Monday, January 21, 2013

Identifying Americanism

Ever since its humble beginnings in 1787, the year the Constitution was adopted, the United States has been in search of its identity. History, as told by the victors, begins that story a decade earlier with 13 colonies on the eastern coast of North America and moving westward; “Manifest Destiny” was in fact a term given to this search. As a nation of immigrants and given the ever changing demographics of today, the U.S. is in a constant flux concerning its “American” identity. While it is in the best interest of the United States to allow current and future generations – legal, naturalized or otherwise – the same opportunity given those before them to become “Americans,” it is essential that we continue defining and shaping the “new America” of the 21st century provided by that opportunity.

This country, once the backwater step-child of world affairs, has shed more blood and tears in its “short” history as the lone beacon of hope against those who would extinguish the free world’s light. Despite efforts both passive and proactive against them, there still exist those whose sole mission is our destruction. And no matter what blinders one chooses to wear, our house is in disarray from forces – political, social, but most especially economic – that threaten its very core. Hipster doofuses in skinny jeans, reality celebtards on television and idiotic megalomaniacs in Washington, D.C. – is there little surprise in the situation?

A society will always need a leader, but it is up to “We, the People” to maintain vigilance against the manipulative despotism that can take hold by such blind ignorance. As far too many nations have learned the hard way throughout history, a leader’s self-adulation in the myth of their own greatness is the altar of sacrifice upon which virtue and freedom bleeds. And as a reckoning approaches, apathy and disillusion is not a viable option for the degenerations, oppressions and outright abominations attempting to tear asunder and undermine our principles. From the soldier to the General, from the sailor to the Admiral, it is time once more, perhaps now more than ever, to uphold a sworn duty to protect and defend this nation against its mortal enemies not only abroad but also domestic, so that it does not perish from the Earth.

Particularly, it is up to the American citizen – present and, hopefully, future – to pledge fealty to liberty and justice in support of this undertaking, for there is no greater cause than that of free men and women who would willingly give their life before yielding to the shackles of tyranny. Ever more, it is up to us to honor those men and women who voluntarily gave up their lives never knowing their sacrifice to the success of such a cause.

It is either our destiny as Americans, or it will be our demise.
 

©2013 Steve Sagarra

Monday, December 24, 2012

Top Christmas Movies

I really don't have anything profound or in-depth this Christmas season. Frankly, it's not my favorite holiday - all the joy, charity and merriment sucking the marrow out of delusional lost hope and painstaking self-isolation. Blah humbug; give me a good horror movie and some candy or beer(s) and parade of green and orange! Besides, I always had my doubts from an early age about a boisterously jolly fat man being able to enter (i.e. break into) a house my dad routinely made certain was secure from intruders. (A suspicion finally confirmed while staking out on Christmas Eve.)

For the 12 Days of Christmas, my top 12 Christmas movies to watch each season:

1. King of Kings (1961)*
2. Ben-Hur (1959)*
3. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
4. A Christmas Carol (1984)
5. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
6. White Christmas (1954)
7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
8. Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
9. Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
10. A Christmas Story (1983)
11. Elf (2003)
12. The Ref (1994) 


*Also good for Easter 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

©2012 Steve Sagarra

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Super Friends Unite!

The new trailer for Man of Steel has been released, and I have to say that for the first time in a long while I am actually excited for a Superman movie. Why would I say that? For starters, I am a Batman and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) fan, and not much of one when it comes to Superman. Don’t get me wrong, I like the character and actively watched Smallville; it’s just that he’s all-powerful until…OH NO…KRYPTONITE!!! If I were Supes, I would round up all the kryptonite in the universe and either destroy it or keep it safely locked away for those times when it might be needed against other beings such as General Zod. Rather than allowing, oh I don’t know, EVERY ENEMY TO POSSESS YOUR ONE WEAKNESS.

I digress…

From the looks of the trailer, this Superman reboot is not your typical camp of previous live-action films (sorry Christopher Reeve). It looks dark and brooding, but with a sense of hope the good that one super-powered alien can bring to humanity. It is also possibly the first in a DC Comics Justice League movie series, a la Marvel’s The Avengers and related films like Iron Man and Captain America. Of course, that’s the rub:  in order to do justice to a Justice League movie, you need a few stand alone origin stories of the mainstay DC characters as well. Hence, Superman – the comic book superhero that pretty much started it all and has made comic book collecting a passion for decades. Even before Superman Returns, the franchise has been in need of a reboot.

Naturally, one cannot have a Justice League without Wonder Woman. The warrior princess from Themyscira is a cornerstone of the triumvirate comprised of Superman, Batman and herself. Fortunately, there is talk of a WW movie. And Batman? Christopher Nolan just finished a Batman trilogy; would there need to be a reboot of the franchise so soon? Whether that series would be a tie-in or not – and the end of The Dark Knight Rises alone would hamper that scheme (oh, sorry...*SPOILER ALERT*) – I feel a stand-alone Batman movie before a Justice League one would be unnecessary. A person could never read a comic book, but they know Batman. Rather than yet another rehashing of his origins, all that would be needed is a cameo by an already operating Batman (aka Bruce Wayne, there can be no other *SPOILER ALERT*) tacked onto the other films hinting at their forthcoming alliance, again a la Marvel. This then could lead into a stand-alone sequel/reboot afterward that ONE CAN ONLY HOPE would delve deeper into the later adventures of “The Caped Crusader.” (Hey look, a movie title that would have been more original than…The Dark Knight Rises.) As for Green Lantern, the movie equally could serve as a catalyst for a reboot of and/or sequel to the titular movie starring Ryan Reynolds, again with really no need to have another stand-alone movie tied-in beforehand.


You may be asking, “What about my favorite character Aquaman?” Short answer:  I hate Aquaman. No matter how hard DC tries to revamp the character and make him cooler, he still is no match for Marvel’s Sub-Mariner. Like Wonder Woman, though, there is talk of an Aquaman movie, as well as (it's about freakin' time!) a Flash (Barry Allen) one. That said I do feel there is room for Green Arrow, another of my favorites, who has seen a boost in popularity thanks to the television series, Arrow. If DC wanted to capitalize on it, they could do for their green-clad archer what Marvel failed to do in the underdeveloped characterization of their purple-clad archer, Hawkeye, in The Avengers. (Probably THE major disappointment of an otherwise awesome movie).

What I do know is that with the movies set to come out in the next few years…I am now hoping the Mayans were wrong. 

©2012 Steve Sagarra