*** ADVERTISING FEATURE THAT ISN'T REALLY*** Another Russian Give Away!! After yet another marketing drive for yet another red, white, and blue fountain pen called The Benjamin Franklin Christopher Robin All-American Freedom! Or some such other load of old crap that just doesn't exist under the current fascist regime, we have an alternative pen that …
Continue reading The All-American Death of Democracy Fountain Pen!
2019-07-29 It was Sunday, and being the confirmed atheist I am, I was working; but being just as confirmed in my indolence as my lack of religious faith, I was working about as not very hard as I could get away with, and with a large cup of cold-brew coffee and crushed ice to hand, …
Continue reading Not a Bad Day to Work in the Sunshine, Plus Zombies.
On the whole, my handwriting (such as it is), is not flattered by a fine nib. I mean, it's pretty poor with almost any nib, but better with some than others, and fine, needle-like nibs, which can catch on paper fibers, make my handwriting look, to be blunt, bloody awful. Which can be a bit …
For a long while now, I've been reading reviews, and watching so many videos, of some truly beautiful Pelikan pens. In particular, I've been sorely tempted by the M600 Vibrant Orange, and a while back, by the Classic M200 Brown Marbled. I've written with a few very nice, and very expensive, Pelikan pens over the …
Continue reading Pelikan Classic M200 Brown Marbled… What-the-Pelikan-Fuss?
The last pen post I made, mentioned something about understated style and elegance, well, let's, er, forget about that today shall we? Last year, I took a stroll (about six hours worth, but still a stroll), through Scriptus the Toronto Pen Show. Amongst the highlights of the day was bumping into the lovely Ana Reinert …
At the foot of the Statue of Liberty, a few lines from Emma Lazarus' 1883 poem The New Colossus are inscribed on a brass plaque... Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my …
Continue reading The USA: Injustice and a Failure of Humanity on the 4th July
I have made no secret of my traditionalist taste in fountain pens. I may go off the rails occasionally and ogle something earthy with a bit of gold marbling, or even go completely crazy and pick something up in burgundy and gold with a touch of translucence about the barrel. But if you were to …
At around about the same time this year, three new products and one that was older than me, caught my eye. The first was a bursting orange from The Pen Addict's Brad Dowdy and the Australian manufacturer Robert Oster, with the nicely tongue-in-cheek name of Fire on Fire. This coincided with the delivery of a …
Continue reading The Pen Addict vs. Lamy Shootout—Brad’s on Fire!
Well, it kind of serves me right if nobody actually reads this it's been so long since I last posted; and before you read any further, you might want to check out an older post, in which this Lamy 2000 first appeared. Are you back? Good, then let's begin. It was actually months ago that …
In episode 331 of The Pen Addict podcast, Brad Dowdy said he wanted Toronto to be freezing. In response, Ana Reinert of the Well-Appointed Desk wisely advised him to shush his mouth. Unfortunately, the damage was done, and at 6:00am I was clearing the first snow-fall in our patch of Ontario from my car, before …
