The magic of the Internet permeates our campus every day. It helps us exchange hundreds of e-mail messages and download thousands of songs that can keep a party alive all night.

Not to mention how it assists us in the dreadful task of researching late into the night after the library closes.

One way that the Internet has fallen short in the past, however, is by not providing a solid resource for filling the time of the many students in St. Louis who complain every weekend that there is “nothing to do.”

Of course we college students are most concerned with either the things that are very cheap, or very cool-or even better-both.

All we want is a single Web site to look at that will give us several ideas that we can sort through in order to find one that hits us in the right spot.

That complaint is about to disappear. Search through City Search’s site at stlouis.citysearch.com, move your mouse to stltoday.com, or get online with the Riverfront Times at riverfronttimes.com and you are going to find listing upon listing of events in St. Louis.

Of course, some of the events are not meant to appeal to college students, such as tickets to see Riverdance at the Fox for a mere $64.50.

There are, however, those gems like the Forest Park Concerts, featuring favorites such as Vargas Swing, that do not have an entrance fee.

A favorite newspaper in St. Louis, the Riverfront Times (RFT), has an online version available at riverfronttimes.com.

This site, maintained by RFT staff (genuine St. Louisians), opens with links to articles found in the current Riverfront Times.

Basically, it is just like the paper, minus the ads.

At first glance, it does not look like a great resource for activities, but if you click the “Summertime 2001” box on the left-hand side of the page, you will be swept away to a huge database of events, organized by date.

You can also separate the list by category, such as sports or arts.

The site is easy to navigate and each event listing includes details such as contact information, price and location.

One of the unique features of this site is its complete listing of places where you can go floating, camping, biking, fishing or golfing-including contact information and locations.

Another extraordinary link on this page is the list of useful phone numbers for organizations in Missouri and Illinois such as the River Country Bed & Breakfast or the Missouri Arts Council.

All in all, this site boasts an abundant supply of articles and reviews regarding entertainment happenings in the city.

“If you type `Pageant’ into www.google.com, you will get links to the beauty pageants. But if you type `Pageant’ into stltoday.com, you’ll get one of St. Louis’ favorite music venues! Stltoday.com is the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s solution to any weekend boredom crisis in the city.

This site opens with links to local news articles (straight from the Post-Dispatch) and at first it looks like just a newspaper online. Look further, however, and you’ll find a box called the STL Entertainment Buzz.

Once you click on that box, you will leave the newspaper aspect of the site and quickly enter a respectable resource for entertainment news.

Stltoday.com provides a thorough listing of concerts and theaters, listed by location and date. For other types of events, the site provides little more than a few detailed reviews of big happenings around the city..

An unusual feature on this site is its complete listing for 483 bars in the St. Louis area.

This site also has a “Top 10 Attractions” listing for the St. Louis area, making it the perfect tool for showing visitors where a good time can be had.

This is a great site for local news and also for visitors. Even though it falls short in giving a detailed list of all events coming up, the ones that it does mention are properly and thoroughly covered.

Perhaps the most popular web site for local entertainment listings is City Search’s stlouis.citysearch.com, and rightfully so. This site is almost cluttered with all of the options that pop up on the home page, but with a simple click on the “All City Events By Calendar” link, the site becomes much more manageable.

An informative list pops up with a huge number of events that are happening in St. Louis right now.

The list is complete with location, type of event, neighborhood and date information, plus a short review of many of the events.

There are listings for people of all ages, and while many of the events are expensive, there are just as many that are inexpensive or cost next to nothing.

Another feature of this site is its “Make Weekend Plans” link under the “Weekend” category.

It is perfect for planning a Saturday afternoon with visiting friends who want to see tourist attractions or with good friends from school who want to do something new.

This site does a poor job providing local news information, but that’s not its function.

Instead, it hopes to provide St. Louisians with a complete listing of the things that are happening in the city.

This will result in event that will be well attended and so that residents have the knowledge to get out of their houses and stop complaining about “weekend boredom”.

Each of these sites has its positive and negative features, so take a few minutes and find out which one helps you the most.

Then get ready for an exciting weekend.