The Pen Addict 309/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	309
Title:	Cool Your Boots Over There
Release Date:	May 23rd, 2018
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 309
Audio File:	Audio Episode 309
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 309
Length:	6666 min <br />1.1 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 309. Today's show is brought to you by Harry's Pen Chalet and Joe Perra Talks With You. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi Brad Dowdy, you've come back to me.

Brad Dowdy: I'm mad at you though. I'm back to you, but I'm upset. That's okay. You wanna know why? Yes. I've been planning for months. For this trip to your wedding. And you went and had it this weekend. And I didn't hear about it until I saw it on TV. I was in Houston, Texas, and I flip on the TV and there you are getting married without me.

Myke Hurley: And they're like, the biggest wedding in London this summer. And it's like, oh, I missed it.

Brad Dowdy: What did you do to me? I've been planning and planning and planning.

Myke Hurley: I was crying my eyes out this weekend watching that. Were you? Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: It was pretty awesome.

Myke Hurley: It was like just this mix of national pride and I was so happy for them and I loved seeing the modernization of some of our stuff. And obviously, like, seeing a wedding right now whilst I'm in the midst of wedding planning is like that just got to me too because I started thinking about our wedding. And yeah, but I absolutely adored the royal wedding this past weekend. It was a great way to spend the day. We had scones and tea and all that kind of stuff. It was wonderful. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Just made a day of it. But I was on a trip. I saw the royal wedding in a hotel room in Houston where I was out visiting Drom Ghouls, the wonderful Drom Ghouls, fine writing and fountain pen and stationery and all things awesomeness store. And it was a wonderful trip. We talked about me packing for it last week. And this week, we'll do a little bit of a recap of the trip itself. So it was kind of amazing. Like, I didn't – I'd never been on a trip where I was just solely focused on, like, the store. So I've gone to pen shows before, you know, like in Little Rock, and then I'll go spend time at Van Ness Pens. But, you know, there's a pen show going on and we have lots of things to do. We're going back and forth. This one was just, like, hanging out at Drom Ghouls. So Thursday, I flew in and I went straight from the airport right into the shop, luggage and all, and got to, you know, meet everybody that I hadn't met that worked at the store and got to tour the store. And I did an Instagram Live, did a shop tour. It's a huge place. They have everything under the sun. And also on that day, the Montegrappa CEO, Giuseppe Aquila, was there showing off some new stuff. There's going to be some pictures I'll be able to share whenever they launch this pen. And I'd already gotten pre-texts from people who saw it in New York. This is not a pen that can be shown yet or discussed. I can't tell you under penalty of death.

Montegrappa Pen

Myke Hurley: There's just a Montegrappa pen coming.

Brad Dowdy: So Montegrappa made the Chaos pen, right?

Brad Dowdy: You're tying this together now. So there's a new release.

Brad Dowdy: Let me just say, this is not on the Chaos pen's level. This is an awesome one. Like, I am genuinely impressed.

Myke Hurley: My expectation is a cool pen for an obscene price would be my expectation of what you're talking about.

Brad Dowdy: Well, it's an obscene pen, too. But it's kind of crazy. So a bunch of people, if you went to any of Montegrappa's events in the US, like in New York City, like a bunch of people were there. They got to see this pen. And they were texting me afterwards saying, you know, I can't say what I saw. But when you see it, you'll know. And I want to know what you think. So that's kind of how the conversations were going. So as soon as it's released publicly, which a magazine has the rights to show it first. So we can't show it. But I have a bunch of pictures sitting here on my camera roll. It's pretty awesome. I'm not going to lie. Like, it's crazy in the chaos kind of way. But in a much more awesome fashion, if you will.

Myke Hurley: Okay.

Brad Dowdy: So anyway, so Montegrappa was there. I got to interview Giuseppe. He showed off a bunch of pens, including that one. He showed off a bunch of new pens. I had a couple pictures of my Instagram feed. The Elena Stase pen. And one of my pictures is a fantastic, fantastic looking pen. I hope you all saw that one. It was the, I'll call it the Jeff Brook wiki memorial pen. So it's fascinating. What happened to Jeff? Well, you just have to go watch the little clip I put on Instagram. If you haven't seen it yet, I'm not going to spoil it for you.

Myke Hurley: Instagram is loading in my browser. So I've got that guy and follow me right now.

Brad Dowdy: So you go look at that and I'll keep talking. But so Thursday, I really just wanted to get a feel for the store, see how they operate, see what the store is all about. I got to meet a bunch of their customers and not to totally like jump to the conclusion of this. But the way the customers would specifically pull me aside, like a lot of them knew who I were. So they'd say, you know, they'd introduce themselves and they would explain to me how important this store is to them. Like, you know, unprovoked. No one's putting them up to this to like pull me aside and say, do you know how lucky we are to have this store? Do you know how lucky we are to have this family running this store in our area? So, you know, we love being here. We come hang out here all the time. You know, we buy our pens and paper and all of our stuff here from Drum Ghouls in Houston. And they have like a really great relationship with the store and with the owners and with the family that runs it. So that was like a recurring theme throughout the entire weekend where people would literally just pull me aside and say, isn't this great? And we're so lucky. And they really are lucky. Like not everyone gets to experience something like this in their town. And actually, very few people get to experience this in their town. It's literally a pen show every day because they have every brand you can imagine. I mean, I don't know if you could name something that they didn't carry. You know, the everything from they have a Mont Blanc boutique, essentially right when you walk in the front door, they have everything from the high end to the low end. You know, Kaweco, Lamy, Faber-Castell, all the way up to, you know, the Namikis and Kronpens and, you know, David Oscarson. And, you know, they bring in people to do store visits. Like Montegrapple was there on Thursday. Like that was the original impetus way back early in the year to get me there when Giuseppe was going to be there. And so I talked to them at the Arkansas pen show. And they said, well, if you're going to come for that, you need to make sure you stay through Saturday because that's when it really, you know, really gets busy. And I want you to see what that's, you know, a real telling day of what the store is all about. So I was like, OK, so I extended my trip through Saturday. And I didn't even know this until I was there. On Saturday, they had AP, Limited Edition Pens. The owner's name is Anuj. He came there from Singapore to do an in-store appearance with his pens. David Oscarson was scheduled there, but he had to cancel the night before. And then a private collector, Dr. Nesbitt, was there. So like all of these things were just in-store events they had planned on that Saturday. Just I won't say randomly. They clearly planned them, but I had no idea. I knew what was happening Thursday. Then they had all this stuff on Saturday. It's like if I live there, I'd be in there three days a week whenever there's an event, right? I mean, there's so much neat stuff to see other than the regular stuff that they have, you know, just on the day-to-day basis, which is a lot of stuff. Like, you know, just like Pelicans for Days and Sailors and S.T. DuPont. And I mean, you name it and it's there. And all the inks and all the paper. I don't know. It was just really fun. I had a great trip. But the family really took care of me, you know, while I was there. Friday, I was not in-store, but we, myself and Michael Dromgoole and his fiance, you know, did some Houston touristy things. We went to NASA and took the tour there. And we ate some great barbecue and went out to the Astros game that night. So just all in all, it was just like a crazy fun trip. And it all evolves around the Dromgooles. Like, they have been there for 50-something years. They have a customer base that loves them. They have a great inventory, you know. I just implore you, if you're anywhere near Houston, you need to get by there and check it out. So it was pretty amazing.

Myke Hurley: I'm pleased you had a good time.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah, it was really fun. So, you know, I came home with one pen. They gifted me a Montegrappa, Montegrappa, special limited edition. They had their own limited edition. Like, they're a big deal. Like, we may not hear about Dromgooles a lot, or we haven't in the past. But in the pen world, they're like a big deal. They, like, get all kinds of special edition pens. So there's like a limited edition number of 50 that they gave to me. And I was just like, wow, man, that's amazing. It's like, I don't know. It's, I don't know. I'm going to be back down there sooner or later just to visit and hang out because that's what you do when you have a shop like this in your town. Like, so many people would just hang out there all day pretty much at the shop and trying inks and trying pens and buying stuff and just talking with people who are interested in the same thing. And it was just really cool to see and be in that environment. It was a fun time.

Myke Hurley: So this isn't it traveling-wise for you. You're back out on the road again next week.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. So we're turning it right back around. Next pen show is on the calendar, the Triangle Pen Show in Raleigh starting May 31st is a Thursday, I think. So we get there Thursday. Show opens on Friday. It's Friday, Saturday, Sunday show. It's at a new hotel. We'll have a link in the show notes if you're in the area. You need to be there. It was a really fun show. Last year was my first Triangle Pen Show. We had a blast. I brought my daughter Elizabeth to work with me. She raved about it so much. I'm bringing my son Tyler as well this year. So it's going to be me and the two kids.

Brad Dowdy: We'll be bringing the knock table there. Yeah, Elizabeth did so good last year. It's a little rougher when they're together, right? Because then you're just asking for a fight then. But when they're working and when they're on the show floor, they behave pretty well. It'll be the after hours kid management I'll have to worry about, but they should be fine. They are really excited about going. I'm excited about bringing them. I have some surprises for them that they don't know are going to happen yet. So we'll tease that and we'll wait and see what happens during the show weekend. But I'm bringing knock. So this will be a knock show for me. And we have some new goods finally to bring to shows. Our chimney tops came back in a new color. The new purple colorway. Lilac. Iris. Sorry. I always call it lilac. It's iris. So the iris chimney tops are in. We have the sapolo, which you're familiar with. We did that for our Kickstarter last year and it was so well received we wanted to do one. That was a stock item for us. So we'll have the sapolo there, which came out awesome, and peacock and violet. So we love the bright, fun colors. So I don't have any events planned because I have the kids. So I don't really, you know, I don't want to tie myself down to the bar for hours or things like that. But I'll be pretty much around the hotel the entire show. You know, we'll hang out. We'll do some things. We will definitely be at the auction.

Brad Dowdy: Elizabeth had such a blast at the auction last year. And you can go back to listen to last year's recap. I won't, you know, tell the whole tale again. But she basically tracked the auction from the first lot to the last lot, what everything sold for. So we're going to do that again. And she was up way later than I anticipated. It was well after 11 o'clock that we finished. And I kept asking if she wanted to leave and she didn't. So we'll be we'll definitely be at the auction because it was fun just to go see and hang out and watch, you know, two or three of the vendors fight over products. It was it was always good. It was a good time. So, yeah, it's the next show on the radar. Then the one after that will be D.C. So it'll be like a two month break after after Raleigh. And then we'll get to D.C., which we'll we'll talk about later. But we'll be on the road a week from tomorrow heading up to Raleigh. So we will see you all there. Come say hi.

Enamel Pins

Myke Hurley: So I saw on Kickstarter a picture of our enamel pins. What's what's going what's happening with the enamel pins for our Kickstarter backers?

Brad Dowdy: They exist. So Anna Anna's been driving that train, getting all the pins and stuff ordered and ready and and all the artwork done. And, you know, through all the ordering process and she was able to pick them up last week. So we have them. You can you can see them on Instagram or Kickstarter. We've we've sent out the pictures. They look awesome. I haven't seen them in person yet. Anna has. She says they came out fantastic. They look amazing in the pictures. Right. Yeah. So we're not shipping these early. So don't get your hopes up as soon as we get the Tallulah pin cases in. Right. So for pen and case, we're going to do it all in one. And even if you just ordered pins, I'm still not shipping them until that case time either. So just, you know, slow down a little bit on that. But we're probably two months out from. OK. Yeah. We're we're shooting from August for the cases. Everything's still on track theoretically. So you always know. You never know how that goes. But I've been staying on top of our scheduling. The Tallulah pin cases should be coming up soon, which means they should hit August. No problem for us to ship and we'll ship the pins with them. They came out so good. I can't wait to get one. Really, really happy to have our heads on a pin.

Myke Hurley: So I like that. I have the biggest head.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, you do.

Myke Hurley: I'm not 100% sure what that says about me, but I think it's accurate.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. My first thing my wife said when she saw the picture, she said, well, Myke's head's bigger than yours. That can't be right. It's a metaphor, really.

Myke Hurley: It's not an actual thing. It's a metaphorical thing.

Brad Dowdy: Big head. Yeah. So. Oh, yeah. It was good. Did you see the Elena Stasi pin on the Instagram?

Myke Hurley: I did. I put it in the show notes. And yes, that works perfectly for Jeff. People can go see it if they want to see it.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Yes. We'll save that for the show notes.

Myke Hurley: Today's show is brought to you in part by our friends at Pen Chalet. They sell everything you're looking for in the pen world. Whether you're looking for roller balls or fountain pens, ballpoints or mechanical pencils, refills or carrying cases, pen holders or pen converters. No matter what you're looking for, they've got it all. And they've got everything from your favorite brands like Monteverde, Pelican, Lamy, Pilot, Namiki, Sailor, Cafeco and many more. They have Retro 51s. They have everything that you're looking for over at Pen Chalet. They actually have. We're talking about some of your Retro 51s a little bit later on in the show. I just went to the Pen Chalet website and they're already there. You can go and buy them for yourself. They have everything that you're looking for at fantastic prices. They're always doing amazing discounts too. You can get free shipping on orders of over $50 in the United States and they sell internationally with great reasonable shipping rates as well. Pen Chalet believe in doing their incredible stuff at low prices with high quality. That's what they believe in. Low prices and high quality pens at the Pen Chalet and they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. So go to Pen Chalet.com and click the podcast link at the top of the website and enter the password Pen Addict for this week's special offer. And to get the code you need to save 10% on anything at Pen Chalet. This week's special offer. I cannot actually believe that Ron is doing this for our listeners. But there is a special price on the Platinum 3776 Nice Onise Lavende pens. Do you remember these? We were talking about the Lilas and the Lavende. Lavende is like the purple looking one, right? The purple one. Mm-hmm. Yep. Ron still has numbered editions in stock that he is selling at a special price to Pen Addict listeners. A price so special. I can't tell you it. You have to go and see it for yourself. So go to Pen Chalet.com. Hit the link that says podcast slash radio or radio slash podcast at the top of the website. Enter the password Pen Addict and you can get your hands on one of these. What a price. My word.

Brad Dowdy: So Ron must also listen to the show because he snuck in the Pilot Ageless Future Collection ballpoint pens, which I was talking about last week. Good work, Ron. So that was a super, super trick there, Ron. And I actually have some follow-up on that conversation from last week's STPA. We talked about that pen, so we'll follow up on that later in the show. But that was a little sneaky job there by Ron. Good on you, mate.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. So go over to Pen Chalet.com right now and check out what they've got. Thanks so much to Pen Chalet for their support of this show and Relay FM.

Brad Dowdy: All right. I want to talk about a couple of Kickstarters that I've had questions on, if that's cool by you.

Prometheus Pens

Myke Hurley: Of course. You know I love that.

Brad Dowdy: Of course. Yeah, so Prometheus pens, I should call it. It's really Prometheus. It's really Prometheus Lights by Jason Wee, also known as Dark Sucks, which is one of my favorite internet tags because any flashlight maker does not like the dark. So I approve of that. So he created, probably like two years ago, he created a pen to go along with his flashlights. It was called the Prometheus Alpha. And it fit like Mont Blanc refills, that type of refill. They were really good, really high-end, really EDC-style metal barrel in Jason's kind of style. He has a very unique style when he manufactures lights and pens. And it was wonderful. It was a fantastic pen. He sent me a couple, I gave them away to friends, you know, once I reviewed them, because I didn't think I was going to use them that much. And they were like too nice to like throw in a drawer. They were really nice pens. I just wasn't using any type of refill that fit in there. Then late last year, it was sometime like in the winter last year, he started getting in touch with me. He's like, hey, I'm working on my fountain pen. And can I run some things by you? And I said, yeah, absolutely. So he started telling me about making a fountain pen, but he didn't tell me anything about what it was going to look like necessarily. So he said, all right, I've got everything done. I want to send you one, get your feedback. So I get this package from Jason and I open it up and I just like laugh. Like I just giggling. I don't know what this is that I just pulled out of this box. I mean, that was initially my first reaction. And I've told him all this, like this isn't nothing that I haven't shared with Jason. And I was like, what is happening here? Like this is not at all what I expected. So what it is, if you're listening to the show and you're a fountain pen user, you've probably seen like bamboo style fountain pens, right? Like a stem of bamboo with like the ridges in there. You've probably seen fountain pens in that design, at least, you know, pictures of one, you know, like from Nakaya or from, you know, Namiki or whoever's making like some high end Japanese stuff or even, you know, some smaller low end versions of this. And like, I was like, oh my God, what has Jason done? And then I picked it up and started to write with it and I couldn't put it down. Like it fit my hand so good. Like the technical details of whatever makes this a good pen to write with Jason solved. So not only is it, it's weird looking, right? But it's cool looking at the same time. It is shockingly comfortable to write with in ways that I can't even explain. Like, I don't know how or why I love this pen, but I do. Like it's the craziest thing. And I'm just, I really enjoy this pen. It uses the Pelican Edelstein full length ink cartridges, which we actually talked about a lot when he was making the pen and he was just hell bent on using that cartridge for this pen. So he kind of like defined it, the dimensions on the interior of the barrel to just fit that cartridge. So that was something that he, you know, planted his flag on.

Myke Hurley: It's a very peculiar hill to dine.

Brad Dowdy: We had a lot of conversations about that. Like I was against it, right? I was like, but he had his, he had technical reasons with that refill and like other pen parts he was making, right? So that's like the, the only thing you can't consider is like what refill you're going to use, right? He has to manufacture this stuff. So is it a better way to manufacture for him? Like you got to consider those things when you're, you're making stuff. So not everything, you know, can be like a universal fitting to a converter. Like it's not going to fit a converter. It's going to be two minera.

Myke Hurley: I get that. But this just seems like a out there decision. Like that, that specific cartridge seems like, and I mean, of course the ink is good, right? Like, of course. Sure. Oh, it's the best. But I feel like, you know, this isn't something that comes up very often. The Pelican Edelstein cartridge.

Brad Dowdy: Well, like I told him, I was like, do you want to, like, as I was against it, you know, because I said, do you want to get yourself pinned into one particular cartridge? Just like, you know, that notebook that uses the pilot friction pen, you know, what if they stop making it and things like that? So, but he wanted to keep the design to be as slim and as lightweight as possible too. So, you know, it's really, really.

Myke Hurley: But is there not a converter that he could have built it around?

Converter Design

Brad Dowdy: It's going to be too wide. So, converters are wider than cartridges in most cases, right? Because they have little mechanisms in them. Yeah. They have a metal band around them. And I haven't tried it, but I don't know that it does. Yes, they should fit, like, in the nib section, but I don't know that they'll screw into the barrel.

Myke Hurley: So, there might be some stuff that would fit, right? Potentially. Yeah, it's just not designed to. But it might not. So, really, really, you have, if you don't like Pelican Edelstein for whatever reason, then this is not the pen for you, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah, they're fantastic refills, though. So, that's the other reason why I chose. I mean, Jason's willing to take a stand, which I appreciate in design, right? I mean, just look at the pen. Look at the pen itself. Yeah. I mean, that's taking a stand.

Myke Hurley: Looking at this pen, I can see why that's comfortable to hold. And I guess you probably need to hold it to really get it. But, I mean, he has 363 people that are on this ride with him, right? Which is great. He's really met. He's, like, far exceeded his funding goal, which is awesome. Just from a design perspective, I don't think this pen is right for me. But I bet if I held it, I would feel differently, right? Because I can see how the kind of the bamboo shape would fit nicely in your hand. Like, I can see how that would work. But when I see something like this, and this is not me trying to be, like, snooty. But when I see a project like this, I'm like, this is a fountain pen that is not made for the typical pen addict. Agreed. Because he is penning it in, no pun intended, to a specific refill. Like, if you are not a huge pen person, but you like the look of this pen and would like a fountain pen, why would you care what refill it takes? It doesn't matter, right? You can buy them. They're available. You can buy it. He gives you a set. You can buy packs from him. They're available everywhere. It's a huge brand. It's unlikely that they'll stop making them for a long span of time. But it's not so much of a problem for you if you don't already have the 10 inks you want to use. Right. So, like, I see a project like this, and I have to remember to keep my own feelings in check, right? Because I don't think this project is made for me. But that doesn't mean that it's not a good thing. Because it looks like it is a beautifully made piece of writing equipment and has a design flair to it that is really going to tick some boxes for people. I like all the different finishes and stuff. It looks really cool. But, yeah, so that's kind of my feelings on this project. I find the refill thing to be a peculiar decision to make. But, as you said, I can see why he made it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And, like, this is a pen that a lot of people are going to see and just, like, instantly, like, close the tab. Like, you know, this is made really for Jason's customers. You know, he's been making lights forever and then has started to dabble in other carry things. So, yeah, I'm glad it's doing well. And I'll be interested to see. So, he sent me the aluminum one. And I've gone ahead and backed it for the titanium one. I like it so much. So, yeah, I'm in. So, we'll see what happens here. But I really love Jason's work. So, I wanted to point this out. And I did have a couple of questions. I got a couple of emails because I was quoted in this article or in the Kickstarter campaign, I should say. And I hadn't done a review of the pen itself yet. So, Jason asked me. He's like, I don't care, you know, when you or if you do a review. But if you have any quotes I can use, you know, I would love to, you know, put you in, you know, in the campaign, anything you want to say. So, he sent me those over. So, that is really me in there. I got a couple of questions saying, did you really say those things? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because they could link to a review specifically. Right. So, I understand why people had some questions there. But, yeah. Those were my words that I provided to Jason because I enjoy this pen and I like Jason's work. So, and I've backed it. So, this next one, Myke, this was sent to us by a friend of the show, Harry Marks. And I opened it up. It's called The Minimalist Notebook, which how that separates itself from every other minimalist notebook ever, I have no idea. But we're going to go with that. It's called The Minimalist Notebook by architects. Hashtag branding, Brad. Hashtag branding. Yeah. Okay. By architects for everyone. So, this is one where, this is a unique type of notebook. This is actually the second time around on Kickstarter for the same product where they design a notebook. And then they have some type of metal stripping on the exterior of the color for just like design and aesthetics type of thing. It's no functional, you know, type of accoutrement. It's just there to look pretty. And it does. Like, when I saw this, I was like, this is striking. Wouldn't it hold the cover down when you had it open? Sure. But you can get just one without it. I mean, they sell it without the metal stripe. Yeah. Metal strips on it.

Myke Hurley: I mean, okay. It's not the biggest thing. But it would at least give that specific. Right. It might just help with that. Right. Right. Or no.

Brad Dowdy: So, yeah. No. I mean, technically, I guess you're right. I'm not saying that that's the reason they've done it. It'll weigh down the front cover.

Myke Hurley: I'm just saying, like, would it happen? Because for me, as a user of this notebook, I think I would actually like that.

Brad Dowdy: Sure. Like, when it closes it down. Yeah. Because you don't like those curved up covers.

Myke Hurley: I don't like curved up covers. I hate it when they open up on their own. Yeah. So, I would like that. And I'm going to say, Brad, I think this is a beautiful notebook. I think that these are stunning. Am I going to buy one? I think they are, too. No. But I love the look of it. And the reason I'm not going to buy one is nothing to do with them. It's all to do with me. Like, I have too many notebooks. And I have more notebooks that I'm ever going to use. So, like, I'm kind of restricting myself at this point to just buy notebooks from people, like, from companies that I already know can give me the quality that I'm looking for. Because I don't know this company, right? And if this notebook gets, like, universally reviewed, like, praised, right? Maybe. Because I'm telling you, I think these are beautiful. I think they look really great.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So, what I found interesting is, like, the last time they launched it, they just did the copper strip one. Now they've added brass.

Myke Hurley: Oh, this is not their first time?

Brad Dowdy: No. But the last time, it was, like, two years ago. And it just, like, barely snuck over, like, the finish line on Kickstarter. Which is weird. Like, I never saw it before. And they were only asking, they were asking for much, they were asking for about the same. So, whatever Singaporean 10,000 is.

Myke Hurley: They're using, like, the same images again, was the first time.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, I thought that was a little bit strange. That's weird.

Brad Dowdy: But I don't know. I mean, it looks cool. But yeah, I'm like you. Like, 100% love what it looks like. And 100% not going to back it. Just not making a statement on the brand or the company.

Myke Hurley: It's just like, I just don't need this notebook. I don't like that.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, see, I like that. I think that's kind of cool. I think they did a really good job. And they seem like a good price. And it's certainly unique. It is not minimal. I don't think when you add. No. Like, the plain white one's minimal.

Myke Hurley: No, and it's also, it's got a bunch of stuff on the inside. It's not minimal by any stretch of the imagination. Because they've thrown, like, a bunch of calendar pages in there. A bunch of font pages. Like, different sizes of paper. Like, interesting things. Like, stuff that could be useful. But it's not minimal. Right? Like, was it minimal because it's white? Right? Like, I don't, you know? But that's just the brand that they've gone with. Architecture clean. Because they're trying to fit into an ideal, right?

Brad Dowdy: I think. It's nice. So, anyone who gets this, I would like to know. See what you think.

Myke Hurley: I think it should just be called, like, The Architect. I think that's a better name, personally. Because I love the way, I love their images, where they're using the little architecture figurines. I think that's pretty cool. But, yeah, they've gone for that name because they're trying to appeal to that crowd. But, yeah. This is a cool. Evan in the chat room made a really good point. I can see this on sale on Anthropologie. Yes. 100%. Exactly. These would be stacked up in, like, an urban outfit or something like that. Right? And people would buy them.

Notebook Size

Brad Dowdy: You know what would make me buy one of these? A4.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah. A giant, if I could buy a giant size one, like, they have A6, they have two sizes of A6 and two sizes of A5, which makes no sense to me. But, anyway, they're all different. If they had A4, I might consider buying one of these. Well, maybe, like, sketchbook size. Yeah. Maybe. I have A5 notebooks coming out my ears. So, I'll be interested. If anyone latches onto this campaign, I'd be interested to see how these notebooks are. And maybe it's something, you know, I can just pick up after the campaign's over. So, speaking of notebooks, Myke, did you know that the Kakuyo Sokuro Yacho is the OG field notes?

Myke Hurley: I didn't know. I do now. But I didn't.

Brad Dowdy: Have you ever seen these? Have you ever seen these before?

Myke Hurley: No. Well, I wouldn't know because they don't really stand out.

Brad Dowdy: They're so plain, right? So, this is an old school. I've seen this notebook several times. I've actually had one. And I've had one sent to me years ago saying, hey, this is what we've used in Japan for years as just a pocket notebook. It's got a hard cover. It's very thin. We use it when we're out and about. You can use it standing up because it's got the cover to, you know, have a good backing when you're writing without a desk. And it's very thin. So, it can fit in any pocket, you know, pants pocket, shirt pocket. It can fit in a purse, a bag, a backpack. It's just super functional. It's got really great paper. And it's rather inexpensive for what it is. And I just thought I'd point this out. So, we did the MyBun collaboration. You know, I was just thinking about this the other day.

Myke Hurley: I was like, what happened to that? Because the posts are not incredibly frequent, right? But I was happy to see this. One a month. Okay. That must be why it slipped out in my brain. I was like, I feel like I haven't seen a MyBun article in the pen addict in a bit. I love this. I'm so happy that you're all doing this together because it really brings stuff like this to the floor, which is things that we wouldn't see otherwise, right? Because, as I said, me and you don't know to look for them.

Brad Dowdy: Right. So, people have been asking me where to buy these. And the only place I've found them, at least in the U.S. market, is from Nanami Paper. We'll put the link in the show notes. Yep. So, you get a three-pack for $10.50. That's nothing. And they're only like 40-page books or something like that. How much does it say the page number? Yeah, 40 sheets. So, yeah. It's a really tiny, thin book. But it's the same price as, you know, regular Field Notes or a regular NotCo, you know, three-pack of pocket notebooks. So, it's really, really neat. And this is what, you know, was used for not just notes, but this was like the engineering and surveying notebook, you know, back in the day when that was the common task, when all your inputs weren't going right into some digital device. This was the device that captured all these things. And it's good to see this continue the tradition of this very, very interesting book. And I think, if I remember talking to Bruce at one point, I think you can customize these, like if you order enough. So, that might be something I have to do one of these days for the pen addict shop. I don't know how much it would cost or, you know, if I have to order 10,000 of them or something stupid like that. But I think you can get custom stamping because it's just a green cover. You know, it looks like a military notebook with a gold foil stamp on the cover that just says sketchbook. But they have different paper formats on the inside. So, very, very cool product. So, I wanted to make sure to point that out even if you've already read it on the blog. I just wanted to make sure if you hadn't seen this article, go and check it out because it's a part of the stationary history, at least in Japan. That's a great product.

Myke Hurley: There's so much shade on this NAMI website. It's almost dripping off the page. They're throwing so much. Do you want to hear this line? Why settle for one of those marketing-driven, staple-bound, faux-cool pocket notebooks when you can have the real thing with 60% more paper for your dollar to boot? The shade. Yeah. The shade. Recognize. Wow. Get them, NAMI. Poof. Wrecked. Fight. Street fight in the... That's wild, man. They really got it.

Brad Dowdy: I didn't read that. Yeah. I'm going to have to check their math. I'm not sure that math is correct.

Myke Hurley: 60% is... That is very bold.

Pocket Notebooks

Brad Dowdy: It's less. We'll see. Maybe it really is the right thing. But, yeah. Stationary shade, man. It's on. Wow. Who needs those marketing-driven, staple-bound, faux-cool pocket notebooks?

Myke Hurley: I do, Brad. Myke, I do, too.

Brad Dowdy: They're pretty sweet. They're pretty sweet, NAMI. Settle down.

Myke Hurley: You want to cool your boots over there. Wow.

Joe Perra: Cool your boots, NAMI. Check yourself. But, yeah.

Joe Perra: Oh, man.

Myke Hurley: Oh, my God. All right. That's brilliant. We need to chill out. We need to bring this one down. Okay. A minute. All right. We need to calm down. Because now, I want to talk to you about the new show coming to Adult Swim called Joe Parrott Talks With You. They are supporting this week's episode. It is a quiet show. It's just what we need right now. It's about Joe and his friends and the things in his life. Joe likes to talk about stuff like breakfast foods and rocks and weddings and being woken up by thunder and grilled chicken and pumpkins and fall drives and stuff like that. Before this ad is over, I want to read you a personal request that came to me from Joe. And Joe says, please watch. Joe Parrott Talks With You Sundays at Midnight on Adult Swim. Thanks to Adult Swim for the support of this show. There we go. There we go. Reset now. Joe Parrott. Joe, he helped us out.

Brad Dowdy: I needed that after that stationary fight. We just were a part of. You needed to chill out for a second. Joe Parrott is going to take it down a notch.

Myke Hurley: He's going to help us out. I finally received my Retro 51 system from the man, Myke Dudak.

Retro 51

Brad Dowdy: Now entering the Retro 51 portion of the show.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, we got a bunch of stuff to talk about. I mean, it was obvious, I think, to everyone. But this is by far the best looking Retro 51 that I own. I think it's the best that's ever been made. They did do, and we didn't talk about this, but I've been meaning to bring it up for ages. They did a kind of March Madness thing. Did you see this?

Brad Dowdy: I did. I did. And by the time it got halfway through the bracket, I realized we were late and didn't cover it. Yep.

Myke Hurley: So they did a whole bracket thing, a March Madness thing. And it was the Flying Tiger that won, right?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. One of the Space ones got close to the end there. I forget which one. Yeah, I'd have to go back and pull it up. But yeah. A couple of the ones you would think would make it to the Final Four made it. A couple of them had a good run that you wouldn't think would make it.

Myke Hurley: So that was actually really fun to watch go by. Like, I actually kind of enjoyed that, right? Because it was fun to see that happening. But this pen wasn't included, because it wasn't out yet. So I think they were including some special editions and stuff.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. They had the Joey Feldman one I know from Van Ness was in there.

Myke Hurley: And so it was fun.

Brad Dowdy: I think one of the Cherry Blossoms, I think, from Farnie's was in there, if I'm remembering.

Myke Hurley: So, yeah, I'm going to... So... It was the... One of the Space... It was the first Space Shuttle one got in there as well against the Flying Tiger. And then the Flying Tiger took the win.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. But yeah, the system is, in my... And apparently your opinion, the best Retro 51 I've used.

Myke Hurley: No, I'm wrong, Brad. Brad, I'm wrong. It was the liftoff. It was the liftoff that won. That makes sense. I'm sorry, everyone. I'm sorry for that. Because now everybody's sitting there and being like, oh, he doesn't know what he's talking about. And blah, blah, blah, blah. It took us a few minutes to get there. But it was the liftoff, which I actually am really pleased with because that is just a wonderful pen. I actually prefer the Mission to Mars now. But again, that wasn't available at this time.

Brad Dowdy: See, I like liftoff over Mission to Mars.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Okay. I can see that. I mean, I think it's just a personal taste thing. I like because it has orange in it.

Myke Hurley: But yeah, that was a fun thing to watch fly by. And now, especially now that I know who the real winner was, which is the liftoff. But I want to talk about this actually pairs quite nicely because you go from the liftoff to the system because it's the solar system. Mm-hmm. They're available for purchasing again over on ClickyPost. I'll put a link in the website. It's a pre-order shipping kind of mid-June, so only in a few weeks. And this is from numbers 301 to 1,000. I think I spoke to Myke a couple of days ago, and I think he was getting close to selling out of this round again. So if you do want one of these, I recommend you go and do that before it's too late because straight up, this is just an incredible design executed so wonderfully. I love this pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. It's, I mean, nailed it. I don't know what else to say. You know, I make Retro 51s. I've said this a hundred times. It's better than anything I've ever designed. It's better than any of their other designs. These next ones that they have just released, though, they're going to put up some fights here with some of these new ones. What do we have from the new Retro 51 design? So they were just at the National Stationery Show, so this is the time of year where they launch a bunch of their new products for the year. So what do we have?

Myke Hurley: So they have a new catalog, which I'll put in the show notes. It's a PDF document just so you know before you hit it in case you're on data or whatever. But it's not a huge file.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's not a big file.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, they have a bunch. I love, but I just wanted to say, like, the overall design of the catalog is one of my favorite overall designs of their catalogs. The front page is so cool. It's like Saved by the Bell style. I love it. And they have a whole, they have a couple of new ranges that are beginning. The first is a partnership with the Smithsonian. And I think that these are going to come out like the, what are they called? The Metalsmith series. Yes, correct. Where they were releasing one every now and then. The first one with the Smithsonian is of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. And the design of the pen looks like the outside of the museum. It has this cool, like, design. I can't think of how you would describe it. But it looks incredible. Like, it's all brass nickel and it looks really, really good. I love the look of this one. I might pick this one up.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, yeah. I own Zero Metalsmith pens. Those have never been my style or thing. This one is amazing. Yeah. It's like a lattice is the word I was looking for. I think I'm going to have, this will be my first Metalsmith model from Retro 51. I just don't like the weight of them. You know, it's a heavy pen already. And those make it even heavier. But I think this one's going to be too nice to pass up. It looks beautiful.

Myke Hurley: So, they also have a line called Rescue, which the money from some of these pens goes to help charities. Actually, I think all of the money, the proceeds from the Rescue line go to help charities. And they just added one called Buzz, which is a bee and honeycomb design to help the NW honeybee habitat restoration. I don't know what that is, but it's obviously something to help honeybees somewhere.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's a big issue globally with the bee population dwindling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but I don't know the exact habitat, but it's a great resource to support and continue this. And this pen is like, am I going to have to start budgeting out Retro 51s? Because we're not even done with this list yet. And I'm like, okay, two for two right there, right?

Myke Hurley: I feel like you're setting me up here. The Dimitri is a new in their mechanical pencil line. I picked one of those up for the first time. And I really like the Tornado mechanical pencil because it's still a twist mechanism. And I really enjoy it. I like the way the erasers pop out at the top. I have one that's styled to look like a HP pencil. And the Dimitri is a periodic table design, which is very colorful. And I like it a lot. I think this one looks really, really cool. I want to see one of these in person. And I think the Dimitri is actually my personal favorite design of all of these new ones.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. I think that's going to be another first. I don't own any of the Tornado mechanical pencils. And look what they went and did. Like, this is my kind of writing instrument, right? It's bright and bold and fun. So, yeah.

Myke Hurley: I mean, that's what Retro 51 does best. You want bold? All right. Let me give you bold. So, Retro 51 have had a history of partnering with some brands. They've done pens for Disney. They've done pens for Harley Davidson. Their new one is three Tornadoes. They're officially licensed Kiss products. The band, Kiss.

Myke Hurley: Sometimes you see things and you're like, how did this happen? And this is one of those things where I'm not 100% sure how and why. But they do look cool. But I'm not really interested in Kiss specifically. So, these I don't think are for me. I like the heavy metal one where it's just all metal and there's stuff that's etched out of it. That's the coolest one, I think.

Myke Hurley: But, yeah. They're tubes that say, write out loud. Write out loud on them. And there you go. If you're a Kiss fan, now there's a pen for you, I guess.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I mean, they're amazing, right? I mean, their designs are amazing. They're going to, you know, whoever picks these up, you know, whatever stores and retail establishments, they will sell through all of these. I mean, they're 0% for me. But I just look at them and go, man, those are cool. If I was into Kiss, I'd probably own all three, you know. Because their designs are so nice. But, yeah. I'm with you. It's like, well, that was an outlier.

Myke Hurley: But it's kind of rad at the same time. This is not, you know, it's not a bad thing or anything. But it's just super funny to me where it's like, here is our Smithsonian museum pen. Here is our bee conservation pen. Here is our periodic table pen. Here are our three Kiss pens. Like, it's just this funny mix of stuff. I love Retro 51.

Brad Dowdy: What a weird and wonderful company they are. They are. They are awesome. So, that is super cool. All right. Thus ends the Retro 51 portion of the Pen Attic Podcast. Maybe. Maybe. I don't know. We have some Ask TPA. I can bring enough at any point. I know, right? We'll probably recommend them like 10 times throughout the rest of the show. But let's follow up real quick on the metal barrel ballpoint pens question from last episode. And we were trying to find like some Japanese metal barrel ballpoint pens. And, you know, we've learned a lot that they just don't exist. I missed a super obvious one, which is the Zebra F701. That's popular even over here in the States. It's the full metal barrel. F701 with the knurled grip. Decent writer. Not a great writer. But super popular pen because it's only like $6 or $7. So, and then I got tagged in an Instagram post. It looks like it's happening, Myke. The Jetstream Parker style refill that we were looking for, you know, to come over to the States sometimes. It looks like they're going to start making the pen barrels for them soon. I got an image of a Jetstream Prime that is using the new Jetstream refill, Parker sized refill. And this looks like an all metal barrel pen. So, thank you introverts for sending that to me from Japan. I'm excited about this. So, I will be all over those. Okay. I lied about Retro 51 real quick because it's right here in this next question from Cody. I like to think of myself as a pen addict, but my interests are pretty limited. I use a black Pilot Metropolitan at home and a red Retro Pop out in the world with some lower end pilot stuff mixed in. I love my small fleet and use it eight hour days, eight hours a day. Am I still a pen addict if I only own a handful of pens? You're a pen addict if you care even one iota about what you write with. And clearly you do, Cody. So, you're a pen addict. You listen to a podcast about pens. I don't care if you own one, you know, 50 cent pen. That's your favorite pen. That you actually care about what you write with makes you a pen addict in my book. Heck yeah. And it doesn't matter, you know, how many, how much, how few, how little. None of that matters. All that matters in my book is do you care about what you write with? And that's what it's all about. So, nothing else matters to me. All right. This one is for Myke. And this one's from Corinne. She says, hi, I have a Hero Century gold fountain pen that has gold filigree design over black resin and a 14K nip. I'd like to find a gold ink to match that would still be a good color to write with on a daily basis. Any suggestions? So, Myke went through this challenge at the Atlanta Pen Show, right? Yeah.

Bung Box Ink

Myke Hurley: Well, I have one ink in mind because I've been sent a sample of it when I got my Bung Box 5th Anniversary. The Bung Box Ibisu Gold is what I went with. And I genuinely believe that this is a, you could write with this pen on an almost daily basis because it is a dark color, right? Like when it dries, it still looks gold, but it's kind of close to brown too, like a dark brown, like somewhere between a dark brown and a gold. So, it still looks gold, but it's still readable when it dries. It goes on a little light, but when it dries, it's more than readable, right? Like I genuinely believe this is a daily writable ink. I use it all the time. I love it.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. And it's inked up in your Sailor's. You can go matchy-matchy with it.

Myke Hurley: It's the only ink that's ever going to be in that Bung Box 5th Anniversary.

Brad Dowdy: And you know the only shaving gel and blade that will go on this neck, Myke? Do you know what it is? Is it Harry's? It is Harry's. It's the only way to travel, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Harry's is all about a great shave at a fair price, and they are bringing you this episode of The Pen Addict. They're hoping to support the show. Because they do this great shave at a fair price, this is why over 3 million people have made the switch to Harry's, and you should join them. Their founders, Jeff and Andy, decided to create the company because they were fed up of overpriced razors and they wanted to fix it. They knew that a great shave comes down to great blades made with sharp, durable steel that will last. And they cut out all the unnecessary costs, allowing them to deliver you one perfect razor at an amazing price. You pay just $2 per blade, half price that you're going to pay for high quality from other companies. You're going to pay just $2 per blade, which is half of what you'd have been used to be paying before. Harry's bought their own factory that's been making some of the highest quality blades in the world for over 95 years. They know they're good. This is why they know. And they're going to give you a 100% quality guarantee. If you don't love your shave of Harry's, just let them know within 30 days and you'll get a full refund. Is this why, Brad, this stuff will always be a part of your kit?

Brad Dowdy: Always be a part. And the kit specifically is what I took with me to Houston this weekend. Their DOP kit is awesome. It's been a great travel companion for the past couple of years since I've had it. It's no worse from wear. It's wearing well. It holds everything I need it to hold. All the Harry's stuff. Every other thing that I need to look good and smell good on the road. So, yeah. Thank you, Jeff and Andy, for making such awesome products.

Myke Hurley: All right. Now, you want to go and check this out for yourself. You've heard us talk about it. You need to go and look at this stuff. Harry stands behind the quality of their blades. And they know that switching razors isn't an easy decision. So they created a trial offer for you. You can get a $13 value trial set that comes with everything you're going to need for a close, comfortable shave. You'll get a weighted ergonomic razor handle, five precision engineered blades of a lubricating strip and trimmer blade, rich lathering shave gel, and a travel blade cover as well. Just take yourself right now to harrys.com slash penaddict. That's H-A-R-R-Y-S dot com slash penaddict. And you can redeem your special offer. And as well as to let them know that we sent you. Well, thanks to Harry's for their support of this show and RelayFM.

Brad Dowdy: All right. We got some good-ass TPA to wrap this show up on. The first one is something that I just realized about, I don't know, the past six months or so. So Gil's desk wants to know, screw cap fountain pens, how tight is too tight?

Brad Dowdy: Very tight is too tight. This is actually a thing, especially on non-metal pens, right? So anything you're screwing that's acrylic on acrylic or celluloid on celluloid, you can get too tight to where you will eventually bulge or risk cracking the cap or something like that. Like, you can get too tight in non-metal fountain pens. So, you know, just loosely tighten them, you know, right to where you feel it kind of stop. And then don't over-tighten them because you can do some damage, especially over time. So M.A. Wolf says, my Cron Dash 849 broke where the section screws into the body. Likely from my grip, which is very high, putting pressure on the threads or from over-tightening. See? See what I mean, Gil's desk? Or both? Where can I get a replacement section for this fountain pen? So Cron Dash, as far as I know, does not sell replacement parts. So you're going to have to go back to where you bought it from or to Cron Dash directly.

Brad Dowdy: I'm sure they can get you a new section, but it's probably going to take a little bit of jumping through hoops to get that part replaced. Just because they don't offer parts like, say, like a Lamy does or someone where they have, like, nibs and different parts. Even though a section, I guess not many companies are going to have a section laying around at various retailers or things like that. So you're going to have to get in touch with where you bought it from or Cron Dash directly. And hopefully they will replace that for you. So the Evander, Myke, this might be Evander Holyfield, actually, when I read this. So the Evander says, I have abnormally large hands. Like, forget going shopping for gloves. I'm not going to find any that fit. What are some bigger, wider fountain pens that don't cost hundreds of dollars? So some of the metal barrel fountain pens fall into that category. So the Namisu Nova or the Enso Piuma. I think the Piuma might be the better one of the two. It's a very large diameter pen. As far as, like, non-metal pens, I'm having trouble thinking of any standard pens that are really, really wide barreled. Montegrappa makes a... What's the tree trunk one they just did? They just did... I'll find that and email you Evander or... The Sequoia. The Sequoia. So that makes sense. So the Montegrappa Sequoia, I think, or is that Monteverdi Sequoia? It's a very, very large pen. So check that one out. Otherwise, I'm not coming up with too, too much for those. So Tim Stevens has a problem that I have, and I have no solution, Myke. How do you identify your various nibs that are piled up in your drawer with no label? Asking for a friend. That friend is me.

Myke Hurley: Lucky dip, man. You just go for it.

Brad Dowdy: If you didn't label them, that's on you. That's on you. Wait. You know? Lucky dip? Is that what we're going with?

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Okay.

Myke Hurley: Lucky dip.

Brad Dowdy: All right, Tim. Lucky dip.

Myke Hurley: Do you not know that phrase?

Brad Dowdy: Is this one of these Britishisms? This is... That's a Britishism that I am unaware of. All right.

Lucky Dip Phrase

Myke Hurley: So like a lucky dip is you've got like a pile of stuff, maybe like a pile of wrapped things, right? Imagine like a bunch of prizes locked up in some little boxes, and they're all kind of like in a barrel, and you just reach in and grab one. It's lucky, and you just dip in and grab one. Lucky dip.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Logically, it makes sense. But lucky dip, where I live, involves like a can of Copenhagen or Skoll. So it's not really like the same type of thing. I don't know what that means either. Tim, I don't have a great answer for you, because I have this problem too. I know I've got some of my Franken and Kristoff Masuyama nibs mixed in with some things that I don't... I'm going to have a hard time telling apart, and I'm regretting that now, because those are tough to come by. The one solution I've used, not regularly, is to use the ink vials that you get the samples in, those little four millimeter vials, and you can drop the nib in there and label it on the outside. So that's probably the best way to do it. But I haven't found a great solution other than that, and I definitely have a mess of nibs that I know I have some really nice stuff laying in. This is one of those questions that I love.

Myke Hurley: We get questions like this for this show. We get questions like this for Upgrade too. where someone has a problem that they don't want to have to fix themselves, and they are just hoping that we have some kind of magical way to help them. But unfortunately, Tim, you already knew the answer to this question, and it was half of a day of sitting with a magnifying glass and a bunch of little pots. That's what is ahead of you, my friend.

Brad Dowdy: That is what is ahead of you. So lucky dip those things. Lucky dip. And then when you lucky dip and pull one, investigate it, write it down, and save it in a little vial. And you won't have to lucky dip anymore on your nibs. All right. Capital Y1 says, I think you guys have ruined me. Ever since I began using Nanami Crossfield and Hobonichi Cousin, all non-Tomoe river paper feels awful. What is one to do? You just got to own it, York. You can get every size of paper, pad, notebook, planner in Tomoe river paper now. We're spoiled in that aspect. That no matter what you want, what format you want to write in, you can get something with Tomoe river. So, I mean, it's not going to be in your office photocopier. But I think anywhere else, you should be able to cover yourself even from little small pocket notebooks to giant A4s and larger sizes. So, yeah. So, just own it. Own the Tomoe. Get it everywhere. All right, Myke. We have one of our favorite types of Ask TPA questions. Okay. The big hypotheticals. So, this is a two-parter, but similar. And I'll read through the entire thing for both of us. So, we each have a part in this. So, this is from Dave. He says, for Brad, let's try a hypothetical. Suppose you're elected the next president of the United States. As your first act as president, in a small room of the Capitol, just off the stage where you just took your oath of office, you sign about 700 executive orders, repealing just about everything your predecessor has done. So far, this is factually correct. As you're the new American president, you want this act to celebrate the best of all things American. Upon which American paper have you had your staff print these executive orders and which American pen and ink do you use to sign them? So, that's my part of this question. Myke's, as you can imagine, is similar yet different. So, let's go there. For Myke, let's say that you have led your massive following to rise up and overthrow the queen. You've slaughtered her and her family. This took quite a turn, Myke. I don't like this. Releasing her dragons back to the wild and taking her realm by force. You're quite a jerk. I'm way nicer. Or however you become the great leader of Britain. He does. There is an out there. You know, he thinks that's like Dave's, you know, assuming that's how you would take control. But, you know, there is an out. Or however you become the leader of Great Britain. After your scribes have used up all of the royal family's blood, drafting odes to your greatness. You need a new ink. You must similarly choose the best of British ink, paper, and pen to record your royal decrees. What do you use?

Myke Hurley: I want to start by taking an umbrage with this, the way that everything is done in this question. So there are like just many things that are wrong because if I wanted to take power in this country, becoming the monarch would not be the way I would do it. I would just be the prime minister. But I don't understand why you just get to be elected, but I have to slaughter somebody. That's what I don't understand. That doesn't seem fair to me. No, it's not fair. It's reasonable. No, I don't think it is. But there we are. Plus, I also don't really have any good answers for this question anyway.

Brad Dowdy: This is a very difficult question. So with me, the pen part is easy, at least in the thought that I gave it. And I could be forgetting something, but I'm going to go with Parker.

Brad Dowdy: You know, Parker has a huge traditional relationship with this company. It may not be owned by, I don't even know who owns Parker now, but it originated as an American company and was, you know, a huge, huge part in the forming of the writing industry in this country. So I would probably get, you know, 700 Parker dual folds, the classic Parker fountain pen to sign all of my 700 executive orders because every signature, you have to give away the pen. So I would do that. I would probably get French paper company to print up anything that I needed, which exact paper brand I would use. I don't know. But French has been around for a while. They're a well-known, well-known printer. And the ink's kind of the kicker. Like, you know, there's old, you know, American inks like Carter's and then the basic stuff like the Parker stuff. Is there any modern American ink I would use? You know, the Birmingham, I don't know what they call the Birmingham Ink Company. Are they making their own inks? It's Papier Plume, Papier Plume's, I guess, making their own inks. So yeah, I would have to figure out which company I would want to use. It wouldn't be Noodler's. I know that's the easy, the easy one. But although they're one of their permanent inks actually might be pretty good. So maybe the like the Noodler's bulletproof stuff, that might be pretty good for executive orders. So I don't know. That's a, it's a really hard question. Just come with like the, the, the pure American traditional type of setup. Um, there's just not a lot of wonderful options. Do you have anything, Myke?

Myke Hurley: For, for the American?

Brad Dowdy: After you kill everybody? Oh yeah, of course. After you kill everybody.

Myke Hurley: Uh, I just, I don't really have anything for paper or ink. Um, but I guess if I was gonna choose something for a pen, I would maybe go with like something more modern because that's what I'm all about. And I would maybe go for like the, then the Mi Suixion, which is a pen that I really, really like a lot. Um, and I know that's maybe a little bit controversial, but I love it. Um, and I've been enjoying using it a lot recently and it's a, uh, British made brand. So yeah, that works for me.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. A Johto might be another good one. That's a more modern brand. I was looking more classic brands.

Myke Hurley: I was thinking of a Johto, but, um, I prefer the fountain pen.

Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Like I could do, if I was going modern, you know, I'd probably go like Frank and Christophe or Edison, something like that. Mm-hmm. Paper wise, yeah, I don't know, I don't know what paper to use. Is, is WH Smith a classic British company? And then ink, uh, diamine? Well, but they're a stationer.

Myke Hurley: They don't make good stuff.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I didn't make, I didn't pick like an original paper maker. Like French is a printer, essentially. I just let them pick me the good stuff.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, but like they only sell stuff and the stuff that they make themselves is all white label and it's not good.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yep. But that was, uh, that was an interesting question that I don't know if we did like a super great job on. We'll have to put some more. Well, I'm sure we'll get a lot of follow up on this particular question, especially how evil you are. But to wrap this up, uh, the question on everybody's mind this past week, Myke, unfortunately, um, this is one of those, those internet things. Those darn people on the internet and their things. We need to know. The people need to know. Robo Jim wants to know, especially Yanni or Laurel.

Myke Hurley: If you want to find our show notes for this week's episode, you can go to relay.fm slash pen addict slash 309. I want to thank Harry's pen chalet and Joe Perra talks with you for the support of this show. Can you tell what I'm doing right now, Brad? I'm refusing to engage the show in this meme. Uh, you can find Brad's work over at pen addict.com and he sells amazing products at knock.co. He's on Instagram. He's pen addict. He's dowdy. He's on Twitter. And I am I Myke. I am Y K E. We'll be back next time. Uh, if you want to submit a question for the show, just send out a tweet with the hashtag ask TPA, or you can send something in the pen addict slack as well. If you're a member of the slack group and we will be compiling them for future episodes, please keep them away from memes that date the show. Horrifically, uh, we'll be back next time until then say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. See you next time.