The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you.

• The big news today is, of course, the fact that Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema have mended fences and Jackson is going to direct not just one, but two movies based on The Hobbit. We don't remember the book being all that long, but hey, we'll give them our money twice. In slightly less exciting Peter Jackson-related news, Jackson and Spielberg are each going to be directing an installment in an upcoming trilogy of motion-capture films, and Jackson's entry will now star Andy Serkis.
• Phillyists Jill and Ross yesterday were adamant that today's Whiz make mention of a couple of recent stories about unhappy Santas. First up is the story of a Santa Claus who was shot at while flying in a helicopter to deliver presents to a party in a Rio de Janeiro slum. Apparently the drug dealers who control the slum mistook Santa's chopper for a police helicopter and thought they were being raided. Luckily, Santa was not hurt, and even returned later in a car to finish delivering the presents. Meanwhile, a Santa at a mall in Connecticut says a woman on crutches sat on his lap and then sexually assaulted him. And finally, a Santa much closer to home took a Cherry Hill dry cleaner to court when they misplaced his Santa suit, and then personally came calling in his full regalia to collect the money they owed him. We're pretty sure we actually go to that dry cleaner...
• It's trailer time! Here's one for My Name Is Bruce (via), which looks to be a very silly horror/action/comedy in which Bruce Campbell stars as himself (sort of), and another for Leatherheads (via), a period romantic football comedy starring George Clooney.
• Nerd World one-ups everybody by posting the Worst "Best of" of 2007. We particularly like the list of Middle Earth porn mag titles, the best being Mandalf, The Quim-arillion, and Barely Smeagol.
• John Travolta has apparently been replaced by Ben Stiller in the cast of Dallas, the movie based on the TV soap opera. Wow. We didn't want to see this before, but now we really don't want to see it!
• Sounds like the jokes during the Golden Globes and the Oscars might be even worse than usual - the WGA strike apparently extends to awards shows, too.

• The Movie Blog has pics from the upcoming film adaptation of the Gatchaman anime (which Western audiences know better under the title Battle of the Planets).
• If we've done our math right, then in about an hour you should be able to see a teaser trailer for the long, long delayed Duke Nukem Forever video game somewhere on the 3D Realms website.
• Shiny Shiny has a couple of fun articles about strange concept vehicles: a wooden sports car, and an amphibious car based on James Bond's Lotus Esprit.
• We aren't going to post about every single top album of the year post that XPN makes, but we just wanted to mention that they are totally right about the Shins' Wincing the Night Away. That album rocks. We listened to it over and over again when it first came out. Oh, and this morning's download is pretty cool, too.
• The Dragonball movie just got a lot more interesting: Chow Yun-Fat has joined the cast as Master Roshi.
• Exciting news: Sonic the Hedgehog has come to the iPod! Disappointing news: apparently, it sucks.
• GameStop will be giving out a limited supply of rainchecks this Friday which guarantee that you'll be able to come back and pick up a Wii console by January 25, 2008. Jesus! Now people are going to be standing in line just to get a slip of paper that promises they can get a Wii next year. This is getting out of control.
• GameDaily has been slowly revealing their picks for the 2007 Persons of the Year, and they just recently announced #1: Nintendo of America President & COO Reggie Fils-Aime. Yep, that makes sense. (Via)
• Ready for another year-end list of award-winning films? This one comes from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists and includes some pretty amusing special mention awards, like the Sequel That Shouldn’t Have Been Made Award and the Best Depiction Of Nudity or Sexuality. (Via)

Image Credit: Flickr user Rob & Jules