No plans for the weekend? We’ve got you covered with activities to expand your horizons. Thanks and kudos to Brussels PR firm Cambre for the ideas (thanks Sis). From fitness to puzzles, music to museums, podcasts to cocktails, we at Principals hope there’s something here that makes your staycation fulfilling.

 

Keep on movin’

Les Mills is offering free workout videos, including BodyPump, BodyBalance, BodyCombat etc.

Nike Training Club has made all of its Nike Training Club Premium workouts free until further notice.

Down dog is providing all their apps for free until May 1st (Down Dog, Yoga for Beginners, HIIT, Barre, and 7 Minute Workout).

Daily Burn which has running, yoga and HIIT classes has a free 60-day trial.

And of course everyone at Principals favourite, Yoga with Adriene.

 

Online puzzles

Te Papa jigsaw puzzles

The Guardian’s cryptic crossword

Sudoku, of course

Jigsaw planet has an Easter bunny option

 

Music to your ears

Obviously we’re all permanently attached to our Spotify accounts, but if you’re missing live performances check some out from around the world…

Explore NPR’s incredible backlog of concerts, now with tiny at home desk concerts.

Neil Young’s fireside session is magic.

The NZSO is streaming all their concerts

La Monnaie/De Munt has put its virtual season online until 19 April.

The Paris Opera websites will put a performance online available for six days

The Met Opera is offering nightly streaming that is later posted on their website for free.

Wigmore Hall has live streaming as well as videos of past orchestra performances.

And of course many musicians, singers, DJs etc are giving virtual concerts on social  – see if your favourite has one coming up.

 

Culture at your fingertips

Google Arts & Culture street view allows you to visit museums, sporting locations, iconic monuments, street art etc etc. All the usual suspects plus some you may not have heard of.

Museums: MoMA, Musée d’Orsay, Uffizi Gallery, The Met, Tate Britain, Rijks Museum

Iconic Monuments: Taj Mahal; Palace of Versailles Great pyramid of Giza

Cultural tours: Nina Simone’s childhood home, The Bolshoi Theatre, Virginia Woolf’s Life in London

Street Art: 12 Banksy murals, Hosier Lane

 

Virtual museum tours

Louvre

The British Museum

The Dali Museum

Interactive exhibition on Frida Kahlo

If you want to bring the art directly into your home Paris Musées, a collection of 14 museums in Paris have recently made high-res digital copies of 100,000 artworks freely available to the public on their collections website. Artists with works in the archive include Rembrandt, Monet, Picasso, Cézanne, and thousands of others.

And of course the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

 

Train your brain

Introductory course in te reo Māori Always meant to learn Te Reo? What better time to start. Massey University offers an online course for free over 10 hours.

Yale: many free courses available on Coursera, including their most popular class ever held at the university – The Science of Well-Being.

Open Learn: many free online courses.

Professional Photographers of America: create a free account and get access to a free online photography class.

Coursera: hundreds of free online courses available.

Elements of AI: free course on AI.

freeCodeCamp: has a list of 450 Ivy League courses that can be taken online for free.

Getting Started Course Investment platform Hatch has a 10 day course to learn how to invest. For when we all stop freaking out about the sharemarket.

 

Stay connected

Netflix Party: A new way to watch Netflix together with your friends online.

House Party is an app where you can video chat multiple friends while playing fun games like quizzes, Pictionary etc.

 

When you’re tired of screens – Binge worthy podcasts

Real-life drama

Ear Hustle: everyday prison-life

Business Wars: Netflix vs HBO. Nike vs Adidas. Business is war

Imagined Life: what’s it like before you’re famous? Immerse yourself in the journey

Reply-All: A podcast about the internet – an exploration of modern life

This American Life: something for everyone – each week stories around a particular theme

Escaping NXVIM: Hollywood self-help group turns out to be a cult

The Drop Out: On bio-tech entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos Scam

Crime / mystery

Darknet Diaries: Explore the dark side of the internet

Hacking Humans: Behind social engineering scams, phishing etc.

S Town : John despises his town and asks a reporter to investigate. Then someone ends up dead. You will never guess the ending…

Serial: each season tells a story [recommended: season two on Pfc. Bergdahl’s disappearance in Afghanistan]

The Shrink Next Door: A journalist’s neighbour disappears, and he discovers everything he knew about his neighbour was wrong.

Criminal

The Mystery Show: everyday mysteries

Fiction

Marvel’s Wolverine

The Bright Sessions: Dr Bright provides therapy for the strange and unusual

Blood Ties: Our family members are not always who we think

The Truth: Short sometimes dark, sometimes funny movies for the ears

Limetown: Three hundred people disappeared 10 years ago. What happened to them?

Homecoming: A case worker at an experimental facility’s discussions & therapy sessions

Passenger List: A flight disappears mid-flight

Get inspired / TV podcasts

Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations

Ted Talks Daily

The Daily Show Ears Edition

The Office Ladies:  Office co-stars break down episodes of the Office (for those missing the office…)

Ellen on the Go : For Ellen DeGeneres fans

Educational / Discussing the news

Politico’s EU Confidential

The New Yorker Radio Hour

Wired UK : weekly catch-up

The Guardian’s Today in Focus

BBC’s In our Time: The History of Ideas

Caliphate: New York Times reporter on the Islamic State and the fall of Mosul

Freakonomics Radio: The hidden side of everything

Calm your mind

The meditating app Calm has a list of free meditations available to help keep you grounded during this stressful period.

Mindfulness and meditation app Headspace has a section dedicated to Covid-19 with meditations and articles.

Be the next masterchef

“Kitchen Quarantine series”: Michelin star chef Massimo Bottura is teaching cooking classes on Instagram.

Milk Street: Online Cooking School for free.

Last resort

Six quarantine cocktails.

 

I hope there’s something there that makes your day. Please let us know anything inspiring that we should include on the list.

All the best and enjoy.

Steve Main
General Manager – Principals NZ
S[email protected]
+6421728696