Wow, the reviews are out and  I am really disappointed ! Here are some of them that I read in the papers today:

“Hollywood is racist. This movie disrespects the legacy of Bruce Lee. I highly recommend everyone to boycott this movie. The movie serves to perpetuate negative stereotypes regarding Asian women, men, and the culture.”

“This entire film is a carefully hidden propaganda piece that portrays Lee as some unsexual, angry, kung fu loser who accomplishes nothing.”

“I wanted to watch a movie about the legend Bruce lee. Not another white washed movie deleting/altering/hiding his history and Again disrespecting Asians with another white male Asian female interest. Truth is movies spread lies and it hurts societies. In this case. Asian men.”

and it goes on and on…

Knowing that Shannon a a total control over Bruce Lee´s name, how could  this movie be approved is a mistery to me…

Of course this is just another guy trying to make money on Bruce Lee´s name , no question about that.

Talking about his spirit of course 🙂

I recently talked to a young colleague from Switzerland, she is 29 years old and when I asked: “do you know who Bruce Lee is?” she said “of course”. She was born in 1987, 14 years after Bruce´s passing and has absolutely no relation to martial arts whatsoever, so where does it come from? The name, everybody knows that name, isn´t that incredible?

I was born in 1972 and as long as I can remember I was hearing about Bruce Lee. As a child I saw the movies again and again and as a teenager I had my room covered with Bruce Lee posters. He was the ultimate fighter,  the superhero of my childhood and still is.

No matter what, I will always admire the man, the actor and the martial artist. It is no wonder we still know him, we still talk about him, refer to him and make movies about him, this is what a true legend is all about.

His passing was a tragedy and I really don´t care about the how and the why, what I think is that it was way too soon, it would have been so interesting to see how far he would have gone, what he would have become, this is a shame we did not get more time, I think we could have learned a lot more from him.

But we need to remember what he left us and this needs to be treasured. How the legacy is used by some people can be questionable but I really think it is great to see that he is still remembered and not only by martial arts people.

Walk On !

Mars 31st, 1993.
I remember when I heard the news, I was at my parents place in my hometown in France. Brandon Lee had passed in an accident on a movie set. This was so sad and unbelievable, Brandon had already joined his father in heaven.
Anyone can speculate on what happened, I prefer thinking he was called up there on a bigger mission.
I remember his accomplishments and his great performance on THE CROW, one great movie!

Rest in peace Brandon.

The trip to San Francisco  is planned for november, we talked to Allen on the phone when he turned 90 (  July 31th ).

Allen and Annie were having a common birthday party to celebrate both their 90th birthdays! I was so happy to talk to both of them on the phone, we were not able to find a flying ticket for the occasion but we will make sure we can meet them in November.

Pictures below are from our friend Jeff Chinn ( world´s biggest Bruce Lee collector).

I feel blessed to know Allen and Annie and I can´t wait to meet them again in November.

San Francisco is always a wonderful experience, it will be the 3rd time and everytime I wish the trip would not end.

I was a baby when Bruce Lee passed away but in my early years I started to hear about him, my whole family was talking about him, his films where on TV very often and still are,  Bruce has been a legend in France in more than 40 years and still is.

when I was young I was not into sports at all unfortunately, but one of my cousins was and he had the dream of doing just what Bruce did in his movies. I myself had a whole wall of my bedroom covered with Bruce pictures posters and newspaper articles.

At the time it did not matter if I was into sports or not,  I grew up with some kind of Bruce presence until I went deeper and started JKD in Sweden, after this the journey went even further and I met Bruce Lee´s closest friends and family in San francisco in 2010.

so 40 years have passed , but the  impact is unbelievable and  is still going on in the whole world.  On a more personal level this number of years comes with other consequences and  I can easily be very sad about that  but I raise from it when I think about what I have been able to accomplish and no matter what some people may think,  I believe that my passion for Bruce Lee is what brought me here today.

My deepest respects to Bruce Lee since  the 70´s until  today and still going on…

RIP BRUCE

Jim Kelly was a  martial artist who made a name of himself by winning four karate tournaments in 1971, two years later he was picked to star in the martial arts classic , Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee.

Jim Kelly died on June 29th  at his home in San Diego, he had been suffering from cancer, he was 67.

Even if it is life, It is so sad to see them all go one after the other, even if I am younger it feels like my generation is gone, what I grew up with and what is still so very much in my life right now.

Rest In Peace Jim , along with the rest of the team …

Today is Bruce Lee´s birthday , he would have been 72 years old.

Two years ago we were in San Francisco having the best time, meeting Linda Lee was a big deal for me I am greatful for this moment and everything that happened during this trip with Mikael. This date is celebrating those memories too.

An another one has now joined the master in heaven,  Rest in Peace Jesse Glover, 16/10/1934 – 27/06/2012.

Jesse Raymond Glover was Bruce Lee‘s first student and first assistant instructor in the United States. He met Lee in 1959, as they both attended Edison Technical College and was the one who first taught Lee judo. Glover was a psychology major and a champion judoka. The character based on Glover in the 1993 film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, starring Jason Scott Lee, was named Jerome Sprout.

Jesse started a Gungfu class of his own and Leroy Garcia and James DeMile came along and assisted him, which was the first ever independent Jun Fan arts related class. Jesse Glover was the first authorized martial arts instructor to be trained by Bruce Lee. He has developed his own method which he calls Non-Classical GungFu.

Article from Wikipedia.

Yesterday was 38 years since Bruce passed.  What is the most incredible thing about Bruce Lee, the impact he still has 38 years after his passing, this is amazing. I just quoted Linda on my facebook page yesterday, this is one of the most intelligent quotes  and if anyone knows anything about respect this is what they should do.

“All these years later, people still wonder about how Bruce died. I prefer to remember how he lived”. Linda Lee Cadwell

Rest In Peace Bruce