I could count time in Tintins. The drive to my grandparents house was equivalent to the time it took to read four Tintins. As a unit of measurement, this reads as 4 TTs. Flight to Montréal: 7 TTs. The wait from the time I woke up on Christmas morning until the time I was allowed to wake up my parents at 8:00am: 10 TTs. The time it will take me to write this post: approx 0.4 TTs.

When I was 22 I went to Europe for the first time, and as soon as I got to Belgium  (home of Hergé, Tintin’s creator, and a country where Tintin is as universally iconic and loved as Superman is in North America), I went right to Brussels. In case you’re wondering, Brussels is Tintin-central. I went to the Tintin Museum, the Tintin store and amassed a large amount of quality European Tintin souvenirs, including the replica of the Cold War-era rocket from “Destination Moon.” Yes, I’m a fanboy.

I’ve been following the buzz about the upcoming Tintin feature film for a few years and now that it’s finally coming to fruition I don’t think it could be in better hands.  Paramount and Sony announced this week that principal photography has begun on “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of  the Unicorn.” A combination of the plots from the original “The Secret of The Unicorn” and “Red Rackham’s Treasure”, the film (get this…) is being directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Spielberg,  Peter Jackson (that’s right, Peter muthafucking Jackson) and Kathleen Kennedy, and shot in 3-D motion capture by the geniuses at Jackson’s own Weta Digital.  Epic. These men are titans in this genre. This movie. Will be. The shit.

Plus, there’s a scene where Tintin drives around in a submarine shaped like a shark. I can’t wait to see what Spielberg does with that. What else do you need, really?

Jamie Bell (best known for “Billy Elliott”) is playing Tintin, Daniel Craig is playing the pirate Red Rackham, and Andy Serkis (Golum from the “Lord of the Rings” films) is Captain Haddock. I understand that if you’ve never read Tintin this means nothing to you. However, if you did and love it as much as I do, then this news will trigger a wave of old skool nostalgia and fits of euro-comic giddiness.

The option is up for two more films to follow (the second, reportedly, to be directed by Jackson). It’s not clear yet if the first movie will cover just “The Secret of The Unicorn”, with the planned sequel moving into “Red Rackham’s Treasure”, or if the first film will blend them both. IMDB lists the release date as 2010, but most media sources are saying 2011. Either is too far away.

Thanks to Harry for the info.