Episode 200: The Erasable Spellcast, Part 0

🪄 A D&D adventure, with Dungeon Master Monica Corwin 🐉

These guys are characters. For our two hundredth episode, we wax a bit nostalgic and also begin a new adventure: Along with a seasoned Dungeon Master Monica Corwin, we’re making D&D characters for a pencil themed campaign (which you’ll hear in our next couple of episodes)! A quick note: Patreon subscribers will be able to watch video of this episode and our further D&D episodes! Subscribe at any level and see our lovely faces.

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Episode 199: Pencils Under the Table (with special guest Aaron Bartholmey)

In this episode, the penultimate of the first 200, we’re excited to have the impending Guiness World Record holder for the largest pencil collection, Aaron Bartholmey. Aaron is also the Secretary-Treasurer of one of our favorite organizations, the American Pencil Collector Society. He talks with us about his collection, counting it for the record, and of course, getting involved with the APCS.

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Episode 198: Shout Out to Linda

Much as with our retrospective on Blackwings Volumes editions last episode, today we’re taking a look back at the Field Notes releases we’ve gotten since around the beginning of the pandemic.

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Episode 197: A Shocking Lack of Knowledge

We always offer hot takes on each Blackwing Volumes release. But how do things look when we step back a little and look again with some more context and perspective? Tune in as we talk about the last few years of Blackwing Volumes, give our spicy and mild takes, and give each volume a grade.

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Episode 196: Full of Expletives

Today, we have a full episode of just the Tools of the Trade. Skip this if you don’t want to hear about the 16 different albums Tim is listening too, what gritty British crime dramas Johnny’s watching, or what books Andy says he’s reading. Plus: the greatest concert film ever made, starring Seth Rogan.

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Episode 195: Flaubert with a Chicago Accent (with special guest Jay Newton)

We’re celebrating National Poetry Month a month too late, but we think it’s always time to celebrate poetry. To that end, we’ve invited Jay Newton, long-time listener and Erasable Poet Laureate, onto the show to talk about his new chapbook, Effigies, and how he thinks about and creates poetry. We also celebrate silly little poems by pitting Jay against ChatGPT to write extremely specific pencil limericks.

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Episode 193: Illicit Blackwing Ring

Every once in a while, we like to update one of the most popular features on our website: Our personal Top Five Pencils list. As we stare down nine years on the airwaves, see how much — or how little — has changed.

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Episode 192: The Coptic Kid

Join us as we discuss some truly cool things from Musgrave, a delightful weird two-color pen, Jimmy Smits’s rise to galactic political fame, and why the Bic Cristal doesn’t deserve the hate it’s been getting on the internet.

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Episode 190: Where's Wasem?

At the end of Autumn, Andy and Johnny gather to give thanks and to chat about some recent news and developments in the stationery world, including the latest from Field Notes and Blackwing.

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Episode 188: All Aboard the Creativity Train (with special guest Joey Cofone)

Tonight, we’re joined by special guest Joey Cofone, co-founder of Baronfig and author of The Laws of Creativity: Unlock Your Originality and Awaken Your Creative Genius which comes out on October 18, 2022. Joey talks to us about how he turned his belief that creativity is not magic, it’s a skill that needs to be practiced. We discuss some universal truths — or laws — to creative work, and how he pulled them together into a book.

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Episode 187: Fickle Tim

In this episode, we name names — discussing specific examples of books that we turn to when we need a creative boost. Find out about new careers, the SF Pen Show, Musgrave’s sharpener, and more!

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Episode 186: An Embarrassing Amount of Knowledge

This week, we kick off a multi-episode discussion about creativity, and in particular, books about creativity and the creative process. Today, we’re discussing what we look for in such books: Do we want practical tips? Do we want to be inspired? Maybe a little of both?

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Episode 185: Six Too Many Abs (with special guest Harry Marks)

Join Johnny, Tim, and Andy as we invite a long-time friend of the show Harry Marks on, to talk about his new novel, The Library at the Center of the Earth, and his new job as a staff writer for Grim and Mild, a historical storytelling podcast network. We talk about creative writing, the importance of routines, and of course, frequent screaming on social media.

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Episode 184: David Sedaris at Walmart

It’s hot as all get out, and that means it’s summer. It also means that the new editions from our favorite stationers have come out. Over the last few weeks, the big summer releases from Blackwing and Field Notes have been garnering smiles, frowns, and jumping up and down. Aside from Tools of the Trade and Fresh Points, we’re going to share our hot takes and iced takes on these new toys tonight.

Show Notes:

Episode 183: I Can Heal Your Soul, But Not Your Foot

Being ecologically-minded citizens of the world, we don't like the idea of just throwing away perfectly good paper and pencils. This is especially salient this time of year, when kids are bringing home piles of stuff from their desks and lockers. Tune in this week for a discussion of what to do with all that material.

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Episode 182: Rob Thomas Over Here

It’s the unofficial start to summer in the United States, and we’re here with white pants and pencils to check in before school is out and everyone starts going on vacations. We cover lots of summer goodness, from Baronfig’s latest journal to cross-country hitchhiking.

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