shirble
09-20-06, 07:38 PM
Have you guys been following the entire Lonelygirl 15 phenomena on Youtube at all?
If not, then may I please introduce you to the best thing ever which not only epitomises the potential of both youtube and the internet as an interactive art form, it also features a hot teenage girl who jumps a lot.
Basically it all started off as a fairly average vlog created by a home-schooled fifteen-year-old named Bree, focussing primarily on her cute antics which involved spending nearly all of her time making faces and talking to puppets. You can see an example of her first proper video HERE. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-goXKtd6cPo)
She goes into further detail about her life in later videos, mentioning her only friend Daniel and her overprotective and religious parents (all of whom become more important over the course of the next few videos). It was around this time that the videos began to steadily pick up a solid fan base. More specifically it was THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll9xv69oX0s) video, titled "My Parents Suck" in which she talks about her parents refusing to let her go hiking with Daniel. She began to get numerous video responses from the Youtube audience most of which lending out advice, shifting the vlog from mere confessional to basically an interactive soap opera. Which, fair enough, is the entire basis of youtube, but even more interesting is that her friend Daniel (who she had previously mentioned had no desire to be on camera) started making his own response vlogs; so now nearly every dramatic turn in the lonelygirl universe relied on the he-said-she-said of the two conjoined accounts.
Such as this,
Bree's Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnYgQJud2Vk
Daniel's Response:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJjAZevn1n8
You can imagine how people started to get hooked on the unfolding drama. A fan announced that he'd made a Lonelygirl15.com website and people started to hang out there and talk about the burgeoning love interest.
But the absolute turning point in all of this, beginning the "Lost"-like audience detective work, was in her post "What Did Daniel and Dad Talk About?" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXsceZYCag0) The significant moment being when Daniel begins casually lighting aroma-candles around her bedroom and then motions to light a candelabra on her chest of drawers, to which Bree vehemently stops him, which many people thought was strange. After some analysis it was discovered that hanging above the candelabra was a picture of ALEISTER CROWLEY. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Breeshrine.jpg) Yes, THE Aleister Crowley, the one with the occult and the orgies and the Led Zeppelin connection. Wikipedia entry is here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley). Why on earth does this innocent little homeschooled dorky girl have a shrine to an occultist in her bedroom?
There had been a considerable amount of head scratching over lonelygirl even before this incident. The main question being 'does Bree even exist?' Although there hadn't been any concrete evidence against her, it was moreso a matter of elements that just didn't completely add up: For a run of the mill vlog the video quality seemed a bit too polished, the editing seemed a bit too professional (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRO4JP81HPo), the story arc seemed a bit too calculated. People started digging and discovered that the lonelygirl15.com website had actually been registered on the exact day that Bree posted her very first video, long before she had any kind of fanbase. Not only that, but there was a trademark application pending for the name "Lonelygirl15". Fishy fishy.
Both she and Daniel ignored nearly all questioning, but at this point it was widely acknowledged that Lonelygirl was indeed fake. Although she did, in fact, begin to make slight references to this mystery Crowley religion of hers, mentioning that she was chosen to perform in a SECRET CEREMONY where she has to recite ANCIENT TEXT that nobody has spoken for centuries. Go go super subtlety skillz!\
There were also some bizarre teasers in videos that caused some intrigue. For example, in this video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=5Q_y0HdJ4x8) Bree keeps mentioning a girl called Cassie that Daniel doesn't remember. It seems odd that she is so interested in discussing this girl.
During this period, multiple forums sprung up in order to analyse each video, in hopes that there would be embedded clues that pointed toward whatever the hell was happening. One possible clue was found in the Bree The Cookie Monster (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn9J2K4UMR8) video, where in order to apologise to Daniel for some dramatic nonsense that happened in a previous video, Bree decides to make him cookies from recipes sent in by viewers. In the middle of the video her monkey puppet rates each cookie recipe: "10" "12" and "06". The question now, for the overly analytical, why was it rated "06" rather than only "6". A bit of googling discovered that 10/12/06 is actually the anniversary of Aleister Crowley's birthdate. Oh but it gets better! Just wait!
Everything finally came to a head within the last week or two, when Bree, Daniel and the creators of Lonelygirl15 were officially outed as fake. Basically a sting was pulled by some computer savvy folk at one of the forums, where they were able to track the IP of Lonelygirl15's myspace, which turned out to be from a computer located at the Creative Artists Agency, one of the most powerful talent agencies in the states. The creators then released a statement:
"To Our Incredible Fans,
Thank you so much for enjoying our show so far. We are amazed by the overwhelmingly positive response to our videos; it has exceeded our wildest expectations. "
And so, just like that, we finally had confirmation that she wasn't real, and that everything was scripted. Some people were disappointed, and felt betrayed, but many people were also intrigued as to where the story was going, since there was a clear plot to all of this.
With this revelation, however, Lonelygirl15 started to get coverage in certain news channels/segments, including TMZ (http://www.tmz.com/). Somebody recognised her and she was swiftly identified as Jessica Rose, an aspiring actress from New Zealand. AKA Bree. AKA the reason Shirble's heart has grown cold ( :( )
I'm pretty sure she doesn't just sit at home alone all day and quote Feynman :( (http://youtube.com/watch?v=yA0PzzKtkSM)
Horribly anticlimactic, I know. But it really does start getting slightly more interesting in a minute, promise!
Virginia Heffernan of the New York Times had been following Lonelygirl for quite a while and received information about a "renegade plot to show up in videos on YouTube, using much of the lg15 mise-en-scene". Five days ago this video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=_IcYUifgEfw) was uploaded by a user called "Cassieiswatching". (for those who care, she's saying "I was here. Come and get it.)
Cassie of course, is the name of the girl Bree mentioned in the swimming video I linked to above. There was rife speculation about this ghostly Cassie entity, and how she had died or been abducted or whatever. Some people thought she was involved in the Aleister Crowley cult, some people thought Daniel had killed her, and some people even thought that Bree WAS Cassie.
Some people worked out where the pool/lake from the video was, and went there to pick up whatever had been dropped into it. They found a sealed box containing a Tarot card (Judgement) (http://youtube.com/watch?v=xCUOU_vud0A). However, Cassie quickly changed her YouTube message to "TOO SLOW I DON'T PLAY CARDS YOU ALL FAILED I HATE YOU", and so there were suggestions that someone else had tampered with the box to trick the other players.
The whole Cassie saga is where the story really seems to be getting interesting. The creators of Lonelygirl15 released a statement saying that Cassie was NOT created by them, and was the work of a fan. A video also appeared on YouTube of someone, from a very long distance, moving around at the pool. The guy who had found the carved box with the Tarot card confirmed that that was actually footage of him, and somebody had apparently been filming him as he retrieved the box. People started to get freaked out about the possibility of a crazed fan stalking players and luring them into the forest with fake clues, but as more Cassie videos were released, the majority of people again think the creators of Lonelygirl are behind it.
For example, another video was released featuring a kid's playground (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhOw43rqp6E) which zooms in very quickly to a spot next to a phonebooth. People instantly recognised it as the exact spot where Bree had been standing in one of her videos (http://youtube.com/watch?v=dHtxWkeVD-I). Nobody had yet worked out where the location was, so either Cassie was 'in' on the story, or she was the quickest fan to work it out. People again went to the location and discovered a page from the Bible with selected words cut out, which players worked out spelled a phone number. A few of them called the number and left a message, leaving their name and phone number. Yesterday, at 3am, several of those people received a phone call with nothing but this recording:
Handily provided with text annotation to help you through it! (http://youtube.com/watch?v=xUP4mlplAs8)
Anyway, so that's where we are right now. Is Cassie part of the plot, or is she a crazed fan? If she's the latter, how the hell does she know all the stuff she knows? If she's the former, then where is this story going? I'd love to hear any speculation you guys have about the whole thing. Fiver and I are really intrigued by it and keep trying to second guess what's going to be unravelled in the coming weeks. It could be fun for us all to come up with some theories.
God this was long. Sorry!
If not, then may I please introduce you to the best thing ever which not only epitomises the potential of both youtube and the internet as an interactive art form, it also features a hot teenage girl who jumps a lot.
Basically it all started off as a fairly average vlog created by a home-schooled fifteen-year-old named Bree, focussing primarily on her cute antics which involved spending nearly all of her time making faces and talking to puppets. You can see an example of her first proper video HERE. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-goXKtd6cPo)
She goes into further detail about her life in later videos, mentioning her only friend Daniel and her overprotective and religious parents (all of whom become more important over the course of the next few videos). It was around this time that the videos began to steadily pick up a solid fan base. More specifically it was THIS (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll9xv69oX0s) video, titled "My Parents Suck" in which she talks about her parents refusing to let her go hiking with Daniel. She began to get numerous video responses from the Youtube audience most of which lending out advice, shifting the vlog from mere confessional to basically an interactive soap opera. Which, fair enough, is the entire basis of youtube, but even more interesting is that her friend Daniel (who she had previously mentioned had no desire to be on camera) started making his own response vlogs; so now nearly every dramatic turn in the lonelygirl universe relied on the he-said-she-said of the two conjoined accounts.
Such as this,
Bree's Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnYgQJud2Vk
Daniel's Response:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJjAZevn1n8
You can imagine how people started to get hooked on the unfolding drama. A fan announced that he'd made a Lonelygirl15.com website and people started to hang out there and talk about the burgeoning love interest.
But the absolute turning point in all of this, beginning the "Lost"-like audience detective work, was in her post "What Did Daniel and Dad Talk About?" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXsceZYCag0) The significant moment being when Daniel begins casually lighting aroma-candles around her bedroom and then motions to light a candelabra on her chest of drawers, to which Bree vehemently stops him, which many people thought was strange. After some analysis it was discovered that hanging above the candelabra was a picture of ALEISTER CROWLEY. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Breeshrine.jpg) Yes, THE Aleister Crowley, the one with the occult and the orgies and the Led Zeppelin connection. Wikipedia entry is here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley). Why on earth does this innocent little homeschooled dorky girl have a shrine to an occultist in her bedroom?
There had been a considerable amount of head scratching over lonelygirl even before this incident. The main question being 'does Bree even exist?' Although there hadn't been any concrete evidence against her, it was moreso a matter of elements that just didn't completely add up: For a run of the mill vlog the video quality seemed a bit too polished, the editing seemed a bit too professional (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRO4JP81HPo), the story arc seemed a bit too calculated. People started digging and discovered that the lonelygirl15.com website had actually been registered on the exact day that Bree posted her very first video, long before she had any kind of fanbase. Not only that, but there was a trademark application pending for the name "Lonelygirl15". Fishy fishy.
Both she and Daniel ignored nearly all questioning, but at this point it was widely acknowledged that Lonelygirl was indeed fake. Although she did, in fact, begin to make slight references to this mystery Crowley religion of hers, mentioning that she was chosen to perform in a SECRET CEREMONY where she has to recite ANCIENT TEXT that nobody has spoken for centuries. Go go super subtlety skillz!\
There were also some bizarre teasers in videos that caused some intrigue. For example, in this video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=5Q_y0HdJ4x8) Bree keeps mentioning a girl called Cassie that Daniel doesn't remember. It seems odd that she is so interested in discussing this girl.
During this period, multiple forums sprung up in order to analyse each video, in hopes that there would be embedded clues that pointed toward whatever the hell was happening. One possible clue was found in the Bree The Cookie Monster (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn9J2K4UMR8) video, where in order to apologise to Daniel for some dramatic nonsense that happened in a previous video, Bree decides to make him cookies from recipes sent in by viewers. In the middle of the video her monkey puppet rates each cookie recipe: "10" "12" and "06". The question now, for the overly analytical, why was it rated "06" rather than only "6". A bit of googling discovered that 10/12/06 is actually the anniversary of Aleister Crowley's birthdate. Oh but it gets better! Just wait!
Everything finally came to a head within the last week or two, when Bree, Daniel and the creators of Lonelygirl15 were officially outed as fake. Basically a sting was pulled by some computer savvy folk at one of the forums, where they were able to track the IP of Lonelygirl15's myspace, which turned out to be from a computer located at the Creative Artists Agency, one of the most powerful talent agencies in the states. The creators then released a statement:
"To Our Incredible Fans,
Thank you so much for enjoying our show so far. We are amazed by the overwhelmingly positive response to our videos; it has exceeded our wildest expectations. "
And so, just like that, we finally had confirmation that she wasn't real, and that everything was scripted. Some people were disappointed, and felt betrayed, but many people were also intrigued as to where the story was going, since there was a clear plot to all of this.
With this revelation, however, Lonelygirl15 started to get coverage in certain news channels/segments, including TMZ (http://www.tmz.com/). Somebody recognised her and she was swiftly identified as Jessica Rose, an aspiring actress from New Zealand. AKA Bree. AKA the reason Shirble's heart has grown cold ( :( )
I'm pretty sure she doesn't just sit at home alone all day and quote Feynman :( (http://youtube.com/watch?v=yA0PzzKtkSM)
Horribly anticlimactic, I know. But it really does start getting slightly more interesting in a minute, promise!
Virginia Heffernan of the New York Times had been following Lonelygirl for quite a while and received information about a "renegade plot to show up in videos on YouTube, using much of the lg15 mise-en-scene". Five days ago this video (http://youtube.com/watch?v=_IcYUifgEfw) was uploaded by a user called "Cassieiswatching". (for those who care, she's saying "I was here. Come and get it.)
Cassie of course, is the name of the girl Bree mentioned in the swimming video I linked to above. There was rife speculation about this ghostly Cassie entity, and how she had died or been abducted or whatever. Some people thought she was involved in the Aleister Crowley cult, some people thought Daniel had killed her, and some people even thought that Bree WAS Cassie.
Some people worked out where the pool/lake from the video was, and went there to pick up whatever had been dropped into it. They found a sealed box containing a Tarot card (Judgement) (http://youtube.com/watch?v=xCUOU_vud0A). However, Cassie quickly changed her YouTube message to "TOO SLOW I DON'T PLAY CARDS YOU ALL FAILED I HATE YOU", and so there were suggestions that someone else had tampered with the box to trick the other players.
The whole Cassie saga is where the story really seems to be getting interesting. The creators of Lonelygirl15 released a statement saying that Cassie was NOT created by them, and was the work of a fan. A video also appeared on YouTube of someone, from a very long distance, moving around at the pool. The guy who had found the carved box with the Tarot card confirmed that that was actually footage of him, and somebody had apparently been filming him as he retrieved the box. People started to get freaked out about the possibility of a crazed fan stalking players and luring them into the forest with fake clues, but as more Cassie videos were released, the majority of people again think the creators of Lonelygirl are behind it.
For example, another video was released featuring a kid's playground (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhOw43rqp6E) which zooms in very quickly to a spot next to a phonebooth. People instantly recognised it as the exact spot where Bree had been standing in one of her videos (http://youtube.com/watch?v=dHtxWkeVD-I). Nobody had yet worked out where the location was, so either Cassie was 'in' on the story, or she was the quickest fan to work it out. People again went to the location and discovered a page from the Bible with selected words cut out, which players worked out spelled a phone number. A few of them called the number and left a message, leaving their name and phone number. Yesterday, at 3am, several of those people received a phone call with nothing but this recording:
Handily provided with text annotation to help you through it! (http://youtube.com/watch?v=xUP4mlplAs8)
Anyway, so that's where we are right now. Is Cassie part of the plot, or is she a crazed fan? If she's the latter, how the hell does she know all the stuff she knows? If she's the former, then where is this story going? I'd love to hear any speculation you guys have about the whole thing. Fiver and I are really intrigued by it and keep trying to second guess what's going to be unravelled in the coming weeks. It could be fun for us all to come up with some theories.
God this was long. Sorry!