Danger

The iPhone is really dangerous. It's the perfect form of distraction so I don't get any work done... and I just spent the last two hours pimping it out so it's now chock full of games, Facebook, Twitter, and other things that just suck up time. Yeesh.

In other news, this dog could be Sabi's brother:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoNDp03udhg

But even this fact, and the Machu Pichu cameo at the beginning, and Piper Perabo, can't even begin to redeem how bad the movie looks.

Testing from phone

Testing to see if blog will post from here!

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Cynthia Wang
cynthiawang@nyu.edu

Graphite is NOT wood (or, late-night ramblings on guitars)

I stopped by Guitar Center today after work (mostly to see if the new issue of The Sounding Board - a Martin guitar newsletter - was out yet. It is, but GC didn't have a copy), and naturally ended up in the acoustic corral playing guitars. My happiest discovery today was the Taylor GC8 - a sweet little easy-to-play guitar by Taylor. One of the most distinctive features, other than the concert-sized body, was the slotted headstock. I hadn't played a Taylor with a slotted headstock before. I must have spent a good 10-15 minutes or so playing the GC8.

Then, not wanting to neglect the myriad of other guitars in the corral, I picked up a long-time favorite of mine, the Martin OMC Aura.

There is such a distinct difference between Taylors and Martins. Martins are warm and resonant. Taylors are bold. Andrew and I have a long-standing debate on which are better guitars. Though I would be the first to say that Taylors have concentrated on making their electronics top-notch (which they are - and cosmetic too! There's none of this huge black box on the side deal that you see in most Martins), Martins are truly acoustic-centric and concentrate on the sound. But when you get down to it, it's a different sound, and everyone has different preferences. I, for the life of me, will never understand why anyone would get a Gibson. They just sound tinny to me. Tinny and loud. And these are the ones in the $3,000 range.

The OMC Aura I picked up has an intimacy that lacks in the Taylor. Even my 312CE which I love. I recently started playing Cricket again (he's a Martin 00-16DBM - solid mahogany, smaller, but deep body) after shelving him for the last few months to concentrate on breaking in the Taylor 312CE. It felt a lot like coming home - and made me wonder why I ever stopped playing Cricket. However, I picked up an 000-18 today at GC too. Warm, warm, warm, but no sustain or resonance. I was actually very disappointed (it's not the first time I've played the 000-18, and never really fell in love with it...thank god. The pricetag is $3,000+), since the 000-18 is one of Martin's classic models. Likewise, I have never been overly impressed with the D28 (and HD28) or the D18, which everyone swears by. Maybe I just don't like dreadnoughts.

Ultimately, it's the individual guitar that speaks to a person, and fits a person. Though I love my Taylor, I think I will always prefer playing Cricket.

Near the end of my GC excursion, one of the GC fellows came in and told me to check out the Rainsong graphite guitar. I was rather non-plussed. It's a guitar made all of graphite, so it's lighter, and doesn't warp in extreme weather. Handy for people who live in the desert or very humid places. The price-tag on it was $2,300. The sound was not bad, but all I could think of was, for the same price, a Martin or a Taylor would give you 10 times the sound. Graphite will never be wood.

I'm done rambling. I should sleep.

Google-strong!

Have you looked at your gmail spam box lately? I'm impressed by how well it filters out emails telling me how to enlarge my penis (among other things). I counted about 20 spam emails each day. Thank god for the spam-filter - those things drive me crazy. Another reason to love Google. :)

A Vow of Silence

Just because you CAN talk with a sore throat doesn't mean you SHOULD.

I'm learning this the hard way. I spent 2 hours on the phone with AT&T trying to logic with them yesterday why I should get a discounted iPhone (a word of advice for people already with AT&T - check your eligibility before you purchase the iPhone - chances are, you're not "eligible" for an upgrade. Yes that's right. Apple, with all its prior integrity, has very misleading advertising this year. It's a bit depressing...and AT&T don't seem to value loyal customers since they treat their new customers better than their old - when I argued this point, my mom points out that the world is unfair, and that she'll get me an iPhone anyway - did I mention I have the greatest mom in the world?) - and then was given further false information by one of their customer representatives (his name is Cory Z - if you ever get him on the phone......ask for his supervisor and lodge a complaint against him on my behalf. I'll bake you a cookie.)

AT&T did redeem itself today, when I spent about half an hour on the phone with a very nice representative named Kelly, who helped me fix my phone because for some reason, it wasn't calling out or receiving calls.

That being said, I should mention that I've been running a fever the last two days, and think I might be developing laryngitis. My throat is less sore in the mornings, but starts killing me in the evenings - very probably from overuse during the day. Therefore, I've vowed to speak as little as possible over the next couple days to see if the soreness goes away.

Speaking of fever, isn't it interesting what your brain comes up with when altered either by heat or chemicals? I've found that there are two things in life that guarantee weird dreams at night. One is fever (and the delirium that comes with it), and the other is pizza. I think it's something about the mix of cheese and marinara sauce that infuses the brain and brings out really odd dreams. Am I the only one this happens to?

I might still be a bit delirious.