Possibly an odd combination, but here we go!
Oklahoma, starring Hugh Jackman, is currently available free (until tomorrow, as far as I can tell) on a site called Broadway HD (broadwayhd.com) which I recently found out existed. They're also doing a seven day free trial, which I'm absolutely going to go for soon. I've gone through their selection; they don't have everything, obviously (I looked for Something Rotten, Hamilton, and Wicked without luck), but they have a lot, including a lot of Shakespeare and, obviously, a bunch of musicals. I think it's a combination of filmed performances and movies? Can't quite tell. Anyway, I thought that might be something other people here might be interested in looking into :) (Also, Oklahoma, at any rate, definitely plays outside the US! Membership pricing is given in USD, but I expect it also works everywhere.)
On to the second topic: Tamora Pierce, a very good fantasy author (YA, though it mostly holds up for adults as well, especially her later books), made this post a couple days ago, giving everyone who wants to permission to stream themselves reading her books. I know there are at least a handful of Pierce fans here, myself included; I also happen to have something like nine of her books (I can see eight, but I'm pretty sure the ninth is here. Must be hiding) physically available right now (and could probably get more from the library in ebook form pretty easily, actually).
My thought is: if there's enough interest (say...five people minimum? I don't know, I've never tried this before, but it seems like a reasonable number), maybe we could put together a group reading kind of thing. I'm willing to read; if other people are too, either from different books or the same one when my voice gives out, that would be awesome. These are very good books, with vibrant characters and good plot and writing; it could make for a fun distraction/social activity, I think. This would absolutely be open to any PPCer who's interested; you don't have to already know Tamora Pierce's books! If the book chosen isn't the first in a series, I/we can absolutely provide a quick summary of who the characters are and how the world works (hopefully without being too spoiler-y).
I'm thinking this could be done on Zoom or something, to make it more accessible (not everyone's on Discord or wants to be!) I've used it for a few things so far; you can keep video and/or audio off (I'm pretty sure you can join without video; I can test that tomorrow), and set your name each time you join a meeting, so keeping general anonymity/using screen names should be pretty easy. I'm also inclined to send out the link via email rather than posting it on the Board, which would be simple enough to set up.
So! If you're interested, say so, and we'll start figuring out a day and time! I know some of us are more scheduled than others; I'm on the less scheduled side (I have plenty I can do, but just about nothing has deadlines beyond, say, joining a write-in or ordering from a supermarket big enough the delivery time is two weeks away), so I should be able to work with just about any restrictions y'all might have. Anyway: let me know!
~Z, who is also slowly working on a thing or three that will eventually show up here, one of them maybe even soonish!