Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Not so silly
New Zealand, mainly known as a haven for tax evaders, is choosing a new flag for unknown reasons. Up till now they've been using a version of the Union Jack, like most Commonwealth countries. A referendum will choose between the Union Jack and ONLY ONE new alternative, which was personally chosen by the prime minister.
The alternate choice is hopelessly boring, and the referendum itself is boring, but some of the 'silly' proposals in social media are NOT boring. This one features a kiwi shooting laser beams from its eyes.
Non-silly point: Flags continue to use heraldic traditions dating from the 1100s. Lion rampant has a specific meaning, three crossed swords have a specific meaning, etc.
Now, for the first time since 1100, we have a NEW heraldic language via emoji and anigifs. Kiwi shooting laser beams has a specific meaning, speaker with a slash has a specific meaning, trash barrel, eraser, pencil.....
Most of these icons can be still or moving, which alters the meaning just as soaring vs volant alters the meaning of an eagle. Why not an aniflag?
Let's give the Rouge Dragon Pursuivant and the Clarenceux King of Arms some real work to do! (Come to think of it, the typical anime dragon strongly resembles the old Rouge Dragon. Maybe the new isn't all that new.)
¶ 2:51 AM 
