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Hey
s e r i o u s
,
Where You Been? This seems to be the question we're answering quite a lot these days. The answer: well, you know how there was a lot of hype about the world ending on new year's eve? We believed it. So we at s e r i o u s stocked up our shelter, said our prayers and headed underground at about 12.07am 1/1/00 (we would have retreated before midnight like all the other doomsdayers, but we wanted to see the fireworks. Sydney's kicked ass). Eventually a few months passed, and one of our brilliant editors said, "So maybe one of us should go see what's left out there, huh?" We agreed and promptly kicked her out. She stopped banging on the shelter door when, 15 minutes later, we finally decided to open it and let her lead the rest of us out. And what a world we've resurfaced out to find... something strange happened to pop culture while we were underground. It seems like everyone else is in a bit of a time warp, cause Santana just won a grammy (or nine). 
And we must give hats off to the marketing sensation that is Popstars.
If you, dear reader, are not from Australia, or are not aware of the Popstars phenomenon, we will take 5 seconds to enlighten you (without wanting to contribute to the overabundance of press these chicks are already getting). A couple of marketing blokes got together and decided to create an Australian version Spice Girls. They auditioned hundreds of hopeful young girls, of which they selected five. These five would then record an album and become instant pop stars. Throw into the mix a 13-part behind-the-scenes TV series on Channel 7, all-points media coverage, and a sponsorship deal from Volkswagon, "scandal" and "controversy" over members leaving and being replaced, and now 3 different groups of popstars being recorded by the same management, all of which is happening in a very "hush hush loudly" kinda way, and you have a brilliantly-orchestrated multimedia soap-opera. As one critic succinctly put it: "These girls are famous for being famous". 
If you want more information, visit their unbelievably corny website (you can find it yourself, it isn't hard. You won't find any links to it here, though - and you know how nuts we are about that whole hypertext thing - but dammit if s e r i o u s is going to contribute to the unstoppable Popstars publicity machine).
Anyways, you can check out the sentimental drivel we compiled while in the shelter for this, our latest post-Apocalypse issue - The Social Elements of the '90s. Write to us with your own 2 cents about popular culture today: seriousness@hotmail.com. Just don't ask us when the next issue's coming out. s e r i o u s [ Back ] P E O P L E | W O R D | S O U N D F I L M | I D I O T B O X | U S |