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.




Monday, May 13, 2019

Game of Thrones - a joke

I had something to say about Game of Thrones for the first time last week, and now after watching the second to last episode, I was amazed at the joke of a show it is.

I had lamented about how the writers of the show had fallen in line with the female dominance premise which Hollywood has been promoting for the past twenty years. But that really hasn't been unexpected. With last night's episode, it has dropped to a new low.

It's all about the super Danny girl and her super dragon now. The show had established that Cersei's new "scorpion" arrows were very effective in killing dragons, as they had killed one with little effort already. But lining up these "scorpions" only along the front wall of her walled fortress was so stupid it was a joke. Did anyone ever notice that the dragon had wings and can fly? Did anyone care to realize that a flying dragon can fly at their walled city from any direction?

I mean anyone with half a brain would know to position those "scorpion" arrow shooters, not only on the front wall, but on the rear wall, and on the side walls, and throughout the city's interior. I mean, no one realized a dragon could fly directly down from a high point, thus evading the walled "scorpions" to breathe its fire? So the joke is how stupid the positioning of these scorpions was.

And by the way, since when does fire burn stone walls and stone towers? Since when does a fire cause stone walls to explode? It was like the dragon was shooting explosive tipped missiles out of its mouth. Well, it's all part of the joke, I guess.

This show was so poorly written, it was very surprising. And clearly, whenever a show is this stupid it's the fault of the writers. I haven't read the books, so I don't know if the original author wrote it this way. Whoever did, the goose-steppers will buy into it. But wait...not entirely. At least there's a TV critic out there who didn't buy it. You can read her article on USA Today here.
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