Morbid Monday 2: Getting Gorey

Rather than discuss death by Jell-o (which might be my topic for next Monday). Let's talk about some truly morbid fun...

Which means we have to talk, just for a moment, about Siobhan Magnus. (Don't worry, this is not a post about American Idol). I enjoyed her rendition of "Paint It Black", but none of her other performances ever really worked for me. What I do find interesting is her style, her presence, but most of all... the tattoo on her upper arm. I thought it was a Mary Poppins tattoo.

It's not.

Vote The Worst has a great image of the tattoo next to the artwork upon which it is based.

That's the cover to Edward Gorey's abecedarian work The Gashleycrumb Tinies. Yes, he's the "Gorey" from the title of this blog post. If I get nothing out of American Idol this year other than the an introduction to this man's absurd yet morbid literary works and art, it will have been well worth the time spent. How can you not love a book which includes lines like:

"A is for Amy who fell down the stairs.

B is for Basil assaulted by bears.

C is for Clara who wasted away.

D is for Desmond thrown out of a sleigh..."

I haven't read much of Gorey's work yet, but I'm going to be looking into it. And I can't help but think of Greta holding a copy of The Gashleycrumb Tinies alongside her copy of Neil Gaiman's The Dangerous Alphabet, and of course, AlphaOops: H is for Halloween by Alethea Kontis. I picture her curled up in Fang's trunk with all three volumes (physical copies, though I suppose she could have them on a iPad) cuddling her favorite pet skull (more on that when CROSSED comes out in 2011) and reading the books aloud to it while showing Telly (that's the skull) all the pictures. What fun!

:)