Review – Pentel Handy-Line S Permanent Marker

I personally don’t have much use for permanent markers, but quite a few people do, especially for the “fine” tipped ones like Sharpies. But regular permanent markers are kinda boring. Today I won’t be looking at one of those, but at a more interesting Pentel Handy Line S.

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The pen body is kinda ugly. It’s a very straight-cut tube in black, with lots of logos and text on it (though I have seen worse text on many items). The overall design is boxy. Up near the top is a very positive clicking mechanism that feels quite robust. The click it gives off is super satisfying, as well. The clip is nothing really special. It is a bit sharp and might tear cloth, but it won’t break. Interestingly enough, there is a mechanism underneath the clip that will disengage the clicking mechanism when the clip is moved away from the barrel, meaning that if you do put it in a pocket it will automatically retract, which would hopefully save one from some of the mess that would cause. The rest of the barrel is straight and black, with some writing. There is a slight curve before the retractable point, which has a nice cover that blends in with the pen to keep the marker tip from drying out.

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The writing is quite black: I’d say slightly warm but not to noticeably so. The pen is a bit dry when it is just beginning to write, but that is quickly worked through. I will admit that I haven’t given it the most rigorous testing possible, but the ink is suitably permanent. It doesn’t smear or feather when exposed to water, and writes on many different surfaces. The ink also has a very peculiar smell that is like no other marker I’ve used, though I probably shouldn’t sniff it regularly. The body of the pen says it’s refillable as well, though I can’t for the life of me figure out how that would work, but it’s cheap enough to replace.

Overall, for a retractable permanent marker, I’d say this one hits the nail on the head. It works well in all places and has no glaring flaws. It isn’t that expensive and can be used for all sorts of things. Whether or not the features make it worth tracking one down is up to you.

Blog 9-13-14 – Schedule + Updates for Today and the Last Month

So I haven’t had much reason to update the site in a while, but I figured that now enough little changes have piled up that they warrant some talking about.

The first thing that is noticeable is the Menu Bar: the “Store” is now gone. This is because I wasn’t selling anything at the moment, and the store had a primitive design. Therefore, it has been temporarily removed until some better products and formatting are available.

Also in the Menu Bar, you might notice that several tabs have been condensed into the “Text” and “Audio” tabs. These tabs currently take you to blank pages, but will at some point have multiple organized lists of each post in the category. Hopefully the “Comics” page will be updated at some point as well.

Next thing next: I’ve actually made a schedule of all of the things that I post on a weekly basis. This schedule can be seen on the “Schedule” page and is also listed below. It will be updated whenever something is added or removed from the weekly rotation. There are also several things that are posted on the site, whether frequently or not, that are not on the schedule as they are not weekly. Most if not all of these will be mentioned on the “Schedule” page.

Speaking of things that are coming out weekly, there are some slight changes coming to “Panzerkampfwagen” and “One Off Beat”. These changes won’t be enough to cause a major update (which I usually do on the first of January). Starting in a few weeks “Panzerkampfwagen” will expand to deal with more wars, and differing sides in the same war. The schedule will alternate between one main comic of Germans in WWII, one of another side in WWII, back to the Germans, and then one of another war entirely. There will likely be an update in the future if this changes. “One Off Beat” will be moving more toward what I had originally envisioned and become more likely a weekly feature page, where I explore different characters and possibly storylines (instead of simply exploring visual ways to tell stories, as it is now). Neither of these updates will affect the comic as much as Dice Comics was affected several months ago when it was rebooted (sorry about not making an update for that, but it didn’t seem entirely necessary…)

Speaking of a weekly feature, there is a possible new comic set that will be just that, with a new page appearing every week in a larger format. Some might just be one offs, but many will have continuing storyline that will be updated every few weeks or so. That would be kinda like a comic book where you only get a page every month (that makes it sound lame, but I’m already doing a lot, so bear with me). I will have to see if I am able to get such a project up and running, but I’m trying.

A project I did get up and running, though, is my “Editorial Cartoons”, which should be appearing every week. These might be political, so be warned if you are a sensitive reader. They won’t be appearing on the front page, so you will have to look for them, but they are on the Comics Page and Menu.

Several other things, such as the “Errata” and “Affiliates” pages, are also being updated. Hopefully, in the coming weeks some much-needed housekeeping will be done and the site will have all of its content looking much better. Until then, thank you for reading, and looking, and watching!

(Suspended as of May 2016, hopefully to be re-instated soon)
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