Cemeteries

In this newest of DirectTV’s ads utilizing footage from classic films, Craig T. Nelson reprises his role from “Poltergeist” telling the audience, “Forgetting to switch to DirectTV? Yeah, that’s gonna haunt me,” as Heather O’Rourke stands at the foot of his bed. O’Rourke died at the age of 12 a few months after wrapping work on “Poltergeist 3.”

On a related note of trivia, did you know that both O’Rourke and Dominique Dunne, who played her older sister in “Poltergeist,” are both interred at Pierce Brothers Westwood Memorial Park?

[h/t Hunter Stephenson at Slashfilm]

...photo by 7D7 Studio (Omar) used under Creative Commons...

If you ever wanted to be in close proximity to your favorite celebrities, all you need to do is visit Hollywood Forever Cemetery. On the downside, the celebrities will likely be dead, and in most cases they’ll be no closer than 6 feet, so don’t expect photographs or an autograph.

But if you’re interested in an intimate tour of the cemetery grounds, almost every Saturday film historian Karie Bible will take a small group around to it’s more infamous plots, sharing tales of the Hollywood legends lives and deaths along the way.

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I don’t know about you, but I can’t take it anymore, so the McCain and Obama masks get a visceral reaction from me. Yes, of course, I’m supporting Obama. But isn’t it a tad curious that race has been drained from the election if you go by these masks? They’re (almost) the same hue!

I’ll quell my usual tendency toward Rovian conspiracy theories and try to believe that, at last, America is, in some weird, rubbery way, color-blind.

Masks spotted at Universal Citywalk Cinema Secrets. Photo: ICFNY

As summer draws to a close, if not weatherwise at least as far as putting away the white trousers and shoes is concerned, what better way to celebrate than taking in a movie at a cemetery about creepy extraterrestrials that will never allow you to look at a plate of mash potatoes the same way again? Bad carbs! BAD!!

Hollywood Forever, Los Angeles’ friendly neighborhood graveyard, and Cinespia are screening Close Encouters of the Third Kind this Saturday evening, August 30th. And Sunday night it gets even scarier after the jump… [click to continue...]

Is it a good or bad sign for the economy when people begin selling off prepurchased cemetery plots on CraigsList?

At least 24 plots from around the Los Angeles area are available as of this posting, ranging from $600 to $10,000. (The $600 plot is described as less than regular size, “for child or cremated.”)

David Goldstein at KCAL9 interviews some of L.A.’s living of what appears to be a growing trend, and offers some tips for potential buyers.

Cemetery sex makes more sense around Halloween only because it’s another way to celebrate, not that we’re saying we think you should confine it to just this time of year.

But as this story from Manchester Online makes clear, be careful:

In the early hours of Sunday morning a couple were… taking advantage of the peace and seclusion of South Manchester’s Southern Cemetery when in the middle of their “courting” session, a tombstone fell on them. She managed to struggle free, but he remained trapped under the tombstone. Firefighters from Moss Side fire station came and five of them lifted the stone free. The man was taken to Withington Hospital, where he was treated for head injuries.

And there are other risks too. Good luck tonight at the screening of The Shining at Hollywood Forever.

What started out as a richly varied display of altars at Hollywood Forever’s gargantuan Dia de los Muertos event last night gradually morphed into a dress rehearsal for Halloween. As 11:00 PM approached, about two thirds of the crowd was fully decked out in costume.

Much more after the jump. [click to continue...]