Catching Up with the World: Things to Do During Lockdown

Catching Up with the World: Things to Do During Lockdown

Right now, we’re all feeling a bit disconnected, while we’re actually more united than ever, trying to fight off a common enemy, COVID-19.

But also, let’s be real, we always feel somewhat behind things, behind our work, behind the latest trends, behind our list of movies and series and books and exercise plans and whatnot. Also, let’s accept this, there are some things, especially movies I’d say, that everyone seems to know about but we just know *of* them. So, here’s time to catch up on those, and here’s a list of things to catch up on, if you don’t know where to start:

*Disclaimer: I’m aware this isn’t really a holiday and ‘catching up’ would be a stressful phrase for some of us, you never ever have to ‘catch up’, do whatever makes you happy and at peace.

1.Your Work

I want to start by saying that unfortunately, although life has been disrupted, some of us, especially students, are still expected to keep on doing our work and finish the year. Take your time with this, take one thing at a time and don’t pressure yourselves, I’m sure you can get extensions but also I want to highlight that the work is still important because the more we delay the more it’ll pile up and become hard to deal with. Take care of yourself in the present and also yourself in the future, please. Spread things evenly maybe skip some things that are not as important but make sure you’re doing the best for yourself.

2.Movies

Okay, so we all have our ‘to-watch’ lists, I assume. There are some movies that *everyone* just seems to have watched. Even if you’re one of those people and don’t like to admit, I’m sure you have at least a few, that you haven’t watched. We even sometimes pretend that we’ve seen them, so why not catch up with those? Here’s a list of 100 of those movies known by almost everyone:

Singin’ In the Rain (1952) dir. Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen – Musical/ Comedy (1h 43m)

Vertigo (1958) dir. Alfred Hitchcock – Thriller/ Mystery (2h 9m)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) dir. Blake Edwards – Romance/ Comedy (1h 55m)

The Godfather (1972) dir. Francis Ford Coppola – Crime (2h 58m)

Rocky (1977) dir. John G. Avildsen – Sport/ Drama (2h 2m)

Star Wars Series (1977 – 2019) dir. J.J. Abrams, George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Rian Johnson, Richard Marquand – Sci-Fi

Grease (1978) dir. Randal Kleiser – Musical/ Romance (1h 51m)

The Shining (1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick – Psychological Horror (2h 26m)

Indiana Jones Series (1981-2021) dir. Steven Spielberg, James Mangold – Adventure/ Action (1h 55m, 1h 58m, 2h 8m, 2h 4m)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) dir. Steven Spielberg – Family/ Sci-Fi (2h 1m)

Ghost Busters (1984) dir. Ivan Reitman – Comedy/ Fantasy (1h 47m)

The Terminator (1984) dir. James Cameron – Sci-Fi/ Action (1h 48m)

Footloose (1984) dir. Herbert Ross – Dance/ Musical (1h 50m)

Back to the Future (1985) dir. Robert Zemeckis – Sci-Fi/ Comedy (1h 56m)

The Breakfast Club (1985) dir. John Hughes – Comedy/ Drama (1h 37m)

The Princess Bride (1987) dir. Rob Reiner – Family/ Adventure (1h 37m)

Dead Poets Society (1989) dir. Peter Weir – Drama (2h 20m)

Home Alone (1990) dir. Chris Columbus – Family/ Comedy (1h 43m)

Goodfellas (1990) dir. Martin Scorsese – Crime/ Drama (2h 28m)

Reservoir Dogs (1992) dir. Quentin Tarantino – Crime (1h 40m)

Jurassic Park (1993) dir. Steven Spielberg- Adventure/ Sci-Fi (2h 27m)

Schindler’s List (1993) dir. Steven Spielberg – War/ Drama (3h 17m)

Forest Gump (1994) dir. Robert Zemeckis – Comedy/ Drama (2h 22m)

Pulp Fiction (1994) dir. Quentin Tarantino – Comedy/ Crime (2h 58m)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994) dir. Frank Darabont – Drama/ Crime (2h 22m)

The Lion King (1994) dir. Rob Minkoff, Roger Allers – Animation/ Musical (1h 29m)

Toy Story Series (1995-2019) dir. John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Josh Cooley – Animation/ Family (1h 21m, 1h 35m, 1h 48m, 1h 40m)

Titanic (1997) dir. James Cameron – Romance/Drama (3h 15m)

Good Will Hunting (1997) dir. Gus Van Sant – Indie/ Drama (2h 6m)

The Matrix (1999) dir. Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski – Sci-fi/Action

Fight Club (1999) dir. David Fincher – Drama/Thriller (2h 31m)

American Beauty (1999) dir. Sam Mendes – Romance/ Drama (2h 2m)

The Sixth Sense (1999) dir. M. Night Shyamalan – Thriller/ Drama (1h 50m)

American Pie (1999) dir. Paul Weitz, Chris Weitz – Comedy (1h 36m)

American Psycho (2000) dir. Mary Harron – Horror/ Dark Comedy (1h 44m)

Amélie (2001) dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet – Rom-com (2h 9m)

A Beautiful Mind (2001) dir. Ron Howard – Historical Drama (2h 20m)

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (2001-2003) dir. Peter Jackson – Fantasy/ Adventure (3h 28m, 3h 43m, 4h 11m)

Shrek Series (2001-2010) dir. Andrew Adamson, Vicky Jenson, Conrad Vernon, Kelly Asbury, Chris Miller, Mike Mitchell – Animation/Comedy (1h 35m, 1h 45m, 1h 33m, 1h 33m)

Harry Potter Series (2001-2011) dir. David Yates, Alfonso Cuarón, Chris Columbus, Mike Newell – Fantasy/Adventure (2h 39m, 2h 54m, 2h 22m, 2h 37m, 2h 22m, 2h 34m, 2h 27m, 2h 10m)

The Pianist (2002) dir. Roman Polanski – War/ Drama (2h 30m)

Pirates of the Caribbean Series (2003-2017) dir. Gore Verbinski, Rob Marshall, Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg – Fantasy/Adventure (2h 23m, 2h 31m, 2h 49m, 2h 17m, 2h 33m)

Million Dollar Baby (2004) dir. Clint Eastwood – Sport/ Drama (2h 17m)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) dir. Michel Gondry – Romance/ Sci-Fi (1h 48m)

The Notebook (2004) dir. Nick Cassavetes – Romance/ Drama (2h 4m)

The Chronicles of Narnia Series (2005-2010) dir. Andrew Adamson, Michael Apted – Fantasy/ Adventure (2h 30m, 2h 30m, 1h 55m)

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) dir. Gabriele Muccino – Drama (1h 57m)

Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) dir. Guillermo del Toro – War/ Fantasy (1h 59m)

Bridge to Terabithia (2007) dir. Gábor Csupó – Family/ Fantasy (1h 36m)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) dir. David Fincher – Romance/ Drama (2h 46m)

Mamma Mia (2008) dir. Phyllida Lloyd – Musical/ Comedy (1h 49 min)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) dir. Danny Boyle – Romance/ Crime (2h 3m)

All Marvel Movies (2008-present)

Inglorious Basterds (2009) dir. Quentin Tarantino – War/ Dark Comedy (2h 33m)

My Sister’s Keeper (2009) dir. Nick Cassavetes – Drama (1h 49m)

The King’s Speech (2010) dir. Tom Hooper – Drama/ History (1h 59m)

Black Swan (2010) dir. Darren Aronofsky – Thriller/ Drama (1h 48m)

The Artist (2011) dir. Michel Hazanavicius – Romance/ Drama (1h 54m)

Bridesmaids (2011) dir. Paul Feig – Romance/ Comedy (2h 12m)

Drive (2011) dir. Nicolas Winding Refn – Action/ Crime (1h 35m)

The Tree of Life (2011) dir. Terrence Malick – Drama/ Epic (3h 8m)

Skyfall (2012) dir. Sam Mendes – Action/ Adventure (2h 24m)

Life of Pi (2012) dir. Ang Lee – Adventure/ Drama (2h 7m)

Les Misérables (2012) dir. Tom Hooper – Musical/ Drama (2h 40m)

Spring Breakers (2012) dir. Harmony Korine – Crime/ Drama (1h 34m)

The Hobbit Trilogy (2012-2014) dir. Peter Jackson – Fantasy/ Adventure (3h 2m, 3h 7m, 2h 44m)

The Great Gatsby (2013) dir. Baz Luhrmann – Romance/ Drama (2h 23m)

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) dir. Martin Scorsese – Comedy/ Drama (3h)

12 Years a Slave (2013) dir. Steve McQueen – Drama/ History (2h 14)

All DC films (2013-present)

Whiplash (2014) dir. Gus Van Sant – Drama (1h 47m)

Birdman (2014) dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu – Comedy/ Drama (2h)

Instellar (2014) dir. Christopher Nolan – Sci-Fi/ Adventure (2h 49m)

Gone Girl (2014) dir. David Fincher – Thriller/Mystery (2h 29m)

Spotlight (2015) dir. Tom McCarthy – Drama/ History (2h 9m)

The Danish Girl (2015) dir. Tom Hopper – Romance/ Drama (2h)

The Revenant (2015) dir. Alejandro González Iñárritu – Adventure (2h 36m)

Room (2015) dir. Lenny Abrahamson – Drama/ Thriller (1h 58m)

The Age of Adeline (2015) dir. Lee Toland Krieger – Romance/ Fantasy (1h 52m)

Inside Out (2015) dir. Pete Docter – Family/ Animation (1h 42m)

La La Land (2016) dir. Damien Chazelle – Musical/ Romance (2h 8m)

Moonlight (2016) dir. Barry Jenkins – Drama/LGBT (1h 55m)

Lady Bird (2017) dir. Greta Gerwig – Comedy/ Drama (1h 35m)

The Shape of Water (2017) dir. Guillermo del Toro – Drama/ Thriller (2h 3m)

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) dir. Martin McDonagh – Drama/ Comedy (1h 56m)

Call Me By Your Name (2017) dir. Luca Guadagnino – LGBT Romance/ Drama (2h 12m)

Coco (2017) dir. Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina – Animation/ Family (1h 49m)

Dunkirk (2017) dir. Christopher Nolan – War/ Drama (1h 46m)

Phantom Thread (2017) dir. Paul Thomas Anderson – Romance/ Drama (2h 11m)

The Greatest Showman (2017) dir. Michael Gracey – Musical/ Drama (1h 46m)

A Star Is Born (2018) dir. Bradley Cooper – Musical/ Romance (2h 14m)

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) dir. Bryan Singer – Musical/ Drama (2h 13m)

A Simple Favour (2018) dir. Paul Feig – Comedy/ Mystery (1h 59m)

Love, Simon (2018) dir. Greg Berlanti – Romance/ Drama (1h 50m)

Red Sparrow (2018) dir. Francis Lawrence – Thriller/ Action (2h 21m)

A Quiet Place (2018) dir. John Krasinski – Horror/ Sci-Fi (3h 36m)

Green Book (2018) dir. Peter Farrelly – Comedy/ Drama (2h 10m)

Roma (2018) dir. Alfonso Cuarón – Drama (2h 15m)

The Favourite (2018) dir. Yorgos Lanthimos – Comedy/ Drama (2h 1m)

Parasite (2019) dir. Bong Joon-ho – Thriller/ Comedy (2h 12m)

3.Series

Okay guys, this is THE best time for binge watching. So here’s some series that we here about all the time.

Full House (1987-1995)

The Simpsons (1989-Present)

Law and Order (1990-2010)

Friends (1994-2004)

Gilmore Girls (2000-2007)

The Office (2005-2013)

How I Met Your Mother (2005 -2014)

Prison Break (2005-2017)

Doctor Who (New one: 2005-Present)

Supernatural (2005-Present)

Grey’s Anatomy (2005-Present)

The Big Bang Theory (2007-2019)

Merlin (2008-2012)

Breaking Bad (2008-2013)

The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017)

Downtown Abbey (2010-2015)

Pretty Little Liars (2010-2017)

The Walking Dead (2010-Present)

2 Broke Girls (2011-2017)

Teen Wolf (2011-2017)

Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

Black Mirror (2011-Present)

Shameless (2011-Present)

House of Cards (2013-2018)

Orange Is the New Black (2013-2019)

Vikings (2013-Present)

Peaky Blinders (2013-Present)

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013-Present)

Rick and Morty (2013-Present)

How To Get Away With Murder (2014-Present)

Narcos (2015-2017)

Stranger Things (2016-Present)

You (2018-Present)

Chernobyl (2019-2019)

Sex Education (2019-Present)

The Witcher (2019-Present)

4.Meditation

Okay, this is a bit of a cliché and I’m really not a meditation solves everything kind of a person – no offence, if you are. But honestly, lately, all of us need a bit of a calming activity. Personally, my anxiety just comes and goes at odd times, and it got harder to handle. I’m not a meditation expert but it’s nice to take a break and focus on a single moment.

Headspace: You probably already heard that Headspace created a free selection of meditation to support us during the pandemic. They are mostly short so they are good if you’re in the middle of something and just want to breathe for a short bit. I’m normally not a big Headspace fan since the most meditations are paid once you’re past basics but they seem to have a good collection for handling these hard times.

Calm: Most features of calm is paid, too but it personally gives me a sense of schedule. Calm’s meditations are more like classes and you can do one in a day. So, it might be a nice habit to start your day with a daily calm and not just meditate but learn meditation. Developing a schedule can give us a sense of purpose during these hard times.

Spotify Podcasts: This might be a little unusual but they are my favourites. Completely free and they are on a platform that I already use daily – no other app needed. I’m not a daily meditation person but sometimes when I can’t handle my anxiety, I like seeking some help from them. They don’t always work, but that’s just me. When I can’t sleep I like using the Guided Sleep Meditations of Tracks to Relax and on anxious mornings I use the morning meditations of Mindful In Minutes. I’ve also tried some of the other podcast episodes of Mindful In Minutes, they are also worthwhile to check out.

5. Books

Okay, I’m not going to recommend books because realistically, I’m guessing you won’t really have access to buying them or even if you do, probably better to not get any deliveries at the moment. The least contact the better and the virus can live on the packaging the book would come in, if not the book itself. So, my advice here is that – remember that to-be-read pile of yours? They’re winking at you. Now’s the time, kiddo.

6.Exercise

I know, this pandemic is such a great excuse to just sit all day and eat as many carbs as you want and not feel guilty because so does everyone else and gyms are closed. Which is totally fair and that’s what I’m doing, too but if this thing keeps going, we might have to get back to some action for health. Emphasizing again, for health. And also there’s no denying that exercise is meditative, too. If you have sports equipment at home, that’s great, do that. I love a good hour of treadmill and Netflix sesh. I don’t even feel like I’m exercising and when the episode is over, so does (or nearly) the episode!

If you don’t, don’t worry. Find yourself some space, maybe even move some furniture and get on with some Zumba. There are some apps for both Zumba and Pilates but I’ve never used them, you don’t really need them. I absolutely adore POPSUGAR on Youtube.

7.Music

This is the time to either discover new music or get back to practising your musical instrument if you have one. Honestly, during these times, if not always tbh, your best friends are your pets and music. I’m not going to recommend any music, either as I respect everyone’s styles and have a feeling that our styles may not exactly match and all the well-known songs you’ve probably already listened to.

Maybe you can get back to that dream of yours to make cover videos on Youtube? – That’s a note to me but maybe you had one, too?

8. Tik Tok

Okay, bear with me with this one. I’m definitely not a Tik Tok person, I still don’t have an account but I’ve seen a lot of people turning to Tik Tok, during these times and it seems fun, as well as active which are two things necessary when you’re under lockdown. Here are some Tik Tok challenges if you want to try some:

The Man

https://www.tiktok.com/@lorengray/video/6798213511815253254

https://www.tiktok.com/@jaydenbartels/video/6798275334824316166

Don’t Start Now

https://www.tiktok.com/@thexhan/video/6782848477094366470

https://www.tiktok.com/@kianuhhhhhhh/video/6783066667091021061

CoinciDANCE

https://www.tiktok.com/@normani/video/6805732531011472645

https://www.tiktok.com/@derekhough/video/6807445423519829253

9. Instagram Challenges

I’ve seen many lately, including childhood pictures, speaking another language, the toilet paper football thingy whatever they call it, daily throwback ones, 30-day music challenge, 30-day books challenge and so many are around there. Even the get to know me and this or that and bingo templates are back. You can find some really nice ones via @kelseyinlondon.

Also, why not start one yourself? Maybe one that is special to all the people like me who had their final year finished abruptly and may not even have graduation to cheer us up? Tag me if you do @ayseldilarakasap!

10. Write

Write about your experience or something completely different. Writing is my ultimate coping mechanism. You deal with your problems and create at the same time. Also, if you want to share the things you write, I heard a creative writing blog called s785483448.websitehome.co.uk that accepts submissions. Wink wink. No seriously, we’d love to help you share your experience. E-mail your pieces to featherpen-blog@hotmail.com.

11. Learn a New Language

Not much to say on that, just a reminder that Duolingo exists.

12. Cook & Bake

Perfect time to work on those baking skills and get ready to impress your friends when you can see them. I’m not going to give any recipes but I’ll give you three challenges:

  1. Try to come up with a recipe with things you have at home.
  2. Try to make something with just 3 ingredients.
  3. Twist a recipe to give it your own signature.

If you try any, tag @featherpenblog on Instagram so that we can show them off!

13.Virtual Museums

As you’ve probably heard, some museums are doing virtual tours. Here are 12 of them:

British Museum – London

Guggenheim Museum – New York

National Art Gallery – Washington D.C.

Musée D’Orsay – Paris 

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art – Seoul

Pergamon – Berlin

Rijksmuseum – Amsterdam

Van Gogh Museum – Amsterdam

The J. Paul Getty Museum – Los Angeles

Le Gallerie Degli Uffizi – Florance

Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand – São Paulo

The National Museum of Anthropology – Mexico City

14.Virtual Rides

You can’t go to Disneyland? Like ever? Now, you can have the virtual experience through the point-of-view videos and have some Disney magic at home. Here’s a list of them made by Mirror, couldn’t have done better myself: https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/usa-canada/virtual-disney-rides-you-experience-21765688?_ga=2.72643802.853561755.1585783326-2054099911.1585783326

And here are some Harry Potter rides: https://www.mirror.co.uk/travel/usa-canada/you-can-now-ride-universals-21780169

Enjoy!

15.Free Online Ivy League Courses

Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Colombia and many more are giving free courses, you can find them all here: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/ivy-league-free-online-courses-a0d7ae675869/

And you can find some other interesting courses from university all over the world including Oxford, Tokyo and Notre Dame here: http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses

16. Sleep

The last but not the least, catch up with some of that sleep you’ve been missing during your busy life and also, you can’t worry if you’re not awake. Seriously, sleep.

Above all, wash your hands, keep the house clean, stay home, stay positive. Be safe and well.

©  photo from Unsplash

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2 thoughts on “Catching Up with the World: Things to Do During Lockdown

  1. Like!! I blog frequently and I really thank you for your content. The article has truly peaked my interest.

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