
Joe Jackson Leaves A Mixed Legacy
The father of Michael and Janet Jackson, who died today, launched their careers but his authoritarian, abusive style haunted them and their siblings. joe with Michael in happier times Jackson family patriarch Joe Jackson died today after a long battle with pancreatic cancer leaving a legacy that helped shape American music but also a heritage as an abusive, authoritarian parent that needs to be buried right along with him. Joe Jackson’s death in a Las Vegas hospital comes onl

Martial Arts Trailblazer Remembered for More Than His Movies
More than four decades after his death, Bruce Lee remains an icon of popular culture, remembered as the first Asian superstar with a global impact. A version of this was published in The Hollywood Reporter in 2010. To read personal rememberances of Alex Ben Block, author of the first biography or Bruce Lee, which became an international bestseller, and learn about an excellent new book, "Bruce Lee," click on this link. Why Bruce Lee has become an iconic figure alongside a ha


Bruce Lee & Me and a Great New Book
When I wrote the first book about the first international kung fu star less than a year after his death, I never imagined how it would impact my life or that he would still be a pop culture icon 45 years later. Now he is the subject of a first rate new biography Alex Ben Block (on the right) touring a movie studio in Hong Kong in 1973 while researching his international bestseller, "The Legend Of Bruce Lee," which went on to sell over 4 million copies in nine international e