Nothing is no thing,^[1] denoting the absence of something. Nothing is a pronoun associated with nothingness,^[1] which is also an adjective, and an object as a concept in the Frege-Church ontology.

In nontechnical uses, nothing denotes things lacking importance, interest, value, relevance, or significance.^[1] Nothingness is the state of being nothing,^[2] the state of nonexistence of anything, or the property of having nothing.

Philosophy[link]

Western philosophy[link]

Some would consider the study of "nothing" to be foolish, a typical response of this type is voiced by Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) in conversation with his landlord, one Dr. Gozzi, who also happens to be a priest,

However, "nothingness" has been treated as a serious subject worthy of research for a very long time. In philosophy, to avoid linguistic traps over the meaning of "nothing", a phrase such as not-being is often employed to unambiguously make clear what is being discussed.

Parmenides[link]

One of the earliest western philosophers to consider nothing as a concept was Parmenides (5th century BC) who was a Greek philosopher of the monist school. He argued that "nothing" cannot exist by the following line of reasoning. To speak of a thing, one has to speak of a thing that exists. Since we can speak of a thing in the past, it must still exist (in some sense) now and from this concludes that there is no such thing as change. As a corollary, there can be no such things as coming-into-being, passing-out-of-being or not-being.^[4]

Despite the fact of existence stubbornly refuting Parmenides' conclusion, he was taken seriously by other philosophers, influencing, for instance, Socrates and Plato.^[5] Aristotle too, gives Parmenides serious consideration but concludes; "Although these opinions seem to follow logically in a dialectical discussion, yet to believe them seems next door to madness when one considers the facts."^[6]

Leucippus[link]

Leucippus (early 5th century BC), one of the atomists, along with other philosophers of his time, made attempts to reconcile this with the everyday observation of motion and change. He accepted the monist position that there could be no motion without a void. The void is the opposite of being, it is not-being. On the other hand, a thing that exists is an absolute plenum and there can be no motion in a plenum because it is completely full. But there is not one monolithic plenum, existence consists of a multiplicity of plenums. These are the invisibly small atoms of the atomists theory, later expanded more fully by Democritus (circa 460 BC – 370 BC). They are a necessary part of the theory to allow the void to exist between them. In this scenario macroscopic objects can come-into-being move through space and pass into not-being by means of the coming together and moving apart of their constituent atoms. The void must exist to allow this to happen or else the frozen world of Parmenides must be accepted.

Bertrand Russell points out that this does not exactly defeat the argument of Parmenides, but rather ignores it by taking the rather modern scientific position of starting with the observed data (motion etc.) and constructing a theory based on the data as opposed to Parmenides attempts to work from pure logic. Russell also observes that both sides were mistaken in believing that there can be no motion in a plenum, but arguably motion cannot start in a plenum.^[7] Cyril Bailey notes that Leucippus is the first to say that a thing (the void) might be real without being a body and points out the irony that this comes from a materialistic atomist. Leucippus is therefore the first to say that "nothing" has a reality attached to it.^[8]

Aristotle[link]

Aristotle (384–322 BC) provided the classic escape from the logical problem posed by Parmenides by distinguishing things that are matter and things that are space. In this scenario, space is not "nothing", but a receptacle in which objects of matter can be placed. The void (as "nothing") is different from space and is removed from consideration.^[9][10]

This characterisation of space reached its pinnacle with Isaac Newton who asserted the existence of absolute space. Interestingly, modern quantum theory agrees that space is not the void, there is the concept of quantum foam which still exists in the absence of all else, although Albert Einstein's general relativity no longer agrees with Newton's concept of an absolute space. René Descartes, on the other hand, returned to a Parmenides-like argument of denying the existence of space. For Descartes, there was matter, and there was extension of matter leaving no room for the existence of "nothing".^[11]

The idea that space can actually be empty was generally still not accepted by philosophers who invoked arguments similar to the plenum reasoning. Although Descartes views on this were challenged by Blaise Pascal, he declined to overturn the traditional belief, commonly stated in the form "Nature abhors a vacuum". This remained so until Evangelista Torricelli invented the barometer in 1643 and showed that an empty space appeared if the mercury tube was turned upside down. This phenomenon being known as the Torricelli vacuum and the unit of vacuum pressure, the torr, being named after him. Even Torricelli's teacher, the famous Galileo Galilei had previously been unable to adequately explain the sucking action of a pump.^[12]

John the Scot[link]

John the Scot, or Johannes Scotus Eriugena (c. 815–877) held many surprisingly heretical beliefs for the time he lived in for which no action appears ever to have been taken against him. His ideas mostly stem from, or are based on his work of translating pseudo-Dionysius. His beliefs are essentially pantheist and he classifies evil, amongst many other things, into not-being. This is done on the grounds that evil is the opposite of good, a quality of God, but God can have no opposite, since God is everything in the pantheist view of the world. Similarly, the idea that God created the world out of "nothing" is to be interpreted as the "nothing" here is synonymous with God.^[13]

G. W. F. Hegel[link]

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) is the philosopher who brought the dialectical method to its pinnacle of development. According to Hegel in Science of Logic the dialectical methods consists of three steps. First, a thesis is given, which can be any postulate in logic. Second, the antithesis of the thesis is formed and finally a synthesis incorporating both thesis and antithesis. Hegel believed that no postulate taken by itself can be completely true. Only the whole can be true and the dialectical synthesis was the means by which the whole could be examined in relation to a specific postulate. Truth consists of the whole process, separating out thesis, antithesis or synthesis as a stand-alone statement results in something that is in some way or other untrue. The concept of "nothing" arises in Hegel right at the beginning of his Logic. The whole is called by Hegel the "Absolute" and is to be viewed as something spiritual. Hegel then has;^[14]

• Thesis: The Absolute is Pure Being
• Antithesis: The Absolute is Nothing
• Synthesis: The Absolute is Becoming

Existentialists[link]

The most prominent figure among the existentialists is Jean-Paul Sartre whose ideas in his book Being and Nothingness are heavily influenced by Being and Time of Martin Heidegger, although Heidegger later stated that he was misunderstood by Sartre.^[15] Sartre defines two kinds of "being" (être). One kind is être-en-soi, the brute existence of things such as a tree. The other kind is être-pour-soi which is consciousness. Sartre claims that this second kind of being is "nothing" since consciousness cannot be an object of consciousness and can possess no essence.^[16] Sartre, and even more so, Jaques Lacan, use this conception of nothing as the foundation of their atheist philosophy. Equating nothingness with being leads to creation from nothing and hence God is no longer needed for there to be existence.^[17]

Eastern philosophy[link]

This section requires expansion.

The understanding of 'nothing' varies widely between cultures, especially between Western and Eastern cultures and philosophical traditions. For instance, Śūnyatā (emptiness), unlike "nothingness", is considered to be a state of mind in some forms of Buddhism (see Nirvana, mu, and Bodhi). Achieving 'nothing' as a state of mind in this tradition allows one to be totally focused on a thought or activity at a level of intensity that they would not be able to achieve if they were consciously thinking. A classic example of this is an archer attempting to erase his mind and clear his thoughts to better focus on his shot. Some authors have pointed to similarities between the Buddhist conception of nothingness and the ideas of Martin Heidegger and existentialists like Sartre,^[18][19] although this connection has not been explicitly made by the philosophers themselves.

In some Eastern philosophies, the concept of "nothingness" is characterized by an egoless state of being in which one fully realizes one's own small part in the cosmos.

The Kyoto school handles the concept of nothingness as well.

Language and logic[link]

Alice: "I see nothing."

Cheshire Cat: "My. You have good eyes."^[20]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2011)

Grammatically, the word "nothing" is an indefinite pronoun, which means that it refers to something^{[citation needed]}. One might argue that "nothing" is a concept, and since concepts are things, the concept of "nothing" itself is a thing. This logical fallacy is neatly demonstrated by the joke syllogism that contains a fallacy of four terms:

1. The Devil is greater than nothing.
2. Nothing is greater than God.
3. Therefore, the Devil is greater than God.

The four terms in this example are God, the Devil, nothing-as-a-thing that the Devil is greater than, and nothing as no-thing or not-some-thing (some thing is not greater than God). The error in the conclusion stems from equating nothing-as-a-thing with no-thing which is invalid logic.

Clauses can often be restated to avoid the appearance that "nothing" possesses an attribute. For example, the sentence "There is nothing in the basement" can be restated as "There is not one thing in the basement". "Nothing is missing" can be restated as "everything is present". Conversely, many fallacious conclusions follow from treating "nothing" as a noun.

Logician Alonzo Church describes this as all names having both a concept or sense, and a denotation. Church did not consider the name "nothingness", and its denotation.

Modern logic made it possible to articulate these points coherently as intended, and many philosophers hold that the word "nothing" does not function as a noun, as there is no object to which it refers. There remain various opposing views, however—for example, that our understanding of the world rests essentially on noticing absences and lacks as well as presences, and that "nothing" and related words serve to indicate these.^{[21][22][not in citation given]}

Mathematics[link]

Symbol for the empty set

The number zero is sometimes used to denote nothing. The empty set contains no elements.

Computing[link]

In computing, "nothing" can be a keyword (in VB.Net) used in place of something unassigned, a data abstraction. Although a computer's storage hardware always contains numbers, "nothing" symbolizes a number skipped by the system when the programmer desires. Many systems have similar capabilities but different keywords, such as "null", "NUL", "nil", and "None".^[23]

To instruct a computer processor to do nothing, a keyword such as "NOP" may be available. This is a control abstraction; a processor that executes NOP will behave identically to a processor that does not process this directive.^[24]

Physics[link]

In physics, the word nothing is not used in any technical sense. A region of space is called a vacuum if it does not contain any matter, though it can contain physical fields. In fact, it is practically impossible to construct a region of space that contains no matter or fields, since gravity cannot be blocked and all objects at a non-zero temperature radiate electromagnetically. However, even if such a region existed, it could still not be referred to as "nothing", since it has properties and a measurable existence as part of the quantum-mechanical vacuum. Where there is supposedly empty space there are constant quantum fluctuations with particles continually popping into and out of existence. It had long been theorized that space is distinct from a void of nothingness in that space consists of some kind of aether, with luminiferous aether serving as the transmission medium for propagating light waves.

See also[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Bertrand Russell. History of Western Philosophy, Routledge, 1995 ISBN 0-415-07854-7.
• Josef Pieper, Berthold Wald, For the Love of Wisdom: Essays on the Nature of Philosophy, Translator: Roger Wasserman, Ignatius Press, 2006 ISBN 1-58617-087-2.

External links[link]

Look up nothing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Nothingness

Look up nothing or nothingness in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2009)

Sixpence None the Richer (also known as Sixpence) is an American rock/pop band that formed in New Braunfels, Texas, eventually settling in Nashville, Tennessee. They are best known for their songs "Kiss Me" and "Breathe Your Name" and their covers of "Don't Dream It's Over" and "There She Goes". The name of the band is inspired by a passage from the book Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis.^[1]

Biography[link]

Origin of the band's name[link]

Leigh Nash described the origin of the band's name on the Late Show with David Letterman:^[2]

It comes from a book by C. S. Lewis called Mere Christianity. A little boy asks his father if he can get a sixpence—a very small amount of English currency—to go and get a gift for his father. The father gladly accepts the gift and he's really happy with it, but he also realizes that he's not any richer for the transaction. C.S. Lewis was comparing that to his belief that God has given him, and us, the gifts that we possess, and to serve Him the way we should, we should do it humbly—realizing how we got the gifts in the first place.

Formation and early years (1992–1996)[link]

Guitarist/songwriter Matt Slocum met vocalist Leigh Nash in the early 1990s. They recorded a demo, which now circulates as "The Original Demos", with bassist T.J. Behling and drummer Brad Arnold at Verge Music Works recording studio in Dallas, and eventually an album, The Fatherless and the Widow, for the independent label REX Music in 1993. The record featured Chris Dodds (a member of Love Coma, in which Slocum also played guitar). Shortly after the release of The Fatherless and the Widow, Slocum left Love Coma to pursue Sixpence None the Richer full-time. The band added Tess Wiley (guitar) Joel Bailey (bass) and Dale Baker (drums) to tour in support of The Fatherless and The Widow. On this tour the band toured the US, opening for the Choir, the newly reformed 10,000 Maniacs, Audio Adrenaline, Pray For Rain, Over The Rhine, and more. In the fall of 1994, the band left for their first tour of Europe. The club and festival tour saw them performing with bands such as the Proclaimers, Newsboys, Julie & Buddy Miller, and many more. The band added J.J. Plasencio (bass) for 1995's This Beautiful Mess. Both albums were produced by Armand John Petri, who also managed the band from 1993 to 1997. Shortly after the release of This Beautiful Mess, Wiley left the band.

Into the mainstream (1997–2003)[link]

In 1997, the group signed to Steve Taylor's label Squint Entertainment and released a self-titled album, which slowly began garnering attention from a wider audience in the mainstream industry. Although Placencio played bass on most of the album, he left the band before it was released and was replaced by Justin Cary, who joined the band around the same time as second guitarist Sean Kelly.

In 1998, "Kiss Me" was released as a single, propelling Sixpence None the Richer into the national pop spotlight. That year the song was also featured in the film She's All That. In 2001 the film Not Another Teen Movie used the song in a parody. "Kiss Me" was also played on the WB teen drama Dawson's Creek in episodes #2-06 "The Dance" and #2-18 "The Perfect Wedding", and is found on the show's first soundtrack CD, Songs from Dawson's Creek (Volume 1) and also played at the televised wedding of England's Prince Edward.

In 1999, the band recorded a cover of The La's' "There She Goes", which became their second hit single and propelled them into the limelight again. Sixpence appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and numerous morning talk shows. "There She Goes" was added to subsequent pressings of the self-titled album.

In 2000, Sixpence None the Richer contributed the song "Us" to Today Presents: the Best of Summer Concert Series CD, which raised money for the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance. Later that year, the band recorded a Japanese version of "Kiss Me", which was released exclusively in Japan on an EP with numerous versions of the song, as well as remixes of other songs on the self-titled album.

The band had a follow-up album ready to release, but their label Squint Entertainment started to fall apart, leaving the band in limbo for several years. Finally, Squint Entertainment folded and that album, Divine Discontent, was released in October 2002.

Baker left the band before that album's release and was replaced by Rob Mitchell. The album itself differs significantly from the first pre-release version of it that had circulated: the songs "Us", "Deeper", "Don't Pass Me By", "Too Far Gone", "Northern Lights", and "Loser Like Me" were cut, and "Down and Out of Time", "A Million Parachutes", "Tonight", "Waiting on the Sun", and a cover of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over" were added. All of the unreleased songs were eventually featured on singles or compilations, with the exception of "Deeper". Two of Divine Discontent's singles, "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Breathe Your Name", received significant radio airplay and appeared on various Billboard charts.

The break-up (2004)[link]

On February 26, 2004, Matt Slocum announced that the group had disbanded. On July 22, 2004, it was reported that Matt Slocum had started a new band, the Astronaut Pushers, with Lindsay Jamieson (of the band Departure Lounge) and Sam Ashworth (son of influential musician Charlie Peacock). John Davis (of the band Superdrag) joined the band in 2005. The Astronaut Pushers released a self-titled, four-song EP on their own label, Runway Network, in 2005. Sam Ashworth reported via MySpace that he and Slocum had acquired and were operating a recording studio in Nashville in early 2006.

Leigh Nash solo work (2005–2007)[link]

Leigh Nash began work on a solo album titled Blue On Blue with producer Pierre Marchand in the fall of 2005. Nash's first single "My Idea of Heaven" was released on July 14, 2006. The album Blue On Blue was released by Nettwerk Records under Nash's own imprint, One Son Records and the album's official release date was August 15, 2006, she also released a Christmas EP Wishing For This on 14 November 2006. The song "Ocean Size Love" from Blue On Blue seems to be the second single of Blue On Blue, and yet was never promoted.

In 2007, Leigh Nash worked a collaboration with Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber of Delerium called Fauxliage. Leigh contributed her vocals to the songs "All the World", "Some Day the Wind", "Draw My Life", "Let It Go", "Without You", "Rafe" and "All Alone". The songs "Let It Go" and "All the World" were used in the drama series Moonlight.

Reunion (2007)[link]

In November 2007, Sixpence None the Richer reunited. They released an EP My Dear Machine on the website NoiseTrade in 2008, the band's first official release since The Best of Sixpence None the Richer in 2004. The EP was removed from NoiseTrade in early 2009.

In October 2008, they released a Christmas album titled The Dawn of Grace. Nash commented, "Sixpence fans have been asking for a Christmas album for as long as I can remember. It was something we always wanted to do, but somehow time got away from us. Now that we are back together, we thought a Christmas album would be a nice gift for our long-time supporters. We love it and hope they will too!"

In December 2008 Sixpence joined the "Love Came Down at Christmas Tour" to play songs from The Dawn of Grace, along with Jars of Clay, Leeland and Sara Groves.

[edit] Lost in Transition (2009–present)

Sixpence signed to Credential Recordings and played a headline slot at the 2009 Greenbelt Festival in the UK. According to Leigh Nash, the band began recording a new album in January 2010.^[3] The album, titled Strange Conversation, was originally slated for an August 24, 2010 release.

The putative release date was later changed to March 8, 2011,^[4]. On April 12, 2011, Nash shared that record label problems had been resolved and that the album would be released.^[5] New recordings of the songs "Failure" and "Safety Line" were released as streaming audio on the band's Facebook page in July 2011.

In December 2011, Leigh Nash announced in interviews that the album had been renamed Lost in Transition and that the band was intending to self-release it in March of 2012. She also mentioned the possibility of more than one Sixpence release in 2012. ^{[6] [7]}On February 2, 2012, Leigh Nash posted on Sixpence None the Richer's official Twitter feed that the album would be released in May 2012.^[8] The song "Radio" from the album debuted on Perez Hilton's site on May 15th, 2012. The article announced a release date of August 7th, nearly two years since the initial announced release date.^[9]

Band members[link]

Current members

• Matt Slocum – guitar, cello
• Leigh Nash – vocals
• Justin Cary – bass (1997–2004, 2008–)

Former members

• TJ Behling – bass (1990–1994)
• Brad Arnold – drums (1990–1994)
• James Arhelger – bass (1994–1995)
• Joel Bailey – bass (1994–1995)
• Dale Baker – drums (1993–2001)
• Tess Wiley – guitar (1995–1996) also in Sixpence None the Richer 2008 European Tour
• J.J. Plasencio – bass (1995–1996)
• Sean Kelly – guitar (1997–2004)
• Rob Mitchell – drums (2001–2004)
• Jerry Dale McFadden – keyboard (2001–2004)

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• 1992: The Original Demos
• 1994: The Fatherless and the Widow
• 1995: This Beautiful Mess
• 1997: Sixpence None the Richer
• 2002: Divine Discontent
• 2008: My Dear Machine EP
• 2008: The Dawn of Grace
• 2012: Lost in Transition

Extended plays[link]

• 1996: Tickets for a Prayer Wheel
• 2008: My Dear Machine EP

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site

Barry Fitzgerald (10 March 1888 – 14 January 1961) was an Irish stage, film, and television actor.^[1]

Life[link]

He was born William Joseph Shields in Walworth Road, Portobello, Dublin, Ireland.^[2] He is the older brother of Irish actor Arthur Shields. He went to Skerry's College, Dublin, before going on to work in the civil service,^[3] while also working at the Abbey Theatre. By 1929, he turned to acting full-time. He was briefly a roommate of famed playwright Sean O'Casey^[4] and starred in such plays as O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock and the premiere of The Silver Tassie.

Fitzgerald went to Hollywood to star in another O'Casey work, The Plough and the Stars (1936), directed by John Ford.^[2] He had a successful Hollywood career in such films as The Long Voyage Home (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), And Then There Were None (1945), The Naked City (1948), and The Quiet Man (1952). Fitzgerald achieved a feat unmatched in the history of the Academy Awards: he was nominated for both the Best Actor Oscar and the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for the same performance, as "Father Fitzgibbon" in Going My Way (1944).^[2] (Academy Award rules have since been changed to prevent this.) He won the Best Supporting Actor Award; an avid golfer, he later broke the head off his Oscar statue while practising his golf swing. (During World War II, Oscar statues were made of plaster instead of gold, owing to wartime metal shortages.)

He returned to live in Dublin in 1959.^[2]

Fitzgerald has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for movies at 6220 Hollywood Blvd. and for television at 7001 Hollywood Blvd.

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

Biography portal

• List of people on stamps of Ireland

References and sources[link]

• Boylan, Henry (1999). A Dictionary of Irish Biography. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan. ISBN 0-7171-2945-4. 

External links[link]

• Barry Fitzgerald at the Internet Movie Database
• Barry Fitzgerald at the Internet Broadway Database
• Barry Fitzgerald at Find a Grave

Chris Crocker (born Christopher Darren Cunningham; December 7, 1987)^[4] is an American Internet celebrity, songwriter, blogger, and recording artist residing in Bristol, Tennessee.^[1] Crocker gained international fame in September 2007 from his viral video "Leave Britney Alone", in which he tearfully defended pop singer Britney Spears's comeback performance at the MTV Video Music Awards; his video had over four million views in two days.^[5] The video received international media attention, hundreds of parodies and criticism for Crocker.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11]}

He is a self-described "edutainer" who produces and acts in multiple videos.^{[12][2][13][14]} In almost all of Crocker's work he presents himself as an openly gay and effeminate Southern adolescent in a "small-minded town" in the Bible Belt where his sexual orientation and outspokenness are a "subtext... rarely addressed directly and never completely accepted."^[12][13] The Tennessee-based Crocker, a stage name, keeps his identity and exact location private because according to him, and as seen in the public comments to his work; there were safety concerns and death threats in response to his YouTube and MySpace video blogs and profile.^{[12][15][16][17][18]} According to his MySpace profile, Crocker lived in Los Angeles as of January 2008.^[19] As of May 2010, Crocker has returned home to Tennessee and solely travels to Los Angeles for business ventures.^[20]

His work consists mainly of short-form self-directed monologues shot in his grandparents' home.^[21] As of October 2010^[update], Crocker's videos have received a combined 50 million plays on MySpace, and his vlog channel on YouTube is the 100th most viewed of all time in all categories, with over 205 million video views.^[22][23] Crocker's detractors and critics have accused him of narcissism, melodramatics, histrionics, and using Spears' personal shortcomings to bolster his own fame.^{[10][24][25][26][27]} Others have accused Crocker of acting in the "Leave Britney Alone" video, although he insisted it was genuine on a September 2007 appearance on Maury Povich's Maury show.^[18][28][29]

Early life[link]

Crocker was born in East Tennessee to a teenage couple and was raised by his grandparents.^[21] Crocker said he "raised eyebrows" by bringing Barbie dolls to kindergarten for show and tell rather than the toys or action figures usually associated with boys.^[21] He lived in East Tennessee and was homeschooled in response to constant "death threats, bullying and glares at his clothes and makeup"^[12][19][21] specifically after allegedly being "harassed by a homophobic high school gym coach".^[15][30] Crocker lived with his fundamentalist^[31] Pentecostal grandparents who continued raising him when his teenage parents were not able; while his grandfather reportedly knows little about his Internet fame, his grandmother has reluctantly appeared in some of his videos.^[12][21][32]

Career[link]

Crocker's uncensored and "unfiltered" work has been attributed to his isolation as an "effeminate, Southern, flamboyantly gay" adolescent in a "small-minded town" in the Bible Belt.^[12] His sexual orientation and outspokenness have been described as a "subtext... rarely addressed directly and never completely accepted" in his hometown.^[12] According to Crocker, when his grandmother found out that he was gay, she initially "said that [he] needed an exorcism".^[12] Crocker, who laments his town's lack of gay culture, said, "The only gay pride parade where I live is in my bedroom" as he held up a rainbow frosted cupcake.^[33] He added, "We don't have pride and rainbows here. We have MySpace. We don't have bathhouses, we have outhouses."^[34]

Crocker's earliest experience with online networking was as an editor of an e-zine, where he met his first boyfriend, with whom he was only able to interact online and by phone. Crocker later found another online forum, where his acting skills helped him blend in on a free phone party line run out of Los Angeles "filled with flaming black men, black drag queens, and trannies from Compton", where he was outed as white and dubbed "Cracker".^[12] In June 2006, after years of experience on the Internet, Crocker started uploading self-produced videos, characterized as his "singularly bizarre and angry take on gay life and his intolerant town".^[12]

Building a following[link]

Although his chart-topping video defending Britney Spears drew the attention of the wider public, Crocker had already become one of the most-watched video producers on MySpace and YouTube, having gathered what MSNBC described as a "cult following".^[11][18][35] Prior to Crocker's defense of Spears, some of the more than sixty videos he had posted to the two social networking websites had already been viewed more than a million times each, and his YouTube channel was in the top rankings.^[18] In May 2007, Crocker was the subject of a lengthy profile in the Seattle alternative weekly The Stranger.^[12]

In addition to the "Leave Britney Alone" videos Crocker has produced and posted dozens of others with over fifty posted on both MySpace and YouTube, although some are only posted on one site or the other, many becoming "viral video hits".^[12] Some consider them to be bold and seething "flares sent up by a young gay man marooned in a sea of rednecks" who is stuck in a small town that "can't tolerate homosexuality and punishes flamboyance."^[12] Crocker's videos include "sex-filled confessions" and "wild monologues" talking "about everything from AIDS to pubic hair."^[12][18] In many of the videos he portrays characters, such as an older deeply religious woman in the "The Earl Annie Edna show" series and exaggerated comic characterizations of Southern stereotypes earning comparisons to Andy Kaufman and being called "an insidious satiric mastermind".^[36][37]

"Leave Britney Alone!"[link]

Crocker is best known for his Britney Spears videos, posted to YouTube in September 2007. The first part of the infamous work though was posted September 9, 2007 called "Leave Britney Alone pt.1" to his Myspace page, while the better-known "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!" (part 2) was posted to both MySpace and YouTube. In "Leave Britney Alone pt.1", an emotional Crocker stated that he did not want fellow Southerner^[21] and gay icon Britney Spears^[38] to spiral out of control like Anna Nicole Smith, who had died in February 2007. As of November 2010^[update], the video had been viewed over 35 million times and has accumulated a total of over 500,000 comments.^[39] It is just a few seconds shorter than the second part, and Crocker, although emotional, remains relatively calm and composed, becoming teary only at the very end.

In the videos, Crocker lashes out at gossip columnists such as Perez Hilton, and at reality TV star Simon Cowell, who criticized Britney Spears' onstage music performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards in Las Vegas.^{[40][41][42][43]} Within the first 24 hours of its posting, the video had accumulated over 2 million views.^[18] As of January 2009^[update], it has accumulated a total of 24 million views and is the second most discussed video of all time on the site (in all categories), with over 350,000 comments.^[40][44] "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!" is one of YouTube's fastest "climbing" videos, reaching the minimum seven million views needed (as of September 2007^[update]) to be included in the "Top 100".^[45] The video was nominated in the Commentary category in the 2007 YouTube Awards.^[46] The video received worldwide attention and earned Crocker interviews on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, The Today Show, Maury, The Howard Stern Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Ryan Seacrest's KIIS-FM morning show. Crocker and his video were also commented on in the mainstream media by shows like The View and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.^[18][47] YouTube said "the melodramatic two-minute clip made Crocker an instant YouTube star" and named it one of the top videos of 2007.^[48] Wired magazine named it the top video of 2007.^[49]

Although sometimes shown in conjunction with news footage of Spears' performance, the "pure performance art" video has become its own story, with the news media and gossip industry offering opinions on the phenomenon and even joking that Crocker could be "an insidious satiric mastermind" and compared him to Andy Kaufman.^[10][36][50] In the video, Crocker proclaims, "All you people care about is readers and making money off of her. She's a human! Leave Britney alone!"^[7][51][52] Crocker stated that although he is often acting in his videos, his emotions were genuine and "straight from the heart"; although he described the clip as a "second take" in one interview, he clarified on Jimmy Kimmel Live that he meant that it was the second part of a longer video, the first part being "Leave Britney Alone pt. 1".^{[16][18][32][53]}

The "LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE!" video became a satire target with parody videos as well as references in mainstream television spoofs, and films.^[54] Actor Seth Green's parody, which included him applying eyeliner several times and promoting his show Robot Chicken, called for people to "leave Chris Crocker alone!"^[3][55] Some video responses characterized Crocker as a drama queen and, Wired magazine noted, "sent world Schadenfreude levels zooming to heights unseen since the Fatty Arbuckle scandal."^[49][56]

The January 2008 parody film Meet the Spartans used pop culture references and met with generally poor reviews; the Electronic Urban Report called Crocker's cameo the "film's funniest moment".^[54][57] Both Crocker and the video were also parodied in the South Park episode "Canada on Strike" with a cartoon Crocker running around in a fight between various Internet memes, telling them to "leave the others alone".^[58][59] In March 2008, a "trance remix" dance single "Leave Britney Alone" was released on iTunes and other sites by "Double J" featuring quotes from Crocker's video.^[60] On the Hannah Montana episode, "Welcome to the Bungle", when Lilly phones the journalists to tell them to leave Hannah alone, she accidentally shouts "Leave Britney alone!". Miley questions "Britney?" and Lilly corrects herself by responding, "Oh, oh, sorry, my bad.. 'Leave Hannah alone!'".^[61]

While numerous news and media outlets reported on the viral video, Fox News Channel's morning program Fox & Friends commentators questioned his gender and compared the fabric backdrop in his video to Osama Bin Laden's videos.^[62][63][64] Crocker produced two response videos – Poor FOX "News".. and Rosie O'Donnell was right about FOX "News" (originally posted as "Dear Fox 'News'") – addressing what he characterized as biased treatment while he called Fox News the "Republican, conservative, homophobic channel".^[65][66] Crocker's stated concerns were the commentators calling him a "she/he" and what he felt was their needless questioning of his gender instead of commenting on the content of his video.^[65][66]

Crocker's video was referenced in an episode of American TV series Glee, "Britney/Brittany", in which Brittany Pierce tells the glee club she does not want to perform Britney Spears' music because she feels she has been overshadowed by her fame due to the similarity in their names. Kurt is angry at Brittany, but Santana replies, "Leave Brittany alone!"

Onch promotional deal and lawsuit[link]

In October 2007 TMZ.com reported that Crocker was being sued by Onch Movement Jewelry for 1 million dollars, for fraud and breach of contract and provided a copy of the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles.^[67] Jewelry designer Nelson Chung, professionally known as Onch and a fan of Crocker, hired him as a celebrity spokesmodel for more than two days' worth of publicity work as well as appearance at World of Wonder's Just Britney art show in exchange for airfare.^[68] It was speculated by DMW Media that Crocker had no legal representative as the agreement seemed unbalanced.^[69] Crocker did make appearances including at gay club Rage and the art show where he was interviewed by MTV showing artwork of him in homage to Spears.^[70][71] Onch's YouTube channel also posted videos of appearances which were later removed.^[72]

Mainstream media exposure[link]

Prior to the attention from his September 2007 Leave Britney Alone video, Crocker was seen as viral and was asked by MTV pioneering vlogger and news staffer Matt Sunbulli to provide video for MTV's website which also broadcasts on MTV itself.^[12][73][73] Crocker has indicated that he hopes to develop his acting career and has agreed to develop ideas for a TV show with Los Angeles producer Glenn Meehan and has met with representatives from MTV's gay-themed channel LOGO.^[12][16] According to Variety, Crocker has signed a development deal with 44 Blue Productions to create a "docusoap" reality television show, which will be called Chris Crocker's 15 Minutes More.^[74] Said Rasha Drachkovitch, the production company's co-founder: "It's going to pretty much be the Chris Crocker experience. We consider him a rebel character that people will find interesting. He's going to be a TV star."^[35]

Post-meme career[link]

Crocker performing with back-up dancers at gay disco club Ice in Hamtramck, Michigan in October 2007.

After the widespread recognition of Leave Britney Alone, Crocker has been involved in several projects. In a June 2007 autobiographical comic strip, where Crocker discusses future plans, he states, "I'm going to make the leap from living with my Pentecostal grandparents to living with drag queen roommates. I'm going to star in my own TV show. I'm going to make the leap from outhouses to bathhouses...to my very own house."^[34] In October 2007, Crocker opened Fox Reality channel's "Reality Remix Really Awards".^[75]

Crocker was one of Lily Allen's Internet correspondents on the February 2008 premiere episode of BBC's Lily Allen and Friends where he posed questions for the guest celebrities, in this case David Mitchell and later, Cuba Gooding, Jr.^[76][77][78]

In an April 9, 2008 video blog Crocker announced he refused the television network's offer to star in his own show on the grounds that it would be censored.^[79] Crocker was outraged and refused the deal and claimed he would continue to post his videos on YouTube.com in an effort to draw in more viewers to the video hosting web site."^[79]

On May 23, 2008 rock band Weezer released a viral music video for their song "Pork and Beans" – "a natural anthem for the self-expression that's been taking shape on YouTube" – which featured various mash-ups of viral videos and Youtube celebrities, including Crocker, all playing themselves.^{[80][81][82][83]} On May 22, 2009 Crocker made a video showing a Grammy plaque that he received for his contribution to the band's video.

On July 25, 2008 Crocker posted a video, "www.MsChrisCrocker.Com", in which he states he is leaving YouTube citing issues of censorship from YouTube for removing him from the most viewed and talked about lists and excluding him from their events.^[84] Despite this statement, he has since returned to using YouTube as a means for publishing videos. In August 2008, Crocker was featured in a Sierra Mist commercial.^[85] On July 9, 2009 Crocker appeared on the Comedy Central show Tosh.0.^[86]

Music[link]

In September 2008, Crocker kicked off a music career when he released his debut single "Mind in the Gutter".^[87] The song was initially meant to be the lead single from his unreleased debut album, Turned On. In March 2009, Crocker leaked an unreleased song entitled "Fell for the Enemy".^[88] After the leaking of "Fell For the Enemy", Crocker did not return to the music business for awhile, stating he felt as though producers saw him as "just another paycheck." However, April 2010 saw the release of Crocker's second single, a ballad titled "Love You Better". The single came in two versions, the studio version as well as an acoustic version. Shortly afterwards, in July of the same year, Crocker's third single, "Best of Both Worlds" was released to generally negative reception.^{[citation needed]} October 13 saw the official release of "Fell For the Enemy", the song Crocker had previously leaked online. The following month, Crocker released his fifth single, "Freak of Nature". In January 2011, Crocker released his first music video, for his latest song "Freak of Nature" and in February, Crocker released "I Want Your Bite", which peaked at #12 on the iTunes Dance Charts.^[89][90] Crocker also confirmed a music video for "I Want Your Bite", which will be released in March 2011.^{[dated info]}

On August 29, 2010, Crocker announced via a YouTube video, titled "Me 2 u. [A lil' update]" that he will be "self releasing" his own album in 2011. However, recording will take place in 2010.^[91] The album later was pushed back and instead Crocker announced his first EP titled The First Bite. The EP will include "Freak Of Nature," "I Want Your Bite" as well as three completely new songs. The EP peaked at #3 in the iTunes Electro Album charts.^[92] The First Bite was released digitally on iTunes on March 19, 2011. Crocker released a preview video for his EP on March 15, 2011 and a full song titled "One Day" on 17 March, 2011 on YouTube. On August 7, Crocker's new song "Tug of War" was released. His new single, "Taking My Life Back" was released on November 1, 2011. A preview of a Ryan Adames song, titled "BANG", in which Crocker is featured with Lou, was uploaded onto Crocker's YouTube channel on November 30. The single will be released on December 13.^[93]

On December 10, 2011, Crocker revealed the title of his second EP, Beyond and that it would be released in Spring 2012.^[94]

Documentary[link]

Chris Crocker announced in August 2011 that a film documenting his life over the past few years would be released, titled Me at the Zoo.^[95] He urged his fans to help him raise enough money to fund the movie for release. In less than a month, Crocker received more than enough money and thanked his fans in a viral video.^[96] On November 30th, 2011, Crocker revealed via Twitter that the documentary had been selected to premiere at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.^[97] V has stated that the documentary will premiere on HBO on June 25, 2012.^[1]

Selected videography[link]

Crocker has posted dozens of videos, often to both YouTube and Myspace and has sometimes also removed videos or renamed them. In 2008 he also launched his own website which also hosted his work. As of October 2010, he has 63 videos on his MySpace page and 246 on YouTube.^[2][22]

• "This & that." was posted December 28, 2006 to Myspace and February 25, 2007 to YouTube.^[98][99] Crocker's first video, where he starts very serenely then quickly escalates yelling "You wanna fight me?" in a menacing manner while revealing his scrawny chest belying the absurdity "that anyone would see this waify kid as a threat worthy of violence."^[12] This has been interpreted as a "brilliant way of mocking his virtual haters" but can also be seen as a fantasy fight that he could only win in a virtual world because of his obvious diminutive stature.^[12] The video was hosted on Salon.com and remains one of his most popular with over 3.9 million views and over 30,000 comments as of May 2009.^[18][98][99]

• "Bitch, please!" was posted December 29, 2006 to MySpace and February 25, 2007 to YouTube.^[100][101] One of Crocker's first videos to receive over a million viewers showed Crocker's self-assuredness as he offers increasingly angry versions of the phrase Bitch, please "complete with hair flips, bared teeth, and hand gestures."^[12][18] The video has had over five million views and nearly 30,000 comments as of June 2008.^[100][101]

• "Watch it." was posted January 24, 2007 to Myspace.^[102] One of Crocker's shortest videos at just 1:25 minutes features him dancing erotically and provocatively to Nivea's "Watch It". The video has over 1.4 million views and nearly 7,000 comments as of March 2008.^[102] Likewise "Chris Crocker is Damaged!", posted March 4, 2008 to YouTube, shows him dancing to Danity Kane's "Damaged" and has nearly 2.8 million views and over 34,000 comments as of June 2008.^[103][104]

• "Why I'm Gay.." was posted August 10, 2007 to both YouTube and MySpace.^[105][106] Crocker discusses why he has no need to "come out" of the closet as gay. The video was hosted on Salon.com and has had over 1.2 million views and nearly 12,000 comments as of September 2007.^{[18][105][106]}

• "Kids SHOULD Cuss" was posted August 23, 2007 to YouTube.^[107] Crocker discusses language and the use of curse words like fuck asking "why is shit more profane than poop?" He ties the discussion to free speech and encourages everyone to use swear words and teach them to children to ensure freedom of speech is assured. The video was hosted on Salon.com and has had over 427,000 views as of September 2007, it was subsequently removed by Crocker.^[18][107]

• "Back up, Britney haters!" was posted September 1, 2007 to YouTube.^[108] Crocker's first major departure from describing his gay life in a Bible Belt town and instead on Britney Spears which he thought would be poorly received by his fans.^[18] From a floor covered in Spears-related magazines and memorabilia Crocker asserts he is "a real Britney fan".^[18] The video has nearly 2.7 million views as of October 2010.^[108]

• "Britney, this is for you" was posted September 3, 2007 to YouTube.^[109] Crocker pays homage to Spears' recently released single Gimme More. Just two days after his first video about Spears this precedes his most known video Leave Britney Alone by eight days. The video has been viewed over 4.1 million times and received over 55,000 comments as of January 2008.^[109]

• "Watch Chris Crocker blink." originally titled "Best video EVER!" was posted March 17, 2008 to YouTube.^{[104][110][111]} One of the shortest viral videos – at less than five seconds long – and likely the shortest one Crocker has ever posted shows a close-up of just his face as he smiles into the camera and blinks twice.^[110] The "unwitting Andy Warhol homage" (see 15 minutes of fame) was explained by Crocker that he need only "blink to get the video views I do."^{[110][111][112]} The video was viewed over a million times in the first two days and nearly 6.8 million times and received over 70,000 comments as of November 2010.^[110][111]

Discography[link]

• 2011: The First Bite
• 2012: Beyond

See also[link]

• Celebrity branding
• Famous for being famous
• Gender-bender
• Tila Tequila
• Viral marketing

References[link]