Bugs Bunny Research Articles

Synchronization Functions of “Mickey-Mousing” in Animation Film Rhapsody Rabbit

Synchronization between visual animation and music has been widely known as mickey-mousing. Notable old animation films have used this particular technique to reinforce action with a musical flourish and convey a certain meaning. Furthermore, animation music is commonly based on popular music, such as The Hungarian Rhapsody No.2 in Rhapsody Rabbit. The music is utilized not just as a scoring aspect but to dictate every Bugs Bunny's action when playing the piano. This research aims to study the implementation of the mickey-mousing technique in Rhapsody Rabbit film. It uses a qualitative content analysis approach to analyze visual and aural aspects—primary data is sourced from the Rhapsody Rabbit film and the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 music sheet. Secondary data is collected from literature studies related to the topic. Data collection is conducted through observation, interview, and documentation study. The data is analyzed using Klaus Krippendorf's content analysis technique which divided into six steps. The result of this study is that the mickey-mousing technique is implemented through a combination of a fast pace of visual and musical play altogether. Animation adapts to several parts of the musical composition so that articulation, illustration, and accentuation occur as a function of the mickey-mousing technique.

Qui(e)t

Qui(e)t

POPULAR CHILDREN'S TV PROGRAMS IN PAKISTAN

TV is one of the most powerful mediums of communication. It broadcast information, entertainment and education via audio video. People around the globe use TV for different purposes. However, as an entertainment medium TV is considered the most powerful tool. Children of different age groups watch children TV programs to get themselves entertained. Present research study based on survey technique to investigate different popular children TV programs and their popularity among the children. Population for present research study was students studying in the different educational institutions of Pakistan. The purposive sampling technique was used. The sample size for this research study was 500 children studying in the different educational institutions having different age groups like 3-6, 6 -12 and 13-19. The data was collected from the selected sample through close ended questionnaire for convenient. The collected data was analyzed statistical software to make inferences. Media effect theory Uses and Gratification approach is most relevant media effects theory which was very much relevant with this research work. The exclusive analysis of the data reveals that overall majority of the respondents i.e., children prefer to watch children TV programs 2 to 6 hours a day. The empirical analysis of the data also reveals that Pakistani children prefer to watch Doramon, Jann, Oggy and Cockroaches, Tom & Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Ben 10, Barbie, Chotta Bheem, Moto Patlo and Mr Bean. The empirical analysis also reveals that children watch these programs for the purpose of entertainment and information. Keywords: Children, TV Channels, Children TV Programs, Popularity, Duration, Entertainment

Entre a ficção e a realidade: o caso particular da curta-metragem “Bugs and Daffy’s Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns” (1976) de Chuck Jones

The Carnival of the Animals is a piece for two pianos and orchestra written by Camille Saint-Saëns. It was composed in February 1886, when the composer was on vacation in a small village in Austria. The piece, far from being an innocent musical piece, appears as a social, political and artistic satire. The composer’s objective was to criticize the Parisian musical environment at the end of the 19th century.From the analysis of “Bugs and Daffy’s Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns”, produced, written and directed by Chuck Jones in 1976 -, we want to understand how the musical work defines the narrative contents of the animated film. In another, in this filmic proposal, the visual component that is built from two characters of animation cinema, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, appears as a link with other form of arts, especially music, in order to clarify the various discursive plans that compete there. The narrative overlaps two planes, the real and the animated one. In another, it reflects, through a fictionalized narrative, a sharp critique of French society at the beginning of the 20th century. So, by its analysis, we expect to understand the contribution brought by the simultaneous use of the real and the fictional plans in order to shape the filmic object.

One Reason She Keeps a Switchblade in Her Pocket

The house key on a shoestring around her neck unlocksthe front door to Stanley Homes Village. Three boys are onher back. They are in heat, but the chase is over. Pawsare on the edges of her shirt in the middle of the livingroom where she played with her doll, Tamu, and watchedThe Brady Bunch, Good Times, and Bugs Bunny. The rug burnswhere she ate Apple Jacks, Fruit Loops, and Captain Crunch.She is the only child. Has everything. Was taught to share, but theydemand “pussy.” Even in fourth grade she knows what they askis taboo. They are in sixth. Learned pussy was something to be taken.She learns it is something she will fight to keep. She scrambles acrossthe carpet to the kitchen floor. Pulls a knife from the drawer nextto the stove. Swings, cuts the air, slits one face. The boys haul ass.Trip each other out the door. Cherry drips from the tip of the blade.

Animated Personalities: Cartoon Characters and Stardom in American Theatrical Shorts

Animated Personalities: Cartoon Characters and Stardom in American Theatrical Shorts

A Literature of Questions: Nonfiction for the Critical ChildWas the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books

A Literature of Questions: Nonfiction for the Critical ChildWas the Cat in the Hat Black? The Hidden Racism of Children’s Literature, and the Need for Diverse Books

The "Furry" Phenomenon: Characterizing Sexual Orientation, Sexual Motivation, and Erotic Target Identity Inversions in Male Furries.

Furries are individuals who are especially interested in anthropomorphic or cartoon animals (e.g., Bugs Bunny). They often strongly identify with anthropomorphic animals and create fursonas, identities of themselves as those anthropomorphic animals. Some practice fursuiting, or wearing costumes that resemble anthropomorphic animals. Furries have been portrayed as sexually motivated in the media and popular culture, although little empirical research has addressed this issue. If some furries are sexually motivated, they may be motivated by an erotic target identity inversion (ETII): sexual arousal by the fantasy of being the same kinds of individuals to whom they are sexually attracted. Furries with ETIIs would experience both sexual attraction to anthropomorphic animals and sexual arousal by fantasizing about being anthropomorphic animals, because they often change their appearance and behavior to become more like anthropomorphic animals. We surveyed 334 male furries recruited from the Internet about their sexual orientation, sexual motivation, and sexual interests. A large majority of our sample reported non-heterosexual identities (84%) and some degree of sexual motivation for being furries (99%). Male furries also tended to report a pattern of sexual interests consistent with an ETII involving anthropomorphic animals. Both sexual attraction to anthropomorphic animals and sexual arousal by fantasizing about being anthropomorphic animals were nearly universal. Furthermore, male furries tended to be sexually aroused by fantasizing about being the same kinds of anthropomorphic animals to whom they were sexually attracted, with respect to gender and species. This sexual motivation and these unusual sexual interests do not justify discrimination or stigmatization.

Ecuadorians in Madrid: Migrants' Place in Urban History by Araceli Masterson-Algar

Reviewed by: Ecuadorians in Madrid: Migrants' Place in Urban History by Araceli Masterson-Algar Juan Suárez Ontaneda Ecuadorians in Madrid: Migrants' Place in Urban History Palgrave, 2016 by Araceli Masterson-Algar Through a dialogue between migration studies, space theory, postcolonial theory, and cultural studies, Araceli MastersonAlgar analyzes how Ecuadorians in Madrid have become agents in the spatial construction of the city, a spatiality that is understood as both symbolic and material. Masterson-Algar's study takes a critical departure from recent bibliography and places Ecuadorian migrants beyond consumers of space, highlighting their power as urban change-agents who reconstruct and reimagine the city: "This shifts attention from migrants' processes of 'adjustment' and/or 'integration' in Madrid, to how Ecuadorian residents make the city" (4). For the author, "making the city" is best understood not through the Habermasian dichotomy between the private and public sphere, but rather through feminist scholarship, where the focus shifts to social relations ranging from intimate to global (13). Moreover, Masterson-Algar relies on the interdisciplinary work of geographers like Armando Silva (2007), for whom "the imaginary urbanizes" to assess how [End Page 326] Ecuadorians make the city through material and symbolic spatial interventions (ibid). Masterson-Algar uses the city's Metro as a central metaphor to help explain Ecuadorians' spatial interventions, both above-ground and beneath-surface. As such, each chapter can be approached as a station along a migrant's journey of spatial construction in the city. The first station is transatlantic: it begins in Quito, establishing the historical context of Ecuadorian migration to Spain as a result of the 1998 financial crisis that destabilized the country's socioeconomic fabric. In this first chapter, Masterson-Algar provides three important frameworks for the reader. First, she describes why Madrid was an attractive destination for Ecuadorian migrants: abundance of service and domestic jobs, diverse amenities that make it a palatable city for both younger and older generations, and the dynamism inherent to a large and modern city. Second, the author presents both the quantitative and qualitative methodologies used in the book's ethnography (36-40). Finally, she provides a historical context of Madrid's main automotive artery: The Paseo de la Castellana. While Madrid's Metro is a useful metaphor to understand how Ecuadorians navigate the city, La Castellana is the above-ground structure that connects parks, dance clubs, and residential areas. Forced to travel the underground Metro to gain access to the city center from the urban periphery, one of Masterson-Algar's interviewees shared, "Here, I live the life of Bugs Bunny. I enter through one hole and exit through another" (60). This testimony perfectly illustrates what the second chapter sets out to contribute: Ecuadorians have come to understand and relate to the city through not only the design of the Metro, but also through the disconnect between design and consumption of space. A specific example can be found in the BiblioMetros, a public library system designed by Metro administration. Most of the author's interviewees were not aware of this system, but they undoubtedly used the stations and the Metro as a "social space" (58). Ecuadorians in Madrid have developed an affinity for the city's Metro, which has been capitalized on by Madrid's Metro authorities. Masterson-Algar concludes this chapter by analyzing how Madrid's Metro company won the bid to build Quito's 2019 subway project, and argues that the described affinity played an important role in the negotiations. Chapter three concludes with another parallel between urban imagination and transnational desire drawing on the design of Quito's Parque Bicentenario, and its similarities with Madrid's Casa de Campo. The latter became a place of recreation for Ecuadorians after they were prohibited from the use of another, more centrally located park—El Retiro. Masterson-Algar provides a strong analysis of how Ecuadorians used El Retiro up until 2003, when several local government initiatives mobilized to "recuperate" the park from alleged incivility caused by Ecuadorians. The end of Ecuadorian public use came in the form of literal epitaph when a memorial monument read: El Bosque del Recuerdo, in commemoration of the victims of terrorism during the 11-M (2003) attacks. In...

Gamifying precision-guided firearms: Bugs and daffy wouldn't stand a chance

If you were born before 1985, then there is a good chance you watched Looney Tunes on a Saturday morning and followed the exploits of the Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny, and Daffy Duck hunting episodes with anticipation but no element of surprise. Poor old Daffy Duck, at times disguised as a rabbit, just couldn?t outwit Bugs during rabbit season! And Elmer Fudd was one of those hunters you felt sorry for?a thousand shots fired, some on target, but he never really could finish off his rival.

Theatrical Liberalism: Jews and Popular Entertainment in America AndreaMost. New York: New York University Press, 2013.

Theatrical Liberalism: Jews and Popular Entertainment in America Andrea Most. New York: New York University Press, 2013.From the vaudeville stage to the cinema screen, we tend to assume American popular entertainment is unencumbered by religion: a free and easy realm reinvention. However, in Theatrical liberalism, Andrea Most argues for the Judaic dimensions of twentiethcentury popular entertainment.While historians have outlined the role of American Jews in establishing entertainment industries, Most argues the more radical proposition that American popular entertainment's celebration of the is a type of Jewish secularism. She seeks to identify and dissect the presence of, what she terms, theatrical within American popular culture, revealing its partial origins in Jewish faith. However, the project never fully convinces its reader because Most does not explore the personal beliefs of the cultural workers behind the scenes, making widespread claims about the influence of their faith ultimately unpersuasive.The most definitive summary notes that liberalism involves the embrace of theatricality as a viable social mode, the prioritizing of external action over internal intention, the celebration of self-fashioning as a uniquely American form of freedom, and the construction of a community based on obligations rather than rights (39-40). The author argues that liberalism arose as a distinctly American form during the turn of the twentieth century, which was enabled by the rise of entertainment industries and was concurrent with waves of Jewish immigration.For Most, the Judaic dimensions of liberalism are spiritual rather than ethnic. Although for centuries doctrinal reasons meant Jews lacked a distinct tradition, nevertheless, theatricality and reinvention have consistendy been read into some of the faith's central texts, as illustrated in Most's summary of the Genesis story of Jacob and Esau. Allegedly a product of this religious tradition, liberalism combined the salient features of Protestantism, liber alism, Judaic rituals and attitudes, and the inherent theatricality of a nation in formation (39). However, these other dimensions go underexplored. Most's discussion of liberalism feels imprecise and Protestant influences are largely overlooked.Chronological chapters reveal the transformation of liberalism through several case studies across the twentieth century. In her most convincing chapter, she analyses a range of Depression-era plays and films that celebrated the freedom of the theatrical, from the writing and adaptions of Edna Ferber's novels through to the backstage musicals of Warner Bros, and the freewheeling antics of Bugs Bunny. …

척 존스 Chuck Jones의 연출 특징 연구(Tom and Jerry를 중심으로)

1954년 텔레비전 방송개시를 전후해 미국 애니메이션산업은 새로운 국면을 맞는다. 1930년대와 40년대를 거치면서 애니메이션산업을 주도해오던 스튜디오들은 앞 다투어 새로운 제작환경에 적응하기 위해 필사의 노력을 기울인다. 그러한 노력들은 미국 애니메이션 황금기에 이룩한 업적들을 계승하여 다시 한 번 카툰 애니메이션의 질적 향상을 이루었고, 비록 버나드 오마(Bernard Oma)와 같은 평론가들이 반복되는 추격 패턴, 과장과 유머로 포장된 폭력성 등을 아이디어의 부재로 표현하며 맹비난하는 것을 뒤로 한 세대를 마감했지만 그 영향력은 오늘날에 이르러서도 지속되고 있다. 당시의 작품들은 오늘에 이르러서도 관객을 사로잡는 힘은 오히려 최근의 작품들이 감히 따라가지 못할 정도이다. 당시를 이끌던 걸출한 연출자들의 면면에서도 척 존스는 단연 빛나는 존재였다. <톰과 제리> 시리즈, <벅스 버니>, <대피 덕> 등 카툰 애니메이션사에 있어 중요한 걸작들이 그의 손을 통해탄생했다. 본 연구에서는 척 존스가 1963년부터 1967년까지 연출한 <Tom & Jerry>의 에피소드들을 가지고 그의 연출기법을 분석하였다. 최근 들어 한국 애니메이션은 변화하는 영상 미디어환경에 적합한 작품들을 선보이며 다시 한 번 재기의 동력을 얻고 있는 듯 보인다. 본 연구는 캐릭터 애니메이션의 정수라 할 수 있는 척 존스의 작품을 통해 우리 애니메이션이 가야할 방향에 대해 다시 한 번 생각해 보는 계기가 되고자 한다. After TV Broadcasting service started, American Animation Industry changed dramatically. Through 1930th to 1940th, Major Animation Studios made every effort to adapt to new Animation production environment. Those efforts led rapid improvement of Animation again by succession of heritage in the golden age of American Animation. in spite of successful outcome, some critic like Bernard Oma blamed Animation on repeated chasing pattern, glamorized violence with exaggeration and humor caused by lack of idea. Nevertheless the decade passed by, achievement of the era still have influenced today. The animated films of the age have attractive power in comparison to today's works and Chuck Jones was a glamorous one of the age-leading masters. "Tom and Jerry" series, "Bugs Bunny", "Daffy Duck", and so on, he planned, designed characters and directed those masterpieces. In this study, episodes of "Tom and Jerry" that had been directed by Chuck Jones during 1963 and 1967 are analysed in the view point of direction style. In recently, Korean Animation Industry seems to be accumulated power for rising again by showing new animations that are adapted to new media. Thus, this study aims to give an idea for the new vision of Korean Animation through analysing Chuck Jones' Masterpieces.

Arthurian animation: a study of cartoon Camelots on film and television

MICHAEL N. SALDA, Arthurian Animation: A Study of Cartoon Camelots on Film and Television. Jefferson, N.C. and London: McFarland & Company, 2013. Pp. 210. isbn: 978-0-7864-4. $45.Cinema Arthuriana has, in the wake of Kevin J. Harty's pioneering work, become a flourishing research area, within which Michael N. Salda has established himself over the last decade as the leading authority on Arthurian cartoons. With the present volume, he has now produced the definitive account of the genre.Arthurian Animation is clearly a labor of love, and written in a pleasantly witty jargon-free style, but Saida's scholarship is deep, and wide-ranging. While his initial approach is historical and factual, with full details of creators, companies, dates, and plot summaries, he also provides critical evaluations. His book is mainly concerned with cartoons in the United States, but includes, too, material from Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Hungary, Russia, China, Japan, and Australia.Arthurianimation (to use Saida's phrase) began in 1933 with Bosco's Knight-Mare, a short cartoon that has foint Arthurian allusions, and was probably prompted by the release of Warner's^ Connecticut Yankee (1933). A for more ambitious feature-length cartoon, King Arthur's Knights, was projected in the early 1940s by Hugh Harman, its quasi-Malorian martial ethos promoting a timely patriotic message. Sadly, this was never produced, but Saida supplies a close analysis of the evolving storyline and reproduces five character drawings that he deduces were done by Robert Stokes.When post-war film makers launched more 'historical' subjects, animators followed suit with a host of short cartoons, incorporating even Popeye, Bugs Bunny, and Huckleberry Hound within comic Arthurian settings. The Broadway success of Camelot then inspired Disney to create a long awaited full-length Arthurian cartoon, The Sword in the Stone (1963), but this proved to be a sanitized version that earned only moderate commercial and critical success. During the next decade a mass of shorter works appeared, but Arthurian legend received only frivolous attention therein, such as a section of Dasy Duck & Porky Pig Meet the Groovy Goolies (1972), which Saida concedes 'is painful to watch' (75).Despite the proliferation of major Arthurian features between 1975 {Monty Python and the Holy Grail) and 1981 {Excalibur), their improved quality was mirrored only fleetingly in cartoons, with the honorable exception of the Japanese anime series King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1981), a thirty-part TV serialization that strove to impose coherence on diverse Arthurian traditions. …

Spirited Vulgarity: Frank Tashlin as Comic Auteur

The publication of Ethan de Seife's lively study of Frank Tashlin provides an opportunity to reconsider the work and legacy of one of the most inventive practitioners of American screen comedy.1 Tashlin gained experience as a director by working for several key animation studios through the 1930s and early 1940s including Disney, Columbia's Screen Gems, and the Leon Schlesinger unit at Warner Brothers, purveyors of the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies gagfests. Despite personal friction be tween them, Schlesinger hired Tashlin on three separate occasions, clearly appreciating his contribution to the stylized comic antics of Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny and company. As de Seife shows through his ad mirably detailed analysis, Tashlin brought a distinctive style to animated comedy, but even at this early stage in his career he had ambitions to break into live-action feature movies. As cartoon historian Michael Barrier points out, Tashlin's work for Warner Brothers was distinguished by an unusually cinematic approach to animation, as he packed his seven-minute short films with cartoon equivalents for claustrophobic closeups, deep focus, and oblique camera angles, in scenes that suggested F.W. Murnau more than Walt Disney (Barrier, Hollywood Cartoons, 335). In a 1971 interview, Tashlin admitted to Barrier that unlike his fellow Warner's directors Tex Av

Neglected Orodental Facts during General Anesthesia and Intensive Care Unit Admission in Pediatric Population

Perianesthetic dental trauma is not uncommon with an incidence as low as 0.02%-0.07% up to 12.1% of cases of the general anesthesia (GA) 1. Incidence of overall oral trauma is reported as high as 7% of individuals who underwent GA 2. Indeed, emergency endotracheal intubation and less experienced staff probably increase the chance of traumatizing hard and soft oral tissues 3. The majority of incidental dental traumas during GA occur in attempting intubation (75%), followed by extubation (16%) and in the recovery phase (9%) 4. Dental trauma includes milder forms such as enamel fracture or tooth subluxation to more severe forms of crown fractures and tooth avulsion. Anterior dislocation of mandible condyle leading to a locked position of temporomandibular joint, tongue injuries and a variety forms of pressure-induced lesions of the oral cavity soft tissues are also explained 1,5. During life, dentition includes three phases: deciduous (6 months 6 years), mixed (6 -12 years) and permanent dentition (beyond 12 years) 6. Upper incisors are reported to be more affected during intubation 4. These teeth are single-rooted with a low surface area when compared to multiple-rooted posterior teeth with a significant higher surface area around the roots within the alveolar bone. The higher traumatic injuries may be explained by unintentional forces directed to the tooth when an anesthesiologist uses this tooth as a fulcrum to guide the laryngoscope blade especially during the difficult and previously failed attempts 4. As the child finishes the deciduous dentition and enters the transitional phase of mixed dentition at around the age of 6-8 years, the underlying permanent incisor would exert its eruptive forces by loosening the corresponding deciduous 6. This may challenge both the child and intensivist by a high probability of deciduous dentition to be avulsed with subsequent chance of permanent teeth damage by excessive forces and wrong attempt to re-implant the avulsed tooth. Another special consideration for toddlers is the presence of “baby bottle syndrome” or early childhood caries (ECC) 1. This syndrome is derived from long exposure to the high sugar content liquids especially at night during the age of 18-48 months. Upper incisors and lower molars are affected most, yet lower incisors are spared due to the tongue’s protective function 1. These teeth with rampant and extensive caries are more susceptible to mechanical trauma and more likely to crack or avulse 1. Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admitted patients who are remarkably at risk for dental trauma when compared to adults for their immature root formation and possibility of physiologic subluxed teeth during their dentition phase 7. One should keep in mind having adequate knowledge about additive hazards when the physician attempts to intubate a pediatric patient with class II malocclusion (i.e., protrusion of maxilla) and excessive overjet 7 or abnormally large and over extruded front teeth, so called “Bugs Bunny teeth”. In addition to forceful intubation or extubation, vigorous suctioning of posterior teeth, pressure induced damage to the adjacent tissues by insertion of the laryngeal mask airway (LMA), masseteric spasm derived by hypothermic-induced shivering and biting forces against antagonist teeth or endotracheal tube (ETT) should all be taken into account. Hence, intubation, extubation and suctioning should be performed with a great care. If the child has a loose tooth and avulsion or aspiration is deemed, a careful suturing (3-0 silk suture) of the affected tooth to the adjacent sound tooth just around the crown of the teeth may prevent avulsion and aspiration 1. It is clear that attenuated mechanical elimination and poor oral hygiene in intensive care units increase the dental plaques. Dental plaque consists of more than 300 microorganism species which are embedded into an extracellular matrix 6,8.

The End Inside It

The End Inside It Marianne Boruch (bio) On the radio, Merce said, Do it backwards.Jump first, then run,even when it was just with his arms, when he got old,even if some people hated it. —Jean Valentine, from Break the Glass Or Closure, as it's called among poets, but not a "We need closure on this" sort of thing, certainly not that cheap and cheesy "because we have to get on with our lives," though at the end of all poems is the return to the day as it was, its noon light or later, supper and whatever madness long over, reading in bed those few minutes, next to the little table lamp. But to come out of the poem's tunnel of words—the best way is to be blinking slightly, released from some dark, eyes adjusting, what was ordinary seen differently now. Or not. At times the shift from reading to not reading is so graceful it's transparent, the poem itself Robert Frost's "piece of glass" skimmed from winter's icy drinking trough and held up to melt and melt the real world into real dream, then back, his moment of clarity unto mystery returned to clarity again. Of course, that actual gesture comes early in his "After Apple Picking," a poem full of what might "trouble" his dreams in the wake of such hard work. Its last line is one low-key gulp, his "Or just some human sleep" itself following something about exhaustion more wistful and weird: "Were he not gone,/ The woodchuck could say whether it was like his/ Long sleep, as I describe its coming on. . . ." As in—hey! Let's ask this woodchuck here, shall we? And how absolutely odd and brilliant that we never see this move as comic, though it could be right out of Bugs Bunny or The Simpsons, depending on when you started to find things funny. But Frost isn't funny, at least not in this poem, where sleep isn't exactly sleep either. Such sleight-of-hand only proves how tone can control things, and that success, if not triumph, in a poem is largely in the accumulation of word, syntax, cadence tangled and guided by two seemingly warring elements—a most particular fever and tact, right to the end. Plus how unexpectedly but inevitably any final moment emerges out of all that has gone before, the rise and fall, the order of those choices as they press a wayward, fierce descent down the page or in the air to make the poem mean. "Theme alone can steady us down." Frost wrote that, too. And maybe it's true, though we don't much use that t-word anymore. I love what Marianne Moore left behind in an essay: "I tend to like a poem which instead of culminating in a crescendo, merely comes to a close." [End Page 171] Note well her "merely"—one of the many things in Moore to put on pause and willfully distrust. But her remark suggests at least two kinds of ending: the grand orchestration vs. the simple okay—shrug—it's over. Frost's "Or just some human sleep" lies clearly in this second category, though something remains vulnerable and lasting in that sound. The choices here—the poet's or, his just, his some—all together now: his "or just some human sleep"—conspire to a studied indifference, an almost indifference in spite of that wide-eyed "human" there. More, that "human" up against an animal's apparent untroubled sleep makes sudden and eerie how unknowable we ourselves are. News flash: words mean things. And human here at the bottom of all that comes earlier, its underscored double beat cast among this small run of single stressed words is, no, not a crescendo. Moore would have approved, I think, if what anyone thinks might matter to her now that she's past any ending, though of course one could argue she isn't. Her poems, at least, are not. They keep ending. Which is yet another crucial thing about poetic closure. Whatever Moore's fondness for no trumpeting as a poem slips back into...

Congo and: Things Needed for a Journey and: How Far Would You Get without the Devil and: Odysseus

Congo and: Things Needed for a Journey and: How Far Would You Get without the Devil and: Odysseus Bruce Alford (bio) Congo Disappearances, torture and killings. This is your namesake. Who would love you, brother? You are a burden to us all. In the country you are named for an army major broadcasts a message: People must bring a machete, a spear, an arrow, a hoe, spades, rakes, nails, truncheons, electric irons, barbed wire, stones, in order, dear listeners, to kill. I had not seen him in a year. Like a diplomat, I hoped things had changed. They call my brother Congo because he is as black as the tar street. He doesn’t see how I lace my fingers when he steps forward. Brother, he says and opens and opens the bloody webs in his eyes. He is dead to me, a crackhead, blew five thousand dollars in one week. He sleeps outdoors on a metal table. He is conflict. I do not care for him. I do not love him. You know I love you, I say to him, touching his shoulder. My mother, who never touches him, calls him good-for-nothing black bastard and keeps his gold and silver trophies from high-school football games on the living room mantel. [End Page 493] Things Needed for a Journey the memory of my brother lying in his own filth his narrow bed my own helplessness stretched out in darkness because now our mother was dead the wetness on my face his needles his pipes the paraphernalia of his addiction In the middle of the floor pasteboard boxes his painting of our mother’s face clothes my mother’s shoes my mother’s poetry my parent’s wedding picture pennies broken mirrors the bodies of cockroaches my mother’s whole life He had built a bonfire without fire This is what was left in the darkened kitchen cigarette butts in dishes in the sink smashed on the counter food stuck to plates pots on the stove sausage dried to a pan no furniture because he’d sold it all for crack a pickle jar full of piss because he was too lazy to walk [End Page 494] to the bathroom his scent left like a rotten potato How Far Would You Get without the Devil . . . but his faceDeep scars of Thunder had intrencht, and careSat on his faded cheek —Paradise Lost I appear in the bathroom mirror, strange to myself. Nothing but a towel hangs from my waist. My brother comes screaming: a winged dragon colliding, collapsing into space. His eyes are red—I mean they’re red. Thou think’st he weeps? His tears are unfelt. He cries as one you might meet on a winter day. The tones are false, the sighs and silent strings, despite his yelling, loud, because he’s drunk. He wears a baseball cap as black as his face. Nappy hair sticks out under edges. Bozo. I should listen. His loose face swirls. Man, I would die for Mama. You hear me, man. He puts four calloused fingers against his shirt, over his heart, over an illustration of Curious George. Can’t I have something for myself? Man, she pulled a gun on me—her son, Her own flesh and blood! Said I’ll kill your motherfucking ass. Man, she did this to her flesh and blood. What’s wrong with Mama, man? Let me tell you what she did. I gave her 400 dollars. I had just given her 400 dollars, and I’m back there in that room, and the phone rings and I hear her: ‘He got his lazy black ass back there. He ain’t done nothing for me’— When I heard that, man, I broke down and cried. I cried just like a baby. In the bathroom mirror, I am receding. [End Page 495] My brother’s hand reaches. I hear voices over long distances. Ghosts come forth from their tombs: Two brothers watch Road Runner and Bugs Bunny. A pillow fight: goose quill sticking out between stitching. He used to be a ladies’ man, too. Cool Congo, smooth black skin, beautiful brother. What’s...

God and Bugs Bunny

God and Bugs Bunny

Animated Representations of Blackness

If Wells (2002, 1) is correct in his assertion that animation, in common with jazz, the western, and the musical, is an art genre originating in the United States, then, as Lehman (2007, 1) proposes, the wildly popular form surely “owes its existence to African Americans.” Unlike jazz, which African Americans have long constituted the overwhelming majority of creators, and at times consumers, animation has historically fed on blackness, recycling caricatures—such as Mammy Two Shoes in Tom and Jerry and the crows in Dumbo—and inspiring characters—Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny for instance—even as Blacks were excluded from the production of the medium (Lehman 2007; Lindvall and Fraser 2002; Sampson 1997). Importantly, as Pigeon (1997) argues, animated representation projected accounts of racial difference through black face, even after minstrel shows had fallen out favor. In fact, it is hard not to read the history of animation in the United States as anti-black racism, persistently reiterated for the pleasure of white audiences and the profit of (largely) white owned corporation. Oddly, even as one credits the anti-racist struggles that grew ever more powerful after the Second World War with effectively dismantling negative images of African Americans in animation and beyond, a troubling question remains: why have so few positive portraits replaced these negative images? That is, with the exception of Fat Albert and the more problematic Coonskin, what accounts for the virtual absence of animated representations of blackness in the aftermath of the civil rights movement? Moreover, even as multiculturalism flourished in marketing and entertainment, why have African Americans remained all but invisible, marginal, and tokenized—so J Afr Am St (2010) 14:395–397 DOI 10.1007/s12111-010-9141-2

A Simple Preanesthesia Dental Examination

Damage to the teeth can occur during general anesthesia1and is a common cause of claims against anesthesiologists.2,3A detailed knowledge of the preanesthesia dental status provides a reliable way to distinguish valid from fraudulent (and often expensive) claims of injury. Here we present a simple system for performing and documenting a dental examination.In North America, the standard convention for numbering teeth starts with No. 1 as the right upper wisdom tooth, proceeds around the maxillary arch to No. 16, drops to the wisdom tooth immediately below (No. 17), and thence proceeds around the mandibular arch to the lower right wisdom tooth (No. 32). The numbers are assigned to specific teeth, so a missing tooth is counted even though it is not there.The anterior teeth are of most interest to an anesthesiologist because these are most likely to be damaged during intubation, or if a partially anesthetized patient should bite down hard on a rigid airway.3A simplified charting system for these teeth is shown in figure 1. The right upper canine (No. 6) is easy to identify. It and the left upper canine (No. 11) bracket two central incisors, Nos. 8 and 9 (the “Bugs Bunny” teeth) and two smaller lateral incisors on each side (Nos. 7 and 10). The trick to the numbering system is realizing the correspondence between upper and lower teeth. The left lower canine is No. 22 (remember: “11 times 2 equals 22”), and normal teeth are symmetric around to the right lower canine (No. 27).Our typical documentation of a preexisting dental condition contains comments such as “missing No. 6, and chipped No. 23.” The presence of caps, crowns, bridges, and loose teeth should also be noted with the relevant tooth number. A drawing of a specific tooth is an additional way to indicate the degree of damage. On occasion, only a few teeth will be present, and the absence of reference teeth may make it difficult to determine which number or numbers apply. A simple description of the remaining teeth and their locations will suffice in this situation.A clear record of preexisting dental problems provides a firm basis for assessing claims of dental injury during anesthesia.*University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.buffingtoncw@anes.upmc.edu