With all the online shopping I do for Mighty Goods, I’ve often thought about putting together a site with some of the “what were they thinking” products I come across.
The latest? LifeGems:
“The LifeGem is a certified, high-quality diamond created from the carbon of your loved one as a memorial to their unique life.”
Oh, dear.
I recognize that this might be comforting for some people, and it may not ultimately be more creepy than carrying someone’s hair around in a locket. Still, my immediate reaction is to do the heeby-jeeby dance. Glah. Glaaaaaah.
Mighty Girl 
Ah, yes, we had a good chuckle over LiveGems after our mother passed on and we wondered what to do with our ashes.
“Oh, what a lovely gemstone in that necklace!”
“Thank, you, it was my mother.”
“You mean, your mother’s…?”
“Nope.”
My mom would have gotten a kick out of that.
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Ooooh. . . I know the guy who used to do PR for that creepilicious product. They launched it on the Today show, you know. . . ick.
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You guys are approaching this all wrong. A Lifegem would make an excellent trophy of a defeated enemy.
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I’ve stumbled across that site before and totally got the heebie-jeebies. It’s totally creepy. (When I first typed creepy it came out creamy and that’s even worse – eek!)
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The tag line could be, “We wear dead people”.
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I actually totally wanted to do that last year when my mother passed away. She would have loved it.
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My mom has already signed up. I keep encouraging her to eat more. I’d like to get her up to at least a carat.
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I told my husband that if for some reason I died before him, he ad to make a diamond out of my ashes and use it in an engagment ring if he ever remarried.
I’m weird.
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The thing that strikes me about that is it’s basically admitting that they can make diamonds.
So WHY THE HELL can Debeers still charge so much for diamonds?
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Because, apparently people must DIE in order to make them!
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Um. Might I suggest this little number?
http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8LD0V300.html
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please do! you could call it “mighty mistakes”. it’d be great!
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Becky – you made me laugh so much, I couldn’t remember what I’d wanted to say:D
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I’ve been neglecting my daily comment contribution to NaBoPoMo. Thank you for posting daily.
And thanks for not creating a “what were they thinking” site. Glaaah! Indeed.
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I’m so caught up in thinking it’s cool that they can make diamonds that I can’t work up any reaction at all to the fact that they’re making them out of bodies. It’s such a recent development that I can remember being in middle school and learning in science class that we didn’t have the technology for it. I love looking at the before/after developments that have happened in my lifetime.
Either that, or I love learning that my science teachers were wrong. I’m not picky.
Also, the thing about using them as trophies of your enemies? Coolest thing I have read all day. Thanks.
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hey Jonathan, you should read this wired article on diamonds (if memory serves they also discuss lifegem) http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/diamond.html
And Cat you said it best, Lifegem would make a excellent trophy of a defeated enemy. It’s a mash-up of diamonds being your best friend and keeping your friends close and your enemies closer…
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When my finace and I went in to buy my engagement ring, the sales lady ended up telling us a story about another customer who wore each of her previous four husbands on her fingers. Literally.
I can only imagine the awesome conversations that could lead to: “Hey, looker – ain’t you handsome. I got a space for you right here on my thumb… awwww right. Giggity giggity.”
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Oh that’s creepy.
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If the sharp edges of a diamond aren’t your style, you can always go for the “Huggable Urn” option …
http://www.huggableurns.com/
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No. No. No. Huggable Urns. No.
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You can save 20% by preordering. Shudder.
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how wonderfully creepy…
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Oh man…those Huggable Urns definitely take the cake. My dog already goes after the stuffed animals, so I can only assume that I’d eventually have to deal with cleaning Mom up off the floor, while keeping the dog from eating her off the carpet. Gross.
As for the diamond? My mom has secretly been getting estimates on how many carats dad would be. Her only concern is that he’ll have too many flaws. Ba-dun-ching!
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“Bleh, creepy!” was my immediate thought, but my grandma might actually have been into this. She was all about the jewelry, so the thought of being a huge eff-off rock on someone’s finger might work.
Ew, now I just feel dirty.
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I was hospitalized for surgery around the time that product came out. My boyfriend at the time was sitting with me, watching a morning show in my hospital room. When a short clip about the product came on, he turned to me and said, “you know that diamond ring you’ve been hounding me for? Well, now you know where you can get it. Off of my dead body!” Sweet guy. After we broke up I briefly considered cashing in that promise.
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I first heard about these when the father of a friend died – her mother was thinking about getting one. We discussed the creepiness of wearing a loved one and hoped her mother would reconsider.
She did.
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When one of my family members die, we simply call the taxidermist. Nothing provides a loving, lasting memory like a stuffed parent.
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Life Gems are ewwy.
I watched a news report months back on a woman who makes “memorial paintings” by mixing the ashes of the dead loved one into the acrylic paint. It didn’t help things that she couldn’t paint very well. The scary thing is, I wonder if I would buy one of these things if I was distraught enough?
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Strangely, I think getting a diamond out of someone is cool. On the other hand, those huggable urns give me the creeps.
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Huggable Urns-are they washable?
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Or just pretend your loved one/pet never died:
http://www.petpreservations.com/index.html
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