Why I Love New York: Billboard Mashups

Okay, I promise that I don't just live here for the subway ... in fact, it's the bane of my existence. But much like my last love letter to this magical sewer of a city that involved a certain male supermodel totally having cheer-sex with me on the L (OMG I SWEAR!), today's sonnet involves the subway system.

Or, more specifically, the amazing amounts of creative energy that people bring to defiling its properties.

Over the last few years a wonderful art form has emerged underneath the city's sidewalks: the Billboard Mashup. Simply put, someone cuts a piece off of one subway platform billboard and sticks it onto another in order to achieve a response (usually laughter) from passersby. Thanks to the thickness of the paper used in the billboards and the sticky backing, it's criminally easy to do ... think of it as Colorforms for drunken hipsters.

Sure, it's vandalism, plain and simple. But really, if the point of advertising is to get someone's attention, these underground artists are really doing these products a favor by putting them into a new context.

Case in point: The above mashup of Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed and Nicole Kidman's mug from Australia. The juxtaposition begs the question:

"What magical secrets could Nicole Kidman actually be the keeper of?"

A few suggestions (and a close-up pic) after the jump.

Well, she was in Practical Magic...

1. The secret to living in Australia and Los Angeles for several straight decades without ever seeing the sun.

2. The secret to shrinking a full foot on the red carpet (when contractually demanded by a spouse).

3. The secret to escaping Scientology without losing anything but your freckles, husband's fortune, and general humanness.

4. The secret to even flakier pie crusts!

5. The secret to starring in The Stepford Wives, Birth, The Golden Compass, Bewitched, The Human Stain, Birthday Girl, and Fur in under 7 years and still having a career to speak of.

6. The ability to turn to a bat, wolf, or mist.

Note: I actually like Nicole, I really do. But girlfriend scares me silly.