My first four-color click pen arrived in one of my grandma’s epic back-to-school supplies boxes, which she would ship from the exotic land of Kenosha, Wisconsin, during the 1980s. The boxes were filled with new-to-me upper-midwestern office supplies, unlike the pedestrian central Missouri supplies I had grown accustomed to. This pen core memory was unlocked when Hank received a new Mark Rober Crunch Labs Box in the mail this week. The box contained a build-your-own drawing machine, and the drawing tool that accompanied it was a classic four-color click pen. The drawing machine has yet to be built, but Hank and I have taken apart the pen and reassembled it a few times, and he has clicked, clicked, clicked, clicked the red, green, blue, and black pen options repeatedly. It’s a school supply right of passage, and I was pleased to see that he saw the value of this coveted writing tool.
Here is more reading about the 4 Color Click Pen because I went down the rabbit hole one night when I couldn’t sleep looking for articles about this pen.
→An NYT Home & Garden article from 2000
→2022 article about French teens disrupting class over stealing the pens and creating side hustles trading special editions
→And the article where I found the above photo plus a bunch more historical Bic advertisements
Winter term just ended, and spring term starts a week from today. This past week has been finals week and the week where my entire family doesn’t feel great due to all of us trading turns getting knocked down by a stomach bug. The purchases of this previous week revolved very much around stomach meds (3.18.25), liquid diet (3.21.25), and lying around reading (3.22.25). I took a chance and thought Hank might like Bunnicula, and my risk paid off. We are almost finished with book two (Howliday Inn) and have book three (The Celery Stalks at Midnight) waiting in the wings.
I have a soft spot for kid lit with this type of maximalist, detailed illustration style. It reminds me of another epic painter, Hodges Soileau, who illustrated The Babysitter’s Club books I read as a child.
But back to Bunnicula. It’s a perfect first spooky story to read to your six-year-old. It is the right amount of creeped-out combined with some cute animals. What’s not to love?
On Saturday, Outlet is tabling at the second annual Reed Zine Festival. It’s our first zine fest of the year, and I had a goal to have a new zine to share, but ALAS, I haven’t even started on this goal. Angela Nguyen, a 2023 grad of PSUGD, illustrated this cute poster. Way to go, Angela! We will be filling our table with a bunch of Zine Kits, Scrap Packs, and lots of zines to share!
This week from the Outlet Zine Library, I am featuring one of the many tiny zines Brian McMullen has sent me over the years. I feel tremendously fortunate to be included on his mailing list. Still Not Dotcoms was made in 2017 and is an ever-changing catalog of unregistered domain names researched, compiled, and published by Brian McMullen since 2000.
Please get lost in this list and maybe buy an unclaimed domain name or two. May I suggest yuckyfood.com, terriblegolf.com, or dankbasement.com?
I am closing things out with an ode to my favorite scanner—the Canon Lide 400. For the record, I have been a loyal user since the Canon Lide 100. This lightweight, powerful, and cheap scanner has scanned all of my daily drawings since I discovered it in 2009 because I needed a scanner to travel with. I mostly use this scanner for B&W drawings, but it’s also been handling the recent zine scans like a champ. I strongly recommend it!
Thanks for reading,
🌈KBB🌈
I just signed up today. You're so much fun; a pleasure to read. I really am gonna upgrade to a real subscription. Maybe remind me later? xoxox
betsy
I love those pens. And your posts are fun. Thank you.