Description & Show Notes
Today we have a big Fresh Points catch-up. Andy remembers Patrick Stewart, can't stop thinking about the Elizabeth Holmes documentary You Can See Everything , and rips open a pack of Draplin's trippy Other Worlds "paper portals" on air. Tim declares the new matte Blackwing Eras his favorite Blackwing ever and gets recognized by a listener in Chicago, while Johnny stocks up on Musgrave's matte-black Blackout Ceres and Nahvalur's Fountain Pen Day pen.
- Erasable episode 243 with Gabe Bullard
- Against Convenience by Gabe Bullard
- You Can See Everything
- Patrick Stewart
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
- A Wall Is Also a Road by Annalee Newitz
- Field Notes Explore America: Northern California
- Out of the Shadows by Jay Stratton
- True Violet by Rayland Baxter
- The Sopranos
- Blackwing Eras (2026)
- Uni KH-20 hand-crank sharpener
- The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
- Against the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth
- Nahvalur Nautilus Ti Toffee
- Mirado Black Warrior
- Baron Fig
- Hobonichi Techo
- Field Notes Hunter's Moon
- "Abandoned Farmhouse" by Ted Kooser
- Pee-wee's Playhouse x Field Notes 3-pack
- Pee-wee's Playhouse shop
- DDC x Field Notes Other Worlds
- Chicago Music Exchange
- Robert Plant
- Finisher's Journal
- Nahvalur Original Plus Fountain Pen Day 2026
- Nahvalur Nautilus in Pine Barrens
- Musgrave Ceres 909
- Musgrave America250 closeout sale
- Erasable Patreon
- Erasable Podcast Discord invite
This transcript was generated from an audio file by AI, and may contain inaccuracies.
Transcript
I think that hotel Wi-Fi is just like— there's— for internet gods, it's just like, this is not a holy place. Like, you cannot— internet gods cannot enter there.
Profane place. Yeah, you're asking too much of the gods.
Hello and welcome to episode 243 of The Erasable Podcast. I am Johnny, when, if you're on Patreon, you could see my really awesome beard. And it's a great beard. And joined by Andy and Tim, who also have beards that are— Mine is the worst.
Mine is like barely there.
Mine is minimal these days. I've been going for the, uh, I, I would call it like the Russian soldier in GoldenEye or in like James Bond where it's like the mustache, but really short everywhere else.
Um, can, can you do the rapid pen twirl?
Oh no, I, I've been working on it. I, I'll save
it
for next time. Of course.
Your beard's got like blackjack or blackjack, Jack Black energy.
It really does.
Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, I start taking that as a compliment.
Yeah, it is a compliment.
I really appreciate him.
It's just cuz the, the break of the, like where the gray comes in and everything. It's like,
can you, can you do the splits like Jack Black can?
Uh, not on camera.
Oh,
because I'll die.
Fair, fair.
I'm not gonna die on camera.
Do it one time.
Not today.
Yeah. So it's been a couple of weeks, sort of, but last time we had a great guest. If you haven't checked out that episode with Gabe Bullard yet, definitely check it out and pick up his book.
We missed you, Tim.
Yeah. I hated to miss it. I was traveling and the internet gods were not behaving at my hotel. So, but that was great.
So we actually have like a ton of Fresh Points to catch up on. I think we talked about the fall Blackwings, but we have fall Field Notes, a bunch of Field Notes, new Blackwings. Like all kinds of stuff. So how about we do Tools of the Trade first and Andy can go first.
Sure. Gosh, something I've been consuming, something that I watched last weekend and I just like, I don't know, I just can't stop thinking about it. It's the documentary You Can See Everything. It is— I wanna watch that. It is 3 hours long, fair warning to everybody. It is about the Elizabeth Holmes Theranos story. It's about Elizabeth Holmes. And for whatever reason, sort of like in the 30 days before she was to report to prison, she and her husband really wanted to have somebody come and like film their life. And the question is why? And the— it was something where like nobody was really picking it up. Nobody was really interested. And Nathan Fielder, who— I don't know, have you guys ever seen Nathan for You or The Rehearsal? Either of those, any of his stuff?
No, I wanted to, but I have not.
Yeah. He's just like—
somebody told me about those a couple of weeks ago.
Yeah. He's, he's a comedian, but I just like, I would hardly call him a comedian. He's sort of somewhere between like a filmmaker and like Andy Kaufman, I think. And he, uh, his like superpower is he's really, really good at like, I was just watching somebody yesterday talking about this. Like, you know, that, that thing where like you're talking to somebody maybe about something difficult and there's a question you have, but sort of like social cues and etiquette, like, compel you not to ask it. Let's just like, oh, that's not polite. Like, he doesn't care about that. He'll just ask it and he'll—
It's like, it's like The Daily Show effect or something.
Yeah. Yeah. And he just sits there.
He's on The Daily Show. Yeah.
He just sits there in silence and lets the other person just sort of like talk and whatever sort of that thing is that like that social grease that requires people to be polite, he just doesn't have it. So. His whole other thing is like, he's really into like, like the rehearsal is very much like this, like, is it reality? Is it not reality? Is this, is this like, what's the sort of like meta story here? And he really brings that into this. So by the time, like, by the time Elizabeth Holmes reports to prison, like the movie is halfway through and you're just like, what, what else is going on? Because that was pretty bananas. And then he just sort of like takes it to just like, oh, this whole new kind of like meta level. And it's, I really, anybody who's listening to this and hasn't seen it, who wants to see it, like, I will not spoil it because I think the best, like, I don't mostly care about spoilers, but for this, I think the best thing you can do is go into the movie not knowing much. And I, that's what I did. And that, like, I don't know if you've all seen that teaser where it's just like Elizabeth Holmes with her giant eyes, just like, like, why would I deceive you? I have nothing to hide. And
sure you do.
She's just like, her entire thing is like that. And she, the whole thing that she, she has where it's like, you don't know if she's like, like obviously she did lie and like broke the law, but like, you don't know if she was like, if she truly believes in what she's doing or she's just a big fraudster. Like that still comes through. And yeah, it's like at one point, at one point she just was like, I, I don't think I've ever told a lie in my life. And you're just, and Nathan Fielder's just sort of like, come on. Like, Yeah. So it's, it's very good. It's, I, I'm not somebody who's like, oh, you must experience it in the theater. But like, it is really good in the theater cuz there are all these very closeup shots. It's funny cuz it's called You Can See Everything, but it's like very closeup shots all the time. But just like giant faces on the screen. Like it's pretty good. But yeah, I, I, I feel like I'll, you know, be thinking about that movie for a long time. Like people wanna see it. People are Yeah. People are saying like, like people who know a lot about movies are just like, this is maybe like the best documentary that I've ever seen in my life. And I'm just like, wow. Like it's a thing. Yeah.
They're trying to see if it's even around me. Cause that's one of those things that I'm like, oh gosh, it's not gonna, it's not gonna make it close to Johnson City. But I said that about the Oasis documentary and then sure. Oh, there it is. Yeah. It's at AMC Johnson City.
Yeah. AMC's there. Showing a lot of it. I think it's, I think it's hitting the mainstream. So
probably won't be there long. So yeah, I'll sneak away and do it somehow.
And again, 3 hours long. So 3
hours long,
fair warning. Um, also what have I been consuming? Um, rest in peace, Patrick Stewart. He was one of my favorite actors and like, I, it's, I think it's hard to overstate how big of an influence he had in my childhood. Like I grew up watching The Next Generation. Like it's been my favorite TV show for 30 years of my life. And he, like, I think I was thinking about this yesterday. And so I was a manager for a while, for years at work. And I feel like a lot of who I wanted to be in my leadership was very much influenced by Captain Picard and like who he was in Star Trek. So
yeah,
yeah, it was pretty, it was pretty hard yesterday. Like usually celebrity deaths, I'm like, oh, people are just kind of like performing, like very performative about this. But like, yeah, I mean, he was 86, but also he seemed really alive. He seemed like he had a lot of life. And he also, Patrick Stewart was really great. He was like just a big like LGBT ally. Like he, he was, you know, I don't know if you guys remember Jeffrey, if you've ever seen that movie. I think the '90s. Yeah. It's a story just about like the AIDS epidemic and like, like gay life in that time. And Patrick Stewart played like this kind of like gay activist, activism leader. And it was, I think it was at a time where there was not a lot of like straight people who were like playing gay characters without it being like Oscar bait. Like he, it was just kind of fun and silly and campy. And he really leaned into it and he was great. And it seems like in Patrick Stewart's life, he didn't take things too seriously. He was very joyful and Yeah. So trying to look—
one of my— okay. Yeah.
Sorry. No, go ahead.
One of my favorite Frasier episodes, the last season where—
yes.
They think Frasier's gay and he thinks they're boyfriends, but they're not.
Yeah.
Yep. Really funny.
It's a very good episode. Yeah.
When his phone rings and he goes, damn, it's like, mm-hmm. Frasier.
Yeah.
Patrick Stewart is one of the guys who I, if I'm on YouTube or something and like an interview show comes by and he's on, like, I'll always watch it. It's like,
yeah.
You know? There, there's that certain like pocket of celebrities who are, you like watch them and they're entertaining, but you also sort of trust them and admire them.
Yeah.
Yeah. You know, so yeah, like Ethan Hawke is like that for me. I watch every, if there's something comes up, Ethan Hawke's talking, I'm like, I'm in. Yeah. Let's do it. Listen. And Patrick Stewart was one of those too. And I wasn't even a Star Trek fan, so it was just kind of just by experiencing him over the years.
If anybody is listening is like thinking about watching like The Next Generation or something like that, like I have known probably 4 or 5 people who kind of did a watch of the Star Trek: The Next Generation, like in their adulthood, and they feel very overwhelmed because like Star Trek is a lot to sort of get into. Like there's a lot backstory. I would encourage it. I think that Star Trek is— Next Generation, like it is easy to get into it and it hooks you. And even if you watch it sort of separately from any other Star Trek, it's, it's in my opinion, it's still the best. So I would recommend seeing that and just like, yeah, yeah, he was, yeah, he was great. So I am looking for some of the best sort of like Captain Picard episodes of Star Trek out there just to like get on my radar. So if anybody has any suggestions and also maybe I'll try to like put my suggestions somewhere as I find them.
Yeah. You should share them. Cause I remember this was probably, it was probably at this point 8 years ago or something, but I remember, yeah. With you talking to you and being like, I have not watched any Star Trek. And you, and I regret not like seeing it through. Cause I think I only watched two, but you, you gave me like a list of Next Generation episodes.
Oh yeah. That was a while ago.
You were like, watch these, you know? Cause there, you said there are like some that are better than others, of course, like any show. Yeah. If you watch these, like it'll get you into it. And I started, was enjoying it and then just didn't get back to it. But I, yeah.
I should look, I should track down that list.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. It's first season was kind of like, kind of rough, like many seasons are. And I think that they were trying to like, because the original series was really campy, right? Like it was very cheap. And it was like a very melodrama in space for as like progressive and like interesting as it was. But like The Next Generation, I think that they started off like, okay, it's going to be like that. And then they realized that like, oh no, we have like Shakespearean actors here. Like we have, this is a thing. We have a higher budget. Yeah. And so they, I think they kind of like elevated and it's still like, sci-fi space dramas, right? Like there's monsters of the week sometimes, but at the same time, I think that like, they really captured something great there. Like it's very, it's like space communist, communists and communists in space, right? Like, there's like fights and stuff, but they have meetings to solve problems. And as much as I do like Star Wars, one of the interesting differences is like fighting is always like violence is like the last resort in Star Trek. It's like, it's the thing where In Star Wars, like, it's exciting, right? Like you go into a space battle and it's cool and fun and exciting. And Star Trek, it's like, hey, when everything else is broken down, that's when you do this. And
it's like, it is to Star Wars what West Wing is to like 24 or something.
Yeah. Yes.
Or like Designated Survivor or something like that. It's like, yeah,
that is a really good comparison. Yeah. Cool. So I won't go on much more about that, but that was just something yesterday that I was not expecting. He was, he had a very short kind of like convalescence. And yeah, and that just kind of hit me. So, and then also reading the book, Annalee Newitz, who is one of my favorite sci-fi authors. She is a local, or sorry, they are local. They live in town in San Francisco. They wrote a book called A Wall Is Also a Road, and some of their sci-fi books are really bananas. Like this one is about a sentient species of slime mold that comes from outside of the galaxy, coming to Earth to study these multicellular organisms, which they don't consider to be like higher life forms. And it's definitely—
in 2026, I wouldn't be surprised.
It's true. It's true. Yeah. They also picked—
so it's not like a news report.
Yeah. Annalee Newitz is also like a, like a science and history writer, and they they did a book about like lost cities and one of them was Pompeii. And so this book was actually set in Pompeii, like shortly before and after the volcano explosion. So yeah, it's, it's, it's pretty good. It's, uh, if you want like a science fiction book that like, it's, it's very different and unusual, but also not super challenging. Like this is a good one. Cool. That is, uh, that is, oh, and I am writing, I'm finishing up my a Field Notes with, um, the Golden Gate Bridge on it. Yeah. With an— I really love, uh, if anybody, so if you have Patreon, you can see the video of this at our Patreon. Um, I really love San Francisco's I Voted sticker. Uh, it is—
Oh man.
Yeah. It has the Golden Gate Bridge. It has the, the wild parrots in San Francisco. It has California poppies. It has a seal. We call it, it's funny. People call it the state seal, but it's like a sea lion. So I just think it's a really, really pretty I voted sticker. There's a
contest.
That would be a good tattoo. That would be a good tattoo. Yeah, that would be good. So I voted, everybody vote.
I already voted.
Yep.
I'm, I was excited.
We can't, we're not voting for the big one right now, but do that in 2 years.
I'll take whatever I can get. Yeah.
Whatever you can get.
We're
voting for governor here again. But
are you? Yeah.
So are we. And Marsha Blackburn is running for governor.
Hmm. Oh, Marsha Blackburn.
Hell witch. That's our senator. Yeah. She's like a—
yeah. We, uh, Gavin Newsom is, uh, coming up for governor. Not, not this time around, but, uh, oh no, he, no, he's not, he's not running for governor, but like he didn't run for governor this time. Cuz I think we all, we all know what's happening with Gavin Newsom in 2 years. So. Yeah,
whatever. I
was a
Mark Kelly boy myself.
Yeah. Yeah. Don't, don't forget. I mean, if you have to, if it's Gavin Newsom or JD Vance or Donald Trump or something like vote for Gavin Newsom, but like,
or
like don't vote for him in the primary. Yeah.
I was at Panera this morning working. Cause I just needed to find like a different spot and I went in and the one thing about going to a Panera Bread that early in the morning is that it is just full of old people. Oh yeah, they're in groups and they're talking and loudly. This woman who was talking, there were 6 people at the table, but she talked for 45 minutes straight. And I would keep jumping in at these like weird moments where I would hear what she was saying. And one time I— and I'm just gonna make up the name, but we'll just— she was— because not because I'm protecting her identity, it's just because I can't remember. But it's like, well, Mary said that Gavin Newsom and Pete Hegseth, and I forget who the other one— oh, Marco Rubio. They're all robots. I mean, I'm not sure I believe it, but she said they're—
you can't not believe it. I'm just asking you a question.
I don't think— that seems kind of crazy, but I just don't think that's— but she was saying it and she's— she really believed it. It's like— and then the next— I think the next—
amazing, amazing.
The next— this is unrelated, but a couple minutes later, I like zoned out, got back into work, and then came back into— yes, severe head trauma was the next word that I heard. I was like, was it you perhaps, or your friend Mary? Severe head trauma.
Uh, I just— I'm so excited that like all the boomers are the ones who are voting. It's going great.
Yeah, vote one more time.
Well, before none of us can vote. Yeah. So that is, that is it for me. Tim, how about you?
I am reading a book which is not, not connected to politicians being robots, but I am reading a book, rather I'm listening to it. It's Out of the Shadows by Jay Stratton, who he's been like making the rounds on, you know, news channels because he spent 25 years working as basically the highest government, highest level government employee who was purely focused on UFOs.
Interesting.
And like that research.
Yeah.
And so he's sharing basically everything that he can in this book. But the way I found out about it, and I had known his name for probably like, I don't know, 5 years because he is a Patreon supporter of a guitar podcast that I listen to, and they would always say, and Jay Stratton, Jay Stratton. I'd hear his name every week, and then eventually they're like, oh, I'm reading Jay Stratton Watton's new book. By the way, he works for the government and he studied UFOs for— and so it's called Out of the Shadows, and it's just kind of like a memoir of him telling about his stories of studying and researching and traveling around the world talking to people about UFOs. And I forget the other word for it, uh It's like another acronym. Yeah, who cares?
Yeah.
UFOs. And it's really— it's one of those that's like so entertaining and so interesting. The really short chapters that's like kind of capture these moments and you're like, this can't be true. But also everything you know about him is like, this guy's— yeah, real deal. I can't imagine him like lying about this stuff. But I mean,
he's like, you know, they're all, they're all robots.
They're all robots.
Robots can't lie.
Yeah, it's true.
But I do recommend it. It's a, it's a good read and it's a good story. And he— I mean, because these stories, a lot of them are like personal to him and the people that he talked to. And he goes to, you know, Skinwalker Ranch, just the worst name of a
It's a terrible
location ever. But he goes there because there's been all these reports that there's been sightings and like as soon as he gets there, sees like orbs floating around and like things even that are like outside and then come into the house. It's just, it's bizarre. And then like the book opens up the like prologue or whatever is him talking about seeing an alien, whatever you want to call it, uh, through his window looking at his son who was sleeping on the couch because their family has started to have more and more like encounter experiences where weird things are happening. And his son was so scared he wanted to sleep on the couch, he didn't want to sleep in his room. So anyways, it's pretty wild. It's like the kind of thing you read, like I said, you in the whole time you're like, nah, nah. But then it keeps going and you like learn more about who he is and where he's worked. Then you Google him and you're like, okay, yeah, I mean, that's like, that's a guy legit. So he's either an amazing storyteller who needs to make up for being on a government salary his whole life, or
fair,
he's got some good stories to tell. I don't know.
Yeah. Wow.
Um, been, I just, I have a 10 out of 10. Recommend album, uh, for the fall. So this just came out last week. The guy's name is Raelynn Baxter, and I've been listening to it a ton. And he is the son of a guy named Bucky Baxter, who is— that is an amazing name. Amazing. Yeah, like Hall of Fame name for sure. Um, and he has— he passed away in 2020, but he is a legendary pedal steel guitarist and guitar player who played with most of his career with Bob Dylan and Steve Earle and their bands. And he was, he was amazing. This is his son. He has a new album called True Violet, and it is— you guys ever listen to Mac DeMarco? It's also good, but he's, he's this kind of like Canadian sort of like pop head or pothead indie kind of guy. It's like, if anybody's listening and knows Mac DeMarco, it's like that if he had a little more structure to his songs and wasn't like making them up on the fly. Like, uh, really good songs, really good vibe, like really good music to just have on, and it feels like a perfect fall album. Just good grooves all the way through. I'm just loving it. I've been listening to it every day since I found it, like, since it came out last Friday. It's called True Violet. And then lastly, Um, along with Next Generation, another show that I've been meaning to watch seemingly my whole life, or my whole adult life, is The Sopranos, that I finally jumped into.
Yeah.
And I'm on season 4 and I'm just hardcore addicted to it.
It's a lot. Yeah. It's hard to look away.
It is so good.
Yeah.
And you know, that was pretty well—
yeah.
Um, if you want to—
it's, yeah, it's, it's the, it's kind of the first, it's like the, the show that sort of like made prestige TV a thing, right? Like,
yeah.
Like it's the first. Yeah. I've watched, uh, I watched, I think toward the end when it was on. Um, and just because it was getting a lot and I had cable HBO at the time and I've watched some of the earlier seasons. I was fancy. I had cable.
I was fancy back in the day. HBO. Yeah. You had HBO? Ooh. Now I pay $8 a month for it. Um,
yeah, yeah, it was, it was really good. Mm-hmm.
Yeah. And it's just, I mean, it's a pretty fascinating premise for a show too, that kind of, you can see what's the opposite of an echo, like before it's like a precursor to like Breaking Bad where you've got the character who has this like backstory going on. So it's, you know, you got Tony Soprano who also is having, who's passing out because of panic attacks and is seeing this therapist. Um, there are episodes that are hard, you know, like hard to watch, but also like not gratuitously in the sense that it's like— it— you know, like Game of Thrones, that's the world they live in, or, you know.
Yeah.
Um, it's usually involving violence. Yeah. As like, not as much— I mean, the like explicit sexual stuff is way less than, of course, Game of Thrones or those kinds of things. Um, it's more the violence and just kind of the things that happen in their lives, like on a daily basis.
Also, I think Evie Falco is like one of the best actors in the world. Like, she's so good.
He's so good. But I love it, and I'm in season 4. I have a friend who's been— I met him as a junior in college, and he's been telling me to watch it since then. So it's been, it's been a minute. Um, but yeah, really digging it. And I have been writing with my Blackwing Eris, which we'll talk about in a little bit. I'm in love with this pencil. I've also rediscovered my Mitsubishi sharpener.
Oh yeah.
Haven't used it for a while and it's just, it's the best.
I never bought one of those.
Much. It is so good.
Yeah,
it is. So it's the, it's my favorite crank sharpener I have. Uh, cuz of course it also has like the benefit of not biting marks into the side of the pencil cuz it has those rubber stoppers on the inside.
Yeah.
I love that thing. And, uh, notebook-wise, I'm actually gonna save that as well. I mean, I've still got, I'm still using this hardback notebook that I talked about, which is from, uh, that I talked about on the show, but MicroSpark.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, which is just kind of an inexpensive pocket hardback Moleskine-style notebook that I've had for a while, but still enjoy it. Yeah.
Cool.
But that's me. How about you, Johnny?
Um, so I don't remember if I mentioned that I recently read, uh, Land by Maggie O'Farrell.
Yeah.
Um, so I had to read Hamnet like everybody else and like, you know, it's hard to read a book where you know the ending and you know, it's going to be really sad. So I haven't watched the film yet because I think I'm gonna like blubber on the couch in a bad way. But, um, I wanted something light after that, so I read The Paper Palace, which is not so light at all. Um, I don't know how you can really talk about it without spoilers, but, um, the lady who wrote it was in charge of like picking up big shows for HBO, so It seems like she had a sense of like what's going to grab people. It was one of the recent, you know, Reese's Book Club books, but they're not always bad. And all that whatever Crawdad's horrible book with terrible ending. Um, and I got into the show Monsters. Have you guys seen the show? It's on Netflix.
No, Monsters?
No, I haven't. I've heard about it.
Oh
yeah, they've done 4 seasons. Um, they did Jeffrey Dahmer, the Menendez twins.
Oh yes, yes.
Most recently was on Lizzie Borden, but like with the Lizzie Borden one, they really had to make stuff up and it was silly in a way the other ones weren't silly. But, um, I watched them in reverse order by accident.
Is it more of a dramatic recreation like fiction or is it more like a documentary?
Um, it's not a documentary at all.
Okay.
But, um,
Lizzie Borden's like, I have typhoid. Why would I— I don't have typhoid. Why would I deceive you? I have nothing to hide.
Why would I deceive you?
I guess he more than most high-forward married, that wasn't Lizzie Borden.
Yeah, but, um, he didn't kill that many people, he just kind of messed with corpses. So I'm like, fuck, like, he's dead, but he's not a serial killer.
Yeah,
but he inspired a lot of serial killers. Um, he was an inspiration.
Yeah, like The Sopranos to Breaking Bad.
The Lindbergh Boys, like, weren't serial killers, obviously, but You know, that's a whole other thing. And this, the show came out before their sentences were commuted to 50 years.
Hmm.
So that was interesting. Um,
and I still have that basketball card that I told you, told you guys about. Did I tell you about that? What? There's a, am I, I could swear I told you, but well, the, we have a, I have a lot of basketball cards and baseball cards that are from like the '80s and '90s. They were probably mostly my brother's, but he doesn't listen to this podcast, so he won't know that I've got 'em, but like complete sets of these cards. All the valuable ones are gone. Uh, probably by his doing, but there's a, well, the one that was in there is there's a card of, and I forget the player's name. He's kind of like a B-list '90s basketball player, but in the background sitting courtside at a Clippers game is the Menendez brothers.
Whoa.
They're like front row. You can see them like right in the back of the card. So I got that case.
That's gotta be worth something.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm thinking about sending, I'm actually thinking about sending it off to have it like graded, you know, like how they do with the, with the Pokémon.
Pokémons.
And yeah, anyways, go ahead. Sorry. Oh,
you're fine. Um, they did a good job, especially in that one, of sort of like— I mean, I guess this isn't a spoiler to anybody— the Menendez boys claimed they were like horribly abused and that's why they killed their parents, but, um, there's not really any evidence to that. So, you know, they kind of present them both and let you decide. But, um, Javier Bardem played the dad. He was really good. And I did not know her parents met at SIU in Carbondale. Interesting. Um,
I love Javier Bardem.
And the Dahmer one was crazy because aside from having the wrong color eyes, the guy who played him was like dead on. And Molly Ringwald was in it randomly. Oh,
interesting.
Oh,
they, they downplayed a lot of really horrible stuff. Like, remember, he would give people like He'd try to give him a lobotomy with acid and boiling water. And then like they mentioned that in passing, like, okay, they were focusing on like him and not this— the gore. Oh, there was plenty of gore. Um, yeah, if— I mean, if you have a strong stomach, check them out. But I think in each one, the most horrible thing they do happens right at the beginning. So it's all kind of, eh, if you can get through that, you know, the rest of the seasons are so bad. And I just picked up a book that was recommended to me after, um I don't know what I just dropped, I'm sorry. Um, after Gabe Rollard's book called, um, Against the Machine by Paul Kingsnorth. Um, it's called Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity, and like really good. He makes a really good, uh, I don't know, a very good description of like how messed up things are that we can all feel, but why and what exactly we're going through. But, um,
it's my fault. It's my fault. It's tech companies.
Well, they, um, they mentioned him being very similar to Wendell Berry, which when we think of Tim, um, because he's Christian but not like in any way that like you'd mention— you'd know— you, uh, recognize politically, if that makes sense. He's not like, you know, picketing gay marriage and stuff. But, um, like one of his major points is the Western world is arranged around what he calls Christendom, and like when it was gone, you know, money moved in. I'm like, ooh. And then he cites his Nietzsche, which made me very happy. But, um, definitely a cool book.
And, um, I'm looking at— I'm looking at a picture of it. The COVID the typography is great.
Yeah, it's really— it's like the book itself is really nicely made. Um, and next up social media told me to read, um, The Internet Is Going to Die and So Are You or something like that. So that's next up. There's a weird theme to my reading lately. But, um, yeah, so I have been using a Narwhal Nautilus Ti. So they have a, a line of their flagship pen that are titanium. So this one is called the Toffee because they heated up the metal so that it turned this weird matte gold, but that's cool. It's not plating, so it doesn't come off. So it's really satisfying. It's a like really nice weight. Um, I'm using that and a Mirado Black Warrior that I think I found on the sidewalk. It's one of the old ones with the really hard lead in, uh, Baron Fig Raspberry Honey that's been in my closet for like—
that is a throwback.
My— I'd like a month ago, I gave mine— I still had mine, I think I used like the first page or something and then put it— I gave it to Jane. And she's been using it every single day and loving it. It's such a, such a good one.
Somebody in the Facebook group is like a beekeeper or something, or do you remember like back when that first came out, like they ordered a bunch of them and they, it's like they either were a beekeeper, they worked with, maybe they were a biologist and worked with bees or something like had some connection to bees and they were really into it, but.
Oh, that's awesome.
Who, who was that? I can't remember. Yeah, been a long time.
I went on their website, I noticed that— I mean, I don't think it's a typo— they used to say, you know, designed in New York, made in wherever, and now they say their notebooks are made in America.
Really?
Like, but the prices didn't go up. Like,
what? I should follow up on that. I wonder how—
who's doing it.
Yeah.
And they have been putting out a lot of new stuff, but they're still doing, you know, slightly different color Confidants every once in a while. Cool colors sometimes.
I bought one of their new ones. I can't remember what it's called. The, it's their more marmal skinny notebook. Like it is kind of a leatherette cover and it has a strap and it has an envelope. And that's really nice. And it, it's nice, but man, I just, I wish I could get the strap and the fabric cover at the same time. Like that would be so good.
Well, I know someone who can make your dreams come true.
I've, I've, I've heard. I
actually cut up a Baron Fig to see how they were made. It was a planner that was like a couple years old.
What did, what did you think?
Oh, it's, it's cool, but everybody— well, people didn't like the lumpy spine. I'm like, that's because it's, it's glued. This cloth is glued to the spine. That's why it opens so nicely, and that's why it's lumpy. But I couldn't figure out why when they get wet, like, that's it. Oh, immediately some sort of like starch sizing, but I don't know if people do that commercially.
Yeah.
So,
hmm.
But I like their stuff a lot.
Yeah.
So how about we do some Fresh Points?
Yeah. Real quick on, real quick on, uh, Baron Fig Confidence. I, I own like 4 different 3-legged jugglers, which was their first ever, uh, like special edition, like the color, that orange. And I should use them, but it's like, I think the one thing that I'm just like, particularly precious about hoarding. Cause I just love that color so much.
That was my first one.
Yeah. It's a good one. It's a good one.
I don't know if I've ever had a gray one. I don't think so.
I've had a bunch of the grays, but I've never had, I haven't had, definitely haven't had all the special ones, but I've had several.
But yeah, they're really nice.
I miss those actually.
Yeah. All right. Um, Fresh Points. Uh, let me talk about the Hobonichi thing first. And then I have just a bunch of Field Notes for show and tell. Um, I, San Francisco hosted a Hobonichi planner pop-up in this really cool, um, like little indie magazine publication space. And, uh, it, it's been packed for like days and I just went, I was over there kind of where it was and I just wanted to see it. And I, I have made, I think I might've talked about this before, is I fell out of the Hobonichi. Usage last year, or earlier this year, I should say. Like, it was, I think, probably around May. I was unemployed. I just didn't have a lot to put in there, and I just kind of fell out of that habit, and I never picked it back up. And I just like, I think, I think I'm just gonna not do Hobonichi again. Like, there's really cool covers and notebooks, but like, it just really wasn't the way that my brain works and the thing that I wanted. Like, I Like they were, yeah, they look so cool, but like, I think it's just, for me, it's just a Field Notes, just an unstructured pocket portable notebook that like, it's okay with me if I don't, if this doesn't go all year. Right. Like I just, like, I don't want to use the same notebook all year because I have so many notebooks and I like notebooks. So yeah, that was kind of my, uh, kind of what I did, but it was still, is still a really fun pop-up. They have some really cool designs. They have this one, it's like that kind of like silk necktie material and it's green and it has like little sheep on it. And that's fun. There's a sheep that's wearing like a little visor and there's a sheep with a little baseball hat and the rest are just regular sheep. But it was, it was really cool. Hobonichi has, has some really good, like, like it's very Japanese skewed. So if you're not like a fan of anime or like Japanese stuff like that, like it wouldn't be for you, but. Um, yeah, I really, really enjoyed what they had. I did buy, um, many, many little like stickies and stuff that they sell there. Like I bought this, these really cute little tabbed, um, to-do list things. Like if you just have a very short to-do list that you're scrolling, sometimes I'll like, oh
my gosh,
scroll some things down and put them on my monitor so I can remember them for work the next day. And yeah, they're just really designed for that.
Those are like Post-it notes. Yeah.
They're Post-it notes. So they're sticky right here. Yeah. So I guess, I guess I should describe it to you because not everybody's watching this. It's maybe about like 7 by 5 centimeters and it's fairly short. It's kind of neon yellow and they have like little to-do list checkboxes and they have 3 little like tabs, like a folder tab and they're sticky note. I also got, um, just because sometimes I do wanna put a little, little notebook and like a Field Notes. Um, Hobonichi makes and sells these little things that they just look like a little tiny square, but it's actually a little plastic, um, adhesive, uh, uh, envelope for the back of your— or pocket, I should say— for the back of your— you— so you put this in your, in your, your notebook and you can just like kind of shove things in there. So I might put that in my Field Notes. I think that's really useful. And then I also bought this because I— it was I don't know what I'm going to use it for, but it was cheap and cool. They're tiny, tiny little tabs that you can put on like pages. Like each of these, I would say, are like 2 centimeters wide by like, by like 5 millimeters tall. And if you want to like mark a page in your notebook, for some reason, tabbing your notebook always reminds me of like Bible study. Like when you go through and at least Catholic Bible study different than like other Christian things. But did you, Tim, did you have to like put the little tabs in your, in your Bible to show the different books? Oh, you're muted.
I don't remember putting them in there, but I remember them being there, like included, like where they're already built in with— oh, included, like where it's like all the names of the books. And you're like, even at that age I was like, I don't have to learn the books of the Bible, it's just like they're right there.
I think you couldn't mess with your Bible, that you'd get in a lot of trouble.
Well, in, in religion class in my freshman junior year of high school, we, because the Catholic Bible has different, has more books, um, we, I think we had to tab our own. And I think that probably was also an exercise in like learning the books or like what there is, at least, at least in mine. So yeah, I, yeah, definitely remember that. So I don't know, tabbing like little notebooks like that, just like, oh God, I'm a freshman in high school and I have to have my Bible.
I drew a skull in the front of mine and I got in a lot of trouble.
Ooh, that's the devil's work right there.
It was a cat.
It was
called
Wool Worm Johnny.
You're like, more people die in this book than any book I've ever read.
Yeah.
4 stars.
Like the Sopranos of books. Game of Thrones. Um, okay. The rest of my Fresh Points are Field Notes related. Um, I, um, uh, what am I doing? Oh, I bought some notebooks and, well, I was buying, I think I bought the print of Hunter's Moon because I really like the design. And I think Tim, you're talking more about Hunter's Moon, but, uh, while I was there, they just happened. Yeah. Uh, well, let's hear, we'll, we'll see what we get to. Um,
okay.
I, they also had up on the website, they had a, a set of 3 of Pee-wee's Playhouse, uh, Field Notes. And I was like, what the heck is this? And how
did that happen?
I don't know if they made this for like,
is it an anniversary or something?
Whatever. Yeah. It's like 40th, isn't it?
Oh, okay.
Anniversary of Pee-wee's Playhouse.
I remember it coming out. This is horrible.
I guess they were in reruns by the time I would've watched it, but like I, I watched it pretty young and I just remember thinking like this show's unhinged, but like it's a set of 3 notebooks. The first, the COVID one is like his suit, sort of like that Glen Plaid, like, like really tight kind of pinstriping suit. Um, there's also one I, um, I haven't opened it yet, but, um, there's one with, uh, Cherry, the kind of blue color with those big eyes. And there's one of Clocky, which is his clock. Um, with that, like, I don't even know what to call that print, but that yellow with the red grid and like the, just like serial killer face that Clocky had. So, uh, yeah, I don't know what I'm gonna do with it. Like I'm probably, I don't know, it's graph paper. It's fine. I, I'll open it and maybe use one, but yeah, it's, it's pretty crazy. But the other, the other thing that I got was, um, I don't even know how I saw it. Like I'm so disconnected from like Field Notes and our, like the Erasable group. Like I don't have Facebook anymore that I don't see when these things get announced, but I saw, I would think it was on, I think it was on Instagram. I was looking at the Erasable Instagram. And I think Draplin posted something about it and he has a brand new, um, kind of like DDC factory floor edition. So he's not doing dead prints anymore, but he's doing this thing called Other Worlds. And it is, uh, he's calling them, it's a set of 3 paper portals and he just has these really trippy cover designs with fairly trippy, like, um, uh, foil stamps and colors and sizes. And the innards are just like really bizarre. So, um, I, I think it's just, just him experimenting and having fun. And these are definitely like, like, you know, the DDC Factory Floor ones are always quite a lot different than like the, the, the, the Field Notes ones because like the kudo ones, because they're like he takes some risks. He does some bold designs. He's just trying stuff out, which I, which I appreciate. And these are definitely like to that. So I have, I have some that I've, I bought 2 packs. I've already opened some of them and I thought it might be fun to do a little like live, live opening of a pack on air. Um, what do they call it in Pokémon when you like, when you like open a pack? Like,
oh, is there, there's probably a name.
There's a name. I can't remember what it is. I don't really know about Pokémon, but yeah. Okay, so got my— and then again, if you want to watch me do this on video, like, come be a patron at any level and you can get access to the video. So I'm going to open it. Here's what I have. First one is a very trippy, um, it's like a little butterfly with— this feels very like Summer of Love, kind of like hippie-ish, maybe a little bit. I love that. Yeah, there is actually no foil on this one, interestingly.
Uh, I think that would kill your eyes.
Yeah, I think you're right. Yeah, I— the insides are very nice, like the sort of like innards. There's this like really crazy kind of rainbow theme going.
Oh, that is cool. I was wondering what you meant by the innards are crazy. I was like, what do you mean, like diagonal lines?
Well, the lines are crazy too. Like, oh, they are. It's hard to see, and every page—
I was joking, but that's, that's wild. Yeah.
Every page has like a different grid on it. Um, like this, each spread is different. Oh, which like he's doing this per spread. So like he's doing a lot of interesting calculations to get these to match up. But here's a line, but there's sort of like on one page there's sort of like this broken grid.
It's like the hole in the screen in my window. The screen to spider crawl through.
Yeah. So he is doing some like crazy stuff with, with that.
Some of those look like they're being sucked into a black hole or something.
Okay, this one is called Psychedelic Butterfly. Here's his, his like straight to the point, which is just like written in a spiral, which is fun. Um, I have another one that— oh wow, look at this. Um, it is just kind of a nice sunset cover, but like the foil stamp is like a— here, I'll fold it out. The foil stamp is just sort of like this sunray that's emanating from the back. There's two suns.
This is like super cool.
What is this, like Tatooine over here? Yeah, um, yeah. And so this one,
wear your
sunscreen. Same sort of thing, like the insides, I think they're all probably about the same with these like kind of crazy grids on them. Um, this one is called Sun Sunset with the— with those two suns. And then this one, this one is maybe I think maybe it's my favorite. Um, it is— it says Field Notes, it's stamped, but it's all kind of warped. So the foil stamp, it's this kind of rainbow foil stamp, and so the Field Notes and the, the part that's like 48-page memo book is all kind of warped on it. It's kind of like in a galaxy. And then on the back it says, if we are possible, so is everything else, um, in that same kind of warped foil stamp. So this one is called, um Galactic Grandeur. So, and I have some other ones, like, yeah, I think so. Um, I think they're still up on his website. Um, as of like yesterday, he opened shipping to like international shipping. So I imagine, and so I have a few other ones that I opened. There's this one that's very like, it has the, his little logo of the Otherworlds. It has like, kind of like some, some logo treatments of some of them, very Draplin-esque on the back.
Thick lines.
This one is, that's cool. Logo languishing. There's this one that like, just like, it looks like, I don't know, like a magazine collage. Yeah.
It's like a,
yeah. Yeah. So that's estray in a way. So I don't know. I am probably not gonna go as hard as I did with Dead Prince trying to find the exact ones that I wanted, but I appreciate, I appreciate that he does this. Like, I don't know. I think it's cool. Like. Who knew that you could sort of push the boundaries of, of a pocket notebook and you can do that for 20 years? Like, that's
for real.
That's what he does. That's amazing. So, uh, yeah. So that is, uh, that is Field Notes. I honestly, like, he talks a little bit about it.
Like taking a simple form and making it just like limitless.
Yeah. And it's in a way that like, I don't know, like, you know, Field or Blackwing tries to push the boundaries of like some of the designs of pencils, but ultimately they're still. Pencils, right? Like they don't really go, they don't take a lot of risks and maybe that's probably good cuz they can probably sell a lot more. Like, like people who aren't Field Notes nuts are not gonna be about buying these. Um, but it, it definitely like Field Notes and Draplin are really good at sort of pushing the, those boundaries in ways that I don't think any other stationery company is like, certainly not Blackwing. So yeah, it's interesting.
Yeah.
Not saying they're bad. Like Blackwing are great pencils and, well, I don't love some of the designs like some people do. And I just, I don't know if I've ever really met a Field Notes that I'm not, even though I don't like it myself, I'm just like, oh, interesting.
Yeah.
So yeah. So that is all my Fresh Points. Uh, Tim, how about you?
Yeah. Well, uh, first thing, uh, so I was in Chicago. I didn't get to go to Field Notes. I had told you guys I was gonna try to go and then my last day got like, sucked up by travel plans and also a visit to Chicago Music Exchange.
Cool.
To play some fancy guitars that I'd never get to touch. So I didn't get to go, but I was in Chicago. I was there for a conference, and I just want to give a shout out to Josh, who I met there. I was talking to a guy at this event that was like all the first-time people who've come to this conference, and we went bowling at this really awesome place. Around the corner from our hotel downtown and was talking to this guy. We were just kind of sharing like, I'm from here, I'm from here, I'm from here. And I guess I think maybe I mentioned Johnson City and then he recognized my voice. He goes, wait, what? Well, I realized later he recognized my voice, but he said, wait, what's your last name? And usually in settings where I'm at a conference, when somebody says, what's your last name? I say Wasem. And they're like, oh. And then I say, oh, because you know my dad. Because that's what just happens in my line of work with— he's like, no. I've been listening to your podcast forever. That was the first time in 13 years that that's ever happened where I met him. And he was just like, this is blowing my mind. I was like, it's blowing my mind more than it's blowing your mind because this is bizarre. But yeah, but he's— he was— we had such a— we had a good time. We hung out a couple of times throughout the weekend.
Thank you.
He did go. Josh. Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Josh. And he— and he was like, I'm going to Field Notes. I'm going to try to go tomorrow. We're going to try. And he ended up going, which is Awesome. Um, but yeah, it was really cool experience. He's like, yeah, I've got, I've got the Squire. I've got the—
yeah. You said he had the Squire and the, um,
there's something else. I
forget what he said, but he's like, yeah, maybe the fountain pen.
Yeah. Yeah. I think that was it. Yeah.
He is, uh, he's real deal, but
really appreciated it. And it was just like a really, really fun moment and just had, I texted you guys about it, like almost immediately. Cause just like this actually happened. Somebody recognized, this is, this is wild. They're out there.
I think that's happened to me. Twice. Yeah. And both times, and maybe that's just cuz like higher density population here, but like, yeah, that was, um, just insane.
Yeah. Weird experience, but it was really cool. He was a really, really cool guy. Hung out, had dinner one night. Uh, we had dinner on a, uh, boat on Navy Pier that just like went around in circles on Navy Pier.
I have done that dinner.
Mm-hmm. And it was, it was fun after the dinner. Totally unrelated to the Josh story, but I was like, I got to do something fun because I don't have it. Like, I didn't know anybody and some people were going back to bed and I was like, gosh, nerds. Okay, I got to do something. But I just decided I was like, I'm going to go to Chicago Theater because Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin was playing. And I looked at the tickets the day before and they were insane. But I was just like, who cares? It's not that far away. I got like a $10 Uber. I got there, got to the door. They're like, there's no tickets available. Sorry, the box office is closed. I went on the worst name of this website, but it's called TickPick.
Yeah. Hey, let me send you a ticket.
There's websites, there's websites or there's commercials for it. Anyways, went on there, got a ticket for $60. The show had already started.
Oh, wow.
I showed the person walking in there like, this is a, this is a really good seat. I was like, I didn't even know. I just picked the cheapest one that I saw. I was in the 10th row, dead center.
Wow.
For Robert Plant for the last like 12 songs. So I missed like 4 or something and it was just an amazing time. And the guy next to me paid $400 for his ticket.
Jesus.
He was like yesterday. He's like, yesterday I bought mine for $400. So good for you.
I know you've had some troubles with some, some ticket, ticket resellers in the past.
Yeah. I had that experience with Hamilton where I got like a fake one and I was like, oh God, please be real. You know? And it was real. And the people inside were like, oh cool, here, I'll show you where your seat is. And they like walked me in and I had been to— I hadn't been to the Chicago Theater since I saw Wilco there like 18 years ago or something like that. So I hadn't been back in a while.
I was probably there 20 years ago. Yeah,
yeah, it is a great theater. It reminds me a lot of the Tennessee Theater in Knoxville. It's, it's really ornate. And yeah, but I had such a good time, and he's so good for being whatever, 112 years old or whatever he is. He was so good. Um, such a good voice. His band was awesome. I had a great time.
What's his band called? Is it just Robert Plant?
It doesn't have a name. Okay. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
He just tours as Robert Plant. He has, there's a, a woman who sings with him and she plays like bass and mandolin. And then there's a band behind him and they're all like older except for the drummer. There's a drummer and a cello player who are like young. He has two other guitar players that are old and are sitting down in the back, like which is funny, but they're so good. There's— it was, it was a good time. Um, all right, uh, so that was a long story, but the other thing I was going to tell you about is I got a new notebook. Have you ever heard of Finisher Notebooks?
It's like foreboding.
Yeah, it's a weird— I don't love the name, but it's, it's clearly a variation on the Bullet Journal system that's a little more formal, like a little more structured. Is it?
It's exactly the logo.
It's very, yeah, it has a little lightning bolt on the front of it that looks a lot like the journal.
Well, um, yeah, but the notebook is, it's like quality-wise, it's fine. It's, it is cool. They've got like a tab for, it's like today and then like this week. Um, but it, it's a 3-month notebook that is all on, it's like, it's organized, but it's simple enough. That I think it's going to be useful. I just got it like 3 days ago, so I'm just starting to use it now. But at the beginning of the notebook, it guides you through setting like 5 outcomes for the next 3 months that are like really important to you, and you break them down into kind of some steps, and then gives you a way to track them. But also has like habit tracking, and then day by day they give you a sheet or like a, a spread of the notebook to do like whatever you have to do in the day and keep track of that, but also like how are your— the goals that you set coming. Um, so I'm, I'm kind of allergic to that sort of stuff in general.
Yeah.
Uh, but this one feels really simple and good. So it has some methods in it that I hadn't used before. There's one called time boxing, which is essentially like creating a timeline for your day, but it has like really good suggestions. So every day looks like this. You can see it if you're on the video. But so the, you know, the right side has the, the time boxing and then things about like the sort of like primary things, helps you like prioritize. And then the left side is all a notes page with dot grid. Um, so yeah, it's just kind of like a perfect combination of, or potentially perfect combination. I'm not that far into it, so we'll see how it goes. But it's like you've got the sort of keep myself organized stuff on this side. You've got the free space to kind of jot down notes wherever you want. There's also a little bit of the like habit tracking thing, which, you know, if you're like want to make sure you get out of the house and walk a couple blocks, you know, to just get some fresh air, you can track that. So
it looks like Finisher also sells, uh, index cards for that too, which is—
oh, I didn't see that—
also fun. Like, yeah, I like that.
I also got their pen because it was like $15. They had a pen. Yeah. Uh, don't recommend the pen. It's, it's—
oh, I can—
nice. But it is like really wiggly and doesn't really come together well. And it's a twist, it's a twist release. It has a Schmidt refill, like you can use like the—
yeah,
Schmidt Easy Flow, like the one that I like. It fits in there. But to put it in, you just pull it apart.
Oh yeah.
And then you like screw in this part. So the fact that This is just friction fit to get it into place. Yeah. Means that if you put it in your backpack or something, then by the time you take it out, it's gonna be off track. And then you gotta take it off. Yeah. And like put it back on to get it on track. And then you click it. Cause, cause if it's not on track, then like the pen's gonna come out a little bit.
Yeah.
Little, uh, in the, in the terms of what is it? Austin Powers, like a little turtle head poking out.
It, it's funny as you're say, as you're saying this, Tim. Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, as you're saying this, I'm reading their like page, like the page on their website and they have like, uh, a review at the bottom that says Pen Snob approved. I'm a self-proclaimed pen snob and get complimented anytime anybody uses my pen. I love this pen. And I'm just like,
also my son founded this company.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. This is my brother or I am the owner of this company who made this account on Google.
Yes.
It looks like a promotional pen.
It does.
Pen, probably is.
Don't recommend.
Nope.
That was probably a waste of, I don't know what it was, $15, $20, something like that. Uh, it's just, it's, it's rickety, but the notebook I've got, probably just in like the usefulness. Um, it handles the pens I've used in it really well. Gel pens and pencils and stuff. Um, other thing I was gonna bring, bring out was the Blackwing Eras. Sorry, I saw that you almost got me. I was like, did I do that? Uh, it says Blackwing Bros in our document. Um, it's that like challenge of like change one letter and change the meaning. That's their next thing. But the Blackwing Eras came out, so they came out of the new Blackwing Era, which I have been using all day, every day since I got them. And I'm going to just start with a hot take that, um, this is my favorite Blackwing they've ever released.
Wow.
I think it is. I mean, it is.
And Tim, what is the— is the core different, do you think?
No, I think it's still the ex— it's still the extra hard. Like, I mean, because I was using the, uh, I don't remember, I don't know how to like distinguish, but this one, the one that had the red eraser,
it's like
the— I was using this one today.
Older Blackwing, like the era.
It's an era, another era. And this one felt very similar.
Okay.
And I was sharpening them with the same, that Hobonichi or the Mitsubishi sharpener.
But I got mine and I, I like, I, I was like, I think like it feels better to write with. And I, I couldn't figure out why, like it didn't seem like it was before. I know why. Okay.
I know why. Uh, it's the same reason I love the Mars Volume 4 pencil. It's the matte finish. It has a matte finish instead of the glossy. And I, I do think that that It's gonna sound very like Asheville of me to say this, but the vibrations that come from, uh, writing, I think with the matte finish just feels different. It feels smoother.
It's just vibey.
Cause your brain's not thinking about like how slippery the pencil is. You're like, I've got it.
Yeah.
We're, we're in this together. I've got it gripped. I'm writing. This is going well. Um, I also just, so I love that sort of, it's, and I would call it like a matte light. Finish. It's not like really— it's not like the Mars one that it has like a literal grit to it, which was the point of that one, which I still love. But it's just enough that it just feels really good. And I love aesthetically, like, I love that they went to the, the full print across the front on this one and even changed it to be, you know, accurate to say Japan because it was made in Japan.
And it says Woodclinched on it.
It says Woodclinched. Yeah, yeah, it says, says Woodclinched Japan. M-, I'll call it extra firm graphite Blackwing Eras. So still has— so I, I love it. And I got mine and the package when it showed up was just soaking wet, like was drenched. And I was like, how does this even happen? It was broken open and it was drenched. I was like, the— I had to throw away all the, like, the, the wrap that goes around it and, and the box itself was soaked and like borderline had like mildew on the inside. So I was like, I got to get rid of that. So I messaged him because I was like, I don't know, like, this— why this happened, but it was really beat up. And I'm also worried that it was so wet that, like, the glue was going to be affected or something. I was like, what? You know? And to their credit, they sent me another dozen, which was so nice of them. The second one showed up with a giant hole in the packaging too, so they might want to rethink their mailers because they got these, like, cheap cardboard mailers that they're using, and it just had a giant hole. But those ones were fine. So I'm gonna see a dozen. Yeah. And I, I might buy more cuz I, yeah, I really, yeah.
They also, I really love
it.
They also, one thing, the packaging, the design that they, they put as a recreation of that old sort of like stripy Blackwing box, which is just, I think one of my favorite packaging designs in the world.
Like it reminded me of our old bumper sticker. Remember like that we had like, it was that style. It's like when I saw it, I was like, oh. That's awesome. I was the one that was damaged. I was like, I hope I'm gonna try to like press, like dry this out and press it. Cuz I love using, I love taking Blackwing sleeves and cutting 'em out as bookmarks and then like using packing tape.
Oh, that would be—
make a bookmark out of 'em. Um,
that's great. Yeah.
So
shout, shout out to, uh, TJ Cosgrove for taking that original, uh, design and making like bumper stickers. And we made a, we made a zine out of it. I think Plumbago 2 was like that. And then, um, I think we used it for, remember we very briefly made like a, a notebook where you could sort of print cover to cover. And I think we adapted that design for that too. So, um, and actually I think TJ did a better job of adapting that design than Blackwing did. Like, like this thing is supposed to look like a wax stamp, like in the corner.
Yeah. It looks like a sticker or something. Yeah.
And so, don't know. I haven't talked to TJ in a while. Yeah. Anyhow. Yeah. That's a, a really good addition. Like I, I still think their Era editions are just the best series, limited edition series they're doing. Uh, just maybe just because they're fun and I'm, I'm a sucker for nostalgia, but I think they do a really good job with those.
Yeah. And I think they've, they have, we've talked about this before, but they have to be running out of ideas for eras.
Yeah.
Like they have to, I mean, there's not that much, it's not like they have 75 years of history to deal with. So this one or something very similar, they need to have a Blackwing 602 stylized pencil with the striped ferrule. That's extra firm graphite that's a standard one. Like, it's time for that just to be like always available.
Yeah.
Um, because right now the only standard extra firm is the natural, right?
Yeah.
I mean, that just seems like a no-brainer addition to the line because I would— I mean, whatever, I'll end up buying a bunch of these and I'll have these, but like, they should have those as standard that you can get at stores because they're getting— I think people would respond to them well. Yeah,
yeah,
I know they'd have a problem with having the 602s that look the same, but you know,
I mean, they could just replace the 602 with this.
Yeah,
they could. I feel like that's been around long enough that people might get like grumpy about it or something, but that's because I guess this, the, the actual 602, that is more like the original. It's a little softer, but
yeah.
I don't know. They should figure out a way. Yeah.
I
mean, if they have to put, I mean, they've got, if they just did them this style and just right here, instead of putting extra firm, just put firm graphite, then whatever people can, if, as long as they're literate, they can tell the difference. Um, and then, all right. Uh, lastly, the new Field Notes. So we can move on to that. So yeah, new Field Notes came out. Hunter's Moon, which— when's the last time they've done a 2-pack like of the bigger size?
The coloring ones?
Yeah, yeah, that was a while, right? That's— it's been a while since they've done it. So, um, these are super cool. I don't have any in hand. Do you guys have them in hand?
Yeah, I've got some right here. That— they feel so nice, these covers. Um, like they're—
it's a—
it's 100— 100 print, uh, pound Vellum Mohawk. Um, and like, there's, I don't know, it's, it's slightly textured and it just, I think it goes really well with this sort of like design style.
Mm-hmm.
Um, which is, it's fun. I don't know if you watch the video of like the artist who made this and how they work, but I think our friend Les has done that a few times where it's like you sort of like layer paint on top of like the, that gel pad and then you sort of like press it down. So I don't know if that's how they actually made these, but that's how they make their original art. And I just really like the, like the designs. It's very fall. I feel like they're very good at like, Johnny, you're always just like really into like when seasons, things change to fall, like getting, like making your stationery match. I think that this would be a perfect, perfect for that.
Yeah. I have an ink that looks like that gold color in the middle of there.
That would, yeah, that would look really good. It is also, mm-hmm.
Go ahead.
There's, there's one that is blank paper for you, Tim, and there's one that is, uh, lined, uh, for me. So it's a good, it's a good pack.
And it was inspired by a poem by Ted Kooser, who is one of my top 5 poets. I mean, he, I love Ted Kooser a whole lot. So, um, he has so many good, I've got all, you know, some of his collections, but his collected works. And I think I have like one of his books of letters that he was writing. With, uh, Jim Harrison back and forth or something.
You read a Tim Couser poem on this podcast not too long ago, I think.
Yeah, yeah. Um, I can't remember which one I read, but yeah, he's, he's great. A great Midwestern poet. He's one of those who I think he worked as like an insurance executive his whole career, which, you know, fuck those guys.
Sorry.
Well, he's a poet now, so it's fine. Yeah, but he, but he was a poet the whole time. Like he, I mean, he's, he's passed away, but like, um, that breaks my brain to think about how you can be like a thoughtful poet and also, but it is a different age. Insurance was different back then. It wasn't as predatory. Anyways. Um, can you tell that I've been dealing with health insurance?
No way.
Um, so yeah, I loved that. It was inspired by, in part by his, he has a poem called The Abandoned Farmhouse. Or abandoned farmhouse. Um, so we'll link to that in the show notes. But very cool addition. Very, uh, what's the Shirley Jackson book? It gives me vibes of the, uh, what is that? Yeah, yeah, it reminds me of Haunting at Hill House. So kind of like the, the covers of those growing up. Um, a very, very cool addition. I'm a I have to pick 'em up. I'm hoping that my, my barber gets 'em in stock cuz they carry Field Notes there and they, they get those because they still have the coloring ones and I'm like, I've not bought one yet, but
I think that's hilarious. Just like, you're like, oh yeah, I go to my barber and get Field Notes.
Yeah. Yeah. It's a, it's a, yeah, it's a hipster haircut place, but the prices aren't hipster. So that's what I like about it.
Yeah.
Oh,
they'll give you a beer while you're getting your haircut.
Hell yeah.
That's it. A, a joke I just learned. Um, how many hipsters does it take to screw in a light bulb? Don't you know?
You haven't heard of— Yeah. Wait, don't you know?
Wait, you don't know?
The number's pretty obs— this light bulb's really obscure. You've probably never heard of it.
We don't actually screw in the light bulbs. We twist them.
Yeah. That's an offensive word. We just like, we twist them in. Um, all right, but that's all I've got. So Johnny, how about you?
Sure. So, um, I haven't gotten to talk about this since a few weeks ago, but I got to meet our friend from Scotland, Eric Lanscale, and his wife in Philadelphia a couple weeks ago.
They're the best.
Which was, yeah, super fun. I came home with like a heavy backpack full of fun treats from Scotland.
Did, did he bring you the sugar cookies?
I hid some of those things from my kids. And good.
He brought me, so, so he, he came out to California, gosh, like maybe like 10 years ago. It's been a while, but I, I think he brought me some, like some Scottish gin and also, uh, some like sugar cookies that are made like around Dalgety Bay where he lives.
Yeah. It was a big package of stuff. And I only brought the each notebooks, which were coincidentally made from sugarcane paper. That was fitting at least. But we just like hung up in an Irish pub and had a couple beers and ate some fries and chilled. Was super fun.
That sounds great.
They're like the nicest damn people.
Whenever he, whenever he vacations in the US, I always like watching his Instagram stories because things that I don't pay attention to or take for granted. He's just like, oh, look at this. And he, he does the thing that I like to do when I go to other countries, which is to go to the grocery store and just like look at things. So it's just like, here's some crazy-ass Oreos that they only have in the US. Like, look at this. Yeah.
And I, um, by surprise, I got to ride on the Nuo Sella on the way home, which was awesome, but too short of a ride to go eat.
But the what now?
Riding the train without children is Amtrak train. Pleasure.
The new— is it a new Amtrak train? Oh,
yeah. The, um, the older Acela's, um, they're still around, but they're phasing them out for some newer ones. They're probably—
they're probably sending them to the West Coast because we have the old-ass Amtrak out here. Oh yeah, great. I can't wait to have your sloppy seconds,
man.
Yeah, they're not modular, so if you have a train set and like one of the bathrooms is broken, they have to take that whole train set out of service. Like the new ones, I can just be like, hey, let's make this one bigger, it's busy today.
I told you when I rode my one Amtrak experience, there was like literally a drop of blood on the toilet seat.
I've
never seen that.
Yeah.
But now I've gotten really stuck up and I, I don't like taking coach anymore. It's terrible. I was sorry.
I was, when I was in Chicago, one of my favorite parts of my trip was going on the L again for the first time in probably 20 years or something. Yeah. I took the L. I took the train all the way from O'Hare downtown. It was like a— with like the people I was working with, they're like, let's just get an Uber.
Heath's driving. No,
I was like, no, that sounds boring.
It's gonna take like an hour.
And that's like an— you know, it's, it's gonna cost $80. And I was like, I'm just gonna take a $5 train. And it was amazing. I loved it. Took me like a block within the place that we were going, this like historic Black church that we were meeting at for the, for the first like session that we were at, and it was— I loved it. I was seeing the city, and I missed it. Took it every chance I got.
Yeah, I, um, I literally popped into town and popped back out, so I didn't have a chance to do anything, which makes me sad because there's a lot of— it was also a Sunday, so a lot of stuff was closed. But, um, our friends at Narwhal, even though they still— they spell it novel or narwhal— they've been doing— they always do really cool stuff. And like sometimes I think they're poopy. Like they made some original— they call their original pen the Clear Piston one, and they have some different colors and like they look cheap. They probably feel really good in your hands, like they use good acrylic, but then they do the Original Plus, which is a vacuum-filled pen, and they did one for Fountain Pen Day this year, which is next week or the week after. So last year they did an anodized aluminum Nautilus, which was pretty expensive. Um, so this year they just did their $60 pen, but it was $80 because it came with this really fancy box, pin, and they mentioned it having a Feather bookmark, but it's like a gold feather metal with a chain that has the fountain pen logo— or Fountain Pen Day logo— and their logo. And they didn't mention the pen has the Fountain Pen Day logo on the So that's awesome. But, uh, they also came out with fountain pen day ink, which they did not release at the same time, which sucks because then you can't get your free shipping. But, um, you know, one cannot resist. Um,
what's the ink? I don't see it on their website.
Yeah, it was hard to find. It's called something amber.
Oh,
they have like two lines of ink and they don't make a lot of inks. And they're not terribly expensive.
Do you know who makes their inks?
No clue. But, um, they, they do stuff with, um, Goldspot, who I'm actually not a big fan of, but they do New Jersey stuff. So they did one called the Pine Barrens, and my friends from New Jersey have informed me that if you refer to someone being from there, it's not nice. So
I don't know, Pine Barrens, New Jersey.
Pine Barrens. They, um, it's—
sorry, listeners who live in New Jersey.
Yeah, I mean,
Sopranos just made me laugh on that one. Yeah,
Pine Barrens or anything like this pen, like, then people insulting you are poopy heads because this pen is gorgeous.
This— I'm looking at it, this is a nice looking pen. I love that green.
I saw it and I'm like, that's pretty cool. And then I watched a YouTube review of it and, you know, the person was like turning it and like, oh, that is Really pretty. Um, it doesn't photograph well, but, um, I have it lined up for when winter starts. It's a good winter green.
Is it? Oh, this is— it's acrylic.
Yeah, they, um, I
was—
I saw you acrylic.
Okay, I was— the finest Italian plastics.
Yeah.
Um, I, looking at this, I thought it was maybe some sort of like a polished, like patinaed like brass or something, like some sort of a green patina. But no, okay, yeah, I like kind of the aged look of it.
Yeah, it's, it's awesome. And, um, one cool thing about Narwhal is for most of the colors they ever put on a pen, they have replacement nibs in those colors. So like, if you hate it, you can just get another black nib. Um, and speaking of black, for my next section, Musgrave has been like on fire and making a lot of Sarah's pencils, which is weird because that's like their cheaper line. So we already talked about the, um, pastel ones and the America 250 ones, but they came out quietly with neon ones and these crazy blackout ones where everything is black, including the box, the wood, everything. And they're actually not glossy black, it's a matte black. So in hand, they're like perfection. And, uh, the only other thing to mention is that they're having a big sale on their America 250 pencils, and you should go get it.
It's closeout sale from— last chance for America's 250.
Yeah, but
251 edition comes out.
Wow. Only Blackwing if we last—
there is a 251.
Yeah,
they should celebrate us still having a country with a new pencil next year.
Yeah.
Yep. So thank you for tuning in. We will be back more regularly. And I see from my email that Blackwing and Field Notes have stuff coming out again soon. So that's awesome. And we'll talk to you soon.
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