Opinion

I recently picked up a Monteverde USA Tool Pen Inkball (link). The pen is, uh.

One of the worst pens I’ve laid hands on

I cracked the box open, discovered there were no ink cartridges or adapters and… it didn’t get better once I ordered a converter and some standard international mini ink cartridges.

I wish they didn’t but the unfortunate truth is that tools do matter. It doesn’t matter what discipline we frame this up within. Tools Matter. QED, EOF, return 0.

I bring this up because a lovely human I know via the internet voiced their distaste for writing recently.

After talking to them for awhile it seemed like the tools they were using were less than the best for their needs and writing style. I sent them some links and they actually seemed excited for the prospect of reducing their distaste for writing.

Analog Fun

Lately I’ve been heavily focused on all things analog. Writing supplies (pen/paper/pencil), shaving hardware, belts, jewelry, etc.

It’s been a very fun journey but along the way I realized something that may not be obvious : the ‘mass market’ effect is real and tends not to produce ‘high quality’ goods anymore. ‘Unique’ is also becoming an oxymoron.

Mass Market / Mass Production

I can go to Amazon, Google, others and do a search for something like, say, a ‘razor’ and a nice, very long list of products will materialize from thin air. Quality ranges from ’this will last one use’ to ’this will probably be handed down to your next of kin’ and everywhere in between.