The Grey NATO - Ep 107 - The Isolation Tapes Ft. Cole Pennington
Published on Thu, 16 Apr 2020 06:00:13 -0400
Synopsis
The hosts discussed the recent news of major brands like Rolex and Patek Philippe pulling out of Baselworld and planning their own event in Geneva. They talked about how this could impact the watch industry and product releases. Cole Pennington from Hodinkee joined as a guest, and they chatted about his Omega Seamaster 300 review, his 1991 Mitsubishi Pajero off-road vehicle, and favorite travel destinations like Ethiopia, northern Thailand, and Natchez, Mississippi. They also recommended learning outdoor skills like using a compass, Dutch oven cooking, and taking free online courses during the pandemic lockdown.
Links
Transcript
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| James Stacey | Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Gray Nado, a Hodinkee podcast. It's a loose discussion of travel, diving, driving gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 107. We thank you for listening, and we would note that it's kindly brought to you by our friends and colleagues at the Hodinkee shop. Hey, Jason, how you doing? |
| Jason Heaton | Oh, good. Boy, as if the world isn't topsy-turvy enough, we got some news this morning. Yeah, it's been a morning already. Yeah, right. No more Baselworld. Well, we shouldn't say no more Baselworld. I don't know that that's been announced, right? It's just that the big brands have pulled out, which is kind of the death knell. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. I haven't seen any, like, official response from Baselworld, but of course, several key brands, most notably Rolex and Patek, have announced that they're going to essentially show at Watches and Wonders Geneva, although they're not using those terms directly. It's going to be another show supported by the FIHH or a present supported by the FIHH alongside the Geneva show next April. We put out a pretty quick episode of Hodinkee Radio about this topic. If you wanna go in more from the business side of it, that's with Ben and Jack. And when I say we, I mean Hodinkee, not Grenado, but I think, you know, Jason and I don't typically dip that deep into, you know, industry news and that sort of thing. It's obviously a huge deal that this is Rolex and Patek, not to mention Chopard and Chanel. These are big brands. These were the lasting big brands. Of course, that means Tudor as well, that were kind of taking part and really making Baselworld as big as it's been and ensuring that it would continue to be pretty big, you know, post-Swatch, leaving the fair. But, you know, this is such a strange time. And as I said on Hodinkee Radio, you worry that any big adjustments that are made now are essentially you're making the law based on a flawed case. But I think in this scenario, it looks like they're kind of circling the wagons and they're preparing to kind of rebuild and protect the core of the market. And I don't see this as being necessarily a bad thing. It's going to be a tough thing for Basel, the city. and certainly for Baselworld as the show will have to evolve. What do you think, Jason? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, I mean, I think we were already in an adjustment period after Swatch Group pulled out, and I think we had our first show post-Swatch last year. But you're right, it'll really affect the city more than the whole industry, because I think if everything moves over to Geneva and one big show in April, it's kind of a win-win for both all the brands that participate and to those of us who attend the show. |
| James Stacey | And yeah, I think it might be a big lift for those of us who attend the show. Like if suddenly we have kind of, if, if there's still kind of a competing element from LVMH, uh, existing in Geneva at the time, and then also now a new stack from two or three or four of the brands that you always have to cover almost everything they put out on top of a SIHH. It's a, it's an interesting move because Rolex is so much bigger and Patek is so much bigger in terms of their overall scope and market share and mind share. than most of the brands that exhibit at SIHH or now watch as it wanders Geneva. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, it sure simplifies logistics for those of us that had to start considering going to two shows in two subsequent weeks in two different cities. And I would, I welcome going to Geneva in April versus the old January SIHH show, which was always kind of miserable weather and icy conditions. It's a lot better a few months later. Yeah. And you know, as much as I enjoyed walking around Basel, it was, I prefer Geneva as a city. I think it's just a prettier town. I like being near the lake there and having those views of the Alps. But yeah, we'll see. I mean, it's a bit early to really kind of digest all of it. We just learned of it literally like two hours ago or something. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. It'll be interesting also to see what the response is because now there's a void and that void could either be closed up by making Baselworld smaller or by retooling. This is a genuinely a strange time. Like, could this be the hole that Swatch wants to come back? Oh, right. Yeah. And then it essentially becomes the Swatch show all over again. Like, who really knows at this point? It's a really interesting time. It's obviously, I would say, I'm worried that it might be more interesting to you and me, Jason, than to most people who are listening. Yeah. But in terms of what this means for the average watch enthusiast, it might mean a bit of a drought in terms of product releases from Tudor, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Chanel. Like these brands may just chill until next year. It's hard to say. It's, it's always almost impossible to say what Rolex will do ever. Um, because they operate entirely on their own wavelength. They only play their own game and nobody else's. Um, but it, it, it will be interesting to see if they, if, if there's a, this weird interim year where the music has kind of stopped, you know, Baselworld didn't really have a chair. And, you know, where do we take this in terms of, will we get a couple of new tutors and a couple of new Rolexes and a few new Pateks over the next, uh, six to eight months, or, or are we waiting until April of next year to see some big enthusiast releases? |
| Jason Heaton | Who knows? Yeah. Well, um, you know, as we said, it's a fairly fresh news here and we'll, we'll see how it all transpires beyond that. Uh, we're, we're still in our weekly episodes here. Staying at home. |
| James Stacey | How's that going for you? Just kind of leaning into it. I'm not really up to that much. A lot of work these days with Hodinkee and weekly episodes and everything else, which is fantastic. I'm super fortunate and feel really grateful to have that work and that push every day to get out of bed. Yeah. But otherwise, yeah, just kind of staying inside. You know, as I mentioned last week, playing more video games, doing all the sort of social events. I attended my first, you know, Zoom birthday party last night. And that sort of thing, which was which was lovely and always nice to catch up with some people and not even have to leave your home. Yeah, so just just kind of I would characterize it as loosely laying low. Yeah, just kind of, you know, stay, yeah, staying in, you know, the weather's been fairly unpredictable here, as it can be in April. So when it's nice, you know, try and get some fresh air and excuse to go sit on the porch or something like that. but for the most part just kind of hanging out you know I've been working on some on some reviews and and the nice thing that the thing I had forgotten is that it's actually kind of nice to photograph watches at home in something akin to a studio yeah obviously my my studio kind of kit and everything I've talked a little bit about that in the past is really down to a very small bag of gear But when I'm at home, if I want to use three reflectors, I can use three reflectors. If I want to go from one room to another and use a coffee table as a prop or a plant of one of my own as a prop, I can do that. I mean, I just have it all here. And if I want to get a little bit more inventive with flash lighting or something like that, I can pull out wireless strobes and the rest of it and kind of mess around with that kind of stuff. So that's something I'd kind of forgotten. It had been quite a while since I had shot a review or two at home. and uh and yeah that's uh that's basically you know that's about all i've been up to just hanging out uh i i do i will say that uh your your tip to watch mountain of storms that was a good one oh yeah you really enjoyed that it was yeah no it was it was perfect i watched it uh i watched it that night and absolutely loved every minute oh yeah i'd seen only clips of it you know little bits used in other interviews and stuff and Wow, is it good? Yeah. If you miss Mountain of Storms, you should really go back and watch it because who knows how long Patagonia will just leave it on their YouTube. Yeah, that's so true. Yeah, it's great. |
| Jason Heaton | And how about you? How are things there? Well, again, you know, unpredictable weather here as well. We're not that far apart, I guess, a similar latitude. And we had last weekend, Ghoshani and I got out for another beautiful long hike and we were wearing like t-shirts and kind of just strolling on a really sunny day on these pretty unpopulated trails through the woods. So nice. And, uh, and then the next day we got a snowstorm, like a legitimate April snowstorm where, um, the temperature dropped well below freezing and we got about a half a foot of snow and, uh, you know, which was fun in its own right. And we took the Land Rover out for a little spin, kind of a photo shoot down in a, uh, kind of a deserted park nearby where we parked, uh, parked it and took a few shots. And that was fun. We still have, I mean, it looks like if I look out the window right now, it looks like February. I mean, it's, uh, nice blanket of snow on everything, but we'll see. I'm sure this coming weekend it's supposed to be back, uh, back warm again and all the snow will be gone. We'll be doing something outdoors as much as we can, sticking close to home, but it's, uh, it's been nice to get, get a little sunshine. Other than that, you know, you had put up on one of your daily uplift posts in Hodinkee, the Apollo 13 real time, uh, website, which I had so many people send those to me via like DM on Instagram, you know, uh, and, uh, being a bit of a space nerd that I am. It's, it's just been almost, I don't want to say all consuming, but I keep it in a tab, uh, in my browser and I just check in every now and then. And it's amazing to follow that in real time. You know, there, there, you know, for those of you who are out there that haven't been following it, uh, Apollo 13 happened 50 years ago, you know, as we speak here, literally, and this website has pulled together all of the audio artifacts and photography and timelines and just consolidated into this amazing website that allows you to follow along with Mission Control and the capsule, the Apollo 13 capsule, as it was happening like in real time. And it's just been fascinating. It's an interesting juxtaposition. I just thought of this this morning as we were getting ready to do this call that, you know, what they were doing was Almost like what everybody else is doing now with this work from home thing on Zoom conference calls. They were doing all of this from Capcom in Houston and this capsule way out in space. And I think there's a certain poetic beauty to kind of listening to that while we're all in our own little capsules communicating with each other over conference calls. |
| James Stacey | I couldn't agree more. And what an incredible project building that website must have been. So 140 hours or 144 plus hours of archival audio. And I think that's actually only in module audio that doesn't include the other side, the transmissions to and from. Just really, really incredible. Once you get used to the interface, it's best on full screen is my recommendation. It makes almost like you really lose some detail if you start to half screen it. Um, but full screen that and sit there for a little while, maybe drag the slider around to get a little bit closer to, you know, Houston, we have a problem and that sort of thing. And it's really something. Um, and if you ever needed an excuse to go back and watch the film, uh, Apollo 13, this would be a nice footnote to, to get into before going back to a rewatch. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. It's a, it's a really, really interesting presentation must've taken an insane amount of time and effort from the team that built it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, that's great. And hopefully they'll keep that up in subsequent years because, you know, it's, it's always relevant. And, uh, yeah, but, uh, so that's been fun. 50 years. Wow. Right. 50 years. Yeah. Um, in other news, you know, I just saw Cole's post go up this morning on Hodinkee about the Seiko, the reissue of this Willard, the Prospex piece, SPB 151 and 153. And I saw the, you know, kind of the rumors, floating around the internet and the spy photos and the releases from I think Time and Tide in Australia posted it. And I was wondering if those were going to make it to the U.S. and I kind of want one. I mean, I've always loved the, you know, we love the Turtle, the SRP, which was kind of a later iteration of that same watch. But boy, nothing like the original. And I'm not crazy about, you know, the bracelet and the strap choice that they put on those colorways that they've released. I'd just get rid of the strap and throw it on a NATO strap. Go right on a NATO, yeah. Yeah, it'd be great. I love that watch. |
| James Stacey | But... Yeah, for sure. And at about... They start a little over $1,000. Yeah. That's a special price point because I think a lot of us really know Seiko's about, let's call it $250 to $600 offerings. Yeah. So it's kind of killer to have something a little bit nicer on offer. Right. To someone who's ready to make that jump into something that's going to feel a little bit more special. And I highly recommend checking out Cole's writeup because he didn't, this wasn't like your casual introducing. He really put a lot of words into it to explain where this sits against other references that they've made in the past. Even some that referenced the Willard. It's an interesting product in and of its own. And it, you know, it's a little bit smaller than an SRP 777, which is going to be very attractive to a lot of people. And just a really killer looking watch. I mean, whether you do go black or olive drab green, that's up to you. I think the green looks incredible. The black, I suppose, a little bit more accurate to its own concept. But yeah, who doesn't like seeing a nice release from Seiko to kind of warm the heart? |
| Jason Heaton | Right. Yeah, they really pivoted from their withdrawal from Baselworld and good on them for for coming out with some cool releases. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I think they're doing really well. I mean, I think this was something they were going to actually release in Florida this week or maybe last week at an event which I think was slated for SeaWorld. Yeah. Or at least I'm going to make a guess just due to timing. If I'm off on that, Seiko, my apologies. But I believe this was one of the watches that was going to be released at an American press event. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, Keep up the great work with Seiko, like always. Keep making great stuff at $200. Please keep making great stuff at $500. And if you want to edge into this kind of $1,000, very low four-figure, killer, for sure. |
| Jason Heaton | Great. Yeah, before we dive into our weekly risk check and then into our main topic, let's do our little small brand spotlight. And this week, I thought we'd focus on Lauren and Lorenzo, who run Laurier Watches. And we met the two of them, the founders of the company, husband and wife team based in New York. They came to our TGN meetup that we did in December of 2018. And, um, super nice people, big fans of TGN and, uh, they make some killer watches. And, you know, last week we had our episode about refresher watches and Laurier fits right into that category. I mean, they do some watches that kind of toe the, you know, they're kind of dip a toe into sort of homage space, but not quite. Uh, they definitely harken to certain, Iconic designs, I guess you'd say, but they definitely don't go too deep into that realm and I think they maintain their individuality and the pricing is just spectacularly accessible. We're talking $300, $400, maybe $500 for a twin Bicompax chronograph and they've got a cool field watch and a couple of great divers. Just, you know, really strong designs, easy prices. So yeah, go check out Laurier watches. |
| James Stacey | Great pick for the for the spotlight. And yeah, two really lovely people who are cranking out really cool product for sure. Yeah. Well, normally, this is when we would dip into the wrist check. But given our guest today, our fellow isolated guest, I figured we'll probably bring him in first and then hit the wrist check. So let me get Cole on the line. Hey, Cole, do we have you there? How are you? |
| Cole Pennington | I am here and happy to be here. How's it going, James? |
| James Stacey | Hey, hey, what a treat. |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah, yeah, no. Hey, Jason, how you doing? |
| Jason Heaton | Good, good. Nice to have you on TGN. |
| Cole Pennington | It's my first time. I'm stoked. I've been a listener for a long time, so this is cool. |
| James Stacey | Awesome. Yeah, and you know, we don't typically like we haven't dipped into having, you know, fellow Hodinkee staff on, you know, that's something that Hodinkee Radio typically does with these those sort of interview episodes, but we figured You know this felt like the right week to do it and also at a certain point if Jason and I are being transparent we're running out of stuff to talk about. You know we're used to doing two of these a month and we're up to one a week which we love and it's been great so far but I think we're going to bring in more friends and you know looking at what you posted this week Cole and then also some of your recreational pursuits I think are well aligned with Just the sort of general isolation tape vibe. So, yeah, really, really happy to have you on. And how is isolation treating you? |
| Cole Pennington | To be honest, this might be an unpopular opinion, but I don't mind it. I mean, of course, there's the antsiness that comes from this, but like in terms of, I think if you make good use of this time, you'll come out really enjoying it. And I kind of like a life of solitude anyway, to be honest. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, I think you're a good company on that concept. Jason and I have said that we don't want to hit the point too hard, but that this isn't really that tough of a lifestyle. Yeah. Aside from maybe some weirdness at the grocery store or otherwise, it is kind of chill and certainly a change of pace. Let's dip into this week's risk check. We thought we'd bring you in for that. So Cole, what have you got on risk today? |
| Cole Pennington | So I'm actually I'm wearing the Bond Seamaster. I just did. I've just been on a roll with that watch, you know. |
| Jason Heaton | Your old one, right? |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah, my old one. Exactly. |
| Jason Heaton | Nice. |
| James Stacey | Nice. Yeah. And you published a week on the wrist, which we can get to in a few minutes. I definitely would like to talk about that because I think it's one of the best pieces you've put out about a new product for Hodinkee. Really, really strong work and a really, really compelling watch, I think overall. And I like that you kind of consider the fact that the old one had one place and the new one has kind of a different place. Totally. Which is a fair point. But before we get to that, for people who either don't follow you on Instagram, which is a mistake, they definitely should, or don't recognize your name from Hodinkee, again, that probably would suggest they're not reading that often. Why don't you give people like a loose rundown on what your deal is? Uh, my deal. |
| Cole Pennington | Well, where do I start? Give me some. What's your deal, man? Uh, yeah, I think, um, the, the, the, the 32nd version is, was working in a boring job, started writing for fun, got a little traction, kept writing. And then obviously the, the most fun thing to write about are things that you enjoy, which is, you know, the same stuff you guys enjoy, of course. And, um, yeah, then, then I ended up as your, uh, as both of your coworkers. |
| Jason Heaton | Cole, I think, I think you and I sort of started to connect over social media before we met in person. And I think it was because you were at the time you were still living in Southeast Asia and I think you latched onto my connection with Sri Lanka and we kind of bonded over that. And how did that come about? What were you doing over there? Where were you living? |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah, that's right. That's exactly right. Actually, it was the Sri Lanka thing. So I was living in Bangkok. I lived in Bangkok for six years. I started off there teaching English because you know, the, the job prospects when I, um, graduated college, we're not, we're not good, right. It was, it was the time of the financial collapse and so forth. So I figured I would take a little breather for a year and then, uh, you know, a life of discovery just kept me over there. So, and, and I ended up writing like freelancing for fun, um, because of the unique position of being over there. And then that turned into a career. Um, and yeah, that, that when we virtually met or whatever was one of the times you were in Sri Lanka. there was a project that I had been working on, which is super interesting, which I still think you kind of have the right to the story per se. I think I totally think you should pursue it. But, uh, the, because of the civil strife, the domestic private airline industry kind of ceased to exist for, for a long time. And then the government stepped in and took a bunch of surplus cargo planes and said, okay, we're going to make a national airline that goes from, uh, Tricomley to Jaffna, like two air bases, one in the south, one in the north. So this is how you get, it's just cool to me that domestic air travel was operated by military cargo planes for a little while, which is, yeah. So cool. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. I totally forgot. That's, that's how you connected with me. I remember you, you bringing that topic up. My gosh, that was many years ago now, I think that we met at a couple of watch events once you got back to New York and And you were working for a couple of other publications and lo and behold, here we are sort of colleagues. It's great. |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah, it's wild. It's cool though. It's good to be in great company. |
| James Stacey | Speaking of totally forgot, I actually realized I moved right on from wrist check. Uh, let's uh, let's do a quick circle back. Heaton, what's on your wrist this week? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So apropos to my earlier comment about the Apollo 13 real time thing, I'm wearing my old 68 Speedmaster. You know, if there ever was a speedy Tuesday on which to wear one, it would be today, given the use of that watch in Apollo 13, getting the capsule home. And yeah, that's what I've got on. |
| James Stacey | What do you got on, James? I'm working on a post about my Buran Minstop, my, you know, quote unquote, gold watch. And it's one that I've just been wearing a lot around the house. I don't know, it makes me feel like a little bit more special or I like, I like kind of seeing it in zoom calls, uh, you know, in the, in the monitor or something like that. It's a, it's been fun. And, and I'm, yeah, I'm just working on kind of a basic writeup about just that there's these, you know, examples, not unlike the, the topic from last week with a refresher watches, just the, just that there's these kinds of interesting, but weird and like not hugely valuable, not really valuable in any huge respect at all, but, uh, interesting and fun watches out there. This one has kind of a strange movement, and then I've paired it up with, I think, a really nicely matched gold bracelet, all from RetroWatchGuy on Instagram. And so, yeah, I'm putting that story together. So I've been wearing it just to try and keep my brain locked in on that story, because there's just kind of so much going on these days that it's easy to let a deadline slip when you're pumping out this much work, so. Oh, yeah, yeah. But anyways, with that out of the way, I can go back to producing the show like a professional. |
| Cole Pennington | You are a professional, James. |
| James Stacey | Consumer professional, consistently. I certainly play one on the internet. Cole, if you gave us the brief CV before Hodinkee, where did you kind of get into writing and how did that kind of expand on your way to something kind of fairly niche? |
| Cole Pennington | I got into writing... So I was part of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangkok and the CEO of Young and Rubicam, which is, you know, like a Madison Avenue ad agency, like Mad Men type situation. Uh, okay. He was giving a speech on, um, uh, just kind of like the, the changing landscape of media. And one thing that he mentioned was how Amazon at the time would file. So like public school systems have to put their curriculum or have to make it public. So one of the genius moves that Amazon made was, uh, And I'll get to how this all relates in a second, but Amazon would, would, would get those, um, uh, curricula from all of the school systems. And then what they would do is they would take your zip code data. And then when you would buy any one of those books, they would recommend the rest of the books on the, uh, curriculum for you, which obviously varies from place to place to place, you know? So genius move by them. He was giving that talk. I went up to him afterwards and, um, Oh, because he turns out he lives in Northern New Jersey where I grew up too. So basically went up to him and he said, Hey, you ever thought about a copywriting and this and that? And like, no, not really. But, but at the time I was like, yeah, let's give this a shot. So started doing copywriting and then that parlayed into a magazine writing thing. Cause I started writing for like, um, do you remember CNN go? |
| Jason Heaton | It was like, Oh yeah, I do. Yeah. It's like a travel, travel arm of CNN, right? |
| Cole Pennington | Exactly. Exactly. So that, that's no longer around it. It kind of folded. I mean, who knows what happened to it, but started doing copywriting professionally at a, at young and Rubicam actually. And then parlayed that into writing for CNN go. And then it just got, you know, like probably like you guys, like one thing leads to another, it's about those small victories. And then before you know it, uh, you're doing the thing, you know? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, right. Yeah, strange paths we've all taken to these obscure niche jobs writing about strange luxury products. Yeah, it's crazy. It's all, it's working out for us. And here we are doing a podcast during a pandemic. |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. And Cole, with a background in a few different kind of genres of writing or focuses of writing, do you miss some of the other the travel stuff now that it's all watches or or do you find that it's all it all kind of feeds the same fire kind of scratches the same itch. |
| Cole Pennington | I think all of us and even Jason currently I think all of us have been in the position where you can write about what you want to when you want to under the circumstances you want to as opposed to there are deadlines you have to meet them. So I think I would say, yeah, I definitely miss, I miss writing about aerospace and aviation and so forth. But here's the thing, which is awesome about Hodinkee is that, and I think watches in general, I think this certainly holds true and it shows in all of our writing, is that most of the time it's never really only about the watch. I mean, you can look at, you can look at the things you like to look at through the lens of horology and so forth. So you get to incorporate that. So do I miss those things? Yeah, I used to write about craft beer a lot, and you really can't do that with watches. But in general, I kind of try and find a way to meld them all together. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, absolutely. I feel you there for sure. And I'm sure Jason agrees. So let's dip into this Seamaster 300 week on the wrist that just went out a little while ago. And obviously, this is one of these things where you can publish thousands of words and a video, and then you'll still get people like DMing a question that's somewhere in the text. And I promise you, I'm not bringing this up because I didn't read your post. I did read it. I really enjoyed it. But I think it's an interesting watch. It's always a watch like the previous generations of which Heaton and I have extolled the value proposition and the quality of the 2254, the 2234s. Um, on, uh, and, and obviously the two, five, three eights, uh, or is it two, five, two, three, five, one, the, the, you know, the bond. |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah. The bond. Yeah. Yeah. |
| James Stacey | Uh, yeah, yeah. So these are, these are, you know, famous things and, and what I don't think I gave them credit for until reading your thing, reading your, your coverage is, is that they have kind of not only evolved, but almost found a new position for, uh, for the Seamaster. |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah. And I, some readers, pointed some things out, too, that I didn't quite think of. But they did. They did find a new position for the Seamaster. I think it'll be a much more successful position. And that position, I think, now is as a value proposition straight from the retailer. So someone pointed out, they said, all right, the subs got the 7 to 10 category. So we're going to really go hard in the sub 5. It's $4,900. Let's just call it $5,000. And we're going to lean into this and really capitalize on that. And I think that's actually a sweet spot and we'll, we'll work. I mean, another person said that this was the number one selling Omega of all time. And I have never seen that anywhere, but I don't not believe it actually. |
| James Stacey | Uh, you mean the Bond Seamaster? Yeah, exactly. Huh? Well, I, I, I mean, it'd be surprising if it wasn't a speedy, but also I would get it if it was something so, um, specifically mainstream as a thin, everyday wearable dive watch. |
| Jason Heaton | Well, I think too, that the Speedmaster is a bit more of a niche product, even though they've sold it for so long, it's a hand wound, larger chronograph. And I think for the average person who's maybe a, even just a movie buff, you know, there was always even a, and I don't know if this would be part of that bestseller category, but you know, they've made 36 millimeter versions. They made quartz versions, automatic versions, different price ranges, different sizes. And I, if that's all bundled in one, I would not doubt that that's their best seller. I mean, I've seen just such a range of people wearing this watch from, you know, a casual diver friend who lives in New York to, you know, my, my wife's cousin who lives in Sri Lanka and works for a hotel group. You know, I mean, everybody's kind of just somehow gravitates to one of their models in that range. |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah. It's, it's kind of like the non watch guys watch. |
| Jason Heaton | yeah that it's ubiquitous it really is which is amazing because you know the the one that that you reviewed and i spent a week with the black dial one about two years ago and and found it similarly uh engaging is that it can be a watch guy's watch now especially with that incredible movement that they have in it and the materials they use on the bezel and some of the case styles that they've got for this watch it's uh um it really hits a lot of a lot of points for a lot of people and i've personally have really warmed up to it over the years it's uh I never cared for the Bond Seamaster. And now I find myself kind of thinking, hmm, you know, I could, I could see owning one of those. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. And as, as a huge, uh, you know, devotee of the 2254, which is the black dial wave dial sword hands, uh, you know, from the late nineties into the, uh, two thousands, uh, Cole, do you think this is, this is the formula now? This is the one they should stick with. It's 42 millimeters. It's a little bit thicker, but it's not, I mean, I disagree with a lot of the commenters where if anything's over 11 millimeters, it's the thickest thing they've ever seen. And they can't imagine it. Um, you know, 13.5 is not that thick for a dive watch. Certainly it's, it's very wearable, especially when you match it with, uh, the way Omega does their rubber straps, which, uh, really hold onto your wrist nicely. Um, and, and have, you know, even back into generations of the two, two, five, four. And Jason, I think you you've had some experience with the planet ocean rubber. And, uh, and I mean, these are, these are like they like Omega knows what they're making. They know who's buying it. Uh, do you, do you think that they've kind of hit a sweet spot in terms of sizing and material because they have the larger version in titanium, which I think aesthetically is a very cool watch. |
| Cole Pennington | Um, but it's, that watch is so cool. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. But it is that, that for me is where you get into kind of too large for the, for the overall style. |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah. So, I mean, here's the thing, whatever we say here, will have no impact on the fact that, yes, Omega will make a million variations of this. |
| James Stacey | You know what I mean? Yeah, none whatsoever. Just kind of spitballing. You have an older one which is 41 millimeters and has skeleton hands and yours is the blue dial, correct? Yeah, the original Bond watch. Do you like the Bond bracelet over a Speedy bracelet or a strap? |
| Cole Pennington | I personally do. I have owned both and worn both plenty. And I think the Bond bracelet is one of, in terms of feel, it's one of the best bracelets ever made, period. Okay. It's a bold statement, but I stand behind it. I think it's a, it's a great bracelet. It's just a super, super comfortable. It is very 90s. So the other thing about this watch, which, which kind of answers your question is it even now it's still so 90s and that's all right again, well, and you guys both know this world so well, but the, The parallels between cars and culture now, right? Like 90s cars are finally becoming genuinely cool, not just this is like a Radwood watch, you think? Exactly. It's it's totally that it's a it's a Radwood watch. It is literally a 90s design. And it's also very cool. |
| James Stacey | Yeah. And I mean, for people who don't know that reference, Radwood is a 90s themed car show put on by the guys behind the Driving While Awesome podcast. That's right. And a really great crew of guys, an incredible automotive podcast, definitely worth your time. And they've done these shows. And I remember when like Radwood, they had done one or two, and then suddenly they were doing them a lot. It's a huge thing. Yeah, it's pretty cool. And it's an area of like automotive enthusiasm that people with a lesser amount of cash to put in people in their 20s and 30s can really find a home and a little crew to roll with with these cars that You know, the nineties aren't old enough to be most people's, you know, idea of like, Ooh, a really, you know, hot vintage scene, but also there it's long enough ago that these, these vehicles, you know, some of them could, could be classics at this point in terms of insurance and, and that sort of thing. And then you also run into the fact that nineties, uh, Again, depending on the age, but certainly for a handful of them could be imported to the U.S. if you wanted something rare or right-hand drive out of Japan, that sort of thing. Yeah, that's right. Do you think that that kind of heat will apply only to the 90s Seamasters or is it going to help the whole scene kind of forward if that aesthetic is carried? Because it does carry through to the modern ones. Like, does the new one still feel that 90s to you or not really? |
| Cole Pennington | Materials-wise, no. |
| James Stacey | Is it an R32 to an R35? |
| Cole Pennington | Actually, that's a great comparison. It is, because, well, I don't even know. |
| James Stacey | I would say... You guys should clarify that, by the way. So Nissan makes a very famous car, the Skyline GT-R, and the generations are usually an R and then a 3, a 30 base number. The current generation, which is a worldwide car, is the R35. the hero car for the entire generation of people who grew up with Fast and the Furious would be an R34. And then kind of the earlier example of where the car kind of started, but well, not necessarily started, but where it really found its form was the R32. |
| Cole Pennington | That's right. Yeah. I mean, it started way back in the sixties, but the R32 is the, actually it started in the fifties with the Prince before it was even Skyline. |
| James Stacey | Oh, that's a good point. Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking of like a C210. Sort of the Seamaster. |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah, exactly. No, it really is. There you go. The one thing that doesn't quite work is the R35, you know, is entirely ground up. Whereas the last generation, so, you know, the Skyline went to the, what we call it in the States, the, uh, G35 for a while. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, exactly. And then that bled into the, the new R35. So it is ground up new and didn't really carry over any of the language except for the, the tail light thing. Right. But I would say. The Seamaster has been a little bit more contiguous design. It's held that design a little bit more, but it's totally the right the right time period vibe and everything like that. |
| James Stacey | Very cool. Well, I mean, I think it's a great piece. We will certainly throw it in the show notes if somebody if you happen to have missed it. I'm not sure what you're doing with your free time if you're not reading Weeks on the Wrist. But yeah, we can put it in the show notes. And then I think I think probably the next big thing that we that the three of us have in common is kind of a now demonstrated love of not new 4x4s. We'll call them not new because there's quite an age range between the three vehicles I'm thinking of. But Cole, you recently got yourself a fairly interesting, you know, Japanese 4x4. Why don't you tell, you know, people know that I drive a Jeep and Heaton's got this wicked old Land Rover. |
| Jason Heaton | Giant is the river. |
| James Stacey | Yeah, there you go. And what's part of your garage? |
| Cole Pennington | It is a 1991 Mitsubishi Pajero which The the story of that is kind of interesting. I started out looking for a Ram 2500 with a six-speed and a diesel engine So the ramifications were had to be diesel had to be manual and four-wheel drive, obviously Started out looking for that and then found actually like These things hold their value really well and they're very expensive. Oh wow. The pickup trucks. Yeah. You would, you wouldn't believe it, but you really can't get a good turbo diesel pickup truck for like under 15 grand. That's maybe you can, but it's going to be beat up and you're going to have to do a whole bunch of work, this and that. So using those ramifications, what is there, you know, diesel five speed or six speed, whatever, not much. And I landed on, J.D.M. stuff. So it was kind of by accident. I mean, I knew about it. I've known about the J.D.M. scene in the United States for a long time, written about it for a number of publications, but never thought I would do it and always thought this would be kind of a hassle. You remember? I know you definitely remember Doug DeMuro's series on taking his R32 to the dealership and all that stuff. |
| James Stacey | Absolutely. Yeah. |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah. And it kind of seemed like, all right, this is even though the scene is growing, it's still kind of a hassle. So I started looking around and I stumbled upon Japanese classics, this business in Virginia, in Richmond, and they had this Mitsubishi Pajero posted. It was like around 10 grand, and it literally met all of these ramifications. And started digging around to see, all right, is there a comparable vehicle that was sold here? And yes, it's the Montero. It's the same thing as the Montero, but the Montero never came in diesel or stick. So the second I saw it was the second it was sold. but not to me. So I emailed the guy and said, you know, can you guys track one down and so forth? And they don't quite track one down for you, but they're regular enough that like, if you get in the queue or whatever, you can kind of, you can kind of finagle something, you know? So one, one came up and, uh, I bought it right away and went down to, um, Richmond and Jason And James, of course, but I don't know if they do this kind of thing in Canada. You ever heard of a bridge day in Fayetteville, West Virginia? |
| Jason Heaton | No, I haven't. |
| Cole Pennington | Me neither. It's the highest non-suspension bridge in the country. It's over the New River Gorge, where the Gauley and the New River meet. And one day per year, they allow people to base jump off of the bridge. And it's kind of like there's rappelling. It's like an outdoor festival in the backwoods, part of West Virginia, which is kind of the whole state, but it's, it's really, it's awesome. So I timed that. I picked up the truck, uh, in Richmond, drove over to West Virginia to go to this thing, bridge day and check it out and do a little solo camping trip to get acquainted with the truck. And the cool thing is like, and there's a map, I'll find it so that you guys can link it up in the show notes. There's a map of all the dirt roads in the country. And there are a ton. I mean, around New York, probably more so in Minnesota. There's more dirt roads and, but Toronto, New York, I mean, you got to drive an hour to, to get out to proper dirt roads. Like that's not the case in West Virginia. It's, I mean, it's just kind of part of everyday life. So got quickly acquainted with the truck out in the, uh, the mountains over in West Virginia. It's great. I love it so far. |
| James Stacey | What I remember about them when I've, the few times I've seen them in person is they're a really nice size. They're not big, but like, they're not, so big to be like a problem to park anywhere, but they're also not like small, like some JDM SUVs are almost laughably or purposefully small. If you think of a Jimny or, or even some weird little K SUVs, uh, the, the, the Pajeros are, are a pretty nice size and you're enjoying the diesel. Don't have any experience driving diesels. |
| Cole Pennington | So I didn't either. And that was kind of the like, all right, if, if life is short, which it is, and You want to, and you're a car guy, you want to experience all of the different expressions of, uh, you know, engines and so forth. I mean, I'd love to own a rotary car, this and that, but I was like stuck on diesel. Like I have to have diesel because I wanted that low end torque that, you know, it's a, it's a totally different experience. I will tell you that much like Giles, the Rover, this thing cannot go on the highway really. I mean, it can, but like it, uh, It tops out at 65 and you're really winding it out to get to 65. It's all about low end torque. And with diesel, the coolest thing I think is you actually feel like you're driving a tractor. It sounds like a tractor and it's geared like a tractor and you're like, wow, this is more like a tractor than it is my buddy's Ford Explorer or whatever, you know? |
| James Stacey | For sure. It's cool. Did you hear Jason, Jason might actually be on more highways soon. Jason, when, when, when do you, when do we expect to see that delivery take place? |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. So my, my latest whim is to, um, my frustration with only being able to go 45 miles per hour in the, in the Land Rover has led me to sourcing a, uh, an overdrive unit for the Land Rover. It's made aftermarket by a company in Vancouver, Canada called Global Roamer. And they make something called a Roamer drive, which Basically bolts right into the transfer case of the Land Rovers. And there's a shop locally that, that said that they've done these before and they can easily do it. And basically it just gives you different gear ratios. You can use it in any gear. Um, but for me, it's just, you know, I put it in fourth, engage the overdrive and suddenly I'll be able to go 60 or 65 or however I, however fast I dare go in a 40 year old vehicle on leaf springs, um, with drum brakes. Um, but, uh, at least it'll let me get a little further afield than, than just kind of piddling around town here. That's a great project. I'm excited for that. Yeah. Yeah. Um, the Pajero now the Pajero it's, it's in this country, was it sold as the Montero or is it a completely different, different truck? |
| Cole Pennington | It was sold as the Montero, but so it's kind of complicated. The, the generation that I have wasn't sold here. Alright, so James actually, when he heard I got the Pajero, turned me on to Andrew Collins. Andrew Collins has the Gen 2, the second generation of the Montero. It says like 95 to 98 or something like that, but the exact car that I have wasn't necessarily sold here that year, but in general the Pajero was sold as the Montero. |
| Jason Heaton | Yes. Okay. And Cole, you probably remember from your time in in Bangkok. I mean, Pajeros are all over in Sri Lanka and probably in Thailand as well. I mean, you get those Nissan Patrols, the Land Cruisers that, I can't remember what they call it. The Land Cruiser that was sold here as a Lexus GX, I think. |
| Cole Pennington | I think it was the LX470. I think it was sold here as the LX470. Yeah. Over there, they call it a Toyota Fortuner. Fantastic. Or a Prado and a Fortuner. Oh, Prado. Sure, sure, sure. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. Prado. That's what I was thinking of. Yeah. |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah. Those. So I actually, yeah, I do remember. That's why I was like, cool with the Pajero. I was like, I know this car. I've driven them before. I've seen them all around and they're used like up in the Northern Hills in Thailand. It's like all, uh, gravel roads up the side of the mountain and everything. And we would use, uh, Pajeros. They're like, not, they're not cool. Like they are here, right? Like here, it's kind of a cool car. Wow. GDM Pajero over there. It's like, Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | So did you ever see the, um, uh, it wasn't long after I think world war two, even in the fifties, um, Mitsubishi, um, was given the license to produce Willie's jeeps. And so all over Sri Lanka, you see Mitsubishi, Willie's jeeps, and they're all there. I don't know if they're still made, but they were made fairly recently and are Essentially old Willys jeeps. And you see them all over. I mean, the military used to use them and the police, but now they're just, they're everywhere. You see them more than land cruisers and land rovers. Did they have those in Thailand as well? |
| Cole Pennington | They actually, believe it or not, they don't have them in Thailand, but they're all over Burma. Actually, that's not true. They're still specialized in Thailand. Like they're more of a collector thing. Not that widespread. They're there. They actually in Thailand, oddly enough, you know, at the end of the Vietnam war, we left all of our surplus stuff in Southeast Asia. We just got the hell out of there. I'm sure you remember the famous picture of pushing the Hueys off the deck. Yeah. So like there are American Jeeps all over Thailand, but in neighboring Burma, that's where you see all those Mitsubishi Jeeps. And they're just slightly visually distinct from like a standard Willys Jeep, something there's like a triangulation on the grill that gives it away. I, I have a bunch of pictures. I'll post one up and, and, uh, maybe you guys can link it up or something like that. But yeah, they're, they're all over Burma too, which the cool thing about that part of the world is that like here four wheel drive is more like, uh, the selling point is like taking the kids to school safely or something like that over there. Like you kind of need it for everyday life. It's not even a question. It's not a luxury product. Like when BMW came out with X drive, it was like kind of touted as the Luxury thing right or over there. |
| Jason Heaton | It's not it's just like you need this to get around because there's flooding there's monsoon Yeah, so yeah, and Cole you turn me on to and I want to link to this in the show notes I can't remember the name offhand, but that that Instagram account That's all old Land Rovers in the forest in where's Java or something like that? |
| Cole Pennington | It's the guys are out of Singapore, but it all the adventures and so forth are really all over Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Malaysia mainly. Um, it's called who tan tropical and it's so good. It's, it's super cool. I mean, it's like the, the tropical, do you guys, uh, I just ordered a pair of pants from that. So I'm thinking, but do you guys follow like a red clouds collective or grease point workwear? No, I don't like, um, these are just like, you know, the, the waxed canvas or jean jacket, stuff like that. So who tan tropical is like the, the tropical equivalent of these made by hand garments and tools and stuff. And part of their ad campaign and kind of their ethos is this old series two or I think it's a series two out in the jungle. It's awesome. And it was when I saw it, I was like, this is, this is totally Jason right here. And this is the future Jason in Sri Lanka doing this. |
| Jason Heaton | When I retire there. Yes, that's me. |
| James Stacey | It's definitely going to happen. The book is going to be a huge success and Yeah, I'm going to retire to Sri Lanka. You'll retire to Sri Lanka with a Land Rover or five in your yard and just be just be that guy. Yeah, I love it. Why not, you know? Cole, to close out on the Pajero, what type of buyer do you think? Like, would you just recommend anyone go out if they want to, you know, a less expensive sort of used four by four that has some interesting elements? Or do you have to be kind of a certain kind of buyer to see the charm and effort here? Is it difficult to get serviced and that sort of thing? |
| Cole Pennington | Great question. I think that that is so that's the discovery. The journey of discovery that I've made is kind of how do you maintain. I think I personally think this is where there is so much value in the market in JDM 90s trucks. They're still cheap. I mean Toyota's tend to be a little bit more. Mitsubishi's are around 10 grand really. Like my my truck came with like 40,000 miles on it. which is nothing in truck life, you know. So I did end up getting it serviced here. It uses the 4D56T, which is a 2.5 liter diesel motor that is used in most like, literally it's used in tractors and forklifts and like farm equipment and so forth. It's not really in any other, it's in the, the Delica, which is that off-roading. Oh yeah, for sure. It's in the Delica. They're so cool. It's the, the Delica is the same thing as the Pajero. It's the same chassis and same drive train. So the Ford E56T, that is easy to get parts for because it's in farm equipment. So I took it to the, all right, here's the story. How did this happen? I forget how it happened, but I needed the brake cable got stuck. I didn't want to do it myself. E-brake cable because it was winter and this and that. So I took it in a dealership and kind of, you know, they were like, Oh, we've never seen one of these before. And I'm like, ah, well, yeah. And what's the deal in terms of servicing it. So I sat down with the parts manager and he said, who was actually from India and grew up with the Pajero too. Oh, rad. And he gave me the lowdown on, Will this be difficult to fix? Anything but. So backtrack one second. The car is actually not made by Mitsubishi. It's made by MMC, which was the division that made like trucks and heavy equipment in the 90s. So it's actually made by them, not Mitsubishi. So there's some parts crossover that's harder to get, which relates to the engine, but not the chassis. So chassis, totally fine. Engine, not difficult, but not super easy from a dealership perspective to get parts for. But to really answer the question, who should buy this? In my opinion, someone who's looking for something that they can actually use. The JDM coolness factor and so forth is, to me, totally secondary. Once you get used to driving right-hand drive, once you get over that, this becomes some of the best bang for the buck you can find, period. Unless you want to go fast. That's something you are not going to do in this car or truck. But yeah, you can like the, the Pajero as opposed to the Montero has a better folding seat design. You can fit more stuff in there. Uh, all the accessories are easy to, to get and, and everything's cheap still. And I don't think it's become quite cool yet. Like a lot of other trucks are kind of having their, their moment. Like you go and bring a trailer, you see the, the dent side Ford pickups, which are like the 70s Ford pickups you see. Yeah. Like Toyota FJs. They're all cool. Classic, classic trucks, nineties, still cheap. You can really actually use them. You can service them as long as you can deal with the slow speed and right hand drive. So I think anyone who is looking for something to genuinely knock around. |
| Jason Heaton | Very cool. I love the look of it. I love that. I love that car in it. And I can imagine that it's very daily friendly. Um, you know, I mean it's, It's essentially a, you know, a comfortable, larger SUV that, that just happens to have all the features you want, which is the diesel and the stick shift, which is something you probably could never get in a Montero in this country. Um, so that's maybe in the Montero sport, I don't know, but, um, I love the look of it. |
| Cole Pennington | That's great. So I will, before we move on from the trucks, I will propose that we all meet with our trucks in Toronto and go up to Tobermory park and do a little wheelie. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah. There we go. We'll bring our dive gear. |
| Cole Pennington | Once the borders are open and everything else. |
| Jason Heaton | Sounds like a proper adventure. Yeah. |
| Cole Pennington | Well, that's the thing about these trucks. They don't care about borders. You don't have to go through the traditional crossing, you know. |
| James Stacey | Unofficial channels. Yeah. |
| Jason Heaton | Yes. Well, now we've made it public. |
| James Stacey | Speaking of, you know, cool. Speaking of future adventures, and I'm absolutely down for a Tobermory when that makes sense. And when, you know, the fish and chips place is open and the brewery's open and the rest of it. But speaking of Tobermory and adventures, before we let you go, and certainly we thank you for coming on and chatting about this stuff. This has been super fun and a nice change of pace. Give me your top three favorite places you've ever been. So if people are maybe coming out of this in a little while and want to start planning their next vacation or a trip to really feel like you're not at home anymore, I think you'd be a fairly good candidate to answer that because you enjoy remote places and developing nations, which are two places that a lot of vacationers tend to avoid. And so I thought it might be interesting because I think we have an overlap on a couple places, but certainly not on all of them. |
| Cole Pennington | I would say let's use the like, you really want to feel like you're not home. We'll say that is the case. So the first place I think where there's a ton of value, it's also safe and incredibly interesting from a car lover's perspective and just climate and so forth is Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I think that one comes to mind as number three. As somewhere that's just really, really cool and different. And why I mentioned that is with something I saw over there, which is just so cool, all the UNG wagons that are just kind of floating around. Oh, yeah. Which is cool to see. And the food in Jarrah and all the food is just so good. And I remember this little area out in the middle of the desert where they were running bars out of shipping containers with generators powering the lights. So you go inside and you you kind of sit on a makeshift bar inside of a shipping container where there's like a diesel generator in the back that's keeping the beers cold. And it was just such a cool experience. And you rock up in the middle of the night. Fantastic. Yeah, it was super cool. So that's one place to go that I would say is actually safe. Number two, one of my favorite areas in the world is Northern Thailand. I think the foothills of the Himalayas, they actually go all the way and bleed into Northern Burma and Northern Thailand. I think, oh man, what's the name of it? One of the climbing movies, they go up to Northern Burma to one of the mountains up there that I'm sure you know this chance. But anyway, I'll find that Maru. It's not Maru. It's it pretty Pakistan, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. This one is Northern Burma and like those rebel held territories, which are super cool. Those are hard to get into, not easily accessible, although they're they're awesome. One day let's have a beer and talk about it. But there's like Japanese World War Two relics and so forth that nobody knows about. So why that would be a cool thing to go see. And there's also like there's a C-47 that's crashed that like the local tribes have been stealing pieces of for a while and like making things out of them. Like I walked into one of these villages and look in this guy's house and the fireplace looks like you know the riveted aluminum of an airplane and like where's that. He explains oh there's a C-47 in the woods that We've been scavenging or taking parts from and making things. But that's why I think that the more accessible place, northern Thailand, there's a bunch of cool things that are cool from two perspectives. One, Vietnam War history, because a lot of our forward operating bases were up along the eastern, northern, northeastern Isan part of Thailand. But over in northwestern Thailand, there was a bunch of rebel Chinese rebel groups that went down from China during the cultural Revolution, the Great Leap Forward, that era. They were fleeing from Mao, went down, and they settled in Northern Thailand in the middle of nowhere. And you can rent a pickup truck, a Toyota Hilux, by the way, which is like the dopest truck ever. Indestructible. It's easy to rent. It is, it really is. And I think, didn't they try and blow it up on Top Gear or something? |
| James Stacey | They tried to drown it. They tried to drown it in the coast. Yeah, they drove it for a long time, and they finally said, like, this is it. And then they took two Hiluxes, and they were the first people to ever drive from The most northern North Pole. Yeah. You know, head up and then just coming back down. Yeah. From the North Pole on these, you know, kind of Arctic equipped Hilux. |
| Cole Pennington | Very cool. Those are super cool. So what you can do is in Chiang Mai for like less than 30 bucks a day, go rent a Toyota Hilux and drive either up to the northern crossing into Burma, which is called Tachilek, right near Chiang Rai, or just explore the little villages. One of them, my favorite, it's called Phang. F-A-N-G. So this is like those beautiful pictures that you see where there's like misty green rolling hills and everything. So that's number two. I have a cool place to go and that's pretty easy. Number three, somewhere right in our backyard, a place that I love in America is Natchez, Mississippi. And I think that's a cool place to go to experience something that you can like you just gotta go you gotta go but Natchez is right on the banks of the Mississippi River and there's a bunch of antebellum homes and so forth and I know you're probably looking for a little bit more of an exotic answer. No not at all. That's great. That's a doable place you know. |
| James Stacey | Yeah and three super varied locations I mean that's the whole that's the whole world if you string those together you're gonna have to do a lap. Um, yeah. And, uh, and then finally, uh, before we let you go, uh, give me a, a beer worth leaving the house for when this is all over. |
| Cole Pennington | Ooh, a beer worth leaving the house for leaving the house. I mean, you can go anywhere to get it. |
| James Stacey | Um, like something local to where like, if like when, when this is all done and things are, are let's go, let's use the term back to normal. Patios are open. You can go to a brewery or whatever. Uh, where's, where's the one that you would be most excited to visit and what, what would you order? |
| Cole Pennington | All right. I would go to Carton Brewing in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, which because we both work in the city and so forth, you can actually take a ferry from New York City to go over to the Atlantic Highlands. It's easy. Carton Brewing. They have a prickly pear cactus sour. That's awesome for springtime. I think it's either it's either a Goza or Berliner Weiss. It's a lighter, easy drink and sour. And in New Jersey, we have prickly pear cactus at the Jersey Shore, which is kind of kind of weird to think that New Jersey has that. But that's just a cool one that they do every spring. I don't know if they do it every spring. They have done it historically, and I hope they do it again. Who knows? But yeah, we'd definitely be going for that one. I would invite you both to come join me when that happens. |
| James Stacey | I would love that. Yeah, let's let's let's make a plan for that and everything else. Definitely some sort of a big drive, I think, could be really fun for the other half of this year. Definitely. Definitely. All right. Cool. Thank you very much for being on. Really, really appreciate it. We have one last thing, which is we're going to bring you rope you into final notes. Did you prepare a note for the listeners? |
| Cole Pennington | I did. The brief was something you can do by or just something like that. |
| James Stacey | Something to read. Just something you recommend. |
| Cole Pennington | Yeah. So something I've been getting into in the quarantine days or whatever to kind of simulate the life outside of my parents' backyard. I've been cooking with a Dutch oven, so I wanted to recommend buying a cheap lodge Dutch oven off Amazon or whatever, and this book called The Old Fashioned Dutch Oven Cookbook by Don Holm. And I'll read you a little passage from the book that I thought kind of encapsulated the whole idea of why a Dutch oven is just so cool to cook with. Okay, so he's talking about the creation of the Dutch oven. He says, This constant packing up, starting life over again on the frontier to the West, encouraged such innovations as the Kentucky rifle, actually developed in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the Conestoga wagon. A family pushing through the Cumberland Gap and into the raw wilderness of the old Northwest had to limit baggage to essentials and evolve equipment that was versatile and dependable. The Dutch oven was one of these. Readily portable, amazingly simple and versatile, and eliminates the need for a bulky stove or even a fireplace. So basically, it's kind of cool to channel the vibes of the Westward Expansion by setting up a Dutch oven in your own backyard, making some chili, some venison stew, really whatever you have. And I would encourage you to read Old Fashioned Dutch Oven Cookbook by Don Holm to get some ideas. He's hilarious. He's like old school American cowboy kind of guy. And that's just a great thing to do. |
| James Stacey | That's a fantastic pick, Cole. And it really crosses the line between what we were calling homework, which are these kind of more activity based recommendations. And then our final notes, which would typically require a purchase or some investment of time. And this is going to be kind of both. What a fantastic pick. I love it. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, that's great. I love it. |
| James Stacey | And, uh, yeah, like I said, cool. Thank you very much for being on. We really appreciate this. And, uh, it it's nice to, uh, reach out and connect with, uh, with a friendly face, a friendly voice, uh, during these kinds of, uh, weird times. |
| Cole Pennington | Pleasure is all mine. Super, super stoked and, uh, love what you guys are doing. Obviously I work with you both, so I'm keep abreast of all developments, but I'm still just super stoked to be on the Greenado. Awesome. |
| Jason Heaton | Thanks a lot, Cole. Take care. Thanks so much, Cole. This is great. |
| Cole Pennington | Cheers guys. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, so that was great. Thanks again, Cole Pennington from Hodinkee for joining us. What a treat. Yeah, it was a real treat. Before we jump into our final notes and homework, why don't we take a quick ad break? |
| James Stacey | Yeah, a little bit late in the show, but I think this is as good a good spot as ever. Obviously a Hodinkee-heavy show. If you appreciate Cole and what he does or TGN and Heaton's writing and my writing and Hodinkee Radio and all of it, just keep in mind that all of that is supported by kind of one centralized group around the Hodinkee shop. And if you want to show your support of any of these various limbs of the Hodinkee or TGN world, then do so by picking up a strap or a book, or maybe even a watch for the Hodinkee shop. It all depends on kind of your budget and what you're looking for, but that's kind of a vote of confidence, a step forward for the overall support of what we're working on and the weekly shows and the daily posts and everything else that the team is kind of creating during what is typically a fairly stressful time for businesses. And to keep that in mind, shop.honinki.com and certainly be sure to check for various promotions on things including straps and books and tools and things like that. So our big thank you to Russell and the whole team at the shop. And maybe we dip right into homework as this episode's going a little longer than some of the others. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, sure thing. Mine is something that it's a skill I first learned back in Boy Scouts. And then again, when I was doing advanced open water training for diving, and that is, I would encourage people to learn to navigate with a compass. And it can actually be kind of fun. And there are certainly places on YouTube that will teach this very well, or books or websites that do this. It's not as difficult as you might think. And if you're someone who's used to using Google Maps to navigate, or maybe when we can all get out and go hiking and things, it's just a useful skill to have and just kind of one of those things you want to keep in your arsenal of skills. You know, if you have like an old, any sort of a compass that allows you to take a heading with a, like a turning bezel that has the compass degrees on the outside, um, you know, you, you can use that. I use, uh, I've got a couple of dive compasses, um, that you can strap on your wrist and use, which are equally good for, for hiking, if not a bit bulky. Um, but you know, it's, it's simpler than you think. Once you learn the logic to it, you know, just take a heading and follow it. You can just kind of. get used to just walking back and forth, doing 180 degree turns and turning the bezel around to go back the opposite direction. Then you can graduate to try to walking in a square and you can do any of this in your yard. Even if you have a big room in the house, uh, in a park, if you can get outside and go somewhere, um, maybe even go around your, your block in the neighborhood. Um, you know, and then you can kind of graduate your skills and create different patterns to walk only using say the number of steps you take, um, to determine your distance and then, um, you know, various compass degrees to kind of get where you're going. And, you know, this might not be a skill that you have to call on very often in this day and age, but I kind of, I kind of like being armed with the ability to do things like this or to, you know, to build a good campfire or to change a tire on a car. Um, you know, things like that are just, uh, just valuable to have. So. Um, this, this isn't a big investment of time, but, uh, it's, it's something good to learn. And so I would just challenge everybody who maybe doesn't know how to do it to, to learn, to navigate the compass. |
| James Stacey | I think that's a great idea. It's definitely something that I learned, you know, in orienteering, uh, when I was quite young, uh, in school and then relearned, um, you know, within the confines of fin kicks and, uh, and, you know, silty. cold Vancouver water, you know, getting certified for advanced open water. And, uh, yeah, it's a, it's a fantastic skill. It's still super handy. And, and I mean, the heading thing will still function. If you're using a watch that has a compass, it should still give you a heading. Yeah. Um, uh, you know, your, uh, your 360 degree indicator, uh, and yeah, a super fun project and eventually, uh, a handy skill. And if it's something where you really need to understand some of the basics and I'm sure we can look it up for you. We have, uh, have the time before this episode goes, but maybe we'll find a YouTube video that explains the basics in a fairly straightforward manner. And, and, I mean, you could do the same thing for, like Jason said, learning to change a tire or, uh, you know, make a great campfire. Those are all, all skills that someone can teach you over video, uh, which is perfect, uh, for these days. And, uh, speaking of video, my, my pick is actually just, um, to, uh, take a course in something. I know that we've talked about this loosely. I'm now putting it forward because I'm seeing more and more of these kind of online tutorial platforms start to offer free things to kind of either bolster their membership or as a community outreach. So Skillshare was offering, you know, free classes in April that may extend into May. I have no idea. I think for that one, you will need a credit card or like a Visa gift card or something to sign up for. Nikon school is now just open and free. And there's actually a lot there and they're teaching, um, the. The classes are actually taught by really well-known photographers. If you're within the space, certainly within the web, um, learning photography space, these people are certainly, uh, big players in that. And then, uh, you know, just even today for, for the daily uplift. So you, you can go back to Tuesday's daily uplift if you'd like to see the link, but I'll put it in the show notes, of course, as well. Uh, Harvard has made 64 of their online courses open and free. Um, and that includes everything from, you could learn like JavaScript, which, um, if you're like me and I did at one time actually learn, uh, JavaScript at a college level, really not that interesting. But if you're, if you're already into programming or maybe this is you wanted that first step, that could be an option, but they had a ton of different classes, everything from. pandemic sciences to the science of cooking to philosophy and, you know, the history of various religions. You know, they had a lot on offer there. And I think, you know, a lot of these are broken up in to take, you know, between four and eight weeks, which I think is a pretty fair timeline for the current scenario. And I think there's a lot there. So I'll link a few in the show notes. Um, but it might even be worth going back to your alma mater, uh, or your local college and seeing what's, what they're making available on their website. If there's a specific sort of, um, outlet that you're looking for, as far as, uh, learning, learning a new skill or learning, uh, some, uh, you know, developing some education, um, at, at a time where, uh, you know, the cost has never been, uh, less for some of this. |
| Jason Heaton | Yeah, it's a good, good use of time. Um, You know, either on a break during the day or in the evening, maybe take a break from binge watching TV shows and that sort of thing. |
| James Stacey | My final notes doesn't help that scenario at all, but we can go into final notes and I'll kick it off with, cause you mentioned binge watching is, you know, I think people will start to run out of things only because not that there's not that much to stream. There's an endless amount of things to stream, but you don't really know what you might like or what's good. Um, so my recommendation is the AV clubs. This is a kind of pop culture, um, blog, uh, you know, big platform website. Uh, but they, they put out, it was a while ago. I saved it in pocket. Uh, this was, uh, you know, the November of last year, they put out the hundred best movies of the 2010s. And, uh, there's a lot here. I mean, there's a hundred movies and I would go as far as to say, I'm, I'm essentially suggesting it as the concept of the list. Uh, because there's a lot here that I like, but there's a ton here that I disagree with, like almost the entirety of say their top 10. Uh, I don't come anywhere near their appreciation of Mad Max's Fury Road as their number one movie of the 2010s. Um, it does not even factor for me. I didn't enjoy it. Uh, I, I saw it twice because I, I would, a friend of mine told me I must've been, um, uh, you know, having some sort of a medical emergency the first time I saw it, if I didn't like it, but I didn't care for it the second time. Social network is excellent. That's three on their list. Um, and then, and you know, there's, there's a lot in here. And I think if, if anything, it would give you, you'll see a bunch of titles that you probably won't know unless you're very much into film. And on the other side, you might just remember some things that you had always meant to see, um, but didn't. And in that scenario, I'm seeing on my screen here, like boyhood, I never saw boyhood. I'm sure it's fantastic. Um, Inside Llewyn Davis was an incredible movie that I watched once. And now after seeing this list, I want to rewatch it. So if you're, if you're kind of coming up as a blank, uh, what you'd like to watch and, uh, and you, you don't maybe want to take part in one of these, um, uh, more meme based programs that Netflix is running these days that seem to be more about the jokes you can put on the internet than their actual content. Uh, I think a movie is a great way to go. And if you're going back 10 plus years, I think you can really dig into some stuff that maybe you forgot or you watched once and didn't think about again and you might enjoy. But there's a lot here and certainly tons of inspiration. |
| Jason Heaton | Cool. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah, for sure. I've got a quick one to finish this out. It's a fairly short YouTube video called Sounding the Sunbird Lighthorn. And this came to me via Yannick. Uh, on Instagram, I believe he's based somewhere in Scandinavia. Uh, he goes by at whole car underscore Yannick on Instagram. And he sent this to me cause he knows I'm a bit of a lighthouse buff. And this is a video from the Sunbird lighthouse, which is on, uh, somewhere up in the Shetland islands in Scotland. And you know, these light horns, the actual audio component of a lighthouse facility, um, fog horn, I guess most of us would know that more commonly as Um, these, these fog horns that they have at the lighthouses are, you know, steam powered, uh, and very, very loud, very powerful. And they're actually run by in, uh, an engine that has to be primed and started at appropriate times of the day. And then the, the sound horn, the horn itself actually has to follow a certain pattern to let mariners who are out in the fog know which light horn they're close to. And so there's a timing element to it as well, um, which is done via a clockwork. And this video kind of shows the process of getting the light horn up and running and then sounding it. And I just thought it was a kind of a fun, there's, there's no voiceover or anything like that. It's just showing a guy going into the facility and actually starting this thing up and then finally sounding it. And it was just something a bit apropos about the isolation of being at a remote lighthouse station and kind of the mechanical interest and a bit of a meditative quality of getting this thing up and running. So, uh, easy, easy one to watch. Just takes a couple of minutes. So check that out. |
| James Stacey | Great idea. And, uh, definitely not something that we, we talk about all that often. Lighthouses. I love it. Yeah. Super. I don't know that much about lighthouses, but I do have a weird affinity for them as I love seeing them. There's something about that, that like little piece, you know, a little sprout of humanity on the absolute edge. Yeah. Kind of fun. |
| Jason Heaton | So. Yeah. So great show. Thanks again to Cole. Thanks again to the Hodinkee Shop for supporting this episode and thank you for listening. Definitely hit the show notes via hodinkee.com or the feed for more details. You can follow us on Instagram at Jason Heaton and at J.E. Stacey and follow the show at The Graynado. If you have any questions for us, please write to TheGreyNado at gmail.com. And please keep sending those voice memos. We will be doing a Q&A episode in another few episodes here. So record a question via your voice memo function on your phone and send it to TheGreyNado at gmail.com. Please subscribe and review wherever you find your podcasts and music throughout is Siesta by Jazzar via the free music archive. |
| James Stacey | And we leave you with this quote from George A. Moore who said, a man travels the world over. search of what he needs and returns home to find it. |