Hi all. First, let me apologize most sincerely for my lack of recent updates. I have been quite busy writing "Dying Eternity," and reading "Black," and of course working at the bookstore, which has left me less time to update. I will make more of an effort to be more consistent from now on!
In other news, though, I would like to bring attention to the "Westboro Baptist Church," an organization of people who claim to be Christians but behave in a very unChristian manner. They take God's prohibition on homosexuality to an extreme, thinking that all gays deserve to die and they celebrate every time something bad happens to America because they believe that it is all because there are gays.
People like that disturb me, because they don't represent the parts of Christianity that the world should be focusing on, and they instead make the religion look bad. Please, readers, don't let a few bad eggs spoil the bunch, and join me in condemning this quoteinquote 'Church' for the fraudulent Christians that they are.
Have a great weekend, everybody - I will probably finish Chapter 8 of Dying Eternity soon and I will post it on the Ted Dekker message boards, as I have been doing, and this time I will update here as well at the same moment with a link to it!
-Dirk
Friday, February 29, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Dying Eternity
is the name of my new book that I'm writing, and I already have four chapters done and posted on the Ted Dekker.com message board! Feedback so far has been very good indeed, and you can read Chapter Four here, http://www.teddekker.com/site.php?&content=community&sub=board&com=board&brd=topic_225259 and then there is a link at the top of it to the post where I posted my other three chapters as well. Hope you enjoy!
Work has been going great this week, as usual! Mr. Perkis left me in charge on Monday because he had out of town business to attend to, and that happens to be when the Ted Dekker books we ordered finally came in and I started reading "Black", the first novel in Ted Dekker's most famous trilogy, "The Circle." After "Black" I will probably read "Red" and "White," the other two books, because so far "Black" is even more unbelievable than "House" was! I can tell this series is going somewhere huge and I can't wait to get there. Also it will probably inspire a lot of Dying Eternity as I write contemporaneously with when I read. Stay tuned for more updates!
In the latest Mike Huckabee news, congratulations Mike Huckabee on winning Kansas a little while ago, and early votes in Texas just started yesterday, so GOOD LUCK!
Well, I hope you all enjoy my novel so far! My friend Ricky may edit it somewhere down the line if I eventually decide to submit it to publication. I'll keep you posted.
Have a great day,
-Dirk
Work has been going great this week, as usual! Mr. Perkis left me in charge on Monday because he had out of town business to attend to, and that happens to be when the Ted Dekker books we ordered finally came in and I started reading "Black", the first novel in Ted Dekker's most famous trilogy, "The Circle." After "Black" I will probably read "Red" and "White," the other two books, because so far "Black" is even more unbelievable than "House" was! I can tell this series is going somewhere huge and I can't wait to get there. Also it will probably inspire a lot of Dying Eternity as I write contemporaneously with when I read. Stay tuned for more updates!
In the latest Mike Huckabee news, congratulations Mike Huckabee on winning Kansas a little while ago, and early votes in Texas just started yesterday, so GOOD LUCK!
Well, I hope you all enjoy my novel so far! My friend Ricky may edit it somewhere down the line if I eventually decide to submit it to publication. I'll keep you posted.
Have a great day,
-Dirk
Friday, February 15, 2008
Coming Soon...
Well, I have been inspired! After reading "House" and some of the stories posted by members of the Ted Dekker.com community on the message boards, I have decided that my tide has come in, and so I am now going to begin my novel opus!
I'm excited about this because I really think this is the kind of creative energy I need for a project that can really get out there and make a name for myself. I'll be posting it on the Ted Dekker.com message boards as I write it, most likely, to get feedback on what I'm doing right and wrong. It's just like getting an editor, but for free!
It's a good thing it's the weekend: now I have time to write!
I'm excited about this because I really think this is the kind of creative energy I need for a project that can really get out there and make a name for myself. I'll be posting it on the Ted Dekker.com message boards as I write it, most likely, to get feedback on what I'm doing right and wrong. It's just like getting an editor, but for free!
It's a good thing it's the weekend: now I have time to write!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Film Review of the movie "Saved"
Good evening everybody, and happy Monday! And if you're one of those people I talked about in my earlier entry who doesn't like Mondays and your day today was bad, then I hope your Tuesday will be better!
Anyway, I had a very nice weekend at home, which I spent reading and watching movies, namely the movie "Saved" that my friend Ricky had told me about in Church last week. It was a very interesting movie, to be sure, and not at all like what I was expecting. The girl who was impregnated had sex in order to convince her boyfriend that he wasn't gay; in effect, she committed one sin to help somebody undo another.
I personally found this a little hard to digest because by having premarital sex both of them were sinning, whereas homosexuality is only a sin on the part of the person who is gay. Essentially she committed TWO sins to get rid of ONE sin. But she is a movie character and movie characters are seldom if never perfect, just like real people, and being a young girl it is indeed understandable that she could make such a mistake without thinking things through, so it's forgivable, if not good.
The movie itself treats Christianity in a somewhat tongue-and-cheek manner though, which is certainly not something I can support. There is one character who is Jewish, and she is a rebellious person but ultimately good, as seen by her supporting the boy confined to a wheelchair, but her reception among the Christians in the Christian school she is attending is less than warm, and the students spend more time trying to force her to be Saved than just accepting her differences and flaws.
But for all its faults, the movie does end on a positive note for Christianity (much the same way "I Am Legend" did) when the antagonist girl breaks down and realizes that even though she thought she was devoting herself to Jesus all her life she was really not being all that good a person, but she asks her brother whether Jesus still loves her and even though he says he doesn't believe in Christianity he says that he does. It's a good message to have at the end, that daresay redeems the movie ultimately. I give "Saved" 3 stars out of 5.
In other news, Mitt Romney, one of Mike Huckabee's opponents, has apparently given up in the race, which improves Mike Huckabee's chances a lot, even though he is still behind John McCain. I really hope he can pull through and pull ahead...I'll certainly be praying for it!
Also, I have been enjoying reading and posting messages on the Ted Dekker.com Message Board. My name there is just my name: Dirk Tapert, so if anyone from there is reading this right now, hi! And if anyone who reads my blog wants to make an account, I encourage them to do so.
Mr. Perkis says the copies of Ted Dekker books he ordered should be coming in later this week. I get a 30% discount at the store so you can bet I'll be buying a new one!
Goodnight and God Bless,
-Dirk
Anyway, I had a very nice weekend at home, which I spent reading and watching movies, namely the movie "Saved" that my friend Ricky had told me about in Church last week. It was a very interesting movie, to be sure, and not at all like what I was expecting. The girl who was impregnated had sex in order to convince her boyfriend that he wasn't gay; in effect, she committed one sin to help somebody undo another.
I personally found this a little hard to digest because by having premarital sex both of them were sinning, whereas homosexuality is only a sin on the part of the person who is gay. Essentially she committed TWO sins to get rid of ONE sin. But she is a movie character and movie characters are seldom if never perfect, just like real people, and being a young girl it is indeed understandable that she could make such a mistake without thinking things through, so it's forgivable, if not good.
The movie itself treats Christianity in a somewhat tongue-and-cheek manner though, which is certainly not something I can support. There is one character who is Jewish, and she is a rebellious person but ultimately good, as seen by her supporting the boy confined to a wheelchair, but her reception among the Christians in the Christian school she is attending is less than warm, and the students spend more time trying to force her to be Saved than just accepting her differences and flaws.
But for all its faults, the movie does end on a positive note for Christianity (much the same way "I Am Legend" did) when the antagonist girl breaks down and realizes that even though she thought she was devoting herself to Jesus all her life she was really not being all that good a person, but she asks her brother whether Jesus still loves her and even though he says he doesn't believe in Christianity he says that he does. It's a good message to have at the end, that daresay redeems the movie ultimately. I give "Saved" 3 stars out of 5.
In other news, Mitt Romney, one of Mike Huckabee's opponents, has apparently given up in the race, which improves Mike Huckabee's chances a lot, even though he is still behind John McCain. I really hope he can pull through and pull ahead...I'll certainly be praying for it!
Also, I have been enjoying reading and posting messages on the Ted Dekker.com Message Board. My name there is just my name: Dirk Tapert, so if anyone from there is reading this right now, hi! And if anyone who reads my blog wants to make an account, I encourage them to do so.
Mr. Perkis says the copies of Ted Dekker books he ordered should be coming in later this week. I get a 30% discount at the store so you can bet I'll be buying a new one!
Goodnight and God Bless,
-Dirk
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Mike Huckabee Wins!
in Arkansas, anyway, as well as a bunch of other states! Yesterday was a day called "Super Tuesday," where a lot of primary elections take place. Mike Huckabee didn't do quite as well as some of the other Republicans that he is running against, but he still managed to win in Arkansas (my home state and his!), Georgia, Tenessee, West Virginia, and Alabama.
Winning all of these states can only help Mike Huckabee and his campaign to become the candidate for President, so everybody keep your fingers crossed that he wins even more in the future and catches up to his opponents John McCain and Mitt Romney.
In other words, it's Wednesday night now, meaning that the week is more than half over. This weekend I will probably get the movie "Saved" and watch it. I'll let you know what I think!
Go Mike Huckabee!
-Dirk
Winning all of these states can only help Mike Huckabee and his campaign to become the candidate for President, so everybody keep your fingers crossed that he wins even more in the future and catches up to his opponents John McCain and Mitt Romney.
In other words, it's Wednesday night now, meaning that the week is more than half over. This weekend I will probably get the movie "Saved" and watch it. I'll let you know what I think!
Go Mike Huckabee!
-Dirk
Monday, February 4, 2008
Final Impression: Wow!
Well, I finally finished "House" last night, before I went to bed, and the ending blew me away. I enjoy reading and I read a lot, and "House" is one of the better books I've read recently, to be sure, and I was so impressed that I even went and joined the Ted Dekker message boards, to help me connect with other fans. This morning when I went into work, I told Mr. Perkis right away to order Ted Dekker books for the store. I don't know if he'll like them that much (he is an older man and rather traditional) but he trusts my judgement.
In other news, yesterday at Church I was talking to a buddy of mine, Ricky, about recent movies we've seen, and I told him about "I Am Legend" starring Will Smith (I called it "I Am a Legend" in an earlier blog; boy do I feel stupid now!) which he says he didn't see, and then he told me about a movie he saw called "Saved" about a girl who gets pregnant in a Christian High School and becomes ostracized and cut off from her friends. He said that it seemed to have a negative view toward Christianity overall but that there were some pretty positive messages in it as well. I may watch it soon (it was released awhile ago, and so it is easy to get on DVD now), but I don't think I convinced him about "I Am Legend." He's afraid of scary movies.
He probably wouldn't like "House" very much then either.
(But I still recommended it to him when the conversation turned to what we were reading!)
God bless, and have a great week!
-Dirk
In other news, yesterday at Church I was talking to a buddy of mine, Ricky, about recent movies we've seen, and I told him about "I Am Legend" starring Will Smith (I called it "I Am a Legend" in an earlier blog; boy do I feel stupid now!) which he says he didn't see, and then he told me about a movie he saw called "Saved" about a girl who gets pregnant in a Christian High School and becomes ostracized and cut off from her friends. He said that it seemed to have a negative view toward Christianity overall but that there were some pretty positive messages in it as well. I may watch it soon (it was released awhile ago, and so it is easy to get on DVD now), but I don't think I convinced him about "I Am Legend." He's afraid of scary movies.
He probably wouldn't like "House" very much then either.
(But I still recommended it to him when the conversation turned to what we were reading!)
God bless, and have a great week!
-Dirk
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
