The question isn’t whether you watched TV over winter break. It’s how MUCH.

Were all those late-night Downton Abbey sessions an escapist waste of time? Does watching three consecutive seasons of White Collar (#underrated) in as many days make you an insane insomniac? Are you high on Videoweed?

No, no, no. You were just culturally informing yourself! Quite understandable. Admirable, even. But now that you’re pop culturally informed, the real time-wasting can begin. With some of the many TV mash-ups the Internet has to offer…

Beyoncé lyrics + Downton Abbey = Downton Abbeyoncé

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For many of us, the time-wasting already happened – last night. We put off our civic duties in favor of other activities that may have seemed more pressing than the economy or national education. If you feel the pangs of guilt or anticipate a pop quiz from your parents, you may want to learn a little more about what was said in last night’s State of the Union address. Here’s a crash course in the main points so you don’t sound ignorant on your first day back at the Ratty.

Yes, that's a cat giving another cat a massage.

There’s no record of anyone dying from an OD of cuteness (yet), but if anyone’s feeling up to the task, there’s Cute Roulette. Joining the plethora of websites featuring the distracting adorableness of the animal kingdom, Cute Roulette brings you and a puppy falling asleep (oh boy can we sympathize), a panda playing soccer (it’s like watching two fat black and white fluffballs roll each other around), and a cat trying to fit into a water bottle (because the internet isn’t complete without a healthy dose of feline).

Not to be confused for that other roulette, which is probably definitely NSFW.

Goodbye productivity, hello adorable hugging cats.

In honor of reading period’s kickoff, we are making the transition from time-wasters to study breaks. Same deal, just more of them (and a different name). Good luck studying (and breaking)!

Today, part three of In Focus‘s photo series “2011: The Year In Photos” was posted.  This is the final installment of the three-day series, and you can view all 120(!) images by starting here and working your way through the galleries.  Ranging from funny to powerful to downright upsetting, these beautiful photos of interesting events, each accompanied by 2-3 sentences of backstory, are all fascinating.

Ryan Gosling may not be Sexiest Man Alive, but he certainly is Sexiest Meme Alive. Spin-offs of the original Hey Girl Tumblr, which pairs adorable pictures of R-Gos with equally adorable captions, are everywhere. And some of them are pretty great.

We first fell in love (in an empowered, 21st century kind of way) with Feminist Ryan Gosling, but these days there are so many we don’t even know who to choose. Public Historian R-Gos? Librarian Gosling, Thesis Gosling and Biostatistics Gosling feel particularly relevant at this point in the semester. There’s even Gosblr, a Tumblr devoted to Ryan Gosling Tumblrs, the existence of which makes me kind of worry that we’re all on the brink of implosion.

Image via.

Need an incentive to keep writing your paper? What if you were to automatically build study breaks into your productive streaks? Under writtenkitten.net, for every _(you set the number: 100/200/500/1,000)_ words you write, you will be rewarded: ALL CATS NO ALLERGIES! A built-in word count on the site keeps track of your progress and then, voila! Cat.

If you need further reward for your labors, here’s another catalyst to light a fire under your ass.

This is a little old, but it’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen take place in a college dorm room recently. These guys are great for those of you who were pissed when Karmin like totally jumped the shark by appearing at the AMAs. I’m strongly considering changing the alarm on my phone to this girl sweetly singing “all skeet skeet motherfucker!” on repeat.

In case you’ve been waiting for Reading Period to catch up on Perez, let me fill you in on some of Hollywood’s most outrageous stories. A few months ago, has-been actor Doug Hutchison wed the questionably then-16-year-old Courtney Stodden. With her collagen lips and scanty clothing, Stodden has become infamous for her blatant promiscuity displayed in the frequent (and alliterated) updates on her personal Twitter account.

It didn’t take long for a very clever blogger to juxtapose her racy tweets with pictures of cute animals, specifically pugs in costume. The result: “Pugs with Courtney Stodden Tweets”, a tumblr ”with nothing but ssslippery excitement“!

Image via. 

This video is so cool and college-relevant it probably shouldn’t even be considered a waste of one’s time. Ingenuity + Penchant for Binge Drinking Cheaply = 1st Natural Light in Space. If you want to waste more of your day viewing cheap ‘beer’-lovers with too much time, make your way here, where the site author treats forties like fine wines…

Happy December 1st everyone! Though here at BlogDH we usually spend our time kibitzing and kvetching, we do get into the holiday spirit now and then. In case the haze of finals period causes you to lose track of your will to live the date, you can check Is It Christmas, a timely entry into the crowded field of single-purpose web pages.

isitchristmas.com

Other YES/NO websites you may find helpful…

For when you want Geoff’s.
For when you want to use meal credits for Blue Room breakfast.
For when you want chicken fingers.
For when you’re being a hamster.