Kevin’s Eleven: Most Watched Television - Digital Cable Channels list

I watch a lot of television, and the writer’s strike “forced” the networks to broadcast lots of reality competition shows, which I really don’t like. The only “reality competition program created for television” I enjoy is Iron Chef. From my best television shows list, you might be able to tell which channels are the most watched ones on my HDTV. With only five free-to-air networks, most of the time I am watching the digital cable lineup. If I were to set up a timer on my TV to measure how long I watch each channel, the list may look like so:

1. Food Network

2. Discovery Channel/Discovery HD (basic Discovery shows in HD)

3. BBC America

4. HD Theater (Discovery programming only for the HD channel)

5. Travel Channel

6. Versus/Versus HD (because they show hockey, I’ll probably stop watching now that the Sharks are out)

7. Sci-Fi Channel

8. ESPN/ESPNHD

9. Disney Channel

10. Science Channel

11. National Geographic/NG-HD

Kevin’s Eleven: How to Build a DVD Collection list

What a person buys can give clues to his/her personality, or at least preferences and hobbies. You might browse through the CD or book collection of people you know, I look at the DVD collection. While I can’t interpret what each movie/genre means, I do look to see that the person appreciates the DVD as an entertainment medium, not just buys a favorite movie now and then. Here are my steps to building a serious DVD collection. The only reasons you could give for not owning them is either “I haven’t bought it yet” or “I hate that”. Collections also hide gift-giving clues.

1. Planet Earth (BBC version): I prefer the Attenborough narration over the Weaver one found on the Discovery Channel Store versions (the latter also doesn’t have subtitles).

2. The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Trilogy: How can a collection be complete without the finest films ever made? Director Peter Jackson planned the structure of the DVDs alongside of the filmmaking process, and it shows.

3. At least two alternate region DVDs: It shows how serious you are about DVDs when you’re willing to buy more than one DVD from a different region than your home code and have a player capable of handling them. It doesn’t matter if they are from the same country/region, in the same language, or even starring the same people, just have some.

4. At least two Pixar films: This one should not be too difficult, as they have never made a bad film. It is handy to have films that are family friendly, even though kids may not be involved.

5. At least two foreign language films (not anime): It shows that you are worldly and sophisticated. Make sure you use the original language track and subtitles for the true cinematic experience.

6. At least one Criterion Collection film: The highest standard for quality and supplemental material that celebrate the film-making process.

7. At least two TV box sets: They can be unrelated titles or multiple seasons of your favorite program. Television on DVD is a wonderful invention. You can watch without commercial interruption, you can watch a block of episodes in a row without waiting every week, or you can re-watch shows no longer on the air.

8. At least three DVDs with the same person: It can be a favorite actor, director, writer, etc., but it shows you pay attention and are willing to follow someone’s career path.

9. At least three DVDs from the same genre: Kind of similar to #8, but people usually have a favorite genre. Maybe you love action films and someone else loves lowbrow comedies. Just showing you prefer something is good and better than having one film from every genre.

10. Avoid DVDs you wouldn’t want others to know you have. Embrace your collection, be proud of it. If you aren’t willing to lend it to friends or family, maybe you shouldn’t own it.

11. Don’t pirate films or buy bootlegs.

Discovery Atlas returns

Remember this show from 18 months ago? It’s back. It actually aired tonight, the premiere just finished, sorry about that. There wasn’t as much advertising as for the first season, so I guess you might have missed it. Fortunately, Discovery Channel loves to re-air shows, especially high profile ones such as this. Of course, try to catch it in HD, if possible. This second season kicks off with France Revealed and Japan Revealed, to join the first season lineup of China, Italy, Brazil, and Australia.

Kevin’s Eleven: Places I Haven’t Been and Want to Visit list

Last time, I mentioned some of the favorite places I’ve been. I wouldn’t mind going back to any of those places. However, my budget and the weaker dollar mean I should plan to travel to places I have yet to visit. The following list includes more than just the city listed, but the surrounding areas as well. For example, it would be rather limiting to want to visit Paris and not the rest of France. No doubt I would want to visit the entire country, but I have to start somewhere.

1. Florence/Tuscany, Italy

2. Montreal, Canada

3. London, England

4. Stockholm, Sweden

5. Milford Sound, New Zealand

6. Lausanne, Switzerland

7. Tokyo, Japan

8. Paris, France

9. Amsterdam, Netherlands

10. Dublin, Ireland

11. Toronto, Canada

Just missed - Antarctica

Kevin’s Eleven: Best Places I’ve Been list

You know I like to travel. Unfortunately, I haven’t traveled enough to be able to call myself a real one. Now that I’ve committed to making a bunch of lists, I’ll give you my favorite places, which could be interpreted as my recommendation for your travel destinations. And you’ll get to see how little I’ve actually traveled.

1. San Francisco Bay Area: I know it’s a cheap entry, but it is a pretty nifty place to live. It’s also the best restaurant city in the world.

2. Sydney: If I had to live somewhere else, here’s where I would be.

3. Melbourne: Mellower than Sydney, more in tune with San Francisco, and no funnel web spiders.

Kevin’s Eleven: Best Television Currently on the Air list

I watch a lot of television, so much so that I get a backlog of shows that have to be recorded/downloaded in order to keep up. These are the best shows currently on the air, not included are programs that have officially ended (that may get its own list later).

1. Good Eats (Food Network): More than a combination of science and food, it is a total entertainment package whose format is reminiscent to those well-versed in Powerpoint.

2. Mythbusters (Discovery Channel): It started out as a gimmick and an excuse to blow stuff up, it has continued into a program that celebrates creativity and ingenuity. They still like to blow stuff up, and they know that each one needs to be bigger than the last one.

Kevin’s Eleven: Best Fast Food in History list

I suppose it’s fortunate that my name rhymes with a number. Let’s see someone named “Scott” or “Luis” do that. I could have chosen a top seven list, as it is more difficult to think of eleven things, but then I couldn’t get a movie reference into my blog, and I watch a lot of movies. It is extremely likely that I won’t be able to come up with a full list every time, and you will certainly be able to tell when there are filler items. In addition, not every list will be a ranked list, it will merely be a collective list of items, as ranking may be unfair. Sometimes it will just be a list of eleven things, like directions/instructions.

Two posts ago, I mentioned fast food. I certainly have not tried every item on every menu, though I’ll usually attempt to try new things. Over the years, many items have come and gone. Which ones were/are the best? This list reflects the major fast food chains available across the US, not the regional ones that may not reach certain areas.

Which version of GTA IV should I get?

Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto IV is released today on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. I am having difficulty deciding on which platform to play it. Both have pros and cons, perhaps you can help me decide. The following points will be a mix of personal opinion and reviewer comments.

Xbox 360 -
Pros: better controller; better online experience (via LIVE); more online friends; designed for Xbox first (then ported to PS3); better framerate; future exclusive downloadable content for purchase; achievement points
Cons: I fully expect my launch unit (living in an entertainment cabinet) to fail eventually, hopefully before the warranty period is over; plays entirely off disc; noisier console

PS3 -
Pros: less graphic pop-in; requires hard drive installation (less load time); potential to import game saves from internet (I’m not the type of gamer who needs to complete 100% of a game); one real friend (someone I’ve actually met) whom I could find online; help build my PS3 game library (15 Xbox vs 2 PS3)
Cons: more muted color palette; not my favorite controller (Sixaxis nor DualShock 3); if battery dies, you have to play wired or wait for it to charge up); Blu-Ray seems like a waste of disc space