Idris Elba: infected

One of my favorite modern movie stars is Idris Elba. For years, now, there's been a semi-joking campaign to make him the next James Bond after Daniel Craig finishes his turn. Elba is no stranger to gunslinging action roles, and he's a massively talented actor who works well in dramas, too. With that much charisma and versatility, he'd make for a great James Bond, in my opinion. If Bond can go blond, he can certainly go black. I know that the white-Bond-only crowd will howl about "Ian Fleming's original intentions," but the character is no longer the sole province of Ian Fleming, so just deal with it. Things change.

But the time is not yet for an ebony Bond: Idris Elba, a young and sprightly 47, now reports he's been infected with COVID-19 and is self-isolating.

It's not that surprising, really: people in the movie business do nothing but interact with hundreds, even thousands, of other people every week. We'll be hearing more star-related (and politician-related) news of this nature over the coming months.

So the elbow-bump has become the social-distancing greeting of choice, it seems. Funny... the French have the verb coudoyer, to bump elbows (le coude = the elbow) or more idiomatically, to rub elbows (with), i.e., to interact with (many) people. Now it's a literal thing.