Vice Indulgence at 35,000 feet

I'll take a little detour here and describe for you one of my other vices.

I indulged in this particular vice today. Transcontinentally. Voyeuristically. At 35,000 feet.

I knew it was going to be a long flight, so I popped a DVD in my bag on the way out the door. Once the announcement was made that it was safe to use approved electronic devices - out came the laptop, on went the headphones, and in went the DVD. And for 2 hours I indulged in my vice, which is.....

Musicals. I love musicals.

A movie musical in this case. One of my favorites.

"Moulin Rouge" starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor.

Come on, tell me you've ever seen better screen chemistry between two stars. Tell me you've seen a better love story. (Ok, "Shakespeare in Love" - one of my other favorites - is pretty good too, but MR wins because it's a musical!) Tell me you've seen a more gorgeously photographed and directed love story. Just tell me.

I love the scene when Ewan and Nicole are singing to each other on top of the elephant early on. That's where the chemistry is most noticeable to me.

And I really love the musical number where they do the combination: a Spanish flavor dance to "Roxanne" with all of the dancers and a version of "Come What May" that Ewan is singing to Nicole while she's having dinner with the Duke in the tower. Now that's a sexy scene.

It was all I could do to not break out in song on the plane.

Ok, that's my other vice. I love musicals. Don't even get me started on Les Miserables.

By the way, I have a theory on how this movie played a role in the breakup of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's marriage. Think of it this way - a lot of Hollywood marriages break up when one of the actors falls in love with a costar. I think that's what happened with Nicole and Ewan. They were two fellow Aussies starring together on a movie set who fell in love. It broke up her marriage to Tom. The timing fits, as I recall. Tom and Nicole were happy for ten years. Then she does this movie. Then she comes back and has a miscarriage. Then Tom files for divorce and moves out suddenly. It makes sense, to me anyway.

What's ironic about that is how it fits the plot of Moulin Rouge. If you know the story - the courtesan (Nicole) falls in love with the penniless writer (Ewan) but they can't be together because she has to be with the Duke. They sing to each other about their love that they can't bring to complete fruition, because she's spoken for. Just like Nicole couldn't be with Ewan, because she was spoken for by Tom. That's what I see in the chemistry between them, visible on their faces and in their teary bloodshoot eyes, when they sing "Come What May" at the end.

But that's just my theory.

Okay, enough on this topic. Back to strippers....