Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Cape Fear


Warner Brothers is planning to make a movie of Marvin The Martian. This doesn't fill me with joy. When I was a little girl, Marvin terrified me. I had nightmares! Then again, I also am perhaps the only person in the world who doesn't like clowns and finds them chilling, as well.

Sometimes I find writing helps phobia. I'm anxious about driving so I wrote about it in Breathe. But besides normal fears (politics, war, terrorism, global warming) I'm also anxious about:
1. shark attacks
2. giant squid attacks
3. serial killers
4. choking
5. asthma (wrote about it)
6. planes

Anybody got a stranger list?

7 comments:

Clea Simon said...

Big opaque pools of algae freak me out. When I was in summer camp I could not paddle through them - I think it's not knowing what's in there, but the fear is automatic and out of all proportion.

Caroline said...

Oh, that's a good one!

Jeff Lyons said...

C:

Wow... I thought I was the only one who was freaked by giant squid attacks. After reading about the Humboldt Squid I had nightmares. They make piranha look like puppy dogs. They can skeletonize a cow in under a minute. And they feed on the surface ... were swimmers like to swim ... in packs ... of 1200 or more ... and they have beaks! Maybe we should start a support group: Squid Squeamish Annonymous

Caroline said...

Ah hem, courtesy of Wikipedia:
Humboldt Squid are carnivores that move in schools of up to 1200 individuals. They swim at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour (24 km/h, 13 knots) propelled by water ejected through a hyponome (siphon) and by two diamond shaped fins. Their tentacles bear suckers lined with sharp teeth with which they grasp prey and drag it towards a large, sharp beak.

Humboldt Squid are thought to have a lifespan of only about one year (although some researchers believe they may survive up to four years). They may grow to 2 m (7 ft) and weigh 45 kg (100 pounds), growing at an astounding rate. They can rapidly change their skin colour from deep purplish red to white using chromatophores (specialized skin cells) in what some researchers believe is a complex communication system. Experts have also stated that the animals hunt for their prey, small fish and krill, in a cooperative fashion, which would be the first observation of such behaviour in invertebrates.[4] Humboldt squid are known to hunt near the surface at night, taking advantage of the dark to use their keen vision to feed on more plentiful prey. There have been reports of these squid attacking divers and fishermen in the Sea of Cortez.[5]The shallowest depths Humboldt Squid's daytime habitat are only within reach of the extremes of Saturation diving, so little is known of what they do during the day.

Recent research suggests that the squids are only aggressive while feeding. At other times, they are quite passive. Their behavior while feeding often extends to cannibalism and they've been seen to readily attack injured or vulnerable squids of their own school. This behavior may account for a large proportion of their rapid growth

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Unknown said...

You aren't the only one who's scared of clowns -- I'm TERRIFIED of them! Actually, I have a huge phobia of any/all people wearing masks or otherwise disguising their faces. In high school, I sprinted away from a promotional guy dressed as a giant Twinkie in a grocery store, and in college, I once re-routed myself all the way around campus to avoid a guy in a Porky-Pig-type suit that they had walking around for some reason or another. :(

Gina Sorell said...

I almost hate to admit it...but I LOVE giant squids...as a fascination that is. I have read about them and watched every freaking discovery special about them...and my husband I adore Shark week. That said...I hate clowns...they are terrifying and can not be trusted as watching "Something wicked this way comes" taught me at a very young age :)