I watched the movie Crumb many years ago. I was mostly interested in the biography of the creative artist instead of Crumb's work in particular. Crumb clearly had problems and a twisted family life that scarred him and his siblings. The link between suffering, depression, and art is long and twisted. Two books, The Wound and the Bow by Edward Wilson and Touched with Fire by Kay Redfield Jamison, are worth considering.
Today I went for a short spin through my usual news pages and found this followup story about Maxon Crumb, Robert's brother, who was, and still is, living in a 'Sixth street dump.' The man looks like a mad genius. I'd cast him in the part well before Kirk Douglas.
I thought the whole story was a useful reminder that life is strange in ways that our own normality rarely reveals. We're all precariously balanced on one edge or another, but sometimes it takes looking at another to realize it.
On the environment for the self I found an article about apartment therapy at the Christian Science Monitor. I know there's lots of things that I'd like to do to improve my own home environment. Perhaps this article will be a spur to put those ideas into action.