Well, we did it. We survived the Mayan Apocalypse only to rush to the Fiscal Cliff. But hey, 2012 is now officially over…so say hello to 2013! Looking back, despite tumultuous world events, it was a great year at The Spin…

On Notes Personal:

• An unexpected death in the family in November spurred me to take stock of some things. This lead to tripping the light fantastic in the grand ballroom of nostalgia which lead to a re-watching of a childhood favorite, The Lady in White…which lead to one of my favorite posts from the year…which lead to a comment on said post from the actual director of the film! This nostalgia tinged final act to the year also sent me on a mission to uncover that lost box of books I wrote from the ages of 10-15. Just in the nick of time I unearthed the box. Reading briefly through some of the stories, I couldn’t help but think that if I were to write taglines for the outlandish and melodramatic plots (more on that below…with actual excerpts!) they would end up sounding like long-lost fake-films from Seinfeld…a topic that earlier in 2012 spurred another favorite post of mine.
• On the travel front I visited two great cities I had never been to before: New Orleans (for pleasure) and Montreal (for business) both of which I would return to in a heartbeat. This year the horizon broadens even more with a business trip to St. Maarten…and hopefully (if everything falls into place) that long-delayed trip to Europe (for pleasure…to Amsterdam and Bruges specifically) though that might have to wait until 2014.
• And most importantly, after three long distraction-filled, detour-heavy years…I finally finished the first draft of the new novel – a Depression Era thriller set in Upstate New York. I was working under a self-inflicted deadline of finishing before 2012 finished me, and I’m proud to say I got it done at the last possible minute with a final spurt of inspiration on December 31st. Now, the big question, what the hell am I going to do with it? I’ll be sure to let it sit for a while and breath before editing begins.
  

In Spinlandia:

• Readership increased over 120% from last year thanks in large part to my coverage of TV shows like Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones and Homeland. The blogosphere is officially the new water cooler.
• I’d also like to give a special shout-out to my most loyal film conversationalists: Sam Juliano from Wonders in the Dark, Prakash Jashnani from Talking Talkies and K. J. Korri from Condemned Movies. Among countless others, they’ve helped keep The Schleicher Spin a destination spot for thoughtful and lively discussions on film.

In Filmlandia:

• The year was grim at the onset and started out very poorly. But things built to a slow boil, and ultimately we witnessed better than average blockbusters (The Hunger Games, The Dark Knight Rises, and even though I count it as overrated, to some extent, The Avengers) and a prestige-heavy final two months where almost everything I slapped down money to see in the theaters (Skyfall, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Rust & Bone, The Impossible) exceeded already lofty expectations. Don’t get me wrong…there was still plenty of junk and some major disappointments (Seven Psychopaths especially) – but more about that at The 7th Annual Davies Awards in Film after I take in a screening of Zero Dark Thirty.

What’s in Store for 2013:

• A review of Zero Dark Thirty
• The 7th Annual Davies Awards in Film
• Another season of Boardwalk Empire means another season of wall-to-wall coverage at The Spin
• I also hope to put out another issue or two of The Stone Digital Literary Magazine – but the magazine can’t keep going without more quality submissions. So if you are a writer trying to get your short stories published…please, SUBMIT! SUBMIT! SUBMIT! Thanks to all those who previously submitted and helped create the first two issues!

So fare thee well, 2012, it was an emotional roller-coaster of a year that ended on many high notes. Let’s hope 2013 doesn’t waste any time in continuing to cast that spell.

I’ll leave you with some hilarious snippets from those uncovered books/stories I wrote in elementary, middle and high school. They’re almost too good to be true:

• From Framed (c 1993), which, I kid you not, had a tagline that word for word written by me at the time, and I quote, was “Sometimes a little thing called murder can change or ruin a person’s life forever, especially if they are….(wait for it…wait for it)…FRAMED! (Yes, which sucks so much more than it does for the person who was…MURDERED!) But I digress…here is the searing closing passage – Jeff didn’t look back. He knew if he did he would see Natalie crying and stay, so he just kept on walking as Shauna’s coffin was covered with dirt and Natalie continued to cry. Not looking back, he walked off into the sunset leaving behind the one he loved.
• From The Doctor (c 1994) – an incomprehensible globe-hopping international thriller about…corporate espionage??? Just get a load of this exchange of dialogue! “You killed Clarice?” “Yes.” “How could you? You bastard!” “I work for the government, Jack. I’ll kill anybody who gets in their way.” “Do you work for Bruce Benson?” “No. I work for the French government.” OH! BUT OF COURSE! That explains everything! Bruce Benson, by the way, later gets punched in the face after being called an asshole.
• From Westmount (c 1995) – an X-Files/Twin Peaks inspired small town murder mystery/soap opera. Apparently in this scene, the prime suspect’s alibi is that he couldn’t have murdered the girl because he was being abducted by aliens at the time of her death – a classic excuse! The lead investigator: “Well, how do we know he wasn’t abducted by aliens? He was under hypnosis.”

And now, here are some titles to novels never written (I was aghast!)

• Necropolis (still has a creepy ring to it, no?)
• American Lobsters (there were actually a few chapters for this one…don’t ask)
• Amputation Nation (say what?)
• The Totally Fucked-up Tale of the Goat Sucker and Other Werewolves of London (was this supposed to be a Warren Zevon-inspired short story collection? The world may never know…thankfully)
• Vegas Falls (wasn’t that a cancelled show on NBC in 2008?)
• My So-Called Colony (as opposed to…Life?)
• How to Make an American Conspiracy (as opposed to…Quilt?)
• Delayed Reaction Man (still could be the title to my auto-biography, though apparently this was a high-concept sci-fi satire)
• Goats in Budapest (naturally)

Here’s to more laughing at ourselves in 2013!

Written by David H. Schleicher