My last post, 8 Movies to Distract You from COVID-19, was about catching up on classic movies to distract yourself during this crisis. Distraction is a valuable mental health tool, because it gives us the space to not be anxious all the time. And movies seemed like a good bet, because they only take a couple of hours, which is great for those of us who still don’t have much free time.

But what if you don’t have access to Netflix or Amazon Prime? What if you need something fun and interesting that’s free?

Well, my friend, there is plenty out there to explore. Here are a few audio & visual options from your friendly neighborhood audiovisual translator.

The Library of Congress

Want something both cool and educational? The Library of Congress’s online archive of films and videos is free to view, and it has a lot more to offer than you might think. It features recordings of concerts and lectures held at the Library of Congress over the years, as well as old films and recorded footage collections that are out of copyright.

One of the first things I saw today was a 2016 concert by Malawian musicians. (Skip to 11:21 if you aren’t interested in the introductory remarks by academics.) If you scroll down the page, on the left-hand side there are numerous ways to filter results. You might be most interested in the “Subject” filter about halfway down the page.

You can browse on your own if that’s how you roll, or you can check out last week’s New York Times article Film Treasures, Streaming Courtesy of the Library of Congress for a curated list of cool early films. The article covers exactly why they’re significant, and links to other curated collections. All for free!

 

Podcasts I Have Loved

A lot of people I know are turning to podcasts right now. Free ad-supported podcasts are pretty great because you can listen on your phone or tablet, and most of them are not even about global pandemics!

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Case Notes
  • This 2018 podcast only made it to six episodes, but I found it delightful. It’s a true-crime podcast dedicated to crimes and mysteries from the realm of classical music, starting with “The Mystery of Haydn’s Head.” Note: not suitable for children.
• Choiceology
  • This offering from Charles Schwab may be sponsored by an investment bank, but it’s fascinating and educational whether you care about investing or not. It illustrates common decision-making mistakes with real-world stories that aren’t about money. This is all about how our brains play tricks on us and lead us down the wrong path. If you want to apply the lessons you learned to your finances, it’ll tell you how to do so, but it’s also great if you just want to learn about how our brains work.
• Criminal
  • Criminal is an offbeat true-crime podcast. The episodes are related to crimes or crime-solving, but take a different point of view than usual, or discuss events from an angle you may not have considered. The narrator has the ultimate Soothing Voice. Note: Many episodes are not suitable for children.
  • During COVID-19, Criminal creator Phoebe Judge has also launched the podcast “Phoebe Reads a Mystery,” where she reads a chapter a day of classic mystery novels. Her delivery isn’t always quite right, but it’s very impressive for a first-time audiobook reader, and it’s another chance to hear the Soothing Voice.
• Disgraceland
  • This podcast about sex, drugs, and rock & roll manages to be both lurid and deeply ridiculous. Its April Fools episodes are even more deeply ridiculous (this year’s was about how John Denver assassinated JFK). It’s often told from the first-person perspective of people whose heads the narrator cannot possibly be in. If you’re a lover of true crime or rock and roll, it may be for you. But I can’t describe it better than its creator does, so here’s his description: “Disgraceland melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events.” Note: Not suitable for children in any way whatsoever.
• Stuff You Missed in History Class
  • Its website may be terrible now that it’s joined the iHeart family, but its content is as strong as ever. Subscribe to its feed and you’ll get approximately 30-minute episodes twice weekly about parts of history that are rarely covered in school, from minority group heroes to Victorian Orchidelirium to the invention of margarine and its subsequent war with butter. The hosts are good about announcing it during their introduction if a given episode might not be appropriate for “young historians.”
    • Several recent episodes & reruns discuss medical history or pandemics, but they’re still mixed in with unrelated fare to keep things from getting too corona-heavy.

 

Museums

Many museums are rising to the challenge by offering virtual exhibits or activities, especially ones for adults to do with children.

My local science museum, the Perot, is offering “Amaze Your Brain at Home” for parent/child at-home science. Forbes recently published an article on some online museum experiences that are available right now.

Here’s another great article about virtual or online museum offerings, including animal webcams if you click on “animal habitats”: https://www.imls.gov/blog/2020/04/facing-challenge-resilience-how-museums-are-responding-during-covid-19

 

If you’ve got some favorite free experiences that adults or children can do during COVID-19, please leave a comment!