The Pen Addict 614/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	614
Title:	Wes Anderson's Green Baby
Release Date:	May 8th, 2024
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 614
Audio File:	Audio Episode 614
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 614
Length:	5858 min <br />0.967 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 614. Today's show is brought to you by Pen Chalet and Ooni Pizza Ovens. My name is Myke Hurley. I'm joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad.

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

Myke Hurley: Pretty good, man. Pretty good. How are you?

Brad Dowdy: I'm good. I'm good. I don't know if I'm as good as you. Like, I'm pretty good. Like, we talked pre-show, you know, about the F1 race. We like to catch up. We're both big Lando fans. So we were excited this weekend. So we had a great weekend. But then you had an event yesterday, which, you know, we'll save for all your other shows. But can you give us a quick rundown on where you're at? Because I know you're pretty beat. You had a long day yesterday.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I had like a 12-hour workday yesterday. Finished recording Upgrade at like 11 p.m. And my day started at like 9.30. So it was actually longer than that. But yeah, I went to Apple yesterday. They had a big launch for the new iPad Pro. But like there was a... In London. In London. Yes, it was in London. Yeah, I didn't do that kind of commute. That was actually a new one. They did an event in London, which was fantastic. And the pen added to Angle is there is a new Apple Pencil, the Apple Pencil Pro. It's really nice. And actually, as well, Brad, I didn't get to try this out because I didn't know. But in iOS 17.5, you know, you get the in the Notes app, you get the tools and you can choose between like pen, pencil, marker. They're adding fountain pen as an option. Oh, okay. I am terrified for what that will look, what that performance is. You know what I mean? Okay, sure. What is a fountain pen? You know what? Like what are we saying is happening here, you know?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, that doesn't seem like a translation that's necessary. No. Like a feel line perspective.

Myke Hurley: I don't really know what they... Maybe it's just like... Maybe it's like pressure. The line gets thicker. That's what I would like, right? They do that. But yeah, the new Apple Pencil is really cool. Okay. Some of the features that they've added to it, like they put the motor in it so you squeeze it and you feel like you're clicking something. Same looks like an AirPod. Okay. And it has a new... It has a gyroscope in it now. So if you twist a barrel, it will twist the... Say you're using a fine liner or highlighter, which is like a line, right? Like it's like a fat line. If you twist the pen in your hand, it will twist as if it's a real pen, basically, right? Like the angle of the line will change. Like the chisel angle will change. So that could be part of...

Brad Dowdy: Apple Pencil Kuratoga.

Myke Hurley: Yes, actually. I guess so. But that could be part of the fountain pen thing too, right? Where it's like, oh, now some of the line... There's like line variation? I don't know. I'm intrigued to see what that will be like. But it was cool that...

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And when you get more hands-on, I think we'll probably do a segment, maybe break that down a little bit and see what kind of the trends... How it translates into like some of the analog feelings and things like that. Because they keep expanding on that type of usage. So it's always good to discuss and especially have you that's like really hands-on into that, to have that opportunity. So yeah, very cool.

Myke Hurley: Thank you.

Follow-up segment introduction

Brad Dowdy: All right. So I called this first segment, Myke. Literally all of the follow-up is the title of our first segment. Because we got a bunch on last week's episode. Then we had some that dropped in just in my inbox this week from several episodes ago. So I want to cover this. Let me read this first one, Myke. I call this one On Monsters. Okay. So each little segment has a little title of the follow-up. This follow-up is on monsters.

Brad Dowdy: So I could not let it pass. But Godzilla is not in any way part of Universal Monsters. And neither is King Kong. This is from my friend Michael Harris, who helped put together the watch. So Godzilla and its associated kaiju like Mothra and Rodan are all owned by Japan's Toho Studios, who has an agreement with Warner and Legendary Pictures to license them for the Monsterverse series. The rights to Kong are more complicated, to say the least. Parts are in the public domain. However, the based film rights were owned by RKO Studios, who released the original 1933 film. Godzilla and Kong would appear together on film several times, hence Kong's inclusion in the Monsterverse films. But who owns those rights is confusing. Universal is wrapped up in it, but not to the extent of ownership. But at some point, RKO was purchased by MGM. I need a flowchart, Myke. Who sold it to Ted Turner, which is how parts or all of the Kong film rights ended up at Warner when Turner sold it to them. And Warner has a production agreement with Legendary, and hence the Monsterverse. The classic Universal monsters are completely different, and a lot of their monsters are film versions of what are today public domain properties like Frankenstein, Dracula, Invisible Man, etc. I'm certain that you've gotten a few emails about this, but as a media studies person who has worked on Japan, I was screaming at the car stereo yesterday. We get a lot of people screaming at us, Myke. So I'm just going to say, it's okay.

Myke Hurley: So you just grab this whole thing, like you just read this whole thing, and you wonder why I might have gotten them confused. You know what I mean? Like, was it really the worst thing? I got most of this correct, right? Like I said, Frankenstein, Dracula, Invisible Man, but yes, Godzilla is not part of Universal Monsters. Godzilla is part of Monsterverse.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And the problem... Thank you to Michael for the correction. Yes, Michael. It's all in jest, and he's a lovely person. Is it, Brad? Is it all in jest? It is. It is. I mean, it is factually correct now, but... The part that got us in trouble was my excitement over wanting Godzilla. So I just kept dragging us back into it. It's like, I need a Godzilla. I need Godzilla. I need Godzilla. I was like, yeah, that's not going to happen. So here's what we need, Michael. Not you, Myke, but Michael, who sent us this email. We need Michael to get in touch with Montegrappa and say, hey, you need to work with whoever owns the rights to the Monsterverse series. Well, here's the thing.

Myke Hurley: You just read that whole thing, and you're still not sure, you know? I did have to check myself. I wasn't going to say. That's all you need to do. It doesn't matter how you do it. Make a Godzilla pen. That's right. But also, I really want an Invisible Man pen. That's true. I really want it, and I know how to do it. So listen to me, Montegrappa, right? Like, I got you here. Clear barrel, some bandages around it. Perfect.

Brad Dowdy: Invisible Man.

Brad Dowdy: Montegrappa is made for this, right? To make these types of things. Yes. I have a feeling like if they did make a Godzilla pen, we'd be looking at, like, one of the super crazy high-end ones, right? Because how could you not, right? Like, one of the 50, 60 grand pens, because that's what it deserves. And, yeah, it'd be cool to see. So thank you for that feedback, Michael. Love it. And I won't say. I'm still not as confused as ever, but we'll go with. They probably don't have the rights yet. But given the licensing deals that Montegrappa does, you never know. You never know.

Myke Hurley: Who knows? Because nobody knows who owns the rights anyway, so it could be anyone.

On rulers with fountain pens

Brad Dowdy: True, true, true. Our next bit of follow-up is called On Rulers with Fountain Pens. So we got a couple of messages for this one. This one, the first one's from Alan. Regarding using, we really struck a nerve. I struck a nerve with this answer. They came for me, Myke. So you're not alone. You're not alone. But regarding using a ruler or fountain pen, turn the ruler upside down so the bevel holds the edge slightly off the paper. This will avoid the ink running underneath or smudging when the ruler is moved. This was common practice in the old days.

Myke Hurley: So that's an interesting idea for how to avoid the smudging, because you're effectively creating an air gap right between the ruler and the page. Correct. But it doesn't solve my main prop concern, which is damaging the fountain pen nib.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

Myke Hurley: That's my main concern of ruler usage.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, which is why I would only consider, which is where I eventually got in the answer last week, was only a steel nib and probably an inexpensive one in case you do something. I'm just worried about actually being able to use this fountain pen and uneven tine pressure.

Brad Dowdy: You know, everything in moderation, right? You could probably take ultra care and be very careful to do what you need to do. But, you know, a lot of you can you can aggressively ruler some pages. Right. And I'd worry about that with the fountain pen. So steel nibs only, I think. So a second comment on the rulers with fountain pens, which I love our listeners that we got not one but two emails on like like almost a throwaway topic that I didn't even consider. But like this is why we do this. Right. So this one's from MTA says some rulers have what is called an inking edge, which is a recessed edge for using fine liner pens. Also, makers of drafting triangles also have this kind of edge. The underside of the edge is rabbited. I don't know that word in such a way that the edge is lifted off the paper surface so that the pen nib is not in contact with the edge. So I think like the triangles, like I there's still I feel like there's still a side with an edge on the paper. Right. So you just have to be concerned about which way you're flipping like the triangle to have like again, you use the right term. I think air gap to not have the pulling and smudging of the ink when on the page. But again, like you said, that's step two for my concern. Step one is actually running the nib across the edge of the ruler and just being considerate of that. I'm not saying it's not possible. I'm not saying a lot of people don't do it. I'm not saying there's perfectly fine fountain pens to do it with. But I'm saying it's like cleaning a fountain pen. Right. Like it takes a little bit of care and a little bit of thought in going into this. So it's the most interesting thing to me is that people really do seem to use rulers with fountain pens, which, you know, in all of our little niche type of things like this one really this one really struck, you know, people had some feedback on this, which is pretty fascinating to me. Like, I love that.

Myke Hurley: Rabbited is a step shaped recess cut along the edge or in the face of a piece of wood, typically forming a match to the edge or tongue of another piece.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Yeah. So would tongue and groove be in like that category?

Myke Hurley: It looks like it. Yes. Based on Google image searches, it looks like rabbiting is like a tongue and groove kind of kind of thing. And I'm already, I'm just going to tell you right now, please don't send in the follow up about correcting us on that one. You know, we're trying our best out here to simplify it. I'm sure it's not the same as tongue and groove, but it looks like it's not to just cretins like me and Brad.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Add that to the list of more things I don't know about, but I'm speaking about.

Myke Hurley: That's podcasting, baby. That's all it is. It's just a selection of things that I know about 15% about, and I'm going to talk to you about them for an hour.

Lamy's finances discussion

Brad Dowdy: Speaking of which, our final follow up falls into this category. This category is called on Lamy's finances. So we talked about this a while ago about the acquisition of Lamy by Uniball or Unimitsubishi, whatever the parent company is called. And this one is from Axel, who said, I just listened to an episode where you said Lamy wasn't making financial publications. That's wrong. I know they don't mean it that way, but I think that's great how that's how the Axel just dropping into this. That's wrong. As they're a GmbH, almost likely a limited. So this is a type of corporation founding, incorporated corp. I don't know the actual definition of the GmbH, but it's basically a classification of a business. And they have to publish them in a certain time frame, and you can find them on, and there's a link in here, a German site where you can find these financial releases for GmbH companies. And Axel did the work and said, anyway, here's the most current one, 85 million cash flow in 2021. So when we were thinking about this and the way we think about some of the biggest companies in our space, Pelican comes to mind with their recent acquisition or recent sale. How big we think these companies are versus the reality is like, okay, yeah, 85 million in cash flow. That's like net sales, like net income. That's not profit or gross.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I'm looking at these annual financial statements, and I don't see 85 million on here. I'm not sure where that's come from. I'm not sure if I'm looking at the right thing. Like I'm looking at this website, bundensanzigar.de, which has been sent in. But yeah, suffice it to say, they're a company that makes good money.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So like, it's a very good piece of context, right? Like, that's what I see from this, like 85 million cash flow. Did they make any profit? You know, were they profitable? Were they like in the hole? But that gives you a good idea of the scope of the business worldwide is that they're bringing in that. And that seems like pretty dang strong for a company the size of Lamy, who I think, I mean, I certainly don't know. They got to be one of the bigger just stationary brands.

Myke Hurley: You know what it is? Like, I don't know this is what it is, but I'm like digging around now. There's like multiple Lamy kind of holding information.

Myke Hurley: So some parts of the business I can see an 85 million, and some parts seem smaller. So maybe one is an IP. Like this is C. Joseph Lamy GmbH. That's the one that has those kinds of, that's where like the big money is, is in there. They have other holding companies, so I apologize.

Brad Dowdy: They probably have a beekeeping company. Yeah. There's a lot of money in the business.

Myke Hurley: There's a lot of money in the business. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So I just, I unfairly made an assumption, which you should never do, that this was a private company. Like in the U.S., private companies don't have to release any financials. So this is obviously a different type of category.

Myke Hurley: You're not wrong if it's anything like the U.K., where it's like this is the information that they provide, which is different to if this was a public company where they have to be much more particular about everything. Like I'm sure there are ways to move their money around so they are being the most efficient that they can be and that maybe they would have to be a little bit more open. I don't know if they were like a public company, but at least what this shows is the company was successful. That's what it shows, I think.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And this is also information that's three years old, right? So that's the best we can do is three-year-old financials for a company that was just sold to another big company. So interesting. Lots of things can change year over year. So that's our follow-up section, Myke. It's really great. I love the follow-up because like we don't profess to be experts and we have thoughts and sometimes we run our mouth. And I like that our listeners give us some additional information and context. It's very useful and very helpful. So keep that feedback coming.

Myke Hurley: This episode is brought to you by our friends at Penn Chalet. Penn Chalet have the products you need from the brands that you love. Whether you're looking for a new fountain pen, a rollerball, mechanical pencil, some ink, an accessory, it doesn't matter what you're looking for. Penn Chalet have got it. They do very fast and reliable customer service as part of their offering. They want to make sure that you're happy with the products that you're buying and that also comes down to price. Penn Chalet run discounts every couple of weeks. You'll be able to find new fantastic prices over on their website and they're adding new styles of pens from new brands every single month. Penn Chalet want you to have a fantastic experience with the items that you purchase from them, which is why they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on their products. Penn Chalet sell internationally with great shipping rates, but you will get free shipping in the U.S. if you spend $75 or more. So, go take yourself right now to PennChalet.com slash PennAddict and you will be able to find a 10% code to save on anything over at Penn Chalet, as well as a selection of special offers just because you listen to this show. Brad, what have you found for us?

Brad Dowdy: 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31. Oh, my word. 32. I know what you're counting now. 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40. I got myself stuck here. I got to keep going. There are 40 different Robert Oster inks on sale right now. Yeah. This does not happen. This is very abnormal. That's why I went and counted because they do not stop, can't stop, won't stop over at Penn Chalet with these Robert Oster inks. This is a great opportunity to try one of my personal favorite inks. I'm obviously very biased in that I have a special edition ink for the Penn Addict that I love. But just in general, it's probably, Robert Oster is probably either number one or two in my most owned ink brands because the colors are so good. The quality is so good. I've never had an issue once with any of these inks in performance, and that includes some of the shimmer inks, which are very good. So if you're in the market for some inks and especially some very cool options that are in different limited edition releases, this is a good time to go in and get into this Robert Oster deal that Penn Chalet has going. But on top of that, I see a Y Studio Brassing Ballpoint pen, which is one of my pens that I really, really enjoy. And a couple of Heinz Fountain pens, actually more than a couple, three. So that would be a few Heinz Fountain pens. Really, really great prices. Like if you were missing out on the Chicago pen show this past weekend, you can get some really cool looking Heinz pens that you might see something similar at a pen show over at Penn Chalet. So go check it out. And I see it looks like they've maybe tweaked the bottom of the page and kind of did some kind of block additions into there. So there's like a whole grouping at the bottom of the page that you should check out as well. But yeah, go check it out. Great deals over at PennChalet.com.

Myke Hurley: It's at PennChalet.com slash PennAddict is where you go to get your hands on his office. Our thanks to Penn Chalet for the support of this show and Relay FM.

Brad Dowdy: All right. We got our shout out of the week, Myke.

Myke Hurley: Shout out of the week.

Brad Dowdy: Fountain Pen Love. Number one, I love the name of this blog. I've been following them for quite a while. John does a great job over there. And recently, he kind of gets on kicks on posts where he'll kind of stick with a theme for X amount of posts. He was doing an ink of the week for a while. And I might have even given a shout out then. But right now, he's doing something that's near and dear to my heart. He's doing a doodling with fountain pens series. So I think we're on like the third one, maybe, to where he does like different patterns. Actually, it looks like maybe fourth one. Nice. Of that. So yeah, you know I love a good doodle. I have my own little line doodle that I like to do on different pages and things like that. So these take it up a notch. There's lots of different patterns. And what John does with each of these is kind of goes through from like the initial line. How do these patterns start? How do they complete? How does he think about doing them? So like there's a circular pattern. There's some pipes, which is one I want to look at. Like I've bookmarked that one to go look at for myself to see how he builds these little these little doodles. And then there's starburst pattern, which is something that I that I do. And yeah, it's just it's really cool. I like this idea to where we have posts about using our stuff and how we just do simple things like, hey, maybe I just need to sit and chill and doodle for a while. And maybe I want to use this pen and try out this ink. And, you know, maybe I'm not a letter writer. You know, like myself, I'm not out there writing a bunch of letters and using my pens that way. But I do use them in this more like artistic kind of meditative way. And John puts out some really, really fun, great ideas to to do that with your fountain pens and ink. So love this series. So keep it up, John.

Myke Hurley: Definitely.

Brad Dowdy: Do you think Wes Anderson doodles with his fountain pens in a whimsical way?

Myke Hurley: I'm sure.

Wes Anderson and Mont Blanc collaboration

Brad Dowdy: I'm sure. So this filled up the inbox this week and rightfully so. Wes Anderson from Mont Blanc has a whole collection has dropped. A video has dropped. I hesitate to call that a video. What would you call? I call it a film. I call it a film.

Myke Hurley: He did. He did a short film. Yeah. It's like a three minute short film. Three minute short film starring Orlando Bloom and Jason Schwartzman alongside.

Myke Hurley: Oh, no, it's Rupert Friend, who I always think is Orlando Bloom. Yeah. I was like, no, that's not Orlando. And Wes Anderson.

Brad Dowdy: I knew Schwartzman.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. Let's start with the film. Do you want to go first?

Myke Hurley: Can I actually go back? Sure. Because I just want to say, like, I saw this and I was so excited.

Myke Hurley: That's just kind of how I want to start with this. I saw this in our notes and I was like, oh, my God, I'm so excited. Because I love Wes Anderson and I love the look of Wes Anderson's movies. Yep. So I was very excited about the potential of a Wes Anderson-Mont Blanc collaboration. I watched the film. I love the film. So we'll go back now. I won't talk about the products yet. Okay. Because I don't think you want to talk about them yet. The film, the ad that they made, adorable, fantastic, loved it. Like, I understand some people don't like Wes Anderson's stuff because it's a very particular vibe and he follows that vibe every time. But it's actually what I love about Wes Anderson. Like, it's kind of like you find a musician that you like and they have a style and they just keep doing that style. Like, that's what it's like. And so, yeah, I love it. I think it's great.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So the film, I actually laughed out loud several times. Yeah. It's hilarious. I mean, I'm going to go, like, I think I might just have to go back and just write down, like, what they say. Mm-hmm. Like, the whole, like, just write the script myself. Because, I mean, they don't say a lot, but what they say and how they say it is brilliant, right? Like, which is what you're, the expectation here. But, like, the characters, I mean, are they playing themselves? I don't guess they're, I can't decide if they're playing themselves or not.

Myke Hurley: I think they're playing accentuated versions of themselves. Like, I don't think that they're playing characters, right? Because he's even referencing the fact, like, I am Wes Anderson. I made a pin. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. So, like, there's one point where they're going over the products. Like, all the stuff they say is hilarious. Yeah. And they're going over the products. And Schwarzman picks up the, like, they're each going over. And Wes is like, oh, and here's this, you know, the Meistersuk. And I forget the other guy's name. And he's like, oh, and here's these great leather products. And Schwarzman picks up the tray of pins. And, like, here's all these Montblancs. And he goes, this isn't a Montblanc. What the hell is this? And he's talking about Wes's pin because it's different looking than all the other ones. And I was like, it's hilarious.

Myke Hurley: You know, I'm going to use this pin. And I think, like, Schwarzman was like, I'm going to use this one. Like, I don't want your one. It's kind of what he said. Like, I'm going to stick with this one. Thanks.

Speaker 00: It's really good. It's like they were just, like, kind of, like, dogging Wes's design on the pin. It's like, what the hell is this? He literally goes, what the hell is this?

Myke Hurley: And, like, I'm watching that part back right now. And he's, like, making faces at him. Oh, yeah. And then, so this is it. He says, Wes asks Rupert Friend, do you like this? And Friend's like, I, like, prefer the original.

Speaker 00: And then, like, for the whole, like, second half. Like, this is only three minutes.

Brad Dowdy: But, like, for literally the second half of the film, and maybe even they might have even started in the beginning. They're actually dogging Mont Blanc that they have two quotes. Oh, like, three? Yeah.

Myke Hurley: Like, three taglines? Three taglines. It's really good. The whole commercial is just fantastic. Like, it'll be in the show notes. You have to go watch it. It's really good.

Brad Dowdy: So, like, one of them is, like, Mont Blanc, inspire writing. And then they'll go, like, and also, leave your mark.

Myke Hurley: And it's just, like. So, it says, Mont Blanc, inspire writing. That's our slogan. Also, make your mark. There's two slogans. Leave your mark. Yes. Thank you. There's three slogans in total. Fantastic. I got the biggest kick out of this. I love it so much. I love it so much.

Brad Dowdy: Like, this is one of those things, given, like, I don't, I like, I like Wes Anderson, right? Like, I'm not as super passionate about you. But, like, every Wes Anderson movie I've enjoyed. But, like, I'm not watching them five times each kind of thing. So, this is one of those things when you see, like, a really cool person working with a, like, really, in our space, this is the pinnacle of luxury brand, right? Yeah. I hesitate to click the links, right? My first reaction is, like, okay. I am, like, girding myself. Like, I was, like, okay. I guess I need to click these links. And you know what? It turned out freaking amazing. And I'm really for it. And... Well, the ad did. The ad did. Okay. But I feel like you want to talk about the product. So, there's two categories here. There's a product collection. And then there's Wes's pen. Yeah. Which I believe are two very different things. Very distinct things.

Myke Hurley: Because the Wes pen is not available.

Brad Dowdy: Yes. Not even until next year.

Myke Hurley: Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So, I feel like you want to talk about the collection, though.

Myke Hurley: The collection is 100 years of Meisterstück. I don't actually feel like this has got anything to do with Wes Anderson, other than the fact that he made an ad. Because there's nothing to these products, really, that you haven't seen before, except they're in green. Some of them. Not even all of them. They haven't even... They're not doing the Meisterstück fountain pen in green. Which is just why they do the ballpoint in green, but the fountain pen don't like. I was just really disappointed because I was expecting lots of beautiful pastel colors, right? Like Wes Anderson style. But it's just, here's our existing products. And some of them have a new color, but not all of them. Yeah. I was very disappointed when I looked at these products. And then the ad kind of turned it around for me because the ad has in it what I wanted, which was, here's a pen that actually looks like Wes Anderson would make. Like, which is the pen that's in the commercial. Which appears to be from, I mean, I'm stealing your work here, a modified version of the Heritage Rouge et Noir Baby, which is the little pen. But it's... And I found an image of it because they don't show it anywhere. But I found an image of it. And it's like two-tone green and a yellow. And it's like perfect. Like, this is a pen that I want desperately. And I will probably buy this pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So a couple of things. I agree with you that... So the collection, I don't think should be called the Wes Anderson collection, even though the URL has collection slash Wes Anderson, which I think is... But the header to the page is 100 Years of Meisterstuk. Yeah.

Myke Hurley: And the actual description, I think, makes it clearer, which is, explore this curation of accessories as featured in our short film by Wes Anderson. So that's kind of more what's going on as opposed to the fact that like... Which I don't think... I don't think Wes had anything to do with this collection. This is just a bunch of stuff that they put together to celebrate Meisterstuk.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So green is the running theme throughout the products. Not everything comes in the green. They have, you know, a bunch of, you know, very Mont Blanc type of things in there, including pens. But then you have sunglasses and bags and all kinds of accessories and things like that.

Myke Hurley: Some of the bags are beautiful.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, there's several items in here that are beautiful. And then you go, like you're saying, to the pen, which is a take on the baby, which you mentioned. And that came out two, three years ago as their small, obviously small, pocket pen. And it has the great classic large snowcap finial with the red finial color on there, which I think is just a classic beautiful color. And then now you get your Wes Anderson style. It's in the baby. So the baby is built with a metal grip section. And so the previous versions were black and rhodium plated, I believe. And then white or pearlescent. And it might have been rose gold trim on that one. We'll have to look at that. I'll have to verify the two colors, but it was two colors. Those came out about three years ago. Very popular. They were very popular when they came out because they're small and cute. And, you know, you don't, this, this word is incorrect, but compared to the rest of their lineup, affordable, right? It's only a six or $700 pen and compared to like a 12 or $1,400 pen, but it's a small pen. And this is, this is Wes Anderson, like perfect type of design for this pen. Like, you know, the three, the three colors, then plus the rhodium plated grip section, and then the red trim, and then the ivory snow cap. It's, it's just loaded with color and style and feel. And like, I might have to get this one right. Like I literally own one other Montblanc, it's a small Bohem, like, which is in the same size category as this one. This, it just looks spectacular. So I'm glad I have a year to save for it because I will probably need to end up with this pen because of the style, not like completely, like it doesn't matter if it's Wes Anderson or not. I'm glad, I'm glad it doesn't have like a signature or like stamping on there. I'm glad it's just the color base, at least as far as we can tell. Again, this is not a product that comes out until next year, but the mock-up or the, the original design here is fantastic. And we'll be talking about it again when it launches, because I think it's that cool looking. I'm shocked by Montblanc to do this. I I'd say probably not because they've done some special, like they've done like the Beatles and they do all their like big, big one-off type of stuff. That's really wild. But this is more of a main lineup. Yeah. I think this is more of a main product.

Myke Hurley: Well, for me, it's more surprising because they have seemingly given him free creative reign with the commercial and they're making fun of the brand on an anniversary, which is a weird time to do that. Yep. Right? Like it is, it is strange to make fun of the company that's celebrating something in a commercial for said company, but it makes it authentic and more watchable. So they, they, whoever it was that made the final decision on this made the exactly the right decision because this, it was made infinitely more enjoyable based on the fact that it was quirky and fun and weird. Yep. And it like just totally worked. Totally worked.

Brad Dowdy: So it's good to see this type of design in the, in a more, God, I just the wrong word, accessible price point, but for Montblanc it is because just to your point on the collection page, they don't have a green Meisterstück, right? They have green and, and other items. They don't do this. They don't make like the 149, which is the smaller version of the, the 146. They don't, it's not like you can go to the Montblanc store and grab like a purple or a green or a blue 149. That's not like some crazy special edition. So this is, this is cool to see. I like that they did this.

Myke Hurley: Yeah. Fun times, but I still want, I wanted more. Yep.

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Brad Dowdy: All right, before we get into our next topic, I'm going to go ahead and save some emails for next week. Oh, here we go. Save some follow-up. I always, I've never once been correct about the Montblanc sizes the first time I said it. So Toga, thank you in the chat. The 149 is the big one, which, you know, it would be easy to go, hey, it's the bigger number than the 146. So maybe you should say that first, Brad. But just to this idea of me constantly messing up the product names, I had to put a sticker on my UniBall 1F. I don't know if you saw this on my Instagram because I can never get the name right because they make like the UniBall 1 and the UniBall 1F and the UniBall 1R. And it's like, I don't know which one this is. I don't know what the F means. I don't know what the R means. So I literally got a label printer and put a giant sticker on this UniBall because I can't remember it. And I never get the UniBall numbers right, even though that's a very simple one that I should be getting right every time. Okay. So yeah, that's my one sticker on pen right now is my UniBall that's got a big label maker label on it. And it's not even an old person thing. It's like, I understand that I'm getting old, but like, what does the F mean? What does the R mean? Like I, like, I don't know. So therefore I don't know what to call this pen every time I pick it up, but I keep picking it up because I love it. So that's the only way I'm going to remember what to call it. There we go.

Brad Dowdy: Brad's old man corner.

Review of Lamy All-Star pens

Brad Dowdy: Brad also spent some quality time with the Lamy All-Star over the past three weeks. I said I was going to give it a, I said I was going to give it a month, right? So we did it. I marked it down April 17th, but I know you're not going to be here next week. And I, Jeff reviewed his All-Star that I sent him to review for the blog today. So I figured today was kind of a good way, oops, kind of a good way to, to talk about this. My time with the All-Star. So what I was going to do is, or the impetus between this is because I love the Lamy Safari, right? And the All-Star is really not that different than the Safari other than the plastic barrel and cap is converted into an aluminum barrel and cap. So you have different feel, different aesthetic, but essentially same shape, same design, same nib, same clip, same size, you know, a little bit different weight, same, you know, filling mechanism, like literally the same pin other than the external barrel and cap materials. So I never use the All-Star because I like the, the plastic feel of the Safari. It's just always been a tactile thing to me. So I would never give the All-Star any extended run in usage. I haven't inked up an All-Star in years, um, just because I always ink up the Safari and let someone else look at the All-Stars.

Brad Dowdy: This time with the Fiery and Aquatic. So we'll have a link up on, um, in the show notes to Jeff's review of the Aquatic. So I sent that one to him to review and I kept the Fiery because I like red pens and I like blue, black ink and red pens and I like Lamy blue, black. So I was like, well, now is as good as opportunity opportunity as any for me to spend some quality time with the Lamy All-Star. So I did like, this has been the pen I've used the most over the past three weeks. I have carried it around with me when I've gone out of the house. I haven't really used it out of the house, but like I made sure to carry it with me because one of my big hangups with this pen, which is weird because I don't really think about it with other pens is how it gets dings and dents in it. And I don't like it in this pen. Other pens, I don't seem to care about getting dinged and used, right? That's part, that's a feature for a lot of my pens, right? That they are, Hey, they're used and loved and that's how they should look. With the All-Star, it's always been, well, I don't like how this one dings and dents and scratches because like you see like the aluminum color underneath and things like that. So, um, I didn't really get any dings or dents in it. Like I was pretty careful with it, like not on purpose, but I just didn't really have that opportunity out of the house very much to, to put through it. And the long version or the short version of this, this long intro is my feelings haven't changed about the All-Star in that it's purely a tactile difference for me in how the two pens feel between the Safari and the All-Star. That is literally it. So I prefer the density of the plastic than the light airiness of the All-Star, which kind of goes opposite to the way I feel about some other pens. I'll tend to prefer the lighter materials over the heavier materials. It's a small difference. You know, we're talking a few grams, but it's noticeable when you pick them up and the feel is noticeable. And the All-Star is a great pen, but it's just that simple tactile feel in my hand is the only difference in this, because I will say I've absolutely loved writing with it, which is why I like the Safari so much, right? The grip section, the molded grip section to have like a traditional grip really works for me. That's how I grip a pen. My fingers just lock right into the grip. I have an extra fine nib on this one. It's been glorious. This, I'm actually going to like make note of this extra fine nib in this pen to be my one extra fine nib that I move around to my other Safaris because it is that good out of the box experience, which it's not always like I'll admit that Lamy's steel nibs don't always have great out of the box experiences. Even an extra fine can write like a marker sometimes. This one has been really, really good. I'm also using it with Lamy blue black ink, which is a dry ink. So like I've helped with that situation, right? So there could be other inks that would perform worse with it. But yeah, like this is just a fantastic pen. This is why I like Lamy. You have options for style while meeting the same functionality across the board, like in their entry level pens between the Safari and the All-Star. The All-Star generally runs about $10 more than the Safari. That doesn't make a difference to me. There one's $28, one's $38, you know, just give or take a few dollars. So, you know, find one if you like this style and the grip works for you. Just pick which one you like. Like it's there. I think they're just such a good writing experience. I think the Lamy Safari is like one of my favorite EDC pens. Like I don't think I could do, I don't think I would enjoy just throwing the All-Star in my pocket constantly, given the barrel material. But the Safari is just great. And, you know, I was thinking about this. It's like, I don't even own very many of these pens. This is the only All-Star I have. I might have one more. I might have the teal one, like a Pacific blue, whatever they called that from years ago. And then like my Safaris, like I have like the Terracotta and Savannah Green they did. My favorite is a white barrel with a red clip that they did. I have a Natoya special. Like, you know, I have five, six, seven Safaris. It's not like I have 20 Safaris and like I'm super, like it's the greatest pen ever. But I just love popping a cartridge in those with an extra fine nib and just going to town. It's one of those, it's one of those types of pens for me. And that's super valuable, right? Like that's, I get as much joy out of that as, you know, I will get inking the Wes Anderson, you know, triple green baby fountain pen later. Like, and like that seems weird to say, but it's the truth. That's how I feel about a lot of these pens. And the Safari and All-Star are right there. But I'm definitely going to stick with Team Safari. But I understand why everyone loves the All-Star. It's a really great pen.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I feel like, at least when I'm hearing from you, like there is a feeling that the Safari gives, that the All-Star doesn't replicate. Like, even though it's a great pen, it's just like the thing that you love about the Safari isn't really there. It's not there the same in the All-Star at least.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, like I would, like if I was writing a description of each of these pens, like side by side, and I was like, okay, I'm going to write a description of the Safari, then I'm going to write the description of the All-Star. I would use the word utilitarian in the Safari description that I wouldn't use in the All-Star description, right? I feel like I could drop the Safari. I could throw it against the wall. Not that I would ever do any of these things, but it's just like I have a different feel about this pen. And then like I'm not being delicate with the All-Star whatsoever. I'm just not going to enjoy it as much if I know it doesn't have this in it.

Myke Hurley: Yep, makes perfect sense.

Brad Dowdy: But again, this is, they did a great job on the All-Stars this year. Love the All-Stars this year. So really good job, really popular, popular color. So good job.

Myke Hurley: Great. Should we do some RSTPA to finish out today's episode?

Brad Dowdy: Yep, what you got?

Listener Q&A session

Myke Hurley: So I've got a first question from an anonymous question asker. All right, I haven't seen these. I've been in the pen hobby since high school, and I've recently graduated college. I'm not looking for work, as I'm currently working as my mom's paid caretaker, and that takes precedence. But now that I'm out of school, I find myself at a loss of what to do with my stationery most days. With my open schedule, I now only use all my planner stuff while doing my monthly spread. I write fiction for fun, but my ADHD struggles to me to go to my desk and pick up a pen over a phone and swipe to type. Any suggestions for what I should be doing to be using my products more?

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's like, are you me, anonymous? Because I feel like this a lot. As someone with a lot of stationery, with so many pens and papers and inks and pencils and everything literally sitting in front of me right now, sometimes I go, huh, how am I going to use this stuff today? You know, yes, I have my planner, and yes, I have my five-year journal. And those are small content type of usages. So a couple of things that I have done to continue to use my stationery. So you mentioned that you write fiction. Like, that's great, you know, but when you're not, you know, sometimes, you know, you need a break from that or you need a creative break from that and need to think differently. If you go back to our shout-out of the week this week, the doodles are one of the things that I do. For my line art, I will literally just grab a set of postcards, right? And, like, a notebook's too intimidating or, like, a journal is too intimidating. Like, the big bulk, bulk, bulk, bulk bag is too much, too much for me mentally sometimes. So you want to, the way I break out of these habits is I take smaller format papers. Like, in the past, it might be an index card or a note card, right? And now it's currently a postcard. Or I will take that postcard and literally just draw lines all over it. And I'll zone out. It'll take me, you know, 10, 15 minutes to do this little zone out thing. And I was like, you know what? I just got to use my pen. I got to use a couple different pens. I got to see how this nib worked on probably terrible paper and how this ink behaved. Like, I'm not trying to be perfect. You know, I now have, like, this little bit of information that I didn't have before. Oh, how did this rollerball work on this horrible quality postcard? Or, oh, did this fountain pen work amazing on this postcard? So now I have this one little bit. And then when I'm not doing that, sometimes I'll write lyrics on these postcards as well. Like, if a song is stuck in my head or I've listened to a new album today, I'll go grab the lyrics from that song on the album and maybe not even write the whole thing. But, like, whatever fits on a postcard just kind of randomly. Another thing I've done, which you can do for any type of media, book, movie, music, video games, anything like that, is write your own personal mini review of that as you do it. I do that on note cards for albums. I haven't done that recently. I started this year doing, like, one a week. And I would take a little, like, A7 size note card. I would get an album on one side. I would write the track list of the album. And then on the flip the card over. And I would write my thoughts on, did I like it? What did I like? What did I not like? What was my favorite song? What was terrible? Things like that. So what I, my biggest piece of advice is to use your stationery in small chunks when you're struggling. Right? Don't get out the 300 page A5 journal and your whole binder full of pens. Right? Simplify it to the most basic. Grab a gel ink pen and a post-it note. And just doodle and write. And then you just start getting these habits that kind of break into other habits. And then guess what? All of a sudden you want to use, go do a bunch of ink testing in your A5 journal with every pen you have inked up. And try to, you know, say, hey, these are all the pens I have inked up right now. What am I enjoying? And that, those little things lead into the bigger things. And again, this is the whole goal is like, hey, do this little thing instead of picking up the phone. Right? To scroll endlessly. And like, that's a challenge we all have these days. So, I'm adamant about small stationery and small doses and just doing it and not caring so much about things. And then that just naturally leads into the bigger things when your mind is free to allow you to do them.

Myke Hurley: My recommendation is gratitude journaling because it's a simple form of journaling. And you're just writing very simple things. And it's not, you know, you could write a couple of sentences, a couple of lines, maybe even a couple of words. But if you write, say, three different things down each day, you could use three different pens to do it. So, I think a simple journal practice like that can be very beneficial, but it can also give you a great excuse to use your pens.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So, like, what I would do is say, you know, I am grateful for the shacket that Myke wore to the Apple event yesterday. It was beautiful.

Myke Hurley: That's one of my favorite new pieces of clothing. It's gorgeous. I love it. It's a good shacket.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's a good shacket. So, yeah, very good.

Myke Hurley: Next question comes from Andrew. It says, I have been using an EasyFlow 9000 M for a short while, and two of them, one a Baron Fig Squire and one in a replacement to a Jota, are already skipping badly. It works for a paragraph, then it goes dry and resists any attempt to put ink in those spots. Is there any way to fix this or do I just throw it away? What's the most consistent working replacement for a Jota or Baron Fig or Retro 51?

Brad Dowdy: Really good question. Because I am moving into some EasyFlow 9000s right now as a choice for some of the spoke design pens, the roadies that we do, because we have used the Jetstream. I think the Jetstream's the best, like, Parker-style refill. So, that's what the EasyFlow 9000 is. That's what the Parker Jotter refill is. The Caran d'Ache, Goliath, like, all of these very popular Parker-style replacement refills. I haven't seen that skipping issue with the 9000. It could happen to any refill, but to happen to two refills, like, consecutively, like, you just start having to think, like, are they new? You know, do, is there something I need to do to, like, kind of get them started? If they're brand new, I would honestly go back to, like, where you purchased them from and see if you can get a replacement. But I haven't seen any skipping or anything. I do prefer the Jetstream. And the reason why we're moving away from the Jetstream is because they have become very cost prohibitive. They're about $850 per refill now for a Parker-style ballpoint refill. And as much as I love the Jetstream, that's something I will have in moderation, not as something I am going to buy hundreds of. So, my recommendation off the Jetstream has always been the EasyFlow 9000, and I generally have good luck with those. So, again, not the EasyFlow. And you can try the Jetstream if you want to spend that kind of money. Like, I think you'll have a great experience. Like, it's kind of worth it, but I wouldn't, again, like, I'm not going to buy 10 of those.

Brad Dowdy: The Oto Flash Dry is a gel, is the best gel option for this. The only kicker with that one, it is a needle tip. So, there's nothing wrong with that, but a lot of the designs of these pens are designed in such a way where a needle tip might look funny to you. It doesn't to me. So, I use the Oto Flash Dry in one of my Retro 51s. And you know what? Like, does it look a little bit weird? Yes. But is the refill amazing? Also, yes. Right? It's a 0.5 millimeter black gel ink refill. I was recommended yesterday to try the Monteverde gel ink refill. So, I'll have to get some of those. So, they have a Parker Style 0.5 millimeter gel ink refill that I have not tried, but that would be worth a try because they're not that expensive.

Brad Dowdy: And the Jotter replacement, Parker does a gel that I've used in the past that actually works pretty well. I don't know that I love the regular Jotter ballpoints. They've tended to be a little bit scratchy where something like the Easy Flow is very, very smooth to me. But the Jotter gel is a pretty decent option as well. So, Jotter gel, the Jetstream, the Oto Flash Dry, that's probably my number one recommendation. And then the Monteverde gel. So, it'll also give you some options to figure out what you might prefer for your pens.

Myke Hurley: And Harry asks, have you had experiences of pens you wanted to love but you just couldn't? I recently bought my first Retro 51 and it's a beautiful pen but I just don't enjoy writing with it. It's too heavy in the back, too slippery to grip and just overall not built for my hand. What do you do when this happens? Is it worth trying to adapt the pen or should I just find a new home for it?

Brad Dowdy: This is an awesome question and I'm going to take us to a place that is going to get me email in a minute. So, we'll hold that.

Brad Dowdy: Let's take Harry's experience with the Retro 51 Tornado. That's the downside of that shape and then the brass barrel that it has. It's not an ultralight pen. I don't find it to be overly heavy but it's a weighted pen. The weight is mid, like middle of the barrel, like not towards the tip because it tapers so much. And then with the taper, the taper goes straight into the nose cone so it can be slick, right? So, that's super valid if you don't like that feel. So, what do you do when this happens? Is it worth trying to adapt to the pen? Adapting almost never works. Like you just sell it to someone, gift it to someone and try to find a pen that fits for you better. So, yeah, like I can't think of a situation where adapting has worked. I could probably, if I sat here long enough, I could maybe come up with something. I'm trying to think, like some of my heavier weighted pens I have adapted to because I like so many other things about them. But like weight is one of my big hang-ups and I do enjoy some larger heavier pens but they have to hit some of the marks in other areas. Some of them, it's just like a no-go from the start. So, one of the pens that I have had historically had a huge challenge with and just recently mentioned it on an episode of the Pen Outic Members podcast that I do called Friend of the Show. I don't ever recommend the Lamy 2000 to anyone. Great. Because of the same kind of grip issue that you have.

Myke Hurley: So, it doesn't have a weight issue. The 2000 can be very finicky with the nib for some reason.

Brad Dowdy: It's, the further I get away from my early days of fountain pen usage, the more I would restrict any recommendation of the 2000 to people as an expert level pen. But, right, that's not something, that's not like your first gold nib pen. It shouldn't be like your first fancy pen. It shouldn't be your first expensive pen. It should be for experts only because you're going to have to deal with certain things with feel and performance of that pen that only experts, I think, are, you know, good to adjust to. Right? It's a lot of people's favorite pens like for good reason. Like it's one of the best design pens ever. I don't think it's a super functional or easy to use pen for a lot of reasons. So, that's one that I want to love badly. So, I have the stainless steel model. Like I like that pen. But the Macrolon model, I never got into because of how it felt and how like just consistently having to fight with the nibs and not enjoying how that nib feels on the page. So, it's a great pen for, like I said, someone who really knows what they're doing with fountain pens and can adjust to the need. That's something that you can adapt to. But like that's not a pen I ever recommend to beginners or first time like upgrade to a gold nib pen anymore. So, like I definitely have had those types of experience that Harry has had.

Myke Hurley: Yeah, I mean and I'll just throw in I think probably the obvious one for me is the Vanishing Point. Like it's a pen that I wanted to love. Like I really wanted to love it because I love the look of it and people always spoke so highly of it. Yeah. But it just does not work for my hands and there's kind of nothing I can do about it.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Nine times out of ten adapting is not going to work. You enjoy what you enjoy for a particular set of reasons, right? And just because someone else likes it doesn't mean it's going to work for you at all.

Myke Hurley: Correct. If you would like to send in a question for us to answer on a future episode of the Pen Addict, it's very simple to do so. Just go to penaddictfeedback.com. You can also send in your follow-up there if you have corrections that you would like to make for the things that we have said on this week's episode unless they've already been corrected in the episode. Pre-corrected. I'm going to find Brad online. Go to penaddict.com and spokedesign.com and he is at penaddict. And also everyone at twitch.tv slash penaddict as well. You can find me. I'm at imike. I-M-Y-K-E. And you can find my products at cortexbrand.com. And you can find this show on RelayFM. Go to relay.fm and you can find a bunch of different shows for your perusal. Thank you to Ooni Pizza Ovens and Pan Chalet for the support of this week's episode. But most of all, thank you for listening. Until next time, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.