Finally got around to seeing Inglourious Basterds. Tarratino’s alternate WWII history is a great mix of intertwining storylines and superlative acting. I really enjoyed this quite a bit. Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa was just brilliant and played the bad guy with much relish. Polished, refined, charming, and able to speak several languages including English, French, and Italian; Landa is very much a coiled snake that lulls his victims so they lower their defenses and then he strikes with lightning, brutal violence. Brilliant!

Finished Dresden Files: Blood Rites, the 6th book in the series, by Jim Butcher. Man, Butcher really puts Harry through the ringer. Dresden showed more power as a wizard than ever before but the cost of that was a permanent(?) physical infirmity and the discovery that his newly found power is tapping into a source of dubious nature. We learned more about Harry’s family background and the discovery he has a half brother, who just happens to be a vampire. Harry finds upon his body a sigil mark of a talisman he believe securely locked away. He also learns his mentor, Ebenezar McCoy, is the Wizard’s clean up man, who gets to break all the rules that he taught Harry should never be broken, and all other Wizards live by. Powerful stuff.

Oh and Harry ended up with a dog too. Of course it is no ordinary dog.