Will iconic images recorded in the grooves of an ancient vase unite the Holy Land or rip it further apart?

THE VASE

A novel by Mark M. DeRobertis

Muhsin Muhabi is a Palestinian potter, descended from a long line of potters. His business is run from the same shop owned by his ancestors since the day his forebears moved to Nazareth. The region's conflict saw the death of his oldest son, and rogue terrorists are in the process of recruiting his youngest in their plot to assassinate the Pope and Israeli prime minister.

Professor Hiram Weiss is an art historian at Nazareth’s Bethel University. He is also a Shin Bet operative on special assignment. With the help of fellow agent, Captain Benny Mathias, he plans to destroy the gang responsible for the death of his wife and only child. He puts a bomb in the ancient vase he takes on loan from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.

Mary Levin, the charming assistant to the director of Shin Bet, has lost a husband and most of her extended family to recurring wars and never-ending terrorism. She dedicates her life to the preservation of Israel, but to whom will she dedicate her heart? The brilliant professor from Bethel University? Or the gallant captain who now leads Kidon?

Harvey Holmes, the Sherlock of Haunted Houses, is a Hollywood TV host whose reality show just flopped. When a Lebanese restaurant owner requests his ghost-hunting services, he believes the opportunity will resurrect his career. All he has to do is exorcise the ghosts that are haunting the restaurant. It happens to be located right across the street from Muhsin’s Pottery Shop.




Thursday, September 20, 2018

TV's Male Heroes Nothing But Wimps

So, I've complained about Arrow...where the hero saves peoples' lives but after doing so, those same people hate him and put him in jail or want to kill him. And indeed the hero goes to jail for the crime of saving lives. And he goes willingly. For those same people who hated him.

We saw Flash go to jail for the frame job put on him by the villain The Thinker. And I had complained about the "hero" Red Reddington who saved Lizzy's life multiple times, (and the lives of most of her friends also, btw) only for her to then hate him and put in motion a plan to "destroy" him.

Now, I'm watching this new show Iron Fist, and guess what. He turns out to be a wimp. He had already said that possessing the "iron fist" was so important to him like it was part of him. But now he no longer wants it. Say what? Yeah, he says he doesn't have the strength of will to possess it without it "consuming" him. So who does he want to have the iron fist? Who is it that's strong enough to possess it? Well, his girlfriend, of course.

I mean what the heck. So why do I want to watch a show about a "hero" who doesn't want to wield the power to be a hero because he believes he isn't strong enough? He's a cowardly wimp. Why do I want to watch a cowardly wimp? I don't. It seems only the girl is strong enough and brave enough to wield the power.  Likewise, why do I want to watch a show about a chump who goes to jail? I don't. Why do I want to watch a show about a chump where everyone he saves hates him and wants to destroy him? I don't.

So yeah, in the show Iron Fist the woman is now the iron fist because the man is not strong enough or confident enough to hold the power. This is bullshit. What is going on with Hollywood? The men who are supposed to be the heroes are instead wimps and cowards. They are weak and they are chumps. They go to jail for saving lives and saving entire cities. Like the Green Arrow. And who was it that put him in jail? A woman, of course. Who is it that wants to destroy Red Reddington? A woman, of course. And who is it that's strong enough to hold the power of the iron fist when the man who had it wimps out? A woman, of course.

This is an extension of the cartoon shows. Most if not all the cartoon shows for the last twenty years feature male characters that are stupid beyond belief. In addition to that, they are cowards and degenerates. Whereas the female characters are the smart ones, the brave ones, and the ones who have all the answers. It's like Hollywood is trying to brainwash America's kids to believe that if you are a boy, you are stupid, weak, and a coward. On top of that you are also a degenerate and a detriment to society. If you are a girl, then you are smart, strong, and determined, even more so than men. And it's like that in most of these shows, like I said, for the last twenty years.

I don't get it because that's not the reality. Look, I know women can be as smart and as strong as men, generally speaking. But this Hollywood nonsense is just going too far. It's the same thing over and over again with every show, seemingly. It's nauseating. I don't buy it. It makes me very glad I created my own hero: Trent Smith, the world's greatest martial artist. He's featured in two of my books, Killer of Killers and Killer Eyes. No one can match him in a fight, male OR female.

No Woman would last one second against Brock Lesnar
One point I want to make clear. As strong as women can be, there is no woman in the world who would be able to last more than five seconds in a ring against the best male fighters. Take Brock Lesnar as an example. No woman in the world would last one second in a ring against him. And I don't mean this to be an insult to women. I know they are strong and many women are trained to fight. But against a man with equal training? It wouldn't be a contest. Not even close.

So all this crap about how men are weak and cowardly and don't possess strength of will, like we've been seeing in Iron Fist, Arrow, and even the current Star Trek and Star Wars franchises is just that. Crap. It makes me want to go back and continue my Trent Smith series. I think I will.

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Arrow - Getting tedious and tiresome

When I decided to watch some of these DC comics TV shows, (without ever being a DC comics fan, that is) I decided to give Arrow a try. That was a few  years ago, and I like the show. Stephen Amell was a great actor for the main character who becomes the Green Arrow, and the show was gritty, filled with action and quite dramatic. I started watching The Flash soon thereafter and felt the same charm I felt from Arrow, but I still liked Arrow better. It seemed more serious.

But this season the shows have reversed. Now it's the Flash that's better written. And I'll tell you why. Mostly it's because the story lines in Arrow have become tedious and tiresome. Arrow had accrued a team of fellow crime fighters by this the seventh season. And after several years of fighting crime together, saving one another's lives in the process, the team has quit on the Green Arrow. This is something I can't buy into. Why? For the reason they left. That's why. The team of three disgruntled members are acting all butt-hurt because Felicity, (Arrow's wife) had tracked them on her computer for the reason that one of them was going to betray Arrow to the FBI.

And it turned out to be true. One of them was. But all three of them quit the team because now they say they can't trust the Green Arrow. This is a load of crap. I mean, when you've been fighting wars as a team for years, saving lives and each others' lives for that long, you don't let a simple "tracking" for the reason explained split you up. But it did and it's bullshit.

And then Arrow's best friend and closest ally quits because he too is all butt-hurt because the Green Arrow won't let HIM be the Green Arrow. Say what? Well, yeah, that is exactly it. I mean is this guy still in kindergarten? John Diggle was his first partner in fighting crime and most loyal, except, um, he's not so loyal as it turned out.

I mean it's all so petty. And ridiculous. If the writers wanted the Green Arrow to go solo again, they should have written the stories a lot better than that. So yeah, they suck now. A shame, really, as I did like the show before this latest season.

As for Flash? Like I said in an earlier post, it's been pretty dark lately. Gritty and serious drama here. This latest villain is a little whacked. His goal is to "enlighten" humanity, he says. But by killing dozens of innocent people in the process? I mean, there's something wrong with that picture. It's like you want to save the world by killing people. Um, that doesn't really work. Reminds me of the stupid plot in the latest Avengers movie. The bad guy wants to save the universe by killing half of it. Pretty stupid plot if you ask me.

But back to the Flash, we've seen the demise of some good characters. I liked the Elongated Man. But he was killed recently. I hope they can bring him back somehow, like they did in Arrow so many times. I didn't really like it in Arrow when they did that. I mean Arrow brought Black Canary back to life, and he brought back his sister from the dead as well, and it was getting to be too much.

But if they can bring back Elongated Man somehow, that would be okay with me. In the meantime, I am enjoying Flash more than Arrow this latest season. Will it end up that way? I'm almost through with the full season of both shows. We'll see when I'm finished.