The Rundown | May 14-21

Boy with VR
Get lost in a ton of different things this week in real life courtesy of this week’s The Rundown. | Image Jessica Lewis

How we’re doing our staycation in Philly

Chances are your plans to escape the city and vacation in an exotic locale have been canceled this year. Fortunately, the good folks at visitphilly.com have put together five great ways to staycation in Philly this year. Check out the website for more details.

Sample local brews, spirits, wine

Whether you’re looking for a drink to pair with dinner or something to sip while you relax, Philly-area breweries, wineries and distilleries have bottles and cans ready. Discover a new favorite beer with doorstep delivery from local craft breweries, or order spirits from regional makers like Manatawny Still Works and Bluebird Distilling. And picture yourself in a lush vineyard while sipping pours from Chaddsford Wineryor Crossing Vineyards & Winery, which both offer pickup and delivery options.

Discover a new boutique online

What’s a staycation without a souvenir? Many of the businesses in visitphilly.com’s guides to boutiques selling menswear and womenswear and our list of Black-owned shops have well-stocked online stores where shoppers can fill their carts with home accessories, beauty products and the perfect outfit for that next staycation brunch. Plus, Midtown Village favorite Verde now sells its curated collection of clothes, jewelry and accessories online.

Order a special meal

Take a break from pizza and get into vacation mode by ordering a tasty, decadent meal from one of Philly’s top restaurants. Pick up from Audrey Claire, Rouge or Twenty Manning Grill from Thursday through Sunday; get a $70 three-course meal for two from American BYOB Cadence; order sushi from buzzy Fishtown spot Hiroki or try weeknight dinner specials from James Beard Award-winning Vernick. The Infatuation – theinfatuation.com – has more suggestions on how to indulge from home.

At-home spa services

It’s not a staycation without a little bit of self-care. Some Philly-area spas ship products to your door for a little outside-the-salon beauty boost. Spots like Rescue Spa, Ursula’s About Phace Studio and Cure de Repos ship skincare lines, makeup products and beauty tools, while AME Salon & Spa offers delivery of select hair-care products. Grab bath bombs, beard kits, fragrances and more during the twice-weekly pickup windows at Duross & Langel in Midtown Village, or opt for a Face Care Kit delivery from South Philly’s Franklin & Whitman. BYO cucumbers.

Take a tour or class

With time to spare and distance no longer an obstacle, now’s the moment to visit the attractions you’ve always meant to check out or sign up for a fun class to learn something new. Attractions throughout Greater Philadelphia offer virtual tours and digital collections to peruse at your leisure. Get a 360-degree tour of the mosaics at Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens or say hi to the animals via live stream at Elmwood Park Zoo. Looking for something more hands-on? The Clay Studio’s Clay at Home video tutorials help crafty staycationers get creative with some basic objects, and the Penn Museum will show you how to write your name in Cuneiform or Hieroglyphics.

How we’re learning (and rocking) at the same time

Attention parents-turned-teachers and anybody else who wants to learn stuff in a creative way: The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame has you covered with its new line of free educational materials that include subjects suitable for kids as young as kindergartners or as old as, well, everybody else. You can check out all of the options at rockhall.com, but here are some of the offerings we found most interesting.

Lizzo Activity Pack

Use this pack to draw connections between singer-songwriter Lizzo and inductee Prince. Learn more about Lizzo, including facts about her career, fashion, and style with listening, artifact, and writing activities.

Punk Collection

Learn about punk scenes in New York City, London and beyond. Younger fans can flex their creative muscles with the “Punk DIY Creative Arts Activity,” learning how the DIY philosophy of punk applies beyond music. Older fans can dig into Patti Smith’s handwritten lyrics to “The Jackson Song.” Fans of all ages can use the fliers, postcards, and photos to learn how to work with primary archival sources, provided by the Hall’s library and archives.

Accidentals Collection

This collection includes everything you need to perform the Accidentals’ “Requiem for a Lark,” including the score, chord charts, lyrics, the music video, and audio of the song. Learn more about this female-fronted multi-instrument power trio, their music style and influences, and crossover between classical and rock music. Designed in collaboration with Cleveland-based Contemporary Youth Orchestra.

Electric Guitar Collection 

This collection highlights one of the most influential instruments in rock history. Watch videos to learn about how it works and its role in rock music, use PowerPoints comparing the electric guitar to the bass guitar to learn similarities and differences, read essays about guitarists Chuck Berry and Les Paul, and enjoy a Bootsy Collins space bass activity.

Lady Gaga Activity Pack 

Make connections between today’s artists and rock’s history. Learn more about singer-songwriter Lady Gaga, including her fashion and style, and her connection to Rock Hall Inductee Freddie Mercury of Queen. This pack includes listening, artifact, and writing activities.

Rock & Roll’s Blues Roots Playlist 

Celebrate the blues roots of inductees Eric Clapton and Bonnie Raitt and its origins in rock & roll by diving into this playlist. The playlist complements newly released induction performance videos and speeches on the Class of 2000 available on the Rock Hall’s YouTube channel.

What we’re watching this week…

Most Dangerous Game

If you haven’t jumped on the Quibi bandwagon as of yet, this thriller starring Liam Hemsworth and Christoph Waltz might change all that. Hemsworth, a degenerate in debt, plays a cat-and-mouse game that could cost him his life. The episodes are digestible and the plot for a streaming service looking to capitalize on our short attention spans does a very good job at both. | Quibi

Workin’ Moms

With the comedy Schitt’s Creek bidding adieu after seven seasons and the announcement that season four of Working Moms is ready for your binge-watching pleasure on Netflix, we’d argue that some the best comedy on TV right is coming out of Canada and we’d have a pretty good arsenal to fall back on. This series, directed, produced and starring Canadian comic Catherine Reitman is funny AF and is back with eight episodes to soak in. Enjoy. 

Marc Maron: End Times Fun 

The hysterical Marc Maron and his relatively new Netflix special is fantastic as putting life after 50 into real perspective. From looking at his children who he claims grew up to be “nerds,” to the amount of vitamins one has to take and the hustlers pushing the next best ones, Maron, 56, is laugh out loud funny in a way we all could desperately use right now. | Netflix

Jerry Seinfeld: 22 Hours to Live

We don’t want to push comedians on you, but again, you need a laugh and the timeless Jerry Seinfeld is here to create one. In this 90-minute comedy special, Seinfeld, 66, really harkens back to his stand-up roots and is far from the sitcom actor vibe that made him a cult sensation. Depending on your humor level, some of his punchlines may be more of a chuckle than a hearty laugh, however, we do think you’ll do both over the course of this one, making it well worth it. | Netflix

NCIS

There’s a reason why this show is going into its 17th season. This action drama looking at the real-life exploits of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service has brought both serious and comical issues at the forefront for people familiar with the various branches of the United States Armed Services. Even if you’re not familiar, NCIS Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, played by Mark Harmon, provides a personality worth watching in his own right. | CBS and streaming on CBS.com

Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation 

A retelling of the concert festival that sparked the revolution of concert festivals to come. Woodstock, which took place on a small dairy farm in rural New York in the summer of 1969 would go on to change the way we looked at music, pop culture and people as being defined in a trope or box. This documentary accurately portrays the event with stunning video and photography you won’t forget. | PBS On Demand

Philadelphians we’re following on social media…

Julie Hancher | Twitter

The editor-in-chief of sustainability website Green Philly has been hilarious in her observations of how Philadelphians are completely and ineffectively handling COVID-19 and the procedures which no one seems to be doing right. From the mail carrier who took off his mask to cough, to the people shaming each other on the Nextdoor app, Hancher has effectively sprinkled in life as we know it with her main goal of educating Philly on how we can keep our green spaces a little greener. | @JulieHancher

First Person Arts | Instagram

Despite Mayor Jim Kenney killing its much-needed budget last week like a cockroach, art may have gotten smashed, but it’s still alive in Philadelphia. One organization doing it well is the storytelling coming out of COVID-19 called #AloneTogether. This curated collection of stories has effectively dived into what happens when people have too much time on their hands and the type of weird, real-life shit you can find yourself involved in before you have time to put on your mask. | @FirstPersonArts

Paris Fit Philly | Instagram

It’s so easy to pack on LBs when you’re sitting at home, but archaeologist turned badass personal trainer Noel Davis makes sure that you’re only sleeping on your fitness if you truly want to. The best part about Paris Fit is that it gets the whole family involved, specifically kids with virtual children’s fitness and yoga classes multiple times a week – for free. | @ParisFitPhilly

Riverwards L&I Coalition | Facebook

Fishtown and East Kensington to the Northeast are arguably the most rapidly growing stretches of Philadelphia, there’s a reason for that. Hasty permits and shitty construction from even shittier developers and contractors has led to dangerous working conditions and worse costly repairs that follow. However, the members of this Facebook group are really the keepers of the gate so to speak when it comes to calling out bad contractors. It’s truly whistleblowing worth following. | facebook.com 

717 Drone Guys | YouTube

Who would have thought aerial drone footage would be mesmerizing? We recently fell into a YouTube rabbit hole and landed on the work of the 717 Drone Guys, a local father/son team of videographers shooting some amazing birds-eye-views set to relaxing tunes. They recently did one of Philadelphia showing just how eerie the city looks with no one walking around on a daily basis thanks to our stay-at-home order. If you have some time – and we know you do – their channel is one worth checking out. | YouTube.com 

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