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Transcript
Got some dope new threads, some stretchy pants wearing right now. Ready?
Is that part of the intro?
Oh, yes. Hello and welcome to episode 113 of the erasable podcast. This episode is sponsored once again by in defense of paper making high quality notebooks sourced and manufactured in the U.S. visit indefenseofpaper.com erasable to check them out and use coupon code erasable to save $5 on your purchase. Well, the podcast is potty trained and entering kindergarten, erasable turns five years old on March 12th. I'm Tim Tools of the trade Wasam and I'm joined by Andy Freshpoints, wealthy and Johnny. Insert main topic here. Gamber. There's a lot going on in our flesh and blood and non pencil lives tonight, so we're going to share this short episode before resuming our regular broadcasting in a week or two. Fellas, how you doing?
I'm good, how are you?
I am doing fantastic. And I'd like to officially thank for the podcast. Thank Blackwing for offering a traditional five year anniversary gift of wood by giving us the Blackwing Natural. Something that we didn't even fathom could be a thing and we hadn't thought of. But it's here and it's wonderful. So we're gonna talk about that in a little bit.
You guys are so considerate. You shouldn't have.
So considerate.
The shipping delay was really so they could push it back closer to our anniversary.
Exactly.
I figured we're behind that. It was actually Andy's idea. So you can.
You're welcome. It's pretty, pretty touching stuff. Yeah. So, Johnny, how are you doing?
I'm tired.
Yeah, I'm with you.
Yeah, it's that time of year where you're like drinking so much coffee, if you miss one, you wake up the next day and feel like you drank a keg, but like you didn't touch anything that wasn't coffee or water.
Not really that much water. Also getting that age where I'm like, I stayed up five minutes too late and now the rest of my next day is ruined.
I'm just catching up with you.
Yeah.
All right, well, we're five years old. That is crazy. And we will, we will get into that later. But first let's just jump into our tools of the trade. And Johnny, why don't you get us started?
Sure.
So I finally read that. I guess it came out in 2017. Ernest Hemingway biography by Mary Dearborn. So it's the first Hemingway bio written by a female writer, which was cool, but she kind of hates Hemingway. So I don't know why she wrote a book about him. It's like the whole book is chock full of like, what an asshole he is and how he was so screwed up. Like, okay.
I mean, he was right. Yeah.
He also wrote some good books. But like, she said that the Old man and the Sea was, you know, just overly sentimental and not very good and that because of the old fashioned language and the romance for whom the bell tools wouldn't have lasting literary power. I'm like, it's 70 years old and we're reading it and you're writing about it.
So yeah, it's pretty hilarious. I mean, Old man on the Sea is like my favorite book, so I would have slapped that biography shut pretty, pretty quickly. But yeah, that's a pretty. I'm not used to hearing about biographies that have such a clear opinion about the person that they're writing about. This sounds like.
I don't think she's a Hemingway scholar. She's like someone who writes biographies. Okay. But one interesting thing was there are a lot of letters that are still sealed, even from scholars, which is interesting. But she got a hold of like his medical records and what kind of drugs he was taking and stuff like that, which is interesting, but also kind of salacious. Like, okay, I want to read about his pencils. But disappointingly, There were like two mentions of pencils and all like 700 pages of this book. But they referenced him having a pencil sharpener shaped like a fish that got lost. Manuscripts that Hadley lost. So like now I want a fish shaped pencil sharpener just because
I want to track down the one that got lost. Like it's floating out there somewhere.
Right?
I guess. Depends what it was made of.
Yeah.
If it's plastic, it's definitely still around.
Yeah.
But you know, if you like Hemingway and don't mind hate reading, check it out.
I guess, bringing an endorsement for that book from Johnny.
Yeah. The last really big biography I read of somebody I admire was that more recent biography of Thoreau, which was really good. Was, you know, he's flawed but awesome and really well written. This book was also pretty terribly written. Terrible. That's the way no one talked about it. I got the impression that like in 2011, while his books came out around the anniversary of his death, then the author got the idea, hey, I'll write a Hemingway book. And then it came out in 2017. Yeah, but I just started reading Lolita, which is weird. Having two daughters. Yeah. But I never read any Habakkuff.
I bet it is. Yeah.
I keep reading. Like, this book is so good. I hate myself for liking this book.
Written on index cards. Blackwing.
That was why I picked up some at the store. I was like, I gotta read some of him. He liked Black Wings. Yeah, the. The older Black Wings. And we've been into some British cop shows. We watched Bodyguard on Netflix. Now we're getting into Luther, which is really, really good. Have either of you guys seen Bodyguard? It was like a miniseries.
No, not seen either of those.
Yeah, it had the lady who played the mom on the Darrells and Corfu, on whom I have a giant crush.
Oh, she's great.
That may or may not be why I watched it. And I had a guy that played Robb Stark with his full Scottish accent, which was also enjoyable.
Hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
It's like six episodes. You could bang it on a weekend. It was definitely worth watching. And then we're not that far into Luther, which is also really good. And before I ramble more, I'm sure we're all using the same pencil, Blackwing natural. And I'm using 2018 xoxo field notes that has that really, really cool yellow grid which just disappears. And I hope they do again. It's really, really nice for pencil.
Yeah. Yeah.
How about you, Andy?
Lately? Well, Katie and I have started watching the third. Now third season of Victoria that's showed up on. On pbs.
I.
About that.
Yeah. So that's on. We also started watching. Okay, I think I can say without a typewriter, Bill, because it's a proper name here.
You just got to pronounce it perfectly.
Yes.
Has anybody here watched Schitt's Creek?
No.
Okay. Not yet.
It's very good. It's on Netflix.
Look, I heard it's kind of a. Feels like a relative of Arrested Development.
It feels like if Arrested Development and maybe, let's say, like Parks and Rec had a baby.
It's.
It's kind of small, Funny baby. Yeah, it's kind of small townie. And also a little bit like a Christopher Guest documentary or like mockumentary because it has Eugene Levy and Catherine o' Hara as the two parents, which, you know, they're regulars and just. Just amazing. They're so good. And actually, it's co created and co starred by Eugene Levy's son, Daniel Levy, who plays. Plays his son in the show. But each episode's like 21 minutes long. They go super fast. They're just really funny and consumable, I guess. Yeah, it's pretty good. I'm. I'm liking It a lot. And I am reading. Just got done with the issue three of. It's called Anxi Magazine A N X Y. And it's about mental health, mental wellness. They had an issue about like, you know, like the workaholism issue. They have it. The second issue is about boundaries. They have a third issue that's coming up about like, masculinity. Um, it's. It's really good. It is one of the most gorgeous magazines I've ever seen. Like, it's so beautifully designed and printed. Um, it's. It's something to which plumb I. I aspire from Plumbago. Even though, like, you know, I never. I know we'll never get to that point, but it's really, really beautiful. If you have. We'll have a link in show notes to their. Their website and if you have a magazine stand or anywhere that sells it around, but just, just go like thumb through it. They're just gorgeous. And I am also writing with my. My black ring natural, which we'll talk about. But it's on a. I'm at my desk at home and there is a legal pad that Katie was using and does anybody remember? It was this like, notepad that has like a purple, like, binding and the paper has like lines and dots. Do you remember what this is called? Yeah.
Yeah. And it was like really thick paper.
Really thick paper. And we talked about it pretty early.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It was like a prototype.
Yeah. I can't remember the name of it. So I'll. I'll do some research and look for it.
It's.
It's very nice. It's great with this black wing. But yeah, it was just sitting on the desk. I think Katie likes it a lot and. Yeah. Tim, how about you?
Well, I got a new guitar.
Ooh.
So that. That can. That. That connects with my. My first consuming point. I got a. I think it was. I talked about on the podcast a while ago when I got that jazz guitar and I've decided to part ways with that because I realized the guitar I should have gotten all along. And I was right. Um, I was absolutely right because I just did. Wasn't playing that one a whole lot and it's got such a specific kind of jazz sound and I play a lot of different things. So I was like taking advantage of a really good deal and I got myself a Fender Jazz Master.
Jazz master.
Yeah. It is pretty amazing. So it is a sunburst three tone sunburst with the. I don't know what you call that pick guard. But it's like the. The matching pick guard that's like the browns and blacks kind of fleck together. The tortoise shell. Tortoiseshell pick guard. Yeah. So I got that. It's a. And I am just absolutely loving it. And coincidentally, at the same time as I was falling in love with this guitar, over the past week I've been obsessively listening to the War on Drugs, which. Have you guys ever listened to the War on Drugs?
Is this a band?
Yes, it is.
Okay. No, I have not.
No, it's not a book about like Nixon or something or Reagan. Reagan. Yeah, same thing. Doesn't matter.
Yeah.
So you can get some hate mail for that. But no. So, yeah, it is a band. And the band from Philadelphia. And it is. Have you ever listened to Kurt Vile by chance?
I don't think so.
Kurt Vile and the Violators. But anyways, like, they're sort of. They're like brother and sister bands. Like. Or, you know, they're like. They share a lot of members and so they're. But they are. I don't know really how to describe them. It's very similar to the Bob Dylan in the band kind of Age of rock and Roll, but with a little more like modern pop sound added to it. But I absolutely love them. And they have a new album that came out this past year called A Deeper Understanding that I've been just eating up. And it's also one of those albums that at school is kind of a comfortable in between, but from the things my students will tolerate and the things that I really like listen to, listen to in class. But A Deeper Understanding also won best rock album at the Grammys this year. So that was. That was a big deal. But they're awesome, so you should check them out and watch live. A bunch of live concerts online. So I've been listening to that and enjoying my guitar. And I am obsessed with a book on writing that my dad got me for. It was for Christmas this past year. And the weird thing is that like six months before this, my brother in law, who's like super hip to all kinds of like writing books and just novels and just books in general. He's also a pencil fan. But he told me about this book and I was like, oh, that sounds interesting. And then I forgot about it. And then my dad, of all people, shipped it to me. I was like, oh my gosh, here it is. And it's called Several Short Sentences about Writing. And the author's name is Verlan Klinkenborg.
That's an amazing name.
It is, yeah. Which is. Yeah, which is amazing. And he's kind of been around for a long time, teaching and university level. And then also he was on the editorial board for the New York times for like 15 years. Wow. But he wrote this book and earlier you were talking about what was the
love child you made up Arrested Development and Parks and Rec.
That's right. Yeah. If they had a baby. Well, this book is if like an Old Testament prophet and Strunk and White had a threesome. So. So it's like, it's about writing and it's like pretty clear, like writing craft talk. Yeah, but it's written in this like really kind of.
Thou shalt not.
No, well, no, that's my. If that's where. That's where your brain went, then I was wrong. But it was. But it's like, it's very. It's written almost as poetry. It's book length, but it's written in like almost inverse. And it's very free flowing. And he's just like telling you to forget all these things about high school, what you learned about writing then. And here are some little like thought exercises you can go through. And I actually got the book and I read the book and now I've got the audiobook and I'm listening to it. And the audiobook is incredible. Like, I can just imagine myself as someone who's interested in writing, just listening to it kind of on a loop because it's like four hours long. It's not very long. And he just runs through all these amazing things, thoughts like it's kind of like. It's like the perfect book to like demystify the process of becoming a like really concise and passionate writer. It's really cool book. So if you can get it from the library or check it out, I'd really recommend it. And last thing is William Tyler, who I talked about a long time ago, probably a year ago, an album called Modern country that I really liked. It's an instrumental album. He came out with a new album that's called Goes West. So like the COVID says William Tyler Goes west, but it is just a very cool album. He plays guitar and then he brings in all kinds of people to play with him. And there's like, I think there's a couple, at least one band member from the band Dawes that's in the group and a bunch of really, really cool musicians. I would highly recommend that. It's really good writing music and reading music and I am writing with a 2 inch stub of a Blackwing 211. Actually, I have a, I have a Blackwing natural here in front of me as well. But that is what I'm writing with now. More about that later. And I'm still using my obama.org field notes.
Nice.
All right, so before we get into freshpoints, Andy, why don't you tell us again about our sponsor this week?
Yeah. So our sponsor once again is In Defense of Paper. They make high quality notebooks sourced and manufactured in the U.S. i think we've talked about them pretty extensively on here before. They've been a pretty good supporter. But they're really fantastic notebooks. Each notebook has 200 pages of really high quality paper with a vellum finish. So they're really great. With some of the darker pencils they can get a little smeary. But I think that the paper has enough tooth where it doesn't really do that. And of course if you're using a fountain pen or just a really nice dark pencil. Excuse me, dark pen, it's just going to look really great. So yeah, I know I mentioned a fountain pen on here. So the notebooks are available in either ruled or dot grid pages. And I think, I think for you fountain pen users out there, if you have a really, really wet pen, each page is blank on one side. So it doesn't, you aren't writing, writing on the bleed. Even though, you know, even with a Sharpie I haven't really seen a bleed with these, these, these notebooks. The thing that I really like about them is the exposed elastic spine. They, they truly lay flat. They won't fight against you when you crack it open. And kind of as you continue to use it it's, you know, a lot of people talk about how they have like a lay flat notebook but, but they do, which is pretty good. And that exposed spine kind of gives it a really, really unique look as well. Especially when you have it kind of like sitting up on your shelf. So Johnny, I know one of your favorite things on it is that the, the, the COVID and the inside pages kind of lay flush with each other. Just kind of makes it feel a little bit more, just gives it some good detail and just really makes it feel like just finished nicely. They come in three different colors. Ember, which is a kind of a yellowish. Well, I guess it's ember colored notebook with a pink spine. A slate which is gray with a blue spine and then granite which is black with a white spine. And they're all kind of like a 5ish in size. Yeah, they're available@indefensive paper.com they are a little, little pricey. They're a premium notebook. They're 32 bucks. But hey, they are generous to our listeners. And if you purchase some using the offer code Erasable. Erasable, you can save five bucks off that. So head over to check them out@indefensivepaper.com erasable and if you want to buy them, use the offer code erasable to save $5. So at least go check it out. Show your support for the notebooks or show your support for our little podcast which is as Johnny will be talking about. Pret has been going on now for five years. Oh my God. I know. And thank you again to Indefensive Paper for sponsoring the erasable podcast. I'll turn it back over to you.
Big thanks to Indefensive Paper. We really appreciate it. And Johnny, you're going to talk about five years. You can also talk. Anybody listening who wants to hear about us talk about five years. If you feel appreciative, you can also send us silverware because apparently that's also something that's a anniversary gift for five years. Years. It's an alternative to people who don't have an imagination.
You know, I was just saying the other day how I could use a good soup spoon.
Yeah, there you go.
So. Well, you know, we could get Les on here to talk about about her like everyday carry Spork.
So the spork was invented by a guy who went to my high school. That's the legend. But like in the, in the age of the Internet, we could probably check this out.
Commander. Commander. Spork is his name.
First name. Commander.
Commander Samuel W. France. Nope.
One of one of my really random, but one of my students left. He forgot to log out of Google at school. And one of his fellow students, which I don't know who it was, log like, got onto his account and went in and changed his gender to Battleship in Google. So I just thought I would share that because I thought that was really funny. It's like tickled me all day long.
And you know it's going to be years and years before he would ever discover this because, like, why would you
be like, he found it out. He's like, what the. He like turned his Chromebook around. He's like, look at this. His gender was listed as Battleship. All caps. Battleship. Yeah.
So students are creative. High schoolers are creative people.
Yes. I'm thankful for that. All right, Johnny, why don't you start us out fresh.
Point number one. Erasable is five.
Yeah. I'm trying to think about, like. Like, where. Like, what I was doing five years ago, and I'm just like. Like, I feel like erasable is, like, one of the only things that is consistent all the way through. Like. Like, I live in a completely different place. I do a completely different thing for work. Like. Like five years ago. Like, that's. That's a lifetime ago. Yeah.
I think the only thing I've done for longer than five years is be a parent.
Yeah.
Yeah. Same here. Barely.
Yeah.
I was teaching middle school at that time. We were living in a different house. Yeah. My daughter wasn't born, and, you know, my. My hair was a little more brown.
You weren't a cat guy yet.
No, I wasn't. That's right. I've got the scratches all over my hand. I am now from playing too much with Asha. She got into it.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
It is unbelievable. Yeah.
Question. You know, I mean, people are always. When I talk to people in real life, like, oh, you have a podcast by pencils, and they're like, a, that such a thing exists is really interesting, and B, like, you don't seem like the kind of person that would do that. I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult. So moving past that, there are a lot of surprising things about the fact that it's five years on and it's still going on. So for me, I don't know what's more surprising, that, like, people still listen to it or that we're still finding topics.
Yeah.
What do you guys think?
I don't know. I think one of the most. One of the most surprising things really is just like. I mean, you're right. Like, that we have 113 episodes in five years about. About this thing. But I think also, like, finding. Finding the community was really surprising. Like, we, you know, this isn't like, some big viral hit. We don't have, like, hundreds of thousands of listeners, but we have thousands of listeners, which is surprising to me, and amazing and, like, the idea that we were able to just find a lot of them and kind of, like, capture them in an online community is really, really great. So I always, always get feedback for every episode we produce. So I know that there are people listening to it. So thank you all for listening and keeping us going. Yeah.
Hugs.
Yeah. I've been surprised with. And this has happened with my students at school, but also, like, friends and just people around me who I come across I have been legitimately surprised at how many people in my bubble now listen to it. And not because they're, like, super close to me or something. Like, having people who are like, oh, yeah, I heard about your podcast. I've listened to a bunch of episodes. It was really fun things like that that I hear. I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. That is not what I expected to happen. Even, like, students who are like, oh, over Christmas break, I listen to, like, 15 episodes. I'm like, are you kidding? You need to get some hobbies.
I've had friends who. Friends and co workers who will come up to me like, hey, I just, like, ran into somebody over the weekend who mentioned that they listened to this podcast about pencils. And I was like, is that the Erasable podcast? And they're like, yeah. They're like, I work with that guy.
Yeah.
There's so, like, people out in the wild who just listen to it.
I had a friend early on, I probably told this story on the podcast, but I just remember having this moment where, like, one of my friends came up and he's like, hey, one of my co workers at work apparently listens to your podcast and he wanted me to give you this. And it was a copy of Petroski's book. Like, a hardback copy of Petroski's book. I was like, what in the world going on? This is crazy. But I'm shocked. I mean, how many. I've got a handful of just, like, family members and close friends who aren't just listening, but have, like, legitimately become into this, you know, who, like, will text me about pencils and things and just writing, you know, or in via talking about that. They'll talk about writing. I mean, yeah, it's. It is. It is amazing. I was. I was not expecting that.
Yeah.
So I always thought it would be just kind of this. This thing I do in a dark corner of my basement.
So literally what you do in the dark corner of your basement, but literally
where I am right now is in a dark corner of my basement.
I mean, this is a weird question, but, like, do you have any regrets?
I guess picking Andy?
Yeah, that's the worst.
No, that's the worst. That's the opposite of what I could say. Because you do all that. One of you and I regrets. That's a good question. I think for me, like, when we first came up with the idea and we first launched this thing, part of me sort of regrets not doing so. I'm definitely going to qualify this after I say It. But not doing, like, shorter episodes and more regularly, you know, but at the same time, I don't know if I agree with myself because I kind of love that it is just, like, what it is. We've got these, like, longer episodes. If we take a week off, it's like, not a big deal. And I think that's kind of been
refreshing, so we don't have that pressure.
That's like a regret. Not a regret. Sort of like sorry, not sorry kind of thing.
Um, I regret not starting this podcast years sooner and then surpassing Brad Dowdy in, like, you know, prominence of. Of stationary podcasts.
So it's just about outlasting him. Yeah. Yeah. 2045, we're going to be like
episode
200 of the erasable podcast.
By then, all of that. That fountain pen ink will have faded and all of the graphite marks will still be beautiful and legible.
Exactly.
Yeah. I feel like when the black wing came out, it sort of killed the Palomino, which was a great pencil. And this podcast taken a lot of attention from our blogs.
That's.
That's a good point. I do. I do. Like, there's a really.
My blog. Yeah.
There's a really clear line of like, you know, five years ago, when this started, like, how much I would post before that, how much I would post after that. So I guess that makes sense. Like, this is. This is such a good sort of creative outlet for that. Although I will say, like, for me at least, Plumbago was like, directly spawned from this podcast. So that's. That's kind of a. Like a net new, which I. Which I like. But.
But.
But you're right. Yeah. This. This huge, like, back inventory I have in my. My blog really just like, I mean, it still gets. People still find it and gets read, but like, I. Yeah, I don't post. Post new stuff to it really, ever, which is. Which is a shame.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's fair. I mean, it's. It's. I would. I would say the same thing because I really love doing my blog early on. And then it. I mean, of course it's gone, but at the same time, if. If we wouldn't have done this, we would have just kept going down those three paths. Yeah. There wouldn't be 2,500 people on Facebook talking about pencils all the time. You know, and. Not that that was. And I definitely mean this for me, because I feel like I'm the furthest back. But that is not just because of us three, because that group just kind of like, has taken over and how many people are taking on leadership roles within that group and helping. Keeping it going, keeping things civil. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty.
Yeah. And we've spawned other podcasts too.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's true. I didn't think about that.
And possibly had a role in the creation of a black wing.
I mean, I assume.
Yeah, yeah. At least one. I don't know.
Yeah, Maybe more. I mean, the whole volumes edition happened after our show started, so I think it's safe for us to take full credit for Black Wings volumes even becoming a thing.
Yeah, let's just go ahead and clean
up the Instagrams and the Facebooks, then around, like, the Field Nuts group and other places like that. People are using pencils increasingly often and not just Black wings.
Yeah.
So I think we could take a little credit for that. Yeah, there's a lot of overlap.
Oh, yeah, I think so. I mean, we would go back to Dowdy and think about Brad. I mean, like, early on, like, for him not wanting to even use fountain pens, and now he's, like, into fountain pens and beyond that and like a pencil guy, sort of. So.
Yeah, we're.
We're.
I mean, we are the genesis of all information and interest in pencils, obviously.
Yeah, it's cool. It's been that. That's. That's definitely true.
So, like, maybe one more talking point.
What?
I mean, we may or may not do this for another five years, but what, like, what would we publicly say could come next?
I think the obvious first answer is we need to all get the F together.
Yeah.
For once, this is true.
That's a much better answer to the joke answer I was going to give, which was HBO series. You know, they're making like. They're making that HBO series about the creation of the serial podcast.
Oh, I didn't know that.
And previously there have been HBO series based on, like, this American Life episodes, so.
Yeah, Pod Save America had a HBO special, too.
Yeah. I think HBO is our next stop.
HBO. Yeah. I'll send him an email. Okay, good.
HBO.com.
hi.
Morning. That would be even cooler.
Oh, that would be cool.
I wrote to make a case for it, but nothing happens.
Oh, that would be awesome.
That's like one of my.
Now that I'm basically. Now that I'm basically BFFs with. With Morocco, I should. I should reach out to him.
Yeah, seriously.
Because he retweeted that one thing I said, so.
Yeah, that's.
I think that makes us best friends in Internet language.
I think you're right.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay, well, work on that.
You know, like speaking to the Pentict, they just raised almost $30,000 for their live show in Atlanta and San Francisco. So we could raise a little bit of money to get us all like in Baltimore, New York or Tennessee or somewhere.
Yeah, Shelbyville.
Yeah, let's do a.
Awesome, but also like a super boring place.
Well, did you all get your. Your notice about the American Pencils Collector Society Conference? That's going to be like in. I want to say like Canton, Ohio or something like that.
Oh, I've got places to stay in Canton, Ohio.
Really?
Yeah, we've got lodging.
Yeah.
All right.
Drivable from here.
Yeah, I'll say. As far as one other thing. What's next? Some more interviews would be awesome. I'm getting some people kind of some big fish that we've been wanting to get for a while, especially like talking to Henry Petroski.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
That's a long time coming.
Right?
We've been talking about that forever, so.
Or maybe.
Yeah, that would be retired now, so he's got more time and Draplin said that he would do it, which would be pretty awesome.
Yeah. So we need, we need to get on that. Yeah, do that asap.
If you remember to send the email, Johnny.
I hit like it's. It was. Yeah. So we were. We'd aim to have a guest for tonight. And I thought I emailed him and I didn't. It was in my drafts folder. I don't know how that happened, but I was like, oh, I think I pissed him off.
But no, he never responded.
Johnny was talking to us earlier and being like, yeah, so I don't know what that was all about because he never responded. So that was kind of weird. I was just like, oh, okay, that's weird. But stay tuned. Yeah. Cool. Yeah.
All right.
Five years.
So this is almost like a topic, but I only have two other fresh points. One is that I forgot how wonderful that the kum long point sharpener with one hole is. Makes such a nice point. And I think I remember a few years ago it was sort of that polished magnesium that got really tarnished and it was kind of a piece of crap. And they redid it a few years ago so it's like that beaded finish now I think it might be aluminum. And now it's like really nice and like two bucks, which is a score.
I've got those all over my house and at my classroom. I got.
That's.
That's the. That's still My go to. I. I think I have five of them just kind of scattered around.
I thought I did, and I could only find one. I think I gave them away, but they're two bucks.
Nice.
Now I know what I'm getting next time I order from cw.
Every time you order cw, just get another one
for my last fresh point, which has nothing to do with pencils. If you live in anywhere near Baltimore or even the Northeast corridor because it's very close to the train station, come see my band on March 14. I will give you a hug and, like, oh, hug. Like, I'm seriously a good hugger.
That's a good deal. Thank God for that.
I wish, you know, that's the day I'm coming back from Singapore, and I wish I could just, like, layover in Baltimore. And unfortunately, I'm coming the other direction, so just keep going, man.
Yeah, just.
Just keep going. What's 17, you know, it's been 17 hours. What's another six, right?
Like, yeah, whole day.
There'll be no jet lag.
You're just like, not at all.
It'll be time travel at that point.
You were gonna perform on my birthday, but you. You were snowed out.
Was that.
Yeah, there was a snowstorm. They were like, you can have a new date or go tonight, but, like, for three people, and nobody was gonna come. And now we have a better night of the week, so that's good. It would be my grandmother's 100th birthday if she wasn't dead and burning in hell for being a not nice person.
That took a turn.
We're gonna work that into the set a little bit.
Yeah. I think we found our intro.
Mean Gene, the horrible old Polish B word.
And
my mom would really get a kick out of that.
Oh, hey, Mildred, we love you.
Oh, gosh.
All right, I've done enough rambling. Wanna go next, Andy? Sure.
I don't. I don't know how to follow that. Well, I think I talked in the last episode about my impending trip to Singapore. As we record this, I'm going to be leaving a week from today, so I'm excited and nervous. But you know what Michael and I usually do is we buy some pencils from CW Pencils and have, like, have them imprinted. And I procrastinated and waited too long. And I emailed Alex from cw and she was like, you know, we're packing up the quarterly subscription boxes, so I can't get these to you by the time you need them. So it's a bummer. We'll Be sure to like do it for the next time. But this time around we were just like, we still have to hand out pencils. So Michael went and bought four dozen general cedar points from Amazon. Yeah. And I think they'll be really good. We are combining all of our little handouts and activities into a booklet that I'm, you know, I was like, you know, I can make zines. I have enough at my house to like make zines. So we made a little booklet. Michael's a professional photographer, professional freelance photographer. So he took some really great macro shots of pencils and he took just a couple shots and we turned them into the COVID of this booklet. So we sort of realized, you know, we're going to Singapore. There's a lot of people from Singapore and surrounding countries that will be attending this workshop. And we went for like a very, very American brand just because they probably don't usually have access to that. So we might fill some people full of whimsy and wonder with our, our fun natural pencils. And I was telling some of these guys in text, I have no idea what sort of pencils to expect in Singapore. So I know in the Philippines you can get really nice mango pencils that are still being made and I don't know if they'll make it all the way to Singapore, but you know, I'm going to be checking out pencils.
So what if you walked into like an old school stationery store and there was like just a display with 50 boxes of Eberhard favored Black Wings?
Yeah, that would be, that'd be amazing.
I can't get rid of these things.
Nobody wants them. I don't know why.
$3 a box.
Yeah.
Okay.
I don't have to worry. All of them.
Yeah.
Yeah. So I'm looking forward to that trip. Making some booklets.
What else?
Oh yeah, for my birthday, my in laws got me that Black Wings volumes print, the poster size print. So it's all of the editions from the 725 through. I can't see it right now, but it's like at least through the 16.2s. They're just this really beautiful illustration of them. I went and got a frame the other day so it's ready to hang up on the wall. So if you were interested in this print yourself, don't go by the size that it looks like in the picture on the website. It looks like it's, you know, like 24 by 32 sized. It is not. It is 11 by 14. So unless that hand model is extremely small, that is not accurately represented. So, yeah, just keep that in mind. It's still a really lovely print. I guess the last thing I was going to mention. Do you all. Did you. Did you two get that. That field notes pen?
Heck, yeah.
I got within an inch of ordering it and didn't end up getting it. I was going to order. So I still never got the. The Apollo.
Oh, yeah.
Notes, and I really, really wanted to get that one. So I might still order it, but I was gonna get it that day. And then, yeah, I. I got distracted and didn't get back to it in time.
So I just imagine they must have so many of them, so I. I wonder if they'll rear their head again, but for Valentine's Day. It was for Valentine's Day, right? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, it was. They had a. They had an offer where if you were to just buy anything, they would also throw in a red bitclick field notes pens. So the ink is red, the barrel is red. The O in field notes is a heart. This is maybe for our separate bitcrystal appreciation podcast.
What's next?
Yeah.
Announcing the Crystal podcast.
Yeah.
Crystal Cast. Yeah.
Crystal Cast. Is everything all right?
Johnny sent me up on, like, creating this.
Registered the domain. Yeah. So it's nice. I mean, it's a. It's a. It's a bit click. So it's a really solidly performing ballpoint pen. Pen. And the red is, I would say, a touch deeper red than many of them are, but not as deep as, like, a rollerball red.
Right.
Is that your. So what you think, Johnny?
Yeah, I think, like, bit red's not orange, which is good. It could be a little more saturated, but, like, some of them, you know, they're just dark orange.
Yeah.
Too warm. What did you order that you may or may not have needed to get your free pen?
What did I order? Oh, I actually, it wasn't because it was the cheapest thing on there, but that was also a reason is I really wanted a bag of the band of rubbers. The rubber bands, they. You can buy, like, 12 of them in a bag for, like, five bucks. And I actually wanted something because they're really, really sturdy rubber bands, and they're really good for banding together pencils, so I ordered some of those.
Nice. Yeah.
What did you get, Johnny?
I ordered a set of the signature books, because I don't have any, but I bought the yellow ones, which are lined, but, like, it came, and they're pretty cool. But I wish I bought the gray ones because I Think, like, they switched the stock for the belly bands. And the belly band that it comes with is such a cool gray. So next time they have something crazy for free where I don't need it, I'm gonna buy some of those.
That's Johnny's one regret.
I wanted the gray. I want everything gray.
All right. And that is. Those are my. Those are my fresh points, I think. Tim, you have the. You have the big one for today, I think.
Yeah, I'll delay it even a little bit more and talk about one thing before we get there. But I was. I finally bought one of the Staedtler 925 pencil extenders, which. Do either of you have one of these?
I think so. I need to Google this and see what it looks like.
But I'm gonna blame Michael Hagan from Leadfast for convincing me because he's. Because he's a big user of this thing. And so I've heard him talk about it several times. And then I was. As one of us would do when I was considering buying one, I went to YouTube, typed it in, see what happens. And the first thing that pops up is a video from Michael Hagan.
I just happened to be. Right now.
Yes. Yeah. So there's like a. He has like an 8 and a half minute video that he made talking about this thing and just kind of giving the rundown of it. And it sold me and I got one and it came in yesterday. And it is a fantastic little thing. I mean, it makes me think of. I mean, it's been a long time coming. I've known these existed for as long as this podcast has been going. I mean, they've been out forever and ever in the whole turn of the, you know, the twist pencils and all the bullet pencils that have come out and stuff like that. This was there the whole time. And it's actually really, really fantastic. So if you're not familiar with it, it is about the size of a click pen. And at the top there is an extendable eraser, which I haven't looked into whether it's refillable, but I kind of guarantee it would be. I would think so. But if you twist it and it extends out, then if you, you know, you can close it up completely so that it just kind of disappears. It has a clip and it is a just silver aluminum color. And then at the base where you hold on to it is a sort of knurled, very finely knurled gripping section. Like, almost like when you buy a pen that has like a Little rubber handle on the end of it. It's. It's like that but in. If you twist it. So if you twist that, it's the opposite direction of what I always think it's going to be. You can put a pencil stub into it. And I discovered today that basically anything that's like just a little past Steinbeck stage can fit in here perfectly. So a pretty big pencil.
A 211, for example.
Yeah, like I have, which I had a very tiny little 211 in my desk that I snapped the, you know, or twisted the ferrule off and put it in. And now it's. Yeah, it's right around 2 inches. And so I sharpen that sucker up and you put it in there and you just twist that knurled section and it tightens really nicely and holds it perfectly in place. And it's really comfortable to write with. It's way lighter, I think, than it looks in the picture. So like when you see it in the picture, it looks like it's gonna be heavy, like a Keras Customs pen or something. But it is a. It's very light and it's very practical. There's even a little like a. There's even a little collar on it that you can twist to say what type pencil you have. So it goes from 2H up to 4B. So it like moves a little window. You can, if you, if you feel like it, you can highlight the actual type of pencil that's, that's in there. But I've got mine, you know, hooked up with a 211 stub right now. And I've got a, got a whiskey bottle in the corner here that's full of pencil stubs that I've just collected over the years. And it was kind of fun the first day yesterday when I got it, I like dumped the thing out and was like, oh, I still can get some life out of that one. I can use that one. I can use that one. I can use that one. So now I've got this little kind of pool of pencil stubs that I can, I can still get some more fun out of.
What's the whiskey bottle?
It's an eagle rare. So it looks like. It looks kind of like a wine bottle. So it's like a tall, tall one. So it was not easy to get the pencils, get the pencils to fall out of it. But I managed. The only thing I'm wondering about as I go forward because right now it's pretty perfect and I want to use it all day long. I did today. I use it for everything. The only thing I wonder about is with the knurled grip and how I hold a pencil. It basically sits on the side of the end of my middle finger. And then I hold it with my index in the middle. And I wonder if I'm gonna, like, build up a callus on the side of my hand from just the knurled section kind of rubbing against the side of my finger. It's not uncomfortable at all, but I just kind of wonder if it's gonna be, like, a little. It's like with people. Have you ever noticed people who have, like, really big cell phones who are starting to get, like, weird calluses like that from the place where they rest
their phone or, like in their. Their jeans where the pocket just turns weird?
Yeah. My wife has, like, a callus on the side of her thumb or side of one of her fingers because of, like, how she holds her. The big, like, XR iPhone XRS. Yeah, it's, like, starting to form, but. Yeah, so I wondered about that. But another cool little detail that Mike shares in his video, which I'll put in the show notes. You should watch it when you have a stub in here. If you're going to take it with you. You can unscrew that. Unscrew the section and just take the pencil out and turn it backwards and slide it back in and tighten it up so you can store it without breaking your tip. So it kind of does function like a bullet pencil. Almost exactly the same. So highly recommend this. It's very cool. All right, well, I think we're done here, so I don't think there's anything left to talk about.
Button it up.
Yep. Button this thing up. See you all in five.
Yeah,
we. After a dramatic wait, we've. We've all got our black wing naturals.
There's much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Oh, there was. And I actually was glad. I mean, I've mentioned many times on the podcast about how I'm not as active as most on Facebook. Just in general. Not just on this, but, like. But I had a friend who listens to the podcast and he texted me. He's like, man, people are pissed. Just, like, with the delay. Or people are, like, kind of up in arms, which is like, I was not really even.
Some people were more impatient than others and more verbal about it. In the group, for example.
Yeah, there's always a balance. And I was just like, come on, guys, you know, keep your pants on. But anyways, Like, I forget the day that it was announced, but the Blackwing Natural was announced from Blackwing as a. Which we talked about in the last, last podcast, because I guess that was like three days after they had announced or after they had been available or something like that. So it's a new standard edition. It is a natural finish. It has the extra firm core that we've seen in the 24. And, you know, apparently you guys were right about the 530. And I was so shocked by that. I was like, what are you talking about? I totally missed that. But it's got the extra firm core. It's got a gray eraser, a gold ferrule, and we've got them in hand now, so they're officially available. And I think we've all been kind of hoping for this since very early on in the Blackwing world, I think even before the volumes time. Did we figure that out? I can't remember if we figured that out, like, when we had talked about it, but I. I don't.
I don't think, like, at least from what I can remember before the 211, we even like, could conceive of a natural Blackwing, but I think we maybe. Maybe we did.
I have some gut feeling that when we talked about black wings and how great black wings were, we just kind of had some kind of like, you know, just kind of shot in the dark feel, like, man, wouldn't be great to have a natural one. I feel like that happened, but it definitely wasn't in any sort of focused way, just kind of passing. But what are your first impressions of it? What do you guys think? Johnny, once you start us out, what do you think about the natural?
So when I was writing with it in a field notes notebook, I felt kind of dark. It was a lot darker than I expected. Not in a bad way because it wasn't like smeary, crumbly dark. It's like, ooh, it's interesting. It was like writing with a ballpoint. And that actually works.
Same here. It did. It did seem a little bit darker than what I have come to expect from their other extra firms. But I. Yeah, I. I felt that too.
Yeah. And then I went back and used some of the other ones, and they're pretty much the same. So, like, maybe my brain just didn't know what it wanted in the extra firm because the volume four being so soft, you're like, I like this end of the spectrum.
Interesting.
Extra fine. Okay.
Yeah.
I thought it smelled amazing when I opened it up. Yeah, I mean, just like the 1970eens and the. The two 11s.
Yeah.
And the gray eraser was like, perfect.
Yeah.
Yeah.
A lot of people heard a lot of hate for the gray eraser, really. But I. Yeah, a lot of people in the Facebook group do not care for it. Um, they switched out with the pink one, and it does look really good with the pink eraser in it. But they. They switched the pink eraser from the 602 and the gray eraser from the. The natural and just kind of like switch them back. So the. The 602 has the gray body of the gray eraser and the pink goes with the natural and looks. Looks really nice. But I really like the gray eraser and I guess my only sort of like, aesthetic wish would be that if the ferrule and the foil were silver instead of gold. The gold looks fine. I just think a silver one would. Silver one would look really, really good.
Yeah.
It seems like both of those decisions were just to fit in with the.
Yeah.
With. With the spread of the other pencils because they don't want to have the same color. Because I guess that would be the. You don't have two pencils with the same color eraser. Yeah. So you'd have. You'd have. You'd have pink. Pink, white, and black. And that would be.
Yeah.
I don't know, just kind of design wise, be kind of clunky. And then same thing with the color of the Feral, which totally. Which. I know you guys had mentioned that before, but I think that's. But I think. Gosh, I think the gray looks great.
Yeah.
I also think the. On the 530s, one of my very favorite things about it is the stripe on the Feral. And if there was a way that they could bring back the stripe, the feral stripe, that would be incredible.
But that would be awesome.
Yeah. But I. I mean, I like it a lot. I've been using it pretty much non stop since it came out, and I've got it down to maybe an inch above Steinbeck stage. But the thing is, is I hardly have to sharpen the darn thing because it has such a really good point retention.
Yeah. Yeah, I have one that's about. Read it about the same. Same point as that, maybe a touch longer. But I've been using it all the time. And you're. You're totally right. It's. It keeps a great point just as expected. Which it does is even if it seems a little darker, it's. It doesn't. Doesn't seem to wear down quickly.
Yeah. And it's not smeary and I appreciate it.
It's just sort of hard to get into the mindset that like this is regular stock now. Like they're not going to be, you know, having these for a limited time and I can just like, I just, I just bought a box and I don't need another box. Yeah. I'm not gonna, not gonna hoard this because I don't need to.
Yeah. I gave most of mine away already. Yeah. Yeah. Like, hey, I can wing. I'll get some more.
I can eventually just go down to Mido and pick up a single if I need to.
Like. Beautiful thing. Yeah.
So a good, I mean, good job. Black wing. This is a really nice, really nice pencil and I think it's like the perfect. Just like the perfect fourth pencil to add to your lineup.
Right.
Like, I couldn't have asked for a better, A better like idea to. To round it out.
It feels, it sort of feels like because it is such a. I mean you're totally right. Perfect addition to round things out. It feels like there's not really any room for any more additions ever for the standards. Right. I mean what would they do? What else would they do? Around. Yeah, around. Around standard would be true, I guess. Triangular.
Around. Around yellow one.
Oh my goodness.
What was that noise? Johnny?
I just jumped. You did. Didn't know I said that out loud.
That's funny.
Yeah, around like school yellow one that maybe is like a. Like a hybrid or a send up to the. The Van Dyke. But I, I guess I don't know what this, like what the lead grade would be. Although somebody in the group who was in the group who suggested an extra, extra soft.
Oh, that was Michelle.
Yeah. Just like a. Just like an 8B or something.
That would be pretty awesome. I don't think people would like it though.
No, I think there's a. Maybe there's a possibility for doing an alternate 602 or something.
Oh yeah.
Something in that middle range. A middle range?
Like a variant.
Yeah, yeah, that's. Yeah.
How about a. How about a black wing jumbo?
Oh my goodness.
Can you imagine.
Would be something else.
Can you imagine that?
It would look kind of cartoony though.
I think it would with like a
bit with a huge feral on it. Like. Yeah, it would look like you got it at the book fair in middle school.
There's Blackman colored pencils. Don't have that feral. They sort of have a, like a hexagonal just metal cap. They could do something like that. A jumbo pencil.
Yeah. Pretty cool. That's true. Around. I feel like if they did a round. Crap. The volume one kind of ruins this. But I feel like if they did a round one as far as fitting into their color scheme, a gray one would be really cool. Like a gray. A solid gray round pencil with. Oh yeah, but that wouldn't. There's no way they'd do that after already doing that. So that's not gonna happen. But around. Around Blackwing at the 602 level would be.
Give me around Blackwing. That isn't. That isn't fugly. Like the volume one.
I don't like.
That one
isn't the color of nicotine stained fingers.
The Johnsonville edition. Yeah. Yeah, but that would. Yeah, I guess we figured it out then. That's what's next. Yep. We need a round Blackwing. That's a standard edition.
Here it is on record. Here it is on record. When it happens, we'll take full credit like.
Like before. So what other eraser color would fit in with that? With that range? We got pink.
Pink.
Black white.
You know that pink is the color. It's like a light bubblegum pink. There's also like a darker, more intense pink that some erasers are.
Mm, maybe. Yeah, yellow would fit in like.
That's true. One of those neon yellow ones.
Yellow eraser with.
What about a. Like a plastic composite? Like plastic composite eraser. Like a. Like a tombow or something rather than the rubber erasers.
I thought you were going to describe something along the lines of a Wopex Blackwing.
A Wolfex Blackwing.
Slap you through the microphone. Like a plastic extruded plastic mutant pencil
with a. Yeah, they could do. Do you guys know that eraser that Karen Dash makes that's really soft and it's kind of clear. It doesn't really have a pigment to it. Yeah, look. Yeah, really cool. Oh yeah. And then Black wing. I don't know if it might be too soft.
No, that'd be really fun. Yeah.
Yeah.
Or they could just do a magic eraser. Like just go like way out, way out there and have like a neon pink standard edition with like a tie dye eraser or something.
Oh, guys.
Grateful Dead. Grateful Dead edition.
I've got it at Blackwing. An eraser Blackwing. Where the core is the eraser. Like those old timey pencils. Do you know what I mean? Like the.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Oh yeah. That's what brings up a black wing carpenter pencil.
Yeah, it's a good point.
They make those forest choice ones which Are really nice.
Yeah, those are nice.
What if they had a standard edition that's called the Blackwing? Wacky. You get it? You. The Wackwing? Yeah. Every time you get a box, you open it and it's just like a total random assortment of like, weird, experimental, like, pencils that they make. They'll just come up with like a hundred different ones, make them all, and then just shuffle them up and then like, you just never know what you're gonna get. Yeah, different. Different kinds of. One thing they've never done is have two different cores in one box. That'd be fun for a. That's more for like a volumes edition. But yeah, like 6.6mmxs and 6 extra firms or something.
Definitely.
All right.
Rampant speculation over.
Yes. Yeah. Complete. Yeah. Now I'm going to wait for my heart rate to go down and see if I can get some sleep. All right. Free market research for you all. Yeah. Whack bling.
The whack bling.
Like the totally pimped out. It lights up somehow.
It's like a disco ball. Do you like the Bee's edition? Like a Bee Gees black wing. What would the number be for the. How many. How many BG brothers were there?
It would be 78.
Black Wing. 78. Disco Black Wing. That's perfect. Disco ball. Black.
Yeah, it's a tiny.
Yeah, you open the box, the subscriber box, and it's just like a twirling disco ball inside with like a little light on it. So, like it just shines on your face.
It's like in Pulp Fiction. You just open it and just like. You don't know what's in it, but there you go.
All right, so we've got their next couple of years planned out for them, so let's.
They'll be going on for five years for sure.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
All righty.
Well, this has been good. Happy five year anniversary, guys.
Yeah, love you guys.
Five more years.
Five more years. It's like Steve Holt.
Steve Holt.
Four more years.
Yeah, we get political. Like, are we gonna have a country in five years and an Internet?
Oh, goodness. Johnny, where can people find you on
the Internet in 2020? You can find me in Scotland. That's a kind of joke. But on the Internet. You can find me@pencilrevolution.com to which I'm posting pretty regularly.
Yeah, good for you.
On social media. En solution. How about you, Andy?
I am@woodclinch.com where you will find nothing new that I've written or you can
you'll find the same old crap.
Same old crap. Or check out Andy wtf And on Twitter and Instagram I am wellfley a W E L F as in
I
don't know, something falafel Falafel Ellie that went really well. How about you Tim?
You can find me on Twitter timwassom and I'm on Instagram timothywassom and my other podcast venture is at membershippod and you can find the show notes for this episode at erasable us. That's 113 beautiful episodes of this podcast. If you haven't joined our group on Facebook, please do so@facebook.com groups erasable and also like our Facebook page to get updates about new things and maybe some cool upcoming interviews that we'll have. And that is@facebook.com erasablepodcast you can follow us on both Twitter and Instagram raceablepodcast. Thanks again to In Defensive Paper for sponsoring this episode. They are making high quality notebooks sourced and manufactured in the US. You can visit indefenseofpaper.com erasable to check them out and use coupon code erasable to save $5 on your purchase. Thank you for listening to episode 113 and we will see you next time. Do you like our podcast?
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