The Pen Addict 598/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	598
Title:	Big Pen + Big Nib = Big Price
Release Date:	January 17th, 2024
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	No guests this episode
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 598
Audio File:	Audio Episode 598
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 598
Length:	5757 min <br />0.95 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

From RelayFM, this is the Pen Addict, episode 598. Today's show is brought to you by our friends at Pen Chalet. My name is Myke Hurley, and I'm joined by Brad Doughty. Hi, Brad. Hey, Myke. How's it going today?

Brad, do you have a hot take on the Vision Pro, how it looks on people's faces? Do you have one? I love that you're starting out with this. I don't want to burst your bubble, but I could not care less about the Vision Pro. That is not bursting my bubble, because I don't care if you care.

You know what I mean? Right, exactly. I care, and most of the people in my world care, and I just wondered if you had a take. I don't. Will there be any virtual writing, handwriting? Are you going to be able to pretend you have a lightsaber?

Maybe. Do some lightsaber moves and write your journal? Maybe. I definitely want to explore this a little bit further, but no. I actually don't dislike how it looks. I think it looks okay for what it is.

I have no issue with that. I just don't have any use case for it. I know that, is like, well, let me tell you, Brad. I am enjoying watching our app developer friends design for it.

I am actually enjoying that. I just, like, that's not a thing that will exist in my world. I am very happy with that. It's all I'm thinking about right now.

My life is focused around it. Yes, I can tell. So that's just where I am. Yeah. What are you going to use it for?

Not to, like, totally distract from, like, literally every other thing. Like, what? Okay, then let me ask you this. What are you most excited about? So what I experienced in June, the thing that excites me about it is the, like, using it as a computer.

Okay. Because the kind of window management opportunities that you have, it's unlike anything else you've experienced before. Yeah. Because it's definitely, I get the future part of it, right? This is the future part of it. You can have these windows that are just huge, just massive, and they can be all around you.

So, like, you could take a window and just, like, put it behind you. And, like, it's always there, and you can just go grab it when you need it. I like that. There's a tactility to it, which is weird because it's all digital, but it feels more tactile than any other interface I've used before.

But I'm basing this on 30 minutes six months ago. We'll see. Yeah. When I saw all the reviews yesterday, I'm more interested in, like, some of the long-term stuff and see how people are feeling. Everything is just preview right now. There are no reviews.

And I'm not trying to, like, well, actually hear. Oh, so the articles yesterday were preview times. Hey, you get another 30 minutes with it. Everybody that posted something yesterday got an extra hour under Apple supervision.

Okay. Gotcha. So, like, I expect next week people will have review hardware because there was a rumor from Mark Gurman, so it's mostly, I think of them as rumors more than anything else, that Apple was going to do this thing, which it looks like they're doing, where, like, people that they're going to give review hardware to, they're bringing them in.

Then a week later, bringing them in again. So, like, these two separate demos, which I think they're really trying to make sure everyone understands how to use it. Then they give them their hardware and say, you know, off you go kind of thing. And it looks like that's probably what they're going to do.

And then there will be reviews. There'll probably be reviews the week it comes out, but obviously after pre-order. So, like, pre-orders are on Friday, but I reckon the reviews will come out on, like, the end of January when the device ships on the 2nd of February.

Gotcha. That's what I reckon is going to happen. I'll be here for the handwriting content if and when it happens. It's certainly going to happen. I'll do my best to find out.

It seems like a thing. If I can get one. We'll find out if I can get one on Friday. And then if I get one on Friday, that means going to America to collect it.

Gotcha. Interesting. Interesting. To keep on the technology front, this is also not on our notes. Did you ever get a remarkable tablet or no? We talked about this. You know, I've never done it.

I've always been interested. Realistically. And, okay, I very rarely feel this way. But with this one product, I feel this way, which is, like, they should want to send me one. And that's how I want to use it.

It's too expensive, I think, for me to just take a lark on. But I would like it if remarkable sent me one for review. But they have never done that. And so I'm not going to do that.

The same is, like, I would very happily take an advertisement from them if they wanted to. Sure. I would totally look into it. So, yeah, our friend Joe at the Gentleman Stationer, who you know, he's starting to use the remarkable a little bit. We'll put a link in the show notes to, like, his first review.

So he's going to be kind of doing a thing about it. Like, it's not super compelling for me to, like, use. But I do think it's an interesting product for people to use. Yeah. I feel like it's a product I could dig.

It's one of those things where I don't think I would personally use it enough to justify paying the price for it. Yeah. But I would love to try it out and see what I think about it. Because, as well, like, I would want to go the whole hog, right?

Keyboard and everything I do. And at that point, we're up to getting an iPad in price. And I just, I don't think I have the use for that myself. Plus, like, I know some people, like, David Sparks has bought and returned a remarkable tablet twice.

Because, like, he thinks he could want it, and then he buys it, and then realizes he doesn't want it. And then six months go by, and it's, like, the same thing. It's like, oh, you know, I think I could use it. And then he buys it, and he's, like, unhappy with it, you know?

And, like, that just kind of goes around and around. That's amazing. Well, I think we've talked enough about digital writing. I'm surprised you've never bought one, to be honest. If I journaled digitally more and did any type of writing digitally, it would be on my radar, like, without question.

I just don't. Like, I've never, I, my problem with digital journaling is I fidget too much with the settings instead of just writing the things. Oh, I can do this. You mean I can do this? Or I can shape it like this.

Or I can have a different type of background. Or I can change my color. I can change my line with, oh, look at the different tip size. Oh, look at the brush.

Oh, look at the, look at the marker. It's like, it's like, just pick up the pen with the color and write on the paper. Yeah, I understand. Speaking of pens and color and paper and picking stuff up, what are you using today? Yeah, so let's get into it.

And I wanted to kind of, like, relate this little what we're using topic into how things are going for me. And using fountain pens more in 2024 and thinking about these types of things, thinking about writing. I have a lot of notebooks in the air right now, a lot of active notebooks, which I'm shockingly good with.

Like, I go in and out of, it's been years since I've considered one notebook to rule them all. Like, that just does not work. But now I have, let's see, I'm looking at one, two, three, four, five, six notebooks that I kind of keep stacked together because I'm using them for different things.

So I'll kind of go through the notebooks as I'm talking about some of the pens I'm using because they, I guess a couple of them do have jobs and a couple of them are more general, right? Like, I have a planner and then, like, my five-year journal.

Like, I'm counting those things even though I'm not using those, like, all day, every day. They probably get used every day, but not all day. And, like, people would think of, like, a bullet journal or any type of planner, like, like a day planner type of thing. So let's start with a couple of pens first.

So one of the things I mentioned in our first episode of the year is I wanted to use fountain pens more this year just because I have so many awesome fountain pens and I love them to death. And I love the customization they provide and I love the fun colors and the fun styles and the stories they tell.

So I have been, I was talking on Twitch yesterday, you know, what percentage of fountain pen use do I have, you know, out of all pen and writing instrument usage? And it's probably no more than 50 or 60%, which on one hand, that's a pretty high percentage. But for someone with the quantity and quality of fountain pens that I have, I'd say that's probably a low percentage, right?

Like, I tend to grab, like, I'm staring at a multi pen or I'm staring at a ballpoint pen right now. It's one of those things that every time you talk about this, I feel like I don't believe you. Like, I feel like you can't be correct in what you're saying.

Like, that seems very peculiar to me. So that's why I wanted to track what pens I'm using. So I'm going to read you what I've used so far this year. It won't take as long as you think it might take.

All right. So I haven't solved the, hey, how am I going to digitally track this yet? But I've been fine writing things down. So let's go. And I haven't done the fountain pen versus standard pen yet. Plus, like, I don't rate how much time I've used one, right?

I could use, like, yesterday I used the fountain pen for probably, like, more than an hour consecutively. That's just one entry, right, in the book where something else might have been a shorter thing. So anyway, Pilot Murex, Spoke Roadie, Sharpie Marker, Caran D'Ache Keith Haring, 849 ballpoint, Sailor Mini Mekon fountain pen, which we're going to talk about in a minute.

CW&T pen type C, Zodiac Penco Ares, Spoke Model 4, Uni, Uniball Karimoku multi-pen, Kuretaki Zig Mangaka, that's the marker, Studio Neat Black Steel, Blackwing Arras, that's the pencil, Platinum 3776, Twisby Eco Rose Creme, Uniball 1R, and the Sailor 1911S Tangerine. So let's see here. How many is that?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. I've written down 16 different writing instruments I've used in the first 17 days of the year. I do have little tick marks next to ones I've used multiple times. So, like, my CW&T pen type C has a 3 next to it, right?

My Zodiac Penco Ares fountain pen has 2 next to it. So, let's see, out of the 16, how many fountain pens? 1, 2, 3, 6. 6 fountain pens. And then they've been used, you know, varying amounts of times.

So I'm still picking up more. So you're not doing very well so far on your more fountain pen. Well, let's, I don't know, maybe you used one fountain pen this time last year. Yeah, so this was the whole philosophy, right, of the bigger picture.

I'm thinking, why do I choose the things that I choose to pick up to write with? And what I kind of related in an issue of refill recently, my last weekend's issue. It was last weekend's, yeah. Was that the fountain, for me to pick up the fountain pen, it has to have a job, right?

Like, a big job, right? Like, I'm going to sit with it and use it for a while. If I'm going to scratch out a note, I generally don't pick up a fountain pen. So what I was trying to fix was to allow the fountain pen to be picked up for the quick notes.

So I set them up on my desk openly instead of tucked away in a case and then having to grab them out when I feel like, oh, it's special fountain pen time. And trying to keep them more accessible into a, hey, let me grab this to write the thing real quick with, which I think is an important part of it too.

Like, it can serve both functions where previously I've limited to the larger function. Oh, fountain pen, I must be doing the important work now, which is just like a ridiculous statement. But that's kind of like the defaults I've fallen into. So let's talk about the specific products.

I'm really using a couple of Sailors very, very actively right now. The Sailor 1911 S Royal Tangerine. So that's the smaller 1911, which I really enjoy as a writing pen. It's just, this would be a good like EDC type of fountain pen, right?

I mean, it's obviously pretty expensive for that to just like take out and, you know, knock around with. But it's the right size and shape and quality and nib and all of that. It's got a medium fine gold nib, 14K gold nib. And it's great. It's just a stock nib.

It writes wonderfully. I have it inked up with Sailor Kingdom Note. I call it just salamander. I can't, I don't know the exact name pronunciation. Hynobius suensis. What is this? The, I don't know, the genus species.

I don't know how all those things work. But it's like the scientific name of this salamander. It's this orange. It's the orange color that I really enjoy. So I had a friend send me this, said, hey, this is my favorite ink.

I'm sending it to you, right? You can just get it at Kingdom Note. Like this is a hard ink to find. And it's one of my favorites.

I use it a lot. So it's kind of a orange ink and a bright orange pen. And it's a really good fit. The second Sailor I'm using right now is also orange.

And it's literally orange. It's the Tangerine Sailor Pro Gear Mini Mekon is what I call it. It's the Bungu Box 10th Anniversary Sailor Mini Tangerine. And it's just a really, really fun pen.

It has an awesome nib from CY. It's got a stacked cross-concord nib on it, which I love the writing point on that. Makes my handwriting look amazing. And it is inked up with Omos Violet, which Omos Violet is a longer story, like maybe for another episode, about using the inks that I own that I haven't used in a long time.

So I have these bottles. I have three bottles of Omos ink. And they haven't made ink since Omos existed, right? So when did they stop existing?

Five, six years ago? So they made some nice classic inks. And this violet is just a really vibrant purple. And it works perfectly in this pen.

So I really like it from that. And I inked up Omos Sepia, which is one that I actually do use frequently. I don't know that I've ever used the violet in years. The sepia is something I do use frequently.

It's one of my favorite inks. And I have that inked up in the TWSBI Eco Creme Rose Gold, which I'm really enjoying so far. That's one of the newer TWSBI models that I really kind of wanted for myself to just add to the... I really don't have many TWSBI's that I've kept over the years.

Like I use a lot or I buy a lot to give away. They're just kind of like a really good, great kind of giveaway item. Getting people into pens and checking out new fun things. But I don't really keep many of them.

So I kept that one for myself. Inked it up. Omos Sepia is working. I'm using the Studio Neat Mark I in Black Steel. Dan and Tom sent me this when they sent me the Keep Books, which I'm using the Keep Book for my journaling RPG game, Dead Ball.

So I put a post. I played my first game this weekend. It's kind of a pen and paper dice rolling game. And you just play it solo.

And I use that. I have a picture in here from Instagram. The mess I made in the notebook, which is great. Like that's exactly what it should be used for, right?

Use that notebook setup to track these games that I'm playing. So that was fun. The more I go down that path, you know, we'll maybe revisit that in a couple of months, see how I'm doing with these games. I don't need to do like an update every week on the RPG, solo RPG playing.

But it's fun. And I've gotten a lot of good feedback on that and a lot of other people trying things out. Last pen that I pick up a ton is the CW&P CW&T pen type C. CW&P 10 type P. That's the path that was going down.

I've never noticed before, but that is a bit of a tongue twister. It is. It is. So that one, yeah, that one got me stuck. But that one I do use frequently. This is more of my note taking pen.

Like I'm literally using it right now for the show notes in my field notes notebook, right? So that's just kind of the, it stays in the field notes and it's kind of got this good portability that I like. It's really functional for what I need. I wouldn't want to write, like I picked up my novel copying project again.

Like this is a way to use my fountain pens. This is something I discarded probably like a year or two ago where I just kind of stopped doing it. Like I wouldn't want to write like pages and pages of A5 writing with this, I almost said it again, PW&C.

Wow. With this pen type C. But for like a quick note or something like that, it's great and it's super portable, super functional. So that's kind of the realm of the most common things that I'm using here recently. I'll add in one more and it's, we don't even have to put it in the show notes, the pilot Murex.

That's, I use that a bunch. I was actually doing my planning journal, my William Hanna, where I've set up the pages for all my projects, my project journal, I should say. So I have a London trip page and I did all the Murex is doing like a bunch of my planning work for that because that's a really good.

The William Hanna paper is very fountain pen friendly and I really enjoy using that. So that was my trip planning pen. So that's kind of what I'm using. It's a lot, but at the same time, it's like not enough.

I'm always interested. Like I'm already, I have another stash on my desk, Myke, where it's the pending review stash. I have two bottles of ink, a dip pen and a mechanical pencil that are just sitting here in boxes that are about to go into the rotation. So the next time we do this, we'll see how many things change, you know, a month from now.

I'm going to have a lot of different things, hopefully in the rotation. And that's the goal, right? Like to use more of the things, but you have to use the things you currently have, get good use out of them, you know, fill them up with ink and use all the ink and then clean them and move on to the next one.

And that's kind of the path I'm on right now. And it's been fun. I'm really, really trying to use my stuff. And like that's never been a problem, but the rotation of stuff has always been like a little bit of a hesitancy for me.

Making sure I use more things more efficiently. So that's what I'm working on. So I'd love to hear that for you. Using your stuff is good.

And I'm happy that you're like heads down on getting the fountain pen project continuing, you know? Yep. I haven't sorted out the digital part yet. We'll talk about that another day. Like I'm thinking, I don't know if I need it, but by August or something, I'm going to go, yeah, I should really be tracking this better.

Yeah. I don't want to digress too hard there. Yeah, because it's nice to write it down because you're writing it down, but the tallying is complicated. Yes. So the months down the line is where I'm going to want some digital aspect of this. So right now I'm happy, but like, you know, a few months from now I'm going to be like, oh, what was I doing?

How much is, you know? Yeah, like data that's written down like that, that you want to try and extrapolate information from is not super helpful. Like it's easier when the computer can do it for you. That's what computers are good at.

Like I said, I've got little tally marks next to some of these pens that I've used, right? Like that's not helpful in an analog format. I mean, it would be helpful if you had a limited set of pens that you were working with, but you don't. Do you know me, Myke?

Yeah. Do you know who I am? That won't work. Would you like to hear what I'm using? I'm using just today. I do. I do because I have a very big comment on the first, the first item or the first two items here on your list.

I am using the Sailor 1911 Wicked Witch. I think it's officially called the Wicked Witch of the West, which is a beautiful purple fountain pen with like black metal trim. And I paired that with, I think, the only acceptable ink for this pen, which is P.W. Ackerman 28.

Hoff Quartier Grun. Hoff Quartier. And it's funny because I put a link in the show notes to your review of P.W. Ackerman, where the pen, which is on the paper, is the Wicked Witch 1911. So this relates to the comment I wanted to make. If I could make a list of all-time perfect pen and ink pairings of any pen ever and any ink ever, this is in the top five.

Yeah. I think it, I'm hard-pressed to even like just look at the pens that I currently own and the inks that I currently own and come up with a more perfect combination than Wicked Witch and Ackerman 28. I think it's, I think it, it's just perfect. Like it, it tells the story of the pen.

The ink complements it while not matching it. It's, it's everything for this pen. I don't know what it is that spins me up so much about this pairing, but I really think it's special. And yeah, it's perfect.

I'm also using, because I like to use two pens when I, when I make my notes here, just for the sake of being able to use more than one pen. Today, I picked up the Tactile Turn 8-bit, one of those special editions, which is a really fun one.

And obviously, I'm taking my notes today on a Sidekick notepad, because why am I an animal? Ops, ops. The Tactile Turn 8-bit. So, Tactile Turn sent me that pen to review, and I loved it, of course. And I gave it away, right, because I've got plenty of Tactile Turn pens.

And, you know, like a lot of times when I get things for free, I turn them around and spread the love. That one I actually kind of miss, because I saw someone, like one of my Instagram friends, like a week or two ago, posted that as, like, that was their journaling pen.

I was like, that is such a good pen. It's so simple, but it's executed well. Like, that's something I really, really appreciate about that pen. Texture's really good. I'm a fan. I got the short version here, which, in my opinion, is the best one to use.

So, yeah, I'm a big fan of it. Yep. So, really, really cool pen. That's good stuff. That's a perfect setup, Myke. Yeah. Should we take a break?

Yeah, let's do it. This episode is brought to you by our friends over at Pen Chalet. You should know about Pen Chalet because they have the products you're looking for at the best prices around. You're going to find products from your favorite brands, like Sailor, like Lamy, like Pilot, like Kaweco, Monteverde, and just many more.

You just go to the page. You go to PennChalet.com. You click the brands page. That list is ever-growing.

I remember when that list was, like, a fifth of what it is now. That list has gotten bigger and bigger over time because Pen Chalet is so awesome. They have really great, reliable, fast customer service. They believe in making sure that you are happy, which is why they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on their high-quality pens that they offer at low prices.

They run special discounts twice a month. They have close-out specials every two weeks as well. They're also always adding new styles of product. Every single month, you can find a new rollerball, a new fountain pen, a new ballpoint, new mechanical pencils.

New inks, new accessories, and so much more over at Pen Chalet. They do free shipping on the orders of over $75 in the U.S., and they have great shipping rates for international sales, too. I've bought a bunch of stuff from Pen Chalet, and I've always been really happy with the price and the speed of their shipping.

So go to PennChalet.com, P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website and use the password PennAddict for this week's special offer. And to get the code you need to save 10% on any product at any time at Pen Chalet.

Brad, what are you finding on the special deals page of Penn Agg listeners this week? I'm finding some fun stories to tell you. First off comes from the very first pen in the list, the Monteverde Super Black One Touch Stylus Tool Fountain Pen. So I got being the pen guy in your friend group, you tend to get asked the questions.

People know you're the pen guy, and they may not be pen people. And, you know, back in the holiday season, I don't even – I might have even told this story before. I can't remember. I got asked, hey, Brad, you're the pen guy. My sister is a nurse, needs a pen with a stylus on it.

It's like, what do you recommend? I was like, you know what? I basically replied back with like a – I don't know, like a 300-word text. And, you know, of course, I listed the Monteverde One Touch Stylus Tool Fountain Pen.

It's probably the most common, most popular of this type of pen. And I was basically like, my apologies for being me because I had to go into the details and all the different types of stylus pens that I would recommend. So that was funny. But separate from that, this pen is popular because – well, this is the fountain pen version of it.

So it's the kind with the ruler markings on it. They also do a separate version with the rollerball tip that you can put fountain pen ink cartridges on it. So regardless of whether this has a stylus or you need a stylus or not, this is a really cool, really cool functional fountain pen.

Second one relates to an Ask TPA question we had last week, Myke, about what pen should we use for our fancy wedding? Do you recall this question? I do. And what did we say? Pelican. You said Pelican. Yeah, I know. I like putting you on the spot like that.

Pelicans. We said – Classy Pelicans. We said – we said without question and definitively Pelican. You know what, Myke? I got an email from the person who asked the question and they said you were exactly right and that's what we got.

So they sent me a link to one of the Pelican ballpoints. And it's not this one that's in the pen chalet right now, but they have the Pelican 205 ballpoint pen for sale right now here on our list. What they did was they bought the 405, the white and gray gold trim – the white and gray silver trim ballpoint.

And they were like, you could not have been more right. Thank you for that. So it was very perfect. So, yeah, there's lots of cool stuff here on the pen chalet page.

When you click through too to like – you get like the little like special deals and there are more specials. There are some Pelican fountain pens and stuff like that in that list too. Nice. Nice, nice. But yeah, the Pelican – Spend some time on this page. That was such a great recommendation, by the way, like that I really want to remember.

Just like in general, Pelicans, they're great pens, but they look really good in a not too out there kind of way, you know? Yes. Like some of the stuff that we like, it gets a little out there, you know? Sure. But Pelicans, they keep it classy, you know?

Yeah. I was very confident in that answer. It doesn't mean it was going to work, but I was glad I got some feedback that, hey, that's exactly what we wanted and here's what we bought. Perfect. So yeah, that was sweet. So thanks to Pen Chalet for their support of this episode.

Go to P-E-N-C-H-A-L-E-T.com. Click the podcast link at the top of the website. Enter the password, Penn Addict, and get your eyes on these special deals. Thanks to Pen Chalet.

All right, Myke, we've got our shout-out of the week. Shout-out of the week. Our friends over at the Erasable Podcast. Tim, Johnny, and Andy continue to do a great job for all you leadheads out there.

So they just published episode 206 of their podcast. Leadheads is so good. All right, my bitch is so good. I didn't intend that.

And as soon as I said it out loud, I was like, like, should I, like, am I saying something questionable? But no, I think it works. What up, leadheads? It's time for another episode of Erasable. That's how they should start their show now.

So they do a great job. So they do a great job. They're really great friends of mine. And I know a lot of people are huge fans.

But we haven't given them a shout-out in a little bit. And if we have new listeners over here, that's a podcast you want to add to your listening queue. They do a great job. And they're always talking about fun stuff.

So they're kicking this off. This episode is kind of like their 2024 launch and talking about all the things that they're using and things that they're excited about. So definitely go give them a listen. Leadheads. I've got some follow-up for you.

All right. So we were trying to help a listener last week with finding an option for their Midori diary, like the B6 thick Midori diary. Right. Helen wrote in to say, to answer the question regarding a cover for the Midori 3 to 5, I think it's year diary, right?

Yeah. Three year or five year. They're close to B6. One cover that, this is what Helen's saying, one cover that it fits into very well is the Moterm B6 Plus notebook cover. The Midori is narrow, so there is an inch difference between where the pages end and the top of the cover.

I see this as a plus because you can fit two pens in the more elasticated pen loop. Joel also wrote in to say, regarding finding covers for unusually sized notebooks, I highly recommend Gfelle. Gfelle, Gfelle, G-F-E-L-L-E-R. I don't know. Is there a silent letter in there?

I don't know. You can provide the measurements and they will make you a high quality leather cover to those specifications. Now that, good, right? Yeah. Bespoke? I've actually, someone, yeah, it's like a bespoke case. Someone is, yeah, I've definitely seen this name.

Someone's used some of their products before, so it's definitely ringing a bell. Well, I've, and I've absolutely seen the Moterm cases be recommended before, so that's maybe something to check out as well. But yeah, it looks very, very cool. What I would say, like, about the Gfelle one, though, like, just looking at their website, it's a very particular style that you would have to like, which is that, like, unapologetically leather style.

Yeah, it's Filson, if you're familiar with the brand Filson. Like, you see that from a mile away, you go, oh, that's a Filson. And if it's not, it's someone trying to be a Filson. All right, so you sent me a YouTube video to something I just straight up don't understand.

So can you, like, do you have any more information than just this video? Other than I love it. So Mean Girls is the hot new movie out right now. And someone asked me, I have, of course, seen, like, the Mean Girls coming out, you know, whatever, like, the different marketing things coming out.

And someone was like, well, did you see Pilots commercial for that? And I thought it was just almost, like, not directly involved, just, hey, you know, what about, like, you know, if you're a fan of the Mean Girls, maybe you like these G2s or whatever. But no, they're, like, integrated and involved as a direct marketing ad with the Mean Girls movie.

And they're using the Pilot G2 to write in their burn books for the Mean Girls. So they're using the black and the pink G2s. There is actually a complete Mean Girls G2 set. I thought I put the link in here, but I forgot it.

Yeah, this is a full-on collab. So, like, this ad that they've put together, it doesn't feature anything. Like, it's just, like, clips from the movie. But there is a scene in the movie.

Like, they're also, like, you know, it looks like Pilot have made their own interstitials, right, where they're writing in a burn book. And that's Pilot doing that. But there is a clip from a scene of kids in a classroom, and everyone is using a Pilot. Yes. So it's a product placement in the movie.

Product placement, that's the word. Yeah. So we've talked about this before. This Pilot is very entrenched in Hollywood in a very weird way like this. Like, Pilot shows up.

Yeah, and I only see this from, like, their Instagram feeds. And I mean, like, Pilot USA. I see it, like, in their Instagram feeds. They'll be doing a lot of the award show pre-show swag bags and award show pre-show events.

I mean, they're sending out, like, influencer boxes of these Mean Girls, too. Yeah. Yeah. So, I don't know. I thought it was pretty funny. I kind of want the Mean Girls set.

Go for it. Yeah. So, I really like the commercial. Did have a laugh out loud moment towards the end of the commercial. I won't spoil that for anyone. But we watched this live because I hadn't seen it on Twitch.

And I'm glad I didn't have a drink in my mouth because it was hilarious when they were talking about the French names. And it was great. So, I enjoyed the commercial. Pilot is very, very Hollywood with the G2.

But they do. They've done a Metropolitan promo with different stars before. I think they've done some friction stuff. I know your favorite they've done some friction with. But it's really, they really, really pushed the G2 in the Hollywood scene.

So, not surprised to see this. And I thought it was kind of cool. I liked it. All right. Some kind of stop trying to make something happen. You know. But I don't know what it is.

Fetch. Fetch. But there's something for G2 though, I mean. Right? There's some kind of pilot thing here. But stop trying to make friction happen. And I don't know.

They're never going to stop. Fortunately, they did. They made it happen. They're just starting. They're just starting with the friction. Speaking of just starting, Myke, I'm a little bit confused.

If you were confused about the Mean Girls Pilot G2 promo, I am confused about the Dominant Industry Alchemist Inc. Kickstarter project. So, I'm thoroughly confused here. So, this is something I just kind of wanted to discuss my confusion here. So, I love Dominant Industry as a brand.

They make great inks. They make really unique inks along with very standard fountain pen inks. Right? So, when they launched, at least in the U.S., what I saw from them was a handful of fountain pen friendly standard inks in these really cool bottles. And the inks worked really well.

And then, separate from that, they did a series of dip nib only inks. But just for like art, calligraphy, dip nibs. Like a lot of pearlescence, a lot of opaque, you know, white and silver and things you're not going to put in a fountain pen. And, you know, but you're going to get some really cool inks.

And they've continued to be very popular since, you know, that initial launch, at least here in the U.S. I don't know how long they were around beforehand. But Dominant has a good standing in, like, the ink realm. So, I found this Kickstarter. I don't know if I saw it on their Instagram or if I got, like, an email or something about this.

And it's for a Kickstarter project called Alchemist Ink. And it's six inks. Two of them are the dip nib variety with a color-changing ink, right, not for fountain pens. Two of the inks are a standard, I won't say standard.

They're a shimmer ink that they say not to use in fountain pens. But I don't know. They might be okay. And then two of the inks are standard inks.

They say the inks can be used in a fountain pen. Okay. So, I was reading something at the bottom where I thought it said not to. Like, they had a chart. I went there immediately.

So, their FAQ says, I mean, maybe they just have something else on the page. But I went for the FAQ to find the answer to this question because I was like, what are they telling people that they can and can't do with these inks? Right. It says, color-changing ink can only be used with dip pens and brushes.

They cannot be used with a fountain pen. Glitter and standard inks can be used with a fountain pen or dip pen. Okay. Because they have a different section here. I'm staring right at it called Caution.

Great. It is literally the section. It's called Caution. Glitter ink. Brush or dip pen. Well, their FAQ says something to find. So, I would think, like, in the past, their glitter inks have been, I believe, fountain pen friendly, but I can't remember.

Anyway, what I'm trying to wrap my head around. Hey, great. Inks are cool. This is fine. This lines up with everything that Dominant has done before, right? This is their style. They make some really, really wild and crazy inks, and then they also make some basic, you know, load them up in your fountain pen and go to town inks.

I just don't understand why they're on Kickstarter. I guess is where my head goes with this. And there's nothing wrong with it being just like a purely marketing, you know, experiment to see, hey, can we get some broader reach for our inks? But I also look at it from a retail perspective and it's like, well, why can't I have these inks?

Like, can I not have these inks? Are you selling them through Kickstarter first? And maybe that's unfair from, like, a retail perspective, but I'm just trying to, like, add this up in my head. Like, I kept looking for the reason why we're doing this Kickstarter project.

And this is a giant scrolling page of information, but nowhere did I find anything interesting about why we're doing this, right? Do we want to bring inks more to the masses? You know, we have a great foundation in the fountain pen and journaling world and art world, and we want to share more, you know, with, you know, a broader, broader thing.

Which, like, I mean, you don't have to have it, but I'm just, I guess I'm just confused. Like, that would, this is almost, like, just any ink brand just launching their next ink on Kickstarter, which is fine. But you've built this whole kind of network of retail shops that support your brand.

And it feels kind of like you're going around them to launch a new product. I don't know. Like, and there's nothing wrong with that. I'm just confused. Like, this seems like, why don't we just launch this through our giant retailer network? And, you know, February 12th is the launch day for the Alchemist Inks, and all of your favorite stationery retailers have the products go.

I also just, like, I have, like, a fundamental issue with the set that they are offering. Like, it doesn't make sense to me to sell this product as a six ink set. Like, when only two of them can be used in regular fountain pens. Like, really, why can any of them be used of regular fountain pens?

Like, I feel like we're just making this more confusing than it needs to be by having this, like, delineation that, like, maybe somewhere between two to four, depending on what part of the page that you read, inks can be used of fountain pens. But I also just, like, I don't really understand the point of the color-changing inks, because it's an ink that is one color, and then in the sun it changes to a different color.

So it's just one color then, right? Right. And they didn't give me an indication that there would be variation in it, which I think there might be, but they didn't say that was the case, right? Like, in the imagery on the website and in the video. So it's like, I don't really- Right, it's two separate states of the ink.

It's either, you know, you put it down, and it's red, blue, and then it goes in the sun, and it turns purple. So what's the point of it then? Like, I don't understand why you would want that. You're not going to leave your journal outside on the street open?

No, but like- I'm with you. It's just like, I don't get something changing color from one state to another state, like, entirely. Like, if that's what the product does, I don't understand it. Like, where, say, like a shimmer ink, right?

There is just natural variation depending on the amount of ink on the page. Depends on, like, the color properties. It's a constant state of change, not a forced state of change kind of thing. And that's weird. Like, that's just like a weird thing to do.

Like, I don't know what the purpose of that is outside of being like a one-time party trick kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you can't buy the ink separately, or you can't buy them in twos, right? There's two, like you said, two of each. You said you have to buy all six, and it's like, well, what if I just want the two fountain pen inks?

I guess I'm just going to wait and see if they can do retail later. I would never buy this because I don't use, and I have no desire to use dip nips. You know what the coolest thing that they're offering here is they have a glass dip nib pen with just a round tip that's like a $10 add-on.

That's like the coolest thing in this whole thing. I was like, I want that. I want that glass pen. It's just a little – it's basically an ink tester glass pen.

It doesn't really have like a point. You're not really supposed to write with it. You're just supposed to do – it's basically like your swab. Yeah, it's like your swabbing tip, and it's $10.

That's cool. Like, that's super cool. Like, I'm down with that. Look, maybe there is enough of an interest in just this thing as a curio, but like I don't feel like I understand what the point of it is. Yeah, maybe their idea is that this is odd enough for our normal – maybe it's too strange for our normal channels, so we'll do it as this bundle thing.

I don't know. I think that might be the reason they have done it on Kickstarter because it's like it's too – maybe – look, maybe they went to some retailers and they were like, we don't want this product, but they wanted to make it. Or we want four of the six, or we want two of the six.

Yeah, but they want to sell them as a six set. Completely separate from the dominant question and why it's here, Kickstarter must allow something different now, which I have never seen and I think is probably going to cause a problem, and it's been a while since I've run a Kickstarter campaign.

If you look at any of the backer tiered levels, shipping fee will be charged via shipping survey site after the campaign. I have never seen that. You're going to back a campaign and then your shipping fee is going to be charged later through the survey. So if I pay $135 for this set, later on I'm going to have to pay $20 more in a separate charge that I'm going to have to actively go in and pay for to receive this.

That seems problematic to me just from a Kickstarter campaign creator aspect. I'm very confused about that. It's complicated. I mean, I don't disagree with the thinking, right? Because if this is going to take, like, it says June, right?

The price between shipping and the next six months, I guess it's a problem, right? That occurs now. They put flat estimates in here. It's like, so normally, like any project I've seen is like, hey, shipping is going to be $20 worldwide. So we're just going to charge you $155 on top of your $135 straight up from the front.

I just haven't seen that before, but apparently, I guess that's a thing now that they can do. Oh, it's a thing that they've done. Yeah, a thing that they've done. Right. But, I mean, you have to, it has to be, yeah, I guess it could be a thing they want.

But they have their shipping fees. Shipping fees are listed here. Shipping to the U.S., $10. Rest of the world, $20.

So, and then it says, please note, shipping fees will be charged through a shipping survey site after the campaign. So you'll be hit with a separate charge afterwards. So interesting. I don't know. I just find the whole thing interesting. So it's been a while since I've looked at a Kickstarter project.

So I guess this is maybe a normal thing. I don't know. I've never seen it before. I'm not going to assume it's something that Kickstarter necessarily allows. I'm not convinced that Kickstarter do the best job in the world of their actual review process.

Yeah. They review, but I mean, we've, how many times have we raised products where we're like, this, why is this happening? You know? Yeah. I just can't imagine ever hitting someone with a second charge. Anyway. I don't think it's, I think it's abnormal. I don't think it is a bad idea.

No. I, yeah. I mean, the more I think about it and you explain it that way, the timing wise, but the price is already fixed. If the price is already fixed in the campaign, they have listed a fixed price. Yeah. Why are you charging me that? I don't know why they've done that.

I wouldn't believe that personally. Right. You just charge me. If you're telling me shipping to the US is $10, charge me $10 right now. Yeah. So that's what, that's what I'm saying.

I think they've said that. I don't think they know that. And I think they're going to charge you whatever it costs. We'll see. I don't know why they've done both of those things.

That doesn't make sense to me. But like the idea of you'll pay shipping later, I actually think is something that maybe should be normalized because I don't disagree with a lot of small companies. They will, you know, this is one of the things in which a Kickstarter campaign can fall to pieces.

I mean, I'm on incredibly long running Kickstarter campaign right now where they're having that problem and they have the product. They can't ship it because they can't afford to ship it. And they don't want to charge people again. So they're trying to like get money together. It's wild.

But like. You just, you have to do better up front. Like I have some sympathy, but like, man, like you're never going to sell any product like on, like when you're making like decisions to design a product and build a product that you're going to ask people to sign up to be charged twice.

It's just not a thing. Yeah. But you know how hard shipping can be and how shipping prices can change. It's the worst. It's like if you don't have the money, what do you do? You've made mistakes long before that point.

Like I. Yeah, no, I agree. Look, I'm in agreement with you, right? Like that things should be run better, especially this campaign that I'm referring to that I'm on because it is not the first time it happened to this exact same company, which is the thing that is even more baffling to me.

Yeah. But I understand how someone on Kickstarter. Now, again, like what is it supposed to be? It's supposed to be my first idea, right? Like that's the platonic idea of a Kickstarter campaign.

I see it could be very simple for someone to not even consider the fact that in a year from now, the price of shipping could be twice the price that they thought it was going to be. Right. And so the idea of that, like you pay shipping at the time, I think actually makes a lot of sense for a lot of campaigns.

But I also agree with what you're saying, which is it's kind of your responsibility to do that due diligence and make sure you have money set aside to cover the shortfall if it's going to be one. Because that is what is realistic in a business. But Kickstarter is not supposed to be business, right?

It's supposed to be I'm trying to start a business and I'm going to learn as I go. Which rewinds us back to why does this campaign exist. - And I guess it boils down to marketing. Like I don't know. Yeah, it does. Yeah. Which is fine. Like I literally don't have a problem with that.

Like if I wanted all these inks, I would totally back this project. Like I have no problem with the project existing. I'm just trying to wrap my head around it. Like it's a little bit of a strange one to me.

Even though it's like very straightforward. I mean it's very straightforward, but I'm just like why? All right, Myke. Do we want to talk about some non-Kickstarter shopping real quick before we wrap this up? I put this in late because I've been meaning to talk about this since the first episode this year.

Kind of like what I'm looking forward to product-wise for 2024. And obviously I don't know what's being released by like all the major brands. And, you know, like we just saw the Lamy Safaris last week. You know, of course I'm going to be interested in what, you know, Pilot's doing and Platinum's doing and Visconti's doing.

And, you know, all the players, big and small, I'll be obviously interested in what they're doing. But I've had some pins that I'm thinking about this year that I've been thinking about longer than just like going into 2024. I've been thinking about some of them for multiple years.

So I have three pins that I wanted, that are on my watch list essentially, right? I shouldn't even call it a shopping list. It's on my watch list. The first one is Toma pins, which I have talked about before.

We have talked about before years ago, probably on the show or somehow. They are very small Japanese maker that make everything for their pins, including the nibs. So they have these really gigantic nibs. And they generally, when I first started seeing them, these gigantic nibs fit on these gigantic pins, right?

And these are not for me, right? The big, big pin, big nib does not really fit my writing style, right? On top of that, big pin plus big nib equals big price, right? Like very, like at least four figures, like well over a thousand, some multiples of that, right?

Like just not in my wheelhouse. And then I saw the shorty. I saw the small one. And it still uses the big nib, but it's a much smaller barrel.

So I put a link in, Myke. And I've actually gotten to test one of these. And I didn't think I was going to like the nib. I was like, well, this big nib is going to be like flexible and soft.

It was kind of firm and like a nail. And now I really want one. I don't know how much they cost. I don't know that you can even buy these pins, Myke.

It's one of those companies where like magic happens behind the scenes and pins show up. Like I don't know the process. No, but I know what you mean. It's like one of those things where it's like, we make products.

You can't buy them. Yes, exactly. This pen, by the way, Brad, to me, it looks ridiculous. Yeah. Ridiculous. Why do you think I like it? Something looks wrong. Like I'm looking at this pen and I cannot work out how big it is.

It's like an optical illusion. Yeah. Because it looks like the smallest pen in the world. Yeah. Because the fountain pen nib is obscenely big. It's one third of the pen, essentially.

It is very weird. Yeah. But when you post it like a Kaweco Sport, it's like a full-size writer. Like, so imagine like this is like half the size of their regular pens, right? Like they make eyedropper, like big giant eyedropper, giant nib pens.

Like that is very much not for me. This one, though. This one's for me. I don't know if it exists or if it's like vaporware. These are like AI-generated images.

Like could I ever buy one of these? Who knows? But I'm fascinated by this pen. And once I got to test one, that's what kind of sealed the deal. It's like, oh, the size is right and the nib is not a noodle, right?

So now I'm in. Now I'm in. Just as I got to figure out, like, can I get one and can I afford one? Those are two very important questions before we even get there. But hey, we can stare at it and enjoy it.

Just like the Makar tools. I don't even know if I'm pronouncing that right. I've seen these pens for a while. This is a completely different, really unique pen in that these are metal pens with lots of different design elements to them.

Like they are very artistically made, I guess. They stand out, right? They take your standard metal barrels and add so much in color and shape and effect and just all the design elements that go into these. I've been seeing these for a while.

I've gotten to test a couple out at different pen shows. Different users have had them. I've been thinking about one for a while. I don't know if I would get a fountain pen or like a standard pen.

I could be tempted either way. Probably don't need both. Like if I bought a fountain pen, I would want to do it like in person and make sure like the weight and balance is good for me, right? Because you can get a very large, heavy.

Again, like the Toma, while it's large, it's not heavy. This could be large and heavy, which wouldn't fit my writing style. So I'd want to test those out. But a more standard pen could be something that fits my style.

But I've seen these enough and used them enough that I think, oh, this would be something I would enjoy long term. So that's on the list. Last one is literally on the list because I'm in a queue for getting a custom Screebo pen made. So I'm part of a group buy.

So the model is called the Feel. It's their full size kind of tape pinched in the middle shape where we were able to pick out some maker materials. Like the rod I was able to pick is from Turnt Pen Co. And it's being shipped over to the Screebo factory as part of a group batch construction of these pens with this material in that shape.

So that should be coming this year. Like these are long processes, right? Like this was mid last year, knowing when I signed up, like, hey, we're doing a group buy for mid 2024. Right. So this is actually one that I have have coming soon.

But that'll be a fun one to get later in the year. So that's on the list. And that one is is that one's the biggest lock of the list because I'm already part of the part of the process of it being made. So that's where I'm at.

That's like the neat, unique, interesting things that I'm looking for this year. And, yeah, we'll see how my mind changes when I get to my first pen show, which will be in a few weeks out in L.A., what else I'm seeing this year. So I really don't have a game plan.

And we'll talk about that more as we get closer to the show. So that's going to be the time where a lot of new products are coming out. So we'll see what's out there on the market. All right. If you would like to send in some feedback, some follow ups and questions for us for a future episode, go to penaddictfeedback.com and you can send them in there.

If you want to find Brad online until next time, go to penaddict.com, spokedesign.com. Brad is at penaddict on all of the social medias. And you can find him at twitch.tv slash penaddict three times a week. I am at iMyke, I-M-Y-K-E. You can find my work here at RelayFM and at cortexbrand.com.

Thank you so much to Pen Chalet for their support of this week's episode as we hurtle towards episode 600 of Penaddict. Until next time, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.