Ernie Schenck

Rhode Island

Freelance Creative Director, Writer and Columnist at Freelance

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Articles

My Father Didn’t Need a Lion to Be Happy

1 month ago | commarts.com | Ernie Schenck

As I write this, I’m reading a wonderful book. It’s called A ThreeDog Life. The author’s name is Abigail Thomas. It’s a memoir. I don’t usually read memoirs. Other people’s lives don’t interest me that much, I suppose. Does that sound selfish and terrible? I suppose it might. I’d like to say the reason is that I’m too busy living my own life. Raising a family. Worrying about the war in Ukraine. Worrying about what AI has in mind for us. I’d like to say that, but I’d be lying.
Paul Simon’s Ideas Demand Our Attention. Do Yours?

Mar 12, 2025 | commarts.com | Ernie Schenck

I am just a poor boyThough my story’s seldom toldI have squandered my resistanceFor a pocketful of mumblesSuch are promisesOn the eve of the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, not far from the Crypto.com Arena where the show would be held the following night, something remarkable happened in a fabled coffee shop not far away. But this was The Troubadour. Remarkable things have a history of happening here. A long history.
Creative Burnout Is Knocking On Your Door. Don’t Answer.

Feb 5, 2025 | commarts.com | Ernie Schenck

Jim Carrey was a comedic genius and as versatile an actor as there has ever been. For years, his talent for making people laugh was unassailable. What few of us knew was that Jim was carrying inside of him the overwhelming specter of creative burnout. By any measure, Jim Carrey’s career teetered on the edge of impossibly meteoric, beginning with stand-up comedy in Toronto before jumping to the small screen with roles in television shows like In Living Color.
If You Can Survive Grizzly Bears, Frostbite and Starvation, You Can Survive AI.

Nov 19, 2024 | commarts.com | Ernie Schenck

Don’t ask me why, but I’ve become hopelessly addicted to a TV show called Alone. True enough, it’s not the most original idea. There are at least a dozen other shows like it. Survivor. Outlast. Running Wild With Bear Grylls. As these survival shows go, Alone feels more brutal. Raw. Real. You get the feeling that when that grizzly bear or mountain lion shows up in the middle of the night, a whole heapin’ helpin’ of hurt is about to shred that tent into a million weenie nylon filaments.
Are We Thinking Too Fast?

Sep 24, 2024 | commarts.com | Ernie Schenck

In Tuscany, there’s a little restaurant called Casetta Magli. If you show up there when their doors open, expect the owner to tell you that the antipasti isn’t even close to being ready, but listen, why don’t you sit out on the deck and enjoy the view of the valley while you have a nice bottle of wine? And when you finally do order dinner, well, don’t expect it to come out in 20 minutes because at Casetta Magli, you’ll be lucky if it comes out in less than an hour. And here’s the cool part.
The Eccentric Spark

Jul 9, 2024 | commarts.com | Ernie Schenck

Maybe you’ve heard of Doris Duke. Doris was an heiress, a social gadfly in Newport, Rhode Island’s society and, in the last years of the Gilded Age, as eccentric a human being as you were likely to find on Bellevue Avenue—or maybe anywhere. While Doris wasn’t what you’d call a recluse, she didn’t have much patience with trespassers.
Creativity’s Big Bang Moment

Mar 12, 2024 | commarts.com | Ernie Schenck

I’ve never been sure what to make of the Big Bang. It makes sense, of course. Everything had to start somewhere, including the universe. So, it’s understandable that, at some point, we’d go so far back that there was nothing. Until suddenly, an infinitesimal particle of energy decided to blow its top, giving birth to every star and planet and asteroid that ever was or ever will be. Perfectly reasonable explanation.
The World Doesn’t Need Another Artist. It Needs 8 Billion Of Them.

Jan 16, 2024 | commarts.com | Ernie Schenck

“Imagination is a force that can actually manifest a reality.” —James CameronEveryone is creative.”I have to admit. The first time I heard that phrase, I could almost feel my eyeballs rolling around in their sockets. I know. Sounds bad. But here’s the thing. I’m far from being a creative elitist. As far as I’m concerned, we are all born into this worlda seething, red-hot cauldron of imagination. Is everyone creative? Totally. Yes. Unequivocally. As true a truth as you’ll ever find.
Quentin Tarantino Was A Thief. So Was Bob Dylan And Wayne Gretsky. You Should Be Too.

Nov 21, 2023 | strangealchemy1.substack.com | Ernie Schenck

I’ve never been a fan of Quentin Tarantino. I suspect I’m not alone in this. I also suspect that a great many people feel otherwise. For them, the man is something of a cinematic genius. I suppose you could say the same about Wes Anderson, if genius is making the story about a color palette. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard anyone walk out of a Wes Anderson movie saying, “Man, was that a great color palette or what!” I feel strongly that Robert McKee would agree with this.
There Is No Morpho

Nov 15, 2023 | commarts.com | Ernie Schenck |M. O. Walsh

“Why would you think there’s another life for you, perhaps another possibility inside of you already, when the walk that you take each dawn is so lovely and safe?” —from The Big Door Prize by M. O. WalshIn a nutshell, that’s the question that The Big Door Prize asks us to consider. The show, currently streaming on Apple+ TV and based on the M. O.