The Pen Addict 367/transcript

The Pen Addict Podcast Transcript
Episode:	367
Title:	The Acquisition Phase
Release Date:	July 10th, 2019
Hosts:	Brad Dowdy Myke Hurley
Guests:	David Parker
Additional Information
Official page:	Episode 367
Audio File:	Audio Episode 367
Podcast page:	The Pen Addict 367
Length:	7373 min <br />1.217 h <br /> minutes
Previous Transcript	Next Transcript

Brad Dowdy: Hello, and welcome to episode 367 of The Pen Addict podcast. I am your host, Brad Dowdy. Once again, writing solo, well, solo at least from my normal podcasting partner. He's off doing who knows what, or maybe I'm off doing who knows what when this show will drop. But I brought on a very cool, very special first time guest, someone that I've talked to a million times about having a podcast. And y'all know how I am. I'm a little bit slow getting things scheduled. But today I have Mr. David Parker from Fig Boot on Pens on YouTube. How's it going, David?

David Parker: Good, Brad. How are things down in Georgia today?

Brad Dowdy: It is very warm. You're not that far away from me, so assumedly warm where you're at as well.

David Parker: Yes, it's been in the mid to high 90s, so it's been rather toasty.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah. It's not good. And, you know, I'm making it worse by, you know, just working outside and doing things out there that I need to do around the house and just getting in trouble and regretting every decision I make to walk outside the house.

David Parker: So the sun is mad at you.

Guest Introduction

Brad Dowdy: Yes, yes, yes, it is. But thanks for coming on. I really appreciate you taking the time to come on the show. I know we've talked about it a long time, and I'm glad I finally got off my rear end and got you scheduled.

David Parker: Well, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So what I want to do today is introduce you to all of our listeners and make sure that they know who you are and what you do and why you do what you do. And to kick things off, I want to know, how did you get started just in pens and stationery in general and then maybe on into fountain pens? You know, how did this whole thing start for you of, you know, wanting something cool to write with?

David Parker: You know, I think it started at work maybe around nine, ten years ago. I had a co-worker who one day kind of just showed me his Lamy All-Star and he said, check this out. I think you might like it. He really wasn't into pens, but he had an all-star and I thought it was kind of cool. And I'm a bit of a quirky guy who likes to be a bit different. So I went online to the site he told me about, which was JetPens, and I ordered myself an All-Star and some cartridges. And so for a long time, that's all I knew. I knew JetPens and that's where I went to go get my cartridges that I needed. And I liked it, but I really wasn't hooked. But about a year later, I was on a trip to Paris and we came across some safaris in a stationery store in the mall under the Louvre. And I picked up a safari. And then not long after that, I participated in a Reddit pen gift exchange. And someone gave me one of those Parker Urban sets that comes with a pen and a bottle of a black quink. And so I had those three pens for a number of years and I was happy. And then one day I kind of thought to myself, you know, like what other types of pens are out there? And that is a very dangerous question in hindsight. But I was clueless, though. I really had no idea what was going on. So I kind of began to search out the internet for any type of top 10 list that I could find or in your case, top five lists. And that I would, you know, I was like a lot of folks out there that just was confused about all the choices. And I didn't know what my tastes were. And spending $50 on a pen was borderline insane in my mind. And so I didn't want to make a mistake. And I figured that, you know, if a pen kept showing up on those lists, then the chance of it actually being good was pretty good. So I did tons of research and watched a bunch of video reviews and ended up picking up a Twisby Diamond 580 and thought that was just about the coolest thing ever. And then from that moment on, I was hooked.

Brad Dowdy: So people that are familiar with your work will know where you have ended up since. But we got a ways to go to get there. But I got to rewind it right back to the beginning. Before your friend handed you the all-star, did you care about what you wrote with at work? Like, did it matter? Like, would you just grab whatever was available at the office or at home and just not really give any consideration to any pen or paper that you were using?

David Parker: I wouldn't as much. I kind of liked some of the, like the G2s, the Pilot G2s and things like that. And, but then it was like only if we had them in the supply closet or else I was grabbing whatever else. And I didn't care as much about paper. It was just any old notebook. And I didn't care much about it. But then it's one of those things to where at first, you know, I was into pens and started getting more into pens and kind of told myself, you know what? I'm really not into ink. I really don't see what's up with ink. And then all of a sudden I get into ink and then I fall into that. And then after a while, I'm like, you know what? I'm really not that into paper. I don't need to get into paper. Then eventually I got into paper. And, you know, you kind of, it's kind of a slippery slope that you end up going down.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, for sure. For sure. So you mentioned your job and I got to ask, I'm not going to ask you, you know, what you do. We don't need to know that. But I need to know, do you take these pens and paper to work? And, you know, have you ever had any issues or have you had people say, hey, what is that? Or have you had a pen like vanish from your desk or anything like that?

David Parker: No, I haven't had any issues like that. Like when I was with in kind of my acquisition phase, you know, that phase where you're just buying things left and right and really excited about anything new. There was a few people in the office. I'd share my new things with probably too many people. I think they tolerated me barely, you know, and I've since paired that back a lot. I have a couple of folks I'll share with, but, you know, I do have two converts in the office. They're not really into pens. They're just using them. One uses a Safari and the other uses a TWSBI Diamond 580 that, you know, I don't think they're going to, I don't anticipate they're going to dive head into the hobby. But they at least have their own pens they enjoy using on a daily basis. I did have an incident, though, once where we had a candidate who was interviewing for a position with our company. And there were two of my coworkers who were doing the interview. And the candidate just happened to mention that he was into fountain pens. Now, I'm not quite sure how or why he mentioned this in the interview, but he did. And my coworkers literally stopped the interview and giddily ran down the hall to my office and grabbed me out of my office to bring me down to meet the dude. It was like they were giggling, like they couldn't believe there was two of us out there. And then it was like they were at the zoo watching two exotic wild animals, seeing how they'd react to each other when you, you know, put them both in the same cage.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, that is a perfect description.

David Parker: And I just asked the candidate, I just said, oh, you into pens? I said, oh, well, what pen did you bring with him, bring with you today? And he said he didn't bring one, which I thought was kind of odd, because if you're going to profess to be such a fan of fountain pens that you actually bring it up in an interview, but you don't have one on you, that just kind of made me doubt his commitment to the hobby a bit. But my coworkers actually ended up hiring him. Unfortunately, he wasn't around for that long, but he did stay with the company for a little bit. But yes, they had to come grab me because they were just excited.

Brad Dowdy: There's another one. Just picture there. Yeah, there's another one. Hey, everybody, come watch. Yeah, come watch. Come watch these two talk. Oh, that's amazing. That's amazing. So you've really ramped it up like in the past like five or six years or so. Did you have that type of personality where if like there's something that you love and you discover something new, do you just kind of go off the deep end like researching, collecting, figuring things out? Has this ever happened to you for anything else in your life?

David Parker: You know, I think in the past, like I'll, you know, I'll get into certain TV shows or something like that to where, you know, in the birth of the Internet, you kind of have online communities. And, you know, I'll go back to something like that, like the TV show Lost. I don't know if you watch that. And that was one of the first shows that had a huge online community. And you'd watch the show and then people would go online and theory craft for an entire week. And it was kind of back in the day when you had to wait a week for the next show to come out and things like that. And so I would get into those types of things, but I didn't necessarily have large collections or something like that as far as objects. But I, you know, I would kind of get into those types of things. You know, I don't necessarily have like an addictive personality, but I can kind of become, you know, obsessed with things at points in time.

YouTube Content Focus

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Well, I want to talk about your YouTube obsession because that's where pretty much all of your content lives. And we're going to talk about why and the hows. And I have a lot of questions about making videos because that's not something I do very often, nor do I think I'm very good at. But before we do that, let me take a quick minute to talk about our first sponsor today. And that's our good friends at Squarespace. This episode of The Pen Addict is brought to you by Squarespace. Make your next move with Squarespace. Squarespace lets you easily create a website for your next idea with a unique domain, award-winning templates and more. Maybe you want to create an online store. Maybe you want to create a portfolio. Maybe you want to create a blog like The Pen Addict. Squarespace is an all-in-one platform that lets you do just that. There's nothing to install, no patches to worry about, no upgrades needed. You don't have to worry about any of that stuff. Squarespace has got it covered. They have award-winning 24-7 customer support if you need any help. And they'll let you quickly and easily grab a unique domain name. And all of those award-winning templates are beautifully designed for you to show off your great ideas. I'm a Squarespace customer. I use it for Pen Addict. I use it for Knock. I have the blog. I have shops tied in there. It's real easy. And their plans start at just $12 a month. And you can start a free trial with no credit card required by going to squarespace.com slash Pen Addict. When you decide to sign up, use the offer code Pen Addict to get 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain and to show your support for The Pen Addict. Once again, that's squarespace.com slash Pen Addict and the code Pen Addict to get 10% off your first purchase. We thank Squarespace for their support of this show and all of Relay FM. Squarespace, make your next move, make your next website. So, why did you choose YouTube as your outlet to share your love of fountain pens?

David Parker: Well, kind of toward the end of 2015, I started to get the itch to create something. It's fun to be a consumer, but I also kind of had an itch to be a creator. And I wasn't quite sure what form that would take. You know, I was really into fountain pens, and I thought it might relate to that. You know, whenever I would receive a new pen, I would do like little mini reviews of my thoughts about each pen in these A5 Tomoe River notebooks that I had. And I was thinking about maybe starting a podcast or maybe writing a blog. And I finally landed on creating a YouTube channel. I have a background in video production. I like to think I can write well enough. I'm a fairly decent public speaker. So, I thought it was something that I could potentially do. You know, you see other videos, and sometimes you look at things and you go, there's no way I'm doing that. And other times you look at something and you're like, you know what? Hey, maybe I could do that. And I thought that I at least have enough of a base skill set where I could do that. And I've told this story before, but in my notebooks, I actually wrote out like all the pros and cons about starting a channel. And I actually decided against it. I kind of doubted myself. And I wasn't sure that I could have a voice. I mean, why would anyone want to listen to my opinion? And literally like a day or two later, I came across one of Stephen Brown's videos that's entitled, Why Aren't You Doing Reviews? And he was very encouraging. And it was kind of one of those things where it was the right message at the right time. And so, right after that, I decided to go for it.

Brad Dowdy: That's awesome. And we talk about that a lot, too. It's just I really, you know, have people's backs when they want to, you know, start a blog or start, you know, any kind of website or start, you know, a YouTube channel or even just get on Instagram and share their stuff. Like I get those emails all the time. I know you do, too. We're going to talk about like a specific video you have about, you know, getting started and things like that. But I got to know maybe the most important question of this entire interview. What does the name Fig Boot mean?

David Parker: Okay. Okay. Sometimes it's tough to name something. I mean, how much do you struggle sometimes with the name of one of your new Nock products?

Brad Dowdy: Oh, it's, yeah, definitely. Definitely a challenge.

David Parker: So I wanted the name of my channel to be unique and easy to remember. And I didn't want it to be like some generic name, like Pen Addict or something like that. Right.

Brad Dowdy: Super generic.

David Parker: So I landed on Fig Boot on Pens. And the intent was actually is that if I ever decided to branch out to different topics, then I could have like Fig Boot on games, Fig Boot on movies. And kind of the template was there. The name Fig Boot is actually something I've used for an online moniker for quite some time. I used to work in the video game industry. And I like playing a lot of video games, console and PC. And it's what I've used for a username for quite some time. It's different. It's usually a name that's not taken. And the only other Fig Boot out there is a little purple dinosaur that was in the Strawberry Shortcake cartoons. And so the origin story is a little lengthy, but it's actually a reference to a book. There's a series of books by an author illustrator by the name of Graham Romeo. He's based in Canada and he has a number of humor books. And there are three that I really enjoy. It's his Bigfoot trilogy. There is In Me Own Words, Me Write Book, and I'm Not Dead. And, you know, with any type of humor, these books aren't for everyone, but they make me laugh out loud. And for a book to do that, for you to laugh out loud reading a book, it makes it – it's funny for me. Like, for example, there was one page talking about how Bigfoot auditioned for Sesame Street. There was another page about how he went over to Japan to become a sumo wrestler, stuff like that. It's very dark, crass humor. And there was one page that actually showed his online dating profile. And his username was Fig Boot. Actually, it was Fig Boot underscore 2001. But that's where the name came from. So it was Bigfoot's online dating profile name.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. That's amazing. Like, I didn't know this. I haven't – I don't know if you've gone through this in one of your videos. I, of course, will readily admit I have not watched all of the entire catalog of the Fig Boot on Pens video collection. But that's amazing. And I'm sitting here dying laughing when you started talking about this because you and I, you know, not to give away all of our secrets, we're ballpark around the same age. So coming to age in the earlier days of the internet, coming up with, like, your screen name was kind of a – not maybe a big deal, but it was, like, something that stuck around. And you end up using it for other things, just like you started using Fig Boot for one thing. And it's just kind of something that stuck with you, like my Dowdyism moniker, which kind of drives me insane a little bit, which I'm stuck with that Twitter handle now.

Brad Dowdy: That's how that came about. That was, like, my message board handle, like, back in the 90s, right? So, like, these things just kind of, you know, go through our veins and then sometimes they get stuck. But Fig Boot's, like, a really strong, good name for a channel. Do people just come up and when they see you at pen shows, they go, hey, Fig Boot?

David Parker: Yeah, I'll answer to it. You know, it's not – that's fine. It doesn't bother me. And, you know, I'm used to – you know, I used to play a lot of, like, World of Warcraft. And that was my main tank was Fig Boot. And so everyone would just call you that. Oh, and then I wanted to say that I actually reached out to Graham, Romeo, the author, because I thought it would be really cool to have an original piece of art from him. This was way before I started the channel. And so I actually commissioned a piece of art from him. And I really love it. I'll give you a link that you can post. It's basically Bigfoot just poking a beehive with a stick. But it's one of those things that – it's a one-of-a-kind. It's an original watercolor painting that he made. And it's hanging above my office at work. And it's one of those things that means nothing to anyone else, but it means everything to me. It is, like, one of my most prized possessions I own. I just love that thing.

Video Creation Process

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, those are the best things to have that are super personal to you. So let's dig in a little bit to the video creation process. Can you give me an idea? Let's say you get a new product in tomorrow or you got one in a couple of weeks ago and you think you're going to shoot a video review for YouTube. What does that process look like for you in the kind of the big picture-wise?

David Parker: Well, in a typical week, I'm producing one review, which we'll post over the weekend, usually Saturday or evening or Sunday morning. You know, I try to – well, I have a bit of a queue, so I kind of schedule things out. I like to take, like, Monday and Tuesday off because, you know, this is a hobby. It's not how I earn a living, so I need to have some, like, time to not be working on the channel in order to not get burnt out over the long run. Usually on Wednesday, I'll start to outline a review, kind of bullet point things that I want to hit. I'll take all the pictures that I need to take and create the intro and the measurements, pieces of the review. I create those in Adobe After Effects and I use Premiere Pro for editing. And then usually Thursday, I write about 60% to 70% of a review and then finish it off on Friday. And then I'll either record Friday night or sometimes Saturday morning, you know. And, you know, for a 12-minute review, like setting up the equipment, recording, tearing down the equipment, you know, back down, you know, will take, you know, around an hour, hour and 15 minutes, depending whether or not my mouth wants to work that day. And, you know, then it takes a couple of hours in editing and post-production. You know, I'm a big film buff. And Alfred Hitchcock used to say that it's, you know, that the actual act of shooting a film was his least favorite part of the process. That he did so much planning and pre-production that after the script and all the storyboards were complete, kind of in his mind, the movie was done. It was completed. And that all he had to do was just get it onto film. And I kind of understand how he feels because there's times when you're actually, you know, shooting the review. That can be a bit of a chore and the post-production can be a bit of a chore. You know, I can get sick of listening to my own voice and looking at my own face during post-production. But overall, I enjoy the process.

Brad Dowdy: Do you write out an entire script? So, like your videos are, I guess, between, what, 12, 15-minute range. Do you write an entire script for what you want to say? Or do you just kind of, like, bullet point it, if you will?

David Parker: You know what? I actually write everything out. If I just winged it off the top of my head, inevitably I would forget something or misstate a fact. Because, yeah, if I misstated a fact, no one on the internet is going to let you know that. We're going to talk about that. They just let it slide. Or, you know, miss an important point. You know, I like to include lots of facts and history and things that maybe aren't even associated with that pen, but that add to the entertainment value and to hopefully make the videos interesting. In the, you know, and I basically mainly write everything out so that I ensure that I say exactly what I want to say. In my early videos, I would actually tape the notes below the camera. And so it can be tough to disguise taking a peek at your notes. You can kind of see it a little bit more. And it can actually be a little bit distracting for viewers. So now I actually use a teleprompter. I can load up my script into a program on an iPad. And then the, you know, I look directly at the camera, which actually shoots directly through the teleprompter. And, you know, it's voice activated. So as I talk, the text scrolls up on its own. And it's pretty cool.

Brad Dowdy: Okay. I wasn't expecting that answer, but that is pretty cool. So like I figured I, you know, you're looking or reading something, you know, whether it's notes or, you know, just, you know, kind of the script laid out in front of you. But that would be brutal. The teleprompter is super smart. When did you, when did you start doing that in this process?

David Parker: Boy, it's been a couple of years. Okay. But it's one of those things where I, okay, I'm always looking to improve and get better and improve the quality of things. And one of the things I didn't like was I didn't like the fact that just there was no good place for me to put my notes. I wasn't going to memorize a 12-minute long review. Other reviewers do an excellent job of at least seemingly like winging the review. That's just not me. I've kind of decided to go a different way and I, but if they can do that, then that's fantastic. Good on them. But I need to write it all down to make sure I hit all my points. And that I wanted to figure out a way to do that without being distracting for the viewers. And, you know, when you're sitting there staring at your face while you're editing all these things, you notice all these little things that annoy me. So I know if they annoy me, they annoy other people.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, for sure. And I know if Myke were here, we would definitely have a comment on your preparedness and we would probably kick you off the show right now because we don't prepare that much for this. We wing it a lot and therefore we do get in trouble sometimes. So good job by you staying out of trouble as much as you can. So like the entire process. So one video, 15 minutes, for example, what amount of time does that take you in totality to just put that together? That's not necessarily spending time with the pen beforehand. So you know what the pen's like and things like that.

David Parker: I'd say, you know, right around like five to seven hours. It can depend on the review. But from beginning to end, writing, recording. Like when I write my reviews, I actually write them by hand because, you know, it's a good excuse to use the pen rather than me just typing the review. I mean, it's a good opportunity to use the pen and then I can maybe find revelations and things that I care and don't care about it as I'm using the pen to physically write the review. And that, you know, some reviews are quicker. But, you know, I try to include a lot of other information in my reviews as well. Like, for example, in the mail today, I just received a Montegrappa Apollo 11, the open edition, not the limited edition. That someone lent me one of those and that I need to do some research into the Apollo 11 mission in order to come up with some relevant, you know, facts that I hope would be interesting and information to help folks understand the importance behind the pen. Especially when a lot of folks maybe, you know, it was 50 years ago. And so a lot of people weren't alive and they might not have necessarily understood the impact of what that really meant to the United States and the world to have someone land on the moon.

Content Quality and Depth

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, and I think that's one of the great things about your content. And we'll talk about some specific videos before is you go above and beyond like the review specs. You know, you really do a great job of explaining either the story, if it's a pen like the Apollo 11 or the construction process, if it's, you know, an Arushi pen, you know, you definitely go into detail. I've noticed that in the videos that I've watched, like how good of a job you do with that. And I'm thinking about that five to seven hours time frame. Number one, that sounds short to me. And like getting one of those a week is an impressive task because, you know, you have a job, you have a family, you have other hobbies, assumedly. That's a lot. Like what that's a that's a great commitment to to putting out these videos. And just as a community member who enjoys this content, thank you for doing that. That's that's a lot of work. It's no joke.

David Parker: Yeah. I mean, it's like a little part time job. Yeah. You know, but when I whenever I'm doing the reviews, I almost I kind of think what information. What information would I be curious about? Usually it's like, you know, OK, I'm fascinated by where the company names come from. You know, why is this company named this or why is this pen named this? Things like that I find fascinating. And and a lot of times you don't find information like that. But things like that are interesting. Whenever I do an ink review, I, you know, I wanted to do something a little different. And so whenever I do an ink review, I actually tie it into a movie so that then I can it actually gives me some material that I use in for the writing sample. I'll like write about the film and kind of do a little mini. I would say a film review, but just discuss a film. So, like, for example, coming up here soon, I'm going to be posting an ink review on the Blackstone Wild Orange. It's like a scented orange ink. And Blackstone is an Australian company. So I'll be talking about one of my Australian films that I enjoy, you know, and that I enjoy talking about my film. And kind of my goal is to add a little something entertaining that isn't necessarily fountain pen or stationary related. So, OK, Brad, what's your favorite Australian film? Go.

Brad Dowdy: Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

David Parker: That was very high on my list.

Brad Dowdy: That is a very easy answer for me. It's one of my all time favorite movies.

David Parker: If I was going to be doing this review during Pride Month, I think I would have done that. But since it's going to be in July, that was my number two choice. I thought about like Walkabout, even Mad Max. But there is a film that came out in 1991 that I really enjoyed that's called Flirting.

Brad Dowdy: OK, I don't know that one.

David Parker: It has a great cast. A number of actors in their teens that have really gone on to do some great things. Like it was Nicole Kidman, Noah Taylor, a number of other folks and a very good cast and kind of about a girls and boys school that are next to each other. And a white boy and a girl from Africa who kind of fall in love. And so it's kind of about teen love, but then also a lot of race relations and things like that. It's just a very good film that I enjoy.

Brad Dowdy: I love it. I love it. So I'll have to be sure and watch that. Like when the video comes out, I'm sure I'll watch it and, you know, just be anxious to go watch the movie. So, yeah, that's perfect.

Australian Music Discussion

David Parker: OK, Australian bands. I know you're more into music. What's your favorite Australian band?

Brad Dowdy: The go-betweens.

David Parker: ACDC, hands down.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah.

David Parker: Either that or the Wiggles.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, the Wiggles. Yeah, I couldn't go there with the Wiggles. We escaped that pretty well. We can talk about that some other time.

David Parker: All I will say is that the Wiggles are not that bad. And they put on, I've been to like a couple of their concerts. They put on actually a pretty good concert. So I'll just say that.

Brad Dowdy: That is definitely one of those that was in the realm of, OK, this is an option, right? Sometimes you just have to take one for the team. That was always an option. It wasn't like an absolute no.

David Parker: It would be a thing like half the show, they're playing to the parents and they would make jokes to the parents. And it was actually not that bad. It wasn't as painful as it could have been. OK.

YouTube Comment Section

Brad Dowdy: Speaking of painful, I got to talk about one of the pain points that a lot of people automatically assume from YouTube. And that is the comment section. Do you have any issues or do you how do you handle your comment section on your YouTube channel? Because that seems to come up from time to time just about the overarching, maybe unfairly general YouTube comments section being, you know, kind of rough.

David Parker: You know, I'm very fortunate that for the most part, the comments I receive on my videos are very positive. For the most part, it's a positive community. You know, there are, however, times when you can get some uncalled for comments. Now, you have every right to have an opinion that's different than mine. I will never, you know, basically ban someone or delete their comment for just having a different opinion. But it's all in how you express that opinion. If it's a string of four-letter words, then that's not acceptable. You know, for me, sometimes I find it hard to understand how some people's minds work because I read through all the comments. I read through every single comment on my channel. Okay. And I reply to many of them. And that I – because I feel it's another way to interact with people. And that there are some viewers that I recognize that leave, like, negative comments each and every video. And not necessarily negative towards me, but just negative in general and negative in life. And I'm not sure how folks can kind of go through life like that with just everything coming out of their mouths being critical and negative. I mean, if someone's being a jerk, then I can deal with that. And those don't bug me as much. The ones that bug me are the ones where someone is being critical of me personally and their criticism has a nugget of truth to it. You know, if I feel it's totally wrong, it's easy to dismiss. But, you know, if they say that, hey, you should have done this or should have done that and I agree with them, then those are the ones that leave you kind of saying, yeah, you're right.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. Yeah. Well, that sounds good. And, you know, I was going to ask you, you know, do you read all the comments and look at all that stuff? And I guess you – I don't guess you have to, but it's kind of good. Like you're fostering a community over there and the way a comment section is handled by the owner of the channel kind of sets the tone for how you should act within there. And I definitely believe that it kind of becomes self-policing, right? When people are interacting over several videos over several years, you know, they understand like, hey, you know, this is what's expected in here and this is the tone in here and it just kind of plays off itself. Yeah.

David Parker: Yeah. And then, you know, if someone asks a question in the comments of me, then just like if someone sent me an email, then, you know, am I going to answer every question? I can't get to every question, but I, you know, I try to at least, you know, answer a fair amount of them. And that if I was, you know, a fan of a video channel and the creator would respond to my questions, then that's going to make me want to have a closer tie to that channel and want to watch more videos.

Brad Dowdy: Tell our Panatic listeners that are wanting to be a content creator, either, you know, written word or in your realm, making videos on YouTube. Do you have any like a tip or two? You know, you don't have to go into like all the things and you actually have a pretty good video on creating content that we'll link into the show notes here. But do you have any kind of like quick tips?

David Parker: Like if you would do something different, like if you were starting today, you know, I like I like you said, you know, I actually created a video on this topic. I mentioned earlier about Stephen Brown's video, which is kind of about why aren't you doing reviews? That's a good video as well. But I decided to, like you said, make my own for folks that have kind of decided to create content and are asking themselves, OK, now what? And that, you know, I get people reaching out to me, asking questions to get advice. And just like I reached out to folks when I was getting started and I try to do my best to be very encouraging and impart some words of wisdom. Something I tell folks a lot is that realize that when you first start out, absolutely no one is going to care and no one is watching you. And that's a good thing. So you don't want to get discouraged by a lack of views. I've seen some channels where you can see that someone posted like two or three videos. They recorded them the same day. You can tell because they're all wearing the same clothes. And the the videos have like, you know, 10 views a piece. And then that person never posts again. They probably got discouraged and quit. And I tell people to not care about view count, because when you first start out, you're going to be awful. Uh, that, you know, what you want to do is you want to use that time when no one is watching to get better and to perfect your craft and find your voice and figure out what type of style you want to have and find out what you can bring to the table that no one else can bring. And then accentuate that for some people, they're going to find that quickly. And for other people, it might take months or years for the first two months of my channel. I produced a video a week. So I had eight videos out there and a total of 25 views.

Brad Dowdy: Wow.

David Parker: And a single subscriber one. Uh, but you know, when that one person subscribed, it felt great because it was like a validation that somebody out there liked what I was doing and wanted to see more or, or they accidentally clicked on a button by mistake. One of the two. But, you know, I'm a strong believer that if you create good content, then people will find your work. You don't have to over promote yourself. And if you do good work, then you will eventually be rewarded. And so if you keep your head down and produce the highest quality content that you're capable of, if you can do that, then good things are going to happen.

Brad Dowdy: I could not agree with that more. Yeah. I think that's, that's perfectly said. And you've made some very, very specific, very good content that I want to talk about. I want to dig into some specific videos and I'm going to find out from you what some of your favorites are. But first, let me talk about our second sponsor for today's episode. And that's our good friends at Harry's. This episode of the pen addict is brought to you by Harry's. Did you know that the average person can spend 3000 hours of their lifetime shaving? Don't waste four months of your life overpaying for poor for performing razors. Get Harry's a razor that's so sharp you can shave less often and will save you money. Harry's was founded by two guys that were tired of paying for overpriced gimmicks. Vibrating heads, flex balls, handles that look like a prop on a sci-fi movie. These are just some of the tactics that the leading brands have used to overcharge us for years. Harry's makes quality, durable blades at a fair price. Just $2 per blade. To keep prices low, they cut out the middleman. Harry's bought a world-class blade factory in Germany that's been making some of the best razor blades in the world for 99 years. Now they can provide great quality at factory direct prices. And they offer a 100% quality guarantee. If you don't love your shave, let them know and they'll give you a full refund. I'm on vacation this week. Somehow I'm talking to you through the internet, but I packed all my Harry's kit to go on this trip. I'm breaking the walls now, David. Myke's going to yell at me, but I don't care. It's podcast magic. But I've shaved with all of my stuff that I've brought on vacation this week while we're recording this. It's kind of amazing how that happens, but I can't travel without my Harry's stuff. So as a listener of this show, you can get a trial set that comes with everything you need for a close, comfortable shave. Weighted ergonomic handle for an easy grip. Five-blade razor with a lubricating strip and trimmer blade for a close shave. Rich lathering shave gel that will leave you smelling great. And a travel blade cover to keep your razor dry and easy on the go. To redeem your trial set, just go to harrys.com slash pinaddict. That's harrys.com slash pinaddict to redeem your offer and help support the show. Our thanks to Harry's for their support of the Pinaddict and Relay FM. All right. So go ahead.

David Parker: Oh, I was going to say, I was going to say something really quick about Harry's. I'm a subscriber as well. I have two, well, we'll call them issues. One is that, okay, I'm used to like my old razors would like crust up after a while. You know, after a while, they just look like some crusty thing. And that's how you know when to throw them away. The Harry's razors, they look the same if you've been using it for a month as if you used it. They're brand new. So it's like, you can't look at it and just tell it's old. So when I'm done with it, I can't put it back in the little container. I got to throw it away because if I put it back in, you know, it's in essence, it's too clean. And then they last forever. Yeah. Because I'll be shaving. I'm like, okay, it has been weeks since I've changed my razor. Should I just change it because they do last forever. So those are my two endorsements for Harry's.

Brad Dowdy: Thanks for doing that. And that's completely right. What you say about the blade. I like have to shove it up like into my eyeballs. Like how long have I used this? And is it like worn out yet? Because normally you could, like you said, you can tell with other blades. So Harry's great job by you. All right. I put down some videos, specific videos that I want to talk about. But before we get into my selections, can you give me one or two or three of the favorite videos you've ever made? How many, first off, how many videos do you have on your channel? Do you know?

David Parker: A little over 260, like 261, 262. You know, I post, you know, at a pretty consistent pace. And, you know, since I started my channel back in 2015, I've really only missed two weekends. I can't recall why I missed the one. But the other one was because I was traveling in China and couldn't access YouTube. So I guess that was a valid excuse. Right. But, you know, there's another viewer out there who started after I did who has almost a thousand videos. And, you know, unless this is my full-time job, I can't do that. This has been very rewarding for me. I enjoy providing information, entertainment to the community, and I get a lot out of it.

Interview Question

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, so what, if you had to pick, you're going to an interview for the Fountain Pen YouTubers Association, and you have to show off your favorite videos to the association. What are you going to pick to submit?

David Parker: I am very proud of my Lamy 2000 review. Oh, nice. And that the reason being is because there are a thousand Lamy 2000 reviews out there. You can find tons of Lamy 2000 reviews. And that through my research, something I was very proud of is I was able to come up with some facts that I had never heard in any review. And that mainly it was because the gentleman, Mueller, I believe that was his name, who designed the Lamy 2000. He actually previously used to work for Braun, the shaving company. And that his claim to fame was this specific Braun shaver. And if you look at the Braun shaver that he designed, it looks exactly like a Lamy 2000. It's the same black with the silver up front. It's in essence the same design, but in a pen. And that I had never seen anyone make that connection. And so that was kind of a proud moment for me because I was able to do a review of a pen that a thousand people have done, but yet come up with information that no one had ever heard of. Or at least I hadn't heard of.

Brad Dowdy: I'm going to tell, let me tell you something right now. Let me stop you right here. I don't watch a lot of video content. The way you describe your video content makes me want to watch all of it. Like, because I've watched, you know, a handful or dozens of videos and they're all just fascinating. But then the things you say about doing the ink with the movie themes and trying to find the story that hasn't been told. You got to watch David's videos, y'all. And I have to do a better job at watching all the videos that he produces because you can hear it. He like really gets it and really is like putting his all into it. And you learn something from it, which I think is the coolest thing. So anyway, I just had to drop that on you right there.

David Parker: I mean, everyone kind of takes in their information differently. There are certain people that, you know, hey, all I want to do is post to, you know, the Fountain Pen Network and that's all I want to do. And that's perfectly fine. Everyone, you know, consumes in the way they want to consume. Some people love video reviews. Some people like more blogs. And so there's enough content out there for everybody.

Brad Dowdy: Yep. Yep. Totally agree. So I'll have to watch the Lamy 2000 video. I have not watched that. I noticed before I talk about my favorites, I noticed that the two, at least if you go by whatever YouTube's popular metrics is, I guess by view count, your video for the fake Montblancs and the pens I regret buying are the two most watched videos. Is that accurate based on the numbers that I saw?

David Parker: Yes. Those are the two most watched videos. And it's interesting that those are the ones, we'll say with negative titles, but just kind of skewed negative. Yeah, I think that's telling. I was going to bring that up. Absolutely. And I have a tendency to be very positive and that I, you know, I'm a positive person. I like to skew positive. I'm not afraid to tell you my opinion, but there's a way to tell it in a way that doesn't make you feel like I'm yelling at you or going on a rant or making it difficult to listen to. So sometimes you have to kind of listen between the lines to say, okay, he is being a little bit more critical here because I have a tendency to do it in a more genial way.

Brad Dowdy: Well, I'll say on the regret pens, like you would regret the pen, but then you'd give an example of, hey, something similar, but I don't regret or something better, like a better choice.

David Parker: And that's exactly why, because I didn't want to do a video that was just negative, negative, negative. I hate this pen. I hate this pen. I hate this pen. And so it took me a while to figure out, okay, how do I make that into something more listenable that isn't me just complaining for saying I hate this. So that was my alternative was basically I'd say, hey, this pen doesn't work for me, but this is a pen that's similar that really does. And so I was able to kind of justify it in a way skew positive, even though I was going over pens that really didn't necessarily work for me.

Topic Shift - New Video

Brad Dowdy: All right. I am dying to talk about this video and it is for the Montegrappa Game of Thrones Winter is Here pen. I don't even know where to start because number one, I'm a Game of Thrones fan and I've actually, you know, I've obviously been following, you know, the Montegrappa releases of their pens, you know, since they first started doing them a couple of years ago and reviewed a couple. And with the series coming to a close this year, Montegrappa went all out with the edition that you reviewed in this video. That's called Winter is Here. Can you just give me your non-video review thoughts of what this pen is? And we'll have these show notes for you. Go over and click this and I'll add a picture in of this pen because it's one of the most amazing pens I've ever seen. And that's like not necessarily a positive or a negative. It just is, right? It's an outlandish, outrageous, technical work of art that you got your hands on to review. So tell me about that a little bit.

David Parker: A quick aside is do you have any of the Game of Thrones MLB bobbleheads? No, I don't. You should look those up. Okay, look those up. They have a bunch of it. You know, they'll have like Akuna sitting on the Iron Throne type of thing. They have things like that. But if you look up MLB Game of Thrones bobbleheads, they're pretty cool.

Brad Dowdy: Amen.

David Parker: That's one of the things that I'm very fortunate about is that, you know, I've built up my channel and built up a lot of fantastic relationships so that I could kind of get my hands on just about anything out there to review from one source or the other. And when a cool pen like that comes out, I know, okay, I think it was like $7,500 or something like that. The vast majority of us are not buying that pen. But that doesn't mean that it's still not cool to take a look at and kind of oogle over and go into the detail because there's a ton of detail on that pen. And it's kind of interesting to say all of the work that went into it. And, okay, as a themed pen, does this work as a themed pen for Game of Thrones? And it was kind of cool because on one side you had the Night King and then on the other side was a White Walker. And there was just lots of little details in the pen as well that had decent references to the show. And so I felt it was a decent representation. They had that and then they had another model called the Iron Throne, which was one of their previous high-end models for the Game of Thrones as well. And on that one, the entire cap had swords going all the way around, which were kind of cool as well. But I thought it was well done for what it was. Right. And if I didn't care about money, then that thing would look pretty cool sitting on a shelf. But it was somewhat well balanced and so that I felt like you could use this pen. It wasn't something that was just so unreasonable and unwieldy that it couldn't be used. And I thought it looked pretty cool.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That actually, it reminds me of the Montegrappa Chaos pen, which we've relentlessly mocked on the show. But I actually had the opportunity to try one out when we were in New York last year. And I got a newfound appreciation for that pen. I was like, I get it now. Look, it may not be for me, but I understand. And I understand why it's for the people who bought that pen. And it was actually kind of enjoyable. And if you have the right situation and the right pocketbook, maybe that's a cool pen for you.

David Parker: If you own enough Ed Hardy shirts, then it might be worthwhile. And that was, you know what, for the longest time, I wanted to review that pen. Just because there's not a lot of serious reviews out there on that pen. Right. And so, again, is it something that a lot of people are going to go out there and buy? No. But is it fun to at least play with and take a look at? And we've mocked it endlessly, mainly because of the video and just some of the marketing behind it. Right. But then it was fun to sit down and actually say, okay, but is it really a good pen? And, you know, it's one of those things. It either matches your personality or it doesn't. But if it does match, it's done very well. And it looks very nice. And the lost cast waxing that they have is an amazing technique. And it is gaudy and it is opulent, but it's a decent pen.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And back on the Thrones video, I also enjoyed it because, like you were saying, all the extra content that you put in there, you're obviously a Thrones fan. You sound like a book reader, I'm guessing.

David Parker: I've done both. I've read the books and watched the shows. I think I actually started the shows first, which actually kind of made it helpful to where I started the show. And then maybe after like a season, then I said, okay, I got to go out and get these books. And basically it just helped me put faces to names. I think that was kind of the best thing that it did. So then I kind of had a better picture in my mind who some of these people were.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. And I thought you did a good job. We won't do any spoilers here, but you made some predictions for the final season. And hey, not a bad record, I felt.

David Parker: Well, yeah, that was part of the fun is, okay. You got to do a review on this pen, but then also take a couple of minutes and actually talk about the show. And that's kind of one of the things I like to do is just, okay, what else can I talk about that's interesting, that's not going to deter too much from this and make people want to turn it off. But if you're watching a Game of Thrones review about a Game of Thrones pen, you're probably a fan of the show and don't mind a little content about the show. Yeah.

Pen Topic Shift

Brad Dowdy: Yep. So I'm going to take a 180 from that pen and we're going to talk about one of the most simple looking pens that I find completely fascinating, but I want to use it as a jumping off point to something else. It's the Pilot Custom Arushi. It's the big honking Pilot Arushi pen, like number 30 size nib. It's a big expensive piece of like fountain pen art, but it's basically your black and gold pen. But the reason I bring this up is because that's a pen that I've eyeballed and looked at. And you let me try it at a pen show before, maybe multiple times because that's one I always gravitate to. And I want to use that pen not just to talk about that particular video, but your pen show videos. So what is your thought process behind, you've made several pen show videos now. Do you know just in that category alone? I'm sorry I put you on the spot there, but it's several.

David Parker: Yeah, maybe five or six or something like that. Yeah.

Brad Dowdy: So what's that like and what's the feedback been like on those pen show videos? Because I get to see you at the pen shows when we travel and I get to try some of your cool pens, like your Pilot Custom Arushi, but then you come back and do video recaps of some of the shows.

David Parker: Yeah. And at first, when I first started doing them, they were straight video recaps. And that it was just kind of, hey, this is what's going on. And this is what's happening at this particular show. And this is what I picked up type of thing. And I did a few videos like that. And then I felt I wanted to do something a little bit different just because it was just, I mean, after a while, it's just going to be the same content, the same, unless there's new things that come out. It's like, okay, this is Brad's table. This is the Anderson's table. This is every other table. And so what I did recently was rather than do a recap of the Atlanta show, I actually came out with a pen show 101, which was kind of my variation on the pen show video and kind of just saying, okay, if you're going to go to a pen show for the very first time, these are all of my recommendations. Because those are some of the things I get. Those are the questions I get in those pen show videos is in the comment section is, okay, I'm going. I don't know what to expect. And, oh, I'm, you know, because I've been there too. I've been nervous when you walk in, you get overwhelmed and you're not quite sure what to expect. And so I just kind of laid out a number of tips and tricks and things like that in that video. And I was proud of that video just because I thought it contained a lot of really good information. And especially if you're just starting out in the hobby or never been to a pen show, I thought it would be a good guide for people.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, I think that's excellent. And it's certainly a good resource because it's even though like the timeframe changes and the vendors might change, the content is evergreen for, hey, I'm going to my first pen show. Let me watch a video about what I should expect. So I think that's really, really good. Now you have, I guess, a few outliers on there. And I'll never forget when you reached out to me for this next video, which is called Rubik's Cube Mosaics. And you basically, I should have gone back and pulled up the email. I should basically, Brad, can I have a knock logo for a project I'm working on? And I'm like, sure, David, you may. And then boom, Rubik's Cube Mosaics video. You just got to give us some background on this video because this is just one of those things that is mind boggling on a lot of levels that could probably fill an entire podcast episode. Yeah.

David Parker: Yeah. I mean, I've been doing Rubik's Cubes ever since they came out in the early 80s. And I don't categorize myself as a speed cuber, but my best time is like 48.6 seconds, which is terrible when you're looking at me. Not for me. You know, one of these days I'd like to actually get that under 30 seconds, but I would basically have to learn a brand new methodology. Basically, my methodology, I'm doing it as fast as I can. Imagine like if all of a sudden you say you're riding a bike wrong, you have to go relearn how to ride a bike. In order for me to get under 30 seconds, I would have to relearn how to ride a bike. So it's like my brain is afraid to like try it again. So one of these days I might do that because I'd like to get under 30 seconds. But I've always played with cubes. And one of the things is I'm always just looking for fun things to do on the channel. What would be a fun project to do to make things interesting? And there was a company that loaned Rubik's Cubes to schools. And so what they would do is they would have these programs. They would ship the schools these programs and they would make mosaics with Rubik's Cubes for school programs. And so I work with them and it's free, but you have to pay for shipping of 500 cubes. I think it was 500, 600. It was at five or 600 cubes, which is not cheap. I'll just say that shipping 600 cubes is not cheap. And so I had to wait until the summer because I didn't want to take away a kit from like an actual school that was using it and when they had availability. And so I had them for like six weeks. And so I decided I just thought it'd be an interesting video to make mosaics out of these video or out of these cubes. And so I thought, okay, what could be fountain pen related? So I just said, you know what? I'll just make logos of companies. And that, you know, I, I, I, I didn't reach out to some of the bigger people like Montblanc or, or pilot or things like that. But for smaller folks, I actually reached out to, because I I'm very conscientious about copyright issues. And that's actually something I profess to people that ask me to look at their videos and things like that. If you didn't take a picture, don't use it unless you got permission to use that. I've had people that had me look at their videos and I'd be like, okay, did you ask their permission or do you just steal that from their site? You know, you can't use that music. You can't, you know, if you didn't create it, don't use it. So, uh, I, for smaller companies like yourself, I, you know, I wanted to ask permission because I didn't think it'd be cool just to use your logo without you knowing it. And, and who knows, uh, that, uh, you know, you might have an issue with that. And if you did, then I'd hate, uh, you know, for that to, uh, to, to become an issue if I just assume that it's okay. But I do recall asking you. And then I recall, uh, it was at a show. I can't remember which show it was, but I came up with, I came up to, uh, to you and Myke and I had it on my phone and I just, I had a video loaded on my phone. I hadn't produced the video yet, but I had that portion of it. And I just said, okay, this is what I did. And you guys were just kind of blown away by it.

Brad Dowdy: No joke.

David Parker: But yeah, it was a project that took me like six weeks. Uh, I had to build an easel out from scratch because 600 Rubik's cubes, uh, weigh a lot. And so I had, it was like this huge easel. I had to go down to Home Depot and buy wood. And I, I'm not a super handy carpenter, but I basically had to figure out how to make an easel on my own that would hold all these cubes. And, uh, at first it kind of was sagging. So I had to reinforce it. And then I would go up there and in the bedroom, I basically took over our master bedroom or portion of it for, you know, a little over a month. And I'd go up there each night and, you know, make video and make the video. And each one, each, I can't remember if it was like maybe 10, 12, 13 logos or something like that. And each one, I tried to shoot a little bit differently. Some are time-lapse, some are stop motion, some are, you know, I tried to do them a little bit differently and, uh, added some cool music. I thought from, uh, one of my favorite, um, uh, uh, musicians that named Andrew Applepie, who's does a really good job of letting creators use their music. So it's kind of cool, hip music. Uh, and, uh, and I thought it turned out nice and it was something different and interesting and, and it was fun. So whether or not someone watched it, whether or not it got tons of views, it was fun to create and it was a fun project. So it was a win in my book.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, for sure. Like it, as a viewer, it puts a smile on my face, right? Like we can watch all the reviews and, and, you know, do all these things. And then you get like this little surprise, like in your, in your feed, you go, Oh, what is David up to? Oh, wow. Look at what he did. Like it's, it's a cool surprise.

David Parker: So, and then there's a surprise at the end. I didn't mention there's the logo, the locked logo. But then there was something else I didn't ask permission for, for, uh, for you at the end of the video.

Brad Dowdy: Oh, I'd have to go back and watch it now. It's been, I haven't watched it since you launched it. Um, but I just stuck in my head. So I can't remember now, but I know I watched through the whole thing. Now I'm going to go back and see, Oh, was it, was it the picture like the Boston Globe picture?

David Parker: Uh, it was, it was you and Myke.

Relationship Discussion

Brad Dowdy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. I think I know. Yep. That's awesome. That is too cool. All right, David, we are knocking it out here. You are, I could just pick your brain for like another hour at least, but at some point I'm going to have to let you go, but I still have some other things I'm going to get into. Sure. But before we, before we jump off this video training, get into like some of your personal pens, like I want to hear about like some of the things that you're into. Do you have a pen that you want to review that you haven't been able to access yet?

David Parker: I mentioned it before, but I've been very fortunate to kind of develop relationships with a large number of manufacturers and distributors and retailers. And so I can kind of have access to a large number of pens that, that I wouldn't otherwise purchase. Um, you know, when I started off, what I have ever thought that it was possible for someone to loan me an $8,000 pen. Uh, no, uh, no way, but they have, um, you know, but I'm in a unique position where for the most part, if I want to review a pen, I can figure out someone who will loan it to me. Um, for the longest time I wanted to review that monograppa chaos, uh, mainly because like I said, no one out there had done that. Um, and at the DC show last year, I was able to do a review of that. Uh, and that there's a few things out there that I'd like to review. I'd like to get my hands on a monograppa samurai again, just because no one really done a review of the samurai. Um, there was the Faber-Castell pen of the year, uh, for this past year, I thought was kind of cool. And the one that has me fascinated lately is the, uh, the ST-Dupont seven C's, which, uh, might have one of the coolest displays I've seen. It's like the pen sits in that little teak boat, like a sailboat. Yeah. And that I just think those would be fun videos to make and to talk about and to show. And, you know, these are pens I'd never purchase. They go for insane amount of money, but it's fun to play with them, uh, or play with them, uh, for a while.

Brad Dowdy: That's awesome. Um, have you ever, uh, I'm going totally off topic here cause I'm thinking about it. Have you ever reviewed one of these, I'm going to say more outrageous type pens and gone, I really need to add that to the collection. Have you ever thought about that?

David Parker: You know, I think at that point it comes to how much, like I said, how much do you care about money? Right. Right.

Brad Dowdy: And we're in a position where we need to care about money for quite a while.

David Parker: Yes. Uh, and that, okay. If it literally made no difference to me and I, you know, I just, it wasn't that much to me then, oh, would it look cool to have one of those, you know, that the, all the Monograppa game of throne pens just sitting on your shelf. Uh, yeah, you know, they'd look kind of cool, but, um, but then at that point you're, a lot of times I say this when I'm reviewing, uh, we'll say an expensive pen, but at that point you're not buying a pen. You're buying a piece of art. You're buying a collection, uh, basically a possession, uh, something to cherish over a period of time. You're not just buying something to write with cause then inevitably someone's going to say, oh, I could write with a Lamy for the same price, you know, or for a lot less.

Brad Dowdy: Right.

David Parker: Uh, and that at that point they don't quite get it. And that, um, you, you're buying, you're buying a piece of art and the craftsmanship and other things other than a writing instrument.

Listener Questions

Brad Dowdy: Well, this question from rich, I took a couple of listener questions will lead us, uh, in the perfect segue from that topic into the next. He asked, since you obtained your grail pen, the Montblanc Hitchcock psycho pen, do you have a new grail pen? So tell us about the Montblanc, um, that rich is referring to. And is there something now that you're looking for that will replace that?

David Parker: You know, I've mentioned it before and I'm a big Hitchcock fan and I talked about Hitchcock earlier and that not a lot of the, the Montblanc writers series and the great character series really speak to me that much. I think that some of them are cool, but there just wasn't one that I just had to have. And that, uh, since I am such a big Hitchcock buff, I really wanted the Hitchcock, but it was out of production. Um, I knew how much it costs, which was way more than I was ever going to spend on a pen. Uh, and you know, they, they weren't that easy to obtain. And so I had kind of, I wasn't necessarily looking for one. I had always said that was kind of my grail pen. And I even said that in a couple of videos before I, uh, you know, for, for a while, if someone would ask me, that's what I would say. Uh, and I, I just happened to luck into one. I, I had a, a mutual friend of ours, uh, uh, basically get me in touch with a, an overseas, uh, distributor for Montblanc, who's a legitimate dealer. It isn't like some guy selling out of the back of his truck or something like that. Um, but a legitimate dealer from another country that was selling them at a price that basically when they told me the price, I was like, if I'm ever going to buy one, is this because I am never going to find one for a better price. And while it was by far the most expensive pen I've bought, it was like, okay, if I'm ever going to do it, then this is now that I'm never going to do it at the real price. And, uh, and I haven't regretted it because it's, it's a beautiful pen. I love it. And it means a lot to me, not only just because of the pen itself, but just what it symbolizes.

Brad Dowdy: Is there a pen that's taken its place as the next grail pen or is that, is that the pinnacle? And it's like hard to compare like to that.

David Parker: I, you know, I don't have anything yet. I mean, I, uh, I'd like to get, I'd like to get eventually get my hands on an emperor. That's, that's something I'd like to eventually get, but I'm not necessarily obsessed over it or have, um, you know, eBay alerts set up. Right. Uh, though I will say I, I posted this on the Slack the other day. I, I was like, okay, I don't know why I left that eBay alert on for the Visconti blue ripple that I always wanted. And I don't know why, uh, I contacted the seller and, uh, asked him if he'd sell it for a lesser price than he posted. And I don't know why he said yes. Uh, and so I wasn't expecting today to buy myself an expensive pen, but I guess I have it showing up to me now. And that's the danger thing is that the dangerous thing is when you kind of eye them for a long time, uh, then eventually, you know, they have a way of finding themselves into the collection. So I have a Visconti blue ripple with the, uh, original gold nibs, uh, actually showing up tomorrow. So, uh, but I'm not, I don't necessarily have anything that I'm, um, uh, that I would consider my grail pen right now, but eventually I'll, I will, it just has to, it has to kind of come about naturally.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. So when you're using your personal pens out of your personal collection, what ink and paper are you using the most? What are your, some of your favorite inks of what paper do you like to write?

David Parker: On a daily use, uh, I use, uh, Rhodia A4 pads, uh, as far as I, at work, that's what I, I use. Um, I, I kind of write my daily to-do lists and my notes at work. I take a different pen to me every day, uh, at work. Uh, if you follow me on Instagram, uh, you'll see I basically every morning I take a picture of my first thing in the morning. I log into my computer, I sit down and I take a picture of the pen that I brought to work and post. Nice. And so it's, for me, it's just creating content again. It's like, okay, if you want to be a content creator, what's something simple I could do? Okay. Well, I could take a picture of the pen I take to work every day with me. And it's at least something you're creating something. And so, yeah, every day, if you want to see how I rotate through my collection, then I, uh, I post a picture of my pen every day, but I, I usually mix up the inks and I mix, mix up the pens and kind of rotate through the whole collection. But I use those, uh, Rodia A4 pads. Uh, and then as far as like a notebook goes, I recently, uh, filled up a Hippo Noto. I completed it. Uh, usually that's what I would carry around with me every single day. Uh, and I would write my reviews in that. And I really liked that notebook. And what I've really started using now is a notebook by a woman in Spain who goes by the moniker of Gats BCN, who sells the most amazing handmade notebooks. Uh, I've reviewed a couple of them and I've started carrying a run around with me every single day. Um, and it's one of those things to where, you know, you almost don't want to ruin it just because it's so cool. But then I told myself, you know what? Uh, notebooks want to be used. That's what makes notebooks happy. It's not going to make them happy just to sit on the shelf. And so I decided, you know, I am going to use this notebook. It's like, you know, 500 pages or something like that, maybe like 450. And it is going to get beat up. Not that I'm rough on these things, but just literally going in and out of my bag and putting it into my, out of my bag a thousand times over the lifetime. It's going to get a lot of wear and tear, but I've decided, you know what? I'm going to use it because if it's just, if I put it on the shelf, then I'm never going to come up with the right time to use it. So I've been using that. It has some, uh, some interesting paper that I really wasn't familiar with. Uh, it's a 90 gram of Fedrigoni, Fedrigoni paper.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. That's a new one.

David Parker: Um, which is really nice. Um, but, uh, in regard to inks, I have lots of favorites. I like to mix it up a bit. I would have to say my all time favorite ink is Orochizuku Konpeki. That's my, uh, that's my favorite. Um, but, but I have lots of favorites, uh, something that actually someone just sent me and I haven't even opened. Well, I haven't even opened the ink yet, but if you check out my Instagram that there was, uh, three oysters sent me, um, a box of ink that is the most amazing box. And I'll do my best to describe it, but, uh, we'll put a link in the notes to go check it out on the Instagram. But basically I open up this box and it's almost like a pop-up book. And all of a sudden there's some flying fish and this lady of the sea with tears. I, and I had to email them to find out the story of what is this? Cause you can't find it anywhere to purchase online. And I guess it was a Kickstarter that didn't go anywhere, uh, and had a very few backers. But, um, the fact that they sent it to me makes me feel like eventually it's going to become available somewhere. Uh, and there is a bottle of blue ink, but then also some additives so that you can mix it and that, you know, the more additive you add, then it changed the color of the blue and kind of makes it different shades. So I'm, uh, one, it's just the coolest ink box I've ever seen before. And two, then it's just kind of an interesting idea. So once I actually find out more information that I'll definitely do a review and kind of let folks know, because it's one of those things, as soon as you see it, you're going to be, okay, where can I buy this? And right now you can't.

Brad Dowdy: Yeah. I was that I was, you, you had to show me that video and I saw it. I was like, okay, I'm going to need this. It's like, I, it's, it's pretty wild and it's, it's really just like a pop-up book. So we'll put that link in, in the show notes for everyone to check out because you really should. I haven't, I haven't seen anything like that from any of our ink manufacturers and they're doing some pretty wild stuff recently, but, uh, this is a, this is a really, really good one. Yes. All right. I'm going to get you out of here on a very big question, um, because it's a very cool thing that you did. And this question comes in from Evan says, how did you come to interview Neil deGrasse Tyson? And for your channel, are there any other fountain pen using celebrities or just other celebrities that you hope to interview in the future? So tell us about how, uh, your interview, uh, with Neil deGrasse Tyson came about because he's a, a well-known fountain pen user and you got to spend some time and talk about his collection.

David Parker: Yeah. Uh, that I think it boils down to, like I mentioned many times is I just like to do things that are fun for my channel. And I thought, how fun would it be to go talk to Neil deGrasse Tyson? And, uh, you know, and how fun would that be for the community? Because if someone else's channel did that, then I'd watch that. And so I, I, I reached out and it's, sometimes it can be difficult to, to get a hold of, uh, of these folks. And so I had to, uh, figure out the best way to reach him or reach someone who could reach him. Uh, and, uh, I ended up actually working through his publisher because he was producing a new book. So it was kind of good timing because he was just about to start doing a lot of press for his new book that was coming out. And so he was kind of in press mode per se. And then also I think it probably interested him because it wasn't just like a normal interview where he talked about his book and his work and things like that. It was actually, okay, you get to talk about one of your passionate hobbies. And it was almost like no one had ever asked him about his hobbies before. And so it was, um, a lot of fun to do. I actually got to, um, go up to his office, uh, go up to the, uh, the, uh, Hayden planetarium there in New York. And, and we actually did the interview in his office and he was very kind and very generous with his time. And he, uh, even to the point where after, well, I will say after it was, uh, after a while he, he was going on and on and on, we were having a great conversation and it got to the point where I was trying to respect his time because he had a limited amount of time and, uh, his assistant came to the window, uh, and it was kind of behind, uh, Neil's back and he couldn't see her, but I saw her and she kind of had that look like he needs to be somewhere. And so I, I, if you watch the video near the end, I kind of, I try to wrap it up. I kind of say, Oh, why don't you just show me one more type of thing. And he pulls out a pen and says, Oh, okay, let me show you one more. And then he talks about that one and then, Oh, let me show you one more. Oh, let me show you one more. And so in my mind, I was kind of like, okay, buddy, this is on you. I tried. So, uh, it was a, it was a lot of fun, even to the point where we were done with the interview. I had to take pictures of his pen. So he actually ran off to a meeting and left me in his office with his pens. And, and so then I got to like, basically take a bunch of pictures of them and then just leave them on his desk. Uh, and it was, you know, obviously, you know, probably $20,000 in, in very, very exotic pens. Uh, and so it was just a lot of fun and that, um, there there's other folks out there that I would like to sit down with. I will say that I, um, I felt I was very, very close to speaking with someone very soon. And that, uh, just had a little bit of a kink to it, which was kind of, uh, painful, but I haven't given up hope yet. Uh, and that, uh, there, there's a number of folks that I'd like to talk to. Um, I've reached out to a number of folks. I have some very nice, uh, polite declines from some very famous people. Uh, because obviously it's okay. It's a YouTube channel and it's not for everybody, but, um, I, there are a few folks out there that I am actively working towards. I don't want to jinx it, but just, uh, know that I am working towards other things that, uh, I think the community would enjoy. Because as I said, if somebody else did it, I'd watch it in a heartbeat because I think it would be fascinating to hear what these folks have to say. So I'm going to see if I can do it.

Outro/Wrap Up

Brad Dowdy: Well, it's been fascinating talking to you on this episode. I've learned a lot. I really appreciate you sharing all of this. And like I said, I could do like an entire other show. So we'll have to get you back on and talk about more specifics and more fun stuff that you've done, um, you know, around pens and inks and pen shows and interviews and all that stuff. So thank you so much. And before I let you go, I need you to plug all your stuff. People need to know where they can find your videos, where they can support your content. So why don't you give us all the links and we'll have all these in the show notes for everyone to check out.

David Parker: On YouTube, you could find me, uh, just search for fig boot or fig boot on pens. You could find me on YouTube, uh, on Instagram. I am fig boot 11, just the number 11, uh, also on Patreon. Uh, I do have a Patreon account. Just search for fig boot on pens. Uh, that's something that has, uh, I've been pleasantly, uh, surprised with, and I really appreciate the support that people have provided me with their, uh, basically all the support I received through Patreon. I put that money directly back into the channel, uh, to, to support the channel. Like I just bought a new camera this week, just because my camera I had was 10 years old and they've improved video technology over the last 10 years. So, uh, uh, it's been a big part of, uh, uh, of helping out there. Uh, but that's where you can find me.

Brad Dowdy: Awesome. And you can find me on the internet at pen addict.com. That's where all my links are. I'm on Twitter at dowdyism, D O W D Y I S M Instagram at pen addict and all of my pen case stuff at knock.co. So that's this week's episode. Um, big boot. You're awesome. And I appreciate it. And I hope to see you soon. So before I let you go, I got to get you to say goodbye, David. Goodbye, David. Sorry.