NBC is recording 3600 hours of 2008 Beijing Olympics coverage, most recorded in HD and most only available online.

And I hate watching this stuff online.

Lets do a quick overview of the offerings. NBC is using 7 networks to display everything. Lets go down the list: Standard NBC (HD Version Available), USA (HD Simulcast on DirecTV), CNBC (HD Simulcast Available*), MSNBC (No HD), Oxygen (no HD), Telemundo (HD?), and *Universal HD (Simulcast of CNBC)

Now there is also NBC Olympics Soccer and NBC Olympics Basketball (both with HD simulcast) available on Time Warner and other select providers in some markets (not RCN Chicago or Time Warner Milwaukee)

But they have other networks that NBC/Universal owns outright that they could be broadcasting on. And both have HD simulcast versions.

Scifi and Bravo.

I mean, Scifi has no original programing running right now (you can only watch Battlestar Galactica/Stargate reruns so many times) and while Bravo does have its own core audience, I think you can pre-empt it for the Olympics.

The worst part of it all is that CNBC/CNBC HD/Universal HD seems to be almost exclusively boxing. I hate boxing.

A few months ago I was deciding between an LCD and Plasma HDTV. I finally settled on a 50″ Samsung Plasma.

It cost me just under $2k, but I had been saving up for it for quite some time and since I moved apartments I was finally in a place where I had enough room for one it was a good time to buy.

Now, having a HDTV is one thing, but finding enough HD content to view on it is another. And finding HD content has gotten a lot easier.. but finding GOOD HD content is difficult.

Thank god for my HD DVR.

I set my DVR to record the Olympics Opening Ceremony in HD.

Oh my.

The contrast, color… everything… is just perfect on this TV.

Oh, and the opening ceremony is pretty cool too.

I decided to go to Target and pick up a PS3. It was an impulse buy, and I’m not gonna lie, I’m not keeping this thing longer than 90 days so it really isn’t going to cost me anything in the long run.

I also picked up Grand Theft Auto 4: Liberty City. Let me say this: That game is phenomenal, especially on a 50″ Plasma TV at 1080P.

GTA is pretty simple: Steal cars to complete missions. In the new version you need to get girlfriends to complete the game.

Well, I decided to go all out this time, just to impress this virtual girl. I hijacked an ice cream truck and took the girl to play pool while children’s music came out of the ice cream truck’s speakers. There is nothing quite like running over people in an ice cream truck while trying to impress a girl, in HD.

I went and watched The Dark Knight in Evanston at midnight. Good movie. I think Ledger’s performance is a little too hyped up for its own good, and that Aaron Eckhart’s performance was way ‘under-hyped.’

I think that, had I gone into it not expecting to see a ‘great’ performance I would have probably enjoyed Ledger’s character a lot more.

I did enjoy how Nolan used Chicago in this film. He didn’t fake it up like he did in Batman Begins but rather used Chicago as… well… Chicago. I like how they took a CTA bus and filled in the C part of the logo with a G. I must have been the only person who sorta chuckled at that in the theatre.

As a whole I wasn’t all too impressed. Maybe it was just that I had been excited for so long that nothing could match my expectations. Anyone who says ‘Best Picture’ or ‘Best Supporting Actor’ is crazy. It is hardly a ‘Best Picture’-worthy movie, and as for the Ledger performance… it was good, but it was more that I enjoyed where Nolan and Ledger took the Joker character than just that Ledger was ‘amazing’ in it. I think Best Adapted Screenplay is a given for TDK, and maybe Best Director to Nolan, but to be honest I just don’t think it is worth being considered for best picture. Generally if I want something to be nominated for Best Picture, it needs to be because it has a legitimate chance at winning the damn thing, not just because they need to have x number of movies in the category.

Honestly I think the biggest disappointment I had with the film is that Ledger’s death really overshadowed so many other good things about it. I know, I know, he is dead. And that is really sad, he really was a good actor. But does that mean we should focus our attention only on his character and performance and ignore the fine performances of Aaron Eckhart and Gary Oldman? No.

Next up, Navy Pier IMAX… although it may take a few weeks for me to get a good seat down there.

Oh, and the joker has a good pen trick. You’ll have to see it.

Alright, here is my prediction:

The Dark Knight will match or exceed the 100 million dollar mark and make it one of the biggest opening weekend of all time

I’ll be there at 12:03 AM. Too bad I couldn’t get IMAX tickets. Although I will probably go see it at IMAX over the next week or so. They are running the thing at the Navy Pier IMAX theater every 3 hours for 72 hours straight (that includes 3AM and 6AM showings Friday, Saturday and Sunday)