Before I express anything, first let me state this is my first post to the boards here. Second, I'm white and from NH (what does this mean?... I guess my posts will demonstrate that...hmmm)

I just wanted to address the duality discussed above... If anything, Spike's directorial roles in the KINGS and Bamboozled speaks to the personal duality we all are 'guilty' of. Look at almost any aspect of american culture: Politics (yuk), music, religion, sex (especially sex).... there's a duality that typically places expectatations on one group of people by another based on how they catagorize one another. If group A notices that group B isn't being consistent with their expectations of group B, then group B is faulted for not being 'true' to themselves. I saw Mos two weeks ago and he spent 15 minutes talking to the crowd making sure everyone was cool with the fact that his show wasn't straight up hip-hop, but a more band-, soul/rocknroll/reggae, -oriented type thing. The crowd had expectations (shit, I wanted to here speed laws), and he changed it up on us.
My point is, no one's ever 100% consistent. People get so damn uptight about being able to expect this from him and that from her... and it really ends up limiting growth in the long run. More than anything, I respect someone who can be honest and genuinely critical of their own conduct, their own culture because it directly reveals that duality within... that's someone I know has very similar values to my own. In terms of film and music, it makes for a more challenging and profound forum for non-transient creativity... not some drive thru culture ish.

thanks for the time and space
jpetruno@enterasys.com