Storm Front by Jim Butcher

When a double homocide leaves Lieutenant Murphy confused, she calls upon her close friend Harry Dresden. Dresden is not your average private investigator. He is the only qualified wizard in Chicago running his own PI firm, and money is tight because no one needs any paranormal investigations. Which is why Dresden gets excited when he gets two jobs in one day.

Harry Dresden is, in a word, entertaining. What all encompasses entertaining? Let me count the ways:

Entertaining means funny. I finally got into this book when Harry is fighting off a toad-like demon, naked, in the middle of a date. It is not as it seems, I swear to you! His lady friend is fully clothed . . . in a sexy dress. But that's beside the point. The point is I read this part in a public place and I may or may not have been given many odd looks laughing myself silly. So there. Harry Dresden is funny.

Entertaining also means action-packed. Harry fights off demons, fights off inept wizards, and fights off the mafia. He also avoids giant growing scorpions, and gets his sneakers stolen from his cat.

Entertaining involves a little mystery too. Who murdered those two people and how did they do it? More importantly, who will be next? Harry hunts him down through dead ends and even puts himself at personal risk. Not because this stuff is dangerous, but because of legal wizarding issues explained in the book.

Problems I had with the book? The beginning is slow, but I give the book the benefit of the doubt for that. Harry comes at you fully developed with history and humor. It takes a few chapters to really settle into a groove with that. I read this book a while ago, and I came out loving it to no end. This isn't my best review, it's just something to bring me out of my lull.

I recommend Storm Front to anyone looking for a good laugh. Don't go in looking for some thought-provoking plot with captivating characters. Go in looking for a good time and witty sarcasm. You'll come out a better person because of it.

Haitus

This is just to say that my reviews, essays, and opinions will be on haitus until I can figure out how to solve my computer problems.

In the meantime, I will prepare what to write about my current reads. You'll have to make do with the suspense until then. I hope you can handle it. And if you can't handle it, here are a few things on my favorites list:

My Life is Average
Good Reads
IMDB

I'm sure you've heard of them before. And while you're at it, add me as a friend on Good Reads!

A few things on Nightwish

One of my favorite bands of all time is Nightwish. Naturally, I head over to YouTube to check them out in concert once in a while. Then I read the comments, and I get frustrated and tired at the same time. This is why:

When Nightwish was first formed, their lead singer was Tarja Turunen -- a classically trained charismatic woman. Her voice is powerful and very beautiful when paired with the rocking guitars of heavy metal. Example below:



In 2005, Nightwish kicked Tarja out of the band via open letter. She went on to start a solo career while Nightwish held open auditions for a new singer. About a year later, in May 2006, Nightwish announced Anette Olzen as their new lead singer and released the single "Eva" so fans wouldn't judge her by a picture or past work. They released their latest album Dark Passion Play in 2007.


This is not "Eva".

If you actually go to YouTube to watch these, read the comments. So many people comment on the awesomeness of Tarja and how Anette sucks. I wonder if they've ever listened to Dark Passion Play. Personally, I love that album better than the others because it offers a wider variety than their older albums. A lot of the songs featuring Tarja have the same style and blend together. The songs featuring Anette aren't the same song redone with a different melody, which is what Tarja seems to sing all the time.

So that's my opinion on the matter. Both Tarja and Anette are great singers in their own right. I prefer Anette because she brought the band a great deal more freedom than Tarja seemed to do. This opinion is expressed here because it gets lost in YouTube comments.

Now go, enjoy the singers, and be sure to comment on your favorite Nightwish songs. I'm a fan of "Nemo", "The Poet and the Pendulum", "The Islander", and "Sahara".

On a side note, I found another live video of Anette last night also singing "Nemo" as above. About a minute and a half through, when she sings the lyrics "touch me with your love", Tuomas pats her on the head. Unfortunately, I couldn't find that video again. *tear*

A New Year, A New Virus

Oh no! My computer has come down with a cold! Serious symptoms ensue -- the most prominent being the lack of Internet connection. It appears a virus is taking over because shortly after I couldn't get Internet, my Sidebar and then my Mouse stopped functioning properly. Never fear, for I have connections to computer geeks people would pay money for.

In the meantime, I'm reading books, watching movies, playing games, and writing. I'll review later, but I did dabble into:

"Fire" by Kristin Cashore
James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (for the Nintendo DS)
Pokemon LeafGreen
"Storm Front" by Jim Butcher

I'm still reading "Storm Front" but it's going slowly. Mostly because I have a Staryu to train in preparation for my fight with Blaine the Cinnibar Island Gym Leader. And I did everything but the final boss in the Avatar game. Stupid Tharanatar won't die!! That does not look like that creature's name, so I'm sorry for getting it wrong. But my current main priority is getting my poor computer fixed.

Happy New Year, Dear Reader!