Bruce Lee back in news !!

In our school days, it was undiluted, social media was not there, we listened to our elders, heard people speak and thought, whatever was spoken firmly and with authority were hard facts ! .. .. when we moved from elementary to middle school, there was talk about fights, martial arts and the weapons.

Noonchak [nunchaku] – a couple of well-made wooden sticks connected at one end by a short chain was famous. We heard with awe that this was a dangerous weapon and the wielder can ward-off any challenge including swords thrown at them.  Then there was the frail-looking martial art practitioner whose on-screen martial arts career didn’t get off to a good start on The Green Hornet, the American TV show which gave him his first taste of fame in the West. It wasn’t that he performed badly – he just moved too fast for the cameras. After shooting a scene in which he was so fast no one could see the moves he was making, resulting in laughter from the show’s cast and crew, the man reportedly stormed into his dressing room in a bad mood.

Then came some movies – everyone was talking of ‘Enter the Dragon’ the martial arts action film released in 1973 produced by and starring Bruce Lee. The film directed by Robert Clouse would sadly be the final completed film appearance as the man sadly died in 1973 at age 32. A joint American and Hong Kong production, it premiered in Los Angeles in Aug  1973, one month after Lee's death and went on to gross US$90 million worldwide.    The movie is considered to be one of the greatest martial art films.  The man ‘Bruce Lee’.

Lee Jun-fan (1940 – 1973), known professionally as Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong-American actor, director, martial artist, martial arts instructor, and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines that is often credited with paving the way for modern mixed martial arts (MMA).  Lee is considered to be the most influential martial artist of all time. He is often credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films. Raised in Hongkong, he was introduced to the film industry by his father and appeared in several films as a child actor. Lee moved to the United States at the age of 18 to receive his higher education at the University of Washington in Seattle, and it was during this time that he began teaching martial arts.  With films like Fist of Fury, Enter the dragon, the game of death, he became an icon, more to Chinese, based upon his portrayal of Chinese nationalism in his films and among Asian Americans for defying stereotypes associated with the emasculated Asian male.

Moving away, remember having posted one on the  plight of a Cricketer, born in Australia, raised in Australia, captained England then came back to live in Australia, whose career graph fell and financially was ruined ! sad !!

Adam Hollioake may be better known for his days as England and Surrey cricket captain but that wouldn't be paying respect to his whole professional sporting career.   As a seamer he was more effective in the one-day game, where his hard-to-pick knuckle ball fooled batsmen into playing too early. He shone with the bat in the one-day games against the 1997 Australians - even breaking into the Test team - and later that year inherited the captaincy of England's one-day side from Mike Atherton, who continued to lead in the Tests. It was an unprecedented but initially successful move as Hollioake's inexperienced squad lifted the Akai Singer Champions Trophy in Sharjah. His England career appeared to be over when he was dropped after the disastrous 1999 World Cup, incidentally, the match against India at Birmingham in May 1999 was his lost in  ODI.   For the records, he played 4 Tests made 65 runs; took 2 wickets; in ODIs – played 35, scored 606 and took 32 wickets !  In 2012, Hollioake became the first international cricketer to compete professionally as a Mixed Martial Artist when he fought Joel Millar on an event called 'Glory 2 – The Struggle Within' and he competed professionally as both a boxer and a mixed martial artist many times after. 

Now read this news that a company run by Bruce Lee's daughter is suing a popular Chinese fast food chain over its use of an image of the late martial arts star. Shannon Lee's Bruce Lee Enterprises alleges Real Kungfu has used the image in its logo without permission. The firm wants the fast food chain to immediately remove the image, and is reportedly seeking $30m (£23.1m) in compensation. The restaurant argues local authorities approved its use of the logo. The image depicts a dark-haired man in a martial arts pose.

"The Real Kungfu chain's logo is one that the company had applied for and obtained after a rigorous screening by the national trademark agency, we have already been using this for 15 years", the company said in a statement posted on China's Weibo platform. "We are baffled that after so many years we are now being sued, and we are currently energetically studying the case and preparing our response." The Guangzhou-based fast food chain, which is known as Zhen Gongfu in Mandarin, was founded in 1990 and has around 600 outlets across China.

Bruce Lee Enterprises handles the merchandising and licensing of the kung fu star's image. In a statement on its website, the company said it is "dedicated to sharing the art and philosophy of Bruce Lee to inspire personal growth, positive energy, and global harmony and aims to keep the martial artist's energy alive".

The case is likely to be watched closely as the Chinese government has in recent years promised to increase protections for intellectual property rights.

Interesting !

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

28^th Dec 2o19.