My colleague B in the scene was a disgruntled worker and we were filming his victory dance sequence. The practice didn’t go well. He got the moves but didn’t look the part. He read the lines without effort.  I had no idea what to do. I can’t teach him how to do act when I can’t do it myself – I am a terrible mimic.

“Action!”

I’m not certain what happened. When the camera began rolling, the chap in front of it was not B.  He delivered the dance, the lines, the scowls, the  crying, everything and a thousand times more than what I wrote.  He did what was in my head. We just left the camera on and stuffed our mouths with hankies throughout the filming because he was incredibly funny and we were laughing too much. I love watching live acting done well. And to watch it in front of my face, was amazing.  He makes me want to write more lines, better lines for this brilliant actor.

~

Would I do a film again? There were a few seconds of incredible stuff happening on screen. There were also a lot of incredibly tedious stuff happening onscreen. I don’t enjoy filming, the camera angles, visualising the scene in my head. I prefer writing. I like coming up with jokes more than doing the whole directing, producing and editing stuff.  I will try harder if the jokes are not funny but I get easily discouraged when people can’t do the lines properly,  or they start being human.

[Door Opens]
Hamish!
Dougal!
You’ve had your tea!
No…
As a matter of fact I’ve just finished mine!
Mine too, by the looks of it.
I’ll be looking forward to your company later on.
How will that be Dougal?
Hamish, I’m having a musical evening!
Ah…I’m the same after a baked bean supper
An entertainment! Jinks! What fun we’ll have!
There will be hijinks on the Glen as we speak!
I don’t doubt it!
I’m bursting to know, what on earth have you laid on?
I don’t know but it’s stained the back of my kilt
No….
No no. The entertainment.
Oh, a rare treat Hamish! Did you ever see the Edinburgh tattoo?
Oh, I glimsped it once when you were changing your sporran.
I am talking about the great national spectacle.
So am I!
Oh what am I thinking of.  Come away, man, rest your weary feet, pull up a chair, there is one in the celler.
[Sheep bleats.]
Glory be! What was that!
Oh, I’m in the middle of making a haggis.
That’s handy, I’ve just been to the bakers. Could you fancy a bannercake?
I could, old friend, but would I respect it in the morning?
That’s what you got to ask yourself.

“Listen to this,”
“On the face of it…”
“Ugh.”
“What?”
“Unnecessary verbiage. What’s wrong with ‘outwardly’, or ’superficially’?”
“‘Superficially, this ancient seat of learning…’”
“No! No! No! What is this? A heroic attempt to win the world cliche record? Just ‘Cambridge’.”
“Superficially, Cambridge looks as it always has…”
[undertone] “…a bastion of privilege.”
“A bastion of privilege. Ugh! Shut up and listen!”
“But as the colleges prepare for their carol services…”
“Oh no! OH NO! Spare us in my mercy! Don’t tell me – ‘truly this is a bleak mid-winter for higher education’.”
“…truly this is a bleak mid-winter for higher education.”
“Tell me, what first attract you to a career in journalism?”
“Alright, so I’ve just got a bit rusty.”
“Rusty?”
“Go on then, you do it.”
“‘Superficially Cambridge looks the same’, colon. You know what one of those are, don’t you?”
“Ha ha.”
“‘Majestic dons make pronouncements of great brilliance and quaff clarets of great vintage.’”
“A bit OTT.”
“SSsssh!”
“‘The picture is forced. As colleges prepare for their carol services, the hymm they intone: Money don’t get everything it’s true; What it don’t get i can’t use; I want money.’ How’s that?”
“Bit flurry. Bit over-written”

“They liked that story of yours about Graham Greene.”
“They usually do,” Jane replied with a slight air of complacency.
“I’ve always meant to ask you, is it true?”
“You know, I never worry about that any more. It fills a slot.”

I’m relieved I didn’t blow a lot of money on this pen. I’ve been pen crazy for a week, looking at FS section on PENguin (Rick Propas). I’m now done. The madness will stop.

1990s Pelikan M400 (top) and 1980s Pelikan M400 (bottom)

He said that to the OBB that was absolute rubbish, “More smooth!” and OMG it was. He’s so cute. I was trying out the new nib and I whispered to myself in wonder, “How did he do it?”. Mr Nagahara heard and said “Magic!” and “Genius!”. I giggled like a school girl.

I had been so excited Friday morning I forgot to pack the camera but I found a picture of him at work.

I wanted to have the ink flow fixed on the Sailor music. He looked at it through the loupe, hummed at the pen, looked at it and hestitated. I think lots of pen folks brought their music nib and asked for a stub. He said he would regrind the nib and it became a really sexy stub. The line variation is really distinct now (HOT!). Still, this morning I woke up missing the fat nib. If I hadn’t already bought the Binder music nib, I would have bought another 1911 music nib.

I am glad I turned up to the cocktail and wine reception. It was then when someone told me about available slots in his schedule for today. I put my name down to see the Pen Whisperer again. I brought an ATX Cross to him. He opened the pen up and showed me what a slob I had been. (I might have, once or twice, let ink dry out in the pen. But I hate the Cross! It was rubbish!) He had to scrap out bits from the pen feed. He smoothened the nib to a better than Pelikan standard factory fine. I don’t think it had enough tipping to be as smooth as a Sailor but it’s so good I’m going to use it as a work pen with the P51. The two tone Pelikan fine is now as smooth as a Pelikan gold factory medium. Lovely.

Now that I don’t have nibs that I hate, I am going to have trouble trying to use all these pens I have. How do other people do it?

I tried a Nakaya music nib last evening, in addition to Pilot music pen and a Custom 742 music nib. Now that I’ve been completely spoilt by the Sailors and Pelikans that I own, I find the Pilots rough. The Nakaya is extremely lovely and I’ve been told that the two tines on the Nakaya equals better ink flow. The price of a Nakaya is out of my budget. Even if I were to win 1st prize in 4D, I still wouldn’t buy it – it is so expensive that I would have to leave it in a case untouched so I won’t scratch the lacquer while writing.

A Sailor 1911 Realo (music nib) could work an alternative but I can’t justify having one. It’s the same as the 1911 (same complaints) except that the Realo has a slightly larger ink capacity (1.5ml) vs the convertor (0.9ml) and the price is 50% higher than the standard 1911. It probably makes better sense to buy a music nib from Richard Binder to fit into the old Pelikan. Or Greg Minuskin (mmmmm…oh but I don’t want to part with the P51!).