Why a boring mask, why not a creepy one?

Thom Waite (dazeddigital.com/life-culture, 7/14/20); Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Wisdom Quarterly

Would you wear one of these custom-made selfie masks?

Making face masks fashionable (instagram)

A San Francisco company has designed the latest, uncanny addition to the range of masks you can wear to help reduce the spread of coronavirus

During this coronavirus pandemic wearing a facemask has pretty much become the new normal outside the house (because the CDC says masks can reduce the risk of infection).

But why go with the plain old hospital-issue variety? Many artists, designers, and celebrities have come up with their own designs to help slow the spread of boredom, including Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Blackpink, and The Weeknd.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has also raised over $1 million for charity with the sale of masks featuring his iconic works.

Anyone might find it pretty weird having a conversation when we can’t see the other person’s face, so one company has created another design that offers an “uncanny valley” solution.

Named Maskalike, the company -- founded in San Francisco by Danielle Baskin -- sells a range of facemasks, which can be customized with a person's own face, most notably a SELFIE. It is used to replace the lower half of a face with a picture of the lower half of our face.

The “selfie” masks have received a mixed reaction on social media, branded a work of genius, dystopian, and just plain creepy. (It’s hard to deny that they have an uncanny vibe about them).

• When I go outside I put on my second face. 👃👄 pic.twitter.com/ys5pisuY1A — Danielle Baskin (@djbaskin) June 12, 2020

Masks can get creepy, very creepy. Halloween?

Besides selfies, the masks can also be designed to feature someone else’s face, with one pre-made (and already sold-out) version depicting the familiar mouth, moustache, and chin of the Hide The Pain Harold meme. It's no less creepy, obviously, but if it encourages people to wear a mask then there’ll be no complaints from us.

Custom face masks (digitalcameraworld.com)

View more of Maskalike’s designs below. Recently, another mask innovation came in the wake of coronavirus, with a Japanese startup developing the “c-mask,” which doubles as a way to translate conversations into nine different languages. More

• I’m either stoic and hardened. Nervous and sad. Surreal and serious. Or just my smiling self. pic.twitter.com/1RleMjl63c — Danielle Baskin (@djbaskin) July 13, 2020

What if it's not even caused by a "virus"?

We're being bombarded with 5G (fifth generation) cell phone tower radiation (stop5G.net).

Dr. Thomas Cowan, MD: An American doctor in 2020 explains "COVID-19" novel corona "virus."