Peter Jackson, the director of the incredibly successful Lord of the Rings movies, has just signed a deal to make two movies based on The Hobbit. This is great news for Tolkien and fantasy fans! In his post revealing the news (linked above), sci fi writer John Scalzi says that millions of elves must be celebrating; I think, however, that the dwarves have more reason to celebrate, since they play a much bigger role in the story.

I have a few disagreements with Jackson's decisions in the Lord of the Rings films. For example, I didn't like how he essentially portrayed Saruman as just a servant of Sauron's rather than as an independent force acting in his own interest. Overall, however, I think Jackson did a great job and I look forward to his version of The Hobbit. If the Hobbit movies do as well as the LOTR trilogy, maybe Jackson will also make a movie based on The Silmarillion. Then the elves will really have reason to celebrate!

Lawprof Dave Hoffman has an interesting interview with fantasy writer George R.R. Martin on the role of law in fantasy literature. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" series is one of the major milestones in the new trend toward grittier and more "realistic" fantasy writing.