Book Review: The Revenge of Analog by David Sax
Pens and Junk | A blog about pens… and other junk
by Andrew
3y ago
Admittedly, I’m a bit late to this book, which was published all the way back in 2016 (it seems so long ago now). But after slowly chipping away at it for a year or so, I’m ready to talk about what I like and what I don’t like about The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter by David Sax. As a whole, The Revenge of Analog is written to be a bulwark against the digital tidal wave or, at least, against the argument that the digital revolution is here to wipe out the world of analog stuff. If you think that computers and apps will totally consume the physical world, then David Sax is ..read more
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Review: Sharpie S-Gel, Gel Ink, 0.5mm
Pens and Junk | A blog about pens… and other junk
by Andrew
3y ago
The popularity of The Sharpie Pen brought with it a lot of hot competition. Pens like the BIC Intensity and the Foray Stylemark began to encroach on Sharpie’s shelf space, so it was inevitable that Sharpie was going to fight back. And here it is, the S-Gel, a pen destined to take a slice from the lucrative gel pen market-share (they’re looking at you, G-2). The S-Gel is currently available in three tip sizes: bold (1.0mm), medium (0.7mm), and fine (0.5mm). Medium seems to be the default size you’ll find in most places, but I decided to order a box of the fine tipped version online. They ended ..read more
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Review: Lamy Pico, Ballpoint, Medium Point
Pens and Junk | A blog about pens… and other junk
by Andrew
4y ago
If you dig through this blog, you will probably notice that my experience with Lamy pens have been good and bad and good and bad. But, no matter what happens, I keep coming back because Lamy has a knack for producing some of the most interesting and unique pen designs around. The Lamy Pico typifies this, and, luckily, it manages to be one of Lamy’s better efforts. The Pico is an expandable pocket pen. All closed up, it measures a mere 3.75” in length, but press down the end to eject the tip and the barrel expands to a full 5”. On paper that might not seem like much, but it feels a bit magical ..read more
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Review: Inc. Optimus, Porous Point, Fine
Pens and Junk | A blog about pens… and other junk
by Andrew
4y ago
As a longtime fan of porous point pens, I’m happy to see more and more of them in stores. I found this pen, the Optimus by Inc., in a two-pack at a dollar store, sitting beside another porous point pen, the Promarx UltraFine. And, though I’ve had issues with Inc. pens in the past, I’ve got to say that the company has done a pretty good job here. For an average price of 50 cents per pen, the Optimus is fairly inexpensive compared to name brand porous points. It comes with a hard plastic body and no “grip” section to really speak of, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice metal clip. Sinc ..read more
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Review: Promarx UltraFine, Porous Point, 0.5mm
Pens and Junk | A blog about pens… and other junk
by Andrew
4y ago
Despite the name, it’s not an advertisement of Marxism. Promarx is a pen brand owned by the California-based Kittrich Corporation, which produces a lot of household and office products that are sold in big box stores all over the country. The local Dollar Tree is where I found these UltraFine porous point pens, which came in a 3-pack for – you guessed it – one dollar. As expected, the Promarx doesn’t exactly provide a premium experience. It has a fully plastic body with a cheap clip, which easily bends out of shape. The black and gray design is plain and boring, but it gets the job ..read more
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Looking Ahead to 2020
Pens and Junk | A blog about pens… and other junk
by Andrew
4y ago
I think it’s fair to say that 2019, for me, was crazy busy. Here are a few of my yearly highlights: I ran the Chicago Marathon, traveled to Thailand, built a computer, got obsessed with Apex Legends, and, last but not least, I got married! I had an amazing year, but it unfortunately didn’t leave me with a lot of time to dedicate to this blog. Still, I managed to pump out 19 posts. which included a book review, a couple of off-topic blogs, and even a pencil review. My most popular post of the year was a review of the IKEA Fullfölja from back in January 2018. That’s a good pen, but as for my ..read more
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Review: Lamy Safari, Ballpoint, Medium Point
Pens and Junk | A blog about pens… and other junk
by Andrew
4y ago
After my recent disappointment with the Lamy Tipo, I was a little reluctant to purchase another Lamy product so quickly. However, I’ve had good experiences with Lamy in the past, and I generally like the creativity in the company’s designs. So, after reading good things about the Lamy Safari Ballpoint, I decided to give it a shot – and I’m glad I did. In all honesty, the Safari ballpoint seems like an odd choice for anyone who already owns the Safari in the much more popular fountain pen format, but it’s surprising how different the two designs actually are from each other when you have ..read more
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Review: Lamy Tipo, Rollerball, Medium Point
Pens and Junk | A blog about pens… and other junk
by Andrew
4y ago
Lamy is a company known for their innovative pen designs, and you can tell by the look of it that this streak has continued with the Lamy Tipo. Like Lamy’s Dailog 2, the Tipo has a unique retracting mechanism, but unlike the Dialog 2, the Tipo is relatively inexpensive, usually selling between $10-$15. This is possibly the least expensive pen that Lamy sells, and so I was obviously interested in trying it out. But, unfortunately, that low price turned out to be a bad omen. But first, the good: the Tipo has a rather slick design. It has a smooth plastic barrel and a ribbed plastic grip section ..read more
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Review: Faber-Castell 1423, Ballpoint, 0.5mm
Pens and Junk | A blog about pens… and other junk
by Andrew
5y ago
While visiting the Somjai stationery store in Thailand earlier this year, I only purchased two pens. The first was the uni-ball Laknock (you can read that review here), and the second was this, the Faber-Castell 1423 Ball Pen. At 10 Thai Baht (about $1 USD), it’s not an expensive or fancy pen, but what drew me to it was the Faber-Castell name, which is primarily known to me as a high quality pencil manufacturer. As it turns out, they do manufacture plenty of pens as well, and so I was looking forward to trying one out. Well, the 1423 doesn’t scream “premium quality” with its looks ..read more
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Retro Talk: Stealthy Terabyte 2.0
Pens and Junk | A blog about pens… and other junk
by Andrew
5y ago
Back in 2015, Retro 51 and Anderson Pens released the original Terabyte Tornado as a limited edition of 500. I loved the design, and, having assumed it would be a hot item, I pre-ordered one immediately. It turns out that it actually took a couple of years to move all those pens, but it was apparently still successful enough to launch a follow up: The Terabyte 2.0 I like the barrel design of the Terabyte 2.0. However, as far as I can tell, it’s identical to the original – hidden Anderson Pen’s logo and all – except that the green motherboard color has been replaced with black. Beyond th ..read more
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