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Instead of Trump’s Inauguration, Here’s What to Watch, Read, and Do today

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Recommended Videos
  • Beyoncé's Lemonade

  • Ava DuVernay's 13th

  • Rebel Well

  • Transmetropolitan

  • Fox's Sleepy Hollow, Season One

  • Idiocracy

  • The Audacity of Hope

  • “Indivisible: A Practical Guide to Resist the Trump Agenda”

  • “The GOOD Guide to Donald Trump”

  • Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

  • The Good Place - Season 1

  • Spike Lee's Malcolm X

  • Kate Beaton's Comics

  • Stranger Things

  • Ghostbusters

  • 20th Century Women

  • Hope in the Dark

  • La La Land

  • For those of you who are in the mood to protest, Beyoncé’s Lemonade visual album will do wonders for you. Songs like “Freedom” and “Formation” offer up every bit of resistance you might be feeling right now. (You can find the whole thing on iTunes.)

    (image: Columbia Records)

  • 13th is an in depth look at America’s prison system, and how it disproportionately treats African Americans. Get woke; watch this film. (Catch it on Netflix.)

    (image: Netflix)

  • Rebel Well is a helpful guide on things to do in order to, well, rebel well. Find it online here.

    (image: Rebel Well)

  • Transmetropolitan is a comic series that may speak to us a little personally right now, what with a story about doing journalism in a world gone mad. With the press under attack, we think everyone can probably relate.

    (image: DC comics)

  • Sleepy Hollow delves into the untold, albeit whimsical at times, history of the United States. For a friendly reminder of what makes this country great, check out the show’s first season.

    (image: Michael Lavine/FOX)

  • Idiocracy is a comedy about the eventual decline of society into an anti-intellectual dystopia. For some reason, we find that relevant right now.

    It's not on Netflix, but you can grab it on iTunes or Google Play.

    (image: 20th Century Fox)

  • Pick up a copy of Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream and take civics advice from the last actually presidential president we’ve ever had.

    (image: Crown/Three Rivers Press)

  • Here's just one handy, online guide on how to fight back against Trump's agenda.

    (image: screengrab)

  • And here's another.

    (image: screengrab)

  • If you’ve managed to make it this long without reading this series, now’s the time. (A re-read also sounds nice right about now.) Revel in a little light-hearted mischief with a hilarious, brilliant superhero who eats nuts and kicks butts, and does so with the help of her awesome friends.

    (image: Marvel Comics)

  • The Good Place wrapped up its first season finale last night, and you can catch the whole season on Hulu. It's mostly unrelated, escapist comedy, but it's also about the value in learning to become a better person, which can be strangely inspiring right now.

    (image: Justin Lubin/NBC)

  • Do we even need to explain why? (Available for rent/purchase on iTunes.)

    (image: Warner Bros.)

  • Kate Beaton’s comics will remind you that history was also trash sometimes, but that we can move forward from it and also learn from it (and laugh a little). Head on over to her website.

    (image: screengrab)

  • Not only can Stranger Things speak to us as a show about no one believing you, though it turns out that you were right, institutions ARE against you, and you can win, BUT it's also just wonderful, retro-tastic fiction in general. It's a Netflix original, too, so you know where to find it.

    (image: Netflix)

  • Spanning three generations of women, from the Great Depression to the 1970s, this movie explores what it is to be a woman in the world. You would think that in a movie like this, the focus would be on how much things have changed, how different our lives are now. But the beauty of 20th Century Women is the perpetual relevance of each story, how the differences between us, and our feelings of isolation and individuality in the changing world, may actually be the things that bind us together the strongest. This one's in theaters if you're up for an outing.

    (image: A24)

  • Hope in the Dark is a book that contains eerily appropriate essays that were once about another administration that could have possibly heralded the end of the world (hi, Dubya), that suddenly have found new relevance today.

    (image: Nation Books)

Today, at noon, is Donald Trump’s inauguration, likely followed by wall-to-wall media coverage, but let’s be honest: You don’t want anything to do with that. So, we’ve got a handy list of things you should watch, read, and do today, whether you’re looking for an escape, need some inspiration, need to wallow, or need to put some direction on your righteous fury.

(featured image via Columbia Records)

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Author
Dan Van Winkle
Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct Geekosystem (RIP), and then at The Mary Sue starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at Smash Bros.

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