CE Wills

      Hey, everyone. It should be a great postseason. Seattle at Washington will be the battle of the rookie quarterbacks. Seattle will not have its 12th man along in D.C. I'd have to pick the Redskins to win. I really felt bad for Tony Romo tonight. His receivers didn't fight for the ball enough and Tony made several poor throws. Man, the spotlight is intense on these guys. Not a lot of room for failure in this league.      The Falcons lost a meaningless game today against Tampa Bay. I hope that John Abraham and Dunta Robinson can heal quickly.      Adrian Petersen may be a mutant, I'm not sure. I'd like to have seen the big guy break Eric Dickerson's record for yardage. Eric was a big, fast, tough runner, back in the day. I'd like to see Minnesota beat the Pack in Green Bay next weekend but I doubt it will happen. Back in the Bud Grant regime in Viking lore, I felt bad that they never got their Super Bowl rings. They went to the big game 4 or 5 times, if I

Hey, everyone. Having trouble with my Internet service yet again. My heartfelt appreciation to Wild Blue, possibly .... Never mind.      Tonight I got to see the end of Mass Effect, Infiltrator on my I-Pad. The last chapter is an epic battle with a guy that is a clone of my own character, I guess. He uses weapons identical to my own, cloaks himself in invisibility and levitates himself to escape my fury. It is a protracted battle with your best hope being a ' run an gun' style. I'd like to thank Trevor for his help in this game, enabling me to see the ending. I was stuck in that long hallway with the obnoxious and stubborn snipers. The ending left me wondering. I mean, you stand over the fallen warrior, point your weapon at him and shoot him, while telling his ' boss' that you are coming for him. (You are talking to the boss via comm link.) That is the end, other than a link to a web site.??? At any rate, it was a great game and well worth the $7 or $8 which I

    Hey, everyone. Tonight I watched a good movie and I thought I'd tell you about it. The title was All the Pretty Horses , from the book by Cormac McCarthy. I'd rate it as 4.5 stars out of 5. Here's the recipe.     John Grady Cole (Matt Damon) is a Texan, in 1948. His family ranch has been lost, so he and his pard, Lacy Rawlins, (Played by Henry Thomas) decide to go to Mexico. They are young and bold and they find more adventure than they were seeking.      A younger boy tags along with them. He gets his horse stolen and steals it back. This does not endear them to the Mexican authorities, as you can imagine. The three split up and Cole and Lacy get a job breaking horses on a huge ranch.      The rancher's daughter, Alejandra, (Played by Penelope Cruz) falls in love with Cole, and he falls in love with her. Unfortunately, the girl's Aunt doesn't approve of the relationship. She turns John Grady Cole and Lacy Rawlins over to the authorities and they go to

    Hey, everyone. I recently stopped by the library and checked out a book by Lee Child. It is titled The Affair and it is an excellent read. Here's the recipe.        Jack Reacher is the hero. At the time of this story, he is still in the Army. He is a Major and is highly regarded in the Military Police. He is sent on a case to the deep south, an Army base in Mississippi. He is actually sent to the small town adjacent to the base and he goes into the area incognito. A Senator's son is under a cloud of suspicion. Several beautiful young women have turned up dead in the area and it is coincidental that the young Army Ranger has dated all of them. When another dead body shows up, the base is locked down. Tne town's economy tanks out and pressure becomes intense on the local Sheriff.      This Sheriff has been a member of the Military Police, herself. She is a former Marine and she sees through Reacher's disguise immediately. That's okay, because she is in need o

    Hey, everyone. With great power comes great responsibility. Uncle Ben says that all the time. As the foremost zombie killer in the South, I have to keep the zombie hordes at bay. Someone gave me a shirt for Christmas, in recognition of my skills. (Shown above.) I also received an I-Tunes gift card, so I combined the two. I put on my new shirt and bought some zombie games and went on a campaign to remove the zombie menace from a creepy mansion. With my stash of I-Tunes cash, I splurged on new weaponry and commenced harsh retribution on the undead. I am glad my new shirt is black because these flowers from outer space were spitting green slime at me. They also were dropping huge spiders that blew apart when I blasted them. A messy job.      Luckily, earlier in the day, we had taken down the Christmas tree and put my recliner back in it's hole. Exhausted by zombie battling, I felt obligated to recline and take a nap, ensuring that the chair still worked properly.     In other

   Hey, everyone. It being Christmas, I thought you might have a few Super-Heroes on your list. As a full service blog, I thought I'd share some of the things I have bought for my super-friends. 1) Spiderman- Anything. The guy has no luck at all. 2) Submariner- Deodorant. He smells like fish. 3) Superman- Kryptonite antidote. 4) Green Lantern- A matching green bracelet for that cool ring. 5) Iron Man- Pepper Potts, wrapped in a red ribbon. Just a red ribbon. 6) Batman- A dehumidifier for that drafty old Bat-cave. 7) Hulk- Clothes are always good. The dude is hard on clothes. 8) Flash- Shoes, obviously. Yellow Reeboks with wings on them. How is it that he doesn't have a shoe deal with Nike or someone? 9) Wonder Woman- Victoria's Secret, of course. I'd need her there with me to try on the stuff. 10) Black Widow- A whip, to go with all that black leather. 11) Thor- A new name. So he wouldn't sound like a muscle condition with a speech impediment. 12) Cat

    Hey, everyone. I am always interested in 'game reactions'. I am talking about how people react to playing different games. Almost always, there are surprises when Holidays come around and I am watching folks who are playing I-Pads. Yesterday was no exception.      I had picked up, on Friday, a freebie called Middle manager Of Justice. I had yet to play it but could perceive from walking past youngsters as they played it that it is like a management game which features an office full of super heroes. You hire super-dudes and upgrade their abilities and costumes, sending them out to save the day. Once, I sat down by a player and said, "Dude, you sure you don't want me to show you Modern Combat 4 or something more action-packed?" I came back an hour later and the game was on-going. It must be good.     But the big draw was Call of Mini-Zombies: Brawlers. I had actually gotten time to play this game on Saturday. It has superb graphics and is a two-stick shoot

     Hey, everyone. Carley and I went out today and braved the swelling throngs of procrastinators, shopping for the late Christmas gifts. After a nice meal and a stop at a few stores, we went to see the movie titled Jack Reacher , with Tom Cruise in the title role. It rocks. I'd call it 5 stars out of 5 and Carley calls it 4.5 stars out of 5. As you know, Lee Child is the best-selling author of the Jack Reacher series. His fans were somewhat upset at the choice of Cruise because Tom is short and Reacher is tall. Let me set their minds at ease. Tom Cruise nails this role. Besides, any guy who does his own stunts and dates the women that Tom has dated, or married, deserves my respect and jealousy admiration. But, lets talk about the movie.       In Pittsburgh, a crazed sniper shoots 5 innocent people at random. He is a burnout from the Iraqi war, a James Barr, and it is believed that he just flipped. For some reason, he asks for Jack Reacher to be sent for. This is funny, becaus

    Hey, everyone. This morning I bought a new game called Shardlands. It is on sale for 99 cents. Carley was watching me play it tonight and she decided that it was a puzzle, rather than an adventure game, so she downloaded it as well. This was odd because we were both playing the same game. I like this game. Why? Well, here's the recipe.      To start with, the graphics are beautiful and colorful. it sets a mellow pace, without appreciable pressure. Thirdly, it is fun and you can play it without getting aggravated. Besides, it has a quest, goals and achievements, and is always changing. It reminds me somewhat of Bastion , but is not as complicated.     It seems that you are a traveler of strange dimensions. You are in search of orbs of light, with a buddy that is named Spirit. These orbs are in some of the darnest places. For instance, some of them are guarded by blue monsters that pace back and forth, back and forth, on their faithful path. You can catch their back turned an

    Hey, everyone.  What have I been doing? Oh, this and that. I'm reading a novel by Lee Child called The Affair . It is quite good, but I haven't finished it yet, so I'll wait on my review. I have also been playing games out the Wazoo. A few old ones and a few new ones. Is there a lot of games on sale? Heck, yeah. For instance, I got a freebie called The Walking Dead, episode 1 . There are five chapters in this series which sells for $4.99 each. Right now the first one is free. I am not too far into it, so I will neither brag on it nor criticize it.       I also got a game, for free, called WOPR . It is the oddest match 3 game I've played. They use a plot for it that was inspired from the old movie called War Games , with Matthew Broderick. This movie starred Broderick as a kid that hacked into the Air Defense Command at NORAD so he could play video games with WOPR, their war games computer. That was cool until the FBI came to visit him. In reality, you can just ig

    Hey, everyone and good morning. A few months ago, I asked Siri, the robotic, disembodied voice on my I-Pad, a question. I had not had her services for very long and was interested in testing her abilities. I found her to be fascinating and she has a cool personality and a nice voice. I have mentioned on these pages some of the stuff she has said.      If you recall, I asked her for information concerning the author, CE Wills. (myself) She gave me the name and address, along with a map, for a bookstore in Spain. Then she said, "It's hard to read inside a dog's belly because it is dark in there."     Well, my wife and I thought that Siri had lost her digital mind, as you might expect. We howled with laughter and I ratted her out on the blog about it. But now, as Paul Harvey would say, I have the 'rest of the story'.     I found out this morning, quite by accident, that Siri was quoting funnyman Groucho Marx, who spoke of books in a similar way. "

    Hey, everyone. Carley and I had a nice time today and tonight. We went to a movie and then out to eat. The crowds were out in force. One of the more crowded places was the theaters. Most of those crowds were there to see Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Wizard in a tale of Middle Earth entitled The Hobbit.     Let's talk about the previews a bit. I have got to go see The Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp starring as Tonto.  It looks really cool and let's face it, Johnny Depp is a great actor. You think some war paint and a few feathers are going to put him in the shadows of a movie? Not.       Oblivion, a sci-fi flick starring Tom Cruise, looks to be very cool, as well. Also, Man of Steel looks like fun. But all these are in the future and tonight I had to see a movie I was not so stoked about. Due to the fact that I walked in the door at the perfect time, we saw The Hobbit, in 3D.  we were charged a ridiculous $23 for a pair of tickets and the glasses. High, right?      For

     Hey, everyone. Tonight I finished playing Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour. It is a great game and I super-enjoyed it. When we ran out of Page's Antarctica base and saw our transport settling to the ground it was a beautiful sight. Well worth the $6.99 for this game.     Carley is very quiet because she has new puzzle games. She is playing a game which is free for today only, called Mayan Mystery: Hidden Obje ct HD. As you might expect, it is a hidden object game. Ha, ha. She has another one called Clueless Crossword Party . It has crosswords, with a twist or two. For instance, I had a 3 letter word with an 'a' and an 'l' showing. The third square was blank, with a 19 inside it. I went to the list of letters below the board and tapped the 'e'. When I did, every blank square with a 19 in it had an 'e' appear. (The word was ale, by the way.) The whole thing seems more dynamic than working a puzzle from the newspaper and the graphics are nice. I had

     Hey, everyone. As an IOS gamer, you have some funny things happen to you. I had a rather pleasant surprise yesterday. I went to the app store to check my updates. That's the page on your I-Pad which will show you which of the apps on your device have a new update. I noticed that there was a new update for one of my all-time favorite games, Trigger Fist . So, I downloaded the update.       This update gives you the option to buy 2 new 'maps'. A map, as you know, is a general area where you can play. One of the new maps is a rail yard and the other is the rooftops of a city.      I especially like the rail yard, pictured above. It's just the kind of place where poor street kids would go to play cowboys and Indians or war. There are a zillion cool places to run and hide.      The update scared me for a moment because when I started playing the new maps it put me out there as a rifleman. The original game lets you play as three different types of soldier, each

     Hey, everyone. I have had the opportunity this evening to play some more of the excellent shooter game titled Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour. I'd like to say thanks to Gameloft for making this game in such a way that a casual gamer such as myself can actually play and enjoy it, rather than getting stuck early on. I have had a ball with it. At the moment, I am on the rooftops of Barcelona, Spain, (Not Pictured above) in a pitched battle with the terrorists who have kidnapped a dignitary. This is in the 6th Chapter out of 12.       I believe that this is about as much fun as I have had with an IOS game. As much fun as the law allows, as my Dad would say. I did have a cool moment, earlier in the evening, that I'd like to share with you guys. It happened while I was pinned down on a street in Seattle, Washington. Crouching, I was reflecting on the difficulty of my situation. A sniper above me, radar showing a group of the enemy spread out to the fore, no grenades. I couldn'

     Hey, everyone. As the erudite among you might suspect, I published my ninth and final ebook about the gunman, Cedric Gant. It is very satisfying to put that character, his friends, enemies and family, to bed at last. I enjoyed writing this series of short stories very much. I just wrote the first one to see if I could write a western. It has outsold any of my books and the characters became real to me. Not as real as Ben and Karina from KGB, but very real.      In this last book, Cedric Gant has become an outlaw because of the public outcry from his gun battle with a lady shooter. He finds himself forced to flee south from Colorado in hopes of reaching Mexico. Chased by Texas Rangers and his own dark memories, he continues toward his destiny. This book is currently available on Smashwords for the princely sum of 99 cents. It should become available on Amazon within a day and the other on-line stores within the next few weeks. I'd like to thank everyone who has followed th

    Hey, everyone. I have been playing the newest shooter game from Gameloft and it pretty much rocks. Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour is running #4 on the app store against the stiff competition of Angry Birds and Vice City. I have had it for 2 days now but I have just now started to play it. I chose 'no gyroscope' on the controls and 'easy' level of difficulty. The file size is a huge 1.44 Gigs, the biggest game file I've ever downloaded. The price is a healthy $6.99. The in-apps, if you have to have them? They run all the way up to $99 (dollars, not cents). Are they out of their minds? I hope I can play at least most of it without the additional buys. Wouldn't bet on it.      The graphics are superb and it plays okay on my I-Pad 3. Here's how the story goes. A lot of dignitaries are assembled in Hawaii and a guy named Page launches an assault on the hotel and takes a noted captive, utilizing a band of mercenaries. This Page guy has a screw loose in his min

     Hey, everyone. Few people wake up in the morning and say things like, "Think I'll go to Snake Mountain today and kick some butt." Yet today, I have done that. The main reason? I just can't abide Skeletor's laugh. I am on level 2-2 of the Snake Mountain campaign and it is a tougher fight than a Presidential debate. There is a mountain with its top blown 'slap off' as we say in the South. There is red stuff running out the top of it and judging by the feeling in my hot, tired He-Man boots the stuff is molten lava. Guess I should do a double jump and move on. There are dozens of Skeletor's creepy, ghoulish henchmen about the keep and they want to sword-fight with me. It is nice to be wanted.      The very ground is unstable here. As I run, huge stone abutments are crashing around me. There is a large orange bird that flies overhead and I am 'fixing to' do a double jump and hit him with my trusty blade. I suspect that he is communicating te

    Hey, everyone. It's good to see that you guys are ever-vigilant, out there in the mysterious etherworld of the internet. Here at the green retreat it is well nigh 3 AM on Thursday morning.     I am eating boiled eggs, spicy California barbecue chips, saltine crackers and candy. I am washing it all down with champagne. I can hear a lonesome train whistle in the distance, toward the mountain, to the west.      I knew that there were several big games coming out tonight and that I would be spending some dinero on the app store. I also knew that there was a convention of used car salesmen in town. Those guys like to wear those loose polyester pants so they can jiggle their loose change in their pockets while they B.S. you. Therefore, I went to the hotel and searched all the couch cushions in the lobby and the lounge for quarters and dimes. I found enough to buy the games I wanted. (Hey, it's a joke.)      As we speak, I am downloading Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour. This is th

    Hey, everyone. It is unseasonably warm in the southern U.S. this week, with temps yesterday hitting the low 70's.  I coaxed Carley into getting out in the yard and tossing around the football for a while. I have been teaching her to throw the spiral; I.E. putting a spin on the ball so that it will fly farther and truer. She has the knack of it.     Speaking of football, The Falcons are now 11 and 1. Drew Brees had a tough night at the Georgia Dome. I respect Drew's abilities but he shouldn't have said that stuff about "We own the division, we know it and they know it".     In sports it is impossible to ignore the luck factor. I'd rather be lucky than good. If you have a measure of both it would seem ideal. The Falcons have had more lucky breaks than normal and are talented as well. I began to follow them from the time of their creation, back in 1966. Up until then, there were not a lot of choices for southerners to pull for. Of course, I was a fan of t

    Hey, everyone. Yet another weekend is drawing to a close. I want to tell you guys about a movie I watched the other night. The title was Zero Effect and it was on the Encore Channel.      Bill Pullman stars as Darrell Zero, a really strange Private Investigator. The guy cannot interact well/at all with others. He has a hired hand by the name of Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller) who interviews potential clients and does the work that Zero doesn't want to do. Zero is the best detective in the world, a Sherlock Holmes caliber sleuth that never fails.      Zero's latest case involves a client who has lost his keys. Gregory Stark (Ryan O'neal) is very secretive as to why the loss of his keys is so important but it seems that someone is blackmailing him with the information which the keys have given that thief access to. Zero is intrigued, but first must find out the secrets of Mr. Stark, in order to discover what he is being blackmailed with and who is doing the blackmailing.  

    Hey, everyone. I see that you are enjoying your weekend, just hanging out and playing I-Pad games. While you're at it perhaps you should try Contract Killer Zombies 2 , a free to download extravaganza of apocalyptic action shooter that will ring the bell for anyone who loves shooter games. Let's talk about it.     First of all, it is another huge file, about half of a Gig. The graphics are superb, really special. The gameplay is possibly the best I have played on the app store. You can actually play it and have fun, make progress and all that cool stuff. In fact, it was so good that I felt compelled to buy an in-app because this game is a free download. Unfortunately the cheapest in-app was $4.99 which this game is certainly worth, but how far can I go for what I've already invested? Nevertheless, I have had a ball with it and played it for two hours last night. About that in-app, though. I paid $4.99 for 100 gold bars and did not receive them.  !!!!! I received the

Hey, everyone. It is hard to blog when your I-Pad is trying to install the new version of I-Tunes. So, if you got a version of this blog post with no body, that is why.     This evening I have been playing a new game on the Padster. The name of the game is Mercenary Ops . This game has a wide spectrum of reviews on the store, from one star to 5 star. That in itself is not unusual, even though there are only 16 reviews.      First of all, it is free, so it won't hurt to try it, if you have a half of a Gig of space. Yeah, that's right, a big file. The graphics are superb, as you might expect from an Unreal Engine game. There is a bit of a lag, in spots, on my I-Pad 3, but not enough to be a deal breaker. Some reported crashes on certain devices.     In this story, you play as a soldier, Leo, who is in Europe to investigate strange happenings at a creepy castle. When you get there you find that the place is overrun with zombies. These pitiful creatures are lovingly rendered i

   Hey, everyone. I usually procrastinate about buying Carley's Christmas stuff. On such occasions I go to the mall and find that everything is picked over and depleted or out of stock. Today I did better and was out on the front lines. I love seeing all the women who watch guys shop for their wives. They consider us clueless and clumsy about women's stuff. I walked past a check out stand and a bunch of ladies were laughing about a clerk's story of an incident. One of the women said, "That had to be a man, right?" All these ladies were laughing their butts off. Always good to bring joy to women in whatever capacity possible. Ha, ha.       Moving on, I selected a tasteful bunch of stuff for Carley and went to check out. The clerk said that the computer wouldn't accept my card as a 'credit', so I should type in my pin number. Now, I am one of those guys who does not know his pin number. If I stored useless information of this sort, I would have no roo

   Hey, everyone. There are a lot of games out, right now. New games and updates to existing games. I hardly have time to play them all or review them all, certainly. God of Blades is on sale for 99 cents and I bought it. Angry Birds Star Wars has issued an update for the Ice Planet Hoth section and I just downloaded it. Awesome , a rather striking run and jump game is another I downloaded. I think it was a dollar.      Writer Rumble is a puzzle game in which you have critters that are attacking you. You form words from letters on a screen and once formed, the words are hurled at the voracious creatures, killing them. You can hurl words at your friends if you like. Not bad words, but words you form from the letters. Ha, ha. The coolest part of it is that you choose different personalities of famous writers like Edgar Allen Poe as your avatar. Each one has different attributes. I haven't played this game a lot, yet, but it has a different flavor to it and would appear to be well

    Hey, everyone.  I recently  sold the green retreat. I am talking about that piece of land which I owned for many years in the mountains. Like any major move it feels a bit sobering when you place one foot inside your car and look back at the house as you're fixing to leave the premises.      You think about its good points and its bad. You think about your grandkids walking in the woods and the things you taught them about animals. You think about the loneliness. You think about the quietness and the solitude. You think about the night when the mountain lion walked down the peak of your roof. The night a bear leaned on your back door. The day a huge rattlesnake crawled up to sun himself, less than three feet from the chair in which you were dozing.      You think about the dangerous drives home and how you had to drive 25 miles on ice to get to your wife when she was stranded. You recall those power outages and the total blackness. You think about warm fires in the fireplac