Aint it Strange...Broken Montblanc

I am NOT the guy you see in business meetings that pulls out the Montblanc just to let everyone know he (or she) has a pretty little snow cap on their pens. "Look at me, Look at me...I must be important!!!!" It's actually my biggest pet peeve with MB's...non pen lovers try to use them to make people think they love pens. (Work with me...in my head this makes sense, I have had a lot of coffee today.)

I have a few MB's and I do love them, it's a little ironic. This one is now in need of repair. I am not sure if it was in my bag or my pocket, but this happened somehow. It's a roller so... I am not devastated...but I am not really happy either. I think I won this one in a sales contest about 5 years ago.

Montblanc has had an interesting history, there are scandals and many lawsuits and some odd practices in how they sell their pens. Dunhill bought the company in 1977 and dropped all the low end pens.

I might run into the Montblanc store in Boston and give them my best "Look at what just happened face." I haven't used it in a while because it almost never works. By the way, the notebook is a Moleskine designed for you to write/draw on, I haven't finished my last word on it yet, but I definitely am going with "strange."

I also can't stop watching this pen spinning video

Pilot V Razor Point

I had to run into Staples today and literally jogged through the pen aisle because I did not have any intentions of buying anything...mainly because I just feel like I know everything that is there already. However, I saw Pilot and Extra Fine and I grabbed the package hoping for the best. I bought the 4 pack for around $6.00.

I like the way the pen felt right away. Nice and light and it feels nicely balanced. I grabbed the notebook that I have been using for work lately and remember that scene in There's Something About Mary when the paramedic screams "We got a Bleeder" ...yeah it was like that. Wrong paper. My problem is that when I see extra fine on the label... I expect a .38 and without any bleeding. Life is just not that simple.

But here in the Moleskine, it works a little better and I was little more comfortable. But at the end of the day, the 3 unused pens will probably end up in my next giveaway, I would be better off with the Razor II that markets itself as the Super Fine Point. (that means buying more pens :)

SPLASH pen Update

I ended up calling the manufacturer http://www.yasutomo.com/ Great customer service and they actually were sad when they told me that the pens were no longer being manufactured. They stopped around 2003 or 2004 and have had trouble finding a manufacturer that is able to reproduce the pen. But check out their site, they have some cool stuff there. Sorry folks!

Don't call it a comeback! Micron 005

As some of you know, I am a proud new papa and I took a week (and a few days) to get things in order and enjoy being a parent. My twitter updates were around, but the blog was left unattended. But I am back. Expect some hot and heavy posting and I should be more regular than two cups of coffee and a bran muffin in the morning.

My first post back is one of my favorites for everything. If you have seen these on the rack in your art store and passed them by, I insist that you pick one up and put it in rotation. The variety of widths make them very versatile and the archival ink is just cool.

Baby G is doing very well and we are starting to get into a routine. That's code for I am tired and am barely able to string a sentence together without stopping in the middle to wonder if I have pants on or not. I am going back upstairs now to put pants on, be right back.

I easily can switch from drawing to to-do lists and not afraid to loan this out if needed. There's also a ton of colors available for you to enjoy. The full name is the Pigma Micron and this one is a 005 black. love. There are a total of 6 line sizes available: 005 = 0.20 mm, 01 = 0.25 mm, 02 = 0.30 mm, 05 = 0.45 mm, and 08 = 0.50 mm. Good times! Enjoy it.

Splash Brush Pen

I think I reviewed an orange version of this pen in the past but this one is green! When the doodling bug hits me, this tends to be the first pen that I reach for in my desk drawer. These is something about the ease of use of this thing... simply uncap and you can have razor thin lines or with a little pressure you can have a very fat fun line.

Prior to 1830 almost all paint brushes were imported into the US and it took us 50 years of hand manufacturing before we invented a machine that could crank out a paint brush. (Don't you feel a bit smarter now?) Use that at lunch today, no matter what the subject is. "Hey Bob, how's your wife?" "Good, hey, did you know that most of the paintbrushes before the 1830's were..." Your friends will love it.
I left myself a note as a reminder that I have to put Rocky in my queue at Netflix and I just thought about the refill possibilities on this one and I am dying to try it, of course I will let you know how it goes. Have a great day!

Seth

Why didn't I have this in High School---Cheater Pen

It's a normal looking pen right? your typical ballpoint... nothing to see here right? Move along.

Except for this thin little metal tab neatly in line with the pen body. Nothing to see here right?

Except when you give it a little tug...out comes a spring loaded scroll of paper. In this case it was shortcuts from Sprint for a Blackberry, but a little pen hacking, (actually just sticking a post-it to the paper) and I have a legit cheat sheet. Click for larger views. I have a love/hate relationship with pens that do things other than just write....usually because that means that they do not write that well.

This rule holds absolutely true here. This one writes like it was run over by an 18 wheeler but the idea is cool. Please excuse all spelling and grammatical errors, I am running on Red Bulls and Espressos. Enjoy your day.