Editing The Pen Addict 480/transcript

{{Infobox podcast transcript
| name            = The Pen Addict
| number          = 480
| title           = An Approximation of a Color
| date            = September 22nd, 2021
| hosts           = [[Brad Dowdy]]<br>
[[Myke Hurley]]
| guests          = 
| link            = [https://www.relay.fm/penaddict/480 Episode 480]
| audiolink       = [https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/thepenaddict/The_Pen_Addict_480.mp3 Audio Episode 480]
| length          = 60
}}

''''Myke:'''  From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 480, and today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet and ExpressVPN. My name is Myke Hurley, and I am joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad.

''''Brad:'''   Hey, Myke. How's it going?

'''''Myke:'''    Pretty good. Thank you for holding the fort for me last week. We had a lot going on. Obviously, there was the podcast-a-thon, which I hope many people tuned in for. We'll talk about that in a minute. And also, I had an Apple event going on, too. So, it was a bit of a wild week. My studio is almost back. It's actually back to normal now. I've spent a lot of time dismantling it and then putting it back together again.

'''''Brad:'''   In a 52-week span, can you imagine a singular, more busy week than the week you just had?

''''Myke:'''  No.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. I think that's the peak week for you, with those things landing on the same week, because there's so much work individually. Yeah. And then to have at the same time. I genuinely felt for you. I know you're doing it because you love it, and you did such a great job, and we're going to talk about all that stuff. But big thanks to Urban Hafner from fpc.inc, Fountain Pen Companion. Yeah, for joining me last week. It was a great conversation. I love talking to Urban. And he does such a cool thing for this community with Fountain Pen Companion. I encourage all of y'all to listen to that episode. Check out Fountain Pen Companion if you're into Fountain Pens and ink. And just, you know, go wild on the site and have fun with it. I think it's just a really, really cool, cool thing.

''''Myke:'''  Great name, too.

'''''Brad:'''   It is. It is. It's perfect.

''''Myke:'''  No, I mean Urban. Oh, well. That's a cool name.

'''''Brad:'''   Urban's just cool to begin with. That's true. Yeah. He exudes coolness, unlike us.



== RelayFM for St. Jude ==


''''Myke:'''  Let's talk about RelayFM for St. Jude for a moment. You've been hearing us talk about it over the last month, and you will be for, I think, another two weeks. Because September, all of September, is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and for the third consecutive year, RelayFM supports the life-saving mission of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which is finding cures and saving children. Because cancer kills more children under the age of 14 than any other disease. And doctors from all 50 states of the U.S. and around the world refer their patients to St. Jude because, quite simply, they have the world's best survival rates for some of the most aggressive childhood cancers. And St. Jude also provides thousands of free consultations for doctors treating children worldwide, including kids in your community. So, the RelayFM community so far this September has come together to raise an astounding over half a million dollars for the kids of St. Jude just this year. Where actually, right now, $527,000 we have raised as a community, which is just truly unbelievable. Like, you know, this campaign, we met the one million total raised, you know, over the three years, and that was like 196. We've added like another 300,000. So, like, we've raised over $1.3 million in the last three years. And that is because of everybody coming together, and it's a truly incredible thing. You can be a part of our best year ever by making a donation right now at sthude.org slash Relay. This year, any donor making a single gift of $100 or more will receive an exclusive RelayFM sticker of thanks pack at the end of the campaign. And if your company matches donations, please send us a note, and we can have that routed to the campaign. Just email Stephen at Relay.fm. Go now to sthude.org slash Relay, and let's cure childhood cancer together.

'''''Brad:'''   I am astonished. I am thankful to be part of this. I am thankful to be friends with you and Stephen who really are the leaders in getting all this organized and the amount of work you put in for the greater good for the hospital. One thing I wanted to mention about St. Jude, we know all the good that they do for the people coming in to, you know, that have to be in the hospital and getting all the help that they need. But like you mentioned, like part of their name is research, and they do so much for other, you know, illnesses around the world, like, you know, the cancer treatments that they're, you know, researching there. In Memphis, those things get, they're at the front lines of treating these illnesses.

''''Myke:'''  And they don't just do research on cancer. Right. They do research on anything that can affect a cancer patient. So like two years ago, we got to talk to a doctor, Chuck Rock, which is the best name ever. Right. And he and his team were investigating drug-resistant staph infections. Oh, no, drug-resistant staph infections or like SARS, not SARS, what's the MRSA, is that it? Yeah, MRSA. MRSA, that's it. So they were like, because that affects the kids in the hospital. But that information can be also shared, like the rest of their information is shared for other institutions around the world to benefit from.

'''''Brad:'''   Yep. It's a big deal, and I'm glad to be a part of it. And last year, starting last year, the Pen Attic played a small part in raising awareness through the Pen Attic. We started a raffle last year where we had a singular pen of awesomeness, the Arushi Lamy Safari, that we put up for raffle for St. Jude. So I wanted to do it again this year, Myke. And you could say it went well.

'''''Brad:'''   Unbelievable. It really is. It's really hard to talk about.

''''Myke:'''  We didn't get to talk about, because I was away last week, we didn't get to talk about how much stuff has now been added into this raffle. Well, somebody has also donated a complete set of all the Blackwing volumes, which is unbelievable.

'''''Brad:'''   Two complete sets of single pencils. These are not dozens, right? These are single pencils. But yeah, they were like, hey, let me send you one of each of every Blackwing volume. And they actually didn't have the first two. I said, well, I've got the first two, so just send me what you have, and then I'll grab mine, and we'll make two separate sets to give away for all these.

'''''Brad:'''   We wrapped this up last night for just the raffle part of it. You can still donate to St. Jude. Don't let me dissuade you from that. But for the raffle part, we did have to have a time limit so I can put all this stuff together. So let me do two things, if you will allow me, Myke. One, I would like to go through this list of prizes and thank all of the donors. And then two, at the end, I want to tell you where we're at. Oh, okay. Well, you'll see here in a second what I'll be explaining. But first off, I put up the field notes collection I had from 1 through 36, and then the feedback came in. Well, I can fill in the blanks of the things that you need to get to the current edition, right? Because I stopped my subscription for like a year, maybe two. So I had a small gap, even though I bought some in there. So we actually have the full run of field notes 1 through 51 of the limited edition field notes giveaway, which is really cool. So I should enter for that.

''''Myke:'''  I know this is not what it's about, but the cash value of that price must be unbelievable.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. Like, I've had people say, like, I don't reply to all the emails I get in for all this stuff. But I have people say, if I win this, I'm going to sell them all and just re-donate the money that I make off of it.

''''Myke:'''  Hey, if that's what you want to do that, right? Like, if that, you know, I endorse that. Maybe if you'll probably do whatever you want with it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's up to you. But I love that as an idea.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah, like, if you win the thing, it may not be your thing, to be perfectly honest. But, like, that's just kind of how these things go.



== Jonathan Brooks' Safari Pen ==


'''''Brad:'''   Jonathan Brooks, who made the Arushi Lamy Safari last year, as really part of an ongoing joke we had for years. Yep. So, he made an add-on to the spoke icon, which allows you to eyedropper a spoke icon in an acrylic insert, which is just beyond cool. It's like, I want to keep this. And I'm like, no, I need to give this away because it's really cool and really special. So, we have that and the spoke icon barrel and the rickshaw pin sleeve that it comes with from Carolina Pin Company. We have, Myke, one of my favorite Canalea pins, the Kona Cherry, a personal favorite of mine, the award-winning Best Artisan Pin of 2021 from our friends at Canalea Pen Co. Also, we have a Kasama Tala, which, again, like, a lot of this, I keep saying it's my favorite. Like, I love all this stuff and I love all these people. And I'm doing this to thank everyone who donated these prizes from Mark Bacchus, the Nib Grinder.

''''Myke:'''  All of these people deserve individual thanks, which is why we're doing it today.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah, for sure.

''''Myke:'''  This is, you know, by donating this, they're also kind of, like, donating their own money, but then they're also helping encourage more donations, you know.

'''''Brad:'''   Exactly, exactly. So, I have my Kasama that I got from Mark and I love it. And then another Ultem pin, Shown Design Ultem, which has been all the rage this year, these past couple of months, from Ian Shown at Shown Design. I love this pin. I have it eyedroppered up. It's really cool.

''''Myke:'''  I want to give just a free idea to anybody making an Ultem pin. Someone should call one the Ultimatum. Ultimatum? That's a free idea for somebody making pens out of Ultim. I want a model called the Ultimatum.

'''''Brad:'''   I am down with this. I appreciate that idea. I like that. I am in. I'm in. Free. Free. All right. The Pinwell Craftsman, Myke. I know you love yours. Don't want a ride here. I'm staring at mine right now.

''''Myke:'''  My 1911 King of Pen Tangerine, which is what I'm using for my notes today, is sitting in a Penwell Craftsman. I have the blue one. I adore this product, by the way. 100%. This is a holiday's coming up. You've got a pen addict in your life. Or if you're a pen, obviously you are a pen addict, you want to put something on a gift list, I really recommend one of these. You think, ah, would I use it? I use it every single day. I absolutely love it. It's a fantastic product.

'''''Brad:'''   I love watching what Dan does at Good Made Better because you see these incremental jumps, right? It's like making things. It's a slow process. And then you're like, well, I made this thing. Well, how do I make it? It went well. Do I make another one? Do I improve this? Do I do a different design? It's cool seeing the variety that Dan's got going. And I got to pick this one out. It was like, Dan's like, hey, I want to do this. Like, what would be good? And I was like, I want this one. This exact one in Galaxy Black. So we're giving that one away with the brass base. I love it. Next up, additive pens. The wild, awesomely inked, like swirly pen that are just too cool. Seeing them in person is really cool from NibTaylor. So this is not only do you get the pen, you also get a nib grind with this from NibTaylor. Just like you get with the Kasama, you get a nib grind from the nib grinder. So that's very cool that they're not only donating products, but they're donating their time to, you know, help customize a pen for you and a nib to customize your writing experience. And we'll have the link in the show notes. You can go see all these awesome prizes that I'll be pulling winners for soon. Pentel of America reached out and said, hey, I think I have some stuff that might work for this. And they sent me this box and it was gigantic. I was like, what have I gotten myself into? Then I opened it up and it's just some of the coolest like Pentel stuff that I've seen in a while. They have a huge kit of EnerGels, a 20 pack of EnerGels, Myke. And you're going to like, this is actually a real product that's just hit the shelves where they did a group of traditional EnerGel colors. And then a group of like the modern new colors all in one 20 pack of pens. It's pretty wild. People were excited about this when I opened it up and shared it on stream the other day. Plus I have two sets, well, four sets of sharp mechanical pencils, which is just the classic mechanical pencil. And they're making a two series, one called the classic series with the traditional barrel colors. And then one with these new graphite colors, they come in like 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9. They'll eventually be available at retail, but they gave me an early look at those to give away. Then we have the Blackwing volumes that we mentioned before. This will be one pencil from every release from the first one to the last one. You know, the first one was called volume 725. The most recent one's called volume 64. So we'll have two winners for that. We have a set of inks from... This is amazing. This is truly amazing. I am fascinated by this.

''''Myke:'''  No, I just meant the whole list of every product. I just like the fact that this list goes on like this. It's just so heartwarming to me.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah, it's great. And like, this is the cool stuff that I love. Like these, uh, these Sailor Tenteris inks from the Tenteris podcast. Um, this is just so cool that they got to make these inks and we're selling them as, you know, part of the, you know, fundraiser for the podcast. And to make something cool and to have something specific for like really the only Spanish language pen podcast out there. And they have the Spicy Chipotle Inc. And the Homemade Tortilla Inc. And I just think they're rad. And, um, we're giving those away. Um, I had a anonymous benefactor mic send me five brand new in the box Opus 88 fountain pens. They're an avid Opus collector. And they realize they had some extra ones. Like Opus is their favorite brand. And they buy them all. And then they buy backups to them all. And then they realize, hey, I've got some extra ones. I think it would be good to donate to help raise funds for St. Jude. And I was all about it. And super thankful for that. So we're going to have five, uh, those pens to give to raffle winners.



== Raffle and Donations Overview ==


''''Myke:'''  If you put money in, you're probably going to get something.

'''''Brad:'''   I don't know. Just wait. Wait till we get to the end. All right. All right. All right. It's a lot though. It's a lot. Like I'm going to, I got to, I already, I'm already like sweating next year. I was like, man, I am in for it next year.

''''Myke:'''  Always going to be trouble.

'''''Brad:'''   It is going to be trouble. Like just the amount of stuff and the amount of money we're raising. Because then you look at this, our good friend, uh, Ben at Gravitas Pens. He sent me two sets of pens and by sets of pens, I mean like literally four fountain pens in a set of the four main sizes of pens that he sells. One set in black anodized, one set in teal anodized. Like someone's going to win like one set of these four pens, like four pens or like from Ben at Gravitas. It's like, man, I, it's just so nice, um, for them to participate like this. And then Evan from Penquisition who just, did you see the, um, the Susan, uh, retro 51, Myke? I'll have to share that with you. I did see that. Yeah. So that was, that was Evan from Penquisition. Him and his dad also make like pen blocks and pen rests. So I have.

''''Myke:'''  It's the Maryland flag, right?

'''''Brad:'''   Yep. Mm-hmm.

''''Myke:'''  Mm-hmm.

'''''Brad:'''   So I have the PenQ and the, uh, PenQT pen rests from Evan here in this raffle. And it's just amazing the support that we've had for this. Um, so I shared with you and Steven last Wednesday, I went through the inbox of the, the St. Jude account that's tied into this raffle. And I processed 209 emails, um, what a week ago, Wednesday, and told y'all the number that we were at. And it was a little bit over $23,000. Mm-hmm. Uh, the first year we raised $11,030. This year, a week ago, we were at $23,000. And like, uh, it took me like three hours to process 209 emails. I was like, I better get ahead of this before the end because I know there's going to be a lot, right? So I did that last week, giving me a week left. Myke, do you know how many emails I have to process? I just looked before. So I don't have a final number total for you. I'll have it for you next week. I have 206 more emails to go through. Oh my God. Yeah. I, I did a, I did an audible gasp when I opened up the email inbox literally about 30 minutes ago going, I was like, cause I'm going to do it after the show. I was like, okay, I need to see what, is there like 50 more? Is there 60 more? There's another 206. So, so we'll, we'll, we'll have the final, final tally next week. I'll have all the prizes drawn probably like Monday or so. We'll probably, I'll have everything cleared up by next Wednesday's show. At least the announcements of the final amount raised and all of the raffle prize winners. So just hang in there. I definitely need a few days to, to process everything and get everything squared away. Pick the winners and I will contact everyone directly.

''''Myke:'''  I want to just from my, like thank everyone who's donated for this. I want to thank you Brad for the work that you're doing. And again, just an incredible thank you to everybody in the community who has, who's, who's contributed to this. It's, you know, it, it, it just means an awful lot to us, you know? It really does. And I, and I really, I really thank the pen addict community. Look, the pen addict is not the largest podcast on Relay FM, right? Like the thing anybody could assume that, um, but the effect that everybody that listens to this show is having on the campaign in a way that is very normal for the pen addict is like, I'm sure like outsizing itself, you know? Yeah. Which this show does all the time, right? Like the amount of people we can get to go to a live show. It doesn't make sense. You know, like there's always more people than you'd expect. Like it's, you know, it's, it's one of the reasons that makes that I hold this show so close to my heart is it's outsized impact on my life in a very positive way.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. And that's what we're the most proud of. And I say we, cause we're, we're all in this together. Like that's how the pen addict is. That's how this community is. And, um, you know, I'm just glad to shine a light on, on the good that goes on. We need a lot of that in our lives these days. And, um, it's the community that makes all of this possible. So thank you to everybody.

''''Myke:'''  Uh, this raffle might be over, but there's another one. So our friends, Tom and Dan at Studio Neat have taken up the mantle where they have, you know, all of the, all of our raffle prizes are very special. This one's also very special. So they are raffling off three sets of the two limited edition Mark one pens that they've done. So they, the blue one, which they did a little while ago, it is, I think it was only a hundred of those, but the real grand prize here is the Apollo. So the, the steel PVD coated one that they did for, to celebrate the Apollo moon landing, which is genuinely one of the, the most incredible pens I have ever run. Like my, one of my most favorite pens like that. Yes. I agree.

'''''Brad:'''   I agree with that. I am so glad I got that pen.

''''Myke:'''  All the time. Uh, it's a complete, if you've owned a Mark one, this is not like that. Yeah. Like it's like a different pen. Um, it's so much heavier and just feels so different to use. Like I almost treat it like it's its own thing in a way. So they have three sets that they're doing. Um, so this is very similar, right? St. Jude.org slash relay, make a donation with, uh, at least $10. You got to email the receipt. It must, the donation must've been from September 15th onwards. Um, and you can email them to hello at studio.com. There'll be a link in the show notes to a Twitter thread where they explain the rules again. Uh, so you can still put money in and go and do that. And I would just ask if you donated to the pen addict raffle, do a second donation for this one. That will be my ask for you. Right. You don't have to do it, but that's what I would like you to do.

'''''Brad:'''   We get second and third day donations all the time. Exactly. Like I've seen like just people like, you know, feel like they can, you know, give a little bit more. And it's great. And even if you can't donate, share the links, like, you know, share the links of all the stuff that we're doing, that's valuable to us is just spreading the word out. So like, um, yeah, it's awesome. I'm glad to see this. And Tom and Dan doing this is really great.

''''Myke:'''  And if you do want to watch the podcast, put the whole eight hour on YouTube. So you can go and watch that if you missed it. Uh, or if you want to watch it again, it was actually, I was really, really pleased about how it all came together. So please go check it out. All right. We've got obviously a lot of regular stuff to talk about. Um, but before we do, let's thank our first sponsor of this week's episode, the fine folk over at Pen Chalet. Pen Chalet have everything you're looking for from your favorite brands. Whether you want a new rollerball or a new fountain pen, you're looking to buy something Pelican or Lamia related. Maybe you want something limited edition. Maybe you need some ink. Maybe you want something from, say, look, a Vaco, many, many more, whatever brand you're looking for, whatever type of product you're looking for. We're talking carrying cases, pen holders, converters, you know, you can go from the pens themselves to the accessories that you need. Pen Chalet has got it all. And they back everything up with fast and reliable customer service, special discounts every couple of weeks, free shipping on orders of over $50 in the US, and great shipping rates internationally as well. Pen Chalet's whole thing is low prices on high quality pens of a 100% satisfaction guarantee. That is like the holy trinity of pen buying right there. So go to PenChalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website. Enter the password of Pen Addict for this week's special offer and to get the code that you need to save 10% on anything at any time at Pen Chalet. What is jumping out to you this time, Brad?

'''''Brad:'''   A ton of stuff. Right out the gate. The Cross ATX at the top, I ordered one of these in a different color to review because it looks really cool. I like the shape. I like the idea of the design. I like the feedback that a lot of other people had on this pen. And it is... I won't say it's practically free, but it is priced very, very well. Yeah, that's... It's priced very, very well. I paid... Like, I bought mine off the sale page as well, and it was more expensive than this, and I was happy to do it. And like, this is even better. Then you drop right down to a exclusive Memento Zero from Leonardo that worked with Pen Chalet to make this specific colorway, this orange and black colorway. That's in there. You have some Tibaldi fountain pens on there that are 25% off. You scroll down, Myke, and there is something you almost never see or probably have never seen. You got to scroll way on down there. Boom.

''''Myke:'''  Whoa, what?

'''''Brad:'''   Sailor 1911 Large Key Lime.

''''Myke:'''  Key Lime.

'''''Brad:'''   So this is the big 1911, which is one of my favorite models.

''''Myke:'''  Not King of Pen. Oh, not King of Pen. They have two model sizes. This is the large. Yeah.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. So it's really, really, really priced well.

''''Myke:'''  Sailor is one of those brands where I think we can't talk about the discount, but let's just say... Yeah, because they never go on sale. It's a big, chunky discount.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. Sailor did a broader product line sale a couple weeks ago. They kind of did it in the gap that we've not talked. We maybe mentioned it. And so this is a continuation of that as they move some of these just like couple year old models that are still really, really awesome for really exceptionally good prices. So yeah, there you go. Key Lime's a great color, man. It is a great color. I don't own one of these. That price is unbeatable. It's unbeatable. Like, that's all I can say. It's that good.

''''Myke:'''  Wow. All right. Go check it out for yourself. P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T dot com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password, Pen Addict. Our thanks to Pen Chalet for their continued support of this show and RelayFM.



== Butter Softly Show Title ==


'''''Brad:'''   Do you remember a couple of weeks ago where we had the wonderful show title of Butter Softly? Yes. Myke, do you recall the Butter Softly conversation? This was around the marketing and press release of Kaweco's new premium nib. And what is Kaweco's premium nib for those who didn't listen to the episode a few weeks ago? It's a new steel model nib, excuse me, steel nib from Kaweco that you'll be able to buy separately for your pens that is, in theory, more special than the steel nibs that they sell currently with their pens. That's right. That's the story they're telling me. Hey, we sell a steel nib and we're going to make a nicer steel nib and sell it as an add-on. And obviously I had lots to say about that. I still have lots to say about that because I'm very confused on what they're trying to tell me here. But they have started to be ready for sale now. And I'm definitely getting one, right? Like I just have to get one because I need to know what the deal is. Like people are going to want to know, do I buy my $25 Kaweco Classic or Kaweco Sport with a standard steel nib and pay another $44 in the U.S. to add on a different steel nib to a pen that already has a steel nib?

''''Myke:'''  It's got to be a real different steel nib, right? And I don't know how different a steel nib can be.

'''''Brad:'''   So they've said that they've designed it differently and they manage these nibs differently and they polish them differently. And they're lots of hand processing differently than what they do in their standard. So the reason I'm pointing this up because they're about to become for sale. Yoseka Stationery posted a link on Twitter. They're going to do a blog post with a comparison in there. They put it on Twitter. They put an image of the standard steel nib on the left. And we'll have this in the show notes. And the premium on the right, both in extra fine. And you can tell like the idea just in the marketing copy that the new premium nibs were going to be wider, maybe wetter, and maybe smoother. Like they were all around the tipping and how they were handling the tipping on the front end of the pen. And, you know, that's well and good except like on things like an extra fine nib. It's like if I get an extra fine nib, I'm getting it for a reason, right? I don't need my extra fine nib to be wider than it already is. And so it's kind of like defeating the purpose. So I'm anxious to see this blog post. I'm anxious to get one in my hands. I will order one as soon as possible to test out with. And I am so interested in this because as someone who reviews a lot of products and has hundreds of products across their desk every year, I get some preconceived notions about topics like this that don't make sense in my head, right? Like Kaweco has made this decision and my job is to ask why and what are they trying to accomplish? What's the story they're telling me and how much are they going to charge me for it? And how does that relate to what they already do, right? This doesn't feel like a different product. It feels like they're making a premium product for a product that already exists. And is that price going to be worth it, right? That's my job. So I get these preconceived notions like, well, this is going to be like, I don't see how this is going to work out well, right? That's what's in my head is like, how does this work out well? And I don't know. So I got to get it and I got to try it and I got to say, hey, this did work out. This didn't work out or, you know, whatever the result may be, might be different. And once I get it in hand, then it is me reading marketing copy. So I bring this up because I just went through this with the Caran D'Ache rollerball. Myke, I don't know if you saw this pen. You're not as much of a Caran D'Ache fan as I am. I'm a huge Caran D'Ache fan. And I saw this rollerball pen. So I'm a huge fan of what's called the 849. If you just say Caran D'Ache 849, that's like saying bit crystal, right? It's like that common of a pen.

''''Myke:'''  This is the model that you made one in, right? You made an 849. Yeah.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. So it's the slim hex barrel, you know, ballpoint pen is generally what it's known as. So, and the ballpoint pen takes a Parker style refill. So they made a rollerball model of the 849, but they changed the barrel and they gigante sized it. It's kind of a behemoth looking barrel when compared to the traditional, what everyone knows as the 849. Like the 849 has been around for like a hundred years in that size. It's like, it's fixed in people's brains, what the 849 is and what it stands for. And so then they make the identical aesthetic for the rollerball, but embiggen the pen so much that the, it looks to me like the original 849 could fit inside of this barrel. Like that's how big it is. So I tried to have some comparison shots when I reviewed it. And so I was really concerned, like looking at pictures, I was like, oh my gosh, what are they doing? They're besmirching the name, the good name of the 849, making this huge pen. And I got it in hand and you know what? It's pretty darn good, Myke. Right? It's, it's, it's pretty good. Like it's not the greatest. I still prefer the smaller model, but like, I get it. Right. It's, you know, it fits my hand and works better than I thought it would from seeing the pictures, seeing the pictures. I was like, oh my God, this is ridiculous. Like, why would they do this when they've made just a complete stand on a product model and then add this in there? And I was like, okay, well, now that I have it, I get it. So like, that's why I wanted to bring up this Kaweco nib in comparison to this 849 rollerball, because like, I'm willing to be wrong on these things. You know, like I have my opinions when I see launch material and press releases and marketing, and I'm willing to have my opinion changed when I get the product physically in hand. Like those things can coexist together because I think the questions come from a genuine place. Like, why am I, why would I buy a $44 steel nib? That's like twice as much as the pen I just paid for with the steel nib in it. What are you selling me that that's a good, good deal? You know, why would I buy a gigantic 849 when I already have like the other 849s that I really enjoy and love? So I think it's a good, good way to approach things from my perspective is like, it's okay to, you know, have some kind of judgment or have some kind of idea before getting the product in hand. And then be open to having your mind changed when, when you do get it. If, if something, you know, actually meets or exceeds your expectations or goes the wrong way, something I could love, you know, on paper, you get it in hand and it's like, whoa, that did not work whatsoever. Like I'm really open about these types of things. So I think these two products are like a good study for me and just how I go about working and doing like penatic review stuff.

''''Myke:'''  It's weird to make it so large like that, but I would say the 849 is quite a dainty pen.

'''''Brad:'''   It is. It's small. Like I'll straight up the eight standard 849. Most people consider it to be a small pen. The only interesting thing I found about the 849 rollerball, which I thought was curious, and I brought it up in relation to the regular 849. It's the same size refill. It's a Parker style refill. So they just embiggen the barrel to use the same refill I could put in the smaller 849. I mean, different retail, different ink, right? Ballpoint ink versus rollerball ink, but exact same Parker sized refill. Not like a larger, like a big, you know, like a, you can get like a full sized, you know, Mont Blanc rollerball refill, like the big long refills. They don't use that. So, I mean, that's a pro and a con. Like I would have liked to seen something more special in the refill. On the other hand, it lets me use any Parker style refill I want in this pen barrel.

''''Myke:'''  Very cool. I mean, at least you get the option of the design that you like, even if you're going to change it out for something else.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah, it's really cool. It's nice to hold. I'm using it today for show notes as we go, and I just keep picking up and holding it. But I'm surprised, as someone who generally likes smaller pens, I'm surprised how much I like this pen.

''''Myke:'''  I want to talk real quick about the Canalea, because I didn't get to talk about it last week. Yeah, you do.

''''Myke:'''  It's part of the Manta collection. So this is the Manta. I have the Manta Mailele version. I didn't remember if that's the one you had. I do. This is with the Argentium silver band around it. But I own the... I'm now doing what you did. I forgot the names again. The most recent one, the Honakalani, right? That was the one they did last time. And I have the one with the band on that, and I adore it. And I've really come to love that band. So I recommend that, by the way, if you want to treat yourself. I think it's a very nice detail. But I wanted to just talk about the acrylic coloring of this a little bit. Because it's very different for Canalea. Yeah. Because you said it's a mood, right? And it is intentionally more gloomy, I think, than some of their other models. And I think this is really smart for them, that they're now going under the sea. It's a new area, color-wise and thematically, that they can explore. And so a green and dark, I guess black, I think charcoal is the color. It's nice if you're describing it. I just think it is very different. And I really like it. I think this one, this colorway, I think I could see it's holding place in the executive pen world. Maybe more than some of the others are. And for me, I adore the big, bright colors. That's what my tastes lean to. But I really enjoy the kind of almost understatedness of it a little bit. So yeah, I'm really into it. I think it's very cool looking and very different. And I'm really excited to see if this is the beginning of a new design exploration for Canalea. I'm really into it. And I'm also just really happy that they're putting that silver band on other pens. Because I think it's a great option. I think that this is something that people would pick up and they would be like, Oh yeah. Like I imagine that the My Lele versions will be good pen show sellers. Like that would be my expectation.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. And what's funny, I think in relation to like kind of how you're saying, like if I'm, I have the pen right here. So like if it's sitting on my desk, like an arm's length away, it looks, you know, proper and businessy. Even though like mine has the My Lele band and it's like, Oh, but it makes it look fancy and stand out. And then you pick it up. And that's when you get hit with like the depth of the materials and things like that. So it's unique in that aspect. Like I've, you know, the two that I have, the Hanuma Bay and the Kona Cherry, you can see those from a mile away, you know, like, and that's like intentional. Right. And I think it's intentional.

'''''Brad:'''   Subdued is not the right word for this at all. It's actually, it's actually like an extreme design.

''''Myke:'''  It's got all of the stuff that you're used to from their most recent pens where like it looks like it has depth to it, which I actually also think really works for the under the ocean idea because they have these, the acrylic really feels like it just has a mind bending depth to it.

'''''Brad:'''   So it's got this depth and darkness. And I think it, like you said, it's, I tend to look at things a lot is how does it fit with the rest of the product lineup as a whole. And it's kind of like a perfect fit for, for that. So yeah, a really great job on this one. I love the colors, love the, love the shape, love the story. All of it. It's great.

''''Myke:'''  Yeah. I'm excited to see what they, where they go next now as well.

'''''Brad:'''   Yep.

''''Myke:'''  I'm keen to, I'm keen to see it. Cause I think they called it the Manta Collection, right? Yeah. Or there's only one of them right now. Unless they're referring to the whole pen line. I don't know.



== Canalea Manta Collection ==


'''''Brad:'''   I think it's the pen line because this one has the full lineup of pens. Ah, yeah, yeah. Like including like the ballpoint and all the fountain pen shapes, right? There's like several different barrel shapes. So yeah, I think that's what they mean by collection.

''''Myke:'''  But nevertheless, I like that they're expanding the, the inspiration kind of remit as it were.

'''''Brad:'''   Yep. Yep. So it's great.

''''Myke:'''  New field notes just dropped.

'''''Brad:'''   I see that. So what do we have here? The harvest edition. Harvest edition. This is hand drawn from noted American artist, John Burgoyne, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Great hand drawn illustrations. What's interesting at first glance of these, Myke, is the interior. It is a 70 pound paper for one and they are an all new design. It's a ruled dot ledger. Okay. Okay. So you have your ruled graph paper segmented to where you have a top, almost like a title section that's a double line divided from the bulk of the page. And then you have a left vertical ledger line. So you can have a different type of layout, different type of usage than you normally would. And they're all perforated. And they're all perforated. Yes.

''''Myke:'''  Thank you. So I was looking through this just now. I really love that idea for the page. So you have like a margin, but it's lined, but dot. So it's not truly lined. I think that's kind of cool. I'm intrigued to play around with that layout. I love the white covers. I love the field notes branding. So six, right? They're doing two, three packs. That's what they've done before. They did this with crop and they've done, they did it with the beer, the drink local ones. Right. They've done this before. So it's two, three packs. So six individual designs. I love the color matching of the field notes branding. I'm not too keen on the artwork design for me, for my tastes personally. But I think overall, I think it's a pretty nice, pretty nice addition. Yeah.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. So I think what they did, I agree with everything you said. What they did is they went in on a paper difference this time and then have the color as just the covers as just, hey, let's do this artistic theme representation. Right. So the technical part in this book is on the inside and then the artistic part on the outside, which I think is great. I agree with you. Like for me, like the theme doesn't do anything for me, but the interior.

''''Myke:'''  I'm actually super intrigued to get these in because I want to see what, I think this could be a really smart product decision for them. I don't know which part I'm more intrigued about, either it's the perforation or the new layout. So we'll see. I think it looks pretty cool.

'''''Brad:'''   I'm just glad that they change, if they're going to change the layout, make it, made it, they made it 70 pound paper, which I'm happy about. Um, cause I can use more pins with it than I, than I normally would. So I'm most pleased about that. So it's really, really cool. So yeah, I like this to me is like the Shenandoah edition, which I just absolutely loved. And everyone, most people were like, huh, really? Like, it's just kind of okay. Like, you know, from an aesthetic and a style perspective, like I'm not really, don't really have much to say about the aesthetic and style of this, but I'm actually anxious about the paper. So yeah, it'll be good. We'll test it out.

''''Myke:'''  All right. We got something really fun to talk about, but I want to take our final break of the episode and we can get into that. It's a true classic. It's going to be a true classic. This episode is brought to you by ExpressVPN. A few decades ago, it was easy to be a private person. The internet has changed that. Everything you've browsed, searched for, watched, tweeted, all that data can be crawled through, collected, aggregated by third parties. Your private life could be exposed for others to see. This is something that was really only celebrities used to worry about. But in the era when everyone is online, anyone could be a public figure. And to keep your data private, when you go online, you could turn to ExpressVPN. There are hundreds of data brokers out there. Their business is to buy and sell data. And they don't have to tell you who they're selling it to. They don't have to get your consent in some instances. One of these data points can be your IP address. This can be used to uniquely identify you and your location. With ExpressVPN, your connection gets routed through an encrypted server and your IP address is masked. So when you turn ExpressVPN on, you're given a random IP address shared by other ExpressVPN customers. That makes it more difficult for third parties to identify individual people and harvest data. And the best part is how easy ExpressVPN is to use. No matter what device you're on, phone, laptop, or smart TV, all you have to do is tap one button to get protected. I found that to be so easy. Every time I've turned on ExpressVPN on a device of mine, it connects immediately. It's so easy to change the location that my traffic's being routed through, which can be really useful for geolocated type stuff. It really is very, very easy and super simple to use. So if, like me, you believe that your data is your business, secure yourself with the number one rated VPN on the market. Go to expressvpn.com slash penaddict and get three extra months for free. That's expressvpn.com slash penaddict. One last time, expressvpn.com slash penaddict to learn more. One last time. Thanks to ExpressVPN for their support of this show and RelayFM.

'''''Brad:'''   All right, Myke. I want you to lead this segment. All right, so. I'm committed. I'm committed to what's about to take place, but I need you to get there for me.

''''Myke:'''  I wished that we had a, like, definitive, like, this is where you go if you want to learn about the scribble pen. It's not possible. I will put a link in the show notes to, like, two different episodes where we have spoken about this product and also a link to an article that you wrote. Actually, no, it's just you. It's just cease and desist one. There's no point getting into that. This is a product that's been around with us now for basically the entire time of the pen addict's history. And it started out as a Kickstarter campaign, which was, ended up being taken down. I think that might have happened twice. It's popped up as an Indiegogo campaign. It was basically being a pen that you could scan. There's a little scanner in it and identify any color that is being scanned. And then the pen will immediately write with that color. And over the years, whenever this has come up, like, especially the first time, you know, it was like, wait, how does this work? And then you dig into it a bit more. You'd watch videos and you'd see very obvious cuts in the videos. And, you know, Kickstarter was said to them, like, all right, if you can show us a working model of this, then you can go for it. Then they canceled the campaign. It's been a thing which seems to just refuse to die. And now it is back in maybe my favorite iteration since the original.

''''Myke:'''  They did. Okay. So I need to. This is a video. By Scribble. By Scribble. So YouTube account set up by the Scribble pen people of an unboxing and demonstration of the Scribble pen in use. Now, there's two things I'm going to put in the show notes. One is a 15-minute video, which is just the actual unboxing. The second is a 20-minute video, which is a clip of Brad's Twitch stream where he watches it live. I recommend and gives these live reactions. I recommend watching that. And I will say, we're going to talk about this. We'll try and explain it as much as we can. It would behoove you to watch this video, I think, before coming back to the episode. Yes. I think it would just be helpful. Now, what I'll say straight up is the issue that we always have with this product is it clearly could never be done, right? It was just an impossible thing, which has been asked for, like that they are attempting to do. And, you know, we'd say it's a scam, right? Because you can't make it. Now, what I will say now is they made something, right? And I think what we're looking at is a... Because I was expecting when you sent me this of like, oh, here we go, right? Yeah. They're going to have a product and they're going to scan it. And then one's going to just like pop out the frame and it comes back in. And it's like, oh, how fantastic. Like it's working. They didn't do that. Like they have made a product that functions, but the function is abysmal. Yeah. It's catastrophic. So you have this huge pen. It's massive as it would have to be. It has a battery in it. Apparently it has a scanner in it. All that kind of stuff, right? It has a mini USB charger or micro USB, which is hilarious anyway, because like why not do USB-C? So they have this product. I'm assuming it's a prototype, right? Like would be my assumption. I don't think they're ready for mass production on this thing right now. Are they ever? And you get like these four needles of ink, which I don't. Yeah, syringes. Which is hilarious. And you have to like, also the video is just so funny. Like I recommend watching Brad's version because he's just losing it over watching like the person who is actually doing the unboxing and demonstration is wearing like these really weird gloves, which makes everything so much harder for them. To the point of like, why are you doing this? So you like take off this little shield and you dump in like these four inks and it's like printer ink, right? Yeah. So in theory, you would think, well.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah, it's like a little mini printer scanner.

''''Myke:'''  And by that logic, it should work because printers find a way. Like again, we have to kind of divorce ourselves from reality a little bit. But like this is how a printer works, right? A printer has CMYK colors in it and you just print and it will work every time, right? Like if you print something red, it prints red. If you print something blue, it prints blue. That's just how a printer works, right? But I think what this pen has shown me is printer technology is very complicated, right? And, you know, I don't know how printers work. I feel like I should watch one. I'm sure there's a YouTube video that could show me how a printer works. Because effectively what happens here is, I love this, by the way, this little detail. They have like a color swatch of 199 colors in the swatch with the thinking that you could replicate any of them. But the one that they actually draw colors from is four very basic colors, right?

'''''Brad:'''   Red, blue, green, and yellow. Yeah.

''''Myke:'''  It's like, why did we not go for like orange and like maybe we'll get like a nice dark green in there? You know, we've got to go very specific. So they take the pen, they scan it. And then they start writing. There's a lot of stuff in the middle. Do they? It takes a while. It takes a while. Because, you know, the voiceover is also just hilarious. Every time the voiceover says something, it's gold. Every single time. It's just like, oh, like the first time you use it, there's going to be a little extra ink. But don't worry, you just have to dry it out. And it's like, and as you said, you just lost $5 there in the amount of ink that pours out of this thing. And then they start, I mean, I would like to call it like writing, but it's scratching something against something. It sounds horrific. Yeah. The ASMR is. And they start scribbling on the page and it's coming out God knows what color. And then it changes, kind of, in a way, to blue. Eventually. And then they do it, like here's red. And they start scribbling again. And it's blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue, blue. And then it eventually gets to some muddy red. Ish. Ish. And so it's like, okay, like, and they do this like four times or whatever, three or four times. And it will eventually change to a approximation of the color. And it's like, you know, we've all been here. If you change ink on a fountain pen for a while, you need to like, you're going to get some amalgamation of the two. And so it's like, this is the thing that surprises me the most is like, they actually made something that does a version of what they're trying to do, but have now hit upon all of the issues that we knew would exist, which is like, it is not possible to flush the ink out. Although there is one moment, which I died, where the guy goes, we're making a attachment that will fix this. It's like, no, you're not, you liar. An add-on, an add-on. An add-on that will stop the need for changing the color. Like, basically, you will never ever get to a point where you're able to change color and keep the ink in it. Like, it's just, this is abysmal. No one, I can't imagine any human being who sees this video that wants to buy this product. You would be out of your mind if you want to own this thing.

'''''Brad:'''   This was the greatest day of my life. It's so good. When we watched this live, I hadn't seen it before, so I was just giving my live commentary, so I got a few points on that. You actually, you did a really, really good job. There's a few things to point out as you go watch this video. The lack of rehearsal, the lack of knowledge of the product as they're attempting to use it. There's the person with the shipping gardening gloves on, and then there's someone holding the camera who sometimes chimes in when they're not muting him to tell the other person what to do when they make a mistake.

'''''Brad:'''   It's astonishing that you don't have, like, we have show notes when we do this show. Like, we're not always good. We don't always follow them, and sometimes we mess up. But we have an idea, right, of what we're about to do. They had no idea what they're about to do. They really did, like, a literal unboxing to the point where the pen isn't even charged, so they have to do the whole video with the charger plugged in.

''''Myke:'''  Well, Brad, that's because it doesn't work otherwise. I don't think that that was a mistake.



== Scribble Pen Discussion ==


'''''Brad:'''   There's a lithium-ion battery in there, Myke.

''''Myke:'''  I don't believe it. Genuinely, like, I think you wouldn't do that, right? You would just start over. I think that there are things, because the voiceover is very clearly done after the video is made. Yeah. So I think there are two things that happened here. I think, one, it probably doesn't charge. But, two, the company that is making this had nothing to do with this video. This is, like, the prototype being made in China. This is someone at the Chinese factory just showing how it works. Like, this is just the video that they were sent of the product in use. And then they've just turned it into a, quote, unquote, unboxing video.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. So the guy in the gloves, they actually ship this product with tweezers, because you have to pull out these unconscionably small little plugs to inject the ink into the barrel of the pen, right? So watching the guy fiddle with these was amazing. So he gets...

''''Myke:'''  So, like, even if you haven't watched it, which I understand, like, maybe you can't, maybe you're driving right now, but should we try to explain it? Please watch it afterwards. Like, really, just put 20 minutes aside and watch Brad's reaction to this. Yeah. We cannot do justice for the absolute, like, bewilderment. Yeah. I mean, I'm watching the video and I'm, like, waiting for the prestige of it, right? Right, right, right. When they actually try, I'm like, I'm watching, like, every time, like, oh, something's going out of frame. They're going to switch. But, like, no, they just show what is just a crap product. Like, it's just really bad in a way that, like, I kind of can't believe that they think that what they have made here is something that anybody wants to own.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah. Yeah. My favorite part, my single favorite part was when they filled it up with ink and got all the little plugs back in. And the guy's ready to start writing with it for the first time with the blue ink. And he's, like, it's not writing. And, like, he's messing around and, like, no ink's coming out. And then they actually cut for some reason with editing. They, like, did editing to, like, overlay this video. But at this point, they had the cameraman audio on. And he's like, bruh. And there's, like, a tip on the, there's, like, a tip cover on there. So the guy finally takes the tip cover off and starts writing with it. It was amazing. It was amazing. So you got to, there's, you catch the, they catch the cameraman saying some things throughout the video. And it's just, the whole thing's astonishing. The biggest takeaway was not that it's a terrible product. I mean, it is. But that the ink syringes cost $25 a pop to, for, like, the four ink syringes. And this thing just pours ink onto the page. Like, you could go through, like, $100 worth of ink in a week if this product actually worked and was functional. Like, there's no way it's, like, a viable product. So it was, it was astonishing from, from beginning to end. Like, it never stopped entertaining from the moment they opened it to the very end of the video when it's just really a bunch of black ink gushes. And, like, the line's not even consistent. Like, the person did not know how to write with a pen. It was just, like, a flood of ink and then a scrape. There was no, like, standard lines ever. There was, like, no attempt. It was just, they were just trying to shove through the, through the ink mixing process to get the change to happen. And all along the way, it was just, like, you know, nails on a chalkboard.

''''Myke:'''  The sound is so, like, I'm going to get a clip of the sound and I'll put it in the episode now. So you can just hear what it sounds like. Like, it's just, what it is, I mean, I can kind of hear what it is. It's just a really bad plastic tip.

'''''Brad:'''   Mm-hmm.

''''Myke:'''  You know? Like, that's what I think. Like, one of those fibrous.

'''''Brad:'''   It's like a dried, it's a dried out marker. Yeah. Is what it is. So you're, like, trying to squeeze out the last bit of ink in your, your marker and you're just, like, scraping it on the page. That's what it's like the whole time.

'''''Brad:'''   It's fascinating. This was, this was a hit. Like, this is a highlight of my week. Maybe a highlight of my life. Um, it's, I'm waiting for the next letter.

''''Myke:'''  Brad, I can't believe they're back again. I can't, I just can't believe they're back again. Yeah. It's like, it's not Halloween yet. Why are we doing this, right?

'''''Brad:'''   So here, if you go to the Scribble main page on YouTube, there's, like, four videos and you can see all the iterations. It's, like, four videos, each with, like, a completely different idea of the product. So, yeah, this is, like, the fourth or fifth one. It's great. It's, it's the best, worst product ever is what I put in the show notes. It's just. I just can't believe that they're still around. I hope they're, I hope their lawyers reach out to me again.

''''Myke:'''  Oh, I don't want that. Please don't encourage that.

''''Myke:'''  It's probably the guy with the gloves.

'''''Brad:'''   Their lawyer is the guy with the gloves.

''''Myke:'''  Look, the thing is, here's the thing. We've called them liars. We've called them fraudsters, like, things to those in the past. They're not doing any of that anymore. Like, this is a real product, right? Like, you know, it doesn't work. I mean, technically it works. It works. It works in its way. It does not work in the way that you want it to work. Correct. And I guarantee as well, I'm very sure, the limit on the colors it can produce is narrow.

'''''Brad:'''   It's like the Uniball BLX. It's black plus whatever color you want, whatever other color you want. Maybe brown.

''''Myke:'''  There is a product that could be made that could do what they want to do, but it would need to be attached to a large box or something. Yeah.

'''''Brad:'''   I mean, it's a printer. It's basically a printer cartridge.

''''Myke:'''  There's obviously a way that printers make it work, right? And I'm sure that you could find some way to combine, like, a printer and a pen. But again, who wants this? Yeah. You know, like, that's the thing I don't understand. Like, I don't know what you would want for, like, why? Just buy a bunch of pens. Like, you know? Yeah. I don't get it. Because it's going to be so expensive, too.

'''''Brad:'''   Yeah, I think it's $149 and then refills $25. Which is basically a printer.

''''Myke:'''  And nobody likes the cost of printer stuff. Nope. And also, it's going to be all proprietary. So when the company eventually goes under, like... I don't know.

'''''Brad:'''   The tweezers might not be proprietary.

''''Myke:'''  I can't believe they, like, just pack a regular pack of tweezers in there. It's just like, here's some tweezers we found on Amazon.

'''''Brad:'''   It's in the tweezer packaging.

''''Myke:'''  Which I just, like... You can get this stuff custom branded so easily, you know?

'''''Brad:'''   Oh, boy. Everything about this is great. I'm so glad we got to discuss it this week.

''''Myke:'''  All right. You can go check out our show notes. They'll be in your podcast app of choice. But you can also go to relay.fm slash penaddict slash 480. Please treat yourself to this video. Like, very good. Very... It's, like, soothing and it's... You really should. It's, like, it's this, like, kind of, like... I say, like, soothing. It will make you feel better because it's so bad. Like, you will feel better at how bad it is. So...

'''''Brad:'''   Like, someone was saying, like, it's, like, a Saturday Night Live sketch.

''''Myke:'''  It really does feel like a parody.

'''''Brad:'''   Mm-hmm.

''''Myke:'''  You know? Of itself. Which is very intriguing as a product demonstration video. Yeah. If you want to find Brad online, you can go to penaddict.com, twitch.tv slash penaddict. That was where Brad was streaming live when he watched this. So you should check him out because you never know what you might come across. Brad is dowdyism on Twitter. Brad on micro.blog. And penaddict on Instagram. I am imike, I-M-Y-K-E. You can find my paper goods at cortexmerch.com as well. And we'll be back next time. Don't forget, stjude.org slash relay. Thanks so much for listening to this week's episode of The Pen Addict. Say goodbye, Brad.

'''''Brad:'''   Goodbye, Brad.

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