This transcript was generated from an audio file by AI, and may contain inaccuracies.
Transcript
Wake up, sheeple.
But. But who's. Who's leading? Who, Sheeple? Who's leading? Yeah. So I think should see what Q
has to say about this. Hello and welcome to episode 170 of the erasable podcast. I'm Andy Welfle, here on hosting duty with my most favorite extremely desirable pencils, Tim Wasem and Johnny Gamber. Hey, guys.
Hey, Andy.
Hey, Andy.
Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. So if you recall from the last episode flashback in Tim's freshpoints, he challenged us. He was like, hey, just completely randomly out of curiosity, what are your least favorite pencils? And so we, we told him. Told him what those are. Mine is a big extra fun. Johnny's is a Tombow 2558. And then he was like, so. Yeah. So here's the challenge. You have to use that pencil for a week and report back. So here we are two weeks later, reporting back with our. Yeah, so you and your ideas. You and your big ideas.
You and your harebrained ideas.
Just a. Sorry, I'm just a small town pencil lawyer.
I like that.
So before we, before we dig into that, let's check in with our tools and the trades. I definitely want to hear about this extremely sus sounding podcast that Tim is listening to.
Oh, dude. Okay, so podcast that I learned about from a friend of mine came over, we had a fire outback. The title of the podcast, it's called Dungeons and Daddies. A non BDSM podcast.
I assume it's about. About parents who play Dungeons and Dragons with their kids.
No. Well, you're on the right track. But it is so it is. It is a. A Dungeons and Dragons podcast, which I, for what it's worth, have never played Dungeons and Dragons and I've never listened to a Dungeons and Dragons podcast, but this is done. It was recommended for me because I like that. Hello from the Magic Tavern, which I've told. We've talked about before.
Yeah, but you didn't say. Do you. What about BDSM podcasts? Are you into those?
No, no, not yet. Not yet. So if you have any recommendations, hit me up on Twitter.
I do.
Please don't.
We'll talk later.
This is a. So it's a Dungeons and Dragons podcast with the premise. So it's like, I think there's like 65 episodes and it's still going, and I'm only on episode nine, I think something like that. And so the, the premise is that there are four players, three men, one woman, who are playing this game together with their dungeon master, who they call the Daddy Master. So the premise is that all these characters are playing dads whose kids are on the same soccer team. And what happens is on the way to the game, they're carpooling together in this big minivan. They get like, basically a tornado or some kind of big, you know, cyclone starts and pulls them up into the sky. They end up in another universe, like, in another, like, forgotten realm. And their kids are missing. And so these four dads have to find their kids. It's the. One of the funniest things I've listened to in a very, very, very, very long time. So there's. They play these four characters. One's a barbarian whose name is Daryl, who's like a, like, stay at home sports dad. And one's. One guy is like a former rock star who plays in this cover band, and his name is Glenn Close. And then there's like, Henry, who's this granola munching dad. And then the other one is. His name's Ron Stampler, and he's this, like, emotionally detached stepfather. And so they have to go through this, like, magical world and try to try to rescue their kids, but it's played just like Dungeons and Dragons with the same dice. And the. The dungeon master guy is, like, leading the game and telling them what they find. And it is the best thing I've discovered in a very long time. So I highly recommend it. It is. If you listen to podcasts with your kids. Do not listen to this podcast with your kids. You know, teenagers, I don't know, whatever. But it is. It's hilarious. These guys are awesome. They have another podcast that I just found out about through this one that's called Storybreak, in which they. They take some concept that they want to try to write a movie about, and they'll do like an hour, hour and a half episode where they'll be like, let's do a movie about, like, how could we do a movie about why did the chicken cross the road? Like that joke. Can we do, like, a whole movie about that? And then they just kind of riff on it and come up with a whole plot line for these crazy concepts from. And some of them are based on, like, video games where they'll be like, what if we did a Zelda video game?
What would that.
Or a Zelda movie, what would that be like? But they're super talented. They're. They're writers, improv people. So it's like an improv. Basically an improv comedy podcast. But I love it so much. I'm so happy yeah. When I listen, it's like kind of. It's my happy place right now. Like, for sure.
How many episodes are there?
There's like 60, 65, something like that right now. And I'm. I'm on, like, backfill. Oh, for sure. And I'm on episode. I think seven or eight, something like that. And they're hour. Hour and a half each.
So.
Yeah. Very enjoyable. Highly recommend. The other thing I'm reading, I was feeling like I was missing something that I hadn't done in long. A long time. And it was read Michael Chabon, who is kind of one of my original, you know, favorite authors from back when I was in high school. And I love. I'd read pretty much everything. And so I picked up one that I had started but hadn't finished. I hadn't gotten very far into it, to be. To be honest. Like, I hadn't very far in. And then it is huge. But I started reading Telegraph Avenue, which is his. His novel about two friends who run a record store in Oakland.
Yeah.
And I'm assuming there's other things to it, but that's all that basically is going on now. But I'm really enjoying reading his sentences because his sentences just make my jaw drop. It's like a used record store, like this little used record store called Brookland Records. And I don't know. I mean, it's great. Michael Chabon's. Like I said, he's. He's one. He's actually, interestingly, he's one writer that I cannot listen to his books on audio because I just need to just go as slow. I'm a slow reader in general, but, like, I just like to just take my time. And it's not some sort of, like, hippie dippy need to, like, savor it or whatever. It's just kind of. I just like to go slow when I read his books.
So have you been noticing how Michael Chabon for the Pandemic is just, like, turning into just a. Like a yeti mountain man?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah. He's just.
He's. He's just getting. He wears those, like, big cowboy shirts with the big breast buttons, and his hair is just like. Yeah, he's just going. Going full yeti.
Love it. He could be a character on Dungeons and Daddies for sure. Like, I think. I think he could be some kind of warlock in Dungeons and Daddies.
He could be a character in one of his own books.
Oh, yeah. Well, I think he's done that a few times. He just needs the Next stage of that. Yeah, this wasn't his last book. The main character's name was Mike, wasn't it? He was like, writing about his dad, but he could be in, like, he could write a fantasy novel and he could. He could be the main character for sure.
It looks like a wizard. Yeah, I could dig it.
Yes, he does. Yeah. And then as far as music, what I've been listening to, I've been kind of recycling a lot of old stuff lately. Just kind of stuck. I did find a playlist on Spotify that was called Two. One was called Mellow Classics, which is all like, basically like Jackson Brown style, like Classics, which has been very relaxing. And the other thing has been a playlist called. Is called like Beer and Wings or something, which is really weird. But it's like Black Keys and stuff like that. So that's kind of my. My uppy one. Oh, there's another one called Dopamine I found. I've been listening to that one in class with my students. So it says songs that are. The. The tagline is something like songs that are incredibly, very, very vibey or something like that. Okay, that's a good one. That's good. And let's see, writing with. I've got my. Got a Moleskine pocket notebook here that I kind of grabbed just because it was what was closest. I've been my day to day life. I've been using that Rhodia hardback pocket notebook that I talked about and really enjoying that. And I am writing with my target up and up. Or as I am now calling the target, up and Up Chuck. So that's me. How about you, Johnny?
Awesome. So we just finished a series on Netflix called the Defeat It. Did you guys see this? I don't think it's been out.
Oh, I saw that. I have not watched it, but I. I see what you mean.
Yeah, it's. It's about a guy right after World War II. He's a new York cop with. And I think the actor's Canadian, so the Brooklyn accent is laid on like, really thick. And he's looking for his brother who didn't come back from the war. And also helping the German police department. And they're looking for the Engelmacher. And like, it's crazy and really violent. And the lead actor was, like, so bad. But it was, you know, one of those shows were like, oh, I just can't stop watching this. Oh, it's over. Sometimes you need a little bit of that in your life.
We just. So we just watched A show that had that exact same, like, left with that exact same feeling, but it was the chair. Have you guys watched that?
Oh, yeah.
Oh, no, I didn't.
Did you watch it?
It's great. It's so good. And it's six episodes and each one's like 30 minutes and then it's done. It's like. Well, I just got started show though.
I love the idea that like. So I know a bunch of people like, who work in English departments. And I mean, not at like a, like a fake Ivy League like school that's been around forever, but like they're just like cartoon characters about how sort of like high and mighty they are about. Oh, I don't read. I don't couch out as to students. Like. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. To like special trends. Like it's. They definitely seem like kind of cartoon characters. But I, I love, I love that the daughter, like, she's I think my favorite character.
Yeah.
After.
Yeah.
After a while of real life, higher ed seemed like a bunch of cartoon characters.
Yeah. I mean, maybe. Maybe some things you can, you can relate to there. But yeah, it's a, It's a great show and I def. I definitely want more.
Yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack you, Johnny, but that just like, it hit me, I was like, oh my gosh, I didn't talk about that. And that. That reminded me of it. So.
So since we're sort of talking about most unwanted pencils, I wanted to briefly mention most unwanted zine, which was a zine that was. I think it was compiled from research about what everybody hates about zines Run and is put out by Liz from Quimby's bookshop. And it's so freaking funny.
But what do people hate about zines?
It's like random and badly put together photo essays. There's one there of like fire escapes. Like the whole time I'm reading I'm like, oh my God, I'm dead. This is so funny.
There are some. I mean, there are plenty of just like blogs that are also like the worst photo essays in the world. Like, this isn't unique to zines, right?
Yeah.
And there was some, you know, bad poetry, some like really obscure issue number and outlandish price. Like it was perfect.
She.
She talked about it a lot in the most recent behind the scenes. So if you like really funny, snarky stuff, definitely check both those things out. And I just read a book called the Magic of Walking, which you would think would be the perfect book. I think the second edition came out in 79 or 80. So it's like super dated and it lists like, you know, mail order catalogs. And I think there was no such thing as REI outside of the Pacific Northwest. And they constantly talk about how women wear impractical shoes over and over and that. Oh, and for running, you know, don't be a slave to fashion. You can wear some slacks like, oh my God. But the whole thing was full of like a lot of walking is awesome and people don't get it zeal. So I appreciated that. But you know, read that thing with a red pen in your hand or something and. But the second half was just a collection of writings about walking. Like some Kipling, of course, Thoreau, stuff like that. That was really cool. But it was missing that Virginia Woolf essay. What is it called? Night Haunting. But yeah, so yeah, if you like walking, that was cool. There was also a really good day of 1A on NPR last week that was about walking that I should probably post a link to because I ordered the book that their professor had talked about and now I can't remember his name. Oh, Shane o'. Mara. He's Irish, believe it or not. Like, oh my people. But yeah. And I am writing with the CWPE natural baseball pencil, which is. I don't know, it checks off a lot of good things after using that really horrible pencil that Tim made me use for a week. Yeah. How about you, Andy?
Yeah.
So jealous. I deserve that because I did not get one.
I. I feel like I've been. The last two weeks have been kind of a blur for. For reasons I was telling Tim and Johnny before the show. We're trying to. Trying to buy a house and it's a super intense process and basically I was not prepared for how much of my brain space it would take up. So that's most of what I feel like I've been doing. But we have been. We watched a Speaking of limited series on Netflix or Hulu. I don't know, one of the channels, we watched a documentary series called Lula Rich. Have either of you heard about this? No.
Nope.
Do you. Do you know what Lularoe is?
Yes. Yes.
It is a multi level marketing business. So a pyramid scheme about these just sort of like cheapish leggings and skirts that are usually just. There's a bajillion patterns and like you like. There's a lot of, A lot of people who like sell them on Facebook Live and have like Lularoe parties. It's kind of like the new Tupperware or Avon or Amway or something. And it's a pyramid scheme. And this documentary is just basically about like why that is and how that happened. And they interviewed the founders, which I just can't believe because, like, I can't believe people is sort of like fundamentally dishonest as they are running their business. We're just like, yeah, sure, we're gonna sit down with you and talk to you about this. But it's, it's, it's very good. It kind of talks about how often they, you know, they, they sort of prey on, on women and stay at home moms who are trying to like find a little financial freedom and make some money on the side and how they just sort of like just concentrate on trying to get them to like recruit more people and grow their, grow their downline like the people under them. And how like I remember it was, my sisters were a little bit involved. They were I think buying a lot of stuff, although I don't think that they did any of the buy in. But yeah, really good sort of short documentary series. I think there were maybe like four episodes, but it's a good one. I also last Friday did something I haven't done for two years, which is go to a movie.
Oh, wow.
Yeah. The, our local Alamo Drafthouse is open and they're, they're doing some pretty, pretty careful, just like, you know, social like distancing and spacing, but you know, you can eat and drink there. And we went with some friends to see the newest Marvel movie, the Shang Chi, the Legend of the Ten Rings, which is another, another character that they're introducing into the Marvel universe. It's, it's interesting. It's a part of it is based in San Francisco and there's this scene where this guy who has a sword for an arm is like fighting the main character in this like kung fu sequence on a city bus. And it's on one of those buses that are like really extra long and have the sort of like accordion thing in the middle. And in this one part, this guy with the arm sword just sort of like cuts the bus in half. And I remember when they were like, I did not go out to like watch this happen, but I remember when they were, when they were filming it like on the streets of San Francisco and people were posting pictures of this, like this half of a bus that was just sort of like just barreling down the road. They had just like several city blocks like cut off or blocked off and people were filming from their apartment, putting on Twitter. And it was quite something. So it was. It was fun to kind of like see where that went. But it's. It was really good. I'm. I'm not like a big Marvel guy, but I appreciate it. I'll watch them if they're on. This one is really good and I'm writing with my Bic Extra fun. I don't have a good name for it like the up and Up Chuck, but I'll think of one.
Yeah, it's pretty damn good.
Maybe the. Maybe the. I don't know, the bit. The Bic head. Extra. Extra bad. I don't know. We'll figure it out.
Stink stick. The big stick.
The stink stick.
Yeah.
Yeah. Extra.
They have no smell because they're plastic.
Yeah. They're made of material that will be around after the heat death of the universe. I. Yeah, I'm writing with that in my Barrett Fink habitant. So that. Is that all right. Should we switch over to fresh points, Tim? I know, I know, I know. One that you had in your. Your fresh point is timing didn't quite work work out so well.
Yeah, it's all right.
It'll just be next time, I guess.
Yeah, we'll talk about it next time.
Yeah.
Still waiting to hear about the field notes.
Yeah, says field notes. We were thinking we were going to hear today on the day recording. But that's okay. We'll talk about it soon enough. My only other one that I've got is that an incredibly talented co worker made me a new letterhead that I'm very excited about. So I had basically the instructions that I had given her. She's the digital arts teacher at our school. Was that I wanted something simple that incorporated a pencil and a. And a fountain pen that didn't look like stuffy and overly formal. And I even specifically we talked about zines because she had her like middle schoolers last year make zines. And it was just like, you know, cool thing or that was another thing we could sort of bond over is like I wanted to be like zine. Like, like seem like it was made in sort of a punk rock way like that. And so. And I didn't want it to be a traditional typeface. I wanted her to just kind of doodle something. And so she made this one. It's got my name and just a custom typeface or whatever you want to call it that she hand drew and then drew a pencil crossing a fountain pen on the back of it. And so. And in the. I've been secretive with you guys as we've been recording and that's because I am writing you a letter while we're recording is the, is the gimmick of today. So I've got. Johnny's is done. It's written. So that's why I've been, I've been cagey. So I'm writing you both a sort of like slightly silly, slightly scattered because I'm also doing this and also just generally a note of how I think you guys are super awesome. So that's what these, these letters are about. So I'm, I'm using it and I'm actually using it on the recommended paper that Johnny and I that we all talked about on the last issue. I got my Southworth fine paper, the 25. So it's.
Yeah.
So I printed off some of my, my brand new letterhead and I'm, I'm muting and scribbling off some letters to you guys that I'm going to drop in the mail tomorrow with some sweet Walt Whitman stamp song.
Sweet.
Awesome.
Yeah. So that's, that's all I've got with, with no field notes. So we'll, we'll move it over to Johnny for some, some super duper, duper, duper sad.
Yeah.
But understandable news.
I don't have a lot, but in case you live under a rock, CW Pencil Enterprise is closing soon and yeah, a lot of stuff is sold out and they said that they're not going to restock most things and basically like when they don't have anything left to sell, they're going to have to close. So it could be sooner than November. So this is, it's sad. And there's an explanation up on their website if you're curious about, you know, why, like, you know, nobody died or, you know, is going to jail or anything, but you know that we know if you want to send them your tribute set them, I'm sure they'd be well received and I don't want to talk about that much. I'm saying. Yeah. So related. Broken Pencil magazine, the zine paper reviewed two of my zines lately and one of them was the one about depression. So this is fitting. But yeah, I'm humble and they hated it.
Yeah.
Yeah, they asked him.
They're like this punk talking about depression. Yeah. No, yeah. I'm just joking.
I'm sure they, they're like, this zine is such a downer. How do we. Why can't you focus on something positive?
It's, it's a cool magazine. I'm like, I think I just like peaked so it's all down. All down from here. But, yeah, it's a. I mean, it's a super cool magazine and super cool website, if you're zines at all.
And I know the ones who. They're the ones who put on the Canzine award that.
Yes.
Like, the best scenes that Plumbago won for issue three.
Now they're. They're separating them and they're gonna do the Zine awards at their own separate, like, fancy situation this year because.
Oh, interesting.
They got a lot more entries than usual. Like, awesome. Yeah, that's. That's super cool that they got so many. I mean, I can. They have, like, two people and God knows how many. That's got to be, like, exhausting, but also so fun. Like, what are you doing? I read zines for the last three weeks also. I'm tired. That's all I got. It's all sad.
Yeah.
And yours is not so happy either.
Mine is not all that. That happy either. Something that I completely forgot to mention last time we recorded was about our friend of the show, Harry Marks, who is lives in New Jersey in Piscataway. And during Hurricane Ida, when it came through the. The river, the river went into his basement and completely flooded, basically up to the top. I think he said at one point there was six feet of water down there.
Oh, my God.
Yeah. And it's. Now they started cleaning it out. It's been sitting for weeks. And he has lost many things, including most of his pencils and his large pen collection and things like water heaters and family storage and things. Things like that. So I just want to encourage, if any listeners here have enjoyed Harry's content or heard him on the show to. To consider donating to. To kind of help him out a little bit. There's a. There's a GoFundMe, which I'll link to in show notes, where you can go and just give a little money. And I know that. So he writes for one of Aaron Monkey Manke's podcasts, the Cabinet of Curiosities. And Aaron matched donations up to a certain amount, so it had a nice. Nice kind of head start on it, which is really cool. Tim, you're coming through real loud.
I'm not doing anything. What?
It was. Johnny. Johnny, you're coming through real loud. Just.
I'm just sitting a lot of.
Okay.
I'm sitting with my hands.
I was just sitting here. I don't know what's weird.
Okay.
I wasn't writing this time. I was just sitting weird.
Okay. I don't know what it was. I just heard a lot of like, kind of banging and banging or, you know, like moving stuff around and sharpening and fiddling. Okay, it's fine. I'm just.
Here, I'll sit. I'll sit. Stiller. I don't know. I don't know what to do.
I pulled the Catholic school when we podcast to sit with my hands in my lap. Fold it.
Yeah, yeah, maybe that's. Maybe it's come through on my end. That's really weird. Anyhow, so I'll get back to it. Hold on. 31.
Nice.
I didn't know you were going to start that soon. Sorry. I'm going to sneak this out before
we get started, so. So, yeah, if you can spare it a little bit, maybe, maybe throw a little money toward the Marks family on their GoFundMe, which we'll have it shown up. That is about all, I guess. Actually, you know, what I'll mention is I have not really dug into it yet, but Johnny, you sent me, and I think, I'm sure Tim too, just a nice sampler of some of your favorite papers.
Oh, yeah.
So I have those. I have not started playing around with them yet, but I have them in front of me and they're just really lovely. So Southworth, that's the, that's the name of the game, huh?
Yeah, I didn't, I didn't realize they're the same company as Nina or. I don't know how that works. One owns the other. They're owned by the same, you know, pencil main paper giant. Yeah, but it's easy to get. I think they have it at Walmart and I know they have it at Staples, which is cool. You can go try it out. Rip the pack open and don't say anything. Take a pen.
Yeah, just write Johnny's email address so they know. They know that you got permission. All right, well, that's it for FreshPoints. So, yeah, let's move into the main topic. Johnny put the name of this main topic is the Most Unwanted Pencils. I feel like I just want to make an Old west style poster of just like unwanted.
That's a good idea.
Oh, yeah. So again, Tim asked us to kind of pick out our, our least favorite pencils and asked us to identify them. And, you know, we each said. And then he was like, okay, let's now use only those pencils for two weeks and just see how it goes and what's your experience. So I think first let's go around the room and talk about the pencil that you picked and also what is it about it? This pencil. About this pencil that you don't like? So. Yeah. So, Tim, do you want to. Do you want to start us off since you're the one who started this whole thing?
Sure. Do we do we just talk about the one that we picked or do we do the whole shebang, kind of like do the rundown of. Of the whole thing?
Maybe. Maybe talk about. Maybe talk about what is it you picked and then also why it's bad. Okay. What do you hate about this pencil?
So I. So I was kind of choosing between three. So my options, which I think I mentioned two of these on the last episode. One was the Triconderoga, the Dixon Triconderoga, which I know there are people who like it. And Andy, I think you'd. You like it?
Yeah, more for. Just. For like, just like not even aesthetic, just like nostalgic purposes.
Not really. Yeah, actually it has some stuff going for it. I mean, it's like. That's almost why I ruled it out, because it feels so nice. It's nice. It's got that sort of grippy matte finish or whatever you want to call it. And it's triangular and semi jumbo, which is cool. So it was almost like there's too much about it that I liked. So I ruled that one out. I didn't do that. I chose. The next option was the Wopex, which I was going to use. And I'm not. I promise. I'm not just saying this because Johnny's on here and I'm trying to bust his balls, but I literally took it to work and I had an Amazon Basics legal pad or whatever, and I just was like, okay, I'm gonna do this. And I had sharpened it, which I think it almost broke my electric sharpener, by the way. And because it just stopped, I stuck it in and my pencil sharpener was just like. And like wasn't. Wasn't spinning. But I brought it in and I started writing and it was so. I hated it so much as soon as it hit the page that I was like, can't do it. And put it down. Picked up something else. So I didn't do the whoop and I had my last choice, which is what I landed on. And I'm kind of glad I did because I'm glad, like, one of us went this route because I think we've got a good blend of choices was I decided to try to use a store bought pencil. Like a. Not store bought. That's stupid. Like A store brand.
You get your pencils?
Yeah, yeah. I find them in ditches, which I probably could find some of these in ditches. But yeah, so I. I wanted to choose a store brand pencil. So store bought. Of course, they're all store bought, but I. Store brand pencil. So I wanted to get something that was a generic, like a. What do you call them? A white label pencil or a white label product. Something that a store is selling as their. Their house brand. And the closest one I had access to was Target. So I went to Target a week or so ago, whatever that was. And I was headed to get a box of 24 up and up pencils for A$19. So I didn't do the math on that, but it's pretty cheap, pretty affordable, I'd say. And I came across some, I guess some of the most satisfying symbolism in the wild that I've ever come across, which is that I went there, I found them on the bottom shelf, they're all stacked up. And I went and I looked at the first one I saw. It's a box of 24. And for some reason there was like a two and a half inch screw just jammed into the middle of the box. And that's the box that I bought. So I still have that screw. It's in my car. And I sent you guys a picture so you can see the picture of it on. On messenger. And I just thought that was wonderful merchandising. I just thought that was the most wonderful thing. And it was fine that I made the right choice to buy these pencils. Yes, These pencils are screwed right from. Right, Right from the beginning.
Right from the start.
Yeah. And so I use it a lot. Too much. It wasn't. I would say that it wasn't as bad as I thought. It is not wobbly or like warped or anything weird like that. So it is. It was relatively centered. And these pencils have. I don't know what kind of wood. What is this? Is it some real wood though? It's real wood. Is it basswood? I don't. It doesn't say on there. It does say that it's FSC certified, which I thought was funny and curious. So don't know what to do with that. But it's a good thing. And it's that kind of wood that's sort of speckled when you sharpen it, where it looks like it's got little like, like a sort of dappled, which actually looks kind of cool.
So.
No.
Is it Xu La tongue?
I've never Heard that word before, so possibly. I'll say that possibly. And I used it a lot. It writes nicer than I thought it would, a little hard for my taste. And it. And definitely is noisy. It's a noisy pencil. And I was. I was expecting it to break a lot as I was writing it. One thing is that it definitely. Even the ones that were relatively centered, they sharpened. Kind of funny a lot of the time. A lot of, like, canoeing and just not sharpening straight. And I started to go on this, like, rant in my. My morning pages the other day as I was writing with it. And I was just thinking about how abominations like this could probably like, quantifiably be associated with the downfall of American education. Like, I mean, think about it.
So that is a letter to the editor right there.
So, okay, we've got European pencils. We've got like, the, you know, the Faber Castells or whatever that are making these, like, pretty solid, you know, school pencils over there. We do have Ticonderoga here, but we know that those are super inconsistent. Over in Japan, it's like the sort of Oz of pencils. So these, I mean, I assume that they're all writing with, you know, Kitabashi's over there or something. I don't know. But in here, our students are writing with this garbage that's being donated to the school. And they hate it, and they're scratchy and they're ugly, and of course they hate it. And so they don't want to use them, and so they don't want to write, and so their handwriting goes to crap. Or it's just. It just got me rolling, you know, and just got me, like, got my brain revving where I was like. You could actually make an argument for why pieces are. Pieces of crap like this are part of the problem.
I feel like we don't take that meme of what's his name from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Just like in, like, doing this conspiracy theory.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I don't know. I just. I started to feel the feels about it and started getting, like, kind of fired up because it's a. It's it's kind of like our tattoos, you know, like the, The. The idea of the, you know, we shape our tools, and our tools in turn, shape us. Well, what are these tools shaping, right? It's not like back in the day when school kids were writing with the basic ass pencil. That was just like the most basic thing, but it was also made of Cedar. And it was made in America. Right. I think there's something. I think there's something that we need to get like a sociologist on or something to talk to us about.
Seriously. That would be awesome.
Yeah. Yeah.
I just think it's like the. It's just when it's like being. It's the equivalent of like going to someone saying like, oh, you like watching Tony Hawk, like replay or like watch Tony Hawk play or do the half pipe and the X Games and all this stuff. Here. Here's a skateboard that we bought you at a gas station. Go try to learn how to do that. You know, I think there's something there.
So here's some.
Some positives. I did say that the writing wasn't like, horrible. I wouldn't choose to write with it, but I wouldn't be terribly disappointed. I do feel like I lucked out in choosing the target one. I feel like there are others that would have been a lot worse. Yep.
Yeah.
Oh, my God. So I'll. I'll acknowledge that one thing that I did actually really enjoy is that it has a bunch of like, manufacturing imprint lingo on it that I almost wish was black. But it's just pressed on there. So this, I mean, it says Target/D81F16906 031/2/21. It has like all this information on it, you know, which it kind of made me think, like, that's what we've come to. We used to have all these like awesome inscriptions on pencils, and now this one's like. It's hidden on there, which I almost would have liked it to be black and like printed in black just because. But I know I would be in the super minority with that. So. Yeah, that's. That's the one I chose. And I don't know, if I had to rate it like 0 out of 10, we'll say that a 0 is a Wopex and a 10 is like A. I don't know. What would a 10 be? Not 10.
B. Yeah. Cedar Point or a Pal HB or something like.
Sure. Something like that. It would be like a three.
Okay.
Maybe generous 2.5. Yeah, I feel better about that. So cool. So that was mine.
Okay, Johnny, how about yours? And I'll. And by the way, Tim, I'll have some follow up questions for us all after we get through this, but. Okay.
I mean, for now, can I.
Sorry, I probably went on too far.
Yeah, that's great.
Can I use the F word?
Well, I'll make you a typewriter ballad later.
So the tombow 2558 is a yellow pencil with a sort of. The eraser. I mean, the ferrule's sort of like this vermilion thing going on and an ugly pink eraser. And, like, it's a total piece of effing poop. And I really hate this effort. So the way that the pencil looks is. You know how Japanese pencils are often, like, just a little bit thicker than American and especially European pencils. So it looks like they did that. They took a ferrule that doesn't fit, and then the imprint looks like it was made for a smaller pencil. Also, it's really crammed on there and looks terrible. So it looks like, you know, they. They made a giant manufacturing mistake and we're like, oh, okay, it fits better in the box. We'll just keep doing this forever, like. And I've heard from many people that it doesn't sharpen well, like, in anything. I usually use my electric sharpener, which will, like, take your finger. And it paused with this pencil all the time. And I don't know what it is. I just hate it. It writes like a piece of crap. It doesn't sharpen. It's ugly. Like, the core is okay, but, you know, it's a Japanese pencil, and all Japanese pencils have pretty good cores. So. Yeah, it's just everything I hate about a pencil altogether, except that it's not scratchy. But, I mean, it might as well be scratchy because I'm not going to write with it. So I actually. I don't have it in front of me. I, like, left it on the dining room table and someone took it, and I'm not gonna go look for it. So I'm glad. I apologize whichever one of my kids got stuck with that thing. Yeah. And you know, the worst thing is, like we were saying before, this is not a cheap pencil. And it's not like, you know, you can't go to Walgreens and buy them.
You have to. My joke was, like, only Johnny would pick a, you know, $1.50 Japanese Tombow pencil is his worst pencil.
But I hate it. And I've, you know, every once in a while I'll buy a couple. Like, you know, everybody raves with this pencil. Like, just checking to make sure that I really just don't. Or I'm not in the position where I have no effort idea what I'm talking about. Like, no, it sucks. I think everyone else doesn't know what they're talking about.
I think like the 20, 25, 58 and B is like one of my favorite pencils ever.
I hate B more than I hate.
I think I've had it like on my top five list. This is like fascinating. This is like the rift in our, Our overlap. Our, our. This is the one thing in our, our Venn diagram that doesn't.
Well, clearly Johnny is the outlier because he also really loves a Wolfex.
So that's it. Like our Venn diagram is just like a million things in the middle wopex on one side and the 2558 on the other side.
Yeah.
Now I don't like the, the hb. I like the B. But you like it. You hate it even more. That's bad.
Yeah, because I thought, oh, you know, this one will be so much smoother. It will be okay. That like all of the other things about this pencil that drive me nuts won't be such a big deal. Nope. It's just, you know, hey, it's the HB, but it's smeary now,
so I
think there's a 2B and like I'm not getting near it. Like, no way in hell. And yeah, I like for reference, I don't mind the up and up pencil as far as, you know, horrible store brand pencils go. I have one I found and used for a crossword puzzle lately. It wasn't terrible.
Did it have a screw sticking out of it?
No, it had no hardware in it at all. But it did have a lot of weird like codes to get your money
back for that man. I got a free screw with mine.
I got nothing. But yeah, it's appalling how crappy this pencil is. Yeah, I'll stop now.
Well, what was my pencil? So I'm trying to think of my history with this, this pencil. So I feel like I first became aware of the big extra fun in the target back to school section maybe, maybe five years ago. Do you think that's maybe when it hit the. Hit the market around 2015? Okay, okay.
I remember where I found it. It was a fun day, Johnny.
Yeah. Extra fun day maybe. Yeah. So it's a, it's, it's a pencil that is very much marketed to K and I. First time I saw it, I was like, I was so excited to see it. Like it, it looks like a yikes pencil. It has a brightly colored barrel. It has a brightly colored wood. Like the collar of it. Like the, the wood inside the barrel is a contrasting color and it has what's, what's really Interesting to me is it has a purple plastic ferrule and you just don't see plastic ferrules much. And so I excitedly bought a pack. I don't even remember how much I spent on it. Like, it was not that much, but. And I got it home and I wasn't. I feel like my expectations weren't that high because even though I really loved Yikes pencils, they didn't. They didn't write that well. They were fine, but they just weren't like super great performers. They just look so cool. And so I got this home and I started sharpening up and like little warning bells went off in my head. And then I started writing with it. And I. I'm not going to be hyperbolic and say that I like, threw up a little bit my mouth, but that's kind of what I mentally felt like I was doing. It's. It's something like it makes. It has all of the worst quality as a Wolpex without being as good quality as a Wilpex is, if that makes any sense. Like, it is clearly a plastic pencil. Like this, this wood is. Is a very just like finely particulated sawdust that has been just like recongealed with something. And like a Opex, it has that core that like the. The graphite is like if. If. If that is your real name, if this really is graphite, the core has been treated with something to clearly get it to stick to the pencil. But it is as light and what am I trying to say? Like, as light and gritty as it is to like, rough as is right to write with on a Wilpex, like, this is even worse. Like, it's really bad to write with. It's really lightweight and it's bendy and the core is bendy. The core is bendy within the pencil. So when you're writing, you can feel like the core kind of like bending under your. Your writing and it's just not worth it. And it's just. I just hate it for just like what it claims to be and then what it is like, if anything, Tim, I think. I think your. Your theory about crappy pencils, like ruining the education system is probably true with this pencil.
Yeah. Irony there is that it's aimed at the edge. It's like aimed at kids. Yeah. You want to use this. And it's like, no, this is terrible. This makes me hate writing.
I mean.
And also it's a French pencil. So I feel like the like, sabotage.
That's a French word. Sabotage is a Friend.
Are you seeing this? Are you seeing this?
I think we're onto something, guys.
So, I mean, I can only speak for my kids, but what it's worth, all the kids that I know like, freaking love those things because they're just generally idiots, though.
Yeah.
I don't know how to tell you this. Kids. Kids are. Kids are really dumb.
I like the colors of the original ones, but then they put those striped ones out that are basically like white dirt catchers. Like, hey, here kids color with this.
Yeah, yeah. That's the thing. Like, it's. It is. It is good looking. I love that. That plastic feral. I would love to see that on other things because it's pretty good. Oh, but it's just so bad to write with. And I. Yeah, I've been doing so for a week and a half or two weeks.
Yeah.
So Bic makes also the. What do they call it? The ecolution. And they call it the evolution dependent where they sell it, which is like the same kind of concept, but the quote unquote, I'm making quote marks here. Wood is the color of wood and they're. They're green and the market it to adults and those are like decent, like, usable pencils. So I don't know what the deal is.
Evolution and ecolution, Is that what you said?
Yeah, they used to call them the evolution and I've seen them called ecolution.
I like the idea that they can't. They have to call it the ecolution in like the deep south because they
say, like, Bible belt, it's gonna get triggered.
It's like, oh, my God, these pencils.
But then they realize what eco means and like, oh, no, y', all, I'm sorry. I apologize for our southern listeners.
So it's. Yeah, so I don't. I don't know, Bic, man. I love myself a bit crystal Bitclick. These pencils are just so bad.
Just stay in your lane, Bic. Just stay in your lane.
Your mechanical pencils are cheap but nice. And the graphite that comes. The graphite cores that come in, those are nice, but, like, it's just not at all. This. I don't think this is a. This isn't graphite in the core of this pencil. So. Okay, so, yeah, so we. We've all written with these for the last last couple weeks. Tim, how's it gone for you? How's. Did you get used to it? Has your opinion of this pencil changed over time? You talked a little bit.
Yeah, I did a little bit. And I Think that my. So my original theory with this I talked about in the last episode was that I wondered if spending a lot of time with a crappy pencil would sort of change your perspective because basically being so spoiled by good stuff, you know, so wondering if it was more just familiarity, like, you get so used to the good stuff now, if anything, I've doubled down in the opposite direction. Hence my. My new widely accepted conspiracy theory about. About crappy pencils ruining the American education system.
By. By the French.
By the French, mostly. Yes. French, French. And then we'll. We'll throw some. We'll throw something at the. I think this was made in Indonesia, but.
Oh, yeah. Oh, the Indonesians are together.
The part where it gets in your head, though, is who told them to make these pencils? Americans. Americans told those Indonesian people. So they're just. They're throwing them under the bus. I will say, though, that overall. Overall using this for over a week and a half, if I was to end up with one of these in my hand, I would not be as distraught as I thought I would be, because it is. Familiarity does matter, I think.
Yeah.
Now, if I've found a Wolfex, I would probably find the closest incinerator or maybe take it to the school cafeteria and just drop it down a drain pipe or something.
But both of those things will destroy the planet.
Yeah. Yes.
Talk about poisonous gas.
Tennessee used to be a beautiful.
Kids start getting drowsy in class. They're like, what's going on?
Don't fall asleep. Don't fall asleep.
There's a Dateline NBC here. It was traced back to a disgruntled English teacher, Mr. Tim Wesome.
And then I'm standing there, I'm like, no, the Germans. The Germans are coming after us with
these OPEX pencils underneath of it. Don't listen to this man.
Yeah. Please do not listen to this man. So. So, yeah, it. I will say it did change. My opinion. Did change using it over time, which I'm kind of pleasantly surprised by. But I. Again, I think I lucked out by choosing Target because I think Target did a little bit of a better job with this little. Little hexagonal stick of mind control and dumbing down and.
And getting free. Free hardware from the mix probably didn't the.
Yeah, man, it's a two. It's like a two and a half inch round topped. Screw that. I mean, who doesn't need one of
those once you do anything with that.
Was there blood on it?
Not as much as you'd think.
Yeah, but Extra value.
No. Yeah, yeah. No, it was bloodless. It was blood free.
Okay.
That you know, of.
It wasn't, it wasn't the Bic. Extra blood.
Yeah.
I don't know. That was bad. I'm sorry.
Extra iron in your diet.
Yeah.
I'm sorry, Johnny.
How about, how about yours? Did your opinion change over time?
It did because I would, you know, writing with it for a while, like, oh, you know, a whitish pencil with, with core is cool. And then every time I tried to sharpen it, I would start cussing and I hate that thing even more because can't sharpen it in this machine. Like it don't sharpen. What good is it? I wasn't even going to, you know, break a knife blade off and send it into my eye trying to, you know, knife this thing into a point.
Yeah.
So.
Yeah, yeah. Like it. I think people that like it for say that before when they haven't sharpened it in a while and they sharpen it and throw it away and they're like, I don't want to be negative so they don't talk about it. That's my theory.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Incorrect.
False. Is Dwight Schrute.
Oh, which by. I need to acknowledge this, by the way, just speaking of Dwight Schrute. But. And I don't have it with me, I left it at work. But when my, my co worker finished this letterhead and I didn't know that it had been finished, but when I got to work, there was a letter on my desk in my own letterhead that was dated like December 2048. And it was this like, it was a letter to me from my future self that was like an elaborate message about this like prince from this like certain like this African country who is like building this like super country or like. Anyway, it was just like elaborate story about how. And then I had to like I was going to be getting a text message today and whatever I do just like do not respond to this text message. It was, it was well played, a well played deep office reference. And I was, I was very proud and very happy about that. My own letterhead. Yeah.
Tried to pull out your stapler and it was encased in jello.
Yes. Yeah, that'll be tomorrow probably.
Yeah. So I, I have been using this big extra fun all week and I, I would have to say that my opinion of it has changed in that it got worse. I high five. I did. Yeah. I never really, I don't think I've ever really used one long enough to have needed to sharpen it. Honestly, there's one good thing to say about it has good point retention because it's so kind of like hard and firm and light. And so this one, I just sent you a messenger photo of me of my sharpening of this. And if you see, you know, the sort of like, plastic wood part came off, but then also there's a little tiny silver shaving underneath it, which is just a solid shaving of graphite.
Why does that core. Why does that gross me out?
I don't know. It's gross.
That's why, like, I. I actually saw that. I was like, oh, gross. What is that?
Like, so unlike regular graphite, which just sort of like flakes off when you sharpen it, this one stayed in sort of like the solid sheet. So it is just as plasticky as the wood.
I was gonna say it. That means there has to be some, like, plastic content to that.
Oh, it's gotta be, right? Like, I. I've been looking online to see if there's anybody who's been reviewing, like, the chemical makeup of this, and I can't find anything. But, yeah, it's just so bad. And so I. I've definitely been. Been using. I've been trying to stick with it and use this over the week, and it's just been real hard. So. Poor me. Poor me. Well, where's my trophy?
Andy, you're strong and you are. You've done a. You've done a wonderful thing.
I'm strong enough. And God on doggone it, people like, so. So last question. After this experiment is over and you went back to. To something else, how did it feel to go back to a pencil? You do like, Johnny, let's start with you.
Okay, so for comparison, in 2002, I was in Houston for a week, and everywhere we went, they had burnt Starbucks coffee. And I'm at the end of Gen X. I like dark coffee. I like Starbucks, but it was so bad. And then we got home to Boston, which, of course is a really nice place. And I could not stop drinking coffee. And every cup I had made me so happy. So that's how I feel now when I use anything that's not this crappy pencil. Just like, this feels so good. And using anything after this was fantastic. Like, I usually don't use pencil for my morning pages, and this morning I picked up the baseball pencil and just like, wore it down three times. Like, this feels great. It's awesome. And it's sharpened. Yeah, A plus.
Yeah.
Yeah. Tim, how about you?
Yeah, I mean, it definitely felt Good to switch back. I had zero feelings of. I'll get back to that later, you know, like, I'll use this later. That is not a thing. But what I, what I, what I switched to was kind of like so far in the other direction. But it was so pleasing and wonderful to have it like nearby today I have the pencil extender that Alicera makes and sells on his Etsy page, the Ernest Theodore. What's the name of his Etsy page? Is that right?
I think it's Ernest Theodore.
Ernest Theodore, yeah. So he made this, which is like this cool thing where he takes a blackwing ferrule and attaches it to a portion of a pencil extender. And so I've been in my pocket, I had that with a stub from a volume four blackwing.
Oh nice.
And it has just been wonderful. So mine has a silver connector, a black ferrule and I have the gray eraser from the. I'm forgetting the number now, but it was the comic book edition that just recently came out for black.
Oh yeah. Yep.
And it was, I mean it was wonderful to switch from something so scratchy and so kind of inconsistent to something that's just like buttery smooth and has that great texture on the outside of it was, was really delightful and made me appreciate it even more and made me really want to use it down to the smallest stub possible. So Nice. So that, that's a, that's a win there, you know, Made me appreciate the 200 black wings I have two feet from my head right now. Yep.
Yeah. I, I mean honestly my, this, this big extra fun made me just appreciate just pencils made out of actual graphite. Like it was, I picked, I picked up my, my golden bear after this, which is not known for being like particularly like dark and smooth. And it just felt like I was just using a black crayon or something
like a 10D tombow. Like.
Yeah, it's just like ah, this is so nice.
So it's luxurious.
Yeah. If I went straight from this to like a black wing MMX or I don't know, like a, like a piece of charcoal or something. Too much gone into sensory overload. But I, yeah, I definitely, it definitely made me absolutely appreciate, you know, the, the other pencils that I do have. So it was a, it was a good word, worthwhile exercise, Tim. So thank you for that.
That was actually my next question. It was like was this, was this just misery or was. Did you find any sort of like value in, in making these?
It just helps. It just Helps you appreciate, you know, like you said, the things that you have. So I think. I think it was worthwhile. It's a good exercise in just, like, mindfulness and thankfulness. So all of you.
Johnny's like, no, this may be more thankful for Andy.
My $75 pencil that I used, I used. I used one pencil that cost more than the 24 that Tim bought. I mean, minus the. The bonus. Minus the bonus screw, but still.
No, this. This made me appreciate when Andy has an idea. I'm just kidding. I love it. No, it was.
It was.
It was good because. I'd been. I'd been slipping away from using a lot of pencils quite as much lately, you know, using a lot of fountain pens and using a crappy pencil and then going back to a really nice pencil. Sort of like, ooh, now I feel a little more energized for some pencil action. So in that way, it's definitely, definitely good.
Yes.
And I love you very much, Jim.
That's right. Thank you.
That's funny. Well, anything else? We should talk about about this before we wrap up.
I think we should forget that it ever happened.
I think we should wait a while before we do it again.
No, the other. The other option is that we need to do the opposite or the other version. Right.
So only use the. The best, most fantastic pencil.
Yeah. So we. We both. We all write with nothing but a. An original Black Wing 602 for. For an entire week.
This is where I would do something that costs like a quarter. Be like, this is so great.
And you're like, no, give me that up and up. Up and up. Chuck, give me that.
American Naturals.
Oh, yeah. Oh, I'm gonna write a poem about that tonight.
All right, well, yeah, thanks for. Thanks for the suggestion, Tim. I thought it was a worthwhile endeavor.
This was fun.
And. Yeah. And I. Yeah, I really, really enjoyed it. So where. Where Tim, can people find you on the Internet?
Well, you can find me on Twitter imwassum. And I'm on Instagram TimothyWasom.
Awesome, Johnny.
You can find me@pencilrevolution.com and on social media, Pensolution.
And I am on Twitter and Instagram is awealfly. And my website is Andy. Wtf. So we are the Erasable podcast. We are at Erasable Us on the web. If you want to find this episode show notes. I wrote a link to the recording and eventually a transcript. Go to erasable US 170. You can interact with our big friendly community of people at our Facebook group, which is facebook.com groups erasable or you can find our social media presence, which we are extremely good about updating at erasablepodcast kind of all over the place on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. We also have a Patreon and this kind of keeps us, we have a bunch of supporters that kind of keep us in business. They keep us in pencils, they keep us in, you know, the screws that we have to buy that don't come included in our pencils and on the web. And we would appreciate it if you would give us, check us out there. We have a lot of, lot of cool stuff that happens there. Johnny is kind enough to put together a quarterly zine called Disposable that is actually going to be going out soon. So if you are listening to this and you become a member at $5 a month more, you will, you will be able to get, get a hold of this zine. And meanwhile we have a bunch of patrons at the $10 a month level that I would love to to thank. So I will go through them right now. That is David Johnson, Phil Munson, Nate Rabec, Donnie Pierce, Bill Black, Miriam Burkout, Diana Oakley, Tom Keakley, Andre Torres, Kyle Paul Moorhead, Andrew Squish, Ali Sarah Jamelia, Stephen Fonsale, Aaron Willard, KP Millie Blackwell, Chris L. Hunter McCain, Bob Ostwald, Michael Diallosa, Jacqueline Myers, Tana Feliz, Ann Sipe, Joe Crace, Measure Twice, Michael Hagen, Chris Meskitz, Bill Clow, Random Thinks, Jason Dill, Dave McDonald, Mary Collis, Alex Jonathan Brown, Andre Prevost, Kathleen Rogers, Bobby Lutzinger, Fourth Letter Kelton Wiens, Scott Hayes, Hans Nodelman, Jane Newton, Dave Tubman, Chris Jones and John Wood. Wow guys. Wow. This is quite a, quite a lineup. So thank you so much for your support and we will check you all out in a few weeks. Podcast Most people like our podcast, but
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