CE Wills

    Hey. everyone. I just finished watching episode 2 (current season) of Game of Thrones. I wanted to share a few thoughts about that long lost age of Westeros. You know, those ancients that Tyrion likes to talk about; the ones with the great technology which can't be duplicated anymore. Their cities lie in ruins and the denizens have a creeping crud known as Greyscale. Jorah Moremont has a case of it.      I believe that we will learn that this ancient world was really our world. Earth, modern day. An Earth whose nations took things to the nuclear brink and beyond. Once annihilated, life started over with rudimentary tribes, then Kings and Queens and creeping things. Dragons, created in the last days by Gene Manipulation labs in China, survived for a while, because they really didn't mind the fire or radiation that much.       Just a few swords were still around, valued much for their resilience, beauty and quality. They...

    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. 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?"

   Talk about odd things to spend a few hours on. Yesterday, for no apparent reason, I studied the quagmire that is the End User License Agreement. As you know, this is the thing you sign for many downloadable games, software and the like. They would have had a tough time inserting this stuff down the throats of Americans many years ago but now most of us are sadly amenable to clicking the "I agree" box.       I read a lot about the agreements over on the terrific site called Wikipedia. The Eula is a device which is intended to form a contract with the user. Its intent is to give the owner of the software more power in copyright than the law allows for. It is many things, including a salve to company insecurities. Many times a court of law will rule them 'unconscionable'. That is, a judge, in good conscious, can't rule for a company that manipulates a customer's young age, ignorance or careless disregard of reading a long boring document, to sc...

        Hey, everyone. I was just thinking about phones. A useful tool with a long history of service. I can remember days when I actually dared to go somewhere without one.      When I was a kid, we didn't have a phone. Most people didn't. Maybe, there was a store nearby that one could go to, in an emergency, to use a phone. Then there were the days when there were"party lines". No, this did not indicate nights of wild revelry with nicely shaped phones. Rather, it meant that a certain number of households would have a common line and number, so that a call would ring perhaps 6 or 7 houses. Believe it or not, some people used this primitive tech to eavesdrop on their neighbors discussions. Today we do this and call it a conference call.      I remember the days when a phone was never carried on one's person. There was a line that attached them to the wall and they were massive and heavy. They were even used to ki...

   Game of Thrones Spoilers!    Hey, everyone. It is a rainy, cool July day here at the author's green retreat and I had a toothache.(No commercial intended.) So, I curled up in my recliner with some painkiller and began to work my way through the massive tome of A Storm of Swords . I must say that it is not as much fun, reading the books, once you have watched the shows. The HBO folks have done a fabulous job bringing these characters to life and I catch myself growing fond of certain characters, rogues though they may be.      I'll give you a 'for instance'. Jaime Lannister, for all his Kingslayer ways and devout kinkiness, has the rudiments of a good dude in there somewhere. The almost childlike naivete of the Knight girl (Knightess?) Brienne has restored in Jaime the desire to be a true knight. That is, to embrace those high ideals on which a knight hangs his hat. All that corny stuff like loyalty, chivalry to women, fierce devotion to h...

    Hey, everyone. Last night I caught the second episode of HBO's new crime thriller, True Detective . This series bodes fair to be an excellent show. I was pleasantly surprised how well Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey did in this sort of role. They portray police detectives in Louisiana that are dealing with grisly serial killings.     The crimes seem to be religiously oriented, which makes them all the more macabre and hideous. It seems that young women are brutalized, killed, then posed in positions of worship, in remote locations. The killer is linked to murders from past years that were supposedly solved. While working the case, the duo try to out-race a task force who are threatening to trample their investigation under foot.    Moreover, the two men don't get along very well. No wonder, really , as they are so different. Matthew plays Rust, a burn-out from the drug wars, who is borderline crazy, complete with flashbacks, light ...

    Hey, everyone. I enjoyed my weekend and it seemed to pass quickly. I finished the initial book in the Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin. It is a huge book and well worth the ebook price of $4.99. Its rich detail and diversity of story lines are rarely equaled in literature. For instance, the focus of the missive is on kingdoms which rise and fall and the peccadilloes of the rich. That is just the beginning of the rich tapestry, however.The Stark family's efforts to deal honorably with a decidedly dishonorable bunch of folks is the stuff that holds the reader to the tale. Then, there is a sideline of magic. This involves the former royal family of The Seven Kingdoms.     All that is left of this family is the girl Daenerys (Dany) and her older brother, Viserys. They are the so-called heirs of the dragon, though they are in exile in the desert lands beyond the sea. The brother basically sells his sister to the Khal, or big chief of the horse...

     Hey, everyone. I don't consider myself as a tech blogger but I'd like to talk about Apple's latest iteration of the I-Pad. I'll give you more of a common man's perspective, I hope. All you folks in Cupertino can use this to get a feel for mainstreet USA. I've owned I-Pads since the original came out and have owned the #1, #2, and #3. I have to say, as I've said before, that of all the things I've bought in my life, these devices are the best. So, here are some thoughts on the new one. 1) I like the idea that they have developed an I-Pad Smart Case , as opposed to the Smart Cover . You can still buy the latter, and it's cheaper, but why not protect both sides? We like to say, "Cover Your ***" here in the States. Besides, since the new device is thinner and all, it might be good to have the extra protection. (The new Case is to be $79, I think.) 2) Twice the Wi-Fi performance. It has two inlet channels and two outlet channels. This i...

   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...

    On Wednesday night at ten o'clock, a new series started on FX Channel. I watched the premiere and really enjoyed it. It is a spy story, told without qualms, told in a gritty, dark manner that spares no feelings.     A Russian couple, Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, played by Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, come to the United States to begin deep-cover espionage activities. They are forbidden to even speak their mother tongue, once in America. They are married and living in D.C. They have two children, a boy and a girl. They go to the malls, eat ice cream and do all the mundane things that Americans do. They also compromise men and women who are involved in government offices. The lady seduces intelligence people to reap a treasure trove of intel. The man pretends to be an investigator who is tasked with keeping tabs on the CIA and FBI. They have a clandestine relationship with their 'handler' through the Soviet embassy.      The gu...

    Hey, everyone. The new season of Justified has started on the FX channel, on cable and satellite. It is a great series and I have talked about it in the past. It is set in Kentucky and features the story of U.S. Marshall Raylon Givens.       Raylon is a bit unconventional, to say the least. He offered a drug dealer 24 hours to get out of town, then shot him in a crowded restaurant. He has a trademark Stetson hat he wears, though he is a modern day figure. He has stepped outside the strict interpretation of the law. In fact, he has, on occasion, just ignored the law, to bring order and justice to a rough area. Since he is from Harlan County, he knows many of the undesirables. His father is one of the worst criminals of the locale and is currently in prison for murder.      This is the fourth season of Justified and one cannot help but speculate on when they might end the show. I feel that it is hard for people to know w...

     Hey, everyone. Yesterday I wrote a small article on Wordpress about Larry Hagman's demise. I just talked about his role of J.R. Ewing on the television series called Dallas. It was the first prime time soap opera and I even followed it regularly, and I hate soap operas. The show gave me an inside look at a world I knew nothing about. A world filled with wealthy, beautiful people, 'big oil' and lust. Actually, I knew a little bit about lust. It was a hobby of mine at the time. Ha, ha.      Larry Hagman caught that dream role when he became J.R. Ewing. It was a role he was born for. He was the single greatest villain in the history of television. He was the Darth Vader of soap operas. I will say that the dark-haired lady on Dynasty was so darn hot... What was her name? Joan Collins?      So. A few months ago I went on Amazon.com and bought the Dallas DVDs for the first two seasons. My wife and I started re-watching the ...

     Good evening. One of the truly great western television series of all time was called Have Gun Will Travel . It starred Richard Boone, a terrific actor, as Paladin. A gun for hire. This series was so different than the normal western, and so much better. Instead of the same tiresome plots, it had some great story lines. Recently, this series has started being replayed on the Encore Westerns Channel on cable and satellite. I have started to tape them on the TIVO and have thoroughly enjoyed them. The series originally aired in the early sixties and late fifties and I can't remember individual episodes, so it is almost like watching them for the first time. Especially tonight, as I was privileged to watch, for the first time, the story of how Paladin became Paladin.       It turns out that Paladin is not even the hero's real name, but the name given to him by his...mentor. The story goes like this.      Paladin lives...