There are many fifty-dollar words to be learned through reading above your intelligence level. During these times, it pays to have a dictionary close to hand. For example, meretricious means tawdrily attractive, as in, “I don’t usually go for girls carrying handcuffs, but you are especially meretricious.”

Another fifty-dollar word worth knowing is the German schadenfreude. There’s no word for it in English, but it roughly translates to a feeling of happiness when someone else suffers a misfortune. A great example of this wonderful feeling can be found near the end of Thomas Bernhard’s Woodcutters, a bitter novel set in the Viennese cultural scene of the 1980s. Alcohol seems to be the drug of choice in this novel, but expect a powdery line of condescension and spite throughout.

This is our submission to the University of Illinois' 49-Hour Film Competition from last weekend in which we had 49 hours to make a five-minute movie incorporating balloons, an extreme close-up and the line, "It went too far." Enjoy!

There’s a library of sorts in town that hasn’t drawn near the attention of the refurbished digs at the Champaign and Urbana Public Libraries, despite its offering a few books that you won’t find in the stacks of Champaign or Urbana’s book repositories. Such rediscovered treasures include: a robust collection of obscure 1950s-era science fiction, a turn-of-the-century cookbook authored by a former slave, the story of one man’s 1870s canoe trip from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico, a collection of olden sea shanties and a copy of Manners, Custom and Dress During the Middle Ages. For the timid, this library also offers classics like The Jungle, Jane Eyre, James Joyce and Jules Verne. Truthfully, this library of sorts, cleverly titled BookGlutton, isn’t a typical library, although it offers plenty of books to read. Rather, it’s a free online Web site for reading books in a communal setting. That means no late fees for those keeping score at home.

The Song and Dance Ensemble of West Africa appears tonight at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. The performance begins at 7 p.m. in Foellinger Great Hall.

Comprised of singers, dancers and musicians from the various cultures of West Africa, this company combines the traditional rhythms, instruments, folklore and mythology of nations such as Togo, Senegal, Guinea, Ghana, Benin, The Ivory Coast and Mauritania.