The SoapBoxers

A little over 2 years ago, I became hooked.   I finally became one of the millions that joined the huge time killer known as Facebook.  Nope, didn’t get hooked on Facebook.  Through Facebook I found a game by the name of Bejeweled Blitz by PopCap games.  Many of you have probably heard of it, and maybe even played it.  The object of the game is to swap “gems” to match like colors/shapes, at least 3, to cause an explosion with more shapes dropping in from the top.  The more you match, the more points you earn.

Matching 3 gems is the most basic.  This will eliminate those 3 gems, and more gems drop into the game field.  Matching 4 gems will create a “power gem”.  Once you then match that power gem into a set of 3, it will explode and eliminate the gems that surround it.  If you match 5 like gems, it creates a hypercube, which you can then use to eliminate whichever color gem you choose, by swapping the hypercube with that gem.  You also have the chance to multiply your points by 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x, and so on, by matching random gems throughout the game.

Oh, I almost forgot, you’re also under the intense pressure of a game timer, 1 minute to be exact.  The game keeps track of your stats, or how many times you’ve reached certain point levels.  Below are my stats:

As you can see, I’ve played the game A LOT!  9,085 to be exact.  I know you’re thinking “man, he spends a ton of time on Facebook!”.   Nope, I actually don’t.  A couple of months after finding this wonderful game through a Facebook app, I received an iPod Touch for Christmas.  What was the first app I downloaded?  You guessed it….Bejeweled!!

I can (and do) literally play the game anywhere I want.  It’s so easy to just play a couple of quick games because they only take a minute each.  This is, by far, the most addicting game I have ever played.  If you haven’t heard of it, or played it, or both, I highly recommend you do so.  That is, if you’re ready to be BLITZED!!

Way back in May of 2009, I posted my very first article … hoping to become the very best entertainment blogger ever. Well, I’ve only contributed a total of 2 articles (both very good, I might add) and have had a very long layoff since my last one.

Well, today marks my triumphant return as a regular contributor for all of your entertainment news and reviews!!

For those that don’t remember, my plan is simple. Review all of my favorite TV shows, movies, video games, etc, with an occasional mix of vacation destination reviews. Today, I’m going to give you the most honest feedback on one of the best video game franchises ever, Madden Football (for Playstation 3).

Like I do every year, along with thousands of other people, I made sure to pick up my copy the day it was released. I wasn’t, however, one of the crazies that stood in line for hours to pick up a copy at midnight so that I could stay up for hours, call in sick to work, and play Madden all day long.

Just like in years past, the game has gotten so good that you think there’s no way they can make any significant improvements over the prior year’s game. There is one very significant change to the game this year, though, that makes it an overall better experience. The addition of Gameflow to the game not only speeds up game play, but also takes away the massive confusion of a team’s playbook. Gameflow analyzes everything from what down it is and how many yards you need for a first down to what the score is to pick the best play for your current situation.

In previous versions of Madden, you had an entire playbook at your disposal. There are literally hundreds of different plays in a playbook. Most of the time, I’d find myself continually running the same handful of plays throughout the game, because they were the easiest to find or because they worked the most. Doing that really took away from the realism of the game. Do coaches really call the same 3 plays, over and over? No, they don’t.

So, having the computer call plays for you not only adds to the realism, but also speeds up game play as you’re not wasting 15-20 seconds every play by frantically searching a playbook to call the perfect play. You simply press X at the end of each play to utilize the Gameflow function, the play call pops up on the screen, and you’re good to go. You do have the option to audible to a different play, or even have the option to look through your team’s playbook. So nothing was removed from the game to add the Gameflow option. So far, I love the Gameflow option. The computer really does make the correct play call in most situations. I’ve rarely had to audible or call a timeout due to a terrible play call.

As far as graphics and game play, there were some subtle changes, but nothing drastic. Overall, Madden did it again with a great game. Easily, in my opinion, the best game available for any system. On a scale of 1-10, I give it a 9.5, because there’s no such thing as the “perfect” game!

Want to pick up a copy of Madden 11 and put a few coins in Bob’s pocket at the same time? Buy from Amazon using the links below. Bob gets a small commission, but your price stays the same.

Available on: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, and PS2

Official Guide

I tend to pay very little attention to directors and producers. I can tell you that Stars Wars is a George Lucas film, but very little beyond that. It has simply never been something that struck me as terribly important. I’ve always focused primarily on plot and secondarily on the cast. The other details were never particularly important.

Recently, I have been watching a lot of NCIS. I got into the show about a year ago, and have been DVR’ing the crap out of it lately. I really don’t watch a ton of TV, so NCIS probably makes up about 80% of my non-baseball viewing right now.

I’m not really drawn toward military themed shows, so NCIS is a bit of an odd choice. It’s basically a cop show with Navy details. Why wouldn’t I just pick from the various cop shows currently on TV (Criminal Minds has been suggested to me by several people)?

A big reason why I enjoy the show is that is has a large number of well-developed characters. So many of the characters have depth that it’s impossible for me to choose a favorite character. I started watching the show because of Mark Harmon – who, for reasons that I can’t fully explain, is one of my favorite actors. On the other hand, I hang on every word of Ducky’s stories. I like the computer geek stuff that McGee delves into and the forensic science that is Abby’s forte. And let’s not forget DiNozzo getting smacked in the head or Ziva beating up some guy who underestimated her.

In other words, there’s not a whole lot that I don’t like about the show. I found myself enjoying the show so much that I want to Wikipedia to look up some of the details.

I had known that the producer was Donald Bellisario – but I wasn’t aware of Bellisario’s other credits (I told you, I pay very little attention to them). Quantum Leap, JAG, and Magnum PI? It struck me that this man was responsible for perhaps 40% of the dramas I have ever liked. When I watch non-sports programming, I generally lean toward comedies. The fact that I liked every Bellisario show that I had ever seen spoke volumes to me.

I always say that a true test of a story is the ability to interest me when I have no particular interest in the subject matter. In the case of Quantum Leap and Magnum, the subject areas were topics that I enjoy. Bellasario’s biggest challenge was getting me to enjoy JAG and NCIS when I really don’t have any special interest in the military – and he passed in flying colors.

If you haven’t caught NCIS yet, watch the new season on Tuesday nights this fall – or catch reruns on USA, Sleuth, or Ion. Reruns are on quite frequently. If NCIS isn’t your thing, give Bellisario’s other works a chance. This guy is truly an American treasure.

[Note: click on any of the links to visit the Amazon store for the series.  We will earn a small commission on any sales.  This does not increase your cost.]

I mentioned the new group Love and Theft in the Country Corral on August 22.  I finally received my copy of the CD this week!  I sat down and gave it a listen.  Here is what I think of the songs on the disc. I’m more of a lyrics person, so the strength of lyrics has a lot of weight on the ratings.

Cheris	Song
	World Wide Open	Not a bad song, per se, but probably not the best song to put in the #1 track of a debut album.  Theme of the song is which road to travel down (which life choice to make).
	Runaway	I absolutely LOVE this song.  I haven’t been able to get it out of my head for weeks.  From a lyrics perspective, I’m a sucker for the “get out of town and make a new life for myself”.  The harmonies and instrumental strength really make the song stand out.  My scale only goes up to 5, but I wanted to give this song at least a 6.
	Dancing in Circles	The songs asks why people can’t get along, when we are all born brothers and sisters (in Christ).
	It’s Up to You	The narrator is warning a second person that their destructive actions are likely to cause broken friendships in near future.
	You To Miss	This is a story of love lost.  It doesn’t seem to have the instrumental strength of some of the other songs.
	Can’t Go Back	Another song with strong instrumental aspects and harmonies.
	Don’t Wake Me	A tale of newfound love – don’t wake me from the dream.
	Freedom	The first half of the song is considerably better than the second half (which is still pretty good).  Is freedom a good thing or a bad thing?
	Slow Down	In contrast to the songs which have the narrator racing off into new directions (Runaway and World Wide Open), this song begs to slow things down a bit.
	Me Without You	A solid song with the theme of “you complete me”
	Drowning	The songs has the theme of “I’m drowning without you”.  I really like some of the harmonies – they pushing the song’s rating up by a full Cheri.
Album grade: This album has a number of 2 Cheri and 3 Cheri songs.  However, I really like the top end songs (particularly Runaway) and the fact that this is a debut album make me a bit of an easier grader and allows me to award 4 Cheris.  I see a lot of upside potential for this group.  Perhaps their next album will be achieve a coveted 5 Cheri rating. Love and Theft is made up of Brian Bandas, Eric Gunderson, and Stephen Barker Liles.

Love and Theft World Wide Open

I bought this book off a discount table for $4. I had my doubts that Jimmy Buffett could write a decent novel, so I pushed it to the side. Months later, I stumbled across the abridged audio book for $1 and took the plunge. Now that I owned the work in two different formats and had invested a grand total of $5, I really had to make an effort to read (or listen) to it. So I popped the first tape into the player, and off we went!

I quickly realized that I was a fool to doubt Buffett. After all, Buffet tells great stories in his songs, most of which he writes himself. Is this really much different than writing a novel?

Having said this, the book doesn’t quite fit the mold of a traditional novel. You could easily chop the book into several novellas that would stand on their own with minimal ties to the other parts.

The central character is Tully Mars. Tully began his journey in Montana before he was forced to flee from the injustice of bogus criminal charges. At points in the book, he ends up in Alabama, Florida, Mexico, Cuba, and Belize (come on, go grab a map and find it). The core theme of the book is Tully’s effort to help centegenarian Cleopatra Highbourne find a rare fresnel lens for the lighthouse on Cayo Loco. Caya Loco is the “Salty Piece of Land” referred to in the title.

During the course of the book, we are treated to rather length flashbacks of recent (and not so recent) events in Tully’s life. Tully really would like to settle down, but the bounty hunters that his former employer sent after him make it difficult to stay in one spot very long. Tully eventually ends up as a fishing guide at a fishing lodge in Mexico, where he does manage a bit of a respite before being forced to move on once again, this time to the lighthouse on Cayo Loco, where he works to restore the lighthouse to its former glory, while also coordinating an effort to find the rare fresnel lens.

While Tully is the narrator of the book, many other characters have significant roles. The aptly named musician Willie Singer tells his own adventures to Tully in the long letters he sends. Willie is attempting to circumnavigate the globe in an old sea plane, while also attempting to locate a fresnel lens for Tully and Cleopatra. Singer is welcomed in some interesting ways on his stops – including being welcomed as the second coming of a mythical US Navy pilot who had crash landed at the same place decades ago.

Then, of course, there is Cleopatra Highbourne, the 101 year old caption of the schooner Lucretia. While Cleopatra is completely consumed by her goal of restoring the Cayo Loco lighthouse to its former glory – complete with the elusive fresnel lens – so that it can serve as her final resting place, she also regales Tully with the story of her life. Even at her advanced age, Cleopatra spends much of her time sailing on the Lucretia. She is no figurehead captain, but is the unquestioned authority on board the schooner.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though. If you like lighthouses, fishing, airplanes, or simply enjoy a good tale, you might enjoy this book. My only regret is that I listened to the abridged edition – now I’ll have to read the unabridged version in order to avoid missing any good parts.

A Salty Piece of Land (book)

Taylor Swift

When Taylor Swift first burst onto the country music scene as a 16 year old in 2006 she appeared, at first glance, to be nothing more than the latest in a string of young girls trying to make a name for themselves in country music, following the path of LeeAnn Rimes and Jessica Andrews. Her first song, Tim McGraw, peaked at #6 on the country charts. I can still remember an early radio interview when she explained that the song referred to a fascination with the Tim McGraw song, rather than Mr. McGraw himself (so that Tim wouldn’t see her as a stalker).

Taylor’s self-titled debut album has sold three million copies, and had five singles crack the country top 10, including #1 hits Our Song (my personal favorite from the album) and Picture to Burn.

Taylor’s second album, Fearless, hit shelves in November 2008 and became the first million selling album of 2009. Three singles have been released from that album – Love Story, White Horse, and You Belong to Me. Of those three singles, my favorite is probably White Horse – the only one of the three that hasn’t hit #1 on the country chart (it peaked at #2).

The cool thing about Taylor is that she is not just a singer. She is also a writer. She won a national poetry contest in fourth grade, and writes many of her own songs. She also seems to be a very fun loving person, and shares interesting details about her life and career through her Facebook page (as opposed to some stars who just use it to tell people when their new perfume is hitting store shelves).

Taylor has been in the media a lot, so it’s difficult to imagine that too many people are unaware of her – but if you’re one of the people who have been hiding under a rock, grab one of her albums and give it a listen. Guys – now that she broke up with the Jonas brother, she’s single again!

Runaway

Sometimes a song gets lodged in your brain and you just can’t get it out. Lately, the song that keeps running through my head is Runaway by the new group Love and Theft. I wasn’t aware of it at the time, but the group actually has a tie to Taylor Swift – as an opening act for her Fearless tour. In additional, group member Stephen Barker Liles is the subject of Swift’s song, Hey Stephen. Love and Theft’s debut album, World Wide Open, will be released on August 26.

Brooks & Dunn

Sometimes, it’s just time to hang it up. Country duo Brooks & Dunn are calling it quits. After nearly twenty incredibly successful years together, they have announced the end of their career – at least as a group. They will release the album #1s and Then Some on September 8th and will tour one last time in 2010. It’s been a good ride, guys – thanks for all the memories.

Taylor Swift Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift Fearless
Love and Theft World Wide Open
Brooks & Dunn #1s and Then Some

I’ve played video games my whole life. Everything from an Atari 7800 to Sega, to Playstation (1, 2, and 3). Ever since I started playing, I’ve loved sports games. I just couldn’t seem to get into the role-playing games. My two favorite sports series of all time are Madden football and MLB: The Show.

Right now, it’s all about The Show, all the time. The previews for the game were spot on. “The best baseball game ever made”, they said. It is, by far, the most realistic baseball game I have ever played.

Infielders getting eaten alive by bad hops, bad throws, hitting streaks, pitching streaks, hitting slumps, and pitching slumps, it’s all there.

Being an avid Cubs fan, I obviously have to pick them in the Franchise mode. The ballpark is almost like you’re really there during a game. The ivy isn’t green in April (because it’s really not) like in all the other games. The rooftops are actually realistic on the game because they have people in them!!

Players argue and get ejected. Umpires have personalities. With certain umps you can hit corners all day long and not get a call. With others, you can hit spots 6 inches out of the strike zone and get the call.

It’s easy to get mad at the game because you go back to the days when “the computer cheated”, but when you take a step back and think about it, it’s real. And that’s much better to appreciate in a game than simply “winning”.

Have I mentioned how deep the game is? You actually have a 40 man roster that you have to keep control of (which can be extremely frustrating at times, but again, it’s real). The game actually includes compensation picks in the game from free agent signings. Speaking of free agency – the days of throwing a ton of money at a high profile free agent and him automatically signing with your team are over. Frustrating? Absolutely. Real? YES! It’s like a player on this game is smart enough to know what a good situation is for him and takes that instead of the highest offer.

I enjoy the game so much that I actually play all of my teams’ games. Typically I just get bored and simulate through a season until the playoffs and/or the off-season and just manage the team. Now, with MLB 09: The Show, I can’t stop playing!

Speaking of, I think I have a game to play…..

MLB ’09 for PS3

Today is the debut of the weekly entertainment column.  The Soap Boxers welcomes Bob Inferapels to the staff.

Being the entertainment guy, I’ve struggled with what exactly I want to cover each week. Do I want to cover every show I watched over the last week, or do I want to pick which one I liked the best that week? Or, do I want to mix weekly shows with movies and video games?

After much debate with myself (you should’ve been there for that), I’ve decided that I’m going to combine all of the above, to keep all of my favorite readers coming back…..I currently have zero, but I’m sure that number is set to multiply over the next few weeks!

Since the first “episode” in my series, I figure I’ll cover what shows I try to watch regularly and why. So, here goes (in no particular order):

The Big Bang Theory (Monday nights, 7 Central, CBS) – The show is in its 2nd season, and I have to admit I wasn’t sold at first (it was very hit and miss). It’s a quirky/geeky comedy that stars Johnny Galecki (most famous for David on “Roseanne”) as Leonard, Jim Parsons as Sheldon, and Kaley Cuoco (Bridget on “8 Simple Rules” ) as Penny.

Leonard and Sheldon are physicist roommates and live across the hall from Penny, the ditzy blond who is a waitress at The Cheesecake Factory. Episodes revolve around Leonard and Sheldon, along with physicist friends Howard (in his 30’s and still lives with his mother) and Rajesh, trying to overcome their social differences. Like I said, it’s quirky and geeky, but has become increasingly more funny with each episode.

Criminal Minds (Wednesday nights, 8 Central, CBS) – Like the CSI series (you’ll see this next on the list), but different. Rather than investigate crime scenes to find the killer(s), the cast of Criminal Minds works for the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit and focuses on the criminals’ next move.

The team is led by Hotchner, a no-nonsense kind of guy who seems to be the smooth talker that can most easily gain the trust of anybody. Dr. Reid is the youngest of the group, and is nothing less than a genius. Derek is the tough guy of the team. And I have to mention Penelope, the “behind the scenes” computer guru who can find everything from the last place you used your credit card to when you last went to the bathroom.

CSI – Miami (Wednesday nights, 9 Central, CBS) – The only CSI that I really try to watch anymore (I’ve never really been a fan of CSI: New York and I’ve lost interest in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation / Las Vegas since the addition of Laurence Fishburne).

The star of the show is David Caruso as Horatio Caine, the hardcore boss who has a chip on his shoulder and all but guarantees to catch the bad guy.

Those are the 3 shows that I’m trying to watch on a regular basis. In future weeks, I’ll do my best to critique what I thought of the most recent episode, along with a slew of other entertainment type thoughts…..