|
GotchaBox Gifts Keep Christmas in Perspective
Finding the right gift for certain people is always a trial this time of year. It isn't that they are difficult to please so much as what would please them isn't very full of Yuletide cheer. There is a certain satire or cynicism in their “Happy Holidays” greeting. The good people at The Onion, the world's best fake news source after Fox, have launched GotchaBox.com that has all kinds of goodies for these not-quite-Grinches.
For just $7.99, one can acquire a “USB Toaster.” The copy on the website says it best.
Don’t be tethered to the kitchen. Take your toast…to go! Now you can take a toaster everywhere you take your laptop. Insert a slice of any bread—white, wheat, even rye—and in 7-9 minutes, you have the kind of perfect toast you could only get from a computer. Winner of the 2006 Gold Floppy Disc Award for Best Cooking Peripheral. No. It's not real. But the box is.
Arik Nordby, a graphic designer from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, was at a kid's birthday party in 2004. The child became visibly upset when he opened up a present to find a toy had been placed inside a coffeepot box. He says the idea for GotchaBox came a few days later. "I love doing Photoshop. I love doing package design. I love to play jokes on people. Why not play around with it?"
Other non-real gifts include:
- The Visor-ganizer, a storage pouch that "holds up to 7 lbs." and attaches to the brim of a hat. The box reads, "Finally, an alternative to the embarrassing Fanny Pack!"
- iFeast, a combined pet-feeding and iPod-docking station. "Produces earsplitting beep when the water dish is empty!"
- The Kleen-Stride personal debris removal system -- small push brooms that attach to the front of the wearer's shoes, and
- The Peaceful Progression Smoke Alarm, featuring sounds of the rain forest. "Awake to your next fire calm and refreshed!"
The site also offers Christmas cards, which are quite real. They include one with Santa holding a shotgun to a sleeping child's head and the greeting inside says “Don't Forget the Fucking Cookies.” Another shows Santa's workshop on a melting ice cap, and the greeting says, “Merry Second-to-Last Christmas.” However, the best of all has a peaceful front showing a star over some Middle Eastern buildings that reads, “Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem.” The inside reads, “Please don't get destroyed by Israeli tanks this year,” and the barrel of a tank pointed at the reader.
And to all a good night.
© Copyright 2008 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.
Kensington Review Home
|
|
|