Short Video - The Embalming Room

    This is an interesting video showing and explaining the inside of a mortuary.  She goes through most of the tools and various techniques of the trade.  There's no actual procedures or bodies shown, just the tools and some parts of the room.  It's an interesting little video which should help educate those who have never been into a mortuary.

The Embalming Room - Women in the Funeral Industry (Funeral Divas)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1_WGL8ffU

An~~

The Naked Dead: How we engage with the dead through their nakedness

    I have written a short essay on how we engage and entangle with the world around us.  Specifically I look at nakedness and the dead body.  Through this I explore the idea that we connect with the dead body before us and bring it into our being.  We feel its nakedness and exposure, so we cover it up.


    This is the first 'formal' essay I have written on the funeral industry and for this blog.  It was rather interesting and fun to write, so I hope it's fun to read.  The essay itself is not too long but I have provided a short summary anyway.  

Slow Rise of Obesity - Part two: the preparation

  It is no debate, we are getting larger and fatter.  Yet what does this actually mean?  As in how are our attitudes and views changing and how is it affecting our lives?  To answer this I look to funeral and the funeral industry.  The funeral industry is a wonderful way to look at society.  To look at us, our attitudes, beliefs, how we go about our daily lives and so on.  This is because quite simply the way we live is the way we die, the two are directly connected.

This is why I decided to do a few detailed posts on obesity in the funeral industry as I experienced it and understand it.  Through looking at how obesity affects the funeral industry we can understand how it affects our lives.  My first post was on the transfer of obese bodies.  This post is on how we deal with and process the obese body.  What happens in the mortuary to the body and the coffin of obese bodies.

The Facts of Death Documentary

    This is a rather good documentary on what happens after death.  It looks at many aspects of the funeral industry and what happens after death.  The most interesting part for me was the way the industry has changed in such recent years.

The Facts of Death - Part 1 of 6

    The promotion of the companies at the start was also interesting.  It really sums up the way things work, that this documentary was funded by these companies thus it needs to advertise them.  So I wonder how bias it could be, does the documentary skip things that would make the companies look bad?  Does it emphasise things that make the companies look good?  I doubt it, from what I saw it was relatively unbiased and just looked at the funeral system rather than companies.  Yet because of the ads at the start I am left wondering how directed this documentary was by the companies.

    Either way, a rare and insightful look into funeral and the funeral system!

An~~

Obituaries: The funeral industry sports pages

    Obituaries are something most overlook.  Many avoid them or never think of them until the death of someone they know.  However this is not the case for those in the funeral industry.  To them the obituaries are like the gossip page or the sports page.  It is a good example on how simply looking at something differently can completely change the meaning and use.

Don't Drop the Coffin Documentary

    Last night someone sent me a rather nice little documentary.  It's follows the funeral home 'FA Albin and Sons' who have been operating for over 200 years.  This is actually a fairly interesting little TV show that I would recommend.  Unfortunately I cannot embed the video here, but you can follow my youtube link!

    Click here for Don't Drop the Coffin: Series 01 Episode 01 or copy and pase the URL below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYzDNgH5yd0&feature=related

AH~~

Funeral Graffiti

    I was looking through old pictures and found this one interesting one.  Then I realised how it had been a while since I posted any pictures and thought it was a perfect time for this!

    It's a piece of rather amusing graffiti I found on my way into a hospital morgue once upon a time.

Funeral Fun - A close call

    Working in the funeral industry is often rather amusing.  Yet it can also be a bit dangerous.  I remember one occasion where it was a combination of 'funny' and 'danger'.  The time someone nearly pulled another undertaker into a grave.

Slow Rise of Obesity - Part one: The transfer

    The funeral industry is a great indicator of society and our daily lives.  Through looking at funerals and death we can examine how we live, how we think, our beliefs, attitudes and more.  Our death and funerals do not simply reflect our lives or society.  Instead the we die is entangled with how we live; how we die is inseparable from how we live just as how we live is inseparable from how we die.

    I intend to explore this idea through first examining obesity in the funeral industry.  By doing this I intend to illustrate how we can look at things like obesity and funerals to look at changes in society and our lifestyles.

    Yet to truly understand this one must understand obesity and funerals.  How an obese body is different from a non-obese body and how an 'obese funeral' is done.  Thus I thought I would write three posts exploring obesity in the funeral industry.  Starting with the transfer, then handling of the body in the mortuary and finishing with the cremation and burial of an obese body.  So here is the first part, the transfer of an obese body.

The InvoCare Share - how much of the industry does InvoCare really own?

    A few days ago I was at a small gathering of leuters.  When talking to one lecturer about InvoCare and how they had a strong hold on the funeral industry she asked me about numbers.  About proof.  Of which I have little to none.  It was here that I realised all the numbers I have are based solely on what others think and believe, not on actual research or facts.  Thus I did some research into how much InvoCare actually owns.  What i found was rather surprising.