Editing The Pen Addict 400/transcript (section)

== Chaos Pen Discussion ==


'''Myke Hurley:''' The Chaos Pen is a collaboration between Montegrappa and Sylvester Stallone. Montegrappa are known for making some very, very, very expensive tens of thousands of dollars worth of expensive pens that are themed in some way. And the Chaos Pen is one of these. It's not really available anymore, but comes up every now and again, I think. And it just is this pen which is full of snakes and skulls and just wildness. But it's referenced because it's so crazy to see and is also so very, very expensive.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, this is the first pen, wild pen, that I recall getting press outside of our normal sphere. And it was really because of the marketing of the pen with Sylvester Stallone being an internationally famous actor. Past his prime and just doing this really. I think there was a watch component to it. I think there was a full brand thing going on with it. But this pen has lived on throughout. I think about every year, a new media outlet would discover the pen. And we'd get a new influx of articles about the Chaos Pen, right? And then we'd end up discussing it. And then one day, Myke and I got to see this pen in person. And I think our opinions changed fully about this pen.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah, we turned on it. It was like, I don't know, a notice isn't for me, but I can totally see how it's for someone. Yep. Because it was just quite a sight to behold. It's incredibly well made, as it should be for its price. But it's easy to laugh at it because it is so absurd. And then when you see it and you hold it, it's like, oh, okay. Yeah, it's like, I get it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I get it now. But that was really a marketing story more than anything, which is proven by its reemergence every year or two by someone discovering, oh my gosh, what happened back then?

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Speaking of marketing, I got to say, Myke, we were the leaders of the Bullet Journal train. I'm just going to go ahead and take that now. I mean, I know Ryder, Carol, invented it. But we were on the Bullet Journal bandwagon way back in the day before it became hashtag Bujo, right? Yes.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Basically, like the Bullet Journal, the idea of the Bullet Journal, the original website that was created, where it was just the system that Ryder had made. It made waves in our community and also the tech community, which we both kind of straddle because it was a really beautiful website.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, the productivity community as a whole.

'''Myke Hurley:''' So we interviewed Ryder in like 2013. We had him on the show and then had him back when he launched a Kickstarter campaign to create a book. And now like Bullet Journal. We had him back a third time. When he released his book about it, right? And these are three episodes that are super interesting because you get to hear someone who's going through this change, this transition. You know, Ryder like had an idea, thought it was interesting to, wow, this is starting to catch on. And now I want to try and make a career out of this idea that I created because people seem so excited about it to the point where this has exploded and expanded way past me to the point that I've had to now like legally claim ownership of my idea again. And I don't endorse any of what's happening. I have, but I have my thing, which is the core part. And it's super intriguing to watch him kind of go through this. And it is one of these like successes that we do claim a little bit of, you know, Ryder has said himself that like we really did help get the word out for Bullet Journaling when it began.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So we also told him which notebook to use.

'''Myke Hurley:''' We did. Yes. We told him.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So he has a partnership with Lloyd's term now that has turned out hopefully pretty well. But yeah, I like I'm like I'm joking about taking credit. But I think Ryder is one of the more interesting characters we've had on the show repeatedly just because of exactly what you said. Listen to the three episodes that we did. If you're a Bullet Journal fan. And I think it tells a good story just like Myke was alluding to. And again, I just I think what he's done is pretty amazing. And I just find it so interesting. Like it's still like I could go back and listen to those episodes today.

'''Myke Hurley:''' And then lastly, two companies that are referenced a lot because both me and Brad care about them greatly. And we've formed collections over the years of Field Notes and Retro 51.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, they both started really early. I think Retro 51 might have been mentioned before Field Notes. I think you were early to the Retro 51 game just as, hey, this is a really good pen and I like this pen. And what does it do different? Well, it's recommended from you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And but I'm just saying like that surprised me when I was looking back at some of the episodes. I thought Field Notes would have been just like the thing from the beginning. But they both kind of do the same thing, right? So even though Field Notes has a subscription and Retro 51 doesn't, they both do something. They both do what they do very well. They have great marketing. They have great products, which they wouldn't be in business if they didn't have great products. And they were able to tell stories that we were able to latch on to, you know, whether it's a specific Field Note limited edition release or a specific pattern or, you know, design on a Retro 51. And they did it well and they did it frequently enough to where they became full time topics on our show, sometimes multiple episodes in a row. So they've certainly become popular enough that I would get emails saying you talk about them too much. And like, I'm okay with that. It's because they're doing interesting things and we like the we like the product. So you will hear if this is your first Pen Addict podcast. And if you go back and listen to the previous 399, you're going to hear Field Notes and Retro 51 talk a lot. And that's not going to stop either.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Well, there's going to be less Retro 51 talk.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, I guess that one's closing down. Technically, that one's going to stop, but not this year. It's not going to stop us from talking about them, right? That is it. All right. So that is going to stop us from talking today.

'''Myke Hurley:''' Yeah. We have completed the Pen Addict 101. The next episode, episode 401 of this show is going to be Pen Addict 201, where we get into more detail on some pretty important elements that you may want to also consume. So we're going to make this a two-parter. Because when we started putting this together, we asked for our audience, our wonderful Pen Addict audience, for some things that they think we should talk about. And we could not get to them all in one episode. This is already one of the longer episodes of this podcast. We feel like we maybe should split it up. So that is your introduction. Thank you for, if you are, if this is new for you, the Pen Addict, thank you so much for choosing to listen to this show. And we hope that you enjoy any future episodes that you consume. But there are also, you know, a lot of people that are listening to this today. The majority of people that will probably ever listen to this episode are people that have already been listening to the show for a long period of time. Many people from the beginning. Many people from very early on. Thank you, thank you, always. You know, we say it all the time, especially as we cross each 50-episode barrier. But this, you know, this show is such a joy to put together. And we can only do it because you listen. So thank you for supporting this show over its lifetime. Thank you for supporting our sponsors. Thank you for buying all the products that we make. Thank you for supporting our Kickstarter campaigns. We couldn't do this without you. If there was nobody listening, there wouldn't be a podcast to make. So we, you know, this community is one of the greatest communities I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of. And I've been a part of many communities over my podcasting career because I span so many different interests. This is so kind, so giving, so wonderful and so thankful, this community. And it's an absolute pleasure to be a part of. But I will always thank at this moment Brad Dowdy. Brad puts in an absolutely immense amount of work into this show, including this episode. Most of the time, I'm just showing up and I'm talking with him and then I edit and post it. Brad's the one who's like moving this show forward always. And, you know, I couldn't do this without you. Plus, there would be no pen addict without the pen addict himself. So as we are finishing our 400th episode, thank you, Brad Dowdy.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Well, thank you, Myke. I am glad that Myke does all the editing and all the posting and all the back end work because I hate all that stuff. So thank you, buddy, for doing for you putting in. I'm putting in the the production work. You're putting in the the technology technological work on the back end to make this show exist to all of our amazing listeners. And it really is about the community we've built around all the things that we do. And we wouldn't be here without all of y'all listening and everything that Myke said. I second it all completely. So thanks to all of you and especially thanks to Myke for being a wonderful friend for all of these years. And I know we have a lot more years in front of us.

'''Myke Hurley:''' We most certainly do. So that is episode 400. If you're listening to this in real time, keep an eye out for our Kickstarter campaign. We're days away from launching the Kickstarter campaign for the 2020 pen show circuit. So keep your eye out for that. We'll be back next time. Thank you so much to Warby Parker and ExpressVPN for the support of this show. Say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.

[[Category:Podcast Transcripts]]
[[Category:The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript]]