Today is May Day, traditionally celebrated to welcome spring, warmer weather, and the promise of fruitful harvests in the future. Dancing around the maypole doesn’t currently fit in our current social distancing conventions, but there are a few other ways to celebrate. Picking a vase of wildflowers, going for a nature walk, a backyard campfire, or even just walking barefoot in the grass of your yard are all ways to get in touch with nature and celebrate spring.

Beyond today, there are a new books to read, a few new shows to try out, and a litany of movies and cult favorite TV shows to binge on streaming services. May also brings the final super moon of 2020, the possibility of seeing a comet with the naked eye, and close with Instagram’s most popular astronomy event, Manhattanhenge.

May 1st

Hulu: Aeon Flux, The Conjuring, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight streaming.

National Theater Live is streaming their 2011 production of Frankenstein on their YouTube channel. Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller alternated between playing The Creature and Dr. Frankenstein, and both versions are available to watch here for the first week of May. A new show is available every week.

Netflix: Back to the Future I & II, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and the first three Underworld movies streaming.

May 4th

Disney+: Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker streaming

May 5th

Stephen King’s new book If It Bleeds on shelves. A set of four novellas, they are sure to live up to the high expectations King’s other short fiction pieces have set.

May 6th

Full moon, also the last super moon of 2020

May 11th

Amazon Prime: seasons 1-5 of Alias streaming

May 12th

Max Brook’s Devolution on shelves. Known for the wildly popular World War Z, Brook’s latest takes on a different monster, Bigfoot.

May 13th

Watch the night sky for Comet SWAN, which may be bright enough to see with the naked eye.

May 15

Netflix: District 9 streaming

Disney+: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil streaming

May 17

Snowpiercer premieres on TNT. Based on the 1982 French graphic novel Le Transperceneige, it is set 7 years after Earth becomes a frozen wasteland. The survivors circle the globe, on a gigantic perpetually moving train, and are divided by class and ideology.

May 19th

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones on shelves. Jones’s combines his love of slasher films with the story of an elk hunt gone horrible wrong.

May 20th

Ultimate Tag, hosted by J. J. Watts and his brothers T.J. and Derek, is a super-sized version of the classic childhood game. Filmed before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s probably feel a little more high stakes than originally intended.

May 22

Season two of Homecoming premieres on Amazon Prime. Janelle Monae is taking over portraying Heidi for Julia Roberts. I’d recommend season one to get up to speed if you haven’t seen it, its an engrossing, atmospheric mystery and Julia Roberts is fantastic.

May 29th

Manhattanhenge will occur at sunset.. The sun aligns with Manhattan’s grid four times a year, twice at sunrise and twice at sunset, making it visible in-between the tall skyscrapers that make up NYC’s skyline. If you don’t live in the city, keep an eye out for live streams and pictures of the event.