Sure, they're just 17 words. But they're 17 words that I've always believed in. Until about oh, say, five minutes ago. That's when I stumbled across the website beonscreen.com which makes it abundantly clear that King was wrong. In 2005, everybody does have the power for fame. If the current glut of weird reality programs wasn't enough, now a 25-year-old Londoner has made it even easier for average people to get involved.

In 2002, Samuel-Dean McMurran created beonscreen.com - a UK talent search site allowing TV wannabes to register their details. It's a simple concept. If you've always wanted to be on TV, you pay somewhere between $20 and $100 to have your photo and bio on the site. Then you just hope that a TV researcher thinks you're wacky/sleazy/dysfunctional/prepared to eat sheep's brains/addicted to plastic surgery enough to be on their show. And TV researchers do come looking. With more than 70,000 "average" people listed on the site, everyone from UK Big Brother to Wife Swap have turned to the site to find their potential stars.

The bad news is that at this stage, the site is only in the UK. The good news is that at this stage, the site is only in the UK. No, really. Log on and take a peek at some of the programs on the hunt for "stars". There's Too Posh to Wash, a show about Britons who don't like cleaning (or maybe bathing, who would know?). How about the alluring Are You A Virgin?. Perhaps you'd like to appear on Beat the Bailiff (commit a crime and let's see if you can outrun a London Bobby and his tear gas) or Change the Day You Die (sounds like chemotherapy meets Wheel of Fortune) or even Yummy Mummies and Their Daughters (also known as my ex-girlfriend is now my step-daddy).

Or perhaps you'd like to stay anonymous and sane.

Now don't go losing hope. There are more ways to be in the spotlight than just by baring all on reality TV. You could, instead, take a leaf out of Shelley Ratcliffe's book and bare your Smurfs.

This month the State Library of Queensland is showcasing an exhibition called One of a Kind: obsession and collection. It's dubbed an exposé of the weird and wonderful passions of that eclectic group of people known as collectors. The exhibition charts the history of popular culture and has diverse appeal from Breweriana - that is "beer stuff" for the uninitiated - and ska music memorabilia to antique serviette rings and ceramics painted by Brownie Downing.

And, of course, the chronological Smurf collection. When the State Library went looking for collectors to get involved with the exhibit, Ratcliffe put up her hand. She started fervently collecting Smurfs back in the mid-'70s. Remember when they were on sale for 85¢ at BP service stations? The first Smurf she ever collected was Vanity Smurf. From then on it became an obsession. One Smurf turned into 15 and very soon a little mushroom house joined the collection. An advertisement asking for Smurfs and a dalliance on eBay meant that Ratcliffe's Smurf collection went into overdrive. And now those little blue men (and Smurfettes) are on display for us all to covet.

Meanwhile, Star Wars fans will delight in seeing Mark Zgrajewski's Star Wars memorabilia collection. But there's more on offer than just a few Luke Skywalker action figures. One of a Kind explores the relationships collectors have with their collections. Footage has been shot in the collectors' homes helping to give us an insight into their motivations and the satisfaction that arises from the idea, pursuit and attainment of objects.

One of a Kind is the first project in the SLQ Ideas program, which encourages all of us to reconsider the way we think about libraries. Clearly it's out with shooshing and in with Smurfs. What's next? A deconstruction of Captain Caveman cartoons? (I like this idea already.)

So it's worth keeping an eye on the State Library this year. In June, Everyday Idol encourages the public to record their own interviews capturing the ordinary and the extraordinary in their everyday relationships. In September, there's Home Brew at which audiences can go public with their top five music tracks. In October, personal messages of love, lust and romance will be explored through the mediums of parchment, on-line and the telephone in Love Lines.