“Calvin & Hobbes” might be the purest comic strip ever in the artistic sense.
Despite its success — syndicated in 2k+ papers and 45m books sold — creator Bill Watterson avoided licensing.
By not licensing the IP for games and toys, he left an estimated $400m on the table.
He also refused to do an animated adaptation (even when approached by Hollywood legends like George Lucas and Steven Spielberg).
Watterson liked his low-tech process and believed the purest artistic expression of the comic strip medium was a single person writing every word and penning every stroke.
He believed this purity was compromised by commercialization, which is also why Watterson ended the strip after a 10-year run (1985 to 1995).
Instead of milking the comic, Watterson shut it down at the top. He gave an amazing explanation as to why during an interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 2010:
➡️ “This isn't as hard to understand as people try to make it. By the end of 10 years, I'd said pretty much everything I had come there to say.
It's always better to leave the party early. If I had rolled along with the strip's popularity and repeated myself for another five, 10 or 20 years, the people now "grieving" for "Calvin and Hobbes" would be wishing me dead and cursing newspapers for running tedious, ancient strips like mine instead of acquiring fresher, livelier talent. And I'd be agreeing with them.
I think some of the reason "Calvin and Hobbes" still finds an audience today is because I chose not to run the wheels off it. I've never regretted stopping when I did.” ⬅️
One of the most underrated habits I do for my body and brain is grounding.
Grounding is a form of therapy that involves doing activities that reconnect us with the Earth.
You can do this by touching your feet to grass, swimming in the ocean, or using a grounding mat.
Research has shown it to reduce inflammation and strengthen the immune system. Scientists believe that through grounding, our natural defenses of the body can be restored.
A study was done to find out if this was true. So the researchers had subjects ground their bodies for 4 days for 30 minutes a day and the results were dramatic.
Subjects found a reduction in pain, reduced inflammation, increased rates of healing, and overall reductions of stress.
You can see the results of the study here: https://t.co/4o8Cv43HXT
The studies are early but something as simple as putting your feet on grass for 30 minutes may have a dramatic impact on your overall health.
How to practice grounding:
Outdoors: Take off your shoes and allow your body to touch the Earth. Easy ways to do this are walking on the grass, lying in the sand, or swimming in the sea. If you do walk on grass it's best to make sure that you do so on grass that hasn't been sprayed with fertilizer.
Indoors: You can use a grounding sheet or socks while sleeping. You can also use a grounding mat in your home office chair. I have not tested these yet so I don't have any recommendations on brands.
Anytime, I put my feet on grass or take a dip in the ocean I feel rejuvenated.
Regardless of how early the studies are you can’t go wrong re-connecting with nature.
This dude slapped a new label (& name: Le Château Colombier) on a shitty $2.50 supermarket wine and won gold medal at the Gilbert et Gaillard wine competition in France.
They described it as "suave, edgy and rich palate with clean, young aromas that promise a lovely complexity"