Editing The Pen Addict 367/transcript (section)

== Pen Topic Shift ==


'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yep. So I'm going to take a 180 from that pen and we're going to talk about one of the most simple looking pens that I find completely fascinating, but I want to use it as a jumping off point to something else. It's the Pilot Custom Arushi. It's the big honking Pilot Arushi pen, like number 30 size nib. It's a big expensive piece of like fountain pen art, but it's basically your black and gold pen. But the reason I bring this up is because that's a pen that I've eyeballed and looked at. And you let me try it at a pen show before, maybe multiple times because that's one I always gravitate to. And I want to use that pen not just to talk about that particular video, but your pen show videos. So what is your thought process behind, you've made several pen show videos now. Do you know just in that category alone? I'm sorry I put you on the spot there, but it's several.

'''David Parker:''' Yeah, maybe five or six or something like that. Yeah.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' So what's that like and what's the feedback been like on those pen show videos? Because I get to see you at the pen shows when we travel and I get to try some of your cool pens, like your Pilot Custom Arushi, but then you come back and do video recaps of some of the shows.

'''David Parker:''' Yeah. And at first, when I first started doing them, they were straight video recaps. And that it was just kind of, hey, this is what's going on. And this is what's happening at this particular show. And this is what I picked up type of thing. And I did a few videos like that. And then I felt I wanted to do something a little bit different just because it was just, I mean, after a while, it's just going to be the same content, the same, unless there's new things that come out. It's like, okay, this is Brad's table. This is the Anderson's table. This is every other table. And so what I did recently was rather than do a recap of the Atlanta show, I actually came out with a pen show 101, which was kind of my variation on the pen show video and kind of just saying, okay, if you're going to go to a pen show for the very first time, these are all of my recommendations. Because those are some of the things I get. Those are the questions I get in those pen show videos is in the comment section is, okay, I'm going. I don't know what to expect. And, oh, I'm, you know, because I've been there too. I've been nervous when you walk in, you get overwhelmed and you're not quite sure what to expect. And so I just kind of laid out a number of tips and tricks and things like that in that video. And I was proud of that video just because I thought it contained a lot of really good information. And especially if you're just starting out in the hobby or never been to a pen show, I thought it would be a good guide for people.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, I think that's excellent. And it's certainly a good resource because it's even though like the timeframe changes and the vendors might change, the content is evergreen for, hey, I'm going to my first pen show. Let me watch a video about what I should expect. So I think that's really, really good. Now you have, I guess, a few outliers on there. And I'll never forget when you reached out to me for this next video, which is called Rubik's Cube Mosaics. And you basically, I should have gone back and pulled up the email. I should basically, Brad, can I have a knock logo for a project I'm working on? And I'm like, sure, David, you may. And then boom, Rubik's Cube Mosaics video. You just got to give us some background on this video because this is just one of those things that is mind boggling on a lot of levels that could probably fill an entire podcast episode. Yeah.

'''David Parker:''' Yeah. I mean, I've been doing Rubik's Cubes ever since they came out in the early 80s. And I don't categorize myself as a speed cuber, but my best time is like 48.6 seconds, which is terrible when you're looking at me. Not for me. You know, one of these days I'd like to actually get that under 30 seconds, but I would basically have to learn a brand new methodology. Basically, my methodology, I'm doing it as fast as I can. Imagine like if all of a sudden you say you're riding a bike wrong, you have to go relearn how to ride a bike. In order for me to get under 30 seconds, I would have to relearn how to ride a bike. So it's like my brain is afraid to like try it again. So one of these days I might do that because I'd like to get under 30 seconds. But I've always played with cubes. And one of the things is I'm always just looking for fun things to do on the channel. What would be a fun project to do to make things interesting? And there was a company that loaned Rubik's Cubes to schools. And so what they would do is they would have these programs. They would ship the schools these programs and they would make mosaics with Rubik's Cubes for school programs. And so I work with them and it's free, but you have to pay for shipping of 500 cubes. I think it was 500, 600. It was at five or 600 cubes, which is not cheap. I'll just say that shipping 600 cubes is not cheap. And so I had to wait until the summer because I didn't want to take away a kit from like an actual school that was using it and when they had availability. And so I had them for like six weeks. And so I decided I just thought it'd be an interesting video to make mosaics out of these video or out of these cubes. And so I thought, okay, what could be fountain pen related? So I just said, you know what? I'll just make logos of companies. And that, you know, I, I, I, I didn't reach out to some of the bigger people like Montblanc or, or pilot or things like that. But for smaller folks, I actually reached out to, because I I'm very conscientious about copyright issues. And that's actually something I profess to people that ask me to look at their videos and things like that. If you didn't take a picture, don't use it unless you got permission to use that. I've had people that had me look at their videos and I'd be like, okay, did you ask their permission or do you just steal that from their site? You know, you can't use that music. You can't, you know, if you didn't create it, don't use it. So, uh, I, for smaller companies like yourself, I, you know, I wanted to ask permission because I didn't think it'd be cool just to use your logo without you knowing it. And, and who knows, uh, that, uh, you know, you might have an issue with that. And if you did, then I'd hate, uh, you know, for that to, uh, to, to become an issue if I just assume that it's okay. But I do recall asking you. And then I recall, uh, it was at a show. I can't remember which show it was, but I came up with, I came up to, uh, to you and Myke and I had it on my phone and I just, I had a video loaded on my phone. I hadn't produced the video yet, but I had that portion of it. And I just said, okay, this is what I did. And you guys were just kind of blown away by it.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' No joke.

'''David Parker:''' But yeah, it was a project that took me like six weeks. Uh, I had to build an easel out from scratch because 600 Rubik's cubes, uh, weigh a lot. And so I had, it was like this huge easel. I had to go down to Home Depot and buy wood. And I, I'm not a super handy carpenter, but I basically had to figure out how to make an easel on my own that would hold all these cubes. And, uh, at first it kind of was sagging. So I had to reinforce it. And then I would go up there and in the bedroom, I basically took over our master bedroom or portion of it for, you know, a little over a month. And I'd go up there each night and, you know, make video and make the video. And each one, each, I can't remember if it was like maybe 10, 12, 13 logos or something like that. And each one, I tried to shoot a little bit differently. Some are time-lapse, some are stop motion, some are, you know, I tried to do them a little bit differently and, uh, added some cool music. I thought from, uh, one of my favorite, um, uh, uh, musicians that named Andrew Applepie, who's does a really good job of letting creators use their music. So it's kind of cool, hip music. Uh, and, uh, and I thought it turned out nice and it was something different and interesting and, and it was fun. So whether or not someone watched it, whether or not it got tons of views, it was fun to create and it was a fun project. So it was a win in my book.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Yeah, for sure. Like it, as a viewer, it puts a smile on my face, right? Like we can watch all the reviews and, and, you know, do all these things. And then you get like this little surprise, like in your, in your feed, you go, Oh, what is David up to? Oh, wow. Look at what he did. Like it's, it's a cool surprise.

'''David Parker:''' So, and then there's a surprise at the end. I didn't mention there's the logo, the locked logo. But then there was something else I didn't ask permission for, for, uh, for you at the end of the video.

'''Brad Dowdy:''' Oh, I'd have to go back and watch it now. It's been, I haven't watched it since you launched it. Um, but I just stuck in my head. So I can't remember now, but I know I watched through the whole thing. Now I'm going to go back and see, Oh, was it, was it the picture like the Boston Globe picture?

'''David Parker:''' Uh, it was, it was you and Myke.