The best Star Wars news I've heard in awhile

Last November the bomb landed that George Lucas had sold Star Wars to Disney. Some people thought it was great, some freaked, most were completely shocked. The debate of whether Leia is a Disney princess now and other tongue-in-cheek commentaries have been quite humorous. I've been silent on the issue while inside holding an optimistic sense of "wait and see." 

To come clean, I'm cool with Disney moving things forward. They have been handed the the keys to one of the most popular movie dynasties ever, they're not going to just drive it off a cliff. Possible? Yes. But if anyone can successfully move things into the future I'm confident Disney can do it. Tron Legacy and The Avengers are excellent evidence for that (don't mention John Carter to me as cross-examination because I loved that movie). The stories of the Star Wars universe are already plentiful so there is no lack of want for ideas. It really would come down to who would direct and then who would write the screen play.

And then two days ago the news came that got me SUPER pumped. The second I read it on Huffington Post I immediately text my best bud Todd who is a bigger Star Wars freak than I am:

Yes...we are nerds. Proud, ecstatic nerds. 

This was the bigger part of my "wait and see" attitude: anticipating who would be named director. It would be the key to everything. J.J. Abrams was my first pick and hope, Christopher Nolan or Zach Synder on the subsequent short list. But I wished for Abrams for his emphasis on storytelling, not to mention his great chops in CGI effects. His directing work on Super 8, Star Trek, and Mission Impossible 3 show his expertise, not to mention all of his other writing projects. Add to Abrams that Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine and Toy Story 3) is now officially writing the screen play and this has the potential to be ONE AMAZING MOVIE!!!

2015 can't get here soon enough. It already feels like it is far..far...away (yes, I went there)
 
The recent news of the U.S. turning down the petition to build a Death Star is a bummer (see here and here), but this official news of J.J. Abrams taking the Star Wars helm is nothing short of epic. This long time fan is very, very happy!

Official Press release of Abrams directing:
STAR WARS IS BEING KICK-STARTED WITH DYNAMITE J.J. ABRAMS TO DIRECT STAR WARS: EPISODE VII