Peter Jackson does "The Hobbit" - Christmas comes early!

Yes! Two new "Middle Earth" movies are confirmed, and under the firmly competent reigns of Mr Jackson...He is (from the sounds of things) splitting "The Hobbit" into two parts (which, while it may seem like a money-grabbing scheme on the part of the studio) under his careful "Exec. producer" role (someone else will likely direct) should turn out to be just perfect...the only shame is having to wait until 2010 to actually see the first part...! ;)