Out of print for more than 30 years, now available for the first time as
an eBook, this is the controversial story of John Wooden's first 25
years and first 8 NCAA Championships as UCLA Head Basketball Coach.
Notre Dame Coach Digger Phelps said, "I used this book as an inspiration
for the biggest win of my career when we ended UCLA's all-time 88-game
winning streak in 1974."
Compiled with
more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach.
Click the Book to read
the players telling their stories in their own words. This is the book
that UCLA Athletic Director J.D. Morgan tried to ban.
Click the book to read the first chapter and for
ordering information.
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Thumbnails July 07
by Tony Medley
Evening (10/10): This
is a romantic, emotional journey back to one weekend in the past life of
Vanessa Redgrave as she lies dying, with her daughters, Toni Collette
and Natasha Richardson (Redgrave’s real life daughter), standing vigil
and interacting. The intricate story of the wedding of her best friend,
Meryl Streep/Mamie Gummer (Streep’s real life daughter), is told in
flashbacks. Claire Danes gives an Oscar®-deserving performance as the
youthful Redgrave. Although I approached it as just another chick flick,
it is not so. The beautifully told story captivated and drained me.
Knocked Up (9/10): There
are two kinds of movie laughs; chuckles and uncontrollable belly laughs.
I had the latter. I haven’t laughed this hard since Freaky Friday.
That said, with prolific use of the “f” word, this low class film has
content that could easily be offensive to many segments of society, like
pro-abortion advocates on one side, and people who think babies should
be the result of marriage on the other. I say, relax and enjoy it.
Despite the controversial subject matter, this is a very funny movie.
Vitus (7/10): A good
last half makes up for a slow beginning in this film that highlights the
talents of real-life piano prodigy, 14-year-old Teo Gheorghiu, who plays
Vitus (pronounced Vee-tus), the 12-year-old talent who is unhappy with
his parents for pushing his music career. Gheorghiu is a good actor, but
wait until you hear him play the piano!
Ocean’s 13 (4/10):
George Clooney, Matt Damon, & Co. all walk around with looks on their
faces that seem to be yelling, “We’re cats like Frank and Dean and
Sammy!” That’s hardly enough to base a movie upon. Indeed, the only
thing that could possibly interest anyone in this weakly plotted film is
their sex appeal for an audience of women. At 113 minutes, this movie
makes almost two hours seem like almost an eternity…unless you’re a
woman who likes Clooney & Co. Ringadingding…or not.
Once (4/10): With music
that struggles to achieve mediocrity, this is a bland story of an
unnamed busker, a person who sings in the street for money. Subtitles
should have been a necessity because it’s burdened with people speaking
in a thick Irish brogue which is often indecipherable. Why this has
generated such a positive buzz is beyond me.
Waitress (3/10): The
men are mostly selfish louts (except for a callow wimp) and all the
women are wonderful. Oh, yeah, and a child doesn’t need a father.
Feminists should love it.
Sicko (1/10): Poor
Michael Moore. He spends a quarter of this film interviewing a few
Frenchies telling how much they love their government. But after
wrapping the film, the vast majority he didn’t interview repudiated the
surprisingly leftist government of the corrupt Jacques Chirac his subjects extol, by electing in a landslide
conservative Nicolas Sarkozy to replace it. In typical Moore fashion, he
extols Cuba’s system, claiming that Cuba has lower infant mortality and
a longer life span than Americans. Michael fails to mention that Cuba
has the highest abortion rate in the Western Hemisphere, the highest
suicide rate, and the lowest fertility rate. But, hey, those facts would
be pretty inconvenient to Michael’s point. These are mere smidgens of
the half-truths in this boring film that reinforce Moore’s reputation as
a man who doesn’t let facts interfere with his pathetic propaganda.
You Kill Me (0/10):
Totally devoid of humor and chemistry between the stars, Tèa Leoni and
Ben Kingsley, this is one of the worst films I’ve had to endure this
year, and that’s saying a lot.
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