Editing The Pen Addict 534/transcript (section)

== Introduction ==


'''Brad:''' That's pretty much this entire show, right? This entire show is like a disconnect from our brains to reality. So yeah, we're, we're gonna talk about pens. That's, that's what the show is about. I don't know if you know that, like 534 episodes into it, this is a podcast about pens. And I voted for pens this week, Myke. I mean, I, every day, I vote for pens, like it's just in my nature, right? It's, it's like my move. But last week, we talked about the OKB48, the vote was up. So I thought I would tell everyone what I actually voted for, and what the little voting process is like, if you are so inclined. We have probably like, for all of our many dozens of listeners, we probably have like one or two that might actually click through and vote for this, because it's, you know, it's, it's very, kind of a tricky little thing. You know, it's all, you have to Google translate it, the whole thing. And it's kind of a, kind of a mess. And it's also like standard pens, you know, ballpoints and jelly pens. But you know, that's my passion, right? That's like my number one thing is this type of pen. So just to let everyone know, I went and put in my vote. And it's basically a Google Doc that has, yeah, that I had to translate to make sure I was getting the right things. And obviously, still, some of that doesn't always come through, but I could pretty much get the gist of it. And it's really simple. But I, I've done this before, like I've voted in this several times. And it's always the same. And the very first thing you have to do.

'''Myke:''' I'm looking at the form. I can't believe Google doesn't offer translation on the form. Yeah. Oh, actually, I can. In Safari, I can translate it.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, that's how I did it. So I just did the Safari translation, which is still not great. When you're using like brand names, right, those tend to get lost, right? As opposed to like the traditional, you know, traditional words. You know, when you start messing with brand names, it gets a little funky. But the weird thing about this is the very first question is, okay, pick five, your five favorite pens from the 48 pens listed. And it's like, is that really what we're going to do here is like, we're just going to go, I'm going to grab my five favorite, I have to look through this whole 48, you know, and I can, I can eliminate it pretty quickly. But for, you know, a lot of people, it's going to be like reading through this thing. It's like, what even is this mess, but I was able to narrow it down to five. So my five in no particular order were the Pentel Energel Euro, which is the needle tip 0.35 millimeter Pentel Energel that I love and want to be the main market Energel. But that's probably never going to happen. The Zebra Sarasa Clip, which is another great gel ink pen. The Uniball Signo DX. The Uniball Jetstream Edge, which is the fancy premium Jetstream, you know, with those aluminum barrels that came out about a year ago, look fantastic. And then the Tombow Monograph Lite. So out of this, like 48. So they had this, this is kind of, they don't necessarily take the exact results from last year to put in the vote for this year, right? Because there's new pens and things like that. But it's kind of, you know, a carryover from the previous year. So there's some favorites in there that I could, I could probably pick like a top 10 out of that list would be a little bit better. And then kind of narrow it down more from there. But I was limited to five. Those are my five. So then you go to the next page. It's like, okay, you have your five favorite pens. Pick your one favorite out of those five that you picked. The problem is they don't narrow it down on the page. It still lists 48 pens. So you got to go find the one. So I picked the Uniball Signo DX, which long-term listeners know this is my favorite gel ink pen. Like it's pretty, you know, pretty far ahead of everything in my mind. So that was my one.

'''Myke:''' What kind of voting system is this? This must have a name, right? Like pick five and then pick your favorite. Someone's going to, that must be some kind of voting system. Yeah. Yeah. I see what they're doing. It's like weighting it, right? So here's my, here's the top five and here's my top one.

'''Brad:''' I think there needs to be another weight.

'''Myke:''' Why can't you just, why is it five and then pick one? Why can't you be like, this is number one, this is number two? Right.

'''Brad:''' I think there needs to be a different, broader weighting in it, but I don't know enough about this. Ranked choice voting. Yeah. I don't, I don't exactly know, but I, I, I do wish there, I don't know how they end up with 48 pens in this type of system. Like are all these, like is literally every pen getting a vote? Cause only about a thousand, between like thousand, 1200 and 1500 votes get registered. Is every pen getting voted for in this list? I, I would think not. Right. So, um, it's, it's interesting to me. So I then, you know, so I then waited my, my one from the five, but I feel like there's some kind of intermediate step that's missing here. Yeah. Or a, or a bigger step that needs to happen first to break it down. Almost like a 10, five, one type of situation just to get the weighting a little bit better and a more representative list. Right. Like a top, the top 20, how accurate is this top 20? I don't know. I don't know. It's interesting. So, so that's it. Like, that's how you pick. So you pick five and then you pick your one favorite from the five. And then the last page has a couple of fill in the blanks. It's like, what is the reason you like the pen you chose? And then you have to type in, I was like, do they, are they taking these into consideration? Like why? I don't know that they are. Right. So I just put in, it has the best 0.38 millimeter line consistency. And then it says, the next question is, what do you want from a ball pen? And it's like, I was like, why do we need to answer these little questions? I'm not sure how this balances out any like voting that you're doing on these pens.

'''Myke:''' Market research.

'''Brad:''' I guess so. I guess so. And then the last one is actually the most valid question is what pen isn't listed that you would like to see next time. Right. So that's how they can build the list from, you know, some of the ones that are missing. And I put in the Caran d'Ache 849 ballpoint because like it would never, I don't know that that pen would crack my top 20. It would probably be in my like 15 to 20 range, but this list has things like the Lamy Safari ballpoint and some really like the Tombow air press pens. It's got some really strange pens. And I think like the, the Caran d'Aches it's, it's not a strange pen, but it's like one of those middle tier kind of expensive pens that I happen to love that I think is a great quality, but it doesn't, it's never going to get the play of like a, you know, Signo DX that's $2 and 50 cents. You know, it's like a $25 pen or $30 pen, uh, kind of like the Safaris or some of these other ones, but like, it deserves to be in like, if you're making a list out of 48 pens, yeah, the 849 needs to be on there looking at some of these other ones. So that was kind of my experience with the vote. If anyone is interested in how this thing, uh, works, it's really short and quick. I'm just not sure it's great. Like, and it, it hasn't changed for years. Like I've been doing this for years and it's, it's the same setup every year. And I was, but I, I don't know. It seems like there's a better way, but I don't know that I have an answer. Like, I think there should be more waiting for a broader spectrum of pens here. Um, but who knows, who knows? They, they, I guess they know what they're doing. They, they end results end up shaking out pretty well. Right. Like I've never had a real problem with, with the results. And, you know, there's some weird things jumping in the top 10 from time to time. But, uh, overall, I think it, it, I, it's a pretty top heavy category anyway. Right. Like the best pens are going to be the best pens just year after year. And, um, it's every now and then you'll get something like the zebra blend sneaking up in there. But, uh, yeah, I, I think it's pretty good. So that was, uh, that was my look at the, uh, OKB 48 vote. So there you go. So you got something in the mail, uh, was a little, little bit delayed from, from last week. Is that where we were at?

'''Myke:''' Yeah. Yeah. That's what happened. Canalea Punicaea. Punicaea? The pen we spoke about last week. Canalea obviously sponsored the show and they sent me this pen, uh, for review. They don't know this yet, but I will be buying this one from them. Um, because I adore it. I got the My Lele version, which is quickly becoming for me. Like, I think it's the Canalea to buy. I think. That's very much a you thing. Like, that's perfect for you. Yeah. I, I'm, I don't know if I necessarily recommend it for everyone to just do it, but I would recommend everyone to look at it. And if they get a chance to, to hold it, um, I think it's just, this is where they put the little silver band around the cap. I, I don't, it just adds something to me that I really enjoy. Like, I am a person who quite a lot of the time holds the cap when they write. Like, I hold the pen caps when I write because I never post. Same. And the added weight on the cap just feels very satisfying to me.

'''Brad:''' Um. Yeah. It's, it's fantastic. I think the, the look and the, the aesthetics of it are just, uh, just amazing with, with the band. Like, it's not my style. Like, we've talked about this a million times, right? Like, I, I like a lighter weight and things like that, but that doesn't mean I, like the, the aesthetic of it is, is awesome.

'''Myke:''' And the medallion is matching Argentium silver. So that looks good. And the, you know, the, the nib is silver in this one too. Um, and so like the whole thing just works really well together. Yeah.

'''Brad:''' And the, the, the base colors, the base colors of the pen compliment like all the hardware really, really well.

'''Myke:''' At some point I need to get one with a clip just to see what that's like. I'm just intrigued.

'''Brad:''' I did that. I did that. I did that same thing. I was like, I need to switch up what I usually get. I usually get the classic flush. And I was like, let me try this with the clip. And I was like, okay, yeah, it's good. And I went right back to the flush. Like it's great.

'''Myke:''' It's probably how I would go to, but I'm just intrigued. I'll say like, you know, now I've seen it, I expected it to be the case, but I think this might be their best resin design. Um, yeah, it's pretty cool. The, the, the amount of color variation is wild. It did make it one of the hardest choices I've made in a long time as to what ink to put in this pen. Like I could not work it out. Like I was thinking of putting in the Ibisu gold and I may still do that. I didn't go with that in the end. Mine has a lot of gold in it, but I didn't do it because I don't know. I don't love that ink. Like I think it's fine, but I don't love it.

'''Brad:''' You get, you get tired of it pretty quickly. Like, yeah. Like a whole converter. I'm the same way.