One of my favourite Calvin and Hobbes strips.  As seen here.

 

Sloth and Debauchery

Well, sloth anyways. It’s the day after Boxing Day (and watching nearly eight hours of football) and it’s hard to get the couch removed from my arse. The holidays – no schedule, no plans, no problem. Feet up, scotch down. Life is good.

To be honest, I haven’t had too much in the way of Christmas spirit (the NLC kind anyway) but have over indulged in the food department. Who hasn’t? This past week included consecutive days of the “Big Breakfast”. I normally eat a healthy meal before heading out the door in the morning – whole wheat bread or bagel with low fat cream cheese, high fibre cereal with skim milk, protein shake or egg white omelette (depending on time) and a good cup of coffee – black. But this week – being Christmas and all - breakfast was been decidedly different. Bacon, bologna, hash browns, sausage, beans, scrambled eggs, home made bread with home made jam and of course, toutons with molasses have been the order of the day. Add the usual Christmas fare of turkey dinners, leftovers and last night’s homemade Chinese food and, well, you get the picture.

But the meals have a down side too. I don’t usually eat greasy food – I can’t remember the last time I had any type of fast food or take out - and the gastronomical bonanza has had some less than desirable side effects. I’ll leave it at that.

Tonight, its pan-fried cod with scrunchions and home made fries. Tomorrow, a defibrillator. Or at least a cholesterol check.

In the meantime, I have started reading Nevin Martell’s Looking for Calvin and Hobbes: The Unconventional Story of Bill Watterson and His Revolutionary Comic Strip. Calvin and Hobbes, along with Gary Larson’s The Far Side, are my two favourite comic strips, both of which are no longer published of course. But what’s Christmas without a Far Side desk calendar. And yes, I got one. I’m also trying to squeeze in a movie or two and have started watching Pacific on HBO. This being lazy takes an awful lot of work.

Bill Watterson on "Calvin and Hobbes"

Calvin and Hobbes remains one of my favourite comic strips despite the fact it last appeared on December 31, 1995. It’s in a dead heat with Gary Larson’s Far Side - another strip no longer in circulation - save for books, calendars, mugs, etc;

But Bill Watterson, the man behind Calvin and Hobbes, never did go that route. You can still view the strip but no calendars, bumper stickers or mugs for Watterson.

Here’s a link to a recent interview the reclusive Watterson gave to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He says he has “no regrets” and when asked about his aversion to attention and how his work has touched so many people he says:

 ...the public attention has faded a lot. In Pop Culture Time, the 1990s were eons ago. There are occasional flare-ups of weirdness, but mostly I just go about my quiet life and do my best to ignore the rest. I'm proud of the strip, enormously grateful for its success, and truly flattered that people still read it, but I wrote "Calvin and Hobbes" in my 30s, and I'm many miles from there.

- with files from CNN (I always wanted to do that.)