Introducing Mista Professaa

The Dark Knight.

This is a huge weekend for movie goers and could be the highest grossing weekend in movie history with the top two films alone grossing over $200 million.

Dark Knight opened this morning at 12:01 on 9,200 screens and 4,366 theaters inching past Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's Edge which had 4,362 theaters.

Dark Knight is the first major film ever to have portions shot using IMAX cameras with six action sequences totaling about 35 minutes projected in the large-screen format. The sequences cuts back and forth between traditional letterbox and large IMAX shots, but given the darkness of most scenes you will hardly notice and the panoramic views of Gotham and Hong Kong should be amazing.

Advance ticket sales are among the highest ever recorded as fans do not want to be left out.

I'm betting Dark Night hits the $132 million mark at the box office.

I have the original Dark Night Comic and I can still remember to this day laying in bed opening up this NEW style of comic. It was like nothing I had ever seen before and I still remember the chills I had as I flipped the page that introduced the new Dark Knight to the world. I have chills thinking of my chills!!

A comic book for adults! WOW!

The Dark Knight Returns changed the way we look at superheros.
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I just went for coffee and Madison has thousands of Tibetans in town because the Dalai Lama is visiting. I really like the Dalai Lama.

Anyway there were three taking photos of the area and all of the flags in town have the American flag AND the Tibetan flag flying and they were taking photos of them and the flag poles.

I offered to take a photo of the three guys together and they really appreciated it. Next thing I know one of them is putting his arm around me and telling the other to take a photo, then the next guy does the same and then the next! I'll probably be on the cover of the Tibetan Free Press.

Side note - If you want to see a VERY good movie - check out Seven Years in Tibet starring Brad Pitt. It's a true story. I love this movie.

"Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer (Brad Pitt) journeys to the Himalayas without his family to head an expedition in 1939. When World War II breaks out, the arrogant Harrer falls into Allied forces' hands as a prisoner of war. He escapes with a fellow detainee and makes his way to Llaso, Tibet, where he meets the 14-year-old Dalai Lama (Jamyang Jamtsho Wangchuk) -- whose friendship ultimately transforms the self-seeking Harrer. "

Speaking of photos - I was looking at some photos I had taken in the past and realized that photos I took then were much clearer then the ones I'm taking now. Michelle mentioned getting my camera recalibrated, I'm going to do that.

She was here with her little Canon friend and they were mocking my Nikon (it's a Ford/Chevy thing except without the stupid little window decal kid pissing on the other car . . . actually the Canon people mock Nikon people - Nikon people don't mock Canon people, we know we are superior).

ANYWAY - I have been told for many many years that I take nice photos and I "must have a good camera". I always think - well, a good camera helps but give me a little credit. But then along comes Michelle.

All of a sudden I FEEL like I'm just a guy with a good camera because I see her shots and see things I have been missing and details that I have gotten too lazy to look for.

My talking point here is that in reality - the camera is just a tool to capture what you are seeing. Your eyes are the real camera here.

The two photos that I have gotten the most compliments from were not because of the camera. One was taken with a 1.1 mega pix Olympus and the other - the Columbus downtown photo, was with a $120, 300 mm lens.

I guarantee that if Michelle's Canon was taken from her and she was forced to use a little hand held 1.1 mega pix Olympus - you would still see outstanding photos. I know I like to compliment Michelle (it's a passive way to put pressure on her) but she deserves it. I know there are people where I work that have told me that when their daughters get married she is the one they are going to try to be their photographer.

I hope she does not get sucked into ONLY weddings though. I believe she is better then only weddings.
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Before Mista Professa takes over the blog I must introduce you to Apocalyptica.

Apocalyptica is a cello quartet the likes you have never seen or heard before.

I'm a metal head liking groups such as Shinedown, Disturbed, The Dead Pool and Within Temptation, but in my past I was also a classical cello player. This morning a woman at worked turned me onto four guys from Finland.

They were at a cello camp and were tired of the normal music they were playing so that started to jam playing music that a has never been played on a cello before. They are performing at the Berrymore Theater in Madison in a few months.

I bring you Apocalyptica.

And a little Metallica - Nothing Else Matters.



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Mista Professa

HI, I'm Mista Professa and I'm going to learn you a few tidbits of information you will never want to know and will be completely useless in your common and dreary life. So put in your thinking caps and absorb some of the things I have learned in the past few weeks.

Yeasts are not at all like humans.

There are five kinds of sugar, Maltros, Maltotriose, Glucose, Sucrose and Frutose. Yeast likes ALL sugar but they are real picky HOW they eat the sugar and each type they eat in a different way.

All five kinds of sugar are in a brew and when a yeast comes across one he decides what hewants to do. Sucrose and Frutose are sucked in through the cell walls and then metabolized inside the cell. But Maltros and Maltotriose are transported into the cell and then metabolized. The interesting thing here is that a yeast will only eat one kind of sugar at a time. Humans will eat a little of this and a little of that. Yeast are like Blake (our dog) he eats his favorite thing and then goes on to the next favorite.

This is important to know when you are making a beer recipe and deciding on what is going to go into the brew. Too much of one kind of sugar and you can get a stuck fermentation.

Then there is HOPS and beer. Many people have heard the word hops but don't really know what it is.

Beer is basically Malt and Hops.

If you look at the painting of the train station. Malt is the large walls of paint and hops are all the detail work. Malt gives to the alcohol and much of the base flavor. Take a chug of beer and you taste Malt. GULP!

But if you taste the beer you will notice subtle flavors and aroma. This is the hops talking to you. There are three kinds of hops, bittering, flavor and aroma.

When making beer it's the hops that makes a beer good. To much or to little "bittering hops" and the beer can taste flat or too spicy.

The trick with hops is you must boil the hops to get the oils but as soon as the oils are extracted, they start to vanish into the air. That is why when you boil the brew you are adding hops at different times and then as FAST as you can you try to get the brew cold. Bittering hops are in for the entire 60 minutes. Flavor hops for 5 to 20 mintes and aroma hops from a few minutes to a few seconds.

Moving on.

There is a world wide hops shortage which is REALLY hurting many microbreweries.

In my friends Rod's next brew, an American Amber, the recipe called for Horizon hops for bittering and he found it was very very hard to find. There is a thing called alpha acid which tells you how bitter (strong) a certain hop is along with it's character - this one is floral and spicy..

Horizon had a rating of 13% - pretty high. HOWEVER - he then learns that Horizon has a very low Cohumulone. YEA - WHO KNEW!

Cohumulone is a part of the alpha acids. Low cohumulone means that during the boil the oils are easier to extract from the alpha acid. So when looking for an alternative hop he can not just look for another floral and spicy hop with 13% alpha acid. He has to take Cohumulone into account.

As you can see. My best friend Rod is not just out to make beer, he is out to make very very good beer. Making good beer is easy. Making VERY VERY good beer takes a little more work.
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Thank you Mista Professa - I'm sure the audiance is on the edge of their seat wondering what will happen next.

Talk at ya later!

Rod