World Book and Copyright day 2014

 

 

Today is “World Book and Copyright day” and I´ve thought that it is a good idea to begin this entry with  Malala Yousafzai ´s words as they appear on the Unesco webpage:

“The history of the written word is the history of humanity. The power of books to advance individual fulfilment and to create social change is unequalled. Intimate and yet deeply social, books provide far-reaching forms of dialogue between individuals, within communities and across time.

Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons.”

Malala Yousafzai is the Pakistani  girl who was shot by the Taliban "because" she attended classes at school and these words belong to her speech at the United Nations.

As usual I can´t help paying attention to the importance of this day when I think of films.  What would the film industry be without books? Lots of the stories that we watch on the screen are based on the plots which were first devised by writers before they turned into scripts. Some months ago I wrote about Nick Hornby since I had the opportunity of attending one of his interviews. It was a very special occasion for me: rarely do readers have the chance of meeting their favourite writers, don´t you think? That´s why, I guess  it´s  understandable to treasure that kind of meeting. That day Horby shared with us some interesting ideas and explained to us that it is difficult to set rules when it comes to writing. For instance,  some people usually argue that you mustn´t start a book by speaking about the weather, however, Bleak House – one of the most famous novels by Charles Dickens – begins with a lengthy description of the weather. Anyway, this is probably one of the best days to underline the close tie between literature and cinema and funnily enough, I must mention Nick Hornby again because his novel A Long Way Down has become a film which has just been released. I explained the plot of the novel to one of the readers of the blog so most of you must already be familiar with this story, therefore if you feel like watching it on the big screen, here you can have a look at the official trailer of the film:

I really want to wish you a HAPPY BOOK DAY and I hope you take advantage of this special day to buy a book for yourself or to give it to someone you care for as a present because – according to the tradition – this is the best way of celebrating this red-letter day in many parts of the world and if exchanging books is also accompanied by exchanging roses as in Catalonia to celebrate St George´s Day or Sant Jordi´s Day, the tradition becomes even better, doesn´t it?  As usual, an alternative to a good book is a good film and if you wish to mark the celebration of this day, why not a good film adaptation of a written work?

How do you usually spend this day? What´s the last book you have read lately? What´s the last film adaptation of a book that you have seen on the big screen? Would you like to recommend any film that is based on a written work? Have you ever met one of your favourite writers at a book signing event on 23^rd April?

Mickey Rooney passes away

Today we´ve learnt about the demise of Mickey Rooney. Unlike Philip Seymour Hoffman´s death, Mickey Rooney´s passing away can´t be described as sudden, accidental or tragic as he was 93 years old. However, I feel that his death is also really meaningful because he belonged to that group of American film stars who were unique and irreplaceable:  the actors and actresses of the star system who performed in the golden area of the American cinema. Thinking about Mickey Rooney involves bringing to mind other unforgettable names: Judy Garland, Ava Gardner, Spencer Tracy, Elizabeth Taylor… I don´t like remembering Mickey Rooney as the grumpy old man he had become over the last years, instead of doing so, I prefer recalling the image of the young actor in one of his comic roles or as a talented dancer and preferably in a black and white film, the sort of film I would watch when I was a child and I started to become fond of watching films. Even if the death of Mickey Rooney can´t have been unexpected, it makes us come to terms with the end of a period of time which was full of talented performers: actors, dancers, singers and musicians. In spite of that, Mickey Rooney had a prolific career and managed to adapt to the new times, actually, most young audiences must be familiar with him thanks to his recurrent role as one of the retired security guards in The Night at the Museum films.

Have you seen any of Mickey Rooney´s films? Do you associate him with any other actor or actress in particular? Do you remember him playing the part of the guard in The Night at the Museum films?