Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

Time	Event
10:45p	Matt's Movie Review: "21" Hey all, Here comes the first of a rapid-fire succession of posts, from a AAA TV on Galavision review of the rest of the Rey de Reyes show, to a movie review of “21,” to a book review of the recent “Dresden Files” novel, “Small Favor” by Jim Butcher….fun fun fun, and let’s get to the first blog post here. ( ”Matt’s ) (Comment on this)
11:36p	Matt's AAA TV on Galavision review: 4/26/08 Hey again, fans and readers, It’s AAA TV Time on Galavision, as they aired the second half of the Rey De Reyes card this weekend. Watching this on DVR before work Monday night, I kind of skimmed through this, so it’s probably not the thorough-est of reviews. ( Matt's Review of AAA TV on Galavision for 4-26-08 ) (Comment on this)
11:41p	Matt's mini-book review of "Small Favor" by Jim Butcher (Dresden Files novel) Hey all, It’s book review time, as I finally got through the last third of “Small Favor” by Jim Butcher tonight after “NCIS.” Of course, this a month after the book came out, but with Butcher’s writing, you hate to put the book down. I hated to do this, but of course, it took me a few days before I could sit down and properly devote my focus to the book. It was well worth the wait. Plot: The Winter Queen Mab is back, and she is calling in one of the two favors that our favorite wizard/private detective, Harry Dresden, owes her. Mab wants Harry to investigate the sudden disappearance of Harry’s favorite criminal, Chicago gangland kingpin, “Gentleman” Johnnie Marcone, who has involvement in the Seelie Accords. Unbeknownst to Harry, enemies from the past are emerging in a well-thought out plot to force a power-play on the White Council. Not to mention that with Mab choosing Harry as her Emissary….the forces of Summer are out to kill Harry in a big way. Of course, it’s up to Harry to save the day, figure things out, and flat-out survive. Review: One thing I simply enjoy about Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” novels is the amount of great pop-culture references he pops up throughout his writing. It’s one of those simple things that makes reading Dresden an absolute joy. It really helps Butcher with the sheer “flow” of his writing. As for the story, Butcher must have channeled Robert B. Parker in the mystery behind things, as at the beginning of the book, you have absolutely NO idea who your bad guy is, or who he/she could possibly be. I won’t give it away, but it’s a face from the past that Harry did NOT want to see. For “Dresden” fans, it’s the return of two of the three Sword-bearing Knights, Michael Carpenter and Russian swordsman, Sanya, as well as a nice moment with the Carpenter kids helping Harry train Molly. You also have a cadre of Harry’s enemies from a prior book, the brief return of Toot Toot, and a pop up from someone from “Summer Knight.” It’s a great return of many people, but a lot of “Dresden” files will be disappointed to learn there’s no McCoy, surprisingly no Warden Morgan to loom over Dresden’s shoulder, and not very much Bob the Skull, which is sad (as Bob typically MAKES Dresden). All in all, for Butcher’s tenth “Dresden Files” novel, Butcher has really hit his stride with the great combination of comedy, mystery writing (as this was one of the first Dresden novels where you didn’t know where he was going with it/who the baddie was), and with what happens at the end of this, you are left wondering how things are going to go with Harry and how certain people recover from the events of the end of this novel. GRADE: A-; best Dresden to date. (Comment on this)

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