In the wake of the recent Pandemic surrounding the Novel Coronavirus COVID-19, I’ve compiled my Top Pandemic Entertainment Essentials. Without any sports to watch or conventions to go to, we have to entertain ourselves now. Of course, this list must start out vertical, on both legs…

1 Stephen King’s OG novel THE STAND, in which the Super Flu, aka, Captain Trips, kills off 99% of the world, leaving the survivors to follow the Dark Man or Mother Abagail. We can’t mention this without also praising…
 
2 …The 1990 TV Miniseries, cos you know CBS will delay the release of their remake until the Pandemic ends. Directed by Mick Garris and written by King himself, it’s a fantastic screen translation of the book.
3 Marvel Comic’s BEAUTIFUL adaptation of the novel. Published between 2008 and 2012, it features the art of Mike Perkins & Laura Martin and is written by Roberto Aquirre-Sacasa. This is a must-have in horror fan’s collection.
 
4 You knew it was coming. Ghost’s 2018 album, Prequelle, which is about love in the time of the Black Death. The album is a fitting soundtrack for this trying time.
 
5 Michael Crichton’s best selling 1969 Andromeda Strain novel. Cos the aliens are the disease, and this story features a child who is apparently immune to the disease. A team of scientists is brought together under the Wildfire Protocol to discover a cure.
6 The 1971 film version is superior to the “reimagined” 2008 TV Miniseries. Stick to the former, and shun the latter like it’s an anti-vaxxer.
7 Outbreak, the 1995 Ebola (BUt not Ebola) movie is always a good one. It stars Duston Hoffman and a busload of name actors, including Kevin Spacey, who won a pair of awards for his performance. Based on Richard Preston’s…
8 THE HOT ZONE. Preston’s 1994 book is based on the reporter’s New Yorker article, Crisis in the Hot Zone.
9 World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War – aka WWZ the book.  Fuck the movie.  Read the book or listen to…
10 WWZ the audiobook, done by a large cast of A-Grade actors including Alan Alda and Nathan Fillion.
That’s about 2 weeks of reading and movie material for some of us.
Now, before reading or watching any movies… wash your dirty ass and cover your mouth when you cough!