Product Reviews

The Glass Guitar Pick
Rosemary Glass
rosemaryglass.com
These Glass Guitar Picks are utterly beautiful pieces individually sculpted by Hawaiian artist Rosemary Pierro. The swirls in the borosilicate glass are reminiscent of glass-made pipes that one may find at head shops, and they definitely exude a laid-back vibe conducive to some restful jamming—my favorite is the blue and yellow (sometimes green), transparent pick. The pick incorporates small wedges that successfully allowed me to grip it betwixt my index finger and thumb, which speaks to the process Pierro undergoes for these picks to be “annealed in a digitally controlled kiln,” according to the press-release business card. The glass’s interaction with my steel-string acoustic Yamaha guitar indeed produces the “unique sound” purported on said business card, which is a tinny and charmingly alien timbre—think the sound of using a slide, but with less snap and more of a wind-chime effect upon strumming. Unfortunately, the general functionality of this pick becomes thwarted by how dense the glass is. Where a regular, plastic pick makes relatively innocuous aural contact with the pick guard, the glass pick’s strikes to the guard create a strident percussive quality. Hence, I felt compelled to strum quite softly, which goes against my “playing style” that the press release claims to accommodate with this product. When I slowed down and tried to play a select few strings, though, the pick’s charm shone through. I’m determined to make use of this pick in my oeuvre, thought it may be relegated to purely experimental contrivances. –Alexander Ortega

Out Of Print Clothing
A Clockwork Orange/Fahrenheit 451 T-Shirts
outofprintclothing.com
For most any kind of super nerd/geek, there’s a T-shirt out there of whatever you like. It’s almost like the T-shirt equivalent of Internet Rule #34. But for those of us into literature, there hasn’t been a lot of luck in that category, unless your favorite book has been made into an HBO series. This is what makes the shirts from Out Of Print Clothing so cool, as they produce a line of T-shirts with book covers as the designs. Not just any book covers—these are some of the most important books of our culture, with their original covers (no longer in use today). Some of my absolute favorites included The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz, A Clockwork Orange, Slaughterhouse-Five and Fahrenheit 451. While the shirts are super cool, they are what you expect from many online shirt companies: a poly/cotton blend that’s super thin. So if you’re a fan who also happens to be packing an extra couple pounds around the waist, these may not look too flattering. Beyond that small detail, these are brilliant designs that rightfully should be donned by readers of any ilk. –Gavin Sheehan