Editing The Pen Addict 380/transcript (section)

== Visconti Iopena Critique ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' That's a waste. This is...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This is stupid. This is a stupid pen. You haven't seen the half of it, Myke. Click on the second link and scroll down to look at the packaging. When you get to the picture of the umbrella handle, that's not an umbrella handle.

'''Myke Hurley:''' That's the pen.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's the pen in the packaging. So, there's the back half of this pen is like a silicone rubber that...

'''Myke Hurley:''' I need to try and explain this to people. It's like... It looks like a dip pen, right? So, it's like very long, right? Mm-hmm. And it has like a silvery end to it and then the... It's got like a metal grip section. Yeah, a metal grip section with a stupid clip, which is the shape of a face. Visconti, what are you doing? And then it's this like long piece of plastic and a collar, which is flexible so it can bend. So, in the... The packaging is shaped like the letter J. So, the pen bends around inside of the packaging.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I would have less of a problem with this if they didn't describe it in such a stupid way. Like, all of the descriptions. None of it makes any logical sense, right? Like, how they got to the name that they got to. Right. Like, they tried to explain something which doesn't explain anything. That's exactly right. What are you doing, Visconti? You're a luxury brand. So...

'''Brad Dowdy:''' What are you doing? To your point, if Visconti said, here is our new couture pen line, I would have no problem with this. Right? Like, we're experimenting. We think this is high fashion and we're going to get this great architect and designer and we're going to experiment. Right? But that's not how they present it. They present it as... Designed to bring young people closer to writing. Designed to bring young people closer to writing. That's my biggest problem with this whole thing. It's a 280 euro pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yep.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' This isn't bringing any... No young person... I know. 280 euro. I thought this was a budget pen. It's what it looks like, right? Holy crap. Right? If this was a $40 pen, like, okay, maybe I see the young people getting into this and playing around with it and having fun, having a silly pen. This... I kind of want one.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Of course you do. They've made a pen that looks like a kid's pen, which is marketed towards young people, but they sell it for 280 euro.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, that's my main problem here. Come on, Visconti. Are you familiar with the Jinhao shark pen?

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' That's what this is, except it's Visconti-ized.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, there's... There's... I have no positive spin on this other than, like, okay, fine. I mean, if anyone appreciates art, I do. But the marketing and the presentation of it, they've gone a little bit too far with this. Yeah.

'''Myke Hurley:''' I would say this is an example of a company that's gotten a little too high on their own supply.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Right? Like, they are believing in themselves more than they should at this point, right? Right. And they produce something that is completely out of touch. This is the difference between what we were just talking about with Montegrappa. Montegrappa create crazy things, but they are in touch with a specific... The market they are going for. Right. This pen is not in... Like, if they are true to who they say they've made this for, they are not in touch with that market. Do you know who is? Moskin. They are in touch with that market. They are creating products for digitally-minded young people. Right? Because they make... They also do IP deals that people are interested in. They create stuff that looks nice, and then they're pushing smart technology forward. Right? That is a brand that understands what young people, digitally-minded young people, want out of writing experiences and are trying to bring digitally-minded young people back into the fold. Right? This pen is not doing that. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah. I've... You've angered me, Visconti, for the last time. I know. I'm surprised you're this agitated about it, because I just laughed, and I thought it was ridiculous, the words that were written about this pen. It does not add up to what they're trying to do here. And like I said, all you have to do is you put this in the Couture lineup, which, you know, for those who are not familiar with that term, it's basically like experimental art. It's like a fashion term. You know, like one-offs and like singular items that don't make any sense, but like they're the future of products, right? You know, 10 years down the line. Mm-hmm. That's... If that's how this pen was classified and spoken about, it might not even be on the show, because I feel that would be accurate. Like, I don't feel what they're doing is accurate with what they're trying to present here. And yet, I still kind of want one, because it's so ridiculous. It would be just a waste of money. Like, it's a steel nib, and like, it's a... Like, basically, it's basically like something you would buy like at a county fair. Like, the floppy pen, like where you like shake it around, and like this rubber thing's flapping on the back of it. It's like asinine. I'm sorry, Visconti. Like, I enjoy what you make, but this is just... This is too strange, even for me. It's ain't it, son. As someone who is a lover of the strange. That ain't it, son. It's ain't it. So, I was excited. I was pretty excited to talk about this on the show, because I didn't know what you would think. I'm pleased that I didn't read the whole thing. And... It was good that I left the original link out and made you have to edit the show.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Mm-hmm. Now you've ruined that. You've ruined the fact that I edit it up so cleanly that nobody would ever know that there was a mistake.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' I mean, what do you expect from me? That's true.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Today's episode is brought to you by our friends over at Pen Chalet. We can get good stuff there.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Not this crazy stuff. You get good stuff. Dude, I got good stuff from them last week. The best stuff.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Authentic, amazing rollerballs, fountain pens, ballpoints, mechanical pencils. So much more. They also... They don't just sell the writing implements. They sell the things that you need. The accoutrement. The peripherals, as some may say. Like carrying cases and pen holders and refills and ink and converters and so much more. They have all of their favorite brands, and they're adding new styles of pen every single month. Pen Chalet believe in the fastest and most reliable customer service that they can give, and that's what they strive to do. And they put everything behind their 100% satisfaction guarantee. They want you to be happy with your purchase, and they want to get it to you as quickly and as cheaply as possible. They have free shipping on orders of over $50 in the US, and great shipping rates for international orders as well. So go to penchalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com, and there's a link at the top of the website that says podcast. Hit that and enter the password penaddict. This is where you will get the code that you need to save 10% on anything at Pen Chalet at any time, and also to see this week's special offer, which is a super secret deal that you must go to the website to see. Ron's told me I cannot talk about what it is or the price. Wow. So, yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Nice. I appreciate that, Ron. And since we can't talk about this week's, I did make my own, use my own Pen Addict 10 coupon last week or two weeks ago on the show to buy the Montegrappa fountain pen, which I gave away to Pen Addict members this past weekend. So I took advantage of the hot, fresh deals at penchalet.com.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So there are some great deals. You can go get them yourself by going to penchalet.com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website and using the password penaddict. Our thanks to Pen Chalet for their support of this show and RelayFM.