I'm convinced that I'm getting younger everyday. I get my kicks out of watching cartoons and kid movies. And most recently I was reunited with my first love. Leroy Green.
For those of you who don't know me too well, I'll offer my confession now. "The Last Dragon" is my favorite movie. I was 9 years old when I first saw this movie, which is about a black kung fu master in Harlem named Leroy, aka Bruce Leroy. Vanity played his love interest and it featured cameos from William H. Macy, Cockroach from the Cosby Show and a few other folks.
It's a pretty cheesy flick, but you couldn't tell my 9-year-old eyes that. I fell madly in love with Taimak, the actor who played Bruce Leroy. I followed his career ever since then, even though there wasn't much to follow. My eyes would bug out of my head every time I caught him in one of his bit parts (He was a bartender in the Peach Pit After Dark on 90210, he was the guy that tried to rape Freddie in "A Different World" and he was in a few of those BET Arabesque movies). He's the reason I took karate lessons. I even signed the online petition for the filming of a sequel to The Last Dragon. Because I have great friends who feed into my obsessions, I own The Last Dragon on VHS, DVD and I have the soundtrack. Oh yes. I'm his number one fan. Some might call me a stalker, but whatever. They don't love the way I love.
I pretty much have the movie memorized, but I started watching it again this week. Then I found his website, plus saved him as a friend on MySpace. It doesn't matter to me that he's in his 40s now, never been married, and has no kids, which means people constantly question his sexuality. I still love that man. If he's gay ... we can work it out. I mean, look at Star Jones and Al. It can work!
These days, he is a trainer at a karate studio in New York. I devised a plan to visit him there once when I was in NYC with friends, but Juicy wouldn't let me do it. *sigh* Maybe I'll do it next year on my birthday, since it doesn't look like I'll be taking my dream trip to Egypt. I'll just so happen to be in the same area of Taimak's studio when I bump into him, with a pen, paper and digital camera ready. If I do meet him, I already have two options for my opening line. I'll either look him up and down and say "I would love to teach you some moves, Leroy", or I'll scream, "Could you teach me some moves?!!!" (Sorry, those are quotes from the movie. If you haven't seen it, I'm afraid you're left in the dark.)
8 comments:
in the dark over here!!
OMG, he looks exactly the same! You are truly amazing for taking me back like that...Way back!
Stalker! ;o)
also, this man needs to put some clothes on...really!!!
Ahem...I'm sorry, but I guess you didn't know that Taimak is going to marry me. I meant to send you a wedding invitation, but it must have got lost in the mail or something.
Seriously, between Taimak, Ralph Machio, and Christopher Reeves, I was a little girl in heaven during the 80's.
They call me The Dragon
Haha great blog, love the insights
I saw the Last Dragon when it first came out in theatres. I liked the movie but was not too impressed by the fight scenes. It was more of a action/comedy love story. I too had looked forward to the sequel, which never came out.
And I have had the opportunity to see and speak with Taimak in person on two occasions. Once in the 1980s after the first movie and just recently in 2008 at the Twin Towers Karate Tournament at the Javits Center in New York.
I must say that I was slightly surprised that Taimak has taken on a feminine look. I understand that there are die-hard fans who don't think there's anything wrong with that, or that they can "change" Taimak because they're in "love" with him. But the truth of the matter is that none of us can change a person's sexuality. It's in a physical thing. It's psychological and spiritual.
His co-star Vanity made some pretty dramatic changes in her life but they were made when she recognized them in her mind and made the change spiritually.
We have something to work on but we may not all be ready to admit or accept what we need to do.
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