I'm just glad it finally got out of development hell after all those years! I'm pretty opportunistic about the movie, and I've seen pictures of some of the costumes and sets and they look great. :D

Though I'm a bit worried about the new elf character too. I'm not exactly sure why the story would need it, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

And something tells me they'll be clean-shaven.

I am cautiously hopeful that this will turn out well. My oldest kid who shares a middle name with a certain high ranking dwarf also hopes that this turns out well.

I read somewhere that there would be major changes including the introduction of a new Elven character. This could spell trouble for the film. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't Peter Jackson directing The Hobbit? If he is then I hope he doesn't do it in the same tone as Lord of the Rings. Another issue would be a rise in badfics. On the whole I'm apprehensive about the coming movie.

Man, I can't wait for this movie to come out! Though, the main reason may or may not be that I recently became a rabid BBC Sherlock fan, so I'm still giggling and dancing with glee over how Martin Freeman will be playing Bilbo and Benedict Cumberbatch will be voicing Smaug and Pre-Sauron.

Wow...those look cool.

Of course, as soon as I hit "Post Message," I read something very possibly more important than Dori, Nori, and Ori! (Shocking, I know.)

I know some of you on the IRC are familiar with the Machine of Death book that came out... last fall? Page here. The concept is simple enough-- there is a machine, and it pricks your finger and out comes a slip of paper telling you how you will die. Everything else - the cultures surrounding it, the people who use it, the style of the messages, the uses legitimate and otherwise, how it effects the psyche of users - is up to the writer of the story. Volume One was edited by Ryan North (of Dinosaur Comics/Qwantz), David Malki! (of Wondermark), and Matthew Bernardo, whose work I am as yet unfamiliar with. They're taking submissions currently for Volume Two.

The catch? Due to not having found out about this until today, There's one week to go. Which... is kind of a crazy small amount of time to write a Good Short Story, but hey! There's plenty of NaNoWriMo participants here, and the rest of us are, for the most part, all too familiar with doing crazy amounts of writing in impossible amounts of time. So! If you're interested, hit the caffeine and the tea and Write Or Die, and let's see if any of us can make it!