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britney replay   09.13.2007, 12:09 PM

posted by ben vershbow

Sorry to sink for a moment into celebrity gossipsville, but this video had me utterly mesmerized for the past four minutes. Basically, this guy's arguing that Britney Spears' sub-par performance at the VMAs this weekend was do to a broken heel on one of her boots, and he goes to pretty serious lengths to prove his thesis. I repost it here simply as an example of how incredibly pliable and reinterpretable media objects have become through digital editing tools and distribution platforms like YouTube. The minute precision of the editing, the frequent rewinds and replays, and the tweaky stop/start pacing of the inserted commentaries transform the tawdry, played-to-death Britney clip into a fascinating work of obsession.

Heads up: Viacom has taken the video down. No great loss, but we now have a broken post, a tiny monument to the web's impermanence.

(via Ann Bartow on Sivacracy)

Posted by ben vershbow on September 13, 2007 12:09 PM
tags: Remix, editing, video, writing, youtube

comments (3):

susan on September 13, 2007 12:54 PM:

Except that I believe he keeps targeting different feet, switching between right and left with his arrows. Only I'm not about to watch this again to make sure.

CHE on September 13, 2007 4:16 PM:

And except that we see here one of the biggest limitations of digital media in that 4 hours after you posted this, it's "No Longer Available." And probably not just because the author decided he was tired of having his work featured online ...

ben vershbow on September 13, 2007 5:05 PM:

First point, sure. Wasn't suggesting his argument was sound.

Second, how right you are. Note added above.

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