Articles by Spike Marshall

Spike and the gang roast and carve the latest Doctor Who Christmas Special.

It’s Christmas, lets be glad. I love Christmas, love it more than a man in his mid-twenties with no real loved ones should. Cookies being baked, co-workers forced to disguise their innate unhappiness, Dean Martin and Perry Como on the radio, and gaudy lights in every window, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. … Continue reading →

I love music, love it so much I spend any spare money picking up albums from Amazon* or buying concert tickets. I love music so much that despite my complete and utter disdain for people in general, my complete unwillingness to dance and a low tolerance for the aroma of sweat, stale beer and urine … Continue reading →

If I were to believe the media winter is currently putting it’s frosted, clawed, fingers into the very heart of Britain. I’ve included a few shots from the canal that runs adjacdent to where I work, just to exemplify how truly treacherous and deadly this kill storm has been.  The Reality Britain is a country dominated by … Continue reading →

This will contain VERY MILD SPOILERS for ASSASSIN’S CREED II and BROTHERHOOD. The original ASSASSIN’S CREED was something of a curate’s egg. A beautiful game engine, a staggering recreation of a fascinating (and largely unexplored in gaming) part of history and a control scheme that granted every action from scaling a church to stabbing Saracens … Continue reading →

It’s not that I don’t like Australia; it’s just that I don’t care about Australia. To my generation of Brits Australia is the definition of the grass being greener on the other side, the idea of emigration to the antipodeans boundaries of the Commonwealth a pipe dream for the young and disenfranchised. But whilst the … Continue reading →

The problem with living under a right wing government is that it’s like being governed by your dad. Your ageing, past his prime, dad. Who scoffs at the noise young people listen to, grumbles at even the hint of expense, and watches NCIS religiously.* I was born in the midst of Margaret Thatcher’s stint as … Continue reading →

And so we enter the final stretch. Truth be told I planned having this up way earlier, however I had to buy myself a copy of FREDDY vs. JASON to complete the series and found myself at the whims of the cruel mistress that is Amazon. In this blog we’re going to be looking at … Continue reading →

So as we continue our little journey down Elm Street we reach the three films I’ve always viewed as being the closest the series ever got to a trilogy. They all concern the central character attempting to either take control of the dream world, or using their own abilities to combat Freddy. Of the Nightmare … Continue reading →

I have a theory that you can divide most horror geeks of a certain age into three separate camps. Those who love NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET series, those who love the HALLOWEEN films and those who are fans of the FRIDAY THE 13TH films. Of course there can be overlap, but I think most people … Continue reading →

On average I watch about five hours worth of TV a week, distributed across a select few shows. This isn’t a value judgement on my part (one of the of the reasons I limit my exposure to TV so much is that I used to find myself losing entire nights where I’d watch trashy TV)it’s … Continue reading →

This could turn into an infrequent series of articles or it might get Vera Draked depending on my mood. Anyways the intent of this is to talk about cinematic collaborations.   The point of these articles will be to look at films that had an impact. I’m going to try and eschew the usual suspects … Continue reading →

This blog is probably going to venture into some vague spoilers for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and some strong spoilers for the original version of The Vanishing. If you haven’t seen the Vanishing and don’t know the details of its main twist I’d suggest not reading further, hell I’d suggest not reading further … Continue reading →

I am a thoroughly mediocre man, and I’ve made peace with this. In fact I honestly believe that making a monument to mundanity, recognising your meagreness and faults and moving on with your life, is part of growing up. It, hopefully, signals the transition from arrogant, self centred, child to a functioning part of a … Continue reading →

Warning, at just over 1400 words this might venture into TL;DR territory.My life is a consistent set of diversions, things to do to take my mind off the futility and mundanity of my existence. Free thought leads to thoughts of inadequacies and dreams now squashed and really it’s far better to just career from distraction … Continue reading →

I like film trailers, I really do, there’s nothing like sitting in a theatre and being caught off guard by a well cut piece of promotional material. I honestly feel there’s been something lost in the dilution of trailers. By the way this is how my Blog is going to operate 90% of the time, … Continue reading →