In lieu of a typical Guide to the Weekend, Bwog has decided to poll its listservs and aggregate a more helpful list of activities. The following are answers to the question "What do you do to procrastinate?" We hope you'll try out one or two (or nine) of our ideas and use the comment thread to suggest your own. Happy weekend!

• Change the font and wording of my resume

• Decide to take up short story writing

• Even though I live in a dorm, check Craigslist for apartments

• Make new Gmail labels

• Paint with nail polish on Post-It notes

• Change my desktop background

• Translating Spanish philosophers

• Taking four hour midday naps

• Fixing my bike
  
  
  (Read more...)

Yesterday, Daily Editor Pierce Stanley decided to sacrifice a day's work on a ten page paper in order to bring you this report on yesterday's academic affairs. He hopes you, and a sympathetic professor, will appreciate his efforts.

While most Columbia students were holed up all day in Butler yesterday in preparation for exams, academic life carried on in the outside world yesterday. Thankfully, outside Butler, these affairs carried on with a less perfunctory (and to be honest, less smelly) air than that which has pervaded among the poor and huddle masses of the library in recent days.

It's a rainy Saturday and, yes, it would be prudent to spend the day in Bulter, but don't you deserve a break? (Bwog thinks you do.) And there's really no better way to relax and pass a dreary Saturday than with a couple feel-good flicks. Here, Bwog has compiled a smattering of movies that will help ease your midterm anxiety and brighten your day. So cozy up with some Swiss Miss and popcorn and enjoy!

(N.B. Some of these titles may be difficult to find on DVD, but Kim's will probably have the VHS version.)

1. Manhattan: A Woody Allen classic all too often overshadowed by Annie Hall. The story is pretty much the same as most of Allen's films. He plays a lusty, bumbling New Yorker seeking love wherever he can find it�a search which lands him with a high schooler and later his best friend's mistress. With Meryl Streep and Diane Keaton.

Need a study break? Put down the text and feast your eyes on these Saturday morning classics.

It's Saturday morning and if you want a slow start to your day, you've come to the right web address. Today on Bwog, we do a tribute to our Technicolor friends of yesteryear. Yes that's right — today we spotlight the superheroes of Saturday morning cartoons. Before you delve into an afternoon with Lacan and Lit theory at Bulter, take this special opportunity to reconnect and reminisce. We offer some of classic clips and theme songs. Indeed, this is a humble collection and if we have forgotten any of your personal favorites, please let us know!

Looks like they've been hitting the chemicals a little too hard recently.

Plus, orgo prof tenure battle of the century!

B&W Literary Editor Hannah Goldfield had a free ticket to I Am Legend a couple nights ago, and recommends the experience.

You need a break. Seriously, there's only so much information your brain can absorb in a day, only so many sentences it can formulate (or so I like to tell myself), and giving it a rest will surely improve its performance. So put aside those textbooks, sign out of Facebook, and take just a few hours to zone out.

I recommend heading down to Loews 84th Street (it's really not far!) to catch the next screening of I Am Legend, the latest post-apocalyptic thriller starring everyone's favorite alien-killer, Will Smith, appearing here as the only living boy (OK, man) in New York, and perhaps the planet.

There is absolutely nothing to think about in this movie. Once the mind-numbingly simple premise has been explained, there's really nothing to do but sit back, relax, and succumb to the thrilling images of Manhattan sans people, of Smith glistening with sweat as he does pull-ups in his gorgeous, ENORMOUS townhouse on Washington Square, and of the most ill-conceived zombies I have ever seen. But Legend is more than just action-packed escapism--it's also a comedy, the best kind of comedy: unintentional comedy. As the movie unfolds, it makes less and less sense, until the absurdities have piled so high it's impossible not to laugh. How could you fall 20 feet, land on your back, and walk away unscathed? Why would anyone have a laboratory in his basement? Where did those lions come from? We pointed out ridiculous flaws all the way to the subway, chuckling merrily, and by the time we got back to campus, life seemed a little less serious.

Remember, it's just school.

In which Bwog contributor CML breaks down Facebook's flashy new features, for those of us too scared to log on since they arrived on the feed.

While my brain has languished thousands of miles away from Columbia, Mark Zuckerberg and his henchmen have been busy, busy bees. Over the past two weeks, I've watched assiduously as Facebook has undergone a great transformation, having installed a platform that enables CS-savvy users to add their own applications to the site. The explosion in possibilities leaves me yearning for its bygone days of narrow scope, even though I got my account barely more than a year ago.

Whether this Zuckerbergian gambit is intended to take over the lives of the 25-and-under set, or if it's merely a plot to fatten the proverbial cow/website before leading it to the slaughterhouse/IPO, remains to be seen. Meanwhile, the array of possible new accoutrements can get overwhelming. Without further ado, an overview of some of the best, the worst, and the loudest bells and whistles:

Marketplace: Undoubtedly the most ambitious and most official of the additions, Marketplace is basically Facebook's version of Craigslist. If you wish to hawk your wares or find employees, you can place an ad for free in one of five distinct categories (For Sale, Housing, Jobs, Other, and Free Stuff); if you wish to find wares to buy or find employment yourself, you can place an ad for free in one of four distinct categories (Item Wanted, Housing Wanted, Looking for Work, Other Wanted). Restrictions are lax enough to the extent that I was able to post the above ad in "Jobs" under "Writing/Editing" [picture of bwog sycophant ad], but traffic is stagnant enough in "Jobs" and other categories that I felt bad about leaving it up. Still, "For Sale" is a far more convenient way of passing off your old cursed Orgo textbook to some poor bastard than posting fliers around campus, although still far inferior to the late trading site Dogears.net.

RATING: Zuckerfabulous

Bwog has been procrastinating! (Is that redundant?) We even made a list of how we recommend you procrastinate, to which you shall contribute. Open thread time!

- Make Bwog posts
- Send in tips to Bwog
- Watch episodes of South Park
- Go to the horsey ride track in Nassau County and be hit on by the bugler
- Facebook-message all your friends from back home to see when they'll be back in the Motherland
- Try and break your arch-nemesis' Mario Kart records
- Doodle pictures of dinos and flowers and smiling suns
- E-mail your long-lost relatives to ask them how they're doing and by the way thank them for financing your exorbitantly-priced college education
- Try Artopolis!

Aah, reading week--that grey area between class and finals, when you know you should be studying but really probably aren't. Looking for ways to pep it up? Bwog is here, in the form of a Seth Flaxman e-mail, to help.

1. Watch movies! (Prep for Sundance)

According to the Columbia University homepage, An unprecedented five feature films and nine short films by Columbia University students and alumni will screen at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, which will take place in Utah from January 18 to 28. That's fourteen! Oh em geee! We are so cool. For reals.

2. Have your fortune told! (Transfer to Barnard)

Stop by upper level Mac today on Barnard's campus to participate in the festivities of "Ye Olde Stress Free Day," going on until 4 PM. Rumor has it there's free food, a magician, face painting, crown making (because we are all Columbia Royalty!) and, Bwog's favorite, a tarot card reader. Just don't ask whether or not you're going to pass your exams.

3. Give in to your desires! (Lead me not into temptation)

Bwog covered this a few months ago, but Sunday's New York Times Magazine picked up the story as well: a couple of researchers at Columbia Business School have recently come out with a study stating that when all is said and done, people who give in to day-to-day vices end up happier than those who don't. In the words of Professor Ran Kivetz, the man behind the study, Bwog has found a new mantra: "Guilt is quick to rise, and quick to fall."

Thanks to Chris Szabla, Avishai Gebler, and Owain Evans for the tips.

Bwog typically refrains from posting about events unless we're nepostically promoting our own, but those Klever Klaritin Kids proved themselves worthy. Take your minds off deepening polarization in the academic environment for an hour and indulge in sketch comedy!