A while back the New York Times had an exhaustive survey of the best notebooks. They also had a section on the best pens and pencils, but completely omitted fountain pens. This was even though two fountain pens, a Lamy Safari and a TWSBI Eco were prominently shown in the photo illustration at the head of the article. They even talk about how some papers perform poorly with fountain pens. Whassamatta NYT? No love for the fountain pen? They probably decided that getting into fountain pens was too complicated considering how few people use them these days. Fie, I say! Look, it's simple. The Platinum Preppy is a terrific and very cheap fountain pen from Japan as is the Pilot Kaküno. Alas, it looks like Amazon is having a real problem carrying them right now. But they should cost between $5 and $10. Both use cartridges, but you can get converters so you can fill from a bottle. Moving up a step, I recommend pens from Lamy, made in Germany. They start about $20 and Amazon has a few in stock. Another great pen is the Platinum Prefounte which Amazon also seems out of. Goulet Pens would be a good alternate source. There are a host of Chinese pens out there, some good, like Moonman, but most unsatisfactory with scratchy nibs, leaking barrels or just poor ink flow.
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I have just about every coffee making equipment know to humanity, but I have ended up with a very simple system. The real secret is to grind your beans fresh every morning in a ceramic burr grinder. For brewing I use something like this, but I think it was cheaper when I bought it. The lid helps keep the coffee warm while it brews: https://www.amazon.com/Clever-Coffee-Dripper-Baristas-Choice/dp/B07RV3JJBG/ref=sr_1_80?crid=2R34IFNGOTGX9&dchild=1&keywords=drip%2Bcoffee%2Bmaker%2Bpour%2Bover&qid=1635780835&sprefix=drip%2Bcoffee%2Caps%2C126&sr=8-80&th=1
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Oh, speaking of notebooks, I like the Leuchtturm 1917, but it is rather expensive. "Leuchtturm" means "lighthouse" by the way. A good minimalist notebook for much less is the Midori from Japan. They both have nice paper that stands up well to fountain pens.
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Here is today's livestream from Wigmore Hall: Mischa Maisky, cello and his daughter, Lily Maisky, piano:
6 comments:
"They also had a section on the best pens and pencils, but completely omitted fountain pens." I think you are giving the NY writers too much credit. In the modern media world, these kinds of articles are intended solely to 1) attract eyeballs that can click on advertisements, and 2) lead some people to click on the purchase link, which gives an affiliate cut to the publication. The authors are not aiming to give a well-rounded, competent review of the choices out there, there just isn’t time for that and writers’ pay is low: they need to quickly throw together a list of products. I work in an adjacent content-writing field and know how the sausage is mind.
Incidentally, while five years ago Leuchtturm 1717 was viewed as a European prestige brand that kept quality high while other companies like Moleskine outsourced to China with declining quality, even Leuchtturm has been outsourcing some of its products to a Chinese contractor recently. Things move fast in this space, but seemingly never for the better.
"...how the sausage is made", I meant to write.
Good insight into how the sausage is made in those less-prestigious sites like the New York Times!
Concur heartily with regard to Moleskine--yes, they have really declined. I haven't noticed that with Leuchtturm yet. Clairefontaine has some nice notebooks as well.
Bryan, while waiting early this morning for your Friday Miscellanea, I discovered an essay at VAN magazine that explores the question of a link between Wagner's music and the black metal genre. I would be interested on your take on this.
link: https://van-magazine.com/mag/wagner-black-metal/
Here is an interesting, well written and thought out contribution to the AI Beethoven X reaction:
https://van-magazine.com/mag/jan-swafford-beethoven-x/
You might already have seen or referenced it.
David, thanks for the link to the article on Black Metal. I dimly recall a book by a musicologist specializing in popular music who did write on heavy metal, but I forget his name...
But yes, I did put up a quote from Jan Swafford's article on Beethoven AI.
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