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.




Saturday, October 27, 2018

A Star is Born - Here We Go Again

Hollywood - here we go again. I've lamented that Hollywood has been promoting the concept that the woman is the competent one, the brave one, the strong one, and the winner. And I would have no problem with that if not for Hollywood's flip-side, which is the concept that the man is the incompetent one, the coward, the weakling, and the loser.

It's bad enough Hollywood has transformed great franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars into feminist versions of the prior shows. Especially bad is the brainwashing of our children by the constant portrayal of male characters in cartoons as stupid, cowardly, incompetent and degenerate, while the female characters are the opposite. But it's not just cartoons anymore. And it's not even a new thing, evidenced by the many times remade movie, A Star is Born.

So don't watch these shows, right? I don't. But it's still disappointing. For example, I used to like the Star Trek franchise. Well, the original series, anyway. The Next Generation version was the start of its downfall. When TOS had a captain who was brave, dashing, competent, and self-assured, Star Trek was great. But then TNG had a captain who was the opposite. He needed "counseling" for practically every command decision he made. (And, oh, yeah, counseling from a woman.) Which, imo, brought the franchise down. Way down. Way, way, way, down.

It was a slow downward spiral, but it bottomed out with the current Star Trek which now features only female heroes. A female captain. A female first officer... etc... etc... In Star Trek now, the males are relegated to secondary characters with no impact. I stopped watching after the first episode.

I also stopped watching Star Wars. In those movies, the male characters are cowardly and/or incompetent fools. It's only the female characters who are the heroes. I've made the point already, that a woman can be as heroic as a man. But when it's only female characters who are the heroes, like in every single Star Wars movie since Disney bought the franchise, it's like, what the hell?

So back to A Star is Born. Sure, with this twisted Hollywood mindset, what better movie to remake than the ultimate Hollywood story of a man who is incompetent, stupid, drug-addicted, and self-destructive next to a woman who is talented, competent, self-determined, brave, and virtuous? Of course it's A Star is Born. Its fourth rendition to boot.

Which underscores my point. It had already been done three times. But hey...like I said, it's the ultimate depiction of the male vs. female scenario Hollywood has been promoting for more than two decades. Which begs the question: why does Hollywood want male characters portrayed as stupid, incompetent, degenerate, weak, and cowardly? Hollywood is run by men. Isn't that right? I keep hearing that. The feminists keep lamenting that. I think it's a good question.

Apparently, the answer is they want to see men as weak, degenerate cowards and women as strong righteous heroes. Is Hollywood catering to women? Not if you listen to the "Me-too" movement. Women have been abused by these high positioned freaks in Hollywood like forever, there's no questioning that. But it's weird and plain disgusting to me when a 120 pound woman beats up twenty men all at the same time without breaking a sweat. I just can't buy into that.

Sure, Supergirl can and so can Wonder Woman. That works because it's comic book fantasy. But here's the kicker. Iron Fist is comic book fantasy, too. But with Iron Fist, instead of just a woman who's a hero, we have to see a man who's too cowardly and insecure to be the hero, and thus passes his power to...a woman, who's not too cowardly or insecure. I mean how many times do we have to put up with this same concept? And this "Black Sky" character? Please...no.

So through it all, the solution is simple. I'm sticking with Killer of Killers. And Killer Eyes. In those stories Trent Smith is a strong, self assured, and self determined male hero. And he stays that way. He is the righteous one, and he has no insecurities in his quest for justice. Apparently it's up to me to write about a male hero who's brave enough and competent enough to be a hero. And to stay a hero. Unless there's  more Jason Statham movies in the works. Or John Wick. Speaking of which, I can't wait for John Wick chapter 3. Thank goodness, someone in Hollywood hasn't wimped out.