Top Picks: Netflix's 'Daughters of Destiny,' Public Service Broadcasting's 'Every Valley,' and more

The story of 'Beauty and the Beast' is back with a new live-action adaptation, the Surfline app gives you information about conditions before you go, and more top picks.

Unusual school

Watch as five girls from India’s most impoverished communities grow into young women with bright futures in the new Netflix documentary series Daughters of Destiny. The girls attend the Shanti Bhavan school, a residential institution that is coed (unusual for the area) and requires that its students help their struggling communities and families. 

Gem from mining

London-based concept band Public Service Broadcasting isn’t the most obvious group to create a musical tale of the rise and crash of the Welsh coal-mining industry. But the band relocated to Wales, dug deep, and delivered a gem. Every Valley employs interviews with miners, newsreel narration, and even homeboy Richard Burton to deliver the somber, star-crossed story. “Come on, be a miner! There’s money and security!” cheerfully exhorts a 1970 TV ad, but the livelihood was already vanishing. It’s not quite as thrilling musically as the band’s 2015 work, “The Race for Space,” but the album is an artful and ambitious paean to a lost generation.

New ‘beauty’

It may be a tale as old as time, but the story of Beauty and the Beast is back with a new live-action adaptation starring Emma Watson as Belle, who falls in love with a fearsome Beast (Dan Stevens). The impressive supporting cast includes Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellan, and Emma Thompson, and Monitor film critic Peter Rainer writes that Watson is “charming” as Belle. It’s available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Hike inspiration

If the beautiful weather inspires you to set out on a jaunt, the app Map My Hike can enhance the experience for you. In addition to recording your journey, the app also lets you store the best hikes you’ve taken, tell others about them, and get ideas for other hikes. Map My Hike is free for iOS and Android. 

Surf help

If you’re planning to surf this summer, get information about conditions before you go with the Surfline app, which is free for iOS and Android. It lets you know about what’s happening with the waves and when the weather will turn grim, requiring you to call it a day. The app also provides real-time footage of beaches.