Dress LC in corduroy and denim

I saw my 9 year-old sister playing on this website today (needless to say, she was introduced to it by my 18 year-old sister) and it was so bizarre that I couldn't resist posting about it. The site is called Stardoll (www.stardoll.com) and it allows you to dress up your favorite celebrity/British royal like some sort of creepy, computer-generated paper doll. Stardoll (which you can view in like 15 different languages) claims to have over 400 personas to choose from, all of which are rendered with extraordinarily disturbing detail, from Britney Spears to Michelle Pfeiffer to Prince William. It also has a whole bunch of other features that I haven't really explored (yet), like the ability to create yourself as a doll and the ability to social network with your fellow Stardollers. There is also a shopping function where you can buy clothes and accessories DESIGNED BY HILLARY DUFF!!! The site accepts payment online by credit card, by phone or by text message.

I'm not really sure what to make of all this. On the one hand, this site more or less represents everything that is wrong with the world today: The celebrity worship, the exploitative capitalism, the unwavering focus on the superficial. On the other hand, it is kind of surreal and awesome. The fact that I can take a simulacrum of Lauren Conrad in her underwear and choose how to clothe her (or not clothe her) is crazy enough, but the fact that I can then make her go on a date with me to the Eiffel Tower is absolutely insane, in the best way possible (P.S. Lauren, if you're reading this, I will take you anywhere you want to go, baby...)

In fact, my only suggestion to Stardoll would be that, by gearing the site almost entirely to tweenage girls, they're missing out on a segment of the market with plenty of time and disposable income on their hands: Nerds. Why not spice things up a little? Throw some lingerie on the clothes rack. Add the ability to move the dolls into provocative poses. Allow users to anonymously communicate with 13 year-old girls who don't know any better. Oh, wait, they do that already. (P.S. Stardoll, your site is just begging to be overrun by weirdos. I would know.)

Ultimately, whether it's the teeny-bopper imagining herself as best friends with Ashley Tisdale and using her "emergency" credit card to buy that really cute imaginary skirt, or her pimply-faced brother spanking it to Hayden Panettiere in her panties, this thing has the potential to be good, clean, masturbatory fun for the whole family.