Zoë Schiffer: I like it.
Lauren Goode: Yeah.
Michael Calore: That’s great.
Lauren Goode: I’m really enjoying that. Yeah. I’m not sure I’m going to do it, but I’m enjoying the hashtag content. What about you, Mike?
Michael Calore: My rabbit hole is pens. I’m serious.
Zoë Schiffer: You always have the best answers.
Michael Calore: Okay, so I’ve been a reporter pretty much my entire adult life, and one of the first things that I learned from my very first editor is that you always carry a pen with you. So I do. I always carry a pen with me. Lauren knows this. I’m pretty fanatical about my devotion towards Fisher Space Pens. If you know the Bullet Space pen, it’s very small. It fits in your pocket without bulging or anything, and when you post it, when you pull the cap off and put it on the end, it’s a full-size pen. It can go through the wash. You can leave it in a car that’s super hot, you can freeze it. It’s not going to explode because it has this pressurized ink thing in it. So I traveled at the beginning of January. I went to Las Vegas for CES. God help me. I had my space pen in my pocket. I used it, but it kept falling apart. I think it’s so old that it’s just not really holding together anymore. I got tired of picking up all the little pieces off the floor. So laying in bed one night, I was like, “I need a new Space pen.” I went to my favorite pen shop on the internet, which is Jet Pens, and I started researching other small pens, and I found five or six that I really like. I bought two of them that are Space pens.
Lauren Goode: Wow.
Zoë Schiffer: Indulgent.
Michael Calore: I spent probably two hours reading buying guides and pen content on the internet.
Lauren Goode: That’s amazing.
Michael Calore: I got this cool one though. A Kaweco Sport.
Zoë Schiffer: Aww.
Michael Calore: A German pen.
Lauren Goode: Can you hold it in front of the camera?
Michael Calore: Yeah.
Zoë Schiffer: It’s kind of red, square. It’s got an interesting modern looking design.
Lauren Goode: It looks like the kind of pen that you would give to a kid if they were first learning how to write.
Michael Calore: Yes, which is me. I’m a large child. But it’s octagonal. It doesn’t roll, so you put it down and it doesn’t roll.
Zoë Schiffer: That’s cool. That’s nice.
Michael Calore: Right? I wonder if there’s pentok, if there’s a TikTok for pens.
Zoë Schiffer: There probably is. I feel like there’s truly a TikTok community for anything.
Michael Calore: Then I can get really into it, and then TikTok goes away, and then I’ll be on the outside again.
Zoë Schiffer: Mike’s a pen influencer.
Michael Calore: A Penfluencer.
Zoë Schiffer: A Penfluencer
Michael Calore: A Penfluencer. That’s our show for today. We will be back next week with an episode about Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist captain of the internet, and very influential figure in Silicon Valley. Thanks for listening to Uncanny Valley. If you like what you heard today, make sure to follow our show and rate it on your podcast app of choice. If you’d like to get in touch with any of us for questions, comments, or show suggestions, write to us at uncannyvalley@wired.com. Today’s show is produced by Kyana Moghadam and Gianna Palmer. Amar Lal at Macrosound Mixed this episode. Jordan Bell is our executive producer. Conde Nast’s head of Global Audio is Chris Bannon.
Services Marketplace – Listings, Bookings & Reviews