'Take my corpse... please!'
Posted on 01/11/2005 12:11:29 PM PST by Willie Green
When Mark Hofer realized a year ago he was going to die, he told one of his best friends to start making phone calls.
"I want a party," the 46-year-old public relations specialist -- known for his vast collection of 1950s memorabilia and his sense of humor -- told Sally Cimini. "I want everyone to toast my memories."
So, after her friend's death from prostate cancer in May, Cimini, a Downtown lawyer, did what many baby boomers -- and their parents -- are opting to do as they confront their mortality: She eschewed the traditional funeral in favor of a memorial tribute at the Rivers Club for 50 people, complete with food, drink, Patsy Cline songs and the showing of a video commemorating Hofer's life, "Coffee, cigarettes and memories."
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
I still want to be compressed into a diamond.
I want Peter Jackson to edit me into the closing scenes of "Return of the King," where I'll be seen boarding with Gandalf, Galadrial, Frodo and Bilbo, the final ship to depart Middle Earth.
Will tombstones like these soon contain video screens? A US inventor has come up with a hi-tech way of allowing the deceased to talk from beyond the grave - by fixing video screens to their tombstones.
Robert Barrows says people could leave video messages before they died, to be played to friends, loved ones or the just plain curious from the grave side.
He told the BBC that messages could include telling life stories or having the final say on a disagreement.
It could also be a money-making enterprise for cemeteries, he added.
Mr Barrows, of Burlingame, California, has filed a patent application for his design of a tombstone that can accommodate video equipment operated by a remote control.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Don't dig me up in fifty years time just because you need the extra space!
Brian Smith, Caceres, Spain
"You can go from grave to grave and click on anything that person wanted to say before they died," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Messages could include telling your side of the story, making amends or saying "sweet things to loved ones", he added.
'Showbusiness'
Mr Barrows said it would be a far more "dramatic" way of communicating from beyond the grave, than leaving a videotaped message to be played at home.
"There's no business like showbusiness," he told Today. "Imagine how interesting it would to go to tombstones where you didn't know the person, or historical tombstones to find out what someone had to say..."
He said computer equipment could also be installed in the tombstone that connected up to the internet, enabling people to programme their messages to be delivered long after they have died.
The tombstone could be coin-operated or swiped with a credit card. "Cemeteries could basically one day charge fees to rent the headsets you need to listen to [the messages]," he added.
"NOW do you believe I'm sick??"
-I want Peter Jackson to edit me into the closing scenes of "Return of the King,"-
Dang it, that's MY idea!
I want a laser lightshow with music by Tangerine Dream...
The last several funerals I have attended have been either video events or stand up comedian contests. They make me a little nervous because how am I or my family going to compete when the time comes for us? I guess we will hire a producer. (sarcasm)
Cool.
Maybe I can replace Ned in "Unforgiven".
Will there be eats? When you say "don't make a big fuss" you're not talking about leaving out the catering, are you? People who don't arrange for a nice catered affair end up in the hot place.
My advice is not to die until the script is finalized.
Good plan. ;9)
If I die soon, I would like to be buried with the Clintons, B. Boxer, and all members of the ACLU.
'Take my corpse... please!'
Also, consider budgeting for special effects. Many funerals could be livened up with a generous helping of special effects.
Oh!......
You mean Las Vegas?
It took him how long to figure this out? Most of us knew it at around 10.
Ditter wrote: "I guess we will hire a producer. (sarcasm)"
Or not sarcasm. I foresee a new profession being born--the funereal equivalent of the wedding planner.
It's kinda like Vegas, only decorated in better taste.
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