A peppy beat and bassline. Cowbell. An ecstatic whoop in the background. Make a note, because all these elements now belong to family of Marvin Gaye. Or do they? The recent verdict against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams in the 'Blurred Lines' case has perplexed followers of the music industry. One might think the ruling was a vindication of the rights of artists, but composers like Bonnie McKee see it differently.
The post The “Blurred Lines” of music and copyright: Part one appeared first on OUPblog.
Happy Book Day! No, I haven´t got my dates mixed up. 23rd April, is the
UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day, a worldwide celebration of the book, the publishing industry and the intellectual property rights of the author. (Britain and Ireland as always are out of step with the rest of the world!)
The date was chosen by UNESCO because both Miguel Cervantes (1547-1616) and William Shakespeare died on that day (although that is not strictly true because of the difference in the Gregorian and Julian Calendars).
In Spain, Cervantes Day has been celebrated since 1923 and Cervantes is treated with the same veneration and respect as Shakespeare. In Cataluña, the day coincides with the feastday of their national saint, St. George or Sant Jordi, and there is a longstanding tradition there of people exchanging roses and books on 23rd April although this custom is widespread throughout Spain now. Many bookshops present you with a rose when you buy a book and nearly all stay open late. There are thousands of book related activities throughout the country.
If you were in Madrid today, you could celebrate the life of Cervantes by going to the Convento de las Trinitarias, an old convent in the Barrio de las Letras (The Arts Quarter), where the Academy hold a memorial Mass
with an empty coffin on display. Cervantes chose to be buried here because the Trinitarian Monks had helped organise his release after he was kidnapped and enslaved by Algerian corsairs on his return from the Battle of Lepanto (where he lost an arm): unfortunately, the location of the grave has long been lost.
Or you could take the train out to the old university town of Alcalá de Henares where Cervantes was born, the son of a barber-surgeon and a minor impoverished aristocrat. His home is now a
casa-museo and is a fascinating glimpse into 16th century domestic architecture.
Or you could go farther afield to Argamasilla in Castilla La Mancha. This small town claims to be the home of Don Quixote, "the place whose name I do not wish to remember" -
(el) lugar de La Mancha de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme. It is now firmly on the literary tourist map, on the Ruta de Don Quijote, a fabulous landscape with its wide horizons, crumbling castles and dozens of white windmills on the crests of the hills.
Cervantes, always poor, always unfortunate in business and in love, was thrown into prison in Argamasilla. It was here that he said he had the idea for Don Quijote, who may have been based on the local Duke Rodrigo de Pacheco, the duke of the long countenance, who suffered from mental illness. His ex voto portrait hangs in the local church (he´s the man in the ruff, bottom right hand corner):
Or you could simply take down a copy of Don Quixote, the Ingenious Hidalgo of La Mancha and browse. Often cited as the first modern European novel, and nominated again and again by writers as their favourite book, it is funny, touching, wise and full of beautiful language - and yes, there are boring bits too but you can skip them. There are literally hundreds of editions, including ones illustrated by Honoré Daumier, Gustave Doré, Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso. In the whole literary canon, are there any profiles as recognisable as the long skinny lance-wielding hidalgo and his small round companion Sancho Panza?
Can I also recommend
Don Quixote´s Delusions - Travels in Castilian Spain by Miranda France, an unusual travel book/memoir/literary biography. It will make you laugh out loud but is also a scholarly and insightful introduction to Don Quijote.
I have not been above borrowing a little from Cervantes. My books
Tiger Lily - A Heroine in the Making, Tiger Lily - A Heroine with a Mission, Tiger Lily - A Heroine for All Seasons all feature a girl who, like Don Quijote, has also become a little mad from reading so many books and determines to become a heroine and escape from her home in the Middle of Nowhere in search of adventure.
"When Don Quijote went out into the world, that world turned into a mystery before his eyes. That is the legacy of the first European novel to the entire subsequent history of the novel." Milan Kundera
April 23rd: Celebrate World Book and Copyright Day...
My IT professional brother emailed me this morning to tell me that today is World Book and Copyright Day according to UNESCO, the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (Maybe I should have brought cupcakes to work. Every celebration need cupcakes.)
The UNESCO website says that on this date in 1616, Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. April 23rd is also the birthday or death date of other noted authors like Maurice Druon, K. Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.
The purpose of World Book and Copyright Day, says UNESCO, is "to promote reading, publishing and the protection of intellectual property through copyright." Sound good to this editor.
P.S. The theme of Bob Dylan's radio show today: birds--all songs about birds.
P.P.S. My brother just emailed me again to say that it's also National Jelly Bean Day and National Cherry Cheesecake Day. (When is National Cupcake Day?) Apparently my brother is not very busy at work.
I'm drawing live at the Cut and Paste tournament for Varoom magazine and Doodle Earth!
Varoom / Doodle Earth Details
Varoom / Doodle Earth at Cut and Paste Digital Design Tournament
Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London E1 6QL
Saturday, October 20th 2007, doors open 7pm; Competition from 8 – 11pm
Tickets £10 in advance; £12 on the door
To book your ticket visit www.cutandpaste.com
The AOI www.theaoi.com and Varoom magazine www.varoom-mag.com have teamed up with Squint Opera www.squintopera.com/and Doodlearth www.doodlearth.com/, to bring a live interactive drawing installation to Cut & Paste, part of a global tour stretching from San Francisco to Tokyo, where designers go head to head in an adrenaline-fuelled design competition.
On the night, a cityscape animation film will be screened onto a backdrop. Illustrators Tim Ellis, Rod Hunt, AOI deputy Chair and Miss Led, winner of Secret Wars at Designersblock Illustrate, will add their drawings and doodles to the paper in order to create a painting inspired by the projection's progression. The work will grow and take on a life of its own as members of the public are invited to join in.
Thanks to Sharpies for their fine marker pens.
If you would like more information on the Varoom/Doodle earth event please contact Beth King, Events and Marketing Coordinator on 020 7324 7222 or email [email protected].
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Apparently, National Cupcake Day isn't until December 15; but if you favor chocolate cupcakes, they get their day October 18.
If you send your brother a copy of the annual Chase's Calendar of Events, he'll never work again.
Debbie (who was somewhat surprised to discover while googling that there's a blog entirely devoted to cupcake appreciation)
Fun blog, thanks for sharing... especially the info on National Cupcake Day. =)
The purple cover makes your book very easy to find amid the pile of magazines, markers and diapers. Thanks.