It won't be easy, but Department Lemur has decided to give this global apathy trend the old college try. You see, all the kids are doing it, and we figured we had better get our kicks in before we get too old to really give up completely. On that order, we've suspended all of Lemur's world operations - our team at the proving grounds will just have to get by, the big crybabies - and begun what should be a cocktail hour to end all, starring our favorite tasty beverage. In lieu of web work, some of us are brushing up on our tongues, some are getting in touch with the ancestors and some are getting crazy with the Cheez Whiz. Like that Rotten guy once said: we're pretty vacant, and we don't care.

Come to think of it, maybe you shouldn't see us in this state. You might get ideas. Go ahead and read the pop culture report, while we hike up our bloomers.
 

I know, I can hardly blame "Armageddon" on Al Jolson, but damn if we don't have Dolby sound loud enough to shake the soul today, all thanks to Al's wobbly "September Song" in "the Jazz Singer." The medium is being abused, no doubt about it - but there is an antidote. Silent film journal The Silents Majority celebrates Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton, Clara Bow and Carol Lombard, "The Thief of Baghdad" and "Metropolis" - talented actors and entertaining pictures, all completely without speech (and more importantly, without skull-splitting explosions). There's so much history here, presented in such an attractive manner, that one hardly knows where to begin. The comprehensive directory of silent film actors tells a wealth of fascinating stories, an index of upcoming broadcast viewing tells you when you can see those actors doing their thing (quietly) and their collection of vintage lobby cards and photographs glows with the warmth and spirit of the era. This wonderful site does more than perpetuate the legacy of silent film - it practically reinvents the reel.
 

If you haven't acquired The Squirrel Nut Zippers sharp new release "Perennial Favorites" yet, you're missing a whole lot of good noise. The Zippers are the living embodiment of Americana, a cool sip of hot jazz the likes of which hasn't been heard since Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke walked the earth. If you've yet to be initiated, this marvelous unofficial site (comprehensive enough to be the official, which is also nice but underdesigned) should bring you up to speed in less time than it takes for Katherine Whalen to tune her banjo. Sample the songs, read their story, leaf through the rave reviews, then buy everything they've got. The Zippers are one of those irresistable forces you've heard so much about. Follow the Passenger's lead if you haven't already, and hop on this swinging bandwagon post-haste.
 

With its decidedly modern leaning and clever interface, Mark Harden's Artchive has become a favorite stop for the Passenger, an online art gallery with taste, intelligence and style to burn. Although similar, Harden's site differs from Nicholas Pioch's popular WebMuseum in several important respects: Artchive features sculpture ranging from Egyptian to Baroque, it boasts themed exhibits like the brilliant "1925" retrospective and it has a delightfully wry sense of humor, as evidenced by the "When You Can't Afford A Model" page. And Artchive's signature index is a delight to explore, with works by Man Ray, Matisse, Basquiat, Botticelli and a few hundred other luminaries waiting to charge the imagination. This, among other lessers, is the reason the internet exists.