PowerPoint hyperlinks using Internet Explorer instead of jumping to other slides

Here's a problem I had at work and it took me awhile to fix it, so I'm posting it here so I can find it again.

A user wanted to create clickable text in a PowerPoint presentation and have it jump to another slide within the same PPT presentation.

Insert > Hyperlink > Place in This Document

















This worked fine when I chose "Next Slide" but when I manually told it what slide to jump to, PowerPoint used Internet Explorer to open a link with that slide name, and it obviously failed.

It's supposed to simply display that page in PowerPoint, not try to open a web page.

I found the fix for this on PPTools. You need to select File > Properties > Summary, and select and delete any text in the "Hyperlink base" text field. Apparently my company had inserted their web address into that field in the default PPT template, so PowerPoint would call IE to open that site for all hyperlinks, even ones that were supposed to jump to new slides.

Tangy Taffy

What happened to Tangy Taffy? It can't be found anywhere.

I don't want the inferior Laffy Taffy - that stuff is junk, especially when all that's left is banana flavor because no one likes it and then all the rest of the candy in the bowl smells like banana Laffy Taffy.

Plus the jokes are bad. But a fun twist at parties is to reveal the answer to the jokes/puns/riddles first - and make people guess the question. And every time they get one wrong they have to eat a banana Laffy Taffy until all the banana ones are gone or someone has to go to the hospital.

I want a great big bar of the Tangy damn Taffy!

Preferably grape.

You're in the big league!

I couldn't find these lyrics anywhere, but I found the ad online. What a great song and a great gum. When it first came out a pack of Hubba Bubba was only 25 cents, but this gum was 75 cents, but so much cooler (bigger too)!

Now you can get them for $3.50/pack on Amazon.


You're in the big league,
When you make a perfect slide.

You're in the big league,
When you keep the team alive.

You're in the big league,
When you block a shot or two.

You're in the big league,
When you’re into Big League Chew!

Leinenkugel's Fireside Nut Brown Lager

Last year Leinenkugel's dropped Heather's favorite beer - Apple Spice. Now they are announcing a new winter brew.

Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. said today it is launching a new seasonal beer: Leinenkugel's Fireside Nut Brown Lager.

An English-style beer, it contains 4.9% alcohol by volume and has a roasted malt character with amber tones. English two-row malts give it a "maple aroma and pronounced chocolate, caramel and hazelnut top notes," according to the brewer, which said in a press release that the seasonal brew "harkens to a time when multiple generations of the Leinenkugel family would gather with friends and enjoy a special brew crafted especially for the holiday season."

The beer will be available during November and December.

Great American Beer Fest - Wisconsin Winners

Here are the Wisconsin medal winners from the 2008 Great American Beer Fest, held last week in Denver. I'd say that Henry Weinhard cleaned up!

Gold Metal Winners

Capital Brewery Co. Capital Autumnal Fire - German-Style Strong Bock
Central Waters Brewing Co. Bourbon Barrel Barleywine - Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer
MillerCoors Coors Light - America-Style Light Lager
MillerCoors Henry Weinhard's Hefeweizen - American-Style Hefeweizen

Silver Metal Winners

Dells Brewing Co. Dells Chief Amber Ale - Scottish-Style Ale
Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. Leinenkugel's Creamy Dark - American-Style Dark Lager
Lakefront Brewery New Grist - Gluten-Free Beer
MillerCoors Hamm's - American-Style Cream Ale or Lager
Titletown Brewing Co. Railyard Ale - German-Style Altbier

Bronze Metal Winners

Great Dane Pub & Brewing Co. Old Scratch Barley Wine '99 - Old Ale or Strong Ale
MillerCoors Keystone Light - American-Style Light Lager
MillerCoors Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve - American-Style Lager or Premium Lager
MillerCoors OE 800 - International-Style Pilsener
MillerCoors Henry Weinhard's Classic Dark - American-Style Dark Lager
MillerCoors Henry Weinhard's Blue Boar Pale Ale - American-Style Cream Ale or Lager

Dallas Stampede Light Beer... wait for it... PLUS!

Someone else is using the Vitamin Beer™ idea, but not my special name for it. Stampede Brewing Company from Dallas, Texas is brewing Dallas Stampede Light Plus (the Plus means vitamins!) with the help of Jessica Simpson, who now owns 15% of the brewery. Kind of weird and kind of sad.

According to Stampede's website, their beer is made from "pure mountain spring water" (from the Texas mountains?) and infused with "smoked, white oak chips" but they don't list what vitamins are in there.

My Vitamin Beer™ will be chock-full of vitamins and they'll be proudly listed right on the bottle.

From the LA Times: Jessica Simpson pushes new vitamin-spiked beer!

New Schlitz beer now available on tap

From JSOnline, the new "classic formula" Schlitz beer is now available in draft. Maybe I'll get a keg.

Pabst Brewing Co., which owns the Schlitz brand, has begun distributing the brand's "Classic 60s formula" in kegs to taverns in Milwaukee and other areas in an effort to meet demand for the beer. The demand for Schlitz in bottles has outpaced production, which is done under contract at a MillerCoors LLC brewery in Eden, N.C.

Compared with the Schlitz sold in cans, the reformulated Schlitz in bottles has a more full-bodied taste. Schlitz has not been served as draft since 1999.

Remove Push to Talk (PTT) from your AT&T BlackBerry

Here’s how to remove the Push-to-Talk (PTT) application from your AT&T BlackBerry if you don't use it (just one less application that needs to be open on your phone):

1. Download javaloader.exe from somewhere by searching Google for it and save it to your c:\temp folder.

2. Open a DOS prompt (Start > Run > cmd) and attach your BlackBerry to your computer with a USB cable.

3. Run the following commands, one at a time. Your device will reboot after each command.

c:\temp\javaloader.exe -usb erase -f net_rim_bb_phone_ptt_app.cod
c:\temp\javaloader.exe -usb erase -f KnJCDE.cod

The King of Beers - Boston Beer Company

With Budweiser's acquisition by Belgian-based InBev, Boston Beer Company is now the country's largest, independent, publicly-traded brewery. But even with this new status, the maker of Sam Adams beer has less than 1% market share in the United States.

Fortune Magazine has an interview with Boston Beer CEO Jim Koch.

They also have a great interactive beer guide that shows which company makes which beers - 99 bottles in all.

Miller Light Craft Beers Dumped

From JSonline.com - MillerCoors is dropping plans for the Miller Lite Brewers Collection, three spinoffs of Miller Lite that tried to emulate craft beers.

I never got to try them. Oh well. Now girls everywhere can keep drinking beer without any taste.

Sleep well, sweet prince

From JSOnline, regarding Heather's favorite holiday-themed spiced malt beverage:

Leinenkugel drops Apple Spice, adds Nut

Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. is dropping its Apple Spice seasonal brand and replacing it with Leinenkugel's Fireside Nut Brown Lager, it was announced today.

The new holiday seasonal beer will be sold during November and December. The Chippewa Falls-based brewer says it will be "the perfect complement for holiday foods such as glazed hams, roasts, gravies, pies and pastries."

Apple Spice, which had been Leinenkugel's winter seasonal beer, is being dropped. Apple Spice had good sales, but its growth is currently limited by production costs and ingredient availability, a company spokeswoman said.

HBO's John Adams

I'm looking forward to watching HBO tonight for the first episode of their 7-part mini-series, John Adams, a biopic of the 2nd President and the story of the first fifty years of the United States.

HBO has made a bunch of great historical films: Band of Brothers, From the Earth to the Moon, and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. This one looks good too. It'll probably be more informative than anything you learned about John Adams from school. They could probably show this movie in 6th grade and skip history class for the rest of the year.

Paul Giamatti plays John Adams and Laura Linney plays his wife Abigail.

It should be cool seeing all the other characters from history too, like Benjamin Franklin (played by the great Tom Wilkinson).

If you don't know who invented something, or you wonder who said some famous quote, you should always assume it's Ben Franklin. The next time you're playing your glass harmonica during a thunderstorm, thank Ben that the lightning rod on your house will protect you from electricity shooting right up your urinary catheter.

Samuel Adams is in this movie too. You know, the guy who invented beer . Oh wait, that was probably Ben Franklin.

More Movies

I watched Fracture with Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling this week. It's sure nice to see Hopkins step out of his evil murderer role - oh wait, he plays an evil murderer in this movie too!

When Ted Crawford discovers that his beautiful younger wife, Jennifer, is having an affair, he plans her murder--the perfect murder. Among the cops arriving at the crime scene is hostage negotiator Detective Rob Nunally, the only officer permitted entry to the house. Surprisingly, Crawford readily admits to shooting his wife, but Nunally is too stunned to pay close attention when he recognizes his lover, whose true identity he never knew, lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Although Jennifer was shot at point blank range, Nunally realizes she isn't dead. Crawford is immediately arrested and arraigned after confessing--a seemingly slam-dunk case for hot shot assistant district attorney Willy Beachum, who has one foot out the door of the District Attorney's office on his way to a lucrative job in high-stakes corporate law. But nothing is as simple as it seems, including this case. Will the lure of power and a love affair with a sexy, ambitious attorney at his new firm overpower Willy's fierce drive to win, or worse, quash his code of ethics? In a tense duel of intellect and strategy, Crawford and Willy both learn that a "fracture" can be found in every ostensibly perfect facade.

I like Anthony Hopkins in most of his roles and he's always great playing an evil person. I found myself rooting for him to escape instead of being brought to justice. I also like Ryan Gosling from watching Lars and the Real Girl but he wasn't any spectacular in this movie. Still, I enjoyed the film and I recommend it.

I had recorded A Scanner Darkly from HBO awhile back and finally watched it this weekend. I knew a little bit about this movie and I like Robert Downey Jr. as an actor, so I was interested in it.

The movie is based on a Philip K. Dick novel. Dick wrote many other science fiction stories, several that have been made into films after his death (Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report).

To give the film a distinct look, the movie was filmed digitally and then animated using interpolated rotoscope over the original footage. To me, it looks kind of like a very-smooth cartoon, which was a perfect way of showing the drug-induced views of the characters in the movie.

Set in a future world where America has lost the war on drugs, an undercover cop, Fred, is one of many agents hooked on the popular drug Substance D, which causes its users to develop split personalities. Fred, for instance, is also Bob, a notorious drug dealer. Along with his superior officers, Fred sets up an elaborate scheme to catch Bob and tear down his operation.

Also starring in this film are Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, and Woody Harrelson. I enjoyed the animation and the acting, although the story was fairly complex and I had to pay close attention to make sure I knew what was going on. But you're rewarded with thoughtful and uncommon plot that makes it worth watching.

Films with Actors I Don't Like

I watched another movie in the continuing series I like to call Films with Actors I Don't Like.

Mr. Brooks

Consider Mr. Brooks: a successful businessman; a generous philanthropist; a loving father and devoted husband. Seemingly, he's perfect. But Mr. Brooks has a secret--he is an insatiable serial killer, so lethally clever that no one has ever suspected him--until now. Earl Brooks is a man who has managed to keep his two incompatible worlds from intersecting by controlling his cunning, wicked alter ego Marshall. But now, as Mr. Brooks succumbs to one last murderous urge, an amateur photographer witnesses the crime. Suddenly Brooks finds himself entangled in the dark agenda of an opportunistic bystander, as well as hunted by the unorthodox and tenacious detective Tracy Atwood. Can Mr. Brooks outsmart his adversaries and conceal his shocking double life from his wife and daughter--or will someone expose his crimes and his identity once and for all?

I didn’t know anything about this film before I watched it except that it starred Kevin Costner, who I do like. And I know that critics seem to pan all Kevin Costner movies.

But I didn’t realize it also stars Dane Cook (who I just saw in Dan in Real Life), who I don’t like. And it also stars Demi Moore, who I also don’t like.

But there were also some actors that I like. Besides Costner, I thought William Hurt was great in this movie and I've been a fan of his acting (Into the Wild and A History of Violence). I also like Marg Helgenberger from CSI, who plays Costner's wife.

Parts of this film were really good and I enjoyed it. There were other parts that were completely ridiculous (every plot envoloving Demi Moore's character) that almost ruined the movie for me. But the story is interesting enough to keep your attention though the stupid parts, and good acting my Costner and Hurt make it entertaining.

I also watched the Academy Award-nominated Disney movie Enchanted, with Amy Adams (who just hosted Saturday Night Live). The actor I don't like is Susan Sarandon.

The tale follows the beautiful princess Giselle as she is banished by an evil queen from her magical, musical animated land--and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn't operate on a "happily ever after" basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. But when Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer who has come to her aid--even though she is already promised to a perfect fairy tale prince back home--she has to wonder: can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?

This movie was better than I expected and I really enjoyed the songs, especially the ones I had heard on the Oscars a few weeks ago. It's worth watching, especially if you're a little girl.

Michael Scott and the Real Girl

I watched two decent movies this week.

Lars and the Real Girl is the story of Lars Lindstrom, a loveable introvert whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. After years of what is almost solitude, he invites Bianca, a friend he met on the internet to visit him. He introduces Bianca to his brother Gus and his wife Karen and they are stunned. They don't know what to say to Lars or Bianca--because she is a life-size doll, not a real person and he is treating her as though she is alive. They consult the family doctor Dagmar who explains this is a delusion he's created--for what reason she doesn't yet know but they should all go along with it. What follows is an emotional journey for Lars and the people around him.

This movie was surprisingly good - and touching - despite the fact that Lars's girlfriend is a doll. It's a smart comedy with a lot of tender moments. I was impressed and I think the movie is definitely worth watching.

Dan in Real Life stars Steve Carell from The Office in his typical role. Advice columnist Dan Burns is an expert on relationships, but somehow struggles to succeed as a brother, a son and a single parent.

Juliette Binoche is the love interest but she didn't seem quite right for the role - maybe a little too old. Comedian Dane Cook also stars in this movie and I'm not a big fan of his. The movie is also pretty predictable, but I still enjoyed it. Steve Carell does a great job and makes the movie fun to watch.

Vermont looks at lowering the drinking age

I used to care more about the legal drinking age when I was younger, but now I understand why the it's 21.

I don't understand how they can legally say that you can't drink at age 18, but I think it makes sense to try to discourage immature people from drinking. And everyone under the age of 30 is immature.

This week, a committee of the Vermont Senate approved a bill to have a task force weigh the pros and cons of rolling back the drinking age there to 18.

Organizations and lawmakers in other states are considering similar ideas.

In South Dakota, a lawyer had drafted an initiative petition to allow 19- and 20-year-olds to legally buy beer no stronger than 3.2 percent alcohol.

In Missouri, a group is using the Internet social networking sites Facebook and Meetup to try to collect more than 100,000 signatures to get a measure on the ballot to lower the drinking age to 18.

In South Carolina and Wisconsin, lawmakers have proposed allowing active duty military personnel younger than 21 to buy alcohol.

And last year, former Middlebury College president John McCardell started Choose Responsibility, a nonprofit that favors allowing 18- to 20-year-olds to legally buy alcohol once they've completed an alcohol education program.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving is against these proposals, saying the higher age limit has saved thousands of lives since the 1984 enactment of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. The act required states to raise the age to 21 or lose federal transportation money. South Dakota was the last state to comply, in 1988.

Read the full story on Yahoo! News.

The Hunting Party

I just finished another movie - The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere and Terrence Howard. I hadn't heard much about this movie but I saw Richard Gere on The Late Show and he seemed pretty enthusiastic about this film, so I gave it a shot.

Based on an article that was published in Esquire Magazine, The Hunting Party tells the story of three journalists who take it upon themselves to find the most wanted war criminal in the world, Bosnia's "The Fox".

I liked it; well worth a rental, especially if you are a Richard Gere fan. If anything it's a different story than the ones we're used to seeing. I'm not sure why it didn't get a lot of attention in the press. It scored a 7.1/10 on IMDB and 6/10 on Rotten Tomatoes.

Movies and the new iPic Theater

I watched a few new movies:

We Own the Night starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, and Robert Duvall.

Brooklyn, 1988. Crime is rife, especially drugs and drug violence. A Russian thug is building his heroin trade, while everyone laughs at the cops.

Brothers have chosen different paths: Joe has followed his father Bert into New York's Finest; he's a rising star. Bobby, who uses his mother's maiden name, manages a club. Bobby too is on the rise: he has a new girlfriend and a green-light to develop a Manhattan club.

Joe and Bert ask him to help with intelligence gathering; he declines. Then, Joe raids Bobby's club to arrest the Russian. From there, things spiral out of control: the Russian puts out a hit on Joe, personal losses mount, and Bobby's loyalties face the test.

This was a good action flick, but nothing you'll remember a year from now. Worth a rental.


Blue State starring Anna Paquin, Breckin Meyer (where do you know him from? Maybe from one episode of The Wonder Years in 1988) and George W. Bush. Blue State is a romantic comedy about a disgruntled Democrat who actually follows through on a drunken campaign promise to move to Canada if George "Dubya" Bush gets re-elected.

I thought this might be funny, but it was amateurish and not very good. I would skip it, even if you're a Bush-basher.


I went to the new high-end iPic movie theater at Bayshore Town Center to see the chick-flick Definitely, Maybe.

The theater is really cool - we had reserved seats that an usher escorted us to. The $9 seats ($6 for the matinee show plus $3 for VIP seats) included a large popcorn for each of us and you can add your own butter-flavored topping and various powders like barbecue flavoring, parmesan cheese, and salt.

The VIP seats are probably most comfortable movie seats I've experienced. They are giant high-backed love seats with an armrest that you can move out of the way and each side can rock back independently of the other side. The seats are also really spaced out so there's only like 10 people in each row.

The theater was immaculate and the sound and screen were excellent. I think the higher prices might keep out the riffraff too, like the damn rich kids I ran into at Marcus North Shore last December.

The theater also has a restaurant, a bowling alley, and a bar (you can bring your drinks into the movie and micro-beer prices are $5, not bad for movie theater prices). I was impressed with the theater and I'll definitely be back, even if the prices are slightly higher than at Marcus theaters.

Here's a free tip for you. On Tuesday nights you can get a half-pound hamburger from Bar Louie at Bayshore for just $1. And if you go before 7:00pm, all beer taps are just $2, including all sorts of microbrews like Lindemans Framboise and Delirium Tremens. So for $5 you can get two great beers and a decent burger; there's your cheap date before a movie.

Definitely, Maybe was OK. It starred Ryan Reynolds, who I think plays generic roles that could be played by any young, male actor. He was decent in this, but reminded me too much of comedian Dane Cook.

In this movie, a political consultant tries to explain his impending divorce and past relationships to his 11-year-old daughter. There are a lot of Madison, Wisconsin, references in the movie, although none of the movie is filmed there.

I was entertained by this romantic comedy, but probably could have waited for the DVD.

New beer technology

I don't know how I could have missed all of this new beer technology from Coors. Maybe it's because I avoid that swill.

Still, I think everyone can appreciate Coor's new way to drink beer faster than ever before. Maybe after the Miller/Coors merger we can enjoy some of these fine new technologies on cans of MillerCoors High Life Banquet Light.

From Brandweek.com:

Coors has introduced a “Vented Wide Mouth Can” for six and twelve packs of Coors Light and Coors Banquet. The new vented mouth directs airflow into the can to enhance the swigging experience for can drinkers.

The packaging is an evolution of last year’s introduction of the “Smooth Draft Vent Can,” which featured a wide opening that enabled the liquid to pour smoothly like a draught tap.

Last year, the No. 3 brewer also debuted its “Cold Activated Bottle” which features a thermochromatic label that turns the Rocky Mountain label blue when the beer reaches the optimum temperature.

This year they will also introduce a 24-ounce “Cold Activated Can” as well as distribute pint glasses with the Rocky Mountain logo that turns blue when beer is cold enough.

Car Fire

I saw a car on fire today on the way home. There was a big flame coming out of the engine but you can't see it in this picture, just the smoke as the cop put the fire out. It smelled poisonous.

Milwaukee on Google Maps Street View

Milwaukee has been added to Google Maps Street View. It's pretty cool. Here's a view of my building:

Mmmm.... Dirty Old Man

The Madison Isthmus website has a review of a beer I just had at the Midwinter Brew Fest at the Milwaukee Ale House last weekend: Tyranena's Dirty Old Man.

I'm a big fan of Tyranena beers, especially their extra hoppy styles like their Bitter Woman IPA series. This beer is part of the Tyranena Brewers Gone Wild series of beer - extreme flavors and unusual styles that are all very good.

Dirty Old Man is an Imperial Rye Porter that was aged in rye barrels that used to contain Jim Beam Yellow Label (Rye whiskey, aged 4 years, 80 proof).

This beer is strong, dark, and sweet. It also has a strong whiskey taste.

Beer aged in bourbon and whiskey barrels is very popular lately and it took me awhile to get used to the whiskey taste, but now I really like it, especially when it has warmed a little in a glass.

Tyranena Dirty Old Man is rated an A- on Beer Advocate.

More Oscar nominated movies

On my continuing quest to watch all of the Academy Award nominated films of 2007, I watched two good movies this week:


Michael Clayton is an in-house "fixer" at one of the largest corporate law firms in New York. A former criminal prosecutor, Clayton takes care of Kenner, Bach & Ledeen's dirtiest work at the behest of the firm's co-founder Marty Bach. Though burned out and hardly content with his job as a fixer, his divorce, a failed business venture and mounting debt have left Clayton inextricably tied to the firm. At U/North, meanwhile, the career of litigator Karen Crowder rests on the multi-million dollar settlement of a class action suit that Clayton's firm is leading to a seemingly successful conclusion. But when Kenner Bach's brilliant and guilt-ridden attorney Arthur Edens sabotages the U/North case, Clayton faces the biggest challenge of his career and his life.

This movie, starring George Clooney and Tom Wilkinson gets special props from me for its references to Milwaukee. This movie has 7 Oscar nominations.

Into the Wild: Freshly graduated from college with a promising future, 22 year-old Christopher McCandless instead walked out of his privileged life and into the wild in search of adventure. What happened to him on the way transformed this young wanderer into an enduring symbol for countless people. Was Christopher McCandless a heroic adventurer or a naive idealist, a rebellious 1990s Thoreau or another lost American son, a fearless risk-taker or a tragic figure who wrestled with the precarious balance between man and nature? McCandless' quest took him from the wheat fields of South Dakota to a renegade trip down the Colorado River to the non-conformists' refuge of Slab City, California, and beyond. Along the way, he encountered a series of colorful characters at the very edges of American society who shaped his understanding of life and whose lives he, in turn, changed. In the end, he tested himself by heading alone into the wilds of the great North, where everything he had seen and learned and felt came to a head in ways he never could have expected.

This movie stars Emile Hirsch (only known by me from an episode of NYPD Blue) and is directed by Sean Penn. I didn't know anything about it before watching it and I really enjoyed the story. This movie has 2 Oscar nominations.

How to remove streaks from stainless steel appliances

I had some major streaks on my stainless steel kegorator that I couldn't remove. Soap and water had no effect at all. So I looked online and there were quite a few cleaning suggestions: vinegar, club soda, rubbing alcohol, a citrus oil based cleaner, a sheepskin chamois, and Soft Scrub.

I tried a few, but they sucked. Here's what worked for me, a night-and-day difference - in about 5 seconds: olive oil.

I put a small amount of olive oil on a paper towel and wiped away - the streaks were gone immediately and the whole thing shined like it was brand new. I then used it on my streaky and spotty dishwasher and oven and it worked on them as well.

I'm not afraid to say that olive oil is a miracle cleaner for stainless steal. And choosing extra virgin olive oil as your main source of dietary fat, combined with eating a healthy diet that is high in plant foods, may reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Who knew?

Healthy beer idea stolen from brewery

According to the Courthouse News, the Cleveland brewery Brewmandu is suing a former employeed for stealing their idea for healthy beer. The beer has "vitamins and nutrients to protect the liver and offer increased nutritional content to combat the negative effects of alcohol consumption."

I think it's a good idea. I've always wondered why they don't put vitamins and minerals in stuff that's bad for you, like candy. Mmmmm, Mike & Ikes with Vitamin C.

In fact, I'm going to invent my own healthy beer and call it Vitamin Beer™. Ha! Now that it's written somewhere, you can't steal the name.

I can't find any records for Brewmandu anywhere on the web, so it must be a really small or really new brewery. The brewery that the employee started himself, Lott Bier Works, also doesn't seem to exist anywhere. The Lion Brewery, which is the evil employee's partner, does have a website, but they don't mention the healthy beer anywhere.

I guess it will be awhile before we can buy Vitamin Beer™ in stores.

New beer on tap: Lakefront Big Easy Lager

I finally finished the half-barrel of Lakefront IPA that I had on tap since the end of October. Not all of my guests like IPA-style beers, so it went a little slower than some of the other beers I've had. I thought it was great, and I liked the taste even better as it aged. I probably should have bought just a quarter-barrel, but they didn't have any available at the time.

My new beer on tap is another Lakefront Brewery selection, Big Easy Lager (in honor of Mardi Gras and something light for my Super Bowl party).

This beer won a Bronze Medal at the 2004 World Beer Cup in the German Style Heller Bock/Maibock category. Heller Bock and Maibock beer are described by the World Beer Cup here:

The German word helle means light colored, and as such, a heller Bock is light straw to deep golden in color. Maibocks are also light-colored bocks. The malty character should come through in the aroma and flavor. Body is medium to full. Hop bitterness should be low, while noble-type hop aroma and flavor may be at low to medium levels. Bitterness increases with gravity. Fruity esters may be perceived at low levels. Diacetyl levels should be very low. Chill haze should not be perceived.

BeerMe.com describes Big Easy as a bright amber with a big thick head. Clean toasty malt aroma. Medium smooth body. Sweet toasty malt flavor all the way through. Just a hint of noble hop flavor at the end, and maybe just a bit of alcohol.

This barrel was kegged just 8 days ago, so it should be nice and fresh from the brewery.

The world's most expensive beer: Vintage No. 1

In November I wrote about Sam Adams Utopias - the $140 per bottle beer that's 27% alcohol.

Today I heard about a new beer that's even more expensive, but it doesn't come in a bottle that's nearly as cool as Utopias.

Carlsberg A/S (the the 5th largest brewery in the world) has produced 600 bottles of a special beer that will only be sold at three upscale restaurants in Copenhagen. The beer is called Vintage No. 1.

Vintage No. 1 contains 10.5% alcohol and comes in 12.8 ounce bottles (the golden Utopias bottle looks much larger than that).

The bottles cost $396.47 each.

The beer contains hints of prune, caramel, vanilla, and oak from the French and Swedish wooden casks in which it is stored.

Utopias is described with hints of passion fruit, peach, pear, sweet vanilla, butter, toffee, and fig.

I'm not even going to bother asking for a bottle of Vintage No. 1. I'd rather have a bottle of the Utopias and put the extra $256.47 towards some Miller High Life.

Leinie's Northwoods Lager is back

From JSOnline:

Chippewa Falls-based Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. is bringing back its Northwoods Lager seasonal brand to Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and portions of Michigan and Illinois beginning Feb. 4, the company announced today.

Northwoods Lager, was first introduced in 1986 as a fall seasonal and became a year-round brew in 1990. It has been out of distribution for two years, and is returning as a seasonal brand in response to customer demand, a company statement said.

I like most beers Leinenkugels. North Woods Lager is pretty good.

Movies (including the best movie of 2007)

I saw the best movie of 2007 this week: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

An action western surrounding the private life and public exploits of America's most notorious outlaw, Jesse James. As the charismatic and unpredictable outlaw plans his next great robbery, he wages war on his enemies, who are trying to collect the reward money--and the glory--that is riding on his capture. However, the greatest threat to Jesse's life may ultimately come from those he trusts the most.

I'm avoiding watching A Mighty Heart, the story of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's kidnapping and murder in Pakistan, because I already know so much about that story and I don't want to have to relive that disturbing story.

But even though I knew that the Assassination of Jesse James will have an ultimately disturbing ending, the story drew me in and the anticipation of the assassination was what kept me interested and on the edge of my seat. The movies 160 minutes long but the story is tight and moves quickly.

Brad Pitt is excellent is his role as a tired-eyed, mentally-unstable Jesse James. Casey Affleck was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as Robert Ford. There are other good actors in this film as well, like Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, Sam Shepard, and Mary-Louise Parker.

I was excited to see Nick Cave, from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, playing a saloon singer near the end of the film. He sang The Ballad of Jesse James, which I had first heard on Bruce Springsteen's album We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. I know now that it's a traditional song that many artists have recorded, including Van Morrison.

Anyway, the movie was great and is the best I saw that was made in 2007.


Another film I watched this week was Across the Universe, a musical based on interpretations of classic Beatles songs. I thought there were some obvious similarities to Moulin Rouge!, which undoubtedly inspired this film.

A romantic musical told mainly through numerous Beatles songs performed by the characters. A young man from Liverpool comes to America during the Vietnam War to find his father. He winds up in Greenwich Village, where he falls in love with an American girl who has grown up sheltered in the suburbs. Together they experience the sweeping changes of America in the late 60's.

The main character is a Moulin Rouge! rip off of Ewan McGregor, named Jude (of course), played by Jim Sturgess.

The heroine in the film is Evan Rachel Wood. I really like her as an actress and I just watched in the film King of California with Michael Douglas. I first saw in the TV series Once and Again years ago. She apparently sings her own songs in this movie and sounds great.

Bono from U2 also has a small role in the film and sings a couple songs.

I'm not a huge Beatles fan but I really liked Moulin Rouge!, and I thought this film worked and is worth watching. If you're a big Bealtes or musical fan, you'll probably love it.


The final film from this week was Rendition.

A thriller that centers on Isabella El-Ibrahimi, the American wife of Egyptian-born chemical engineer Anwar El-Ibrahimi, who disappears on a flight from South Africa to Washington. Isabella desperately tries to track her husband down, while a CIA analyst at a secret detention facility outside the U.S. is forced to question his assignment as he becomes party to the man's unorthodox interrogation.

I wasn't expecting too much of this film, but it was decent. The story avoids being predictable for the most part and thankfully puts limits on the torture scenes that, in a film like this, are mandatory.

Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal play the good Americans in this film. This is also the first time I saw Peter Sarsgaard play a non-bad guy. The evil people are J.K. Simmons (the great actor from Law & Order and everything else these days) and Meryl Streep, along with miscellaneous Muslim terrorists.

And guess what? This film teaches us a lesson: not all Muslims are terrorists. Thank you film industry, we get it. You can stop making movies about it now.

New Milwaukee brewery: Buffalo Water Brewing Co.

I may be late to the game, but according to Suds, Wine & Spirits, a new brewery has opened in Milwaukee called Buffalo Water Brewing Company. Their website says both Buffalo Water Beer Company and Brewing Company, so who knows?

From the pictures on their website, it appears they are using Milwaukee Brewing Company's brewing equipment at their new stand-alone brewery at 613 South 2nd St (Jim McCabe owns the Milwaukee Ale House and Milwaukee Brewing Company). The Suds website says BWBC leases space at the 2nd Street brewery and is a separate company from the Ale House, although their relationship with them is obviously a close one. They plan on eventually brewing their beer via contract at multiple locations around country.

Their website says that Buffalo Water Beer Company is located at the intersection of Water Street and Buffalo Street in the heart of Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward district, which is also where the new and popular Water Buffalo Restaurant and Bar is located (and just down the block from the Ale House).

The Buffalo Water Brewing Company's flagship (and only) beer, Bison Blonde is now on tap at the Milwaukee Ale House and Just Arts Saloon (also on 2nd Street). The brewery has two more beers in the works: a witte and a nutty ale.

The blonde beer was specifically formulated to be paired with Buffalo wings and other hot and spicy foods. Bison Blonde is brewed in accordance with Reinheitsgebot and has 4.4% ABV.

Update: I tasted this beer last weekend at the Midwinter Brew Fest. It's OK. I think the beer might be more about marketing right now instead of taste. Pretty soon all the young teens will be saying they "slammed a Blonde" this weekend, which is one of Buffalo Water Beer Company's slogans.

Obama gets the beer vote

The National Beer Wholesalers Association has a new website (http://www.whodoyouwanttohaveabeerwith.com) that that asks the question "Which of the presidential candidates would you rather have a beer with in 2008?"

Thank God for the National Beer Wholesalers Association. They're not afraid to ask voters the tough questions.

If you think the results of the presidential election will be based on the beer vote (and I do), then Barack Obama should win by a landslide (he's currently at 28%). Internet favorite Ron Paul is 2nd with 15%. I admit, it would be fun to have a drink with Ron Paul and find out why he'd decriminalize drugs at the federal level.

The website states, “drinking a beer with someone means more than just quenching thirst. It means spending quality time with another person.” I would think getting a buzz from alcohol is also a part of it.

“Sitting down for a beer is a great way for people to get to know each other and share stories. And the 2008 presidential campaign is all about getting to know the candidates better.”

Cover boy

I don't believe in the Sports Illustrated Cover Curse. It's a myth, right? After all, the Patriots have been on the cover all year, and they're doing just fine.

Movies

I watched He Was a Quiet Man last night. I hadn't heard of it before but it had a 80% rating on Rotton Tomatoes, so I gave it a chance.

It was bad.

Christian Slater (from nothing good lately) was main star and it also featured William H. Macy (from many great roles) and Elisha Cuthbert (from "24" on TV).

I thought it had some very interesting camera work and special effects, but they seemed cheesy after awhile and seemed more appropriate for a funky short. The acting was predictable and the story was weak - I thought there a major plot fault as well. I wouldn't recommend it.


I also finally saw No Country for Old Men with Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem.

Just as everything I've read about it and like everyone else I've talked to, I thought it was great.

Although I'm pretty sure that while I understood the ending, I didn't like it. Maybe I just wasn't satisfied by it. I didn't want to be taught a lesson about good and evil in that way.

More Good Movies

I saw two more movies this week. Both of them were quite good.

Atonement
Fledgling writer Briony Tallis, as a 13-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's (Keira Knightley) lover (James McAvoy) of a crime he did not commit. Based on the British romance novel by Ian McEwan.

With a little romance and a little war, this movie has something for everyone! I hadn't heard of the book, but it was very popular and the story is great.

But I have a hard team understanding spoken British in movies, so if you're like me, you may want to wait for the DVD so you can turn on the English subtitles.


Charlie Wilson's War
A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects. Starring Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Julia Roberts.

Philip Seymour Hoffman is in pretty much every movie these days, but he's a terrific actor and is great in this film. Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts pretty much play the same role they play in all movies - themselves (but this time with Texas accents)!

But the story is what makes this film good and it's an interesting 'true' story that I hadn't heard in this way before. There are many parallels to the war we are currently fighting in Afghanistan, which I'm sure was one of the producers main points.

There's even a reference in the movie to the killing of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in Pakistan, which seemed very eerie to me because his daughter Benazir Bhutto was killed in Pakistan a few days before I watched this film.