666 Park Avenue

[Deleted]

Seriously. I'm only watching it because everyone else, so far, is pretty cool. I know I've said it already but I really hope Henry and Jane get sucked into the walls.

[biondetta]

I'm enjoying it, but the former obit writer chick sure got a bum deal out of it all. Shouldn't you get at least some enjoyment out of your deal with the devil? She got about five minutes worth! As a former obit writer, I won't share my usual bitching about the reality of being an obit writer.

[Mugsy]

I didn't know obit writing was still a thing. The funeral home or the family just sends the obits to us and we make minor changes for style. We don't look for dead people and then research their lives to write the obits.

[biondetta]

Exactly. Sure, certain big names have special obits written up, but I'm pretty sure, especially with the state newspapers are in now, that there's no one person who does it, and that's handled by the news section. When I did it, the obit writer really was part of the Classifieds office, along with the wedding writer, who also had no creativity. There's the basic free bit -- which had to come from the funeral home -- and then there's the extended paid version, which also had to come from the funeral home. The most creative I got was helping people pick out poems from an existing booklet for In Memoriam pieces.

[Deleted]

I remember when my aunt died, my dad filled out a form with the pertinent information and brought it to the newspaper. I assumed that there was a template they used where someone plugged in the info and that was that. My aunt died in a different state though, so dad couldn't do it through the funeral home. Also it's a small town so it wasn't a big deal to go to the newspaper office.

[batmom]

Oct 22, 2012 15:03:37 GMT -4 Ladybug said:

I really want to get into this show, but the Henry and Jane are two of the stupidest, most gullible people on television.

I know! I mean, you have a little ghost girl warning you away from stuff. That means that you don't go get the suitcase that's mysteriously ringing, bring it into your apartment and try to open it! And when ghost girl shows up again, obviously terrified on the suitcase, you put it in the nearest dumpster, not your closet!

[Ladybug]

And the whole business of Henry, a relatively lowly city attorney, getting wined and dined by a mega-wealthy NYC property developer. Um, do you think he might be doing all this because he genuinely likes you or because HE WANTS SOMETHING FROM YOU?? Oh, and a bunch of his other "associates" end up dead or in financial ruin, but sure, go hit a few off the Chelsea Piers driving range with him. No harm could possibly come from that! *facepalm*

[biondetta]

Oct 23, 2012 11:46:22 GMT -4 @roisin54 said:

I remember when my aunt died, my dad filled out a form with the pertinent information and brought it to the newspaper. I assumed that there was a template they used where someone plugged in the info and that was that. My aunt died in a different state though, so dad couldn't do it through the funeral home. Also it's a small town so it wasn't a big deal to go to the newspaper office.

Smaller newspapers may have different policies, but being in another state doesn't mean the funeral home can't send in the obit. The paper I worked for insisted that all obituary information come from the funeral homes -- even out of state or out of country -- to avoid someone falsely creating an obit for someone who wasn't dead. A family member could bring in the info, but I'd need a funeral home to contact to verify the information.

Topic ... I'm pretty sure that seeing a ghost girl and all the other weird stuff would have me a bit more weirded out and talking to my boyfriend about it all than is actually happening. Pretty sure the ghost-girl convo alone would have had me out of there in a heartbeat!

[Mugsy]

I'll tell you one thing that drives me crazy - with all the weird stuff going on in that place, I sure wouldn't be walking around in that creepy basement by myself, poking around behind cemented-in doors and locked suitcases that ring. Gawd.