This transcript was generated from an audio file by AI, and may contain inaccuracies.
Transcript
Love you, mini hooks. Hello and welcome to episode 189 of the Erasable podcast, joined by Tim 10B Wasam. I am Johnny Gamber. Our friend and co host Andy isn't able to join us tonight, though he's always here in spirit. How's it going, Tim?
Hey. Going pretty good. How was your Halloween?
Oh, man, I'm still recovering and it's exactly a week later. How was your.
Yeah, yeah. Halloween week is always nuts because it's also my daughter's birthday week. So it's just like, oh, yeah, the whole week is trunk or treat, birthday party, family coming over, actual Halloween, all that stuff. So, yeah, happy late birthday, I think. Yeah, I'll let her know. I think I'm. Yeah, I think I'm with you. I think I'm almost there. I think I'm almost recovered.
Yeah. I had my own stash of candy, and the kids were eating candy, and I smelled it and I was like, I want some chocolate. And I ate so much chocolate one night, like, I gave myself a headache. I was.
So we went to a birthday party yesterday, and their parents had the genius move of at the birthday party, just taking their extra Halloween candy from their kids and just, like, dumping it on the tables and saying, like, here you go, kids. Take this so it doesn't go back to our house. Which is genius. But I was, like, personally offended by how these probably 25, 30 kids avoided Snickers, like, at all cost. You kids are insane. Like, this is nuts. They. I mean, all the Skittles are gone, but there was just, like, all these Snickers. And so I just, you know, I did what I could to. To fix that.
Are they all conditioned by schools to avoid anything that could trigger someone's peanut allergy?
Yeah. Or they're just like, protein. No, thank you. No, thank you. My daughter started liking this Halloween, started liking peanut M and Ms. I always got her to try, wanted her to try it, because I love peanut M&M's, and she tried them and she was like, oh, these are really good. And so now she'll walk into the room holding, like, a little baggie of peanut M and Ms. And I'm like, wait, no, it's basically health food. It's good.
Yeah. All the good space taken up by the peanut is not space taken up by sugar.
That's right. It's just. It's like, basically vegetables.
So we haven't talked about the fall releases in any detail because recording's been funny and we've been sort of turning on and turning off Tools for the Trade and Fresh Points. So tonight, especially because there are only two of us, we're just going to do Tools of the Trade and Fresh Points. Things are, you know, calm. They won't be calm in a couple weeks when the holidays start. So. Yeah, do you want to start off with Tools of the Trade, Tim?
Yeah, sure. I have been reading and listening to a Bob Dylan biography that I guess I got the other day. I was working and they got to the end of the day and I was looking for something to watch. And right at the last 30 minutes of the day, sometimes I'll put a documentary on in the background just to listen to. And I put on the Bob Dylan documentary no Direction Home, which I hadn't watched in forever. And it sort of re sparked this whole Bob Dylan. And I also saw the Wallflowers, which also sparked a resurgence of my interest in Bob Dylan, which I'll talk about that later. And so I went out and I wanted to find a book about Dylan to read. And I found one called Time out of Mind, which caught my eye because that' one of my favorite Bob Dylan albums. And so it, it posed itself as being a Dylan biography about his later years, which is like my favorite years of Dylan. But it's pretty tough going. And I did something that I don't, I almost never do is I just started skipping chapters, like a whole, you know, like just, you know, paging 30, 30 forward or whatever. And the problem was is it's like a biography, but it reads like a 600 page review. So I guess tons of opinions and there's like a whole swath. There's this like period of six or seven albums in the 70s and 80s, which weren't the best he's done, of course, but like he just railed against them the whole time. Like, this is garbage. And it's like this one won a Grammy for Best Rock Album and it's garbage. And it's, this is why this song sucks and this song is bad and he should never have done this. I'm like, I just want to know what was going on in his life, man. Like, just take it easy.
Was it one of those cases of somebody writing a book about someone that they can't stand?
It sort of feels like that sometimes. Well, he'll, he'll, he'll bounce from calling him a complete genius and deserving of the Nobel Prize in Literature. And then all of a sudden he'll be saying, like, what was he thinking? His voice sounds like crap. I don't understand. It's like, that's a little jarring. And also, this is. And this one's kind of fun. This was. It was funny early on in the book, and now that I've been listening to it for 13 hours, it's not as funny anymore. The. The book was written by. By an Englishman, and it's read by an Englishman, which is fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But the person who's reading has chosen to do Bob Dylan's voice whenever he's quoted. And it's like, I can't put my. And I'll need to, like, send you an audio clip of it, so. Because I feel like you'll be able to help me with this. Well, it'll be too hard to find on my phone, like, a clip where he's talking. But it sounds Bob Dylan ish. But it. There's a certain Simpsons character in my head that I'm hearing every time that he talks. Like, it sounds like a Simpsons gangster or something. And the other funny part about that is that he does the voice, which you're like, ugh, okay, whatever. But he also still pronounces everything in, like, the British mode. So he's. It's so. It's Bob Dylan pronouncing things like a British person would. So that's a little. Little distract. Little distracting.
That's so weird.
So. So I read a bunch of it, and I listened to a bunch of it, and I skipped. Just skipped two chapters. And now I'm getting to the point where he did that song for the Wonder Boys movie. The things have changed the sh. Based on the Shaybon book. And so I'm hoping that things turn up there. We'll see. But I'm prepared to just ditch it if I need to. I did. To stay on the subject of the Dylan family. I went and I took my son to his first concert, and I took him to see the Wallflowers in Bristol, Tennessee, here, which was kind of random. I haven't. I haven't purpose. Fully listened to Jacob Dylan or the Wallflowers maybe ever. I think I've. I've listened to, like, one of his solo albums at some point, and then it just kind of pops up here and there on, like, playlists. I'm not, like, been a fan or anything. And there's that one song, you know, one headlight, whatever. But it. It popped up. It's like, oh, the wallflowers are playing really close to home. That would be cool. They're kind of. Not too heavy, not too Boring. It's like that'd be a fun show for Henry to see. And so I bought, bought us a ticket to go to the show. We saw the opener. The opener was really good. He's like this like husband, wife duo and they played a John Prine song and Henry's like eyes lit up and he looked at me like, oh, I know this song. I know this. Which is cool. And then the friggin wallflowers waited 45 minutes to come out. After the opener, Henry put his head on my knee, passed out and didn't wake up until the encore. Just slept the entire show. I, I had bought him some little foam like earplugs because I didn't want him to be it to be like too loud for him. So I think that, that, that helped him. But I mean the concert was starting at his like normal bedtime. So it was like I wasn't mad at all. I was just like, oh yeah, should have saw that coming. It was just like a 55 nap.
Well, he maybe absorbed a lot of it while he wasn't awake.
Oh, it was definitely still. Yes. Yeah, it was definitely still like a positive experience. He's like, that was fun, like good. I'm glad you thought so. But yeah, he was out. Yeah, but we had a good time. And I'm. I have been listening to the Wallflowers now and they have a newish album. I think it's like a year old and it's called Exit Wounds and I bought it on vinyl when I was there and it's actually a really great album. So I'm really enjoying listening to Exit Wounds by the Wallflowers. Oh man, it's a good album. He's like, Jacob Dylan is like Bob Dylan and Tom Petty smashed together. He's real cocky on stage. And I mentioned that to a friend of mine. He's like, well, he's Bob Dylan's son. Like I think he, he comes by it, comes by it honestly. But the only problem is he's not a G. He's not a genius. That's what my friend said. I was like, oh yeah, he's definitely not. But yeah, it was a good time.
One of my big concert regrets of my entire life was not going to see the Wallflowers and Counting Crows together. Oh, that would 1997, both still popular.
Yeah, that would have been something else.
Yeah, it was the summer after I graduated from high school and I was not paying attention to anything like, oh
man, that would have been sweet. Yeah, his guitar player was phenomenal too. Just some, like, Hired Gun from Nashville that's been playing with him for, like, five years. But he's. He was super good.
So I was.
I watched him most of the time. I was, like, taking videos of the guitar player and other things. Watching. We started watching Alaska Daily, which we're watching on Hulu. I think it's on abc, but it's a new show with. Oh, gosh, what's her name? She was in that movie about boxing. Million Dollar Baby. Oh, gosh, this is. I'm gonna hate myself when I Google this and find out that it is someone who we all have heard of. And her name is Swank. Hillary Swank. That's right. It's Hillary Swank. And it's good. It's a. She's like a. It's. She's a investigative journalist in New York City. Kind of like a hotshot investigative journalist. She gets basically, like, screwed over. And, like, the media turns on her because she's reporting on this general who's, like, she's convinced is very corrupt, and she loses her job or she quits because they refused to publish her piece that she wrote about him. And so she quits, and then she ends up getting a job in Alaska. It's kind of like the journalist journalism version of Northern Exposure. Like, an old friend is working at a newspaper in Alaska and hires her, and she moves up there and starts doing these investigative pieces in Alaska about Inuit women who are going missing. Like, native women who are going missing. It is. It's so good. But, yeah, it's good. There's, like, five episodes so far, but we're. We're hooked, so we're watching that. And also, there's a new season of Somebody Feed Phil, which is always delightful. Um, that's us. And I have been writing with. I. I've been very boring lately. I've been using my Blackwing natural pretty much every single day. And then this Uniball one pen that I've gone on and on about to you guys. Like this UniBall 1 gel pen that just obsessed with. Yeah. And I did buy a new notebook, so it is. I was looking for a replacement bullet journal because I just filled my. My bullet journal up and I bought this, like, off brand on Amazon. Let me grab it right here. And I was just curious about it because it was cheaper. It was, like, 9.99. And the brand is called. It looks just like it. It's. It's called Paperage. Paper age. Like, Paper age. The paper is super smooth. It specifically says, like, thick Paper. I forget what the weight of it is, but it is nice and thick. It's very smooth. I got dot grid in it. But they're really great. They're. They. You can tell that the COVID the kind of like Moleskine style cover is cheaper, but who cares?
A lot of colors.
Yeah. Tons of colors. It was worth it. It was worth a shot. And I actually was able to get them through work and somebody at work ordered me two of them, actually. So I've got one for my next Bullet Journal too, and I'm. I'm digging it. It's really. It's a good notebook. So I'm still using. I'm just so. I've just been so spoiled with Leuchtturm that, like, for my journals, forevermore, it's just going to be a blank Leuchtturm. It's just so perfect.
Have you tried their. The newer ones? They modeled off the second bullet journal edition that has 120 GSM paper.
Oh, no, no, no.
So I swear the first one I got was awful. And the next one I got was just like the best Leuchtturm I've ever had.
Is there a special name for it? Like, do they.
I think you just look it up under Leuchtturm. Just 120 GSM paper.
120.
Okay. Which is really that thick. They're using, you know, they're using the metric because it sounds bigger than using the bond measurement kind of bs. Says paper snob.
There it is. Says the paper snob. Yeah, here it is. I see it. Oh, yeah. I might give that a try on my next journal.
Yeah. So at Bullet Journal, they do a new color every year. So this year it's called Blue 22. It's this really pretty dark blue. So they, they make them all like that now. The paper is amazing.
Sweet.
I might have mine ready for the year already.
So. Yeah, that's all. That's all for me. How about you, Johnny?
So I hate to be like the ad boy for Britbox, the subscription service, but like, oh my God. So if you live in the US the only way to watch Shetland is on Britbox and the new season. They fit. I think they were putting on like one a week. They finished putting them all up. And it's Douglas Henshaw's last season playing Jimmy Perez, which is not a spoiler. Like, you know that before you watch it. But you know that's an amazing show and this is definitely one of the best seasons of it. It's ridiculously good and they got a little freer with the F work which I, I appreciate. But yeah, if like get Brit box, there's always something awesome on there, like all of the old Poirot's Morse, like so much cool stuff. And so I read a lot of books about book binding, but not all of them are good. So I read one recently that was pretty good called Bound, which was an uninspired title, but it's by the person who does the traveling book binder, so she offers these expensive like bookbinding retreats in Ionia, France, I think Shetland, some other places in, oh, Edinburgh, sorry. Which sound really cool but like. And the book's very pretty. But the book is also really useful because you don't need special tools to do like basically anything in there. So if you ever want to make fun books from someone who's like, eh, you know, try to be precise, do what you can. Then it's definitely accessible and pretty. The book itself is very attractive and she advocates for painting on your covers with just like herban ink and a brush, which looks so good and you know, sometimes you get that color you don't like that much. It's a good way to get rid of it. I also read a book that I started in the summer called Six Walks in the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau by Ben Shattuck, which is not what it sounds like. It wasn't really about Thoreau and it wasn't really about Walking or like an early midlife memoir, but it was really well written and really, really cool. But so one more book I read which actually has kickstarted my reading is called Sinkhole by Davida Briar, who writes and edits and publishes Xerography Debt, which if you're into zines at all, you probably get twice a year. So she wrote a book and she sent me a copy and it's so good that you know, if you're not reading for a while because you're busy making books at night and then you read that one book, you're just like, I want to read books again. Then you know, that's a good book. And I don't know how else to describe it. It's just really, really, really good. Definitely check it out. And yeah, I am writing with. I'm just bragging to Tim, I found a Blackwing 24 that's at the Steinbeck stage and a pencil cup, so. And it's sharp. So I grabbed that and I'm writing on a folded up piece of Neenah Classic Crest because I'm a paper snob. And I want to make sure that we have editing notes. Yeah. So how about we jump into, I guess, an extended version of FreshPoints I.
I found in my car recently. Like, between the seats, I reached out. I was like, I literally was looking for a pencil because my. We're somewhere. And my son was gonna do some homework while we were waiting for his piano lesson to start or something. And I was like, I'll find a pencil. And I went. I was looking around, I looked between the seats, and I was like, that looks interesting. And I reached down in, like, it took, like, a lot of effort to get down to the little, like, crook that it was in. And it was a Blackwing 211. Hell yeah. Yeah. So. So he didn't have a pencil to use for his homework because I kept that one. I was just like, sorry, man.
So this. Does he like natural pencils?
Yes.
See, Mike Henry didn't. And then I got him for him this year and he calls them brown pencils, but he really, really, really likes them.
Have you. This is kind of getting ahead of myself, but have you seen. I don't know how I would miss these, but Musgrave is now sending. Is now selling, like, their class. They're calling it their classroom friendly pencil. Have you seen this?
Oh, the one that's a pack of, like, couple dozen.
Yeah, it's a pack of 60. And they're natural and they're rounded hex.
I saw them, but I've.
I've made bucks for 60. Yeah.
So. Okay, I'm gonna have to try this out.
Putting the link now. So sorry I. I derailed us, but.
No, you're fine talking about pencils. It's a pencil podcast, so. Yeah, why don't we jump into extended fresh points? Tim, you want to go first?
Yeah, let's do it. So on start with Musgrave. A couple things, like, cool going on at Musgrave. There's always things going on that are cool at Musgrave, of course, but they have a new pencil out that I think I missed the announcements. I don't know if it's as new as I think it is. This the Pencil King.
Dude, those are so pretty.
They're so pretty. And I think they're pretty much brand new. It's out. It's a new pencil. They're selling the 12 pack pencil king. It is as it's described. Takes us back to the heyday of steel printed pencils. So in the. Apparently the actual steel die dates back to the 1940s. Which is of course super cool. They said. While inspecting a long forgotten sealed barrel in our warehouse, we discovered a handful of authentic steel impressions produced from 1940 to the 50s, which is pretty awesome. So this is the first release that they've used those. And it is a round pencil, which I'm excited about, and a beautiful regal purple with. I love the large print. Like, I just love the large print on the side. It's like not the teeny tiny. And it is in the inside. They put a number one core, which is not like a super common thing. I feel like it. Musgrave, which. Yeah, these. These look incredible. I don't have any in hand yet, but I'm going to. I need to get some ASAP because these look amazing.
Yeah. I love how the has the multi banded feral. Once I read that detail, I'm like, oh my God, this is why I love you.
Yeah. It says finest graphite. I love it. Musgrave Pencil Co. 7900 Pencil King Finest Graphite.
They're just like really knocking out of the park like all the time.
Even the case, like the tube that it comes in with like the intricate sort of gold foil. Look at the top of it. It's just beautiful.
Yeah. And they have. I think these are new since last time we podcasted the unigraph variety packs.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Where you can just get a dozen of their green drawing pencils in a really sweet looking box for like 11 bucks.
That's amazing.
Like, dang.
Yeah, they've got a lot of news. And there's another one that I saw that I mentioned to you earlier, but just to say it again, it was the. I missed this whenever this became a thing and gosh, it might have been 25 years ago for all I know. I don't know how long they've been putting this out, but I don't think it has. I think it's this year sometime, right where they started selling a 60 count pack. Basically like their classroom. They're calling it their classroom friendly pencil pack. It's 60 pencils. They are lacquer free, paint free, natural finish with a rounded hex grip, super minimal logo, which is really beautiful. I mean, they have to be new because they have the new logo. So, yeah, I'm definitely going to be adding 60 of those to my. My wish list.
They're on sale now too.
Yeah, they're on there usually. Just 15.99 full price. They're on sale for 1440, which is pretty cool.
I think I saw them on Amazon too. If you have a gift card burning a hole in your pocket.
No. There you go.
It doesn't say what kind of wood they use, because maybe they didn't use the same for all of them. But in this picture, it's very clearly cedar.
Yes, it is. Yeah, it sure looks like it. So I might have to get some info from an insider to find out, but yeah, I'm definitely gonna get some of those. So those are awesome. Other new releases we're gonna bring up. I'll start with the Blackwing pencil sharpener. Now they've got. We all are. I mean, I mean to speak for you, Johnny, I think we're all fans of their metal handheld sharpener. Like the. Was that. What do they call that one? The round one or the. The hex one.
Cut the single whole long point or something. But it's not long. Nice.
It is curved. Yeah. But I love that sharpener. And they. They have come out, which I think when we first were conversing about it over text, we were talking about like, oh, they finally did it. Like they made a crank sharpener. Because that seemed kind of like inevitable for a while. And boy did they do it. And based on the price, I'm wondering if you get three of them. Like, do they only come in three packs?
And they say it's metal and plastic, but it looks like it's mostly plastic.
Yeah.
Which is fine. Maybe most of my strapors are plastic.
Plastics. Nothing wrong with plastic.
They weren't 100 bucks.
We. There is $120. Now, I will say that if it is metal, this is a really, like. If you look at the picture where you can see the books in the background on their website and you can kind of click and zoom in on it. If it is metal, which it looks to be, it's just like a really well done matte finish, which is pretty cool. So, like, what looks like plastic, I can see might actually just be like a matte finish on metal.
Yeah. I'm betting that the drawer and the piece above it are plastic because they look really different. And that the boxy part is metal. Looks like.
Okay.
Which is cool. Structurally. That makes sense.
Yeah, it's a really handsome sharpener. I mean, it's like really. I mean, it looks good. The point looks good. I do take take issue with that picture. The picture I was just describing, where it's got like the books in the background and you zoom in on the pencil and it's like the most uncentered black wing of time.
That's gross.
Makes me A little nauseous, but yeah. So that's new. And $120. You know, I don't know what else to say about that. That's just really expensive. I would not. I can't imagine being in a place where I would buy one of these without having to, like, think about it for quite a while. Quite a while. Especially. I guess it's different when I also already have 75 pencil sharpeners in my house, but. Yep, I can see four right now.
Yeah. I wonder who makes it because it works like the Amfat. And obviously Blackwing doesn't make pencil sharpeners.
Yeah.
So.
So that's always the question. Very curious.
So, I mean, design wise, it's so pretty. But I. It is. I have a small beef on the front where Blackwing is on the tray. It's not centered and it's not justified in either direction. Like, were you drunk? Did you do this on purpose? Is this a defect? Like, when you fix it, are they going to be 150 bucks?
These are the factory seconds or something. Yeah. I don't know. Know what's interesting about this is that you don't have to. There's no clip. Right. Like, there's no. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's no teeth to hold on to it. So I guess it's just like a rubber. I'm guessing like some sort of like rubber stopper inside.
Do you have an AM fat sharpener? Those ones that make the silly points? It's weird. You just kind of like stick your pencil in and when you sharpen it, it pulls it in a little bit and just kind of holds it in there.
Yeah. And it's still like the pencil. Like there's a video on the Blackwing site and still the pencil is turning. Like the pencil itself is turning.
Oh, it's not supposed to.
Well, this one sure is, but it comes out sharp, so I don't know, it's not spinning as fast as the crank is moving, but whatever. Huh. Puts a nice point on there. We'll see. Maybe someday.
Yeah. I don't know if we've talked about their erasers, but those are. While we're talking about Blackwing accessories. Pretty sharp.
Yeah. I don't even know if I. I don't know if I knew about that. Right. I haven't seen them.
Looks like a giant black wing ferrule or the square part of it. And you replace the eraser and that's clever.
Yeah. 10 bucks. That's all right. And it's refillable yeah, those are cool.
I like design Win, I think.
I don't know how I missed that. That's a. That's a good call. And it's. Is it metal?
Yeah, man.
Yeah, it's metal. It's got black wing pressed into the side. I like that. That's. That's a. That's a solid product right there. And I like that it's got a little sleeve like nobody's ever. Yeah, I don't know. I guess you find like those. It's not tombow, but some of those erasers that come with a little cardboard sleeve that you can sort of use that way. But eventually it's going to become too small. I wonder what this is. Like, once this. The erasers down to like an inch long. Does it actually stay in there or if it. Does it flop out? I don't know.
It looks like you can extend it because it has the feral clip that a black wing has, but it's really long.
That's what I'm just wondering, like, the integrity of that clip. Like, is it. Is it because, you know, like with a pencil, like, what to get the shorter racer to work with the pencil, you kind of have to. Or at least for me, I like pinch the sides of the ferrule to kind of squeeze it in a little more like. So that's why I'm wondering, once it gets further out, is it actually going to work to like hold in a short. Short one, like is there. And maybe this. Maybe the clip that's inside of it is just like super springy. I don't know.
Yeah, there's a good bit of eraser past that clip too. So even if it is very tight, there's a part of it that will be a little wonky.
Yeah.
Unless it's a very stiff plastic.
Yeah.
We gotta start trying these things.
Yes, we should. Yeah. Got some catching up to do.
All right.
And then lastly, the new Blackwing volumes pencil came out. Blackwing Volume 7. It came out. When was that? Two weeks ago.
I think it might be close to a month ago.
Close to a month ago. Yeah.
It's been a weird, weird time.
It has been. But yeah, they came out with Blackwing Volume 7, which is their tribute to animation, which at that theme seems like kind of a long time coming. They had the Chuck Jones, you know, quote signature set or whatever, which used to just be a. Wasn't it just like a dozen 602s that came with like a piece of paper or something?
Yeah, it was back when they. They weren't making them with pink erasers. So they had pink erasers and they came with like a sketch or a cell or something like that.
Okay. So it came with pink erasers before you could get those in the standard ones. Okay. Yeah. So it is sort of like a pretty, like, eclectic looking one.
Right?
We've got. It's. It's got an orange eraser, it's got a gold clip black ferrule. You know, everybody's favorite balanced graphite. The crowd pleaser. Yeah, yeah.
Everybody happy. Make nobody happy.
Yeah. So, Johnny, what are your thoughts on this one?
So somehow you line up the pencils with this thing. It came with. With and it makes a thing like. So I don't like when somebody has like high concept and then it's just like, oh, that's a green pencil. Like when they tried to link the 811 to Maya Angelou, like, that was really a stretch. But if they had just said it was about lamps, that would be cool. But this one is like so high concept. I'm like, what am I looking at? This looks like, I don't know, my dog chewed on it. Like, it's. It's not my favorite one.
Yeah. And yeah, it's kind of like a interesting gimmick, but even like in like. I don't know, I just don't think the payoff of like lining them up and putting them in this thing is like, yeah, sort of exciting enough. Like I'm not like, wow, that's cool. But when these get used, I'll never be able to do that again. So I don't know.
Yeah, maybe they're just acknowledging that no one uses. That's true.
They're like, we know you have more pencils than you could ever use in a lifetime, so here we go. It does come. I guess Subscriber Extra is pretty cool, right? Comes with a. What do you call those kinds of drawings where it shows, like the progression. I'm blanking on the name, but of Wile E. Coyote.
Yeah. Oh, terrible. Oh, okay. I don't think that was in my box.
A seven frame. That's right. So is that what it's inspired by? Maybe.
I have no idea.
But yeah. So, I mean, I really. I will say that color, which. I don't know. How would you describe the barrel color?
Is it like.
I would say it's like a. Like a wine. Well, not.
It's more bloody than wine. It's like.
Yeah, it's like an oxygen. A little lighter than like an oxblood ink or something like that. But yeah, I really, I mean, you know, I like red and I'm. I really like the. That shade so that I'll give us some. Some points for that. Other parts of it a little wonky for me, but they gotta. Gotta keep trying new things, I guess.
Yeah. And I know that they say that the roll on print is different than a wrap and like, I don't know. So I believe them. But I really miss when they just painted the Damn pencil like this. 24 is so glossy and black and so pretty. And I wasn't wild about it when they came out. Yeah. But I missed those days. I hope they come back at least sometimes someday. Yeah. So can we. This is like the anti Blackwing episode. But they put out these blocks that like, hold your pencils.
Yeah.
And so, like, there's one that holds four pencils and it's really pretty. It's a wooden block, has a black stripe on it that I noticed. That one is sold out. And most of them are 25 bucks and the other ones are 30 bucks, which is not that expensive for something from Blackwing. But like, one of them holds a tube sideways or a box sideways, and you can't open it that way. I'm like, what? What? I don't know if they just found a bunch of scrap wood and they're like, hey, let's just do them all. But some of these do not make sense at all. Plus, one displays the tubes. But what about the old tubes? Most of their tubes aren't glass. Most of them are the old plastic.
Yeah.
So great. I don't understand, like, since, like, sometimes they put on stuff like the eraser. You're like, dang, that is like on brand. That's really cool. And sometimes not so much.
Yeah. So I mean, there are some things in this line that I'm like, like you're saying, like, it's pretty cool. Some of them I would never in a million years want or need. Like the one that holds four tubes, I'm like, what? Like, I don't know. That just looks like something, you know, Almost looks too much. Like it's trying to look like you're in a chemistry lab or something. So I don't dig that. I. I like the idea of the one that just turns the box into a standing upright display.
That's pretty cool.
That will make sense. The one on its side makes no sense. The one that displays one pencil on its side is okay. The one that displays four up and down. I like that. The tube on its side. What are you doing? Like, what's.
Who?
Are you kidding? Are you kidding? You're like, who's. I guess if you're that, like, infatuated with one version of the Black Wing, like, then, I mean, I've made my own Blackwing shrine for John Steinbeck, so I know how that goes. But that's. It's hard for me to believe that
would be a product I think would be. That would be more interesting if they made a John Steinbeck shrine with, like, a little picture of John Steinbeck with this family's blessing. Like, that'd be kind of cool.
Yeah, Yeah. I would get into that little icon of John Steinbeck.
It would come with 24 pencils. Yeah, yeah. Blackwing. If you're listening, you're welcome.
Hit us up. Or don't, because you won't. So for that idea, I'm sure you got plenty of ideas.
I'm sure some of them might be good.
So that's all I got. What about you, Johnny?
So we haven't talked about the new field notes, the Hatch edition that. I know a lot of people were razzing them, like another letterpress edition. But, I mean, I thought these were cool. What did you think?
Yeah, I think they're cool. Yeah. I think I haven't. I haven't bought field notes in a while, and I think I say this now and then, but I'm just like, I haven't bought field notes in a while, but I think this is the one that's going to make me want to buy some. And I still am saying that about the Great Lakes, and I'm saying that about this one as well.
I think they're. Oh, the paper. And those were so good, though.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So these were, if I remember this right, they made three posters and then cut down the prints and use them for the covers. But if you were a subscriber, you got, like, a mini version of each poster so you can see what they actually look like and what they say.
It's cool.
Which is. I think that's a cool extra. But, yeah, they're. I mean, they're, like, super colorful. And a lot of the other ones they did but were, like, stamping on top of stamping. These are an actual, like, intentional design. So I think that's different than usual. And also, like, if you like field notes, how could you not like, letterpress? That's the thing. Yeah.
So sort of. Sort of what they're known for. Yeah.
I mean, I'm digging them, but I think they've been on a roll for like two or three years, for sure. My opinion, they've been like, really kicking it. Yep. So, yeah, I don't think they have anything else cool out. I don't know if we've talked about how their prices went up quite a
bit, but have they gone up again or since the last. I mean, I remember when they went up to like, what was it, 14.99. Yep. 3 pack 14.
But now the craft ones are 12.95. For a while they kept those where they were.
I thought that. Yeah, that's a bummer. Yeah.
I noticed they make a lot of the editions and like the United States of letterpress, they were 12.95 when that came out, so that's how much they cost. So that's cool. And, oh, we never talked about their Maggie Rogers thing they did where they did two. They call them journals. They're sort of like the dime novel editions, but they have really, really cool covers and cool photography. And I think inside there's a flyleaf that's Maggie Rogers handwriting. So those are super nice. Yeah, I clicked up a set of those and I hadn't heard of her. And now look, I love everything she does. Yeah. What else do we have to talk about? Oh, so speaking of Musgrave, my Henry likes natural pencils, so Rose started liking natural pencils. And she's very tiny and still uses fat pencils. So we went on the Zahn and we found these pencils. They're called the Mammoth. They're fat cedar pencils with black imprint, black ferrule, and black eraser. So I think the price of them went up when we got them. They were like six bucks. Like, you know, for a dozen American made pencils. That's the score. They're so nice and so cool. They're cedar and I can't tell if it's lacquer or a clear wrap that's around them. But they're not like, you know, you don't feel the wood, but, you know, they're fat, round cedar pencils that are made in America. And I can't think of one that exists besides this one, even for Musgrave, because their fat ones aren't usually cedar.
What was the name of it again?
It's called the Mammoth Fitting. Ooh. But yeah, if we dig them, I might have bought two boxes of them. One for the kids and one for me. So I'm happy to send you a couple.
Yeah. Yeah, those are cool.
They are right here. And they come in a they say box too. The American Standards Company Proudly made in Tennessee. They have a really cool box. So I mean I'm assuming they're made by Musgrave because who in Tennessee would have made these? And they look like Musgraves design sense, which I mean is a compliment. But yeah, I want to learn more about this American standards company because I'm digging on that.
Yeah, I'd like to. I'd like to check one of those out. Those look pretty cool.
Yeah, I like them a lot. They're really. They write nicely. I mean they're not just cool looking. They're very useful. Kids like them. They sharpen up well in my big giant, you know, wood chipper, mechanical pencil or electric pencil sharpener.
Oh nice. Yeah.
So yeah, I only have other fresh points that are shop news related. So I'm just gonna say one which is do it pencil. Revolution.com now is powered by Shopify and that's where all the new books are going. So sweet.
How's that working so far?
I can't figure out how their shipping works and it's constantly overcharging people. So when it does I give them a refund. But I wish it would stop doing that. I've got to figure that out.
Yeah, that's annoying.
So I got into the Made in Baltimore program and in my I guess like interview site visit thing, he was telling me all this cool stuff that Shopify can do that you can just like ask them questions and they answer them like what? This is okay. This is awesome to check that out, see if there are good answers to those questions. Yeah, how about we button it up? We'll get this out soon.
That sounds good.
Can you tell folks where to find you on the Internet, Tim?
Yeah, you can find me on Twitter timwassom and I'm on Instagram @timothywassom. We'll see if I, if I stick with the Twitter. I know people are just like fleeing Twitter because of what's his face and all that too much money he spent. But I don't know, Twitter sort of sucks anyways. But you can find me on Twitter.
Yeah, I have one. I don't really go on there and look at stuff like every once in a while. I'm Johnny. You can find me@pencerevolution.com and on social media at Pensolution. And of course you can find Erasable in all of your favorite podcast apps. And on Erasable Us this will be episode 189, erasable US189 and you can check us out on Facebook and social media. Erasablepodcast and of course, our Facebook group, which is one of the few friendly corners of the Internet. And we have a patreon, which is patreon.com erasable. And for folks who support us at the Steinbeck stage level, we consider you extra special and producers. So we read your names at the end of the episode, which I would enjoy if I were not on the podcast. So I'm going to read those names and if I mispronounce your name, I really apologize. Blame me. I don't blame Erasable.
Johnny Gamber. There you go. How does it feel?
Pretty good.
Said your name on a podcast. Congratulations.
So many thanks to Zaya Marie, Erin Bollinger, Matthew Chavon, Andrew Austin, Tara Whittle, Ida Umphers, David Johnson, Phil Munson, Donnie Pierce, Bill Black, Ed Swift, Tom Keakley, John Wood, Melissa Miller, Andre Torres, Paul Moorhead, John Capilouti, Stephen Francali, Aaron Willard, Millie Blackwell, Michael Diallosa, Tana Feliz, Ann Sipe, Joe Crace, digitaltent Tech, Bill Clow, Jason Dill, Mary Collis, Alex Jonathan Brown, Kathleen Rogers, Kelton Wiens, Hans Nunemann, Jay Newton and Chris Jones. Thanks a lot and we'll be back soon.
Do you like our podcast? Most people like our podcast, but if you like our podcast, maybe we'll turn it off.