CE Wills

    Hey, everyone. It is 09:30 on a lovely morning at the green retreat. I hope that you and your folks are well and happy. Well, I ventured forth into the haunts of men yesterday.      I met a Sony Rep, a very pleasant lady who took the time to chat about games and gaming. We liked a lot of the same games. I mentioned the new/ pending / fictitious? Playstation 4.5. She reminded me that the above-mentioned device was merely a rumor at this time. She also said that if the 4.5 exists, that it will not hinder people like me, it would merely allow 4K definition in the ultra-modern gamers' lives. Those like myself can continue with their current system, games etc. So, I went on my way rejoicing.      By the way, I finished The Order: 1886. I enjoyed it. I began to play Uncharted . I have the box set, you know, remastered and all. I loved it the first time around and decided to play it again while I am awaiting Nate's return in Uncha...

   Hey, everyone. I watched several hours of the play from Augusta National today. Always a pleasure to see the Masters. It sort of makes me melancholy, to see the place. I worked in Augusta for several years. I enjoyed it and made a lot of money, a rare combination. I feel like I made a mistake when I left, but that's one of many in my life.     When I arrived in Augusta I knew nothing about golf and cared little for the sport. I remember arriving in town late one evening. I went to a steakhouse and saw  paintings of Bobby Jones and Augusta National. I remember remarking to the waitress that it seemed a golf-centered town. She was polite enough to smile and agree. I said that I had noticed that I had came into town on Bobby Jones Expressway and she talked about Mr. Jones a little.     Later, I worked with John Daly's dad for a while.  A friend of mine said,"Jim's got a boy that is a scratch golfer." I didn't know what that was but ...

    Hey, everyone. I am having a fun day, here at the green retreat. I have a number of things I'd like to talk about, if I don't get sidetracked. Firstly, about deflate-gate and the Super Bowl. I think that anyone who went back and watched the last three years of the playoffs on film and studied the last few minutes of the games closely during the miraculous comebacks, would find food for thought. Specifically, watch the play of defensive backs on many of the losing teams. I think that the deflating of footballs would seem minor, all of a sudden.      The other day I was at Wal-mart and got a wild hair. I had never looked at one of the game guides for the AAA games. They are pricey, and I only played I-Pad games for years. So, I had no reason to read one. I bought one for Far Cry 4 . Why? I just wanted to try one. Heck, I don't even own the game. Seems dumb of me, but I write about video games and I wondered about this phenomenon.   ...

    Hey, everyone. Many years ago I was amused when my Dad or Grandmother would watch Wrestling on TV. It was so patently staged and faked that a child like myself could see it. I'm talking 50 years ago. I tried not to say anything, like everyone else. Clearly they loved the sport and thought it was real. They got a hurt look in their eyes when someone was less than enthused at the bad acting.       I have been a fan of NFL Football since 1958. The last few years have seen some odd things in the playoffs. Shocking rallies of several touchdowns in the last five minutes of games. Defensive backs flailing their arms comically as the ball lands in the receiver's arms. Game hinging calls made two opposite ways in a matter of hours, after slow motion review. It is time for me to quit watching football. It is either that or watch my kids' amused faces as I yell, "Watch him Ref! Can't you see he has salt in his waistband?"

    Hey, everyone. I find it hard to talk about the NFL, objectively. Of course, my favorite team, The Atlanta Falcons, are playing in the " Humanitarian Division" of the NFL. That is, this division is comprised of teams that believe it is better to give wins than to receive them. Ha, ha.      Truly, I was proud of the Birds when they played the Packers in Green Bay. For the simple reason that they played hard. To play a good Packer team that tight at Lambeau Field is nothing to be ashamed of. They could have easily won that game. The underlying theme of the past two years for the Falcons is their nonchalant effort in most games. A few weeks ago, against the Steelers, I am convinced they were the better team.      Matt Ryan is a guy I have a ton of respect for and he is gritty and a decent man. He is certainly a Franchise Quarterback. But, he gets rattled in some big games. Against Pittsburgh that day, he threw three horrible p...

    Hey, everyone. I have been playing quite a bit of Tomb Raider on my P.C. and in fact have finished that game. It is a great game, though someone fibbed about the version I played being the "easy" level. There were numerous times that I had to replay sections 30 times in order to bypass a battle or hazard.       At times I would get on a nice run, though. Here I am pictured in Shantytown. (That's not really me, that is Lara Croft; because A: I am old and B: I am male.) Shantytown is a less than glamorous section of this lost island where many undesirables like to hang out. If a ship or plane is destroyed and their passengers wind up on the island, bad people kill or capture them. I have decimated their ranks and destroyed a good part of their playground. I got word that my friend Sam (A lady) had been taken captive and that the locals were going to make her a Queen. The Sun Queen. You say good, royal privilege and all that. Not so much. The...

   Hey, everyone. I just watched the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony for Baseball in Cooperstown, N.Y. I made it a point to watch the festivities this year because of the inclusion of Bobby Cox, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddox.     As a longtime fan of the Atlanta Braves, I would have loved to have been in Cooperstown today for this event. That was not possible. I do want to congratulate these men and also the other inductees, Joe Torre, Frank Thomas and Tony LaRussa.     I enjoyed the speeches of the former Braves. These words exemplified the careers of the men. They were done with style, poise and class. Glavine talked about taking Smoltzie's money on the golf course and Maddox said he spent his career watching his kids grow up, winning division titles and watching John's hair fall out.      I followed the Braves from their time in Milwaukee, so of course I watched Glavine, Maddox, Smoltz and Avery during their entire caree...

         Hey, everyone. Happy Independence Day, to all you folks in the U.S.A.     I forgot to send along my congratulations to my Canadian viewers the other day when I was talking about Wimbledon tennis. Milos Raonic played in the semis and lost to Federer. Eugenie Bouchard is in the finals on Saturday and I'll be pulling for her. Also, Canadian Vasek Pospisil will be in the doubles finals. I get a big charge out of seeing people, athletes and nations make a breakthrough in any field of endeavor. To have both a man and a woman reach the semis at the big W for the first time is awesome. Last year Andy Murray made his breakthrough and I enjoyed that.      This morning I watched Novak Djokovic beat Grigor Dimitrov. I was surprised when Novak allowed himself to get so flustered. I really liked Dimitrov's demeanor. All business, hustle and energy. He didn't really seem to play tight at all, despite the big stage. ...

  Hey, everyone. You may remember that I had a Cardinal building a nest about a foot or two from where I sit on my porch. She had two eggs in it. This morning as I drank coffee I heard an abundance of tiny chirping noises. Sure enough, the baby birds have come forth into the world and seem abundantly happy about it. They have no feathers. Good thing it was a hot day. Of course, unless she is hunting food, the mother bird sits with them and keeps them warm.      It is hard to be in a bad mood while you listen to baby birds cheeping. It is a feeling like "Hey, the world must be okay after all, or those little rascals wouldn't make all that cute noise. Hopefully, they'll keep it quiet if a cat comes around. Cats are a bit cruel at times and could care less about cuteness.      Hey, maybe Facebook could put the sound of baby birds cheeping on their site and measure the happiness response of their victims customers. Ha, ha. Bizarre to experi...

Hey, everyone. Let me start by saying that on some of my posts the words are being split up from one line to the other. I haven't changed anything and I don't understand it. Blogger has been acting up for some time, though it seems unreasonable to complain about a free service. I was just over on the Washington Post and read a good article on the XBOX One. It freaked me out a little that the device can read your skeletal structure (or your voice) and monitor who's in the room. I'm not too sure that I'm comfortable with that, although I would like to play some games on it. I do, however, love gaming on my I-Pad and prefer not having a controller; plus the games are so much cheaper. Carley and I did a road trip yesterday, traveling to Nashville to Cool Springs Galleria. They have a big Apple Store there and guess what? They actually have that Tech Unicorn there, known to devotees as the I-Phone 5s (Gold, 16 Gig). I managed to keep my lustful little paws off its s...

    Hey, happy humans around the globe. The weekend is winding down as we speak. I tore down an engine yesterday, just to see what was inside. It took me several hours but it was not as dangerous as my mission in the missile silo of Call of Duty.       I watched a bit of football today and as I watched my Falcons I became convinced of the veracity of my previous claims. The team needs help on the offensive line and a really dominant pass rusher. Still, they should have beat the Saints. It was, however, just ... Joss that they lost. Joss is a Chinese term that indicates fate, inevitability, luck, fortune or a combination of the above. It is a way of life, an attitude, that keeps one from railing at life, or God or tragedy. Yes, I finished re-reading Noble House tonight. That's what prompted me to use the word. It is a novel of Hong Kong, China and the far east. It is like the best steak that you ever ate, except it is a book. I thought about h...

   Hey, everyone. Some time ago I was talking about NFL quarterbacks and I said something like this. There are only a very few quarterbacks on earth who can take a team to the Super Bowl, maybe 10 or 12 guys; so if you're serious about winning a championship, find one and pay him what you have to in order to keep him. Tonight I would like to add a bit to that thought.     Lately, when a quarterback has proven himself and sometimes when he hasn't, they land a contract in the range of 20 million a year or maybe 100 million dollars for the contract. Sometimes a fat contract like this can cripple a team payroll to the point where they can't keep enough of their good players (other than the QB) to have a great team. So, it is time for quarterbacks, whether their agents like it or not, to show a little restraint about their own salary. Better still, it may be necessary to put a cap on salaries of quarterbacks, something like this: "No individual's salary can excee...

     Hey, everyone. I really enjoyed watching Andy Murray win his first Wimbledon today. It was a truly historic match since he was the first British man to do so in 77 years. Andy played well and retained his composure under the pressure of a nation's hopes and did so against the #1 player on this planet, Novak Djokavik. Murray won in straight sets to take the crown. Heartfelt congratulations to the new champ.      Yesterday, Carley and I went to the movies and watched The Heat , with Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock. The movie was superbly acted and directed. It was very funny and if you can stand some adult language, you should check it out. Even after being out for a week, the show was a sellout on a Saturday afternoon when there was a heavy downpour and local flooding.      Sandra Bullock plays FBI agent Ashburn, who reluctantly teams with a local Boston detective to take down a drug gang. The tightly wound Ashburn ...

    Hey, everyone. I stayed up late tonight to watch some tennis, down under, at the Aussie Open. I would love to take a couple of weeks off and go down there next year. Anyway, I missed the surprise defeat of Maria Sharapova by Li Na. It was 6-2 and 6-2, have a nice trip home. Then the American teen, Sloane Stephens, defeated Serena Williams after the veteran Williams had an injury. I missed that match also, but I got to see Stephens play in the semis against Azarenka. Believe it or not, Azarenka, the defending champ, also had health problems. She was having chest pains in the 100 degree heat, but persevered to win. She was freaking out a bit on the court and really lost her composure at bad shots.      The 19-year old Sloane was fun to watch. At the pre-match interview she commented that she was surprised at the relative ease with which she had reached the semis. As Azarenka was screaming at herself, Stephens reacted with a wry smile when she herself m...

    Hey, everyone. My wife and I went to see Broken City , starring Russell Crowe, Mark Wahlberg and Catherine Zeta Jones. We both enjoyed it and felt it to be an approximate 4 stars out of 5. Here's the recipe.     Russell Crowe plays Mayor Hostetler, who has been the Mayor of New York City for a couple of terms.During a heated election campaign, Hostetler wants to find out if his wife is messing around with another guy. He calls in a former cop called Billy Taggart , played by Wahlberg. Taggart is a Private Investigator. He is paid $50,000 by the Mayor to find out if Mrs. Hostetler is fooling around with another man. Why Taggart? Well, he was forced to quit his cop job because he was involved in a questionable shooting. He shot a man who had assaulted and murdered his wife's sister. So the Mayor knew that he would not be afraid to bend the rules.      The detective gets pictures of the Mayor's wife (played by Catherine Zeta Jones),...

    Hey, everyone. So, its NFL Playoffs again this weekend. Four games, two on Saturday and Two on Sunday. Of the eight teams remaining, only three of them have yet to win a Super Bowl. Atlanta (my team) and the Seattle Seahawks have been there, but lost. Atlanta, of course, lost to Denver, in 1998 I think. Seattle went also but lost in an entertaining game. Houston is the only team in this year's playoffs who has never made it to the Super Bowl. They had some great teams with Bum Phillips, didn't they? 'Luv Ya Blue' and all that.      I like to see different teams and different players get that elusive ring. You tend to see the repeaters in the big game. Brady and Manning or the other Manning. The reason being that there is a very limited number of quarterbacks good enough to get there and win it. Brady just freaks me out. In big games his focus and intensity is like an assassin's. Of all the QBs I've ever watched (since 1958), he is the last guy I...

    Hey, everyone. Tonight I watched a movie called Bringing Down the House . It is a comedy starring Steve Martin as a tightly wrapped lawyer and Queen Latifa as a lady he meets on line.     Peter Sanderson (Martin) is a divorced lawyer who has managed to mess up his life. His career has helped destroy his marriage and his relationship with his kids. He meets Charlene Morton on line. She calls herself a lawyer but she is really an inmate in the penal system. Peter is somewhat taken aback when she turns up at his front door. It is understandable when their beginning moments are rocky, but it is a deal in which they badly need each others help and he, at least, doesn't know that he needs her. Her earthy common sense and toughness is the perfect balm to his troubled life and career. His astuteness about legal matters is a blessing to her as she seeks to clear her record of an armed robbery charge.     Peter's odd friend, Howie, (played wond...

   Hey, everyone. I have several things to talk about today. 1) Carley has (had) a game she really liked called Fairway Solitaire . It is a card game with a golf theme and I liked it myself, though it is very strange for me to like a card game. She was really advanced in this game, had lots of trophies and 'Golf Bucks' and played it every day to get the bonuses. Well, she did an update and lost all her awards, game money and the game itself is crashed and irretrievable, I guess. Does anything make a gamer more irate? Nooooooo. Then, instead of restoring the existing game, Big Fish Games comes out with the new Fairway Solitaire for $2.99. This begs the question, "Was the update just a ploy to get rid of everyone's existing game in order to sell them the new game?" I'm a suspicious bloke, I guess. The new game came out the day before the update. 'Nuff said. 2) Sad morning in Minnesota. As a hard-core football fan, I feel for the Vikings. They didn't...

      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 t...

    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 graphi...