Library

Libraries are wonderful places. They'll lend you books for free, and charge you a dime a day if you're late.

I like to request things via inter-library loan. You used to have to work with the librarian to do this; now, you can do-it-yourself online. I get a lot of DVD's this way. When I go to pick them up, though, I always feel that the librarian is judging me based on what I'm getting. If it's the third season of the BBC's "Ballykissangel," for example, it's okay because it passes the public-TV-I'm-a-discriminating-viewer muster. More likely, though, it's some movie that I want to see but don't really want to pay for, probably with Jennifer Aniston in it.

So I make sure that when I request one of those movies, I also request a highbrow novel that will counteract the stigma of my lowbrow film. I like to do this in themes -- if I get "27 Dresses," I'll also get "100 Years of Solitude." If it's season 2 of "How I Met Your Mother," I'll get Vonnegut's "Mother Night." And so on. It diverts their attention, and messes with their heads.