wicked Iran – Page 2 – Author Carlo Carrasco

What to watch on YouTube right now – Part 20

May 27, 2024May 23, 2024carlocarrasco

Welcome back, my readers, YouTube viewers and all others who followed this series of articles focused on YouTube videos worth watching. Have you been searching for something fun or interesting to watch on YouTube? Do you feel bored right now and you crave for something to see on the world’s most popular online video destination?

I recommend you check out the following topics and the related videos I found.

#1 NHK World’s Game Planet Documentary – If you are very passionate about video games and you want to see gaming through the views of the Japanese and the Chinese, then you should see NHK World’s documentary here. This video documentary is also a must-see for those who love playing the Street Fighter video games. Lots of creative talents from Capcom and Tencent interviewed.

https://youtu.be/6joB4j6kemY?si=PvJdZiZn3YrWIx_G

#2 Square Enix decides to drop PlayStation exclusivity and go multiplatform with their business – It was indeed bound to happen and I was not surprised about it. In case you missed the news, Square Enix announced it will drop PlayStation exclusivity in favor of going aggressive with a multiplatform strategy. This is because there was a massive 70% profit drop on the part of Square Enix and sales of the PlayStation 5-exclusive Final Fantasy VII Rebirth were undeniably disappointing. To understand the details better, posted below is one analytical video and one critical video.

#3 Nick Anderson’s notorious 4 missed free throws and disrespect towards Michael Jordan – If you are long-time basketball fan, you would at least be aware of significant events during the NBA Playoffs and the Finals in 1995. I am talking about Nick Anderson who is still remembered as the guy who missed four free throws as his team (Orlando Magic) was already leading by three points ahead of the Houston Rockets (defending champions) during Game 1 of the 1995 NBA Finals. As history recorded, the Houston Rockets swept the Magic 4-0 to win their 2^nd straight NBA championship. Going back to Anderson, he is also the same guy who disrespected Michael Jordan during the Eastern Conference semifinals. Posted below are three videos for you to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZiXeSA5bIg

#4 Reggie Miller’s 8 points in 8.9 seconds – Still with the 1995 NBA Playoffs, here is a look back at the miraculous achievement of Reggie Miller scoring eight points in less than nine seconds during a game against the New York Knicks at the Madison Square Garden. For the newcomers reading this, the playoff rivalry between the Knicks and Indiana Pacers started in 1994 and by the time their rematch in 1995 was realized, collective fan anticipation was already high. There was no better way to raise the stakes in the rematch than Miller’s unexpected 8 points in 8.9 seconds. Watch the video below.

#5 Popcorn in Bed’s reaction video of Deep Impact – In 1998 here in the Philippines, I saw the sci-fi film Deep Impact in a cinema during its first week of release. It was entertaining to watch given the sci-fi spectacle, the concept and, of course, the wide cast of actors that includes the legendary Robert Duvall in a really solid supporting role. What is most notable about Deep Impact is the fact that it was made to spark emotion from viewers and that is most inevitable in the movie reaction video by Popcorn in Bed. With the current number of Deep Impact reaction videos available on YouTube as of this writing, the best one is viewable right below…

#6 HolyLandSite’s video of the tour of the Oaks of Mamre in Israel – Recently HolyLandSite released their newest Holy Land video focused on the Oaks of Mamre in Israel which is the historical and biblical site where the Abrahamic Covenant was given. Oaks of Mamre is filled with evidence that it is indeed the very place where Abraham met God. God’s covenant has always been with the Jewish people (read Genesis 17:15-21 in the Holy Bible). This video also has biblical lessons for those who follow Lord Jesus and the Word of God. May this also remind you that the ties between Jews and Christians are biblical.

#7 Retrospective video about Konami’s X-Men arcade game – Just a few years before Capcom and Marvel Comics teamed up for the production of arcade games featuring superheroes and the publisher’s own characters, Konami literally rocked the arcades with a lot of fun with the X-Men arcade game of 1992. Using the established character designs from the 1989 cartoon X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, the arcade game allowed players to choose one of six superheroes to play as (listed were Cyclops, Wolverine, Dazzler, Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler) and engage in side-scrolling beat-them-up action fighting the many minions of Magneto. The X-Men arcade game was undeniably successful and impacted the way people enjoyed multiplayer sessions in the arcades. You can learn more from this in-depth retro gaming video by PatmanQC.

#8 FilmComicsExplained’s Demolition Man video analysis – When I first saw Demolition Man (1993), I perceived it as a Sylvester Stallone action movie laced with futuristic science fiction (sci-fi) concepts. I noticed the film’s portrayal of what future society could become and what futuristic technologies could be used by people. By today’s standards, Demolition Man is perceived to be prophetic with its presentation and the video by FilmComicsExplained takes an in-depth look into it. It is a must-see!

#9 The death of wicked Iran’s president – Since 1979, Iran became wicked and its government has officially been sponsoring terrorists and terrorism activities in the Middle East for far too long. In case you missed the news, the president of Iran died in a helicopter crash recently and there were other fatalities with him. The president of Iran not only publicly called for the destruction of Israel, he is also responsible for harming minorities and political opponents, hurting protesters in Iran and more. There are reasons why the dead president has been called the Butcher of Tehran. For a clear view and analysis over the death of the president of Iran, watch the selected videos below. Do not trust Islamo-Leftist mainstream news media as they support terrorism.

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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below, share this article to others and also please consider making a donation to support my publishing. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me with a private message. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me on Twitter at @HavenorFantasy as well as on Tumblr at https://carlocarrasco.tumblr.com/ and on Instagram athttps://www.instagram.com/authorcarlocarrasco

A Look Back at Harbinger #19 (1993)

September 14, 2022September 12, 2022carlocarrasco

Disclaimer: This is my original work with details sourced from reading the comic book and doing personal research. Anyone who wants to use this article, in part or in whole, needs to secure first my permission and agree to cite me as the source and author. Let it be known that any unauthorized use of this article will constrain the author to pursue the remedies under R.A. No. 8293, the Revised Penal Code, and/or all applicable legal actions under the laws of the Philippines.

Welcome back superhero enthusiasts, 1990s culture enthusiasts and comic book collectors! Today we go back to the early 1990s and explore a part of the Valiant Comics shared universe through the Harbinger monthly series.

In my previous retro review, the creative team of Fontenot-Simpson told another story that built up Harbinger’s concept some more while introducing yet another new character – Screen – who is not part of the team led by Sting. The story symbolically showed the further growth of the tremendous power of Toyo Harada not only through his control of the Harbinger foundation but also of his connection with the new United States President of the time.

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Harbinger #19, published in 1993 by Valiant Comics with a story written by Maurice Fontenot and illustrated by Howard Simpson.

Early story

The story begins on the afternoon of January 25, 1993. Inside the New York facility of the Harbinger foundation, a pretty blonde, young lady named Natalie Toynbee – codename: Stunner – gets scanned by the technicians handling the technologies. A technician’s request for Natalie to urinate into a cup reveals that the lady has a huge ego and pride of herself as she reacts negatively.

Suddenly, the wall near Natalie and the technician got damaged by force unleashed by Sting who is accompanied by Faith, Flamingo and Shatiqua. Their mission is to free Natalie from the clutches of the Harbinger foundation which is a small part of their long-term vision of freeing and recruiting more powered young adults.

After subduing the Harbinger foundation personnel, Sting begins to explain to Natalie the situation and tells her to just trust him. Sting tells her to come with them which only drew more of Natalie’s ego along with skepticism. This reaction makes Faith think Natalie is not worth saving…

Quality

*Imagine Iran invading America and causing terror like in this scene. Imagine Joe Biden and the Democrats allowing this to happen to Americans.*

While the story was not crafted to follow-up closely on the events of issue #18, this comic book puts Sting and his teammates into a collision course with a new force of evil – the Iranians (note: issue #20 confirms their national identity) who have interests on specific young adults with powers and special abilities. Along the way, the Fontenot-Simpson team introduced a new sinister force in the form of a very manipulative Iranian named Kaliph.

Kaliph’s introduction here is easily the biggest feature of the story and he unsurprisingly overwhelms the debut of Natalie. Kaliph here works in service of his unidentified superiors and as he does his job, he uses his special ability of manipulating people’s minds through sight and sound to gain information, find directions, make them do his orders and gain access into places that he could never have had he been an ordinary person. By the end of the story, I was convinced that Kaliph was created to be an enduring or recurring villain for Sting and his team.

More on the primary characters of this monthly series, Sting and his teammates were portrayed to get more harbingers (powered young adults) to join them and become part of their long-term opposition against Toyo Harada and the Harbinger foundation, even though their own team lacks the resources needed to support themselves. The lack of resources was cleverly highlighted through Natalie’s reactions (related to her big ego) to what Sting’s team has for her to live with. Looking at the bigger picture going back to issue #1, Sting’s vision of defeating Harada and winning the trust of powered young adults without any solid foundation (specifically resources, connections and security) emphasize his recklessness and false sense of maturity as a team leader.

Conclusion

*Kaliph and his companion arrive in America with a sinister plan.*

In my view, Harbinger #19 (1993) is a solid change of direction for the monthly series complete with the introduction of a new, strong villain who originated from Iran which by today’s standards is the major force of terrorism in this world. The new villain Kaliph has a creepy aesthetic that other villains in this series lacked. More notably, the story remained consistently very engaging and pulled off some notable surprises which were indeed entertaining.

Overall, Harbinger #19 (1993) is highly recommended!

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A Look Back at Tomb Raider #1 (1999)

July 22, 2022July 20, 2022carlocarrasco

Welcome back superhero enthusiasts, 1990s culture enthusiasts and comic book collectors! Today we go back to 1999 which was the year when the wildly popular Tomb Raider video game franchise made its debut in comic books handled by Top Cow Productions with Image Comics as publisher.

To put things in perspective, Tomb Raider started as a video game in 1996 which astounded millions of gamers worldwide resulting in huge sales for game publisher Eidos Interactive. This, of course, led to sequels which impacted console gaming and established Lara Croft as a video gaming and pop culture icon. From 1996 to 1999, Eidos Interactive released one new Tomb Raider game on consoles selling many millions of copies. Given the tremendous video game success achieved, Tomb Raider’s expansion into the comic book industry was inevitable.

With those details laid down, here is a look back at Tomb Raider #1, published in 1999 by Image Comics with a story written by Dan Jurgens and drawn by Andy Park.

Early story

The story begins in Iran, a nation that remains hostile to Westerners due to their government being led by fundamentalists with vested interest in terrorism. Two vehicles arrived at a very laid back town and immediately several armed men forcibly unmask the local women searching for a certain Westerner.

One Iranian soldier approaches a lady clothed and masked in black. Upon unmasking the said lady, the Iranian soldier discovers a lady from the West…the Tomb Raider herself – Lara Croft – wearing an extravagant looking necklace. The Iranian soldier puts his gun on Lara’s face and demands she takes the necklace off.

Lara Croft answers by firing her two guns at the Iranian soldiers hitting some while also forcing other soldiers to run away. Knowing she has to get out of Iran, Lara runs away from the soldiers and gets into a jeep forcing the man to drive the vehicle and move away. As the jeep moves out of the town, a truck full of enemy soldiers chases them…

Quality

*Lara Croft relaxing as her assistant gets updates about the business dealings.*

To get straight to the point, this comic book debut of Tomb Raider and its iconic Lara Croft was clearly written to build up the initial concept the creative team came up with for the series. That being said, Dan Jurgens came up with the clever move to make Lara’s literary introduction action-packed and fast-paced, and his portrayal of Iran remains highly relevant to this day. Lara’s debut is a lively portrayal of the icon’s bravery, determination and special talent on acquiring treasure or items of tremendous value.

In relation to what I stated earlier, the rest of the comic book is a detailed build-up for Lara’s next mission which shows how she deals with powerful clients and why she still accepts million-dollar tasks even though she inherited her family’s huge wealth. While there is a lot of build-up and some exposition here and there, the script by Jurgens is not a bore Jurgens captured Lara Croft’s personality well and there is a good amount of spectacle that balanced well with the wordy exposition that came with the story build-up.

On the art, Andy Park’s work here is pretty good to look at. His visual take of Lara Croft does not involve realism at all as he gave her a look that make her look familiar with how women in comic books looked like in the 1990s. Park clearly is aware of Lara’s iconic status which explains his implementation of dynamism on the action scenes and the unexpected turnout of events that involved her. Still related to the protagonist’s iconic status, it is unsurprising to see Park show off Lara as a sexy action hero dedicated on her risky work.

Conclusion

*After getting threatened, Lara Croft fights back against the Iranians! This is symbolic as even until now in real life, Iran’s government is still full of fundamentalists* who are causing terror in the Middle East.

As it was the debut issue of a monthly series, Tomb Raider #1 (1999) served its purpose to build up the comic book vision the creators came up with while managing to introduce Lara Croft in her illustrated literature form complete with enough pages of action and spectacle. Even though there is no grand event, this is still an entertaining comic book to read and its build-up never created a single boring moment. By the time I reached the end of this comic book, I got to familiarize myself with literary Lara Croft and more importantly, I got interested enough with this small showcase of what Jurgens and Park prepared. I got interested enough to find out what happens next.

Overall, Tomb Raider #1 (1999) is recommended.

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I Love Israel: Exchange of scientists between Israel and the Philippines confirmed

July 9, 2021July 8, 2021carlocarrasco

As I was browsing the latest and most relevant news at the Philippine News Agency (PNA) recently, I spotted the latest development about Israel-Philippines ties and it is about the exchange of scientists. Very recently, Israeli health experts provided valuable advise to Philippine authorities on dealing with COVID-19.

For me, this is significant because I observed that Israel itself has made lots of advances in the field of science and this was confirmed by the Bloomberg Innovation Index wherein Israel finished as the fifth most innovative country in the world for the year 2019. Israel also has its high-tech industries and excels in green science or agriculture feeding the world along the way.

To put things in perspective about the Israel-Philippines exchange of scientists, posted below is an excerpt from the PNA article. Some parts in boldface…

Israel and the Philippines will be sending scientists to each other’s countries as part of capacity building and trainings, an official of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said on Tuesday.

“The specifics such as the number of the experts, duration and date of the visit will still have to be further discussed. While we want to proceed with the activity as soon as possible, we also need to consider the current situation, including travel advisories both in the Philippines and Israel,” DOST Assistant Secretary for International Cooperation Leah Buendia told the Philippine News Agency.

She said the Filipino experts going to Israel will be trained on drip irrigation, medicinal chemistry, Israel’s drug discovery, and artificial intelligence (AI).

On the other hand, the Israeli scientists going to the Philippines will meet with Filipino researchers.

“One of the agreements during the (Philippines-Israel joint committee meeting on science and technology) is to conduct a workshop which will serve as a platform for Filipino and Israeli experts to discuss their works, and identify potential collaboration. During the meeting, our Israeli counterparts said that they want to visit the Philippines,” she said.

DOST Secretary Fortunato de la Peña said the meeting with Israel’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) chief scientist, Avi Domb, and other officials of both agencies was held virtually last June 30.

He said they talked about the potential joint initiatives to be implemented on the identified priority areas that include agriculture (water management); AI (robotics); and health (biomedical engineering and drug discovery).

The discussed priorities were guided by the memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Scientific Cooperation signed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte during his official visit to Israel in 2018, he added.

“Israel is a valuable partner for us. It is part of our 20 priority partners for STI (science, technology, innovation) international cooperation, recognizing their strengths in STI and considering the pronouncements of engaging with non-traditional partners,” Buendia said.

She added that the DOST officials are happy that they finally had the meeting to lay out their plans for the collaboration.

De la Peña earlier reported that capacity building activities include scholarships, visiting professors, and trainings.

The conduct of joint conferences to discuss the respective researches and projects of experts shall also be expected, eyeing the development of AI applications for government/public service and emergency response, among others.

And here are some videos to help you know Israel better…

The latest exchange between Israel and the Philippines regarding scientists is a reflection of the stronger ties between the two nations. We Filipinos should be grateful to the State of Israel, no matter what happens and no matter who are leading as national authorities both here and there. We Filipinos can also give back by supporting Israel in more ways than one. We can pray for Israelites and provide varied support for them (note: refer to the Christians United for Israel reference near the very end of this article below) knowing that there are still terrorists (sponsored by Iran) and other forces of evil that are obsessed in destroying Israel.

Before I end this, here is a holy scripture for you all…

Now, this is what Yahweh says:

“Listen, Jacob, to the One who created you,

Israel, to the one who shaped who you are.

Do not fear,

for I, your Kinsman-Redeemer, will rescue you.

I have called you by name, and you are mine.

When you pass through the deep, stormy sea,

you can count on me to be there with you.

When you pass through raging rivers,

You will not drown.

When you walk through persecution like fiery flames,

you will not be burned;

the flames will not harm you,

for I am your Savior, Yahweh, your mighty God,

the Holy One of Israel!

I give up Egypt as the price to set you free,

Cush and Seba in exchange to bring you back.

Since you are cherished and precious in my eyes,

and because I love you dearly and want to honor you,

I willingly give up nations in exchange for you—

a man to save your life.

I am with you now, even close to you,

so never yield to fear.

I will bring your children from the east;

from the west I will gather you.

I will say to the north, ‘Hand them over!’

and to the south, ‘Don’t hold them back!’

Bring me my sons from far away,

my daughters from the ends of the earth!

Bring me everyone who is called by my name,

the ones I created to experience my glory.

I myself formed them to be who they are

and made them for my glory.”

Isaiah 43:1-7 (TPT)

If you truly believe in Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit and God the Heavenly Father wholeheartedly and you continue to be faithful (not religious), you should be aware that Christians are meant to stand united with Israel, love the Jewish people and pray for the peace of Jerusalem. You can do your part supporting Israel by donating to Christians United for Israel (CUFI). Do not forget to read the Holy Bible, then pray in tongues to the Lord in the privacy of your room with the door shut.

Always be the fearless and aggressive church of Lord Jesus! Always stand in support of Israel!

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Thank you for reading. If you find this article engaging, please click the like button below and also please consider sharing this article to others. If you are looking for a copywriter to create content for your special project or business, check out my services and my portfolio. Feel free to contact me as well. Also please feel free to visit my Facebook page Author Carlo Carrasco and follow me at HavenorFantasy@twitter.com

For more South Metro Manila community news and developments, come back here soon. Also say NO to fake news, NO to irresponsible journalism, NO to misinformation, NO to plagiarists, NO to reckless publishers and NO to sinister propaganda when it comes to news and developments. For South Metro Manila community developments, member engagements, commerce and other relevant updates, join the growing South Metro Manila Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/342183059992673

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