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Transcript
But I'll show you guys something.
Oh, well, just. Just him. Pants are in focus.
Hey, he's got pants on.
That's good. Hello and welcome to episode 220 of the Raceable Podcast. I'm Andy Welfle, broadcasting from an early rainy California morning. I'm joined by Tim Wasem and Johnny Gamber, who both have no doubt have had more caffeine than I had today. So I'm. I have my tea. I'm getting on that. Hey, guys.
How are you?
Hey. I actually had a tragedy this morning, and I made a French press and forgot about it. So it was just, like, stewing for, like, 35 minutes before I realized.
Oh, man, just. That's a mud.
Yeah, that's not a bad thing.
I just get a spoon, just eat it, sleep. But I. I did catch up, so I've got some coffee.
Nice. That's good. Well, it is just about the end of 2024, I have a feeling. This is our last episode of the year, and we're here with a little roundup of our recommendations in reading, writing, watching all sorts of things we mentioned, not that I mentioned this last one that Johnny added in there. If you're on Patreon, you can see his face as he tried to get me to read that. So we're all 12 years old. We mentioned a lot of the stuff that we consume. We're also going to make some heartfelt recommendations and plugs for our favorite stuff, whether or not we've mentioned on the show. And we're going to talk a little bit about a new segment that we want to do next year. Just an idea Tim had based on the book that we read about the history of the Notebook. So before we do that, let's mix it up a little bit and talk about some fresh points. So, Tim, do you want to start us off?
Sure. I really only got one, but it was. But it's. It hits on so many levels, you guys.
For me.
So there's a new. Well, not new, a new release, like a reissue that they put out of Tom Petty's album Long After Dark, which is one that didn't get a lot of. I might have talked about it in the last time we chatted, I can't remember. But, like, it doesn't get a lot of attention, actually. Like, I had a song pop up in my algorithm when my, you know, my album ended and it started just playing random stuff and it played this Tom Petty song. I was like, oh, my gosh. You know, this song's amazing. How Do I. Why do I not know this song? And it's because it's a deep cut from this album and it's just one that I haven't spent a lot of time with. But they re released it with like some bonus stuff. And then they've got some merch that's going out with the album as they do these days, especially for deceased artists. You know, you can't tour, so step up your merch game. But they have a we still must
extract value from you, even though you're dead.
They put out a composition notebook. And so it's a Tom Petty composition notebook. And in the post, the original post about this, I learned that was Tom Petty's favorite writing tool. Like, that's what he did all of his, like songwriting in was in composition notebooks. Which is cool to learn. But now the last time we were. I think it was the last time we talked about or the one before where I was talking about seeing handwritten stuff. And my favorite feature from that is that the first few pages of the notebook have like a facsimile of Tom Petty's handwritten lyrics to you got lucky.
That's right up your alley, which is super duper cool.
And so. And then the COVID is really awesome. It's sold out right now, but I mean, they're gonna be back. But it's got all these illustrations of. I think a lot of these are just like Tom Petty images that you see. Some of them are like drawings that represent things that are in the song. Some are from the like kind of iconic music video that they put out. I think it was like one of the first MTV videos for you got lucky. When they're like out in the desert and rid motorcycles and stuff. It's sort of like a Mad Max feel. But it's a super cool notebook. And so I've got one on the way. They're sold out, but they're gonna have more. And yeah, I'm super excited about that. And there's also a pen. They put out a pen and it's a awesome throwback to those pens where you turn and it like.
Oh, yeah, it was.
It's a really good looking pen. It's only 850. It's a good deal. I don't know.
Probably writes terribly, but it's cool.
We can fix. We'll work on that. When it comes.
The old floater pens took that mini ballpoint refill that like everybody makes so you could make it right better. Yeah, I think there's gotta be a way Concept.
I was wondering if a space pen refill would fit into it.
Yeah, they made one where it's brass and it has a couple points where you can tear it off and if you tear off all of them, it'll fit in one of those little itty bitty pens. I mean, not that I've geeked on solutions.
Solutions. Yeah. And so it's the straight into darkness floating pen. So it's from, you know, from the album, but there's like this cool like Cadillac looking car and you turn it and it drives across and then disappears into the darkness at the bottom of the pen.
That's awesome.
So, yeah, so Tom Petty handwritten lyrics, notebooks, pens, Ch check. So that was very exciting.
Like everything. Everything Tim Wesson could possibly want.
Yes. Yeah, no kidding. Just throw a baseball in there somehow and he'll be happy. Petty autograph baseball. I'm going to go to ebay. You guys just talk.
Yeah, talking.
What's your sales?
Nice. Johnny, how about you? I'm sorry, Tim, was that all your fresh points?
Yep, that's all I got.
So six days ago the new field notes came out and mine are not here. According to the tracking, they're not coming on Saturday so I don't have them in hand.
Mine haven't even been shipped yet. According to mine,
holiday shipping poo. But so if you don't want spoilers, like go away for a minute. But if you don't mind. These are called the vintage and like they're very field notesy. They have like a linen cover, they have gold embossing and the inside of the covers sort of looks like the end pages from an old book. And like they're just really cool looking. And these are embossed, not dark debossed, which looks harder. Yeah. With the gold.
These are my favorite. Whenever field notes does like a something, a theme that isn't like specific, they do it more just like they're trying to capture a feel or a certain kind of like, like style of, of the old days. And so I'm. Yeah, I. And it seems like they, I feel like they do this often with winter stuff like.
Yeah, resolution.
Yeah, it reminds me a lot of it. Was it resolution the one from years ago where. 10 years ago where they had the
gold, the three colors? Yeah.
Ambition. Oh yeah, yeah.
Well, resolution was another one, wasn't it? Didn't they do.
Yeah. Recently.
Yeah, yeah, that had like ambition was cleaner.
Ambition. And they even had a color similar to this but they were, those colors were thinner and like because of the Gold foiling. They were all sort of trimmed down a little bit because they have to be sanded to take the foil.
But yeah.
Yeah, these look like. I can't wait to get them.
I. The clean paper is really nice. And then they're doing, like. It's like ruled, but also dot.
Grid.
They're calling dot ruled, which I think is a neat thing because I can. Yeah, I've been using more ruled lately, and they.
They're perforated pages.
Oh, are they all perforated?
I didn't notice that.
Yeah, I see that.
The cool thing is it's field notes, so the staples are gold too, because. Why not?
Yeah.
So, I mean, it's been a while since I was, like, actually tracking them. It's like, oh, cool. New field notes. It'll be a surprise when they come. But I'm tracking the heck out of these.
Yeah, I.
They've been using this paper from Domtar, if I'm pronouncing that right, for the interior lately, which is like, not my favorite, but it seems like they've switched to it. Maybe the cream one will not make a mess of ink, but they're very nice for pencil. Can't complain that a pocket notebook doesn't work for fountain pens.
Yeah.
And if you're a subscriber, you get gift paper which matches the inside, which
you could still have.
My.
Yeah, I still have my gift. Oh, that's interesting. Are you going to do that?
Yep.
Yes, I'm doing it right now.
Comes and like, how big? Try it.
Make a couple little books and start flying around.
Which one was that? Had the gift paper before? It was the one where they glued the side.
Yeah.
Black ice.
Black ice. I think that's right. Yeah, I still have it somewhere. Yeah.
Yeah, I can find that.
Yeah.
Yeah. I did not watch the video to it yet. I don't want to watch the video until I come.
Yeah.
But I think, Andy, you're right.
Like, they're. They release nail Winter.
Yeah.
Was at the winter 2011. It was white and inside had gray paper. I don't remember what it's called or something.
Sub zero.
Yeah, it was awesome. It had the really cool video where they made a snow globe. Yeah, that was awesome. But. Yeah, that's cool. And other winter releases. Navalore, which you're still supposed to pronounce. Narwhal released a Christmas pin. All right, so did you guys see this one?
No.
No. So looking at it right now, I
feel like some of their pens are ugly, but I really like the nautilus because it's got a little extra, but it's still pretty understated.
And the clip is a little much for me.
Yeah, I don't know where I stand on the clip because, like, oh, Christmas. But also, like, man, that's big.
So the clip looks like a Christmas tree, which, like, is cool thematically, but like, I guess. I guess I don't have that much Christmas spirit.
Yeah. And it's. The clip is sterling silver, so I'm wondering if that's going to make it heavy. But the clip on this pen's always sort of the weak point. The only thing that looks cheap. And they're always a little wapajong. But yeah, they haven't sold out yet as of Thursday morning. The gold nib ones are.
Oh, yeah, all the 40. The 14 karat nib ones are.
Yeah, they use resin. Like they have a pen that looks almost just like this that they used resin with, but it doesn't have the little portal windows. So I'm mean, I like when they keep with Ebonite. But this looks really pretty. I got the one last year after Christmas when they had like a couple left, but I forgot and I didn't use it yet. But yeah, they're. It's 224, which for pen like, this is not terrible. They're really well made. And if they don't have the nib size you want, all the nibs are
interchangeable, so that's cool.
And okay.
I was going to say I got to give a shout out to their, like, product photo team for this. I'm putting it in the zoom chat for this pen. This is pretty incredible. The original fall fountain pen. It is stuck like Excalibur into a pile of, like, smoldering coffee beans. My iPhone background like, that looks amazing.
I did.
I want to see smoke, like rising off that. I was like, what's happening here?
Oh, coffee beans.
So I don't know, but it was
pretty, pretty big range. Like the original and the original plus are all well under 100 bucks. And like, really sturdy pens. I've only had one of them where I had to adjust the nib like a tiny bit. But otherwise they always work out of the box like a pen should, you know? Duh. I only have one other point, and that's a question to you guys. You guys got anything cool on your holiday wish list that's writing related? You know, pencils, pens, notebooks, inkwell.
Man, I sure do wish I had a levenger. True writer. I'm just kidding. Colors
pick your top 35 colors.
Let me see if I can do
a third binder for my levenger pit.
I want right here. It's hard because I. This is, I don't know, maybe a character flaw. I tend to, like, if there's like a stationary thing that I want, I tend to just buy it for myself.
Yeah.
Makes it hard to test shop for, but.
Yeah,
I don't know, I've been thinking about. I don't know, just like, I have this nice. So long time ago. I can't even remember who made it for me. But somebody in the group, I ordered from them. Like, I'm showing this on video right now. A really nice, like, leather binder for two field notes in there. And I just kind of string this together. I've been trying to think about using this more and I've been thinking about getting something like this, but maybe a little bit slimmer and also not leather. So not quite sure that somebody stamped hard to see here over the years. Kind of theta says don't panic right in the middle, which is fine.
So.
And then just like a nice yellow band. So I don't know. I've been trying to think about what sort of like the perfect field notes cover is for me and what that might look like. And if that exists out in the world, that's something I'd probably want. Yeah.
Yeah.
How about you, Tim?
Like a couple weeks ago, I would have probably said no because I've just been so in the mindset of just trying to use stuff that I have. But I think because of this new field notes edition, I think I'm finally pushed over the edge. I think the thing that I would put on my Christmas list is to resubscribe. I haven't been a subscriber for a long time. I think I'm ready. I've been using. I've been using a lot of field notes too. When I got those Jason Isbell ones, I just plowed through four of those real quickly. And I was like, really just enjoying being back into using more field notes. So that's the thing that comes to mind. I think I'm ready to join back into the.
So when they have a sale, the sales apply to subs.
Cool.
And then when you're a subscriber, you get a discount on everything, including your next subscription, which I appreciate. Yeah, I always forget about that. Like when that mug and book set came out, I'm like, wow, that's kind of expensive. And they're like, oh, I'll get a subscriber discount? Oh no, I just bought it.
You don't have to see that one on now though, do you? You're referring to like Black Friday or something?
No, they do them a couple times a year. I think this year or last year when I resubscribed it was like some crazy sale.
Cool. I'll keep an eye out then.
Tell me, how about you, what's on your wish list?
Oh, I had one thing on my wish list that I dropped a lot of hints about and I hope appears nor. Well, I don't understand. They do a 365 series that I've never seen except for some ugly Halloween pen they made once. But they did a Nautilus that's solid titanium like with the portal windows and everything.
And I'm.
I'm pretty sure they're gone, so I. I like either. I didn't drop Handsome like sending the link over and over to Frankie.
Like I need this.
I won't be happy without this. Like divorce papers about the numbers Kitchen. I don't know.
I will have nothing to sign those. Sign the papers with.
Except the one she gave me last year. Yeah, Yeah, I think that was. I mean that's pretty far. It's not like I need another pen, but I mean, I guess I would love if bright notepads would start making pocket notebooks again or like different stuff.
Yeah, in a while. I don't know. They're themes and their execution of those themes are just always so good. Like I. I'm sorry they don't do that anymore, but I wish they would. That would be cool. Yeah. Was the one that they made that purple one when we did our party there, was that the last like, like pocket notebook that they did? Yeah.
Yeah.
They pulled out the geometric pattern.
Yeah. They did a couple bigger ones like the Voyager and like an Engineering one, but that they haven't done. Pocket notebooks.
Yeah. The shame. Those are great.
Yeah.
Chris, if you're listening.
Come on, Chris. Is it us?
That's all I got.
Happy you Andy, you have a few things. One is something that I, you know, just got a few days ago. You know, every year for Black Friday Blackwing does like a Labs pencil, right? Like a Labs black wing. And usually, I'll be honest, usually they're a little lame. Right? Like they one year they were like, hey, what if we put like a holographic foil stamp on it? But we're only going to include one in the dozen that we send you and I can't remember before, you know, they've They've just done little like experiments with materials like that. And they're just not really, I think, very interesting, compelling. But this year they did something that's a little bit more meaningfully different. Try something out. I hope they stick with it. I was really excited. It is a triangular barrel Blackwing. So it is again. So we're recording video. We're doing a zoom call just for us that will publish the Patreon feed. So if you want to see this, come be a Patreon member. But this Blackwing has a triangular barrel. It's a very kind of soft triangle. And it is great. Like if anybody early listeners of the show know, I really enjoy a triangular barrel pencil. It's been a while. I've had so many other pencils to explore. But this one is great. It's not only is it triangular, it is also a brown stained wood. So it actually goes really well with this. Just showing this like leather cover. But it goes really well with that. It's just. Yeah, it's just. It's attractive and it is triangular, so it's very comfortable. Still sharpens like a champ inside the. Like a Blackwing one stage sharpener. The only gripe is that they use balance graphite, which I would rather, you know, rather affirm. But it's fine. It's still better than a. But it's. Yeah, it's a very nice pencil. I've been using it. I took it on vacation with me. I've been using it all week. So I'm happy about this. Blackwing. Make this part of your regular lineup, please. Or make some more like volumes with this, with the triangular barrel. Because I really like it. I know that it's harder because like the wood shapes that they have to kind of like clinch together are irregular shaped. They're like a right triangle almost that they have to kind of like clinch, like turn, offset and clinch. So I know that it's a little bit harder to do, but you know, if anybody can do it, they can do it.
Well, they did do it. They figured it out. They feel like they did probably a lot of work to make the first one. It's a lot easier to make the second one.
Oh yeah. And I think. I think they are looking at the website right now. They're sold out. So I'm glad that I got a batch. I'll send you. Did either of you guys get one? I did.
I don't know where they are.
Okay, Timo, I still need to send you the black wings from Canada that I got. So I'll include one of these in there, just so you have one.
Cool.
They're really nice. Yeah, thanks. So good. Good call. Black wing. Yeah, I would love some of these in, like. Actually, I would love to see this in, like, the 602 colors, like that gray with the thing on the side.
So great idea.
That might be really fun. So, yeah, that is that. Another thing I was going to mention is somebody posted in the group, but I've also just been following it on YouTube. Have either of you been following the Adam Savage pencil saga?
No.
So Adam Savage, you know, the Mythbusters guy who is now just a YouTuber, he makes stuff. He is just very excited about a lot of things. His pencil of choice for years and years is the Papermate Sharpwriter. The little yellow kind of all in one mechanical pencil. And it's that one where you, like. I think you turn the tip to extend it. They've never impressed me. Not that big a fan of it, but I know, like, it has a certain aesthetic, like a workshop aesthetic. And, you know, they do what you need to do. That's always been his thing, but recently Papermate changed it. They do it in a different factory, and the plastic is different. It's a different color. The eraser is worse. He's really, like, not happy with it. So he had a whole video about it, sort of about design and how these things happen. He talked about how he, like, tried to call Paper Mate and try to get some, like, custom Savage Industries pencils made. And a bunch of people just over the last, like, several months when he posted this, have sent him, like, he's like, oh, hey, my Office Depot and, you know, my hometown has, like, a dozen of them on the shelf and dozen packages of the old kind. And so Adam Savage would, like, call them and get them to send it to him. So he has, like, he has hundreds in stock. So he's good. He was good. And also, like, a bunch of pencil people. I wonder if anybody listen to the show has. Has written into him and told him, like, oh, hey, like, you should try this pen. This mechanical pencil. This captures that aesthetic. This is like that, too. So he's done all that, but then also Pentel reached out to him and sent him a really. Just a big box of, like, just a bunch of their. Their mechanical pencils. And Pentel pencils are really nice. Like, the graph gear is really nice. I've always liked the Sharp series mechanical pencils that they have. It's. I'm trying to think of. It's these. I'M posting the link in the chat here, but I'll have a link in show notes, too. But it's the. They, like, the original ones come in a bunch of colors. Oh, yeah. Kind of that yellow color. And they also gave. Yeah, they also gave him this really good one. Is it this one? It's the Pinto Smash is what it's called. And they have it in, like, this kind of, like, orangish color with a black grip. And that's also really nice. So it's all mechanical pencils, which is, you know, a little bit outside of the show's purview. But I just like that, you know, Adam Savage is one of us. He geeks out on pencils, like, very deeply. I think we mentioned some of those other videos on the show before, but that was really good. I would love to know his view on wooden pencils and kind of why he doesn't use them. And I think I know why. I think he just doesn't want to mess around with, like, trying to resharpen it when he's, like, in the middle of a project. Right. Like. Like, I think the mechanical pencil is really his bag. But, yeah, that's. And, oh, while he was. While he was going, somebody sent him, apparently, paper mate McDonald's. They made sharp writers for McDonald's. And so they have some with them, the McDonald's logo on it. And he was just like, oh, my God. He's like, my friend Tom Sachs, who's a designer in New York, is going
to just freak out about this.
So, yeah, it was very fun. I don't know. One thing I like about him, he's kind of that quintessential, just, like, enthusiast. He's really interested in a lot of things, and he knows a lot about a lot of things. I think the first Adam Savage video ever watched, he was at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. looking at the original model they used for the Enterprise on Star Trek and just talking about design, little minute design choices that the original producers made of the Enterprise. And, yeah, I was just like, oh, my God, this is amazing. So Tim has faded off into the background. There he goes,
checking in on the dog.
Oh, buddy.
I got a dog with a hurting leg. And he just limped up to me and just was standing here whimpering. So I had to go on mute for a second and give him a scratch because he's just struggling, so.
Poor guy.
Yeah, you're gonna be okay. You feel he made it downstairs, though? That's the part where I'm like, he's probably Like I don't know how to get back upstairs.
So yeah, the last thing I'll mention is I just got back on Sunday from Hawaii. I went for a few days. Erica planned a just a last minute trip. We were. After I got laid off, I was feeling a little bummed and she was like, hey, do you want to go to Hawaii? Because what else do you do when you lose your job than you know, take a vacation? But Hawaii is great. It is so fun.
It is.
It's so weird because there are like little pieces of it that remind me very much of like when I was in the Philippines, like just certain architecture or landscape or something like that. But then also like you're in America, you're like, they take my money and they have like Walmart's thing. So it was fun. I found a lot of press pennies that was really fun. I went to. So I really enjoy a. I really enjoy a tourist trap. I think that there's only things there and there's no bigger tourist trap on the Hawaiian Islands than the Dole plantation. So the pineapple fields and the sort of like there's a big Dole gift shop and there's also a train, the Pineapple Express that will take you kind of through the fields and they'll show you different trees and they'll give you the history of Dole. Dole Fruit Canning Company that conveniently leaves out a few things like how an ancestor of James Dole overthrew the Hawaiian government, like the sovereign government of Hawaii.
We didn't talk about that part
specifically so they can make money from it. So yeah, it was great. We went to a couple like we went to a history museum there and a really cool art museum. It was really fun. So I made some press pennies. I trying to think of course did some at Dole. I have a press penny. This is kind of hard to see, but it's man. I didn't have any shiny pennies so I had to use a dull penny. It is just, just a cup of Dole whip. Very ghoul thing. Yeah. So I got some good tiki drinks. It was fun. I got a vintage aloha shirt.
So. Yeah.
So why never been before. It's a long ass plane ride. It was like 5 hours from California so that's a good 10 hour plane flight for you guys.
I joked about this in the, in our text thread, but what time zone is Hawaii in?
It is 22 further from California. So. So when it's. So it's five hours away from you Guys. Gotcha. Yeah, I had no idea what time it's at. Hawaiian standard time, I think. But yeah, time zone. Yeah, it's just. It's way out there, right? It's just. Just way in the middle of the ocean. So. But yeah, gorgeous weather. It was, you know, December and it was 80 degrees and sunny and it rained a little bit, but that's okay. So, yeah, really good time in Hawaii. I did go to a. Somebody in the group recommended a stationary shop that I am now. It's called Mono M O N O. And I didn't find. They didn't have a great pencil selection. They had really good selection of traveler stuff. I did buy. I don't know, I just. I like a good writing pad and it is a Midori paper writing pad. And what's interesting is one of the corners has like a notch cut out of it. So I don't know why. I just. Yeah, I just have never seen this particular Midori writing pad. So pick that up. It's designed for writer's comfort. That is it for me for refresh points. Yeah. So we kind of switched things around and we were going to do a year end edition of Tools of the Trade and basically some of the things that you're recommending and listening to and that you might recommend just kind of like from, you know, lasting Power. Tim, how about you? What are you. What are you thinking?
Yeah, so I, at least the way I was thinking about this was like things that I might have recommended a long time ago, but if like something still. So assuming I'm hearing this right, but just like I was trying to think about a book that just like has stuck with me. So we're going to talk about books and things we've watched and things we've listened to, but like a book that stuck with me that I consistently recommend to people and might be surprising based on what it is, but I recommend to like all sorts of people, not even super fans of this. But Bruce Springsteen's memoir, Born to Run is a fantastic read. It is so good. I read it once very quickly. It's one that you can tell like 100% he wrote it himself. Like in a good way. It just sounds like his voice. It's not like a ghost written thing. And I've heard him say in interviews that he did write it himself. He didn't have a ghost writer. I mean, he had an editor. But yeah, it's a fantastic book. And if you get the audiobook, he reads it too, which is just like, you know, how cool Would that be have Bruce Springsteen talk at you for 14 hours or whatever along that the book is. But it's really good.
I imagine he just, like.
He's like, hey, man.
He.
The book was like, got some extra attention because he talked for the first time publicly about his struggles with depression, which now he talks about a lot in different, like, areas that he's been, like, you know, in therapy and struggled with, like, pretty intense depression since, like, the 70s. So, I mean, like, for a long time.
Which is amazing to hear because he just seems like he is, like, the most sort of, like, nonchalant, like, affable guy.
Got it all together. Yeah. Like, it's all good, man. Like, he's just got that vibe to him. But, yeah, he had some really dark times that he talks about pretty openly, which I knew for. For me, as somebody who, you know, at times deals with depression or anxiety and things, hearing it from someone like that for kind of the reason you're describing Andy was really. That was really helpful. So that's a great book for viewing. One thing that I would definitely recommend always, but especially now that it's finally on streaming, is Northern Exposure. If you've never watched the show, where's Exposure? It's on Prime. I was Googling it, like, you know, a few times a year. Like, when is it going to stretch? Why is this show not on streaming? I don't understand. Which ended up being. Because of all the music they play in it. They were having trouble figuring out, like, all the music rights for this show because there's a radio station that's, like, always playing music on the show. Chris in the Morning. But show is fantastic. I used to. That was a show I discovered through a friend, like, in college, and then ended up getting the DVDs on Netflix, like, in the mail, and watched the whole series that way back in the day, and eventually, like, bought the whole series. But, yeah, it's on prime now, so you should watch it.
So. And then speaking of back in the day, I watched it on TV.
Yeah. Yeah.
It's like 30. Oh, my God. Never mind.
It's such a good, weird show.
So.
It's hard to describe. Yeah, I mean, it's like part of. It's like kind of a screwball. Like, a New York guy is often, you know, Alaska to be a doctor. But there's these episodes where it's like, the theme is War and Peace by Tolstoy. And there's like, this obscure Russian, like, chess master who's, like, come into town and everybody's like, checking in on this chess. There's some that are, like, all in, like, a dreamscape. It gets weird, but in, like, a really fun way. Excellent show.
Yeah.
And then the other for viewing. If you haven't watched either of the Beatles documentaries on Disney, Get Back, of course, which is the one that's like 92 hours long, which is just. Yeah, I think it's like 7A really long. But then the new one, there's a new one called Beatles 64, which is all about, like, the first year they came to the States, like, when they hit it big. And that one was. I just watched that. That just came out a couple weeks ago, and it was excellent for, like, music shocker. I'm going to mention Johnny Blue Skies again because I think I've said. I've talked about Sturgill Simpson, Johnny Blue Skies in the last, like, four episodes.
But is he the guy who made that, that new Twitter replacement? Johnny Blue Skies?
Yes. Yes, that's him.
Okay. They named that after him.
Yes, named it after himself in the singular. Yeah. Because it's just one of the band members who made it. So, yeah, Sturgill Simpson, his new band, new project, it's called Johnny Blue Skies, they have an album called Passage Judas. I can't speak French. Passage du deser is what I'll call it. But, dude, Dudessir or Passage. And then MJ Linderman is another artist that I've really gotten into that you think you guys would really like. He was in a band called Wednesday, and he's based out of Asheville, actually. But he's getting some pretty big recognition. Yeah. Really good indie rock stuff. And then, you know, for writing, if you haven't bought yourself a Parker Jotter xl, you should do that.
I'll leave it there.
It's a pen. But, like, go ahead.
I got one of those and I really didn't like it. I gave it to really.
Was it just the size what makes an XL?
It's a little bigger. It's like 20% bigger than a normal Parker jotter. Oh, and the Parker jotter is too. I have these, like, sausage fingers. So it was always. Just felt like too.
Was it longer or the girth?
A little. Little girth or a little longer there.
Okay.
Like, it doesn't feel that different unless you're looking at it like, oh, but they don't use the resin. They only have, like, that textured metal. And I just didn't like that.
Oh, yeah. See, I liked that. And maybe I was used to it because of all the in my early days of getting into all this stuff, I really was enjoying like Keras Customs pens and stuff like that that were that anodized metal. So that didn't bug me at all. But I have three of them. I have two in my office and one that I carry in my bag. And I love them and they're not expensive. They're like they're on sale all the time, like 13 bucks or 14 bucks, something like that. But that'd be the recommendation. And then my all time course, the Blackwing natural is kind of like the pencil I use more than anything else that I talk about all the time but can't get nothing. I don't have anything like new and obscure to like drop on people because I've just been using the same stuff,
which is good. That's what we should be doing. What kind of podcast is that though?
He just keeps using this. He said, hold on, one thing, hang on, I might have one more. Which is going to be something we talk about, but I don't know if they still make it. But it's a right update. Checking. Here we go. They do absolutely the right notepads. Classic hardcover lined notebook.
Oh yeah, Remember we got the first one. We got a beta test.
Durable and elegant for everyday use, it says on their website. Yeah, but I love this thing.
Yeah.
So that's my commonplace notebook. Is that guy.
Oh, nice, nice.
Yeah, that's neat. Those are my.
So I'm having trouble like narrowing it down to stuff that I would still recommend but with that in mind. These are ones I would say like, oh, if you ignored me the other times. Check these books out. Now how to adhd, which I read at the very beginning of the year and it's billed as the ADHD book that's ADHD friendly. So like everything is really short and I found it's a good book to give. People who don't have ADHD and want wonder why you do the weird stuff you do sometimes.
This is what it looks like inside my brain.
Like spouse like, hey, you should read this book. I like it a lot. But since then my middle son has been diagnosed. So like, you know, we're encouraging people in the family to learn a little more about it that you know, it's not running around the classroom. It's all the stuff you don't see. So you know, if you have ADHD or someone in your family has it, it's definitely worth read. I think it was a bestseller. I'm sure that libraries have many copies
of it
and we sort of had, like, an aborted book club with. Oh, crap, what's his name? Matthew Palantis. Yeah, sorry. But he had a book called Library and Unquiet History that was just, like, you have to read it if you like books. I wound up reading, like, half a dozen books about books in the middle of the year. Not on purpose.
And.
And that was probably my favorite one, even though there were some good novels in there. And lastly, I would pick Six Souls, Healthy Minds, How William James Can Save youe Life by John Cag. He's a philosophy professor, but he writes about, you know, philosophy as something that could actually affect your life and something realistic. So, like, he's written a book called Hiking With Nietzsche, where he read about a really difficult period of his life, and he went into the Alps where Nietzsche was, and got to stay in Nietzsche's room. He has one about Thoreau and work that I haven't finished reading yet, but just, like, really good stuff. Like, totally relatable to normal people. And, like, you know, if all philosophy professors were like, Kim, more of us would have jobs or more of them would have jobs.
And, yeah, more people would read.
Philosophy deceptively shrinking with the bookstore, so.
So.
So for viewing, like, the best stuff I saw all year would include Gangs of London and Sherwood, which I've talked about recently. But I've been rewatching Mike Flanagan's horror series with my kids, and, like, they all bear a second viewing. Even better. Second time. I actually didn't like Flying Manor that much, but the second time I watched it, I think it might be my favorite one. But, you know, they're not that scary. Only where Rosie got scared sometimes,
and then.
Which one? The House of Usher was kind of violent, some of them, but that was the least scary. Yeah. So for music, I don't want to mention one of them because he got canceled and then uncanceled. But a certain guy who wrote an album whose first words are one assassination, it's really good.
Moving on.
So the Cure.
Googling.
The Cure put a new album out not that long ago. And it's, like, so freaking good. It sounds like, you know, it came out of 35 years ago. There was some, like, you know, really long guitar intros, and then they're like, oh, here's the song. But it's called Songs of a Lost World 2, which is also, like, one of the most Cure titles you can have. And, you know, Robert plants all over Instagram because he still wears lipstick and has crazy hair and just, like, does not give An F. Say Robert Plant. I said Robert Plant.
Robert Smith.
And so I was like, completely.
Yeah, yeah.
I've heard really good things about that album. And the Cure is a band that I haven't, like, spent much time with, but, like, I've heard lots of good stuff, so I need to check it out.
I mean, don't do it. If you're feeling sad already, pick up from that. But, yeah, and Air Upstrap, I'm totally fine with it. I don't give a something anymore. It's definitely one of my top albums.
I don't give a typewriter bill anymore.
And for. So for writing last year for Christmas, I got my first Narwhal Nautilus in Antheus Violet or whatever you say. That has, like, purple hardware, and I would never go for that. And also, I thought that they were a little overpriced and never got into them. But, like, oh, I think by the new year, I'd ordered, like, two more, and I've got, like, maybe 10 by now, not much more than that. But it's such a great pen, and it's kind of silly to have more than one because it's, like, super workhorse. It's piston fill. It holds, like, so much ink. So comfortable to use. So durable. They don't dry out. They don't link in the cap. They even. They expanded their range of black ones with different hardware, billing it as, like, everyday pen. And speaking of black, my other thing that was new this year that I don't think I've talked about is diamine Onyx Ink, which is like, it sucks the light out of the room, black ink. And.
Yeah, I remember that one.
The other one, Levenger's Raven Black, is very good, but it stains pens and it gets kind of permanent. But, like, Onyx cleaned right out of pens and still was like, oh, my God. Plus, it's diamine, so it's really cheap. You get a big bottle for, like, 20 bucks. But finally, I feel like I rediscovered the Musgrave Harvest Pro just because it came out when the red came out. And I'm like, I love the red so much. If I go for a Musgrave, I go for red. I have a couple vintage harvests that are, like, dreamy, but, you know, I don't have a lot of them, so I ration them. But the Harvest Pro, like, if they put a number two and a half in, that might be like, my forever pencil or one of them because it's a little soft for working. But, you know, whenever I'm marking up stuff for books. I always have one of those. Plus it's a sharp hex. But it won't run. It won't run away on the table. And they're not expensive.
Just dig into your fingers. Just permanent indents from.
It's good if you're like. If you're going to hold. I don't know if you can see it. You're going to hold it like this.
Just like. Oh yeah.
You know, they don't break for being so soft. Actually this is a general expensive. It did break from being so soft. But yeah, I mean, if you don't have any, get some. They're so affordable and cheap. They come in a cool box.
Perfect.
Yeah.
So that's what I got.
I think most of my recommendations are books at this point. But if I was thinking. If I was thinking about the kind of like book series that I always enjoy and come back to every year, usually around December each year you get the best American food writing series. And they actually, just this year they sold to a. Like they sold their publisher and they combined the food writing and the travel writing submissions into one book, which I think honestly works. Okay. I think that food writing and travel writing can often be the same. But so this year. Yeah, it is. I don't need to pull it up. Here it is edited. Guest edited by Padma Lakshmi, which is fun. So she has a really good kind of story in the front there. Yeah. Just always really. It's always really good.
Right.
There's some of the whole series just
like the best American series.
Yeah, I always read the best American science fiction and fantasy and then also the best American food and travel writing. And there's a few others that I picked up too. Like, I think that there's like. There's a good. I think there's a good music writing one, isn't there, Tim?
I actually don't know. I've not seen a music writing one. I. I like the, you know, the short story one and the essay one I bought.
Yeah.
You know, now and then there's a. I don't know if it's still going, but there was a mystery. Like a. Best mystery stories.
That's right.
Yeah. I'm not sure if it's still a
thing, but I don't know what they're doing nowadays because I. Yeah, I know that they change it up, but it was really good. There's just. Just really interesting stuff and I love how they take like, you know, there was one called My Catalina and like it seemed like Maybe it was going to be about, you know, the islands off. Off of like Los Angeles. But it's about like Catalina French dressing and how this was like her mother's favorite and how it's like sort of the staple of like poor Midwestern households.
And I was like, that was my favorite as a kid.
I love a Catalina French dressing. That's for sure. Just bright red fluorescent sugar syrup. So yeah, it was. That's something. Every year I pick that up and I would definitely recommend that. I was reading on the plane on the way to and from Hawaii. Other couple books that really just really stuck in with me in my head this year. One is wasn't written this year, but it became a Netflix series this year and people have just really been into it. Is the Three Body trilogy, the Three Body Problem by Cishan Li Liu. And it is, yeah, I read that last year into this year just because it's so long and it's really heavy. So good, really good series of books. Just makes you kind of like think about like Earth and the vastness of space in a different way. There's no warp speed travel, there's no sort of like hyperspace drive. It's just like, oh yeah, it's gonna. These aliens are coming to evade, but it's gonna take 400 years.
My nephew, who he's 13, just read that and was just like in love with it.
That's dense for a 13 year old.
He's a. Yeah, he's a smart kid. But I bought so for Christmas got him project Hail Mary as like a follow up and indiew would be a really good 75 movie. Just like the first day he was just like plowing through it when we were there.
So yeah, that's really good. Another one that's kind of the opposite end of the sci fi spectrum that I just really love this year was Moonbound, which is a book by Robin Sloan, who is a localish guy and he wrote it starts off and you think it's fantasy and as the world sort of like comes into view and evolves a little bit more, it kind of turns into sci fi. But it's still very like fantasy ish. And there's a lot of reasons for it. It was really good. And I know that he intends to sort of make that a whole universe in which you can tell different stories. So definitely pick up Moonmound if you want. Just a little bit off the wall. Fantasy feeling, science fiction book. My last recommendation for books is nonfiction and something that will be really relevant in the new Year come, say, mid January. It's called Stories or Weapons. And it is sort of about the history of disinformation and propaganda in the United States and how it's been used to, you know, change. Change hearts and minds. Sometimes not for the better. It's pretty. Pretty interesting. Annalee Newitz, who is a science fiction author and is like a science writer, they wrote it, and it came out earlier this year. So it's a good book. It's not. Uplifting really, but it definitely. It has some interesting. Just good pattern recognition that you can see when, like, misinformation is being used, is being weaponized and kind of used against you and some ways to think about it and combat it. So it was pretty good. Really relevant. And I guess along that same line, something that I talked about on this
show
months ago is that one about, like, nuclear wars? Hopefully, yes. Yeah, hopefully that won't be relevant, but still just like, oh, I think about that all the time.
So, like, y' all should know that one's gonna fester.
Yeah. And then, yeah, I guess the other recommendations I give is. Is riding with this has been, for me, a year of the draplin, really. Just any tactile turns. I bought that sort of like, Vice, Miami Vice tactile turn in. In the midnight color, and then also some draplin collabs. I bought the blue one and the orange one, and I just use those a lot. I love that draplin tactile turn. It's just so chunky, and it feels real good with that big, like, thick 1 millimeter, like, black refill in there. And then I don't. You know, I was trying to think from this year if there's been any really standout pencils. And I guess, I guess the, like, 746, the Golden Gate Bridge Blackwing has been a. Was just a. I was a big fan of that one.
Just.
I mean, even if I didn't have sort of the San Francisco connection, I'd also think it was just really attractive. So that one's great, and I would continue to recommend it. It was the only one in a while that I bought two boxes of, like, oh, I got the one from the subscriber, and then I bought another box. So, yeah, that's the really good ones. Cool. So that is it. With tools of the trade.
We're gonna.
I think, briefly just. Tim, I was hoping you could kind of take the reins and talk a little bit about how you see this. This new segment to go. And then also I was thinking Maybe we could talk a little bit about the notebooks we were gonna use for this, because I have a weird one. So.
Yeah. So this is. I think the idea for this new segment to kind of mix things up came from a few different places. Part of it is from our conversation about the notebook where we had Raleigh on. We were talking about, was it Zibaldoni or.
Zibaldoni? Zibaldoni.
That's. So that was, like, a similar idea. And we've talked about commonplace notebooks before, but this, like, meant to be, like, kind of a repository of stuff that you want to keep, like, things that you read that you need to write down for yourself. So I think, like, the idea originally was that they would do that because that was the only way to keep it, because you can't make a copy, right? You can't, like, photocopy it. You can't copy and paste it into something. So you keep a notebook of just kind of, like, the things that you want to remember, stories you want to remember. So I thought it would be fun to kind of challenge each other, if you don't already. But, like, for the year, to kind of do that in a focused place, like. And it could in the. I think that the topic could be anything. It could be from a book you're reading. It could be song lyrics. It could be something you heard, you know, from a friend or somebody, you know, or just, like, write down quotes. It could be anything. And then each episode, we would just, like, share a couple. So I. We're still working on a name for it. So it's coming from that conversation with Raleigh Slash, like, sort of stealing it with a little less. Probably. It'll probably be a little less entertaining. Stealing it from the Take Note Fellas on their podcast, they kind of do something similar. They're just more of, like, guys are
just stealing your ideas.
We write stuff down, like, throughout the week. And so they're just, like, little observations and things. I'm thinking of it more as, like, things that I want to write down for posterity. Specifically, like, things that I want to refer back to. Like, I think the last things that. Like, the last things I wrote in mine, I have a quote from Bob Dylan, like, where he was talking to Allen Ginsberg. I've got something from Marcus Aurelius's Meditations in here. I wrote down a poem by Adam Zagajewski, a passage from Cannery Row by Steinbeck. So just, like, it's a wide variety of stuff, but, yeah, so I think start doing that in the new year and just something. And we'll think about, like, format and stuff. But if you want to join us. Yeah, it's a fun thing to do and a good thing to do. Just kind of. It's almost like creating your own little greatest hits or something. You know, things that you. The things that stick in your mind. Maybe it's a quote from a book about nuclear apocalypse. Maybe, maybe, you know, just not relevant. Yeah.
And I think.
Go ahead.
I think it'd be cool if, you know, we maybe over on Patreon, we post some, like, some of our spreads from that book just for people to see. And as we develop in this practice and, like, grow, that would be a neat thing to watch.
We could even, you know, we've done, like, the pen stuff on Patreon. We could also do occasional Patreon episodes where we do a little bit more, like, talk a little bit more about stuff that's in there. Could be interesting. But. Yeah, so if you want to join us, it'd be fun. And so my notebook, I already showed you earlier, but, like, the one that I'm using is the right notepads. Classic window journal. Red, my favorite color.
Well, this is.
I've had one going for a while, but, like, I've been really casual about it for, like, I mean, I started. Oh, my gosh, I wonder if I put a date in here. Well, I think I wrote it when I got this, but like, a couple years I've only filled, like, five pages or something. So, like, I haven't been, like, really diligent about it in here. I tend to end up, you know, I might get lazy and write stuff down in other places, but, like, I just want to, like, focus back on this notebook and continue using it. So.
So if you want to do the challenge of using matching notebooks, I can make that happen.
Hey, before the new year, I mean, I kind of had a really over the top, fancy one to use. Wouldn't match. But do you want to.
So use what? Use what feels right.
I talked about this in the. On the show before, just when it came. But I haven't touched it because it is maybe the fanciest notebook I've ever bought. But it was the. The IA writer notebook. If you remember this. It was. I paid $87 in total for this because I'm stupid. I can do. If you want. Now that we have video, I can do an unboxing of this. It is very fancy. So got this box. This is a white kind of like slipcover with this really nice linen paper on this box and you, you pull it out. This is a minimalist, like Japanese like writing app. So it's very beautifully minimal.
I knew I like I had that app that
make a notebook.
I didn't realize they were like.
Yeah, anyways, go ahead and. And they can only make them in like batches of a thousand or something like that. So there's so few. So it comes in this like wood, this little wood box. And so you open that up and then there's like some like a smaller wood box.
Yes.
Notebook is actually micro sized. It has some tissue paper on it. So you pull that out and it is this really just like white cover. It says the notebook for writers in English and in Japanese. And
the pages.
Yeah, it's very thick. The pages are very lush and thick though. Let me try to open this up. And what's interesting about them is we'll see if we can see it. But the pages are blank. But there are lines that are watermarked in it. So I don't think. Yeah. Do you see it a little bit? Yeah. So there it's offlined, but it sig.
It's. It laid finish.
It's not laid.
It's like. Is it on both sides?
No, it's watermark just inside like it's inside the paper. So this is why it's. To make the stupid thing. Dang it.
Is this picture in the chat of the notebook laying flat like. And that's. That's pretty remarkable. Like that's.
Yeah, yeah, it's. It's really fancy and I think maybe our. Our pal Toffer told me about this because they always like message me whenever there's just like ridiculous notebooks. And I was like, oh gosh, I love I writer. I might have to get this. So I may, I don't know, I may use this for a while as my commonplace book. Just because I needed. I need to actually use it or else it's going to just. I'm never going to touch it and
stay in that box.
Yeah, I'm just going to be guilty about it. I. Yeah. I'm thinking about making this my commonplace notebook.
Nice.
What's the size of.
What size is this? This is pretty. It's pretty Asics size. It's okay. It's five and three quarters by inches by eight and a quarter. So a little bit.
I'm saying five.
Yeah, yeah. So I think I'll check it out. I'll put the link in the show notes, but I think they open another batch. So you Might be able to.
I'm on the website now. It's available to like add to your cart. It's a dollar 75.
Yeah, it's. It's so stupidly expensive.
44 sheets, 288 pages.
Okay. Yeah. So that's the notebook I'm going to use. Use for this.
Free shipping if you buy three or more.
Oh, hi, Jimmy. Oh, thanks.
Yeah.
Johnny, how about you?
Well, I have this. I don't know if it's gonna show up, this gray clothbound book that is B6 that I made, that is rounded and backed. And usually my journals aren't big enough to bother rounding and backing. So let me give this a shot. It's like 400 pages of really sweet Japanese paper.
It's a lot of. It's a lot of notebook.
Yeah, that's what I was gonna say. I like that cover. Really cool gray.
Thank you. Well, we are doing this during the day and one of us has a job, that's Tim, and he probably needs to jump off, so we can probably wrap it up. So, yeah, stay tuned to the New Year for that new segment. And yeah, I would like to. Yeah, thank you both of you guys for hopping on. And Happy Christmas and Happy New Year to you both. Happy Christmas. Happy also Christmas and New Year's to our. Our Patreon producer level patrons. And over there on Patreon, you can also become one of them. @patreon.com erasable you can see a video of this very recording. So thank you to Mikhail Tuzikoff, to John Schroeder, to Ellen Mack Tucker, Dana Morris, Liz Rotundo, Melissa Miller, Angie Aaron Bullinger, Ida Umphers, Dave Johnson, Phil Munson, Valerie Drew, Kathleen Rogers, Dr. Hans Noodleman, John Wood, Tom Keakley, Andre Torres, Paul Moorhead, William Modlin, John Cappellouti, Stephen Fansale, Aaron Willard, Millie Blackwell, Michael Diallosa, Tana Feliz, Anne Sipe, Michael Hagen, Chris Metzkus and Mary Collis. You can find this episode and show notes@erasable.com Excuse me. Comrasable US/220 and you can find us on Facebook and on now on Bluesky. Rasablepodcast. Actually, no on Bluesky we verified our domains so our username is Erasable Us there. So thank you very much and we will catch you in the new year. Do you like our podcast? Most people like our podcast, but if you like our podcast, David will turn it off.