Shannon Lee...

...needs to get a job.

Like, a real job, like the rest of us have.  She used to have one - her IMDB page  shows that she has been both an actress and a producer; according to her Wikipedia page she has been a professional singer and is currently married to a lawyer.  The point is that she's not untalented and should, by all rights, be able to secure gainful employment somewhere.

The reason why I bring it up is because I recently saw this and my head just about exploded.

To go back a few steps:  I'm sure you all (you who read this) know that I'm an avid martial artist, and as such, I happen to idolize Bruce Lee both as a man and as a martial artist.  His work was unparalleled before and since, and he continues to inspire people to this day, despite the fact that his films are now 40 years old.

(You know why there are Chuck Norris jokes but no Bruce Lee jokes?  'Cause Bruce Lee ain't no joke...)

(When Chuck Norris goes to bed at night, he checks the closet for Bruce Lee)

(Chuck Norris's tears cure cancer, which is a shame 'cause Chuck never cries...  Not since Bruce Lee MADE him cry)

(I could go on and on because Chuck Norris is an embarrassment to both America and the martial arts world, but you get the idea)

So I follow The Bruce Lee Foundation on Facebook and am on their mailing list.  I joined because I genuinely respect and revere the man and am always looking to learn more about the legend who altered the course of martial arts forever. 

The Bruce Lee Foundation is, unsurprisingly, run by his daughter Shannon.

Now at first I didn't think anything of it.  I honestly figured who would be better suited to carry on his legacy than his only living child?  Certainly she would have access to his friends and her mother, Bruce's wife Linda, that would allow her to glean knowledge and information about the man that so many of us all idolize, and then share that knowledge.  After all, if you read any of Bruce's texts you'll see that it was one of his greatest desires to share the martial arts with the world around him.  To encourage more people to take advantage of the immense benefits of study and practice, and enjoy the beauty of the arts themselves as well as the beauty they bring out in their practitioners.  He truly was an advocate for the common man because he knew very, very well that the study and practice of martial arts made ordinary men extraordinary, and he thought that we all had limitless untapped potential within us, if only we were willing to work to achieve it.

So yeah, I'm a fanboy.  What can I say? 

So I was all excited to be on the mailing list and follow the site on Facebook and I anxiously awaited some bit of knowledge or obscure quote that was previously lost or hidden, or maybe even word on when (if?) there was ever going to be an official Bruce Lee Museum...

Then I got an ad for a sweatshirt with the Bruce Lee, Jeet Kun Do logo on it for sale for "only" $55.

($55!?  For a SWEATSHIRT!?  Maybe it's a fundraiser to make money for the museum...  Well, it does say that "A portion of the proceeds from all orders benefits the Bruce Lee Foundation," so that's cool...)

(Wait, no, that's almost surely intentionally vague.  Shannon runs The Bruce Lee Foundation -- she practically IS The Bruce Lee Foundation.  She could easily just be pocketing that shit and making money riding her father's coattails.  And how much of "a portion," exactly, is going to the foundation and how much is going into Shannon's bank account?  Questions without answers...)

I stayed on the group and checked the website for more information about the Bruce Lee Action Museum only to find that the site itself is incomplete and they're not really any closer to actually getting to work on, y'know, BUILDING THE MUSEUM.

(I also began to take note that all of the Bruce Lee websites were registered as dot-coms and not dot-orgs...  A minor thing, to be sure, but important to note as my understanding goes that dot-orgs are reserved for nonprofit organizations while dot-coms are for everything else...)

As time went on, I kept getting more and more products pushed on me.  Hoodies for $79.  Medallions  for $140. (Although you can get the medallion itself with no chain for only $90...  Wait, what the holy fuck is that chain made out of!?  Bruce's bones?!)  T-shirts ranging in price from as low as $35 up to $45.

I'm no stranger to corporate branding and the idea that a logo or brand is worth cash.  I know I'm going to pay extra for shoes that have a Jordan logo on them than I would for a pair that has a Batman logo on them.

(to be fair, though, I actually BOUGHT the shoes with the Batman logo on them because Batman would kick the shit outta Jordan at 1 on 1.  Hell, Batman could beat the entire lineup of the 1991-1998 Chicago Bulls all by himself.  He's the goddamn Batman, that's what he does)

But it's one thing to charge double or even triple for a piece of clothing, or work with a jeweler to craft a custom, one-at-a-time-made piece of jewelry...

This is something completely different.

If you didn't click the link, don't feel bad - I'll just tell you where it leads.  What you see there is a notebook.  Commonly referred to as a "moleskine," pocket-sized at 3.5" by 5.5", and this one features a gold-colored Bruce Lee silhouette jump-kicking, and his autograph below it.

(not his real autograph, just a reproduction.  I'd happily pay that price and more for a REAL Bruce Lee autograph)

Inside you will find white paper, lined, and on the first page is an inspirational quote from Bruce himself that I will now print for you here:

"Learning is a constant process of discovery - a process without end."

The inside of the notebook also features a Bruce silhouette on the first page, and this fabulous notebook is yours for only $27.

Twenty Seven Dollars.

For a NOTEBOOK.

Now you could just as easily go here on amazon and buy THREE of those exact same notebooks, then go here and buy a gold paint-pen and draw your own jump-kicking Bruce silhouette, and then donate the remaining $15 directly to The Bruce Lee Foundation and you'll STILL GET MORE FOR YOUR MONEY because you'll have THREE notebooks instead of one.

So yeah, this shit's gotta stop.

I've been a fan of Bruce Lee since I first learned who he was, and his philosophies and teachings have largely shaped not just my martial arts life, but my personal life as well.  There are no end of wonderful stories from the people who knew him best (which doesn't actually include Shannon - more on that in a second) about what a kind, and actually gentle man he was (when he wasn't kicking the shit out of someone).  I'm not going to paint him as some kind of saint - he had his demons like the rest of us do.  Hell, I'd be willing to wager that his demons were larger and more powerful than most ordinary peoples' because he did so much and went so far.  But I genuinely feel that what he gave to the world and how he helped shape and influence countless individuals far outweighs the pain he brought upon people.

(I know, it's easy for me to say that because I didn't know him, I wasn't married to him, and I never had the opportunity to work with him, so please take all this for what it's worth as a fanboy talking about an idol)

And I genuinely have ZERO problem with Shannon trying to promote her father's work and his influence on the world.  I think it's wonderful that (in theory, anyway) there's going to be a museum devoted to him -- we need one.  But spend a bit of time reading around the myriad websites that she owns in her father's name and she comes across (to me, at least) as "the keeper of the keys," like she somehow had this incredible connection and knew him best.

Um...  She was FOUR YEARS OLD when he died.  My own father passed away when I was NINE and I openly admit that I barely knew him.  It saddens me to this day that I didn't get more time with him, and I bug the hell out of my family as much as I think they'll put up with for stories about my father because I fully accept the fact that THEY KNEW HIM BEST.

Now granted, I'm sure Shannon's getting a lot of input from her mother, Linda, and that counts for a lot.  But where's the input from Dan Inosanto, Terry Glover, or Ted Wong?  How about Jerry Poteet, Patrick Strong, Steve Golden or Richard Bustillo?  Those guys were Bruce's first students and knew him for years, as both students and contemporaries.  These are the men who helped Bruce build his legacy and refine his art.  These men are all still alive today and would have invaluable knowledge to pass on, and (I think) they all do already as instructors of their own schools. 

So in the future, for those readers of mine who are martial artists themselves, I urge you to be very wary of anything that has the "Official Bruce Lee Stamp of Approval" on it.  Spend your money however you want, but just be aware of the fact that less of your dollar might be going to the museum or his legacy than it is to Shannon's pocket, and making money really wasn't Bruce's style.

 

"Sure money is important in providing for my family and giving us what we want.  But it isn't everything."

"Money is an indirect matter.  The direct matter is your ability, or what you are going to do that counts.  If that comes, the indirect things will follow."

"A child must be taught early that money is only a means, a type of usefulness, an implement.  Like all instruments it has certain purposes, but it will not do everything.  One must learn how to use it, what it will do, but above all what it will not do."

"At one time I wanted all the indirect things; money, fame, the big opening nights...  Now I have it, or am beginning to get it, the whole thing doesn't seem important anymore.  I have found that doing a thing is more important.  I am having fun doing it.  Money comes second." 

All quotes from Bruce Lee, from the book "Striking Thoughts"

Kickstarter...

...is dead. 

Or dying, at least.

If nothing else, It has crested the peak of greatness and is on a downward slope to irrelevance.

Why?  I hear you asking...

(which is really weird, 'cause this is a computer...  I hope I don't have a paracusia)

(look it up, genius)

It's quite simple, really.  Rich people are co-opting and stealing it from the poor, starving artists. 

I'm not terribly surprised by this, and it's not like this just started; it's been going on for a while now.  It is only just recently that I really noticed it.

(and considering how behind the times I am when it comes to social media and crowdsourcing, the fact that it caught MY attention means it is probably a good three to five times worse than I think it is)

You see, once upon a time there was this fabulous idea that artists and creators could hit people up for money directly with the promises of rewards in exchange for providing the capital necessary to accomplish their next great works.  It was like during the renaissance when artists would get a commission from some wealthy benefactor who would dump a load of cash on them and say "Here's some cash, I would like some art, please."  And then the artist would go off and sculpt or paint or both and then give that thing to the person who gave them money.  Then they'd go back to begging or something until someone else came along and the process would repeat itself. 

The really great artists would have people lined up to give them money in exchange for art.

The mediocre artists had to go around and advertise or otherwise hit people up for work.

So Kickstarter was like the unknown artists saying "I have this great art I wanna make, but I don't have the means or materials.  If just, like, a thousand people give me just one dollar, you'll all get some art and I'll get to make it.  Sound like a deal?"

It's digital panhandling at its finest.

But then, like they always do, the richers had to come along and fuck it all up.

When an already-wealthy artist, musician, or creator pops up online and says "Hey everybody!  Give us money and we'll do what we're already fabulously wealthy for doing!" it kinda ruins the whole vibe of it. 

The realization hit me when I noticed a Twitter from Scott Kurtz (yes I have a Twitter, I just suck as posting to it, shut up)  talking about how his Kickstarter campaign was just about to hit the $30,000 mark and let him publish another book.

Now frankly, I love Scott Kurtz.  I've read all of PVP more than once, I've met the man in person and he is an absolute sweetheart of a guy who's super nice, super friendly, and super cool. 

(he drew a sketch for me for free once!  GLEEEEEEE!!)  

But he's also the creator and sole proprietor of what is arguably the second most popular webcomic in existence.  He runs two websites now with two comics.  He has a whole store full of posters, shirts, messenger bags, and has already published his collected strips several times over.  He is so cool that Penny Arcade asked him to move up to Seattle from Texas to share an office with them so they could all hang out together while they work, and he did it.

(although really, that couldn't have taken much convincing -- Texas and Florida are in a non-stop competition for who gets to be named the tenth ring of hell, so how much does it take to say "Move out of a shithole to one of the best places in the US?")

I could go on, but I think you get the picture.  The guy is wildly successful and I wish him even more success because I'm a fan and I love his work.

But he doesn't need a Kickstarter campaign.

If he wants to publish a book, all he has to do is call one of the publishers he's already worked with and say "Hi, I'm hugely popular and I wanna make a book.  If you want in on this cash cow, publish it for me" and then throw down the phone and walk away like a badass because he's SCOTT FUCKING KURTZ.  And on the off chance that the publishers say no, he can take his own money and just self-publish. 

(and then laugh at the moron who is undoubtedly now turning tricks in dark alleys to pay the rent after being  fired for saying no to SCOTT FUCKING KURTZ)

(seriously, I love the guy so much that I think from now on that's just how he should be addressed.  Maybe I'll hit him up and see what he thinks, he once responded to a tweet I sent about him!)

I've also seen Kickstarter campaigns for big name bands, like Pearl Jam. 
(shut up, I like Pearl Jam, and considering the fact that rock and roll peaked in 1994, I don't see this as a problem or reason to make fun of me)

(especially when there are so many more reasons to make fun of me)

Again, Pearl Jam doesn't need Kickstarter because they're Pearl Jam.  They're already fabulously wealthy rock stars (like Scott Kurtz) who already get paid a ton of money to do something that they love and are good at.  I'm not trying to take anything away from them or even dare to say they haven't earned every penny of it.  I'm just saying that they've already reached a level of popularity and success where they can either already afford to do what they want any time they want to express themselves creatively, or they can find someone to bankroll it for them.

We unknowns down here at the bottom don't have that luxury.

That's why Kickstarter was such an awesome idea for us.

I first learned about it at the 2012 Emerald City Comic Con when I went to a panel on "How to get your game published."  I thought I was going to hear from industry experts and editors at major publishing houses on how to brand and market your game to get the attention of the big boys, but it turned out to be 45-minutes of masturbation by people at the front of the room saying "Just run a Kickstarter campaign."  It was less "How to get your game published" and more of "Here's how to beg for money on the internet," but the idea was sound.  If you're poor and have no exposure but really and truly believe in your product, hit people up online and see if you can get them to help pay for it.

Suddenly the world was open to artists of all shapes and sizes in all mediums.  It was wonderful to see so many people doing so many cool things, and hey, for $10 you could get some kick ass games or merchandise or toys or whatever.  Hell, the Metawatch got founded on Kickstarter, raising over a million dollars after all the major manufacturers told 'em to bugger off.

But then things changed...

When rich people discovered that they could simply parlay their already massive wealth and popularity into getting people to pre-buy their stuff, it weakened the structure for all of us nobodies out there. 

After all, if Pearl Jam could simply hit up their millions of fans for $5 each to crank out an album in exchange for a digital copy, they've risked nothing and gained everything -- literally, everything, because they're capitalizing on an established fanbase to pay them.  If I asked a million people for $5 to write my next novel in exchange for a free digital copy, I don't think I'd make the obligatory $5 from my mom.

(but that's probably more because she doesn't know what Kickstarter is, but that's beside the point) 

But I'm willing to bet that if Stephen King promised his fans a free digital copy of his next book if they all just kicked in $1.99 straight into his pockets, he'd have a million dollars in less than 30 days.

Look, Kickstarter isn't dead yet, it's just pooping a little blood.  It can still be saved as the pure, beautiful thing that it was created to be, but it's gonna take you, faithful reader.

(or maybe readers?  I think there's more than one of you out there reading this shit, right?)

Stop financing the popular kids. 

Stop giving money to people who already have it.

Let's not kid ourselves, if you're a fan of someone you're already going to spend your money getting their shit (or pirating it for free), and if they're already popular enough to have a massive fan base, why do they need your money that much faster/easier anyway?  Make them earn it, just a little bit, like those of us at the bottom have to.  Give your money to people you don't know for new shit you didn't even know you wanted. 

Go find someone looking for money to finance their budding, burgeoning webcomic; not the second most powerful guy on the internet. 

(please Scott, if you ever read this, don't hate me).

Go find a band that's still sucking it up in dive bars or garage-gigs to pay for some studio time so they can put out an album; not some household name that defined a generation and is still going strong and doesn't need your money.  

(I'm absolutely certain that nobody in Pearl Jam is ever going to read this blog, so I don't care if they get pissed at me for calling them out)

Go find a new novelist who's looking to create the next Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, not the master of horror and arguably the most prolific writer of the last three decades who could drunkenly scribble on a cocktail napkin and have it be a best seller.  

(there's like, less than a 1% chance of King ever reading this blog, but I'm gonna play it safe and go light on him here - also, he's one of my biggest influences and favorite cool guys to read about and keep up on)

(and now that I've written that last paragraph, I'm gonna have to look into Kickstartering my next novel that I'm working on...  Stay tuned!)

Look, short version?  If you already know and love somebody and their work, just put their Kickstarters on a back burner and support the nobody's first.  Make sure that we're actually encouraging NEW shit to get out into the atmosphere because all those guys you already know and love were there themselves. 

They already "made it."  Help give someone else a chance to become your new favorite.

Please?

Here, start with these guys.  Or these guys.  Or even these guys.  Give it a shot, you never know what you'll find and love.

The United States of America...

...is killing you.  Or it will, probably.

Literally.

You see, recently I was pointed to this article by a very close, dear, beautiful friend of mine and I commented on it, briefly, then tried not to think about it.

And failed.

My initial comment to her was:

"As much as I loved the article, I had a hard time giving credibility to anything after "...a research trip to Japan."  ...I've been to Japan, I tried to eat everything I could get my hands on and I still lost weight. From what I understand, everybody who ever leaves the country begins feeling better and losing weight within a month of doing so...pretty much EVERY OTHER COUNTRY ON THE PLANET has healthier food than we do. Coupled with the fact that nearly EVERY OTHER COUNTRY ON THE PLANET has better public transportation, which leads to people spending more time walking and on their feet (thus giving them natural exercise outlets because they're up and mobile for large chunks of their day)."

As I said, I failed at forgetting about this article and have decided to get it out of my brain by writing it all down.

So I started by doing a little bit of research and found this.

Luckily the US is not, necessarily, the fattest nation on the planet, but let's examine that list for a sec...  The only people outranking the US are those chains of pacific islands wherein the population is genetically predisposed to obesity (which is backed up by historical documentation), and then the oddballs like Egypt, Qatar, Belize, and and Kuwait...places with notable numbers of American expats, but as I always like to say, "post hoc ergo propter hoc," so let's not jump to conclusions.

I then did a quick Google search for "cleanest food in the world" and discovered several interesting links that made for some fascinating research.  I'll save you the time (unless you're already searching yourself and not reading this, in which case you wouldn't even see this line...unless you already searched and have since come back to this page and read it in the past...) and sum up a few key points for you...

Out of 178 countries ranked by the Environmental Performance Index (hosted by the brilliant minds at Yale), the US comes in at 33; right after Belarus and right before Malta.  33 out of 178 isn't bad, right?  That's in the top 19%, a healthy B-minus on an academic scale...

But then you look at who's above us and the facepalming and head-shaking starts to set in...

Serbia?  Aren't there, like, massive wars going on there all the time between them and Croatia?

Japan?  They have some of the highest population density on the planet - all those people are eating, smoking, and pooping in such close proximity to each other that they're practically eating, smoking, and pooping on each other...

The United Arab Emirates?  How can a country that's 90% sand and dust be considered "cleaner" than the US, with our purple mountains majesty about our fruited plains?

Singapore?  I thought they were all dirt-farmers and buddhist monks living in poverty over there (that's what the TV tells me, anyway).  How are they cleaner than the US?

But those rankings are simply for "cleanest country," right?   That doesn't mean that they're necessarily healthier, happier, or have better food that us, right? 

Well according to this charming little ranking they certainly have better water than us (notice how the US isn't even vaguely mentioned on "clean tap water" rankings?  Someone call West Virginia - I wanna know why we don't have clean water)

But something about those two rankings sparked another memory deep in my brain...  I did a little bit more research and came up with a veritable bevy of websites from which I made a number of surprising discoveries...

The happiest people in the world live in the Nordic countries.  

(maybe it has something to do with the cold weather, 'cause Canada also outranks the US in overall prosperity and happiness...)

The cleanest countries in the world are European -- almost entirely.  

(maybe because they don't have a lot of...heavy industry?  Yeah, that must be it.  Ever since they closed down those Dickensian sweat-shops we all read about in high school they can't help but get cleaner, right?)

The healthiest countries in the world are...again, almost entirely European.

(aside from the oddballs like Canada, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel...  Wait, Israel!?  How'd they make the top 20?  Aren't they at war right now with Palestine or something?  How can a country in a perpetual state of war be among the top 20 healthiest countries in the world?)

So while that was all sinking in, I remembered what I was supposed to be writing about and went and did a little research on where our food came from.

Turns out the answer is "here."

(not "here" literally - my computer doesn't manufacture food...yet)

85% of all the food consumed (by volume) in the United States comes from right here in the United States.

Well that's not bad, right?  Hooray for self-sufficiency!

But then you start to think about all of those other little research points I just posted above and you've gotta wonder...

Are we really killing ourselves with our food?

I know there's a lot of kerfluffle going on right now over genetically-modified crops and, quite frankly, I think it's all over-generalized in the interest of rabble-rousing.  After all, human beings have been genetically modifying crops since we invented agriculture.  Ever notice how plants that grow in the wild look pretty much nothing like they do on farms?  Yeah, that's genetic modification.  Even the "all natural" or "organic" farmers are growing food that's genetically radically different than free-range fruits and vegetables, so get over yourself.  If you really wanna be all hardcore hippie vegan anti-genetic-modification, go try living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle.  No, having your own organic garden in your backyard doesn't count, go trek up in the mountains and eat whatever you find.  Let me know how it goes.

Now, that's not to say that there isn't some hinky shit going on in our food supplies.  It's no secret that the FDA has some rather loose guidelines regarding industrial waste and what percentage of our food is allowed to be feces, but above and beyond that we DO have the highest amount of GMO food on the planet on our plates.   69 million hectares of farmland in the US is dedicated to GMO foods, which is almost as much as the next four highest countries COMBINED.

(fascinatingly, we also have higher military spending than the next four highest countries COMBINED, and we're also number one in the world in incarceration rates.  'MURICA!  FUCK YEAH!)

So it quickly appears as if there is something in our food and water that's making us unhealthy and violent, but I also remembered a couple more things...  Specifically regarding public transportation.

As many of you know, I am a HUGE fan of trains.  I fell in love with them while living in Japan as they are far and away the most efficient mode of transportation, both economically and ecologically. 

But wait! I hear you saying (which is really weird because this is the internet)  New York is on that list of great public transit systems!

Very true...  But it's important to note that according to this guy people in New York live almost two years longer than other people in the US, and you're also simply less likely to die in New York than anywhere else in the country. 

(and he's from Harvard -- apparently they make smart people there...  or so I've heard)

So what does it all mean?

(this is already my longest blog-post yet -- bordering on actually being something more akin to an "article" than a "blog post," so if anybody wants to buy it and/or pay me for it, just let me know)

Well let's add it all up.

The happiest, healthiest places on the planet, on average:

• Are cold
• Have free healthcare
• Are constitutional monarchies with pariliaments and prime-ministers
• Have strong, highly-restrictive gun laws
• Eat a fraction of GMO foods
• Have massive, interconnected public transit/metro services

Put it all together and the problem isn't just one single thing -- our country itself, from our modes of transportation to the food we eat to many of the values that some people consider as integral to our national identity are all conspiring to kill you.

So the next time you want to lose weight, get healthy, or improve your quality of life and life-expectancy, sit down with a pen and paper and figure out exactly what your budget is...  Figure out how much money you have, how much you're willing to spend, how much more you'll make after you succeed and how much it's all worth to you...

Then take that much money and use it to move the hell away.  I hear Canada's nice, and it's close by!