After moving into my new apartment just over two weeks ago, the vast and varicolored inadequacies of comcast left me stranded and internet-less...until now! Our first pen review will be up within the week!
And of course, the minute there's a wifi connection for my computer to snatch up, I had to go and drop a large chunk of my paycheck on an order from JetPens, so I'm sure there will be plenty more coming...
Friday, June 15, 2012
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Upcoming Posts!
- Review of K's everyday go-to pen, the Pilot S20
- Review of the Uniball Signo DX UM151 (in various delightful colors)
- We're jumping on the Kaweko Sport bandwagon
- Love and death with Stabilo ColorKilla Fineline markers
- A just acquired their first Filofax! There will certainly be a post on organizing it.
- A note on translating Baudelaire
- An addiction second only to pens: washi tape
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Before there were keyboards...
Books were a really big deal once.
I mean, they're still a big deal to some people (like K, who has a minor heart attack every time I defile a book with a highlighter or post-it note) - but books were once pieces of art not just because of the writing within them, but because of the painstaking craftsmanship it took to make them.
Today, K and I went on an excursion to the Shelburne Museum, and what did we happen across but a beautiful collection of old printing presses?
Many of them were still operational, so we got to see a couple of them in action...
I'm wondering why that is, though. Is it a collective nostalgia on the part of pen users? Does the tactile nature of writing with a good pen lend something to the intellectual process that a keyboard lacks?
Just some food for thought :]
I mean, they're still a big deal to some people (like K, who has a minor heart attack every time I defile a book with a highlighter or post-it note) - but books were once pieces of art not just because of the writing within them, but because of the painstaking craftsmanship it took to make them.
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| Cottrell Flatbed Cylinder Press, 1871 |
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| Letters and words |
...and take home a lovely bookmark. It's incredible to think of how much work once went into printing books - and not that long ago, either (the Cottrell press was used to print a local newspaper until 1971!)
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| Linotype Machine from 1914 |
It makes me wonder if there will ever be a day when e-readers and computers have taken over completely and we'll fill museums with printed books and pens. From what I've seen in the world of pen blogs, I don't think that's likely - analog tools have a devoted following that looks like it will keep them alive well into the future.
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| Challenge Proof Press, 1930 |
I'm wondering why that is, though. Is it a collective nostalgia on the part of pen users? Does the tactile nature of writing with a good pen lend something to the intellectual process that a keyboard lacks?
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| It just occurred to me that I have no idea what today's printing presses look like. |
Just some food for thought :]
Friday, May 25, 2012
Welcome to Codependency (A)
After much procrastinating and inspiration-searching (and procrastination disguised as inspiration-searching), A and K have finally decided to join the blogosphere.
In the words of the infamous Dowdyism of The Pen Addict, we are are addicts. We have a problem.
As a full-time student and writer in what shreds of spare time I can cling to, I (A) do a lot of writing by hand. A lot. And nothing is more annoying than a pen that skips, bleeds, drags, blobs, or breaks - especially because they always seem to do so at the exact moment when you have finally come with an idea that feels worth writing.
Thus began an addiction. And of course I dragged by boyfriend K into it too.
And once you start collecting pens, then you need notebooks in which to write with them. And post-it notes to color code the notes you've written. And planners to obsessively track your Jetpens orders. And stickers, because why wouldn't I want tiny rainbow giraffes on everything?
So we've accumulated plenty to review, but that's not the only thing we want to do here. Lovers of pens, at least from my experience, tend also to be lovers of the things they were meant to create - words.
It's safe to anticipate some posts in what we're reading and writing. And last but far from least...what would any blog be without its faithful animal mascot?
Our 10-month-old ball python Neville Squiggles will come out to play occasionally :] AND we have a bearded dragon joining the family pretty soon. Has there ever been a better combination than pens and reptiles? Methinks not.
xoxo,
A
In the words of the infamous Dowdyism of The Pen Addict, we are are addicts. We have a problem.
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| And this is just a tiny sampling... |
Thus began an addiction. And of course I dragged by boyfriend K into it too.
And once you start collecting pens, then you need notebooks in which to write with them. And post-it notes to color code the notes you've written. And planners to obsessively track your Jetpens orders. And stickers, because why wouldn't I want tiny rainbow giraffes on everything?
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| The tiny rainbow giraffes are in the USPS box. |
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| And none of that e-reader nonsense. |
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| Baby snake! |
Our 10-month-old ball python Neville Squiggles will come out to play occasionally :] AND we have a bearded dragon joining the family pretty soon. Has there ever been a better combination than pens and reptiles? Methinks not.
xoxo,
A
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