This list was compiled by my screenwriter friends Ed and Whit.
Need more fun ideas? Hopefully this helps. Check out Part 6 here.
Get Happy
Get Smart (and Creative)
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Create To Connect. A new program that gives you a creative assignment every day in May. It hopes to get your creative spirit going and improve your well-being.
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Coursera is offering their online courses for free! The catch is: you have to be on unemployment in a state that has signed up for the program. So far, Illinois, Arizona and Oklahoma are signed up but they expect more to come in the following weeks.
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Even Melania is trying to help! She tweeted a word search puzzle for kids. Be best! (Hint: “Best” is a diagonal-up, left to right, smack dab in the center, starting four rows down).
Get Away
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In a past post we listed a virtual tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House. Well, now we get to visit his other sites as part of #WrightVirtualVisits. Fallingwater, Monona Terrace, Taliesen and so many more. Every Thursday at 1pm ET/10am PT, each site will share a short video of another site. Continues through July 9th. Click here for the list of sites.
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You don’t like video games! I get it. They’re boring, not story-driven and definitely not for everyone. But these are new and trying times. Maybe trying a video game would help you. Still not convinced? Here’s a list of 10 story-driven video games for first-timers.
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Use and support Facebook at your own risk but they are launching Facebook Messenger Rooms (ahead of schedule) which allow up to 50 people to join in a video chat. It may take a while to roll out to all of us but learn more here.
Get watching
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New activity: privately make a list of five movies you assume everyone has seen. Have your friend do the same. Then go down your list, back and forth against each other, until you hit one that one of you hasn’t seen. Be outraged if it’s your friend, be embarrassed if it’s you. Then watch the movie together!
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Sailor Moon, three seasons, free on YouTube. But only releasing one season every week.
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The Last Airbender — a series M. Night Shyamalan apparently ruined with a movie — will be available on Netflix starting May 15th. Read here for more information. But don’t tell M. Night!
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Miley Cyrus sings a haunting cover of Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here.”
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3,000 interviews, 50 years of music. Yale’s Oral History of American Music has compiled audio and video recordings of composers, jazz musicians, and other major musical figures. And it’s all free! You may have to ask for access — it is a library after all — but it’s open to the public. Plus, they’ve added “Alone Together,” Zoom interviews for the lockdown.
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Michelle Obama is doing story time every Monday on PBS KIDS’s Facebook page and YouTube channel. Three more weeks of stories. Get schedule and more here.
Get Healthy
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Drawing while you run! With Strava. Yes, it’s a running app but these are desperate times. Why not make some art while you get in shape? And it might make the arduous task of running more enjoyable — for you, your spouse, or even your kids!
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Let’s try and come out of this isolation healthier than we were! One way is to use these in-home fitness routines.
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Bill Gates knows a thing or two about pandemics. He’s been warning us for years to prepare. We didn’t. Now he has some thoughts on what we need — and need to do — before returning to our previous lives. Read it here.
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Tired of rice and beans? They live again with this Peruvian take on the old staples.