The Music of Erich Zann

Hello.

This blog is coming to you from enemy territory. That's right. The unthinkable has happened. I am currently sitting in . . . a Borders. [cue the dramatic music] Why am I here instead of my beloved Barnes & Noble? Well, I had to do a reconnaissance mission at the mall and Borders is much closer than B&N. I will give Borders points for having a nice, large cafe area which makes writing this blog a bit easier but thats all I'll give them. Oh, and at least this one has a separate section for "horror" which as you could guess tickles my fancy. When it really comes down to it though, what does separate the dreaded Borders from the heaven that is Barnes & Noble. It all comes down to atmosphere really. An unquantifiable something in the air. It has to do with the decor. The color choices. The bookcases. Everything about Borders screams -modern- where as B&N feels old school. Maybe its as simple as the bookcases in Borders are always a light wood where as at B&N they're dark, I dunno. But that's how I feel. I'm rarely a fan of the stark modern look. Anyway, instead of thinking of me being a traitor in this case, let's think of this as me being a spy. I'm here to steal from Borders to bring to Barnes & Noble. Like the horror section. And maybe this chair cause its pretty damn comfy . . .

What else is going on in the world this week. Hmm. To be honest, I'm not really sure. Is there anything going on out there in the world I should know about? I started work on the next set of lyrics for a soon to be Pensive classic. Or at least a classic representation of how Pensive refuses to be pigeon-holed. I'm speaking of the 70's flavored space freak-out. Ish. Song. The "Eagles + Aerosmith + Mars Volta + Thrice = song" song. The topic of this supposed song? Well its about as out there as that grouping of artists I just spat out two sentences ago. I can't reveal it yet. Why? Because despite the fact that I have two verses in the bag and the early, embryonic form of a chorus swimming in my head, I wouldn't be too surprised if this set of lyrics gets thrown out the window. Like I said, its pretty out there. If that does happen though, I suppose there'd be no harm in me sharing them with you. But I hope it doesn't happen cause I am rather fond of them. Hopefully you will be too someday.

Most likely I shall have to suspend this blog for the time being seeing as I shall be attending a cinematic adventure in just a bit and therefore must make my grand return to the mall/theater complex soon. Wouldn't wanna miss the previews of course. Though if I see the preview for that Michael Cera movie again I just might vomit. I wonder if at times I'm a bit too brutally honest in these blogs. Its like in that scene in Jerry Maguire where his wife at the time says they promised to be "brutally honest" and says he didn't ever remember the brutal part. Hmm. Something to consider I suppose. Maybe Michael Cera is a Pensive fan and will get offended and show up to my door demanding me to retract my blog statements. Likely? No, not really. Juno was a good movie though. Hey! I'm back. I did indeed need to take a break to go see my movie. 2012. With John Cusack. He's amazing. Did you see 1408? (that other movie he starred in that's name was made up of 4 numerals) He spent most of the movie in a room by himself. And he was riveting! But anyway, 2012 was better than I was expecting actually. Yes it did have the typical overdramatic goodbye scenes and a few too many of the "are you effin' kidding me! another thing is going wrong!?!?" moments but overall I was impressed. Good job Mr. Emmerich. You made up for The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day. A very enjoyable and entertaining movie. [and don't worry, I didn't have to see the preview for that Michael Cera movie!]

M-O-O-N, That Spells Blog!

Greetings everyone!

Well, its official. The holiday season is upon us. How do you feel about that? Good? Wonderful! I've never really been a big fan of the holiday season myself. No no, don't get me wrong or anything. I love the holidays themselves of course but for whatever reason, I always feel a bit of omnipresent stress and pressure and overall bluesy feeling this time of year. I think has something to do with the closing out of the calendar year perhaps. The end of the year is a time to take stock and see how the plans for the year turned out. Maybe this is not such a good idea seeing as the best laid plans inevitably change and alter course but its something that I can't seem to keep myself from. Then somehow, January 1st dawns and feeling of hope washes over me as a fresh new year presents itself to me, ready to be taken over like a city ready to fall to a fleet of Vikings. Yeah, I know, its an odd analogy but it felt right so I'm gonna go with it. I'm sorry to have gotten off to a bum out of a start to the blog. Let's kick things up a notch lest we all fall into a pit of despair!

Speaking of despair! Wait. No. We're moving away from despair. Ok, ok, we'll just come back to that . . . Let's talk about the giving of thanks. Its a wonderful thing, ain't it? The Pensive Thanksgiving was incredibly low key this year. (For those of you that don't follow along at home each week, Jeremy and Cody are back in Indy for the holidays). Even with family present, we had a mere 7 people over for dinner including your's truly. However, it was still a wonderful day full of family fun for all! After a magnificent dinner that we all pitched in for we took a trip down to the local theater for a cinematic adventure in the form of a movie based on a book by one of my favorite authors growing . . . Roald Dahl!! The film I'm speaking of, of course, is The Fantastic Mr. Fox. Directed by Wes Anderson. Starring George Clooney, Jason Shwartzman, Meryl Streep, and Bill Murray. It was, well, fantastic. I highly recommend that you see it and soon. It will make you feel all sorts of happy on the inside. Know what movie won't make you feel happy on the inside? The Road. I've never seen a more bleak and depressing movie in my life. I mean, for what it is, its a good movie. A moving and emotional movie. But damn is it dreary and depressing. Certainly not for everyone thats for sure.

So what else comes with Thanksgiving? Thats right. Black Friday. Last year was the first year that I participated in the whole hoopla of shopping and that was a very unique experience. Especially in a wheelchair with a broken ankle. What could have possibly lulled me out of bed and into my rented wheelchair at 10 in the morning last year? Why, it was the prospect of getting Dead Space for a mere $30!! However, by 10 in the morning, all the Targets in my area were sold out. Sad times. Except not! Cause I found out they'd be getting more shipments in over the weekend and checked back on Sunday where I found that in the absence of Dead Space, they had marked down Fallout 3 to $30 as well and kept it at that unadvertised price even after getting Dead Space back in stock which meant I picked up two of last year's best games for the price of one! No such luck this year but I did succeed in saving all sorts of money. We decided to head out a bit earlier this year. You see, Best Buy opened at 5am and they had Dragon Age Origins for a mere $35. I figured I wouldn't need to be waiting in line or anything since they couldn't run out that fast, could they? Oh but yes, they could. When I arrived in the PlayStation3 aisle at 5:27am, every last Dragon Age was gone! Tragedy!! Thankfully, I salvaged the tragedy with a quick trip to Sear's where for a mere $5 more, I was able to safely procure myself a copy, even if it was the last one. I then stood in line waiting for GameStop to open at 6am. Yes, even though I work at GameStop, I still have to wait in line like a normal person. Sadly. What did I wait in line for? Well, its a little silly. You might laugh at me. I waited in line for Dead Space Extraction. Why is that silly? Well, for those of you in the know, you should know that it is a Wii game and if you follow my blogs you probably know that I don't own a Wii. And no, it wasn't a gift. So yes, I now own a Wii game (two actually . . . ) and I don't even own a Wii. Yet. I'll procure one at some point before year's end. Somehow. After a few other quick trips to other stores to make other purchases, the trip ended where it began, at Best Buy. Why? Well, its simply. They had Harry Potter Blu Rays for $13!!! I could have gotten them in the morning, but, time was short and the line at Best Buy at that time snaked its way through the appliance center and the car audio center and beyond. Around 7:30 when I arrived back for my Harry Potter purchase, I got to enter the line right at the washing machines ; ) Rumor was though that at one point, the line had wrapped itself around the entire store over to the Geek Squad right next to the front door. Yikes! So, did you do your part to stimulate this shaky economy of ours? If not, well, get out there and spend spend spend!! Make Obama proud!

Last, but not least, last week I mentioned that I had started Uncharted 2. This week I can now mention that I finished it. I can also mention that if you own a PS3 and don't own Uncharted 2, you have no idea what you're missing out on. Seriously. Never has a game literally made me say "wow" out loud so many times. The graphics are simply breath taking. The action is insane and over the top. Just picture the best big budget blockbuster you've ever seen and loved and now imagine playing it. That's Uncharted 2.

Well folks, that just about wraps things up for the week. I hope you had the most magnificent Thanksgiving possible. See ya'll next week!

Randall Flagg

Would You Kindly Read This Blog*

Heyoooo!

So how was this fine November been treating you? Time continues its stately march on, doesn't it? I'm sure I'll barely even notice when the new year appears and the whole progression of months begins anew. These last two months of the year always seem to exist within their own reality. As I know I've mentioned many times, these two months are essentially being treated as hardcore song writing action. But, well, I've got a confession: I've got writer's block. Its rather frustrating to stare at a blank sheet of paper for hours, writing something, crossing it out, starting over and over. I won't bore you with all the mundane details of it but as I'm sure you know, its more than just writing words. Its rhymes and cadences and syllables and all sorts of fun stuff like that one top trying to make a coherent vision present itself in a fresh way. I tend to disregard the coherent part of that last sentence but I'm trying to push myself in a different direction that's less esoteric and bit more rooted in real life images and situations. Though naturally not all songs will be that way but seeing as the song I'm poorly attempting to write lyrics for is our faux country rock song, I don't really picture poetic lyrics about sleeping in frozen seas going with that feel very well :P I do have a first verse for it though. It didn't turn out as great as I was hoping but there's still time to tweak. Its that chorus though that's just killing me. Trying to sum up the message of the song in a few simple lines while making it work within the progression of the song's story regardless of whether its the beginning of the song or after the first verse or if its the last lines of the song. Its tough. Somehow I always make it happen but its rough getting there sometimes. And sometimes, its easy. Oh what glorious times those are . . .

Moving along! Some of you may recall me making various mentions of doing a top 100 cds of the decade list. Well I've been giving it a lot of thought and obviously I want to be a very through and objective (ish) list and its gonna be a lot harder than I thought it would be to create this list. I mean, I can't even decide which Hey Mercedes cd I like better between the two full lengths so how am I gonna rank them amongst all the other cds out there in the world? I mean I'm sure given enough time I could certainly get a pretty solid list together but I'll definitely have to have several drafts of the list as I fine tune it to perfection . . . I've toyed with making the list in alphabetical or chronological order but that's just not as fun as having a countdown, ya know? Go big or go home, right? So let's go big. At least I know the top 2 spots. I just gotta get the other 98 in order. Or well, I gotta get the other 98 picked first actually then I can go about arranging them.

We haven't talked about Batman in quite a while you know and I figured since I'm rocking my Batman & Robin shirt, today would be a lovely time to mention the dynamic duo again. I'm pretty pumped about the release of Batman & Robin #6 this coming Wednesday. That silly Grant gave us quite a tease at the end of #5 with the first introduction of the Flamingo, a villain that rides a pink motorcycle and wears all pink. Sound a little silly and not that intimidating? Well he also cuts people's faces off and eats them. A little more intimidating now maybe? Besides though, Grant may create some odd characters and storylines but he's yet to let me down so I have the utmost faith in him. I'm really curious though whether he's leading us down a path that will lead to the future seen in Batman #666 or whether that was a sort of special one off issue, not a glimpse at a possible future. I'm hoping its where he's leading us cause I've gotta say, that issue was all sorts of badass!! Our good (ish) friend Tony Daniel is now writing (just plain) Batman now. You may recall he did the art for Batman RIP last year with Grant and then wrote and illustrated Battle for the Cowl earlier this year. Well, as far as I was concerned, Battle for the Cowl blew so I was a bit upset that he was gonna be taking over the main book (there are several Batman comics out there such as "Batman," "Batman & Robin," "Detective Comics," "Red Robin," etc) but his first issue was actually rather good and I must admit, I might have to change my mind of him as a writer (he's obviously a quite talented artist!). Here's hoping his next issue, which arrives next week, holds up to the standard he set with his first issue. And before we leave comics behind for the week, it bears noting that Blackest Night is freaking incredible. Insanely freaking incredible.

While the rest of the video game world is a buzz about the release of Modern Warfare 2 this coming Tuesday (or Monday at midnight if you've got it pre-ordered [and don't forget, Gamestop is still accepting pre-orders!]), I'm still more than content with my Borderlands action. While it probably isn't for everyone, it was practically made for me! Though, I will admit, those trailers they've been showing for MW2 do look rather enticing . . . I may end up recounting my Call of Duty ban, but that's still a bit of a long shot. I'd rather play Uncharted 2 thank you very much!

What do ya say we wrap this blog up for the week. I think I've bored you enough with my tales of writer's block and comic book nerd action. Tune in next when I probably talk about the same things! ; ) Wait. Was there a movie coming out that was gonna be awesome? Hmm. I dunno. Oh well. See ya'll next week!

Steve!

*If you caught that reference, you're awesome . . . and then would you kindly leave a comment.

Hello world!

Do you recall how last week I mentioned how quickly this year has progressed? Well here's further example of that: We just played our last show of the year last night. Sad. It was a good show to go out on though I must admit. A classic Pensive show if you will. It was lovely getting to go back up to Long Beach for the first time in about two years and see a lot of familiar faces that we haven't seen in ages! And a couple familiar faces that we hadn't seen in days! And I know right now you're wondering why it was the last Pensive show of the year when there's still 1/6th a year left. Well, it really comes down to a few things and those few things are known as "holidays." These "holidays" generally get in the way of any sort of productive touring for a band at our level. Instead, we here at Pensive choose the "hibernation" option. Much like bears, we retreat away and sleep away the winter months underground. Except, unlike bears, well, we don't actually sleep any more than usual and we don't spend much, if any, time underground. So I guess its really nothing like hibernation but its just fun to say that it is. Instead of sleep, the "holiday" months shall be used to lock ourselves away into the studio, writing, writing, writing new songs till the spring thaw when normal touring activity can resume. Right about now, we're sitting on around 10-12 new songs and hopefully by the "new year" that will have doubled. Approximately. And again, no, we do not have plans for a new record at this point. This can keep you occupied for now. As I have promised a couple times before, you will be among the first to know when there actually are plans. I have high hopes for this new batch of songs. We might even be stretching ourselves a bit too wide in our sounds. Heck, one of our newest sounds like a strange mix between NFG and country. How does that work?! Oh but it does. Somehow. Not sure how that would sound sandwiched between our Mars Volta/Aerosmith song and our Thrice/Opeth song but it might sit nicely next to that dancey pop song we have : )

As you probably know, one of the greatest holidays in existence is coming up in a matter of days. That's right, Halloween is nearly upon us! And you know what that means don't you?! Well yes, I guess another Saw movie is coming out but really, who cares any more? Saw III was the last one I saw and I have since decided to boycott any further movies. I would much rather spend my hard earned money on a quality horror movie. Other than Paranormal Activity though, are there actually any good ones out? Perhaps it shall just have to be a Blockbuster holiday. I'll have to spend the majority of the next week compiling a rock solid list of horror movies to experience next Saturday. I'm thinking I might dress up as the same thing I did last year: boy with broken ankle. I've still got my walking cast-boot and crutches! Or I could do what I did the year before: a white version of Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction. I also contemplated dressing up as a REAL vampire (aka one that doesn't sparkle) by the name of Lestat but I don't really wanna go find a frilly shirt and a long blond wig . . . But who knows. I change my mind a lot. I'll give you a full report next weekend. And while I haven't even started making my movies list yet, you can rest assured that The Shining shall be on it!

Today was a very sad day. Brett Favre and the Vikings lost. I'm sure you don't really care but dammit I do!! :tear: And on such terrible luck too. A touchdown called back by a bad call by the refs! (tripping? are you kidding me?!) A fumble and an interception both returned for touchdowns? Maybe Brett just needed to get the losing out of his system now. At least the Chargers didn't suffer a terrible loss against Kansas City. We won? Wow. Its almost a shock when we don't lose. And we even scored touchdowns instead of fieldgoals? Incredible! The Angels just lost to the Yankees but eh, its just Baseball . . .

And in personal news: I finally cut my hospital bracelets off on the one year anniversary of the epic broken ankle. My wrist felt naked at first but now I feel free. Hooray! I also did end up getting Borderlands at midnight last Monday/Tuesday and have spent a great many fun filled nights with it. What's it like? Well imagine if Fallout 3 could be played as an actual shooter. There ya go pretty much. And plus, its way epic. And unlike Fallout, the level cap is 50 instead of 20 so thats a lot more gaming! Though, there has since been a DLC expansion pack that ups that level cap to 30 so I'll have to invest in that once I've gotten as much out of Borderlands as I can. Oh, and if you happen to have it and have it on PS3 we should do Co-Op together sometime. It could be fun. My PSN id is: JanuaryEmbers19. Oh, and while on the subject of video games and personal news, it looks like after a nearly 4 year break, I shall be returning to GameStop for the "holiday" months! Ok, ok, its not actually 100% for sure yet but I do have help on the inside so we'll see.

"Don't Ever Tell Locke What He Can't Do"

Bonjour!

Its odd. It literally just this very second hit me how late into the year it is. I mean, the middle of October isn't terribly late but very soon it shall be the next year. The years seem to be going much faster as of late. Perhaps its only in hindsight that we can truly appreciate the passage of time. In an exciting little bit of personal news, this Friday shall mark the one year anniversary of my legendary broken ankle which means I shall finally cut myself free from my hospital bracelets. I'm sure you're wondering why I still have them on considering I've been out of the hospital for quite a good long while now. Well, it essentially comes down to me keeping them on as a reminder of how tenuous our ties to this life are. How split seconds and change everything. I was rather lucky to have gotten out of my little spill with just a broken ankle actually. As anyone who actually saw me fall, its a miracle that I didn't crack my head open on the concrete. That's why I say our ties are so fragile. I think a year is enough to keep that sentiment in me for a good long while. You should try to keep it in mind too . . .

What a bummer of a kick off paragraph. Well things ain't exactly looking for this next little bit. Though I suppose this a much more different flavor of tragic: After 2 and a half of years of (mostly) faithful service, my beloved little iPod has finally bit the dust. We shall attempt surgery tomorrow at the Apple Store but I don't exactly have much faith in those "Geniuses" that work there. Alas. Oh well. That iPod was full anyway. I guess that's what happens when you try to cram the entire series of Friends on an iPod! Ya know, I can't even count how many times I've seen the entire series all the way through and yet it never gets old for me. I think that means I'm officially obsessed, doesn't it? Its a fun obsession. You should try it out sometime. You can thank me later ; )

In some music related news, I took a fun little trip up North this past Wednesday for a little musical adventure. My dear Moneen were playing a little show in Anaheim with Eisley and Say Anything and since at the time I bought tickets, there was no San Diego show, I couldn't pass up a chance to finally see Moneen!! So how was it you ask? Well it was as wonderful and chaotic and fun as I could hope for! Though, a mere 30 minutes was no where near enough to satiated my desire for awesomeness. Its ok though, I met them after the show, got them to sign a Lost poster I got at Comic Con (if you know anything about Moneen, that won't seem that odd to you . . . ) and then talked about Lost and how they need to start watching FlashForward (and so do you!) All in all, very much worth a trip up there. Plus, it was at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney so what's not to love about that?! [P.S. And you can bet I'll be at the San Diego show too!]

What else is new in the world of Pensive? Well, if you live in or near Long Beach you're probably pretty mad at as for not coming to visit you for about two years now. Well don't worry, that shall be changing come Saturday so if you've been waiting for us to return, you best get ready for we shall be rocking DiPiazza's like its 2005! Get there early and eat some of the best pizza you shall ever have with us!! However, despite some earlier claims of my own to the contrary, that will indeed be our final show of the year barring extraordinary circumstances. Fear not though for we are like a pack of bears. We hibernate in the winter so we can come back and be extra ferocious in the new year!! Plus, by hibernate I really me hide away, grow beards (or perhaps singular for Julio isn't much into facial hair), and write some totally killer songs. Oh, and as always, work on secretive things. Essentially, pull a Pinky & The Brain and work on taking over the world one set of ears at a time.

If you recall from the last blog, I mentioned that good ol' Toys R Us was rocking a "Buy 2, Get 1 Free" sale. Sadly, I was unable to take advantage of said sale. Yes, I know, it is a tragedy. Were you perhaps luckier? I might have gone for it if my Toys R Us hadn't been sold out of Uncharted 2 and had Demon's Souls but they were sold out of Uncharted 2 and I guess Demon's Souls is too much of a niche title to be stocked by a toy store. Alas. My money was much better spent getting my Moneen shirt at the show anyway. Not that it was the price of 2 video games but you get the point. Anyway, I believe that just about wraps things up for this week. Tune in next week when I tell you all about the fantastic last Pensive show of the year! Oh, and yes, in case you're wondering, I shall be picking up Borderlands at Midnight tomorrow ; )

The Smoke Monster