Results tagged “wonderful product” from Overlooked

The number one reason for the creation of the Zaky (the disembodied hand pillows pictured below) is really touching. This reason, described by the inventor on the official website, goes exactly like this: "Zachary was born weighing less than 2 lbs. His mom wished she could cut off her hand to leave her loving touch, scent, warmth, and protection with him, so she invented the Zaky". Wow, what dedication! Dedication or delusion, you take your pick, since cutting off your hand would help your premature baby's health by about a none-shot.

Prior to creating the current list, I did consider writing 10 things I liked about the Zaky; unfortunately, I got stuck after "plushy exterior", and could not go any farther. So we're just going to have to stick with the original theme:

10 Things I Hate About The Zaky

1. It violates The Addams Family copyrights. How? By copying the character makeup of Gomez's close friend, "Thing" (and I'm not entirely sure the whole hand design isn't poking fun at Things' bodiless handicap...not cool, Zaky, not cool).

2. There will be confusion between human hands and mommy simulating baby pillows. Although this confusion may not inhibit the child's early years, it will cause a slew of issues throughout adulthood. These issues include (but are not limited to): suckling your bosses handshake and offering pillowcases as gloves.

3. Why Mommy, what big hands you have! I am baffled by the design of the Zaky. It is supposed to simulate a parent's hand, but I do not know any person whose hands are the size of a human baby. The Zaky looks like an allergic hand with a bee sting.

4. It makes parents less involved. This is only beneficial to the child if the parent is a pushy stage mom, or Britney Spears.

5. It has hand fetish written all over it. Like strange, want to suck your (preferably fuzzy!) hands, fetish. Good thing the Zaky is a hand and not a foot, as if we needed more foot fetishes in the world.

6. It makes children dependent. I doubt it is good for the child's mental health to have a warm hand on his bum 24/7. I mean, what is going to happen when the kid reaches school age? Will he still need to be reassured by this warm hand? What about when he is an adult? Will he make his wife stick her hand up his bum so that he can sleep comfortably?

7. A child who uses the Zaky will grow up to want a marital relationship with the Snuggie. This is obviously problematic.

8. It will mold your newborn's impressionable head... into a hand-print.

9. It is a whole mountain's worth of creepy. Just look at those hands, and tell me you won't have nightmares about them tonight. The Zaky deserves its own B-Movie.

10. It ensures that your child will always enjoy the scent, warmth, and protection... of the padded walls and sugar free jello in a psychiatric ward.

No good can come of this.

Are you a frazzled parent struggling to properly clean your house? Have your children gotten too comfortable with their pampered existence? Why should they have it so good, anyway? Look at them, sitting there, watching reality television and gobbling down snacks while you ruin your knees vacuuming up crumbs and cat hair.

Why, when you were a kid, you had to walk 10 miles to school - in the snow, uphill both ways, and barefoot. Those ungrateful little bastards should be thankful they even have these microfiber cleaning slippers attached to their fat, privileged little feet. As long as they're walking that well-worn path to the refrigerator, they might as well pick up a few dust bunnies along the way.

Break the cycle. In the end, they'll thank you for all that character they've developed.

What most makes a house a home? Is it sitting around a roaring fireplace with your loved ones, watching the light flicker over their smiling faces? Is it your loyal golden retriever bringing you your slippers as you recline into your easy chair? Is it seeing the glee in your children's eyes as you carve the family turkey at Thanksgiving?

Surely you jest!

Everyone knows homes are officially made with novelty toilet seats. Read on to find our top picks that will give your home that certain je ne sais quoi.

I cannot recommend the Oxford Pocket Proctector highly enough. Before I bought one, I lived in constant fear of my ink pens leaking and the stain soaking through my shirt pocket. Let me tell you, that's no way to live!

Since my friend Eugene clued me into this little invention, things have been quite different. My shirts are impeccable and I have more privacy since Mother's not busting in to do laundry at all hours. I now walk into my Dungeons & Dragons gaming night with my head held high, and all my friends at the Renaissance Faire tell me there is new confidence in my step.

The Oxford Pocket Protector. It's as easy as 3.14159265358979323846264338 3279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825 3421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284811 1745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196...

You know those annoying friends that always have a camera with them and snap away despite your best protests? That's totally me. Thanks to the digital age, my habit has become something of a problem, given that I no longer have to buy film or wait for it to be developed. On my recent 10-day vacation, I took approximately 500 photos, and had I not been limited by battery power, there surely would have been more. You get the picture (har!!!).

Unfortunately, despite my love for photography, I have never had formal training - I dropped the class in high school because the lens on the family camera would basically come off in my hands. Furthermore, these days, it's far too easy to be lazy and let the machine do all the work: there's virtually no need to learn about apertures or F-stops. Even though I have grandiose visions of myself wielding a high-powered model, there is so much to know, and I am intimidated by artistic and financial failures of epic proportions.

My compromise to myself was this little baby above, the Lomography Diana+, a reproduction of the 1960's cult classic. The medium format (120 film) camera is crafted entirely of plastic and was originally considered as a toy, but its dreamy images and unpredictability quickly made it a favorite among art students. Since it has three different aperture settings, variable shutter speeds, and a pinhole option, it seemed an appropriate way to learn a bit more without breaking the bank.

So far, I can say with complete certainty that it's true love. The learning curve is not steep at all: I took one practice roll before leaving for vacation to get accustomed to the manual shutter, and on the very next shoot, I was able to capture the image at left (like what I did there with the egotism bit?). A lot of the images on the film are vignetted, evocative of the silent film era, but the camera is also prone to light leaks, which can either enchant or annoy, depending on your aesthetic (they can be prevented by covering the seams of the camera in black electrical tape). The camera also does tend to advance by itself, so if you don't want double exposures, you'll probably want a protective bag.

The only other difficulty is finding 120 film. In New York City, I have only been able to find it at photographic equipment stores, most of which have limited hours. I either have to plan ahead or order online and wait for delivery. Sadly, I was planning on snapping some photos this past weekend at the stunningly decrepit Coney Island but was not able to get to the shop on time.

In spite of any inconveniences, I think the Diana+ is pretty wonderful. I'm a nostalgist at heart, so loading film and hearing the crank of the manual film advance is just so marvelously novel to me, and the images really do make you feel like you're looking back in time. If you've never used a toy camera and you're curious to learn more about the photographic process, the Diana+ or the Holga 120N are both an excellent place to start.

Some people say I'm like Warren from There's Something About Mary. NO, it's not because I'm mildly retarded. It's because I'm emotionally attached to wearing earphones. I'd say I have them in roughly 8-10 hours a day. Sometimes I wear them when I'm not listening to anything just so I can ignore people. They really help you get away with it without being blatantly rude. It's very like, "Oh, she has her earphones in, no wonder she's not responding." Haha suckas! I commute, work, cook, do dishes, clean, work out, and on occasion, sleep with them in. I currently carry 3 different sets (the extra 2 are crappy emergency sets), and I think I would have a mild panic attack if I had to take the train home without them.

It's so hard to find the right kind of earphone. I used to be all about my Nike Vapor 3-Way Sport Headphones. They were very comfortable, never fell out, and were reasonably priced at about $25-30. Unfortunately, they broke within 60-90 days. I bought 3 different pairs and the same thing broke each time. Eventually the 1/8" stereo connector will get loose and you'll only get sound coming into one ear. It's lame. They're manufactured by Philips and carry no warranty (that I could find).

I feel obligated to mention the earbuds that come with Apple products. They're one of my emergency sets and I have been using the same emergency set for YEARS! They will not break. Philips needs to use those as an example of endurance and longevity. While they will never break, they will fall out all of the time and that's too annoying for me to deal with.

My problems with most earphones are as follows: they're great but have no warranty, they can be SUPER expensive, they fall out of your ears all of the time, they have horrible bass and/or treble response, they don't get loud enough, or they're just plain ugly. Luckily Bang & Olufsen have solved all of my problems. I now firmly believe my quest for the perfect set of 'phones is over! I recently purchased a pair of Bang & Olufsen A8's. They're adjustable in every way possible, sound freakin' GREAT and come with a 3 year warranty! They're also the sexiest pair of earphones I've ever seen. They're not outrageously priced at $160 on B&O's website. Just be on the look out for knock-offs. These babies are like the Gucci of earphones.

Later Addition:
I just wanted to add some ways to identify Bang & Olufsen A8 Knock-offs.
1. The screen covering the earphone should not be see-through. You should not be able to see the little speakers inside.
2. The Bang & Olufsen logo on the earphones should never rub off with a few rough rubbings.
3. The curvature of the piece that goes behind the ear is tough to duplicate so inspect that carefully.