Expensive Pen Brands

 Aurora is the most expensive pen brand in the world.

Or, is it?

Every year, Aurora produces Aurora Diamante priced at $1.47 million.  Some Web sites say Aurora Diamante is priced at $1.7 million.  It holds the no. 1 spot as the most expensive pen if Montblanc doesn’t have a new limited edition pen.

Most Web sites say Montblanc’s most expensive is the Boheme Royal priced at $1.5 million.  Montblanc’s most expensive pen is the Taj Mahal priced at $2 million, followed by the Great Wall (of China) priced at a few thousand dollars less than $2 million.

It is arguable which is the most expensive pen brand in the world, brand being the operative word.  It is inarguable, however, that the most expensive pen – pen, not pen brand – in the world is Tibaldi’s Fulgor Nocturnus sold straight to a Shanghai auction in 2010 for $8 million.  No pen from whatever company has dislodged the Fulgor Nocturnus from the no. 1 spot since 2010, so far.

My goodness $8 million; why not just get a brand new Ferrari or Lamborghini car?  Fulgor Nocturnus is relatively low maintenance; it won’t rack up maintenance fees the way a Ferrari or a Lamborghini will.

Montblanc owned Tibaldi from 2000 to 2009.  Tibaldi was already owned by Montegrappa when it released the Fulgor Nocturnus.

Montegrappa pens are also quite pricey, and Montegrappa’s Ancient Mexican Civilisations Rollerball Pen belongs to one of the top 10 most expensive pen lists in the Net.¹

Another pen brand that produces million-dollar pens is Caran d’Ache whose 1010 Diamond Edition is priced at around $1 million (different Web sites give different prices for the same pen).

Tibaldi, Montblanc, Aurora, Caran d’Ache, and Montegrappa all have “affordable” variants, especially Caran d’Ache which has pens priced at only ₱100+ available at National Book Store, Philippines.

The cheapest pen of Montblanc is more expensive than the cheapest variant of the other brands aforementioned.  Around first week of November 2022, Montblanc’s cheapest variant in the Philippines was priced at ₱14,100.  The price jumped to ₱16,200 a week later.  I doubt a price reversal would occur after the holidays.

So, which is the most expensive pen brand in the world?²  Tibaldi?  Montblanc?  Aurora?  Caran d’Ache?

And, what is the classiest (not most expensive) pen brand in the world?

I think the answer to that is subjective.  What one considers classy may be second-rate to another.  I, for one, gravitate towards Cross even though Cross never sold a pen amounting to a million dollars.

Notes

¹”Top 10 Most Expensive Pens.”  Catawiki.  N.d.  Web.  <https://www.catawiki.com/en/stories/4947-top-10-most-expensive-pens>.

²Prices and top positions may have changed at the time of this piece’s publication.  While I consider Tibaldi to be above Montblanc and any other pen brand currently in existence, I do think (though still arguable) that Montblanc is the most famous luxury pen brand in the world.

An Arrow to the Heart

This afternoon (12 July 2021), while I was talking to a patient, the staff asked me to see an elderly woman who came in because of difficulty breathing.  The old woman was accompanied by her daughter-in-law.

 

I interrupted the consultation with my current patient and approached the old woman.

 

I listened to her lungs and noted crackles all over.  Pneumonia.  She had the look of distress painted all over her.

 

I told the woman to seek emergency care.  Oral medications alone would not help her.  I also suspected COVID-19 but never told the old woman about that possibility.  She was in enough distress as it was.

 

As the old woman prepared to go out the door, she turned her head towards me, smiled, and waved goodbye.

 

I felt that she was waving goodbye not just to me but to the world as well.  I doubt that I would ever see her again, and that breaks my heart.

 

==

 

originally published on my Facebook wall on date indicated

 

Lowborns and Monarchs

A photograph of the late Elizabeth II imposed on the Sydney Opera House looks beautiful, to say the least.  And, my reaction was, “Oh my, lowborns and thieves are celebrated while a hungry child is left to die.”

Elizabeth II, who passed away recently, is the longest reigning monarch in British history.

I have nothing against Elizabeth per se.  She will always be, somehow, endearing to me because she signed the gay marriage into law in the United Kingdom, although she was fully booked and missed her gay cousin’s wedding. 

Elizabeth deserves the love and accolades of her loved ones, but does she deserve the love of the people, her so-called subjects?  Did she really care for them?  If she did, she would have dissolved the monarchy and given back the wealth that rightfully belongs to the people. 

I wouldn’t be surprised though if Elizabeth or any incumbent monarch today knew of families or forces within, even outside, their circle who would kill them before they could sign the dissolution of monarchy.  These monarchists would lose influence with the dissolution of monarchy and would go to extreme measures to keep themselves in power.  I expect a parent who happens to be a monarch will do everything in their power to keep their children and bloodline alive. 

Monarchies and nobilities are evil forms of government.  A society where people are categorized into royal, noble, and commoner is not a fair society. 

A lot of horror stories litter royal history (of any country).  I’m particularly enchanted by the tyranny of Henry Tudor a.k.a. Henry VIII who sired Elizabeth I.  Henry was known for beheading his wives.  England was under absolute monarchy then.  It is under constitutional monarchy now.  During Henry’s rule, England separated from the Catholic Church and Henry established his own Church of England of which the head is the reigning monarch.  Currently, the head of Church of England is Charles III, the firstborn of Elizabeth II. 

Why did Henry separate from the Catholic Church?  Because the pope did not grant his petition to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, and likely, because kings are under the rule of the pope and the delusional king wanted to be numero uno.  The wealth sequestered from the de-established Catholic churches went to the pockets of Henry and his minions. 

Henry VIII is the also the father of Mary I, half-sister of Elizabeth I.  Mary is known today as Bloody Mary because she ordered the killings of Protestants.  Mary was a devout Catholic who reversed the religious reforms of her father when she ascended the throne.  When Elizabeth II replaced Mary, she then bloodied her reign by persecuting Catholics. 

Historical fictionist Philippa Gregory wrote about Henry and his wives.  I like how Gregory empowered Anne of Cleves, one of Henry’s wives who didn’t get decapitated. 

The life of Henry was also fictionalized in the drama series The Tudors with the dashing Henry Cavill playing the tyrant’s best friend. 

Under a monarchy, a person born into a royal or noble family is gifted with properties and things they didn’t work hard for.  Emperors, queens, princesses, et al., are under permanent welfare, while someone who is called commoner needs to apply for welfare if they can not afford to sustain themselves.  A hungry child from a poor family is left to die, while a princess gets a visit from fairy godmothers. 

Between Catherine “Kate” Middleton and William Windsor (son of Diana and Charles III), William is the lowborn and Kate is the highborn.  Why?  Because Kate’s family came to wealth by their own hard work, while William lived off people’s money.  William is cute, inheriting his mother’s good looks, and Kate calls him “Big Willy.”  H’m.  William must pack a royal dick ready to rumble. 

Elizabeth II’s father was not the heir to the throne; he was the spare.  The throne went to Elizabeth’s father because her uncle, Edward VIII, fell in love with Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee, which caused legal troubles for Edward leading to his abdication of the throne.  Edward VIII’s abdication speech is available online.  Quite a lovely speech. 

Between any person and an emperor (or any member of royal and noble families), the emperor is the lowborn because he steals from the people all his life. 

Titles earned by birth (emperor, baron, earl, countess, etc.) are forms of legalized discrimination.  A person not born into a royal or noble household is raised to think they do not deserve better.  Put another way: A person born into a royal or noble household is raised to think they are above most people in the country and/or in the world.  Is that really a good kind of government? 

A man from a lower caste system in India sat on where the people above his rank sat and got killed for doing so.  Monarchies and caste systems are not exactly the same but they are not much different from each other in that they promote the idea that some people are born above others.  Ancient Rome much? 

Monarchies promote good governance on paper but engender superiority complexes including murderous behavior in practice.  Absolute monarchies still exist, and they still murder people for being gay. 

In some monarchies, whether absolute or constitutional, it is illegal to criticize the rulers, e.g., Thailand.  In fairness, this nonsensical law can also be found in non-monarchial countries like Venezuela.  A leader who can not take criticism is not a good leader. 

Under a democracy, we can become leaders ourselves regardless of families of origin.  Democracy has its faults, of course.  Look at what happened to us Filipinos in the recent national elections: A scion of an ousted president is back in power.  I sure hope that the reign of current President Bongbong Marcos does not result in historical revisionism, not more than there already is, that is.  The sin of the father is not the sin of the son, and I sure hope for the son not to repeat his father’s atrocities.  We’ll see. 

Communism looks good on paper but is ominous in practice.  While I honestly prefer communism over monarchy, I do not wish for the royal families to suffer like the Romanovs of Russia did.  Murdering the royals is never an option.  A number of countries removed monarchies without killing the bloodline.  It was not exactly an easy journey for the exiled or ousted royals, though. 

It is curious why communism succeeded in China but failed in Russia.  Communism in China started with the people.  The peasants had a say in politics and government.  They mattered.  Communism in Russia was Bolshevik-ed into existence without appealing to the people first. 

Before communism fully gained prominence in Russia, the last czar, Nicholas II, was forced to abdicate and was subsequently killed by Bolshevik revolutionaries.  The murder of Nicholas II and his family spun a tale of suspense for the possible survival of one of the Romanovs, the Grand Duchess Anastasia.  Through the decades, impostors presented themselves as Anastasia and works of literature including films fictionalized her story of survival.  A corpse was found matching the DNA of the Romanovs, ending the possibility of Anastasia’s survival. 

To be honest though, people in countries under monarchies like Japan (the oldest continuous monarchy in the world) and United Kingdom lead better lives than Filipinos do under a democracy.  Why is that?  Corruption?  Colonial mentality?  H’m. 

For some reason, I can imagine myself living in Communist China but not in Imperial Japan or Royal Thailand.  I can visit monarchial countries, but I can not live there because I just can not see myself curtsying to a lowborn like [insert name of legally ordained royal or noble person here].

Food of Remembrance, Taste of Nostalgia

A scent, a song, a sight, a movie and that plaintive music [they] can send us back to the past.  So can the taste of good food and drinks.

The first siomai I ever loved was the one from Wah Yuen Restaurant along Escolta near Lyric Theater.  When I was in grade school, Sunday was movie day for my family of origin.  We would go to King’s Theater in Chinatown for action Chinese movies, to East Cinema for Chinese drama and romcoms, then we would usually have dinner at New Nation Restaurant, but other restaurants were also tried and visited regularly – Ling Nam Restaurant and Wah Yuen among them.

Later on, I had a taste of another heavenly (or deadly if you have clogged arteries) siomai from a restaurant along Ongpin Street called Maxim’s Tea House. Maxim’s later became MXT but is now known as Mei Sum.  The name changed but the location remains the same.  There was a time Maxim’s could be found in SM supermall food courts.  To this day,  Maxim’s/Mei Sum’s pork siomai is my favorite siomai.  David’s Tea House, President, Causeway, even Chowking, also have great-tasting siomai.

When I was young, I never liked the appearance of hamburgers so I avoided eating them.  One movie night with my favorite aunt changed that.  Auntie Lolly bought Cindys burgers for us to eat while watching a movie along Avenida, Manila.

When I first tasted that utterly delectable Cindys burger, I knew I would be loving burgers until I get a heart attack or until the day I die, whichever comes first.

I remember developing hyperacidity when I was a teenager.  Of the many cola brands, I mostly drank Coke in my teens.

I was sipping Coke while nursing a broken heart.  It felt like Coke’s ribbon logo tied a knot in my heart that wanted to kill me.  That probably started my tummy’s strong hyperacidity when drinking Coke and other soft drinks, especially dark-colored ones like Coke.

I do not drink soda as often as I used to, but when I do, I relish the taste of young love and acid going up my throat.  Coke is it!

There are many great-tasting pizzas nowadays.  It’s difficult to choose which one tastes better.  One pizza, however, stands out for me apparently because of its association with my childhood.

When I was a child, one of my older siblings would bring me to Shakey’s. There was no Pizza Hut then, no Papa John’s, no Yellow Cab, etc.  Of the vehicles we had, from Mercedes Benz to 18-wheeler trucks, my sibling preferred to drive the Willys Jeep and the owner-type jeep on our way to Shakey’s.

I’d learned to look forward to eating other pizza brands later in life because of Shakey’s.  The stark contrast between bell peppers and bruises got stuck in the emporium of my gustatory memories.  Shakey’s somehow provided a taste of hope in an oftentimes dark world.  In my young mind, the song “Someone’s Waiting for You” from the Disney film The Rescuers teamed up with Shakey’s – a song of longing and a taste of belonging.

To recap: Siomai, hamburger, Coke, and pizza – the unnecessary use of these products may be dangerous to your health.

There will be other fluids and food recipes to taste.  I doubt that I have tried or shall be able to try them all.  These days, I regularly get food gifts from patients that I sometimes feel like a pig for slaughter.  I always appreciate the food gifts, though, and never fail to share savory meals with colleagues.

Aging limits the kind of food we can and should eat.  But, it has never stopped me from gratifying my taste buds.  There’s really not much to do in my golden years except to go on trips down memory lane… with a Coke and a smile, enjoying life’s variant flavors.

Thank you for your indulgence.

Superman Unfurling the Cape

Superman: Son of Kal-El #5 (Jan. 2022) came out digitally in the Philippines late in the afternoon (before 6 p.m.) on November 16, 2021.  Superman Jon Kent and reporter Jay Nakamura kissed for the first time on page 21 (from and including cover).  The comic book is not paginated; one has to count the pages manually.  Note that the comic book is dated January 2022 even though it is released in November 2021.  Comic books are cover- or indicia-dated 2 to 3 months in advance.

Jon and Jay first met in issue #2 where they hit it off instantly.  Jay has the power of intangibility, the ability to phase or move through solid objects.  Jay’s power kicks in even when he is not aware of the danger he is in, as shown in the early pages of issue #4.  In the event that Superman goes berserk and tries to hurt Jay Nakamura physically, he is not likely to succeed against the phantom man.

Blasted with a focused solar energy in issue #4, young Superman Jon Kent goes into action in issue #5 until the solar boost wears off, and he dozes off on Jay Nakamura’s couch for 9 hours.

When Jon wakes up, Jay tells Jon he’s “the one person in the world” Jon doesn’t “have to worry about” because of his intangibility.  And, the two young men kiss right after.

© DC Comics
used under principle of fair use

 

Even before DC Comics leaked Jon’s coming out in October 2021, many people have already speculated about Jon and/or Jay’s sexuality partly because of Jay’s jacket showing arrows going both ways.

Before getting the chance to talk about what just happened (the kiss), Superman has to leave to stop an armed robbery.

Before going back into action, Superman gives his cape to Jay and promises to come back.

© DC Comics
used under principle of fair use

We, Filipinos, have the expression “pagladlad ng kapa” which is translated into English as “unfurling [of] the cape.”  The phrase means coming out, the unfurling of one’s true self to a loved one, or perhaps, to the world.

The symbolism of the cape is Superman’s coming out to and entrusting himself to Jay (whose background he has not fully checked).  I do not know if writer Tom Taylor, an Australian, is aware of the cape’s association with coming out since the idiomatic expression is Filipino.  Regardless, Taylor hits a sweet spot when Jon gives the cape to Jay.  Also, Jay can do a lot of wonders with and in the cape while Superman is out fighting the armed robbers.

Will Jay Nakamura be around for good?  The possibility of Jay being a villain is great.  He may have been transplanted into Superman’s life to attack the most vulnerable part of the Man of Steel, his heart.  Let’s see if or how Jay crushes that heart later on.

Other than that, I imagine Jay as Jon Kent’s first and last male love.  Saturn Girl is possibly Jon’s first love; she is Jon’s first kiss in canon (so far – writers can always retcon facts and stories).  By first and last male love, I mean Jay is not the only male Jon will fall in love with, i.e., Jon will have his second, third, and so forth, but will eventually end up with Jay.  I see Jon Kent hooking up with Robin (Tim Drake) eventually (and still be with Jay in the end).

Original Superman Clark Kent, Jon Kent’s father, had a number of loves in his life before finally having (and going back to) Lois Lane for good.  If indeed the fruit does not fall far from the tree, Jon ending up with a reporter, like his father before him, would be a nice outcome for the love that finally dares to speak its name in this day and age.

For Superman stories concerning Jay Nakamura, I imagine the following titles:

From Gamorra with Love

Phantom Finger

The Hacktivist Who Loved Me

Krypton Is Not Enough

Asgardian

Except for the last which has a sticky backdoor allusion, the titles are based on James Bond films.  With Asgardian, I imagine Superman coming to blows with the Norse god Thor for the heart and loins of Jay.  Of course, it is also nice to imagine Brandon Routh as Superman and Chris Hemsworth as Thor.

On a personal note, Jon and Jay suddenly kissing is something I can relate to.  I’ve had partners where we’re just talking and suddenly we’re on the bed naked doing all sorts of gymnastic maneuvers and, sometimes, tongue twisters.  I’m not really into tongue twisting or kissing much.  Kissing is such an intimate act that I reserve that for someone I’m emotionally attached to.  The character of Julia Roberts in the film Pretty Woman has the same attitude towards kissing.  It was a welcome surprise seeing that.  A part of me is reflected in that film, and that makes the film endearingly memorable.

Superman coming out is a pivotal point in comic book history that reflects the experience of many gay and bisexual men.  That iconic kiss between Superman and Jay Nakamura will reverberate through time, throughout their/our (gay and bisexual men’s) lives.

It appears to me that writer Tom Taylor will round out an aspect of Superman with care and tenderness.  I hope, or I shall curse him from here to Krypton and back.