(Very) Early 2008

So. Yes. Well. OK. With holiday rehab served and “exhaustion” surmounted, Biblioklept is now back in production for the ’08. A few things:

2008, you might’ve heard, is an election year. Biblioklept’s official position is that all career politicians are scoundrels in the pocket of corporations. But. We do love Ralph Nader, and he’s come out in support of South Carolina pretty boy John Edwards. So maybe there’s something to that.

By our reckoning, Tim Burton hasn’t made a good movie since 1999’s Sleepy Hollow or a great movie since 1994’s Ed Wood. Finally though, his adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street marks a return to excellence. Why aren’t there more musical horror films? Go see this film in the theater.

Speaking of musical Stephens, Stephin Merritt’s Magnetic Fields will unleash their new album Distortion on January 15th. We weren’t crazy about 2004’s i, but Distortion marks a return to a more straightforward pop sound with plenty of (surprise) distortion. We’re really digging this album. Check out a few of the tracks for yourself.

And yes, this is still a blog about books. Look out for upcoming reviews of R. Crumb’s Kafka biography, Eggers’s What is the What, stuff from Chris Ware, a few short story collections, and a collection of William Blake’s work. Also, we haven’t abandoned our 50 Guitarists series or the Alphabet Soup project. So there’s that. Anyway. Biblioklept will be back in full-scale, proper review mode next week. In the meantime, check out Bibliokid for random daily Internet detritus.