CE Wills

     Hey, everyone. Tonight it has been my pleasure to watch a terrific movie called Moneyball . It stars Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, the General Manager of baseball's Oakland A's during the time depicted in the film, as well as now. I found the flick to be one of the best sports movies I've ever seen. Though 2.5 hours in length, it didn't drag at all. Here's the recipe for this 5 star movie.      Baseball had become a game of Billionaires paying players millions of dollars in order to buy wins and championships. Small market clubs, such as Oakland, with a payroll shy of $40,000,000, were forced to compete with teams that had a payroll of $120,000,000. Billy Beane was forced to change his way of thinking, and managing. Let me say to those of you who are not baseball fans that the General Manager of a team handles the business end of things. The Manager sits in the dug-out and controls the players. He chooses who to start and substitute as well as...

     Hey, everyone, and a good evening to y'all. I am burning the midnight oil, playing my new Batman game which I bought for the sale price of 99 cents. It is named after the latest Batman flick, The Dark Knight Rises. In fact, the game seems to follow the movie rather closely, so there might be some spoilers in the gameplay for those who haven't seen the movie.     This game is huge, file wise. I'm talking about a whopping 821 MB. It has 6 Chapters, with the chapters taking place at different locales. In each chapter are a bunch of missions. In addition to the 6 chapters, there is a segment called free roaming. Unfortunately, you must conquer each mission as you go, as all missions, other than the one you are on, are locked. Tonight I played through 3 missions and thought I'd share some impressions.      First of all, let's talk about the WOW! factor. When you start out and you jump off a building and glide on your Bat costume...

   Hey, everyone. I have been surprised just how many cool games are swirling about me as we approach the weekend. I have plenty to talk about for several days, so no point in trying to tell you about it in a single post.       The Dark Knight Rises went on sale for 99 cents last night, down from the $6.99 it demanded previously. Games like Tiny Troopers are free right now. 101 Airborne is a neat little game for 99 cents. War Corps Genesis is a basic shooter that I like a lot, at least during the early stages that I have tried thus far. Bad Piggies is the sequel for Angry Birds , which has you helping , not destroying, those egg stealing piggies. It is 99 cents also. I have bought all these and more in the last day. So let's just start with one game.     Mech Pilot is a new game that uses the Unreal Technology to render great graphics. Let me say up front that this is a different game from Mech Warrior: Tactical Command . That game is an unwiel...

     Hey, everyone. I just finished the eighth book of my Western series. It stars the gunman, Cedric Gant. In this short story, Cedric has been waiting for his fiance to return to Colorado. Her name is Tristan Forgey, a former Nun.     While she delays her return, Cedric is quite busy. He runs into trouble as he befriends a widow woman and her two grown children. He makes new enemies and has a surprise visit from an old friend. Will the time finally come when Gant has to hit the outlaw trail? This is hard-hitting Western action and is strictly adults only. It should be live on all the major on-line book stores over the next few days. As of this moment, it is available here, at Smashwords. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/239869     This story is about 8000 words, a nice evening's read. Check it out, if you like. It will be available on Amazon today, I think. A day or two, maybe a week for it to appear on Kobo, Sony, I-Books, Barnes ...

    Hey, everyone. Back in the day, when people didn't spend much money on Christmas ornaments, we made our own. In the fall, dogwood trees produce these little berries that are very colorful. Carley was saying that she used to take a needle and thread and put the red things on a string, then use it as garland on a tree. Colorful, natural and 'green'.     I'm CE Wills.     

Hey, everyone. I had been interested in buying Sky Gamblers and Horn , when they came out a few weeks ago. At that time, they were a premium price of $6.99. Knowing full well that I would be lucky to play a third to a half of either of them before getting stuck, I decided to wait until they dropped in price significantly. They dropped this weekend to a price of $2.99 each. I bought both of them today. Tonight I played Horn for a couple of hours. I'd like to talk about it for a bit and leave any discussion of Sky Gamblers for a later date.       First of all, Horn is a massive file for an IOS game. How much, you say? A hefty 849MB. If you are limited on I-Pad space or in available download limitations, this could be significant. Here's the recipe for the game.      This game has great graphics. It is like a Disneyfied version of Infinity Blade . It has the Unreal Engine graphics, which are hard to beat. Your avatar is a youngster named H...

    Hey, everyone. I tried a puzzle game tonight, which is unusual for me. It is called Dingbats. I like it a lot. It is free, with ads. You get 100 free puzzles and can buy additional packs of 100 each for 99 cents. Here's the recipe.      There are 3 lists of blank squares, as you can see above. They give you a hint for the hidden phrase. For instance, in the top one, the hint was : "Don Corleone was held here in The Godfather Part 2." As you can see, the answer is Ellis Island. For the three puzzles on this page, they gave me 10 guesses, for letters. Say, for instance,  I picked an 's'. All the blocks that held an 's' would show it. On the bottom row, that helped by revealing two blocks.     At the bottom of the screen  are the vowels. If you think you are ready to solve a puzzle, you tap 'solve' and answer one square at a time. The vowels will appear at the bottom, to be used as needed. You receive extra points for solving ...

    Hey, everyone. On Friday, I updated my I-Pad 3 to IOS 6, which of course enabled Siri on that device. I had wanted to try out the personal, computerized voice person for many months. I started out asking her several things which I considered simple. She responded well. "Siri, how did the Braves do?" "They won against the Marlins, 4 to 3, on Wednesday night." "Siri, who's on Monday Night Football?" "Green Bay and Seattle, at 8:30 PM."      I thought that Siri was really cool. How she can talk to Cupertino and get back to me that fast is amazing. Later, my wife wanted to try out the Siri phenomenon. "Siri, I want to see the books by CE Wills." To our surprise, Siri mentioned the name of a bookstore in Spain and provided a detailed map of how to get there. "Siri, who is CE Wills?" I asked the device. Her response was cryptic, at best. Insulting, perhaps. "You can't read a book if you're  inside a do...

     Hey, everyone. I am so glad that the weekend is here. Hoping for some fun and relaxation. This morning I downloaded two new zombie games. One of the games is probably going to be a little different for you. The reason is that the zombies appear in your home. What I mean is this: The game utilizes the I-Pad's built-in camera and then puts the zombies wherever you are. The first time I fired it up, I was sitting on the sofa with Carley. We were both a little freaked when a small zombie appeared  on the coffee table at her feet, grew quickly to full size, then attacked us. No, I am not kidding.       As you turn in a circle with your device, you shoot your pistol at the fiendish undead. There is a button that you can tap to bring up a set of iron sights, which are very useful. If you don't get head shots, you won't get very far. I have yet to beat the first level. I just recently discovered a helpful tool, however, and now have hope. The game...

    Hey, everyone. I have been reading a rather massive book titled John Lennon, The Life , by Phillip Norman. I have found it to be excellent and would highly recommend this fascinating look into an incredibly complex man.      A few weeks ago, a friend asked me to play a song by Lennon at a party and I did so. I played and sang Imagine by the former Beatle. It started me thinking about John and a few days later I ran across this book and grabbed it.     I don't read many biographies as I usually find them boring. This one was not boring, at all. I skipped around in it a bit, rather than read it straight through. At least until I got to the latter part of John's life, when he and Yoko were living at the Dakota building in New York City. For some reason, I sat enthralled and read for several hours without getting up.      At the time that the book was talking about, my focus was not on music, but on building a c...

    Hey, everyone. I have been playing a new game called Armed Beasts. This is a free game with good graphics and cute game play. You star as one of the Eben. These are critters with human characteristics, such as walking erect and carrying weapons, which I hope I don't ever see in real life. You are fighting to save your world from animals who have gone off their rockers and have multiplied like, er, rabbits. You progress from map to map, battling with dual stick ferocity like Minigore . It seems to be a fun game. I only just a moment ago had a serious run-in with a huge, roly-poly sheep. He had lesser-sized, sheep underlings on his side and they ganged up on me. I used my six-guns again and again, reloading countless times until I feared the barrels might melt down, and still the wooly rascals defeated me. Bummer. I always preferred a cotton/polyester blend, anyway.     I look forward to playing more of the maps because the names are intriguing. Places ...

    Hey, everyone. We have undergone yet another dry spell, so the prospect of a big rain for the next couple of days is welcome. I hope it washes some of the ragweed out of the air.      I didn't really do a great deal over the weekend. We went out to eat Saturday and did a few chores at home. I watched a little football yesterday on TV. I have a system that I use now about watching football. I only watch games in which one of my teams is playing. I find that I enjoy the sport more that way. Besides, I realized that it was unfair of me to monopolize the programming that much. Women have their preferences, as well as men, and they usually don't want to watch football every day. Frankly, I don't either.     The NFL has Thursday night games, Monday night games and later in the season they have games on a couple of Saturdays. Of course, on Sundays there are games from 1PM to almost midnight. That's an overdose. Then there are talk shows o...

    Hey, everyone. Tonight I decided to play the new update for Dead Trigger. Because I had bought the game previously, they gave me an Alien Ray Gun, which is quite effective.       I had played the updated game some and got aggravated because of the difficulty. On one mission I was supposed to protect a van. I stood at the van and didn't allow a zombie near it. I killed every zombie that showed up. It still gave me a mission fail . ?? Maybe the directions could be clearer or something?      I also went over to the Arena section. Here, you have some zombies who are dressed like Olympic athletes. They attack you, of course, and you kill them. It's okay, but I really tire of the fact that progress is so difficult. Grinding is a ... grind. So, I just deleted it.Games should entertain and relax you, rather than irritate you. I also deleted 15 other games from my I-Pad tonight. I suppose that I was a little cranky. I must have skipped my nap....

    Hey, everyone. It's a beautiful Saturday in September, here at the green retreat. Blue skies and temperatures in the 70's. Leaves are starting to turn. The few sourwoods that are left are turning red and the few dogwoods which are left alive are also turning a dark red. Oaks and hickories are turning just a very little and are probably 2 weeks away from their peak color. It has been rather dry this fall and I don't really look for a brilliant fall season.     I have downloaded a bunch of free and cheap games this weekend, thus far. I have played several of them. Some were good and some were bad. You know I never critisize a gift, so I will just mention a few you might want to look at and make your own judgement. That's part of the fun of IOS gaming, just hunting for cool games. 1) Soldiers vs. Aliens. I think that I actually gave a dollar for this game. You are a Space Marine, aboard a ship which is overrun with slimy aliens that have a negative atti...

    Hey, everyone. Carley and I stayed at home tonight and watched a really odd movie. It is an older show (2009) and is titled The Cry of the Owl. Let me start out by saying that I don't think this film depicts anyone who can be considered normal or what one might call a hero. It is freaky, really. But, it is really good! It is beautifully written, (by Jamie Thraves and Patricia Highsmith) with so many little subtleties that don't beat you over the head, but rather have to be picked up as you listen to dialogue and remember things. Here's the recipe.      Robert Forrester (Played by Paddy Considino) is an engineer for an aerospace firm. He has recently left the big city and moved to small-town America. He is troubled by depression, his pending divorce and his lovely psycho wife, Nickie. (Played by Caroline Dhavernas.)     So, he's all alone in a rented house and starts the show by hanging around outside a lady's house at night and w...

   Hey, everyone. Back in the days of my youth, I followed the current music like a fanatic. Occasionally there would be a song that crossed over genre boundaries between country and rock. I imagine that this is still true today but I don't visit real life any more often than I have to, so I don't really know.     An example of such genre smashers could be found in much of the Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash music. When such a song 'crossed over', it made buckets full of money.     Today's IOS games appear to be much the same. A good many of us tend to play a single genre, with the occasional foray into something that has a segment that appeals to us. For instance, I play shooting games, action games and racing games, mostly. But sometimes I enjoy some of the better puzzle games and word games. I play a very few RPG's as well.    Plants vs. Zombies is a Tower Defense game. I almost never play that style of game, because I hate them, bu...

     There is a terrific free app on the app store that you need to check out. It is called Weird  Facts 1000 and I guarantee that you will learn something from it.        Did you know that the giraffe and the human have the same number of vertebra in their neck? Did you know that Japanese women blackened their teeth at one time, to appear more sexy? White teeth were considered ugly.     These are just a few of the many (Eh, 1000?) interesting, and weird, facts that you can check out with this cool app. Recently, I was listening to my wife's I-Pod touch. I was sitting on the porch and I don't like to play games while I listen to music, so I decided to check out this app which I'd had forever. It was really fun to combine my favorite tunes with interesting facts like "all Major League umpires must wear black underwear, in case their pants split." Now, when I go to a game, I will be privy to information about the ump that those ar...

     Andy Murray won his first major title on Monday at the U.S. Open. I am so glad for him. Those accomplishments that I would classify as a breakthrough are so rare and wonderful. It seems ridiculous to say that this was his first 'major' after the dude won Olympic Gold, but that is the terminology of the sport.     It ticked me off considerably that I didn't get to watch it. I had a ton of things going on, both business wise and otherwise. I heard it was a classic and went the entire 5 sets. Murray has beaten all the big guns of tennis lately and done so on a big stage. If I was his dad, you know what I'd say to him? I'd tell him that after a great victory is typically the time when someone messes up the worst in their life. I'd say just stay level headed. Don't get cocky and run your mouth, chase strange women or get blasted in bars. With everyone saying that you almost can walk on water, choose to walk on solid ground. He seems like a good chap, ...

   Hey, everyone. No one is a bigger fan of Peyton Manning than I am. I have been watching the game from Denver with the Steelers and Broncos. I have watched Peyton Manning for many years and there is no doubt in my mind that his throws don't have the zip they had prior to his injury. Does that mean that he is not an elite quarterback anymore? Absurd. Does that mean he's lost his football acumen? Ridiculous. He has always been the most accurate quarterback that I have ever watched. He is still accurate. I don't say it with relish or pleasure, but he has lost a lot of zip. Hopefully it will come back over time.    Also, if you want to lose a game, fail to put pressure on Ben Roethlesburger. Whether it's him, or Brady, or Breeze, or Peyton, the great ones will pick you apart given the time that Ben has tonight.     I am letting the game record some more on TIVO before watching the last of it, but it has been a good one.     I watched th...

    If you have time on this busiest and best of Sports weekends, you might want to check out a game called Bloodroofs . It is an endless runner/jumper/shooter. The graphics are top-notch and the gameplay is fun. It is $2.99 at the moment and the file size is a small 47 MB. It just came out on the ole app store moments ago and I took the notion to buy it. Here's the recipe.     In a spooky world of rain, monsters and magic, you play as Jake, a macho, roof jumping, lady-carrying dude. It is coming a heck of a storm and a group of evil magicians have called forth some monsters to take control of the city. As Jake flees from roof to roof he has to swing down, using his whip for a rope, and snatch Catherine to his breast. She is lying on a roof with an injured leg and an automatic weapon. So, Jake carries her, runs and jumps from roof to roof, while the lovely Catherine shoots the ghouls. By the way, you pick up coins and other goodies as you run. An interesti...

    Hey, everyone. We went to see a new movie today, called The Words . I found it to be excellent and would rate it as 4.5 stars out of 5. Carley rates it as 5 stars out of 5. Here's the recipe.     Bradley Cooper stars as Rory Jansen, a young man who dreams of being an author. He writes a novel and it is a good one. Of course, all he receives is rejection slips. Years pass. He gets a regular job, to pay his bills, and goes on with his life.     When he gets married to Dora (played by Zoe Saldana), they honeymoon in Paris. In an old curio store, Dora finds a very old briefcase and buys it for Rory. When Rory is transferring his papers into this case, he finds a yellowed old manuscript. He starts reading it and is spellbound; it is that good. It is the story of a young soldier who falls in love with a French girl, during World War 2.     Rory publishes the novel as his own work. In his defense, I must say that he didn't know...

    It was a time for heavy hitters today. Let's start in New York, on the courts of the U.S. Open. Sharepova vs. Azarenka, blasting shots at one another in a semi-final. It was great tennis, despite a hot, humid day. Sharepova seemed to tire a bit during the third and final set. She seemed flustered, but her dynamic serve held her in the match until the very end. There were shots that made me say "Wow", again and again. Today's women's players hit with such power! The new rackets, the conditioning coaches, whatever. It was fun to watch this one. Azarenka goes on to play Serena Williams tomorrow night, under the lights, I think. Another slug fest, doubtless. How about Nadal and Federer being removed from the path to the championship? It would seem like a prime time for Andy Murray to grab this title.      In the world of I-Pad games, it was also a day of heavy hitters. This week's games included several premium games. Avengers Initiative (Who hits ha...

   Hey, everyone. My wife and I were out for a road trip yesterday. We had some business to attend to, but since the area was scenic, we stopped at a park and walked along a creek, looking for tracks. We found the tracks of a wolf, or a very large dog, in the sand and of course some people tracks. We sat on a big flat rock, took our shoes off,  and soaked our hot and tired feet. The mountain water was definitely cool and refreshing. Usually, the water is just ripping through this gorge, but the recent dry weather has turned a raging river into a stream. Still, it was fun. It has been years since Carley and I did this. Too long, really.     As we sat, we remembered bringing our boys here when they were little. We allowed them to soak their feet and wade in some of the quiet pools. The water is so clear that it can be deceptively deep. You can step off into a place that is over your head, so we had to hold their hands as they played. They usually had a littl...

    Hey, everyone. Carley doesn't appreciate it if I just talk about action games, so here is a post about a new puzzle game that she really likes. You long-time readers know that I would rather watch paint dry than do puzzles, but here goes.     To start with, there are over 100 levels for 99 cents. That is a good thing. Secondly, there are no guns. That's a bad thing. Thirdly, there are easy puzzles to start. That's a good thing. Harder puzzles later. Bad thing.      Before you is a grid. On the grid are balls. You can slide each ball only once. When you slide it, it reduces in size to indicate that it is out of play. You can slide another ball against it... and indeed, when you slide a ball it must contact another ball. When three or more balls touch they disappear. The object of the game is to get rid of all the balls and leave none. Anything less is considered a failure, which hurts my feelings. If you fail, you can not pull a swo...

    Hey, everyone. Of course you have heard about Antisec hacking an FBI laptop. Supposedly, there was about 12 million Apple user ID'S on the thing. The hackers dumped about a million of them on the internet, after removing much of the associated data. The FBI issued a statement of denial, being careful not to deny anything. They said, " There is no evidence that an FBI laptop was hacked, or that there was User ID's on the laptop." That is a significant 'shade of grey' difference from denying the FBI had those numbers.     Let's get real about this. 25 years ago, it was a major deal for law enforcement to  snoop on one person. A judge grudgingly gave permission for a wire tap on a person who was clearly a mafia kingpin or something. Now we have law enforcement, and others, mining a unprecedented harvest of personal information from satellite spying, drone aircraft and electronic records, just to name a few. Now, evidently, law enforcement (or marketers) ...

    Hey, everyone. A nice lady brought us a cake yesterday and it was so visually striking, and so tasty, that I thought that I might tell you about it. My blog is liable to talk about anything, as you know.      The cake is called Checkerboard Cake. She cooked 4 cakes, 2 chocolate and 2 vanilla. She then used cookie cutters to cut the cakes into concentric rings. She alternated the colors as she stacked the cakes, using first one color and then the other for the base, or outer ring. Between the layers she spread butter-cream icing. Here is a picture using cookie cutters as an example.      I hope you can picture the process. The bottom line was that the cake was really good. She also brought a peanut butter cake which was even better than the checkerboard cake.      We have had a nice, lazy day here at the green retreat. Tomorrow we are going on a little road trip, if things go well. Maybe I can update you w...

    Hey, everyone. I watched Real Steel , tonight, a movie starring Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly, along with child prodigy Dakota Goyo. Here's the recipe, and a tasty concoction it is.   Jackman stars as Charlie Kenton, a former professional boxer who has lost all sense of dignity, decency or perspective. He is such a loser it is hard to believe.     Our story takes place in some future time. The violence of boxing has led to all humans retiring from the ring and being replaced by Bots. Giant fighting robots. Much like today's fight world, there is a circuit of highly paid and sanctioned fights, as well as a seedy underbelly of fights in vacant lots and deserted zoos. Charlie travels around to the seedy joints, fighting his Bots for money, even against bulls. The problem is, Charlie is so stupid and inept he can't make a living and he is a scab on the butt of humanity.     I'll tell you how bad the dude is; when Charlie's son...

     Hey, everyone. I watched a good movie tonight on the satellite. As the erudite among you might expect, the title is China Moon . Let me say up front that it has more twists than a piggy's tail. It is a cop show with mystery, murder and skulduggery enough for the most twisted of us. Here's the recipe.     Ed Harris plays the role of Kyle, a police detective in Florida. He works homicide with his partner, a younger guy named Dickie. (Played by Benicio Del Toro.) One night Kyle meets an attractive lady in a bar. Her name is Rachel Munro. Her husband is a wealthy banker (aren't they all?) who abuses her. Kyle and Rachel begin a torrid affair. (Is there any other kind?)      One evening the two cops answer a call at Rachel's residence. Her husband has been slapping her around. Kyle plays like he and Rachel don't know each other and goes through the usual domestic disturbance routine. Time passes. Affair continues. The marriage co...