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. This is the only book that gives a true picture of the character of John Wooden and the influence of his assistant, Jerry Norman, whose contributions Wooden  ignored and tried to bury.

Compiled with more than 40 hours of interviews with Coach Wooden, learn about the man behind the coach. The players tell their 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. Also available on Kindle.


Friends with Benefits (2/10)

by Tony Medley

Run time 109 minutes.

Not for children.

When I was in Las Vegas recently I had dinner with a friend who works there. She told me that the nightclub XS at the Encore was the hottest night club in the world. She said that they paid people like Justin Timberlake $100,000 just to show up for one night.

Having just seen Justin in Friends with Benefits, he would be well-advised to keep that Vegas night job.

The movie is an unfunny, unromantic trifle about two people, Dylan (Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis) who, after a short first meeting, decide to have a purely sexual relationship with no emotional involvement. Part of that is believable because neither conveys even the slightest ability to create any kind of emotional involvement with the other. They take "lack of chemistry" to another level. The problem is that neither conveys even an iota of sex appeal. One will rarely see more boring bedroom scenes, most of which seem to concentrate on each giving the other oral sex under the sheets.

Another problem with the film is that it's a film about sex but it's unable to deal with the fact that today a movie about sex should contain some nudity. Both stars are almost completely covered up when they are apparently naked in bed, and there are lots of shots of them naked in bed. As was said in a classic Seinfeld episode, sex starts occurring when the nipple makes an appearance. There are no visible nipples in this.

There are lots of reasons why this doesn't cut the mustard. The first is that there were so many writers that they are too many to mention. That's always trouble and the script reflects it. The second is that the lead actors just aren't ready for prime time. Neither Timberlake nor Kunis is ready to make people forget Rock Hudson and Doris Day as actors who can portray chemistry in a romantic comedy when there is clearly no actual physical chemistry between the two (how could there have been considering Hudson's sexual preference?). That takes acting talent and Timberlake and Kunis fall far short. Kunis is especially ineffective. Her phony ebullience was so grating after the first couple of minutes that I was ready to dash for the exit.

The supporting cast isn't much help except for Richard Jenkins who gives his usual sterling performance and the beautiful and talented Emma Stone, whose appearance barely qualifies as a cameo.

 

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