The Daily Arts guide to the best upcoming events - it's everywhere you should be this week and why. ON STAGE He's been described as "part alchemist and part social-anthro- pologist," and now 2004 Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller will speak, at the Michigan The- ater tonight. The event is sponsored by the School of Art & Design. A producer;director and curator, Deller focuses on fringe culture. Admis- sion is free and the event starts at 5 p.m. Once, twice, five times a lady AT THE PIG Put on your dancing shoes, kids. Dance-think band My Dear Disco - comprised of School of Music students and alumni - will bring its singular sound to The Blind Pig tomorrow night. Suitably funky Detroiters The Exchange Bureau are set to open. Tickets are $7, $10 for under 21, and doors open at 9:30 p.m. T BOX OFFICE It's that time of year again: The UMS Fall Half-Price Student Ticket Sale is in full swing. Hit the UMS website early in the weekend for the best shot at your must-have shows. This is a deal you'll regret missing. By KIMBERLY CHOU Associate Arts Editor A Daily Arts column on Britney Spears seems to have become an annual occurrence, or at least a resi- dent pop culturalist's yearly opportunity to chuckle over the former pop sensation's most recent market- ing scheme and espouse radical views on abortion. Embarrassing, trashy or embarrassingly trashy behavior from Spears has become as depend- able as salmon swimming upstream. Usually, one exceedingly painful incident happens once a year that warrants extended mention: a wedding to and subsequent knocking up by Kevin Federline (2004- 2005), a messy divorce (2006), a series of Paris Hil- ton party nights that resulted in some unfortunate photos (2006). Usually, the best Spears moments happen in the fall, aid this year is no different. By now, thanks to the magic of the Internet, even those who have sworn off MTV have seen the pop singer's performance of her new single "Gimme More" at the channel's 2007 Video Music Awards show, broadcast earlier this week. Allowing Spears to perform, visibly timid if not wholly unprepared, was like dangling a kitten over a pit of culture-hungry hyenas. Kelefa Sanneh, the Gawker heads and other relevant commentators have already had their fill. But I still feel a need, or an obligation, to add in on the Spears forum. I want to defend her as much as any college student who grew up with her music and dressed like her, circa "Baby One More Time" and at least on one occasion, for Halloween - or perhaps even more so, because I became a fan only with the album In the Zone, and then mostly because Spears made the smart decision to capital- ize on another Madonna reinvention and the popu- larity of bhangra-mixed Western pop. I became invested in her as an artist. I say this every year, and will continue to say it until proven unreasonable, but how did the saucy teenager who stunned viewers worldwide with her "Satisfaction"-to-"Oops I Did It Again" perfor- mance at the 2000 VMAs (replete with pyrotech- nics, muscled dancers and a nude-colored body suit) turn into the Britney Spears of Sunday night? In exchange for inevitable embarrassment from this year's show, at least MTV could have paid for better hair extensions and a few more hours with the choreographer. I've already talked about Britney Spears asa pub- lic persona. The best way to chart the devolution of Britney Spears the performer is through a review of her VMA history. All videos are available on You- Tube and/or MTV Overdrive. A performer's devolution in five steps: Britney Spears at the VMAs. "Baby One More Time," 1999 Bursting through two sets of school lockers and pleather-panted dancers, Spears first unleashed her formidable dance moves (and midriff) on MTV watchers at the 1999 VMAs. It sounds like she's actually singing here, and she clicks into her back- up dancers with well-oiled precision befitting of a 17-year-old who's practiced long and hard to get to this point. And is that an attempt at a reggaeton remix I hear? "Satisfaction"/"Oops I Did It Again," 2000 At 18, Britney segues from a breathy cover of the Stones' "Satisfaction" and into the lead-off single to her sophomore album - and from men's clothes and fedora into the now-iconic nude bodysuit. The per- formance turns into another highly aerobic dance sequence; whether she's singing or lipsynching no longer matters. "Oops, I did it again," Spears purrs at the end, playing into her grown Lolita image as fathers around the country bit their lips. See BRITNEY, Page 4B "Oh, how I wish I was 19: ON SCREEN If it's been a while since you've seen Guy Richie's "Snatch" - probably crowded onto a dingy basement couch some- time in high school - consider heading to the Michigan Theater Satur- day night for a midnight screening. Tickets are $6.75 with student ID. I I