Best Bets for the Break: A quick guide to online entertainment and virtual experiences

This is a continuing series of online activities to undertake on your computer or tablet during your quarantine quandary.

Lectures & learning

• Gelson’s presents “Firestone Walker Beer Tasting” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, online. The virtual event features brewmaster Matt Brynildson leading a tasting of three beers that are available for pickup for $8.99 each per six-pack at Gelson’s markets in Pacific Beach, Del Mar and Carlsbad. gelsons.com/firestone

• The Yiddish Arts and Academics Association of North America presents “Yiddish Fun Breyshis: Let’s Learn the Yiddish Alphabet Together!” beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 31. The weekly 90-minute online class, taught by Dave Fried, will start with vowels and add consonants each week, aiming to teach literacy along with culture, idioms, jokes, curses and songs. $15 per class or $75 for all six classes. Visit yaaana.com/2020/12/15/yiddish-from-the-beginning, email dave@yaaana.com or call (619) 719-1776.

• The La Jolla Community Center presents “Introduction to Memoir Writing” beginning at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, online. The four-week class, which continues Tuesdays through Feb. 23, features author Kay Sanger teaching how to write about your experiences, people in your life, memorabilia and places that have influenced you. $80 for Community Center members; $100 for non-members. Register at ljcommunitycenter.org/series.

• The UC San Diego’s Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center present “Memories at the Museum — Museum of Photographic Arts” at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, online. The free virtual tour, aimed at senior citizens with memory disorders, is part of a series that explores different Balboa Park museums the first Tuesday of every month. bit.ly/memoriesmuseumfeb

• Warwick’s bookstore presents author Susan Meissner at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, via Facebook Live. Meissner will discuss her new book, “The Nature of Fragile Things,” in conversation with Kate Quinn. Free. warwicks.com/event/meissner-2021

Cindy Burke will appear in a La Jolla Community Center event Wednesday, Feb. 3, to discuss things we can do daily to be happier and more at peace.

(Courtesy)

• The La Jolla Community Center continues its “Wednesday Connect” series with “Staying Positive, Facing Frustration and Creating Opportunities” at 10 a.m. Feb. 3, online. Cindy Burke will share insights and advice regarding things we can do daily to be happier and more at peace. Free. Register at ljcommunitycenter.org/wc.

• The Doris Howell Foundation presents “Howell Foundation Top Women’s Health Stories of 2020” at noon Friday, Feb. 5, online. Guest speakers will review the most relevant research stories in 2020 and the impact they may have on women’s health during 2021 and beyond. $25. Register at howellfoundation.org/upcoming-event.

Family & children

• The Nature Collective presents “Virtual Connections: Tidepools” at noon Thursday, Feb. 4, online. People of all ages can learn about local Marine Protected Areas and become a tidepool ambassador. Register at thenaturecollective.org/events.

Art & culture

• The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library continues its “Rembrandt & Vermeer: The Golden Age of Dutch Art” lecture series at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, online. Linda Blair will cover Rembrandt’s arrival in Amsterdam in 1631 and the next decade. On Feb. 4, Blair will discuss Rembrandt’s later years. Lectures are $14 each for Athenaeum members and $19 for non-members. ljathenaeum.org/art-history-lectures

• The San Diego Symphony presents “Wagner Meets Mozart” at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29, online. The digital concert is conducted by Rafael Payare. $20. sandiegosymphony.org/digitalpass.

• Project [BLANK] presents “O Mensch!” at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 31, online. The program, sung in German with English and Spanish subtitles, kicks off Project [BLANKS]’s 2021 multimedia concert series. $20; $10 for senior citizens and students. projectblanksd.org

• The Museum of Photographic Arts presents the Human Rights Watch Film Festival Feb. 2-8 online. The event will feature films and Q&A discussions on topics including LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, equal access to child care for working-class parents, freedom of speech and systemic racism. $9 and up. hrwfilmfestivalstream.org

• The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library presents Logan Lone Piano Concerts at noon Friday, Jan. 29, online. This free concert, featuring Brenda Greggio and recorded at the Athenaeum Art Center, will be released on the Athenaeum’s YouTube channel. bit.ly/ljathyoutube

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library continues its art history lecture series on Albrecht Dürer, whose self-portrait is pictured, online Tuesday, Feb. 2.

(Courtesy)

• The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library continues its five-week art history lecture series on Albrecht Dürer at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2. Victoria Martino will cover the artist’s second trip to Italy and his career from 1505 to 1512. Future sessions are Feb. 9 and 16. Lectures are $14 each for Athenaeum members and $19 for non-members. ljathenaeum.org/art-history-lectures

• Ovation Theatre in Encinitas will stream four shows of “All Shook Up” starting at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 29. The musical production, filmed outdoors, is inspired by the songs of Elvis Presley and loosely based on Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” Future shows will be streamed at 5 p.m. Jan. 30, 7 p.m. Feb. 5 and 4 p.m. Feb. 6. $25; $40 for a group pass. ovationtheatre.org

• The La Jolla Playhouse presents “A Thousand Ways” now streaming online. Each installment of this work by 600 Highwaymen explores the line between strangeness and kinship, distance and proximity, and how the most intimate assembly can become profoundly radical. Guided by a score of questions and prompts, people who have never met build a series of performances for each other. $25. bit.ly/ljpthousand

Virtual galas & events

• Covia, Well Connected and Well Connected Español will hold the fourth annual Creative Aging Symposium at 9 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, online. Speakers will include a chief executive, professors of psychology and religious studies, storytellers, multimedia artists and more. $10 donation is suggested. bit.ly/creativeagingjan

• The Scripps Institution of Oceanography presents “Fishing for the Future,” a benefit for its Marine Conservation and Technology Facility, at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 28, online. The two-part program features both paid and free experiences: a VIP virtual reception with a sustainable seafood dinner and drinks from The Fishery in Pacific Beach and Cutwater Spirits (guests can pick up their orders in advance), and a virtual live event including a short film and a Q&A with experts in sustainable seafood, including scientists, policymakers, advocates and supply chain specialists. $150 for VIP. act.ucsd.edu/sustainableseafood

• The 12th annual Mitchell Thorp Warrior Spirit 5K will be held Feb. 6-21 online. The event, which benefits critically ill children, features an “Explore Your City” scavenger hunt, finishing certificates and prizes. $40. Register at warriorspirit5K.org.

What have you found for entertainment and other activity from a (social) distance? Email your leads to efrausto@lajollalight.com. ◆