akademiskkvarter Volume 03 • 2011 academic quarter

The Kid and the Bedroom Intruder Panopticon or Subversion?

Jørgen Riber Christensen is associate professor of digital aesthetics at Aalborg University, cand.mag.et phil.: English, Art Histo- ry, Film and Media. Interests are media, media pro- duction, art, digital aeshetics, British and American literary and cultural theory.

The Star Wars Kid With its relatively brief history the already has a history with its own historical personages. One of these is the herostrati- cally famous Star Wars Kid. A YouTube search of “Star Wars Kid” will bring you to the 1:47 minutes-long video and also to quite a large number of video responses and remixes based on the original video (YouTube, 1). In the video you can see the Star Wars Kid per- forming in front of a static camera. He is wielding a golf ball re- triever as if he was , and as if it was a light sabre from George Lucas’s Star Wars film, The Phantom Menace (1999). During the video his performance develops into a kind of energetic, but ungainly dance towards and away from the camera, and whenever he gets close to the camera he pauses a moment to stare aggres- sively into its lens. This sabre wielding dance has its culmination or rather nadir when he stumbles and nearly falls in some yellow cloth lying on the floor in the bare video studio behind him. When you are watching this video you probably experience mixed feelings. You may laugh, and then be ashamed that you did so. You may be filled with the unsympathetic feeling of Schadenfreude, and then you may feel grateful that it’s not you or one of your kids in the video and feel sorry for the Star Wars Kid.

Volume 03 135 - - 136 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star The actual person in the video was the 14-year-old Ghyslain Raza, Ghyslain in the video was the 14-year-old The actual person Kid is doing in the video? There What is it then that the Star Wars and the This video with its recorder, five takes, the sounds from a student at the Saint-Joseph high school in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Trois-Rivières, the Saint-Joseph high school in a student at Canada. He made the film in 2002 in the school’s studio, but unfor later by It was found some time video tape there. tunately left the eventually and friends, his among was circulated it student, another a video file of it was uploaded to the April Internet 14, 2003 (Hour deaux, 2010). In 2006 it was estimated to have had over 900 million the number of viewings is viewings (BBC News, 2006). On YouTube action legal took Raza Ghyslain of family The million. 22 than higher vid- students who uploaded the against the families of the school had to that “Ghyslain lawsuit claimed it public .The eo and made his from harassment and derision today, still endures and endure, that he “will be And the public at large.” and mates high-school under psychiatric for care an indefinite amount of time” (Popkin, court. 2007). The case was settled out of is a pattern of repetitions in the video as a whole. There are five cuts between them, and betweentakes, and you may see the jump button being of the recorder some of them you even hear the sound you may his movements sounds from the real Apart from pressed. - as if it was a pro sounds effects Kid imitate also hear the Star Wars take is similar to one another. fessional movie. The action of each Basically the Star Kid Wars fights his way towards the camera camera hisAs he gets near the twirling the imagined light sabre. Un- the recording. until he stops gaze meets the lens aggressively, the derstood in this way the camera becomes the opponent from film, and this opponents is vanquished, his death symbolizedby of the camera. the switching off and metafictional, is frame the of out and in walking Kid Wars Star himself Kid reads Wars The Star it is also an intertextual project. into the universe of the Star filmsWars by his impersonation of a videothe in performance his Through Lord. Sith a or Knight a narrative, which for a moment of it he creates and the production andredefines this his imagined identity, identity is mediated in two senses: It owes its existence to the media, Lucas’ films, which - an actual media produc the hypotexts for this video, and it is are intertextualan in media the employs Kid Wars Star The itself. tion not an uncom- is which own identity, to understand his try way to quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 137 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star Antoine Dodson and the Bedroom Intruder Antoine Dodson and the Bedroom Internet stardom Antoine Dodson’s rise to Kid Like the Star Wars both in his case it was in However, is based on invasion of privacy. in an involuntary and a voluntary In way. late June 2010 a house allegedly attempted to rape Kelly Dodson in her bedroom intruder he climbed into Alabama, where in Huntsville, in a housing project her bed. local A 2) TV brought station the (YouTube, news in an way with the anchor person initem that started in the traditional live at the scene of the reporter a studio, a map of the area, the - crime, but then unusual interviews followed. First with Kelly Dod in the here out idiot from some by attacked “I was herself: son An- her brother report and then a little later in the news project.”, toine told the interviewer that he ran to help his sister to fight off point that the item becomes noteworthy It is at this the attacker. of the genre Antoine Dodson’s personal style transgresses because is totally unim- vernacular, He uses his street news broadcasting. and his modulation and by the institution of television, pressed Antoine Dodson does not like music and dance. body language are and passionately into the but directly speak to the interviewer, camera, in this way first addressing the local television audience: obviously we have a rapist in Lincoln Park. “Well, He’s climbin in your windows, he’s snatchin your people up, tryna rape em so your hus- hide wife, and your hide kids, hide your to need y’all to speaks he then And here.” out rrbody rapin they’re cuz band, : virtual texts in every- in texts Spiritus: virtual Creator ” E.g. in his do. thing to mon texts for young has described how media day life” Ben Bachmair the me- of mimesis of life, but that not just a question people are everyday poiesis, active elements in a kind of texts become dia of their personal meaning use them to create in which young people the camera is not Yet 2000: pp. everyday 115-116). lives (Bachmair, Kid faces himself. The intertextual in which the Star Wars a mirror the video transcend the idea of the camera as a mir makes project enhancesit and performer the both. It mirrors is camera The ror. Kid, and not the Star Wars so that he becomes him intertextually, though obviously he is alsojust a Canadian high school student, indi- may camera the and performer the between conflict The that. of a clash between the imaginedcate that the video is also a sign one. identity and the real quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 138 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star The bedroom intruder news report now went viral as it was up- news report intruder The bedroom to his unintend- Kid’s reaction have seen that The Star Wars We the intruder as he gesticulates into the camera and he bends for as he gesticulates into the camera the intruder would distance is closer than what you so that the camera ward t-shirt, you done got your of this sort: “We expect in an interview for dumb, really are You dumb. so are You all. and fingerprints left don’t have to “You into the camera: gesticulates Dodson real.” We gon gon find you. lookin for you. We come and confess. We’re find you. So you canrun and tell that, homeboy!” Dodson now - to the re is mixed the camera, and the picture looks away from whose porter, style is official and poses a strong contrast: “If you to contact the urged you are have any information on this crime Huntsville police department…” so that it has more 29.07.2011, loaded to Facebook and YouTube to This news than video 35 gave million birth viewings on YouTube. Auto-Tune Brothers’ of which The Gregory remixes, to numerous or songification version hasreached the staggering number of more than 85 3) million since (YouTube, viewings its on YouTube upload 30.07.2010, and it was the most watched video at all on 4). in 2010 (YouTube, YouTube Antoine Dodson ac- was unhappiness; when ed Internet stardom into his because of an intrusion cidentally became globally famous sister’s advantage as he he turned the situation into his bedroom, that sold with his own websites became an Internet entrepreneur royalties the with and (Dodson), merchandise other and t-shirts Song he has bought his Intruder the Bedroom from iTunes from ’s Celebrity News by US Weekly family a new house as reported , section (US Weekly 2010). Dodson has appeared on talk shows, for Entertainment One show pilot episode and he has shot a reality in Huntsville, project the housing about his family moving from make not does it that seems It 2011). Alabama to Hollywood (TMZ, Antoine Dodson as an invasion sense after all to view the story of - rapist’s intru on the one hand, the attempted Where, of privacy. which with sion into the home was a criminal offence, Dodsons’ Antoine Dodson’s flamboyantgood provoked andreason outspo- of his privacy by the media, on the other the invasion ken anger, hand, became a welcome opportunity to rise socially and become an explana- The concept of celebrity may in itself offer a celebrity. contradiction is possible. tion why this apparent quarter

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kvarter akademisk 139 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star Antoine Dodson is nothing but authenticity out of an Alabama an nothing but authenticity out of is Dodson Antoine Celebrity Authenticity and Dodson is famous and pri- Antoine An explanatory of why model between the a comparison in time may be found vate at the same the Holly- from known as star A celebrities. and stars of concepts wood film industry has become a star because of her abilities as by her this ability has been represented and the way an actress well audience The them. of marketing the by and themselves films may want to know in this way, constructed knowing that stars are the star better in the sense that we want to know the person be- hind the or David star, as Marshall P. puts it in his study of the ‘really’ Marilyn Monroe celebrity: “What is the modern of concept his in appears he as person same the ‘really’ Newman Paul Is like? does hand, other the on celebrity, A 17). p. 1997: (Marshall, films?” functions, which a tie to his or her professional not have so strong - construc textual by the audience as what they are, perceived are and of textualised stardom celebrity is the combination A tions. the audience of the authentic person that em- the demand from in the con- In this way authenticity is inherent bodies the stardom. includes the search and audience performance cept of celebrity, be like themselves, may which authentic person, this of signs for and in this way may be a figureof identification in a democratic world picture. to turn this authenticity into he has managed and housing project, too, as he has been using the of mediated stardom, some degree invasion of his home to mediate his private world into the public and fame. Dodson signaled world of Internet entrepreneurship authenticity in his initial appearance in the He was not in media. a fiction program, but in the news, and even there he was less staged than what one might expect because he was totally unim- contrast The gaze into the camera. his language and in his pressed one of linguistic style. is also between Dodson and the reporter Gates as the one Henry Louis style can be characterized Dodson’s Afro-American elaborate, an i.e. signifyin(g) (Gates, 1988), calls Jr. so goading and insult. Dodson with word-play, here vernacular, the camera lens and the television screen through to speak broke was to the audience, so that there address with this form of direct the simulation of unmediated and popular communication. The Kid with his young age, on the other hand, as most of us Star Wars quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 140 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star The concept of the Panopticon as a metaphor for a disciplinary disciplinary a for metaphor a as Panopticon the of concept The Panopticon student now known globally Unfortunately for the high school - private moment of self-repre Kid, the recorded, as Wars the Star The camera, which was usedsentation was stolen and made public. when his privacy was became a surveillance camera, privately, one In Internet. the on broadcast was video the and violated, mir a to blame, as a camera was used and not sense technology is could not manage the professional functions as an intertextual functions as an intertextual the professional could not manage to authen- Knight version of a Jedi well enough; but with respect enough, As a person he was real was another problem. ticity there made. professionally not obviously was recording the video and - to repre media and the technology used Kid though the Star Yet, not as closely connected to was representation sent himself, his for authenticitywish as a demand could everyday life and reality The video was first of all intertextual, and it was also metafic- for. of the media invading the tional. In this case it was a question himself as a of the person as he represented privacy and reality - representa this of location the and film, a from character fictional The opposite was the case with tion was an empty video studio. his social and his authentic reality it was Here Antoine Dodson. life that invaded the media. between the private and the this transgression In another, ror. cultural context, the one of the public may be viewed in a wider Panopticon. Bentham’s design from back to Jeremy goes societal construction pris- the all see could guards the where building prison a for 1785 they had the feeling of but oners. They could not see the guards, and the cells being watched all the time. The building is round, bars opening through The cells are placed in its circumference. are his in- in placed is the guard where the building the center of to spection tower with a full view of each well-lit cell and its solitary inmate. This prison design permitted cheap surveillance of the believed to discipline them. Conse- were inmates, and its effects the function of the quentially, Panopticon prison was - correction al. The concept of power is inherent in the Panopticon principle of power obtaining of mode “a new Bentham: by as described in a quantity hitherto without example.” (Ben- mind, over mind quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - 141 Discipline Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen in the room prisons in the room perpetual The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star of death, or prisons or peniten- trial, for confinement before or work-houses, or manu- correction, tiary-houses, or houses of schools. (Bentham, or mad-houses, or hospitals, or factories, 1995/1791: Letter 1) No matter how different, or even opposite the purpose: or even different, No matter how guarding the of punishing the incorrigible, whether it be that employ- suspected, the confining vicious, the reforming insane, the helpless, curing the sick, instruct- ing the idle, maintaining training the or ing the willing in any branch of industry, whether it : in a word, rising race in the path of education to the purposes of be applied One may then ask how the two viral videos discussed in this ar chitectural design, that “He who is subjected to a field of visibility, constraints of for the responsibility assumes who knows it, and - power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he in he simultaneously in which scribes in himself the power relation subjection” own his of principle the becomes he roles; both plays (Foucault, 1991/1975: pp. and202-203). Surveillance is disciplinary, This is of society. the power relations when internalized it assures the Panopticon principle. discipli- its and surveillance principle, Panopticon the to relate ticle publication of private mo- and the recording Are nary mechanism. and a cog in the wheel of disciplinary YouTube, ments, e.g. on of a these two are Like many other viral videos societal control? to tend videos viral The 2011). (Christensen, nature transgressive and structures disobey common thematic, narrative and receptive for may they metafictive, often are they Narratologically, standards. their poor aes- through their own production instance foreground It is at this point that the Panopticon principle becomes more than and it becomes a disciplinary mechanism. Surveillance architectural, individual be- the towards and the public, but unseen gaze directed his in Foucault Michel and of power, instrument an comes a develops Bentham’s theory into and Punish - The Birth of the Prison societal system of power and subjection to power. comprehensive for his ar Bentham’s arguments Foucault writes in continuation of tham, 1995/1791: Preface) This correctional and disciplinary prin- disciplinary and correctional This Preface) 1995/1791: tham, prison: extends beyond the ciple quarter

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kvarter akademisk 142 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star When it comes to the reception of viral videos the uncertainty feltuncertainty the videos viral of reception the to comes it When of the two videos and also their audiences the characters Are thetic and technological level. Thematically, viral videos may ig- viral videos level. Thematically, thetic and technological and private, most of- between public the border or transgress nore of It is also typical forays into the intimate sphere. ten in the case of is ambiguous that their communication mode many viral videos sender. to the identity of the with regard an un- by the video is paralleled about the identity of the sender of to the video and its characters. Both the certainty of how to respond - transgres video are Intruder Kid video and the Bedroom Star Wars - its character transgress former, sive in these ways. In the case of the be- and he construction, he becomes an intertextual es his identity, old for it. In the case of the latter, haves as a child, though he is too itself trans- video but the bedroom, into a only is not the intrusion format and codes of a news program. the gresses thecommit not to warned audiences their are and disciplined, then may be found in the mixedsame undisciplined actions? The answer the audience has of the videos. One may and ambivalent reception YouTube but one may also be enjoying the videos. The be repelled, of the in the reception emotions diverse to these testify comments Kid: “i is a sample of comments about the Star Wars videos. Here seri- really guy this ”..is staff”, the swings he where part the LOVE another is less than friendly, ous...?”, and when one commentator be can comment this simple unaware, you are case ” In answers: an adverse have can threat. serious a as perceived have a positive could One nice comment on peoples lives. effect like this do not. In the comments impact on someones life, where sensitivity and be aware others with greater please try to treat future these And 5). (YouTube damage.” lasting cause can words your that about Antoine Dodson: ”hahahaha lmfao(: i love this dude!!! hes sooo funny! HAHAHA yall need to hide your people hide your wife hide your kids and your husband cause they rapin everyone justice/mockery at out its Lol”, here!! best!”, ”Vigilante ” HEY! i’m Antoine the rapist 8^(” and ” My favorite gay person in history = instances are videos uploaded these Though 6). (YouTube Dodson” of surveillance, they are not simply Panoptic in their significance. moment, and and undisciplined They also celebrate the unguarded the ability to transgress they show an as the viral videos they are Panopticon and to be partially subversive. quarter

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kvarter akademisk 143 The History of Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star (Foucault, 1990/1976: pp.1990/1976: (Foucault, to Knowledge The Will In the first half of half first the In Culture of Confession The ability of these viral videos to be understood as both Panoptic border of particularly the their transgressions and subversive with be viewed in the private and the public can between the intimately of his culture Michel Foucault’s concepts, namely light of another of confession as he describes it in the first volume of from argumentation the moving By Knowledge. to Will Sexuality: The the societal mechanisms of Foucauldian surveillance and Panopti- the Prison to the search con in his Discipline and Punish: The Birth of hypothesisthe Knowledge to Will in The and its discourses truth for be disciplinary and subversiveof this article that viral videos may at the same time can be tested. con- but double, a of exposition historical a proposes Foucault 1-73) During the last to sexuality. attitudes nected movement in Western been made into years sexuality on the one hand has hundred three Foucault sees the point of departure a plurality of discourses, where confession, in which carnal orof this development in the Christian given were so-called sinful nature sexual actions and behaviour of a and categorized sexuality was Later into words. turned or words perspective or as in a societal context, e.g. in a Malthusian regarded and sexuality was inscribed inconjugal sexuality – or non-conjugal, with their disciplinary measures. the power mechanisms of society Sexuality also became a rational, scientific discourse, e.g. psychoa- as perversions, could it, perhaps nalysis in its various forms where for knowledge in a search again turned into words, be interpreted, sexuality was not denied, hid- As it can be gathered, and the truth. and in the will to knowledge about it, there den away or repressed, com- were pleasure and Power pleasure. for lust a intertwined was that comes of exercising bined in a perpetual spiral: “The pleasure out, pal- a power that questions, monitors, watches, spies, searches that kin- pates, brings to light; and on the other hand, the pleasure dles at having to evade this fleepower, from it, fool it, or travesty it.” (Foucault, 1990/1976, p. 45) It is Foucault’s point that power thatstates he and way, this in another one reinforce pleasure and the ritualistic use and the religious the use of of the period since world have become “a sin- confessional, we in the modern Western man has become a gularly confessing society” and that “Western discourses of Types 59). p. 1990/1976: (Foucault, animal” confessing quarter

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kvarter akademisk - 144 Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star The genres of the two videos have migrated from respectively a respectively of the two videos have migrated from The genres Conclusion: The double nature of the confession Conclusion: the internet the on figures popular most the of two about article The Fou- Michel of two used has Dobson Antoine and Kid Star Wars cault’s theoretical concepts, the Panopticon and the confession, to of their fame, which is based on an explain the paradoxical nature of the two has shown that comparison A invasion of their privacy. degree the to regard with all after different is status celebrity their self-representation. of authenticity they signal in their often are which videos, viral into program news video and a private ofquestion discussed the article has consequently The transgressive. distribution have functioned in awhether the two videos and their The subversive. they are or whether panoptical disciplinary way, both at the same time, and the ar answer suggested is that they are - consul to satisfy this need: “interrogations, have arisen genres and - have been record narratives, letters; they tations, autobiographical and comment- into dossiers, published ed, transcribed, assembled ed on”, Foucault writes (p. 63). These discourses with their will to can truth to be authentic so that the an ambition knowledge all share with new types tempting to update this list It seems be revealed. YouTube, with Facebook and such as the Internet social media which smartphones, or with televi- often based on ubiquitous are programs. such as talk shows or reality sion genres of gument for this paradoxical answer is found in the double nature of con- of a culture instances the confession, so that both videos are of imagining fession that both discipline and celebrate the pleasure news exposing your personality in a of Knight or that you a Jedi to the popularity of the be related answer can also This program. social media in general. quarter

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kvarter akademisk - - http:// 145 Reklamens Reklamens - Avai [online] . Volume 03 Intertextuality and the Intertextuality and http://www.msnbc.msn. Medietid 2.0, Dansklær Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen - http://www.cartome.org/pan - http://www.tmz.com/2011/01/21/an , 18.07.2011. ; http://www.allthatantoine.com/ Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Discipline and Punish: The Birth The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star The Will to Knowledge: The History of Sexu- of History The Knowledge: to Will The M. Bozovic. . M. Ed Writings. The Panopticon Digitale Medien in der Erlebnisgesellschaft, Ro- Creator Spiritus: virtual texts life. in everyday Creator . 04.06.2010 Le nouvel Observateur. , 19.7.2011. , 11.07.2011. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6187554.stm lable at http://revuedeweb.blogs.nouvelobs.com/archive/2010/06/04/ lable , 11.07.2011. le-star-wars-kid-contre-attaque.html , Manchester University Press: Manchester, pp. 115-131. Manchester, Press: media, Manchester University at In Meinhof, U.H. and J. Smith, eds., 2000. eds., Smith, J. and U.H. Meinhof, In Prison, Penguin: Harmondsworth. , 18.07.2011. toine-dodson-reality-show-bedroom-intruder-kali-hawk/ erforeningens Forlag,erforeningens Kbh. Minneapolis. . University of Minnesota Press: ture at Available [online] 9.6.2007. msnbc.com. , 11.07.2011. com/id/20611439/ wohl: Reinbek bei Hamburg. at 21.1.2011. [online] Available Verso: London. [online] Available at Available [online] London. Verso: opticon2.htm markedsføring og sociale In medier. Stigel, J. 2011. bevidstheden? Academi sving i man sætter hvordan æstetik. Eller ca: København. (In press) www.antoinedodsonsworld.com/ ality: 1, Penguin: Harmondsworth. ican Literary Criticism, OUP: Oxford. contre-attaque. References B., 2000. Bachmair, , 2009. Kristensen, J. og J. Riber Christensen, , 2006. Star Wars Kid is top . [online] Available Available [online] video. viral top is Kid Wars Star 2006. BBC News, Bentham, J., 1995/1791. Foucault, M., 1991/1975. M., Foucault, 1990/1976. - , 1997. Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Cul Marshall, P.D. humiliation. online inevitable your Survive 2007. Popkin, H. A.S., 2008. Simanowski, R., York. up digital, McGraw-Hill: New D., 2009. grown Tapscott, TMZ, Antoine 2011. Dodson -- I’ve Got My Own Reality Show! , 2011. Virale reklamevideoer: Transgression, Transgression, reklamevideoer: Virale 2011. J. Riber, Christensen, at Available [online] Dodson. The Signifying Monkey: A Theory of African-Amer- Gates, H.L., 1988. The Signifying Monkey: A Hourdeaux, J., 2010. Le retour du “Star Kid” Wars / L’Islande quarter

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kvarter akademisk - , 146 - http://www.us Volume 03 Jørgen Riber Christensen Jørgen , 18.07.2011. , 18.07.2011. , 21.07.2011. , 18.07.2011. The Star Wars Kid and the Bedroom Intruder the Bedroom Kid and Wars The Star 18.07.2011. watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU, 21.07.2011. watch?v=EzNhaLUT520 11.07.2011. watch?v=HPPj6viIBmU, watch?v=EzNhaLUT520 Into New Home. 16.9.2010. [online] Available at Into New Home. 16.9.2010. Available [online] ly-into-new-home-2010169 watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw magazine.com/celebritynews/news/bed-intruder-singer-moves-fami YouTube, 5. [online] Available at http://www.youtube.com/ Available 5. [online] YouTube, at http://www.youtube.com/ Available 6. [online] YouTube, YouTube, 1. [online] Available at http://www.youtube.com/ Available 1. [online] YouTube, at http://www.youtube.com/ Available 2. [online] YouTube, . US Weekly 2010. Exclusive: “Bed Intruder” Singer Moves Family at http://www.youtube.com/ Available 3. [online] YouTube, at http://www.youtube.com/rewind Available 4. [online] YouTube, quarter

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