The sniffling sneezing coughing aching stuffy head fever so you can blog medicine

I have a cold. I have the flu. Well, I'm not really sure how to distinguish between the two, so I guess I have one of them and neither one is telling me. What is the difference? My mom mentioned that she thinks I have the flu because I have a fever. Do you not get a fever with a cold? If someone could enlighten me, that would be cool. Either way, I'm kinda miserable.

OK, so I just now realized that when one describes a cold, they say "I have a cold" and when one talks about flu, they say "I have the flu." Why does cold get an "a" and flu get "the?" Is it because colds are so darn common and therefore do not get the honor of a singular and specific descriptor? Does it have something to do with the fact that each year there seems to be a new and unique strain of the flu virus and, if you so choose, you can get a vaccine for it? You can get any old cold, but the flu, well, the flu is SUPER SPECIAL! Maybe the word choice is related to the fact you can DIE from the flu, but not so much with a cold. Can you die from a cold? Please blog fans, enlighten me.

But I digress . . .

Hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday! I guess I had the former, but not the latter. I should be at work today, but decided to keep my virus or germs or bacteria or sniffly wee-beasties locked with me inside my domicile. It's like a germ party over here and you are NOT invited. We don't have enough tissue and cough drops for everyone. Sorry.

On a somewhat lighter note . . . over the course of my holiday break, I have had the opportunity to see several films: Seven Pounds, Revolutionary Road, Slumdog Millionnaire, Let the Right One In, Blindness, Religulous to name a sampling. LOTS of movies, but so many more to see. Of the flicks mentioned, I would have to give all of them a pretty strong double thumbs up. Seven Pounds would probably garner the least enthusiasm, but still offers a good storyline which keeps you guessing for at least the first 50 minutes or so. Slumdog would be my top pick of the bunch. Danny Boyle as director (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) rarely disappoints and this is no exception. Slumdog exposes the ghettos of Mumbai in a truly visceral way. I saw it, smelled it, the squalid conditions and poverty seeped into my skin and out of my pores. Make sure you sit through until the very end. You don't want to miss the Bollywood style credit roll.

Revolutionary Road reminds me of the television show Mad Men in a number of ways -- pacing is a little slow befitting 1950's American dystopia. Company man comes back from the war to pursue the American dream. Everyone (well, almost) falls in line with the cookie cutter version of the perfect society, perfect home, perfect family, perfect life. The problem is there is no such thing as perfect and happiness doesn't come in the form of a Cape Cod, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, white picket fence property. Kate Winslett is excellent as the young wife and homemaker disillusioned with her 'cozy' life in the 'burbs. Leo DiCaprio brings in a solid performance as her equally burdened husband. If you are a fan of director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition), you'll see his tell tale mark of poignancy, sadness and longing all over this bad boy. It is actually quite a bit like American Beauty, just set about 40 years earlier.

Let The Right One In will not be a movie for everyone. I would describe it as a foreign (Sweden) art house film about vampires. We are talking sub-titles, depressing scenery, bloody deaths, etc. Given my penchant for both foreign films and vampire tales, it had me at the opening credits.

Well, this concludes my flu (or cold) fueled movie review rant. Stay warm everyone!