Guest Post

Thing 1 has been driving me batshit crazy asking when I'm going to blog about his flags. I finally told him to do it himself. So here you go.

'Lo, fair people o' th' blogosphere! It's me, Thing 1. What a dippy nickname. Not that I didn't like the book...

Anyhoo, the point is that I'm a big flag buff. I have amassed a collection of twelve flags: eight 3x5 feet, three 12x18 inches, and one triangular flag of my mumsy's University. The ones you can't glimpse in these images are the aforementioned University flag, the 12x18 flags of Merrie England and Brave Scotland, and the 3x5 flags of Iran and Australia. I've got three Iranian: Imperial, Islamic, and Neutral Tricolour. They're simply lovely. Except the Islamic one; it looks like it's got an onion on it.

Some little funny things about flags intrigue me. For example, Libya has the world's simplest and most dreadfully boring flag: plain green, nothing else. Even the near-indistinguishable banners of Poland and Indonesia are more interesting! They're both two horizontal stripes; one red, one white. Look it up and try to memorize the difference. Go on, I dare you.

And without further ado or attempts to spark interest in flags, I give you them in all their glory!

Alright, I fooled you here. Whilst I searched mine humble dwelling-quarters for interesting things to photograph, I thought I might present this globe of mine. It's very useful, but I must remind myself that it gets one detail wrong: In Europe, in presents Yugoslavia, aka Serbia & Montenegro, as a real nation. That loose state union dissolved in 2006, when Montenegro withdrew, leaving Serbia. Then in 2008 the partially-recognized (and ridiculously small) nation of Kosovo seceded, sparking Serbian outrage. Funny, they didn't seem to mind with Montenegro. Maybe it was just the last straw.

Tally ho, chaps! Here's my jolly good Union Jack, eh wot! It cleverly combines the already smashing good flags of England, Scotland, Wales, and (Northern) Ireland! Though not Welsh, I am English-Scottish, meaning I'm technically British, cheerio! It's like a delicious combination of haggis and blood sausage! Oh wait, British food sucks. And I don't drink alcohol... Oh, to bloody hell with the food metaphor!

This TOTALLY RADICAL flag I found on a site known as www.flagsimporter.com. Not to advertise, but they've got some pretty creative stuff in there, like a USA/Mexico "friendship flag." Anyways, this flag you see above is a combination of those of the United States and Canada, eh? I think it would be awesome to bring to some close-to-the-border city or convention between Americans and Canadians. You want one too, admit it. Come on, you know you do.

In the foreground here might be my favorite, namely an Iranian flag. (You can see my U.S. and Canadian flags behind it.) I have a larger version of this as well in case you weren't paying attention, but this one I prefer because of its portability. So this flag is the one used when the Shah was in power. Not that I exactly like the Shah, but I do like the super-cool Lion & Sun design. It's become more of a patriotic symbol nowadays. Yeah, a badass lion holding a frickin' sword with the sun rising behind it. That beast could kill you just by looking at you. It could also even kill Chuck Norris in a fierce battle. But definitely not Mr. T.

The tricolor bit might be my favorite thing about it. Honestly, what three colors in what combination go together more beautifully? You should see it wave. In fact, you should see me dance. You should see me dance to Thriller. Yeah, baby!