Dead Body Disposal - Tips for Writers

Jeanne Adams

"Don't take life too seriously; you'll never get out of it alive." Elbert Hubbard

Not long ago, I had the amazing opportunity to attend a "lively" and enthusiastic program called Drowned Dames, Mauled Men, and Crispy Critters: A Body Disposal Primer for Writers presented by Jeanne Adams. Ms. Adams became a writer after working in the funeral business for several years. Now she's the author of thrilling suspense and magical romance.

I learned quite a few things that I'll be applying to my writing. One of my books involves a shooting, a coroner, a mortuary and a funeral. So this workshop was rather timely for me, and Ms. Adams was eager to answer any and all questions!

Here are a few tidbits of interest I learned:

• Coffin vs. Casket -- There is a difference! A coffin is an eight sided "Dracula Box." Caskets came into vogue around the 1930's. That's when the coffin evolved into a furniture grade item (case--casket).
• Best ways of natural body disposal include sharks, alligators and crocodiles.
• Donating your body to a Research Facility -- This is harder than you think! The facility has to want your body. If you're about 97, chances are you're not wanted. A thirty year old has a better chance.
• Full postmortem vs. limited autopsy -- Full postmortem involves the removal of the brain and all internal organs. Limited autopsy only involves the removal of one organ.
• Embalming -- Head has to be elevated (to rest on pillow later in casket) arms have to be elevated into position (such as crossed on chest). Once the embalming fluid is in, the corpse won't move.
• Open Casket vs. Closed-- Some families do want an open casket, even when the deceased has been disfigured (i.e. gunshot wound), and the reconstruction doesn't look that great. If the funeral home deems the appearance too inappropriate, they won't allow it, but will instead refer the family to a different funeral home.
• Cremated Remains -- In the "biz" known as "cremains."
• Scattering of Ashes -- Illegal at sea.

Hope you've found these little bits of body disposal trivia informative. What I've shared barely scratches the surface of Ms. Adams presentation. So if you ever have the chance to go, don't miss out!

Any thoughts of your own on body disposal? Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

Reposted from 7/12/10.

Mission Impossible

Peter Graves as Jim Phelps

So, I'm on a role! I had to feature Mission Impossible this week. I loved this show as a kid! Not long after I got married, there was a Mission Impossible marathon on one of the cable stations. I believe this was around 1996. I couldn't wait to camp out and watch it. My husband, however, admitted that he'd never seen the show. Since we're in the same age group, that led me to believe he'd grown up under a rock! Needless to say, after the first episode, he was hooked and enjoyed all the shows as much as I did.

If you are of a younger generation and only familiar with the Mission Impossible movies starring Tom Cruise, here's some information about the original television series from Wikipedia:

[The series] chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force (IMF). In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill... Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin. [Click here to hear it!] Mission Impossible aired on the CBS network from 1966 to 1973. The series was reprised in 1988 for two seasons on ABC, retaining only Graves in the cast.

The series follows the exploits of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF), a small team of secret agents used for covert missions against dictators, evil organizations and (primarily in later episodes) crime lords. On occasion, the IMF also mounts unsanctioned, private missions on behalf of its members. The identities of the organization that oversees the IMF and the government it works for are never revealed. Only rare cryptic bits of information are ever provided during the life of the series. 

The leader of the IMF is initially Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill... Hill was replaced without explanation to the audience after the first season by Peter Graves playing the role of Jim Phelps, who remained the leader for the remainder of the original series and in the 1988–1990 revival.In theory, Briggs and Phelps are the only full-time members of the IMF.

As the series was originally conceived, they would form teams made up of part-time agents who came from a variety of professions, choosing their operatives based on the particular skills necessary for the mission. In practice, however (especially after the first season), Briggs and especially Phelps would choose the same core group of three or four agents for every single mission, leading these regulars to be considered de facto full-time IMF agents. Still, many episodes also feature guest stars playing one-time additional agents who have special skills.

Although the Tom Cruise movies are fun and action packed, I still prefer the TV series! What about you?

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

Hawaii Five-O

Thought I'd travel back in time today and feature another one of my favorite cop shows from yesteryear. Hawaii Five-O was a fun show, although I don't remember enjoying it quite as much as Mannix or The Man From Uncle. However, it was truly a show with staying power! I didn't realize how long it aired until I looked it up to prepare this post. Hawaii Five-O aired from 1968 to 1980, twelve years!

A new version of the show aired in 2010 and ran for three seasons. I watched one episode for about five minutes. To me, the new version just couldn't compare with the original.

If you're not old enough to remember Hawaii Five-O, here's the lowdown from Wikipedia:

Jack Lord portrayed Detective Lieutenant Steve McGarrett, the head of a special state police task force which was based on an actual unit that existed under martial law in the 1940s.

Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett

For 12 seasons, McGarrett and his team hounded international secret agents, criminals, and organized crime syndicates plaguing the Hawaiian Islands. With the aid of District Attorney and later Hawaii's Attorney General John Manicote, McGarrett was successful in sending most of his enemies to prison... Most episodes of Hawaii Five-O ended with the arrest of criminals and McGarrett snapping, "Book 'em."... In many episodes, this was directed to

Danny Williams and became McGarrett's catchphrase, "Book 'em, Danno." 
The Five-O team consisted of three to five members...and was portrayed as occupying a suite of offices in the Iolani Palace... Five-O lacked its own radio network, necessitating frequent requests by McGarrett to the Honolulu Police Department dispatchers, "Patch me through to Danno." McGarrett's tousled yet immaculate hairstyle, as well as his proclivity for wearing a dark suit and tie on all possible occasions...rapidly entered popular culture. While the other members of Five-O also "dressed mainland" much of the time, they also often wore local styles, such as the ubiquitous "Aloha shirt."

In many episodes...McGarrett was drawn into the world of international espionage and national intelligence. McGarrett's nemesis was a rogue intelligence officer of the People's Republic of China named Wo Fat. The Communist rogue agent was played by veteran actor Khigh Dheigh. The show's final episode in 1980 was titled "Woe to Wo Fat," in which McGarrett finally saw his foe Wo go to jail.

This television show's action and straightforward story-telling left little time for personal stories involving wives or girlfriends... Occasionally, a show would flash back to McGarrett's younger years or to a romantic figure. The viewer was left with the impression that McGarrett, at that point in his life...was wedded to the police force and to crime-fighting. 

Do you remember the original Hawaii Five-O? Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

Oven Baked BBQ Ribs

This is one of my favorite meals and a hit with the entire family, including my picky kids! 

Oven Baked Ribs

Ingredients:

2 racks of baby back ribs or St. Louis Style ribs

1 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce (I use Montgomery Inn)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 225.

Season ribs with your favorite rib rub (I use this fantastic Kansas City Rub), grill seasoning, or just salt and pepper.

Place ribs meat side down in baking dish (I buy a huge aluminum pans for this).

Cover dish with aluminum foil and place in oven.

If using small baby back ribs, take out of oven after 3.5 hours.  If using regular baby back or St. Louis style, take out after 4.

Drain off drippings. Flip meat over using two spatulas so the meat side is up. Put a layer of BBQ sauce on ribs, and return to oven for 20-30 minutes.

Great with baked beans and slaw!

Do you have a favorite rib recipe?

Mannix

I guess I can't help being nostalgic these days. Last week I featured The Man From Uncle, and this week, Mannix! I loved this P.I. series that starred Mike Conners as private investigator Joe Mannix, and Gail Fisher, who played his trusty secretary Peggy Fair. 

Gail Fisher was one of the first black women to have a substantive part in an American TV series, and for her role in Mannix, she won two Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award. Mannix aired from 1967-1975, and perhaps one of the reasons I enjoyed watching it was because of Gail Fisher. I was just a kid back then, and there weren't too many women who looked like me on television.

If you're not familiar with the series, here's some information from Wikipedia:

Mannix worked on his own with the assistance of his loyal secretary Peggy Fair, a police officer's widow played by Gail Fisher. He also has assistance from the L.A. police department, the two most prominent officers being Lieutenant Art Malcolm (portrayed by Ward Wood) and Lieutenant Adam Tobias (portrayed by Robert Reed). Other police contacts were Lieutenant George Kramer (Larry Linville), who had been the partner of Peggy's late husband, and Lieutenant Dan Ives (Jack Ging).

While Mannix was not generally known as a show that explored socially relevant topics, several episodes had topical themes, starting in Season Two. In Season Two alone, there were episodes featuring compulsive gambling, deaf and blind characters that were instrumental in solving cases in spite of their physical limitations, and episodes that focused on racism against blacks and Hispanics. Season Six had an episode focusing on the effects the Vietnam War had on returning veterans, including the effects of PTSD.

Joseph R. "Joe" Mannix is a regular guy, without pretense, who has a store of proverbs to rely upon in conversation. What demons he has mostly come from having fought in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, where he was initially listed as MIA while he was a prisoner of war in a brutal POW camp until he escaped. Unfortunately, over the length of the series, a sizable percentage of his old Army comrades turn out to have homicidal impulses against him, as did his fellow running back from his college football days. 

During the series, it is also revealed that Mannix worked as a mercenary in Latin America. Like the actor who plays him, Mannix is of Armenian descent. Mannix was shown to speak fluent Armenian during the series, as well as conversational Spanish. Mannix is notable for taking a lot of physical punishment. During the course of the series he is shot and wounded over a dozen separate times, or is knocked unconscious around 55 times. 

Mannix frequently took brutal beatings to the abdomen; some of these went on quite a long time, particularly by the television standards of the era. Whenever Mannix gets into one of his convertibles he can expect to be shot at from another car, run off the road by another car, or find his vehicle sabotaged. Nevertheless he keeps his cool and perseveres until his antagonists are brought down. 

The excitement was non-stop! Did you watch Mannix and enjoy it as much as I did?

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!