Paul Schiernecker

Photo Credit: Tony Winter Photography

Blog

  • The importance of dropping out.

    Last night I decided that I wasn’t going to rush about trying to prepare things for a deadline entirely of my own fantasy, I decided I wasn’t going to go for a run, I decided I wasn’t going to waste hours on the Internet, I just wanted to get some munchies and watch a film with my brother.
    Turn on. Tune in. Drop out.

    The film in question was See No Evil, Hear No Evil which somehow young ‘EdWood’ as he insists on spelling his name had never seen before. We packed our coffee table with Pringooooals (the Euro 2012 promo packs of Pringles), milkshake, Cornettos, Jaffa Cakes and for some reason sushi.

    During the film I realised that it is rare for me to let go like that, to not make any plans, or any attempt to organise or tidy things and it was down time, it was resting, it was really nice. In the chaos of our lives it is hard for Ed and I to spend any time so 97 minutes watching a film together is exactly the kind of thing required. For anyone who hasn’t seen the film it’s a brilliantly ridiculous comedy starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. They witness a murder however Pryor is blind and Wilder is deaf and they are forced to set out on one of the greatest and sweetest buddy films of the decade to prove their innocence.

    I think what I’m trying to say is that it isn’t the end of the world if you have a night off, work can wait, just take two hours to yourself, find something to make you laugh and find someone you can share that with. It’s one of the few things we’ve got.

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  • The Amazing Spider-Man – an almost review.

    I have a theory that Andrew Garfield plus either an alga-rhythm or a pretty young lady makes for a good film. I base this on the fact that every film I have seen him in has one of those elements at least. The Amazing Spider-Man has both, and is therefore brilliant.

    I was as skeptical as anyone else when I learnt there was going to be a new Spider-Man film so soon after the Toby Maguire series. The fears were entirely unfounded and the new film works well to avoid comparison. There are the obvious similarities in the opening story; we know that Peter Parker will be bitten by a genetically enhanced or radioactive spider and we know that Uncle Ben must die. Once those are out of the way the film works hard to avoid comparison in content and style. There was a nice bit of Parker family history thrown in amongst the opening scenes The love focus this time around is Gwen Stacey who if my comic book knowledge serves me correctly was always a lot sassier and challenging than Mary Jane Watson.

    I don’t know if I’m just viewing Maguire’s Spiderman through the opposite of rose-tinted glasses (which I am dubbing shit-tinted glasses) but Garfield just makes the character a lot cooler. My lasting image of Maguire will be him sobbing like a baby, I believe that still image has since taken the Internet by storm as a meme (and i feel obliged to add it to the bottom of this post). The difference is that Garfield is a lot more likeable, he’s not completely disabled by his geeky ways, there are hints of it but he’s not at a complete loss like Maguire seemed, even the suit seems to fit better. I found myself gazing at him dreamily, wondering if anyone could make out my expression in the dark cinema before I had time to adjust it.

    Emma Stone is also a welcome change as Gwen Stacey. Mary Jane was always just a massive cocktease so it’s nice to see Parker getting some attention without that beautiful bastard Harry Osborn jumping in and ruining everything. There’s always a worry with females in superhero films, if they don’t have any powers themselves they tend to be a bit dull, and just act as possible fodder for the male dominated field. That isn’t the case here. I think it helps that Emma Stone is a beautiful young woman, and has excellent comedy timing. There were times when I wasn’t sure which of them I wanted to replace so just ended up rigorously rubbing my own thighs like Vic Reeves.

    Rhys Ifans is also noteworthy for his portrayal of Dr Curt Connors/The Lizard Trust a Brit to take on the bad guy role and you’re guaranteed a success. He cleverly harnesses a Jekyll/Hyde type performance to show that Connors ultimately does want to help and is a good person but gets wrapped up in doing it for the wrong reasons. It’s a positive angle when a lot of super-villains just seem content on smashing shit up for the sake of it.

    One of the best elements of The Amazing Spider-Man is the first person shots of/as Spider-Man. It’s no secret that a lot of the appeal of the comics and films is the powers and seeing those firsthand was an excellent call by the filmmakers. The magic of the film is that it manages to maintain a 12A certificate whilst keeping me entertained for over two hours, it shows that films can be clever and cool without excessive violence, gore and language.

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  • What’s the story?

    I spent the weekend trying to write and record music, a project that I eventually gave up because I figured I will never get it to sound as good as it will in my head. I can’t work out why I’m not satisfied with anything I’m doing at the moment. Maybe it’s a sign that I need to change tact or that I need to put in more practice or something, all I know is that I’m wasting hours on ideas that are obviously not as realised as I had first thought.

    I don’t think it helps that I’m not particularly settled at the moment, I want to move around the whole time and that’s obviously not possible if you’re supposed to be working. Maybe something will give and that tiny shift will enhance everything else. Here’s to hoping anyway.

  • Rain on me.

    This morning you find me tucked up in my girlfriend’s bed. She has made me tea and is preparing for work. Even with the blinds drawn I can see the grey of Sunday and hear the rain. It’s a different rain to Paris though, I’m bothered by it.

    Yesterday I did actually manage to get some work done in between running about but I need to go back to it today to see if it is worth a damn. That’s the rule of working. Give it a day to settle before you look at it again. There have been far too many occasions where I’ve continuously tried tweaking and resolving issues I thought I was having only to find on inspection that I’d royally fucked the whole lot up and It was fine as it was before.

    I also spent some time with a very good friend of mine for lunch yesterday. We realised that we hadn’t seen each other in about three months and came up with the genius move of going to play mini golf in Southend. I often forget that I live near enough in a seaside town. Southend never feels the way Brighton or Bournemouth do to me though. With the sporadic patches of brilliant sun we had I enjoyed some time away from my desk with someone who makes me laugh and genuinely cares about what I’ve been up to. That’s what friendship is.

  • Another weekend.

    I had planned on getting up impressively early and working all day today. As it is I’ve just rolled out of bed now and I’m going for a run. Then I’m seeing a friend, then I’m busy this evening so my weekend of getting things sorted becomes just another weekend.

    I know I shouldn’t kick up a fuss but I need time and having a Monday to Friday 9-5 job means that the weekends are my precious own time. I guess I should just take it easy and relax, drink too much and put on Facebook that I can’t move because I’m so hungover but that’s not where I’m at or what I want to be doing anymore. I need this time to get things done and it frustrates me that I can’t because I have a social life.

    I know, this is awful as a post.

  • Mancrush Friday – Heath Ledger

    I recently rewatched The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus, the 2009 Terry Gilliam film which halted production due to the untimely death of its leading man Heath Ledger. They later decided to tweak the story and got Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to play Tony in varying depths of other worlds. It’s an enjoyable yet somewhat disjointed film that gives a glimpse of what Ledger could have done had he completed the film.

    I’ve been a fan since 10 Things I Hate About You which at first I dismissed as nonsensical 90’s romantic comedy which seemed to be doing the rounds at the time. It was only when a close friend told me that I was really missing out that I watched it, and appreciated the work that had gone into twisting The Taming Of The Shrew and taking it to an American high school. After that I kept an eye on Heath Ledger through Monsters Ball, Ned Kelly and A Knights Tale.

    He seemed to come from the same school of acting as Johnny Depp, it was as though he had other objectives and acting was the means of getting to it. He was a rock and roll actor. It shone through in his performances in Lords of Dogtown, Casanova and I’m Not There. There was something rebellious and yet something wholesome and likeable about him at the same time.

    It’s just a shame that we have a finite collection of his work now, but what a body of work to call your own.

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  • Just run.

    I managed to drag my skinny arse out of bed this morning and go for a three mile run. I can’t seem to get cool again. It did give me time to think though, and that’s why I do it.

    It’s so easy to get wrapped up in all of the little things that we think our lives consist of that it’s really good to just run them off. That’s my approach to it anyway. I do some of my best thinking whilst running (and also in the bath (yes, like Archimedes)). What I like to do is spend the first half mile just getting used to running, on the basis that twenty minutes before my body had been rolled up in a duvet dreaming of electric sheep, quicksand or forced marriages.

    After that first half a mile I open my mind and I think about what I’m working on, whether that be a novel, script, song, my actual job. I’ve written entire chapters in my head doing this, it helps to be away from being able to do it if that helps, it gives me a chance to think the whole thing through, not just to jump into it like I tend to.

    This morning I was thinking about a long-stalled project that I’ve been pondering on and off for over a year, I won’t say anymore than that because it may never evolve beyond being an idea I had whilst running. The important thing is that without a tool to hand I can just think, and it’s a nice break from everything else.

    Go and do it now, just do a mile, you’ll be amazed how you snap out of thinking about running. You let your body do what it does, and get on with some thinking.

  • Passion.

    Last night I had a wonderful evening with some of the best people around. My girlfriend served up duck and dauphinoise potatoes that would blow your mind.

    Over the course of a couple of glasses of wine I got into a lengthy discussion with her brother Joe who has set his sights on self recording, producing and releasing an album. It’s a goal I have thought and written about at length and it’s nice to be able to swap stories on technique and heartbreak. The joy of these conversations is that Joe has that fire to do it, it’s a rare quality to find in someone. We both work full time but are intent on trying to do what we love.

    We talk about the problems of just getting someone to listen to what it is that you are doing, and how isolated it is as a hobby. We have both literally spent entire days sat in the dark in front of a screen and emerged with little more than a basic drum track. It’s what I talk about so often though, you have to try. Talking to someone who has similar goals is the only anchor you can have when it’s entirely your own project, it’s our own private Musicians Anonymous meeting and I thank our girlfriends for being so understanding.

  • Are you gonna go my way?

    Feel a little conspired against at the moment. A lot of it I can’t go into which is obviously frustrating to anyone reading this. All I will say is that you can’t trust anyone’s word.

    What I want is for things to tip back the other way, it wouldn’t take a lot. I’m giving fate and chance and coincidence a lot of opportunity so I hope in the coming weeks I don’t feel quite so humdrum.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m very lucky to be young, in love, have a job and an excellent jumper collection but I’m being greedy and that’s human nature so it’s fine.

  • Grindhouse.

    Back to standard every day work. It’s not that I don’t enjoy my job, it’s just that the last two weeks (at my leisure) have shown me the life I want. I can sit and write or make music for days on end, I can spend some quality time with my girlfriend, I can get things in motion.

    I miss Paris. I know that’s the point of a holiday but I don’t usually get this hung up on things. It is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen (if not the most) and I got to enjoy it all with the girl I love.

    I think what this two weeks has given me is an insight into how things could be if everything goes my way, if I get picked up by an agency or a publisher and catapulted. I know it’s unlikely but a boy has to dream, otherwise what is there?

Paul Schiernecker

I'm Paul Schiernecker, who the hell are you?

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