Mon. Oct. 30

When we were in college, we ate crap. Loads of cafeteria food and then Wendy's for a treat. What do they say about going to college and gaining weight the first year? Oh dear, yes. We're pleased to say we're way down weight-wise now, but we remember well the temptations posed by dorm life. Daphne Oz, daughter of best-selling cardiologist Mehmet Oz, knows this turf. She struggled with her weight as a teen, and now at Princeton, she's written "The Dorm Room Diet: The 8-Step Program for Creating a Healhty Lifestyle Plan That Works." She writes about not eating because of emotional need, getting exercise (even in the cell-like dorm), choosing the vitamins, avoiding the easy pitfalls etc. We'd say this book could be empowering to some folks, if only we hadn't banned ourselves from ever using that word. Let's just say: Ya might learn something. Oz hosts a discussion Monday Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. on level 3 at the Harvard Coop, sponsored by the Harvard Book Store. Free.

 1400 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-499-2012

Oct. 27 and 28 

The Regent Theatre takes you,"  to a world where YouTube, iPods and Tivos do not exist. It takes you to "Rhythm at the Regent," a variety show, vaudeville - a place where people spin trays, tap dance, juggle, roller skate, play jazz, strum ukeleles and more. The highlight, we're guessing, is the new piece created by Thelma Goldberg for the Legacy Dancers of the Dance Inn, New England's only tap rep company. It's a new work for "taps and plastic buckets." Yes, that's right. (Maybe there's a little "Stomp" in Thelma.) The shows take place Friday at 8 and Saturday at 2 and 8. Tickets: $29.50-$22.50.

7 Medford St., Arlington 781-646-4849 regenttheatre.com

Sat., Oct. 28

Hedwig goes Rocky Horror? Well, traditions have to start somewhere don't they, so why not at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, that groundbreaking little complex in Coolidge Corner? "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" was a great gender-bending glam-rock play that turned into - in our minds - a somewhat lesser movie, but we saw the play in a tiny theater in New York so maybe that spoiled it for us. Nothing like a theater-full of loud fans. And, really, that's the idea here: "Hedwig" is the kind of play you can sing along to, brings props to, and go wiggy at. The Coolidge is making it the kind of film where they won't be asking you for courtesy silence during the midnight screening. Tickets: $9.50.

290 Harvard St., Brookline 617-734-2500 coolidge.org

Sat., Oct. 28

We used to spend Super Bowl Sunday at Dick's Last Resort on Huntington and ate and drank ourselves into a pleasant stupor - happy mostly when the Patriots won, but rarely discontented. Dick's has moved to Quincy Market at Fanueil Hall Marketplace and it's a smaller joint, but we guess no less wild. And what better holiday fits the Dick's mix than Halloween? WZLX is hosting its 11th Annual Halloween Bash there and Dick's will award $200 for best costume. You can also count on the waitrons for A-level costuming. Dick's - which has an aura of semi-debauchery and tawdriness but actually has great food and is real friendly - is promising "icky surprises'' and special Halloween drinks like Shakka Grape Liquer and Red Bull and Mad Dog 20/20. It starts at the ungoldy hour of 5 p.m. and goes to closing. WZLX is live on-air from 10 to midnight.  Free, 21-plus.

Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, 617-267-8080

Sat. Oct. 28

The Middle East has its share of rock bands impersonating other rock bands on Tuesday, but T.T. the Bears, just around the corner, beats the Middle (timing-wise anyway) with ... the same thing! Just different real bands and fake bands. This Halloween could make for one heck of a time-trip for the Cambridge clubgoer. T.T.'s is calling this Saturday's show the "Hall-and-Oates-Oween Party," which means the headliners are the Rudds as Hall and Oates (they'll play a set of originals, too); the World's Greatest Sinners will fake it as Sly & the Family Stone - they'll certainly be better than Sly was during that weird Grammy segment - and Silver Lining as The Who. The merriment starts at 9 p.m. and costs $9.

10 Brookline St., Cambridge, 617-492-0082 ttthebears.com