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PAGE 4A PICKENS COUNTY PROGRESS THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 12. 2015
Books&Writers
Oscars Coming February 22
Do good books make good movies?
Usually, but not always
By David R. Altman
Progress Books & Writers
Editor
There can be a little debate
about the greatest movie ever
made from a book: Gone With
the Wind, The Godfather, Jaws,
Forest Gump, Ben Hur, To Kill A
Mockingbird, The Graduate,
Schindler’s List, Silence of the
Lambs, Lord of the Rings, Silver
Linings Plavbook, Citizen Kane
and American Sniper.
Well, that was easy, wasn’t it?
Was your favorite included in
that list?
The common thread with all
of these Best Picture winners is
that each was based on a best
selling book.
The truth is that the majority
of films that have won Oscars for
best picture have started out as
books. Now, not all of those were
best-selling books, but some be
came best sellers after the movie
came out (look no further than
American Sniper to see what the
power of film can bring to a
book). It’s already sold 1.6 mil
lion copies, and the movie is ex
pected to double that by the end
of this year.
Here’s another oddity about
films from books: most of us can
remember the actors more than
we can the authors (just like TV
weathermen are better known
than newspaper editors).
We know that Anthony Hopkins
was the star of Silence of the
Lambs, but few may remember
that the outstanding book was
written by Thomas Harris.
What about The Shaw shank Re
demption and Morgan Freeman’s
unforgettable performance? Do
you know who wrote it? It was
actually based on a short story
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This year’s American
Sniper is just one example
of great books to best pic
ture nominees.
called Rita Hayworth and The
Shawshank Redemption, written
by the prolific Stephen King.
And I’m sme we all recall the
name of Winston Groom, right?
Probably not. He’s the little
known author of Forrest Gump,
the 1994 Best Picture winner
starring Tom Hanks (has it really
been 20 years since Forrest
Gump came out?).
Not all best-selling books
make great movies. Nicholas
Sparks’ The Notebook is among
the worst films ever made, as
was Bonfire of the Vanities,
which started as a great novel by
Tom Wolfe and even The Great
Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
(they tired five times over 80
years to make Gatsby a good
movie, and only one of those was
worth watching).
The fact is that books don’t
get the attention, movies do.
Newspapers don’t get the atten
tion, television does. A sad but
true reflection on both the limits
of our collective attention span
and the busyness of our lives.
Part of our 24-hour news-
cycle-culture is based on quick
and easy. Sadly, if it’s not mi-
crowaveable, it’s at a disadvan
tage. Books are the seven course
meal to the movie’s popcorn.
This is not to knock movies. I
love them. Although to compare
them to the books they were
based upon is often unfair and in
appropriate, particularly given
the artistic license (and legiti
mate time constraints) that is al
ways exercised by film directors.
The great books that have
been made into films were first
of all great books.
Arguably, the most well-
known was Gone With The Wind
(GWTW). The book spent much
of two years at the top of the best
seller list when it came out in
1936. Three years later the movie
won Best Picture, beating out
The Wizard of Oz (written by L.
Frank Baum) and Stagecoach,
the John Wayne classic. Stage
coach was based on a short story
called “The Stage to Lordsburg”
written by a man named Ernest
Haycox (that should win you
some extra points on Trivia
Night).
Movies help books sell and
vice versa. GWTW and Ameri
can Sniper are proof of how
great stories can bring anticipa
tion (and advance sales) to the
movie version. GWTW has often
been cited as the second greatest
selling book of all time (30 mil
lion copies sold), just behind the
Bible.
The fact is that watching and
reading are two different sorts of
experiences. You don’t have to
read a book to enjoy a movie;
conversely, sometimes reading a
book can ruin the movie, espe
cially if it’s one with a surprise
ending (Gone Girl, Shawshank
Redemption and Unfaithful all
come to mind).
Again, books cannot compete
with movies in terms of reach.
You can jam 250 people inside
an average movie theatre and
they will never forget the two
hours of a great film.
But books are made to be read
one-at-a-time. They are, by na
ture, intensely personal, mixing
the author’s words with the
reader’s images. Many of them
stay with us forever and connect
us in a much more personal way
than sitting in a theatre with sev
eral hundred strangers.
Let’s face it, reading is not ex
actly interactive. When people
read, they are engaged. When
they watch a film, they are more
entertained than engaged—and
movies don’t last nearly as long
as a good book.
So remember when you are
watching this year’s Oscars that
there are only two best picture
nominees that were based on
books: American Sniper and The
Imitation Game.
This year. I’m hoping one of
those two wins big. Not simply
because they were books, but be
cause they were also the best
movies.
David R. Altman is the author
of “Death in the Foyer”, a poetry
chapbook. Altman can be
reached at daltman@picken-
sprogress.com or at his website
www.davidraltman.com.
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706-253-7696
Measles outbreak underscores
importance of childhood vaccinations
From car seats and baby gates
to bicycle helmets and football
pads, there are numerous ways to
protect children as they grow.
But one of the most important
ways to protect them is by get
ting them vaccinated, says Dr.
Dennis Murray, chief of Infec
tious Diseases at Children’s Hos
pital of Georgia.
“Many life-threatening dis
eases have been practically elim
inated today in the United States
because of the development and
implementation of vaccines,”
says Murray. “Polio and small
pox are examples.”
But according to the Centers
for Disease Control and Preven
tion, nearly 1 million American
children aren’t fully immunized,
and this may be why we’re see
ing a resurgence of measles in
California and other states.
“Children should be immu
nized,” advises Murray, and here
are four reasons why:
• Immunizations can save
your child’s life. Because of ad
vances in medical science, your
child can be protected against
more diseases than ever before.
“Vaccines are really one of the
greatest discoveries in modem
medicine,” says Murray. Some
diseases that once injured or
killed thousands of children have
been eliminated completely and
others are close to being gone -
primarily due to safe and effec
tive vaccines.
• Immunizations protect oth
ers you care about. Serious vac
cine-preventable diseases still
occur. Unfortunately, some ba
bies are too young to be com
pletely vaccinated and other
people may not be able to receive
vaccinations due to allergies, ill
ness, weakened immune systems
or other reasons. “It is important
that you and your children who
are able to get vaccinated are
fully immunized in order to pre
vent the spread of these diseases
to more vulnerable friends and
loved ones,” says Murray.
• Immunizations can save
time and money. A child with a
vaccine-preventable disease will
likely be kept out of school or
daycare. Likewise, a prolonged
illness can take a financial toll
because of lost time at work,
medical bills or long-term dis
ability care. In comparison, get
ting vaccinated against these
diseases is a good investment and
almost always covered by health
insurance plans. For those with
out insurance or the underin
sured, ask your healthcare
provider about the Vaccines for
Children program, a federally
funded program that provides
vaccines to children at no cost.
• Vaccinations are safe and ef
fective. Vaccines have been care
fully studied and reviewed by
scientists, doctors, and healthcare
professionals before they were
approved for use. Immunizations
may cause pain, redness or ten
derness at the site of the injection
but this is minimal compared to
the symptoms and dangers of the
diseases themselves. Also,
groups of experts, including the
American Academy of Pedi
atrics, the Institute of Medicine,
the National Institute of Health
and the CDC agree that vaccines
are not responsible for autism de
spite myths to the contrary.
• Immunizations are an im
portant part of well-child care. In
addition, many adults need peri
odic boosters. Put simply, immu
nizations save lives.
For more information, visit
cdc.gov/vaccines or talk to your
doctor.
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A and M has offered their services to many storm victims with the repair of their gutters
on their homes. We also specialize in new construction and remodels. We do large com
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A and M works counties from Alabama to Dawson, to south
Atlanta. The largest being a 15 million dollar facility for the
construction of a rehabilitation center for veterans coming
home. The smallest being single gutter repairs for elderly folk
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We thank the Pickens community for their dedication to small
businesses and to ours. We are a member of the Chamber,
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help you with your gutter needs.
Please give us a call at 770-595-1341 or visit us at
www. aandmraingutters. com.
We are opening a
furniture
consignment
store
in the former
Jasper Jeep/Burnt
Mtn. Trading Co.
building at
14 Mark Whitfield
Street, in
downtown Jasper
" Revive Us Addin"
will open Marc
at 10 a.m.
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We will begin accepting
consignments on February 20
706-253-1418
Like us on Facebook and visit us later this month on the web.
Store hours:
Tuesday - Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Closed Sunday and Monday