Sunday Sundries
Oct. 4th, 2020 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunabee341. My friends M&M came over yesterday and brought some of their extensive pen collection for me to play with. It was very, very illuminating in ways that I hadn't expected.
So, as I've been looking at fountain pens online, I've been drawn to what I see as the classic pen shape, the expensive looking executive's pen--the shiny black Montblanc with the gold clip, the Sailor 1911s with the shiny bodies and the metal trim. Those are more aesthetically pleasing to me than the Lamy styles or most of the pens with the swirly resin bodies.
But then! I got to hold and write with some pens, and those classy executive's pens are heavy! Really, really heavy--especially posted, and I generally like to write with the pen posted unless it is super long. When I write, I write for awhile generally; I could never write for long periods of time with pens like those. Suddenly, all those pens whose aesthetics aren't quite what I'm drawn to make a LOOOOOT more sense to me.
I also discovered that I do not like to write with really thin pens either; that's just as uncomfortable as something too heavy.
As I suspected, really fine nibs are not for me. I would totally shred paper with them. LOL I liked both the medium and the broad nibs I tried, and I think the round nibs (as opposed to a stub) are the ones that I write best with.
I did not like the Lamy Studio, but it's unclear whether I really don't like that pen or I just don't like M's version which she had modified slightly. I did like the Lamy 2000, the Lamy Logo, the Pilot Varsity, and the Pilot Vanishing Point. I have to admit that I really hate the way hooded knibs look (it's like a visceral ewww reaction that is very strong and deeply weird), but they write well.
M&M gave me a Yafa Icona pen they'd won at a pen show; it's a cartridge pen, and I put some pink ink in it and have been writing with it over the last couple of days. The nib isn't marked, but it's a fine, I think. I like it; it looks like the fancy pen my heart desires but is made out of plastic so it's not too heavy. It's had some problems with the ink stopping flowing, and then after I fiddle with it, it flows again.
Honestly, I think where I'm at is that of everything I've had the chance to touch and play around with, I like my Lamy AL-star the best. LOL I think that eventually what I'd like is to have three fountain pens--I've already got one with a fine, so I'd like to add one with a medium and one with a broad nib. And the likelihood those will be Lamys is looking pretty high.
2. We watched the first episode of Lucifer, finally!, and it was good, but also it was weird?
It was mostly that Maze and Chloe dancing was really awkward and strange, and Ella sleeping with the gangster guy was also kind of jarring.
I loved the more detailed descriptions of hell and how it works (and underneath that the implication that if you can forgive yourself then you can exit your hell); I love Lucifer solving the murder from hell and sending Chloe clues in various ways. I also really love that it's been two months for everyone on earth but thousands of years for Lucifer.
I love Maze and Chloe as partners, and I wish the show had committed to having them be in a quasi-relationship.
Love Linda. Everyone thinks she's crazy, but she has every reason to believe her baby is going to be able to master skills at a much faster rate than humans.
Dan is also delightful. I am so glad he's in a better place. My heart breaks for how much he still loves and misses Charlotte.
Kinda confused by the ending. Is someone masquerading as Lucifer without his knowledge? Did Lucifer send someone disguised as him to save Chloe? What's going on there?
3. She-Ra watch continues! Almost done.
Turns out that the princesses can still use their powers after the weapon is activated; I guess Glimmer is the only one who can't, and why she can't isn't clear to me.
Adora is sleeping by theshards of Narsil broken sword. Poor buddy.
Love Scorpia and Swift Wind bonding. Oh, let's get real. I love everything about Scorpia.
Catra breaks my heart; she knows that she's not really free on Horde Prime's ship. Her fantasy of working her way up and finding a place is just that--a fantasy--and she knows it even while she clings to it.
Horde Prime is very much like Thanos. I wish we learned more about who he is really and what's made him into the ray of sunshine he is today.
Proud of Glimmer for refusing to help Horde Prime in exchange for her dad.
All the princesses gang up on Entrapta, and they're not wrong in their criticism of her, but I'm glad they all come away from that conflict understanding each other better and accepting Entrapta.
Hordac retains some of his individuality. Oooooh, I see where this is going. Unless not. He just got wiped. LOL
Absolutely love Catra saving Glimmer--I want to do that one good thing in my life. And she thinks no one cares about her, and she apologizes to Adora. My heart!
So glad that Adora and Glimmer are quickly okay again and that it doesn't take too terribly long for Beau to forgive her.
Love Swift Wind trying to connect to Adora. Scorpia is so sweet to him.
I love that the refugees they find decide to join the rebellion because they see that She-Ra can bring magic back to the universe.
Horde Prime has to switch bodies as they fail. He crushed the First Ones.
Entrapta is still carrying the torch for Hordac. Love that she's trying to find him and rescue him. But instead they end up with Wrong Hordac. *dies laughing* I love Wrong Hordac.
I absolutely love the almighty wrath of She-Ra when Catra dies temporarily and also when she is destroying those ships out in space.
Glimmer's dad trying to connect to Frosta as a stand-in for Glimmer is really heartbreaking and also really funny.
Catra taking a risk to see what Horde Prime's up to, telling Adora she wants to go home, and then apologizing to Entrapta--hurrah!!! That final scene with them widening the circle to let her in is just perfect.
4.
Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence—and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process by Irene M. Pepperberg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is interesting. I didn't realize that recognition of animal cognition was such a hard fought battle. I think we just take it for granted in the 21st century that animals have intelligence.
Alex was clearly a remarkable animal, and so is Dr. Pepperberg.
The memoir elements of this book make me really sad. Pepperberg was neglected and unloved by her parents and intensely lonely as a child. She was subject to a great deal of sexism throughout her career. She was not treated well by her colleagues at various institutions. She divorced a husband who did not see her work as being as valuable as his and demanded she stop to support his work. And then at the end of the book her bird dies. :(
View all my reviews
So, as I've been looking at fountain pens online, I've been drawn to what I see as the classic pen shape, the expensive looking executive's pen--the shiny black Montblanc with the gold clip, the Sailor 1911s with the shiny bodies and the metal trim. Those are more aesthetically pleasing to me than the Lamy styles or most of the pens with the swirly resin bodies.
But then! I got to hold and write with some pens, and those classy executive's pens are heavy! Really, really heavy--especially posted, and I generally like to write with the pen posted unless it is super long. When I write, I write for awhile generally; I could never write for long periods of time with pens like those. Suddenly, all those pens whose aesthetics aren't quite what I'm drawn to make a LOOOOOT more sense to me.
I also discovered that I do not like to write with really thin pens either; that's just as uncomfortable as something too heavy.
As I suspected, really fine nibs are not for me. I would totally shred paper with them. LOL I liked both the medium and the broad nibs I tried, and I think the round nibs (as opposed to a stub) are the ones that I write best with.
I did not like the Lamy Studio, but it's unclear whether I really don't like that pen or I just don't like M's version which she had modified slightly. I did like the Lamy 2000, the Lamy Logo, the Pilot Varsity, and the Pilot Vanishing Point. I have to admit that I really hate the way hooded knibs look (it's like a visceral ewww reaction that is very strong and deeply weird), but they write well.
M&M gave me a Yafa Icona pen they'd won at a pen show; it's a cartridge pen, and I put some pink ink in it and have been writing with it over the last couple of days. The nib isn't marked, but it's a fine, I think. I like it; it looks like the fancy pen my heart desires but is made out of plastic so it's not too heavy. It's had some problems with the ink stopping flowing, and then after I fiddle with it, it flows again.
Honestly, I think where I'm at is that of everything I've had the chance to touch and play around with, I like my Lamy AL-star the best. LOL I think that eventually what I'd like is to have three fountain pens--I've already got one with a fine, so I'd like to add one with a medium and one with a broad nib. And the likelihood those will be Lamys is looking pretty high.
2. We watched the first episode of Lucifer, finally!, and it was good, but also it was weird?
It was mostly that Maze and Chloe dancing was really awkward and strange, and Ella sleeping with the gangster guy was also kind of jarring.
I loved the more detailed descriptions of hell and how it works (and underneath that the implication that if you can forgive yourself then you can exit your hell); I love Lucifer solving the murder from hell and sending Chloe clues in various ways. I also really love that it's been two months for everyone on earth but thousands of years for Lucifer.
I love Maze and Chloe as partners, and I wish the show had committed to having them be in a quasi-relationship.
Love Linda. Everyone thinks she's crazy, but she has every reason to believe her baby is going to be able to master skills at a much faster rate than humans.
Dan is also delightful. I am so glad he's in a better place. My heart breaks for how much he still loves and misses Charlotte.
Kinda confused by the ending. Is someone masquerading as Lucifer without his knowledge? Did Lucifer send someone disguised as him to save Chloe? What's going on there?
3. She-Ra watch continues! Almost done.
Turns out that the princesses can still use their powers after the weapon is activated; I guess Glimmer is the only one who can't, and why she can't isn't clear to me.
Adora is sleeping by the
Love Scorpia and Swift Wind bonding. Oh, let's get real. I love everything about Scorpia.
Catra breaks my heart; she knows that she's not really free on Horde Prime's ship. Her fantasy of working her way up and finding a place is just that--a fantasy--and she knows it even while she clings to it.
Horde Prime is very much like Thanos. I wish we learned more about who he is really and what's made him into the ray of sunshine he is today.
Proud of Glimmer for refusing to help Horde Prime in exchange for her dad.
All the princesses gang up on Entrapta, and they're not wrong in their criticism of her, but I'm glad they all come away from that conflict understanding each other better and accepting Entrapta.
Hordac retains some of his individuality. Oooooh, I see where this is going. Unless not. He just got wiped. LOL
Absolutely love Catra saving Glimmer--I want to do that one good thing in my life. And she thinks no one cares about her, and she apologizes to Adora. My heart!
So glad that Adora and Glimmer are quickly okay again and that it doesn't take too terribly long for Beau to forgive her.
Love Swift Wind trying to connect to Adora. Scorpia is so sweet to him.
I love that the refugees they find decide to join the rebellion because they see that She-Ra can bring magic back to the universe.
Horde Prime has to switch bodies as they fail. He crushed the First Ones.
Entrapta is still carrying the torch for Hordac. Love that she's trying to find him and rescue him. But instead they end up with Wrong Hordac. *dies laughing* I love Wrong Hordac.
I absolutely love the almighty wrath of She-Ra when Catra dies temporarily and also when she is destroying those ships out in space.
Glimmer's dad trying to connect to Frosta as a stand-in for Glimmer is really heartbreaking and also really funny.
Catra taking a risk to see what Horde Prime's up to, telling Adora she wants to go home, and then apologizing to Entrapta--hurrah!!! That final scene with them widening the circle to let her in is just perfect.
4.
Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence—and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process by Irene M. PepperbergMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is interesting. I didn't realize that recognition of animal cognition was such a hard fought battle. I think we just take it for granted in the 21st century that animals have intelligence.
Alex was clearly a remarkable animal, and so is Dr. Pepperberg.
The memoir elements of this book make me really sad. Pepperberg was neglected and unloved by her parents and intensely lonely as a child. She was subject to a great deal of sexism throughout her career. She was not treated well by her colleagues at various institutions. She divorced a husband who did not see her work as being as valuable as his and demanded she stop to support his work. And then at the end of the book her bird dies. :(
View all my reviews
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Date: 2020-10-04 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-06 01:03 am (UTC)I really love the show, too.
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Date: 2020-10-04 09:44 pm (UTC)*weeps*
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Date: 2020-10-06 01:04 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2020-10-04 11:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-06 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-06 01:20 am (UTC)I have, uh, a lot of pens! Resin is very light, metal is a gorgeous aesthetic. Some resin looks like stone or metal, and that's EXTRA gorgeous. But I don't own any of those yet.
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Date: 2020-10-06 02:20 pm (UTC)I don't like the metal, industrial look very much. But I do like some of the resin ones. The Esterbrook Maraschino cherry is really pretty although I would never buy it. It's just fun looking. I also really, really love the way most of the Pelikan pens look, especially the one with the white cap and the purple stripes. *swoons* But Pelikan apparently does not do cartridge/converter, and I am 100% not there yet for more complicated methods of inking up a pen.
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Date: 2020-10-05 01:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-06 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-05 02:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-06 01:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-05 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-10-06 01:08 am (UTC)I am having so much fun.
I've just been routinely spreading out all my notebooks on the floor and petting them. Very satisfying.