Lords of all they survey
We may worry about societal death denial and a consequent tolerance of poor funerals but there’s no denying we’re not, most of us who work in the death zone, much cop at getting society to sit up and take notice of what we think. It’s rare that we come across a serious treatment of death […]
Meet Angeline Gragasin and Caitlin Doughty
I know a number of you drop in around this time (10.30 am) hoping there may be a new post because you need a little light displacement activity. Well, I’ve got you something that’s anything but little and light. Two short films here by Angeline Gragasin starring/narrated by Caitlin Doughty “documenting the life of a […]
On whose authority (2)
Back on 1 Feb 2010 I wrote a post which began: It’s an interesting fact that a funeral director can go to a hospital mortuary and collect a dead person to bring back to their funeral home on the verbal instruction of that dead person’s executor. It attracted a lively discussion. You can read it all […]
News blossom
Here’s a wee roundup of the week’s stories in tweets. All good stuff. Hannah Rumble and Douglas Davies on burial rites and natural burial. Podcasts – http://bit.ly/e6Lflt Funeral Party (it’s a noisy band – not my thing, maybe your thing) –http://nyp.st/fl1D1z The utter ignorance of funeral consumers almost matched here by a very […]
Review: Your Digital Afterlife
You wait and wait for a great book to come along. Unlike buses, great books don’t come along four at once. They are as single as they are singular. Today’s great book is Your Digital Afterlife. There have been sporadic lightweight journalistic treatments of the growing importance of making provision for our virtual assets. I […]
Bonus culture
If you are out celebrating this weekend, spare a toast to the lucky managers of Co-operative Funeralcare, who have just banked their annual bonuses. For those in Bands 3 and 4, that’s £2,500 — £5,000. For those in Bands 1 and 2, who are on a long-term incentive plan, that’s serious moolah. The Good Funeral […]
Your Digital Afterlife
I bought a copy of Your Digital Afterlife as soon as it came out, some weeks ago. Since then, it has been sitting on the bookshelf reproachful and unread — the next worst thing to a stack of ironing. I’ve just made a start. It’s blinking BRILLIANT. It’s an important area this. Where we once […]
Nice guys finish first
Celebrants gain all the important insights into funeral directors which are denied to clients. We get to find out what they’re really like, why they do it and whether they really care. So here’s a tip for all funeral consumers. When your celebrant has been to see you, and you’ve had that nice long chat […]
Well, it’s been a quiet week…
It really has been a very quiet week in Funeralworld. Here are the choice cuts. Peter the Wild Boy, never tamed, buried at Northchurch, Herts –http://bit.ly/gqRr3k Green Burial Council code of standards. This is brand new, yes?http://bit.ly/geljsE That eminently postponable problem: what to do with the ashes? Lovely piece here – http://bit.ly/dHYAyD […]
Post-tsunami funerals, Japan
Here’s a fascinating tsunami-aftermath story in the Los Angeles Times. It examines this predicament: how do you mark a death in tradition-bound Japan with no body to cremate? One survivor, Shoichi Nakamura, has lost her brother. The lack of a body makes it difficult to have a proper osoushiki, or funeral ceremony, Nakamura said. Instead of […]
