The Final Curtain

From The Final Curtain

Death faces all of us. But there's a lack of imagination which accompanies our passage. Until now, the handling of death has been regimented and boring; limited by those who control it, whether the State, church, morticians, or our survivors. At The Final Curtain, we are throwing away all the rules.

The Final Curtain is a series of memorial parks dedicated to creative souls. Those who are laid to rest here are memorialized by their own creations, which serve as both tomb and eternal exhibit of their most personally meaningful work.

At the Final Curtain, clients are encouraged to develop site-specific works of passage -- their own tombstones, mausoleums, caskets, or urns -- as homage to their lives and their spirit.

Or, if they prefer to become a perpetually kinetic testament of life as they knew it, they may join our time share program through which we transport their remains to several of our parks on a rotational basis.

The Final Curtain provides a unique bridge between the living and the dead. The jewel-like physical setting of our memorial parks encourages joyful contemplation of the triumph of the creative spirit.

Visitors are encouraged to enjoy and interact with the artists' own celebrations of their lives in a place where life can be immortalized with irreverence and humor rather than by the morbid display of funereal pomp.

Whether you plan to visit our beautifully landscaped grounds to enjoy the outpouring of creativity by artists contemplating the final and most enduring of life's mysteries, or to design for yourself a final repose in this vibrant haven,

Welcome to The Final Curtain.

Plan Your Own Funeral

From TechCrunch, October 15, 2008:

Have It Your Way: MyWonderfulLife Helps You Plan Your Own Funeral

by Jason Kincaid

Death is an unfortunate consequence of life, at least until science can prove otherwise. And while most of us would rather just avoid the subject entirely, the thought of having a sappy, cheesy funeral weighs heavy on some people. MyWonderfulLife, a Minnesota-based startup that launched earlier this month, is going to help you make sure that doesn’t happen.

You’re first asked to create profile detailing many of your last wishes, including the type of burial you’d like, who’d you’d like to have as speakers, and any music you’d like to have played. You can also upload a photoalbum that you’d like to have projected during the ceremony. If you’d like to get a bit more creative, the site features a listing of some of the more unique ceremonies users have submitted to give you some ideas.

There are also options for detailing instructions that should be carried like outside of the funeral (such as where to find the will, or what you’d like your headstone to look like). You can write letters to loved ones to be distributed after your death. And if you really want to write your own obituary, you can do that too.

After creating a profile you select up to six ‘Angels’, who are sent an Email with a link they’re told to click on upon your death (the Email is resent every 6 months so that they don’t lose it). Clicking this link takes the Angels to your MyWonderfulLife page, where they’re given the appropriate instructions. While many of the details listed are probably covered in your will, the site says that wills usually aren’t read until after the funeral, so some of your requests might not be honored unless you have another source of instructions.

As with all other “online will” sites, there’s a possibility that MyWonderfulLife will kick the bucket before you do, making this all a moot point. I wouldn’t trust any vital information to the site quite yet, but if you just want to leave your favorite playlist, it’s worth the five minutes it takes to fill out a profile.

VICE: The Death Issue

From Vice, March 2009: http://www.viceland.com/int/v9n8/htdocs/

Resomation

From The New York Times Magazine, 12/13/2009:

"Resomation

The cremation rate has been on a brisk rise in the United States, in part because cremation is cheaper than burial and saves land. But powering a crematorium requires an enormous amount of gas and also sends carbon dioxide and other pollutants skyward. Enter resomation, an alternative to cremation for the eco-conscious cadaver.

Resomation is a process that liquefies rather than burns body tissues. It uses about a sixth of the energy of cremation and has a much smaller carbon footprint, according to Sandy Sullivan, the managing director of Resomation, a company in Scotland that has designed a resomation machine. The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota has been using a similar system since 2006 to dispose of donated bodies, but this year the first commercial Resomator is being installed at a funeral home in Florida, one of three states where the process is legal.

Resomation (a neologism meant to suggest rebirth) was first proposed for use in Europe as a method of disposing of cows infected by bovine spongiform encephalopathy. The corpse is placed in a pressurized chamber. The vessel is then filled with water and potassium hydroxide, creating a highly alkaline solution, and heated to 330 degrees. After about three hours, all that's left are a soft, white calcium phosphate from bone and teeth and a light brown primordial soup of amino acids and peptides. Bodies buried underground decompose in the same way, albeit over many years and aided by microorganisms.

Unlike cremation, resomation doesn't vaporize the toxic mercury of dental fillings and doesn't char joint implants, leaving them clean, shiny and potentially recyclable. The bone and tooth material can be ground into a fine ash, as with traditional cremains. The brown liquid, because it's sterile, can go down the drain. "There's no genetic material in it at all; it's just basic organic materials," Sullivan assures. "You might get some people who say they want the fluid as well, but at the end of the day, it's best to send it to the water treatment plant so it ends up back on the land, as nature intended it to." RUTH DAVIS KONIGSBERG"

Afterlife Telegrams

from Inc. Magazine, April 2009:

"Afterlife Telegrams New Athens, Illinois Service for contacting the dead. Terminally ill patients memorize messages and deliver them when opportunity permits."