The Pen Addict 402/transcript
| The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript | |
|---|---|
| Episode: | 402 |
| Title: | We Need More of This |
| Release Date: | March 18th, 2020 |
| Hosts: | Brad Dowdy |
| Guests: | No guests this episode |
| Additional Information | |
| Official page: | Episode 402 |
| Audio File: | Audio Episode 402 |
| Podcast page: | The Pen Addict 402 |
| Length: | 5757 min <br />0.95 h <br /> minutes |
| Previous Transcript | Next Transcript |
Myke Hurley: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 402. Today's show is brought to you by Hullo and Kenro Industries. My name is Myke Hurley, and I am joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad Dowdy.
Myke Hurley: 402. Why didn't it hit me when you said 400 or 401? But when you just said 402, I was like, holy cow. Well, because I think for those ones, we were thinking of 101, right? I guess. And I was like so busy for those shows, like it took a lot of brainpower to get there. So I think I was just like ready to record. And this one is more of a normal show. So we have, you know, our normal conversation and updates and new products to discuss. And so I actually heard you this time. That's a lot of podcasts, Myke.
Brad Dowdy: It's been a big week, Brad Dowdy.
Myke Hurley: Has it? Are you sure? It's been a lot. This last week has been a lot. For everybody. Yeah. Including us, you know, here at the Pen Addict, we're going to talk about, you know, life, the universe and everything. But we do have some business to attend to. And that is our active Kickstarter. Myke, where are we at with this thing?
Kickstarter Update and Atlanta Pen Show Cancellation
Brad Dowdy: Everything is, everything's changed at this point. So not too long after last week's episode, we hinted to it because we were thinking about it. But not too long after last week's episode, me and Brad announced that we would not be attending the Atlanta Pen Show. So for our health and safety and also for their help to discourage others from attending the show for their own health and safety. Due to the ongoing health concerns in the world right now. We're really pleased in a way that the Atlanta Pen Show also took it upon themselves to cancel the show completely. We had great conversations with the crew there and they were super understanding of us pulling out. And, you know, they waited to make sure that they knew everything was right. And they decided to pull the plug on the show, which is the right thing to do for now. You know, we should be discouraging social gatherings. And of course, in a lot of places, it's not legal to do it anyway. Anyway, so as it stands right now, the Atlanta Pen Show, we're not going to be going. So the live video and live show component of that obviously won't be going ahead as part of the Kickstarter campaign.
Brad Dowdy: And so we've got some plans that we're working on to produce some additional content in video form streamed kind of between me and Brad. I think we're planning on doing like a bonus episode of the show for Kickstarter backers. That will be a video version only available for backers of the Kickstarter campaign. I think we should probably say what we're thinking. We're thinking of doing like a video, like a recorded podcast show and tell of some of our pen collection. That's what we're thinking of doing right now. So when we had this idea, there was a part of me that thought that many people would probably prefer this video to the live show video. Totally. So we were thinking like, because obviously me and Brad can't get together, but we can fire up our webcams and just have like a conversation as if it was like a Twitch stream or something. Between the two of us, we'll record the videos and kind of we'll find a way to stitch that together and put it out there. I'm not exactly sure how we're going to do this yet. Or when. I think it, personally, I think the best time to do it is kind of around the time that the Atlanta pen show would have been.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. So we can release it in April.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I just think that that, you know, just kind of makes it work right for like our thoughts. So that's what we're planning to do there to kind of make amends, I guess, for the Atlanta pen show video. You know, so there may be some of you now that thinks I would quite like to see that. And so you can, you know, you can still back the campaign. Right now, we're absolutely killing it. So thank you. Like, yes, this campaign is so difficult because it should be full of joy. But there's also like so much, so many questions around it right now that it's hard to enjoy it. But we have got 764 backers so far and we have passed $56,000. So thank you so much to everybody that has backed it. And like this, it means a lot to both me and Brad that we make sure that you're going to get good value from this campaign. So we're going to put everything into coming up with some additional stuff. As it stands, there is no issue with the pen. So that's going to, you know, we don't foresee any big problems with that.
Brad Dowdy: Everything is on track right now. We currently have updated the page to show an almost finalized design, which I'm really, really happy with. That's come together great. So that's kind of like the final design of the pen showing kind of the location of all the different finial designs and the final pick of the finials themselves. So the little top disc designs that will be printed on the pen. As it stands right now, as we're recording, we only have 226 of those left because we're only making 950 of them for sale. So you can still go back that. But of course, the videos will be available until the campaign is completely done. So I guess some other updates on plans right now. So obviously, we're raising money for this campaign and we're not going anywhere yet. I think something that I do want to address is that I did buy plane tickets for Atlanta, which I am talking to my airline about canceling. But unfortunately, some of the money for the campaign may need to go to helping me recover some of that cost, which I think will probably be incurred to me now.
Myke Hurley: Yes, we booked your travel and honest travel. So that was booked as well. I was able to cancel the hotels. Obviously, they're good about, you know, you only have to have a couple of days notice to cancel the hotel. So that was easy. But the air flight travel is just never easily recoupable. No. Which is fine in this case. I mean, it was budgeted anyway.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I just wanted to be upfront about it because it's like that's what some of the money that people are giving us to is now just going to like recover by cancellation costs. But there kind of isn't really an option for that right now.
Brad Dowdy: I guess the other thing, I mean, I just want to say it's like I don't know if we will be going to the Dallas Penn Show either.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. I mean, you'd like to be positive, think positive about, you know, that time frame almost, what, five months from now. And that's going to be doable and workable. But you just we don't know. Right. Like we went from the the rate of change of the decisions we're having to make is just exceedingly fast right now from an hour to hour basis. So we're planning on going to Dallas. But, you know, two months from now, we it might be taken out of our hands.
Brad Dowdy: Because there's so many different things that could happen where it's like, well, people might be able to come together, but I might not be able to come to America or I might be able to get to America. But you still can't have gatherings of over 50 people. Right. Like we just don't know where we're going to be then. Right. So basically what we're saying is we have promised you two videos. You will get two videos. But as it stands right now, me and Brad have no idea for what a second video could be. So, you know, we're going to work on all that stuff.
Brad Dowdy: But we just want to make it really super clear that if you back this campaign and you're backing for the pen and two videos, you're going to get a pen and you're going to get two videos. If you're backing for two videos, you're going to get two videos. But we're just not sure what they're going to be right now. And, you know, I also just wanted to be super clear about where the money is going to go. And then after that, we'll work out what we're going to do with anything extra. Like we just don't know yet. Right. You know, it's a difficult time for a lot of people, a lot of businesses. And it's just tough right now. So we're going to work it out. But like honestly, the generosity and the excitement that people continue to have around this campaign is super heartwarming to me. We have not received one iota of a complaint about this. Like nobody has said a word. And I just wanted to thank everyone for their continued support and for showing why this community is so special.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, that's what I wanted to make sure that we pointed out is that the support we have, pretty much everyone, if I can sum up everyone's feeling, Myke, it's shut up and send me a pen. Right. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: So it's just like, it's just basically like, I don't care. Yeah, just do whatever you want to do. Like here's the money.
Myke Hurley: But we take this stuff seriously, like asking people, you know, to support campaigns and projects and travel and budgets and things like that. We take that very, very seriously. If you've followed us over the years, how we handle and manage that and make sure we're doing right by our supporters, listeners and backers. So we just want to know that we put that ahead of everything else. And we are obviously trying to be very, very transparent about everything that we do down to how we spend the money that we collect on these campaigns. So, yeah, we will. Until the campaign ends, it's got 18 more days, but you'll continue to be hearing about it just because of so many unknowns, so many changes. You know, after the campaign, you'll definitely want to follow the updates. You'll listen to the podcast. We'll give you updates here. And, you know, on the positive front, like Myke said, the pen is coming along swimmingly. The artwork is now moving into the sampling stage. So I should have a physical prototype pen in my hands, hopefully within the month. That phase tends to move along pretty quickly. That's a reasonable turnaround for that as far as, you know, related to like the official production of the pens takes several months. But, you know, if that goes well, then we'll just move right into production and go on from there. And everyone's going to be getting an awesome pen. I'm pretty excited about that.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I'm really excited about it. That's what this campaign was about anyway. Like, I feel like in previous years, we have put a lot more focus on how great the video content will be and that the physical rewards have been great, but have not been necessarily the reason for the campaigns. Right. We focused on like, take us to this place, take us to this place. You know what I mean? But this year, the focus of the campaign has always been this pen is amazing. Right. Like that's kind of always been the focus. And I'm pleased. I'm genuinely just very pleased that that was how it ended up rolling this year, because then we could focus on. All right. So I'm hoping that we won't have to spend another 10 minutes on next week's episode talking about the Kickstarter. Hopefully not. You never know. But it will be in the show notes. You can go on. You can still back this still, as we said, great reason to back if you want to. And again, thank you to everybody that has.
Myke Hurley: As a side note to the Atlanta pen show canceling, it's affecting other pen shows. I just wanted to note for all those thinking about the Chicago pen show, the first weekend of May, it has been postponed and moved into June. So it's been pushed back like five weeks. They're going to attempt to that. That's their first move, right? There's instead of just straight up canceling, they're going to go with a postponement, have secured a secondary date. And then basically we're just waiting and seeing. So if you're interested in attending the Chicago pen show, just pay attention to their social media and website and they will continue to update. But right now it has been rescheduled for June 11th through 14th. So just be aware of that.
Health Advisory and Call for Support
Brad Dowdy: I want to just give a personal plea to the pen addict listeners.
Brad Dowdy: Don't go to any pen shows. Please. Not anytime soon. Don't do it. Like if they're not moving, don't go to them. Like just please don't do that. You know, I'm not saying not to support these companies. Support these companies online. Right. Like buy from them. Like I want to give a shout out right now to my favorite store in London, Choosing Keeping. They have closed and they need support. Right. Like that is an expensive store in, I'm sure, location. Like go and check them out. And if you're in the UK, especially and buy stuff from them. Right. But this is the same for all of these vendors. Like continue to give them your patronage online as much as possible. But don't go to pen shows. Right. If there are any available right now, because you just shouldn't be taking that risk.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. And this is a conversation we can explore more in future episodes. You know, how this pandemic affects, you know, the bottom line of companies. But like right now, our focus is, you know, the people and staying healthy. And, you know, you obviously do what you can to support the vendors that you love. But, you know, you got to support yourself and your family first and then all that stuff comes second.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Like maybe we can look at ways to support potential new ideas of what a pen show could be.
Myke Hurley: Right. Right. And that's something I don't want to do willy nilly. Like I want to. That has to have a lot of thought behind it. Because I have I have I have strong thoughts about that, too. It's like, you know, about, you know, the the the times that we're living and people not may not know where their next paychecks coming from and then setting up something like, you know, telling people to come spend money. So like it's a weird it's a weird thing to to have to discuss. So like that it requires a lot of thought on my part.
Brad Dowdy: But in regards to this show and kind of all of our other shows, like, look, I'm sorry that we are talking about coronavirus right now. But it's it's a big part of everyone's shared experience right now. If we were at war, like if there was a world war happening right now, it would be seeping into the shows. There's nothing that you can do. And that's kind of what this is like. And so.
Brad Dowdy: What I'm trying to say is, like, it's going to come up. And I know that sometimes it may feel like talking about pens is a frivolous thing. But we're doing this and continuing to do this stuff because it provides distraction for people and entertainment. And that is very important at a time like this. So we're going to continue to soldier on as normal. And this stuff is going to come up. But we are going to continue to do everything that we can to provide you with the entertainment that you want. Because especially right now, we need it. We need it. We need it.
Myke Hurley: I need it. You know what, Myke? I don't care about anyone else, Myke. I need it. I need my sanity.
Brad Dowdy: Conor O'Brien needs a stone talking to, though. I feel.
Myke Hurley: You know what? If I could book a flight right now, I would be in the air, Myke. And I'd be knocking on some doors. And we need to have a discussion, right? What is going on here?
Brad Dowdy: So our social media just exploded over the last couple of days.
Brad Dowdy: As we were once again. Any long time. This should have been one of our memes.
Myke Hurley: Afterwards. Yeah. Totally in retrospect. It should have been on the themes and memes.
Brad Dowdy: But this happens every now and then. Someone will do an article or it will be in a video or a podcast of like, let's play a game of like, is this podcast real or not? And on Conor O'Brien's show, Conor O'Brien needs a friend. They played this game. It was like with Conor and they have a host that he works with. Played this game. And obviously the pen addict, as it tends to do, come up, came up. Like, is a podcast about pens a real thing? And of course it was. You know that. And then Conor was very mad. We're waiting for, quote, unquote, a very stern letter from Conor O'Brien. So I'm still waiting for that one to come through.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. So I crack up every time I hear this because the way he's like, what are their names again? He's like, I'm writing them a letter. And then the host is like, well, what kind of letter? And he's like, a very stern letter. And I just crack up. You know, of course, I send it to all my family. I was like, you got to listen to this. And I'm just crying. I cackle every time I hear this just because he's a comedian. He's a comedian. And he's good at what he does for a reason. Right. Like, it was it was hilarious. It was just like off the cuff. Him saying our names. We need to get like a recording of that and like split it out. And that should be like our like an intro or something or an outro piece to to the show. The way he said Conan O'Brien saying Brad Dowdy and Myke Hurley.
Brad Dowdy: Did he actually say it, though?
Myke Hurley: Oh, I couldn't tell. OK, that was him. That was him in that part. It took me a while. Right. Because that wasn't Will Arnett. No, but Sona was the one answering the question. But I think that was Conan who said the names.
Brad Dowdy: Huh. OK. I want to listen to it again. I've listened to it a couple of times already, but I'm not like I know Conan O'Brien, but like I'm not as super familiar with him. Mostly for me, it's like I've seen him in clips, you know, like all the late night clips because we don't get like shows here. So I've only ever seen him on YouTube stuff. But like I super respect him. I think he's very funny. I actually really love the idea of his podcast. It's a comedy interview show. Like there are so many, but the conceit is he's looking for friends. It's just like a fun way of doing the show. So yeah, you can I've put in the in the show notes a link to both the episode and a clip that a listener Jeremiah made. So if you just want to hear the clip of that section, you can go and do that.
Myke Hurley: The funniest part of the whole thing for me was not like the people on Twitter, like who were just like tweeting at us and doing all this stuff, which was awesome. It was the people who actually had like this podcast in their queue and texted me the moment they heard it, not knowing that we already knew about it.
Brad Dowdy: Oh, yeah. This is one of those like stage things that like even multiple days later now, I'm still getting people tell me. It's so good. And I get it because like, trust me, I get it. People are very excited, right? To hear it. Like, this is not a complaint. Like, I love to see it because it's funny. Like, you love to see it. And but it's just like it's just this super funny thing where people are like, oh, my got right.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. But my tweets usually start with holy bleep. Yeah. You know, super.
Brad Dowdy: It's super cool. I love stuff like that. I really do. It's great. Stuff like that.
Myke Hurley: This one. This one was thoroughly enjoyable. And I'm going to write him a letter. I'm definitely going to write him a letter first. And we have we have friends that that are going to see about getting him and forcing him to write us a letter, too. So we'll work on that. Yeah. Yeah. We'll work on that. Huh. Got some got some inroads already. We're got some things working.
Brad Dowdy: The Panadic community spans far and wide.
Myke Hurley: That's right. That's right. We're going to work on that.
Brad Dowdy: We have something exciting. We have a sponsor break right now, but it's a very exciting message. This episode is brought to you by Kenro Industries, and we are helping them announce that they are now the new and official United States distributor of Y Studio. Kenro is currently best known for its partnerships with brands such as Montegrappa and Aurora, as well as their own brands like the Estabrook Pen Company. But we're super excited to share that they have now partnered with Y Studio to offer their wonderful writing products to customers in the US. Y Studio is dedicated to sharing the beauty of words, writing and manufacturing products to match this. They're a world-renowned brand with their products being featured and found in many countries and cities such as Paris, Milan, London, Copenhagen, New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and many more. All those places that you see on, like, bags, right, of fashion brands. Y Studio strives to bring more imagination into people's lives, which is why they design products for daily use, believing that the value of simplicity in design is of the utmost importance. Y Studio pens are made from solid, lead-free brass focusing on minimalistic design. Every pen comes included of a sheet of fine sandpaper that allows the owner to create and customize their own exact finish to the pen. Because over time, the black coating on Y Studio's brass pens will fade to show the brass underneath. The idea, this idea is inspired by older Leica cameras, because that's what would happen, like the patina over time would reveal the material underneath. But with the sandpaper, you can give it a head start. So you can maybe, you know, ding it up a little bit, give it a cool look, and then see how it changes over time. Every pen has a substantial weight to it. They're very well balanced. They feel comfortable to use. This comes from Y Studio's mantra of the weight of words. They believe in helping us get away from technology and finding emotions through writing to people that are important to us. Y Studio's pens refills are international standards, so you can easily get cartridges and converters. The pens have a lifetime warranty exquisitely crafted in Taiwan with beautiful packaging to match. Now, Brad, I know you are a massive fan of the Y Studio brand.
Myke Hurley: How long have I been banging the drum for this brand?
Brad Dowdy: A long time. That's how I first found out about them, was when you bought the Y Studio pen. And I have coveted one since.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, it was one of those products where I first saw my friend Patrick in Hong Kong, who helps run one of the city super chains over there. And he's a stationary buyer. He brought this brand in and started taking pictures of it. And it was this Y Studio. It was the Brassing Fountain Pen. And I was like, I have to have this pen. Like, the way he made the product look was just like, this is the pen for me. This is the type of product I want to use. And I couldn't really get one at the time. It finally took me, I found a shop in Amsterdam where I could get my first one from. So to have a U.S. distributor like Kenro Industries look at a brand like this and decide to bring them into the U.S., it just, it makes me so happy. Because this is, you know, this is not your traditional historic brands that they may have normally carried, right? You know, they're very well known for Aurora and Montegrappa, which are brands I love. But those are companies with 100 years of history behind them. This is a new type of pen company and a modern type of pen company. And they make a product that is really high quality, really a joy to use. Because I had to, I didn't have my Brassing Fountain Pen inked up beforehand. So I had to make sure to get it, get it inked up and used. And I just love this pen so much. It feels great. It writes really well. I'll give a pro tip now. They, the nibs, like I swapped in like a Franklin Kristoff nib into my Y Studio pen. Like the nibs that they use are great. And they're perfect out of the box. But you can switch out like the number five size nibs in this. It's just, I love the brand. I love the design aesthetic of the brand. I have several products. So I'm using the fountain pen now. I have the desk pen. I have one of the ballpoints. I have the mechanical pencil. The packaging is awesome. I use one of their boxes for the fountain pens that they send them in to hold my pencil shavings. Like the box is so nice. I use it for other things. So as you can tell, I'm just fawning over this brand. I'm excited that Kenrose bringing them into the state. And I can't wait to see this brand get out into all of their retailers and into users' hands. Because I'm a huge fan. And I think everyone will really enjoy them.
Brad Dowdy: So you can find out more and pick up your own Y Studio pen from our friends at Pen Chalet. Go to penchalet.com slash Y Studio. And you can find out more there. And psst. Hey, Pen Epic listeners. You know you can get that discount, right? You remember how to do that? I'm not telling you it today. But you remember how to do that, right? That's penchalet.com slash Y Studio. Our thanks to Kenro Industries for supporting this show. For making these amazing products available to more people. One last time. That's penchalet.com slash Y Studio. To find out more. And of course, I'll have a link in the show notes to that.
Myke Hurley: So now I have to decide if I'm going to break down one of these days and get the dragon foil ballpoint. Which I've, like, when Y Studio comes out with new designs, I'm the one that throws them in the show notes. Because I'm fascinated by the brand. And I'll be paying attention for sure. See what new stuff they come up. They have a, they already have a new, I did get to test out a new fountain pen of theirs. Which will be like a resin based fountain pen. So I think look for that coming soon. I don't have one in hand yet.
Brad Dowdy: That's on Pen Chalet's website. They have the resin and the brassing and the classic for the fountain pens.
Myke Hurley: So I got to test the resin one at the Baltimore Pen Show. Because that's when the announcement, when they were first allowed to show the products. Oh, the red is nice. Yeah, that's, so I got to test the red one. It was a really, really neat pen. I'll definitely be picking one of those up soon. So it's a very cool pen.
Brad Dowdy: So a couple of weeks ago, my Platinum 3776 Galaxy Starlight returned. What? I didn't want to talk about it because we have more important things on the show, right? Like we were talking about like all the 101 and all that kind of stuff. So I didn't want to like weight the episode down by talking about it. So long story. This was, I bought this pen from our friends at Choosing Keepeng. Came home, inked it up, put the nib down. And one of the tie and snapped straight off. I didn't do, I made one line, it snapped off. No idea how this happened. Complete freak accident. I have never seen this happen before. And I never had anybody say to me, oh, this happened to me, right? Like I don't know what happened. There was something must have gone wrong in manufacture or shipping. It got damaged. I don't know. So we contacted Choosing Keeping. They recommended that we speak to the UK distributor because they kind of hold the warranty. So we spoke to them. We sent it to them. I don't even remember when this was. This was months ago, right? This was a long time ago. Late fall. Yeah.
Myke Hurley: Late fall. Yeah. Early winter. Like November-ish.
Brad Dowdy: The distributor sent it to Platinum. And it was there for a very long time. Then the distributor was sending it back. And they said they're taking care of it and it was going to cost £60. We could never get the answer as to what nib was being put in the pen. Because £60 doesn't make any sense, really, for both price and also the 3776 Galaxy Starlight, which is the pen that I have, had a specifically designed nib, like from a design perspective. Like the nib itself. Not a stock nib. Yeah. It wasn't a stock nib. It wasn't. And it's not anything special about the experience of it, particularly. It's just got a design on it, right? Like it's just got... The stamping. The stamping. Thank you for helping me with that. Yeah. Like the stamp on it is different and beautiful, but different. And I wanted to get the correct nib, right? For the pen that I'd spent a significant amount of money on. So this pen for £60 has been shipped all around the world, right? It finally arrived. When it arrived, super weird, it came in a big package because we sent it in the box that we bought it in. So I opened the package and there was the box. The pen wasn't in the box, though. It was in a tube outside of the box, which is super weird as a thing to do. Like I don't really know why they did it. Like I understand that it went in the tube probably as it was being repaired, but somebody had to package it and not put it back in the box. Like the pen in the tube would have fit in the box. But hey, whatever.
Myke Hurley: That's kind of amazing.
Brad Dowdy: And I am happy to report that the correct nib has been placed on the pen and it is stupendous. And I love it.
Myke Hurley: This was a stressful experience.
Brad Dowdy: I'm not going to lie. It's been very stressful. And, you know, I'm not super happy about the fact that I had to pay more money.
Pen Review Continuation
Myke Hurley: That was coming. That was my next statement.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. But at the end of the day, like.
Myke Hurley: We're done. It's back.
Brad Dowdy: That's kind of how I feel. And like the reason I say it's like it did travel a lot. Right. And I have got. It was packaged well. An 18 karat gold nib. So I'm kind of like, all right. I feel like I paid for the price of the materials. And then everything else is taken. You know what I mean? Like all the repair or the postage, like whatever. Like to me, it's like, okay. I just want it back. Right. And I am willing to pay the 60 pounds to get it back and to get it the way that I want it to be. Because it was bothering me, right? That I didn't have this pen. And now it hath returned to me. And I'm using it a lot. And it's stunning. So this is a Arushi Raden pen. So it's all black with Arushi flake throughout the entire pen. And so it, you know, it does look like a little galaxy with lots of stars and planets.
Myke Hurley: I'm very excited that you finally get to use this pen. Because that's the thing is you didn't get to use it for a while. I never used it.
Brad Dowdy: I drew one line with it. And then time broke. Doink. Yep. And it's very different to my other platinum. Because this one, well, it's just because this is a medium nib. And it's, and I think I have a broad nib on my other 3776. Gotcha. Yeah, I do. So they feel very different. You know, like a medium nib in a Japanese pen, it's like a fine, really. Especially for me. But it's a very different experience, right? Because what I like about the broad 3776 is that it is a very flexible nib. It's a very forgiving broad, right?
Myke Hurley: Yeah, they're a little soft. Yeah.
Brad Dowdy: And so that, but the medium nib that I have is much harder. So it took me a moment to like, oh, this wasn't what I was expecting, right? I was expecting kind of a softer feeling because the broad was, is, is even more kind of soft feeling than other broad nibs, right? But this one, it has more, it has way less give to it, but it is still an incredibly comfortable, wonderfully flowing nib. So yeah, I'm actually very happy that I do have it in a different size to my other platinum.
Myke Hurley: Good. I want to see some more pictures of it now that you're actually able to keep it. Yeah. Keep it in music. Yeah, you're right.
Brad Dowdy: I should do that. I put, what is the Acommon green that I have?
Myke Hurley: The 28, the bright green? Yeah, I put that in it. So it's 28. I don't know why, but it felt good for like space.
Brad Dowdy: I can't explain it, you know? It's a great ink. I struggle with black pens as to what ink to put in them. But I wanted something like really bright and vivid. And I don't have this ink in any other of my pens right now. So I was like, ah, this is good. Because I really like Acommon 28. It's just a really great, bright ink.
Myke Hurley: And... Yeah. And you want something to bring out the colors of this pen. Yes. Right. Even though, you know, you look at it and you go, okay, well, it's essentially a black base pen, but it's just so much more than that. Like you want something to really accentuate what's going on with the design as a whole.
Brad Dowdy: And for some reason, a bright green has an almost extraterrestrial feeling to it as well, right? Which I feel like kind of fits with the overall theme that this pen is presenting. So... Yeah. Adina sent me an Instagram message and she was like, is this... She saw a TWSBI and she's like, what's the deal with this? A TWSBI 580 Diamond Smoke Rose Gold 2. I don't know what the 2 is about. Coming April 1st. What do you think about this? It looks good, right?
Myke Hurley: Do you want to know what my first thought is? Go on. With this? Why is the cap rounded? Like, why isn't it a squared off cap? And then I realized I'm not looking at an eco. Bingo. I had the exact same thought.
Brad Dowdy: I was like, oh, it's a new pen. It's like, no, it's not a new pen. They've been doing this one for a while, but you're just too focused on the eco now.
Myke Hurley: They haven't released anything new in the 580 in so long. And they just did the rose gold and white eco. I was like, oh, cool. It's the black eco. Wait, why isn't the cap rounded? Even though I sat there and read the description of it. I was like, why is this... Like, why is there a taper in the cap? And then it didn't... I'm sorry. It just took me a minute to get used to that. Oh, this is a 580. And boy, does it look good. I love the rose gold on the piston mechanism on the internals. That seals the deal for me.
Brad Dowdy: And I really like that they are using semi-translucent plastic.
Myke Hurley: Yep. I like that. Yeah, because you can see in the cap, the piston cap, you can see through a little bit.
Brad Dowdy: You can also see in the grip section. You can see it there, too. I think this is a great looking pen.
Myke Hurley: It's great. I wonder what the price is going to be.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah. What is that price going to be? I don't know. I don't know.
Myke Hurley: I don't know because the rose gold eco was a pretty decent upgrade. Like a 40% or 50% upcharge. I don't think this is going to cross like the $100 threshold. But I think it may be more in the $80, like $79 than $59 type of range. So we'll see. But I still think that's probably fair for what this is. Very, very pretty.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I love it. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these ends up in our house. Because I bought, you know, the rose gold eco. She loves it because it looks great. I mean, who doesn't love the eco? It's a fantastic pen. So the eco was $30 and the rose gold eco was $50? $50, yeah. So, you know, what is a typical 580? It's $50? I reckon it's probably like $70. Yeah. Yeah.
Myke Hurley: $55, $60. So what you were just talking about, what ink you would put in your $3776. That's the problem I have with this pen. What ink goes in here? The only thing I can think of is purple. That would make me feel like that I chose the right ink for this pen. What ink goes in this pen to you?
Myke Hurley: Because like as many blues and oranges as I use, I wouldn't like that in this pen, I don't think. Like I'm feeling purple.
Brad Dowdy: I would be feeling pink, purple, something like that. To go with the rose gold. Yeah. So Adina has in her eco, her rose gold eco, it's a Robert Oster quartz.
Myke Hurley: Okay. So is that a brownish?
Brad Dowdy: No, it's like a pink. Is it Robert Oster quartz? I believe so. And it's like a kind of sparkly ink. The best thing to do is just to open messages. Oh, wait. Hang on a second. This is weird. I'm getting text messages. I don't really understand why. Rose guilt tint. Okay.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, I've seen that. Very cool.
Brad Dowdy: I was about to open messages to ask that question. And then I opened messages and the answer was already there.
Brad Dowdy: Amazing. I guess that's what happens when you share a house with somebody.
Myke Hurley: It's a wild and wonderful thing, Michael.
Transition to Kakuya Sketchbook Story
Brad Dowdy: Mm-hmm. Live followers. Can you tell me the story of your pen addict Kakuya sketchbook?
Myke Hurley: If I can contain my excitement. Okay. So, like, my love of Japanese stationery knows no bounds, right? It's pretty clear. Wait, what? Huh?
Brad Dowdy: You like Japanese stationery? Wait a minute.
Myke Hurley: Is this a new show? So, the more I get entrenched in that ecosystem, the more I'm able to learn from, you know, other websites, from friends, like, what a lot of these great products are in the Japanese stationery world and where they come from and what the history is around certain products. And Kakuya has made a product that I've been aware of for a long time just called the sketchbook. It's a basic pocket notebook was what this was designed for back in the 1950s for... There was a building boom after the war, World War II in Japan. And Japan had a huge range of surveyors and contractors that were out in the fields, you know, preparing for construction and build. And they... Kukuyo, which is actually a much larger stationery manufacturer than we even realize in not being in Japan.
Brad Dowdy: Was this the company that tried to buy a stake in Pentel but it didn't work out?
Myke Hurley: Yes. Right. So, that's how big they are. They are a very large company.
Brad Dowdy: Because I always think of the... What is the pen that sounds like this? Kukuyo. I don't know. Doesn't somebody make a fountain pen?
Myke Hurley: Or is it... The Kakuno. The Pilot Kakuno.
Brad Dowdy: I always think of Pilot Kakuno instead of Kukuyo.
Myke Hurley: So, Kukuyo is basically like an office retailer. And I don't say office supply retailer. I mean like literal offices. They were like build out your offices like in Japan, right? And like fill it with stuff, right? Like cubes and desks and chairs and all that stuff.
Brad Dowdy: So, they were looking for a stationery brand to just go like to the next level, right? Yeah.
Myke Hurley: So, their paper is already good. Kukuyo makes like good currently notebooks. But they're not really known for their pen products currently. So, and this sketchbook is probably like the first of like the lineage of why they're really good at making notebooks. So, this was made to be the first Japanese field notebook to handle the outside world, right? They needed a durable cover. They needed paper that's going to work well. For these conditions that these surveyors and contractors were working in. So, this became the Japanese pocket notebook of record. And it became, it was really good at what it did. Like for what they designed it for. Like the cover is like this pliable. It looks like it's a thin leather cover. But what it is is actually a resin. So, it's like waterproof cover. And it's pliable. So, it can fit like in your pants pocket or your jacket pocket or your backpack. And kind of shape itself to, you know, whatever situation it's in. Unlike a hardbound notebook, right? Where it's more stiff and firm. It has a little bit of flex and give to it. So, this notebook became so popular for what it was used for. That it just kind of crossed over into the mainstream, right? Artists started to use it. Using it. Writers started to using it. Then it just became a stationary product. And over the past few years, Kukuyo has expanded on the sketchbook. It was always a traditional green book with gold stamping that just said sketch book on it. Sketch space book. That was the traditional style. Well, they started coming out with new colors of them because they became popular, right? That's what you do. Make new colors of it. And they also allow for stamping. Like gold foil stamping on the covers. And I saw pictures from the Tokyo Pen Show in the last year or two of different companies and brands. You know, would have like an ink bottle on the front cover. Or, you know, different logos and things like that. So, I was like, well, this is like the tailor-made product for the Pen Addict logo. So, I started poking around Kukuyo's site. And they do allow for custom orders. But you can only... It's obviously the site's entirely in Japanese. And you can only ship the completed order to an address in Japan. So, we pulled out the Rolodex. We got in contact. We being me. Got in contact with the people I needed to see if this would be possible to accomplish. Like, could I get this classic Japanese notebook with the cool gold stamping delivered to me? Is this even possible? Should I pursue this or not? And I got in touch with the right people. We basically had this whole shell game of, you know, how to order the notebooks. How to design the notebooks. How to get the logo in there. How to get them delivered to a person. How to get that reshipped to me. And success. We did it. So, I was very happy about the process and the people involved in making this happen. And the result, Myke, is spectacular. I'm thrilled with this. I ordered 300 notebooks just to see how they go. If they go well, I'll probably order a bigger batch next time. And, yeah. I don't know. What can I say? I'm in love.
Brad Dowdy: This is interesting to me. Because, like, I don't think I've ever used one of these. And I don't get it. Looking at it, I don't get it.
Myke Hurley: Right. It is very much... You cannot compare this notebook to almost anything currently on the market. The size is a non-standard size. It's small. It's bigger than your pocket notebooks, right? Think of it more as almost like a breast pocket and a jacket type of notebook. It's a little bit taller. It's very, very thin. It's only 40 pages or 40 sheets, I should say. 80 pages front and back. And the grid is a 3mm grid, which not everyone's going to like. And that was done, you know, because of that traditional design. It was used for, you know, laying out projects and, you know, construction and survey measurements and things like that. So that graph was helping, you know, scale these things properly back in the day. And, like, none of that has ever changed with this notebook. That's what I love about it the most. It's absolutely not for everybody. Some people will look at this and go, what is this? And why would I ever use it? But it's essentially, like, an upgraded pocket notebook. And it was meant originally to be used out in the field, out in the elements, and be protected that way. And now it's just a good, cool, stationary item that I just adore. You would not like it, though. Oh, no? I mean, you would like it, but you wouldn't go, yeah, this is fine. You wouldn't be fawning over it like I am.
Brad Dowdy: Okay. I think it looks cool in its, like, classic-ness, you know? Yes.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. That's definitely what this is. That's part of the beauty of it is how the design hasn't changed in, what, like, 60 years?
Brad Dowdy: Yes.
Myke Hurley: So, like, it really, like, the technical, some of, like, the technical materials might have changed and, like, the binding. But the overall style and, like, the paper, you know, layout has not changed in 60 years. And I find that to be enamored with that.
Brad Dowdy: That is cool. That is very cool.
Myke Hurley: So, I'm obviously very, very happy about it.
Brad Dowdy: Should we take a second break?
Myke Hurley: Yeah. I have some interesting stuff to talk about on the other side. Yeah, for sure. This is going to be fun. All right. This is going to be fun.
Brad Dowdy: Today's episode is also brought to you by Hello. Hello make insanely comfortable, wonderful buckwheat pillows. I don't know if you've ever tried a buckwheat pillow, but it's super different to your regular fluffy pillows. And I will say, from somebody who's been sleeping on a buckwheat pillow for a year now, better in almost every single way, I love my Holo pillow. It gives me the support that I want. It doesn't, like, crush under the weight of my big head. It's just like, you know, basically, instead of being, like, fluffy or feathers or foam, a buckwheat pillow kind of feels like a beanbag for your head, really. Like, it gives you that support, but it's not super uncomfortable. It's not uncomfortable for it being firm. Like, I've slept on foam pillows that I find really uncomfortable because they're too firm. But the Holo pillow, you can basically mold it to be the shape that you want. So if you want your head to sink into it a little bit, you can make that happen. If you want it to give you the support that you want, you can make that happen, too. It has great airflow going through it, so it doesn't get warm and humid. You don't need to do that flipping over to the core side anymore because the pillow keeps the air flowing through because it's not a big, dense thing. You can also add and remove the buckwheat filling to suit your needs so you can make it as big or small as you want, make it exactly how you like. These types of pillows have been used all over the world for years, and I really recommend that you give one of these things a go. I absolutely love it. Holo is made in the USA with quality construction of materials. Their certified organic cotton case is cut and sewn for durability, and the buckwheat is grown and milled in the US. You may be curious to try one of these things out. You can. You can sleep on it for 60 nights, and if the Holo isn't right for you, you can just send it back for a refund. Go to holopillow.com slash penaddict right now, and you'll get your own buckwheat pillow. That's H-U-L-L-O-P-I-L-L-O-W dot com slash penaddict. And if you buy more than one, they have a special discount of up to $20 off, depending on the size that you opt for. Holo have fast, free shipping with every order, and 1% of all profits are donated to the Nature Conservancy. Give it a try. If you love it, you can keep it. If you don't, you just send it back. That's holopillow.com slash penaddict. Our thanks to Holo for their support of this show and RelayFM.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, I've been having a tough time sleeping, like falling asleep. I'm a sleeper, Myke. I'm also a warm and humid person. I don't know if you know that as well. So I am a pillow flipper. I need to break down and get the Holo. It seems like it's the right time for me to invest in this.
Brad Dowdy: Yeah, it's great, man. I really genuinely, like, they are not paying me to say this, but I absolutely love it and choose to sleep on it every single night.
Myke Hurley: Nice, nice. All right, let's talk about a few more new things.
Myke Hurley: The Rotring 600 limited edition colors have started to ship. Our good friend of the show, Evan, was the first to notify me of this on Twitter when they first came out. He's like, hey, have you seen these, you know, back in the fall? And now the release date was supposed to be in February, and they kind of landed around that date. And, of course, being the first one to tell me about it, Evan was also the first one to order them that I'm aware of and has them up on Penquisition at his blog. We'll have a link in the show notes. What do you think, now that you have seen them more, like, we could tell from the pictures already that, yeah, we're a fan. What do you see now that Evan has these posted up on the blog? Are you still interested, not interested? What are you planning on doing here?
Brad Dowdy: I like seeing more of the colors, right, because then I can kind of make my feelings about them. I love the green.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, we're going to have to agree to disagree on that one. Oh, yeah? Okay. I think I hate it even more. Huh. Hate's a strong term. Like, it's perfectly fine, but it's not that far off from black, which is exactly what the PR shots made it look not far off from black. Evan shots make it look not far off from black. Maybe I'll just have to see it in person. But I'm all in on the blue. Like, there's no doubt in my mind.
Brad Dowdy: Hmm. Okay. I love the green. Because it reminds me of, like, the iPhone green or British racing green. Like, a super deep, understated green color.
Myke Hurley: Which I like. I like British racing green.
Brad Dowdy: But I think with that red accents. Oh, man. Yeah, I love it. I'm all over this one.
Myke Hurley: All right.
Brad Dowdy: And not available outside of Japan right now, right?
Myke Hurley: No, but I think we're going to be getting a wide release on these. I'm waiting and seeing is what I'm going to do. So, I'm going to wait and see before I try to chase one of these down. Because I do want the blue one. I don't need all three of them. But I'm going to wait and see if they continue to release around the world. My bet is that they do. I did find one thing strange about this mic. The Rotring 600 silver one that I've used for so long. It's such an old model. This new empty ring in the top eraser cap, that's a new look for me. And I don't know that I like it.
Design Availability
Brad Dowdy: Where is the eraser?
Myke Hurley: Go to the very top picture. Yeah, like where is the eraser? The eraser is under the cap. But there's a hole in the cap now.
Brad Dowdy: Ew, I don't like that.
Myke Hurley: No, but apparently the standard silver and blacks had started to ship with that.
Brad Dowdy: I do not like that.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, I do not like that.
Brad Dowdy: What's the point of that? Is it because people didn't know the eraser was under there?
Myke Hurley: No idea. Because it's not extendable out through there. Like there's pencil designs that have an open top where the eraser is extendable out through it with a twist. This I do not.
Brad Dowdy: I just assumed that that was what it looked like when the cap was taken off. No, I'm not a big fan of that at all. Yeah. I will still be getting it. The design stuff is weird.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, I do not like that design decision because I don't see the purpose like you're saying.
Brad Dowdy: So what color do you like then? What's your favorite color? Blue. Blue. Okay. The blue is my second favorite. It looks really good.
Myke Hurley: Mm-hmm. The red is great. There's just not enough differentiation in the rotary color. Like they're sticking with the rotary red. On the red barrel, if they would have just like, you know, they would have had to like change their guidelines and like thrown a black on there. That would have looked cooler, I think. But it's still, the red's fine. I will say. The blue is the one for me.
Brad Dowdy: I like what Evan did at the bottom where he's mixed and matched the pieces. That's cool. I'm totally down for that. Like I would maybe buy a green and red one and do a mix and match. I don't know. I like that.
Myke Hurley: So I'm going to try to get the blue pencil. And then what I might do is get the green ballpoint because they're going to have a ballpoint models for these two and see what the green really looks like in person. So that's going to be my move. But for the pencil, it's going to be blue.
New Pen Release Announcement
Brad Dowdy: All right. Let's talk about this fun little thing that you've worked with, Ethan.
Myke Hurley: I am unnaturally excited about this because I think this is breaking news, Myke. Like this is one of those things where I think I know something that no one else does. But everyone's like, oh, yeah. Oh, I totally know that. Like, what are you talking about? This has been known for weeks. So you're familiar. And I think we talked about it. We did. Recently, the Retro 51 Gone Fishing Edition, right? Super cool. It looks like a fishing lure. Completely awesome design. Really, it's like everything you want a Retro 51 to be, right? And of course, like I didn't order it. Like I don't need any more of these pens. And like I didn't order it. There's 777 of them, right? So I get an email. What day is today? Wednesday. I get an email yesterday morning. And with it is a picture. And they're asking, is something wrong? Like I was excited to... Basically, they were saying I was excited to buy the Gone Fishing Edition. Is there something wrong with my pen? Because mine doesn't look like the one in the picture. And I said, really? I said, can you send me... They said mine looks pink. They said it looked like a salmon. I said, really? I was like, that doesn't make any sense. Is there some kind of like manufacturing flaw with it?
Brad Dowdy: This is a very green pen, right?
Myke Hurley: Yeah. It's a green and yellow, like nuclear looking pen. Like it's very obvious. So I asked for a picture. And I get sent this picture. And I'm like, that doesn't look like a manufacturing flaw. So let me contact Retro51.
Myke Hurley: So I send the picture over to them. I said, hey, is this a flaw or is this something special? And the reply I got was, ha, ha, ha. There's one. So what Retro51 I've done, I've learned, have done, is created 10 pens out of 777 that they're designating as lunkers. So there are hidden fish, Myke, out of this release that no one has found yet until this one. So this one is, I guess it's salmon. I don't know if it officially has its name. But there's 10 different ones.
Brad Dowdy: Lunker, by the way, is like an exceptionally large fish. Just the idea being that if you caught one, you would be super lucky. And so that's kind of the idea in that.
Myke Hurley: Yes. So these have, they're playing it like this is the golden ticket from Willy Wonka. Right? So it's a complete surprise. Surprise. There's 10 of them in the wild. We've seen one of them. This is brilliant. I want to see more. This means people are going to have to open these up.
Brad Dowdy: Why is this company closing down?
Brad Dowdy: Why?
Myke Hurley: Now everyone's regretting not ordering one, including myself, to open it to see if they got a lunker. Yep. Within the lunker packaging, there is a certificate. If you do not like your lunker, you can trade it in for the standard edition lure fish.
Myke Hurley: I'm dying. I'm literally. So good. This is, it's great. Like, can you imagine opening this up? Like, there's no, they didn't say, they didn't advertise it as such, right? No. There's no marketing that says. You would never have known. Right. There's no marketing on the front end that says, and within this edition, you'll find 10 special fish. They just threw it out there. They just went for it. And, you know, probably confused people. Definitely. Is there something wrong with my fish?
Brad Dowdy: There are also people that just don't know. Sure. Right. They just got it and they're like, oh, cool. It looks like a fish. Right. And that was it. Right.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. Yeah. So. Oh, man. When are we going to see the second one? Are we going to see a second one? So we've got one. We've got a, we'll just call this one salmon because it looks like salmon. Are we going to see some other different ones? I can't wait. I can't wait. We might, we might not. Right. Well, they exist. Is this the only one?
Brad Dowdy: But then we have to, you know.
Myke Hurley: But then people have to open them.
Brad Dowdy: And these, well, and also that these people have to be listening to the show for us to get to see it. Yes.
Myke Hurley: Which is a very small percentage of, you know, how many, they sold 777 pens. How many of those went to people who listen to the show? 50? 100?
Brad Dowdy: Well, let's just say that it is probably disproportionate. Like, you know, we probably have a good, a good covering. But yeah.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. Oh, that's what the chat's saying. Well, one of them with the golden ticket should have gotten to take over the company.
Brad Dowdy: Oh my God. That's so damn funny. Bravo, Evan. Bravo. That's hilarious. Yeah. I mean, I guess that's how it works now, right? Right. Right. Right. That's why they won't sell to us, Brad, because we've got to get the golden ticket.
Myke Hurley: That's right. So you're going to have to open your Gone Fishing pens, listeners. You're going to have to do it. You're going to have to open that bad boy up and see what's under that cover. I love every minute of this. I'm excited to see if we get to see a next one. I can't wait.
Myke Hurley: And neither of us ordered it. And you were like, I need this pen, right? Yep. You thought about ordering it. I thought about it. And I was like, oh, it's amazing. I just don't need it.
Brad Dowdy: There's no way I would have gotten one of those, though.
Myke Hurley: You never know. I mean, they're totally random, so. Yeah, but that's what I mean.
Brad Dowdy: I guess it's too difficult to get. Yeah. Unbelievable. So, so good. I don't think we can do any better than that today.
Myke Hurley: Yeah. This is the happiness that we need right now. Like, I've been bouncing for a day sitting on this email going,
Brad Dowdy: there's a funky fish out there. So, so good.
Myke Hurley: This is what we need right now, Myke. We need more of this in our world.
Brad Dowdy: If you want to see, we put the image in the show notes, by the way. So, if you want to see.
Myke Hurley: I asked for permission to share this image, and I was granted permission. I did not want to share this without having permission. I was granted permission this morning.
Brad Dowdy: I'm very pleased you got that permission.
Myke Hurley: Yes, me too.
Brad Dowdy: You can find that at relay.fm slash penaddict slash 402 or in your podcast app of choice. It does feel weird to go up to four now. Just because I've been saying three for so long, you know. Yep. If you want to support our sponsors, you should. Holo, Kenro Industries. Thank you so much to them for supporting the episode. And again, if you've backed the Kickstarter, again, thank you, thank you, thank you. And stay tuned. Yeah, stay tuned. We've still got 17 days left on the campaign. We're going to continue to issue updates as things change. But thank you so much to people that have backed the campaign and anybody that still will. If you want to find Brad online, you can go to penaddict.com on Instagram. Brad is penaddict. Twitter, he's dowdyism. He streams live Tuesdays, Thursdays, 10 a.m. Twitch.tv slash penaddict. It's a great thing to go and do if you're working at home at the moment. Put Brad on in the background.
Myke Hurley: Yeah, we'll try to do longer streams. Yep, there you go. Now that everyone might have more opportunity to watch. So yeah, I'll try to do that for everyone.
Brad Dowdy: I'm Myke. I am Myke AE. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad.
Myke Hurley: Goodbye, Brad.