Comics this week

Final Crisis #1- After the thus far disappointing Marvel mega-event "Secret Invasion", DC is throwing its' hat into the ring. As expected, "Crisis" is the word in its title. First off, I will say DC got the writer right. You can't go much bigger than Grant Morrison in the comics world nowadays.
After reading it, I must say that I find it intriguing. One thing good about Morrison is his ability to hint at something bigger; aka he's good at the setup issues. Final Crisis #1 is just that. It's a setup issue and a very well-done one at that. Just in this first issue, you get to see the Multiverse, the Moniters, the Alpha GLs and the New Gods. Oh, and it's starts with Anthro the First Boy and ends with Kamandi, the last. Also the death/execution of Martian Manhunter by Libra was well-done. Quick, shocking with no long speech by the villain or a long-struggle by the hero.
Final Crisis #1 is mystery but it is also a gripping one! The scope is large and I want to know where it is going. That make it a success in my book.

The Politics of Karma II

Actress Sharon Stone was reported saying in public that the Sichuan earthquake was karma for the Chinese government crackdown on Tibetan monks. Now there are online rants, mainly Chinese, that Sharon Stone was stupid and protesting that the Sichuan earthquake has nothing to do with the crackdown.

Protesting a little too much, if you ask me. Why are the Chinese bloggers going after Sharon Stone? It's not as if she was the first one who thought this. Just about 10 days ago, I have blogged about this thinking of karma. And I heard of it even before that, almost the day after the earthquake!

If you are desperate, go ahead and say it is coincidence but the only fault Sharon Stone made was making public a thinking most people had already. If these Chinese bloggers have so much time on their hand criticising people for no reason (Yao Ming and Jet Li didn't give enough money for relief? Is there a minimal amount for donations?), how about channeling some of that energy to relief effort. Last I heard, they still need it.

Myanmar's military rulers need PR lessons

The title of this rant says everything. What the hell were Myanmar's military rulers thinking when they announced that pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi house arrest will be extended.

I mean here you are asking foreign donors for aid and then you turn around and just slap the world in the face. People are already pissed at them for holding a useless rigged vote and now they are extending Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest to a sixth year. If only they concentrate so much on saving the cyclone victims.

Of course, the world can do nothing. All we have is U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressing regret, while praising "a new spirit of cooperation" between the junta and the UN. Ha!

Fallout from Mas Selamat Kastari’s escape

3 months after the escape of Mas Selamat Kastari, there’s finally some fallout. Singapore has sacked the superintendent of the Whitley Road Detention Centre and demoted two elite Nepalese Gurkha guards.

A special duty operative, her supervisor, two other officers and the chief warder were also disciplined. Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng is safe. As expected, Mr. Wong was not sacked and kept his position as Home Minister.

Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from the detention centre via a toilet window, limped/run away from the biggest manhunt in Singapore’s history in 11 minutes flat and did all this on his own without any help. Oh, and the government still believe Kastari is still in Singapore.

But it’s not all bad. I am glad the Singapore government is now at least admitting that he could have fled the country already. To me, that’s progress. Kastari’s escape has punched a hole in Singapore's reputation for security; let’s not make a new one for failing to admit the obvious.

Now, I hope they will stop these measures at the checkpoints. That way maybe traffic will go back to normal.

The Rush for Seatbelts

It’s amazing what one accident can do. Just one bus accident later and suddenly it seems that every parent in Singapore want seatbelts on school buses.

So much so that Parliament will have a debate on “measures implemented to ensure school bus safety”. I don’t know why such a thing can actually be discussed in Parliament, don’t they have more important things to do like improving the economy, and I can’t understand what the big deal is.

When I was a kid taking the school bus, forget seatbelts, we stood on the bus! Why is this herd mentality that seatbelts are a must on school buses? Don’t get me wrong. It’s always a tragedy when a child dies, but is this a good reason to make all the school buses in Singapore to have seatbelts? Costs for running the buses will go up and parents don’t even want to pay for installing the seatbelts. Like all Singaporeans, they want it for free!

Forget the seatbelts. It’s an unfortunate accident and a true tragedy but let’s not rush through a regulation. Let some time pass, some heads to cool and then decide.

EPL this Season

The EPL is over. Manchester United are the champions but I based my decisions of the top teams of the season on how well they played above themselves.

Top Teams this Season
Arsenal- Show of hands. How many of you expected Arsenal to challenge for the title this year? People expected Arsenal to be too young, too raw and too inexperience. Some people, including me, thought that they might have problems even to get into the top 4. If there's one thing this season taught us; do not second-guess Arsene Wenger. The French master got Arsenal going, hell they are top of the EPL for most of the season. If not for injury problems, the Gunners may have really surprise all of us. Arsene Wenger will now have to keep the core of the team together, if he do that, I wouldn't bet against Arsenal next season.

Everton- Everton is defensive, boring and very, very effective. Manager David Moyes put together a strong, hardworking team which chased Liverpool all the way this season for the all-important fourth place in the EPL. They didn't do it, but Everton can still take heart in the season.

Surprise Team this month
Derby- Wow, were they bad or what! Everyone expected the Rams to go down this season but I am totally shocked by how out-classed they are. To give you an idea; they played and lost to Reading 4-0 on the last day of the season. And Reading finished second last in the league! I hope Hull will be better next season.

Disappointing Teams this month
Newcastle- Manager Sam Allardyce really got it wrong this season. Playing Alan Smith as a defensice midfielder is just one of many surprising decisions he made. Fired as expected, Newcastle then took a big chance on Kevin Keegan. Surprising for me, 'King' Kev managed to pull Newscastle to a respected mid-table position. Still, considering the outlay and investments they had made, this has to go down as a disappointing season.

Liverpool- Yes, they managed the 4th spot but they sure made hard work of it. Manager Rafael Benitez's rotation policy hit the team's chances this season as Liverpool just did not managed to win against the lower-placed teams. If not for Fernando Torres, they might not have even managed 4th. At the start of the season. I've said they were the most likely champion of the season, I still think they have the players to be champions but only after Rafa dumped his rotation policy. That's not going to happen...new manager maybe?

Singapore Wins Tiny Isand

The result is in. The International Court of Justice has ruled in favor of Singapore in its 29-year dispute with Malaysia over the tiny, uninhabited island of Pedra Branca.

I’m not sure how, but the UN court in The Hague ruled 12 votes to four that sovereignty belonged to Singapore. Now the main reason for the dispute is due to the strategic position of the island. Pedra Branca is located by the Malacca Strait, which carries 40% of the world's trade.

This is good news for Singapore, but I hope there won’t be too much blowing of trumpets by the Singapore press. Most Singaporeans are like me…how can Singapore claim the island when it is about 4 times closer to Malaysia than to Singapore? Thank god for arcane laws and high priced lawyers.

Comics this week

Avengers: The Initiative #13- Okay, the first class of the The Initiative has (somehow) passed out and it's time for the second class. A fresh batch of Z-listers join Camp Hammond, meet the faculty and start adjusting to military life. So it pretend to be. The story is actually a standalone regarding the character of Emery Schaub, how he join and then finally left the Initiative. I find the character to be pretty funny, and a little sad he is leaving. Mainly because he's more interesting than most of the other new recruits! Gorilla Girl? Batwing? Annex? Christos Gage is really scraping the bottom on this. At least we still have Taskmaster who again show how he can be both a bastard and a great teacher. The last scene of this issue was a killer. Good issue.

What's the big deal?

People who read my blog knows that I am a man who openly admit there's a lot of things in the world that I just don't understand.

Here's one more for the list. I don't understand why there is such a fuss in Malaysia when former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad resigned the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). For months, Mahathir has been sniping at current Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. He has even been openly urging follow UMNO members to unseat Abdullah since the last elections.

So my questions is why isn't UMNO celebrating? Let him resign. If I am Abdullah, I will jumping for joy the guy is gone. With friends like Mahathir at your back, who needs Anwar and the opposition? Of course one of Mahathir's sons, Mukhriz, is still in UMNO. So it's not prefect for Abdullah but guess what?

Mahathir is gone from UMNO. If I am Abdullah, I will order a victory celebration.

You call this a compromise?

There is some talks in Singapore's newspaper today about how Myanmar has finally agreed to accept aid from Southeast Asian (ASEAN) countries. Foreign ministers are meeting here in Singapore to discuss how to help Myanmar recover from the Cyclone Nargis, and some deal has been made about how ASEAN has finally convinced Myanmar's military rulers to accept aid from foreign countries.

Sorry, but exactly what has changed? Cyclone Nargis left more than 130,000 dead or missing, and Myanmar's military rulers have said 'NO' to offers of foreign relief unless the military get to distrubite it themselves. They get to decide where to sent the aid, who get the aid, how much they will get, and they will do it all themselves with no foreigners allowed. Just dump all the aid to the military and let them decide.

Isn't that exactly what was agreed on here in Singapore? I know ASEAN would like to call this a compromise, but how is this a compromise? Isn't this what the Myanmar's rulers want? If ASEAN give this deal to Myanmar, shouldn't we call this folding our hand rather than a compromise? After all, all ASEAN is doing is to get aid delivery to Myanmar and let the military rulers decide on everything else, isn't it?

The exact same thing they are had been wanting since the cyclone. Call this what it is; This isn't a compromise, but a cop-out.

The Politics of Karma

The thinking goes like this: In Sep 07, Myanmar's military regime crackdown on protesting monks; 2 months ago, the Chinese government crackdown on Tibetan monks. Behold Cyclone Nargis and the Sichuan earthquake as heaven's punishments!

No matter what religion you follow; You have to admit it's a hell of a coincidence.

Now as a Buddhist myself, personally I think there may be something to this. The cyclone especially was due to hit India before it change course, but I think the most important thing right now is to save lives! China's relief efforts are ongoing but Myanmar is another matter. The military regime has refused aid from the rest of the world and now there are fears that disease and starvation will finish off all the people that survived Nargis. The world must do more to help.

For the past few days, I have read about people blaming the military regime for failing to warn people of the cyclone, the shoddy workmanship of houses in Sichuan, even karma for the crackdown of monks.

Like I said earlier, there may be something to all this. But blame can come later, right now let's just concentrate on saving lives!

Comics this week

Guardians of the Galaxy #1- Nova was spun out of Annihilation and was a hit; can Marvel strike twice? Marvel believe it can. Guardians of the Galaxy put together some of the characters in Annihilation: Conquest in a team and let them rip. I'm not that sure this will work in the long run but Marvel do get the lineup right. The team consists of Warlock, Quasar, Drax, Gamora, Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon. An interesting assemble to say the least but I didn't like this first issue. Main problem I had was scattered chronology; the series start with them on their first mission and then jump back to when Star-Lord and Adam first put the team together. It just didn't work for me. However the duo of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning has done some great work on Nova so I'm giving them a chance. Impress me people, and this will join Nova on my 'Must-Have' list.

Project Superpowers #3- This is a series that's has me going in two directions. One; it's a good series set in a new world with heroes who are mostly interesting; or Two; it's a good picture book with a story that goes up-and-down depending on the mood of the writers. That just sum up the series for you. Great art, interesting characters, but something is just missing in the story. A nice, interesting series but it could be better.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier by Alan Moore

I have the first TPB (trade paperback), the second TPB; so why not buy the third one as well!

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier is an original graphic novel in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book series. Written by Alan Moore and drawn by Kevin O'Neill, most of you might remember the name via the lousy movie starring Sean Connery in 2003.

Warning: If you remember the movie, ignore it because that crap has nothing to do with the comic book series.

As a rule, I don't buy hardcover TPBs; I find them a waste of money and frankly I can't see the differences between a hardcover and non-hardcover TPBs. However considering the ongoing saga between Alan Moore and DC Comics, god knows when The Black Dossier will see print again.

The Black Dossier differs from the first two series in that it is not a limited series later collected into a trade paperback, but design as a graphic novel in itself. The difference? None whatsoever. It is still a great read.

Set in 1958, the story follows Mina Harker and the now immortal Allan Quatermain on their own after the disbandment of the League. To keep the League's secrets, they went to steal/recover the Black Dossier, the secret history of the now-disbanded League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The British government did not like that and sent out their own trio of agents to stop them.

As usual, half the fun was in spotting all the characters Moore managed to squeeze into the book. The trio of secret agents the British sent are a young spy named Jimmy Bond (a great thinly-veiled James Bond), another young agent named Emma Night (Emma Peel from The Avengers), and Hugo Drummond (who I believe is a pulp detective from a series of novels). As the Black Dossier is a book by itself, Moore also used this vehicle to showcase some of the characters from the earlier Leagues.

As Murray and Quatermain read the dossier, we see stories like the life of the immortal warrior Orlando, the founding of the first League by Prospero from "The Tempest", a sequel to Fanny Hill among others. What I especially like was the League created by the French. Moore even manage to include Arsène Lupin in it. Ha!

I also like the name-check of Sinbad in he Orlando story and the way Moore managed Jimmy Bond. If they ever want to have a comic book series for James, GET MOORE TO DO IT! Jimmy was brutal, womanizing and a totally ruthless killer. The way James was before the later movies cut off his balls.

Of course, the book isn't prefect. Some of the characters make me go, "Who?" (anyone know who was that black cartoon guy at the end with the flying ship?) and you really need to read the first 2 series before you can fully understand this one. A great series, now I just to wait a year or two for the next series. Till then...I'll enjoy this book.

The Great Singapore Fire-Sale Part II

One month ago, I blogged on The Great Singapore Fire-Sale. One month later, and the fire-sale is going full-stream ahead.

Singapore chip maker Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd has been losing money steadly for the past few years, so they are up for the chop. Temasek, who owns about 59% of Chartered, has to sell to go around the $1.2 billion bad buys they made due to the sub-prime crisis and I guess selling a loss-making company make sense. Yes, I know Chartered said that this is just strategic investments for a new factory, but be serious, does anyone believe that?

Still, it’s good news for Chartered’s investors as the stock climbed once the market got the news. SingaporePools should give some odds on what’s next on Temasek’s sell list, I believe there will be a lot of interest in that bet.

2 Disasters, 2 Responses

After Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar last week, another major natural disaster hit Asia. This time it’s a 7.9 earthquake that hit the Chinese province of Sichuan. However the response between the two governments couldn’t be more different.

Whereas Myanmar's military regime seems more interested in holding a vote for their own interest, the Chinese government is going all out to save their people. Already the army has been called in to help with the relief efforts and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has gone to Sichuan to oversee the relief efforts himself.

Reports say that up to 10,000 people could have died in the quake, but the Chinese government seems determined to save as many people as they can. I only hope the Myanmar's military regime is looking at China and feeling shame at their own inaction.

I know, it’s probably wishful thinking but for the people of Myanmar, I hope it happen

2 Disasters, 2 Responses

After Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar last week, another major natural disaster hit Asia. This time it’s a 7.9 earthquake that hit the Chinese province of Sichuan. However the response between the two governments couldn’t be more different.

Whereas Myanmar's military regime seems more interested in holding a vote for their own interest, the Chinese government is going all out to save their people. Already the army has been called in to help with the relief efforts and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has gone to Sichuan to oversee the relief efforts himself.

Reports say that up to 10,000 people could have died in the quake, but the Chinese government seems determined to save as many people as they can. I only hope the Myanmar's military regime is looking at China and feeling shame at their own inaction.

I know, it’s probably wishful thinking but for the people of Myanmar, I hope it happen

Don't Bother

There are some questions recently on why a guy is old enough for NS, but isn’t old enough to vote in an election. Basically this is advocating that Singapore lowered the age for voting to 18. Here’s my take on this.

I say, “Don’t bother.” Some of you might ask why, and this is my reason. There had been 2 general elections since I reached 21, but I have never voted before. Every election thus far has been a walkover in my GRC (which is kind of understandable since I’m in LKY’s Tanjong Pager GRC), so what good will lowering the voting age be if there’s no opposition to contest the elections?

I say there’s no point in lowering the voting age unless we get an opposition that doesn’t run away from the election. Until our opposition parties can duplicate what the Malaysian opposition parties did in their elections, that is to run in all the seats, don’t bother with lowering the age. It wouldn’t make a single difference.

A Stupid Referendum

With their people dying by the thousands, Myanmar's junta says that they can't handle the visa applications of aid workers. Can't handle the visa applications but they seems to have no problem holding a referendum on a new constitution.

I feel it strange that the Myanmar government is actually building voting booths in homeless camps, while playing upbeat national songs on Myanmar television asking/telling people to vote (anyone seems the images on ChannelnewsAsia). All the while the regime holding up tonnes of urgent relief supplies at airports! I would call it madness, expect that might be insulting mad people. Cyclone Nargis has left over 60,000 people dead or missing already, and they are more interested in holding a referendum?

How about saving as many people as they can. That way maybe the death toll won't reach the 100,000 mark like experts say it will. Saving people is to me, far more important than a referendum.

100,000 dead

A couple of months ago when the Myanmar's military regime crackdown on the monks, I was one of the few people who supported Singapore’s stance not to cut off ties with the country. Reason being a lot of Singapore’s money is tied up in Myanmar.

But enough is enough. With official reports of over 20,000 dead, over 40,000 missing, and the death toll expected to hit 100,000 in total, the military government is still refusing international aid. In fact, the first major international aid shipment was only allowed in on Thursday, and they still snubbed a U.S. offer to help the struggling cyclone victims.

Here’s a news flash; Beggars can’t be choosers! For five days after the storm, U.N. teams and other foreign aid workers still can’t deliver food, water and medicine to survivors because, get this, THEY CAN’T GET VISAS TO ENTER THE COUNTRY!

What’s wrong with this junta? Even in the history of military juntas, Myanmar's is taking the cake. I know they don’t really care about the suffering of the people, but 100,000 dead is a hell of a big number. Entire villages have been submerged, I seen pictures of bodies floating in muddy water and children who are separated from their parents because their parents are dead.

Compare the action of Myanmar's military regime to the people they were cracking down on. The monks south of Yangon are going without food so that others could eat. Reports state that there’s not enough food, so they (the monks) are giving food to the children and the old people, and they are going hungry.

I tell you, the junta is very lucky Singapore is such money-minded, wealth-obsessed country. After all, money is the only reason why our government has being so amazingly quiet on this. Money talks, 100,000 dead…that’s secondary.

Comics this week

Secret Invasion #2- You just know it was going to happen. Mockingbird has "returned" from the dead. It's seems that she was just kidnapped by Skrulls for the past...6-10 years and was never truly dead in the first place. Why want to bet this will be the last resurrection for “Marvel Event of the Year”?

Nova #13- What goes up must come down. This issue is a comedown from the great issues that came before, but it still a very good issue and just showcase how Nova is one of the best ongoing series Marvel has right now. A world being eaten by Galactus has sent out a SOS to Nova and he has answered the call. However, Richard Rider being Richard Rider, he decided to saved as many people as possible. In his way is Galactus. So what does he do? He ignored Worldmind's advice (yes, I know again) and decide to "ask" Galactus to delay his meal for a few hours! In his way of course is the Silver Surfer. Basically, this issue is a set-up between the Surfer and Nova next issue. It's not great, but it is a passable set-up issue. And one that will get me back next issue.

Scratching head in disbelief

Sometimes in Singapore, we will read some stories in the newspaper that caused some Singaporeans to scratch their head in disbelief. This happened to me when I read in the Strait Times that 85% of singles interviewed want to get married and 80% of married couples want to have two to three children.

Is this for real? Who did the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) interviewed for this survey? I give you that most young people I know think that they will get married one day, but most of them also don’t want to have children (especially the women). Where did they get the 80%? And this was before the credit crisis and the coming economic slowdown!

This is not to say that Baby Bonus, extended paid maternity leave are not good things, but I really doubt they are as influential as the Straits Times say they are. 80% of married couples want to have two to three children? Sorry, I’m still scratching my head on that one.

Review of Iron Man

As the first of the rush of superheroes movies this year (Wanted, The Dark Knight etc), a lot was expected from Iron Man. After seeing the movie, I’m glad to say that all expectations were met.

First off let talk about the cast; Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard; First thought in my mind: What the hell are these Oscar winning actors doing in a superhero movie?

What the hell, it’s great for the movie as the actors really saved the movie from a pretty weak story. Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark was a hoot. He was just inch prefect as the slimy, cheeky, womanizing but charming billionaire arms designer who was taken captive and sees firsthand the devastation his weapons cause. Stark and fellow captive Dr. Yinsen (Shaun Toub) built the first crude Iron Man armor to escape his captors; however Dr. Yinsen was killed in the ensuing escape attempt.

Once he returned to the United States, Stark worked with the design of his power suit and went out to atone for some of his sins. But enough about the story (see above on my view of it), what Iron Man director Jon Favreau really got right was the pace and humor of the movie. At no time during the movie did the pace slacken or was it rushed. The humor of the movie was especially good. Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard show great comic timing, effortlessly making the movie the funniest superhero movie I’ve seem in a while.

Iron Man has proven to be pure gold at the box office, making $100.7 million during its opening weekend. Take a look at it and you will see why.

Comics this week

DC Universe: Zero- I heard that this special was to preview DC’s new stories for new readers? If I heard correctly, then DC has failed miserably. Even I, a regular comic reader had no idea what some of the previews are about, how well would new readers do? However, it’s more of a mixed bag than an outright failure. The preview for Wonder Woman was wonderful, Superman’s preview was the weakness, and you need to have some current knowledge of the storyline in Batman and Green Lantern to know what they were talking about. Basically, I fail to see how this book is to be the access point for newcomers to the DCU. As for the big reveal at he end…uh, so what?

Avengers: The Initiative #12- Avengers: The Initiative has constantly surprised me during its run, and this issue is the same. A nice little tie-up of most of the ongoing threads as the first class of Initiative recruits graduates and become full-time heroes. They graduated? After all the mess in the past 12 issues, they passed? If these are American’s newest heroes, who the hell need villains. No wonder the Skrulls are kicking their ass in Invasion. Go, SKRULLS!

EPL this month

This is it. The final lap to the EPL with only 2 more matches to go. Whose form is good, whose is not; read on
Top Teams this month
Chelsea- Avram Grant has done what Jose Mourinho couldn’t. Get Chelsea into the Champions League Final. The man has turned the season into a winner after the less than impressive start by Jose but amazingly the man still can’t get any respect! Wonder what all those critics will say if he win BOTH Champions League & EPL?
Aston Villa- Aston Villa made a good start to the season, faltered mid-season, and now they are soaring back. At one stage, they even scored 15 goals in 3 games. That’s an average of 5 goals per game! Manager Martin O'Neill has built a good, young team together and I expect them to be even better next season. If Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young continue to get better…look out for Villa next year for the title.

Surprise Team this monthFulham- Just last month I said Fulham looked certain to join the Rams in the Championship next year, and then they went out and prove me wrong. A series of battling displays has turned the tide slightly and they now have a chance to avoid the drop. It may be too little, too late; but I don’t mind being wrong as Fulham is fighting with pride. That’s admirable.

Disappointing Teams this month
Manchester United – Yes, yes; I know they are still leading the EPL, but quite frankly Man Utd should have sewn up the title by now. Cristiano Ronaldo has faded quite badly for the past 3 weeks and with the injury to Wayne Rooney, they are facing a problem upfront. Sir Alex Ferguson may complain all he liked, but they deserved to lose at Chelsea. Not only that, I felt they were lucky to escape defeat against both Blackburn and Middlesbrough. Don’t be surprise if they drop points in the 2 games and lose the EPL title to Chelsea.

Derby- The Rams are on record to break all the records teams do not want to break. Most goals conceded and least points won in the EPL. Not much to say for them expect next season can’t come soon enough for them.

The Hobbit

A huge cheer rang out across the world when it was reported that Ian McKellen will once again take up the robes of Gandalf the Wizard in the adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy classic "The Hobbit".

For those people who have no idea what it is; The Hobbit is the prequel of the "Lord of the Rings". Basically it show how Bilbo Baggins got the One Ring everyone was chasing after in LOTR. Nothing is confirmed but reports state that McKellen has told director Guillermo del Toro he is willing to play the wizard again.

That is great news as I just can’t think of anyone else in the iconic role; the man did get a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the role. However I do worry about reports that The Hobbit will be split into 2 movies. The Hobbit isn’t a long book and I do wonder how they are going to make 2 movies out of it. I fear the movie producers may try to prolong the movie and add stuff that has nothing to do with the movie. Remember how the Witch-king was killed by Éowyn in Return of the King? Éowyn who was suppose to be in Rohan in the book. That’s Rohan, not Gondor! I still shake my head at that crap.

The "Lord of the Rings" movies grossed some $2.8 billion at theaters worldwide so I guess its’ understandable why the producers want as many movies as possible. I just hope they will not destroy the story in the chase of cash.