Your favorite MLT merch

[Jung Roe]

[Stephen Kosior]

I was planning to make this it’s own post, but the picture won’t rotate correctly and is probably too small to read, so, I’m just going to leave it here for y’all amusement and hope it’s better then the preview I’m seeing.

 

[Howard]

Hi Stephen. I managed to read the note by magnifying the photo and reading it sideways (clever me)! I have the same issue with the rotation problem too. Sometimes I’ve been able to remedy it by experimenting, but it is frustrating.

I did put the issue into the Support & Suggestions thread several weeks ago under the Topic ‘Photo Uploads’ but I guess it would be fairly low on Rudolf‘s priorities this time of the year. A copy of my request follows:

“Hi Team MLT. Often when I upload a photo in portrait to the forum, it comes across in landscape. Is there any way I can edit it back to portrait?

Cheers,

Howard”

 

 

[Stephen Kosior]

Thanks Howard, for the update. Once I actually posted the picture I saw it worked fine other then the orientation. As for that, my guess is if I had held my phone vertically and not horizontally, when I took the picture, it would have been fine. Even though I oriented the picture correctly before uploading, there is probably meta data in the file that retains the original orientation.  I’m sure we would both prefer Rudi be working on shooting the next video or engineering the next collection of beautiful things, but a little more control when uploading photos would be cool to have, if it’s not too much time away more important things. 😉

[Jacki Hopper]

Hi Steve :

 

May I offer this tip…and have showed you  here what I tried to do with your photo  with how I described here:©PhotoBy:Steve K. ~

Whenever you take photo… Go to your photo editor app or photo/camera app and see if it says Edit, if so find Rotate, and Rotate…. I always do this if a photo turns out sideways, as yours did here and then save new properly rotated appearance and download /upload accordingly….

[Howard]

Correct Jacki. However, the issue for me hasn’t been while taking the photo but rather after uploading a correctly rotated photo from my photo data base. Sometimes during the upload the orientation is reversed.

[Jung Roe]

Hi Stephen.  It’s great the pens take a Parker type refill, so you can continue to reuse them.

[Howard]

Well you got me there Jung. I also have the The Wide, Wide, Land mug plus five others. I also have heaps of pens. Nice feel and writing as well as great for introducing friends to the MLT. I also love my Mouse pads, of which I have four.

[Jung Roe]

Well Howard, you can never have too many pens is my motto.  Of all these I have, my MLT pens are among my most favorite.  I think my “The Wide, Wide, Land” mug is starting to get lonely, so time for some more MLT mugs soon.

 

[Howard]

Ah! Pen collectors. What do you call them? The following is copied from Quora:

“My comments are limited to Fountain Pen Folk–

Brilliant, witty folks with good taste and an appreciation for finer things. They are contemplative and yet ready with a quick riposte when needed.

While the mandorla of the Venn Diagram is quite large we come in two basic varieties…

• Collectors–who will search out a specific sort of pen maker and/or a specific model of pen and attempt to become both expert on and holder of as many examples of that particular pen. I know of a person who is renowned for his collection of Parker Vacu-matics. Probably the world’s expert.
• Accumulators–folks who enjoy using pens and really aren’t into the single-minded pursuit of one kind. Some of us have several pens of the same model because we like them–the feel or the look or the way they write. Generally, we just like pens and spend too much of our budget on the darn things…

As noted there is a great overlap…There are collectors who have very eclectic collections of a style of pen…the combo…fountain pen on one end-pencil on the other…”

That is a wonderful collection of yours Jung. Which category do you fall into? My guess is ‘Accumulator’, considering your collection of MonaLisa pens. Like with everything MLT, the quality is excellent!

 

[Jung Roe]

Thanks Howard for the Quora article. Yes I’ve been into pens, most of my young adult life actually but more so in the last 10 years. Fountain pens mostly too. I guess I am an Accumulator because I like all different brand of pens as long as it looks and feels right to me. I’ve always found hand writing beneficial over typing on a computer. I take a lot of notes at work, and hand writing in a notebook in a meeting, phone calls, or just to plan my day etc I find helps to slow me down and focus better resulting in a calming effect, and my notes have saved the day for me many times because I had info that I retained that I could fall back on. This article if anyone is interested points out some profound benefits of hand writing, and using a fountain pen is well like listening to music on vinyl over CD. It just feels nicer and more tactile which makes the act of writing more enjoyable, so you will tend to write more. And some fountain pens with Flex nibs are great for sketching and calligraphy which is an art unto itself.

4 Benefits of handwriting:  http://mentalfloss.com/article/33508/4-benefits-writing-hand

And a short video about hand writing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzI7OPRCusM

Anyway, that is my self-help speech for the evening, and excuse my digression here, as you can see I am a little passionate when it comes to pens 🙂

…and I will leave you all with this to show Lisa hand writes music with a pen, so I am not completely off topic here.  🙂

[Michael Rife]

1.  Guitar straps

2.  Pics

3.  Pens

4.  Shirt

5.  Hoodie

[Howard]

This is my collection of MonaLisa mugs. Seven in all, including the one that has that famous Elvis scowl on Mona’s face. You can also see it in the ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ video (Mona’s Elvis scowl that is).

I noticed the ‘Wide, Wide Land’ isn’t there. I’ll have to add it to my next order!

 

[Jung Roe]

That’s an impressive collection of MLT mugs you got going there Howard.  That yellow BAM 3 mug speaks to me.

[Howard]

Thanks for the reminder Mike. I also love my two shirts, cap and hoodie. And lets not forget the two posters I have!

[Jacki Hopper]

I have pens… T-shirts… A mug… Pins… Postcards .. Guitar picks .. I Love All the merch I have and if I was A Zilillionaire a Million times over… I’d Own Everything MLT… ????????????????❤️

[Howard]

I’m with you Jacki. If I was a multi millionaire, the MLT would never need to wonder where their project funding was coming from again. Never mind, if enough of us can provide whatever support we can, they at least will be able to continue independently doing what they love doing so much and we will be able to continuing doing the listening and watching we love so much. Can’t wait for their next video!

[Michael Rife]

In our walk-in closet I already have a Poco wing of shirts, hoodies, etc.  Also in there are Buffalo Springfield shirts, Richie Furay shirts, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band shirts, and Pure Praire League shirts…….can ya tell I kinda like country-rock.  Now the MLT merch is starting to grow in the closet!!!!

[Jung Roe]

Hi Mike.  I say let it grow!   I have the MLT hoodie, cap, and beach towel.  Awesome aren’t they.  They are so high quality and stylish too, especially the hoodie.  Can’t go wrong with any of the MLT merch.

[Howard]

“That yellow BAM 3 mug speaks to me”. They all speak to me Jung. Thanks for sharing the ‘4 Benefits of handwriting’. Haven’t had a chance to read yet but it looks interesting and I’ll definitely have a look when I get a moment. Unlike you, I stopped writing when I learnt to type about 25 years ago. I just find the editing and record keeping facilities of computers make life so much easier and my writing was always terrible and I couldn’t even read my own writing half the time. I put it down to a primary school education in many different schools and in two different states which had their own education systems and also had different writing styles, so mine became very mixed. However, love your collection and I did love fountain pens when I used them in the old days. You’ve inspired me into looking into fountain pens again with a view to learning to write properly (calligraphy perhaps). You are very persuasive!

Mona and Lisa would find it difficult to believe that in my first year of school, at the age of five, we learnt to write on slates with chalk. In my second year we had ink wells in our desks and used something like a pencil with a nib on the end. Of course blotting paper was also required. Yes, this was the 1950’s not the 1750’s where they used something similar, a feather as a quill. Not much progress. All those poor little girls who had their pony tails or pig tails dipped in black ink wells by the young urchin sitting at the desk behind them. Now can you imagine Lisa in those days with her long red hair! Speaking of whom, did you notice she isn’t using a MonaLisa pen in the photo you included (marketing opportunities Lisa!). I wonder what sort of pen she was using!

[Jung Roe]

LOL.  Howard if anyone messed with Lisa’s beautiful long hair, I think I would be more sorry for the little poor urchin sitting behind her as that big black slate would come crashing down upon his little head.  You remember Lisa’s Halloween guitar?  I am sure there would be an “Anne of Green Gables” moment.  🙂

And yeah, I would highly recommend trying out a fountain pen..  They can bring a lot of joy.

[Jung Roe]

For those who are not familiar with “Anne of Green Gables”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c6yhYgxoT4

..I just couldn’t resist…you gotta see this  🙂

[Jacki Hopper]

Well… Since we’re onto the topic of pens and Penmanship…. Let me say I Luv pens… Purple Ones in paeticular✒️… And writing in general… But for me it has not always come easy… In fact I’ve struggled pretty much all through my childhood with printing and writing issues… Beginning in Kindergarten-High-school .. Brought mostly on with lack of hand and eye coordination skills due to me being a full term baby at 3 pounds and 3 ounces (Mom didn’t show much with me so when it was time… They didn’t think she was having a baby… Lol)

I guess because of my size… There were concerns and ended up staying a month or so in hospital… Probably until I was at least 4-5 pounds to be considered for going home… Fast fwd to my 2nd year of Grade 7 (my atrocious handwriting played  partly of a role here in my repeating Gr. 7 amongst other stuff not worth posting here)… Seeing I was still having issues…. Learning to write in Grades 2&3… Like Kindergarten for me with printing… No picnic here… Lol… My English /Grammar teacher for a two month session I think it was… Held every morning at school before school began or at lunchtime if morning not doable… Handwriting Sessions 101…. She had beautiful writing… She was UK English while her husband (my History teacher) was of Scottish stock. Anyways… Because of her teaching methods and encouragement .. My writing improved … Though sometimes now..  It can revert to being messy bad at times but on the whole .. It’s still better than what it once was… Though in this day and age I text-type more than actual write but I still like to write out poems… Grocery list… Etc…

Though my printing and writing struggles were real and not to be made fun of by no means in conjunction with probably learning issues stemming from that as I think I had looking back at it now though back then they wouldn’t have known or had resources to properly address and offerings to help like they do now in schools. ????☮️

Can you tell I like to write?! .. OK.. My mini-novel is done

[Jung Roe]

Hi Jacki.  We can all see you love to write, and that is awesome!  You have a magic with words as your poems show, like the really great one you just posted recently, “Essences of Two”.

[Howard]

Wow Jacki, that is an amazing story. I have a niece who didn’t weigh much more than you when she was born, and although she has been small all her life, she has grown to be a beautiful young woman. You have done well to develop as well as you have in spite of the lack of knowledge and assistance available in those days. That sounds like a wonderful teacher you had way back then to give you that extra support when you needed it. Your difficult start in life hasn’t seemed to hamper your cognitive skills long term and the words flow so beautifully from you onto paper, like raindrops falling into a paper cup. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. You indeed are a very special and inspirational person and, needless to say, a Top Fan of the MonaLisa Twins!

[Jacki Hopper]

Jung… That’s one of my fave scenes from the movie… Megan Follows is the best Anne of Green Gables ever cast IMHO… Loved her in the 2 other sequels… Lol…