This transcript was generated from an audio file by AI, and may contain inaccuracies.
Transcript
Coffee houses in the creative culture they cultivate. Like, say that five times fast.
Somebody wrote that at Starbucks. On a MacBook Air,
specifically.
Hello, and welcome to episode 197 of the Erasable Podcast. I am Tim, and I am here with two of my favorite volumes. I think I've used that one before. That's Johnny and Andy. Hello.
How's him?
How's it going?
Again?
Don't want any dupes. Yeah. So tonight we are. We've always gone through and mentioned and covered and reviewed the. The new Black Wing volumes as they've come out. But we decided to take a step back and look at them in, like, a timeline format and talk about the last few years of blackwing volumes and give our sort of quick take on each one and discuss the. What the progression has been like over the last few years. So before we do that, guys, how are you doing? It's been. It's been a minute.
It's been a minute. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's been.
Time is. It's summer, so time is weird.
Yeah, time is weird, it is fast, and it is also slow. I don't understand it. Whoa. This is my first. This is my first summer not being a teacher, too, so it's even weirder. It's like, what is this? What is going on?
You're like, what do you mean? I have to show up to work every day.
I gotta work. My kids are upstairs. How am I supposed to do that? Oh, okay. Yeah, this is hard. But yeah, yeah, been doing good. I. I am very excited to tell you guys about one thing. So I. So the. The progression. What I'm about to tell you starts with targeted Instagram advertisement, as many things do to adhd, Google search, rabbit hole, which things often do especially. So Googling stuff like crazy, which leads to video of Adam Savage, which leads to my new obsession, which is page by page, recreating my own Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail. Oh, notebook.
Cool.
Yeah. So this is a thing. People do this, like, and some people do, like, shortcuts where they'll, like, have a notebook. They'll print out the pages, then they'll tape them together or the. Whatever. I'm gonna, like, do it the slow way, like fountain pens. And, like, try to read, even if, like, the drawings aren't as good. Like, I don't know, maybe I'll trace some stuff. I don't know. But, like, there are resources around where you can find page by page, and even, like, the inserts that are inside and, like, everything. And you can recreate Your own grail dot.
So this isn't just. This isn't just like recreating the notebook. It's recreating the contents, too.
Yes. The notebook, the content on the inside, and even the packaging is part of it. Where people will get the packaging and, like, remake the old stamps of when he gets it mailed to him, you know, when it shows up. Whoa. Yeah, I'm really excited. It's going to take forever, but I'm going to find.
Are you going to bind it?
I think so.
Awesome.
Yeah, I think so. I think that's the best way to do it, to make it exactly like I like it. And I'm just going to take my time and it's going to be one of those things where I learn how to do a bunch of stuff along the way, but then just at the end of it can make this thing. And then there's. There's a great video and we should put it in the show notes. But Adam Savage did this. This is like, because, you know, he's all, of course, into, like, props, like movie props and things like that. But this is. I ended up finding out that this is also one of his favorite props from a movie ever, and that he decided he was going to do this at some point, and he ended up making like 11 of them or something and, like, giving them away to, like, friends or whatever. But. And so anyways, there's a video online that's like 20 minutes from his. His YouTube page where he, like, talks about, like, the process, and it's amazing. And also totally, like, was a. Became like, made me realize what a core stationary memory it was for me to watch the Last Crusade. I think that. I think that might be the origin of my obsession with notebooks. Cause, like, I watched Indiana Jones so many times. Like, so many times, like, those movies, I just watch them over and over again. And I've. And I remember just loving and wishing that I had that thing in my hand, you know, like, and, like, finding, like, notebooks that look nothing like it. Like, pretending that I had it when I was a kid because I thought it was just awesome. And is it.
Is that why you named Henry? Henry?
That is a very large reason. That's awesome. Yes. That is. That is not. You could have called him a short round people. But that is the. Those are. That's the reason that I tell people. But yeah, that was totally. I would say that is like 70% of why we did it. And then we found out afterwards that it was my grandpa's, like, middle Name.
Yeah, that's it.
Oh, yeah, whatever. Yeah, yeah. Grandpa's middle name was Henry. That's what I meant. Definitely not Henry Jones. So. Yeah. Anyways, so I'm really excited, and so Johnny expects some text messages because I'm gonna.
Yeah, some of the stuff is expensive to buy if you're not gonna do a lot of books, so just let me know what you need, like thread and stuff. Yeah, you don't want to buy a whole crap ton unless you do and you want to make lots of books.
Just makes. Just be a production machine.
Yeah, it's. It's addictive.
And so actually, Johnny, this. This also, I mean, reminds me of this notebook that you just sent me, which you posted on your Instagram, because it. It does look so amazing. I asked you to make this. What do we end up on? Is it 8 by 4?
7 by 4?
7 by 4? That's right. The 7 by 4, like, traveler notebook, like, with three inserts you made, which looks incredible. And that actually, like, sort of played into this because I think I had, like, asked you about this and then you ended up, like, finishing it right at the same time where this new rabbit hole was sort of, like, blooming in my brain. Blooming is the word of the night, apparently, because I've used it before this call, like, three times now. Yeah. So anyways, I'm super pumped about that. And I'm also pumped about the notebook that you got me because it also has, like, a similar stitch to it, too. I'll send you guys some pictures of the.
Yeah, it's. It's really funny because I also had an obsession with notebooks, and I have watched that movie a lot, but for some reason, that didn't really specifically stick out of my brain, that notebook. So that's interesting.
It. I had never. So I haven't seen Last Crusade in probably at this point, like, 12 years or something. When I was younger, I watched those movies so much. And so I started watching Raiders of the Lost Ark recently and was like. Cause, you know, the new one's coming out in a couple weeks or actually, no, just in a few days.
It's Dial of Destiny.
Yeah. It comes out on Friday. So I was like, oh, we should watch those. They're on Disney. So all these things just sort of converged into this obsessive quest to create
this Tim Wassem in the Quest for the Notebook of Destiny.
That reminds me, on Twitter yesterday, I saw this thing where it said, ruin a philosophy book's title by adding Harry Potter. And at the Beginning of it.
Awesome.
And it was that. That was an amazing thing. I can't even recreate it, you know, but it was like, you know, something like it would be Harry Potter and
the Critique of Pure Reason.
Yes, exactly. Stuff like that. It was awesome. Yeah. One was like, about, like, Harry Potter and the, like, irrationality of modern religion
or something like that, or Harry Potter and the Antichrist.
I would read the hell out of that one.
It was a. It was a fun, fun game. All right, so you guys want to get into it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we have, of course, talked about volumes as they've come out. We've loved some, we've loved some less, and we've avoided some over. Over the last couple years. But we thought it would be interesting to step back and talk about them continuously kind of together and how like, the. The progression went from. From topic to topic. And so I think we're going to go back all the way to volume 8:40. So I don't know, how do we want to do this? We want to, like, give like, the, like, recap what it was about and like, a quick description. Yeah, we should take turns. Like, Johnny, do you want to do this first one? And then Andy and then me, and then we'll just kind of rotate like that.
Yeah, yeah, that sounds good.
So this one is green with a gold coastline stamped on it. And I think it had a gray racer.
Correct.
And I never quite knew what it was about because it came out, like, literally when the lockdowns all started, so.
Oh, right. Yeah.
You know, wasn't paying that much attention.
I never thought I got buried, like.
Yeah, it was cool. I remember they had. I don't know if they still make the clutch notebook. They had those soft cover books that matched that they had a set of. And they were really nice. They. They came out really well.
Yeah.
But I remember the foil coastline comes off, like, when you touch the pencil.
It was so interesting because it came out. Correct me if I'm wrong, it came out, like, a little. Not too long after that, the field notes that had coastlines came out.
Right.
They felt very much like they just kind of belonged together, even though conceptually they were different thematically, they were a little bit different, but it was one of those things that almost felt like they kind of collabed on that.
Yeah. Sometimes I wonder how much they pay attention to each other, but apparently they collaborated with the most recent field notes with those colored pencils, sort of. But, yeah, it was. I. I thought it was about, you know, coastline from sort of an ecological perspective, but it was about surfing, which is cool, but I'm from the east coast. It doesn't strike me as something super interesting.
You just don't understand it, man.
He's dookie uptight. East Coaster.
What are you doing here?
Yeah, I thought this was a really pretty one. I mean, I don't even remember if I said it at the time, but, like, I mean, I. I look back at this one, and this is one that I regret not getting a dozen of, But I also don't care that much to go back and. And get some. But I've got. Got a couple, and it. One that didn't seem to do terribly well because. And I'm just basing that on seeing it in stores for a while afterward. Like, they just kind of lingered for a while.
Yeah.
But I don't know. I like the color. I like the color, and I also. I liked the. The coastline Sort of, like breaking through the word blackwing on the. It was. It. Was it one that, like, it was different depending on the pencil, or were they all pretty much the same? No, it was different. Yeah. So I. I liked that. I think it kind of inevitably would break through blackwing on most of them. That looked kind of cool, but you're saying the foil just, like, rubbed off?
I mean, on mine, it did.
Yeah.
But I. You know, I'm delicate with my pencils.
Takes me back to that. It was, like, a long time ago where you talked about my caustic hands. That was a long time ago. And I think it's come up, like, once since then, but, like. Yeah, I feel like my hands. Like, my sweaty hands would just, like, strip the pain off of it completely or something.
I mean, I've worn the chrome off of two space pens, so it could be me. I could just be, like, covered in coffee all the time. Yeah.
I was gonna say it's all the coffee in your bloodstream that's just, like, seeping from your pores.
Yeah, it's very acidic.
Yeah. All right, so do. How do we finish each one? Do we want to, like, do, like, a.
Let's give it. Let's give it a. Our own personal sort of, like, grade. So, like.
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay, let's do it.
Yeah.
All right. So, Johnny, go for it.
B plus.
I'll give it a. I'll give it
a solid B. I will as well. I'll give it a B. Yeah. All right.
Good job. 840.
Yeah.
Do you mean take volume three?
Yeah, you take three, and then I'll take The next one. And then we'll just kind of keep that rotation going.
That one. You know, I'm trying to remember. I don't remember like when these came out. I just have no concept of.
Oh, I should have put that. This was summer 2020.
Okay.
Okay, got it.
Oh yeah.
If I go to the website because I'm signed in, it shows me when it. When it sort of like arrived. So that's interesting.
Yeah, that's a weird new feature.
Yeah, that is. That is new.
Freaking me out a little.
So this was Blackwing Volume 3. It's a tribute to Ravi Shankar. It was, as far as I know, their first yellow pencil. And it was also. Was it. It wasn't the first that came in that new style of box, was it? No, nevermind. I don't think it was. Oh, I don't know. It was. It featured extra from graphite. So big, big plus there it was kind of about Ravi Shankar and how he taught George Harrison how to play the sitar. I remember it came with. It came with some incense and I. My allergies reacted very badly to that incense and. Yeah, it took me a while to sort of like clear that out. But it was. It has an ohm pattern on it which is really cool and so sort of like a. Like a slightly lighter yellow against that just like very turmeric colored background. And it had a yellow eraser. I thought it was a gorgeous pencil. I used. I used it quite a bit because it was extra firm as well be
amazing if the subscriber extra was like a set of sitar strings nobody could use. Like nobody can use or just like some lsd.
Everybody just gets a drop of lsd.
Yeah.
The incense sticker came up.
Yeah.
Was it like an inch long?
I don't remember. It was. It wasn't very much, but it was very itty bitty. Yeah.
Yeah, it kind of stunk. Wasn't very good.
Yeah, maybe it was.
I burn incense every day and I didn't like that.
Yeah, it was. But good pencil. This is something I've seen at a few stationary stores. I don't know if people just ordered a lot of them or if like before it just didn't move very well. But I not that long ago have seen some of these pencils. I think maybe even like in Mido or something.
But.
Yeah. What do you guys think about this one?
I like the, with the pattern. I like patterns that are like complicated that have two almost similar colors, you know, I don't know how I'm describing this. But colors that aren't that far off from each other. I like the sort of. What's the word I'm looking for the effect that that creates.
Yeah.
So this one's a really, really visually like awesome. Like, I really liked how this one looked. Yeah. And it was also, it seemed like kind of a. With that pattern on there. The ohm pattern is like pretty different than just about anything that they've done.
Yeah.
Up until that point where it wasn't just like a solid color or lines or whatever.
It's definitely one of the ones where often when they do simpler designs, like I just think. And we'll get into it when we talk about the one that they just, just released. But I think when the. They're very simple or solid colors or something like that, they always feel a little bit just more cohesive or more powerful of a. Like a theme or something. And this one, this one definitely felt like that to me.
So I thought it looked like something from the spring collection in the dollar aisle at Target.
Like the Ravi. The Ravi Shankar pencil. Yeah.
I mean if you're going to do wraps, it's inviting the comparison. But I thought it was super ugly.
Okay.
It could have been because when I opened it, it smelled like cat pee from that nasty incense that was in there. So that could be tainted.
I'm telling you. Maybe it was just LSD and we all just missed it.
We're like, wait a second, Collective trip.
You weren't supposed to burn that. You're.
Yeah,
I think I threw it away.
Yeah. But I would give it. Just because I like the, the theme. I would give it like a. Like an A minus. And it was extra from graphite too, which I appreciated.
Yeah. I think I would probably go with. I probably like the last one, go with a B. I think it was. Visually I really liked it. It wasn't. But yeah, I think I'd give it a b. Yeah.
And D curve just dropped way down in the context of some. The next one especially like.
Woof.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cool.
Yeah. Do you want to.
Let's get to the next one.
Yeah.
So the next One is Blackwing Volume 16. I mean, sorry, 19 or F1X.
So yeah. Where was my MMX?
Yeah. Come on, come on. We know you can do it. We know. Yeah, we know. You're thinking about Roman numerals over there. So. Yeah. So this was volume 19, which was about the. It was a tribute to the 19th amendment. Had a purple barrel, three sided white and golden yellow imprint that was inspired by the suffrage Flag. And it had a striped silver feral, a white striped round the ferrule pretty with a purple eraser. And it was made with firm graphite. So it had like the 602 core. Now this is one that I think, like, over time. I don't remember, like, at the time. I mean, I know when I got it, really liked it, really enjoyed it. But it's one that people, when they see me using it, ask me about it, and they also. And I also have given it to several people. Like, I've given it as like, it's like one that people, when I've given it to, like, friends, they'd be like,
wow, this is one of the few that I bought an extra couple dozen of because I knew, like, part of it was I. I liked that it. Because it came out in like, you know, late. It came out what? This was like fall 2020. So this was like, oh, I missed this.
It was summer 2020.
It was summer 2020.
Okay, I messed up. The yellow one. Must have first went during the pandemic.
Well, it's definitely. It definitely came out kind of in. During. People. A lot of people think about the election. A lot of people think about, like, our, you know, first. First, you know, female vice president. Like, thematically, it was also very timely.
What? Now I. I'm just saying this. Yeah. That would have been like, production timeline wise. That would have been accidental, right?
I would think so.
Like, they would have been working on it before. I'm not. I'm not trying to say anything about Blackwing. I'm just curious, like, if.
Yeah, I mean, it was also. Yeah. Like, it was the 100th anniversary. It was the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment. So. Yeah, so they would have been on that.
Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th amendment.
Look at you. Tennessee.
Yeah. And that was. And then it was all downhill from there.
All downhill.
It all led to Marsha Blackburn.
But they also released that really nice purple notebook, the slate notebook that kind of went along with it. And that was just a really, just great notebook.
And that pendant was awesome.
Yeah. Yeah.
Pennant. Yeah, pennant.
Yeah.
Mr. Baseball, you should know that difference. Sorry.
Yeah. So what do we give this one? So I'll start it out. Since I introduced it, I would give this one a solid A.
I would put it up there. Like, even maybe like A plus. I just thought thematically it was just so good.
Yeah, same.
And from graphite, which is great.
Plus A or A plus. Yeah, that one was like, really on.
I really liked It Sweet. All right. That's like a 93% or something. Yeah. Or no, 95%. 97. Man. We're doing this one. Yeah. Well done, Xix. Bring in those Roman numerals more often, please.
Can't wait for the mmx.
One day. One day maybe it'll be dedicated to us and it'll smell like coffee and I don't know, it'll keep going because it's been, what, almost nine and a half years?
Yeah.
So the next One is Blackwing Volume 6, the independent business pencil. So there were blue with a black ferrule and an orange eraser. And then the other one was a flip and orange with a blue eraser. Oh, and they referenced neon and neon signs.
So it was a tribute to the song by John Mayer by the same. By the title, Neon.
Okay, wait, what it is? No, I like it even less.
No, no, it was not.
When I think of neon signs, I don't think of those colors. But when they did the, like, the buttons that it came with and on the box and, you know, volumes was lit up like a neon sign. That did look really cool.
I thought it. I remember.
Wasn't there an explanation for it, like, why it was blue and.
Or.
I'm trying to do some quick Googling. It's because of the.
It's because the open signs are usually those colors, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, I. I remember. I. I thought they were very visually appealing, but I thought it was a little bit of a stretch for the theme.
Right?
Like, it's.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
But I definitely like just the way it looked. I thought they looked really cool.
I mean, they could have done brick red with white trim. Called it the brick and mortar.
Brick and mortar pencil.
That would have been pretty awesome.
You're welcome.
Blackwing from a company that has no brick and mortar store. Like, that is only an online presence for sales to other people, I guess. But, yeah, I think the. It didn't feel like. Or at least right now, it doesn't feel like as much of a stretch. I think it. But it is one that you kind of have to, like, think about for a second. It doesn't, like, hit you, like, immediately, like the, you know, some other additions, like maybe the Ravi. I would say that about the Ravi Shankar ones. Like, just, like, immediately you're like, oh, gosh. Okay, I can tell. Like, I can sort of feel it, you know, like, for me, at least,
it did come during sort of the height of the pandemic, when a lot of small businesses were shuttering just because People weren't leaving their houses, so I felt like it was pretty timely.
Yeah. Yeah. And I visually, really, really like it. This is one that I bought a second box of because I love. I love the soft core. And I gave.
Tim loves.
Damn it. Son of a. Softcore for your children. And I gave. You know, it was. It was fun, like, giving my kids one of each color, you know?
Yeah.
Like giving them each two and like one of each. And they really liked them. And so they've been kind of. This is a pencil that kind of bounces around the house that I see around, which makes me happy. I've still. I guess it's actually the pencil that I have in my nightstand right now. But yeah, I. I like it. Should we score it?
Yeah.
Yeah. All right.
I'd give it like a. Just like execution is really great, but just because of, like, kind of a stretch for the theme, I would say I would give it like an A minus, maybe a B plus.
Yes, I would go with an A minus. I like it. And I'm mostly basing it on the visual side. Yeah. And just the choice of core. I like the. It's super simple. But I would go A minus.
Yeah, I would go B. I think, actually I would have gone lower, but they remind me of the Modern Library classics of Rimbo's Complete Poems. And then his letters, like, one is orange with blue and one is blue with orange. And they were so pretty together, of course.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking of too. Yeah, definitely. That was awesome. That made me so happy. I was like, what? That is? That's super cool. Rambo's poetry.
Well, I'll take the next one, which is a pretty complicated one. That's Blackwing223, which is the Woody Guthrie pencil. And that was a really interesting time because I think it provoked, at least in our group, a really interesting discussion just about colonialism and like, you know, this land is your land, this land is my land sung by a white guy. And just a lot of interesting kind of like critique of the theme of Woody Guthrie, who is by all means just like a. Just a. Just a good human and a good citizen and a very sort of like anti fascist singer, but still very much like, you know, that that's a song that kind of, by modern standards could be like, kind of problematic. But it was. It provoked really, I just thought. Interesting discussion, which I appreciated.
And
then we saw the pencil and it's. It's similar to this pencil that, you know, we'll talk about here today. That just came out. It's. It's just. It's very busy. Right. Like, it has so much happening there. It is. It's the ribbon of highway. Right. Like the. There's an endless skyway. There's a golden valley, there's ribbon of highway. That's like just all on one pencil. And it's cool, but also it's a lot to put on a pencil. So like, you know, we just. We just had a couple like very, very powerful, simple themes. And then all of a sudden it's like, blah. Like, let's put all this on there. So it's. And you know, looks cool in just like thematically it's a very sort of like literal theme. Right. So it's balance balanced graphite. I'm trying to remember if it did this. Did this have some sort of a extra that was like, this machine kills fascists.
No, they had that notebook that said grass.
That's right. That's right. That's right.
That was my favorite part of the civilization. Yeah.
That was really cool, that comp book.
Yeah.
What do you guys remember about this? And I remember I did love that golden eraser. Like it was a new. A new colorway for that eraser. And it was gold.
Oh, I forgot about that.
Yeah.
So this looks like one of those playmats you get at ikea.
That's exactly what I was gonna say. That's the first thing. I just felt like I was holding one of those like Hot Wheels playmats.
Interesting.
Like
when I found out what it was and that it said anything other than this machine kills fascists, I was like, yeah, why would you do it? Like, you don't have to do Woody Guthrie. So if you're not going to do that, don't do it. Because it was low hanging fruit.
Yeah.
But also perfect.
Well, you can't offend the fascists who might want to buy your pencil.
Tell that. Never mind.
I'm sure that's not.
There are a lot of people on the news right now who probably really don't want to offend fascists.
That's true. That's good. I'm sure Blackwing would be more than happy to alienate the fascists.
Yes, yes.
I hope so.
Yeah. I just that that notebook was the best part. This was one that I like, actively was trying to not look at and get rid of. I love Woody Guthrie. I just love Bob Dylan. I've read Bound for Glory, Woody Guthrie's book. I love it. I. I remember listening to Woody Guthrie. Like those, like, what are they called. They were like, these CDs that I got when I was in high school. They put out this, like, American recording series, like Library of Congress series or something like that of, like, all these songs by him. And I would just eat that. Eat it up. Like, I would just listen to it all the time. And so when I, like, I think I had seen a spoiler, maybe I was like, that was Woody Guthrie. I was like, awesome. And I looked at it and I was like, not awesome. Like, I don't want to hold this in my hand because people will look at me and be like, I think I look like a toddler. I don't know. So my. This is one of those that, like my score. Like, the fact they did what he got through one makes me very happy. The notebook was great execution of the pencil. I'm just going to give it kind of like the overall average for my score to mention the balanced graphite. But, yeah, yeah, I would like a C. I would give this one a C minus. Okay.
I would go with, like, a solid C. F. Oh.
Oh, for the F for the fascists. They should have tried to offend.
Johnny's grading on the curve over here.
Like, I remember when it came out, I laughed. I'm like, no, this is a joke. This is not really what they did. It was. I couldn't think of anything good to say about it.
Was this.
Aside from Morty Gun three.
Yeah. Right. And this. As far as, like, putting a black feral on it, I don't remember, like, in context, but, like, I know they did it for the. The. The Steinbeck one. Were there other volumes that they had done a black.
Oh, it's like a. It's like a matte black ferrule, isn't it?
Oh, right, right. I feel like.
Yeah, we've seen that before.
Six had a glossy one. Oh, the. The Ada Lovelace.
Yeah.
Matte black.
Yeah.
Okay.
That's back when they made nice, simple pencils.
It's. It's funny because, like, looking. Looking at that design on that pencil, Like. Like, if it was all laid out, I think it would look kind of nice. Just. It just like, if it was just on a flat piece of paper. It's just this very simple sort of like, brushstroke. I think it would look really simple and clean like that, but just for some reason, wrapped on a pencil, it just, like, didn't work. And, yeah, like, when you look at the box. I'm looking at the box right now, and it's just like a nice, just broad simple brushstroke, but just. Yeah, once. It. It just didn't translate to penciled barrel.
I'm changing my score to D. Okay.
Come to the dark sides.
Tim's is getting mad over here.
Too nice. Yeah, I was too nice as a teacher. I'm too nice as a pencil grader. Just the more I think about it. Well, you want to do the next one? All right, so the next one is volume 64, which was the comic book themed pencil. So this one was a. I think it was. It was. These were the colorways that would appear in the original comic books. Like, these are the colors that you're. It was kind of a cross section of all these colors that would appear in these cheap comic books that were made. And the core. I'm trying to remember. Hold up. What was this one? This was affirm. It was affirm. Okay.
Excuse me.
This came out in June 2021, and it came with a gray eraser. It also had a black ferrule. Had a shiny black ferrule. So as someone coming to this one with a. I think to most people who meet me, like, a shockingly lacking comic book knowledge or like, you know, history of comic books. Like, people like me, like, Tim, you're a nerd.
How come you're not into this?
How do you feel about this? Yeah, I didn't. I didn't read any comic books. I was a kid. Like, I would, like, look at my friend's house, like, every once in a while. But I appreciated it almost, like, immediately. Like, the only thing that comes to my mind is the adventures of Cavalier and Clay. Like, that was like, that's my comic book past, basically. And so it just, like, evoked those sorts of memories, which was nice. I enjoyed that. I thought it was. I thought it was a creative take on the colors. I think they did. The interesting thing with the Blackwing imprint that looked kind of like three dimensional.
Yeah, that was neat.
Which was.
But also, they don't usually do that. That's like, the one thing they don't change when they changed it. Yeah, it was weird because they only did it one time.
Yeah. Yeah. But I thought it was cool. I thought it looked good. What'd you guys think about this one?
I think I liked it. I think it was, again, like, a very, like, powerful kind of, like, conceptualization of the theme. Like, it was like putting all those sort of like, cross half hatches. And I guess as somebody who's interested in, like, printing and like, halftone designs, like, I thought that was a really cool Cool thing. Just. Just.
Yeah, the way that.
But. But it was also, like just a very loud pencil. Right. Like, there's a lot. A lot happening there. I think I even. I think I remember I really liked the gray eraser. I don't know if that was the first time that eraser showed up, but I thought it was pretty cool looking.
It's not the same one that's with the natural, is it?
It's like a. Yeah, this is like a.
Like a brown, gray. Like a. Yeah.
I think maybe it's supposed to look like a page.
Like a.
Like a pulp comic book page. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So conceptually, it was. It was pretty good. I think it was a pretty solid, and it was firm, so, you know, it was kind of in my favorite range.
Yeah. Yeah.
I hated this one.
Oh, Johnny, come on, Johnny. Jeez.
Well, coming off of the Winnie Guthrie one, I'm like, oh, great, another wrap. I mean, Roland print. But this one had so much white in it that it made it look like a printing error.
But that's kind of what it's meant to look like, though, right?
And hurt my eyes.
Yeah.
I mean, Johnny got a seizure from. From this pencil.
This was. Well, I will say one thing is that I don't like a pencil that looks like. When you sharpen this one down, it looks like a different pencil, you know, like, as you go. Because you're, like, cutting off, like, layers of color. So I like seeing the whole spectrum, but, like, when I get shorter, it starts to look weird. Like, weirder to me. But yeah. Yeah. I don't know.
I'd probably give this one, like, a B. Be nice.
Somewhere over there, I'd probably go B plus on this one.
D. Johnny's like, F. I'd give it an M for migraine, but D will
do a G for grand mal seizure.
All right, so next is volume 651. The Statler Norris pencil.
I mean, you mean the Kill Bill pencil.
Yeah, the Bruce Lee pencil.
Yeah.
So. And when I saw this, you know, I think, like everybody else, I was like, oh, it looks like a, you know, stately Norris. They should have put a red eraser on it.
Yeah.
But divorcing it from that, like, I liked the color combinations a lot. Then it's so it's black and yellow with a white imprint and a yellow eraser, but they used a silver feral instead of black, which would have seemed obvious. And I really like the silver.
It looks good.
Yeah, it's sort of. I don't know, takes away from how shocking those Two colors are next to each other.
Yeah. I'm trying to remember this one. What? Graphite. Extra Firm graphite in this one. So.
Yeah. And it came with a really cool patch.
Yeah.
Which was. Nice touch.
That was.
That was a good. Very good subscriber.
Extra.
Yeah, I mean, I. I appreciated the theme. I don't have a particular, like, affinity for Bruce Lee, but I appreciate that he existed. I appreciate a lot of, like, the. The kind of, like, just barriers that he broke through literally and metaphorically. But I. I said it. And then I was like, ooh, pun intended.
Pun intended. Tonight, Henry, we were talking about doing, like, play this. Sorry, tangent. But it was another sort of, like, quick thing. Henry said he was playing with a Yo yo. And I was, like, trying to get him in bed because I just helped. I was like, you just gotta, like, we don't have time for, like, we can't do yo yo right now. And then. And I said. And then he said, did you say yoga? I said, do you think? I said yoga tricks? And he said, yeah. Like, why don't you do the splits? And I said, if I did the splits, I would probably crack my butt in half. And he said, it already is. Like, so fast. I was so proud of him. I was like, well, that was. It was like. It was a split second. I was like, it might crack my butt in half. And he was like, it already is.
Oh, is he in his. Is he in his yo yo boy phase?
Oh, yes. Oh, yeah.
I definitely had that phase.
I stayed there for a long time.
Yeah.
All right. Sorry I interrupted you.
No, that's all right. Just. Yeah, I like this. Just sort of like the theme of this pencil and the way it looked. You're right. Like, if it was a Statler Norris pencil, like, we could hack wing it and just put a red eraser in it.
Right,
Johnny?
Oh, I'm sorry.
Oh, sorry. Sorry. I thought.
I thought that was rhetorical question. No, I mean, if. If they had done, like, a white feral, like that little bit of white below the red, that would have been pretty cool.
Yeah, I mean.
I mean, they would have gotten a very strongly worded cease and desist letter in German. Scare the crap out of me.
You're my cease and desist.
You will stop this right now. Yeah, so I'm gonna jump in the front. I would give this one a B, maybe. B plus.
Okay.
B plus for the Silver Pharaoh.
Yeah, same.
I give it a C. This one was boring to me. Oh, yeah, I was just. It was just like, maybe. Maybe it was Because I saw it and I was like, I've seen that pencil before. You know, that kind of thing where it's like not, not interested. So I'd probably give a C. C minus.
Yeah, I get that. Cool. I think. What am I next? Oh yeah. So the next one after that was the volume 93, which was the Karita Kent pencil, which was the rainbow pencils. And I feel like this is pretty universally beloved. Like I'll admit I have never been by the water towers. I've never been to. Did you say Dorchester or is it Doster?
Dorchester.
Dorchester. I've never, never been by those gas tanks. Didn't really ever see them to begin with. But I sort of knew who Karita Kent was just as a social justice artist. She's done a lot of other kind of interesting. Just big bold things. And I also just really thought the rainbow, just the rainbow theme was really cool. So I like this. It was again soft graphite. Extra, extra score for Tim. But I'm trying to remember, did it, did it come with. I think you could get a notebook that had these colors on it too, right?
Yeah, they did a slate.
Yeah.
Yeah. So I was a big fan of these pencils. I thought they looked good. I love the sort of like white ferrule and the white eraser and then just like the big, just big bold splash of color on the white barrel. I thought, I thought it looked really, really good. Yeah. What do you guys think?
So d. When during one of my favorite times of my life I lived in North Quincy and I used to go past this every day and it's an ugly tank but you know, it's, you know, reminds me of a nice time. But these are so ugly because they're each a piece of something that's not that good looking to begin with. Does that make sense? Like the tank has all these colors but they split them up and the white against the white ferrule highlighted how badly they were attached. Like mine have all this wood showing.
Like that's a good point.
I'm glad I didn't pay for these except like a year ago.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I, I'm. I'm not even going to grade these. I'll give a 39. Reverse it.
I wasn't a huge fan of it. I was a. I was a fan. It was like almost like I was a fan more of the story they told about it, you know, than I was of the actual pencil. Maybe that comes if I'm being like self reflective. I don't use sometimes like this is a pencil that I would feel like I was. If I was using it in public, I would be like, look at me. Everybody look at me. You know, so like I have that self, self conscious thing, but like, as far as, like a piece of like expressing something, I have none of. What Johnny had about the. You've seen it all this. I've never seen the tanks.
Yeah.
Never seen this stuff. So I liked the concept, I liked the story they told. I even like looking at them, at least in pictures, you know. But I did not buy this one, which. This is one that I don't have. I don't even have one. And since it comes in, you know, six different colors, it's like, what's the point? You know? I don't know. I probably should find one at some point. At some point. I like the white feral, like in a vacuum, you know, I like. I liked that. That was cool. I'd like to see that a little more. But I. I understand what Johnny's saying about like it sort of highlighting the QC problems.
Yeah. In any case, it would be good for. For parts. Right. If you were hack winging it just like that by Ferrule is just another good part.
Yeah. So I would probably. And this is one of the very few that I've never even touched. I don't even have one in my hand, but I would probably give it a B minus or something.
It's another one that I see a lot in stores still.
Yeah, it's true. I think Bob Slate might have had some of those this spring.
Hmm.
I know they had the Bruce Lee pencil.
And I always wonder, like. Yeah. Like, is that a sign that it didn't sell very well or is that more of a sign that like the. The owners just ordered a bunch because they were excited by them?
Right.
Like, I don't quite know. Don't quite know what it means when you, you know, when you see an addition in a store, like, like you continue to.
I don't always pay attention to the, like, production numbers, but do they, do they list their production numbers?
I don't think so.
Yeah, so if they don't, then like, I'm guessing, like the minimums for something like this would have been. I mean, you're basically ordering six different pencils.
Yeah, that's true.
So they might have ordered like a crazy. There's. There might have just been like a ton of them out there because they, they ordered the, like production minimum for six different pencils and then assembled these dozens. So. Yeah, there might just be extra out there because of that.
That makes sense.
Which is maybe no one wanted them because they're ugly.
Yeah.
Or that. Thank you, Johnny. Yeah, but yeah, like, if it was. If it was my version, it was like, you know, like a bit pretty big swing, you know, like, that's like a pretty big. No. Yeah. This is worth it. Let's order six times as many pencils. But I don't know, maybe Johnny's right.
Well, I know Johnny loves the next one.
Yeah.
Yes, the next one. Yeah. So volume 200, the coffeehouse pencils. March 2022. A tribute to coffee houses and the creative culture they cultivate. I don't like that sentence. That is too much alliteration. But that is from their website. Coffee houses and the creative culture they cultivate. Like, say that five times fast.
Somebody wrote that at Starbucks on a MacBook Air
specifically.
No offense to all the people I saw at Starbucks this morning on their computers.
So it's this one. This one is firm graphite. It is a metallic copper design. And the feral is copper as well. That's probably my favorite part. Yeah, that's cool. That's cool to see. So. Yeah. And somehow the Beat Generation is part of this based on their description.
So correct me if I'm remembering this wrong, but when the. When they started blackwing volumes, they were supposed to have like a story. Like, the first one was not about Bob Dylan and it wasn't about a Stratocaster. It was about Bob Dylan with a stratocaster at this concert on this day. I'm like, what that meant. So, like, with coffee, you could talk about kaldi, like the goatherd who discovered coffee. Or Islamic coffee houses, which were the real coffee houses, where people had way better ideas than. Than junk poetry, but they just made it about white people. I don't even. I mean, not even from like a woke perspective, but like, you know, we see coffee shops all the time. That's boring. I want to hear about some, like, legendary coffee shops. Or the goatherd who saw his goats getting all hyper and was like, ooh, what's that?
Yeah, even something about, like, the origins of coffee. Like. Like, you're right. Like that. Right? Like, you know, they were first discovered in Yemen and like, cultivated in Ethiopia. And just like the. That history is just so interesting.
They could have done why we're a coffee drinking company. It's a middle finger to the British or sorry, country, why we drink coffee and not tea. That would have been really cool.
Yeah.
Yeah. But I thought the pencils were Gorgeous. Like, I really loved them, but they really blew it on the story.
I was just very, very much entertaining myself by imagining when you said, like, why are these goats so crazy? Like, if this pencil had just been covered with, like, a foil wrap of, like, screaming goat faces, like, that would have been awesome. It just made me so happy thinking about that. Now I'm googling, like, screaming goat pictures and it just.
Yeah.
A friend of mine had a bike that was called the Kaldi, and it came with this, like, really fancy coffee cup. And I was like, dude, that's so awesome.
Hmm. That is really cool.
Yeah. But they give you, like, a little burlap bag that says subscriber extra.
They still have.
Yeah, it was cool.
I wish they would have made some coffee. That would have been really cool.
Yeah. This one, like, should have been more awesome.
Yeah.
Than it was.
Yeah.
Maybe I'm just being very nitpicky in that I wanted the story to mean something, but the pencil was nice.
Yeah.
There were a lot of these at bobsleigh this past spring.
What if Blackwing, instead of doing this quarterly, what if they did it, like, every half and they spent a little bit more time with the story and the themes and workshop this a little bit more?
What if.
Yeah. They had just a little extra time that they didn't feel so just, like, bound to it.
Right. I think people would lose interest.
I think that's good.
And they'd be 50 bucks.
That's true.
Yeah.
But I mean, if they. They used to engage the quote unquote community a lot more than they do, but I think if they had, they might have avoided some recent missteps because when they stopped talking to everybody and when they've been putting out at least three out of four stinkers, it's maybe a coincidence. Maybe there's a cause there.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I'm not saying they have to talk to us because I'm hating on everything they do lately.
I mean, some. Some, like Musgrave, man, we. We talk to them all the time. They would, like. They're very engaged with us, at least with, you know, Nicole and Tim Delger. We, like, I talk to them a lot, but, like, we. We just don't. Yeah. We just don't hear from Blackwing.
Just seem to be genuinely curious, like, as far as, like, the group and people and like, what people are interested in and like, what would be fun kind of like that's. That's exciting to people and that gets you buy in right there. Yeah.
I hope. I hope Blackwing does some amount of user research in their work, but it doesn't seem very likely or visible from the outside.
I don't think they do.
Yeah, Yeah. I mean some of it seems kind of tone deaf.
Yeah.
Yeah. Like you made coffee about white people. Like seriously, like you didn't even read like a Wikipedia article about coffee. I think they probably wanted to make it a Starbucks pencil and they couldn't because Starbucks said no.
I would probably give this volume, volume 200. I would. It's, it's. This one's complicated because of like, yeah, some of the stuff Johnny, you're talking about. But like visually it looks awesome. Which I guess is like.
Yeah.
So if I average those two out, I'm probably saying like, storyline, I give it a D. Visually, I give it an A. So let's give it a B plus or something like a B.
It's a good call. It's a good rubric.
I'll do that.
Yeah. I'd give the pencil a solid A. But the story, I would just smack someone in the back of the head. Like there's, there's being woke and not woke and there's being just totally tone deaf.
Yeah.
I have a Kaldi mug upstairs actually. Oh yeah. So I have a friend who was a barista there. All right, next one.
Oh, so the Next one is Blackwing55, which celebrates the golden ratio. So I guess in short, the golden ratio is the rule of thirds. I mean most of your smartphones will remind you to do that with your photos now if you want to.
Yeah.
So this pencil, I don't know how they got the colors, but it's a color that's very similar to volume 840 and gray. And like I'm looking at it, I'm like, eh, that's kind of cool. But they put a pink eraser with a silver ferrule, which I thought stepped the pencil up. Like two greats visually.
Also, this pencil is still for sale. You can buy it on their website right now.
They. But it's called the golden ratio. So how come there's no gold? Yeah, because it's not like they don't put gold on half their pencils. So like, were they trying to be ironic? I don't get it.
It's all silver. Silver and silver and gray. Yeah.
But again, like, I liked the idea of when they had stories. This is just like a general idea, like the golden ratio. Like there were probably a million stories involving this they could have talked about.
So this one. Yeah, this is one that it also Falls to the. Once you sharpen it, it loses its meaning kind of thing. Yeah. Like, I wish they would have on the other. You lose those. Yeah, you lose those other directions. So then, like, you sharpen it once, and it looks like you have, like, a couple band aids wrapped around your pencil or something. Like.
And I get it, like, mathematically, like, the Fibonacci sequence would go if you. If you would count the, like, tip of the pencil as the. Just as the beginning. Like, the. Like, where the point goes.
Parsonrec. Sorry. It's an Andy Dwyer drop. Sorry. I was not being weird. Yeah, okay.
Yeah, so I. I get it.
Why they.
Why they wouldn't. Right? Like, if you. If you're following kind of the math, then it seems like it would go the other way, but you're right. Like, when you sharpen it, like, you're sharpening off the. Immediately when you sharpen it, you're, like, shaving off the first. The first part of the sequence. Right.
So when I look at this pencil at the moment in my life right now, and I think, I maybe felt this before, but, like, I was just at a water park this weekend. And so when I look at this pencil, I think of those bros who get the bars, like, tattooed around their arm. I'm talking about, like, the three bars. This pencil looks like an accident to me. Like. Like, if I. If I cover up the gray, like, from the gray. If I. If I had a pencil that was that color of, like, blue, green with a silver ferrule and a pink eraser, I would be like, this thing is gorgeous, you know, which wouldn't be the golden ratio, obviously. That would be, like, a whole different theme. Like, I love that color. I like the silver, like, the pink. But over, like, maybe. Maybe if they would have done something other than gray. I don't know. But it just. Like, I didn't want this one. Yeah, I have. I have a couple. I bought them. I can't remember if one of you sent me or I bought a couple when I was. There's a store that I will not name that I go to that, like, illegally sells them broken up into different. Like, into singles or whatever.
Yeah.
Yeah. So I have a couple of them from somewhere.
Yeah. I wonder, did they okay that? Because, like, the Baltimore Museum art does it for, like, three or four bucks a piece, which is obviously scammy, but, like, Bob Slate's pretty big. Everybody knows they do it. I assume Blackwing knows they do it.
Yeah, I'm sure they.
I don't know. Maybe they make an exception to Bob Slate.
We're not letting you sell our pencils.
Maybe, maybe there's. There's a button that they push and when they see them come in, like the shelf just like turns over and.
Yeah, it's just a pneumatic tube drops down from the ceiling and sucks them in, sends them back to California.
Yeah, Bob Slate. Like, they always want to talk about them. Every time we go and they mention like, oh, do you know about black wings? I'm like, yeah, they're cool. Like, I don't want to be like, yeah, I co host a podcast.
I've heard of them.
I never do.
Stay cool, Johnny. Stay cool.
Yeah. So what do you get this one? I. I would. I would give this one. I would give this one a C plus.
Just middle of the road, just very, very average. I would do a. I would do
a C. See, I would have said that. But in re examining them this week, I would definitely go B plus. That pink eraser really just blew it up for me.
Such a basic B. Johnny, the tables have turned. All right. Yeah. So what's next? Andy? Andy.
Yeah, what am I. I have volume seven, which is the animation pencil. And this is something that I. So this was that red pencil that had the. Oh, the little. I can't even, like a viewfinder that was included on it. And would they call it a picket fence animation? So if you take that viewfinder and kind of like run it along. Excuse me, the pencil barrels, you get like a little basic animation. Excuse me. And I remember thinking, like, I love the theme. Like, animation is really cool. Like, I loved kind of what they were going for, but I just, I just didn't find the execution of it to be super interesting. Like, I think I would have liked to seen like Bugs Bunny or something on the pencil better on almost just because. Or like Wiley Cloudy or just something that was a little bit closer to like Chuck Jones. Because, you know, Blackwing and Chuck Jones have had a very long partnership, like the Palomino Blackwing. Right. Like, they had the Chuck Jones Blackwing for a while. And it's something that is so beloved by animators, just traditionally speaking, like the original Blackwings. And I would love to have seen something that was more like that and. And something that was less just like showcasing the, like the animation itself. That said, I thought, I thought the thing that was really cool was the. Where it says Blackwing 7. Like it's in a little black box just on the barrel of the pencil. For some reason, I just thought that Looked really neat. And I liked the black feral, but just sort of that red with the white, like, little spots just wasn't super interesting. And I guess I can appreciate, like, you're supposed to lay out, what, six of the black wings together.
Yeah. Like, what's the expression when you sleep in, like, a bed with other people and you've got, like, your toes.
Like Charlie Bucket. It's just very. Just like his grandparents.
Toes to nose. Is that what it's called? Or something like that. You set them up, toes to nose, and then you can make the animation if you. Whatever. Almost looks more like computer code. Like 80s computer code being. Or 670s, 60s, I don't know.
And so I guess I appreciate that that's a thing and that exists. I just didn't think the execution of
it was super great.
And aesthetically wasn't my thing.
Yeah. So this pencil makes me think of one thing that Blackwing hasn't done that I think I'm trying to be honest with myself and wonder if I would have actually liked it if they did what I'm about to describe or if I would have been like, oh, that's. But they haven't played much with the tradition of pencils having, like, symbols on them, like, on one side, or, like, a series of things going down the side. Like, you know, think of a Musgrave pencil or think of, like, an old black wing or whatever. Like having Blackwing 7 and having just, like, an emblem of an anvil or something, you know, or an emblem of something that, like, represents, like, animation or. I don't know. Like, I wanted to see it be more, like, simple, because I think it's, like, interesting how they. They did. And I love the concept of, like, having that. That. I almost wish it was, like, a sleeve that you could have put them inside and then slid it along or whatever.
Yeah.
But it's, like, not a. You don't recognize it as anything. It's just, like. You just see things jumping up and down, like little white dots, almost kind of lenticular, maybe. What's that word?
Oh, you know, like. You know, like lenticular drawings where there's. You get that, like, subtly textured, like, little thing, and then you kind of, like, change the view in which you're looking at it, and it gives you just, like, a slightly animated version of it.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay.
I like that word.
I'm gonna write that down. I like learning new words. Okay. I have a. I have a field notes that I've had for, like, nine years that is just, like, nothing but, like, words that I've learned. So I'm gonna.
Oh, that's so cool.
Which field notes is a craft?
Okay.
Craft notebook. Yeah, that's.
Just share that out sometime. That'd be fun.
But I like the. The red with the orange. I like that next to each other. That's kind of interesting combo. I liked that with the black feral. Is it a black feral, or is it, like, I don't have one in front of me either? Or was it. Yeah, it was black.
Yeah. So these animated my urge to puke. These are the ugliest pencil I've ever seen in my life, let alone ugliest. Black wings.
You've already given something an F. What are you.
This one is an F. U. Dash.
Dash.
This is ugly. So there, you know, there are wrap. And at the bottom where you sharpen it, you know, you can see the white primer that's under. I'm sorry. The roll on print. So them having the. The white lines sort of perpendicular to the barrel of the pencil made it look like the. The. The finish was just messed up.
Hmm.
So when I first saw them, I was like, why did you send me factory seconds? Are you mad about the stuff I said on the podcast? You probably don't listen to? But, no, they were supposed to look like. So to make them make sense, you need, like, homework. And, like, I lost that little card right away. And then I was like, I don't care. I'm not doing this. But, yeah, like, it was so hideous. And then they even put blackwing inside of a black box to just, like, I don't know, mess up the already visually weird pencil even more.
Yeah, I don't get it. No, I.
And so this.
Yeah, I was like, just a. I don't know, like, you. You are. I feel like you are. You are the. The resident, like, rap. Like, you bring that up, like, the idea of, like, them using raps, and it hasn't bugged me as much. I don't know. Like, I don't care if you. If you do it and make it cool. Maybe in this. You know, I don't think they made it cool with this one, but, like, just the fact that it's a rap, I'm like, yeah, you know, whatever. But. But yeah, I mean, I see what you're saying. And, like. And, you know, like, based on what I said, like, I agree that, like, the. The. The effect that they created was just like, I wasn't like, wow, look at these white lines jumping up and down,
you know, like, yeah, I mean, like Andy said, there was the Chuck Jones collab, and I'm sure if they reached out to the community, anybody would have created a free cartoon character for them just to say they, you know, put. Have them put it on the box or something. Could have made it, you know, really interesting. Made some merchandise of like a. A plushie. Like Feral. Had the. The talking pencil or something. See, Charlotte could have done it. But. Yeah, sorry, I'm the resonant hater. But so some wraps, like the Lake Tahoe pencil, that was perfect with the wrap. They could never have done that with paint. And that pencil was just, oh, so wonderful. I don't want to jump ahead, but the most recent one before today is a wrap, but the. They did it really well. Looks super good. Yeah.
All right, so what do we give this one? Johnny, start us out.
F minus, minus, minus.
I don't know, man. It's fine. I'm going to give it a B minus.
I'm going to go C. So that. Sorry. Did you hear that? Sorry. We've been gone for two days and my cat is just like really, really, really wanting my attention right now. And so I picked her up on my lap and then as soon as I stopped scratching her, she like, jumped off and like, sort of like just sort of bit it into the chair next to me. Okay, sorry, Asha. Now she's looking at me. So that's. It was a lot louder on this side. Yeah, so sorry. So F minus, minus, minus a C. What'd you give it?
I gave it a B minus.
A B minus. Yeah. All right, so do I have the next one?
Yes.
Yes. All right, so this is the volume 20. Pretty recent. This is the tabletop.
We skipped one.
Oh, did I?
Oh, yeah.
Correct. How dare you skip this one.
Yeah. Geez. Yeah. So now we have volume 192. Yeah, sorry. I had it pulled up and everything. I just got ahead of myself. This is the apparently Lennon and McCartney edition. So this is like.
Apparently is a good way to describe it.
This is so. I. I'll say. I'll start with one thing that I liked about it is that it took me back to the awesome, like, hardest job in the world edition that they did. Like the.
Oh, yeah.
You know, like, I really loved that edition. That's one of my favorite sort of. I think that is my favorite. What do you. What do we call those or those private releases or, like specially releases or collabs or whatever. Yeah, so, like, I really love that one. So it's similar because it has A different line from a Lennon McCartney song on each pencil. This is one that I actually saw when I was in Asheville at. There's a pencil store there that I've talked about before called Origami Inc. Or it's not a pencil store, it's a stationary store. It's really fantastic. It's been there since I've been here in the area. And they still had some. And I almost bought another box, but I didn't. And it's like me just totally being like, it's the Beatles, I need another one. Right. Like, I. I don't like it.
Yeah, I'm sure that. And I'm sure that they thought this is a sure bet, right? Like, it's a Beatles pencil. Like, who's not gonna like this?
Yeah. And they did. They used like a color, like overlapping color prism to just be like these. You know, there's these two guys that are writing these songs together and it creates something awesome. Which also is like a total Beatles nerd in my head. I'm like, they didn't actually collaborate. Most of these songs. Guys come on. Like, they just agreed. They just agreed that they're going to put both names on every song. And so Paul would show up with a Paul song and they'd flop John's name on it. They're like. There are a couple songs that are like collaborations, you know. Of course, especially early on, there are a lot of like, peer collaborations because they were whatever, like sharing an apartment above a German whorehouse or something where. Where they were living and. Or whatever it was. They were like in the red.
That's one does.
Yes. And they were like writing these songs together or in Liverpool, like when they were young and they were like sitting like face to face and writing these songs. That's really awesome. But eventually it got to the point where we get songs like A Day in the Life where it's like, oh, cool, a Paul song. There's John. And then like the song totally changes. And like they just like. And when you watch that Get Back documentary, you learn that it's just like them just kind of like legoing songs together, you know, which was a really cool effect and was made some like really amazing music that I adore. But it wasn't like pure collaboration for the most part. And they actually kind of were like pissed at each other a lot because it wasn't eventually because it wasn't pure collaboration. And they. The band broke up and they're pissed that they're giving. They're giving like money to the other one who didn't actually help on X song or whatever, you know.
Yeah.
And when this came out, you said it best, Tim, that, like, this pencil could be about anything with that design.
Yeah, yeah.
Like, I don't know what those colors have to do with the Beatles. Not being a Beatles nerd, I assumed they had something to do with him. Like, but not.
It was. It was. The black and the white represented the two very different songwriters, and the prism represented sort of like the. The color and art and, like, vibrance that came out of those two colors.
But why were they purple and green?
So.
Sure.
Just like, they could have. Sorry. I was about to say. Yeah, just like, grow a pair and make a Sergeant Pepper pencil. Like, just do it. Like, just.
They should have done a yellow submarine.
That's. Yeah, well, it's like. Well, that's.
That's a Ringo song.
That was a better.
That would have been even better. That'd be awesome. It's like, don't even. Just leave Lennon McCartney out of this one.
Just. It's a Ringo pencil. I'm down for that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Octopus's garden.
Yeah. Hell, yeah.
But, like. But like, those. I was thinking, like, Those outfits, like, Sgt. Pepper outfits, they could have done something cool. It might have had. I will acknowledge that it might have overlapped a little too much or looked a little too similar to, like, the Ravi Shanker.
Yeah. Like, also kind of. Kind of a Beatles pencil.
Kind of a Beatles pencil. But yeah, there's so. It's the Beatles, man. Like, there's so much a white album pencil. Like, just do a white pencil. Like, just totally white. Like, you know, I know they just did that other. Like, we just talked about that other one with the white ferrule. But just like, a solid white pencil that would let it be.
Make it out of Norwegian wood. Just a natural wood pencil made out of Norwegian wood.
I'm dead.
You can light it up higher really well.
Like, being, like, doing like the. Like some of those early, like, you know, like, early Beatles albums, like, their breakout, like, doing something there or. There's just so much they could have done. And it was like, how can we make a Beatles pencil that does not evoke the Beatles at all if you don't look at the words that are on it. That's, you know, the design should, like, reflect the subject matter. Right? Like, I mean, it should. You should be able to look at it and be like, oh, yeah, that's the Beatles pencil. This one's like, oh, yeah, that's the geometry I mean, wait, what is the color?
You know, Tim's like F minus. Minus. Minus.
And I even thought about getting the second one right. I don't know. Do an Abbey Road pencil and put like the crosswalk on it. I don't know. Just do something like. I don't know.
Oh, damn. That would have been really cool.
That would have been awesome. Right?
We're going to take that photo next time you guys are in Baltimore. Just saying.
All right.
Throwing that out there for next time.
Yeah.
Okay, so I give this one just because it's the Beatles. I'm not giving it an F, but I'm going to give it a D minus. D minus. Yeah, there we go. I would give it a.
Just a D. Just like just a very. Yeah, like missed opportunity, right?
Like, yeah, I mean I would give
it a C because I didn't really care. It's like when Tim said that this pencil could be about anything but the Beatles, I was like, that's. That's it. You nailed it.
So whatever.
But they did do. Am I wrong? They did a 13th pencil in the tube. That was the subscriber extra was like a pencil you didn't get.
Interesting.
And another like design thing that just like really pissed me off about this one is that like certain lines were too long and so like the words overlapped onto the like overlapping colors. Circle. I was like, come. Come on. Yeah, that just. It was just like. It was like jarring. I don't know which maybe that gets into Johnny's like rap talk where it's like it fell differently depending on the line. I don't know.
Yeah, I mean if there's a reason to have a rap, but this didn't need one.
Johnny's rap. Welcome.
Welcome to Johnny's Rap Rap Rap Rap with Johnny. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. So.
So the most recent one that aside from the one that hasn't been released officially but we've seen is volume 20 which was for Tabletop Games. And this was a good one for being a rap and having a reason to be a rap. It has a texture. So it is been a minute since
we had an all black pencil.
Yeah, it's black with a gold ferrule and a red eraser and golden print. But on the barrel there are like polyhedron shapes.
Yeah.
And the subscriber extra was a 20 sided die which is possibly their coolest one.
Yeah, for sure.
They've done and it's little. I immediately lost mine. But they were cool. But the only thing I would gripe about is it says tabletop games, but it's clearly role playing games. And in the, in their, their copy they talk about chassis mancala and this has nothing to do with that. They could have just caught up Role playing game. I don't think anyone would have taken issues with that.
Yeah.
Plus now they blew it. They could do a chess pencil, which could be really awesome.
Yeah, it could be, it could be terrible too.
Like, yeah, I mean, it's very bad.
Chessboard pencil. I'd just be like, yeah, there's a
70% chance it'll suck.
But I mean, they should have just done a role playing games pencil. Like, they like the, like what they call it, like, don't call it tabletop games.
I'm just like, yeah, call it the rpg. RPG edition.
They didn't want to pay Wizards of the coast any or like Dungeons and Dragons any, any royalties here.
That's true. And it's like, it's like, gosh. I mean, Mousetrap is a tabletop game. Yeah, right.
Candyland. Ooh, a Candyland pencil would be cool.
Candyland. That'd be awesome.
But yeah, the Candyland pencil would be determined by fate. Like, I hate playing that game with the kids or when they used to play it. I'm like, there's no skill in this game.
You've already lost. I'm just telling you, you've already lost. Shoots and ladders pencil.
That's another one where there's skill.
That's right. It could have made a shoots and ladders pencil and then like you lay out the pencils to like make a board.
Yeah, well, Baron Fig did that with the, what was it? Snakes and ladders.
Yeah, that's right.
Which was a cool looking pencil.
Yeah, that was, that was a weird time. Remember when Baron Vig was doing quarterly everything?
Yeah, that was dizzying.
That was like the cocaine fueled years or something. Like, I don't, I assume nobody ever slept.
Just take your quarterly backpack. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
But this one, like, this was the best one they've done in a long time, I think.
Yeah, I think it looks awesome. Like, so this is one where I am going to separate it from the sort of like. Because like maybe some like, like you're saying it's like understandable, like the copy stuff is just because they didn't want to get like stuck in like a weird situation or whatever. I'm just gonna like, like with Dungeons and Dragons or whatever, I'm gonna ignore it and just say that this pencil is an A. I think it looks awesome and I Like the texture. I like the look of it and I love that it's themed on basically D and D. Yeah.
Like you, Tim. Like you with comics. Like D and D is one of those things that everybody assumes that I have done and I know about.
Likewise. Yeah.
And I'm just. And I don't.
Which. Stay tuned.
Okay. Yeah. And it's. It's definitely like a. Yeah, I just. It's a firm graphite, which you know, I like and I like that. That's kind of thematic too. Like I would assume you would want a firm graphite when you're like filling out your. Your various documentation for this. I. I'm not like a. The hugest fan of that like red eraser, but I do like the just like just all black pencil and I do think that the like kind of like isometric grid on it or I'm sorry, a raised polyhedron design. It just kind of gives it a subtle texture. It reminds me a little bit of like a Venus velvet kind of a crackly texture, even though it's not. They kind of went that. That raised texture direction. Kind of like the Tahoe pencils. I really like that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It brought that to mind right away. That was a favorite of mine.
Yeah. So.
Yeah, I might get. Pick up another dozen of this. Now we're talking about it.
Yeah. There's also another one to point out the. Are they keeping an eye on field notes? Kind of. Because field notes came out with that D and D notebook.
Yeah.
They could have collabed. That would have been pretty awesome because the field notes colors were they red and like really dark purple. They could have just put those on the erasers. That would have been awesome.
Yeah.
I mean they're halfway there.
Halfway there.
Living on a perm.
Living on the Pro.
Should we. Should we talk about the. The one they just came out with now? I'm sure we'll release this episode after they announce the theme, but. Sure.
Given.
Given you don't have these in hand. Tim, are you. Are you cool with that?
Yeah, absolutely. Let's do it.
This is the John Michel Basquiat pencil. And it is. It has one of his paintings wrapped on it. And it is a soft graphite. It's a softie. And one thing that is really interesting on it that I have not seen them do yet is they put the. They put a very. Oh, just like a design directly from his. His work onto the ferrules. So there like he has a little like hand drawn crown and they just like pop that on the side of the feral. So, like, that's pretty cool. However, it is much like the Woody Guthrie pencil. It's just so freaking busy on it. And they. It's another wrapped. What. What do you. What do you say, Johnny? Instead of wrapped?
I think so. I was corrected and said. They said they're not a wrap, they're a roll on print.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's a print that's wrapped around the pencil.
There's a seam, and the seam is just real bad. Like it is. There's.
There's.
They're sort of. And I. And I get it. Like, they don't want to like, manipulate somebody else's work of art, like when he's an artist. But that seems just very obvious, something that they do that I think is kind of cool. But I know, Johnny, you're not like a huge fan of is. It. Is. It is a transparent wrap. So some of it. The wood is kind of peeking through. So it's like a. Like a PNG file except a, you know, a wrap. So I do kind of like the. You can see the wood through it. But Johnny, you said it kind of felt unfinished.
So. Yeah, the one I'm holding in my hand, there's a little bit of wood in the middle, but most of the wood is up near the ferrule. So it just looks messed up.
Yeah. This is one that I'm probably not really taking out into the world with me just because it's just. It's just kind of fugly.
I mean, we were talking about this before. I think this. Is this the first one they've made that's dedicated to a queer person.
Oh.
Or. I mean, I don't know the biography of all the people they've named.
But yeah, I don't know Karita Kent's background, but it is a. I mean, certainly, you know, certainly he is so. Or was so.
Yeah, I'm the. I put a link in the show notes already. There was an American Masters about Jean Michel Basquiat that came out like 1819. It was pretty good if folks want to watch like an hour and a half or two hours about his work.
So very similar to the Woody Guthrie pencil. It's a really. It's a really cool theme, but, like, not maybe the best. My favorite execution of that theme.
So I think, like, for me, the difference was that the Woody Guthrie pencil had what they put on. There wasn't a piece of Woody Guthrie's work. Like, if they'd done this Machine Kills Fascist. Like he put on his Guitar. That would have been cool, but I think this one has it over that one. And at least it's his work. Yeah, but I mean, there were a lot of things they could have picked. I don't know why they picked that one. I didn't actually read the box yet.
I'm trying to see.
Yeah.
So the 57 is a tribute to 57 Great Jones street in New York, where he created some of his best known works. I don't know why the 57 is crossed out like that. I wonder if that is a reference to him. His work has a lot of interesting sort of like little doodles and themes. And on the box where it says blackwing volumes, they crossed out volumes. So maybe that speaks to, I don't know, one of his, like some of his social commentary or something. But I don't know. I'm afraid I don't know enough about his work to really just pick that up right away.
So I just took mine out of the tube and it's covered in glue.
Oh, interesting.
The pencils. Yeah.
That's gross.
Hmm. Yeah.
Anyway, but I mean, the colors are cool. I really like primary colors together. I think that this was a missed chance to do a yellow or blue feral.
Yeah.
They also.
I imagine that's probably expensive.
They did one of the subscriber extras. Well, the subscriber extra was a little pack of erasers and some of the primary colors. The thematic on that pencil. So.
Yeah, that was cool.
Yeah, that's cool. But a little, like overdone.
Yeah. So I don't know. The theme is really cool. Execution theme. Not so cool. I would give this a solid, like B minus as a. As a grade here. Oh, maybe. You know what? I'm going to give it a B because I really like the crown on the feral. I think that's cool. The co.
I would go with an A minus considering the crown on the pharaoh.
Okay.
These were. And I don't have them in hand, but just based on spoiler pictures that I've seen when I get my first glance at this was kind of like a sort of like ADHD nightmare. Like horrified. Like, this is so busy.
A fever dream. ADHD fever dream.
Yeah. Like holding that, like, I would be like, not be able to focus on what I'm writing. Like, it's just so kind of all over the place. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I. I'm not sure yet if I'll. If I'll grab some. But like, I. I was initially put off. I need to spend a little More time looking at it, but, like, the things not lining up and then just the busyness of it. It was, like, kind of in the same category as ones we've talked about before. I'm, like, carrying this out in public. Like, there's no way I'm going to use this and not just, like, out of, like, a self that's part of it is, like the self conscious thing, but, like, also, it would just. It's just so distracting. I feel like Steinbeck would agree with me there as far as, like, on the. Maybe that's like a usability spectrum or something like that. Like, the usability is, like, super, super low for me because I just feel
like Stun bag would have no idea what to make of John Michelle Basquiat.
But, like, you know, like, his pencil was all black as what his son said, so that it would be like, no distraction. Like, hand him a Basquiat pencil, and he'd be like, I'm going fishing. You know, he'd be like, I'm getting out of here. So I. I will totally preface this by saying I don't have it in hand and I haven't spent, like, I spend more time, like, thinking about it, but my gut is to give this one a D. Yeah.
Nice. All right, well, now that we've backseat driven all of their recent releases, I mean, we can and should say that the supply chain and the process and everything that goes from start to finish of this, these pencils are just a huge undertaking. And big kudos to Blackwing for going this long.
Right.
Like, they've been doing this for, like, seven years. Eight years at this point.
Yeah.
Yeah. Eight years.
And not quite as long as we have.
Yes, yes.
Never as long as we. Yeah.
But.
But kudos to them for, like, for. For doing. For sticking with us for this long. That's really cool.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, you know, I'm sure I speak for all of us and say we're being a little hyperbolic.
Yeah.
Like, I didn't actually throw up.
You didn't?
Not from that one.
What?
No, but it was another one. But we'll talk about that one. But, you know, they sometimes just. It seems like if they had a conversation with, like, five people in our group, they could have done a much better job.
Yeah.
And I don't know, it seems like they're very insular in a way that's probably not helping their brand.
Yeah.
But meanwhile, they're making tons of money, so what do I know?
Yeah. They're doing just fine.
Just fine. Yeah. All right. All righty. Well, thank you everybody for listening to episode 197 of the erasable Podcast. So if you want to follow us online, check us out at Erasable Podcast on Instagram and on Twitter. You can follow us on facebook@facebook.com erasablepodcast or facebook.com what is the groups one? I forget it now.
Facebook.com groups groups.
Yeah, slash. You can also support us on Patreon, which you can get to on our website, which is Erasable Us. You can find the show notes at erasable US197, or you can go to Patreon and find us there. We have multiple levels of Patreon supporters. We send out some goodies, including an Indelible Episodes, which is our. Our. Our Pen podcast that we do, which we send out as often as possible, which there'll be a new one coming very soon. So if you want to hear that, please throw us a dollar or whatever you're you're able to on Patreon. That helps us pay for the podcasting bills and just keep this thing going. So. And we also have producer level supporters. These are people who support us at the producer level. We have Monica Corwin, Liz Rotundo, Melissa Miller, Angie, Aaron Bollinger, Andrew Austin, Ivan Hjertnes, Tara Whittle, Ida Umphurs, David Johnson, Phil Munson, Donnie Pierce, Bill Black, Dom Kuechley, Andre Torres, Paul Moorhead, John Capilouti, Stephen Franccali, Aaron Willard, Millie Blackwell, Michael Diallosa, Tana Felice, Anne Sipe, Joe Crace, Michael Hagan, Bill Clow, Mary Collis, Kathleen Rogers, Kelton Wiens, Hans Noodleman, and John Wood. Thank you so much to our Patreon level supporters and we will see you next time on episode 198 of the erasable Podcast. Thanks everybody.
Do you like our podcast? Most people like our podcast, but if you like our podcast, David will turn it off.