Or what to do when you’re stuck at home because of the COVID-19 social distancing mesures. 

There is not much we can do besides sleeping, taking walks in the park (while keeping our distance from other people), reading books, watching TV series or movies, or using the internet to virtually travel elsewhere. We took a little time to gather for you a few suggestions of places where you can find pleasurable distractions. Enjoy !

Reading

All libraries are closed but — if you don’t already have a good book collection at home or a nearby book store — you can always rely on digital books. Beside the obvious commercial options (Amazon, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Kobo), here are a few suggestions to find free digital books:

• BAnQ: Ressources numériques
• Bibliothèque numérique de Montréal
• Bibliothèque des Amériques: livres numériques
• Bibliothèque numérique mondiale / World Digital Library
• Gallica: bibliothèque numérique de la Bibliothèque nationale de France
• Google Books
• ibiblio: The Public’s Library and Digital Archive
• Internet Archive
• Library of Congress Digital Collections
• Open Library
• Project Gutenberg
• Smithsonian Digital Library
• Universal Digital Library

More precisely, if you want to read free manga online (see also a list on epubor), here a few suggestions:

• BookWalker
• ComiXology
• Mangairo
• Mr Comics (upcoming, formerly Manga Rock)
• Shonen Jump free chapter (Viz)

Movies & music

There are plenty of free music streaming sites on the internet (Spotify, Pandora, Google Play, iHeartRadio, etc.) but personally I use mainly Internet Radio, Stingray, and TuneIn. 

However, beyond the commercial streaming sites (Amazon Prime Video, AppleTV+, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, etc.), the free movies streaming sites are less well-known. Here are a few suggestions:

• AcornTV (7-day free trial, 30 with code “FREE30”)
• Apar.tv
• Britbox (7-day free trial)
• Classic Cinema Online
• Crackle
• CrunchyRoll
• Hoopla
• IMDb TV (formerly FreeDrive; not available in Canada)
• Internet Archive
• Kanopy (BAnQ)
• NFB Indigenous Cinema
• ONF / NFB
• Open Culture
• Plex
• PopcornFlix
• Tarkovsky films
• Tou.tv
• Pluto TV
• RetroCrush anime
• Showtime (30-day free trial)
• Shudder (free trial with code “SHUTIN”)
• SnagFilms.com
• Sundance Now (7-day free trial, 30-day free trial with code “SUNDANCENOW30”)
• Tubi
• UMC (not available in Canada; 30-day free trial with code “UMCFREE30”)
• Youtube

Also, if you are interesting in Japan and Japanese culture, I suggest you stream shows from NHK World.

Virtual visits

You can find a lot of places to visit virtually on Google: Art & Culture, but here are a few suggestions:

Museums

• Archaeological Museum, Athens
• British Museum, London
• Dali Museum, Catalonia
• Frida Kahlo Museum, Mexico
• Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
• Guggenheim museum
• Louvre museum, Paris
• Metropolitan Museum, New York [Youvisit] [Google]
• Musée d’Orsay, Paris
• Museu de Arte de São Paulo
• Museum of Modern Art (MoMa), New York
• National Gallery of Art, Washington
• National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City
• National Museum of the United States Air Force
• National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
• Pergamon Museum, Berlin
• Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
• Prado Museum, Madrid
• Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, New York
• Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.
• State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
• Tate Gallery, London
• Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, Madrid [Rembrandt] [Balenciaga and Spanish paintings]
• Uffizi Gallery, Florence
• Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
• Vatican Museum, Rome [360]
• Virtual museums Canada

Music

• Bavarian State Opera
• Berlin’s Philharmonie
• Malmö Live Concert Hall
• Metropolitan Opera House, New York
• Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM)
• Vienna State Opera

Nature

• Great Wall of China
• National Parks
• San Diego Zoo live streams
• Yellowstone National Park
• Yosemite National Park

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