Martin S. Wathen
Bio
A writer practicing in both prose and script. With a deep passion for film and screenwriting, I use this platform to publish all unique ideas and topics which I feel compelled to write about! True crime, sport, cinema history or so on.
Stories (25/0)
The Bloody consequence of confidence and arrogance
There weren’t always dragons in the valley. In fact, their age of unrelenting bloodshed slipped no farther than three decades. Nonetheless, the butchery and disarray ravaged through their wake reverberated for millennia. Mordecai’s father would warn him, and his brother, of that fiery era. An era when entire cities would glimmer pumpkin orange amongst the murky skies of midnight dusk. An era when those very cities would crumble to scorched ashes by the sun’s next rise. An era when the screams of thousands haunted the souls of the surviving few. Mordecai’s father warned him of that valley. The valley where the dragons came. The same valley where the dragons, eventually, went - and never came back. He counselled them on that valley’s morbid perils. The shifting stone, the souls which slipped into it, swallowed - cursed to never return. He warned them that, if they were to pass through it, they would certainly die.
By Martin S. Wathen10 months ago in Fiction
Is Matt Ryan poised for another MVP year?
Matt Ryan. Undoubtedly my favorite athlete and, as an unashamedly biased Falcons fan, the source of countless moments of joy – in addition to more moments to which I’d prefer we do not talk about. He was drafted by my Atlanta Falcons whilst I was the age of 11. My voice was squeaky, height was short, and the prior year’s MVP was Tom Brady’s first – at the age of 30. Of course, Peyton Manning would go on to win the subsequent two to follow, and Matt Ryan would eventually win his own in that 2016 Cinderella season. He achieved a lot in 14 years. Now I’m 25, and the legendary Quarterback leads the franchise in every notable stat and accolade. He will hold these records for some time, no doubt long after he is inducted into the hall of fame. His impact on the franchise has been immeasurable. Yet, that leads us to the present day. The all-time great Falcon was recently shipped to Indianapolis in exchange for a 3rd round pick. The value of the trade was significantly low, if we compare to the Matt Stafford trade a year before, but works more so as a cap based move to contribute toward Atlanta’s long rebuild. What’s next, though? I would argue that this move has put Matty Ice in the best position he has ever been throughout his illustrious career. The question being, can he finally win a ring?
By Martin S. Wathen11 months ago in Unbalanced
5 Horror focus YouTube Channels I would recommend
Horror, for me, is more than just ghosts which scream “Boo” at the screen. Or the gruesome end of soulless characters at an even more soulless killer. It is perhaps the genre with the widest scope of potential. It is a platform to discuss social issues, or human struggles. To manifest trauma, or detail a message through fright. It is, through history utilized for cheap fright, perhaps one of cinemas greatest platforms to artistically portray abstract themes. It seems, over recent years and the emergence of A24, this potential has begun to be realized in the mainstream. Such an opinion I just previously stated has become commonplace and fairly universally understood. With it, a fascination of horror theory. Horror themes, the theoretical analysis of these tales academically.
By Martin S. Wathen12 months ago in Horror
If Silent Hill 4 was a good game, it would have been an abstract masterpiece.
My relationship with the horror genre strays much earlier than I perhaps would have liked. A young child petrified as I’m exposed to Pennywise, Freddy Kruger and Jason. As a family, we would spend many a night curled up on our sofa gazing at VHS tapes of grizzly tales with curtains tight and my head beneath a thin cotton blanket. I developed a ritual to gaze at the televisions “on” switch rather than the action within frame. In this, I could seem as though I braved the monsters within, whilst subtly looking away. Within each subgenre, I seldom felt more of a swell in my gut than I did during stories which entailed the presence of ghosts. I recall vehemently recommending “13 Ghosts” on the playground of my school whilst my friends recommended “Jeepers Creepers” – I was far from brave enough to watch the latter. Nothing, however, unsettled me more so than my father’s return from ‘Game Shops’ with a particular franchise ensnared within his grip. A franchise I would eventual begin to respect in my childhood mind as the pinnacle of fright. One which, in the second instalment, I couldn’t even leave the opening room without flicking the switch to my PS2 in fright. This: Silent Hill.
By Martin S. Wathen12 months ago in Gamers
Making Sense Of The AFC West
It would be the most aggressive of understatements to suggest the 2022 offseason has been phenomenal. It seems, since the moment that blue and yellow confetti dropped, there has been a fascinating development by the hour. The extension of Aaron Rodgers, tagged alongside the departure of Davante Adams, the release of Julio Jones, or Jacksonville’s spending spree. It seems we’ve had an offseason for the ages and, certainly, one which I dread we may never forget. Amongst this drama, thankfully not so much filtered through the return of Brady or Big Ben’s retirement, comes the AFC West. In my opinion, above all else, this story has been the most fascinating to see unfold as we witness a true arms race for the division – and potentially the conference. But let’s take a deeper look into it, and truly document the insanity of this division’s invasion of superstars.
By Martin S. Wathenabout a year ago in Unbalanced
The Endless Depths Of A Stolen Soul - Chapter Three.
3 The room, for Gavin, spiraled with more chaos than usual that night. He was lay, spread outward with loose and flimsy drunken limbs, and a gaze which struggled to fixate upon the crusted paint upon the ceiling. He’d averted his eye from the window when the alcohol bent shadows beyond comprehension. The trees grew taller, and his blurred vision offered the seeming mirage of something towering them too. The full blight of the alcohol’s force cracked like a cinder-block against his temple. Its poison danced about his veins and intertwined itself with blood. He wandered, amongst other things, whether the room would slip loose and topple around him. It seemed precariously hinged like playing a skipping rope with shuttered eyes.
By Martin S. Wathenabout a year ago in Fiction
Can The Detroit Lions Finally Bounce Back?
In Sports, it’s fair to argue that, almost anything is entitled to heated debate. Whether that be, in the NFL, the legitimacy of Matt Ryan’s hall of fame credentials or the current best half back or corner in the game. In the domain of the National Football League much is bound for interpretation, and little is cemented as clear truth. Far from such speculation, however, remains a sorrowful constant of several decades, if not the merging of the ‘Superbowl era’. This, the repetitive failure of the ‘Detroit Lions’. Since 2000, the Lions have bolstered a measly five winning seasons – with only two surpassing 10 wins. During this period, the team achieved the miserable feat of a winless season, somehow with a rookie Calvin Johnson amongst their ranks. Fans haven’t celebrated a playoff win since the Barry Sanders era of the Motor City when Rodney Peete and Erik Kramer laced up at QB. In a league of highs and lows, it’s far from hyperbole to suggest the Lions have seen far more lows than highs. Yet, currently, we reach a crossroads in the franchise’s lengthy history. Like the Bengals post Dalton, Detroit are poised upon a new era post Stafford. The question arises, however: Can they embrace this opportunity for change and turn around, like Cincinnati? Or stumble upon this pivotal hurdle?
By Martin S. Wathenabout a year ago in Unbalanced
'To Live And Die In LA': A Passionate Defence For A Film I Fear May One Day Be Lost In Time.
Is it peculiar to yearn for a home I have never been? A place home to millions, but one I have seldom travelled closer than 5,000 miles to even its furthest perimeters. A Walter Mitty-like reality where I find myself amongst a city that’s culture and art of storytelling are so core to its foundations. So fundamental that, if it were a living entity, cinema would be the blood that pumps its sentimental heart. Los Angeles. And, to me, an outsider with the tutor of cinema guiding my perception – there are two LA’s. A Jekyll and Hyde of cinematic interpretation. Two worlds, universes apart, which simultaneously live side by side within the same sun-soaked town I have always dreamed of calling home. One world drenched in a lustful affair with the forces of nostalgia, whilst the other teasing a dirtier underbelly. A dream standing side by side with a nightmare. The latter, as I will go on to argue with fierce vehemence, captured with magnetically morbid splendour in 1985’s ‘To Live And die In LA’. A film, I wholeheartedly consider a perfect accompanying piece to others of its nature – alike ‘Heat’, ten years later.
By Martin S. Wathen2 years ago in Geeks
