In our last issue we warned you against letting yourself get distracted by “The Beatles: Rock Band,” Fantasy Football, “True Blood” and such. It’s week five of the semester and now is not the time to slack off in school even though, as some of us are willing to admit, Vampire Bill is so hot.

But this week we have decided to let you in on our list of the very few things that are so awesome they would warrant getting distracted while manning a nuclear reactor, not just while forgetting about your English homework.

A good book – We don’t mean something you can find at the checkout counter. We’re talking something thought provoking – something that teaches you about the world or that makes lose yourself and find your way again.

Our managing editor picks “Reading the OED” by Ammon Shea, but our editor-in-chief recommends “Shootin’ The Sh*t with Kevin Smith: The Best of Smodcast” and calls the managing editor a dork. In reality, it’s the editor-in-chief who is the dork. His choice is the foul-mouthed recollections of a nerd-favorite film director and his usual producer, who regularly appear on podcast about nothing in particular.

Smith’s book isn’t as quite classy as Shea’s account of reading the Oxford English Dictionary over the course of a year – in fact, we’d say Smith is more about crass than class – but we figured we’d include a little bit of something for everyone. Try one of these or head to a bookstore and find something that looks marvelous.

TV – We included a list of TV shows not to be distracted by this semester, but then we watched the season premiere of “The Office,” in which Michael spreads false rumors about everyone in order to confuse his employees about a rumor that actually is true.

And we can’t help but shamelessly plug House, since the season premier airs tonight on Fox. He’s a medical genius. He has a cane. He’s ended last season by being committed to a mental institution. He’s played by a British actor and yet has no trace of an accent. He’s generally a badass. We can hardly wait for the show, and we also want to be him for Halloween.

The fact that fans of the new comedy-drama Glee are called Gleeks, as are the members of the high school glee club on which the show is based, is an unfortunate undercutting of a great program. Its social insights extend far beyond its High School Musical-esque exterior, exploring everything from the gay culture to a failing marriage.

Lectures – There is no reason UNLV shouldn’t be packing the house for speakers like V.Y. Mudimbe. Forty people at Friday’s lecture? Come on, guys. Get out to the University Forum series, expand your mind and interact with new people. Didn’t you read that list of things to do we published at the beginning of the year?

Multicultural events – This might actually help your grades in those multicultural requirement courses we all have to take. After all, if you’ve never participated in a multicultural activity on campus, you’d have no context for what you’re learning in class. Visit the Multicultural Center-Centro Multicultural in the Houssels House on the south end of campus and join in a fun activity or check out a student organization that focuses on international or LGBTQA culture.

The Rebel Yell – No one can criticize you for being too aware of campus news! At least we won’t. Reading every word of the paper and spending hours online interacting with fellow readers at unlvrebelyell.com is totally worth a B on the presentation you’re supposed to be preparing instead.

Follow a column. We dare you not to develop a huge crush on B.S. Shenanigans and start doubting whether his news is actually fake.

Pick up our podcast. We have the pleasure of listening to our writers talk all the time, and now you can too.

Filed Under: Opinion
Tagged: editorial, involvement, movies, television