So, how do you beat boredom in the time of Covid-19

I feel you, buddy…

A few months ago, for my birthday, I asked my friends and colleagues on Facebook and LinkedIn, that instead of the usual happy birthday messages, I’d like them to post a link to something that they find genuinely interesting. It could be an article, podcast, YouTube video, how-to, artwork, economic principle, sports event or anything really — just something that that person found genuinely interesting. The only exception was that it couldn’t be covid related.

As most of my contacts work in the visual effects world there was a healthy amount of filmmaking, photography and vfx posts, but there’s also a good range of randomly interesting stuff in there too. The links range from the highly technical to the whimsical, but all interesting.

As there is quite a bit in here, I’m going to split it up into 2 posts, this week and next, and throw in some of my own links at the end.

We all need a break from the covid news, so let’s see some interesting links.

Tim Crowson

I find field curvature in lenses kinda fascinating. Fields of focus aren’t always flat planes as we assume!

Field Curvature, A Tricky Problem in Photography

Lennart Breede

Julianne Poston

Not highbrow by any means but fun to see how many you can recognise!

Kieron Helsdon

Here’s something random but interesting

Tim Riley

Here’s some of my favorite podcasts:

Casefile — for the dark times:

‎Casefile True Crime on Apple Podcasts

Adam Buxton — for the light times:

‎THE ADAM BUXTON PODCAST on Apple Podcasts

WorkLife — for all the stuff we talk about on a daily basis:

‎WorkLife with Adam Grant on Apple Podcasts

Here’s another: an insight into the world of on-set film lighting, explains in depth what the gaffers did on Mandalorian.

Christopher Newlove-Carvisiglia

Here is a link to the work from one of my favourite painters — Albert Bierstadt

Albert Bierstadt - 336 artworks - painting

Andreas Maaninka

Happy birthday Steve! It’s been an obsession for as long as I can remember, “The Kardashev scale”.

Alan Rosenfeld

Nicolae — Gheorghe Cojocaru

I’ve discovered Dungeons and Dragons about 3 years ago and I’ve met a great deal of people I called friends now along the way. And I love everything it brought in my life. Here’s a small clip of some highly talented people playing it :

Jakob Schmidt

If you were ever into skateboarding, this should keep you entertained for a few hours:

Fabricio Chamon

Hi Steve, I don’t know you, this post just popped into my feed. But I absolutely loved the idea and just wanted to inform I’m going to kidnap it for my next birthday! =) So a little bit late, but I wish you a very Happy Birthday!! ..and as a music lover I’ll left you with two great performances that makes me tap my feet endlessly:

and

Gavin Graham

Happy Birthday Steve! I think you’ll like this article:

Travels With John Conway, in 258 Septillion Dimensions

Carrie Rishel

Caliphate — An audio series following Rukmini Callimachi as she reports on the Islamic State and the fall of Mosul.

Caliphate

Also, cooking blogs

I’ll be posting the second half next week and throwing some of my own into the mix.

Update!

The second half is right here

So, how do you beat boredom in the time of Covid-19 — the second bit