I could stand to think about something else for a bit.
For the past several weeks, all we've talked about is COVID-19. Not just here on this blog, but, well pretty much everywhere. I mean, every interaction I've had with anyone for the past month to six weeks has had something to do with the novel coronavirus. So, if you're like me, you're about done talking about it for a bit. Outside of taking some pretty reasonable precautions, like washing your hands more frequently and limiting contact with others as much as possible and wearing a face mask of some kind when you absolutely have to be out with others, there's really not much that's in our control here. It's frustrating, at least for me.
So, to help deal with that frustration, this week, I'm sharing nothing but fun links to amuse and distract. I hope you enjoy them!
Let's start with Astartes - the Warhammer 40,000 fan film! It's all fan made, and broken into small parts, but it's brilliant, lovely work. If you're a sci-fi fan at all, it's worth a look.
If you're looking for something a bit longer, but maybe not a full-length movie, IO9 has five short sci-fi, fantasy, and horror films that will fit the bill. And, yes, they may be a little intense for younger viewers, but they're basically safe for work from home. And, all have high-production value and are really, really well done. Definitely worth the 12-15 minutes away from your virtual office for a break.
Next up is a somewhat more light-hearted film REBOOTED - a short film about an out of work special effect. It's cute and, again, amazingly well done. A lovely story told entirely without dialog.
And, speaking of special effects, this next film, BOX, is an art piece about the intersection of video, virtual reality and physical space. Actually, it's a little hard to explain, but it's beautiful to watch, so, please, go take a little bit and experience it.
And, to wrap things up, a YouTube channel that gives you things to actually do; PPO Papercraft videos. There are papercraft tutorials here for just about every interest. Everything from paper airplanes to origami flowers and everything in between. As a kid I was given a couple of origami books one time when I was sick and I totally fell in love with paper folding. To this day, I can make a flying crane from memory with nothing more than a gum wrapper. A lot of time inside and away from other people sounds like just the opportunity to learn some new origami forms. I encourage you to try it! It's fun!
So, there you go, some things to watch and some things to do during the quarantine. I'm not sure how many more weeks of this we're going to have, but I am sure the longer this goes on the stranger the links are I'll share.
This post originally appeared on Use Your Words!