I loved Waldo as a kid. Searching for his red-and-white-striped shirt amongst an illustrated crowd of hundreds even outweighed my interest in tracking down Carmen Sandiego. I even wrote fan mail to the fictitious character (I had a slight tendency to do this as an imaginative child: I also wrote McGee- from McGee and me, and Bamse- a Swedish comic book character). Let it be known that Waldo wrote back; therefore cementing my affection for him as a child. I owned a Waldo sweatsuit, a Waldo sleeping bag, a Waldo hat, and of course all the books. I was NOT however a big fan of Wilma, Waldo’s girlfriend. Their common love for red-and-white striped products brought them together, and they travelled side-by-side in matching harmony ever since. That is until Wilma was replaced by her twin sister Wenda, never to be seen again. Suspicious, no? And then there was that sneaky arch-nemesis Odlaw.
Because of my childhood fondness for the red-and-white striped wearing fellow, I was glad to hear about Melanie Cole’s 2008 Graduate Art School Project (http://whereonearthiswaldo.wordpress.com/). She constructed and painted a huge Waldo image and placed it in a secret rooftop location hoping that Google Earth would pick up the image, thus creating a real-life version of the popular Where’s Waldo series. Here’s the image that was picked up on satellite:
Martin Hanford, the illustrator and creator of Waldo, sent Melanie a hand-drawn image of her project. So… I’m not the only one receiving mail from Waldo. Although he did sign his postcard to Melanie ”from Wally”. A bit personal, don’t you think? I won’t hold it against him.
The wanderlusting Waldo was found on a rooftop in Vancouver, Canada and Melanie received an A on her project.
However, because of complications with skylights on the roof, Waldo is now seeking a new home, leading to the best classified ad ever written:
My giant Waldo needs a new home! He had to come off his current roof because it is having non-Waldo related skylight problems. If you have an eager crew, a flat roof and want a giant Waldo, let me know (mcoles@eciad.ca)! He is in easily grommatable pieces and good spirits; He still appears to be smiling. He has been on the roof for almost 5 months though so he is in need of a good power wash! Take my giant Waldo home!
Sigh, if only my house were a little bigger. I would personally love to wake up every morning, look up on my roof and have that age-old question answered for a lifetime: “Where the hell is Waldo?”
