We will find more work around, but there's always going to be a gorilla aspect to using this camera for serious video. It's going to be about designing around what CAN be done with the tools.
The way Canon has talked about continuous shooting, I can pretty much guaranty the camera will overheat and shut down, or at a minimum become noisy. Maybe it will shoot for 45 minutes every hour.

The manual did mention that the sensor can overheat. If I remember correctly, all they said is that the video quality will degrade and it should be turned off to cool. I assume it will depend on a lot of things, for example the temperature, and if its in direct sunlight all day.

I just ordered mine a few hours ago, should have it by mid December.

Which is a good reason to have two! :)

What a long way we've come! looking back this was of the first 5D2 posts.. now firmware upto 2.0.8.. hehe

Christopher, it sounds like you're trying to shoot video with the auto stuff on. The camera keeps the aperture setting and everything else if you shoot manual. And you have manual audio control, you just have to go into the menu and set it. Out of the box the camera comes with all the auto stuff turned on and an oversaturated picture style--turn all the auto things off, including shutter, white balance, gain, etc. Turn audio to manual and set gain before the shot (or use a mixer or Juicedlink, etc., calibrated to the camera).