Maybe Dan Savage was right...

A few weeks ago in his column "Savage Love" someone asked Dan Savage - how you thank someone for being such an beloved fantasy for, shall we say, solo pursuits? Well, Dan answered by saying that there's no way, that one shouldn't even try. I tend to agree. Fantasizing about someone can be so weird - it's both kind of creepy and (I'd guess) kind of flattering, too. For example, Andretta and I watched Strictly Ballroom and Beauty Shop last Thursday, and I still can't get some of their stars out of my head. (Ahem.)

First, you've got the fantastically talented and hot, hot, hot Paul Mercurio. He was a dancer before he acted in Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom, but, fortunately, he's a pretty good actor, too. I like this movie best of all Luhrmann's efforts thus far in part because of Paul but also because the movie is so freakin' bizarre. Paul and Tara Morice play the "straight" plotline: she's a plain, shy beginner, and he's an established dancer who wants to "dance his own steps" (gasp!). The gravity with which these "rogue" steps are treated provides the humor for the subplots as people will go to great lengths to prevent him from expressing himself. Suffice it to say, these two kids get together, dance their passadouble, and snog it up. Key scenes: Paul dancing (and making out with himself) in front of a mirrored wall and the impromptu dance to "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" which sizzles.

Then, in Beauty Shop, you've got the cutie Bryce Williams. Bryce is pretty new to acting, having been a singer in his former career (in the group Grove Theory with Mekada Davis). Certainly Beauty Shop doesn't have a complicated aesthetic sensibility or plot, but it's great fun nonetheless. In it, Bryce plays a moving company driver whom Queen Latifah's Gina initially hires to move old equipment but who ends up working in the shop as a stylist. He falls in love with Alicia Silverstone's character and the beauty shop gossip about him turns from the "is he gay?" variety to the "why the white girl?" question. For some reason, of the two guys in this movie, I like him best. Djimon Hounsou (who is hot) plays Queen Latifah's love interest, but, for some reason, their scenes together just don't "do it" for me.

Going back to Dan Savage and individual pursuits, I wonder how weird it is to be talking about guys I don't know or thinking about guys I don't know. In Bryce's case, I couldn't find much information on him outside of IMDB (vouyeristic attempts thwarted). In Paul's case, though, IMDB indicates that he's in Exit to Eden, the adaptation of Anne Rice's erotica of the same name. So, on the one hand, I'm halfway out the door to Blockbuster to rent it. On the other hand, I found his website which includes pictures of his wife and kids and a blog, all of which remind me how human he is. Maybe a successful fantasy is most effective not only because someone is unapproachable but because the "real" person remains unapproachable.