Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy has long been one of my favorite works of literature, although it’s always been mildly embarrassing to admit that fact–since people who haven’t read the books tend to roll their eyes and lump you in with the sorts of folks who dress up as hobbits for Dungeons and Dragons tournaments when you do. So it was kind of nice when one of the members of Can (yet another personal favorite) crafted an avant garde opera from the first two books of the trilogy, offering some mild modicum of popular artistic respectability. And now, holy krow, even better: the BBC has created a new television version of Gormenghast. The still clips look magnificent . . . I just hope I can stand the wait before it finally airs in America.