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.




Tuesday, February 8, 2011

TV time - The Cape

Sometimes when their homework is done, and their rooms are clean, I'll sit down and watch a TV show with my two sons. We've started watching a new TV show called The Cape. It's a show about a superhero, like in the comics, and I thought it might be a good "Boy" show to watch with my boys.

Well, it's OK, but I was really astonished at all the holes in the plot, and the overall lazy writing. So what am I expecting? It's basically a Batman-like superhero, a regular guy (an ex-cop) with no special powers, who trains with some circus leader to use a special cape made out of spider silk. He was framed by the main villain, and presumed dead, and now fights crime as the latest "caped" crusader.

But when obvious holes are left in the plot to where you're asking what about this or what about that, it makes you wonder just where are they getting these writers? I've always been disappointed with Holywood's take on superheroes. I've always thought that the TV shows and movies would be so much better if they just went with the original stories from the comics.

I think it's arrogance really, is why they don't. Hollywood believes that comics writers are so beneath them, but imo, the opposite is true. If the movies went with the original stories as written in the comics, they would have been ten times better. So that tells me the comics writers are the superior writers. At least when it comes to their own characters. That's all.

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