Idle Thoughts

[Gabriele]

A group of us were out for a stroll the other day when we all noticed something odd and somewhat creepy. There were groups of birds sitting uncannily silent and still on the rooftops of most of the houses. Before I could voice the thought, someone said. "Oh, look. It's 'The Birds'." He was referring to the Hitchcock movie based on du Maurier's (long) short story.

I found the story much more powerful and suspenseful than the movie, but through the movie, many more people have been affected by the story.

It was easy to imagine the birds suddenly behaving "out of character" and attacking us. I thought how perceptive Daphne was to take that idea and make it really sinister - and embed it in our psyches as well as popular culture.

I used that story when I taught English (briefly) years ago, and it made an impression.

[Misfit]

I recall one time thinking it would be cool to feed the seagulls at Alki beach like the old man does and figured out pretty quickly it was a stupid idea. Heavens they were scary especially when you flash back on the movie. Must read the story one of these days.

[Gabriele]

I actually saw a seagull attack someone once. Really scary! It made me realize that a) Daphne's story wasn't far-fetched and b) that the world would be a dangerous place if the birds took against us. So keep those backyard feeders filled!

[Pat]

I have seagulls and ravens that I feed bread to and they seem to appear out of nowhere. My neighbor freaks when there are dozens of white and black birds screeching and swooping in and out of my yard for food. I stay in of course, as that movie left a big impression on me.
I even get a little jumpy when my hummingbirds get curious and fly in to look at my face. I imagine one of them deciding to stick his needle-like beak into one of my eyeballs.
I suppose young people today don't get shook up by movies like Psycho and The Birds, but I still am uncomfortable taking a shower when I'm in the house alone.