

This next isn't in use anymore, and may have only spent a very short time as an official, if ever. I know it'd be in the running for my own flag. I don't know, I just love the Inti:

Inti is the name of the native sun god for the some of the South American cultures. This particular design is the same as the Argentinian flag, as this was an early design during the revolution. It was also the "logo" we used on our wedding paper products (save-the-date; invitation; favors) by way of stamp.

Compared to this next flag, those two look more like "light navy".

Another navy and star that's hits home for me is the state flag for Alaska:

This is one of my favorite flags ever. I like constellations. The fact that balls of fire being a specific distance away from the earth form a symbol on to which people can latch, to which people can assign meaning has always inspired me to some degree.

Unlike the Southern Cross, which is on multiple flags, Ursa Major, or the Big Dipper, only seems to be here, for Alaska. No Orion yet? (I'm working on it, actually.)

I think, actually, my allure with this color scheme stems from my elementary school days. The color scheme there was gold and navy, which to me always seems to represent some idea of "California" for me.