Last night we watched the movie adaptation of Henry James' The Wings Of A Dove on DVD thanks to Netflix. It stars one of Donna's favorite actors, Linus Roache, and one of her least favorite, Helena Bonham Carter, who got an Oscar nomination for the role.
I had never seen it before but if you like those other movies from the 1990s about the love lives and money obsession of upper-class British folks - like Sense And Sensibilty and Howard's End - then you'll enjoy it fine.
In an unusual coincidence, yesterday I also read the USA Today story about the new book called Superdove by Courtney Humphries. It's a book all about, no kidding, pigeons. From the article:
"The book's title refers to the fact that the words 'pigeon' and dove' were once used interchangeably....
Dove, she notes, is equated with peace and used as a name for chocolate bars and soap. Pigeon has no marketing appeal. Woody Allen dismissed them as 'rats with wings' in his 1980 movie Stardust Memories.
By way of defending pigeons, Humphries says, "rats are really smart and fascinating animals. These judgments we make about 'pests' are all about context. Pigeons annoy people because they're not easily controlled, and we love to be able to control our environment. It doesn't mean they're inherently bad or unworthy of appreciation."
Let me add an Amen to that, sister! So many of the feelings humans have about animals, from pigs to spiders to chickens and beyond, are rooted in our own ignorance or customs and often have very little to do with the creature itself.
Superdove is a book I won't read but I enjoyed seeing some of the facts about pigeons in the newspaper piece. Here are three:
"Most feral pigeons live only a year or two. Domestic pigeons can live into their teens."
"Pigeons won't fly at night; their night vision is worse than that of humans."
"At its peak during World War II, the U.S. Pigeon Corps had 3,000 enlisted men, 150 officers, and 54,000 pigeons."
If you do happen to read it, let me know where the term pigeonhole came from, won't you?
wow. I can't believe that somebody is actually defending these gutterbirds against human ignorance. I won't ever harm a pigeon, but these feathered rats will always be nothing more than chattering disease bags to me.
Posted by: peff | August 23, 2008 at 09:33 AM
While I can't recall not totally agreeing with anything Donna before today, I have to say that Linus Roache has singlehandedly ruined Law & Order.
Posted by: Diane | August 23, 2008 at 10:44 AM
It's not very interesting, just a gradual progression. Originally, it was just the holes in a pigeon coop that led to the nestboxes. Then, because they looked similar, it came to be used for the compartments in the back of a desk where papers and things could be sorted and stored. And it gradually became a verb to refer to the act of sorting. From there, the negative context associated with being unfairly categorized with one label.
Posted by: Charlie | August 23, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Let me add another AMEN to Courtney Humphries's wise words! I have always liked pigeons. I will go see how much this book costs.
Posted by: Frances | August 23, 2008 at 12:56 PM
Yeah, my negative view of spiders is due to my own ignorance... not them biting me and injecting their toxin, that's all gravy.
As for Netfilx, I just watched "The Assassination... James... Coward... Ford."
I found it both dull and interesting at the same time.
Congratulations(I guess?) movie.
Posted by: Vic Rattler | August 23, 2008 at 07:31 PM
In another strange coincidence that Bonham chick, who your wife hates, had a large number of her relatives killed this weekend in South Africa. Your wife was probably up to it, since she hates.
Posted by: Edmund F | August 25, 2008 at 06:27 AM
I saw, possibly the most obese person I've ever seen standing without assistance looking at a frog at the zoo saying "That all it does? Sit there? That things stupid."
Heh heh. I'm guessing she doesn't like pigeons either.
Posted by: KLJ | August 26, 2008 at 06:14 PM