It’s Thursday night and (because Glee doesn’t air until 9), I’m bored. Of course I should be studying for that Psych midterm or making a half-hearted attempt to come up with an acceptable topic for my English paper. But as always, my short attention span has gotten the best of me. And I’m definitely not alone. The halls ring with people (only half-seriously) making death threats at each other while playing Brawl and my roommate continues to send more lines in Tetris Battle than I’ve written on this page. But although those options are definitely intriguing, I choose to waste spend my time elsewhere.

I like watching music videos.

This actually isn’t as random an activity as it sounds. Remember old-school MTV (Let’s face it, the “M” has pretty much been dead since “The Real World”)? They used to play rotations of music videos all day long, from the remarkable to the plain ridiculous. And yes, people actually watched them. I’d definitely rather listen to Frankie say “Relax” than sit through an hour of some overrated GTL on Jersey Shore (how do I even know what that stands for…).

And though 80s music videos were awesome for all their guilty pleasure cheesiness, modern takes have gotten so much more interesting. Some could stand on their own, complete with epic monologues, stunning cinematography, and full-on explosions worthy of a Michael Bay film. And others simply spring from ingenius ideas and creativity.

Music videos (as crazy as they sometimes seem) give us a glimpse into the mind of the artist (or director) who reinterpreted the song into a visual form for viewers to enjoy. Some are destined for controversy. Some have awesome dance break sequences. And some are just kind of creepy. But others break records. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was the first music video to be inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant. Not bad for a group of zombies.

In today’s media-obsessed culture, it looks like music videos are here to stay, even if they are broadcast through mediums other than your television. Great ones can win coveted Grammys and VMA’s (who could forget that Beyoncé had one of the “best videos of all time“), while others make their own definitive impact. Even you can make your own music videos. All you need is a video camera, a song, and some friends (preferably ones who can lip-sync better than 2007 Britney Spears). Trust me, these are the kind of memories that you’ll want to look back on later (even if it’s just to laugh hysterically).

So essentially, when I’m taking a five minute (or an hour-long) break to catch up on Rihanna’s latest, I’m educating myself on a significant aspect of pop culture. Who knows? Maybe in the future, all this “studying” will assist me in directing projects of my own, whether they be cryptic music videos or documentaries following sea turtles around the world. But hey, if not, at least this English major will be able to tell her kids what the square root of 69 is. (8-something, right?)

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