by Melissa Flores

The ability to communicate is what keeps humans at the top of the food chain. Our communication skills are directly responsible for advances in technology, art and culture.

Essentially humans are bundles of cells that can't survive without communicating, and we've developed some pretty awe inspiring communication networks. That's how I justify the fact that I am a pop media junkie.

I have a really fast Internet connection at my day job. And since being an administrative assistant isn't exactly brain science, I spend an unreasonable amount of time online. I found out that the Internet is good for more than just downloading MP3's, entering sweepstakes and reading about places I'd rather be.

I also discovered real, non-commercial ART on the Internet.

MUSIC

A good general-purpose music website is www.music.com. You can download music, watch videos and link to artist websites. You can also find links to record labels.

Check out www.blastro.com to see weekly Internet shows hosted by local DJ's. They also have music videos and animation.

One of my favorite stops when I'm online is at www.luakabop.com, David Byrne's world music label. It is quite possibly the most versatile label on earth. It's home to artists like Zap Mama ("soul music for the diaspora"), Los Amigos Invisibles (Venezuelan funk pop) and Susana Baca (traditional Afro-Peruvian). You can also have Luaka radio streamed to you for your listening enjoyment.

Local musician/multimedia artist Andrew Barron has a site for his project entitled www.centuryplant.com. Century Plant is a one person performance art/musical presentation that incorporates musical recording, live/recorded music, film, theater and interactive mechanical and digital technology to portray an absurdist's philosophy of life and escape.

Produced by the Musicology Dept. at the University of California at Los Angles, www.humnet.ucla.edu/echo/splashflash is an online peer-reviewed journal featuring articles, reviews and interviews concerning musicians and musical experiences. Visually appealing and nicely designed, the journal covers both classical and popular music.

FILM

If you're interested in film, www.ifilm.com is the place. Anyone can send their films in for free publication on the site. There are tons of films in a number of genres. Definitely check out Herd by Mike Mitchell. It's about a space alien and the guy he enlists to help him do his evil bidding. It's the funniest short film I've ever seen. The animation version of ifilm is www.16color.com. Anyone can go there and use the animation machine to create cartoons and publish them on the site for free.

ART

A good start is the Rhizome ArtBase www.rhizome.org.This is a non-profit project archives art created specifically for the net, or that uses it as a medium. They have some pretty fascinating web cam projects.

Another is www.milkyelephant.com, a site that showcases the artwork of three graphic artists. Eun-Ha Paek is the creator of the animation. It features a story of a cute but sinister elephant and a girl who is a member of the Byzantine church and a robot dancer.

"Genesis," by artist Eduardo Kacis, is a multimedia installation involving the mutations of an artificial protein imprinted with Morse code and accompanied by DNA-synthesized music. Another Kacis work of art is to create a bunny using an version of the gene that makes some jellyfish fluorescent. The end result is that, under the right light, the bunny glows green. View these projects from a link at www.ekac.org.

An interesting and visually appealing site, www.artandculture.com links to a variety of resources related to the visual arts, performing arts, design, literature, music, and film. From the main page, visitors can access the Arts or Culture sections or go directly to a number of Arts entries listed in six categories.The culture section of the site is somewhat different, with links to travel, food, sports, festivals, and other cultural information organized by region. The section also offers some world cams and a feature on visual culture.

MISC.

Another good site to hit is www.mowa.org. This is a very clever, funsite.The first time I went there I laughed out loud three or four times. I recommend taking a virtual tour of the museum with Kendra, the tour guide.

Speaking of sites that make me laugh out loud, I'll leave you with www.theonion.com. This is the website of the satirical newspaper that has headlines like "Area Man Can Actually Feel The Advanced Vapor Action Working" and "Area Bedroom Has That Weird Jeff Smell, Housemates Report." It just cracks me up.

Anyway, that's about all I have for this month. Plus I better get back to work, M.L.