The Pen Addict 459/transcript
| The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript | |
|---|---|
| Episode: | 459 |
| Title: | All This to Pay for a Pen |
| Release Date: | April 28th, 2021 |
| Hosts: | Brad Dowdy |
| Guests: | No guests this episode |
| Additional Information | |
| Official page: | Episode 459 |
| Audio File: | Audio Episode 459 |
| Podcast page: | The Pen Addict 459 |
| Length: | 5757 min <br />0.95 h <br /> minutes |
| Previous Transcript | Next Transcript |
Myke: From RelayFM, this is The Pen Addict, episode 459, and today's show is brought to you by Hello and the Canalea Pen Company. My name is Myke Hurley and I am joined by Brad Dowdy. Hi, Brad. Hello, Myke. How are you? I'm very good. That was an almost radio kind of voice that you did there. I liked it. Oh, really? I didn't amp it up purposely? Hi there. I'm Brad Dowdy. Like that, you know? Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.
Brad: Pens, pens, pens. We're about to get aggressively loud Brad voice because I have a rant to go on before we get started today.
Myke: Oh, jeez.
Brad: It's like, you know, ancillary pen related.
Myke: Okay. It's not in the documents, so that's a concern.
Money Transfer Issues
Brad: It's not. It is a concern for you because it just happened. Like, this is why I'm so, like, fired up as we're going into this. The international banking system sucks.
Myke: Oh, I read about this in Refill. You should have come to me and I could have helped you.
Brad: That's actually a good point. It is so frustrating. All I want to do is pay someone money without... Yeah, and both of us, both parties want to pay and receive money in an efficient and non-extra fees kind of way, right? Yeah. Because when you're dealing with a large sum of money, every percentage point matters, right? When you're dealing with a large sum of money and low profit margins, every percent matters. Oh, M.G. I think after a month, Myke, literally a month, today was the day I think we got it taken care of physically at my bank. And that's the second trip I've had to make for that after failing at all the online aspects of this. And this is to pay for a PIN, so it is stationary related. I feel comfortable in bringing this topic up. But my goodness, what a terrible, terrible system it is to pay people money. And I'm happy to pay your fees. Just one, don't make them exorbitant. And two, make your system work. Oh, my gosh. I'm done. I'm done. Hopefully. I can't solve... I say this and something else is going to happen.
Myke: Your end, because you're always going to have issues with your bank. But in the sense of making transfers relatively speedy and pain-free, I have been using for years now a service called TransferWise. It's called Wise now in the UK. So, okay. This was recommended. Yeah. I really strongly recommend people that are transferring money overseas, at least one person being on that. Because one of the great things... So, this is how I receive my RelayFM money, right? So, it's how I get paid to buy our company. Because what I like about TransferWise is you can set up what seem to be essentially fake international accounts. So, I have a bank account with an American bank account number in TransferWise. And the money gets sent there. And then I can just swap it over into UK money. And it's immediate. It's really incredible. And Rosemary is in the chat. He's one of the hosts of Automators and RelayFM. I believe we may have recommended to Rosemary to use TransferWise because we were struggling for years to try and work out how to do it. PayPal was just destroying me fees-wise. Absolutely. So, I ended up using that. It takes a bit to set up because you've got to go through a lot of like... You know, especially if it's any significant amount of money, you know, over like a very small amount. You've got to start providing documentation to them to prove that you are who you say you are kind of stuff. And that you're not money laundering, right? But once you get it all set up, boy, is it an easier experience.
Brad: Yeah. So, Wise was the recommended platform by my receiving party. And it failed me for weeks. And then we had to give up and physically go to the bank.
Myke: Well, okay. I don't know what happened there then. Yeah, me neither. Do you know what issue you were having?
Brad: I'm almost certain. And there's no clear error message. I'm almost certain it's because it's a business account with my bank. And they're only accepting the checking accounts from my bank, which are like... Like I use a huge U.S. bank. Like that's, you know, gigantic. But my business account is not... Doesn't seem to be recognized. But if I used like a standard checking account, it would have gone through. That's weird. Is what I'm getting. Yeah, I don't know what's going on there. Anyway. But yeah, that was... Why is this the way to go? It just didn't work for me in this instance. And there was no clear reason to why. We spent weeks on that. Like everything's not instant either. That's why it's taken me a month to get this.
Myke: Yeah, no, you've got to wait a couple of days at least when the transaction actually goes. It's a... You know, I used to do this stuff for a living.
Myke: Transferring money internationally is expensive, time-consuming, and can go horrifically wrong really, really fast. And just to clear it up, you said it's for a pen. You're not buying a pen. You're buying pens that you're going to sell, right?
Brad: Like you... Yes, yeah. I'm working with a Johto to make a sweet pen addict edition.
Myke: It is epic.
Myke: Oh, God. I've got to get one of those things.
Brad: Yeah. It's going to be good. We'll have more on that later. But yeah. Like a Johto is awesome and they've been so patient with this. But man, what a mess. What a mess. Oh, boy. It's literally taken a month. I think we're almost exactly a month from when I got the invoice. So I think today we have solved all our problems with many, many, many, many... I do hope so. That's the thing is you can't fail quickly with this, right? It's like you do a process, then you wait a week to find out what happens.
Myke: Yep.
Brad: So that's why we're a month. But anyway. Really sucks. All right. We should talk about other stuff. We should talk about the real show. But I'm sorry. I had to hijack because I literally just like... I was hoping I would get to the podcast in time because I was at the bank finalizing this. So good times. In more business news, I was on the Nib Section podcast, one of my favorite podcasts, with the Fountain Pens Oceania group. I talked with Diana of the Nib Section on a really wide-ranging interview. A lot of the premise of why she wanted me to get on there was to talk, you know, the turning your hobby into a business aspects of what I do. The jobby. Yeah. I hate that. I never used that term. I should probably use that more.
Recent Pen Addict Event
Brad: It was just great. Like, we had fun. I feel like we were just scratching the surface, even though we talked about a million things and, you know, ranted and rambled on, as I do. And it was just fun. Got a lot of good feedback on that. So y'all definitely go check that out. But you should be listening to the Nib Section anyway, right? It's like one of the awesome stationary podcasts. Everyone should have that in their podcatcher of choice. And check it out whenever they publish. I think every two weeks is their schedule. But this one just came out. And check it out. Let me know what you think. And let Diana know what you think. Because I think she was an awesome interviewer. So I got another link, Myke. This one caught me by surprise. Good friend Glenn HK, friend of the program, sent me something you rarely see out in the wild. And that is a Platinum 3776 store special edition. Now, these have happened before. There's been stores that get 3776 special editions. There's been, you know, different editions that Platinum does for different things. But they're not that often widely available, right? They just kind of exist. And, you know, we might see them. We might not. They're not sailor. Put it that way. They're not sailor in the way they handle their special editions. So anytime you see a Platinum, it's like, oh, cool. Because I love the 3776. That's fair to say that you love the 3776 or at least the Platinum nibs. And this is a store exclusive for a store called Journalize, which is in Hong Kong. I actually like that store name. What do you think about that store name?
Myke: Journalize? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think it's fun.
Myke: Yeah, that's it. That's fun. That's right. I never would have had like a revelation about it. Right? Like it's a fine name. But like I never would have been like, oh, man, that's a good name. Like that never would have happened to me.
Brad: I guess it's like, oh, yeah, I'm good with that. Yeah, that's exactly how I felt. It's like, yeah, it's fine. Yeah, yeah. I have no problem with it. We get some silly names or some fun names or like, you know, non-unique names. It's not like special. Like it's very, you could see that walking down the street in like a shopping district of Hong Kong and go, oh, that's very antiseptic. But it's okay. I like it. I'm down with it. Anyway, this, it's hard to discuss. It's a basic smoke gray translucent pen barrel. Okay. So if you're all familiar with the 3776, that's kind of what they do, right? Simple barrel colors, really great nibs. But there is a couple of little things that they did with this that makes me like even more like attracted to just like the basic smoke and rhodium trim barrel. It has Hong Kong around the cat band, which I don't, they rarely do those types of things, right? Changing the lettering on the cat band, usually say like Century 3776 or something like that. And then they have a converter with a little bit of artwork on there. And what I, well, we've seen that plenty of times before. I think it's kind of cool that it's this hot pink purple that you're going to see underneath the translucency of the pen.
Myke: Oh, you would see that through?
Brad: Yeah. Okay. Maybe a little bit. I don't think it's going to stand out a lot.
Myke: I would like to have seen that pink carried through to the pen itself personally, like in some way, like maybe some detail in the finial or something. Mm-hmm. Like I understand that this is different, like in the sense that they don't do this stuff very much. But this design, it really doesn't excite me. Agree. Yeah. I could imagine Platinum just selling this colorway like normally, like in a regular, if they don't already. Yeah. So like, yeah, it's got some little details to it. But again, it's like going back to that conversation we've had so much over the last maybe six weeks or so. It's just not, it doesn't really feel like enough to me to warrant like, oh, this is a special edition. Yeah.
Brad: I think it's a good store brand. Store branded edition. Yeah, sure. Right. Like the store, it's going to do well there. Like, is this like a universally like crazy awesome pen? Eh, maybe not. One thing I did notice is that it does come in all of the nib options, which is strange. It comes all the way down to UEF and then all the way up to B with the course and the SF and then all the standards in between there. I did get a new translation for ink converter. So in the translate, this is the ink inhaler.
Brad: So we might have to work that into. Oh, it's from Google Translate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just breathing that ink in. Mm-hmm. Breathing the ink in. And yeah, the pen cap is also called the pen pole in this situation.
Myke: The pen attic podcast does not endorse breathing ink.
Brad: Mm-mm. No. So please don't do that. But anyway, I thought it was interesting. It's a highly specific edition. It kind of looks like it could be a stock edition, but I think it's unique enough. I think it's going to be a really fun and cool store brand. I would like to see this in person just to kind of get to see if it's even like better than like my Chartres Blue with rhodium trim. Like this could be the same thing like with Hong Kong on the cap band type of thing. But I think it's cool. I like it. It's nice. It's nice. What also is nice, Myke, is Team Safari is owning this year so hard. I had to decide to give away some pens. Okay. Success. And I just wanted to make sure our listeners knew, number one, how great Team Safari is in 2021. Mm-hmm. And then I'm not going to let Team All-Star live this year down for quite a while. I feel like it's gotten me, you know, a couple years worth of good vibes. I can just look back on this. And I wanted to continue to promote Team Safari on the blog this week. So I'm doing a giveaway for the Lamy Safari Savannah Green and the Lamy Safari Terra Red on the blog. So I don't always put, like, you know, my giveaways and talk about the blog stuff on here. But I thought this one was super cool in case, you know, you missed it on the blog. Go check it out. We'll have the link in the show notes. You can sign up through Friday. Anyone can win. And, you know, just profess your love for Team Safari is all you got to do. And click a couple buttons and you're in. So, yeah, that's the ticket.
Myke: We have the first Retro 51 of the new era. The first popper. It's popping in, as we know. Popping out, as they like to do. I feel like we should go... That's actually quite fitting. The pen is called The Herald. And the kind of the idea... I actually kind of really like the idea. It's kind of like a town crier or a publication making a proclamation. And the pen itself, which is one of the metal editions, features the, you know, the kind of the catchphrase, the tagline, life is too short to carry an ugly pen. And then overall, the pen... So I'll say Retro 51 sent this to me. It just arrived yesterday. I had no idea it was happening. So thank you to the folk over Retro 51. It is a... I actually really like the design in person. I wasn't that excited about it from imagery. But in person, it's much cooler looking. Actually, is it a metal version? I'm not even sure. I think it is, right? No? It's a lacquer version. It's just a good print? Well, they've done a very good job. There's also a texture to it, too. So it will trick you. It's really good. And they also... I like the... Where would it go? It's not the nib, the tip. The tip?
Brad: Oh, the hardware. Like the nose cone... Yeah, nose cone. And the clip and the barrel are like that nickel. And it's brushed. I think it's nickel. Yeah, it's like brushed nickel. Yeah. That's my favorite hardware. That's the hardware I picked for my very first Retro because it's so cool. It's like a little bit of dark, but not overwhelmingly so.
Myke: But what I like about this, honestly, is this pen, it's kind of good. I think it's fun for me in that it is self-referential in signifying that it's a new time. And that the new owners are saying like, here we are. We're staying true to what this brand is. Let's move forward. And I like that.
Retro 51 Popper Edition
Brad: This is a good idea. I didn't think about this. I thought there would be like a bigger... Honestly, I thought the way it was going to happen was like, hey, here's our first five metalsmiths in conjunction with this, you know, with the Smithsonian. And, you know, this is the way the new ownership of Retro 51. This is the picture, you know, we're painting. And they did it in a more direct fashion than that, which I can appreciate. I like that. It caught me off guard. I was like, oh, okay, cool. I see what you did there and I like it. The pen is very cool. Like you said, like in the cylinder or the pictures online, like, yeah, it looks cool. But when I took it out on stream yesterday and unpackaged it and really looked at the details, I was like, oh, yeah, it's very cool. I liked it. And I think there's 1951 of these, right? So, and then they all ship with the matching rickshaw sleeve. Yep. So, it's like a little more expensive, like, total price point for the set, but you get the pen sleeve with it. So, like, it's around $50, I think. But it's like, it kind of feels right for what it is, what they're doing, what the add-in is.
Myke: I'm not sure I understand single pen sleeves, but I do like it as an extra because if you really like the design, now you kind of have, like, a little extra thing, which is nice. But the single pen sleeve thing, I don't, I know a lot of people use it. It only really makes sense to me for a pen that has a delicate material, like it's made of a delicate material or that, like, you'd be super bummed out if you scratched it. And I never really think about that way of Retro 51s specifically. Yeah.
Brad: I like the idea of single pen sleeves. I never use a single pen sleeve because I'm rarely carrying a single pen.
Myke: Yeah, exactly. I mean, you know, I would use them if I was, you know, like if I had, like, a Rushi pen. Yeah. You know, even in one of the knot cases, I might put it in a thing and then put it in the knot case, right? Just because it's like. Right, right, right. I don't want anything to happen to it, you know? Exactly, exactly.
Brad: So, yeah, really good. I like that it's, like, a line of demarcation and here we go.
Myke: Yes. It's fun.
Myke: Now, all right, if we're talking about celebration pens, all right, that's what we're talking about. There's something quite different and I would say many steps up. So, this episode is brought to you by the Canalea Pen Company. We're going to do as we've done in the past because Canalea have a new pen that we're going to talk about today. So, I'm going to read an ad. The ad includes some of my own thoughts in the ad and then we're going to review the pen after the ad. What Canalea pay us for is this ad. They do not pay us to review the pen nor do they ask us to say anything or not say anything specific in the review. So, I just want to say that out front. But let me tell you about their beautiful new pen and a little bit about the company. So, Canalea Pen Co., they make stunning, beautiful, fantastic pens inspired by images of Hawaii. Canalea's founders, Hugh and Carol, believe that these locations can help recharge our spirit and connect us with nature. And while the story behind these pens is wonderful, really it's the execution of them that sets them apart. Every single Canalea pen is handmade in a process that means that no two pens will ever look alike. And every single nib is tuned before it ships to your customers. What you get is something truly unique for you and that really adds to the overall experience. To celebrate their fifth anniversary, Canalea have created a truly, truly special pen. So, there's two things going on here. I'm going to tell you about the, like, big, big anniversary model first. It's called the Honakalani Mailei Lei. The design of this pen is inspired by Hugh and Carol's first ever trip to Hawaii. Its design is based on the stunning visuals of Honakalani Beach with crystal blue waters and glistening black sand. And these elements are captured perfectly in this pen. This model also features something extra. A new band around the cap designed to evoke a lei made of Mailei leaves crafted in Argentium silver designed by Canalea's art director Emerald. A Mailei leaf lei. So, the lei is what you'd see. You'll see these, like, you have, like, flowers around your neck. I've had them with shells. But made of these leaves is used to signify special events in somebody's life, which makes it the perfect accompaniment for Canalea's fifth anniversary pen. This model featuring the Mailei leaf band. I'm sorry. I'm confident I'm saying that word wrong every single time. And I apologize. It's M-A-I-L-E. They provided a pronunciation. I've listened to a pronunciation. But I know every single time I'm saying it differently. The Mailei leaf band is only offered in Canalea's classic style of pens, the larger cap one. But the Honakalani colorway is also offered in classic pinched and classic slim also. So, you can get the one with the band on it in the classic style with no band in either classic pinched or classic slim. Canalea pens will feature Yoha No. 6 nibs. And you can buy them in steel or 18 karat gold directly from Canalea. They offer sizes from extra fine to 1.1 mm stub. And every single pen ships in a beautifully packaged keepsake box. There's also many more beautiful models of Canalea pens for you to check out as well. There truly is one for everyone. The Honakalani Mailei leaf will be shipped within 2 to 3 weeks if you order before May 12th. After this, it's 4 weeks. And the Honakalani without the band will ship in 4 weeks. And a portion of every sale will be donated to the Maui Food Bank and Kahaliakola, again, I'm so sorry, a homelessness resource center in Hawaii. Go and see for yourself at CanaleaPenko.com. That's CanaleaPenko.com to choose your aloha today. Our thanks to Canalea Penko for their support of this show. And a huge congratulations to them from us on their 5th anniversary.
Five Year Celebration Pen
Brad: I can't believe it's been 5 years. It simultaneously feels like 10 years or 2 years. Mm-hmm. Right? So I remember back, if you'll let me digress for just a second, I remember now that I have the correct 5-year anniversary math in my head. It was actually 6 years ago that I met Hugh for the first time at the DC Penn Show. And he asked for a minute of my time. We scheduled a meeting just for him to tell me he's got this idea.
Brad: And I heard him out, and I was like, yeah, cool. Like, this sounds great. And, like, he kept working, and he stayed in touch, and, you know, we just talked about Penn stuff and doing things and, you know, about his idea. And then 2016, so 5 years ago, they launched at the DC Penn Show, so a year after I talked to him the first time. And I still remember the – I remember exactly where their table was in that ballroom, exactly where my table was with Van Ness Pens in the atrium. And people walking back and forth discussing, look at these pens, look at the one that I picked out. Which one did you pick out? Look at this one. Look at that one. And, like, I still remember, like, all the exacting details of that day and how, like, by the end of the first day, there was just gaps in the table because they were sold out of some of the models. And it's cool to see what they've done over these five years. I still – I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around that the five years has passed since we first talked. And then you turn the corner over into this pen. What's the name of it again, Myke?
Myke: I'm just going to go with Hanukkah Lani. Because that one I know I can say. I feel like – I feel confident in that.
Brad: Hanukkah Lani. I feel good about Hanukkah Lani. So this is exactly what they should have done for the fifth anniversary. Yeah. Like, this is a level-up pen for the Canalea brand, right? Now, it's got more features. It's got more design work. It's got a greater cost. But there's a reason for all that because they're marking this, you know, landmark in their business. It's a special edition. It's a – Yeah.
Myke: It's a thing.
Brad: And I'm glad to see that it has these extra features like the Melee band, right? So I did not expect this. No. When I saw the pen. Like, we don't get a preview of this until the box shows up. Mm-hmm. So I opened it up and I was like, oh, my God. What is happening here?
Myke: I couldn't believe it. It was – It felt – I was – I kind of got an idea because we – You know, like, you open the package and there's, like, imagery, right? Mm-hmm. Right. And I was like, oh, this is going to be good. You know, everyone loves the blue ones, you know? Yeah. Like, the beach ones have always done really well for them. And I opened it up and I was like, oh, my God. Like, I really couldn't believe it. Like, the band that goes around it because we've both got the one with the band on it. Mm-hmm. And it really is –
Myke: What I like about it, what I like about this pen is that they've saved this idea, which I'm sure they've had for a while, to signify a special occasion. Like, and knowing that this pen was to celebrate the fifth anniversary, it was like, oh, yeah, you know what? You know what? Like, this is a really good idea. Like, this is exactly what you should be doing to mark an occasion like this. Whilst also I feel like that there is a little bit in both ideas of, like, going back to their roots for the types of pen that they've made in the past, you know? Mm-hmm. Like, the beach ones, as I say, they've always done really well with the blue translucency and stuff. But the – again, the acrylic work on this pen is amongst the best that they have ever done. The black swirls that signify the kind of sand, it's just unbelievable and so deep. And it's got that effect, again, where there are parts of it that look like they, like, impossibly go into the pen forever. Like, there's, like – it's this pearlescent effect that they're able to do with it where it just feels like there are these little pockets of, like, ocean inside. It's unbelievable. It really is. The whole package incredibly special.
Brad: So the best – I obviously love this pen. Completely adore it. I think they knocked it out of the part. I have the one with the clip version, too, which I had been talking about wanting one with the clip.
Myke: Yeah, I have no clip. And this is my first in the classic style where the cap is a bit larger.
Brad: It's a big pen. It's a big pen. Yeah. So the material – my highest compliment I can give the material is this looks like something I would make for myself, right? Right. Like, I would choose this brightness of the blue, have it translucent. And the black swirls show the sand that the inspiration picture's from, but it doesn't overwhelm the pen. It literally just swirls through the pen. It's not – it doesn't take over the pen. That's why I like the Kona Cherry so much, right? Because it has a massive amount of translucency. That's what I like in my pens. And this one has even more translucency in the blue than that. And it – I don't know. It's great. This is exactly what you should do for a celebratory pen, right? I feel like this is never going to be your number one seller because of the price point, right? But what it's going to be is a representation of what you can do and a culmination of the successes you've built upon for the previous five years. So you do something special. Yeah. You do something for, like, your super fans. So, like, it tells a little bit of different stories. Like, hey, this is what we do as Canalea. And this is what we've built into. And this is the culmination of these last five years. And that's the story that I think they're telling with this pen. And I think they executed it just about perfectly for me.
Myke: Yeah. So the regular one, the one without the band on it, is $395, which is their typical price.
Brad: Their standard, yep, standard price. Which you can get the all blue pen, like, in your standard price.
Myke: And the My Lele version is $555, which, again, five years. Mm-hmm. But I just wanted to say that, like, whilst that is a high price, I personally completely believe that Canalea belong in that category. Right. When they give, like, you know, so they give you an extra here, right, that the silver band makes it more expensive. Mm-hmm. So, you know, you can see you're getting your value if, you know, if you're looking at it. It's like, okay, this is a different, this is like an addition. Mm-hmm. But I just mean, like, from a visual perspective and from a crafts perspective, this kind of tier, this over $500 tier, I think that this is a tier that they can play in if they can want to continue doing that. Like, not that I'm telling them to increase the prices of their current pens. Right. But if they have things like this that they want to do, I feel like this is a company that can do that personally.
Brad: Right, right. Exactly. And one last thing on the band, just from a technical perspective, it does add a little bit of weight to the pen, right? This is not like a... I like that. ...like a aluminum-feeling band. It's not like airy and light. Like, it's substantial. Like, you can feel the band.
Myke: I find the cap very satisfying to hold. So, like, because, you know, I uncap my pens, right? And I've been noticing when I've been using this pen that I hold this cap in my hand, in my other hand, just because it really, it feels great. And the band itself, I mean, it's so well integrated into the cap. Like, it looks... Yeah. It just looks excellent. They've, you know... Surprise, surprise, they've done it again.
Brad: Yep. So, yeah, I'm thrilled with it. It's great. It's great. So, yeah, there you go. I don't... If I continue talking, they'll just be me fawning over it even more. So, yeah, really, really good job. Very proud to see this fifth anniversary. That's not an easy thing to do in the market these days. And congratulations to Kenalea Pinko, for sure.
Myke: Yep.
Brad: All right, we're going to take a big turn here and catch up on something hilarious I saw on Twitter that was sent to me by a good friend of the show, Becky. She sent me a tweet from... Or a Twitter thread, I should say, from Forever Agend. I don't know if I'm saying that right, but we'll have it in the show notes. Are you familiar with the Ace Attorney? Are we calling this an anime?
Myke: No. Well, Ace Attorney is a video game. Video game. It's a video game series. Maybe there is an anime, but I know it is a video game series. Okay.
Brad: So, I don't really know it, obviously, right? Because I can't talk about it. But I know Phoenix Wright. I know the memes and the character. And it's very popular. If you don't know this and you go look at this link, you'll go, oh, I kind of recognize this kind of art style and this character. But what... Oh, maybe it's Foe Ratchet. I don't know. I can't pronounce their name. Don't worry about it. Anyway, they took all the characters of this game and this series and matched up pins to each character. Did you go through this thread and look at this?
Myke: Yeah, I'm familiar with this meme style. Yeah. So, like, you know, it's such and such person in the shampoo bottles and it's like you're picking colors and maybe something in the style of a product that matches with either a person or a series of people.
Brad: Right. So, like, the Phoenix Wright is always kind of in this blue suit and just kind of classic put together looking, you know, outfit. And so they match them with the bright blue Lamy All-Star with like this... It's just a clean pin to kind of match this clean suit. And then you scroll down and then there's a character, Maya Faye, who matches with a Jin Howe with that Fude nib because, you know, the nib resembles her hair bun and things like this. I just thought I got a lot of enjoyment out of this thread. It's just silly. And I think it's hilarious. Athena Sykes, TWSBI Eco Yellow, looks like a cool gadget that is also commonly mistaken as a vape pen. So they were very funny in putting all this stuff together. So we were talking about this and I was challenged, Myke. I was challenged. What part of pop culture or meme culture or music or TV or anything could I put together and assign pins to? That's a really difficult challenge. I should have made you do this because it is not easy.
Myke: I'm pleased that you didn't. When I opened the document today and saw that you'd done it and there wasn't a request for me to do it, I was very pleased.
Brad: I wasn't going to do that to you without much, much advance notice. Yes. So the one thing I couldn't get out of my head is I'm obviously a huge Ted Lasso fan. I've talked about it on the nib section. It seems to come up all the time. And you've watched Ted Lasso, right, Myke? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I said that that was the only thing. Like I could have gone to, you know, like the office, you know, TV series or sitcom or just pick like some really, really huge pop culture thing. And Ted Lasso is pretty huge on its own. So it's like, I love Ted Lasso. I'm watching it again right now for the third time. So let me see what I can do. And I thought about it for a second and I got like two of the characters really quick. I was like, okay, I know two of them. Like I want to do this. So let me see if I can figure out the rest. So let's do this. What do you think?
Myke: Go for it.
Ted Lasso Character Meme
Brad: All right. So we're going to start with Ted. Ted right at the top. Ted Lasso. I'm going to say this right now. If you have not seen Ted Lasso, there will be spoilers ahead. We just can't get away from it in this type of topic I'm doing. If you don't want to be spoiled and you think you're going to watch it, I would like fast forward like five minutes. I will spoil your show.
Brad: Ted is the pilot Kakuno, Myke. Because all I see is the smiley nib on the pilot Kakuno. Ted is not always smiling in this show, but I think people think he is, right? That's his persona, this upbeat, go get them, believe personality. Always has a smile on. So that smiley nib of the pilot Kakuno. And it's a pretty darn good pen too. It's not flashy. It works really well. It knows its job. It knows what it's doing. I feel that's Ted.
Myke: Yeah, you are doing this in a slightly different way.
Brad: Oh, yeah?
Myke: Yeah. So like you are choosing...
Brad: I'm not doing it aesthetically necessarily.
Myke: Exactly. And this meme is an aesthetics meme. But I like that you've taken it to that next level. Yeah. And you are doing this as a... Let me tell you about the characteristics of the characters and the pens and what it matches.
Brad: Yeah. And I think it's a little bit of a combination of both. But I couldn't do it just on a... If I was doing just aesthetics, Ted Lasso would not be the show to pick, right? No. Like, because everyone's in uniform pretty much the entire show. Sure. So I would pick something like Star Wars or whatever and then just pick everyone's Star Wars pen.
Myke: Where you just pick all the cross pens and you're done.
Brad: Yeah. Exactly. Which there is one in this list. So yeah. So I did... I thought more about either what pen that they are or what pen they would use, right? So Rebecca is next. So...
Myke: This is an amazing choice.
Brad: She is it. Because this was the hardest one. Because she is an extraordinarily complex character. I think maybe the most complex character on the show. Because on one hand, she's very, very good. On one hand, she's very, very bad, right? She's got... Like, she is, you know, maybe into things for the wrong reasons. But she takes those wrong reasons very seriously and has this side to her. But on the other hand, she's really, really great, right? She's awesome. But Rebecca is the rich now owner of the team, of the football club. And she's well put together. Tall, statuesque, blonde. She has a Rolls Royce with a driver. But she's like a powerful, strong woman. But she's super complicated. So I was like, well, what... Like, number one, Rebecca is going to be using, like, a Mont Blanc, right? Like, that's a fact. So she is, like, she's loaded. She's rich. She's just coming off this divorce. She's just out there. But she's going to use, like, a Mont Blanc special edition. She's just not going to use, like, the 149. And I literally had this in my head not knowing that there was a pin of it. But she's the Mont Blanc Marilyn Monroe special edition. And not just from the looks perspective. It's really from a complicated person perspective, right? Like, this Marilyn Monroe is a complex character. Like, you see her in the pictures, right? And she was just a, you know, a supermodel before there were supermodels. But she was a lot more than that and had a really interesting life and had a very, you know, very interesting moments in her life. Very big ups and big downs. And I just thought this was kind of the right fit for Rebecca. So, you think I did okay on that one? Because I really, I struggled with that one.
Myke: I think it's fantastic. Especially, like, the Marilyn Monroe version. I think it's just, like, the perfect. Because she's got that very classic look about her. Right. Classic star look about her.
Brad: Right. Right. So, next is Keely.
Brad: Keely was pretty easy. Except finding, like, the real product that I want. So, I went off the board a little bit. And on Etsy, I found a plush unicorn fluffy pen. Because I'll never forget the time she got hired by Rebecca to do PR for the team. And she came in with her unicorn notebook to get started working. And Keely is all flash. Keely is the, she's the washed up supermodel. So, she still thinks she's, like, the hot young thing. But she knows she's going out. Like, she's aging out of her former job. But she still likes the bright and funny and fluffy and furry. So, I thought, she's the plush unicorn fluffy pen. Like, that's 100%. Nathan was hard. I wanted to make sure to put Nathan in. Because he's also one of the, I think, one of the most interesting characters in the show. Where he is ostensibly the, what do they call it? He's the boot. He's the boot manager. Right? Or what do they call it? The guy that manages the shoes. But basically, he's, like, the clubhouse attendant. That eventually becomes into, like, a big role in an assistant coach. And he is on the outside. Like, he's dead shy. And doesn't talk until you open him up. And then get him saying what he wants. And so, he's kind of like the pilot vanishing point. To where, on the outside, it just looks like a pen. And then, you click that knock. And this point comes out. And it's like, ooh, that's a pen. Nate has it on the inside. And you got to get it out of him. So, I think he's the pilot vanishing point. And not just any pilot vanishing point. I think he's, like, the most basic pilot vanishing point. Like, blue with chrome trim. Right? He's not the black matte sleek pilot vanishing point. He's just, like, the most basic vanishing point. And it's like, oh, yeah, that's a pen. Then click. Then it's like, bam. Oh, my God, Nathan. That was genius. It's like, I had no idea you had it in here.
Brad: Coach Beard was almost left off the list until my wife yelled at me. She's like, why isn't Beard on there? I was like, okay. I'll put Beard on there. Because it seems too obvious. Like, he's the cross Star Wars Chewbacca pen. Like, he just is. Like, his beard isn't outrageous. And, you know, I guess it's part of the gag. It's like, it's just a name. Like, it doesn't reference necessarily the beard. But he is the cross Star Wars Chewbacca. Just because it kind of looks like him. And, you know, he's also part of the rebellion. Right? Coach Beard is really into what Ted's doing. And he's okay with doing it differently. And he's the partner that everyone needs to have the support. So, it also fits in with Chewbacca's role to Han Solo. Right? So, he is that secondary character that the first character almost couldn't exist without having that support system there. So, I think it's a little bit more than that.
Brad: Roy Kent is my favorite character in the show. I absolutely adore Roy. His was very hard to come up with. But I think in the end, I didn't give him a pin specifically. I gave Roy an entire brand. Roy is Parker. Like, the entire brand of Parker. He was once great. He was once the best. And now he's on his last leg. He's riding it out. He's not until retirement. He's headed for a Hall of Fame, you know, type of entrant once he retires. But he's not ready to give it up. He's banged up. He's slow. He's getting beat by the young guys.
Brad: And he's hanging on, though. And he's well-respected. He's beloved. Everyone loves Roy. All the fans, like, they really, really care about Roy. And I think it's like Parker. And I was just going to pin him down to, like, the Parker Dual Fold or the Parker 51 that they were, like, these beloved pins in their heyday. But now they're a little bit of second thought. But they're also hanging on, right? Like, they did the lusters off a little bit. But they're still good. Like, they're still there. They're still kicking. And he's just hanging in there. And I love Roy. He's my favorite. I saved the best for last, Myke. This was the easiest. I love you so much for this. I am so happy with this. And this was the reason why I did the whole thing once I sat down and thought about this for a second. Jamie Tartt. The foil.
Brad: The kind of glue that a lot of this show runs through for part of it. And getting to some of the solutions and conclusions of why this show hit home with a lot of people. But Jamie is the superficial prima donna. Young buck. Believes in only himself. Can do no wrong. Doesn't care what anyone has to say. He's pretty much an idiot. He's a big fan of himself. He runs around, you know, with his shirt off. He gets, you know, he gets his waxing. He cares about his look. Jamie Tartt is the Graf von Faber-Castell Sparta pen. Jamie Tartt is a pen with abs.
Brad: And I could not think of a better.
Myke: Pen of abs.
Brad: I could not think of a better pen for Jamie Tartt.
Myke: Pen of abs.
Brad: So, thank you, Becky, for sending us. Sending me this link. Letting me go on a different tangent with it. But I had fun putting this together. If you all have any shows or selections or anything you want to disagree with me on or give someone else a better pen assignment. Let me know. I would love to hear it. But this was fun. And it makes me laugh. So, I'm glad to do it.
Myke: All right. This episode is also brought to you by Holo. Holo make incredibly comfortable buckwheat pillows. I don't know if you've ever tried a buckwheat pillow, but it is very different to your regular fluffy pillow. It really supports your head and neck and doesn't collapse under the weight of your head like a traditional pillow would. Holo stays cool and dry compared to feather or foam pillows. Plus, buckwheat tends to breathe more easily, so you're not going to get all warm and humid. You don't have to flip over to the cool side of the pillow anymore because your pillow is always cool. And you can add or remove filling to suit your needs so your pillow can be just the way you like it. People have been sleeping on buckwheat pillows for years. They're really popular in Japan. And also, apparently, they appear on, quote, pillow menus at fancy hotels. I have never seen a pillow menu. I would like to one day see a pillow menu. I have been sleeping on Holo pillows for maybe three years at this point. I would never go back. This is the only type of pillow for me. I get exactly what I want. I stay nice and supported. I find it incredibly comfortable. You know when you kind of, like, do that thing where you bunch up your pillow and you put your head on it? And then your pillow just, like, bleh. They don't do this. You bunch it up, put your head on it, and it all stays exactly where you want it to be. It's so fantastic. I love it. Holo pillows are made in the USA with quality construction and materials. The certified organic cotton case is cut and sewn for durability. And buckwheat is grown and milled in the U.S. as well. You should be curious to try one of these things out by now, and you can. You can sleep on it for 60 nights, and if Holo isn't right for you, you can just send it back for a refund. Go to holopillow.com slash penaddict right now to get your very 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 which size you opt for. They have fast free shipping of every order, and 1% of all profits are donated to the Nature Conservancy. Give it a try. If you love it and keep it, if you don't, just send it back. That's holopillow.com slash penaddict. Our thanks to Holo for the support of this show and RelayFM.
Brad: I can't believe how much I love my Holo pillow.
Myke: Oh, I didn't know you had one.
Brad: Yeah, I bought one from there when they first started advertising with us last year sometime. And I was like, all right, I'm going to give this a shot because I hate, like, most pillows, right? Like, pillow shopping is just terrible. And I was like, I'm going to try this because I need a new pillow. And, like, I went in a skeptic and I came out like a super fan. I can't use it. You just get sold forever on these things. Yeah. Like, I'm done.
Myke: It's kind of no two ways about it.
Brad: Yep. Yep. So, there you go. Love it. All right, let's hit these Ask TPA. We got a bunch this week. A bunch of good ones.
Myke: All right, first one this time comes from Craig in the Discord who says, I'm new to fountain pens in the last year. I've mostly seen discussions of nib size with the focus on handwriting until I saw Brad's review of the Robooster Blue Water Ice ink. As someone who loves fountain pen inks for shading, I would love to hear any color or nib size combination you prefer outside of those listed in the post. So, the idea being that nib size seems to be something that's spoken about a lot when it comes to how your handwriting comes out. But nib sizes also have effects for the way that ink shades and stuff like that. So, would there be other recommendations?
Brad: Yeah. So, to get the most out of, let's just stick with, like, shading properties of a nib. You know, the more ink you can get on the page, the better. But you also don't want the ink to pool, right? So, you want that ink to spread. So, like, a stub nib does the trick of putting a decent amount of ink on the page and then pulling that ink away from itself as you continue to write, if that makes sense. You know, kind of like a squeegee. It's like squeegeeing itself, which allows for different, I guess, ink weights on the page, right? It could be lighter. It could be thicker, depending on, like, if you're picking up the nib from a certain spot. So, stub and cursive italic nibs, anything that's flat across the front is going to show off that shading better because its job is to actually spread the ink while you're writing. Whereas a more rounded tip nib, even, like, if you just take a broad nib, right? It's a rounded tipping nib. You're going to get a ton of ink on the page. And if that ink is going down heavily, you're going to see less shading. You're going to get some because that metal is touching the page and spreading the ink around. But it's more likely, based on the design of the tip of the nib, to leave a more, a wetter line, which gives you less shading. Now, it would give you more sheen in that instance, right? The sheen does well with heavy ink applications. But the shading, you need a thinner, drier ink application to really, really show off and make those ink colors pop. Am I answering the question correctly, you think? I think so. Yeah.
Brad: So, you know, I find that, like, that's when I get into loving certain blue-black inks. Because most of the time, blue-black inks, people don't get that, right? Well, it's just a blue-black ink, and you just write with it, and you put it on the page, and it looks like, you know, just a regular blue-black ink. But if you get some of those in a stub nib or something like Pilot Roshi Shinkai, when you spread that ink around a little bit, you go, Oh, that's different than what I expected. And then that's where, like, those stub nibs come into play for an ink you wouldn't think would have certain characteristics, like a Shinkai. Or, yeah, like a Shinkai. To where it actually goes, oh, this is an exceptionally special ink. And that's what shows it off.
Myke: Next question comes from Pulp & Pen. What are your thoughts on the brand Nalwall pens? The low-priced but fancy acrylics with piston fillers that you see on more expensive pens. Is it a great deal? Is it underrated? I don't hear much about them.
Brad: I think kind of all of the above, like, great deal underrated. I haven't used one, which is weird. Like, I swear I've, like, ordered some or had some on the way, and I've lost track, or maybe I pretended to order it, and I never did. I think they're probably pretty good. They get good reviews. The price point is good. You know, you can get, like, a piston filler for, like, around $40. They look, like, good quality. As far as I can tell on everything I read about them, they have a good customer service, right? They're, like, attentive, like, if there's issues with the pens. And, like, I can't give any more than that because I haven't tested them specifically. But everything I hear is good, positive. They seem like a good value. And I would definitely give them a shot, and I will put them back on my list to make sure I get one or two to check out and do a proper review on. But I'm interested, put it that way.
Myke: Bijou. Al asks, I'm moving soon. What do I do with all my empty pen boxes? I sure aren't hauling them across nine states.
Brad: Bonfire.
Myke: Oh, recycle, Brad.
Brad: Bonfire. I'm recycling them into the air. Into the air. Is that how that works? Yeah, then we'll use the ash and, like, fertilizer or something. Right, right. I'm just making stuff up at this point. I hate pen boxes. Like, I just do. Like, you're not going to get any good tips from me because Bijou and I have the, the same problem. I don't like pen boxes. I keep them all, right? Because what if I, what if I'm going to sell this pen later, Myke? Which I don't, which I'm not.
Myke: Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Brad: But I keep them and I have two shelves full of pen boxes and they don't stack well and they're just all jammed in there and I hate looking at them. I hate pen boxes. I, Myke, I hate pen boxes. Did you hear? No, I didn't know.
Myke: I mean, sometimes they're nice. The bigger and fancier the worse. Sometimes they're nice. Sometimes they're nice.
Brad: Okay. They're never nice. The bigger and fancier they are, the more space they take up to not be used.
Brad: What good is the big lacquer box that my Aurora 88 came in if it's sitting in the closet?
Myke: All right. So, pen manufacturers, you've heard it. Brad Dowdy offers a pen from you. Just put a pen in an envelope. No packaging. Just send it to him.
Brad: I'm good with that. That's how he wants it. The rest of their customers would hate that. They need the fancy. No, just you. They need to pay extra for packaging, Myke.
Myke: So, if you order a pen from a company now and they listen to the show. Put me on the list. No matter how much a pen costs, straighten an envelope. Just like an envelope you'd put a piece, like a letter into, not even a padded one. Send it to Brad.
Brad: I'm not even joking. I would check that box.
Myke: All right.
Brad: Just a letter in an envelope. Like Aurora, you can knock $50 off my price because I'm paying for that stupid box.
Myke: It's probably not $50.
Brad: And it's just sitting there. It's a great box. Don't get me wrong. It's an awesome box. But what is it? But you hate it. What's its function after? I hate having it in my closet.
Myke: Right. I agree with that part. They take up space.
Myke: So, what's the point?
Myke: It's the part of the customer experience.
Brad: Yeah. It's the initial sale. That's it. It's not for shipping.
Myke: Well, I mean, maybe sometimes. It's not going to hurt.
Brad: No. But it's secondary.
Myke: Yeah.
Brad: It's not going to hurt. It's part of the sale of the product. And you're paying for it for it to sit in the closet.
Myke: Yeah. You know my stance on this. Burn it. And last question today comes from Rosemary. Will there ever be a spoke suite where you can get the entire spoke line of pens and pencils together in the same fancy design?
Brad: One of the things that makes me happy is that Rosemary Orchard is a spoke pen super fan. I love her so much. She's the best.
Myke: I keep seeing them buy and post them in the Discord. Got like a purple one the other day.
Brad: Yep. Yep. She's so great. I'm going to try to answer this question because I think the answer is no. But here's why. It's that Brian is one of those mad scientist people where things just happen, then they exist, and then they go away. Right? There's not enough. We would have to take like six months of planning to build out what the spoke suite would be and focus directly on that to make it happen. Where we're just saying, hey, this looks cool. Okay, go. Right? Right? That's just honestly, that's generally how it goes. Brian says, what do you think about this? I say, OMG, I'm going to steal one. And then he makes them and then we sell them. Right? There's not a much deeper thought process than that to say, hey, what if we built this suite of pens to match? But the thought could be, what if we did the pen and pencil set? You know, like you used to get back in the day, you know, when Parker and Waterman and everyone was making like a pen and pencil set with the way we do our pens and pencils. Huh? We might actually could do that. So who knows? But I thought this was a cool question. And a little peek behind how we make things to say that we almost couldn't accomplish this if we tried because that's not how we're built to like make things. But then I think about like, what if we did a pen and pencil combo? That would be cool. So we'll work on that for you, Rosemary.
Myke: If you'd like to send in a question for a future episode, just send out a tweet with the hashtag AskTPA. Or you can use question mark AskTPA in the RelayFM members Discord. Or also you can send them by email to hello at penaddict.com. If you'd like to find Brad online, you can go to spokedesign.com, penaddict.com and knock.co. You can go to penaddict on Instagram, dowdyism on Twitter, D-O-W-D-Y-I-S-M. And every Tuesday and Thursday at 10 a.m. Eastern time, you can join Brad at twitch.tv slash penaddict. I am iMike, I-M-Y-K-E. I'm back in Mega Studio, baby. I'm going to be here basically all the time now. So I'm going to be doing a stream from here. I think I'm going to be building a keyboard of some description. I may be getting out the soldering iron for the first time in like five months. And it's going to be this Friday, 10.30 a.m. Eastern at mike.live. I hope to see you there. Thank you so much to Holo and Canalea Penco. And we'll be back next week. Until then, say goodbye, Brad. Goodbye, Brad.