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Josh Allan Dykstra
BOOK JOSH
Josh Allan Dykstra
BOOK JOSH
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LifeJuly 10, 2007

Spider-man 3 Part 2

So, if you are a regular reader, you probably already know that I write freelance articles and movie reviews for RelevantMagazine.com. It's been a lot of fun for me; I've really grown to appreciate the brilliance of the medium of film for communicating ideas of all kinds. About two months ago, I reviewed Spider-Man 3. I rather liked the movie and, apparently, the rest of the world seriously did not, so upon reading some of the comments that got posted below my article I felt very much like, oh, what do they say... a whore in church. Yes, that's it. (Of course, the fact that that phrase means what it does saddens me on another level, but that's probably another day, another post, eh?) I'm not going to retract anything I said about Spider-Man 3; I still agree with myself. I'd like to see the film again, actually, and will definitely buy it when it comes out on DVD (widescreen, please). But it has occurred to me that I did, perhaps, omit a few things from my review that should have been said. Forgive me, dear readers, for missing it the first time (and for it taking me two months to write it down): THE PARAGRAPH MY REVIEW WAS MISSING:
Unfortunately, there were just too many villains. Yes, in a sense, it made the editing even more impressive (because despite the 80+, give or take, bad guys it was still quite understandable), but it's also true that the overall movie would have been vastly improved by simplifying the myriad villain storylines. Specifically (sorry Thomas Haden), we could've done without Sandman. The effects were a lot of fun, if not slightly exaggerated, but I think almost every Spider-Fan would agree with me when I say, "Give us more Venom!"
Fin. //
LifeApril 19, 2007

All This Gravity

When you live in the desert, you try to get out whenever you can. "Yesterday Morning" by Matt Wertz As per our usual weekly arrangement, I accompanied my lovely wife on her ride down to acting class on Tuesday night. (And by "accompanied," of course I mean drove the hour-plus ride and she took a nice peaceful nap in the passenger seat.) Matt Wertz came on, track three of my latest mix, singing "Yesterday Morning" (click play above if you'd like a soundtrack). Great song, yes, but it was the timbre of the tune that teleported me. It somehow sent me back to my college days with that familiar nostalgic jangle of acoustic guitar pop/rock that was all the rage some 4-8 years ago. The noises coming from my stereo just sounded like college, if that makes any sense. Instantly I was 18, a guitar neophyte, learning hammer-ons and new chords, and volunteering to work with the high-schoolers at a local church. I was full of life, full of new knowledge from stimulating university classes, and, to be honest, pretty full of myself. I was living at home with my parents, and friends wth all sorts of people that I no longer talk to... not on purpose, though. It just, well, happens. I was reliving my experiences, but something wasn't right. Something wasn't the same. Something had changed. The answer came out of nowhere, like an email from the aether -- it was me. In these years that separate the me of then from the me of now, the sound hasn't changed, but I have. I realized then that I'm not much different from the earth upon which I live. All around me, as I drove, were rolling hills, made of dust and silt and compound organic matter-type things, forming layers upon layers as time rolls on. The earth never stays the same, either. Winds blow, storms come, things die, things are born; the earth is stretched in constant tension between death and rebirth... and we're just the same. The music -- Wertz's song was recorded in early 2001, the end of my sophomore year of college -- hasn't changed. It's fixed, static, recorded, done. But I'm not. Layer upon layer of dirt, of silt -- blankets of life and death -- are constantly laid upon us as we get older. In many ways, we'll never be free in the sense that we were "back then." Concerns and troubles seem to plague us as we age; more is added to more, and as much as we sometimes want to, we cannot shed our experiences like a winter coat in springtime. The heaviness of life is battering ram, juggling act, and weightlifting contest, and the intensity of the game never seems to slacken. I wonder if becoming an adult just means somehow learning to live with the weight of all this... gravity. //
LifeFebruary 26, 2007

Luminaries & Black Holes

The most brilliant minds on the planet will tell you that the universe is expanding. We invent telescopes and we create science fiction to "boldly go where no one has gone before," but we never really reach the edges or the explanations. Erwin McManus suggests that the space inside each person is even more vast and complicated. From his latest book, Soul Cravings:
"There is as much mystery inside as there is outside -- maybe more. If you look carefully inside people, you'll find both luminaries and black holes. And if you choose to walk with someone for a lifetime, you'll find that no matter how well you know him or her, there's still so much you don't know. [Unfortunately], some people seem to live in a very small universe. Their world has room only for themselves. While their souls have every potential to be ever expanding, they seem instead to be the center of a collapsing universe -- no room for dreams, for hope, for laughter, for love, for others -- room only for themselves."
I desperately want to work with Luminaries, and I am making it my goal to un-surrounded myself of the Black Holes who have no desire to ever become Stars. Individuals who strive to absorb the sun from everyone else on their path to obscurity are not welcome here; life is just too short. I need the light. //