Beautiful People

Left photo by Reuters; right photo by Tony Gentile / Reuters

Idris, meet Jessica. Jessica, meet Idris. In surname terms, Elba, meet Alba. Alba, meet Elba.

I’m frustrated by the seventh word on the second-to-last line above, which is hindering the synopsis for the 2013 biographical film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. It’s a true albatross.

We can turn this error around, though. It is, after all, reverse “able.”

Idris is not Alba-nian. He’s British, actually … and he’s Elba, actually.

Both Elba and Alba were named one of People’s 100 most beautiful people in 2007. They are each beautiful in their own way. Their surnames are each spelled in their own way.

Alba, you’re exiled. I sentence thee to the same Italian island in the Mediterranean where Napolean spent his first period of exile. That’s right, I sentence Alba to Elba.

I’d like to thank another beautiful person, my brother, for catching today’s low-flying Alba toss. I’d also like to take a moment to wish him a very happy birthday. He turns the big four-oh today. That’s forty, not fourty. May the Ninth be with you, Bro!