Calvin and Hobbes, Zillow Gone Wild, and Bloom County!
Three new addictions that allow me to slip into a deep rabbit hole of Facebook binging more so than any program I follow on Netflix, Discovery Plus or Amazon Prime.
Baby Boomers, Generation X and even some Millennials know, have read or at least have heard of the two greatest comic strips ever known – Bloom County and Calvin and Hobbes.
Bloom County is by Berkeley Breathed and originally ran from Dec. 8, 1980, until Aug. 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, where children often have adult personalities and vocabularies and where animals can talk.
On July 12, 2015, Breathed started drawing Bloom County again. The first revived strip was published via Facebook on July 13, 2015.
I recall having a stuffed Opus the penguin doll as well as several T-shirts featuring Bill the Cat. Milo Bloom was the central character. He was a 10-year-old boy who was a reporter for the Bloom Beacon newspaper.
Bill Watterson was the creator of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip series which ran from Nov. 18, 1985 until Dec. 31, 1995 and featured the always outrageous young Calvin and his (real to him / stuffed doll to the rest) best friend Hobbes the Tiger.
Both creators had / have a brilliant way of weaving current events and life experiences into whimsical and often times, down right hilarious comic strips that despite the fact they were written years ago, still shed a light and allow us to laugh on messages that are still relevant today.
Just recently Breathed started publishing a series of Bloom County strips on Facebook that showed Opus searching for Bill the Cat and instead found Hobbes. It’s been 25 years since Hobbes has seen Calvin and the Bloom County crew set out to find the now grown-up Calvin. I lost half of my weekend reading through the various comments of people truly elated about what the outcome might be.
I won’t spoil it here, you need to go down this rabbit hole on your own, just like I did. Get your tissue ready as you’ll be laughing at some and shed a few tears on others.
https://www.facebook.com/berkeleybreathed
So, after going down the Bloom County rabbit hole, I came across the Calvin and Hobbes Facebook group. It brought back so many memories and so worthy of falling in head first when you need a break from this insane and mean world.
No, Watterson isn’t writing new strips, but people in this group are posting many old strips they’ve saved throughout the years. Or they are sharing strips from the Calvin and Hobbes books they still have (I wish I could find mine).
And Watterson is posting his old strips as well. It’s another thing you didn’t know you needed until you’ve spent hours reading old clips and postings.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fillyourlifewithlaughter
And then there is the ultimate rabbit hole – Zillow Gone Wild!
I LOVE looking at homes on Zillow.com, but Zillow Gone Wild is - WAY BETTER!
They tend to showcase celebrity homes, but more often you’ll spend hours going through the photos of homes that are truly unique or totally off the rails.
One house on sale had wall-to-wall-shag carpet including in the kitchen and bathroom. The house was built in the 1970s when shag rug was a thing and it appears stuck in a time warp. Or another house that was decorated like a medieval castle inside.
Or a house in Sanford, Fl., that had its own cave (which they converted into a bar). Or a home in Washington state that was right along the river and had an entire replica of a small western town in the back yard. Saloon, jail, bank and all.
They have the listing and photos of the house that once belonged to Osama Bin Laden’s brother in Bel Air, California. It’s priced at $28 million and has been vacated after the family left right after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks at the World Trade Center in New York (20-years-ago this year).
Some are spectacular mansions others are dome houses or other weird and interesting dwellings.
Zillow Gone Wild is on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/zillowgonewild
Seriously if you ever need a break from politics, fighting your neighbor over wearing a mask, beating up someone because they will / will not get the COVID vaccine, whether Simon Biles is the GOAT, who should replace Alex Trebek on Jeopardy or why the wealthy should pay their fair share of taxes – then falling down these rabbit holes are just what you need!
-Patty Leon