While You’re In: Watch indie theaters’ films, listen to celebrity storytimes, and read
Now showing on small screens
Though some of the restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus are being loosened, it’s going to be a while before you can go to a theater. The supply of online movies is, for all practical purposes, infinite, but if you choose your next flick through an independent, nonprofit theater’s virtual screening room, you get the benefit of curated content as well as helping those community gathering spaces weather the economy’s shutdown. Among the selections showing now through the Olympia Film Society: “RBG” about progressives’ favorite supreme court justice (she’s surely the only one with her own action figure); “Life Itself” about the late Roger Ebert, probably America’s favorite film critic from the days when people were getting most of their movie reviews from professional critics; and “Spaceship Earth” about a crew of idealists who signed up to spend two years quarantined inside a biosphere. (Two years — we shudder to think.) See the full lineup on the film society’s website. Want more options? Check out the offerings at the Grand Cinema in Tacoma and the Rose Theatre in Port Townsend, both treasures for the independent-film fan, and both streaming some different selections.
Stranger things
Seattle’s alternative weekly news organization The Stranger, which normally covers things to do in Seattle, has been at loose ends these past few months, since there isn’t that much to do. The enterprising folks at The Stranger have come up with a partial solution, though: They’re creating their own events — online, of course. Among them are the first Confinement Online Film Festival, streaming at various times and dates through June 13. The festival — which follows in the footsteps of the Stranger’s SPLIFF and Hump Film Festival, both also available online — offers those who are sheltering in a place a chance to watch short films about sheltering in place. Fun! Tickets are $15-$25. If that’s a little too close to home (nudge, nudge), how about the online Silent Reading Party? There are in-person silent reading parties, where people gather in a public space to listen to soft music and buy drinks while they read. Silently. For real. In the virtual version, you can listen to soft music, played by pianist Paul Moore, while, you know, reading silently. At home. It’s happening at 6 p.m. every Wednesday in June, and tickets are $5-$20. Or you could just read (The Olympian or a book) and listen to soft music right now or anytime the mood strikes. You don’t even have to buy a ticket.
Story time with famous folks
The New York Public Library has a star-studded reading of Neil Gaiman’s “Coraline,” with Gaiman himself sharing narration duties with storyteller extraordinaire LeVar Burton and actors Rosario Dawson and Dakota Fanning. The book also got a celebrity read-aloud back in 2015, with narrators including authors R.L Stine and Daniel Handler (of “Lemony Snicket” fame). Want more? Open Culture has a list of 1,000 free audiobooks available online, including “Alice in Wonderland” and the entire Chronicles of Narnia.
Freelance writer Molly Gilmore doesn’t need piano music to read by but is tempted to attend the Silent Reading Party just so she can tell you about it later. Listen to her talk about entertainment with 95.3 KGY-FM’s Michael Stein from 3 to 4 p.m. Fridays.