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’Net Junkie Shawn "Speedy" Lopes |
A poster girl
for Web funDepicted in a white form-fitting jumpsuit, embellished with sequins and a swooping neckline, Britney Spears was seen in New York City's subways in the immediate months following Sept. 11, 2001, as the focus of an HBO ad campaign. "The message this scantily clad teen offers in a time of war is uncertain, but several NYC subway riders didn't hesitate to express their thoughts," reads the front page of www.britneyunderground.com, a Web site-slash-photo essay dedicated to documenting the countless graffiti-marred portraits of Britney in the fall and winter of 2001.
There are nearly 50 snapshots in all, and, as one might imagine, all the obvious indignities were applied to the teen queen's countenance: magic marker mustaches, blacked-out teeth, blotched eyes, scrawled eyeglasses and drawn-in fangs. Other vandals imparted their own messages to their fellow citizens by inscribing sentiments across Britney's likeness. "WAVE BYE BYE BRITBOT" and "Spear Britney," reads one poster. "'I'm fat. Britney's thin,' my 6-year-old cousin said," reads another.
Not much is known of the Web site's creator, as she opts to divulge little about herself except to say she is a 20-something, subway-riding Brooklynite dealing with the same body issues most women deal with. Her concerns with such a campaign's influence on our culture were enough to compel her to erect britneyunderground.com, which, in addition to snapshots of the defaced posters, features resources on body image and a link to a similar Web site (mrbellersneighborhood.com/sec7/britney.html), which employs a male's perspective on the subway ads.
Clicking on the site's "Comments" button will take you to the site's forum section, where its creator explains her motives. "The reason I created (it) was not to trash Britney Spears," she writes. "It was to get people talking about wanting to make this insanity STOP. Personally I dread the thought of raising children under the current beauty caste system that we have created and that we actively participate in as a society."
Clicking on "You have an opinion?" and "Old & Closed Threads" will take you to heated discussions on Britney and related topics, while positive and negative e-mails are given their own section in "E-mails that started The Board." In the "How did you find?" section, visitors are asked how they happened upon about the site. Feel free to tell 'em "'Net Junkie" sent ya.
Note: Web sites mentioned in this column were active at time of publication. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin neither endorses nor is responsible for their contents.
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’Net Junkie drops every Monday.
Contact Shawn "Speedy" Lopes at slopes@starbulletin.com.
