An artist's everything.

I suggest doing/watching/reading/listening to someone's everything. Read every book by a certain author. Watch every movie directed by or staring a certain person. Ask your most artistically sound friend to make you CDs of songs by their favorite artist. In short, broaden your horizons. Taking in all of this EVERYTHING will make you feel smart, keep you from watching The View and will give you things to talk about when you get out of your pajamas to attend happy hours and the like. Here are some of my personal recommendations:

• Actor: OK, you might think I am joking but I think you should watch every movie staring Angelina Jolie. But seriously, she's in some good stuff. I don't recommend going pre-Hackers but her catalog spans the spectrum from period pieces like The Good Shepherd, to action movies like Gone in Sixty Seconds (with grossy McCagey) and Wanted, to dramatic awesomeness like Girl, Interrupted and GIA. And she's easy on them eyes.
• Director: If you're not familiar with the work of Nicole Holofcenter, please look into it. Not only has she directed episodes of Six feet Under and Sex and the City, but her movies Walking and Talking, Lovely & Amazing and Friends with Money are very much worth watching. 
• Author: I have a problem with book and author collecting. I get obsessed with reading the work of certain writers and I can't stop. Some of those I recommend are: Augusten Burroughs, Bret Easton Ellis, Alice Sebold, Douglas Coupland, James Frey and John Irving. These are mainstream authors whose books you can find used on the internet with almost zero problem. Or I can be a good citizen and lend you my copies. Just ask. 
• Musician: I highly recommend the work of someone named Blake Schwarzenbach. He has been in bands called Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil. Once upon a time I addressed how I felt about his music on another blog. You can read about it here. 

Regardless of which artists you choose, just invest in it. Maybe they have a biography. If this obsession doesn't tickle your fancy, maybe you can just stalk a crush on the internet. That's a fine way to pass a few days.