You can learn more about the PopGurls proper, and PopGurls: The Site (Sort of like Spaceballs: The Movie, but not) in “About Us.” Whether or not you care about us is between you and your god.
Something looks different.
Indeed! We took on our latest redesign in January 2012.
With our latest redesign, Cari Johnson of Cari Leigh Creative developed our new logo! Go check her and her awesomeness out!
Savy Kansal is our expert web developer and made sure that everything worked perfectly.
Why did you start this site?
Back in 2001, there was a group of girls who e-mailed each other all day, every day, with entertaining pop culture anecdotes. When it became impossible to keep track of all the banter, the idea of a website came about. One AIM brainstorming session later, and Amy and Michelle proposed PopGurls.com. Everyone agreed that it might be mildly amusing to pursue, and here we are – a foursome of pop culture junkies.
I’m a guy, am I supposed to be reading a site called PopGurls?
Strangely enough, we get asked this more often than you’d think. Everyone is invited here – gurls, guys, transgenders, transvestites, ice cream truck drivers, professional bowlers, ferret wranglers. If you like a bit of snark in your pop culture obsessions, you’re in the right place.
Why PopGurls? Because we’re gurls, duh. And if you’re really curious – we spell it with a U due to Amy’s longtime obsession with Big Star’s “September Gurls,” and her need to force that spelling on everyone she knows. (Also, last time we checked, PopGirls was a porn site.)
Do you accept blind article submissions? How do I become a guest writer?
We’re always looking for new writers with a fresh perspective. To save you time and hassle, we would recommend that you send an email to submissions AT popgurls DOT com and pitch us your story idea. It should look something like this:
“Dear PopGurls:
I couldn’t help but notice that you never write any stories about (enter topic here). I’m a huge fan of (topic) and I think your readers would really dig it, too. I would love to write an article about (topic) for your site. What do you think?”
It is likely that we will ask you to submit a writing sample of some sort, and we reserve the right to decline your offer based on (among other things) writing skills or that it’s just not quite a right fit for PopGurls. It is also possible, because we occasionally do plan ahead, that one of our writers is already working on a story about your topic. This doesn’t mean we stole your idea.
Great – if you like my idea, will I get paid for writing it?
No.
Can I still submit story ideas if I’m a boy?
You wouldn’t believe how much email some of our male contributors get, wondering why they’d want to participate in such a gurlie site. The truth is, we believe boys can like pop culture just as much as we do, and we welcome that perspective on the site. Also, we are no longer 12, and aren’t worried about catching boy cooties anymore.
How can I find out when you update?
You mean, you’re not checking the site every day?
There’s a lot more stuff here than I anticipated. How can I narrow the field?
We have a handy search function for just such an occasion. If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, feel free to email one of the PopGurls and ask for it.
How did you get so-and-so to agree to an interview?
The short answer is, we asked. The longer answer is that all of us have journalism experience somewhere in our pasts, and we have mastered the art of the query letter.
Can you help me get an interview with so-and-so, too?
As with anything, we keep our site going by building relationships. Over the years we’ve developed ties with publicists, managers, personal assistants, dog walkers…you name it. These people trust us and help us secure the interviews you see here. Giving out their information, even to other would-be writers, would betray that trust. If you’re looking for a way to contact your favorite celebrity, we suggest you look for the info the old-fashioned way – Google it.
Okay. But you can surely pass on a message to your interview subjects, right?
Nope. If you want to send fanmail to anyone who’s been interviewed for PopGurls.com, we’d suggest you search the web for the proper address. Television shows are particularly good at providing addresses for fanmail – especially shows with hunky boys who get that sort of thing – but it’s not too difficult to track down other celebs as well. MySpace is a veritable hotbed of this sort of information these days.
Isn’t information posted on the web fair game for anyone to reproduce?
Absolutely not. Anything posted on PopGurls.com is property of the same, and reproduction of any of our articles without our permission is stealing. We’re cool with folks posting a paragraph or two of our essays/interviews/reviews on their own websites, as long as they link back to us. However, reposting an entire article, even with credit, makes you a bad person. And karma is a bitch. If we find out you’ve done this, expect a cranky letter asking you to remove our content from your site.
I remember way back when you guys mostly covered *NSYNC. What happened to all that stuff?
Ah, those were the days, weren’t they?
Because our interests in The Boys have waned (in no small part due to the never-ending hiatus), we decided to disband the “Shame” section and move everything into The Attic.
What about the Degrassi: The Next Generation Recaps? I’m still waiting on several seasons, you slackers!
Yes, yes, we know. Sadly, we never quite regained our great love for the Canadian melodrama (we have a weird thing for girls that say a-boot), nor the time to catch up on all those eps. But you can re-read your favorites in The Attic.