Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
14 October 15 October 16 October 17 October	Gobbling down turkey. Stuff over on the other site, in pursuit of #inktober.	Buffer lost due to thanksgiving weekend.	TWSBI Precision Pelikan New Classic Lamy 27 Pelikan 140	Diamine Midnight Diamine Bilberry Lamy black Jentle blue-black

An announcement follows this message. I thought I should give it its own space, as it’s kind of momentous (for me; no cancer cures or spotting of onrushing comets).

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Hey, Wait! It’s October!

That means I should be putting up the rubber bats and artificial spiders! This is good news for the real bats and spiders, who can honestly do with a vacation.

Since last week’s film (a colourized, dubbed Metropolis) got a totally predictable copyright strike, I’m putting up something this week which is nothing like it: it’s new, it’s entirely original content by the person posting it, it’s meant to be in colour, it comes with it’s own voice track, and… well, there’s some saltiness in that talking. But that’s fine. He’s talking about that most noble of things– horror films.

There. Never let it be said that art-theory presentations need to be dry or unentertaining.

Today’s pen: Pelikan M600
Today’s ink: Diamine Evergreen

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
7 October 8 October 9 October 10 October	Stuff over on the other site, in pursuit of #inktober.	I’ve got a comfortable buffer, hoorah.	Lamy 27 Pelikan M30 Pelikan 140 Pelikan New Classic	Lamy black Diamine Marine Jentle blue-black Diamine Bilberry

 

Of Two Minds

I’ve just remembered that it’s Buster Keaton’s birthday. Since I recently stole a movie to do with him, let’s have a look at something that’s contemporary with him… although ferociously updated.

Being a traditionalist in the film department, I have some (several) reservations about this, although I certainly appreciate the effort that’s gone into it.

Today’s pen, serving the head and the hand both: Pelikan 120 (a German with which I Express myself, ho ho)
Today’s ink, chosen by the heart: Herbin Lie de Thé

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
30 September 1 October 2 October 3 October	Stuff over on the other site	Three stories… so far.	Pelikan 140 Pelikan New Classic Pelikan M600 Sheaffer Sovereign II	Jentle blue-black Diamine Bilberry Diamine Evergreen Montblanc Royal Blue

As I explain over there, I’m squandering my writing time this month on a misappropriation of Inktober– the eagle-eyed here will have seen the notices advancing down the left-hand sidebar. Daily stories, all month long! EVEN WEEKENDS!

And I got so busy at that, I am rather late posting this.

Awesome

There’s a word that’s had its value undercut. Awe, after all, runs in the same groove as religious joy and existential dread… indeed, sometimes combining the two.

No, I’m not quite sure what to make of the ending either.

Today’s pen: Pelikan M30
Today’s ink: Diamine Marine

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
23 September 24 September 25 September 26 September	Second draft of “Whistling Through the Graveyard”	An oddly precise 2450 typed words.	Pelikan M600 Faber-Castell 664 Pelikan New Classic Lamy 27	Diamine Evergreen Herbin Poussière de Lune Diamine Bilberry Lamy black

 

Hub Fun 2019

I was going to be all entertaining for this entry, but that’s before insomnia struck. It struck my son, but the effect on me is the same since sleep is knits up no sleaves when there’s a very happy boy quietly reciting whole episodes of his favourite shows (aware that turning on the iPad would be unfair to his parents) and giggling at the memory of some of the sight-gags which accompanied.

So. It was jolly fun, for the definition of “fun” specific to we who enjoy fountain pens to a strange degree, and since I’m not up to stringing a LOT of words together, let me rely on the power of captioned photos.

My writing enterprise refers to “living skies” of which this is an example, although a mild and inviting variant as befits a happy night.

Turning around, and taking advantage of the “magic hour” light film-makers rave so much about, let’s show you all this Paper Umbrella place which I so often refer to– the venue for the night’s diversion.

One of the proprietors is a calligrapher.

My lineup for the night, arranged with labels so those inclined to give them a try would know what they held. I brought neither the most, the most expensive, nor the oldest.

Under the banner of the hub. I’ll likely get in trouble for this, as I have no photo waivers from any of these people. The Hubmaster is the fellow in the green shirt at the left.

“Are only Pelikan pens allowed?” NO! As my own suite attests, non-Pelikans appear, and someone even brought this extremely traditional pen; I think the manufacturer is Goose.

Some of the other not-Pelikans which attended, with representatives from the 1920s right up to fresh and new, as well as most stops along the road from cheap to rather expensive (nothing ludicrously costly appeared… unlike last year).

The Pelikan Hub Gift Bag, full of stuff from Pelikan to gladden the heart. My wife got the bottle of Ink of the Year, as it’s a colour she much prefers; I’m content with having been at the event. And also the magazine. And the other stuff.

That’s it. I’m already looking forward to next year. Although, to be honest, what I’m looking more forward to is bedtime tonight.

Today’s pen: Pelikan M600
Today’s ink: Diamine Evergreen

The Big Day is Upon Us!

For those who care about such things, I’ll be liberally plastering my Instagram account (mostly stuff I cooked, some cats, surprisingly few pens) with the Pelikan Hub as it unfolds, although I’ll likely also do an after-action report on Monday here so people who dislike that particular avenue of social media don’t have to deal with it.

I don’t recall if I showed that one before. I don’t think I did, because surely if I had I’d remember pondering the wisdom of leading with “The clip looks like a bird’s face! COOL, HUH?!” I mean, I like it, but it’s well down my own list of reasons for liking the brand.

Today’s beaky pen: Pelikan 140
Today’s ink: Jentle blue-black

Who Says Germans are Dour?

Oh, you know the stereotype; cool, efficient, probably wearing a black turtleneck.

Stereotypes, man. I should be wearing a lot more flannel, according to international concepts of my nation.

Now, the usual Thursday entry, which will display what an atypical week this has been in more ways than one. It’s not just the impending Pelikan Hub that has kept me from my usual industry– there’s been a lot of stupid demands on my time this week, and they rendered me dull or incapable of using my free time as I would wish. This was, by the way, AFTER choices of ink were made– that degree of dull unoriginality happens without any outside influence, and with a huge array of bottles from several brands all laid out in front of me.

Day	What	How Much	Pen	Ink
16 September 17 September 18 September 19 September	First draft of “Whistling Through the Graveyard”. Third draft of “Disruptions on the Line” (nee “Underground Follies”).	5 manuscript pages. About 10 minutes of mildly-focused attention.	Pelikan New Classic Pelikan M30 Pelikan Signum Pelikan M600	Diamine Bilberry Diamine Marine Pelikan Violet Diamine Evergreen