A couple weeks ago news networks reported that 6-year-old Falcon Heene was trapped in a balloon traveling high above the ground of Colorado. The story captivated the nation for about a day, but audiences were shocked when it was later revealed that the event was a hoax concocted by the boy’s father, Richard Heene, who had hoped to secure … a reality TV show.

The Heene family had been featured twice on the ABC reality show Wife Swap. Heene, however, had wanted to create a show focusing solely on his family and its daily inner workings.

While it is definitely not worth trampling your family’s name and humiliating your loved ones, reality TV has become a cornerstone of television programming. Networks such as VH1 and MTV are the “leaders” in reality television, spitting out a couple new ones every few months.

Many of their shows are centered around a bunch of drama queens locked inside a house having “reality TV moments.” The common way of getting the “reality TV moments” out of a show is for the producers to tell a cast member to do something that will outrage another person in the house. This occurs, cameras roll, ratings go up and money is made. Rinse, repeat and you’ve got a hit.

Most of these shows usually focus on the negative side of life, elevating these “classic” moments of frustration and anger on a pedestal. While I understand that sex, lies and violence get ratings, there’s a certain amount of moral accountability that has to take place on the part of any network. I mean, some of these shows make you lose faith in humanity (The Real World *cough*). Are they entertaining? Absolutely, but so are tabloids. Most of that stuff isn’t true either — I just have a problem with people calling the shows reality.

There are plenty of reality shows that deserve recognition for benefiting our culture while still entertaining. For example, American Idol captures several of the nation’s hearts and minds every season, letting us see men and women who have true talent strut their stuff and get a chance at fame. Simon Cowell’s commentary isn’t boring either. For example, I’m from Richmond, and when Elliott Yamin started gaining momentum on the show, the city went nuts. Everyone in the 804 was hit with Yamin fever. Although he didn’t win, people saw his talent and he still makes records and sings around the world.

Another show worth noting is Jon and Kate Plus Eight. Though it started off as a boring show about a couple with eight kids, it has now become a show based on a family going through a divorce. The show has been called “therapeutic” for many families who are going through the same crisis.

So, the question remains: Will the Heenes get their own show? Sadly, they probably will. Whether it’s like the VH1-MTV trashy-reality Real World or like the emotionally captivating American Idol, reality TV has definitely made its mark and is willing to make anyone famous, no matter the cost.

If you haven’t been writing your life away the past few weeks, we here at tableau don’t really know what you’ve been doing (unless you are in the E-School, in which case we have no clue what you are ever doing). It seems that as professors continue to raise the bar on acceptable amounts of paper-writing required per semester, internships and extracurricular clubs also have started upping the ante on how much written work, articles or memos they’d like to see from you. Or maybe, we University students are finally nearing the ceiling on just how overworked we can be and still physically function.

We’ve all done it: the all-nighters, the one-night-stands with our textbooks in the steamy stacks of Alderman, the shots of espresso and Red Bull we throw back to keep it up just a little bit longer and push just a little bit harder. It’s exhilarating, it’s breathtaking and it’s becoming more and more necessary to keep up with the workload we pile on ourselves. Perhaps we’ve become numb to the higher and higher amounts of work we take on because it just feels so good to stay addicted rather than face caffeine withdrawal or — gasp! — have to spend an afternoon just doing nothing. But maybe we should?

Maybe we should all learn a small lesson from our dear old friend Ferris Bueller and take a break to look around once in a while and take in the sights and sounds of fall in Charlottesville before winter and exams take control. Maybe we should take a page from Edgar Allen Poe’s book and chill out before mystery ravens begin to haunt our psyche at night.

On second thought … all those examples can been seen as just another person relentlessly pursuing excellence in their field. Poe probably wrote and drank himself to death and Bueller would stop at nothing to have the perfect day off. I guess if that’s the case, we should just carry on. See you in Aldy.

—stephanie garcia

Language of Angels is an intriguing piece of experimental theater that’s rather hard to describe — think Final Destination, only with interpretive dance. The play follows the story of a group of nine teenagers linked together by the disappearance of their friend, Celie, somewhere in the labyrinthine tunnels of an underground cave in rural North Carolina. After she disappears, the others are killed off one by one, whether it be by suicide, accident or “natural” causes — and it is left to the audience to decide whether their deaths are caused by a curse, revenge from beyond the grave or something altogether stranger.

The plot is far more than a simple ghost story, and the characters are far more than throwaway roles from a teenage horror flick. Through a series of scenes and monologues, we hear the voices of the teenagers from the past, present and future — their faded memories, doubts and guilt told in rustic dialect that is strangely, brusquely poetic in its inarticulateness.

The play’s most notable feature, however, is not its plot, but its unique, surreal style that puts you in a trance and doesn’t let you go until the applause startles you out of it at the very end. The stage is minimalist, nearly bare — it consists of only two platforms: a ghostly, semi-transparent tunnel and a tree. The characters’ passionate, dialectic monologues are interspersed with silent, surreal scenes of dance and synchronized movement set to eerie music. Apparitions walk across the stage, angel feathers rain from the sky and supernatural elements are included so subtly that the audience is not sure what they have seen, only of the effect it has had on them. The style was inspired, according to the director’s notes, by Japanese Noh theater, and one would never think that rural small-town American slang — as western as it gets — could blend successfully with the lyricism of classical Eastern theater. But, somehow, the play’s odd dynamic seamlessly fuses colloquial storytelling and the poetic physical movement of Noh theater. The result, for better or worse, is something wholly original.

When the trance ended, I left the theater unsettled, but thoroughly unsatisfied. Although the answer to the mystery of the girl’s disappearance is eventually revealed, the audience soon gathers that this is not the point of the play — this is not Clue, and solving the mystery does not signal the end of the game. I left the theater perplexed, wanting to know more about each of the characters whose thoughts the audience was allowed only to briefly glimpse, wanting to know the explanation for all of the supernatural elements left ambiguous. Although frustrating, I believe this aspect was intentional, allowing the audience to identify with the characters’s confusion and to come to their own conclusions — and that’s one thing you can’t say about Final Destination.

For every time you’ve hit snooze and seriously considered playing hooky from that insufferable ancient history lecture; for every time you’ve deadpanned “Bueller? Bueller?” in an empty meeting room; for every time you’ve busted out a dance move to The Beatles’ hit “Twist and Shout” or jammed to a song by the California-based band Rooney, take a split second to thank the powers that be for one John Hughes — the man behind the classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Without the genius of director Hughes, the majority of modern pop culture would never have reached the peaks it resides on today. And without the wit and charm of Matthew Broderick (who is slated to appear at the Virginia Film Festival on Nov. 8), Ferris Bueller would never haunt our collective psyche the way he does today.

We’ve all taken “days off,” and they’re fine. Sometimes, they are actually great. But for the most part, skipping out on all our responsibilities and obligations is harder in action than in thought — just look at all your classmates glued to their iPhones and laptops. But the magic of Hughes and Ferris lies in that now-infamous line: “Life moves pretty fast; if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” In this film, Hughes ultimately draws out all our innermost desires and replaces them with the images of the ultimate teenage and high school experience.

The concept is simple: Ferris, the ultimate “Big Man on Campus,” doesn’t want to go to school. It’s his senior year of high school and, more importantly, it’s a beautiful spring day. So he convinces his doting, helicopter parents that he’s “sick,” cons the school into letting his girlfriend out of class, and hits up the big city of Chicago with said girlfriend and best friend, Cameron, to have tons of amazing adventures — and then sneaks back into the house under the noses of his parents and the blundering, obsequious Dean of Students, Ed Rooney.

The cinematic glory of Ferris Bueller has reigned over modern culture for decades now. Released in 1986, the wit and comedy of the Hughes-Broderick team captured everything glorious about the 1980s — from sister Jeanie’s wardrobe to the collective attitude and social hierarchy of high school — and made it a staple of our cultural cache. The film’s message — that sometimes, it is perfectly acceptable, even good, to live life in the moment — continues to inform our consciousness. The culture and society Hughes captures is starting to reemerge on the radar of contemporary times, and the punch lines and shenanigans Bueller pulls throughout the film continue to dominate our pop culture register. In other words, if “Save Ferris” means nothing to you, I’m not really sure what does.

The recent rise in popularity of supernatural beings such as vampires and werewolves can be largely attributed to fantasy novel series such as Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. In fact, the incredible commercial success of the novel and the resulting movies has prompted a plethora of copycat novels, television shows and films. On the surface, the CW’s new show The Vampire Diaries seems to be in this category of Twilight derivatives. But the program is actually based on a book series of the same title, written by New York Times bestselling author L.J. Smith in the early 1990s, thus preceding Twilight by a good 10 years. In fact, there are those who speculate that Meyer’s work and other’s may even have been influenced by the enormously popular The Vampire Diaries series.

The Vampire Diaries follows a familiar plotline. A beautiful, popular girl named Elena notices Stefan, a hot new guy in school. Surprise, surprise — he turns out to be a centuries-old vampire. To sweeten the pot, Stephen has an equally attractive brother named Damon. Both brothers fall in love with Elena, leading to fratricidal impulses and strange scenes of suppressed desire. Elena likes both of them and just can’t decide. Then comes a series of unusual high school hijinks involving a psychic friend, a crazy school dance and some creepy experiences in a graveyard.

What amused me most about the books was the setting: a small town in Virginia called Fell’s Church ostensibly based on the town of Falls Church in Northern Virginia. I’m sincerely hoping that L.J. Smith has never visited the real Falls Church. In the fictionalized version, “memories and ghosts of the Civil War still lived there, as real as the supermarkets and fast food joints;” everyone lives in centuries-old Victorian houses that line Main Street; and the characters freak out when a Japanese family moves to town because of lingering, white-supremacist impulses. It doesn’t help that the members of the family are possessed by Japanese demons, prompting the author to travel along tangents that tell a caricatured account of Japanese folklore. Did I mention that the grandfather in this family is a shrine builder?

Despite these factors, the books were a huge hit back in the 1990s, and the television show is currently the CW’s most successful nighttime series with about 4 million viewers. So what’s with all the vampires, anyway? There are those that theorize that the hard economic conditions parallel a resurgence of interest in the supernatural. Others contend that vampires are simply the newest outlet for teenage sexuality. Perhaps both are true. But for many, there is not much to dislike about a sexy, dangerous guy who is willing to offer the kiss of immortality.

I read The Vampire Diaries on HarperTeen’s new “Browse Inside” online feature, which offers the entirety of certain novels online for reading pleasure, making these books perfectly free ways to capture the last vestiges of Halloween cheer. After all, fantasy series like Twilight and The Vampire Diaries offer a glimpse into a world controlled by desire and lust, where no boundary is off-limits. They are guilty pleasures in socially acceptable packages; they are escapist adventures to a world offering the perfect balance between nightmare and dream.

John Ondrasik, better known by his stage name, Five for Fighting, became a household name following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. His hit single “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” became one of the most-played radio hits of the year, launching his career. Since then, he has released three more albums, The Battle for Everything, Two Lights and his latest, Slice.

Like all of his previous albums, Slice is primarily piano-driven, with acoustic guitar, bass and drums playing prominent roles. With each successive album, it seems Ondrasik’s piano lines have become more energetic and interesting, a trend that has carried into this latest release.

Out of all the aforementioned instruments, the drums would seem to be the odd man out, as they tend to be a louder and more expressive instrument, and thus might sound out of place next to the other somewhat understated instruments. But Ondrasik fits the drums into his songs seamlessly, such as on the first single, “Chances.” The drums provide solid rhythmic support for the active piano line that serves as the main melody. “Chances” also has some lyrical draw: The main character in the song is a man talking to his significant other, saying that while he does not want to be apart from her, “chances are” it may be necessary because of circumstances beyond his control. The song is a refreshing look on love that does not spew platitudes or clichés. The music video fittingly depicts two teenagers in love.

“Note to the Unknown Soldier” also stands out from a lyrical standpoint, as the song thanks an unknown soldier for his service. Ondrasik addresses him in the third person singular, but the message applies to all fallen soldiers. Throughout the song, he asks the soldier questions in an attempt to get to know him better.

The lyrics to “Tuesday” continue this patriotic theme, imploring everyone not to forget the lessons learned from Sept. 11. It features a beautiful violin solo with smooth, legato notes, adding another dimension to the song.

But other moments on the album are less intense. Academy-award winning songwriter Steven Schwartz, most famous for his Broadway soundtracks to Godspell, Pippin and Wicked, co-wrote the title track, as well as “Above the Timberline.” Schwartz’s influence can be felt most in the latter track, a groovy song with a strong drum beat to which it is easy to dance. It even incorporates a trumpet for a jazzy feel and is probably the most “fun” song on the album.

Other interesting musical moments occur in “Love Can’t Change the Weather,” in which one can hear a subtle R&B influence, and in “This Dance,” with staccato eighth and 16th notes in the opening piano riff. “This Dance” also takes a minimalist approach, with only the piano supporting the vocals for the first minute-and-a-half, and even after that, just a subtle acoustic guitar line coming in later on in the song.

The album is extremely enjoyable and should appeal to music fans of all ages. The album’s singles will undoubtedly play well on adult contemporary or pop charts. On Slice, Ondrasik flexes his creative muscles and shows us why he has stayed relevant for so long.

What happens when you cross Fallout 3 with Diablo II and cover it in a fresh coat of cell-shaded paint? You get Borderlands, the new open-world first-person shooter/role playing game from Gearbox Software. While FPS/RPG isn’t a combo of genres that you hear together very often, Borderlands does a good job of integrating components from both of these styles. There’s a solid shooter base that rewards accuracy, speed and planning, but there is also an in-depth skill tree which allows for extensive character customization.

Borderlands is set on a wasteland of a planet known as Pandora. The player starts the game by choosing one of four possible character archetypes: the soldier, the hunter, the berserker or the siren (a sci-fi assassin). None of the characters has a particularly deep back story or personality but the player can express his individuality by tailoring his character to his own particular playing style by way of the aforementioned skill trees. Once you get into the game proper, you will find yourself traversing the wasteland, fighting off parties of raiders and searching for an elusive Mecca of advanced technology known as “The Vault.” No, you didn’t just stumble onto a review of Fallout 3, but Borderlands is delightfully self-aware of the major similarities to that other wasteland-traversing title and even goes so far as to allow you to pick up bobble heads and sell them for in-game currency.

Although Pandora is a compelling world, plot takes somewhat of a backseat to gameplay in this title. The shooting component is well executed but lacks some of the refinements that are now seen in most FPSs, such as a cover system. Where the gameplay really starts to shine is in the realm of customization. Borderlands uses a randomly-generated loot system similar to the one found in Diablo II. This means that there are hundreds of thousands of possible permutations when it comes to weapons. There’s always a certain thrill associated with not knowing if the next weapon you find will be junk or an epic upgrade. Additionally, your character levels up via experience points, which you receive for killing enemies and turning in quests. Every time you level up, you can allocate a skill point into a class-specific ability. With time, your character will play quite differently than even someone of the same class.

On that note, Borderlands supports two-player offline co-op and four player parties through the Internet. Tearing through the wasteland with three friends is a rollicking good time, and all of the customization means that everyone can bring something unique to the table.

The cartoonish art style of Borderlands fits the game like a glove. Full of humor and over-the-top characters, Borderlands is in many ways the antithesis of the serious and bleak world of Fallout 3. Sound in the game is also very solid, with compelling music and good voice acting.

There are, however, a few areas where Borderlands disappoints. As previously stated, the shooting mechanic is good but not great. There also are some annoyingly long load screens in between different areas of the wasteland. Finally, as good as the game can be online, if you don’t already have friends lined up with whom to play, it can be a hassle to find people who are at the right level or on the right quests.

The takeaway: Despite these shortcomings, Borderlands manages to impress by not taking itself too seriously. Between the humorous dialogue and the vibrant art style, I found myself thoroughly enjoying my time on Pandora.

I don’t usually find new music artists on TV and if I do, it’s not on some teeny-bopper show like One Tree Hill. But rotting my brain while watching this show led to some good when two years ago; I got chills hearing Kate Voegele sing and play “Kindly Unspoken” on the piano. The rest is history.

A talented, Ohio-born rocker, Voegele is a mix of Michelle Branch and Miley Cyrus. Like Branch, Voegele plays the guitar and writes her own songs, although her music ends up being a tad more exciting. If you cringed as soon as you read “Miley Cyrus,” don’t worry. By comparing her Cyrus, I only meant that Voegele has really, really catchy songs. Unlike Cyrus, however, Kate’s voice is far from nasal and you won’t mind having her songs stuck in your head.

I was stunned by Voegele’s first album, Don’t Look Away­ — and indeed I haven’t looked away since. Her second album, A Fine Mess, came out last May — look up both.

The album only has nine songs, yet what’s surprising is that they’re all good. Voegele spends most of it complaining about a lying, incompetent guy who she can’t get enough of. We’ve all been there, so it’s not difficult to relate. While this theme could annoy listeners, the lyrics are actually mature and she sings as if telling a story to friends.

The only thing “messy” about this album is the occasional dull or awkward verse. On “Inside Out” and “Manhattan from the Sky,” the choruses rock, but it sounds like Voegele settled for mediocre verses that don’t quite fit with the chorus. The majority of the lyrics work, though, and it’s hard not to love her bouncy music. Other than that, Voegele has a knack for catchy choruses and a powerful, sassy voice that’s hard not to love.

The album opens with “Inside Out” which although slow at first is definitely worth playing. In my opinion, however, the album should have opened with “99 Times,” which will probably be played 99 times before you put this album to rest.

The fourth song, “Angel,” is another favorite. The guitar sounds delightfully punk-ish and we hear Voegele’s independent spirit shine through as she sings “I’m not your angel, baby, never gonna be.”

“Sweet Silver Lining” is depressing, but also features a lovely melody and a hint of hope. It’s one of those sad songs you can’t help loving. Never fear, however, “Playing with My Heart” will perk you up again. The upbeat song starts off with clapping, and it’s difficult to stop dancing around the whole time.

For fans who trooped to Washington D.C. to hear the young star perform a couple weeks ago, the trip was well worth it. Voegele proved the strength of her voice by singing despite a cold — and she still sounded better live than on her albums. While she might be more under-the-radar than most popular acts these days, I’ve been waiting to get sick of A Fine Mess but haven’t. Time to get back to OTH — who knows what new star will turn up next.

Imagine an online network of people so generous and resourceful that they lend and lease their unused belongings to people in their communities who actually need them. It almost sounds too good to be true.

Such a system of borrowing, however, already exists in Charlottesville, and it is growing everyday.

With all the perks of popular Web sites like Craigslist and Amazon, BorrowMe.com allows students, small organizations and other “frugal folks” to enjoy the convenience of borrowing the items they need, without the purchase price, safety concerns and hassles of cross-country shipping.

Created in 2005, BorrowMe began in Calgary, Canada as a way for people to save money on items like textbooks, furniture and cookware.

The idea for the company started with a Spiderman DVD and a close friend, CEO and Founder Sean Young said.

“I was walking to the rental store when I bumped into one of my friends,” he said. “We chatted and I revealed where I was going and why. He later suggested that I just borrow his entire Spiderman DVD collection instead of buying it.”

Everyone appreciates saving a few bucks here and there, Young said. Why not take the idea one step further?

“If I had X-ray vision and could look through all of these peoples’ garages, I’d find all of these piles of stuff that we all collect,” he said. “Who really uses all of the junk in their basement or garage? On average, how much dust does it collect? If everyone could share the things they didn’t use with people they chose, money would be saved and those items would be put to great use. Life would be a whole lot cheaper and everyone would be happy.”

Young’s goal for BorrowMe was simple: to make use of what is available next door.

“Maybe it’s a little bit quaint, as if we are in the 1950s, but I think something is missing,” he said. “We are all really great at self-sufficiency but what we’re lacking is a little bit of helping out our neighbor.”

Fast forward four years, and the philosophy behind his Web site is beginning to gain momentum. Currently, BorrowMe serves more than 1,000 customers, including a healthy amount right here in Charlottesville.

Still, many people are largely unaware of the hundreds of items at their fingertips or how they can make their items available to others with just a few clicks of a mouse.

In addition to borrowing, lending, renting, gifting and buying items, BorrowMe allows people to contribute to local charities. In the future, Young said, there will be a “Donate Now” button that will connect users to a charity’s “wish list” of items they need.

BorrowMe also looks to expand by increasing the amount of items to which it has access.

“We need volume to start with, so sharing games, music and movies is a great step,” Young said. “Anything we have a lot of will help. Plus, those are the easiest things to list and put on your profile, making it known that you have them.”

These items are particularly abundant among students and will allow BorrowMe to increase the volume of products it offers.

“Eventually, I would like students to borrow textbooks, but volume is necessary to begin that feat,” he said.

Students are the ideal users of BorrowMe, he said.

“If you need a lot of stuff but don’t have a lot of money, you are the perfect candidate,” Young said. “Not only are young people more willing to participate in ‘social sharing,’ but they are more interested in stretching their dollar.”

Logging in and creating a profile on BorrowMe is comparable to using the social networking site Facebook, which users also can use to find more items on BorrowMe.

“Who wants to add another application and create another profile to complicate life?” Young said, adding, “With one button, you can use your Facebook profile and your friend relations to get started.”

After learning about BorrowMe and its practical conveniences, first-year Engineering student Derrick Edwards said he liked the idea.

“If I needed something to fill a space, like a couch, for a year, I would definitely consider BorrowMe,” he said. “Although it sounds too great, it has to be reliable because it’s local and people cannot only borrow things from each other but also rent and buy items.”

Reliability and safety were two of Young’s key concerns when creating the site. Although BorrowMe may sound similar to companies like Craigslist, the site is safer, Young said. “If you posted that anyone could borrow your wheelbarrow on Craigslist, it’d be gone in a second,” he said. On BorrowMe, “you’re generally borrowing and trading among your friends or people you know through your friends. It’s a community affair.”

BorrowMe users also have the choice of whom to share their products with, he said, an aspect of the site that will benefit “the under-30 club.”

Since the site opened, there has only been one instance — during a trial run — when a transaction went sour.

“The person packed up his item in a box, paid for shipping and sent it to a complete stranger; unfortunately, we never regained contact with the borrower,” Young said. “The lesson learned from that mishap is to be smart with your stuff. When in doubt, exchange something as a test to measure reliability.”

Overall, third-year College student Rebecca Johnson finds BorrowMe more practical than problematic.

“A lot of people need things for no more than a year that can be passed around,” she said. “If BorrowMe makes it easier to network between friends and share items, then it will definitely expand in college communities.”

Edwards wondered, though, whether BorrowMe will ever attract enough users to become a truly viable solution.

“Despite the alternatives to purchasing, I think people will still buy the latest technological advances,” he said. “I’d like to see that diminish and have the alternatives like BorrowMe excel, but we will just have to see.”

Young admits that people may think it silly to use an online site to facilitate sharing with friends. But at the same time, being friends with someone does not necessarily mean that each person knows what the other needs or could lend.

“I don’t have a clue what you need and you don’t have a clue about what I’ve got,” he said. “No one walks around telling their friends what movies they own, so BorrowMe gives you an opportunity to put your things on display to whomever you want to share them with.”

Moving forward, Young said he hopes that BorrowMe will help create a greater sense of community among students and neighbors. After all, he said, “giving creates community while generating reciprocity and goodwill.”

If you have more money than you know what to do with, then this column is not for you. If you, however, have had trouble making ends meet or wish that you had more money than you do, I invite you to continue reading.

For starters, you can take comfort in knowing that your situation is not unique. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t felt pinched for money at some time or another, or who couldn’t benefit from some extra funds. If you find yourself without enough money for everything you’d like, you have two options: earn more or spend less. Allow me to focus on that second option.

By now, I know what you’re thinking: cutting back isn’t fun to do and won’t be fun to read about. But the purpose of this column is not to inform you about how to make do with less fun, but rather how to make more fun with less money. I’m not here to be preachy, just to offer some practical tips and advice. My aim is that you will discover at least one helpful nugget that you can use to improve the quality of your life.

Wants versus needs

A great starting point is to differentiate the things that you want from the things that you truly need. We might all want to drive a fancy new car with all the bells and whistles, but none of us need such a pimped-out ride. Needs are the things you cannot do without and they will differ from person to person. For example, while some fourth-year students probably need to spend money on dry cleaning to get their suits all spiffy for interviews and callbacks, few first-year students likely need to spend a penny on it.

Simply because you don’t need something, doesn’t mean you can’t or won’t spend money on it. Just make sure you have enough money to cover all of your real needs first and that you are being honest with yourself as to whether your expenses are really needs or wants.

Take advantage of special discounts and freebies

Another great way to save money is to take advantage of special deals and freebies. As a student affiliated with this great university, you have many opportunities to do so. Many merchants offer student discounts. Simply by showing your University I.D. card, you can save 5 percent off your grocery bill at local supermarkets and reduce the price you pay for tickets at the movie theater. You can get travel discounts and procure the latest version of Windows for only $10 from Cavalier Computers — that’s more than a hundred dollars off the retail price. If technology is up your alley, you have no need to pay for an antivirus program anymore. ITC licenses allows students to get the software for free.

Additionally, some other great services and products are available to students completely free of cost. You can attend Virginia home sporting events at no charge, while alumni are paying hundreds of dollars for season tickets. The Arts Box Office lets you purchase theater and concert tickets without spending any actual money.

If you’d like to go to the upcoming Virginia Film Festival — which draws attendees from around the country, all of whom must buy tickets for the event — you can get certain tickets for free. If you’re a student that prefers to look at art on a wall, students’ tuition also includes membership to the University’s Art Museum. Check out their “Final Fridays” receptions for special events and free wine. Interested in going to the movies? Instead of paying top dollar you can watch movies on the big screen at Newcomb Hall for only $3 a ticket. This Friday there is even a special free Halloween screening of “Corpse Bride” on the Lawn at 6:30 p.m. Or, take advantage of the DVDs that you can check out from Clemons without spending a dime.

To my own admission, these are just a few of the discounts and freebies available. Send me an e-mail with your favorite promotion, deal or freebie and I’ll feature the best tips in a future column.

Comparison shop to save money

Another great way to reduce your expenses without reducing the quality of your life is to comparison shop. You can often purchase the same item at very different prices depending on where you buy it. An obvious example is gas, and although per gallon savings may be small, they can add up throughout the course of a year. Shopping around on textbooks is a great way to save money, too. Books are often available online at cheaper prices than at the University Bookstore and used books can also be purchased from other students. I saved more than $100 this fall just on the books I bought.

Warehouse stores such as Costco and Sam’s Club also may offer great deals on the same items you’re looking at in smaller retailers. Comparison-shopping on big-ticket items such as cars, TVs and furniture can pay off handsomely. I also recommend shopping around for financial services products (e.g. loans, CDs and insurance), as rates often differ significantly.

By shopping around and taking advantage of discounts and freebies, you can cut back your spending without cutting back your fun or consumption. And that means that in the end, you’ll be able to afford more of your wants.

Ben’s column runs biweekly Thursdays. He can be reached at b.grosz@cavalierdaily.com.