Ian McKellen has confirmed that he will reprise his role as Gandalf the Grey in the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit. Let the world rejoice in all the goodness of Ian McKellen‘s portrayal of my all-time favorite archetype wizard.

But alas, learning of such things usually exposes me to more information than I need or want to know. Such as Peter Jackson handing the reins over to Guillermo del Toro to direct this Lord of the Rings prequel. BDT directing is a good thing, don’t get me wrong. I love what he did with Hellboy and El laberinto del fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth)… but … come on … why isn’t PJ handling TH’s parts 1 & 2?!

I attribute this near-travesty to New Line Cinema for succeeding in ticking off PJ enough that he went and attached himself as director to Steven Spielberg‘s upcoming animated film, Tintin – before getting the issue resolved. I say “blech” on both counts.

I’m pleased as punch that PJ will executive produce the two-part prequel, and that he has agreed to collaborate with BDT on the project. But, in the long run I think his priorities have perhaps become en-lodged in some netherplace detrimental to his career. PJ instantly created himself a legacy with his extraordinary work on the LOTR trilogy. To relinquish that creative control and insight into establish character and storyline modifications, and to hand it over to another distinctly creative director with fantasy genre credibility … well, that just strikes me as a huge mistake to make regarding this franchise. I fear it will be something to be remembered and noticed for all time – blemishing one of the only truly good trilogies of my, or any time.

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Being a Libra ; if I was to believe in astrological influences (which I don’t); and if based on such a predisposition felt that many things in life should be performed and/or viewed with fair and equal balance ( which I do anyhow, – and shame on you Fox News for perpetrating a lie ); I believe that the same should be held true to the balance of the aesthetic visual in juxtaposition to the corporeal reality of the gadgets that I as tech-geek covet.

I offer a recent observation:  Hey chief.  Yea you – the geek with the Zune MP3 player.  The next time you’re looking at yourself in the mirror to make sure you look all k-rad kewl before heading out and about, take a look at your Zune too:

There are lots of reflective surfaces in the world.  Maybe you should leave that thing at home, or at least keep it in your pocket (always sage advice anyhow).

And no one in the development/production process noticed this?!

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