The Pen Addict 230/transcript
| The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript | |
|---|---|
| Episode: | 230 |
| Title: | The Cover Is Marbled |
| Release Date: | November 10th, 2016 |
| Hosts: | Brad Dowdy |
| Guests: | No guests this episode |
| Additional Information | |
| Official page: | Episode 230 |
| Audio File: | Audio Episode 230 |
| Podcast page: | The Pen Addict 230 |
| Length: | 6161 min <br />1.017 h <br /> minutes |
| Previous Transcript | Next Transcript |
Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 230. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet, Squarespace, and Dudek Modern Goods. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined, as always, by the one and only Mr. Brad Dowdy.
Brad Dowdy: And the much more healthier than yesterday, Brad Dowdy. Yes. Thank you for adjusting your schedule, kind sir, and thank you to our listeners for understanding. I really, really wanted to record yesterday, number one, because it's a good episode, I think, because I pretty much did all the show notes for this one. And two, I thought it would just be a good break, but we got out there. I got better yesterday, so we could lock it down today, and I'm feeling good, ready to roll.
Show Notes[edit]
Myke Hurley: I like that little thing there, where you're just like, it's going to be a good episode, because I did all the show notes.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I mean, I was typing them all up, and I was like, the show's tight, and Myke's got nothing. No, I'm just kidding.
Myke Hurley: I had some of the things we're talking about. I had them in my document. You just got them before me.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, exactly. And that's what, honestly, that happens most of the time. Like, if we get down to it, and you have to produce the show notes, I look at it, and I was like, yep, got that. Yep, he's got that. Yep, he's got that. So, that's, yes, we're usually on the same page.
Myke Hurley: All right, so we should probably jump straight in, right? Because we've obviously been away for a little bit, me and you, from the show. Mm-hmm. Because we took a week break, but people don't know that, because we love our listeners so much that we record for them always, even if it's in advance. So, I was at the All Conference last week, and I have my Lanier with me. Mm-hmm. And I just wanted to confirm that, as expected, the Lanier is, like, the perfect conference bag.
Brad Dowdy: Oh, good. It's the bag you pack in your bag, and then you take it out for the conference, and you do the conference things with it, and it's the right fit.
Myke Hurley: Exactly. Because all I need to do is take my, maybe my iPad, and, like, for me, because I was doing some video type stuff, a little tripod, I just need to take them to and from and around about. Like, you know, I take them from my hotel room to the conference things, all in the same hotel. Mm-hmm. And it ends up that the Lanier is perfect for it, and, like, little things would come up through the day that I would need to keep or take away and put them in my person, and I could then just pop them in the Lanier, and then I had it with me all the time.
Brad Dowdy: Great. Good. I'm glad to hear that. It's nice to get some more use case scenarios out of the bag that we haven't put it through before.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, it really is for me now. Like, this is going to, I think, will be my number one use for the bag, like, when I go to something like this, which I do quite a lot, to have just that little bag that you can just pick up and run away with, like, is really, really simple, as opposed to having to have, or to have, like, to empty out the bag that I bring to travel or whatever, which isn't, that's not the best, that's not the best way to do it, because... Exactly. I like to have that bag just, like, set always, you know, like my Topo. So, yeah, this works really well for that, so big thumbs up. I met a few Pan Addict listeners. Nice. At all. And I also had a very long chat with a guy named Matthew who works for a company called GF Smith Paper, and they were a UK-based paper supplier who supplied the paper for all the welcome packs. Oh, nice. And we were sitting at the bar one night, like, in a big group, and we just started getting into this conversation, like, across the group, and I think everybody was just ready to go to sleep, like, me and him just start talking about, like, the intricacies of paper production. It was amazing. That sounds amazing. Yeah. So, we were totally nerding out. And then I think somebody got up, and then I just went and sat next to Matthew, and we just huddled in the corner and had our little paper conversation. Oh, too funny.
Brad Dowdy: Too funny. That's great. And I'm not going to let you completely off the hook if you're done talking about, ooh, you just posted a tweet before we went live. Something special about today that I did not realize, and we did not plan this, of course, but why don't you share what you just tweeted out about 30 minutes before the show?
Myke Hurley: So, today is November 10th, 2016. Which marks my two years of self-employment. Yay. I was self-employed on the 10th of November, 2014. That was my first day of being independent. And tomorrow, which is the 11th of November, we get the keys to our house. Yay. I wish I could have gone today. Yeah. Because it would have been kind of nice. But, yeah, I like those two things dovetailing like that. Yeah. And, you know, as I said in the tweet, and I'll say it again, thank you to everybody who listens. Those two things are only possible due to the fact that people listen to my podcasts. Right? Like, if you ain't there, I haven't got a home and I haven't got a job. So, I appreciate it awfully.
Brad Dowdy: Well, I'm really proud of you, and I'm glad to play a little bit of a teeny tiny part of it. But, really, it's about you and how hard you work and how much you put into this network. And everything you do that goes unseen, that makes everything go off without a hitch, all across the platform. And just that you're a good dude, and that counts for a lot these days. So, very proud of you, Myke.
Myke Hurley: Love you, brother.
Brad Dowdy: Love you, man.
Myke Hurley: All right. You had an exciting week as well, right? Yeah. You've, since we last spoke, all the retail stuff has been hitting the shelves.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, that was like two weeks, like right after we did two episodes ago, it was knock retail time. And it was a crazy week for Jeff and I, which was good. I mean, we planned, we were, hey, you want it to be crazy when you launch a product that you make that now other people are selling, you know, which is kind of a long-term goal of ours. Long time in coming, years in coming for a lot of these retailers that have been patient with us over the years. But, yeah, we got our Sinclair cases out to retail. They've been met with rave reviews, which we're very excited about. We're happy with how everything turned out for them. Now, we're just chomping at the bit to get the Brasstowns out there, which we're a little bit delayed on. Had some issues that we had to correct with that. So, it's taken a little bit longer. But, otherwise, it went as smooth as we could have hoped for. The retailers have been very happy with the product. They've been very happy with their sales. And we appreciate everyone jumping on board and starting to carry those goods. It's great.
Myke Hurley: So, have you learned anything? Like, is there anything new popped up? Anything I expected? Any, like, lessons, I guess?
Brad Dowdy: I think I was mentally prepared for it all. I knew that I would have to be more diligent in the bureaucracy side of it. You know, the paperwork, invoicing, inventory tracking. All the kind of maintenance type stuff that you have to do to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. I knew that was coming. But, like, once the switch gets flipped on, you're like, did I forget to do this? Did I forget to do that? And, you know, it just kind of, I just kind of worked through it and got into a good rhythm. And so, I won't say that there's been any surprises yet. And I'd say I was at least mentally prepared for it. So, I knew whatever challenges I had, I'd get through it no problem. And just feel real good about it. Now, I'm just anxious to get these brass towns out there because there's been a longer delay than we anticipated. Which, you know, just those, that's one of those things that happens. So, you know, the biggest takeaway is something that we kind of hoped for in the beginning but didn't know how to handle it. Is quantities, right? You never know. You just don't. So, you try to plan accordingly. And we ended up having to, you know, put in a second order for a manufacturer to put in, you know, quicker than we anticipated. Which is a good problem to have except there's going to be delays. So, we're just trying to figure out the inventory balance to have, right? So, that's going to be an ongoing challenge. But the main takeaways are I think it went pretty well. And I think Jeff and I did a good job handling it so far. And, you know, still more to come.
Myke Hurley: What's the plan in regards to, like, management of inventory with these? Is that just something one of you is just going to take on as part of your job?
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. That's what I do.
Myke Hurley: That's me. Okay. Yeah. That feels like a bright job. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Totally. Entering some stuff on a spreadsheet. That feels like something you could do. Exactly.
Brad Dowdy: Exactly. Yep. I'm a spreadsheet boy.
Brad Dowdy: Hey. Every business needs one. Oh, yeah. I'm glad to do it. Jeff and I always argue about the monotonous things that we hate to do. And it's usually the thing that the other one doesn't mind doing. So, it works out well.
Myke Hurley: All right. Let me just take our first break. Okay. For this week's show. We've got a packed show. So, I want to jump in. We do. Thank our first sponsor before we get even more on the way. This week's episode is brought to you by a returning sponsor. I love this time of year because it means that Myke Dudek and Dudek Modern Goods will sponsor the show because I love to talk about Myke's products. I think everybody who listens to this show should know by now. And if you don't, what rock have you been sleeping under? Dudek Modern Goods was created by the lovely Myke Dudek of a great website called The Clicky Post. Myke was looking for somewhere to store his pens as his collection started to grow. So, he started to make his own products. Products like the cube, the block, and the groove. These were all products that were born out of this desire to have a nice, modern, stylish, and lovely way to store and present stationary goods. All of Myke's products are handmade in Arizona, in the USA, all from solid walnut. They have a distinct, modern, and minimal design. And he mixes the rich grain color of the walnut with just the way that he cuts them and gets them just right. And this means that they're going to earn a place on your desk today that's going to look fantastic now. And they're going to last for as long as you want them. They're going to look great now. They're going to look great in 30 years. Now, there's a big change since last time we had Myke sponsor the show. So, there are now 12 designs that you can choose from for several configurations. And also, whether you have larger pens, smaller pens, you've got notebooks, journals. It doesn't matter what you want. So, let me talk about a couple of the new designs that Myke has in his arsenal. There is a line of products called the Succulent Series, which is a great name because I get to say succulent on the show, which is nice. These include the greenery, the sprout, and the planter. All of these products include a stainless steel planting dish so you can add a bit of nature to your desk, which is just a nice little thing. There's some that have pens in them, some that don't. It just gives you a nice little place to display some greenery on your desk. And Myke is also now introducing a new product called the Stationer to do that lineup. This is the perfect product for journalists. It can hold up to seven of your favorite writing instruments and also supports an A5 size notebook as well. This thing is mega. Myke ships internationally. He has great shipping rates. You have to remember, one night is heavy. He does his absolute best that he can to do that. And he's shipped to more than 20 countries worldwide. As the holiday months are generally the busiest for makers like Myke, this is why he wants to get this message out there now to you to get your orders placed. If you're thinking about buying this piece as a gift or if you want to receive it as a gift, it might be the time to either buy it or tell someone that you want it. Because every piece is handmade, it's important to get that offer in early. And because you're a listener of this show, if you go to dudekmoderngoods.com, that's D-U-D-E-K, moderngoods.com, you can find out more and use the code PENADDICT or one word, you'll get 10% off any of Myke's incredible products. That code is only available through the month of November. So act fast. Thank you so much to Myke Dudek and Dudek Modern Goods for supporting this show and Relay FM.
Brad Dowdy: So there's a lot of great people in this community and Myke Dudek is up there at the top of that list. Genuinely nice guy, hard worker, salt of the earth, will do anything for anybody at any time. Great, great guy. And I happened to, before the show, I was getting my laptop and a notebook and I was getting a pencil this time to do my notes while we're on the show. And I reached over, I grabbed the Blackwing 602 with one of my NOC dot dash notepads to use for the show. And I wanted to sharpen the pencil. And I looked over and my pencil sharpener wasn't there. And so I took a picture of my desk and blamed the kids for stealing my pencil sharpener, which is what they do. Then I realized, like, everything else in the picture is something from Myke Dudek. Either the cube that he did with Karis Customs, there's two of them in that picture. The long block in the middle of this picture, that's the original holder that he sent you and I, Myke, one of his first products. Yeah, I still have that thing. The NOC co index card holder that he does for Jeff and I at NOC and then a little other six-pin holder. So, yeah, I'm fully invested. I wouldn't want anything else on my desk to hold my pens, pencils, and paper. So I love Myke and you should definitely support him and Dudek Modern Goods.
Myke Hurley: Definitely. All right, you got some follow-up for us.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I got some follow-up. So we've talked in episodes past about all the handwriting. You know, handwriting is, you know, going away. Digital is taking over. All these handwriting type things that we see. Curse of his dying, all that stuff. And then, you know, we had various commentary on Ann Truebeck and some of the editorials that came out around her book, The History and Uncertain Future of Handwriting. So I wanted to have her on the show. She said, well, how about you read the book first and then I'll come on the show. So she was kind enough to send me a book. I finished the book. So I'm going to reach out to her and schedule her. Hopefully we can get her on in the coming weeks. You know, I know the holidays are coming up. So we'll have to figure out a good time to get her on. But I'm anxious to talk about her now that I've completed the book. So I will be efforting that soon. And I just wanted to read a little quick blurb from a friend of everyone, Mary Collis, who writes from the from the pen cut blog, who's one of my bestest friends. She's she's just wonderful. She sent me this email one time. It was related. It was a couple of weeks ago. So I don't know exactly which article she was talking about, but they're generally all the same. And she says nothing makes less sense to me than this prediction proclamation. The handwriting is dying thing. I don't get angry about it, but it just seems so ridiculous. Potters haven't stopped making bowls just because mass produced ones are available at Walmart. Knitters hadn't stopped making scarves and socks and Afghans just because stores are full of them. Bakers haven't stopped baking just because you can buy Oreos. OK, I'll stop now. Handwriting is functional, often artistic and sometimes as good as therapy or better. It's here to say, says I. So I thought that was a Mary put a big smile on my face when she wrote that. I asked if I could share that if this if the time came up. So I just wanted to share that out there. We're all obviously very pro handwriting on this this podcast for obvious reasons. So it'll be interesting to talk with Anne and see see how she came about writing this book. And then some of the commentary she has on handwriting going away. So I look forward to that.
Myke Hurley: I'm still a little scared of it.
Brad Dowdy: I think it's going to be well, I've read the book and I actually have some homework to do before. I need some time to to write down my notes. I like I wrote a bunch of notes as I was reading. And I don't think there's anything to be scared of. You know, I think there's some clarity that needs to happen. There's some issues I take with the book. But we'll get into all that whenever, you know, whenever we can get Andrew back on. So we'll do that.
Brad Dowdy: Speaking of guests on the episode, Myke, next week, you don't know this next week. Annual Anna Reinhart gift guide episode. So start preparing.
Myke Hurley: I can't believe that time's around already, man.
Brad Dowdy: I know. It's crazy. It's crazy. But we've done this for several years now. We always have Anna Reinhart from the Well Appointed Desk and Art Supply Posse on our show to do a gift guide episode for all the listeners. And I asked her if she was up for it again this year. She said H to the yes. And we're going to be doing it next week. So I'm going to get you and her the format that we're going to do this year, which I think is probably similar to last year. And so if anyone's looking for that gift guide episode, which is always a very, very fun one, look for that next week.
Myke Hurley: I'm looking forward to that.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it'll be good. It'll be good. Also, in pen news, there's two shows going on in the month of November. One is the Ohio Pen Show, which is taking place this weekend. I know a bunch of our readers and listeners are heading to that this year. It starts tomorrow, I believe. And it's kind of the last big U.S. pen show of the year. I think the next one will be Philadelphia Pen Show in January. And also, a friend of the show, Silvana, emailed me to ask that I would mention the Melbourne Pen Show, Myke, Melbourne, Australia. Sunday, the 27th of November from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. We'll have a link in the show notes for all you Aussies that can get over to Melbourne at the end of this month.
Pen Shows[edit]
Myke Hurley: I'm pleased that you went with Melbourne then. You ditched a Melbourne. I don't think that's right.
Brad Dowdy: Did I say that? Yeah. You're so American. Oh, sorry. Yeah, Melbourne. Birmingham. You know, stuff like that. Melbourne. Melbourne. Melbourne. So, the Australian.
Myke Hurley: Man, I was looking at that when I saw that in the show notes and I was like, what's it going to take to get me and you to go to the Melbourne Pen Show?
Brad Dowdy: Maybe one year. The Australian pen community is strong. I mean, they bring it. It's a good, good group of people. I'm in their Facebook group, a bunch of pen fans from Australia. And it's just a fun time. So, we'll have to get to the Melbourne Pen Show one day.
Myke Hurley: All right. That's going on the list. Added to the list.
Brad Dowdy: All right. So, since we last recorded, something new landed on my desk, Myke. I went a little crazy. I went a little crazy even for myself. I bought the most expensive pen I own. Oh, my word. And it is the... This was definitely a FOMO thing. A fear of missing out type of thing. The Sailor 105th Anniversary Pen. It's called... This is a name I'm not going to get right. Zuise. Zuise. Sounds right to me. Z-U-I-S-E-U-I. S-E-I.
Brad Dowdy: It is a limited edition 500 unit pen commissioned, made by Sailor. Made out of blue and black ebonite in this wonderful stripe. I'm in love with this pen. I'm really happy I got it. It was crazy expensive. I sold, like, seven pens last week just so I could afford this one. You know, I think that's the way to handle these kind of purchases, right? I just can't eat a $1,000 pen out the gate. So, I sold off seven pens so I could afford this pen. But, you know, I feel that it was worth it. And it's really nice. This is one of those that, as good as it looks in pictures, it's even better in person. Like, I want to show this pen off because it really is a unique style and shape. And feel of this pen. I'm very, very happy with it. So, we'll put some pictures and some details about it in the show notes. The one thing I didn't know, which I learned from the Andersons, who, by the way, last week's episode was awesome. They were such great guests. And I got a lot of great feedback on there. So, thank you, Brian and Lisa, for last week's episode. People loved, loved that show. But I looked on Brian's site, on the Andersons Pen site. And so, there were 500 pens produced. 400 stayed in the Japanese market. 10 were allocated to the U.S. market, which is kind of crazy. You know, I bought mine from nibs.com because they had a waiting list beforehand. And I just happened to get one of them. But I don't know how many nibs got. Like the Andersons, they only got one. And they sold it, of course. You know, and other stores probably only got one or two. So, I thought that was interesting. It's a beautiful pen, one I'm going to very much enjoy. Although I haven't had the chance to spend much time with it yet. But that's going to change soon. Just been super busy. What do you think about this pen?
Myke Hurley: This feels like one of those pens that, like, a photo cannot do. I mean, you mentioned it, but it cannot do it justice. Like, when I look at the pictures on the Andersons website, it just looks blue. Right? Like, it doesn't really look. Well, then you get, like, the super close-up ones. But just like the regular photos, it just looks like a blue pen. But it's not really. It's, like, black with, like, blue lines in it, I can see from yours. It looks like it's a hard one to photograph.
Brad Dowdy: It's very, very hard. I mean, the stripes are as, you know, different. It's essentially like a zebra-level striping. They're that differentiated from each other. There's, like, no blending of it at all. So, like, in person, you can see that. And then you can see the way that it was laid and the way the material was made. You know, they cut through it horizontally. And it just looks, I don't know, it's really hard to explain. It just looks cool. I'm really happy with it.
Myke Hurley: What nib do you have in there?
Brad Dowdy: A medium, a stock medium nib. So, I'll probably get it adjusted a little bit, put a little stub or italic on it. But I like the Japanese medium nibs just for regular, everyday writing. But I might get this one tweaked a little bit.
Myke Hurley: Because I assume you just had to take what they had, right? There were so few of them, you can't be picky.
Brad Dowdy: But they had, I could get medium or broad. And I chose medium. Because I knew if I didn't do anything to it, I would enjoy writing with the medium. Japanese medium nibs are wonderful writing nibs for me. So, yeah, it's great. And if I knew I wanted to modify it, I would have gotten a broad. But I wasn't sure I did. So, I went with medium.
Brad Dowdy: So, love it.
Myke Hurley: This is one that I look forward to handling. It's interesting. You said it's like the most expensive. But it can't be by a lot, though. When you said that, I was expecting it to be more expensive than it is. Like, Andersen's have it listed as like 900 or something.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I paid 9 or 9.50. I'd have to go back and look. My Nakaya, my big Nakaya was 7.50, I think.
Brad Dowdy: And my King of Pens was 7.50 or 8.00. Huh. So, yeah.
Myke Hurley: Yep. Not bad, man. It's a beauty.
Brad Dowdy: That's scary, talking about that money like that.
Myke Hurley: You're going to use this one a lot, do you think? Like, I know you always use. But, like, I just wonder how much you think.
Brad Dowdy: We'll see. That's to be determined, actually, because it's a bigger pen than I anticipated. It's, like, longer. It's a large pen. So, we'll see. Large pens tend to not go out of the house with me as much just because they're larger. Awkward. But if I took only one pen, I could plan for it and, you know, take it better. You know, something like that. So, you know, I want to use the pen, so I will certainly find a way. I mean, it's already inked up and, you know, I've been messing around with it, but I haven't really taken it, carried it anywhere, things like that.
Field Notes[edit]
Myke Hurley: So, Draplin's on tour right now. Yeah. He's traveling all over the place. Did you see the limited edition that he was doing? The huge field notes?
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I didn't see him ahead of time. Then I saw him popping up on Twitter with some people I follow. That's pretty awesome. How cool is that?
Myke Hurley: Yeah. I can't tell how big they are.
Brad Dowdy: It looks massive. They have to be, like, three by four, and that's in feet, not inches. Like, they're close to three by four, I think.
Myke Hurley: Only 30 of them made.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: They're pretty awesome. What are they called? Texas size something or other?
Myke Hurley: Things are definitely bigger in Texas. They're called the industry edition, industry print shop, fine art division. Gotcha. $60 each, I think.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I was reading one of them. I don't know if it's one of the links that you showed, but I know one of the links on Instagram was saying, I got one of these and I don't know what to do with it. And they ended up mounting it on the wall.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, I would have to display it as artwork. There's nothing I would be able to do with that thing.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think that's what it ended up being. They got just a big picture frame and hung it on the wall and it's huge. It's like as big as your flat screen TV or something like that. Just mount it up on the wall. It's hilarious.
Myke Hurley: That's an addition that I appreciate exists, but I'm not interested in owning.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, me too. I'm good without that one.
Myke Hurley: Speaking of drafting, I got a ticket for his talk in London. Oh, cool. He's going to be as part of an Adobe creative meetup event. And he's one of the speakers. It is on a day where I'm expecting to be dealing with a lot of new house stuff. So it is TBC as to whether I can actually attend.
Brad Dowdy: What does TBC mean?
Myke Hurley: To be confirmed.
Brad Dowdy: Okay. We use TBD to be determined. So I couldn't come up with the C. So yeah, to be confirmed. I like that.
Myke Hurley: Well, we TBDC as to whether I can actually make it or not. I love you. Because that's the day that my broadband is being installed.
Brad Dowdy: Oh, well, that's very important for your business.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, so I kind of need to be there.
Brad Dowdy: You need at least two more years.
Myke Hurley: I have this weird, like I'm setting up basically a mobile recording studio right now. Because I know I'm going to be backwards and forwards from the new place for a few weeks at least. Where there's not going to be anything in it. So like I've been trying to assemble this like new microphone and like this like portable foam shield. Basically expect that if you listen to a selection of my shows, you're going to hear some varying audio over the next couple of months. Because I don't know where I'm going to be for any of the recordings. Because I'm just like shuttling backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards from new house to old house.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah.
Myke Hurley: Speaking of which, I started packing stuff up in boxes. Like I've started with some technology related things. And the wardrobe that I'm packing up next is my field notes.
Myke Hurley: I have too many, man. I don't know how I'm going to move all these things. I have no idea. Like I have this big plastic kind of container that has a lid on it. Which has got like a bunch of like a sorted stationary items in it. I'm basically just going to tape that thing up. And be like this goes. Because all of my good pens, like so all my good pens, I'm going to put them in the big wallet thing that I bought for pen shows. So they will be packed up like that. And they will be moved on my person when we eventually move. Right. So I'm just going to. Because it's too much. It's just too expensive. Like that one wallet. Something bad happens to that. It's like basically just burning money. Right. Because these things retain value. Right. So I need to be careful with them. That it's like if someone was to have an antique collection kind of thing, this would be mine. You know what I mean?
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, exactly right. And you take extra care. People ask. You know, we've talked about moving before. And, you know, I always say those are the things that move on your person. There's always a range of items that movers move or that go into a truck. And there's things that go into your car or on your person. Pens are on that list for people like ourselves.
Myke Hurley: Especially because I can get the majority of my good stuff in that thing. Right. Because I have like, it's like a 48-pen wallet thing. And there'll be some, like some of my Retro 51 collection or whatever is going to go in a box. Because they're a bit more durable and less of a concern. But I have literally no idea how I'm going to pack these field notes. I can put them all in a box. But then it's just a box of paper. Which you can't really do. You know? Just looking at them, I'm like, oh man, what am I going to do with this?
Brad Dowdy: Smaller boxes. I mean, a multitude of smaller boxes.
Myke Hurley: I don't know what I'm going to do with them. I have so many. I feel like I need to. I haven't got enough time to like sort them. You know? Like I might do that when we move. Like when I'm unpacking them to like to sort them and be like, here is a bunch I don't need anymore. What do I do with that? But right now I haven't got the time to go through that. For these anyway. For the field notes. I'm doing that with a lot of stuff. Like I'm filtering some stuff. Like I dumped out like a whole drawer of t-shirts last night. You know? Just like I tend to buy like multiple t-shirts of one whenever we do merchandise. Right. I was like, right, no. You got to get down to one. One of each design. You know? I'm just like starting to go through stuff.
Brad Dowdy: Do you really have to? I don't really. But I think I should. That's me. Yeah. It's a terrible feeling.
Myke Hurley: I have nearly 30 years of belongings in this house.
Brad Dowdy: That's true.
Moving[edit]
Myke Hurley: That's a lot. This is the first time that I've moved. Their family has moved when I was younger. But I need to like do. I need to just filter through all my stuff.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So they're like 20 something year old Myke Superman PJs in there. Are we talking like that level of stuff?
Myke Hurley: I do have a Superman onesie which is not going to be making the move with me.
Myke Hurley: That's awesome. I don't even like Superman that much. If it was a Batman onesie that thing would be in a box. It would be on its way. But Superman onesie I'm not that interested in. I hear you. So much stuff man. So much stuff.
Brad Dowdy: Well tell these fine listeners something that we really are interested in Michael.
Myke Hurley: This week's episode is brought to you by the Penn Chalet. They are a company that believes in a few certain things. They believe in 100% satisfaction and they guarantee that for their customers. They believe in reasonable shipping rates and they make sure that these are maintained when they sell internationally. They believe in free shipping within the United States. And they also believe in stocking all of your favorite brands and doing them at great prices with great discounts. Every single month new styles. Every single month new discounts. New closeout specials. They have everything. They have roller balls. Fountain pens. Ballpoints. Mechanical pencils. They have carrying cases. Pen holders. Refills. Fountain pen converters. From all of the brands that you're used to. Like Pelican. Lamy. Pilot. Namiki. Sailor. Kaweko. They have all of them. Now. As always. As I say. If there is a pen that you're looking for. If there is an item that you're looking for. You should always go to Penn Chalet first. You go to P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com. You click on the podcast link at the top of the website. You enter the password. Pen Addict. And you will get a 10% off code for anything at the Penn Chalet. This is where you should go first. Because you will save money. And you'll help support this show. They have so much stuff. This has happened to me a bunch of times. Where I wanted to buy something. I go to Penn Chalet. And there it is. It's right there. It's ready for me to buy. So you'll get 10% off anything. But. As always. There are some special offers for Pen Addict listeners. And we have a super secret special offer this week. Which is for the Sailor 1911 standard. In black. With an EF nib. 25% off. Plus the 10% off coupon. On top of that. This thing is a steal. What a fantastic deal. Another fantastic deal from Penn Chalet.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I pulled that up. And I was like. You know. I don't. I don't look at these. You know. Before you read them off. I pulled up the screen. I was like. Uh oh. This is trouble. Because. I mean. You know. I love a good sailor. And these pens are amazing. And. The EF nib. Is. A shockingly good writer. For someone like myself. Who prints. You know. If you're. If you're into cursive. And have big handwriting. Japanese extra fine nibs. Are not going to be the ticket for you. If you're looking for something. That writes like a. 0.3 or 0.4 millimeter gel pen. This is the kind of pen you want. And this is like. One of the nibs. That is. One of my favorites. Off any. Japanese pen manufacturer. This is a steal. Someone. Someone just emailed me. Earlier this week. Saying they wanted to. Purchase their first sailor. And. You know. I was talking about. The different brands and models. And I talked about. How. Sometimes. Every now and then. You can find them on sale. This is a great deal. So. Definitely check this out. At Penn Shelley.
Myke Hurley: This pen retails for $195. After the 25% discount. Passed a 10% coupon. You can pick it up. For $131.63. Fantastic. Go to. PennShalet.com. Check them out. Thank you so much. To Penn Shelley. For their continued support. Of this show. And Relay FM.
Brad Dowdy: So one of the reasons. I was excited about. This episode. Is we have a lot of. New products. To talk about. That we haven't. You know. Checked out. Or given our feedback on. That have kind of. Popped up on the scene. And the first one. Now that I have it. In my hands. And I knew it was coming. But I didn't know. All the details. On it. Is. Plumchester. So what Plumchester is. Is the new. Art supply line. From the team. At ArtSnacks. It's their own. Product line. If you will. Own pens. Own stationary line. So they just launched. Their first product. In November's. Box. Of goodies. So they had a. 1.5. It's a brush pen. So I don't know. How you. How you measure the. The dimensions of it. But it's a 1.5. So. It's cool. I like it a lot. I'm interested. To see. What all they do. What they have up their sleeves. Like the full launch. Of the product line. Is 2017. So. I did. I did email Lee. To say. Hey. Give me some information. On Plumchester. Like number one. How did you come up with that name? Because. The name is. It's. It's kind of odd. If you will. I like it. But. I like it. And I especially love. The color. Like their branding color. That's one of my favorite shades of purple. So. Let me read a little bit. What Lee said. Because I said specifically. Tell me about the name.
Myke Hurley: Let me just. Clarify something super quick. So Plumchester is the brand. And what you have. Is in the Art Snacks box. For November. They've created. They've put one of their own products. In there. But later. In next year. They're going to be selling this stuff. We assume.
Brad Dowdy: Essentially. A full product lineup. Of art supplies. Yes. So. We got a Plumchester pin. In this month's. Art supply. Art Snacks box. So. So Lee said. About the name. That he and Sarah. His sister. Who. Is also. Part of the company. They really love the name. Plum. And it invokes. A color. And a flavor. Plus. It's easy to remember. Easy to spell. And pleasing to say. But when we started. Doing name research. There are a few. Competing companies. Using Plum. In their name. So. He said that. Him and Sarah. Both grew up in upstate New York. And lived on. Dorchester Street. So we borrowed. The Chester. And married it with Plum. Hence Plumchester. Creative tools. For the modern artists. So. It's cool. I like. I like hearing about. How names come about. Because it's. An extraordinarily. Difficult thing to do.
Myke Hurley: I love the name actually. Because it's weird.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It is weird.
Myke Hurley: It's like unique. It doesn't exist. I think it's cool. I like it.
Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. So he said. The first product is. The 1.5. Fine brush pen. And then. They'll have. They'll have. Another product. In the Art Snacks. Studio collection. Which is. Available now. I think. For pre-order. And then. In early 2017. They will launch. A full product. Lineup. At Plumchester.com. So check it out. If you're into that. I am into that. And. You know. I wish them. All the best. It's cool to see. Like a new. Art supply. Company. You know. Hitting the ground. And it's just. Kind of cool. You don't think. Of these things anymore. Like. You don't expect. A new brick and mortar. Pen shop. And then. All of a sudden. You have. Anderson pens. You know. We're talking about them. On their podcast. How. It was. Mont Blanc's. First. Retailer. In seven years. That they opened. You know. You don't see a lot of new. Art supply companies. Necessarily popping up. So. It's very cool. To see. Lee and Sarah. Put. The full force. Of their team. Behind it. And. Launch Plumchester. So. Very proud of them. Very happy for them. So check it out.
Myke Hurley: It's a real. Like. Interesting. And kind of. Obvious evolution. Of their business.
Brad Dowdy: Right.
Myke Hurley: You know. It's like. You've been selling this stuff. For so long. You know it. Like. Intimately. Maybe you know. How you can do it better. Right. And it's like. Similar way of how Nock launched.
Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. Exactly. So I told Lee. Once they do the full launch. Next year. We'll get him on to. Talk all about it. Got it. So that'd be great. Speaking of guys. We probably need to get back on it sometime. The. The Baron Fig. team. Launched limited edition subscriptions.
Baron Fig[edit]
Myke Hurley: Most prolific company on the planet. Baron Fig.
Brad Dowdy: If it's a day that ends in Y. They will have a new product. But. I found this one very interesting. I was. Very confused. When I saw it. Number one. Because it's a multitude of subscriptions.
Brad Dowdy: Good work. Yes. Still getting over that illness. That's what I'm going to blame. So.
Brad Dowdy: They launched this. There are.
Brad Dowdy: Five.
Myke Hurley: Subscription options. Five subscription options. For four products. For four products.
Brad Dowdy: So.
Myke Hurley: Baron Fig. Make four products now. They make the Confidant. Which is the. The hard bound. Big. Moleskine size notebook. They make the Vanguard. Which are the pocket. Kind of field note size notebooks. They make the Squire. Which is the pen. That we. That I really love. That has the. The Schmidt refill inside. And the Archer pencil. Which we spoke a couple of weeks ago. They have those four products. They're now launching. Quarterly subscriptions. For all of them. So there was a quarterly subscription. For each of them. Four additions a year. Plus. A subscription option. Where you get. All four products.
Brad Dowdy: Yes. The big daddy.
Myke Hurley: The big daddy.
Brad Dowdy: So let's talk about subscriptions. In general. Stationary subscriptions. I'm obviously pro. Subscription. Good business model. Yeah. I have a field note subscription. I have a black wings. Volume subscription. And I have an art snack subscription. I have enough subscriptions. I don't use. What I have right now. So I obviously don't need. One of these Baron Fig subscriptions. I'm holding. Out to see. What they do. Like. The Squire subscription. Just seems completely. Unnecessary to me. Right. I don't need a new. I don't need a new Squire. Every. Three months.
Myke Hurley: That's the only one. I'm interested in.
Brad Dowdy: Okay. So here's. Here's why I'm holding out. I want to see. If. They are innovating. Or if they are skinning. Existing products. In the past. They've skinned existing products. Right. New cover. New color. All exterior skinning. Right. Field notes. Innovates. They change interiors. They use different printing techniques. Black wing. Is more of the skinning style. But. They. Invented a new. Graphite core. To put in one of their pencils. I can get behind that. Art snacks. You never know what you're going to get. It's a complete surprise. So that's kind of cool. This right now. Based on their past. Limited editions. Looks like a skinning. Subscription. I don't need. Just the next. Cover print. Of one of the notebooks. I don't need. The next. I don't need the green. Squire. You know. When I have the gray one. You know. Do I need a. Do I end up needing. Ten of those. Is there going to be some kind of. Innovation. Involved. That will get me more. Interested. In becoming a limited edition. Subscriber. To Baron Fig. Does that make sense?
Myke Hurley: It makes sense. I need to see more. I agree to a point. And I think that. You can do the skinning option. And it'd be exciting. Which is what. I think for many people. What Blackwing are doing. I mean. They created that graphic. It was one of them. Out of like the four or five. That they've been like. Right. But what they've done. Is created really interesting stories. And really interesting looking product. And I think that. It's possible. This is what I assume. Is going to happen with the Squire. Right. They're going to make a bunch of. Really interesting looking. Let me just say about the.
Brad Dowdy: The Blackwing. Why you mentioned that. Because I meant to say that before. There's a depth. To the storytelling. Of that product. Even if it is a skin. Right. There's something more. To it. Than just skinning. A pen. There's a story behind it. There's a reasoning. There's extras. Things like that. So sorry. I meant to say that.
Myke Hurley: But like. You know. If you look at the Vanguard. The Vanguard have been. Very different looking. And so I think. That they've done a decent job. With the ones that they've previously done. Right. Like the designs. Are vastly different. Of course. The. I think the three. Limited editions. That they've done. But like. I'm covered. For notebooks. Yeah. Right. Like I'm good. My notebook subscription game. Is taken care of. I have no interest. In going larger. In my notebooks. Anymore. I have no interest. In pencils. The only product. Line. The only product. That. That. That. Baron Fig do. That I. I.
Brad Dowdy: I.
Myke Hurley: I. I'm. I'm very interested in. Is the Squire. Because. They use. The pen is. Is very well made. And they use the refill. That I like.
Brad Dowdy: It's a great pen.
Myke Hurley: Again. Like. I still think. They make great stuff. I recommend them. To other people. Just. I'm not necessarily. In the market. For stuff. That they tend to sell. So. I am not going to sign up. For a subscription. Site unseen. Here. Right. I think that's where I'm at. From what I can see. They are going to be. Selling these products. As well. Very similar to how. Field notes do. I mean. Let's just be frank here. This is the field notes model. Right. Like. Sure. Everybody else takes it from them. Especially when it comes to like.
Brad Dowdy: These sort of products. And this is for their customers. Yeah. Right. They are. They obviously. Have heard from their customers. That they would like. Regular things. To show up. In their mail. Because they love their products. So much.
Myke Hurley: Yep. And I've said before. Like. About Baron Fig. I wish that they had more color. And variety to their lines. So. I think that this is a good move. For them. But I think it's too much. At once. Mm-hmm. I would have liked to have seen them. Maybe do. The Vanguard limited edition. See how that works. And then scale. I think offering your entire product line. On a subscription basis. Is. I can't see a world. In which this doesn't stretch them too thin. Like. I can't. How are they going to come up with. Right. Like. All of these different designs. Like. It feels like too much. And then. Wow. We had potentially enter the world. That you're saying. Of like. It's just red.
Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm.
Myke Hurley: And I don't know if that's enough. Right. Like. This is the thing. Like. To sign up for a subscription like this. You've got to be really confident. That what you're going to be getting. Is worth it. Right. Because. I don't think there are a lot of people. Especially with the pens. That are going to need them. You know. You're not running through them. Right. So. They need to have a thing to them. So. This is something I'm going to keep my eye on. Um. They are an innovative company. In. In the way that they work. You know. It's. Baron. Baron Fig is one of the most interesting companies. That's popped up in the time. That we've been doing the show. Because they came out of nowhere. And became. A thing. Like a real thing. Right. Or a very successful company. At least. It seems that way. Um. And that they do make good products. And they really fit. Um. They really fit a niche. In. In. In the market. Right. For the type of people that they sell to. No. I agree. But this really does seem like an. An awful lot to me. Uh. I feel like that this is. Uh. This is a lot to process. As a consumer.
Brad Dowdy: Right. Yeah. I agree with that. Would it. Would it shock you to say. If I. Picked one of these to subscribe to. It'd be the Archer pencil. Would that be a surprise to you? I don't think so. Yeah. I think that. That has a chance to me. Yeah. To be the coolest. Um. Out of the bunch.
Myke Hurley: Neither of me or you. Are going to subscribe to the paper. Because we already have more paper. Come in the mail. Than we can do anything with. Right. Um. But yeah. I think that the. The reason that the Squire. Interests me. Is because nobody else is doing this. I agree with that. That's. That's fair. Because. I mean like. I look at it as like. Give me retro 51. Level of. Variation. And. Yes. And we've got something interesting. Going on here. Right. That's the way that I'm thinking about this. This is what I want to see from them. I want to see like. Different materials. Different colors. Real like. Interesting. Vibrant things. Like. My concern is. They're not going to push themselves enough. Because they are a very kind of. Muted brand. Like. Everything's real neutral. Mostly. And I think that. If they. Unless they're willing to kind of. Step out of their comfort zone. A little bit. This could be. This could be difficult for them. But. This is something I'm keeping an eye on. It's a. It's a. Very bold move.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I'm anxious to see the first quarter's. Editions of all these. And you're right about the timelines. That's. Extremely aggressive. Having. Launching all these at the same time. So they come up at the same time. I'm assuming. These are all on the same schedule. That's a.
Myke Hurley: That's a lot of work. The paper is this year. The pens are next year. Oh. Okay. Okay. So. The papers. They rev new ones in Q4. And the pen and pencil. That's Q1. Okay. But they're still going to be turning these over. Every quarter. What can you imagine? I.
Brad Dowdy: I can't. Plan. Like. My 2017 plan for NOC. Is almost full. Right. I can't imagine. All these different products. The. Having to redo them. Having to have something launch every three months. For each of these product lines. Knowing what I go through. That's a huge. Huge challenge. So. I hope they can pull it off. And I'm anxious to see. You know. What comes from it.
Myke Hurley: I just. I just don't know. How you could have the creativity. Yeah. So. Bring it on. Baron Fick. Yeah. I'm really interested to see. What you've done. And. I want you to. To show me. That you know what you're doing.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's nothing if not. Aggressive. And. And confident. In their. In their products. So. Yeah. Bring it. Let's see what you got. And I look forward to them delivering. I think they can do it.
Holiday Season Products[edit]
Myke Hurley: All right. Let's take our final break. We've got a couple more interesting products. To talk about today. So. This is the holiday season. It is new product time. This week's episode. Is also brought to you. By Squarespace. The simplest way. For anyone to create. A beautiful landing page. Website. Or online store. You can start building. Your own website today. At squarespace.com. And use the offer code. Ink. I-N-K. At checkout. To get 10% off. For your first purchase. Squarespace. Puts all the power. That you need. Into your hands. Takes away the things. You don't want to have to worry about. They have easy to use. Tools and templates. Squarespace. Helps you capture. Every detail. Of what drives you. Because it's worth the effort. It's worth sharing. With the world. And you can share anything. Right. You can share your blog. You can share your music. You can share. Your restaurant. Right. If you're going to set up. A little restaurant page. You can use their cover pages. To share your engagement. Maybe to share your wedding info. Maybe you sell stuff. And you want to share that. With the world. Well they have a commerce platform. As well. I was just tinkering around. My Squarespace page today. I'm just setting up some stuff. That I'm working on. For just a small little project. And it always astounds me. How easy it is. To use Squarespace. Like I never get stuck. With anything. It's just like. Okay. I can naturally assume. The way this is going to go. And that's part of their. WYSIWYG. Page building system. Right. I can just assume. If I can think it. I can pretty much do it. But they do have that. 24-7 support team. They're there. If you need them. And they communicate with you. In a way that I think. So many people. Who build these types of products. Want to talk to people. Email and live chat. I don't want to call anyone. Like. I don't want to speak on the phone. I can speak to somebody. In the browser. Whilst I'm trying to work. On this page. That's where I want my support. This is all the stuff. That Squarespace has built. On these are their tenants. Right. Their site templates. Are great to look at. They all feature responsive design. They have state of the art technology. They ensure security. They ensure stability. It's all professionally designed. Your stuff's going to look great. If you use their product. I love Squarespace. I've been an advocate for their brand. For a long long long long time. Because I believe in the product. That they build. And there aren't. I won't say that for anybody. But there's a reason. That I continue to work with them. It's a great company. They make a great product. If you can sign up. For their plans. They start at just $12 a month. You can get a free trial. With no credit card required. And start booting your own website. Straight away. By going to squarespace.com. Then when you decide to sign up. Make sure that you use. The offer code. Ink. I-N-K. To get 10% of your first purchase. And show your support. For this show. Thanks to Squarespace. For the continued support. Of Relay FM.
Brad Dowdy: So this next product. I saw from our friend Adam Blaine. Over at the desk of Adam. It's called Writes Notes. And I bring this up. For a multitude of reasons. Primarily. Because I've been getting. A lot of questions recently. About. Hey. I want a notebook. With. This. On the right side. And this. Pattern on the left side. You know. Grid on the right. Bank. Black. Blank on the left. I'm having difficulty. With words today. Michael. So.
Brad Dowdy: You know. I say. Boy. That Field Notes. Arts and Science Edition. Would be pretty cool for you.
Brad Dowdy: And actually. Someone did. Someone I said that to. They went out. And bought some off of eBay. Got a really good deal. And I was like. Wow. Good job. So. What Writes Notes does. Is. They make custom. Custom journals. Where you can pick out. Every. Ingredient. If you will. Of the inside. Of that book. So. You can choose. Your page format. Um. Your. The pattern on the paper. Um. You know. Dots. Grids. You know. All kinds of crazy stuff. Um. This is not a new thing. There's a company. That I reviewed. Several years ago. Called Bound Notebooks. And they're still in existence. Where you can do that. And I forgot. To recommend those things. To. People who've been asking me for. Hey. Can I get this on one side. And this on the other side.
Myke Hurley: Memory serves. You didn't really like that though.
Brad Dowdy: I didn't. No. I liked picking it out. I just didn't think the quality. Was good enough for the price. Like. I didn't think the paper quality. Was nice enough. The product itself. Was physically good. Like. The production. The style. The design of it. Was very good. I have a feeling. This writes notes. Might be the same thing. But I haven't tried the paper. Adam says the paper is very good. For. Fountain pens. So. But yeah. I wasn't all about. Um. The Bound. Notebooks. They didn't like. Knock my socks off. They were just. Good. They were okay.
Myke Hurley: If you needed a specific thing. Super granular. With this thing though. Yes. Like. This is kind of amazing.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And that's how this other system was too. I mean. It's really. Really deep. And what you could do. Like. I had a. Like a city map. In one of mine. You can add. All kinds of insane stuff.
Myke Hurley: This is kind of. I'm like. I'm playing around with this thing now. It's. It's actually kind of amazing.
Brad Dowdy: It's pretty cool. Isn't it? So. It'd be interesting to see. If. Some more feedback on this. Memory serves.
Myke Hurley: With that bound notebook. Because that you could choose. The actual paper though. Right. Like. Or was that something else. What was the one where you could say. Like. I want Rodeo paper in this. I want Claire Fontaine paper in this.
Brad Dowdy: That's from the. The company that did the. Pen Addict cover notebooks. They're also in the UK.
Brad Dowdy: I'm gonna. I can't remember the name of it. I'll look. I'll find it while you talk. All right. Yeah. Because that. Well you tell me. Well you. I'll find it while you tell me the price of these. Because I don't know what it is.
Myke Hurley: What. The words. The rights notes.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah.
Myke Hurley: It says you can buy a two pack. For 17 pound 49 pence. I don't know how they're doing this.
Brad Dowdy: It's a 64 page book.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. I think so. Hmm. Yeah. It's 64 pages.
Myke Hurley: Hmm. Okay. I mean. I guess that's okay. I mean. I just don't see how. How. How the economy scales.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. I don't know. I really can't understand it. Because. Let's say. Because you can choose sections. Right. In these. Which. Again. Can you correct me if I'm wrong. I don't remember this from the other one. So I can choose. Like a to-do list on the left page. I can choose wire frames on the right page. And then I. So I can make that 10 pages long. Then I can add another section. And I can add another section. Like. The build to orderness of this. Makes. This very expensive to produce. Yeah. I'm kind of confused. How a company. Could make any money doing this.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. It's very. Work intense.
Brad Dowdy: So. We'll see. I mean. You know. The. The. The notebook you were thinking of. Is called. Book block.
Myke Hurley: Book block.
Brad Dowdy: Yep.
Myke Hurley: Hmm. Interesting. I. I. I would be interested in trying. Stuff like this out. I mean. They seem to be. They. They tout the quality of their paper. 90 gram. Mohawk paper. Says you won't see a spot of ink. Through the page.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Adam mentioned that in his review. That was very nice.
Brad Dowdy: I wonder about the. I wonder how they're printed. You know. I. I. I do have some questions. It's. It's interesting. It's. You know. Maybe something I should try out. And get some more of. Because. I like this kind of customization stuff. Obviously. And. It's someone I will recommend. When people are looking for. Hey. I need half and half of. Whatever kind of page. This is a great. Great idea. So.
Myke Hurley: I love that they have. Wire frames. For. iPhone. iPad. And. The web. Stuff like that. It's really cool. And you can have to do this. And it was that. I mean. It sounds amazing. I just. I really. I don't know. At that price. How they're making any money. But good luck to you. Writes notes. Yeah. Let us know. If you're listening out there.
Comp Notebook[edit]
Brad Dowdy: Right. Right. All right. So this last product. I want you to go first. Michael. So this is called. Comp. Simply comp. We have not talked about this. I would like to hear your feedback. And you know what this means. Usually before.
Myke Hurley: I let you go first. So the comp notebook. It is a. A fancy version. Of what is called the. What is. What is the name of these notebooks. The composition. Composition. Now this is not something that we have.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. In the UK. Yeah. You did not grow up. Did you grow up with any type of.
Brad Dowdy: Notebook. That wasn't a spiral bound. Or any kind of. Like staple bound. Tape bound. Any kind of.
Myke Hurley: I don't remember them.
Brad Dowdy: Sure. There isn't. You know. So just not a thing. Not a thing.
Myke Hurley: People can correct me if I'm wrong. But like. I can't think of like. This. This. Brand that everybody used. Now. I know these books. Because I would see them on American TV. Like on Saved by the Bell. Exactly. So I do have a little taste of nostalgia for this classic design. Now. I watched the video. And this is quite simply. Probably the best Kickstarter video that I have ever seen. They created a documentary. About this notebook. And then I backed it. Did you? Yeah. I backed it. I thought. This is so well done. You care about this so much. I will throw $20 at you. And get one of these books.
Brad Dowdy: The video. Is the best Kickstarter video. I have ever seen as well. It's incredible. It's a literal documentary. Yeah. On the composition notebook.
Myke Hurley: It's almost like. This project started. With him wanting to make a documentary. Right. And then halfway through. He was like. Do you know what? I'm just going to make my own book. And sell it on Kickstarter.
Brad Dowdy: Well they're from an advertising company. Right. I mean. They have all the tools there. They have the storytelling ability. To pull that off. Right. Pentagram is a huge design firm. Oh.
Myke Hurley: Is they come from there? Okay. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. As great as the video is. This product is absolutely everything. But a composition notebook.
Brad Dowdy: It is in 0%. Okay. 1% composition notebook. And the fact that the cover is marbled. That is the only. Composition notebook feature. Why is that? That it is. This is not what a composition notebook is. It's not. You can. And you look it in the video. When they go through the history of it. Composition notebooks are staple bound. Tape bound covers. Circular corners. Yeah. Rounded corners. I mean.
Brad Dowdy: Finer rulings on the lines.
Brad Dowdy: This is.
Brad Dowdy: This actually makes me kind of upset. Oh. Okay. Interesting. It's. It's. Just on the marketing of it. It's a. Awesome journal. It's a great notebook. It's a Leuchtturm. It's a Moleskine. They got it for a great price. The price is very good. It's not a composition book. And I'm very partial to composition books. So it makes me upset. Especially when. You watch that video. And the love to the composition book. And they're going to make it better. And they show Michael Beirut's stack of composition books. Which is something I've seen for years. Which is just wonderful. I love seeing beat up destroyed compositions books. This is not a composition book. Composition books. Are cheap. And made for the masses. And. You know. They're put together differently. They have a different meaning for this. This is a journal. It's not a composition book. It has a completely different meaning. Style. Taste. Aesthetic to it. It's just not. It's. That's the problem I have with it. Um. The lines. And the spacing. Are horrible. I hope you order blank. Because. Yeah. Yeah. I don't. I don't understand. Yeah. It's disgusting. I don't understand what they're doing with that line.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. I don't know. I don't know why you would do that. I don't know what the big black line is for. I don't know what the big gap is for. I don't like the lines.
Composition Notebooks[edit]
Brad Dowdy: Composition books have blue lines. This is. Ugh. The lines bother me as much as anything. The lines are. You are trying so hard to be something you're not with these lines. I don't know what you're doing. It's really. Really bad. Um. But I can get behind the blank version. And I can get behind this as a journal. Or a notebook. Or. You know. Whatever. IdeaPad. It's everything but a composition notebook. I'm sorry. I hate this product. It makes me mad. I'm getting all hot and bothered here. My face is turning red.
Myke Hurley: Wow. Wow. I was not expecting this. What did I go off on a couple of weeks ago? I got really upset about something in a similar way. Right? Like you brought this thing to the table. Thought it was really cool. And I started screaming about it for an hour.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I can't remember. We got some feedback on that too. And I can't remember what it was now. But. Um. I really. Oh. You know. I hate to say pretentious hipster stuff. Because honestly. I like some pretentious hipster stuff. This is. This is pretentious hipster stuff. It's why I've bought it. That's why I'm saying. I like that kind of stuff. You should see the watch I just bought. It's so pretentious hipster douchey stuff. And this is the epitome of that. And. The problem is. It breaks. A tradition. That is beloved. It's broken. What the meaning of the composition notebook is. By putting this on there. And it really upsets me. That it's being. Passed off this way. Make this journal. Call it a journal. It's in no way an homage. To a composition book. It's just not.
Brad Dowdy: So. There you go. And I'm not saying. Like. I wouldn't enjoy. Like. The blank. Notebook of this. I'm sure it's perfectly fine. Like I said. The pricing. Is. Outstanding. 19 bucks for. This type of book. Is. A pretty good deal. It's just not a composition book. I'm really. Displeased. At the positioning. Of the marketing around this. And that's. That's my biggest problem. I'm sure it's a perfectly fine notebook. But the way they position it. The way they're marketing it. Is just. It's just not right. In my mind. In. In. Being. You know. Fair to the original. It's complete. It's. Completely different. Except for the. Marbled cover.
Myke Hurley: Maybe that's why I bought it. Right. I just saw. A. A nice. Thing. Right. Like I just saw. Like a nice notebook. It's like. Oh. That looks nice. They really care about it. Like. I. I buy it. Do you know what I mean? So it's like. Okay. Like. Because I have no.
Myke Hurley: I have just no attachment. To the composition notebook. Other than. The. Cover. Which is. They've. They've replicated.
Brad Dowdy: Right.
Myke Hurley: Huh.
Brad Dowdy: It's like. I talked to Jeff. You know. Like. Me and Jeff love composition notebooks. We're like. One day. We're going to make a composition notebook. And. You know. And it's not going to be true to. It'll never be as true to the original. Because of the price. Right. Any mass produced. Composition notebook. Usually runs like. Two dollars or less. We just couldn't produce anything like that. That would be of any quality. But. You know. Maybe we could come up with something pretty cool. That's true to the. True to the game. When you see something like this. It's. It's not. It's not. I. I really dislike this product.
Myke Hurley: Well. There you go.
Brad Dowdy: You know. My doorbells rang twice. Since we've been on this show. And I'm really wondering. What I'm missing this whole time.
Myke Hurley: It could be really interesting products. It could be some composition notebooks.
Myke Hurley: Imagine that.
Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Myke Hurley: All right. If you want to catch our show notes for this week. Go to relay.fm. Slash. Penaddict. Slash. Two. Three. Zero. Thanks again to our lovely sponsors. The great folk. Over at. Do. Like. Modern goods. Pench. LA. And Squarespace. As always. Thank you for listening. If you want to catch Brad online. He's at penaddict.com. And knock.co. And he is at dowdy. As I'm on Twitter. And penaddict on Instagram. I am I Myke. I M Y K E. On all the social. Places that you would wish. To be. We'll be back next week. Don't forget to. Get your. Gear guide hat on. We'll be joined by the lovely. Anna Reiner. Until then. Say goodbye Brad.
Brad Dowdy: Goodbye Brad. Goodbye Brad.