Coonskin is a 1975 American film written and directed by Ralph Bakshi
(pictured in 2009), about an African American rabbit, fox, and bear who
rise to the top of the organized crime racket in Harlem, encountering
corrupt law enforcement, con artists, and the Mafia. The film, which
combines live action and animation, stars Philip Thomas, Charles
Gordone, Barry White, and Scat Man Crothers, all of whom appear in both
live-action and animated sequences. Coonskin makes reference to various
elements from African-American culture, ranging from African folk tales
to the work of cartoonist George Herriman, and satirizes racist and
other stereotypes, as well as the blaxploitation genre, Song of the
South, and The Godfather. Coonskin encountered controversy before its
original theatrical release when the Congress of Racial Equality
criticized the content as being racist. When the film was released, it
had limited distribution and initially received negative reviews.
Coonskin has since been reappraised. A New York Times review said that
it could be Bakshi's "masterpiece" and Bakshi considers it his best
film.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coonskin_(film)>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1555:
Giovanni Pietro Carafa became Pope Paul IV and had a short,
but tumultuous papacy, during which the Papal States suffered a serious
military defeat.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_IV>
1618:
In the Second Defenestration of Prague, Protestant members of
the Bohemian aristocracy threw Catholic regents of Emperor Ferdinand II
out the third-storey window of Prague Castle, precipitating the Thirty
Years' War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague>
1844:
Siyyid `Alí-Muhammad Shírází proclaimed that he was "the
Báb", after a Shi`a religious concept, marking the beginning of the
Bábí movement, the forerunner of the Bahá'í Faith.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A1bism>
1934:
American criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were ambushed
and killed by police on a desolate road near their hideout in Bienville
Parish, Louisiana.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_and_Clyde>
2010:
Jamaica's military and police force began a manhunt for drug
lord Christopher Coke, beginning three days of armed conflict with the
Shower Posse cartel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Kingston_unrest>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
thagomizer:
(anatomy) An arrangement of spikes found on the tails of various
stegosaurs.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thagomizer>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Mercury has cast aside The signs of intellectual pride, Freely
offers thee the soul: Art thou noble to receive? Canst thou give or take
the whole, Nobly promise and believe? Then thou wholly human art, A
spotless, radiant, ruby heart, And the golden chain of love Has bound
thee to the realm above.
--Margaret Fuller
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Fuller>