Barbie battles 'The Birds'

Talk about a bad case
of crows' feet ...I consider myself as manly as the next guy. Sure, I like Hello Kitty and all, but who doesn't?

I've always drawn the line at Barbie. I refuse to play with Barbie dolls. But, now Mattel is testing my will. They've just introduced a Barbie doll based on Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels, the heroine from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds."

She retails for $40, but I imagine she'll command much higher prices on eBay, eventually. As Barbie Collector notes, this bird-bait Barbie is "dressed in a re-creation of the stylish green skirt-suit worn by the film’s ill-fated heroine in an iconic scene."

This Barbie even comes with a wee flock of black birds. Pretty darned awesome, I must say, but I'm not going to break down and buy it. Now, if the Melanie Daniels Barbie came with her wicked '54 Aston Martin, I'd be in a real pickle.

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)