Unlike many other students, I go to an international school in Asia. I've never been to a public American School, and the only other schools I've ever attended was 3 years of public Taiwanese school in elementary. Some of you might wonder how 'w...
The Kanwrite Desire is a terrific, entry-level Indian pen. It combines great materials, excellent size, solid fit-and-finish and a high-quality #6 nib that comes in a bunch of sizes.
If you have a chance, get one!
A New Pen? Sort of. I ...
The PenBBS 456 is what the TWSBI Vac 700 could have been. Great size. Great weight. Great balance. This has got to be the best pen PenBBS makes right now.
There was a moment there when mechanical pencils took my fancy. My interest was peaked partly because of my son. Deep in the math weeds, pencils were his weapon of choice in his studies. It was also partly thanks to a friend from across the pon...
For so many things in the kitchen, shiney means good. Gleaming is modern. You’re a good cook if all that stuff is polished and perfect. Enter carbon steel. It's a different paradigm. Old school is old school for good reason. And, other than co...
No matter how well off or how poor the family situation is, I believe it is so important for every teenager going through high school (or about to go to college) to have a job at least one point in their lives.
The job could just be as simple ...
Remember the PenBBS 322? It came out last fall as a low-cost PenBBS offering. A slim pen, the 322 featured a #5 mini-fude nib (with a cool heart-shaped breather hole), less metal and was only available in transparent acrylic. This FPN review compa...
Here's another under-the-radar Chinese pen well worth a look. The Natami Inception is a Platinum #3776 Century clone. And a very well made one. I've never treated myself to a Platinum #3776 Century - as much as the Chartres Blue appeals.
The...
Chinese pens continue to impress. It’s clear manufacturers are investing in improving their products to grab market share. The Wing Sung 618 is an excellent case in point. Bottom line: this is a terrific pen and, at under $8 on Taobao, a great ...
Years and years ago, I dreaded getting stains. It was always a devastating day to find a dirty spot on my clothes; I knew it would never come out. Sure, I threw it in the washing machine, praying the stain would melt away, but the stain was always...
There are many places where you can practice writing online. There is of course here, WriterShelf. I like it the best because of the ability to have multiple pen names. Still, it's good to have different places to write in addition to WriterShelf.
The PenBBS 471 is like a little jewel - a bauble of sorts - at least when closed. Assembled for writing, it's as big as a PenBBS 355 and less than two grams lighter.
The T1 is Moonman's first piston filler fountain pen. It's also their first pen made from aluminum. Turns out the T1 is a very nice pen!
This pen really puts it all together:
Yes, it's another new Chinese fountain pen. If you like the Wing S 698, you'll appreciate the Caliarts Ego. The two pens are virtually the same size and weight and use interchangable Pilot 78G-compati...
For a moment there, orange was my color of choice. I think I was coming off a sepia phase, but don't rightly recall. I got myself some Diamine Autumn Oak and took a flier on J. Herbin Orange Indian.
The Autumn Oak was a great success but I c...
Society is at a tipping point. We have recently gone through the Covid-19 pandemic and it’s still unclear if this pandemic is winding down or not. One major change brought on by the last few months has been the number of companies that made the ...
Twitter is one of the best social media platforms for businesses, but it can take a lot of time if you're not careful. If you have to tweet for a business or brand (maybe you have your own home-based business), then there are ways you can save tim...
Attention fountain pen lovers. PenBBS is at it again. They've just rolled out another new pen. The new PenBBS 355 is interesting from a couple of angles:
Bulk Filling System Pen makers have been thinking about ways to make pens hold mor...
When writing a short story or other piece of fiction, it can be frustrating to feel "stuck" on something as simple as a character's name. This is especially true if you have to name some minor characters for whom no name has sprung to mind yet. ...
The PenBBS 352 is a well-designed cartridge-converter pen offered in an attractive range of acrylics and sold at a reasonable price. Almost everything about the pen strikes a positive note. It's available with a new EF nib.
It doesn't take too long poking around the pocket knife world to discover great swaths of titanium.
Traditionalists may consider it out of bounds, but titanium is a premium handle material for all kinds of modern folders. And for good reas...
The PenBBS 491 may be at the low end of the PenBBS price range but it still features outstanding design, top-drawer materials, excellent fit and finish and PenBBS's best nib.
Since the experience turned out to be amusing, I thought I'd describe what it was like for me to receive a blackmail attempt via spam. The blackmailer did not get off to an auspicious start: the email was from "Anonymous Hacker". As opposed to....
First things first. This pen works really well. It's an achievement in terms of design and functionality. The more I use and understand it, the more I appreciate what the Parker 45 accomplished. What? Parker? But this is a Moonman... More on t...
To my mind, the Moonman M100 pen was a watershed. It put Chinese pens in a new league. Where PenBBS pens are clearly the product of people who know and love fountain pens, their strength is in the engineering, manufacture and huge range of materia...
Wing Sung have released a lot of pens recently. But, then again, so have Moonman and Delike. It’s easy to lose track, especially when new pens don’t jump out and generate a bunch of buzz in the pen community. The Wing Sung 627 is a release that...
For those of you who don't know (which I would hope isn't a lot of you) Taiwan is a little island just off the coast of China. But don't belittle Taiwan because of its size, their reputation for street food is off the charts, and rightfully so. ...
We've all been in school, or are still in school, and understand that it is a system of constantly being told what to do and when to do it. You are taught discipline, to "not disrupt", and generally are discouraged to do things "your way", but to ...
Burger joints have become fairly common in Taipei. Bravo Burger was one of the earliest to open and has gone from strength to strength. The original location was a small place just off Minchuan East Rd., not far from the, then, domestic airport....
The mother-of-pearl, gold- and silver-leaf resins of the Moonman M8 make this pen unique. The connection to the Moonman M6 make it a great writer.