Sniffling and snuffling this summer

One of the few perks about being home sick is catching up on reading or movies. I was finally able to finish The Winds of Marble Arch, a collection of Connie Willis' short stories. As usual, it did not disappoint. Some of the stories I'd already read in Miracle and Other Christmas Stories, but most of them were new to me. They ranged from depressing ("Chance," a different take on the "butterfly's wings" idea, and "Cash Crop," about a virus that kills off pioneers in space ) to truly disturbing ("All My Darling Daughters," which is so unsettling I prefer not to summarize it) to cute ("Blued Moon," a sweet little tale about linguists and love).

But my absolute, utter favorite was "The Soul Selects Her Own Society," written as if it were an academic paper. The "thesis" is that H.G. Wells documented an alien landing in Amherst, MA, and that in fact, aliens contacted Dickinson and helped inspire her more "WTF" poems. I was ROLLING while reading it! It pokes fun at Emily Dickinson nonstop, and it's wonderfully irreverent and awesome. (Most of her poems can be sung to the tune of "The Yellow Rose of Texas," she has dashes every other word, she floated notes down to visitors... ) Hilarious.

Collections of short stories are great for the ADHD sufferers as well as people with colds, who have to zonk out every couple of hours or crawl to the store for more food and meds.

My plan yesterday while recuperating was also to watch Dhoom, but then the neffy came over and I didn't want to infect him so I hid (à la Emily Dickinson) in my room.

Last week, I actually watched Dhoom 2 with Ms. Tungsten... even though I haven't seen the first movie, Dhoom 2 stood alone as an awesome heist movie. Abhishek Bachchan plays the cop (again), and Hrithik Roshan is the art thief. There are some decent, clever art a-thievin' scenes. But of course, the music sequences are the best.

In fact, when the cutest niece in the world was in town last week, me whistling the opening tune from the theme song "Dhoom Again" always made her laugh deliriously. Or maybe it was her perpetual lack of sleep. Or my funny dance moves....

At any rate, it's a fun film. Also, this is the movie with the controversial kiss! The scandal! Hrithik (quite possibly the hottest man alive) actually kisses Aishwarya Rai (quite possibly the hottest woman ever)- and actual kissing is virtually unheard of in Hindi films. We rewound that bit several times, which then inspired us to bust out the Main Prem Ki Deewani Hoon DVD and re-watch the scenes where Hrithik is well-oiled on a beach, in the firelight.

My favorite, favorite line from Dhoom 2 is uttered by Abhishek Bachchan at the end (SPOILER ALERT):

"I watched you fall off that cliff, and I thought, what a great love story! And then I thought, what crap!"

Love it.