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One of the things we talked about this week was the ousting of Edward Norton from the Avengers movie by Kevin Feige in a not so diplomatic announcement. Quoting here from the press release…

“We have made the decision to not bring Ed Norton back to portray the title role of Bruce Banner in the Avengers. Our decision is definitely not one based on monetary factors, but instead rooted in the need for an actor who embodies the creativity and collaborative spirit of our other talented cast members. The Avengers demands players who thrive working as part of an ensemble, as evidenced by Robert, Chris H, Chris E, Sam, Scarlett, and all of our talented casts. We are looking to announce a name actor who fulfills these requirements, and is passionate about the iconic role in the coming weeks.”

Strong words any way you slice it. It was pretty well documented that Norton and Feige clashed heads over the final cut of the Incredible Hulk film two years ago and we all know how that ended. So maybe Norton was right? Maybe Feige blames Norton for the Hulk’s middling box office returns? (IMHO the movie relied way too much on CGI trickery and action at the expense of character and story) Who knows? Fact is Norton is out and now we’ll get the 3rd actor in 7 years to play the part of Dr. Bruce Banner.

Honestly it’s too bad. I think Norton brought a lightness and charm to Banner that had been missing since the Original TV series and is only now being rediscovered in the comics. Also, I’d rather have an actor who willing to fight for a better movie than one who’s just willing to play ball. That said, I’m typing on a blog and don’t have to make multi-million dollar decisions. So, there’s that.

We also talk about some other stuff but if you’re reading this you’ve probably listened to the podcast already.

(I would like a DVD release of Norton’s cut of the film, BTW)

So we had an inordinate amout of crashes this week while recording the show, but it turned out to be a corrupt GarageBand template so a quick rebuild of our show template fixed everything and allowed us to continue on with the show, just in time to save Doug from storming out in disgust. Unfortunately, the crashes forced us to skip over some talk about True Blood’s second season as well as Hung’s opening episode. I know that Doug has departed the True Blood train after last season’s finale, but I’m still enjoying it quite a bit.  True Blood’s  strange, almost novel like pacing of the story along with the it’s capacity to throw you a wild curve ball in the middle of everything is a welcome change from most shows that follow a predictable formula (RE: CSI : Law and Order Bosnia). As far as Hung is concerned, I haven’t seen it yet, but I do think it’s funny that Doug associates Thomas Jane with Boogie Nights and I just think of him as The Punisher from the lackluster film.

Here are some links to the some of the things we mentioned this week including the rockin’ “Ring Capacity” song from my “Best Thing” this week.

Kirby Krackle – http://www.kirbykracklemusic.com/

Dead Rising and some annoying video of the damn convicts in the game – http://www.capcom.com/deadrising/ -  annoying convicts link here

The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Trailer

And some information about not getting chipped against your will – link

This weeks show we talked a great deal about all kinds of stuff this week, but we talked a little bit about reality TV and some of the recent rumblings that Michael Vick and Rod Blagojevich are either looking to be on a reality show or will be on a reality show in the coming months. When major networks are casting alleged and convicted felons in their TV shows for ratings it’s time to storm the studios with flaming pitchforks. One step closer to Armageddon.

Oh and here are some things we talked about this week.

Pilot School

GI Joe : Resolute

Warren Ellis

Not unlike Kitty Pryde of the X-Men, I seemingly over the last few weeks have developed some kind of mutant ability to disrupt all electronics in my general vicinity. Within the last few weeks my TV (Samsung), my Video Game Console (XBox), my DVR (Motorola Cable P.O.S.), and now my laptop (Apple) have all fritzed out in some way. I am some kind of walking Dead Zone for modern electronics.

In spite of all the technology crumbling around me we managed to put up the latest episode of the cast. I’m not sure if we accomplished what we set out to do, since there was still a lot of negative energy hurled at Battlestar and even more so at Dollhouse. However, we did manage to introduce a new segment where some bright light could shine. Visions of Light is a great documentary that anyone and everyone who loves movies should check out. That said, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with loving the B-Movie fest that is the Sci-Fi original movie.  They are full of hilarity and genre fun that you can only find in movies that don’t take themselves that seriously. Of course we did follow up that with some negative thoughts on Microsoft and Animal Planet’s monkey show, so it’s not all wine and roses, much like my new found mutant ability.

Hello again. There is a new episode of the podcast up here. Battlestar has returned to the airwaves, so that’ll kill at least twenty minutes of discussion per week. I think we’re still technically on season four, even though it seems like we’ve been living with this show for eight years. This is a feeling that stems not from a lack of quality in the show but more from the fact that Sci-Fi knows they have nothing else on the air worth watching for a prolonged period, and so they have to break each season up into four mini-seasons and air them all a year apart for maximum effectiveness. I tried to watch Eureka (it’s good but not good enough to keep me coming back). I tried to watch Sanctuary (it is not good, really). And I occasionally catch some variety of Stargate, which is usually right at that mediocre level unless it’s a rerun with MacGuyver in it. Other than that the network is content to churn out cheap monster movies shot in the Czech Republic that they can air twenty times a week. I understand this business model, but I do not endorse it.

Seems as if our new President-Elect has chosen his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel who I think bears more than a passing resemblance to the very entertaining Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) on the equally entertaining series “The Thick of It” in the U.K.

Rahm Emanuel

Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi)

Something I forgot to mention on the show this week was the beginning of Series 12 of Top Gear in the UK, which is simply the best damn show on TV. As proof I offer this -

That is a Semi ON FIRE. That is all that needs to be said.