There’s a rumour going around that the role of Thor in the Marvel movie helmed by Kenneth Branagh has been cast. It’s Chris Hemsworth.

Who?

Oh. Huh.

Now, I was never campaigning for a big guy. We don’t need a wrestler or bodybuilder coming in to play this role. While the Thor of Marvel comics had a steroids ++ body, that’s comics. Every male hero has impossibly huge muscles and every female–hero or not–has impossibly huge breasts. No, there’s no need for ‘Roid Rage Thor ™.

The thing is, I have no idea who this guy is or if he’s got anything to bring to the table. Do I trust Branagh? Generally . . . though he did cast Keanu Reeves as a villain, so there’s a limit.

Were it any other director attached, I’d be lukewarm. I’m moderately excited because it seems they’ve got someone who can act–or at least screen test really, really well. Dude can bulk up a la Hugh Jackman or Christian Bale.

Can I wait until 2010 for a Branagh Thor? I’m going to have to.

I’ve read a couple of articles recently about the death of print media. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, I say.

Here’s the thing: back in the day (pre-kidlets), I used to enjoy reading a newspaper on Saturdays, having coffee on the balcony. We had nothing pressing on Saturday mornings. Through the rest of the week, I’d go through the newspaper at work during break. That’s a total of 15 minutes. I often read all I needed to read. A lot of the big stories were CP or AP or Reuters. In those stories written for the paper (or, more likely, the corp that owned it), there was a dearth of considered analysis, and lots of sensationalism.

I’ve never been a big TV news watcher.

These days, I get all the news I need from Google News as an aggregator. When I want analysis, I have a selection of blogs–their biases known to me–for that. There’s even forums. The Senate forum on Circus Maximus gives me lots of opinion, lots of links to deeper analysis, and regularly I get the funny thrown in for free.

I’m sorry that the digital revolution has decided to bury newspapers much as it buried the tired distribution models for music and movies (though neither industry seems totally willing to accept that yet). The thing is, don’t come at me like this is some kind of cultural tragedy when the newspaper paradigm that had value–the one that believed the newspapers’ role was to deliver news–disappeared into the “business” paradigm, in which sensationalism sells, we want money, so lets go sensational!

Talk about hoist with their own petards.

I still have the internet and CBC Radio 1 to keep me informed and entertained. You had your chance, newspapers. I gave up on you long ago.

A name has sprung up in relation to the directing of the new Conan movie. Now this is but one name among many, someone on a list, but given the other names I’ve seen, this is the one that fills me with the most hope.

Neil Marshall.

Mr. Marshall directed both the amazing Dog Soldiers and the action-packed Doomsday. Of the two, I would say Dog Soldiers is the better movie, but I would be more than pleased to have a Conan movie as entertaining as Doosmday. I figure we get Dog Conan, and it’ll be another Barbarian. We get Dooms Conan, it’ll still be infinitely better than Destroyer.

Let’s just hope The problem is that Mr. Marshall is directing Centurion–which looks fucking hot–and the producers say they want production on Conan started by August. That schedule might leave Mr. Marshall out of the running. That would suck.

This isn’t to say there are no other good directors on the list, considering it includes James McTeigue and Christophe Gans. I loved V for Vendetta and I continue to worship at the altar of Brotherhood of the Wolf, but neither of those movies is a good measure for a Conan movie. With Mr. Marshall, I can look at Doomsday and say, yeah, he could sure as shit do Conan. Still, either Messrs. McTeigue or Gans could deliver the goods.

But I would really love to see what Neil Marshall could do.

Is this good news? I’m not sure. Apparently (according to the article), Brett Ratner won’t be directing the Conan movie (for now). Further, filming is supposed to start in August.

The starting filming in August is certainly good news, assuming they’ve got a completed and decidedly excellent script (if not, I could free up some time . . .  just sayin’). Ratner off the job is probably good news, but who’s going to replace him? Aye, there’s the rub. See, while Ratner sucks, I’m fairly certain that there are others that would bring more suckage (suckitude?) to the table. Ratner is a known quantity.

I’ll be interested to hear who gets the nod for this, both for directing and for the Conan role. That role, by the way, is going to be done through an open casting call.

Will Dwayne Johnson go for it? Frankly, I think that would be pretty cool as I actually found the Scorpion King entertaining (in a cheesy fantasy flick kind of way). Of course, there are lots of folks out there that could do Conan. Arnold did a great job, and he’s not even that stellar an actor–not horrible, mind you, but certainly not Royal Shakespearean level.

Or maybe Vin Diesel? Yeah, that could rock . . . or whatever.

And Red Sonja? Could be interesting. Considering the last attempt, I’m not overly excited.

(And what’s with all the parantheses? Don’t know, must be the weather . . .)

I really don’t know Ken Newquist, but I do. Thanks to Nuketown: Radio Active, I know a fair amount about Ken’s work, family, and games. Unlike a lot of the geek podcasts to which I listen, Nuketown: Radio Active is as much about Ken as it is about geek topics. And that’s cool. Ken and I have a lot in common. I enjoy hearing about Ken’s family as much as I enjoy hearing about the geek topics. The show would honestly be diminished, in my mind if Ken kept to just geek topics. And Ken is a a great host, with a great “on air” persona–which I would imagine is actually just Ken, on air.

Do I need to mention the language is work safe? It’s toddler safe too.

Pros: Great host with enjoyable delivery; amusing and insightful personal anecdotes as well as geek related info.

Cons: Time between episodes–yes, I’m going there. Give us more, dammit!

Nuketown: Radio Active is another of those “first in the queue” podcasts. If you’re a geek dad, you’ll likely enjoy this podcast as much as I do. If you aren’t, listen anyway–Ken’s got his fingers in a lot of geekery.

Fraser’s Rating: 4.75 out of 5 (’cause nobody gets the 5, and we need weekly episodes . . . twice a week would be good too!)

Atomic Array is a kind of a review or overview show. In each episode, Rone Barton and Ed Healy discuss an RPG product or concept, including interviews with industry luminaries. The two hosts are genial and gregarious. This has become one of my regular podcasts because while the humour can be biting and dry, the language is safe for my toddler’s ears. The discussions are insightful and fun. Because the hosts only discuss products they like, the show avoids negativity. This, more than any other podcast to which I listen, seems like a talk radio program. It’s not just the polish, there’s a gentle affability in every episode I’ve heard.

Pros: Fun, interesting and genial hosts; family friendly language; lots of industry interviews.

Cons: Some of the products don’t interest me–granted, that’s reaching, but we need a con, don’t we?

When a new Atomic Array is available, I know what I’m going to listen to while making supper, my toddler playing nearby. These are two guys I’d like to have over at my house to enjoy a few beers and talk geek.

Fraser’s Rating: 4.75 out of 5 (just because of the episodes with products that didn’t interest me, and because I have a really hard time giving a five out of five).

I’m starting to worry.

Big name reviewers, guys who work in the mass media, I don’t usually pay much heed. Mark Kermode, I’ll consider. Most of the reviewers I take seriously are people I know (if Rob or Chris from the Accidental Survivors reviews a movie, that is something that can actually sway me to see or avoid a movie), or online reviewers.

Three of the places I frequent for my movie news haven’t been too complimentary about X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Matt Goldberg at Collider.com positively HATES it. Vic Holtreman at Screen Rant gives it a mediocre rating and the back-handed compliment of being better than X3. Wow, that’s like reviewing a restaurant and saying the meal is better than warmed over vomit. And now Canfield at Twitch is trashing it.

Wow. Maybe I’ll wait until its out on DVD.

Maybe not even that. According to the reviews, Deadpool is totally screwed up in the movie–unless there is an after credit fix, that part isn’t entirely clear.

So, if I do see a movie this summer, looks like it’ll be Star Trek.