How bad is it when someone uses a stick to spin with?
I am torn with whether I should keep spinning my personal mod that is like a stick or if I should use my other RSVP type mod.
People complain about people spinning sticks a lot.
The only thing I really care about when pen-spinning is respect and having fun, so I was wondering what yall think about the use of sticks for spinning ( Like Dr KT and other wierd mods that just dont look like pens at all )
In a video would it be better if someone did some ok spinning with a pen or if they did excellent spinning with a stick?
thoughts n stufff
I guess this is more about videos n stuff

Its not a stick!!

isnt the point of pen modding to make the pen spin better?
Spin with what you like the most.

It really only matters if somebody shows something off. Like in banz's 1 year video, his combos leave me shocked & vomiting blood but at the start i could care less about his palmspin 9.5 because of the grip aviare he used to perform it.

Just don't use a KT & post "hey guys check out my cont. bak!" because everybody knows chucko can do that stuff with a pencil, thats all. Within pen spinning, we all know some ridiculous looking creations as "pens" and theyre accepted. i dont care what people spin for combos & collabs, it matters much more that their combo is cool.

I do think that anybody who brings a metallic comssa to class is spreading a silly image of PS though <_<

edit: Short answer, use what you like :P

i bring all these pens to school
not all everyday
and all of them dont look normal anyone can see these pens and tell they are not factory made.

how much does it detract from a video if someone uses a stick

it looks like a swirly circle anyways
most ppl PSers dont mind and non PSers can't tell the difference

use whatever you want, double sided mods arent bad at all

For vids, there's a cap on smoothness (that I think you've met) and from then on all people care about is how well the combo was put together. People only get mad at "stick spinning" when people try to show off with them.

It's a moral issue more than anything.

Can you consider yourself a pen spinner if the pen you're spinning doesn't have the essence, the function it was destined to: to write.

Some say yes, some say no.

there is def. no cap for smoothness, only like cloud traveler and bonkura are perfect. the best spinners from here still make little mistakes sometimes.

Scott, i envy your monami color... i would be treating it right & giving it green grips though :P All those pens are a little weird but could look pretty normal with different grips except the middle gripped one. i used to bring gripped bictories to school & people thought it was weird so i stopped. now i use all black MMX, green cubix MX, dr grip, pencils, a monami 153 MX with black grips, and a monami 153 MMX with black. people dont really question these pens at all

Personally I've kinda decided to give up my vendetta against "stick" spinning. It still deserves props for being cool, however I will personally respect you more the more difficult of a pen you use to spin with. I think most others will agree, so you really just need to find a pen you can spin well with that others will think is cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0E2WnkQovo
look at the last comment.

My double eraser pencils can't write, but are more difficult to spin with then any given modded pen (they weigh about half the weight).
Is the thing that is so offensive about "stick" spinning the fact that it can't write, or the fact that it's easier to spin with it? I just want to know on which side I'm on :P

Oh and I'm basically against spinning sticks, and against the whole notion of adding weight for the purpose of adding weight and not just balancing..
This might sound noobish for I have never modded a pen in my life, nor spun with a modded pen.

For videos (if I were you, not me) I'd use a pen that is widely accepted, like the RSVP MX or something.

:hah:
that will never happen
i suck so freakin bad with an MX

The challenges out there exist for you to overcome them, The rsvp mx should be afraid of you, not the other way around.

Um, it doesn't matter what you spin with. What's more important is, can you do the same tricks everybody else can do? With all of this time spent worrying on TRIVIAL matters, you could be learning a new trick or smoothening out your spinning.


No wonder the ones who complain about the whole issue suck. :lol: :teach:

Yeah... Who cares if you're spinning a stick or a pen, at least you're spinning something, and whatever tricks you're doing can really be applied to both a stick and a pen. A pen is just what it is, a pen, so it can write. If it can't, then it's a stick.
No one really cares when you're spinning since I've never encountered a situation like this:
"Woah cool! But can it write?"

It's usually something like:
"Woah cool! It can write too?!"

I spin a MX because i think it looks better when i spin it instead of a metallic comssa.

What Pen Appeals to you the most when you spin?

The ultimate question.

Zebras look like sticks, they're hard to spin, and people who spin them get respected. Don't connect spinning a "stick" to spinning a pen with perfect balance and loads of momentum.

Well they look like sticks to other people, but when I spin them when I'm in Hong Kong, pretty much all my family knows that they're pens :lol:
In fact, I would get questions about the MXs being sticks over the Zebras.

I do use a comssa metallic like mod when doing a hard combo I'm not use to yet but overall I feel double sided mods and stick like mods kind of look childish. I use to use a dr.kt but now I've learned how to progress with an mx.

It's kind of like a spiritual journey.

You start with a v1 and then somehow get all the way to using a compirat and eventually you come back to the beginning with your roots and spin an mx.

Soon we alll learn the ways of the force.

This question is probably as old as pen spinning, and there's no correct or wrong answers since it basically depends on your values/opinions.

To me, if you use a pen that looks and acts like a pen, you get my highest respect (provided you can also spin it well).

Anything with double caps deducts a few respect points
Anything that can't write deducts a few respect points
Anything that doesn't look like a pen deducts a few respect points
Anything that's longer than the distance from your wrist to the tip of your middle finger deducts A LOT of respect points (myself included for using a long pencil back in 2003's Superhandz PS Video)

I believe PS is about improving yourself, enjoying spinning, and amazing your audience with cool tricks (among other things).

If you spin just for the fun of it, you're neglecting an entire area of PS (the presentation), in which case you could be spinning sticks, umbrellas, toothbrushes, etc.

To me, giving the impression that you're spinning an ordinary pen is crucial. Why? Because people are familiar with pens. They've used their entire life, and know that they couldn't do the things they are witnessing. If there's any doubt in their mind that you're using a normal pen, then part of the credits for your tricks is given to your specialized pen, and no longer your hands/dexterity. This is why I put great emphasis on making mods that look like a pen. Anything such as exaggerated length, double caps, etc. will undermine your skills in your audiences mind.

This is much like a lot of things in life. When making a product, you want to make something for the user, not for yourself. If you design a new iPod that nobody can figure out how to use, then you failed as a designer. If you create a web site that only you can use, then you failed as a webmaster. If you spin pens that your audience can't appreciate...then...(you know the rest)

Just my two cents,
Kam

Wow, that's the most coherent thing I've seen Kam post in quite some time.

i always use my super heavy mod for practice, and i've taken to using some g3 retractable mod pen which spins pretty well too..

unfortunately i am unable to do the combos i want usually and just give up and use my super heavy double caped/(double tipped?) mod.. i also use that for videos.. i will only use my pen which can write when i get better.. :lol:

BUT i actually feel symetrical pens look cooler/more professional.. but i use a normal looking pen as people always criticise saying i probably cant do wat i do with a 'normal' pen..

Kam, that all made sense.

However, as far as your presentation of PS I kinda feel the opposite about it. In my experience, people find it much cooler when your spinning like a KT, or something that looks really cool/different. It adds to the overall effect..... or thats what ive noticed just showing people from my school and stuff....

oh yeah i should add that arent we spining for ourselves and not to show off? we spin because we love to manipulate something? showing off is just an added bonus..

not really for me to be honest....


I saw someone doing it, and my personality type made me HAVE to learn it, cuz it was sooo wicked looking.... dunno, its just my personality type....


thats the way it STARTED anyway.... i dont do it to show off anymore... i do it cuz its what cool guys do B)

exactly.. its because you LIKE doing it.. not because you're doing it to show off.. it MAY have started because we wanted to show off, but now we, or at least I, PS because i like it..

im sure most PSers are like this.. :lol:

My MX cant write...
Nor can my v1.
Nor can my S360

And i wouldnt even take any of them in public, (Except for my S360...I get so many questions asked about it because its so sexy) someone in school asks how i spin a pen i spin whatever's closest, a good penspinner doesnt need to use a V1, you just avoid getting ink on your hands ;)

If people want to beat for example a speed record they don't use a normal car, but a "modified" (racing) car. It's the same with pens. A car "pimped" in "Pimp my ride" is still a car. Same with pens.
But yeah, spinning with an unmodded pen gives more satisfaction.

edit:
One more thing: I don't like ppl spininng sticks, who says it's penspinning, because it's not. It's stick-spinning.

Speak for yourself. :P I love showing off, in moderation of course. Anyways, back on topic; people who get anal and emotional over people using double capped mods should just get a reality check and just turn the other way. No one likes someone else's agenda/opinion shoved down their throat.

I say spin what you feel comfortable with.
I agree with Kam about spinning a pen that looks like a pen cause the audience is like "wow look what he can do with a pen". But if you spin a nice double capped mod like kt people might be attracted to visual affect it gives and like that. If you spin a mod that is extremely long and does not look like a pen people might still like your spinning but they might think "he can spin a stick" instead of "he can spin a pen".

Lol, I'm totally different. I just thought it looked kool and figured I'd try but then I ended up liking the ability to manipulate something

I gave up trying to get people to use one pen/type of pen over another. I'm going to ramble on for a while, hopefully it will end up sounding somewhat coherent. :P

Why I started penspinng...
Pen spinning started out as something for me to do with my free time as a hobby that was different than people around me and seemed relatively easy to learn and become proficient at. While I try to do things to help others gain info, I don't care about any overall image and how non-spinners view what we do. If someone sees a video or someone spinning "a pen" and likes what they see, then that's great. If the person does not like it, then that's fine too.

Pen Modification...
As I went deeper into the "PSing scene" and found out more about modification, I accepted a lot of work that went far beyond using a stock pen. I'm at the point where the mod only has to be able to write to still be able to be called a "pen mod." The way I see it is that you should spin for the self-enjoyment of the hobby and do whatever you want to do to make that hobby more enjoyable for yourself. When I was first really getting into the online scene of Pen Spinning, I got to meet SubParSpinner in person and was able to hear and see just how much he was into pen modification. When he was an active member of UPSB, he was also an insanely enthusiast collector and modder of pens from anywhere he could get them. To me, it looked like his pen modding was a seperate practice from the actual pen spinning. Sure, the mods are supposed to help the spinning, but modification started to look more like a fine art. In that sense, I see no reason why modification should be hindered by anyone's pre-concieved notions of how a finished mod should look or act. It goes beyond that. I still have some notions of how mods should be, but I've been trying to not push my assumptions on anyone else.

What & why I spin...
When I spin in public, I actually don't want to draw much attention to myself. I spin for personal enjoyment, not to show off or expand PSing. I have no problems with others wanting to purposefully expand attention and gain new spinners, but I personally do not try to advertise simply because I'm not that kind of person. I'm not good at selling anything or bringing people into anything. If anyone asks, I keep things simple and let them know why I do what I do. If they want to learn more, I'll tell them more. In public, I tend to spin a shortened RSVG2 using a 0.7 G2 and a Smokey Grey Razzle Dazzle. This combo gives the mod a uniform look but also does not draw attention to itself. It looks more like a regular pen only because I tend to want to be able to spin without others looking over at me & wondering what I'm using, and asking me about it. When I'm at work or spinning by myself, I use a Comssa Mod with white caps and black + red grips. This is more obviously not a normal pen but it feels so much more comfortable than any other mod I have that may look more like a normal pen. I mainly use my Comssa mod because spinning with it is easier on my hands. The weight is neither too light or too heavy. I have less to worry about when I spin this mod.

Spinning a stick...
If you want to spin something that no longer looks like a normal pen, then go for it. Of course, you also forfeit the chance to be upset if anyone says negative things about you for not spinning something that looks like a pen. If you really want to be accepted by people, then use a completely un-altered pen/pencil. Any alteration that is known will make someone complain about it. If you care what others think about you, then don't use a modded pen. If you are spinning for the enjoyment of spinning, do whatever you want and use whatever makes it better for you personally.

Sketching, Isn't that what kam just said 5 posts ago, but with a million filler sentences that make no coherent sense at all?

Kam was for pens that look like pens. I don't give a shit.

I also wanted to give some background on how I came to the decision.

Personally, I prefer to spin things that look like pens. This is partially because I'm still in school and I dislike the "wtf is that magic wand you're spinning?" comments. Thus, I'll be spinning an MX for a long time :). However, I don't dislike other spinners because they use a certain mod that may not look like a pen, it's just a standard I hold myself to.

Practicing and at home i use a stick i guess....just a regular comssa but its a stick nonetheless. At school i would prefer not to spin a wand so i will start using my monami-r rsvp mx...writes, looks like a pen and has all the qualities of an MX.

Great post dude :clap:

I have the same rsvg2 mod sketching, but I use a .5 g2 & normal rsvp cap. I also put a sliver of black paper around the part where the g2 back piece used to be so that it appears even more uniform. I dont like spinning it much though because its hard to do around tricks with it.

Lately in school i've been spinning a pentel twist erase III 0.9, its great to write with for me since i have sloppy handwriting & thicker lead makes it easier to read. (I need thinner ink though so it doesnt bleed & i dont smear it :P i suck at writing). Its decent cause its short but decently heavy so i can do spammy combos like sonic harmonic -> sonic -> twisted sonic -> gunman -> fl rev TA etc while im working. The thick lead is hard to break too in case i drop it. Then i break out an MX or similar mod if i'm not actually working on something.

You either spin for self-enjoyment, spin for an audience, or both. However, presenting in front of an audience brings enjoyment too. The easiest way PS is made more popular is through demonstrations. If you spin a stick in front of people, they're possibly confused as to why you'd call it "pen" spinning.

It's not so bad spinning namae pen, dr. kt (if the writing hasnt worn off) or dong-a comssa, at least you can just be like "its asian... i bought it this way.. really"

Are you illiterate? I had no problem understanding sketching's post, and no, it's not like Kam's post.

good insights from both of them btw. :spin: