“Real living is living for others.” - Bruce Lee.

As you can tell from my previous post, I watched Way of the Dragon earlier in the week in honour of the 35th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s passing. No matter how dated the movie surrounding him, there’s something so powerful about Bruce Lee’s physical prowess that just watching him move seems removed from time. My brain just isn’t equipped to handle it.

My Macho Movie Review co-host Nagy first brought the story of the fate of Bruce Lee’s family home to my attention. Hong Kong philanthropist Yu Pang-lin was determined to sell the property to help victims of the the earthquake in Sichuan until a worldwide outcry from martial arts fans changed his mind. Now he’s seeking approval to develop the home into a museum honouring Lee.

I have read dozens of news articles, blogs and forums concerning this story, and I’ve found only one that even takes into consideration the ramifications of this decision. To be fair, for all I know Yu Pang-lin will find alternate ways to contribute to the relief effort, or use the museum as a way to provide continual aid to people in need. And it’s probable that a museum dedicated to a globally loved icon like Lee would help create jobs and give a boost to the local economy. The long-term possibilities could very well outstrip whatever benefits turning the property into a parking lot would have entailed.

It’s not Yu Pang-lin’s decision that bothers me. He’s free to do whatever he wants with the property, and you can count me as one of the many who would love to see a permanent monument to Bruce Lee. It’s the knee-jerk reaction from Bruce Lee’s fans that has me confounded, with commentators initially vilifying Yu Pang-lin when he was going to let the property go on the market, then lauding him for reversing his decision to the point that some people were calling him a hero.

I have no idea how charitable Bruce Lee was, or, since he died before achieving the height of his fame whether he really had the chance to be. But I just can’t help feeling that a more fitting tribute to Lee’s cinematatic legacy would be to help those most in need.

After a lengthy lull I’m finally easing my way back into animating, and to loosen up I’ve pulled out my Shaw Bros. collection and immersed myself in the balletic art of violence known as Kung Fu. I found the clip above at The Slums of Shaolin, where the proprietor gives a rundown on 36th Chamber of Shaolin director Lau Kar Leung’s incredible heritage. The clip is a straightforward, no frills look at various techniques from a man who spent his entire life as an ambassador for the martial arts.

Like many people, one of the titles that got me to sample superheroes again was Iron Fist. The revamp was a textbook example of how to pull off the comic equivalent of a b-movie, and I don’t just mean that in the sense that it dealt with both pulp and exploitation themes. Iron Fist is one of those titles that seemed to draw a fair number of readers from outside the regular Marvel readership, justifying its continued existence by bringing fresh money into the company as opposed to just transferring it from one property to another.

Word on the street is that the team behind Iron Fist’s resurgence is stepping down en masse, to be replaced by hard-boiled writer Duane Swierczynski and artist Travel Foreman. I’m almost as into crime fiction as I am kung fu flicks, so I’m hopeful that Swierczynski brings it. From the sounds of it, he’s not immune to the charms of a well-placed kick to the face himself.