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Transcript
Talking about cars now.
Yeah, talking about cars. That's what men do. Guys, what kind of car do you keep in your everyday carry? Hello, and welcome to episode 85 of the erasable Podcast. Well, it's that time of year where we gather our friends and family and give thanks. Thanks that we're halfway through NaNoWriMo, that is. We'll check in. Check in about that. Plus talk about some new stuff out there. And there's no one I'd rather get drunk around the dinner table than slip into a turkey coma with than my dauntless and valorous co hosts, Johnny and Tim. Hey, guys, you know, I guess vegan
turkey for you, anytime.
For you, Johnny, it's allostilicarb.
Coma.
Can you.
I was gonna say, can you get a coma?
Does it have.
Do they, like, inject tryptophan into the vegan turkey?
Tofurkey is some dense stuff.
Yeah.
So you have some of that in some mashed potatoes, and you're done.
What's everybody's favorite Thanksgiving dish?
Joe Ferkey.
I am, at this point in my life, I am a stuffing fan.
Ooh, good call. Yeah.
Nobody says stuffing. That's interesting.
Yeah. Tim's old school stuffing. Yeah, old school. I'm tenured.
It's like, what's your favorite thing?
Ketchup.
Yeah. I also like a good rustic mashed potato. That's like those. Like the chunky mashed potatoes.
Yeah.
Delicious.
Yeah. Red potatoes, controversial choice here, but I kind of like green bean casserole.
That's good stuff.
Yeah, no, I can get with you on that. Although I put. I put cumin in mine one year, and my mother's still talking about it. Like, last year, I wasn't allowed to make it. Don't put that damn cumin. Sorry. God, he's trying to spice it up a little. Literally.
Do you guys ever watch Mad about yout?
No. No, I mean, a long time. It used to be in, like, reruns. I remember watching it, but Katie and I. A long time.
Katie, you have this line that's from, like, Thanksgiving episode of Mad about yout where Jamie and Paul Buckman are cooking, and they call Fran and Mark, who are. They're like. They're like, you know, crazy friends. And Jamie wants to know what. What cumin is, and Mark has this, like, book about cumin. It's like, the history of cumin. He starts reading from it. He's like, the history of cumin is as long as the history of mankind itself. So whenever anybody says cumin, it's Like a trigger. I just have to slip into that.
You guys watch that? There's a good Thanksgiving episode of Gilmore Girls. It's probably well viewed right now. Although they make fun of Tofurkey in a really unfair way in that episode. But it's. Dean is ready to fight Jess. That's pretty funny. He's really out of character. Jess is all like, I'm not gonna fight you, Dean. She wouldn't want me to, you know.
You know who's probably the most against cumin in the Gilmore Girls would be. Would be Kelly Gilmore or Kelly Bishop. Emily Gilmore.
No. She likes throwing her eggs.
Does she?
Yep.
Okay, you win this one, Gamber.
You and Kelly go back.
Remember, Lorelai hates Indian food, so I imagine something pungent like Kuman. She probably not did.
No, I was talking about Tofurkey. Sorry.
Oh, Tofurkey.
I bet that Emily Gilmore would be against it.
Yeah, I made it for a couple times. She's not into it.
All right, on that note, let's actually get out of the nonsense and talk about information. Let's talk about tools of the trade. Tim, what are you consuming and what are you writing with?
I've got, you know, we're in the middle of NaNoWriMo. I got off to a good start, but I'm at this point, I am falling behind because of life stuff. But I'm still happy with how much I produced. And what I'm working on is young adult novel. And so I picked up two different young adult novels, recent ones, and the first one is called the Hate U Give, which got a decent amount of attention, a good amount of attention, I think last year or the year before, whenever it came out. And I just now getting around to it. But it was a book inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. And it's a really, really powerful book. I picked it up from the library and then also have it on audio that I've been listening to in between. It's excellent. The hate and letter you give I get from a Tupac lyric. And then the next two things on my list are called Turtles all the way down. I actually, coincidentally, have been into two different things called Turtles all the way down. The first is John Green, his new novel, Indianapolis Native. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I picked that up, actually. I went into our Elizabeth in Tennessee Walmart and there was an autographed copy on the shelf.
Oh, wow.
So got that. So I started reading it, which I'm not very far into it, but it's. It's pretty. Pretty. Yeah, it's just it's good. It's a. About a young girl who suffers from a form of obsessive compulsive disorder and is obsessed with this idea of the bacteria in her body. Like that. All these different bacterias in her body. And she's kind of fixated on that while she. And then she's also, of course, going through normal teenager stuff. But that's. That's been good so far. And the. The other Turtles all the Way down is a song from an album by Sturgill Simpson, who. I'm pretty sure I've talked about Sturgill Simpson before on the podcast. He's the, like, sort of pseudo country musician. And this is from his. He has an album called Meta Modern Sounds and Country Music that came out three or four years ago. And the reason I got back into it in the. In the title track or the. The lead track on the album is called Turtles all the Way down, which is an amazing song. And if you should just look up the. In the show notes, we should put the. The music video, because if you want to know what Sergio Simpson's like, it's basically kind of like bar band country, like old school barband country, if the lead singer was, like, pretty into psychedelics. So
I'm sold.
Yeah, it's pretty awesome. But the reason I got back into him is that I was. We were waiting for our Roku to connect, and I, you know, are like, waiting for the WI Fi to hook up. That night we turned the TV on and the CMAs were on. Something I would never watch, but that was on the tv. And I looked down at my phone and saw Sturgill Simpson was trending on Twitter. And I was like, well, that's weird because he. Well, he won.
First time that happened.
Well, no, I mean, he won the Grammy last year for the best country album, which, like, pissed off everybody in Nashville because he's this, like, anti Nashville kind of guy. And he also. It was pretty amazing because he was. And he was up. He was also nominated for album of the year last year. It was like, Beyonce, Drake, Justin Bieber. And then he actually had a. You're gonna need a typewriter about this. But he had a T shirt on his website during that time that said, who the is Sturgill Simpson? It was just like what it said across the front. But he. Yeah, so he was trending. And I looked it up, and it ended up that he didn't get invited to the Country Music Awards, which is kind of amazing since he'd won the Grammy the year Before. And so instead he stood out front of the Bridgestone arena in Nashville with his guitar, like on the ground, like the case open on the ground. And his Grammy for best country album standing in the middle of it. And just it was out there busking in front of the Bridgestone arena. And like, people were coming up and like asking him questions on Periscope and stuff, and he was answering them all in his is pretty badass.
That's amazing.
Yeah, he's an awesome guy. He's amazing. Amazing musician. So check that out. And then, of course, Stranger Things 2. I'm about halfway through the season, so I won't say anything.
Speaking of Paul Reiser. Yeah, it's not really a spoiler.
Yeah. Oh, he's. He's so good in it. I keep expecting him to be like, you know, Paul Reiser instead of, you know, the character that he is. I'm uncomfortable with this upside down world, you know?
Yeah, that's funny. I'm loving it. I'm enjoying it quite a bit. And I'm writing with a Staedtler tradition. Hb. Nice. Which.
Which one is the tradition?
It's the black and red iteration of the Norris. Comes in HB and 2B and 4B, I think. But I just have. I had an HB sitting around.
Do you think that way up in the B?
Oh, does it go all like the whole range?
Not as much as the lumograph, but pretty far.
Okay.
Does that look that. I'm gonna look this up.
I see 2H. Yeah, I see 2H. 4H. Yeah.
Is the Staedtler HB harder than like, say a Japanese or a Palomino HB?
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And it's so. It's not like really like my normal pencil, but I. The reason I picked it up is that I was inspired to pick up a Staedtler because of the book we're gonna be talking about tonight. Secret Life of the Pencil is just interesting. Packed full of Staedtlers. They're every. If you notice that, like, they're just like all over the place. And. And I just went down to my stash and found this. And I've been enjoying it today. It's a cool looking pencil and I think I'll. I'll see it through.
Here they are on cult pens in the UK, they go from 4h to 6b. That's wide.
Yeah. Yeah.
Jenny, how about you?
Excellent. I'm going to go backwards because Tim had a Staedtler. I'm using a Staedtler. Mars Lumograph 100HB, the mouthful on field notes. Shenandoah, Sweet Birch, which is seasonal imperfect.
Yes.
So I'll talk about in my freshpoint later why I have it randomly a stars. Yeah, State Larmar's Lumograph tonight. But like, Tim, I'm stuck in the middle, the middle of NaNoWriMo, so I'm feeling kind of brain dead. And also I'm not reading anything. I don't even think I've touched the New Yorker. No, I read that Philip Roth article, but I haven't touched the New Yorker aside from that in like a month. And I am finished. Stranger Things 2.
Yay.
Which was so good.
Oh my God. What did you think about the giant twist at the end?
That one where 11 is really Will's grandfather?
Yeah. Amazing.
So I saw a commercial for a soundtrack and I'm like, what a bunch of crap. Because the only song they play on the whole damn show is the Clash song. And it's not even the best Clash song. But then later, all of the soundtrack is played in like 10 minutes. Like. Oh yeah, that makes sense.
I listen to the the score a lot in school. Like when my kids are writing stuff, I'll put on the. The theme music and like that kind of spooky background stuff. No pressure, guys, they look up like, what is going on?
I don't wanna.
You're watching Screwing up the Kids.
I don't want to out hipster you, but I have the soundtrack on vinyl, limited edition color Colorways vinyl.
I saw that at Barnes and Noble. I really wanted it.
The only other thing I have is that the children and I are very much enjoying the Wombats lately. The car, what's the good driving music? They're one of those British bands that sort of like fluctuates between like, I don't know, like pump 80s ish punk, pop art punk stuff there. But they're three piece and they're very like, you know, tight. They're cool and they write really cool songs like let's Dance to Joy Division and what's the one called? Be youe Shadow or. Which is sort of masochistic song. It's interesting. Look, I don't. I hope my kids don't listen to the lyrics too much.
Yeah, nice.
How about you, Mr. Andy? Are you using a Staedtler also?
I. Man, I should go get a Staedtler right now, because I am not. But I do love me. I do love me A school pencil. I'm keeping the house warm. I threw a couple Wopex on the fire. And it's, you know, just.
It doesn't kill everybody in your building.
Stop burning.
So give me smog problems and San Francisco thanks to the reason.
Sorry. Go.
I just saw the. I was just on Amazon and looked up Staedtlers when I was trying to figure out the tradition grades. I didn't realize you could get 36 nor a school pencils for like 10 bucks.
Yeah, those suckers are cheap.
I did not realize they were so cheap. I never bought them.
That's a giant markup too, I think.
I think it's because the 2014 Statlers are like going for a decent price because they're harder to find. And people say that they're the, you know, much markedly better than the other ones. So I think the most. The ones that we see.
Are you talking about the Norris or the Norika?
Tim Norris.
Oh, I'm sorry, I'm talking about Norika. Never mind.
I can't tell the difference in the norca. I really liked them when they came out, and then I kind of got over it. Yeah, the wood is crap. Yeah.
So I am. I'm listening to a. A sci fi podcast series. It's fiction. It's a serialized, kind of like books on tape, I guess. It's called Steal the Stars. It was recommended to me by Matt. Well, not personally, but it was recommended by Max Temkin from Cards Against Humanity and also a podcast called Dubai Friday with Merlin man on it. It's really good. It's serialized audio fiction and it's kind of in podcast form. It's by Tor, who make a lot of. A lot of science fiction. So listening to that is pretty good. I am. Katie and I are working our way through Broad City, the new season, which is fantastic. It's funny. Just as we like Typewriter Bell out. Dirty words. Whenever somebody says Trump, they bleep it. It's pretty good. It's really good so far. I'm enjoying it. I think since we last recorded, I finished Halt and Catch Fire, the entire series is over. I think I've talked about that before here. It's really good if. If you haven't listened to the episode, whatever it was that we talked about. Halt and Catch Fire, it's basically like Mad Men, except set in the 80s and early 90s and revolving around like Silicon Valley and personal computing and stuff. It's like semi fictional. I mean, it's fictionalized, but there's competitors and companies and stuff based. In fact. It's just really good. The main characters are super great. And also I don't usually watch Twitch, which is like video streaming for people who play video games. But I'm a little bit obsessed with the new Super Mario game that's on Nintendo Switch. I don't have a Switch. I don't plan on getting one. But this game is. It's kind of like Grand Theft Auto meets Mario. It's like kind of one of those like open world kind of things. Yeah, it's really good. I was just a little bit, you know, I really wanted to watch it. And I watched a guy basically. I didn't watch all of it, but he basically streamed it for eight hours just, just at a time. Just one Saturday, Katie was out of town. I was hanging around the house doing chores, and I basically just turned on Twitch and watched this guy play Super Mario Super Mario Odyssey for eight hours in a row.
It was. You didn't.
But you didn't watch it for eight hours?
No, I just it on in the background and I guess he could have like paused it and taken a like bathroom break or something.
But
yeah, yeah, it's. It's really immersive. It's really like a high quality game. I love me some Mario. So I'm gonna maybe figure out if I can like borrow a switch for a few days and play it through. It looks like fun.
So see if somebody can cut you a switch.
Yeah. Yeah. If anybody here discolardi, mail me your switch for a while. No. Cool. So. And, and also I. I'm not writing. I'm. I'm basic today. I'm writing with the Palomino Blackwing 530, the gold one. Somebody in the group posted that. They, they were like, you know, it's really underrated. Like, it's, it's gold, but it's a really solid pencil. And I, I was like, I agree. So I picked up a 5:30 and I've been writing with that. And I'm writing in the writing tablet that came with our last CW pencils pencil box. It's the Barclay cursive writing tablet. It's the one that kind of looks like it's from grade school. It has, you know, the very wide rules with the dotted line through the middle of it. I actually really like it. I. Yeah, I've just been having it lay around and it just reminds me of. It reminds me of grade school, but it's. It's also like a little bit narrower than that. So that is what I'm writing in. So, yeah, let's. Let's move on. To fresh points. Tim, what are your, what are your FPS?
Well, first off, surprise, surprise, we've got something new from Baron Fig.
I'm shocked.
Just like I'm shocked. I can't believe it. And the newest release that we're talking about tonight is the Train of Thought limited edition Vanguard that came out, which are these impossibly cute little notebooks. The description on their website says an idea tends to end up far away from where it began. The Train of Thought invites you to climb a board to see where your ideas take you. And it's basically like three notebooks that can sort of link together, right? I mean making with the. You got the engine leading into a bunch of cars that are on the other notebooks. So you can like line them up that way.
You did that too, as soon as you got them. Oh yeah.
Are you kidding me? I've got a one year old and a four year old. I mean, it's like I'm still doing it. I'm doing it right now. But yeah, they're cool. They're definitely like. They are. Well, I was about to say they're aimed at kids. Like they definitely have a kids look to them. But I guess part of the idea, if I'm sort of interpreting their thinking correctly, is that sometimes using something that's out of the ordinary and seemingly like strange or an odd fit can lead you to surprising things. It's kind of how I interpret it. It made me think of the book Writing down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. I don't know if you ever have heard of that book about writing. It's a great book. And in the first chapter she talks about tools like what she likes to write with. I appreciated that in college when I first got it. I was like, yes, she gets me. Chapter one is about choosing the right tools to write with. But when she talks about notebooks, she talks about how she always handwrites first drafts, of course, but she always uses notebooks that she buys right after the back to school season that have like goofy characters on them and stuff because she can get them for cheap and she just stocks up on them and uses them all year for two reasons. One is because having something that's so out of her, like norm and doesn't really fit her, makes her take herself less seriously when she's writing. It's not like some big grand moleskin, like leather bound thing, it's this. It's got like, you know, the Smurfs on the front of it. And so it's hard to take Yourself, too, Seriously, on a first draft. But also that it gives you, like, a mental link where she can be like, oh, yeah, I did that in the Ninja Turtles notebook last year. I should find that.
Yeah, that's a really good. That's a good thought. Like, it just kind of gives you a mnemonic to remember it.
Yeah, yeah. She's like, oh, that was Wonder Woman. Okay, got it. Yeah, I'll find that one when I get home. Yeah. So. But yeah. What did you guys think of the Train of Thought?
I love the illustrations. Immediately when I got them, I was like, you know, these are cool. The illustrations are great. But I know some people with, like, some, you know, young sons who love trains. I thought maybe they would like them more.
Yes.
My kids are very happy, so I hooked us up. Yes.
Thank you, Tim. You said that you're. That Henry. Your Henry really liked the red one, so.
Yeah, he loved the. Yeah, he loved the red one. And when I gave it to him, he went and got a crayon out of his crayon box and was just, like, walking around the house holding a notebook under his arm and a crayon and, like, put it. And even, like, put it behind his ear for a little while. And he just had, like, a crayon behind his ear and his notebook. And he's like, I got to do my letters. I got to do my letters. And he'd sit down and he'd, like, write. It's really, really awesome.
I loved. I have to ask. Did you guys. On the product page for this notebook, did you see the. Did you guys get the Easter egg?
No, I'm gonna look at it right now.
So go to the link. The Train of Thought page.
Got it.
Easter egg.
Oh, this is a product page. Does that matter?
Yeah, go to the one that's like, BaronFig.comproducts TrainOfThought.
Okay.
Is this something you have to click on or just something that you can spot now? Go.
Go click on the name of the designer who designed it. Ziping Shu.
Listen to our chat.
Or.
No, just the.
Just his name.
Oh, that's cool. Where it's kind of hit.
Oh, I see.
Is that fun?
That's awesome. Yeah.
So I won't. I won't spoil the surprise, but if you're listening at home, go. Go to that page and click on the artist name.
Yeah, that's great. It's funny, when you said Easter egg, when I first was looking, there was a. There's a little character who's, like, in a boat that sort of Looks like a minimalist cartoon version of the girl from Bob's Burgers with the bunny ears on. I was like, is that Louise? What's her name? Louise?
Yeah, yeah, Louise.
Oh, my God, I love that show so much.
It's so good. Okay, so, yeah, these are. Yes, these are really cool. They're really, really well done, as always. You know, they're really well designed and it's definitely something out of their norm, which is cool. And color wise, like color choices. It's cool to have a green notebook. I like that one. That's my favorite, I think, is the green one.
Yeah.
And I feel like the. Maybe not. When they were the. What do they call this one now? The vanguard. When they were the apprentice, they were the pocket notebooks. I feel like they had issues with the stitching. Fine staples. Yeah, yeah. They were always so. The stitching was always, like off. A couple of my head would barely open. But now they're all spot on.
Yeah, yeah. They've got to get figured out.
I haven't had that problem mentioning because they obviously did something on purpose to fix it because it's like really on now. It's like perfect. That's very pleasant. Their stuff always smells really good too.
And they got that going for them, which is nice. Which is nice.
Pencils, but the smell are stationary.
All right. So, yeah, there's that. So the new train of thought from Bear and Fig, Check that out. The next thing was so Amazon. I feel like a lot of people in our group are just have like a. At least a somewhat conflicted relationship with Amazon. There are great things about Amazon, then there's things about Amazon that you're like, I feel bad about that, but it's a really good deal, you know? But one thing I've always dug about Amazon is the basics. Or like their white. You call it white label? Is that what you call it? Like, yeah, like their generic products that they produce. I guess that's not really white label because they manufacture some of them themselves, I'm guessing, but some of them are just really like. I feel like it's actually a service. You know, like when the. The legal pads were great. I love that I can go on Amazon and get a iPhone cable for like $20 cheaper than what Apple's trying to make you pay for. The same exact cord, you know, those sorts of things. And. But they came out with pencils. Did you see these? I don't know. I don't know how long they've been out.
Click on right now.
Yeah. Amazon Basics pencils And so it is there. So they have stooped down into the underworld of crappy box pencils. Like store bought pencils.
You'd find it a gross for $10.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or 96 for 799. So I have not bought them. And I might buy them. But. But the thing that like, the reason I brought this up is like, it's not like a big news flash that they've got pencils. Big deal, whatever. But what, what drew my attention. Oh, and they're out of stock. The 96 pack. They're sold out. How about that? Is that they have 387 reviews and it's a four and a half star review review on Amazon. And when you click on those reviews and you go down and read them, as a pencil person, they are so depressing when you read through these because all of the reviews are basically like good enough. Or like, it worked for my second grader, he didn't mind. Or exactly what I thought I was getting. None of them are like, it's obviously not about the quality of the pencil. It's all about value. You know, like I got so many pencils. So they are, I mean it's. They say that they're made of real wood. They're made in the Philippines apparently, which, you know, was a little surprise.
There's a bunch of new Rubbermaid stuff made in the Philippines. Like the, like the new Rubbermaid Mongols are made there. I wonder if this is. This is a private label new thing.
Yeah, maybe I am. Right now I'm jumping down into the one star reviews to see if any of our people have gotten a hold of them yet.
Erasable army.
I bought their big box of 100 pens. They were pretty good pens. They wrote really nicely. But their like selling point was like, these are cheap and they write cool.
Yeah.
When they come in a box of
50, 150 black, 50 blue, which is pretty thoughtful.
This one starts with, I am a professional pencil sharpener, AKA a teacher. My students are always asking me to do this and they. I've tried to sharpen 15 of them and so far only seven of them have actually sharpened because they're constantly breaking.
So I got this real old sharp. It usually works.
Tim, how would you, how would you write the product descriptions for this? Would it be like, you can use these pencils on paper in a notebook.
You can use them upside down. If you use them in the shower
and forget to get chopsticks, you've got these pencils.
You can use it in the, in the upside Down. You can use it.
You can write on top of your water heater. You can write me, you can write on paper.
Will the wise makes very good pictures with them notebook.
Remember them in your now memories. So.
So yeah, there's that. I don't want to spend any more time on that because that was just like kind of a. Just like a sad little thing.
Yeah.
The only other thing I was going to bring up was the. We got some awesome stuff from Blackwing. I know, Johnny, you're going to mention some of these as well, but I wanted to mention the pencil pouch. Yeah, I sure hope. I sure hope that was your pencil pouch. What just happened?
I don't even want to know.
Johnny, are you okay? Yeah.
It's a very beefy zipper.
Very beefy zipper.
Very, very beefy zipper.
Who needs a typewriter pail?
What it is, it is a chunky, chunky zipper. But I have been using it now for I guess. When did we. We got these? A few Last week ago.
Like week.
Yeah, yeah.
And so I immediately loaded it up. I put about 15 pencils in. I capped them all. And I've really been enjoying it. It's a, it's a good size. It's the big. Which obviously they would get this right. But you know, one problem we've had with a lot of other pencil pouches is that a full length Blackwing doesn't tend to fit in them. So they clearly fixed that by making their own pencil pouch. But what do you call this? The material? Is it like Cordera or.
It's like a wax canvas?
I think it's a wax canvas.
Waxed canvas, yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. So it's a waxed canvas. Has a little leather or fake leather label on it or something like that. But yeah, it's cool. It holds a lot. What do you guys think of yours? Have you been using it?
Can we talk about the wax canvas real quick?
Sure.
So I've brought this up. I brought this up to you guys. I brought it to the group and it's. I wonder if I have a defect. Is yours tacky to the touch?
Yeah, just barely.
I just.
Yeah, wax canvas is like that.
But I've had wax canvas like coats and stuff before and it's not quite like if I press it too hard, I pull away wax on my finger.
Yeah, man. They meant business with this pouch.
I, I don't know, I don't want like it's. It picks up like cat hair and like lint and crumbs and stuff and. Yeah, this I Think that the material is just not for me.
Yeah, I guess I just haven't noticed that because I have basically just. I loaded it up, I threw it in my messenger bag, and then when I get to school, I just take it out, open it up, put it on my desk, and leave it open. And so I'm not like, carrying it around or using it anywhere unusual. It's either in my bag or on my desk. Is base is basically all it's been. So I haven't really exposed it to any of that. But I definitely. Yeah, mine definitely has a tacky feel. And I. I know what you mean. Like, if I do squeeze really bad or really hard, I do feel a little bit of residue on my hand. But, yeah, you know, I don't know.
It'll go away.
After all, it didn't. It didn't bug me. Yeah. Yeah. But that's why I'm. I am really curious to see how it wears in over time.
Yeah, I do love that.
I thought those.
Sorry.
Go ahead, Johnny.
Sorry. I thought those rolls they had were kind of like. But if they're made like this in this material, I think I totally want to put one on my Chris list.
They're the rolls.
I like this a lot.
The rolls feel a little overpriced, but, like, this thing seems like it's like, good quality for the price. So I do. I do like that beefy zipper and I do like how. Yeah, the Blackwing logo is like right there on the zipper. Yeah, it's. It's nice looking. It's. It's. It's understated, which I think is. Is nice because the pencils are not understated.
Just like.
Yeah, yeah, just. But yeah, I like it a lot.
I feel like it has like a Subaru factor. Like, it doesn't look that big. Like, if you swing in a. An unsharpened black wing, it just goes through the zipper. They're like. It's no bigger than it has to be, but it holds a ton of crap.
Yeah.
Yeah. You could probably put like two dozen pencils in there. I feel like if you. If you wanted to.
Yeah. The site description says it'll hold 24.
Oh, how about that?
I have not.
My eyeballs are. My eyeballs got mad skills when it comes to pencil storage.
Guess how many jelly beans are in the jar.
Yeah. Or you just. We'll just do a thing. You just show me. Show me any container and I'll tell you how many pencils.
Step right up. Step right up. Tim was. Got your pencil estimator here.
Tubercase 7000F150 7100 black wings. Next.
Do you remember when I posted that picture on Facebook of me at the Redwoods? And then Charles Barrelsheimer says, that's about 40,000 pencils right there. I was laughing and he was like, you think I'm kidding?
No, no, that's exactly. Yeah. Let me show you. Comes over and saws it down. Makes him right in front of you.
Yeah.
Brings his mobile pencil making kit. Just nothing but a pocket knife and some Elmer's glue.
Let's do it. Let's do this.
Wood glue and a pocket knife. Yeah. So I think, I think it's pretty awesome. It kind of put things into perspective where I was like, I'm gonna put in every pencil that I'm using right now. And as I'm looking through, I have a, I have a twist, twist, a bullet pencil. I have a CW pencils extender with a 211 stub. And then of everything else, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Nine of them are Palomino and then there's three others. So it's just like really made me realize how much of their stuff I use on a daily basis. That's like what I tend to pick up. And of course I knew that and I knew that I really liked them. But just when you see them all together, it's just kind of surprising. Yeah. But I'm a big fan of the pouch, so.
Yeah, I like it a lot too. I think they packaging was like minimalist but kind of chintzy. It's like a weird sleeve with a drawing that looks like somebody made it on their computer at lunchtime.
Maybe they did.
Maybe we should cut that out. That might be insulting. I don't mean it in an insulting way. It's just really simple. Yeah. But I mean, I guess it fits with how simple the pouch is. But most of their branding stuff is not this, you know, very thin line pencil drawing. It's a little more bold.
Yeah. So we can, we can mention lastly just that they, they're about $35. So if you're interested you can check them out. And it seems like something that's going to last a long time. Right? I mean.
Yeah.
Yeah. Especially this zipper would take off your finger if you try to use this thing drunk.
Let this be a warning to you folks.
Don't try to get Johnny's pencils or zip your finger off.
Yeah.
If you put some binder clips in there in a clever way, you could probably Rig it up to like snap shut and take someone's finger out. Hands off my two 11s.
You can do anything with binder clips, trust me. Yeah.
There's your episode title.
Yeah.
All right. That's all I've got. But Johnny, you've got some other Blackwing stuff to talk about.
Yeah. So last week we all got a very heavy box from Blackwing which also included one each of all of their new pearl notebooks. So they have the Clutch, which is their pocket notebook, the A5ish slate notebook, which is sort of like a Moleskine style notebook that holds a pencil in the spine, and the Summit, which is a beautiful like huge soft cover book. But it's. We took this before. It's stiff enough, but soft enough. It's a really, really nice book. So they all exist with a white cover now. And the slate comes with a pearl, obviously. So we each got them all, which is very awesome. Thank you, guys.
Yeah, thank you.
I don't know about you guys. I was really excited when they came out because I really, really like Black Wings notebooks. Their paper is amazing. And my daughter really likes the pearls because she's like a really nerdy seven year old. And these are like, these are really, really nice books.
They're so beautiful. I'm afraid to touch them. Like, I'm afraid to put them into rotation because it's like just looking at them, they're so nice. But I'm definitely going to. Especially the slate. I mean, the slate is an awesome notebook and I got plain paper in mind, so I was like swooning when that thing came out of the box. But
what do you guys think of the Summit? The really big notebook in general or
the white one specifically?
I guess both
for me in general. I'm pretty into it. I've talked before about the huge Leuchtturm that I've used and the big red black notebooks and the big Baron fig notebooks. I like those for writing long form stuff. I really enjoy that. And this one I'm looking forward to using. The last one I got of the Summit was a dot grid, which just doesn't. I just don't like to do long form stuff with dot grid. And so that one would have to fill kind of a different use. Like maybe as a. When I have a. Usually when I have a dot grid notebook, even like a confidant or something, I'll usually save that to use for lesson planning and things like that, to jot things down daily to do lists. But. But this pearl One I got was. Was lined, and I'm excited to use that for some. For some stuff. And I even kind of hit a kind of a flat point in nanowrimo because I've been. I told you I've been typing it and that I was getting stale, and so I thought I was going to switch over and do some handwriting and I might. I might bust that out and use the. The Pearl summit for it because I think it's a really, really killer notebook. What about you, Andy?
I don't know. I. I like the. I like it. I. I think esthetically they're very nice and I think they complement the black ones really well. I personally am not a big, like, you know, white leather fan and so. And also, like, you know, it's. It's paired with graphite, like pencils, and I just. I think those covers are just begging to get, like, smeary from graphite.
But, yeah, there I did think about that with the slate, like sliding a pencil in and out of the. Yeah, the white band, like, it's. There's going to be, like, graphite lines up the side of it.
It's gonna look so good.
I think that these notebooks are very Instagrammable until you actually, like, break them open and start using them.
But we'll see.
Yeah, and it's totally not like I. It's just personally not my aesthetic, but I. I know a lot of people who would really be into these, so I may. I may gift them, but yeah, as far as that, that big summit goes, it's. It's bigger than I usually use, but I do love that size. It's very satisfying and it's. Yeah, it's just a really nice, you know, seven and a half by ten. Ten size.
Yeah.
Yeah. Their paper is so nice. The last time I used a clutch, I used the mmx. It doesn't smear.
That paper is so lush. It's so thick and. Yeah, just really, really nice.
And it's like the perfect tooth. It's like slightly toothier than a moleskin, but like 10 times as thick.
Yeah.
Yeah. I really, really like these. I'm really excited. When they came out, I was like, oh, crap, that goes like 65 bucks. Because I want one of everything. But one of the, One of the wonderful. One of the many perks of co hosting a pencil podcast, aside from the wonderful people you use, is getting giant boxes from, like, Blackwing and Baron Fig and other really nice, generous books. That sounded really, really shallow.
I really like having a podcast because
we get Free stuff on my favorite thing. But it's a nice little perk. We came home like, what the hell is this? I didn't order anything from Blackwing. Like, oh, this is awesome.
Yeah.
I was wondering.
Very grateful for it.
And on the other end of the spectrum, Target has some new dipped pencils in the dollar section that are glitter.
I saw those.
Yeah, they're rolled in glitter, and then they have that, like, you know, thin layer of plastic or whatever they have on them. So they're really pretty, but not so much. Well, the glitter is under plastic, which makes it not get all over your stuff, but also not glitter as much that's intelligible.
Not glitter as much.
It doesn't shimmer. If you guys aren't near a target, I'll totally get you guys a pack. Or, like, three. I'll raise my target.
Oh, yeah, I'm good. We got. We've got those right here.
We're lousy.
Lousy.
Yeah.
Everywhere one of ours is closing.
We're spit without hitting the target.
So also in the, say, the sales and deals section, I was at a Staples that I usually go to over the weekend, and they had their six packs of Staedtler Mars HBS marked down from seven bucks to two bucks in the clearance section. So I bought the only three they had. So I got a dozen and a half really nice pencils for $6, which is fantastic.
Very cool.
Those are like Ticonderoga prices for German beauty. Yeah. And then. But, I mean, I don't want to. I didn't want to put anything in the group because I went to another tarte staples today, and they were not on sale. So, you know, if you're out of staples, check it out, but don't make a special trip, waste gas and stuff. So my only other point is that NaNoWriMo is half over, so Tim and I are probably not as brain alive as we usually are in a normal month.
Yeah. How far are you, Andy? Or, I mean, Johnny. How many words have you?
I didn't count. Where's the book? I think I'm almost 24,000 after today, so I'm like.
Damn.
Slightly ahead. Slightly ahead.
I fell way, way behind, but I'm still just happy that I got anything done. I'm hoping this weekend or maybe tomorrow. I had a big observation yesterday at school, and so I. And stuff was happening home, and I got behind. I'm. I'm like, right around, like, 1300 or, I mean, 13,000.
So week two is always tough.
Yeah. Still more than I have ever written in a month in my entire life. So I'm feeling pretty good about that. So.
So I'm using dime novels and I'm writing really small, so I have this, like, permanent crimp and my thumb and my finger is swollen all the time.
How.
Screw it, I'm doing something bad.
How many dime novels have you gone through?
So I'm still on the second one. I'm getting like 200 to 250 words a page because I'm like, oh, these are expensive when I'm writing really small. But I'm writing so small, I'm really hurting my hands. And it's hard to use pencil on that paper because it's kind of toothy if you write small. But you can use stuff like a grip 20.01 HP with an eraser. And it looks like, you know, you're using a rollerball pen on that paper.
Nice.
It's great. I should probably do a blog post about this, but, like, all my spare time is nanowrimo.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But it's, you know, it's fun when you're driving, you're like, man, my freaking hand hurts from writing all day. Yeah, there's Camp nanowrimo in April, so maybe we can get all folks to put something out and make a plumbago issue out of it.
Hell yeah.
I'm definitely planning on doing the July one. Like, I didn't realize there was one over summer break. So I'm definitely gonna do that.
So, yeah, it's fun. And Harry Marks made a hannowrimo group for folks that are doing it by hand. So there are only a handful of us on there. But it's, you know, very supportive and nice and awesome.
I, you know, I'm not participating in NaNoWriMo, but I'm in that group because he just, like, added me, and so I just decided to be a smart ass about it. He would post like day seven counts and I'd be like, yes, it does.
You betcha.
That's all I have. Have at you, Andy.
Well, speaking of NaNoWriMo, I am, I am not writing a novel, but I am for the first time in years and years trying to write a short story. I'm really, really out of practice and it's a little shameful considering, like, for a large chunk of my. My life, I like, only wanted to be a novelist or like a, like our, like a fiction writer. So I'm writing a short story for Plumbago. I won't, I won't spoil it, but it takes place around the same time that the Black Wings stopped, like Faber Castell Black Wings stopped being produced. So I've already like, had a major shift in the storyline. I went from like, you know, one kind of character in one setting to some other completely different thing. And I'm just not used to that. I'm. I'm. At some point in college I realized that I'm much better at writing like nonfiction, like journalism or pencil reviews or things like that rather than fiction. And so I just sort of like switched and never look back. But I definitely read a lot of fiction and I respect a lot of fiction and I feel like I'm, you know, I read it and I can relate to it. And I'm often, I'm like, man, I want to write that. So I'm trying it. It's really hard. But yeah, I can't definitely. I haven't written the same amount of words as you guys, but I feel like I'm right there with you in the trenches. So, speaking of plumbago, speaking of short fiction and plumbago, just on Sunday we announced our micro fiction contest for the magazine. So basically, I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of six word stories. Uh, you know, there's that famous one that like maybe Ernest Hemingway wrote and maybe he didn't. It's often attributed to him that's basically like, you know, baby for sale, baby shoes never worn. And it's something that in six words he like conveys like a whole rich story with it or just a pair
of like misguided, like just a misguided gift from somebody. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And it's something. And you never know. I guess that's the ambiguity. Yeah, it's an exercise that people who do what I do, which is, you know, writing interfaces we often like to kind of participate in because it's creative writing, but it also is operating under enormous constraints. So you really, really, really have to think about the words that you choose to use and conveying the maximum amount of meaning with the fewest amount of words. And it's hard and it's fun and so I like doing it. And I was like, you know what? We should do a contest, a short story contest with, you know, six words only. So if you go to Erasable Us six, the number six words, you can see a little page about it. And there's also something in our group, if you are in the group about it, write a six word story about stationary and you will be entered to win. Enter as many times as you want. We're going to pick five winners and each winner gets, of course, published in Plumbago into the fiction and poetry issue. But also CW Pencils. Caroline has generously donated prize money. So if you win, you will also get a $20 gift card to CW Pencils. And I will make sure that. Yeah, I will make sure that winners get that before Christmas. And although they won't get published in the issue until after Christmas. So please enter if you have a six word short story. And keep in mind this is not like a haiku. We don't want just like a description of something. We want something with as. As much as you can in six words, like a plot. We want people to kind of have the ability to read between the lines and infer meaning. Yeah. So it's harder than it looks. Please, please enter. I was gonna, you know, I should talk about the new field notes. They are. They were announced today, but they are not everything.
All right.
As my West Wing ringtone.
Sorry.
Yeah. So. So field notes just this morning announced their new. Their new issue. It is called the Resolution and it is kind of a good follow up to. To Ambition. I feel like, you know, this is. That was winter of 2014. This is what, three years later. This is the winter 2017. Ed is a pocket size weekly planner, kind of like in Ambition. And then two to do list notebooks that are similar a little bit to like the word notepads. And instead of sort of that like classic, very fibrous cover with the gilding, like the gold gilding on it. These are very modern, like red, white, blue colors. Yeah. So it's very productivity focused. I think it'll be good for your New Year's resolutions, just as ambition was good for sort of like the ambition of getting organized in the new year. Do you guys see these? What do you think?
Yeah, I like the little slide in calendars.
Yeah. Yeah, those are cool.
So at first I'm like, it's kind of random because when they did Ambition, there were three colors and three books. They did the date book, just a graph paper book, and the ledger. And with this one, there are three colors, but two of the books are the same. So it's bothering me symmetrically somehow.
Yeah, I don't know. I definitely. I love the way they look. I really. I was afraid that they just printed the field notes logo kind of on top of the colors. But it looks like they were actually like matte foil stamped on there, which is cool. So I think they look really cool. I would love to see. I would love to Try out, you know, we'll try out pretty soon. Try out the to do lists just to see how they go. So they have what they're calling a slot screw head device at the start of each line for marking.
The perfect description for that too.
It's, it's so on brand for field notes. You know, it's, it's, it has that like line through it that's you can use for marking like completed or partially completed tasks which is a little bit kind of like the dot in the middle of the word notepads. It's basically like pseudo simplistic bullet journaling. And then the date book displays one week on each two piece spread. So you know, you can use it as a planner. You can use it as like a little micro journal, you know, whatever. Yeah, I'm excited to try it. I feel like you know, back when ambition came out, I tried using that as sort of like a, like a micro journal like every day. Right. You know a couple lines about what's going on, how you're feeling. I tried using like the standard memorandum by word notepads. That way I just can never get in the habit of it. I want to try to eventually to try to get into it but yeah, I'm looking forward to using these things.
Did they say like is one of the colors the planner or. It'll be really funny if they played a joke. Like every pack there's a different color that has the planner in it. Screw with the collectors.
I don't think they indicated that. I'm looking at the specifications which is on the, the product page right now and I don't see. Yeah, that would be amazing if it was. You have to collect all three of each. Yeah, that'd be good.
That would be really cool. And this, the black staples look really nice.
Yeah, I love, love, love that they, you know somebody pointed out in the group that whoever like, you know we have, we have the idea of staple day which I think started in the field Nuts group but we've definitely adopted in our group. And when you get to the middle, middle page where you see the inside of the staples, they actually have a little thing that says staple day on the inside. So I'm super into that. I think that's awesome.
Yeah, I like the dual color printing inside gray paper with white and then with darker gray.
Yeah, I like that a lot. It's kind of like what does cool white lines. So, so notable about this packet is that they will also have a 10th anniversary repack in it which this is the Way they describe it, they're not showing anything as of yet, and I don't think there are any spoilers yet. It features reprints of early of three early iterations of what would eventually become field notes with all their faults and weirdness. So don't know what that looks like. I'm hoping that means that one of them will be a version of like that early field notes that Aaron Draplin used to mail out to friends that didn't have like, you know, the branding of the Kudal company on it. It was just basically him and his shop making those. And some of the early ones had like the limited edition numbers printed on the front, you know, blank of blank. So we'll see. We'll see what that looks like. But I can't wait to see to see that 10th anniversary edition. Cool. So, yeah, field notes. Next time we'll have to do a follow up just to see how it feels. Last thing I want to mention is somebody in our Facebook group, Jason Patterson, he has really caught the Hackwing bug and he has been hack winging like crazy. He is an amazing hack winger. Um, yeah, if you, if you're in the group, just search for Jason Patterson. Um, if you are not, go to Hackwing Dot Club where he has submitted some of his like really amazing designs. But he is. He's been on fire and he has been super carefully putting these hackings together. So he actually got some paint. I can't remember what kind of paint he said he used, but he. It looks like he anodized the aluminum of the. Of the ferrules from a hack wing.
Oh yeah, yeah. Ticonderon Roger1 was awesome.
Yeah, he. He took. He took a feral and he painted it green and he took gold like tape and he strung it around to make it look like stripes and he put it on the back of a Ticonderoga and it looks incredible. Did he use a Ticonderoga or did he use one of the Baron figs?
He did one with no stripes with the Baron fig Archer. And then he did one with stripes.
That's right. Here he is.
Yeah, he covered it all.
Yeah, he got gold bl. He got gold bands on one of these ferals with gloss polycrylic paint, gold vinyl tape and super glue. And then a pink eraser and he put that on a Dixon Ticonderoga. It looks incredible. Yeah.
So was he the one that did the Futura with the gold ferrule and the pink eraser?
I think so.
That one's ridiculous. That's Perfect.
Yeah. So huge kudos to Jason. These look amazing. I think he's a friend of Mike Hagens. He lives in Champaign. I don't want to compromise his opsec by telling people where he lives and everything, but yeah, these are so good. So thank you, Jason, for submitting to the larger hackwing brain trust. These look super good.
Mm.
Yeah.
All right. Should we, should we talk about the main topic?
Sure.
Do you want to take a break first or should we go right into it?
I'm good. You guys are good.
What do you think?
I'm good, Tim.
Cool. Yeah, let's. We'll keep it short, running a little long, but I think maybe, you know, 15, 20 minutes. We're here today to talk about the Secret Life of the Pencil, which is a book I got through Chronicle Books, which is a San Francisco based bookstore that distributes to other ones that can make what I can only call like gift books or coffee table books. They have a lot of like, you know, those poems of as if written by cats, like, I could pee on this or you know, things like that. They have another book called oh man, the Cats of Star Trek where they have pictures, like illustrations of cats wearing like original series Star Trek costumes and with funny captions on them. Like, it's fun to buy and it's fun to gift, but like they're not super, you know, like well written or like full of plot or whatever. This one is actually made by a company in the UK and lawrenceking.com I guess, and it was distributed to me through Chronicle Books, at least.
Yeah.
So what, Tim, what would you say would be like, the premise of this book?
Well, as far as I could tell, the concept was. I mean, it's kind of sort of a simple premise. I guess the premise would just be that pencils are still vibrant things that are used by artists and architects and creators and that people have kind of one of a kind relationships with their pencils. Because it seems like all of these are. There aren't a lot of repeats. And even the ones that they show tend to have something odd that's been done to them or something that they've like, they've made it their own in some way. And so there's, there's, there's interviews at the end and there's quotes throughout, but most of it is based on these like super detailed close up shots of pencils used by people all across the creative world.
Yeah.
So, but that's, I guess that's my, like my short version would be. It is about the Connection of a specific pencil to a specific artist and then how they make it their own and why it's important to them.
Yeah, that's a good summary. Yeah. Johnny, what do you think? What's your favorite book? Yep. Sorry, go.
It's sort of a companion book to an exhibit that's been touring for a couple years that has, like, larger versions of all the pictures in the book.
Yeah. That's awesome. I, I think probably the best part of the book itself is the photography. It's just like super macro. It's really, really, like, textured and detailed.
And, you know, I've seen pictures of the exhibit. They're like poster size.
Yeah, that would be really cool. See, you can, like, you know, you get super close up and you can tell like, when something's not real wood or if it's been sharpened with a burr sharpener because, like, you can, you can almost feel the texture in these shots. They're kind of like high contrast, really macro.
Yeah. And then, like the obvious. Knife sharpened.
Yeah.
Pencils are really cool.
Yeah.
Looking.
So I, I don't know. I, I, I did. I definitely noticed, like, what you were saying, Tim, about how, like, there seems to be a extra amount of German pencils in here.
Yeah.
And, and being like the, you know, the pencil wonks that we are, I, I wish they would have, like, actually cited what pencils they were.
Oh, God.
But they didn't. But they didn't.
Yeah. No, I, I mean, it's amazing how different this pencil would be or this book would be for someone like us versus, you know, someone in the art world who knows all these names. Like, I don't know, I know maybe 5% of the names would are recognizable to me, but I spend the entire book just, like, trying to pick out, like, landmarks on the pencil where I'm like, wait, that's a red line.
Yeah.
Gold print. That's Staedtler. That's got to be a Staedtler. I mean, but that's a, that core is pretty wide, though. That's, that's got to be like a 4B. Yeah, it's got to be 4B. You know, like, can't help but do that the whole time, which is fun.
Yeah. And I guess I get that the whole message of the book is you can be creative, you can be a world class artist, even with using sort of like this humble pencil. So the tool doesn't really matter. But this is a podcast about tools, about those tools. Johnny, you had a really good thought about the interviews and the Actual text portion of the book. Yes.
So I realized that we have mechanical pencils in our Facebook group, and we sort of embrace mechanical pencils as pencils. But the way that they talk about pencils and the exhibit and in the book is something like, you're really talking about wooden pencils. So I feel like including mechanical pencils, sort of. They could have just put bics in there, too. Yeah, just being nitpicky. And tram. A lot of the people they interviewed don't actually use pencils. They just kind of think pencils are cool, which was kind of disappointing. And the guy that wrote the intro himself said he doesn't use pencils, uses
pens like I used to use pencils. Well, but I mean, to his credit, he did say that he wrote 10 novels in pencils, so he spent a lot of time. But I was actually gonna bring that up because it's something we've talked about on the podcast. But in his introduction, he says that I. I wrote 10 novels in pencil and then I switched to pen because I was just paranoid that the pencil would fade. Like, come on, It's a rookie mistake. Come on, you've been doing this long enough. Dr. Those 10, I mean, you know, they're not going to fade. I mean, if you look back.
Yeah, yeah. So it was really, really interesting book, though, besides those little nitpicky things, like, I showed it to Charlotte before she went to bed tonight. She's really excited to read it tomorrow.
Do you guys have any.
Henry wants to see the pictures.
Do you guys have any favorite spreads or features in here?
Yeah, I actually was just going to point out on page 70. Everybody turn your textbook to page 70.
Tim, would you please read aloud for the class?
Sorry, I'm almost there. There is a quote from somebody named Posey Simmons that says, a pencil is an instrument of endless versatility. It can be soft and tentative, busy and inquisitive, hard and probing, smudgy and mysterious. I thought that quote was awesome. And then it's got these tiny little pencils that are obviously knife sharpened from Posey Simmons, who's a cartoonist. And they are these Faber Castells that are two, like, identical little, well loved. Wait, one is Faber Castell and one is a Schwartz Black. Maybe that's also Faber Castell, just the other side of it.
Yeah, they're the watercolor pencils.
Okay, so I've never seen these before. I've never used them, but that was a favorite of mine.
Yeah, there's one.
Did you catch the. The Home Depot Carpenter pencil in Here.
Yes, yes. I think my favorite quote was it's. The actual page is not marked, but it would basically be 26. It's a red spread and it has. I think that's the Home Depot pencil, actually, now that you mentioned it.
Yeah.
Yeah. Michelle Burke says, I love drawing with pencil because it's part of me. It's instant, organic and direct, which is some of the stuff I love about pencils. So, yeah, it's a, it's a fun book. I am tickled that, you know, they, you know, reach out to us about it. It's beautiful. I think I would like gift this to somebody who was like pencil curious or kind of just starting to go deep on it because there's not a lot of reading. Like you can read the, you can read the interviews. I have to admit that I didn't read many of the interviews. I thought they. Generally when you're talking to an artist about something that's really like high level like this, like, it just, it tends to get a little like high minded or a little pretentious. I don't want to call anybody out.
But yeah, one quote that stuck in my head though is somebody said something like the pencil. Pencils let us talk without words. Oh yeah, Actually we use words. Yeah.
There are words on the page.
Writing words on the page. So I mean, maybe you're an artist, but it was just like one of those like that sounds like something that an art school kid would say.
But it reminded me of that documentary about pencils that just came out not that long ago where they interviewed like Caroline and they interviewed the president of Musgrave and like, you know, people like that just were fascinating. It was such a good piece. But then they also interviewed like agency art directors and artists and people who are just like talking about the pencil as sort of like this elevated object in this thing that they use to, you know, just like transfer our thoughts instantaneously into like real space. And. And it's just like, come on guys, this is a pencil.
Let's not take ourselves so seriously.
Yeah. Which happens all the time.
Yeah, yeah. Another kind of highlight for me that is one of the things that seems like a sort of like crazy artists mind would create something like this. But I'm totally intrigued. Is on page 48 there's a picture of two pencils that have been bound together with like brass wire. Yeah, it was super weird, but it's like a white pencil and then like a black like marking pencil or something. And it's a super macro shot of a Tiny little white pencil that's like an inch long that's been wrapped together with a. Yeah. With a black pencil. And it's super weird and intriguing. Like, why does that exist? I don't understand, but I love it.
Did it. Did it bother you that they were like. They look like they were ground down. Like they. They needed to be, like, resharpened or something.
It was just like, are these dead pencils?
Is this the end of their life?
The wood is cut in the same line. It looks like they. They actually cut them that way or something.
Yeah. And it says that the guy.
Is this. Is it a sculpture or is it a tool?
Good question.
That's what I was wondering, too. Is this. How intentional was this? Is this like, they trying to make a statement with this? Because sharpening that little white pencil would be pretty difficult to do.
Yeah. Yeah. There were definitely some interesting, like, sharpening decisions on there. There's one actually on page 58 and 59.
I.
No idea how they did it. Oh, actually, it's a makeup artist, so.
Yeah.
This pencil is sort of like, curved upward. Like it's a horn or something like that. Yeah, yeah.
What?
You see that? 58, 59, maybe.
Yeah. It's like a mascara. Mascara pencil or something.
Yeah.
You know, my. I still really, really want to have a makeup art. Makeup artist on the show to talk about makeup pencils, because it's a whole segment of pencils we just don't cover on here.
Yeah, yeah. Anyhow, that'd be cool. That'd be very cool. Like, I had a few other things that kind of stuck out for me that I. I really liked. There's a. There's a. Several pretty stories within it. There's the Nabokov story. Did you see that? The Vladimir Nabokov story about how when he was a kid that he had. And he's the famous Blackwing user, writing whole novels on index cards using black wings. But there's a story about him as a kid getting a huge novelty pencil and just getting obsessed with this, which was a really cool story because it's like, wow, Nabokov was just, like, us going to the book fair in middle school and buying this massive novelty pencil and being like, this is crazy. You know, like, he ended up being, you know, fraking Nabikov. But there's also a John Lennon story. Did you either of you see that part?
Yeah. That cut in the tablecloth. Yeah, yeah.
They were like, this guy, like, went to a restaurant that's gotten. And John Lennon was there, like, drawing Pictures on the tablecloth. And he went over and, like, cut it out, tore it in half, gave one to his girlfriend, gave one to him. Like, that's like, a whole short story that needs to be written right there, which is pretty fantastic. I think John Lennon writing or just draw, like, doodling on a. On a tablecloth and then getting to go home with that is pretty fantastic. Are there any pencils that you saw in the pictures that you wanted to buy after seeing it that you were like, I need to find whatever that is?
Yeah, there's a teamograph with the metal cap that doesn't exist anymore now that paint it on. I would love to track down.
Yeah.
Page was that? Yeah, what page that was? Whatever page it was. It's yellow and green.
Yeah, I saw that. That was really great.
Yeah, that was cool. Yeah, there's.
Oh, it's on page. It's on the same page as those pencils that are bound together. It's on page 40, 49. I noticed how many, like, grease pencils there were. Yeah, like, there were quite a few of the kind that had the. Like those. Those layered paper covers that you can just kind of tear off. Those are cool. We should figure out how to do an episode about grease pencils. I know nothing about them, and I bet that there's somebody out there who's an expert.
There's someone in that group who uses them every day at work.
Who's that? Nothing about.
I'm gonna call out Dave. He uses them all the time at work to write on things. He says the Dave stir peel off ones.
Yep. Oh, okay. Yeah. That would be awesome. So I guess the pencil that I would. I had to flip through and find it that I would super be interested in knowing more about it is on page 42. It has. There's kind of this marbleized paper one, and then there's this one with, like, Japanese characters on it.
Yeah. Yeah, those are cool.
I don't know anything about this, but it looks really great.
Yeah. I was smitten with the dice pencil, which I had never seen before. Did you see that?
Which page is that on?
It's on page 77. It's a white pencil, and every side of the hex has a different number of dots.
Yeah. Yep, I see that.
And so you can, like, roll it and use it as, like, a.
As a die. I totally didn't get that it was a dice pencil, but I saw the dice.
When I saw the picture, I didn't notice it. But then he's interviewed in the back and he mentions the dice pencil. And so that was kind of put together. There's a pencil on page 94, 93 that it's probably not, but part of me wanted to say that it was a Blackwing 725 because it's got that kind of orangish yellow, sunbursty color to
it with the white layer beneath it.
With the white layer. Yeah.
Yeah, I'd be willing to bet that. Yeah. I don't know. I also like some of the mods that people did their pencils. Like there's one on page 25 that David Schilling has. It's against this background that just says Barbie. But he like dripped wax down the end of the pencil. And I don't know if that's to make it easier to grip or if it's just for fun.
For a good picture.
Yeah, for a good picture. So, Johnny, if you, I don't know, like, where, where would you put this, this pencil book and sort of you like your, your pencil book Canon, if you would.
Eye candy.
Yeah, that's good.
Definitely.
It's a good way to put it. Yeah. The photographs are amazing. I would love to see like a meta shot of the setup with how they got these shots.
Like.
Yeah.
The lens or the camera. And honestly, like, yeah, a little bit more about the tool themselves. But I totally, I totally understand that it's about the artists. It's not about the tools. But yeah, it's such a intricate part. And you notice they didn't talk about pens, they didn't talk about paintbrushes or software or any of those things. It was about, you know, pencils. Yeah.
I wish the exhibit was near here. I don't even know if it came to the United States.
Yeah. What is the name of the exhibit? Is it the Secret Life of the Pencil as well?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think I followed them on Twitter before they even started a book. But yeah, it's, it's, it's fascinating. It's a great, like kind of introduction or it's a sort of connection, I guess, between the creatives and their pencils.
Yeah. I wonder if they sold posters of any of them. Ooh, a few of those would be a cool blow up.
Hell yeah, that would be really cool.
See, I'm looking on their website shop right now. See. But yeah, I mean, this is like the opposite of the Petroski book, which is like, it is really good but
really heavy, dives directly into the tools. It doesn't, you know, talk much about like, you know, how people are using them, but mostly about how they're produced.
You can buy prints.
Ooh, okay. That's good to know.
Oh, my. Are all of them in print?
Yeah,
it looks like most of them, at least. Oh, man. 54 different ones you could pick from.
Oh, my.
Oh, no.
Maybe they're prohibitively expensive. Hopefully that'll make life easier to make
sure our house isn't just covered wall to wall in pencil prints.
Yeah, they're 165. €99 or pounds. Sorry. Holy crap.
For what size?
20 by 16. Oh, they're 20 by 16, 20 by 30 and 30 by 40. But there are only five of those and the shipping is very expensive, so it comes out to 204 pounds, 8 cents.
Wow.
Yeah, for the 20 by 16.
So that's basically $250. About.
Yeah. Oh, my God. The one that's 30 by 40 is 1800.
20.
200 when you. When you buy it. All right, well, that makes it easy
if anybody out there would like to. Would like to get us a Christmas present.
Yeah. Wow. Yeah.
So, yeah, it was a good book. It was fun. It's. It's. Yeah. Like, I think Johnny's. I think he really called it, like, it's a really good complement to, like, the Henry Petroski pencil book. It's. It's a lot of really pretty pictures. It's a lot about, like, the usage and the creativity behind. Behind these tools or I guess in front of these tools. But it's not a lot about, like, the, you know, the wonkiness of pencils. Like, there's nothing about what they are, how they're made, how people sharpen them, why they sharpen them in a certain way, things like that.
I do think they should do another one and just interview, like, us.
Les.
Mr. Hagen. Yeah, Matthias?
If any authors out there want to write a book about the pencil sphere, here we are. We are willing to be your interview subjects, to be your guides.
Yeah. For the COVID photo, we'll all get into the same room.
Yeah. Just fly us out to meet somewhere and we'll be all set.
Boom. That'll be awesome. I'm excited already.
So, Tim, what is. What is your. What is your least favorite part of this book?
Well, it's like, kind of selfish answer to it, and I kind of alluded to it earlier, but my least favorite part is that I. At the same time, I appreciate that a lot of artists were given a chance to be a part of this that maybe should be more recognized than they are, but it was a little Bit of a bummer just to not recognize anybody. I wanted to expand and see more of a wide range. Most of them are artists and to see more writers would have been cool just in general, but again, that is totally selfish and I cannot count that against the book because the pictures are gorgeous. They clearly have gotten. They've chosen wisely, these people to have in the book. But I say that's a main one. And I guess my only other kind of negative is I think something that happens with a lot of art books is that it seems at parts to be trying real hard and that just like authenticity wise, it just kind of. Some of these pencils were clearly not just grabbed out of the pencil cup and a picture was taken of them.
Yeah, they've.
They've carved little pictures into the side of them or they've. They've chosen the perfect one that's the most photogenic. And it's. It's not exactly just like a gorilla, you know, pull it out of the desk. Here's what it looks like. Some of them, it's like, oh, this one's really beat up. This would look cool, you know, kind of thing. And. Yeah, and that might just be the cynical side of me, but, yeah, it's a pretty.
It's a pretty narrow topic, like premise and somebody had to fill a whole book, so, you know, that they probably embellished a little bit.
Yeah, for sure. And. And overall, I still very glad this exists and I do enjoy it quite a bit. And like, I like the interviews in the end a lot. I guess I just. Yeah, really just would have liked to see more writers as opposed to. I mean, there's so many artists, which makes sense. And maybe it's just harder than I'd like admit to find writers who still are writing by hand and using pencils, so.
Yeah, good point. Cool. John, anything. Anything to add or should we. Should we button it up?
I might reiterate that there's a lot of people that would want to see this. And there's a pencil shop in New York, so if you brought the exhibit in New York, you know, folks would come. We would all come.
Yeah, that's a good, good call. Yeah, that's true.
VIP tickets.
Excuse me.
Yeah, that could be the erasable summit that we're always talking about.
Yeah, that'd be cool. That would be cool.
I'll even shave.
Oh, man. Well, you heard it here first.
I'll shave my head. Yeah.
Oh, man.
No, I will not do that.
Okay. If someone brings us all to New York, we will all shave our heads. No, we're not going to put Skullcats.
No, we won't.
We're not going to do that. But you know what we'll do is we'll live stream our tattoos.
There you go.
Omfg.
Yes. Yeah.
All right, so I we're going to have a link in show notes to a link on Amazon where you can buy the book. But I would like to encourage you to actually to go over to cwpencils. You know what, we'll have a link there too. If you're at CW Pencils, if you go to the storefront or if you look online and look under the everything else category, they're selling this book. It's 15 bucks. It's not that expensive. It's pretty cheap at $15.
Yeah, yeah, it's nicely made.
It's like a dollar and a half cheaper on Amazon. But I encourage you to support your small local pencil shop and get it from CW Pencils. So that is the Secret Life of the Pencil by Alex Hammond and Mike Tinney from Lawrence King Publishing and distributed in the US I believe by Chronicle Books. Yeah, that is the book that we just talked about. Johnny, where can people find you on the Internet?
That was a very perd haply.
Yes.
And this is the book that I'm
talking about which I will showcase now. So all of you perdverts out there
now I'll ask Johnny to say something about him.
And Johnny, you can be found on the Internet and in which location you can be found at.
Oh, man. So I am on the Internet@PenceRevolution.com on Twitter ensolution. And I'm on Instagram. My name. How about you guys?
And Tim is my co host. And Tim is on the Internet at.
Tim can be found @timwassom on Twitter and timothywassom on Instagram.
Awesome. And I am. I'm Andy Welfle. I am on woodclinch.com Andy Coffee and on Instagram and Twitter at A W E L F as in feral L E. And this is the Erasable podcast. We are at Erasable Us. You can find more about this particular episode, including show notes and a recording itself@ erasable us85. You can find more about Plumbago Magazine at Plumbago XYZ and join our community of people, more than 1200 members. We're@facebook.com groups erasable while you're on Facebook, our official mouthpiece, our page is facebook.com erasablepodcast we're on Twitter and Instagram raceablepodcast find us wherever you find your handcrafted artisanal podcasts on the Itunes Podcast Directory on the Google Play Store through your app. Rate us and review us. We will see you in two weeks. Thanks for joining us.
The intro music for the Erasable Podcast is graciously provided by this Mountain, a collaborative folk rock band from Johnson City, Tennessee. You can check out their music at www.thismountainband.com. If I could just count the time
this has happened before. Oh, I said.